The Harbinger Issue 11 2022-2023

CROSS - COUNTRY CONNECTION

See what’s happening at a different U.S. high school according to their newspaper’s Editor-in-Chief

THE ARCHER SCHOOL

CALIFORNIA FOR GIRLS

What current events are students and staff talking about?

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF THE ORACLE

JAN. 31 SENIOR NAMED REGERON SCHOLAR

SENIOR ALYSSA PONRARTANA WAS NAMED a top 300 scholar in the 82nd Regeneron Science Talent Search for her study of fruit fies to investigate whether the chemical Bisphenol-A had any signifcant sex-specifc impacts on the behaviors of Fragile X Syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disability and the leading genetic cause of autism.

FEB. 10

SENIOR SERVICE DAY

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STORIES

Read an opinion story about different water bottles or a feature on Paige Stanfield by visiting smeharbinger.net or scanning the QR code

MEDIA

SENIOR GRETA IRVINE

IN LIEU OF STUDENT-LED CONFERENCES required for the rest of the student body, the senior class traveled to the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve in Playa del Ray Friday, Feb. 10, to volunteer from 1 – 3 p.m.

RIGHT Archer seniors pull out invasive species from the Ballona Wetlands. This activity was a part of the senior service day, which aims to promote community involvement and connection.

photo by I rose sarner

LEFT Senior Alyssa Ponrartana presents her research project at Archer’s annual Student STEM Symposium May 14, 2022. Ponrartana was named a scholar in the 82nd Regeneron Science Talent Search for her research intersecting neurodevelopment and environment.

photo by I caroline wu

sta list

PRINT EDITORS

Peyton Moore

Francesca Stamati

ONLINE EDITORS

Lyda Cosgrove

Kate Heitmann

ASST. PRINT EDITORS

Greyson Imm

Katie Murphy

ASST. ONLINE

EDITORS

Aanya Bansal

Maggie Kissick

PHOTO EDITORS

Rachel Bingham

Hadley Chapman

Macy Crosser

ASST. PHOTO EDITORS

Liv Madden Riley Scott

HEAD COPY EDITORS

Caroline Gould

Caroline Wood

ASST. HEAD COPY

SCAN ME WEBSITE

Visit the website of The Archer School For Girls’ news publication, The Oracle

EDITORS

Aanya Bansal

Greyson Imm

DESIGN EDITORS

Nora Lynn

Anna Mitchell

ASST. DESIGN EDITOR

Bridget Connelly

VIDEO EDITORS

Abby Lee

David Allegri PODCAST EDITOR

Emma Krause

SOCIAL MEDIA EDITORS

Mia Vogel

Paige Zadoo

ASST. SOCIAL MEDIA

EDITOR

Bridget Connelly

SECTION EDITORS

PRINT NEWS

Addie Moore

ONLINE NEWS

Hassan Sufi

ONLINE FEATURES

Ben Bradley

PRINT SPORTS

Ava Cooper

PRINT EDITORIAL

Sophie Lindberg

ONLINE OPINION

Larkin Brundige

PRINT A&E

Veronica Mangine

STAFF WRITERS

Isabel Baldassaro

Sophia Brockmeier

Larkin Brundige

Maggie Condon

Mary Gagen

Avie Koeneman

Libby Marsh

Lily Simmons

Gracie Takacs

Connor Vogel

Lucy Wolf

Ada Lillie

Worthington

PAGE DESIGNERS

Afa Akwanka’a

Sofia Blades

Adya Burdick

Ava Cooper

Grace Demetriou

Elle Gedman

Veronica Mangine

Kai Mcphail

Lyla Weeks

STAFF ARTISTS

Sofia Blades

Caroline Daniels

Madi Maupin

PHOTO MENTORS

Riley Eck

Julia Fillmore

Claire Goettsch

Caroline Martucci

Emily Pollock

Mason Sajna

STAFF

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Paige Bean

Kate Beaulieu

Lydia Coe

Audrey Condon

Sabrina Dean

Ryan Dehan

Charlotte Emley

Julia Fillmore

Will Griffith

Kenna Harrington

Molly Miller

Clara Peters

Tristen Porter

Alex Sajna

Lili Vottero

MJ Wolf

Amelie Wong

Madi Maupin

VIDEO STAFF

Luke Beil

Calen Domingues

Ryder Hendon

FOLLOW

SOCIAL MEDIA:

The Harbinger

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SM East Harbinger

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 content and opinions 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 quotes material may be confrmed with the 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 thought letters may be edited for clarity, length or mechanics. Letters should be sent to room 413B or emailed to smeharbinger@gmail.com.

design by greyson imm cover design by francesca stamati

cartoon by adya burdick

FINDING THE FUNDS

The East community should be equally supportive and aware of traditionally underrepresented programs through monetary support and simple recognition

THIS YEAR, THE orchestra program raised most of their money from sending out dozens of players with the task of selling poinsettias and mums. Fundraisers like these are rarely seen among programs like football or basketball — no need for them to frantically hit the streets knocking on neighbors’ doors. Sports and sports-related activities — think marching band — are often placed at a higher importance over other areas of performing arts or clubs, shown blatantly by how many people show up for each one. Because of this lack of representation within the East community, these “forgotten” activities, like orchestra or Freelancer, are left in the dust when it comes to monetary support.

The East community should be equally supportive and aware of programs outside the classics — football,

basketball, marching band — and recognize traditionally underrepresented programs through not only monetary support, but simple appreciation and attending program’s events such as car washes or bake sales.

It’s easy to complain that programs are underfunded or undercut by the school, but this isn’t entirely true. There’s careful consideration that goes into the amount of money each program receives. Programs often get needed money from the district, according to principal Jason Peres. The real problem that goes unaddressed is a lack of advertisement of certain programs, leading to less publicity and money generated from individual fundraising outside of the guaranteed budget.

The unfortunate reality is that due to the value East community members place on sports, fundraising, donations and booster clubs disproportionately favor athletic activities — like the Lancer Dancer pancake breakfast that over 500 people attended in 2022.

Funding for East’s activities come from three sources: district allotment, gate accounts — funds from selling tickets to sports games — and club accounts. District and gate accounts have a specific spending budget for each activity and all expenses must be approved by the district, athletic director or administration. Club accounts are individually managed and have the money generated from that program’s booster club or fundraisers.

The starting funds are about $55,000 for sports and $18,000 for all other activities. While

FOR: 12 AGAINST: 0

The members of the editorial board who agree with the viewpoint of the editorial are represented by for, and those who disagree with the viewpoint are represented by against.

this seems disproportionate, it’s rare for any activity or sport to not get the funding that is absolutely necessary, according to Peres. Generally, sports have a higher need for transportation and using facilities, contributing to the drastic difference.

Normally, the district allotment and the use of the gate account is on a need basis. Administration isn’t going to prioritize finding money for soccer to buy new jerseys or for the theater department to renovate the Little Theater. But the club accounts are able to step in and provide needed funds when administration isn’t able to.

Of course it’s unrealistic to ask that the East community pay up and pitch in to every program. Instead, an easy way to combat this funding disparity is to support not only the fundraisers for programs you’re involved in but also those you’re able to contribute to. It’s not difficult to go to an orchestra car wash that would cost you the same money a Starbucks drink does, even if you’ve never touched a violin.

To be fair, the programs themselves have to take some of the blame for underrepresentation. Being marketable comes from the efforts of the program — it’s not entirely the administration’s problem to deal with.

By being more present in the student body and smaller programs with a bigger social media presence or simple word of mouth, the financial scales can even out.

At the end of the day, by being more supportive — financially or just by being present — you’re investing in the futures of students within their programs. It’s not an issue isolated to just one group of people. Everyone — students, program directors, parents — can benefit from a larger understanding of the people they’re surrounded by, creating a willingness to contribute to all parts of the East community.

QUICK STATS

92% OF POLL RESPONSES AGREED THAT SPORTS ARE PLACED AT A HIGHER VALUE THAN ANY OTHER PROGRAM AT EAST

*info from Instagram polls

Student opinions on if certain programs at East are underrepresented

THE MOST COMMON RESPONSES FOR UNDERREPRESENTED PROGRAMS WERE:

FREELANCER

story by lucy wolf

CAN’T RAIN ON OUR PARADE

The Chiefs Super Bowl Victory Parade took place on Feb. 15 in downtown Kansas City

THE KANSAS CITY Chiefs won Super Bowl LVII against the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35 on Feb. 12 and hosted a parade in celebration.

After three days of celebrating, the players came home on Feb.15 for the Victory Parade. The parade started at noon and featured the Chiefs players, head coach Andy Reid, cheerleaders and local government officials.

The parade route started on 6th Street and Grand Boulevard, running down Grand until finally reaching Union Station where the parade ended around 1:30 p.m. Fifteen minutes later, a pep rally was held at Union Station as a final celebration with speeches from

NO FLY ZONE

players Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Andy Reid and Nick Bolton about the success of their recent season.

According to an Instagram poll, an estimated 65 East students out of the 152 voters attended the parade, each having a different and unique experience, one of which being sophomore Ted Smith.

“We got to the parade around 7:45 in the morning,” Smith said. “The best part about the parade though was probably being on Fox 4 News and getting to tell the news reporter how our day was and yelling, ‘Go Chiefs!’ into the camera.”

TRYOUT TRACKER

Tryouts for spring sports are from

TAKING 22 PLAYERS

Three unidentified objects have been shot down from Feb. 4-12

THE UNITED STATES was put on high alert on Feb. 4 when a national alarm was triggered due to a U.S. F-22 fighter jet shooting down a Chinese “spy balloon” off the coast of South Carolina — triggering more takedowns of flying objects.

Since then, a U.S. fighter jet has shot down another unidentified flying object on Feb. 10. This object was brought down over the waters of Alaska and broke into pieces after being shot, according to The New York Times. A White House official additionally confirmed the object was the size of a small car. This left the question of what was really shot down.

Another unidentified object was shot down over the Yukon territory bordering

Alaska by an American fighter on Feb. 11, according to The New York Times. It was described as cylindrical and small by a Canadian official.

An object that was first seen over Montana on Feb. 11 reappeared on Feb. 12 and was shot down over Lake Huron, off of Michigan, according to The New York Times.

“If I could do something different about this whole situation, I wouldn’t worry about the public’s opinions,” science teacher Susan Hallstrom said. “If the [unidentified objects] were over American airspace, we have the right to shoot them down — as other countries have the right to shoot ours down..”

