The Harbinger 19-20: Issue 1

the harbinger.

S H AW N E E M I S S I O N E A S T 7500 MISSION ROAD PRAIRIE VILLAGE, KS 66208 SEPT. 03, 2019 VOLUME LXII ISSUE 1

Gun-related deaths in Dayton, El Paso and Kansas City during the first weekend in August prompt lawmakers, READ STORIES ON PAGES 15-17

A LA RMED. PEEK INSIDE

04 | NEWS IN BRIEF

1 3 | G R AC E F I E L D S

2 4 | P OS E T V R E V I E W

02 INSIDE COVER

cover design by lila tulp cover photo by photo editors

STAFF LIST | CONGRATULATIONS

CARTOON | RIVER HENNICK

IN FOCUS | PHOTOS OF THE WEEK

A B O V E Senior Amelia Commerford and the Varsity Lancer Dancers perform at the pancake breakfast on Aug. 24 after helping serve pancakes. photo by | trevor paulus L E F T Senior Colton Weaver washes cars at the band car wash Saturday, Aug. 17. photo by | annakate dilks

ONLINE

Ben Henschel Caroline Chisholm Lily Billingsley Lauren Dierks Lydia Underwood Thomas Paulus Campbell Wood STAFF WRITERS Natasha Thomas Ben Henschel Caroline Chisholm Lily Billingsley Lauren Dierks Lydia Underwood Thomas Paulus Campbell Wood Sydney Decker Rose Kanaley Allison Wilcox Lilah Faye Gabby Caponecchi Brynn Winkler Lauren West Jackie Cameron Kelly Murphy Maddox Mogenson Winnie Wolf Jilli Foley Lila Tulp Catherine Erickson Lucia Barraza Carolyn Popper Sydney Newton Celia Condon Elizabeth Mikkelson Sophie Henschel Annabelle Moore Anna Stover Sarah Bledsoe Emma Brown COPY EDITORS Lila Tulp Carolyn Popper Caroline Chisholm Ben Henschel Jackie Cameron Natasha Thomas Catherine Erickson Lauren West Lydia Underwood Brynn Winkler Allison Wilcox Rose Kanaley Lily Billingsley

VIDEO

PREVIEW @smeharbinger

PRINT EDITORS Lila Tulp Carolyn Popper Caroline Chisholm ONLINE EDITORS Ben Henschel Jackie Cameron ASST. PRINT EDITORS Catherine Erickson Rose Kanaley ASST. ONLINE EDITORS Lauren West Riley Atkinson HEAD COPY EDITORS Carolyn Popper Jackie Cameron ASST. HEAD COPY EDITOR Natasha Thomas PHOTO EDITORS Aislinn Menke Ty Browning Kate Nixon ASST. PHOTO EDITORS Sarah Golder Trevor Paulus Julia Percy MOBILE MEDIA PHOTO EDITOR Elle Karras VIDEO EDITORS Maggie Schutt Ryan Gossick ASST. VIDEO EDITOR Lawder DeSantis VIDEO TRAINING EDITOR Sydney Williams BROADCAST EDITORS Alex Dinyer Lucia Barraza ASST. BROADCAST EDITOR Sophie Henschel PHOTO MENTORS Taylor Keal Megan Biles Megan Stopperan STAFF WRITERS Natasha Thomas

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Riley Atkinson Maddox Mogenson Campbell Wood Lucia Barraza EDITORIAL BOARD Lila Tulp Carolyn Popper Caroline Chisholm Ben Henschel Jackie Cameron Natasha Thomas Catherine Erickson Lauren West Rose Kanaley Riley Atkinson Lilah Faye Brynn Winkler SECTION EDITORS EASTIPEDIA ONLINE Annabelle Moore EDITORIAL PRINT Lilah Faye NEWS PRINT Alison Wilcox ONLINE Brynn Winkler OPINION PRINT Maddox Mogenson ONLINE Sophie Henschel ONLINE Gabby Caponecchi FEATURE PRINT Natasha Thomas ONLINE Lily Billingsley A&E PRINT Lauren Dierks ONLINE Thomas Paulus SPORTS PRINT Sarah Bledsoe ONLINE Lucia Barraza PAGE DESIGNERS Natasha Thomas Caroline Chisholm Carolyn Popper Lily Billingsley Lauren Dierks Lydia Underwood Thomas Paulus Rose Kanaley Allison Wilcox Lilah Faye

STORIES

link crew | sydney williams Watch the link crew leaders help the freshmen and celebrate their first week of high school

tryouts | campbell wood

Brynn Winkler Lauren West Jackie Cameron Kelly Murphy Maddox Mogenson Jilli Foley Lila Tulp Catherine Erickson Sydney Newton Celia Condon Elizabeth Mikkelson Sophie Henschel Sarah Bledsoe STAFF ARTISTS River Hennick Lilah Powlas STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS Reilly Moreland Annakate Dilks Noelle Griffin Hadley Hyatt Phoebe Hendon Bella Wolfe Elise Madden Grace Allen Morgan Woods Lucy Kostner MULTIMEDIA STAFF Olivia Olson Natalie Scholz Lawder Desantis Evelyn Roesner Ryan Gossick Maggie Schutt Max Patterson Alex Dinyer Sydney Williams Anna Taige PODCAST EDITOR Sydney Williams ADS MANAGER Sydney Newton CIRCULATION MANAGERS Campbell Wood Anna Stover CONTEST COORDINATOR Catherine Erickson SOCIAL CHAIR Lila Tulp

GA L L E R I E S

tennis practice

C h e c k o u t t h e n ew va rs i t y vo l l ey b a l l a n d so c ce r roste rs

game pigeon | winnie wolf

theatre camp | anna stover pancake breakfast

Sta ffe r s h a res h e r o p i n i o n o n using Game Pigeon and the b es t g a m es to u s e o n i t

Sta ffe r fo l l ows h ow so h p o m o re E ste l l e G o rd o n s p e nt t h e s u m m e r a t t h e B ro a d way A r t i sts A l l i a n ce summer camp

EDITORIAL | 03

design by | lilah faye editorial illustration by | river hennick

DON’T BE A

S PAC E I N VA D E R

FOR: 11 AGAINST: 0

O

n Sept. 20, Rachel, Nevada, the closest town to Area 51, will be sharing it’s 7.6 square mile town with a crowd of up to 25,000 people. With a total population of 54 people, Rachel’s occupancy could increase to 463 times the normal number in the span of a day.

It’s all thanks to an event called Alienstock, born from the internet Facebook page created two months ago entitled “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us.” Alienstock, masterminded by 20-year-old Matty Roberts, creator of the Facebook group, replaces the viral Area 51 raid with a festival boasting live music, food and amenities like Emergency Medical Services and security. But how can a town with only one hotel and a population of less than one hundred accommodate all of these people?

The event, which is being planned by Roberts and a local bar called Little A’Le’Inn, still hasn’t shared many important planning details, which is worrying locals and leading authorities to prepare a declaration of emergency in case the event goes south. Since the number of attendees can’t be predicted, the ability to provide adequate necessities to attendees is compromised and the residents can’t know what to expect on the day of the event.

This event is eerily similar to past events, like TanaCon or Fyre Festival, that gained large followings on the internet but ultimately fell to disaster due to factors like poor planning or being in over their heads. Based on the resemblance, I project that Alienstock is headed for a double-whammy disaster of overcrowding a town and under-providing for the attendees.

TanaCon, an event put on by a YouTuber as an alternative to VidCon, was shut down after the first day left fans crowded together outside for hours without seeing

Alienstock’s impracticality and unpreparedness is headed in the direction of similar past failed internet sensations

the event or even getting water. Fyre Festival, a “luxury experience,” turned out to be anything but luxurious and failed to provide basic human necessities like shelter. Both events had problems with delivering what was advertised to their attendees because of the out-of-control attendance.

With Alienstock’s Facebook page projecting a crowd of 10,000-25,000, we’re essentially watching history repeat itself — but instead of a location meant for thousands like TanaCon or Fyre Festival, it’s in a town of less than a hundred.

Despite authorities advising against the ill-planned event and locals condemning it, over 10,000 people have RSVP’d to Alienstock, and over 13,000 more are interested in it.

Alienstock is headed the way of TanaCon and Fyre Festival, and it’s because the internet allows underqualified people to set possibly inadvisable plans into motion, and include thousands of clueless people in the event.

Both TanaCon and Fyre Festival were highly attended because of the events’ social media exposures — YouTuber Tana Mongeau, the host of TanaCon, was able to build a following for the event through her nearly five million YouTube followers. Fyre Festival’s clout was built on the misleading promotional posts done by famous models like Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner. Alienstock’s following was created through a viral meme from Facebook. Social media allows bandwagons to form around events like this, leading to high numbers of people subscribing to something before they’ve considered the reliability or consequences.

One of the most problematic shortcomings all three events share is inability to supply everyone attending with things like water and space. TanaCon left many attendees outside of the actual event in the heat for hours without means of hydration, and some of Fyre Festival’s VIP guests

were forced to sleep outside due to the shortage of shelters set up to stay in.

Alienstock’s website says that for water purposes, “Rachel has a well ready for use, we only need to secure the equipment needed to process the water for hydration stations.” A well built in a town of under one hundred people hydrating over 10,000 thirsty alien apprehenders in Nevada’s hot climate? Even if there is technically enough water, the two day festival could consume roughly a year’s worth of the town’s water.

No wonder the locals are worried.

“Locals are not kept in the loop and they certainly are not happy about this event that is likely to bring chaos to Rachel,” writes a resident on Rachel, Nevada’s official website. “Law enforcement will be overwhelmed and local residents will step up to protect their property. It could get ugly. Please consider visiting our town another time.”

Alienstock is upsetting locals and authorities and doesn’t have control over how many attendees will show up or how they are going to adequately provide an unknown number of people with necessities like water. The situation isn’t under their control — and their website practically says it, too.

“This event is taking place whether we set up or not,” The site reads. “It’s basically its own entity now.”

That’s the problem — it’s so out of hand that the predicted attendence’s margin of uncertainty is 13,000 people, in a town of less than 100.

Posting memes about aliens on the internet is one thing, but we need to not put 10,000 extraterrestrial enthusiasts and 54 innocent residents in danger for the sake of a party evolved from a viral meme.

EDITORIAL POLICY The Harbinger is a student-run publication. Published editorials express the views of the Harbinger staff. Signed columns published in the Harbinger express the writer’s personal opinion.

The contents and views of the Harbinger do not represent the student body, faculty, administration or Shawnee Mission School District. The Harbinger will not share any unpublished content, but quoted material may be confirmed with sources. The Harbinger encourages letters to the editors, but reserves the right to reject them for reasons including but not limited to lack of space, multiple letters of the same topic and personal attacks contained in the letter. The Harbinger will not edit content though letters may be edited for clarity, length, libel or mechanics. Letters should be sent to room 521 or emailed to smeharbinger@gmail.com

04 | NEWS

NEWS

design by | allison wilcox photos by | morgan woods by lucia barraza

HIGHLIGHTS Ca tc h u p o n n ew s a ro u n d t h e s c h o o l , t h e sta te a n d t h e n a t i o n

LOC A L

Construction occurring in Prairie Village

JUNIPER DRIVE AND LINDEN Lane are currently under construction as part of Prairie Village’s annual residential street repair program, which started in early August.

Thirteen streets have already been completed, and Tomahawk Road, Aberdeen Road, Eaton Street and 87th Street to Mission Road are all scheduled for reconstruction soon.

Inclement weather and discovering more extensive damage than originally expected has caused delays on two streets so far, resulting in some projects being extended. According to Senior Project Manager Melissa Prenger, if certain roads can’t be completely finished by the end of fall, then construction on those roads will not begin until next spring.

With the residential street repair program’s annual budget of three million dollars, streets were inspected last fall by the city, and those in the highest need of repair were chosen for reconstruction. Potholes, deteriorating curbs and missing or damaged sidewalks were all taken into account. According to Prenger, the most common problem found this year was damaged asphalt.

During the summer, informational flyers were posted on residents’ doors, alerting them about the upcoming construction and how they might be affected. Neighborhood meetings were also held to give more detailed information about the construction and allow residents to ask the contracting company, O’Donnell and Sons, any questions.

Prengers hopes for patience from residents as work continues and the construction teams work through unexpected delays.

“If you’re being asked to be displaced from your driveway for five days while we reconstruct your driveway with a new sidewalk or a new apron while we tie in the things, it’s inconvenient and it can be tiresome,” Prenger said.

“We always appreciate the residents having some patience with us while we make improvements to their neighborhood.

T O P Construction going on at 83rd and Mission blocking an entrance to Corinth Square photo by | morgan woods

E A S T Fourth quarter will not have late starts STARTING FOURTH QUARTER, Thursday late starts will be removed this year, so that seniors have enough hours to graduate on May 12.

This year’s SMSD calendar included two and a half days less than last year, leaving seniors short of the state graduation requirements for attendance.

All other SMSD schools are affected by this change and are also making adjustments to the amount of late starts this year.

Without the late start, Thursday seminars will be extended to two hours long as opposed to the normal 50 minute block. According to Principal Dr. Scott Sherman, right now there are no plans set for how the two hour long seminars will be used, but he plans to meet with the other SMSD schools to discuss possible ideas. Sherman said the extra time could be valuable for students who need more time to study for tests or meet with teachers.

“Kids will have AP and IB tests coming up in the spring, so it gives them more time to study for those tests,” Sherman said. “Some of the teachers might [also] have whole study sessions during seminar too.”

It definitely upsets me because Thursday mornings are good ways for me to catch up on sleep or work that I didn’t get done the night before I can do it then

emory apodaca | senior While senior Emory Apodaca understands the reason behind the loss of late starts, he is frustrated with the potential loss of free time.

“It definitely upsets me because Thursday mornings are good ways for me to catch up on sleep or if I have a lot of work that I didn’t get done the night before I can do it then,” Apodaca said. “It helps me maintain my health.”

N AT I O N A L

Spider-Man may be leaving Marvel Cinematic Universe

IT WAS ANNOUNCED ON Aug. 21 that Sony and Disney failed to reach an agreement over the joint ownership of the Marvel character, Spider-Man, resulting in the character currently being forced out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

In 2015, Sony, the sole owner of Spider-Man, entered a deal with Disney-owned Marvel in order to allow Spider-Man to be a character in the MCU. The original agreement established that Sony would finance all of the Spider-Man solo films and receive 90% of the profits. In exchange for granting Spider-Man entrance into MCU films, Disney would then receive 10% of the solo movie profits and the rights to Spider-Man merchandise.