TAKING AROUND 55 PLAYERS

the swing going before tryouts.

design by addie moore

photo by audrey condon

LIMITS NEW REACHING

THE NEWLY RENOVATED Kansas City International Airport will hold its grand opening on Feb. 28 after five years of construction.

The current airport, built in 1972, has a lack of space, seating and food options, according to United Airlines pilot and East parent Cooper Weeks. But the new airport — with a construction budget of $1.5 billion — will bring the capacity from 30,000 up to 50,000 people. With this expansion, the terminal will contain 50 new restaurants with 80-90% of them originating from Kansas City, according to Weeks.

THERE NEEDS TO be new restaurant options because at the current airport there is nowhere to eat. Everything is always closed or extremely crowded, and as someone who fies pretty frequently, this is very exciting to know that this will no longer be a problem.

airport had previously “There needs to be new restaurant options because at the current airport there is nowhere to eat,” Ives said. “Everything is always closed or extremely crowded, and as someone who flies pretty frequently, this is very exciting to know that this will no longer be a problem.”

East parent and frequent flyer Paul Stephens has similar feelings and is also hopeful for the new food options at the terminal.

standpoint. After arriving at the airport, Weeks and other volunteers went through the process of checking bags, the ticket counter, going through security and boarding to get a feel for the new system.

Freshman Lily Ives hopes these new restaurants bring food variety in the new terminal, in comparison to the lack of options the

LILY IVES

FRESHMAN

“I’ve been to several airports that have tons of options and food is really good,” Stephens said. “KCI has terrible food and it is always very crowded.” Weeks visited KCI on Feb. 14 to test out the new airport from a pilot

Weeks noticed several new amenities at the terminal that are upgrades from the original KCI airport, such as moving walkways and lots of windows. Moving walkways were installed from concourse A to concourse B to transport passengers more efficiently, and the windows installed provide natural light which, according to Weeks, is very pretty and improves the traveling experience.

I THINK THE artwork is a big shift from what I’ve seen. Every gate has its own theme of artwork which is very unique.

COOPER WEEKS

EAST PARENT

be accessible after security and ticketing so that travelers won’t have to worry about going through multiple security checkpoints in order to get food. Another addition made was to incorporate different art pieces from local artists throughout the terminal. The art will vary from modern ceiling support designs to a nod to KC being the City of Fountains. As a pilot who frequents dozens of airports, Weeks believes the new KCI artwork will make the airport stand out in comparison to other airports across the nation.

To additionally improve the traveling experience at KCI, security will be at one central checkpoint which aims to improve efficiency and decrease the cost of personnel. All restaurants and stores will

“I think the artwork is a big shift from what I’ve seen,” Weeks said. “Every gate has its own theme of artwork which is very unique.”

design by elle gedman

story by avie konenman

The airport’s new terminals. photos courtesy of I cooper weeks

The new Kansas City International Airport addition opens on Feb. 28

THE PRAIRIE VILLAGE City council met on Feb. 6 to discuss their changes to the current rezoning recommendations with specific regard to their recommendations for the R-1 zones.

These recommendations are to be sent to the Planning Commission, which is responsible for studying and researching possible changes regarding laws, or in this case, zoning, within the city

R-1 zoning district refers to single-family dwellings, which make up 90% of Prairie Village properties, according to the city’s website.

The recommendations aim to promote smaller, more easily attainable houses within the city and improve access to Accessory Dwelling Units — a detached living units generally available for rental, all according to the document “Second Amended Council Recommendations Based on the Ad Hoc Housing Committee Recommendations.”

However as of Feb. 6, all recommendations that include the term “R1” are now being withheld from being sent to the planning commission so that they can be discussed further by the council, according to the amended document.

The council is still going to send the remainder of their recommendations to

RETHINK

REZONING

story by david allegri

Prairie Village City Council voted to suspend mention of single family zones in their recommendations to the planning commission on Feb. 6 for further discussion

the planning committee — all of which mention R-2+ zones, according to the aforementioned document. R-2+ refers to R-2, R-3, R-4, and other “multiunit” houses.

The reason council wants to go forward with the R-2+ issues first is because the topic of R-2+ zones comes with lesser contention from the public — due to the small percentage of R-2+ zones in the city.

“[The Planning Commision] needs to focus on the low-hanging fruit, the other districts,” with specific regard to their recommendations for the R-1 zones. Lauren Wolf said during the meeting.

The council hasn’t removed the R-1 entirely from the discussion, rather they want the Planning Commission to focus on the easier issues of the R-2+ zoning districts, according to Wolf.

Unlike the R-2+ zones, the discussion regarding R-1 zones is a point of high concern.

“They’re concerned that someone could potentially tear down a single-family home and build a duplex or a triplex or quadplex next to their single-family home,” Councilmember Piper Reimer said, “That is their concern and that is not at all what I think is being proposed or even considered, and I think that hasn’t been clear.”

The concern over the topic of R-1 house has gained the attention of many residents, resulting in a separation of two different groups.

Prairie Village for All is in support of the proposed recommendations, PV United or the “Stop PV Rezoning” group is against the rezoning and doesn’t want R-1 to be included in the recommendations.

Both groups are highly active in the discussion, and both of their yard signs can be spotted throughout Prairie Village and both parties attend city council meetings..

The council is trying to find a spot where both sides are pleased with the outcome, according to Mayor Eric Mikkelson.

“I think everybody’s goal on council is to find a win-win — the sweet spot,” Mikkelson said. “Where we can do some things to make a smaller, more-attainable housing in Prairie Village in a way that does not diminish property values for anyone else”

The goal of the proposed recommendations is not to lower property value, but rather to create more housing options for people unable to afford the high price of a Prairie Village house, according to the council.

Currently, the average home in Prairie Village is $391,192 according to Zillow. Instead of lowering the value of the property,

the council aims to make it more attainable — or more rentable, based on the proposed changes.

“[These recommendations] would allow more police, more teachers, more nurses to live in Prairie Village,” Mikkelson said, “More workers available for our shops would allow our businesses to thrive. These are solutions that if done properly, will enhance property values and strengthen neighborhoods.”

The council is looking to the future of the city rather than just the current state of the city. In order to grow as a city, Prairie Village must become more accessible for younger people to move to the city, according to councilmember and East parent Bonnie Limbird.

“We have to account for the changing demographics and younger families, younger couples, and younger families do want to be here, Limbird said, “And there is the future of the city, in the next two, three, four decades, that’s [the younger generation] who’s going to be here.”

Though many people want to take the issue to a city-wide vote, an issue like this is highly unlikely to ever come to a ballot as they are costly to run and should be able to be settled within the council, according to Reimer.

design by kai mcphail

photo by kenna harrington

LEARN THE LINGO Terminology used by the city committees when discussing the rezoning recommendations

R-1

A single family dwelling housing

Duplex double family dwelling housing

Committee that recommends affordable housing options to the city council

ABORTION? BYE

Though the Kansas House of Representatives rejected anti-abortion House Bill 2181, the bill is still alive for two years, raising discussions of Kansas abortion laws

BILL BREAK DOWN PROPOSED

THE KANSAS HOUSE of Representatives rejected House Bill 2181 — made to completely ban abortion in the state of Kansas — on Jan. 25 after Republican lawmakers proposed it on the same day.

The bill would have banned abortion in all cases including rape, incest and maternal health risks. It did not include regulations on the sale of contraceptives or birth control.

The bill also aimed to convict people who performed an “unlawful performance of an abortion” with level 1 person felony, making them subject to either prison or probation.

Kansas Rep. Brett Fairchild was a public supporter of the bill who, despite pro-life beliefs, supports the sale of birth control and contraceptives as he doesn’t equate those to an abortion.

According to Fairchild, he cosponsored the bill to fulfill promises he made to his district when he was elected as well as to protect babies both born and unborn.

“I cosponsored it partly because when I ran for office I told my constituents that I would introduce a bill to ban abortion,” Fairchild said.

According to Fairchild, the introduction of the bill was timed around other bills that would

create controversy in the House so House Bill number 2181 would be overshadowed by the others.

House Bill 2181 will most likely not be brought up again considering it’s the most extreme abortion ban bill to be proposed to date, according to KCUR.

“I tend to co-sponsor a lot of bills that aren’t successful,” Fairchild said. “[They] maybe go a little farther than some people are willing to go.”

Fairchild’s theory that his harsh bills typically aren’t supported even by people with pro-life ideas is backed by students at East.

Sophomore Maggie Wells — a pro-choice supporter — calls bills banning abortion completely unconstitutional.

“Bills like these are very unconstitutional because they’re very harsh,” Wells said, “Having an abortion, especially for a medical concern, is a necessity.”

Similarly, sophomore Lili Greenstein feels that abortion should be kept legal everywhere and not a political topic.

leaning towards pro-choice ideas — linked to the influence of social media according to McShane — that bills like this will become less common. She says that social media platforms tend to lean more towards democratic ideas which influence the next generation of voters.

“I think we are being influenced a lot by social media which from what I’ve seen it’s mostly a democratic tool,” McShane said.

Despite the rejection of House Bill 2181, its proposal is sparking ideas for similar bills and ideas in the House. However, plans for these future bills have Wells worried.

[THE POSSIBILITY of abortion getting banned] defnitely does scare me a lot. I feel like there is a potential that it could be banned and also abortion being banned in so many other states is so scary to think about.

“The government shouldn’t be trying to regulate people’s bodies at all,” Greenstein said.

Although this bill’s extremity made it unfavorable to most state representatives, some people believe that abortion and birth control rights have no place in government.

“Every person who has the ability to get pregnant should be able to choose what they want to do with their body,” senior Libby McShane said.

McShane finds hope in the idea that with more of her generation

“[The possibility of a bill banning abortion getting passed] definitely does scare me a lot,” Wells said. “I feel like there is a potential that it could be banned and also abortion being banned in so many other states is so scary to think about.”

Despite the possibility of a future bill banning abortion being passed, some students voiced that they wouldn’t let the government take away their right to abortions.

“No government or man or older woman should tell me what I can and cannot do with my body,” McShane said.

Despite House Bill 2181 being rejected by the Kansas House of Representatives, it’s still alive for the next two years meaning it could be brought back if Gov. Laura Kelly overrides the decision.

design by katie murphy

story by avery anderson

Quick facts about the abortion bill proposed to the Kansas legistlation

SENATOR TREVOR JACOBS

SOPHOMORE

MAGGIE WELLS

o p inion.

design by nora lynn

THIS WEEK

IN OPINION

Recent Instagram polls on this issue’s opinion stories

DO YOU THINK IT’S BENEFICIAL TO GIVE A CHILD A UNIQUE NAME?

*Instagram poll of 318 votes

YES NO 57% 43%

DO YOU THINK IT’S MORE MEANINGFUL TO COMPLEMENT SOMEONE’S PERSONALITY RATHER THAN THEIR APPEARANCE?

*Instagram poll of 187 votes

YES NO 8% 92%

DO YOU THINK IT’S BETTER TO FIND YOUR COLLEGE ROOMMATE RATHER THAN BE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED ONE?

*Instagram poll of 130 votes

YES NO 25% 75%

MISSING THE PASS

cartoon by caroline daniels

When other classmates misuse the bathroom pass, it makes using the restroom a lot harder

TAKE OUR POLLS

Follow the Harbinger on social media to participate in our polls

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STUDENT TAKES

Students share their opinion on spring break vacations

WOULD YOU RATHER GO ON A SPRING BREAK TRIP TO A POPULAR LOCATION OR TO A LESSER- KNOWN LOCATION?

JUNIOR

I THINK THAT lesser-known locations are often less crowded than more popular ones and there’s a lot of new experiences that you can get from them that would be very different from ones going to like a big city or going skiing every single year.

I’D RATHER A less popular place because I don’t like incredibly crowded places because there’s usually annoying children there.

CHARLIE CROSSLEY

FRESHMAN

STELLA LINDBERG

C RE A TI V E from the CR I B

story by francesca stamati

NIGHTINGAL E, ISLAND, YODA , Michaelangelo. Oh and Coyote. I have a list of baby names in my notes app. They’re ideas I’ve been curating since elementary school, and those knockouts crown the page. I read it to friends. And guess what? People laugh . They think I’m joking. I’m not.

But I’ll suffer the smirks and snickers if it means inspiring at least one future parent. My mission? Spice up roll call 20 years down the road. That and identity development.

After all, penning uncommon names on birth certificates can promote individuality and selfexpression in kids. Let’s get over judging parents’ choices and consider adding a few offbeat names to our own list of ideas.

Celebrities do it. Patrick Mahomes’ most impressive feat isn’t two rings, but the names of his son and daughter, Sterling and Bronze. Gweneth Paltrow thought Apple and Moses fit her babies best. Kylie Jenner’s strokes of genius were Stormi and Aire — she was clearly annoyed after sharing the letter “K” with her five sisters and mom.

“He’s ruining the baby’s life.” (speaking from experience? @johnsmith29).

What if the parents are just bored? They have reason to be. Rather than knitting baby blankets for Olivia or Liam, some expecting couples prefer names that startle people.

Some may call it cruelty — I call it having a little fun. People take life too seriously, flipping through pages of baby name books and chewing their nails over potential bad nicknames that might haunt their child. Only to bless that chubby cherub face with “Bob.”

PEOPLE TAKE LIFE too seriously, fipping through pages of baby name books and chewing their nails over potential bad nicknames that might haunt their child. Only to bless that chubby cherub face with “Bob.”

Maybe choosing a basic name will make it easier to buy a keychain or tasseled bracelet with your baby’s name on it at the zoo gift shop. But the cost is devastating. Common names can be cursed — Chad, Becky, Karen. When a generation gets into a frenzy and treats names like trends, these words gain notoriety and combust. Chad over there? No thoughts behind those eyes, just surfing and vibes. Becky? Blondie can’t spell to save her life. Karen? Customer service agents pray her lethal bob doesn’t spawn at their 9-5.

Wildly, most don’t applaud these masterpieces like I do. Under every influencer’s Instagram post announcing their newborn’s unique name are comments mocking the parents’ choices.

“You can’t name your child that.” (OK @tom.smith).

“Does she want her kid bullied in school?” (thanks @rob_smith).

It gets sadder. Their poor parents have good intentions — enough to fill a baby shower conversation about their big plans for little Rob. Maybe he won’t get bullied for his name. But by scrambling to protect their child from a life of harassment, they’re really picking a personalitystencil: style, humor, hobbies, hair dye.

Instead, they should choose respectable names like Fleming or Sunbeam. Punchy, mysterious and vague enough to have

zero associations when people meet the lucky owner, these names set babies up to be one-of-a-kind rockstars, astronauts, pediatricians or teachers — whatever their fetal heart desires.

If the celebrity endorsements didn’t convince you, the facts will. Rare names are associated with pursuing unusual career paths, like a film director or judge, according to a study by the Beijing Institute of Psychology. Research by Arizona State University found that having a unique name correlates to creativity and open mindedness. Sorry to say it, but little Sam probably isn’t going to ace his AP Art project like his classmate, Jupiter.

And don’t think family names get a pass. What’s captivating about a third Amy? Or Jeff Jr .? I’d rather dip fondue with Sarsaparilla the First — the real deal — over her clone. Coining an eccentric name opens doors and allows kids to define themselves freely.

In fact, it’s our responsibility to push acceptance of uncommon names. In diversity-weak communities like ours, we see yearbook pages stuffed with the same white, Christian names that have been inked in the Bible for thousands of years.

So we grow up. Start families. Search for something special to fit our beloved bundles. Maybe we’re drawn to something like Khaleesi or Anakin, but we settle for Mark because that’s what everyone else does. If you’re sick of the same-old, opt for something that’ll give your kid a little room for self-definition and built-in character growth.

After all, wouldn’t you rather see your kid’s name on the silver screen or a Fortune 500 company than a gift shop fridge magnet?

callings

Students with unique names explain how it has affected their lives

I LIKE MY name. It’s not rare, but it’s also not a name you hear a lot. According to my parents, my dad insisted that I had the same initials as him, so he had to fnd a good name that started with the letter D because his name is David, and apparently one day they came across the water bottle, and he decided that was the name for me.

SOME PEOPLE CALL me Summer Moon. My sister was initially supposed to be named Autumn, but she was born early August and they didn’t want to name her Autumn. So when I was born in October, they thought it would be the perfect name.

To promote individuality and creativity among kids, parents should give their children unique names that distinguish them from their peers

design by lyla weeks

photos by liv madden

art by adya burdick & sofia blades

FRESHMAN

DASANI SELVY JUNIOR

AUTUMN SUN

YOU GIVE THE BEST ADVICE

design by maggie condon

YOU’RE SO FUN TO BE AROUND OPINION 10 THE HARBINGER

YOUR EYES TOTALLY POP

story by lyda cosgrove

I quickly dodged the mortifying conversation with an awkward laugh and a quick topic change, but it stuck with me for the rest of the day. Am I really getting skinnier? It’s a compliment, right? Doesn’t everyone want to be complimented on a thinner physique? That must be good. Maybe I should stay skinny.

And so the mental spiral began.

My well-meaning co-worker didn’t know I’d been overcoming eating issues for a year. She didn’t know “getting skinnier” was what I was trying to do the exact opposite of. And she didn’t know I’d replay that comment for the rest of the week when I woke up to look in the mirror or went for a snack.

But she couldn’t have known. And that’s the point — when you comment on someone’s appearance, you have no idea what nerve you’ll strike, or what they deal with in private. Take the safe and far more meaningful route: strive for compliments that go beyond surface-level looks.

Appearance-focused compliments come with an unspoken pressure to maintain that

OU JUST GET skinnier every time I see you! What’s your secret?”appreciated look. Say you get a compliment on your hair one day, and don’t the next. Queue the flood of overthinking: Does my hair look worse today? Why didn’t they say anything this time? Something’s wrong. When it comes to something like weight loss or gain, a quick remark may contribute to an unhealthy obsession.

In fact, a 2009 study by Psychology of Women Quarterly found that women who responded positively to receiving compliments on their appearance also reported increased body self-consciousness and overall appearance dissatisfaction as a result.

Our appearance hinges on many factors out of our control, unlike our personality traits. Maybe you’ll have a bad hair day or a morning without time for your 10-step makeup routine. It’s all temporary anyway. But qualities like a quirky sense of humor or giving thoughtful advice are more permanent than any physical trait can be — let’s uplift those instead.

Think about it: when was the last time someone complimented your physical appearance or something you were wearing? Probably recently. And sure, maybe it gave

CLAIRE SCHUDY

East students and teachers share why they think certain compliments genuine to give

[ABI LIMBARD] was like “Claire, your smile is contagious,“ cause she was editing our Hauberk applicaiton video... and she told me that and I was really fattered by it

you a boost of confidence in the moment, but when was the last time you got a compliment about your bravery, creativity or passion? That one may be harder to recall.

It seems that people — myself included — rarely point out positive personality traits. Appearance is an easy go-to, and often superficial, but we have to search deeper. So instead of commenting on someone’s body or how much better their hair looks straightened than natural, channel that desire to compliment who they actually are, not what they look like.

BY COMPLIMENTING

the contagiousness of someone’s laugh, for example, you’re

Considering compliments result in an instant boost of dopamine and serotonin for both the giver and receiver, it makes sense that it would result in a sense of positive reinforcement. By complimenting the contagiousness of someone’s laugh, for example, you’re simply encouraging them to continue expressing their laughter and happiness.

I’m right in line with everyone who loves getting compliments on a carefully-selected

outfit or fresh set of nails. And it’s certainly true that receiving any compliment is better than none at all. But if we’re consistently complimented on appearance alone, we may begin to form a subconscious idea that we’re something to simply be evaluated, rather than a person with qualities that go beyond just how we look on a given day. Traits like genuinity and honesty aren’t quantifiably comparable to anyone else, like the length of each other’s eyelashes could be.

So this isn’t to say stop giving compliments altogether — any compliment is key to building confidence and making those around you feel valued. If someone looks amazing in their new favorite top, tell them. But also think of how you can focus on the character of friends and strangers and what makes them unique as people, not the definition of their abs or the fun color of their leggings.

NORA HILL

TEACHER

BRETT KRAMER JUNIOR

“YOU’RE A LIGHT IN MY LIFE“

photo by kate beaulieu, riley scott and eva berkley

Y

simply encouraging them to continue expressing their laughter and happiness.