Earlier this year, Disney asked to change their agreement to a 50:50 profit cut, but Sony refused.

After months of negotiations, the two companies failed to reach a new agreement, leading Disney to pull Spider-Man out of the MCU. Both companies’ failure to renegotiate their joint contract could mean that Spider-Man would no longer be able to appear in any future Avengers films, and the storyline in his solo films could not be associated with any Avengers characters or plotlines.

Long time Spider-Man fan senior Jane Sonnechson said the pulling of Spider-Man from the MCU could be a big loss for Marvel fans.

“After Endgame, he’s the original link to all the characters everyone loved so much,” Sonnechson said. “So to have this part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that people are so familiar with go away, I think it’s going to be really sad and hard because suddenly he’s just not there anymore.”

Tom Holland, the actor currently portraying Spider-Man, has expressed an optimistic attitude towards the character’s new direction.

“Who knows what the future holds?” Holland told Entertainment. “All I know is that I’m going to continue playing Spider-Man and having the time of my life. The future for Spider-Man will be different, but it will be equally as awesome and amazing, and we’ll find new ways to make it even cooler.”

The deal has not been settled yet, so many fans still have hope for the two companies to reach an agreement.

M A R K YO U R C A L E N DA R F A L L P E P A S S E M B L Y | s e p t . 5 | O R C H E S T R A C A R WA S H | s e p t . 7 B O A R D O F E D U C A T I O N M E E T I N G | s e p t . 9 | L A N C E R D AY / F I R S T F O O T B A L L G A M E | s e p t . 1 2

NEWS | 05

design by | jackie cameron

A LT E R E D A P F by rose kanaley

or the first time in seven years, College Board changed the 2019-20 AP curriculum and registration

date.

The new deadline to register for 2019-20 AP exams is Nov. 1, 2019, although after that date students can still register for the exams through Nov. 15 by paying an additional $40 late fee on top of the normal fee of $94.

The previous deadline for registration

NOV. 1

IS THE DEADLINE FOR STUDENTS TO REGISTER FOR THE EXAMS WITHOUT A L AT E F E E

was Feb. 28, with late fee registration going through March 14.

The four-month change in registration deadline requires students to decide whether they’re going to take the AP exam after less than three months of being in the class.

According to College Board, they made this change because when the earlier date registration was tested in the 2017-18 year, they found an increase in the scores of three out of five on the exam or higher, particularly in groups previously underrepresented in higher scores like minority students, low income students and female STEM students.

AP Psychology teacher, Brett Kramer, believes the earlier registration makes it harder to determine if students will be ready to take the test so early in the course.

“You’re not even half-way through the year yet and you’re supposed to decide whether or not you’re going to be prepared in May for a pretty expansive test,” Kramer said. “I don’t think it makes sense.”

Junior Lily Utt, who is enrolled in six AP classes, believes students will be less likely to sign up at such an early point in the class as it’s already an expensive exam and having to decide so early will be difficult.

“That’s not fair because if you’re only in a class a couple of months, how are you supposed to gauge whether or not you’ll be ready for the AP test,” Utt

said. “For families that it’s difficult for them to pay $600 or $100, making them choose to pay that upfront when the student might not actually be prepared to take it when it comes isn’t fair.”

College Board also made changes in AP curriculum that vary from class to class, according to Jennifer Davis, East’s AP Biology teacher.

“I would say it’s more organized,” Davis said. “With this new change, not only did they make it a lot more streamlined with ‘here’s what you need to know’ and ‘here’s what the kids need to know,’ but they’ve also provided a lot more resources that they haven’t in the past.”

With the registration deadline changes also came an updated curriculum, including removing and adding new units while also changing some of their formatting for the AP test. They’ve made the changes based on advances and updates in the fields studied through the courses.

Certain AP tests have varied changes based on the course and curriculum changes.

“They’ve lessened the number of things on the exam for biology,” Davis said. “But just from talking with other AP teachers, well one we don’t know exactly what it looks like, but we think it’s going to be that because they didn’t lessen the time per question it’s going to be a little bit more intense than before.”

Along with the change in curriculum and registration date, College Board has added a new resource to the courses — AP classroom. AP classroom provides practice tests, instructional support and progress checks to prepare throughout the year for the exam.

“I think that AP classroom can be helpful because it gives you tests and questions that are similar to what we’ll see on the AP test,” Utt said. “Hopefully they’ll help because it’s giving us more exposure to AP material at an earlier state whereas last year we didn’t have those test questions until the end of the year.”

The other aspects of AP exams such as the time period the exams are administered, the exam fee and the deadline to pay the exam fee will remain the same.

College Board makes changes to 2019-2020 AP curriculum and exam registration date

LANCER VOICE AP student’s thoughts on the changes

“With the November deadline, I just don’t think that’s a long enough time for you to determine if the AP test is a good choice.”

joe vanderlaan | senior

“I don’t think [the early registration will affect me] because I like to take as many tests as I can to see if I can get college credit, but the new day is kind of annoying because you don’t have as much time to see how much you learned from the class.”

anna gunderman | senior

“I really like the new AP Classroom because of the whole progress check thing because that would’ve been amazing last year.”

anna blair | junior

SCORE REPORT a breakdown of some of last year’s score distribution

AP Bio

AP Chem AP U.S. History

AP Physics 1

5

4

3

2

1

AP CHANGES Check out what’s new in AP curriculum progress

progress checks with AP questions

classroom

online resources

new labels

student ID labels with exam information

online AP question blank for teachers

unit guide

suggests pacing of content

?

questions

1

deadline

Nov. 1 registration date

*information courtesy of college board

06 | NEWS

design by | lilah faye and brynn winkler

REWRITING T H E R I G H TS SMSD is hopeful for a reduction in First Amendment controversies after free speech settlement with ACLU

by catherine erickson

S

MSD finalized a new censorship policy on Aug. 12 after being required to add new language following a lawsuit settlement between the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the district after the district was accused of infringing on the students’ First Amendment rights.

The lawsuit followed the nationwide walkout protesting gun violence on April 20, 2018, where two students from Shawnee Mission North and one from Hocker Grove Middle School commented on gun control and photographed the protest. Administrators ordered them to stop photographing and speaking in the protest, as they deemed the topic too controversial. The administrators threatened discipline and confiscated the students’ journalism photography equipment.

On June 24, members of the SMSD board announced the new policy to the public during a board meeting after adding the required language which emphasized that administrators can’t ban student journalists from oncampus events open to the student body. The district also wanted to set boundaries on non-school sponsored, or “underground” newspapers such as the Eastonian and give the district power to discipline the authors of the underground publications. first • amendment

p rote c ts t h e free d o m of spee c h , press, asse m bly, petition a nd re l i g i o n

However, this first reading of the new policy was restrictive for both established and underground publications and gave the administration power to supervise and restrict what articles were published in both types of publication. This policy received a lot of backlash from students and First Amendment groups.

At the July 8 board meeting, the Harbinger’s Online Editor-In-Chief, Ben Henschel, along with two other SMSD student journalists, spoke out against the new policy and the importance of not having administrative censorship. “[Journalism] keeps people in check, that’s the point,” Henschel said. “People know that what they’re doing will be talked about if it needs to be. That’s the importance of newspapers that are willing to cover the hard issues if it needs to. We get treated like real journalists which means

Censorship Policy Additions required by ACLU settlement

we have real freedoms, but also means we can’t be messing up.”

At the final reading on Aug. 12, the policy was edited to sound similar to the initial policy — stories that are obscene or libelous and will cause a disruption to the school day cannot be distributed. This policy still gives the district power to censor underground newspapers.

According to Henschel, the final altering of the policy was influenced by the attendance and speakers at the July 8 meeting and the emails and comments from organizations like the Student Press Law Center.

In addition to editing the censorship policy, the settlement also required all district building administrators and building principals to attend civil rights training, the district to send apology letters to the Plaintiffs and the development of a new policy for non-school sponsored events.

The civil rights training took place on July 25 and was presented by Mark Johnson, an attorney who focuses on constitutional law at Dentons Law Firm.

During the training, Johnson presented a lesson on the history of the U.S. Constitution and different cases which have shaped the student First Amendment laws, such as the Tinker vs. Des Moines School District case, where students were expelled for wearing black armbands in protest of the Vietnam War. Johnson focused on the black armband case because it resulted in the Tinker Substantial Disruption test which states “conduct by the student...[which] materially disrupts classwork or involves substantial disorder or invasion of the rights of others is, of course, not immunized by the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech,” according to Johnson’s civil rights power point.

The most common practice of this standard is students posting about other students on social media and trying to balance students’ First Amendment rights with a safe school environment. Rachel England, the district’s attorney, says the most common call she receives is parents approaching her with a printed Snapchat or Instagram post.

“If we think [the post is] going to cause a substantial disruption, we can discipline the students, but that makes you predict the future,” England said. “And I think school administrators are well aware that students have First Amendment rights but when it actually comes down to split minute decisions, it’s really difficult to predict things like

will there be a substantial disruption.”

In addition to the training, the district has also adopted a new policy for non-school sponsored, student-organized events, such as protests. The district now asks that students approach administration to organize a time and location for the event so the district can be sure to have appropriate safe-guards in place. If a spontaneous protest occurs, the district is now able to redirect it and plan the protest for a different day instead.

Lauren Bonds, the ACLU attorney who sued the district on behalf of the three students at the walkouts, believes the new policies and training will decrease First Amendment conflict in the future, such as the conflict following the 2016 election when the district breached teachers’ freedom of expression by banning them from wearing safety pins in protest of President Trump’s victory. “[The lawsuit was caused by] a lack of information [and a] lack of understanding of what the law requires and

We get treated like real journalists which means we have real freedoms, but also means we can’t be messing up.

ben henschel | senior

permits,” Bonds said. “So that’s really what we’re hopeful will come out of that training is that everyone will have a better handle on what student protections are and what the school can do in order to maintain order.”

Following these events, Bonds foresees the district taking responsibility for their actions and handling Civil Rights mix-ups better.

“We’re hopeful this is perhaps a new era for the Shawnee Mission School District,” Bonds said. “The reason this lawsuit ended up getting filed is because the administration wasn’t willing to acknowledge its faults and take the steps, so I think we’re definitely in a different place with the new superintendent and we’re optimistic about the district’s new attorney as well. Hopefully we’ll be able to resolve it with just a few conversations and we can count on the district to take control of those actions.”

Administrators shall not: ban or exclude journalists from on-campus events that are

“On-campus events open to the student body”

otherwise open to the general student body

shall mean that the event takes place on school

confiscate student journalists’ equipment while they are

property and is open to the general student

attending such events on the sole basis that they are student

body of the school”

journalists

NEWS | 07

design by | allison talge

P RO J EC T

FINISH

G E D S TAT S 2013 76% of students got their GED

2015 58% of students got their GED

New SMSD program allows individuals over the age of 19 to complete their GED

2016

by brynn winkler

A

s of Aug. 28, 39 candidates were enrolled to complete the rest of their required high school credits through Project Finish, the Shawnee Mission School District’s new online diploma completion program.

The cost to enroll is $60 and is open to any former high school student 19 years of age or older living within the SMSD boundaries. The program, which uses an online learning platform, was officially launched Sept. 1.

Previously, if an SMSD high school student dropped out and wished to continue their education, they usually opted to go through Johnson County Community College (JCCC) to get their Graduate Equivalency Degree, or GED, according to East Principal Dr. Scott Sherman.

Even if they’re deferred goals, if we have individuals that accomplish their goals, then it just changed the trajectory of their life

paul colwell | horizons principal But Project Finish offers an official SMSD high school diploma, which Sherman and Horizons Principal Paul Colwell said is more appealing to employers and universities than a GED. Colwell, who oversees Project Finish and all of SMSD’s alternative programs, explained that this is because a diploma signifies the completion of a four-year program, while a GED is awarded after passing one test.

Karina Montiel, an enrolled Project Finish student who dropped out of JC Harmon High School in 1999 after becoming pregnant, said receiving her diploma would hold more meaning to her than a GED. “It means a greater thing to me because it’s a joy and honor to graduate from high school,” Montiel said. “I couldn’t do it when I was younger but I’m doing it now.”

Montiel, who has already tried multiple times to

get her GED through programs like the one offered through JCCC, says she thinks she could be more successful in Project Finish because of the one-onone instruction time they’ll provide at Horizons.

“It’s going to be like high school,” Montiel said.

“If you need assistance they’ll be there for you to help you through it. With the other programs they just sat you in front of the computer and gave you what they thought you needed to do, and they wouldn’t help you.”

Whether it’s just something they promised their parents they would do, or a step necessary to advance in their career, diploma completion teacher Sarah Finocchario said the online platform gives students a flexibility that traditional high school doesn’t.

“Some alternative students just learn better working at their own pace and in their own environment where they’re comfortable,” Finocchario said. “Intelligence is usually not a factor in getting a diploma. It’s life factors, so I can promise we’ll probably have students knock out a whole semester in two weeks.”

Project Finish students will have access to the Horizons computer lab and the Johnson County Library when completing their credits, or they can work at any other preferred work spot. For some students, this may be their home. Montiel, who’s a parent to two girls with disabilities, says the program is unique because she can learn from home and help her kids while also having access to teachers in a school setting.

According to Colwell, the average student that devotes a reasonable amount of time to their coursework will complete one half-credit course in about a month. After Labor Day, prospective Project Finish students can enroll at Horizons on Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Colwell said the new program provides students with a convenient way to reach both personal and professional goals.

“Even if they’re deferred goals, if we have individuals that accomplish their goals, then it just changed the trajectory of their life,” Colwell said.

60% of students got their GED

T H E T H R E E F ’S The top three reasons why students drop out of high school

FINANCIAL Most financial problems happen when parents lose their job or leave their kids to figure out a way on their own, leading to the students dropping out of school and getting a full-time job.

F A M I LY H a v i n g t o wo r k i n a fa m i l y b u s i n e s s a n d p r ov i d e fo r t h e f a m i l y. To s o m e f a m i l i e s , f a m i l y r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s c a n be more important than completing highschool.

FA I L I N G Failing classes tend to discourage students, making t h e m m o re l i ke l y to d ro p o u t .

* i n fo r m a t i o n c o u r tesy o f p l a n n e r. c o m

SCAN ME | website Scan this QR code for more information about GEDs

08 OPINION

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OPINION

HIGHLIGHTS A look into student opinions and the opinion section

THE WEEK IN 240 C H A R AC T E R S U P DAT E : S H AW N E E C I T Y C O U N C I L PA S S E D T H E N O N D I S C R I M I N AT I O N O R D I N A N C E 5 - 2 . I T W I L L TA K E E F F EC T T U E S DAY, S E P T E M B E R 3 , 2 01 9 .