Complimenting someone’s character is much more meaningful than a surface-level compliment

IT CAN REALLY bolster someone’s day or their self worth by telling them that you recognize them for the strengths that they have beyond just a grade or a test score

WE DON’T REALLY look at ourselves as having positivity and shining a light on other peoples’ lives, so I say it to let people know they make my life a better place

“I’M PROUD OF YOU”

MOST MEANINGFUL

JUNIOR

“YOUR SMILE IS INFECTIOUS”

YOUR HAIR LOOKS SO PRETTY

YOUR MAKEUP LOOKS AMAZING

CAREFUL COMPLIMENTING COMPLIMENTING

design by sophia brockmeier

FIND BLIND OR

Staffers debate on how college roomates should be decided: either by choosing them or by random assignment

FIND YOUR OWN ROOMMATE

story by mia vogel

MEETING PEOPLE ONLINE has always seemed sketchy to me, but after spending the past few months browsing through Class of 2027 Instagram pages for potential roommates and friends, I think I may have a knack for it.

With everything from scholarships to the number of Starbucks on campus swirling around my brain when making my final college decisions, housing ranks high on the priorities list.

talk and get to know each other much more thoroughly.

WHEN ALLOTED

Call me picky, but my future roommate needs to have good taste in music, a healthy dose of clean freak in her and impeccable style — so we can share clothes, obviously. There’s no chance that a randomly assigned roommate could check all my endless niche boxes.

Without fail, every time I scroll through the endless feed of lively photos and voicey captions I find at least a handful of girls who I can see myself rooming with — and just as many who I’d never, which is why I can’t risk a random assignment.

I’ve been assured by older friends that as long as I go in with an optimistic outlook I’ll thrive in any living arrangement, no matter the roommate. After all, it’s only for a year.

However, when allotted the luxury of choice, why pass it up?

How could a 20-question form possibly match me to someone I have to live in a 200-square foot room with for nine months? Through social media, you can actually

By this point in the year, almost every school has an Instagram account for their incoming freshman class. These accounts serve as a platform for future and potential students to get an idea of their class’s energy, make friends and, most importantly — find roommates.

The only downside is that it’s tough to find a roommate when you haven’t fully decided on a school — no one wants to commit to room with someone who’s still 50/50 on whether they’ll even be attending the school.

The reality is that for every random roommate success story I’ve heard, there’s a slew of horror stories to level it. Everything from obnoxious 4 a.m. gym wake-up alarms to semesters gone without washing sheets and — in my mom’s case — a roommate who left a week into freshman year to go follow the Grateful Dead on tour, has convinced me that the folks at the university housing departments are by no means matchmakers.

I’ll be choosing my own roomate, thank you very much.

I THINK TAKING time to fnd the right person is super important, it’s defnitely hard choosing someone who you think would be good, but I am super thankful I found someone similar to me.

RANDOM ROOMMATE ASSIGNMENT

SWIPING THROUGH THE hundreds of Homecoming group photos, mirror selfies and senior pictures on the @miz_2027 Instagram account, I’m overwhelmed. How am I supposed to determine girls’ entire personalities from eight smiley photos and a 50-word caption about how they like “going out” and “hanging with friends?”

NO MATTER WHAT

I could spend my last semester of high school stressing about speed dating these girls searching for my perfect match, but I’d rather put my energy towards scholarships and program applications and take the chance with a random roommate.

Sure, it could be a potential disaster come move-in day, but getting a random roommate could actually be the safer and less stressful route, plus I don’t have dangerously high expectations.

After finding someone on Instagram, Snapchatting and meeting for coffee, you think you’ve finally found the one. You pop the

question — “Will you be my roomie?” So much work was put into finding this person and now you’ll start off college with a built-in, sifted-out bestie...in theory.

But living with someone is hard. For seniors who have only ever lived with their families, it can be a difficult adjustment. The added expectation that we’ll be best friends based on our shared love of “traveling” and “listening to music” could make an already pressured position worse. What do you say to your chosen roomie if you don’t like who they hang out with or you have different interpretations of what “going out” entails?

If you get randomly paired with someone and you find you’d rather not hang out with them outside the dorm, that’s okay. You’ll just be people who live together.

It’s not like random roommates are a total shot in the dark anyways — a lot of dorms have questionnaires to help pair you to someone with similar schedules and hobbies.

I can understand trying to build this bond

story by caroline wood

if you’re headed out of state and don’t know anyone. But since I’ve committed to Mizzou where I’ll know people from East, I don’t need to find a starter friend going into college. I’ll see how things go with my roommate and if it doesn’t work out, I’ll still have friends.

My biggest fear is hating them. Something as simple as living in a constant mess could dampen the start of my college experience, but a chosen roommate has the same odds of failure. After all, no one’s going to add “I don’t use headphones when watching midnight TikToks” or “I wake up at the crack of dawn to do yoga” to their Instagram caption.

Plus it’s only freshman year. And if we truly cannot stand to be around each other, I’ll just switch roommates at semester. While the suspense of who my soon-to-be roommate will be is a bit stressful, I’m so excited to see who fate pairs me with to either potentially make a lasting friendship or have a funny story to laugh about one day.

photo by charlotte emley

EVA KADING

happens, your roommate is someone who you’re going to be pretty well bonded with for the rest of your life, and I think it’s cool to do that with someone new.

TOBY RODRIGUEZ

the luxury of choice, why pass it up?

E L E M E N T A R Y EDUCATING

Elementary school students from around the district have started to visit East’s Environmental Education classes for the first time since before the pandemic

ELEMENT ARY

A kindergartener wears a shark mask as his group learns about aquatic animals during Belinder Elementary’s first visit to East to see the animals in the environmental education program since 2020.

so excited, as was I.”

THE HARBINGER design by hadley chapman

RIGHT

photo by I charlotte emley

RIGHT Junior Kate Kostner teaches a group of kindergarteners about a newt while in charge of informing the students about the salamander family.

photo by I ryan dehan

ABOVE Junior Claire Burden holds a lizard and teaches the students about the reptile. “[The kindergarteners] were really very excited,” Burden said. “Every one of them held and or pet one of the lizards. Sometimes they got a bit distracted by the other animals, but they were just overall

photo by I tristen porter

TOP RIGHT A kindergartener gets a snake placed around his neck by an Environmental Education student after his classmate was hesitant to touch the snake.

photo by I tristen porter

SCAN ME PHOTO

Scan here to purchase photos from this event

@smefitchecks is hosting an outfit competion benefiting Remake Our World

SENIOR & CO-OWNER

ORIGINALLY WE WERE looking for smaller and local nonprofts, but we opted for Remake Our World after we looked into some nonprofts that were available directly to donate through Instagram.

About the 2023 sweetheart court

ANOHITA PAUL

design by gracie takacs & katie murphy photos by sabrina dean

medact

AMERICAN DREAMING

story by katie murphy

East parent and Hispanic EMT Andres Borja achieves his own American Dream after immigrating from Colombia

EAST PARENT ANDRES Borja dropped out of high school at age 13 to stucco cinder blocks full time where he was living in Houston, Texas, paying for half of his family’s rent. Fifteen years later, he became the first Borja to not build roofs, clean homes or cut hair — and the only Latino, Spanish-speaking emergency medical technician in Johnson County.

But his family wasn’t proud. Not at first.

In Colombia, first responders aren’t respected, but treated more like “fast food workers.” Firefighters are lucky to have a working truck back home, he says. His mom thought his JCCC program was just ambulance driving school.

But now-teenage babies Andres has helped deliver, overdose victims he’s saved and heart attack patients he’s revived have seen him doing much more than just drive the ambulance.

It wasn’t until Andres and his mom were flying home from Colombia six years into his EMT career that his mom really understood. Over the intercom, an urgent voice asked for passengers with medical experience to proceed to the back of the plane. A man with purple lips and ashy skin was splayed out in the aisle, unconscious.

Andres got to work: propped the man’s legs up into a passive lift, assessed his heart rhythm, ran fluids. Five minutes later, when

the man woke up, Andres finally caught his breath.

“When I looked behind me, my mom was bawling,” he said. “Just bawling her eyes out because she finally saw what I do for a living. Now she goes around telling all of our relatives nearby and in Colombia that I’m a doctor. Even though I’m technically not. I get international calls asking for medical advice.”

When senior Sofia Borja was 3 and lost motion on her right side from a nerve collapse, Andres was able to calmly and quickly help her to the hospital, saving her from permanent paralysis. Sofia feels safe today knowing that calling him is as safe as calling 911 — literally.

“Even when he tells graphic stories about babies being hit by cars, 18-yearolds overdosing and leg amputations, I’m so proud when he comes home from a 24hour shift because I know he’s saving lifes,” Sofia said. “With the hardships that he sees, I’m impressed by the way he emotionally handles these things. He doesn’t really complain.”

When his ambulance gets muddy, Andres cleans it. It’s not in the job description, but a good Colombian son is tidy, according to Andres’s mom. He answers dispatch calls in Spanish when no one else can understand the patient. He joined the honor

guard committee to walk in local funeral processions. The EMT standby team to see even more patients. The hiring team to help find diverse, new talent. He’s been recognized for his efforts with 10 medallions and a promotion to lieutenant.

He calls himself a “living example of the American dream.”

“Back home in Colombia, you could be a genius and still not succeed without political connections or knowing somebody,” Borja said. “The first thing that I loved about America is that every apartment complex has a pool. Now I love how if you really, really want a dream and work hard, you can make it happen here.”

SCAN READ MORE

AWARDS

Some of Borja’s life-saving efforts and medals that he’s been awarded for them helped a drug addict translated documents

assisted hotline calls in Spanish

CONSEQUENCES OF

With an increase in absences and shortened schedules among students, East administration grapples with persuading students to attend class

CUTTING CLASS

*name changed to protect identity

SENIOR JANE ORTEZA* filled out yet another make-up sheet for her Individual Fitness class, describing the activity she completed to make up for missing class that day. She could’ve made it to class that day. But when she considered doing a yoga video at home in her comfortable clothes over doing HITT training in the cold gym wearing her school clothes, the answer was clear.

She’d rather do it at home. But with being able to fill out only so many absence sheets at once, her grade dropped, leaving her with a D and no desire to go to class.

Orteza is one of many students who would rather complete their school work at home instead of in-person at school, choosing individually how to spend their time, with over 250 parents and guardians called into the attendance line to dismiss their child on Feb. 10 alone.

This attendance issue is relatively new, too. In 2022, East’s attendance rate dropped to 90%, while the state level was 92.1%, according to the Kansas State Department of Education.

like multiple students who stand up in the middle of classes and say “my parents called me out.”

With a decreased attendance rate, administration is attempting to bring the attendance rate up to the level it was before, but is uncertain how best to do so.

In addition to the drop in attendance, more seniors requested and were granted reduced schedules for their last semester. Although administration does not have the number of this exact increase, it was more than they expected and they are uncertain as to why it’s so high.