C I T Y O F S H AW N E E , K A N SAS | 08 / 2 6 / 1 9

TO DAY, I A M E N D I N G M Y C A M PA I G N F O R P R E S I D E N T .

UNPOPULAR OPINIONS

I A M S O P RO U D O F T H I S T E A M A N D A L L W E ’ V E AC C O M P L I S H E D. B U T I T H I N K I T ’S I M P O RTA N T TO K N OW H OW YO U C A N B E ST S E RV E . TO O U R

I don’t eat olive oil on ice cream a lot but it’s really good. It seems really weird but it makes the consistency a lot better. It also gives a richer flavor, you’d be surprised. I saw it on TV, on the food channel.

S U P P O RT E R S : T H A N K YO U, F RO M T H E B OT TO M O F M Y H E A RT . N OW, L E T ’S G O B E AT D O N A L D T R U M P A N D W I N B AC K T H E S E N AT E .

K I R ST E N G I L L I B R A N D | 08 / 2 8 / 1 9

kenny pottenger | junior

I think the anti vaccination movement could be a ploy by the Chinese government to weaken overall American health. It’s something to get behind.

T H E K A N SA S C I T Y ZO O W I L L S O O N B EG I N A $ 1 0 M I L L I O N R E N OVAT I O N O F O U R E X I ST I N G A F R I C A N E L E P H A N T E X H I B I T ! @ K A N S A S C I T Y ZO O K A N SAS C I T Y ZO O | 08 / 2 8 / 1 9

harvey ji | senior

O P I N I O N AT E D .

OP-ONLINE

WAKE UP TO GET PARKING PASSES OR ORDER ONLINE? | 299 VOTES

Junior staffer Rose Kanaley voices her opinion on why girls need pockets in their clothing

Y

ou go to put your hands in your pockets only to get that sinking feeling when you find they’re sewn shut “to be fashionable.”

We have a catastrophe here with women’s clothing. And it’s pockets.

Wikipedia may describe a pocket as just “a bag or envelopelike receptacle either fastened to or inserted in an article of clothing to hold small items” — but us girls know it’s much more than that. It may sound irrelevant, but trust me when I tell you that it makes a difference.

Pockets are somewhere to put your hands to avoid standing awkwardly with your arms dangling.

Pockets are the perfect spot for that Burt’s Bees chapstick you know you’ll lose otherwise. In dramaticbut-maybe-true terms, pockets are

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absolutely a necessity to function in everyday life.

I watch guys walk around in any outfit — from a workout shirt and shorts to a blazer and dress pants — they don’t even think as they slide their phone, wallet, keys, extra change and snacks for later into any one of their pockets.

And not only do they have them, they’re deeper than Milk and Honey

by Rupi Kaur.

And then there’s me. If I’m going to get ready for a dinner at Taco Republic with my friends or for the Mario-themed homecoming dance, my outfit isn’t the only thing I need to stress about. I need a purse or clutch to match my heels because nothing is more awkward than having to ask your date to hold your phone and credit card.

26% EARLY VSCO OR INSTAGRAM? | 359 VOTES

Even when girls clothing throws us a bone and puts in a pocket, we’re lucky if it’s two square inches. I don’t have a clue what Lululemon or Zara think we’re going to do with these micro-sized pockets, but we surely can’t keep anything worth carrying in there.

And if I try to slide my iPhone into one more pocket just to find out it’s fake, I might just rip it right off.

Way back in the 17th century — when ruffles were actually appealing — someone invented the pocket. But that pocket was only placed in men’s clothing, other than the occasional small one they’d place under all the layers a woman was wearing, which made it virtually inaccessible.

READ MORE ONLINE

13% VSCO 87% INSTAGRAM IS SENIORITY UNFAIR? | 376 VOTES

88% NO 12%

YES

DO YOU TALK ABOUT POLITICS WITH YOUR FRIENDS? | 350

45% YES 55% NO

OPINION | 09

design by | maddox mogenson photos pulled by | trevor paulus and lauren dierks

VS(GO GIRLS)

Girls, especially those who follow trends, don’t need to be categorized or criticized

I

by lauren dierks

open my phone and hear a high-pitched “and I oop! Sksksks.” I scroll to escape but five new dance trends later it’s another screeching girl in the frame with scrunchie-covered wrists and a sticker covered Hydroflask in hand. Just one more VSCO girl skit among the hundreds already residing on TikTok. VSCO, Visual Supply Company, is an app where you can shamelessly post dozens of vsco • girl

has va n s, c ro c s, b i r ke n stoc ks an d wears a s hel l n e c kl a ce, s h e also we ars tu be tops a n d je a n s h o r ts, a n d always h as a hydro fl a s k

post-shower, golden hour selfies without the stress of likes and comments. With the rise of TikTok, girls are being dragged for spending time on VSCO. More specifically, sporting the ‘VSCO girl’ look: oversized tees, scrunchies, puka shell necklaces and a rotating cycle of Brandy Melville tops.

Why should they have to compromise their comfort and preferences to avoid being a target?

They shouldn’t. Seeing these skits of girls on TikTok started to make me want to put my comfiest T-shirt back in the drawer and use a simple black hair tie whenever I leave the house.

In an instagram poll of 274 East students, 36% think being called a VSCO girl is offensive or has negative connotations.

In a poll of 284, 50% think that being called ‘basic’ is offensive or has negative connotations. While it may seem like a joke, it affects people more than we realize.

I wouldn’t consider myself a VSCO girl considering I rarely ever open the app, but my not-so-white Nike Airforce 1’s and eyesore messy buns may prove otherwise.

This trend is making a whole population of teenage girls self-conscious for no reason.

Criticizing girls for how they look is enough to make anyone look in the mirror and not

like what they see.

All sorts of descriptions fall under “basic,” none of which I would consider flattering. But am I restricted only to the exclusive section of Urban Outfitters online to avoid that label? I don’t know about you, but it’s much easier to find a cute, simple top in Target than it is to spend hours searching for a “boujee” shirt no one else has.

I miss not caring about wearing oversized shirts I steal from my dad and rainbow flipflops all the time. It’s exhausting trying to avoid the “basic” label. People are going to be grouped no matter what they wear — if you dress up for school you’re a ‘try-hard’ and if you like thrifting you’re ‘stuck in the wrong generation.’

It’s not just fashion choices that are being criticized. Everything from music taste to

Criticizing girls for how they look is enough to make anyone look in the mirror and not like what they see.

lauren dierks | junior favorite restaurants are being shuffled into the same category — I find myself trying to escape it all. I shouldn’t feel embarrassed when I delve into my favorite açaí bowl or listen to old-school Taylor Swift at full volume when it rains.

It’s no surprise that the internet makes it easy to tease people. We find ourselves dragging people for the same things we do away from the screen. You can’t make someone feel badly for wearing a scrunchie and a star choker when you have the same items sitting on your bathroom counter at home. So if you aren’t about bracelets dangling from your Hydroflask lid or beachy seashell necklaces, it doesn’t mean everyone else has to agree.

TAKE A PIC | VSCO Download the VSCO app now to indulge in all the trends

10 | OPINION

design by | riley atkinson

power in

POLITICS Staffer shares her opinion that teenagers should get more involved in politics by phoebe hendon

I

’ve always been someone with strong opinions. For me, waffles beat pancakes any day, Pinterest’s quirky-girl content puts VSCO’s to shame and Apple Music wants what Spotify has. No matter the topic, I’m the person to take a stance and be vocal about it.

Within the past few years, I’ve found my niche in the realm of politics, a calling that satisfies my penchant for problem-solving and love of helping others. To some, it may seem daunting, but choosing to put in the effort to stay up to date on election news and general political happenings makes for a more well-rounded individual, regardless of the party they support.

American citizens take for granted their incredible privilege to participate in the political process, and as tension in our country increases by the day, it’s more important than ever for teenagers to educate themselves about the world around them.

Social media is 100 percent to blame for my interest in politics — combined with a little influence from my enthusiastic family — but not everyone has easy avenues to exposure.

As frequently as I tune into NPR on my way to school and check the New York Times for updates on the 2020 election, I realize many of my peers can’t name even one of the four congresspeople from our own state.

For those who don’t know, their names are Roger Marshall, Sharice Davids, Ron Estes and Steve Watkins, and their importance is nothing to be downplayed. They fiddle with behindthe-scenes details that directly impact Kansans,

from school budgets to forums bringing national discussions straight to locals.

I can understand why most teens don’t throw themselves into politics. Our days are governed by neverending Spanish flashcards, after-school sports practices and Snapchat stories that demand our undivided attention. But the future is coming sooner than we think, and the only way to change it is to act now.

Claiming that politics don’t matter to teenagers couldn’t be further from the truth.

Debates over hot-button issues like gun control, student debt, healthcare and climate change dominate Twitter’s trending page, and no matter your opinion on these all-too relevant topics, sitting back idly does no good for anyone. Most teens exist comfortably with the belief that they can avoid politics until they’re of voting age, but 18 years of indifference doesn’t make for successful integration into America’s political environment.

As a 16-year-old girl in 2019, I know more than most what it’s like to feel small, especially in a nation primarily run by old, white men who think young people aren’t capable of changing it.

Issues that dominate headlines appear much bigger than me, and national crises seem to reach a volume higher than my voice

ever could. As bleak as this may sound, it’s not without hope. Teens, myself often included, tend to forget about the tools they have to spread their thoughts right at their fingertips.

Social media allows young people to be a part of the conversation, to share their views and advocate for issues that matter to them.

All it takes is a few clicks to create an account that puts you under a spotlight with the same luminosity as politicians and elementary-aged kids alike. Many teens use social media as an outlet to voice their political opinions. Instagram provides an easy way to share messages through a feature that allows users to repost one person’s post onto their own stories. Twitter allows accounts to re-tweet messages posted by other users to show their support. But how can we cross over the line from social media activism into real-world action?

Thanks to student-run groups right here at East such as Youth in Government, Feminist Club and Coalition, those interested — and all of us should be — in taking that next step have more than plenty of opportunities to do so.

As high schoolers, it can be scary to think about the world beyond the walls of East, but it’s important for teens to know they aren’t alone. Though these clubs teach you about political processes and provide a means

92%

of respondants said they think it is important for teenagers to be educated about politics

74%

of respondants said they have done something to be active in a campaign *results from instagram poll

to keep yourself updated about current events, perhaps most important is the ability to find a network of people who speak up for their values and want to see the world improve.

There was a time when teenagers were forced out of political conversations, but it’s clearer than ever the point of separation between youth and government needs to be blurred. Teens can no longer afford to stay silent in conversations that demand the addition of our voices.

We’re unbelievably lucky to attend a school with so many outlets for students to take their passions and execute them into involvement, but unless we all realize the consequences of complacency, we will continue to be excluded from the political narrative.

Adolescence is a scary time for everyone.

Simple acts like volunteering for a campaign or signing up for an educating newsletter take courage, and from this courage comes empowerment driven by the realization that we have a power no one can take away or diminish.

Even when the thought of speaking out about something like a climate change stance might be intimidating, it’s crucial for us to realize our contributions matter.

I won’t be of voting age by the time 2020’s presidential and congressional elections roll around, but I don’t care; we all have a duty to stand up for our personal beliefs. The outcomes of debates in Congress become legislature that directly affects our lives, and whether the impact takes months or years, it’s essential that we pay attention to decisions being made right now when we have the power to change our own worlds.

STEPS TO GET INVOLVED

GET

I NVO LVED

1.

2.

3.

J oin c lubs like Youth I n Govern ment Contac t political offic ials to volunteer at cam paig n s Keep up with c urrent events th rough twitter or n ews s ites

OPINION | 11

design by | lauren west photos by | megan stopperan

223

P RKI NG PA S S PROB EMS A B O V E Staffer Annabelle Moore lies in a pile of parking passes handed out to the junior class at 6 a.m.

Staffer discusses the problems in the system of distributing parking passes

by annabelle moore

R

ather than waking up to the alarms I set for 3, 3:30 and 4 a.m., I woke up to my mother’s blaring voice screaming: “Annabelle it’s 7:30, what is going on!?”

Shoot.

My parking spot — the coveted, into-theschool-in-two-steps-spot — is probably gone.

I can’t arrive at 7 a.m. just to park at the back of the senior lot every day. And Delmar is definitely out of the picture — there’s no way I’m reliving freshman and sophomore year all over again. I’m finally an upperclassman, don’t I deserve this?

A spot in the junior lot, or senior lot if we were lucky, was all that had mattered to me and the two friends I set the alarms with. A spot that was accessible amid cold Prairie Village winters. Not even the perfect spot, just a spot. Any spot so we could sleep every morning in the school year until 6:50 and arrive two minutes before the bell. No more worrying about whether or not we would miss the last spot in the sophomore lot and get stuck on Delmar treading through the mud and ice on the soccer field.

So yeah, I slept through an hour of alarms on one of the most important days to a junior in high school: the day we got our reserved parking passes. Granted — this is my fault and no one is to blame but myself and my quiet ringtone. But let’s say I hadn’t slept on through several hours of alarms.

My friends and I would have gotten up around 4:30 a.m. to arrive in the sophomore lot since it’s technically not school property — the rules on camping out have been altered this year. We would chug some hazelnut

coffee, then open our eyes to the hundreds of sleep-deprived juniors who would already be there in a huddle, pushing and shoving to get the first spot.

Haney would have walked up and passed out blue numbered slips that hold your place in line, but the short stack of slips would run out, leaving hundreds of juniors without a place in line or without a place in the lot.

There were around 200 blue slips handed out to the 438 juniors in my class — give or take a few. That’s 238 students left without a guaranteed parking spot for the rest of the year. Can Delmar even hold that many cars?

The number of junior spots were so limited because the whole senior class snagged their A spot that was accessible amid cold Prarie Village winters. Not even the perfect spot, just a spot.

Annabelle Moore | junior

parking passes online last school year during a seminar in May. Every senior who needed or wanted a spot could get one.

The problem with this system — seniors online and juniors in person — is that for seniors, a spot was assured with just a click and good internet connection. For juniors, we had to sacrifice sleep and sanity in the middle of the summer and line up for it. Juniors had to want it.

The process needs to be one or the other due to the limited number of parking spots at Shawnee Mission East. Anyone who is willing to wake up at 5 a.m. on a summer morning should get a spot — no matter their age.

When my friends and I had arrived at 7:45,

we found out the blue slips had been gone for an hour and 42 minutes. We continued, with hope, to put our names on a 93 person waiting list, which Haney told us meant we had just about a zero percent chance of getting a spot.

Juniors who showed up only minutes late were doing everything they could to get a blue slip. Someone was out of town so their mom got there at 6 a.m. for them — they didn’t get a spot.

I tried to bribe Haney, which obviously didn’t work, and then finally convinced two juniors boys to sell my friend and I their spots in line for $250 each. In other words, nearly half of what I own. That’s 50 Starbucks drinks I won’t be able to buy...

There can be a consensus. Administration and class representatives can meet and find a solution so that both the junior and senior classes have to take the same course of action to get a parking spot. Whether that be we all line up on a summer morning — seniors go first in line, obviously — or we all do it on a website. Either way, no student should have to pay $250 for a spot just because the odds were unjust.

The seniors get to leave for lunch or be late to their classes. They ‘get’ senior skip day, and the pride and spirit that comes with your last year of being a Lancer. Easier classes, for some, and the front of the parking lot reserved for them from the get-go. But for something as crucial as whether or not your parent will have to be late to work to drop you off at school, every upperclassman should have fair game.

which is better?

SME students vote if they’d rather get parking passes online or in person

74%

26% VS

*instagram poll of 753

don’t be late!

How early you should get to school to make it to class before the bell SOPHOMORE LOT

7:15

JUNIOR LOT

7:25

SENIOR LOT

7:30

SENIOR ADS!

WANT TO PURCHASE A SENIOR AD IN THE YEARBOOK? 1

PICK UP A FORM IN THE OFFICE

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H AV E Y O U R P I C T U R E S S U B M I T T E D B Y S E P T E M B E R 2 2 N D * TURN IN ALL ITEMS TO THE FRONT OFFICE. * E M A I L D I G I TA L P H O T O S T O H A U B E R K A D S 2 0 2 0 @ G M A I L . C O M

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design by | sophie henschel photos by | reilly moreland

FEATURES | 13

E

by riley atkinson

HIT THE

LYRIC

very Christmas, freshman Grace Fields and her two older sisters gather around the fire, throw a blanket on and queue up a CD from the past — the one with two-year-old Grace singing along to her sisters’ harp playing.

Fields started singing Jingle Bells not long after she said ‘mama’ for the first time. She was five years old when she started voice lessons and when performed her first musical, “Fiddler on the Roof.”

Now, going into her first year at East, she’s written an album with her own original songs, been in 20 musicals and won over five musical awards. For as long as her family can remember, she has been trying to improve her singing or messing with her guitar to find new chords. And because of the age difference between her and her sisters, she has stepped above what’s normal for kids her age.

“Grace is very driven and musically talented,” her sister Sophie said. “I think no matter what phase of life she’s in, she has always been very passionate about the things she likes. She’s always worked really hard to accomplish her goals.”

SCAN ME | SPOTIFY SCAN HERE TO VIEW GRACE’S RECENT ALBUMS ON SPOTIFY

Freshman Grace Fields is inspired to follow her passion of music under her two older sisters’ influence

H I S T O RY O F G R AC E F I E L D S

GRACE BEGAN VOICE LESSONS AT AGE FIVE.

HER FIRST MUSICAL AT AGE FIVE – FIDDLER ON THE ROOF – WITH HER SISTER, SOPHIE.

SHE WON THE PTA REFLECTIONS CONTEST AT AGE EIGHT FOR A SONG SHE WROTE ABOUT HOUSTON ST. JOHN.

Fields’ maturity and creativity has stemmed greatly from her family. Her older sisters, Sophie and Allie, moved on to high school and college when she began elementary school. Because her sisters were at the age to appreciate culture in foreign places, they traveled to Ireland, Patagonia and France — not your average field trips for a first grader.

“That big age difference has influenced her because we were going on trips and doing things with our older daughters that you don’t usually do with someone her age,” her mom Beth Fields said. “I think some of those experiences have influenced her music.”

Fields has released an eight-song album and various singles since her first recording session at age 12. Gardner by the Sea, a song on her debut album, includes lyrics that were inspired by a pastel-colored picture of Venice in her living room — a souvenir from her trip to Italy when she was 14.

Her most recent single, Checkmate, includes imagery from a trip to France when she was five. Towards the middle of the track, she references the Palace of Versailles. She

RECORDED HER FIRST SONG, BULLSEYE, AT AGE TWELVE.

vaguely remembers the beautiful castle-esque scenery.

“Checkmate has a lyric that goes ‘down, da down, it came like the fall of Versailles’,” Fields said. “I have vague memories of visiting this French palace on that trip. After finding more about Versailles, I knew it would make a great simile to use in my song.”

Through experiences in everyday life, whether she’s roaming the European streets or studying for a geometry quiz, Fields is constantly thinking of what note she wants to hit next or the lyrics to her next chorus.

“She might have an idea while she’s at dinner or hanging out with her family and she will always write notes on her phone,” her sister Allie said. “Her constant observing of the world is a way she works really hard because she’s always thinking about her music.”

Her creative process is different for every song she writes. Sometimes she writes a song on the pink couch in her living room and sometimes it’s in the instrument-strewn music nook off the corner of her room. No matter where she writes, it’s a trip down the street to her producer’s studio afterwards — organized, with her metallic gold notebook in hand.

All of Fields’ music is produced by Chris Bihuniak through Rock Band Academy Studios. From the technical guitar chords to the deep lyric brainstorming that requires a mini therapy sesh — Bihuniak has been her go-to guy for over three years. Alice, a song they coproduced for her debut album, was turned into a three-minute music video with a grand setting and two of her friends as the Queen of Hearts and the Mad Hatter.

“If you look at her music video for Alice, that was pretty much all her and her mom’s work,” Bihuniak said. “That was all her vision and she pretty much wrote the script. I shot the video but it came to a point where it just made more sense for me to leave my computer with her and let her do some of the editing herself.”

Now that Fields is at East, she plans on continuing her music passion — whether that means getting decked out in stage makeup for the East musical or heading to the studio after school to work on new music.

“Music is the way that I can connect with people and express myself,” Fields said. “As I’ve gotten older, I realize that music is such an important part of my life, and I am continually drawn to the creation of it. I’m not sure what the future will bring, but I know that music will play a significant role in my future.”

PLACED SECOND IN MUSIC WRITING CONTEST TO HONOR THOSE KILLED AT THE JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER.

RELEASED HER MOST RECENT SONG, CHECKMATE.

14 | FEATURES

design by | elizabeth mikkelson

R I G H T Sophomore Ashlee Taylor holding her dance shoes and the dress she wore for her performance in the musical “Bye Bye Birdie”. photo by | kate nixon

DANCING TOWARDS A NEW CALLING Sophomore Ashlee Taylor had been involved in competetive flamenco dancing for 12 years, but decided to let it go after finding a new passion in theater

by kelly murphy

auditions.

“She certainly puts theater above all other things on her priority list, including homework,” Ashlee’s stepmom, Jaime Taylor, said. “If you ever look at her during a choir concert or even if she’s in the ensemble of a show, you can tell by her body language and facial expressions that she is completely in the moment and in the character.”

Last year, she volunteered to co-direct and choreograph Seussical Jr. at Prairie Elementary. Every day after school for two months she helped lead 121 fifth and sixth graders by giving them notes on their performances, teaching them dance routines, encouraging them and giving them suggestions like ‘Don’t eat in your costume!’.

“It was obvious how much she loved theater,” Prairie music teacher, Cynthia Connor, said. “She brought along with her lots of knowledge and skills and she did whatever was needed.”

The hours of practicing different combinations of flamenco dance steps like galopes — stomps that start with the heel of your foot — and plantas — stomps that start with the ball of your foot — are no longer in the way of Taylor’s dream of performing on a Broadway stage in New York City.

“I remember thinking, ‘You know, maybe this is my thing,’” Taylor said. “And I kept doing it and I got more serious about it and I started falling in love with it and now I know I want to do [theater] for the rest of my life.”

She is thankful for flamenco — without it she wouldn’t have found her love for theater. The love for performing and dance that Taylor found through flamenco led her to theater.

But quitting flamenco was not an easy decision.

Flamenco dancing runs in Ashlee’s family. Ashlee’s

S

ophomore Ashlee Taylor walked teary eyed down wooden stairs to her aunt, Rosa Garcia’s, basementturned flamenco studio and stood before her. With a shoebox containing her short heeled, navy blue T-buckle flamenco shoes in hand — Taylor was finally ready to give them back. Garcia knew what the offering meant. She knew that the pair’s 12 years of shared passion was about to disappear before the words had a chance to leave Taylor’s mouth.

“Are you sure you want to quit?” Garcia asked.

“I lost [my] love for it, and I just don’t have time anymore,” Taylor said.

Despite all her years of dedication to flamenco dancing — an expressive, technical Spanish dance form — Taylor realized she has a greater passion for theater.

It began when a friend from flamenco class dragged her to an audition for “Annie” the musical at Camelot Academy.

After standing in a line with 20 other girls and singing “Tomorrow” one by one for an hour, Taylor learned that same night she had received the lead role of Annie.

“During my first performance, I got a standing ovation and just the feeling I got from the applause was indescribable,” Taylor said. “It’s just truly the best feeling to know that you entertained a large amount of people. I think that’s the center of my passion.”

Now, Taylor has decided to completely focus on theater.

She performs in at least five musicals a year, taking voice and dance lessons on the side to improve herself for

grandma, Sofia Garcia, was born in Spain and danced flamenco there until she immigrated to the U.S. She was taken in by a woman named Rosemary who recognized her passion for flamenco and built her a studio in the basement.

After Rosemary passed away, she gave the house to Sofia, and the house has been passed on in the Garcia family ever since.

“I was very proud of her [flamenco dancing],” Garcia said. “Seeing her up on the stage made me feel like I had grown flamenco’s next big star. Those were honestly some of my proudest moments.”

Now it was supposed to be Taylor’s turn to continue the family legacy. But between flamenco rehearsals every day after school, flamenco competitions in a different city every other month, musical rehearsals, babysitting and working, there wasn’t enough time for everything.

She quickly grew tired of disappointing her directors by leaving musical rehearsal early to make it to flamenco rehearsal on time. Taylor continued to persist until she had a realization last summer when she was going through old theater photo albums. She realized that she didn’t have any pictures of flamenco printed out.

“I was like, ‘Why?’ and then I went into this deep soul search mode,” Taylor said. “That was when I decided I need[ed] to quit because I’ve always wanted to perform on Broadway.”

Although she was terrified of disappointing her family, bringing the shoebox to her aunt allowed her to finally throw herself into her love for theater.

“I thought that my whole family would hate me and I would be letting my grandma down,” Taylor said. “But I now realize that my family completely understands and loves me for who I want to be.”

COMPETITION HISTORY:

1

ST PLACE STATE QUALIFIER

While Taylor was competitively dancing flamenco, the dance studio she was attending also held competitions. Although they were small, she ended up winning two of them. She also won a first place trophy at an outside competition, allowing her to qualify for the flamenco official state competition.

photos by | photo editors stories by (15-17) | ben hencshel

T

Students feel the impact of near and far gun violence incidents, prompting action, fear and conversation

GUN VIOLENCE SPECIAL SECTION PAGES 15-17

15 STUDENTS.

16 CONGRESS.

17 DISTRICT.

hose backpacks, freshman Aidan Winne thought. There could be one in any one of those backpacks.

School hadn’t been dangerous to him before. Now it was terrifying. It could be anyone in the crowded, noisy hallway full of mostly strangers on the first week of school. His eyes bobbed up and down, analyzing. Anyone could have a motivation, a reason, a gun. But no one knows if, where, why or how until shots are fired, he said. Just like no one knew before Erin.

Erin — his cousin’s best friend and roommate, who became a close friend to Aidan and would cheer him on at his baseball and basketball games — was killed Aug. 2 at a First Fridays event in the Crossroads. She’d been hit by a stray bullet in line at a food truck after a man fired pistol shots from an adjacent parking lot.

She was pronounced dead 35 minutes later. Around 15 hours after, 22 were left dead in an El Paso Walmart.

And ten more were killed nearly 14 hours later in a mass shooting in Dayton’s Oregon district.

As students entered the school year following this concentrated gun violence in early August, the impact has ranged from a heightened sense of awareness to action and movement on solutions in an effort to lower gun violence deaths. The need for real conversations is high, as well as the importance of awareness towards the risk of gun violence, according to Asst.

Principal Britton Haney.

For Winne, the risk is everywhere.

“After Erin, it really hit me that this could happen to absolutely anyone,” Winne said. “You hear it so much on the news, and you just start to tune it out.

But after Erin, it hit me. It happens every day, every hour, every minute, everywhere, it seems like.”

Senior Anna Gunderman sees the events as a “shot away” from Prairie Village — questioning her own safety coming to school every day, whether drills are enough to deal with the problem and how many days before an incident like the ones on the news happens at East.

Junior Ellie Peters, who went to church with Erin and donated at a blood drive that raised 900 pints in her name, holds the concern both in and out of the school. She goes to First Fridays sometimes. Dresses up with her friends and takes photos there. Orders food from food trucks. It could’ve easily been her, she said.

For some students, the impact is direct and has furthered their efforts from concerns to operation.

Senior Margaret Veglahn was in the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City when an active shooter began targeting people within the building in 2014. Three people were killed in the shooting — and Veglahn, hiding in a bathroom on lockdown for eight hours, survived.

“I just remember watching this woman, her son and her father were two of the people killed, she couldn’t walk without people helping her,” Veglahn said. “Seeing that, it was so real, and it was no longer news stories, like this is a person who’s had her entire life stolen in the last two hours.”

Veglahn joined the Kansas City branch of Students Demand Action, a nationwide subsection of Everytown For Gun Control, which plans gun control rallies and enlists students’ help in reaching out and lobbying lawmakers. She receives texts and emails with ways to help, including which rallies to attend and “bills to call your senator about voting yes or no

NEWS-FEATURE | 15 on.” The texts and group chats with members make it “easy to help with change, even when life gets busy.”

Caroline Bennett — the leader of Kansas City’s Students Demand Action chapter and a senior at St. Teresa’s Academy — became active in the gun violence prevention movement after recurring nightmares of “dying by a gun.”

Bennett stressed the importance of connecting with representatives in government and building relationships to build support for initiatives — making sure that “day-to-day conversations are happening.”

Members of congress echo the importance of student groups, hailing them as the first, vital step of fostering change in government.