“I look at our attendance, it’s so good,”

Associate Principal Dr. Susan Leonard said. “But we’re also a really high achieving school. I think those things are [correlated]. And so when we see little things, it’s easy for someone to say, ‘Oh, don’t freak out. Your attendance is really good.’ But a little dip tells me it’s a little dip, and at East we expect high achievement. So I want it to stay up high.”

Wanting to bring awareness to students about the consequences the low attendance can have on academic performance, administration has created a social media campaign. Converting a slideshow presentation Barikmo had made into Instagram posts, they’ve so far dropped over 10 Instagram posts describing predictors of post-secondary success, with at least six dedicated to attendance and how missing school adds up over time, using the hashtag #MakeEveryDayCount.

tru•ant

In Kansas, a student is truant if they are between the ages of 7 and 18 and have more than 10 absences in a year

absences, families will receive a letter in the mail informing them of the truancy status. After being declared truant, students must provide documentation for their absence to be excused or may have to go to court if they continue to receive undocumented or unexcused absences.

Attendance clerk Joan Gustafson feels as though many parents do not fully understand what truancy means. In many cases, parents are the only ones who are able to keep their students in school, emails sent to students and parents won’t always bring a student back to class and truancy is handled at the district and state level, according to Math teacher Emily Colebank.

*information from nytimes.com

of an effort to attend her biology and English periods as the daily work for those classes are hands-on or discussion based. For her math and history class, it’s become more difficult to bring herself to attend school after seeing how easy it was to do her schoolwork from home during online school in 2020 and 2021.

During online classes, Orteza was able to eat breakfast when she wanted to and work in her room — the space she feels most comfortable. Compared to the cold temperatures, fluorescent lighting, and tiled flooring of the school, she would much rather go home and work on her personal crochet project in the comfort of her room when there is idle time.

are finding more independence in their schoolwork as they opt to leave school and complete their work individually instead of together in class, all while their grades remain strong. Barikmo attributes these tendencies to COVID-19, where students were given more freedom in how they spent their time.

“When we were in remote education and in that initial COVID time, I think people got used to having more freedom,” Barikmo said. “And I also think that that put in place some unfortunate habits around, ‘Well, if I just do my work, then I’m learning. Learning is more than just checking a box.”

people who are going to make a life making art...In high school, you have this magical time that you’re around a whole lot of people with so many different talents. Believe it or not, they’re going to hold a special place in your heart someday. You’re growing up with them and having these big formative years together, so we’d like for people to enjoy their whole day.”

The percentage of a school or districts overall student population that are at school on any given day

However in 2021, East’s attendance rate was at 94.5%, higher than the state level 93.8%. The attendance rate had stayed consistent since 2019 maintaining between 94-95% from 20192021, higher than the state average.

The drop looks like the slew of students leaving seminar. It looks like the constant stream of office and counseling aides interrupting class to deliver passes. It looks

Although an attendance rate of 90% is still relatively high compared to the 89% national average for fall 2020, according to the National Survey of Public Education’s Response to COVID-19, there is a strong correlation between attendance, GPA and test scores. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, students who attend school regularly are likely to achieve higher than students who attend school irregularly.

“We enjoy better attendance, probably than a lot of other schools,” Leonard said. “But we’re also a really high-performing school. And would say those two are correlated. So even when we see a small dip, we want to be really aware of it.”

Despite the good intent, junior Izzy Margolin feels guilty when she sees these posts describing how the amount of time she misses accumulates over a year. However, missing school is hard to not to do as she has a chronic illness and five appointments which she has to attend every week. With so many to schedule, her dad isn’t always able to schedule them outside of school hours, like a post suggeste

For Orteza, it’s been difficult to make it to school after constantly working on schoolwork and feeling burnout this past semester. Along with struggling with anxiety and gender dysphoria, going to school often would only worsen her feelings. Her mom would let her sleep in occasionally or take a mental health day, but the absences piled up, and she became truant.

Students become truant after 10 absences, regardless of if they are excused. After 10

Colebank feels that the parents are the only ones who can truly make a kid go to class. There are some students who she has seen only twice this semester and emailing them and their parents only goes so far.

She has seen students who have come back to school after becoming truant. But the problems for those students continue as they’ve missed several math units and aren’t able to keep up with the new content, leaving the students overwhelmed and unwilling to return to class — perpetuating this cycle of missing school.

And when the students do return, Colebank has to find time to make up the lost instructional time they had missed, which is difficult for her to do when she has to grade papers, teach, create lesson plans as well as help the students who are showing up every day to class.

Despite missing over ten days, Orteza still has been able to pass all of her classes, except Individual Fitness. She makes more

Students are now realizing how easy it is to be called out of school without repercussions, and along with that, parents are realizing the importance of mental health days and taking breaks, according to Junior Margot Beaver. Students only have to text their parents for them to five minutes later hear their name being called over the intercom, calling for their dismissal.

Gustafason estimates around 50% of the calls made by parents are for immediate dismissal of their child within 30 minutes — these absences are not planned for in advance, but instead are students leaving when they want to. With each call, she has to calculate how many minutes of a class a student has missed and determine if the absence counts as being tardy, half of a class, half a day or a full day, with each attendance requiring documentation in Skyward and communication with the teacher.

Despite missing several class periods

each week, Margolin has been able to keep up with her school work in part because of her teachers’ support such as more leniency in due dates, as well as the increased accessibility to assignments on Canvas. With weekly schedules and assignments all posted to Canvas — the platform SMSD switched to from Google Classroom for the remote 2020 school year — students are able to access the assignments they missed and make them up without any difficulty, often even being able to make up the assignments in less time with fewer distractions, according to Orteza. And even for students who aren’t missing school, Canvas allows them to complete their work outside of school, often at a faster pace, offering more flexibility to spend their time how they wish.

Beaver will have her mom call her out once or twice a week for a class period if the teacher gives the class work time. But she doesn’t believe her teachers should give her busy work. She appreciates the work time her teacher gives her but believes she should be able to use it as she feels best.

“I like that it is easy to leave if you don’t have anything to do because a lot of times teachers are like, ‘Okay, we have a workday today’ and it’s like then ‘why would sit in this stuffy classroom with my AirPods in, when could be at home and do whatever at home?’” Beaver said. “Especially if you don’t have any missing work. You’re just there doing nothing like why be at school? I understand the importance of attendance but not in that case.”

With this, students are more focused on completing their schoolwork rather than being at school for the whole school day. Students

Along with leaving school to complete their work individually, seniors are choosing to have a reduced schedule. Students are taking off one or two classes and using the extra time to catch up on sleep, work at a job, or take college credit classes, according to Peres. However, administration is concerned at the number of students who requested a reduced schedule.

“I know that it is more than we anticipated, and because it is more than we anticipated, we’re a little concerned with the message that it sends,” Principal Jason Peres said. “I think some of our students are telling us that they don’t see what we do here as important.”

Leonard believes that high schoolers should be filling their schedules with electives instead of getting a reduced schedule, even if they don’t have a future interest in it.

“To me, the magic of high school is the people around you,” Leonard said. “And so you may say ‘Ceramics? I don’t need ceramics. I’m never gonna do anything with ceramics.’ But when will you ever get to be on a potter’s wheel? And when will you ever be around

Senior Anohita Paul, who has a reduced schedule, often goes home during sixth hour to take a break or get a head start on her homework. She found how during online and hybrid school, there were more breaks worked in throughout the day, as students were able to go get a snack or use the restroom when they needed or run errands in the morning on the at-home learning days during hybrid. She found these breaks were very helpful when going through her day and decided she needed time to study to help stay on top of her five IB classes.

Administration is supportive of students who want reduced schedules to take classes at Johnson County Community College for college credit or are interning with a company in the field they’re interested in, but administration is all in agreement that they don’t want students who have reduced schedules to use them to catch up on sleep or to sit in their car for 45 minutes.

Leonard is concerned that students who are taking advantage of reduced schedules, leaving early or being called out of school won’t be able to make it through real-world situations like in college where professors aren’t keeping attendance or at a job where employees are expected to work full 8-hour workdays.

story by kate heitmann

next level

THE EXTENDED ESSAY is an independent, self directed 4,000 word research paper that is required for International Baccalaureate Diploma students in order to receive their diploma. IB Certificate students are required

As IB English seniors wrap up their ‘Extended Essays’ for submission, here are a few of the topics some chose to dive into

to write a research paper, however they have a word count of 2,000 words. Students can choose topics in a variety of different areas, such as science, math, language, literature and world studies. It’s a 40 hour paper written over about a year and this year the essay is due Feb. 21.

keely hood senior

THE QUESTION THE INSPIRATION

MY QUESTION IS how does radicalism define Midnight Cowboy and Taxi Driver as companion pieces? It’s a comparative film analysis of two overlapping films out there from a similar era and they explore similar themes. I have three areas of how I structure my essay: Character Direction, Interception and Directorial Decisions [which] includes how they used their environment because they are both set in New York City.

I’M VERY PASSIONATE about film, and I considered doing a literary analysis, but I thought this would be more challenging because it’s not something I have done for school before. I wanted to do something new that related to my interests, specifically ’60s and ’70s films. [It] was an experimental era and socially we were progressing and I feel like the entire style of filmmaking shifted at that time.

harold treml senior

THE QUESTION

MY EXTENDED ESSAY is about the commoditization of time and the popularization of the use of clocks in the late 19th to early 20th centuries. [People] are now much more conscious of time with

having a watch or a clock in your room. Prior to roughly the 19th century, clocks were associated with religion. They have slowly developed into more of an association with the industrial complex as a whole.

THE INSPIRATION

SCHOOL AS A concept exists as a way to increase the value of your time by getting a degree at a specific university. Throughout my entire life, I’ve noticed the amount of emphasis that people

put on time and managing time properly. IB has given me a lot of experience with managing my time a lot better than I did before. I wanted to look into that as a larger phenomenon with my extended essay.

THE QUESTION THE INSPIRATION

nohita paul senior

MY QUESTION IS about how immigration impacts artists. I’m looking at a case study of this local artist, Jose Fouse and how his move from a collectivist culture to an individualistic [culture] has impacted his art. There are a lot of different ways that people adjust to a new culture, especially a collectivist or individualistic one because there are different values. It differs for each individual, but for him specifically, he uses art as a way to integrate his original culture and his new culture together.