“Change comes from communities and groups like Moms Demand group, the Grandparents for Gun Safety group, the Students Demand group,” Rep. Sharice Davids (D-KS) said. “There are a lot of people who are working, literally boots on the ground, that are the ones pushing legislators to take action and try to find bipartisan issues or consensus. And it’s really important right now.”

American University freshman Jackson Mittleman’s efforts began on 12/14 — the day in 2012 when his sixth-grade class at Reed Intermediate School in Newtown, CT went on lockdown.

That day, Mittleman said, panic and shock swept the city — the one soon to be marked ground zero of the first major mass shooting at an elementary school, and one to be whelmed in heartache for years to come. The day ended with Mittleman being told that a family friend, Noah, had been murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School, an eight-minute drive from Reed. 26 others were killed. 20 were children.

After realizing the “problem was right there in front of us,” he joined the Junior Newtown Action Alliance, a grassroots organization advocating for “common sense” gun legislation in Connecticut and Washington, D.C. He was contacted by members of the Women’s March, and together they organized the national school walkout on March 14 last year. Then he was asked to speak at the March for Our Lives in Washington on March 24, with over one million in attendance.

“We’ve seen much more involvement now with the awareness behind these shootings, but we know they’re going to happen until we do something about it,” Mittleman said. “More and more people get involved and more and more people decide that the right to bear arms is not more important than the rights of people to live and feel safe in their own communities. That’s how we can get it to change.”

The impact to be made by youth, Freeman said, is limited to what the government will act on. Recently — according to Freeman, Mittleman and Veglahn — the government’s ambition to pass these laws has been questionable, and perhaps the reason for the lack of action.

“A lot of people say, like they did after Sandy Hook, that everyone thought ‘we’re shooting kindergarteners, now is the time, we’re going to change things,’ and then the government moved on,” Veglahn said.

“We wouldn’t have been doing this if we weren’t all very frustrated, because we don’t feel like it’s our job to do it” junior Ellie Freeman, who also works with SDA, said. “We feel like the people in the government should be taking care of it. And they’re not.”

HYPERSENSITIVITY

GUN VIOLENCE I N THE UNI T E D STAT E S

73%

SAID MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE

"In general, do you think the United States is doing enough to address gun violence, doing too much, or do you think more needs to be done to address gun violence?"

FOUR IN TEN AMERICANS | ARE WORRIED THAT THEY OR SOMEONE IN THEIR FAMILY WILL BECOME A VICTIM OF A MASS SHOOTING

61% 91% O F D E M OCRATS 32% OF REPUBLICANS

OF AMERICANS SAY THEY FAVOR STRICTER GUN LAWS

AS A RESULT OF 255 MASS SHOOTINGS IN 2019 | AMERICANS STRONGLY FAVOR SEVEN PROPOSALS FOR REDUCING MASS SHOOTINGS AT SCHOOLS

MORE TRAINING FOR OFFICERS RESPONDING TO ACTIVE SHOOTINGS BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR ALL GUN SALES MORE SECURITY FOR ALLOWING PEOPLE INTO SCHOOLS RAISE AGE TO BUY GUNS FROM 18 TO 21 BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR ALL GUN SALES BAN SALE OF SEMIAUTOMATIC WEAPONS SUCH AS AR-15 HAVE TEACHERS & SCHOOL OFFICIALS CARRY GUNS AT SCHOOL *information courtesy of policy polling

by ben henschel

T

he district, school and pertinent members of law enforcement recognize both the risk and heightened unease present in the school regarding gun violence. And to prevent risks in the school, according to Officer Tony Woollen, a student resource officer at East, the best action for students is to voice any concern of threat and to continue actively training staff and students with drills.

“I think people are just more aware now that this stuff could happen anywhere at anytime,” Det. Seth Meyer, another SRO at East, said. “And a lot of these things have been thwarted because somebody said something. And it can be anything, really. Just come on in, shut the door and we can talk about it.”

Students shedding light on concerns of any magnitude aid in the school and district’s ability to conduct threat assessments, which involve investigations by law enforcement to determine the validity and possibility of a harmful outcome. To do this, Woollen said, students can come and speak to him and Meyer in room 312, to administration or, if they prefer, report the problem anonymously on the school’s bullying hotline system — which is monitored by professionals in administration and the district police chief.

A lot of times the potential problems some students cause are just a cry for help or a personal issue that a student might be dealing with. Maybe it’s a different school. Maybe it’s just moving to a different class, away from someone that has a negative effect.

mark schmidt | district police com.

Another new, broader resource for students is a website developed by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, called the KBI Suspicious Activity Reporting site. This allows users to anonymously report odd or suspicious behavior to the site, which would then be evaluated by trained KBI personnel.

Once a threat is identified by any of these means, according to Capt. and District Police Commander Mark Schmidt, officers will meet with students that were reported as a potential threat, the student’s parents and other individuals close to them, such as a friend or neighbor. The district has adopted the Colorado Bureau of Investigation’s threat assessment tool of 12 steps of questioning associated parties, Woollen added, that evaluate capacity to carry out an attack or evidence of planning an attack.

The threat assessment process isn’t only to protect the school from threats, Schmidt said, but also to make sure the reported student is stable and receiving the services they need.

“A lot of times the potential problems some students cause are just a cry for help or a personal issue that a student might be dealing with,” Schmidt said. “And if that’s the case, we want to make sure we get the right resources to them to help them with that situation. Maybe it’s a different school. Maybe it’s just moving to a different class, away from someone that has a negative effect.”

Around 70 percent of threats found or reported to schools involve “emotional, situational reactions, actions or figures of speech” and are resolved over the course of days or a few weeks — according to Dr. Daniel C. Claiborn, a forensic scientist specialized to aid schools and parents in addressing potential threats of violence from students.

“It’s become something really important now, like what could happen, and in the seminar drills, how the main issue was if there’s a shooting, what do you do?” sophomore Jane Thiede said. “ I think about it pretty often. It’s so intensely in detail, how we talk about it, and it’s kind of scary because it makes it seem more real. It’s important.”

The more substantive threats, Claiborn said, are in the form of repeated “red flags” that point to the possibility of eventual violence. Some of these red flags include threats that have been “reported to others as a plan,” have repeated over time and include physical evidence like an essay, manifesto or diagram of a planned event with malicious intent.

The school conducted active shooter drills and discussions once a month last year per requirements, with this year’s requirements lessening to once a quarter, Woollen said. The school varies the types of drills — like barricading doors or hiding in the classroom — to more efficiently train students and staff on potential courses of action in the event of a shooting.

Still, some students feel some of the mounting pressure and possibility of a gun violence incident to be impervious to the school’s action and prevention efforts.

Aidan Winne, Jane Thiede, Ellie Peters, Ellie Freeman, Margaret Veglahn and Anna Gunderman are all a little scared. They pay close attention to every drill, every conversation, every time. And although the school is working at lengths to protect them, they all feel that until substantial change is made — in the government or elsewhere — true safety can’t be achieved.

“It’s a hard thing to talk about, kind of like talking about your will when you’re old, no one wants to think about it, but there’s a reality that we can’t really ignore now.” Winne said. “ It’s happening in our own neighborhoods and around the area and in a walk that’s 5 minutes away. That’s a reality we kind of have to live with now, more than pretty much ever. You could get shot. Anywhere.”

I N M OT I O N East officers and administration work to assess threats and train staff, calling on students to voice safety concerns

Proposals by lawmakers to strengthen background checks,

16 | NEWS-FEATURES

improve safety face various hindrances and blocks

S TA L L E D

NEWS-FEATURES | 17

O

fficials in both state and national congressional positions have proposed plans that will attempt to reduce the number of deaths from gun violence — but the bills and proposals have, in some members’ eyes, been dead on sight and, at times, purposefully prevented from a vote. Concerned citizens have not only taken action, but also taken notice of the stagnations in the voting process and questioned the democratic validity of the legislative branch.

Two specific bills that aim to strengthen background checks on guns raise questions of whether or not the Senate is deliberately holding out on a vote for their passage, according to Rep. Sharice Davids (D-KS) and organizations working to lower gun violence, like Students Demand Action. The bills would require all gun sellers to conduct background checks on all gun buyers (H.R. 8), and would extend the background check waiting period from three days to ten (H.R. 1112).

Both passed with a majority vote in the House of Representatives in February, but have sat on the Senate desk since early March with no scheduled vote. A majority approval from the Senate and a signature from President Donald Trump are the remaining steps for the bills to pass.

Bipartisan movement on the bills can be made, Davids said at a gun violence roundtable, if Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) — who is in charge of when and which bills are voted on in the Senate — would stop holding off on the vote to pass these bills in the Senate.

The idea of proposed H.R. 8 background checks is supported amongst most Americans on both sides of the political aisle, according to members of national and state Congress, government officials, organization leaders and students interviewed for this story. Certain political interest groups and media sources, according to a member of a Washington organization speaking under the condition of anonymity, “paint a picture of false division” in regards to supporters and rejecters of H.R. 8 and its proposal.

In a Public Policy Polling survey of gun owners in the U.S., it was found that 83 percent of owners supported background checks for all purchased firearms — 24 percent polled were registered members of the NRA, and of those members, 72 percent said they’d support background checks on all guns purchased.

According to a July NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, 89 percent of Americans support background checks for all purchases at gun shows and private sales, with 84 percent of Republicans supporting it and 96 percent of Democrats.

“If the bill isn’t going to pass, show us that, so we can work on the ways to actually get the vote passed and so we can come together and have that conversation,” Davids said at the roundtable. “But now, that’s not even on the table because he won’t take it to a vote. And that’s a real problem, because people

want and need this to happen.”

In an Aug. 5 press release, Davids requested that the Senate — which is on summer recess from Aug. 5 to Sept. 9 — regroup and hold an emergency session to vote on the two bills as an “opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to the people.”

Senior Grace Reber, an outspoken Republican and supporter of Second Amendment gun rights, emphasized the importance of collaboration by lawmakers and agreement on background checks.

“I think it’s perfectly fine, like I don’t really understand why there should be any problem with background checks,” Reber said. “That’s kind of something where if you have felonies or something, you really shouldn’t have guns.”

Junior Ellie Freeman, a Democrat and member of Kansas City’s Students Demand Action chapter, sees universal background checks as the “middle ground” stance that should be taken up by both sides of the political aisle — not one to be punted on by the Senate.

Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) expressed interest in Congress having “a serious conversation about mental health” and how to “ensure people” the safety of living life without “these heinous crimes” in a statement regarding the Dayton and El Paso shootings. Roberts did not mention background checks in the statement, however, and voted against the idea in a 1999 Senate Amendment that called for requirement of background checks at gun shows.

KS Gov. Laura Kelly has criticized the lack of action in Congress and across the country, calling for an end to partisan playbooks and lack of bipartisan cooperation.

“I join you in being sick and tired of the repeated gun violence,” Kelly said at a Moms Demand Action rally. “Our struggling teenagers who succeed at killing themselves before we can help, and the lack of action by policymakers nationwide who refuse to pass sensible gun safety measures, like universal background checks, to end the bloodshed.”

At the state level, Kelly stressed the importance of “preventive, safety-minded changes” for Kansas, and that respect for the Second Amendment should be maintained, but with added “common sense changes.” These changes would include the introduction of bills similar to H.R. 8 and H.R. 1112, as well as “red flag” laws, which would allow police or family members who feel endangered by a gun owner to petition a state court for removal of the gun.

But much of the same disallowance of a vote on so-called “common sense” laws seen in the U.S. Senate are present within the state, according to KS Rep. Jerry Stogsdill (D-KS).

“These are leaders who constantly stifle any kind of debate or discussion on issues that they don’t want discussed or have an interest in,” Stogsdill said. “So we have to have leadership that respects the process in the legislature, and lets us have

discussions and committee meetings and roundtables.”

There are bills that fit the “common sense” description that have been introduced to the KS House specifically, such as H.B. 2111. The proposal calls for gun sellers that are not a licensed firearms dealer to conduct background checks for buyers that also do not have a license. This would be in effect “at gun shows or over the internet” only, according to the bill’s fiscal note.

“We license and register things like cars, things that can even kill people, and can then find the person since they have a license,” junior Ellie Freeman, a member of Students Demand Action’s Kansas City chapter, said. “But we don’t register all guns.

And it’s not a priority in the government right now.”

H.B. 2111 has not yet passed the second step of the first phase of the state’s bill-passing process, which is the referral to a committee. There has been no movement on that bill’s status on the KS House website since the day it was introduced and referred on Jan. 30.

The goal for gun control bills and “common sense” laws in Kansas is not to get rid of all guns — ”there’s 350 million guns in this country, that ship has sailed,” Stogsdill said. They would instead keep guns from “the hands of criminals” and people that pose a threat to themselves or others, not “hunters and target shooters” and “people who are in a stable state.”

To do this, he said, either a leadership change or inclusion of “common sense” ideas would be needed, and was doubtful of the latter’s likelihood.

“I would like to think that the current leadership would be amenable to change, but I really haven’t seen any indication of that,” Stogsdill said. “We’re up there to work, and when you have leadership that won’t let us work, then we need a change in leadership.”

The offices of the KS Speaker of the House and Speaker Pro Tempore did not respond to emails from The Harbinger regarding comments for this story.

And in Prairie Village, new laws and regulations have been considered and are wanted by city officials, according to Mayor Eric Mikkelson — but current guidelines set by the KS legislature do not allow individual cities to set their own rules for issues like gun control.

“We don’t think it’s a one size fits all approach, we think that a suburban community like Prairie Village should be able to have different rules than a rural community in western Kansas,” Mikkelson said. “That’s something we try to get fixed in Topeka each year, but we do not have control over most regulation.”

As of this writing, no announcement over whether the Senate will call an emergency session has been made. If the current schedule comes to pass, the chamber will regather Sept. 9.

H.R. 8 a bipartisan bill requiring all gun dealers to conduct background checks

H.R. 1112 Support criminal background check: 83%

Prohibit anyone convicted of domestic violence from buying a gun: 79%

Licenses to carry should be required: 76%

extend the background check waiting period from three days to ten

*information courtesy of Congress.gov

BILLS

Possible bills to be passed regarding gun control

18 | FEATURES

design by | rose kanaley photos by | megan biles

The class of 1969 is celebtrating their 50th reunion by giving back to East through a fundraiser

F

by caroline chisholm

M A R K YO U R C A L E N DA R L I B R A RY | S E P T E M B E R 7 | | STO RY T I M E | Alumni from the class of 1969 are coming to speak in the library on September 7 to tell their stories and encourage students

EVER BE

rom the class of ‘63 rededicating lithographs for the office conference room to the class of 62’ starting a charity fund for alumni classes celebrating their 50th year anniversary, every alumni group celebrates their reunions in different ways.