MY PARENTS ARE immigrants. Even though we moved when I was a baby and I don’t remember much, I’ve seen how they’ve had to adjust their friend groups and their hobbies since they’re not in the same place that they grew up in. I was interested to see how that manifested into something I can relate to. I was interested in art because I feel like it’s a subject that I have a good handle on. I was comparing my own art making process to a different person’s.

photos by lydia coe, audrey condon & mj wolf

copy by hassan sufi

møm jøñgg

story by ada lillie worthington

East moms, led by Jane Emley and Leslie Blair, have created a Mah Jongg company that helps women learn Mah Jongg and socialize

After Emley learned the niche, strategy tile game Mah Jongg from former East parent Sarah Clark, she knew she had to share it with her friends. Now, the group offers private lessons to Kansas City women through their Mah Jongg company, Mahj and More, that they started in November 2022. The four still meet at Indian Hills Country Club every Monday at 1 p.m. to play, however their conversations now are less about pandemic and more about business strategies.

“[Emley] and I were actually thinking of opening a clothing business, but then we kind of refocused and decided that our passion was really playing Mah Jongg,” Blair said. “It’s just a great social thing to do.”

By word-of-mouth, Mahj and More grew to include about eight to 10 groups of women that Emley, Blair and Tetrick teach. Emley tells the beginnerlevel moms that in order to play on their own without a teacher, they must

WHAT IS MAH JONG

of the game is to pick, swap and discard the intricately designed tiles until you obtain a winning hand, called a Mah Jongg. These winning hands are changed every April when the National Mah Jongg League releases a new card with various winning plays that you can arrange the 14 playing tiles into.

[MAH JONGG IS] defnitely a social game. I always correlate it to my mother’s generation who played a lot of bridge. That was their socialization, which is how we [now] socialize while keeping our brains sharp and active.

JANE EMLEY

PARENT

After discussing strategies of how to obtain a Mah Jongg, the second session is when the moms can finally do what they signed up for — play the game. Over the third and fourth sessions, Mah AoJongg can finally reach its true potential as a “social activity.” One that can become the main event in Super Bowl brunches or decadent 50th birthday parties, according to Blair.

“[Mah Jongg is] definitely a social game,” Emley said. “I always correlate

Chinese game that is played amongst 4 people with 136 or 144 tiles

The goal is to collect the winning tile sets

takes a lot of time to learn and then eventually master

Mar. 1.

“There’s tiles and there’s mats and there’s bags, and then people for birthday parties and special occasions are getting cups and napkins,” Blair said. “We [think these] products are really cute and we’d love to get in on the ground floor of that here in Kansas City.”

Although the moms hope to expand their business and launch a variety of products, Blair considers their main focus to teach as many women Mah Jongg as possible.

“[Mah Jongg has] allowed me to meet people that I wouldn’t have normally met, either through playing or people referring to [me, Blair and Tetrick] as teachers,” Emley said.

developed in the mid 1800s

gained popularity in the 1920’s by Jewish American women

Each year a new Mah Jongg card comes out

Each line on the card represents a winning hand made up of 14 tiles

These four East moms play together and each have their own strategies

ANE EMLEY

MEET THE PLAYERS THE GURU

• has two different hands she can pivot between

LESLIE BLAIR

THE FASTEST

• The amount of luck she gets in her tiles dealt is important

• She has a couple hands on this year’s card that help her out

ANESSA REE

FOCUSED

• she remains fexible and patient before committing to a plan

• Grouping like tiles and suits, and hopes for many jokers

• She has only played four times, so no strategy yet

• She is working on getting a feel for all of the different suits

photo by charlotte emley

design by adya burdick

FLURRY’S FLYERS

story by maggie kissick

English teacher Annie Flurry positive attitude is an asset as she coaches cheerleading

THANK GOODNESS SHE said yes. When English teacher Annie Flurry graduated from the University of Kansas 28 years ago, her advisor told her it was important to say yes to any extra responsibilities when interviewing for a teaching job. So when she accepted a teaching job at Shawnee Mission West, she immediately said yes to a cheer coaching position as well.

She couldn’t help but wonder what she was getting herself into. Flurry had two years of cheer experience in high school, but wasn’t sure what her role would be as a coach. But now, after coaching high school cheer for 17 years and her daughter’s elementary school team for two, she’s discovered that her positive attitude is a perfect fit for coaching cheer — and her personal life and teaching style have flourished as a result.

“My greatest strength as a coach is my positivity,” Flurry said. “I am super encouraging and approachable, which works really well in the classroom and as a coach.”

She gave up her high school coaching job 11 years ago after she got pregnant with her son, Liam — but she missed working with students outside of the classroom, encouraging them to improve and having a positive impact on the girls. So when her daughter expressed an interest in cheer three years ago, she not only signed her up, but signed herself up as a coach too a year later.

“I’m trying to challenge myself at this point in my life, to do extracurricular things that are directly with my kids,” Flurry said. “[My daughter] Lily said that

she would love it if I coached her team, so I started coaching again.”

Positivity is the first thing that comes to mind when fellow coach and senior Hailey Gant thinks about her. Gant has been a squad assistant for Flurry’s elementary school squad this year, and she admires how Flurry uplifts and encourages the girls during practices — even if they didn’t hit their stunts or perfect their competition routine during practice.

students and she wants to see them succeed,” Gant said. “And I think that that definitely shines through when she’s coaching as well.”

IT’S HARD TO see students as

but students in your English class alone. Coaching has helped me understand that each student is a well-rounded, multifaceted individual.

Gant describes Flurry’s coaching style as less business and more fun. She gives the girls pep talks throughout practice, creates nicknames and organizes bonding activities — like caroling — outside of practice.

TEACHER

“Flurry really alters the atmosphere by bringing in that positivity, and that is vital for a team,” Gant said. “There are a lot of coaches in the cheer world that are so negative, and that really puts the athletes down. I think that she does a really great job of creating an atmosphere that is really great to be around.”

She maintains this same positivity in the classroom, too. When Gant was in Flurry’s AP English Language and Composition class last year, she noticed how Flurry always encouraged her students and pushed them to reasonable limits. Much like how she pushes her athletes to try new skills and supports them even if they’re not perfect.

“She definitely believes in all of her

Coaching her daughter’s fourth-through-sixth-grade grade team encompasses all of the things she loved about coaching high school cheer — with less of a commitment. She’s been able to watch her team improve in skills, like stunting and sharper motions.

Practices with her elementary schoolers involve a balance of silliness and authority. Between teaching stunting safely and lecturing about attitudes, she’s telling the girls to stop playing on the empty mat carts or leading games of Little Sally Walker.

“I like that they can have fun, be kids and incorporate their childhood into the sport,” Flurry said. “Some competitive teams are all business, but I work hard to make sure the girls are still having fun.”

Gant especially admires how inclusive Flurry is, both inside the classroom and while coaching. When stunting, Flurry always allows each girl to try every position. In the classroom, she establishes trust and leads discussions — making it easier for students to open up.

“She’s very positive and uplifting, and makes everyone feel like they’re a vital part in what they’re doing,” Gant said. “In stunting, she makes sure that people know they’re a vital part of the stunt, and not one person is more helpful than the others. You can just tell how much this impacts the girls, having a supportive coach like her.”

TEAM BONDING

Flurry’s positive spirited activities she incorporates in her coaching

BREAST CANCER WALKS

design by grace demetriou photos by paige bean

SENIOR

FLURRY REALLY ALTERS the atmosphere by bringing in that positivity, and that is vital for a team.

HAILEY GANT

anything

ANNIE FLURRY

Flurry interacting with her daughter and other cheerleaders at practice

CHRISTIAN

Senior Christian Stahl uses personal songwriting and performing with his band Paramount as a way to process life events as well as furthering his passion and talent in music

EXPLORING

THE EP

Stats and information about Paramount’s debut EP, “The Fear of Being Alone”

released Jan. 3, 2023

4 songs 20 min. & 41 sec.

“THE FEAR OF BEING ALONE”

MOMENTS IN MUSIC

2020

Christian’s musical progression FIRST SHOWS

christian’s mom’s garage

“It’s more of a jam than an [actual] show.”

highlights: joke songs & jamming out

2021

BENEFIT CONCERT

the truman

*joint charity show hosted by E3 to raise money for LGBTQ+ and homeless teens

highlights: playing with other bands & at a large venue

2023

RECORDING DEBUT RECORD

“It was kind of grungy, but a really fun experience since it was so different. We were just so used to hearing it from walls of the garage.”

highlights: grunge and DIY-esque recording in producer’s basement

WHAT ROLE DOES SONGWRITING AND MUSIC PLAY

point in my life where my coping mechanism for sh-- that happens in my life was just to write about it, which turned into songwriting. That’s just the way I deal with things now. If anything happens, I lock myself in a room with my guitar for like, four hours. I’d say that’s the beauty of music — you can just kind of spill yourself over a few chords and some words.

WHAT DO YOU WRITE FIRST: LYRICS OR MUSIC?

I think vocals are just kind of diverse, but it’s the riff that [makes] it. I think you can write the lyrics whenever but really only do you get the feeling and structure of the song from the emotion spilling [from] the guitar.

WHAT’S THE ATMOSPHERE LIKE AT YOUR GARAGE SHOWS?

“SINCE IT’S ONLY US we can do whatever we want. We don’t like to take ourselves seriously. We play a lot of joke songs and pop covers. Recently, I got this autotune pedal, and I like to [recreate] the Travis Scott fall.

BAND -ING

TOGETHER

Meet the members of Paramount

JOSH BASS played for 2 years

favorite song to play is “Forty Six & 2” TOOL played for 6 years

ROCCO DRUMS

favorite song to perform is “Everlong” by Foo Fighters

design, copy and photo by greyson imm

a&e.

RECENT RELEASES

New books and music released by black authors and artists

BOOKS

River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer

Genre: Historical Fiction Pages: 336

Wade in the Water by Nyani Nkrumah

Genre: Historical Fiction Pages: 315

MUSIC

The Love You Save by Goldie Taylor

Genre: Memoir

Pages: 235

Friday I’m In Love by Camryn

Garrett

Genre: Romance Pages: 288

THE BLACK PANTRY

A review of a local black-owned home goods store

IN HONOR OF Black History Month, I visited the Black-owned retail store — and soon to be market and bar — The Black Pantry.

The store is split into two halves — the Made In KC side with products from local vendors and the Black Pantry side filled with items from small black-owned businesses. The Black Pantry side has an assortment of products ranging from cookbooks with Creole recipes to sticks of sage.

The walls are plastered with blackowned pride — retro paintings, afros everywhere, “Thank you for shopping Black with us” shirts and #welovethisblackownedbusiness written in big pink letters across a mirror. My favorite part of the store is its pride in being black-owned, everywhere you look

there is a unique, artistic depiction of Black culture.

Not only does the Black Pantry sell products from Black-owned businesses, but they support them by hosting an annual charity event in partnership with United Way of Greater Kansas City called Black Futures.

This year’s event takes place on Feb. 25. The purpose of the event is to shape the future of Black Kansas City, raising money for United Way and inspiring young Black entrepreneurs, according to @theblackpantry on Instagram.

I ended my visit purchasing the handmade Ani+Co Candle. While the $30 price tag might’ve been a little steep for me, it’s worth it to support small Blackowned businesses who don’t get enough recognition.

design by veronica mangine photos from spotify, amazon, & claire goettsch

story by addie moore

HUNT THE

HAUNTED

A walkthrough of the haunted Alexander Major’s mansion and our experiences with the paranormal

Ghost hunting gadgets we used in our hunt, courtesy of the Ghost Moms

FULLY

EQUIPPED

BLURTS OUT WORDS DETECTED BY RADIO FREQUENCIES

FLAHSES WHITE LIGHT AND PLAYS MUSIC WHEN SHADOWS DETECTED

FLASHES RED LIGHT AND PLAYS MUSIC WHEN MOTION DETECTED

OVILUS SHADOW DETECTOR MOTION DETECTOR

HEADING INTO THE front sitting room, we were surrounded by old letters, large feather pens and broken rocking chairs as the house doubled as a museum, adding to the old time vibe and a feel as if we had traveled back to 1856.

IF WE COULD give any advice to recreational ghost hunters, it would be to never walk into the nursery of a 167-year-old house. Cribs, toys and a splinter-filled, worn-out, wooden rocking horse filled the frigid nursery

IT’S NOW ALMOST midnight and the Ghost Moms led us into the basement of the house — supposedly filled with ghosts galore. As we descended into a trap door we realized this so-called basement is actually a bomb shelter leading into pitch black concrete — we’ve entered a dusty box from hell.

After meeting our 200-year-old

FLASHES RED LIGHT WHEN TEMPERATURE CHANGES

REM POD

We flipped on the switch on the REM pod, scattered cat balls, set up the shadow and motion detectors facing the interior and exterior doorways. Grasping each other’s hands while shivering in the frigid darkness — apparently ghosts don’t need heating — we questioned whether we were

as the tree branches hit the windows and eerie car lights lit up the room while they sped down State Line.

We set up a REM pod in the crib, a cat ball on the rocking horse and a shadow and motion detector pointing toward the hall. After the previous

ghostly friends from upstairs, I could already predict the monster-filled dreams that would haunt my sleep that week. We thought it couldn’t get any worse than a ghost whispering “blood” next to the baby’s crib. It could.

But not right away. After 10 minutes of pacing around the concrete coffin, we thought the ghosts had already had enough fun securing their spots in our

HAVE YOU EVER passed the colonial style mansion placed inconveniently between QuickTrip and Waterway on 83rd and State Line? You might’ve spotted the sore-eye of Alexander Major’s mansion — originally serving as the base of operations for Majors’ company: Russel, Majors & Waddel. But, have you ever seen the mansion after dusk?

As we got informed by

about to get paranormal activity or a bad cold. Was this trip a fluke?

As the shadow detector lit up the room with a bright white flash and an eerily slow lullaby, we shrieked with fright — all my doubts were thrown out the window as this felt too real. Voices shaking, we asked the spirit

activity that happened downstairs in our first room, we weren’t sure if the spirit would follow us upstairs. But within minutes, we huddled together in the room — the sound of sickening music and our shrieks echoed through the silent mansion.

nightmares. But no.

The motion detector facing the bolted door went off with a flash of a white light, forcing me to close my eyes as if that made any of this disappear. Then the other motion detector with the red light lit up our faces, switching off back and forth between white and red as if the ghost was supposedly pacing between our

SCAN ME VIDEO

Scan to watch the ghost hunting adventure

the infamous East Ghost Moms — a group of local moms who investigate all kinds of haunted buildings — that we would be ghost hunting in the mansion from dusk til midnight, we were reluctant to flake.

And no, we’re not talking about the so-called “haunted houses” filled with zombie actors and plastic rats. We mean a literal haunted house — imagine the pouring rain, creaking floor boards and distant screams.

questions: Can you come talk to us? Are you a man or a woman? After six minutes of waiting for a response we headed upstairs — as this spirit was clearly more involved with playing with the music from the shadow box than haunting us.

But it wasn’t over yet. The motion detector caught movement coming upstairs and flashed light in the room as the Ovilus spit out the word “climb.” Our flashlight — resting off on a table a few feet away — popped on and shined straight into our eyes.

traps. The Ovilus then sent chills up our spine as it blurted out “help.” How awesome.

Still shaking, we said our goodbyes to Alexander Major’s humble and hellish abode. Ensuring nothing was going to hop in our car or latch onto my sweatshirt, we exited into the rainy night and completed our first and last ghost hunt.

design & copy by anna mitchell & peyton moore photos by hadley chapman & julia fillmore

P CKERS PICKY PICKLE

story

TWO YEARS AGO , at The Hub located in Seaside, FL, I discovered one food item while eating with my friends for lunch so mouthwatering that it became its own food group in my life — fried pickles. Countless crispy appetizers later, I’ve become a self-

JOHNNY’S TAVERN

A review of three different fried pickles in the KC area

proclaimed fried pickle connoisseur. Whenever I daydream about those quarter-sized, fried emerald green jewels, I can practically taste the crunch factor and all-consuming wave of dill juice. So since then, I’ve been hunting for the ideal fried pickle, and I may have just found it.

JOHNNY’S TAVERN

FROM THEIR LOADED chicken espinaca nachos to their flaming buffalo wings, the cuisine at Johnny’s in Corinth Square never disappoints. So with such high regard for their food, I expected their fried pickles to pack some serious dill.

In my world, the ultimate fried pickle consists of a 50:50 ratio of crunch to softness and a balance of the salty and vinegar pickle punch — without making my face squinch. Unfortunately, these $9.49 fried pickle chips didn’t sizzle up to my standards. After every bite, I grasped for my water cup, overwhelmed by an intense zingy flavor. These pickles

MEAT MITCH

MY NEXT STOP was Meat Mitch located in Ranch Mart, a restaurant I’d never tried, so I didn’t know what pickle quality to expect. But despite being only a year-old restaurant, their classic fried pickle chips tasted like they’d been curated for years. These fried pickles were nowhere near the soggy texture of the mushy brown sugar oatmeal you’d eat for breakfast, which was just what I wanted. As they were extra crispy, I expected to drown in fried oil but was surprised to find quite the opposite. Compared to the overpowering Johnny’s deep-fried pickles, this subtle-but-savory snack was a total taste palette switch-up.

MEAT MITCH CONROY’S

CONROY’S

leaned a smidge too far on the greasy side, dropping a heavy weight on my stomach.

Although the sour scale was too high, the crunchy texture and side of creamy housemade ranch boosted the pickle. Despite being greasy, they weren’t soggy by any means, and each bite brought somewhat of a crunch followed by a softer, dill-pickle bite.

They were relatively good pickles — nothing to scream about but nothing to gag over either. And of course, their house-made ranch ranch was practically a chef’s kiss — just remember to keep your water nearby.

Still, there were some downfalls — with way less tang comes a lack of overall flavor and the appropriate amount of gushing dill juice. I guess it’s hard to win it all in the fried pickle world.

Not to mention I wasn’t a fan of the buttermilk ranch on the side, a bland sauce that didn’t exactly scream “drench your pickles in me.”

Although my mouth didn’t water at the thought of another bite, these fried green goodies neared the high end of my fried pickle standards.

PICKLE 2 3

PERFECT Paige’s requirements for the perfect fried pickle 1 GOOD CRUNCH LITTLE TO NO GREASINESS LOTS OF PICKLE FLAVOR WITHOUT BEING GROSS AND SALTY

I THOUGHT I’D have enough pickles to fill the jar that was my stomach, but this last stop left me craving more of the dill crunch for days. Conroy’s Public House, a pub and restaurant located at 95th and Nall and home to the world’s best fried pickle, as proclaimed by me. Glancing at the menu price of $11 — a higher price point from the others —I sucked in a breath. Was I about to taste the one? And boy were my hopes fulfilled.

dill tang. There were practically no deep-fry oils saturating my fingers or swimming in my stomach.

I COULD HAVE practically drank the ranch on the side, but unlike Johnny’s it didn’t take away from the fried pickles.

The moment these fried pickles fell from heaven onto my table, I knew they would be different. The giveaway was their shape — they were spears instead of a classic rounded chip. One bite in and I was hooked. These slices took crunchiness to a whole new level, contrasting masterfully with a cloud-soft pickle texture and biting

The pickles themselves weren’t so dense like Johnny’s pickles — allowing me to thoroughly enjoy the appetizer instead of working through excessive grease. I almost wanted to drink the buttermilk side of ranch, but unlike Johnny’s it didn’t distract from the fried pickles. I’d happily enjoy them with or without the condiment.

These pickles successfully reached my golden ratio of texture and taste. Conroy’s doesn’t need to worry about paying for advertisements — I’m now a walking billboard who can’t stop boasting about this new pickled treasure.

by paige zadoo

photos by lydia coe

art by mason sajna

A review of three Kansas City attractions based on a recent viral TikTok

TOURING

YOUR TOWN OWN

CORRECT

Oddly Correct — A coffee shop located at 4141 Troost Ave.

I STARTED MY day off with what he called the best coffee shop in the city — Oddly Correct, Located on Troost Avenue. The inside had a rustic and modern feel, with their signature octopus tentacles on everything from the walls to the counters.

I asked the barista what she recommended off their limited menu and ended up going with their best-selling bourbon vanilla latte and an oat milk vanilla latte. I also opted to get it to-go which comes in a reusable Mason jar complete with a loveable Oddly Correct koozie for a $1 deposit. While you can return these items and get your dollar back, I kept mine to use for my daily cold brews.

The vanilla latte was your run-of-the-mill coffee. It was simply espresso, oat milk and vanilla syrup mixed together. While I could tell they used a higher quality espresso than a chain coffee shop, it wasn’t anything worth the extra 10-minute drive compared to my usual Starbucks run.