The next class to celebrate their 50th year anniversary is the class of ‘69. Alumni Rick Caplan took charge

I recognized that our class had the opportunity to give back to this school, more than just having a 50 year reunion.

rick caplan | alumni

CLIFF ILLIG Illig founded the international company, Cerner, an American supplier of health information, technology solutions, services, devices and hardware

M A R Y - PAT G R E E N Green is an actress who has appeared on Any Day Now, American Horror Story and The Break-Up

BOB MENDELSOHN Mendelsohn founded Jews for Jesus, a non-profit organization for the greater Jewish community based in California

J O H N B AG BY Bagby is the Emeritus Professor of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State University

of his class’s celebration committee.

Caplan was inspired to celebrate and support East with his graduating class, like the class of ‘62.

“I recognized that our class had the opportunity to give back to this school, more than just having a 50 year reunion,” Caplan said.

Self-appointed Alumni Liaison, Beth Fowler, works closely with each class to plan their reunions.

She encourages giving back to the East fund at each reunion, but acknowledges some classes and people, like Caplan and Whitfield, want to make a bigger impact on their alma mater.

“Lots of classes are connected and generous but these three are the ones that stick out for me,” Fowler said. “And each class has a few strong personalities to lead.”

Originally, Caplan and Alumni Susan Whitfield brainstormed the idea of donating something brick and mortar to the school as a gift from their class, but decided on a different path. For a less materialistic and more student focused approach, they chose to fundraise money to donate to three programs they thought most benefit East: SHARE program, the Love Fund, the band boosters and the East Fund.

Around 30 members of the Class of ‘69 have donated to Caplan and Whitfield’s fundraiser. Although it wasn’t their original intention to preach to the current students, they realized through this fundraiser they have the opportunity to change students’ mindsets of being active in their communities.

“We really have observed that [during] the times we were involved in, the late 60s, there was a lot of social activism,” Caplan said. “We had a passion for making the world a better place. My perception of students is different now. We hope that in part we can highlight SHARE where they are helping youth today focus on developing life skills where they are giving back to the community.”

The pair worked closely with SHARE director Krissy Wiggins to find the best use of their donation.

They have decided to specifically focus on SHARE’s Pack of Pals group and Unified Teams project — two service projects that combine the students with the special education program. After discussing the amount of money SHARE was in need of, they realized they had raised additional funds that could be given to other

groups at East.

“We were thrilled that their class would make [fundraising for SHARE] part of their reunion,” Wiggins said.

“I think that is great mentorship and role modeling for [the students] that they moved on, but they still care about East.”

Both Caplan and Whitfield agree that there needs to be more emphasis on giving back. They believe students need to adopt the same mindset that the 1960s presented to them a mindset inspiring students to use their voice to be social activists and stand up for what they believe in.

According to Caplan, students aren’t focused on social justice anymore because of the technology that has developed. He hopes that this donation can be the first step in inspiring students to follow their passions while helping others.

“There is a woman, Helen Wilcott, who once said, ‘If you love this planet, you must act,’” Caplan said.

“So I took that to be ‘If you love this

SCAN ME | SHARE Scan this to go donate to the Class of 1969’s fundraiser through SHARE!

school, you must act’ or ‘If you love your circle of peers, you must act’ and ‘If you love yourself, you must act.’ The world isn’t going to change by staying and looking at your phone all day, it literally takes getting up and going out and making a difference.”

FEATURES | 19

design by | jilli foley photos by | bella wolfe

flying high with aaron Sophomore Aaron Ralston sparks his love for flying planes and is preparing for his solo flight in September

L E F T Sophomore Aaron Ralston checks his controls from his preflight checklist, preparing for take off. photo by | bella wolfe

S

by sydney newton

ophomore Aaron Ralston stepped onto the wing of the small white and grey Piper Archer plane, opening the tiny door on top. Carefully stepping over the passenger seat, he sat in the pilot seat with his instructor on his right. Ralston fastened his seatbelt, checked the flight controls and turned on the safety light.

Turning the key and putting on his Zulu 3 headset, the plane roared to life and the propellor started spinning.

He was ready to take off.

This is what Ralston had dreamed of since he was seven and flew to Disney World with his family. Walking onto the Boeing 737, he was immediately drawn to the window of the cockpit, unable to look away from the dozens of buttons on the plane’s ceiling.

“As soon as he walked in and saw all the controls in the cockpit, it was like he had won the lottery,” Heather Ralston, Aaron’s mom, said. “He was fascinated with it in every way.”

Ralston immediately asked for the pilot’s wings, a pin used to distinguish a pilot. Pinning it on his shirts, he knew he wanted to earn his own wings someday.

“Growing up, he never liked superheroes,” Heather said. “He always liked planes and army figurines. We were playing one day and he said ‘You know what, I’m going to be a pilot when I grow up.’”

Ralston spent the next six years begging his mom to let him fly. When he was 13, he finally got his chance — a three day summer camp at Kansas State University.

He spent the first two days learning about how planes work and how to control them until he finally got to fly his first plane on the last day — a Cessna 172. He was only in

A A RO N ’S ESSENTIALS Ralston breaks down his self necessities for flying

the air for 30 minutes practicing basic control of the plane and turning, but he began counting the days until he could do it again.

“When I was in the air, I felt really excited and kind of relaxed,” Ralston said. “It’s a different feeling.”

For his 14th birthday, the age most kids would sign up for Driver’s Ed, Ralston asked to enroll in aviation school instead. Ralston’s parents began driving him to an instructor 30 minutes from his house at Lee Summit Municipal Airport once a month, where he learned proper turning and landing techniques.

When Ralston turned 15, the lessons increased to once a week. He spent three hours each week learning landings,

When I was in the air, I felt really excited and kind of relaxed. It’s a different feeling.

aaron ralston | sophomore take-offs and maneuvers.

“When Aaron first started doing this, he wasn’t comfortable,” Ralston’s instructor Chris Hope said.

“Everything is different and it moves fast and it goes in all different directions at once. It’s one of those things that he’s learned to conquer.”

On Sept. 15, Ralston won’t have his instructor next to him in the copilot seat. It will be his first solo flight. He will take off, fly in a circle and land. Then he’ll do that five more times.

This is the moment Ralston had been waiting for since he was seven, and he has been preparing for it over the past

1 instructor Chris Hope Ralston has spent over 150 hours training with Hope

A B O V E Ralston stands by his Piper Archer 81673 Aircraft that he’s been flying for about 2 years photo by | bella wolfe

13 months.

The flight will take place at the same airport he takes lessons at. The only issue is that the airport has no control towers. Ralston will have to communicate everything he is doing with the other pilots in the area, all while listening to what they are saying. His instructor will be in contact with him the entire flight.

“It’s nice to know that his instructor will have a walkie talkie,” Heather said. “If he gets out there and panics, he can communicate to us and to him. It makes it a little bit easier.

During Ralston’s next three lessons, his instructor will go over the flight plan and tell him what he wants him to do — then he’ll look at the window and not say a word. It will be up to Ralston to figure out what to do and land the plane.

This is meant to prepare him so that he can complete the solo flight he’s looked forward to for years.

“I’m excited because I’ve been working on it for more than two years,” Ralston said. “It’s a really really big goal.

But I’m also nervous because I don’t want to crash the plane or do something bad.”

After he graduates high school, Ralston wants to go to college for flying in order to become a fighter pilot in the Air Force.

“Growing up, I was always interested in the military,” Ralston said. “So I decided I wanted to be a pilot in the air force. I really want to go fast in planes, and those are the fastest ones. I hope these lessons help me get to that point.”

Ralston hopes that his flight and his lessons will help him reach this goal, finally earning those pilot wings that he first saw when he went to Disney World - the ones that jump-started his whole journey.

3 ipad for map sources

2 knee board for notes

Each flight he brings an Ipad containing maps for navigation

He wears a clipboard that attatches to his knees to write notes

4 headset

Ralston wears a headset in the air for communication

20 | PHOTOSTORY

RIGHT Junior Katheryn Nachtigal snaps a photo of the Austin Powersthemed cheer family. “When we were doing the actual scavenger hunt we got a lot of weird looks because we looked insane, and it was fun to run around town looking crazy,” said sophomore Charlotte Hawes. photo by | aislinn menke

design by | aislinn menke

SCAVENG ING FOR

SPIRIT

During the annual Cheer Scavenger Hunt, each Lancer cheer family competed against each other by driving around town to find items on a list to score points. The team with the most points and best costume won

L E F T East parent, Laurie Morrissey, counts up senior Gabby Leinbach’s family’s points they received from the hunt. “We came up with the idea [to be Area 51 aliens] when the Area 51 raid meme was really popular [...] but by the time the scavenger hunt came around the memes were kind of old,” Leinbach said. photo by | sarah golder F A R L E F T Junior Katheryn Nachtigal laughs at junior Avery Gray’s frat boy hat.

“All of their hats had different sayings frat boys say, [...] they were all really funny,” Nachtigal said. photo by | aislinn menke RIGHT Sophomore Alex Manning curls her eyelashes while dressing up as a Spice Girl. “It was fun driving all around together because the freshmen in our cheer family got to know everyone better, and it was fun just getting ready together and hanging out,” Manning said. photo by | bella

LEFT Dressed as frat boys, senior Savannah Bahr and junior Zoe Hartman queue the song Mo Bamba. “Our cheer family is pretty close and we’ll go out for lunch sometimes now,” said Hartman. photo by | aislinn menke

A&E | 21

design by | lila tulp photos courtesy of | itunes, ibooks & imdb

A&E

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A Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick about an unlikely pair who develops feelings for each other. But as any engagement with a nemesis, there are unspoken rules that must be followed: don’t fall in love.

ON THE BIG SCREEN

In this funny, vivid, dangerous and disturbing novel, Tokarczuk raises fierce questions about human behavior as they follow the story of Janine and her life in her remote Polish village.

* i n fo r m a t i o n c o u r tesy o f I M D B

I

’ve always been a sucker for dog movies. Whether it’s a golden retriever, poodle or bulldog, you can always find me sobbing in the back of a dark movie theatre the moment that puppy begins to age. Even though I still wasn’t emotionally recovered from watching “Marley & Me” eight years ago, when the preview for “The Art of Racing in the Rain” was released, it tugged at my heartstrings and I knew I was in for another good cry.

The movie begins with race car driver Denny Swift, played by Milo Ventimiglia, adopting a golden retriever puppy. The puppy, who is soon dubbed “Enzo” (fittingly named after the founder of Ferrari) refuses to leave Denny’s side ever since being picked up from the dog farm. Enzo begins to worship Denny, learns to love his wife, Eve, and then becomes the protector of their daughter, Zoe. Throughout the movie, we see the life of Denny and his family through Enzo’s eyes. In almost every dog film I’ve seen, the dog’s sole purpose in life is to be the protector — to take care of their family. This is the part that makes me choke up the most about dog movies. Seeing Enzo and Denny grow an actual bond with each other makes me realize and appreciate that every

animal has feelings. The amount of love a singular canine can hold is the biggest reason I leave the movies with red puffy eyes.

When Denny’s Eve got terminally ill, Enzo started to show unconditional love for her. By the time Enzo started to think about his undying love for his owner and his family, my mind couldn’t help but think about my mini sheepadoodle — Sully. Although Sully has only been living with us for a short period of time, my heart

*****

R E I L LY ’ S R AT I N G | 5 S TA R S C RY - T E R I A | 9 7 % S TA R S TAT U S | 7 7 %

skips a beat every time she leaps to me when I come home from a long day of school. Seeing how happy Enzo made Denny made me let out another loud cry.

This movie is one of the best dog movies of this era, and I would recommend it to anybody (even the cat people). Now I don’t want to give away too much of the racecar puppy-filled plot line, but my advice is to grab your dog, throw on a leash and walk to the movie theater for this one (ignore the no pets sign).

TOP OF THE CHARTS T O P H I T S T AY L O R S W I F T YO U N E E D TO C A L M D OW N ME! T H E A RC H E R

R E L E A S E D AT E AU G. 2 3 | LOV E R

W H E R E ’S YO U G O BERNADETTE

****

| 4 STA R S

A l ov i n g m o m b e c o m es c o m p e l l e d to re c o n n e c t w i t h h e r c re a t i ve p a s s i o n s a fte r ye a rs o f sa c r i fi c i n g h e rs e l f fo r h e r fa m i l y.

IT CHAPTER 2 TBD

2 7 ye a rs a fte r t h e i r fi r s t e n c o u nte r w i t h Pe n ny w i s e, t h e Los e rs C l u b h ave g row n u p a n d m ove d awa y, u nt i l a phone call brings them back.

T H E A RT O F R AC I N G I N THE RAIN

****

| 3 . 5 STA R S

I ts h e a r ts t r i n g - t u g g i n g ove r t u res m a y b e d i f fi c u l t fo r d o g l ove r s to res i s t , b u t t h e m ov i e i s s e nt i m e nta l a n d c o nt r i ve d .

T H E A L B U M I S V E RY M U C H A C E L E B R AT I O N O F LOV E , I N A L L I TS C O M P L E X I T Y, C OZ I N E S S A N D C H AOS . I T ’S T H E F I R ST A L B U M O F M I N E T H AT I ’ V E E V E R OW N E D, A N D I CO U L D N ’ T B E M O R E P RO U D. I ’ M S O EXC I T E D T H AT # LOV E R I S O U T N OW TAY LO R SW I F T | 08 / 2 3 / 1 9

22 | A&E

B

design by | lauren dierks photos by | noelle griffin

S T I U I SC

E S RI E H T ON

Biscuit connoisseur tries Prairie Village Shopping center’s newest addition, Rise Biscuits by maddox mogenson

I

’ll admit it. Ever since I ate my first homemade biscuit when I was four, I’ve been a sucker for every and all kinds of biscuits — sweet or savory.

When I saw the line rolling out the door and smelled the delicious aroma of Rise Biscuits at the Prairie Village Shopping Center, I knew my Sunday brunch was about to be pretty dang good.

Standing in line for 15 minutes, I was able to admire the baby blue and orange walls decorated with swirly font declaring “The Best Dang Biscuits & Beyond.” Boy, were they right. I had never known the true potential of a biscuit until I engulfed one from Rise.

I opted for the classic chicken biscuit — perfect for my not-so-daring taste buds. I also chose a glazed donut and some french fries so I could try to balance the savory with some sweet. I happily swiped my debit card and gave the iPad my hard-earned $11 and 87 cents.

I sat right under a picture of rolled-out biscuit dough, which was part of a series of pictures lining the wall showcasing the biscuit-making process. I couldn’t help but smile at the simple yet adorable touch of detail, and also cringe at the fact I cracked a smile over biscuits.

What wasn’t so adorable was how long I had to wait. Thanks to the wall photo series, I understood that biscuit-making is a long process, but placing chicken in between a premade one shouldn’t be. I counted an 18-minute wait, and usually I’m not a stickler for wait times, but I was hungry.

The sweet sound I had been waiting for finally rang in my ears.

“Maddox!”

The cashier was holding out my order and I felt like I could see a ray of light peeking out of the paper bag.

I tried the donut first. One bite and I knew I’d never have to go to Krispy Kreme again. You can’t go wrong with a classic, fluffy glazed donut.

After cleansing my palate with some water, I moved on to the main course.

I quickly grabbed my long-awaited lunch, tore the bag open and got some side-eyed glares as I let out a faint “mmm” when I saw how appetizing my biscuit looked.

Soon after snapping a picture of one of the most heavenly-looking meals I’ve had — phone eats first, always — I grabbed my biscuit-sandwich hybrid and took a bite.

I processed my dinosaur-sized chomp and thought something I’d never expected to think about a biscuit — I was unimpressed. The flavors of the chicken and the biscuit clashed together in a way that left a taste of nothingness, almost as if they had canceled each other out. I tried to tell myself I was wrong by trying some more, but that only intensified my dislike for what I was eating. I had never been so surprisingly disappointed in my 16 years of culinary exploration.

I needed to like this biscuit. I had waited as long as an I-435 rush hour traffic jam takes to disperse and hyped it up more than I hype up Beyoncé concerts. To attempt to save my brunch, I decided to disassemble the sandwich and eat the biscuit by itself.

*****

L E F T The Flakey Strawberry Biscuit topped with fresh strawberries shown at the outside seating area A B O V E The “Which Came First?”, a fried egg topped with crispy chicken at the new restaurant in Prairie Village

RISE UP EVERYWHERE

R I S E B I S C U I T S | 4 . 5 S TA R S 6 9 4 7 | T O M A H AW K R O A D WA L K I N | S I T D O W N

I made the right decision.

Every smell that resonated within my nose walking in the store was now in my mouth. It tasted like a fluffy, bread cloud and tested the authority of my Grandma Jeanne’s Thanksgiving specialties.

All the doubts I previously had with due to the taste-diminishing chicken were whisked away with each bite.

I was so invested in my biscuit I had forgotten about my fries, but my biscuit was so filling, I wrapped up the fries for later and decided to end on a high note.

All within about 45 minutes, I had gone through an intense range of emotions. Suspense, heartbreak, betrayal, confusion, and relief were all present in one lunch. I took one last look at the wall with the words “Have a Righteous Day” displayed larger than life.

And that I had, thanks to Rise Biscuits.

Durham, North Carolina Rise was opened in 2012 in Durham. Since then, they have opened 16 other locations The Prairie Village location is located in The Village Shopping Center and opened on Aug. 10

Prairie Village, Kansas

A&E | 23

design and copy by | lila tulp photos courtesy of | abc

L E T ’S TA L K A BO U T

ALSO

ROS ES

REALITY CHRIS’S CORNER SINCE MY middle school years, I’ve been hopelessly trapped in “The Bachelor” franchise’s web of tears, heated 2-on-1 dates and perfectly fitted salmon-colored suits — and needless to say, I’m far from alone.

Now, I’m a relatively new member of this cultural phenomenon — my first exposure being on Ben Higgins’ season watching 30 girls selfdestruct while knee-deep in white wine tears.

But with the support of #BachelorNation and countless spin-offs, I’ve done my research, and I know my stuff — so come on this journey with me to find lov- I mean to find out everything you’ve missed and need to know as “Bachelor in Paradise” comes to an end and we prepare for the announcement of “The Bachelor” 2020.

DEMI’S DECISION FIRECRACKER DEMI BURNETT from Colton’s season of “The Bachelor” received an influx of support from #BachelorNation after coming out on the show as bisexual. In the latest episode, Burnett chooses bachelor-newbie and former girlfriend Kristian Haggartey over Jojo Alum, Derek Peth, to continue their relationship on Paradise as the show’s first LGBTQ+ couple in the “most shocking episode in ‘Bachelor in Paradise’ history.”

OPINIONATED

Your guide to all recent things in #BachelorNation

ON THE BEACH

Q: WHAT’S THE BEST THING ABOUT THE SHOW

H ANNAH G. My friends and I watch the show every Monday together so it’s nice to get to take a break from homework and watch the drama unfold on [all three shows.]

S EASO N : COLTON (2 3) BAC KGRO U N D : W ITH BLAKE LOVE T RI AN G LE? : BLAKE VS. DY LAN WI N N E R : DYL AN (STILL GOIN G STRON G) L I L A’S L I KAB I LITY: 56 %

DEA N SEASO N: RACH E L (13) BACKG RO UND: KRISTIN A VS. DLO (BIP 4) SH AVE STATUS: N E E DS A RAZOR SEASO N STATUS: J U ST BROKE IT OFF W ITH CAE LY N N LILA’S LIKAB ILITY: 9 6 %

allie erdner | senior

I love seeing other people’s love stories unfold and following [the contestants] lives after “The Bachelor” and seeing where the show takes them.

emma barickman | senior

BLAKE S EASO N : B ECCA (14) BAC KGRO U N D : KRISTIN A, CAE LY N N , TAISH A, H A N N A H , C A ITLY N , E TC. LOVE T RI AN G LE? : M ORE LIKE LOVE DECAGON WI N N E R : STI L L ALON E AN D SAD. . . SO FAR. . .

L I L A’S L I KAB I LITY: 3%

YOUR FINAL ROSES ARE YOU WATCHING BIP? INSTAGRAM POLL | 249 VOTES

53% YES 47% NO WHO FITS TYLER C. BETTER? INSTAGRAM POLL | 345 VOTES

41% HANNAH

CATCH UP! Scan this catch up and “The Bachelor

QR code to watch full episodes and on “Bachelor in Paradise,” “The Bachelor” Bachelorette” on abc.com before the 2020 is announced

59% GIGI

MIKE J | 24%

WHO SHOULD BE BACHELOR 2020 | 142 VOTES

DEREK | 23%

PETER | 53%

TUNE IN MONDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT FOR MORE BACHELOR IN PARADISE DRAMA

24 | A&E

design by | celia condon photo courtesy of | imdb

THE

C AT EGO RY

IS...

FX’s ‘Pose’ showcases New York’s ball culture — a vibrant, colorful, and accepting world

T

by tommy paulus

he spotlight illuminates three of New York’s freshest faces. Decked out in their freshly stolen TJ Maxx dresses and Marshalls stilettos, they’re ready to tear up the runway.

Let the fashion show commence.

Except this isn’t for Gucci, Louis Vuitton, or Tom Ford – it’s for Grand Prize of Femme Queen Realness — one of the many categories of fashion walking that’s shown each night.

If all of this jargon seems like nonsense, you’re in the perfect place to add “Pose” to your Netflix watchlist.

“Pose” is the electric and eclectic drama detailing the lives of (mainly) LGBTQ people of color, set in the late 80’s, early 90’s New York City. The show isn’t fully fiction: the characters are based off of real people involved in “Ball Culture”.

“Ball Culture” refers to the balls the characters go to compete with their creativity and fashion skills, while still being uplifting to each other. They are outlets to build a sense of community and identity the queer youth. Whether they are stomping down the runway or dancing the walls off, these showdowns never fail to entertain.

ball cul•ture

T he se n se o f co m m u n ity sh ared by pu ttin g on you r best g a r m e nts a n d attitu d e an d com petin g d ow n any wal kway i n se c t i o n ed off ballroom s.

Although these ballroom walk-offs are amusing, it’s just the surface of the complex story lines and character arcs that this drama has to offer.

With spending an episode talking about a girls trip to the beach, the show also touches on heavy subjects like the AIDS crisis in the late 80’s or transphobic parents.

After spending only two episodes with the characters, they became my long lost best friends due to their raw and honest stories, some of which left my pillow tear-soaked. But the realness of the show only deepened my connection to the characters and the plot.

Whether being banned from gay bars or not being able to have relationships with people from the striaght world, every episode shows inspiring stories about overcoming adversity, making the charachters bonds stronger.

Their bonds are shown in the way of “houses” — or families, groups of abandoned queer people. These family dynamics are what I love dearly about this show. It takes the idea of a TV show family — mother and father running their crazy town house and making sure their quirky children do just fine — and spins it on its head.

Our two main rivaling parties are the “House of Evangelista” and the “House of Abundance.” I like to think of it as a retro-modern Romeo Juliet type situation.

In and out of the ballroom Mother Blanca Evangelista leads with kindness, focused on nurturing her chosen children – Angel, Damen, Ricky and Papi.

On the other hand, there is Mother Elektra Abundance who leads with cut throat passion and snarky remarks. She sees her children as walking trophy winners.

Take Damen, for example: when he was 18, his parents found out he was gay — making him dead to them without a second thought. All he had was a passion for dance and nowhere to go. Fortunately Bianca found him alone, scavenging for substances and provided him with a hot meal, a chance to walk the balls in her house forced him to apply for a scholarship at the New York Dance Academy.

There’s also Pray Tell, a black gay man in his 50’s who is the head announcer of the balls. He peppers the floor with his snappy “yas hunty”s and “get it [expletive]” (gotta keep it somewhat PG).

The slew of different historic and fabulous recurring characters brings a different kind of flavor to every episode, which practically drags my finger to tap the “next episode” button before the end credits roll out.

This connection is what has me and many other viewers counting down the days until the next episode every Tuesday “Pose” is way more than just a celebration of gay people being gay. It’s a celebration of people finding their way in New York, while bringing light to the lives of the LGBT community in the city.

BA LL BR EA K DOW N

A rundown of how Ball Culture’s history led to the making of “Pose”

1 920

BALL CULTURE STARTS TO EMERGE IN NEW YORK CITY

BALL BEGIN TO BECOME POPULAR IN NEW YORK CITY AND AMONG LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY

1 990’S ‘POSE’ SEASON 1 IS REALEASED ON JUNE 18

1 970 THE CULTURE BECOMES MORE KNOWN WITH THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY

201 8

2816 W. 47th Avenue Kansas City, KS 66103

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26 SPORTS

design by lila tulp

S P O RTS

P L AY E R S ’ P O L L

HIGHLIGHTS Sports updates, schedules and quotes going into the fall sport season

DID YOU TRY OUT FOR A SPORT | 126 VOTES

82% YES 18% NO ARE YOU EXCITED FOR THIS SPORTS SEASON | 281 VOTES

91%

YES

9% NO WAS THIS YOUR FIRST YEAR TRYING OUT FOR A SPORT | 176 VOTES

27% YES 73% NO

T H E S TAT S S I T E

Bar graph representing stats below

AT H L E T E S ’ T A K E

2 0 1 9 FA L L T RYO U T S

WHAT IS IT LIKE AS A SENIOR GOING THROUGH YOUR LAST TRYOUT AT EAST?

T E N N I S | 1 3 1 P L AY E R S S O C C E R | 8 7 P L AY E R S

Tryouts as a senior are far less stressful than what it was like freshman year and, as much as they matter, you can just have as much fun as you want and meet all the new freshmen.

F O O T B A L L | 1 2 3 P L AY E R S V O L L E Y B A L L | 4 3 P L AY E R S G O L F | 1 6 P L AY E R S C RO S S CO U N T RY | 1 1 0 R U N N E R S

COMING UP THIS WEEK

emme tucker | senior

T E N N I S | F I R S T M AT C H WA S 0 8 / 2 9 S O C C E R | F I R S T G A M E WA S 0 8 / 3 0 FOOTBALL | FIRST GAME 09/06 V O L L E Y B A L L | F I R S T G A M E WA S 0 8 / 3 1

BEN LUETJE | NOELLE GRIFFIN

This year has been a lot different than last year. We have a lot of competition and I feel like we are more close as a team and we are going to try to bring a state title back to East.

cole long | senior

SCAN ME | VIDEO Watch this video over the boys JV v. Varsity soccer scrimmage

by Ryan Gossick and Maggie Schutt

T O P The boys Varsity soccer team built a stack of cups that reaches the ceiling. After being told to take it down, the team knocks it over. Building a cup tower during the pancake breakfast is something they do every year. photo by | trevor paulus T O P L E F T Sophomore Michael Henderson laughs with his teammates while getting some water during an afternoon practice. This was the first week of football practice before their first game on Aug. 30. photo by | noelle griffin L E F T Junior Elle Vuillemin dances at the pancake breakfast. photo by | kate nixon

SPORTS | 27

design by | lily billingsley photos by | taylor keal and elise madden

IN THE

BIG

LEAGUES

Freshman moved from North Carolina in order to play on the Sporting Academy Team and work towards his goal of playing professional soccer

allison wilcox

T by

wo years ago Sporting Academy’s Technical Coach, Michel Ribeiro, was at the USDA East Fall Soccer Showcase in North Carolina recruiting players. After a long day of watching games, he was about to leave for the day when he saw a boy on the field make two impressive passes most kids aren’t able to play. Ribeiro decided to stay for 20 more minutes and continued to be amazed by 12-year-old Thomas Mancuso’s abilities.

Mancuso, who is now a freshman at East, thought it was just another game of playing center midfield. It wasn’t until after the game that he learned Ribeiro was talking with his parents about his potential.

“He looked amazingly good,” Ribeiro said. “We spoke to the parents to see if they were open to come on trial with Sporting KC and they did. They came and visited and eventually they moved. It’s so perfect.”

This past spring Sporting made Mancuso an offer on their U15 team, which he gladly accepted after learning the program was designed to develop kids into professional soccer players. He was looking for any opportunity to play on his all time favorite team: Manchester United.

Three weeks before school started, Mancuso said goodbye to his friends, teammates and home town — Greensboro, North Carolina.

“I made the decision to come [to Kansas] because Sporting said in their academy ‘you had the potential to go pro’ and that’s all I’ve ever wanted,” Mancuso said. “If they’re going to give me the opportunity I want, I need to take it.”

According to Mancuso’s mother, Chi Nguyen, the decision to move 1,000 miles away was difficult to make.

Having a separated family, Mancuso was fortunate his parents and stepparents were able to keep their jobs, allowing them to move. Mancuso’s family wanted him to

know they support him in pursuing his dream — even if it means packing a U-Haul and moving to a new city.

Nguyen is confident that they made a wise decision in choosing to move their family to Kansas City.

“They have an actual pathway to become professional and they are an MLS associated team,” Nguyen said. “So if he’s going to become professional, this is where it most likely will come from.”

Mancuso has already noticed a difference between Sporting’s program and his two previous club teams, which were more laid back.

“On other teams you can take a day off and it won’t

I made the decision to come [to Kansas] because Sporting said in their academy ‘you had the potential to go pro’ and that’s all I’ve ever wanted. If they’re going to give me the opportunity I want, I need to take it.

thomas mancuso | freshman really matter,” Mancuso said. “People will slack off in practice or won’t care enough, but with Sporting not only do you get very nice utilities that can make you better, but everyone cares and wants to get better and that’s what I think makes Sporting better than other teams.”

Nguyen is confident that Mancuso will meet Sporting’s high level standards, if not exceed them.

“He’s very self-motivated,” Nguyen said. “We don’t have to tell him to get good grades and we really don’t have to tell him to work hard at soccer because he wants it so much. He has always been self motivated and self driven to be better and be the best, so if he’s not the best he’s going to work hard until he is.”

A B O V E Mancuso juggling a soccer ball and working on his technique. photos by | taylor keal and elise madden

CORE VALUES The four core values that Sporting Academy players should follow, explained by Academy Director, Jon Parry

1

2 3 4

TEAM FIRST “Everybody has to be team first here, and that is something that we preach to the kids and is extremely important. We are developing individuals in the Academy, but we really need the team to bring those individuals along.”

WINNING MENTALITY “I wouldn’t say it’s winning at all cost, but it’s winning the right way and being competitive in every game. Eventually, that will hopefully turn into a championship win.”

INTELLIGENCE “They must be intelligent on the field and have a high soccer IQ. They also need to be intelligent off the field and make good choices in school, at home and in life.”

WORK ETHIC “With work ethic, we always talk about the boys having a tremendous work ethic on and off the field.”

28 | SPORTS

P L AY E RS TO WATC H :

design by | sarah bledsoe photos by | sarah golder by

sydney decker

G R E TA + B RYS O N

Freshmen varsity tennis players share passion for tennis at high level

W GRETA STECHSCHULTE RECORD: 40-29 NATIONAL RANK: 272 PLAINS RANK: 12 KANSAS RANK: 8

BRYSON LANGFORD RECORD: 42-32 NATIONAL RANK: 281 PLAINS RANK: 13 KANSAS RANK: 9

A B O V E Freshmen Stechschulte and Langford pose in their tennis gear

ith freshman Greta Stechschulte nationally ranked at 272 and freshman Bryson Langford closely behind at 281, people would expect the two tennis players would be at each others’ throats to beat one another to the higher ranking.

But it’s exactly the opposite.

Stechschulte and Langford are able to support each other instead of being competitive. The two tennis players both got involved with the sport at a young age, have parents with a background in tennis and have hopes to play college tennis.

However, the girls don’t solely continue with tennis because of their parents both having college-level experience in the sport. According to Thad Langford, Bryson’s father, her passion and love for the sport is what keeps her playing and fosters their success.

“While it is true that her mother and I had our own tennis journeys, we view this as Bryson forging her own unique path,” Thad said. “Our role as parents is to provide her the opportunity to establish her own goals and support her as she works to earn them.”

And although they are committed to their sport, they play for fun, not for rank.

“I don’t know my rankings right now, I’m not really concerned with them,” Stechschulte said. “I mainly only worry about getting into tournaments.”

Both of their careers began with basic training at Homestead Country Club when Langford was four and Stechschulte was five and they now frequently travel to Oklahoma, Iowa and Nebraska for tournaments. For occasional national tournaments, they travel to South Dakota, Georgia and Massachusetts.

According Langford and Stechschulte, getting to their current level required unwavering commitment and sacrifice from family, friends and school. Being able to perform consistently in backto-back tournaments isn’t simply a matter of “effort.” There is a certain level

of commitment the girls are willing to put into the sport — spending four hours on the court six nights a week to improve, and sacrificing hanging out with their friends most days. According to Langford, she has the drive and dedication with help from her coach, Kevin Braun.

“We have always been more focused on her long-term development and goals. [Langford] has continued to be my hardest-working player both on and off the court,” Braun said. “The more she continues to believe in that hard work, the more she will continue to stand out as one of the better players not only in her age group but in the country.”

The girls have both individually received support from their parents and coaches, but it still took self-drive and motivation, according to Stechschulte, like practicing six days a week and attending weekly summer training to get to where they are today.

According to Stechschulte’s coach, Anthony Perkins, she has always been a talented player, but recently her focus has shifted more toward the tactical mindset of the game.

“She is starting to develop her tennis identity and understand what her own strengths and weaknesses are,” Perkins said.

Both girls aspire to play in college, and high school is getting them a step closer to achieving that goal. Langford and Stechschulte said high school provides them with a change in scenery and motivation to work toward the collegiate level.

This year, Langford and Stechschulte said they are excited to finally be in a setting where they can cheer on their fellow teammates — an experience they’ve never had until this year because tennis is typically played individually, if not with one other partner.

Both girls said they’ve been prepping their whole lives but predominantly in this past year – which will lead to further success in making a collegiate team, adding to their tennis journey.

This includes weekly practices and participating in tournaments year-round to get noticed and eventually scouted by colleges.

Although they are always focused on their individual games, they both are looking foward to joining East’s tennis team and program.

“I’m really excited because it’s not too often I get the opportunity to be on a team and cheer people on,” Langford said. “That’s an atmosphere a lot of players like me are missing. So, I’m definitely super excited for high school tennis to be able to contribute to a team.”

SPORTS | 29

design by | lilah faye

P L AY E R P RO F I L E S THE

RO B I N E TT T W I N S

Juniors Hope and Hanna Robinett stats, preferences, and what it’s like to golf with your twin

HANNA HANDICAP INDEX: 7.4 NATIONAL AVERAGE HANDICAP IS 16.1

8/2019

84

C

8/2019

85

T

8/2019

80

T

8/2019

83

T

8/2019

90

A

HOPE HANDICAP INDEX: 7.6 8/2019

85

T

8/2019

88

T

8/2019

90

T

8/2019

89

A

8/2019

77

H

Q: WHAT THE DYNAMIC BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR SISTER?

Q: WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO TO HAVE A GOOD DAY? I have to clean my ball before I putt.

Even if it’s not dirty, I’ll still wipe it off. I think that’s more of a habit. It makes me feel more at ease and know that I can go and hit that putt.

It’s a very supportive, but competitive relationship. We’re getting a lot better about being like ‘Good job!

Your success has nothing do with my unsuccess.’

hanna robinett | junior

hope robinett | junior

Q: WHAT DO YOU BRING AND NOT BRING WITH YOU ON THE COURSE?

bir•die mix

A sor t o f t ra i l m i x co n sistin g of G old fish , ma rsh m a l l ows, c h ex cere al, M &M s, an d so met i m es p ret ze l s

Q: WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO TO HAVE A GOOD

ORANGES

N O W E T TOW E L

I really like putting and I pride myself on that. And then Hanna is more short game or driving distance.

hope robinett | junior

AVG. DRIVING DISTANCE: 250

SCAN ME | TENNIS TWITTER Follow the Robinetts and the rest of the Golf Team’s season on twitter.

Q: WHO’S ARE YOUR MAIN COMPETITORS? Really, the main competition for us, is ourselves. On the team itself, we’re really competitive. It’s important to understand that you’re still a team, but they’re also your competition.

hanna robinett | junior

AVG DRIVING DISTANCE: 240

M A R K YO U R C A L E N DA R LANCER SHOOTOUT | SEPTEMBER 5

| R E G I O N A L S | O C T O B E R 1 4 & 2 1 | S TAT E C H A M P I O N S H I P | O C T O B E R 2 2

30 | PHOTOSTORY

design by | kate nixon and lilah faye

LINKING UP WITH F A R R I G H T Freshman Grace Knoff points at the camera while dancing. photo by | taylor keal M I D D L E R I G H T While talking to an SRO officer, freshman Spencer Blacketer explains his summer routine. “I thought it was actually really fun and engaging how we got to talk to the seniors and juniors,” Blacketer said about the first day. photo by | julia percy R I G H T After school, before the dance, junior Maisie Sheets sets up a disco sign. photo by | taylor keal

T O P L E F T Having a friend put glitter on her face, freshman Reese Birch gets ready before the dance. photo by | taylor keal T O P R I G H T Junior Julie Fromm hugs senior Lila Tulp at the beginning of the dance.

“It was just so much fun to see all the freshmen having fun and letting loose and not caring what everyone thought,” Fromm said about the dance experience. photo by | kate nixon R I G H T Freshman Robbie Cotton crowd surfs across the dance floor. “I wasn’t planning on going [to the dance]” Cotton said, “but my link leaders said it was fun, so I went...and I’m glad I did”. photo by | kate nixon

PHOTOSTORY | 31

design by | kate nixon and lilah faye

THE FRESHMEN

Link Crew works to make freshmen feel at home during first week of school

T O P Giving freshmen advice about transitioning into high school, choir teacher Ken Foley stands on the bleachers. Foley “think[s] the whole program is really terrific, and it’s a great way to immediately ‘plug’ the freshman into our school, because everyone is just looking to find a place they belong.” photo by | annakate dilks F A R L E F T Choir teacher Ken Foley encourages freshmen to separate from their “bungeecord buddy”and make new friends their first week of school. photo by | taylor keal L E F T Senior Brigid Wentz leads freshmen Jack Laird and Henderson Brant in an activity. photo by | taylor keal

TUNE 32 | ALT-COPY

BACK IN TO

SUMMER

LATELY, BILLIE EILISH is taking the music industry by storm. The seventeen-year-old pop singer is ruling the charts, topping the Billboard 200.

Recently, this “bad guy” singer made an appearance at Silverstein Eye Centers Arena in Independence, Missouri on June 7. When freshman Sam Herpich initially found out Eilish was coming to Kansas City, there was no doubt that she was going — Eilish was the only artist she was listening to at the time.

“I saw [the concert] on my Instagram feed,” Herpich said. “I said ‘Mom we are buying these tickets right now’.”

Herpich, who had gotten the tickets months in

design by | caroline chisholm

by gabby caponecchi SUMMER 2019 ENDED UP BEING A CAREFREE ONE.

Whether it was catching up on Bachelor in Paradise to staying out partying, this summer did not disappoint. However, several East students took a break from the poolside tanning, to see artists perform in Kansas City, such as Billie Eilish, Shawn Mendes, Khalid and Juice WRLD.

A look back at the concerts performed in Kansas City over the summer

advance, was impressed with Eilish’s exotic performance.

Eilish tends to march to the beat of her own drum — with her baggy Gucci ensemble and blue hair, Eilish paired her unique style with her dark songs, which seemed to have her fans wanting more.

Eilish has been labeled a role model to young girls everywhere, showing that if you stick with your dream, it’s bound to happen. Don’t hesitate to jump onto Ticketmaster the next time you hear Billie is coming to your city.

ATTENDEES

5,500+

ALBUM

when we all fall asleep, where do we go

HEADLINE SONG bad guy

THIS SUMMER, JUICE WRLD visited the Providence Amphitheater in Bonner Springs, Kansas, and according to senior Chloe Sowden, did not disappoint.

The “Lucid Dreams” rapper first began his career on Soundcloud, a music streaming platform, and has now grown to have his hit song reach number two on the Billboard Hot 100.

Due to the deaths of Lil’ Peep and XXXTentacion, Juice WRLD is ready to take trap and emo rap to a new level according to AXS. In

BEST NEW ARTIST mtv awards 2019

BILLIE EILISH.

JUICE WRLD. HOW MUCH DO YOU LOVE JUICE WRLD? 0 *average answer out of 340 votes

KHALID. WHO ARE KHALID’S INSPIRATIONS?

chance the rapper and frank ocean

HOW DOES HE WRITE HIS MUSIC?

always starts with the melody, then the lyrics

LET’S BE HONEST, Shawn Mendes has stolen every teenage girl’s heart time and time again. With his dreamy dark brown eyes and luscious hair, Mendes is a charming sight.

Fortunately for the “Mendes Army,” this tall glass of water made an appearance at the Sprint Center on July 19. Mendes opened with hit single “Lost in Japan,” filling the room with high pitched screams of teenage girls. Junior Camryn Cohen had bought last minute VIP tickets the day of the concert to meet Mendes and sit in during a Q&A with him. Unfortunately, Cohen said the meet and

KHALID IS AN American pop singer who began his career in July of 2016, with his debut single “Location.” The last three years, Khalid has released two more albums, including his most recent album, “Free Spirit,” released on April 5.

Kansas City was one of many stops for the multi-platinum global superstar’s Free Spirit Tour.

Sophomore Maggie Nottberg was excited to see such a well-known artist performing in Kansas, at the Sprint Center on July 21. Nottberg was moved by Khalid’s performance, to

greet lasted a whole five seconds, and she got about three words out.

“It was so fast,” Cohen said. “I said ‘hi’, took a picture with him, hugged him and said ‘bye’.”

According to Junior Annie Gast, Mendes created the perfect set list, and included multiple mashups of songs so every fan could hear their favorite.

From posting on the video hosting service Vine in 2013, to performing on stage at the 61st Grammy Awards in 2019, Mendes continues to rise in the music industry.

doing so, Juice WRLD went on tour.

Sowden was lucky enough to get tickets the day of the concert.

“I think it was pretty funny we decided to go the day of,” said Sowden. “[Me and my friend] weren’t really huge fans.”

Juice WRLD has come a long way from his freshman year in high school when he was known for his lyrical rhymes. With his ever-growing fan base, Juice WRLD will continue to grow and express that growth through his music.

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10

say the least. Due to his rhythmic and catchy songs, it was easy for the crowd to sing along.

“I thought the atmosphere was really fun,” said Nottberg.

“A lot of people there knew the songs, so it [became] a collective voice. It was really cool.”

Nottberg said she wouldn’t hesitate to go to another Khalid concert if he were to visit again. Altogether, the R&B and soul artist has continued to exceed expectations, and truly deserves an accolade.

TWO GRAMMY SHAWN nominations MENDES.

BARELY LEGAL

mendes celebrated his 21st birthday on august 8th

MAGCON MAN

mendes started his career and earned his fame on the app Vine