On the other hand, the bourbon vanilla latte was the latte of my caffeine-addicted dreams.

The drink is made with Mexican vanilla, cane sugar and Kentucky bourbon with the alcohol cooked out. I drank the coffee fast enough that I could feel my heart rate productively raise. I could almost feel my homework getting done faster. The vanilla and sugar balanced the sharp espresso, and the hints of bourbon didn’t overpower the vanilla or espresso like I had expected. I’d make the drive for this any day.

While I don’t know if I would say it’s the best — mainly because Hitides Coffee will always have my heart — the bourbon vanilla latte made its way to one of my top picks for coffee in the city. I will definitely be adding Oddly Correct next to Kelce on my list of love about KC.

MY FRIENDS AND I are constantly sending each other TikToks about dumb things we relate to, recipes we wanna try or the newest trend we just have to join in on. While I’ve learned to half tune out these videos, the latest one my friend sent me starting with “How I would spend 72 hours in what I think is America’s most underrated city — Kansas City,” made me turn my full attention to my phone.

The video by Caleb Thil on his page @calebthil currently has over

LC ’S

Bar-B-Q

two million views and wasn’t filled with the basic Jack Stack Barbeque or Union Station recommendations. So, I decided to try out the viral video’s recommendations in hopes it could give me some more pride in my hometown and more things to love about KC besides Travis Kelce.

LC’s Bar-B-Q — A restaurant located at 5800 Blue Pkwy

A DAY IN Kansas City wouldn’t be complete without the city’s claim to fame — BBQ. A place I had shockingly never heard of is what the TikTok claimed to be best — LC’s Bar-B-Q.

Located on Blue Parkway, the unpretentious building with windows covered in security bars didn’t make this restaurant love at first sight. But once I got up to the order counter I immediately felt welcomed by the overly-sweet staff and classic oldschool BBQ restaurant vibes. Once the worker was done having me turn around so everyone could see the back of the crewneck she couldn’t

Chingu — a Korean-American restaurant located at 4117 Pennsylvania Ave.

TO END MY day in KC, I headed to Chingu — a new Korean American restaurant in Westport the TikTok recommended for dinner.

While I was excited to try the restaurant, I went more to enjoy the Westport atmosphere. Being next to places like Arizona Trading Co.

— my #1 pick for thrifting — Mills Record Company and The Bunker makes this a quintessential place for a night out.

After thrifting yet another

oversized tee and sorting through the newest vinyls, I was ready to head to Chingu. They started me off with their complimentary BanChan — a set of four smaller side dishes served with rice in Korean cuisine. The atmosphere of the restaurant immediately gave me high hopes for my upcoming food, with a pink neon sign of a tiger and bird behind the bar, dimmed lighting and a bright multi-colored mural on the wall filled with designs of classic Korean food.

I ordered Mandu Bokkeum to share, or pork dumplings and veggies stir fried in a gochujanggarlic sauce. While the veggies had the perfect amount of flavor and were cooked well, my expectations were quickly brought down after trying the dumplings. They lacked flavor and the pork filling was dry and bland.

While I always love a night out in Westport, Chingu didn’t boost my pride for my city.

stop complimenting, I ordered a ham sandwich with fries.

They don’t trim their meat, so the ham was fattier than what you would get at Joe’s or Jack Stack’s. While I tend to steer away from untrimmed meat, LC’s managed to cook theirs the perfect way. The meat was not as tough as most other restaurants and the sauce felt as though it had more paprika and brown sugar than others I’ve tried, giving it a sweet and smoky kick you can’t find anywhere else.

I can easily agree that LC’s is the best BBQ in Kansas City and worth every amount of hype it got in the TikTok.

design by addie moore

photo by claire goettsch

story by emmerson winfrey

SCAN ME TIKTOK

The “72 Hours in KC” TikTok that Emmerson followed

story by libby marsh

SUPER

AS THE CHIEFS closed in on their Super Bowl Victory, these three East families looked back on the chaos that had ensued over the past two

ROTATING THE ROOM

THROUGH 20 YEARS of wins and losses, East parent Carrie Condon has cheered for the Chiefs by hosting watch parties for nearly every game — complete with red jerseys, a taco bar and a slew of strict superstitions. Arrowhead Stadium or a friend’s basement are out of the question, according to Condon. Anywhere other than her house is bad luck.

RACING TO THE TOP

KIDS ON THE top floor. Parents in the basement. That’s how it always starts during major Chiefs games for freshmen Anna Cicero and Ella Manteufel. While they always hope for the best for their team they’re prepared to help out when things get rough by making a mad dash to switch floors with the parents.

“So if the defense is doing good,

STITIONS BOWL

hours and knew it was worth it. Thanks to their superstitions, the Chiefs have won their second Super Bowl in three years.

East mom Carrie Condon’s superstition on specific locations while watching the games

“We watch almost every single game at our house because when we watched at [our friend’s] house, we lost,” Condon said. Condon’s friend, Keely Terry, is equally superstitious, always wearing her Dolly Parton socks and occasionally forcing herself to leave the game to pace in a separate room while Condon and the rest of the watch party shout to her what’s happening.

we stay upstairs, but if the defense is bad, then we all run downstairs before they get back on defense the next time,” Cicero said. “So it’s kind of a game of upstairs, downstairs depending on how well each side is doing.”

Being self-proclaimed Chiefs super fans their whole lives, Cicero and Manteufel have given up their

BRAYDEN AND THE BED

SOME MIGHT SAY the Chiefs won due to months of muscle-tearing practice, chants of die-hard fans and the team’s extraordinary talent. But senior Brayden Reynolds knows better — he knows it was because of his mattress in the shower.

During the 2020 Super Bowl, Reynold’s friends pulled a prank and stuffed his mattress into the shower. After the game ended with a Chiefs

win, Reynolds came to the conclusion that his mattress sparked luck for the team creating a tradition — and a superstition — among his friends every Super Bowl.

“There was no context just kind of to annoy me” Reynolds said, “Pretty pointless but pretty funny.”

While Reynolds watched the game at a friend’s house he still made sure the mattress was in the shower before

PRACTICES

Though their superstitions may not necessarily help, these strict rules are Condon and her friends’ ways of helping out the team

“I don’t know why we think we have an effect on the game with that strange behavior, but it just makes us feel better during the game that somehow it’ll help,” Condon said.

Sunday nights, fashion choices and excess calories all to make sure their team brings home a win. Despite being down by 10 points at the half Cicero remained optimistic knowing that the Chiefs wouldn’t allow another Super Bowl loss.

“I was pretty confident.” Cicero said, “Some may call it cocky. I call it being a Chiefs fan.”

leaving.

“[This year’s Super Bowl] me and my friends were all standing up as close as possible to the TV, all huddled up wiggling our fingers when Butker was kicking his field goal” Reynolds said, “When he made it we all jumped into each other’s arms and started jumping up and down in circles. We won the game because my mattress was in the shower.”

design by lily simmons

East community members’ superstitions for the Chiefs Superbowl

Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes’ pregame rituals and superstitions

Freshmen Anna Cicero and Ella Manteufel’s superstitious seating for Chiefs games

Senior Brayden Reynold’s good luck tactic of his mattress in the shower

PHOTO

yell at the television after the referees call back linebacker Nick Bolton’s second touchdown. The play was ruled an incomplete pass. “How could you call that back?“ Shrock said. “That’s a touchdown.”

East students gather at Super Bowl watch parties to cheer for the Kansas City Chiefs for their second championship win in four years

LEFT Freshman Mary Green focuses on the TV at the beginning of the fourth quarter as the Chiefs are down by six. photo by I paige bean

LEFT Seniors Graham Mosher and Sam Herpich celebrate Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker kicking the game winning field goal in the late fourth quarter of the Super Bowl. “I was so proud to be a Chiefs fan,” Herpich said. “I knew we had won it, and there was no way they could beat us.” photo by I macy crosser

ABOVE Senior Hadley Chapman builds a food stadium to bring to her Superbowl watch party. The stadium was filled with chips, guacamole, popcorn, cookies, pretzels and other candy. photo by I macy crosser

LEFT Senior Ethan Curran grimaces as the Eagles drive into field goal range before halftime. At half, the Chiefs were down 24-14. photo by I riley eck

RIGHT Seniors Willan Shrock, Kyle Peters, Emme Luikart and Audrey Attebery

photo by I sabrina dean

SCAN ME

SUPERBOWL SCHOOL TO

SITTING INSIDE MADISON

Square Garden, 23 year old Mark Simoneau patiently waited for his name to be called at the 2000 NFL Draft.

And it was. With the 67th pick in the 2000 NFL Draft, the Atlanta Falcons selected Mark Simoneau — a linebacker from Kansas State University.

He played three seasons for Atlanta before becoming a free agent and signing with the Philadelphia Eagles. During his time with the Eagles, he had the chance to play in Super Bowl XXXIV in 2005 against the Patriots led by Tom Brady. During training camp of his fourth season with the Eagles, he was traded to the New Orleans Saints, where he also spent three years and earned another shot at the Super Bowl where Simoneau earned himself a championship ring.

After a successful career he signed with the Kansas City Chiefs where after one year he would decide to retire in 2010 due to injury.

Now in 2023, Simoneau — better known around East as Coach Simoneau — has officially accepted the head football coach position at East for the upcoming year. Simoneau has already made an impact in the past year helping athletes grow in all areas of their sports, according to former East safety and D1 BYU track star Kyler Haughton.

“The program he ran for me at East and the program he’s still doing at East now is almost equivalent to what I’m doing at the D1 level,” Haughton said.

A lot of the players have already had the chance to meet Simoneau through his strength training program that he started when he

first arrived — Lancer Elite. Running this program during all seasons before and after school to help athletes get faster and stronger and utilize their natural abilities to their biggest potential. His success with Lancer Elite has football players very excited to see what he is able to do with the football program.

“Words can’t even explain how excited I was when I was told he got the job,” Varsity player and junior Joey Hoffmann said. “With my senior year coming I wanted them to hire someone who could step in and make immediate improvements to the program. Everyone respects him so much and knows how lucky we are to have him as our coach.”

Simoneau’s coaching career didn’t just begin at East. For over 10 years he’s coached, working with players from all different types of sports in all different areas ranging from speed to strength to specific sports training.

could work with the same kids, day after day, week after week,” Simoneau said.

The East football team has struggled in the past few years with this season’s record being 2-7, but players have been able to see the work ethic Simoneau has which further motivates them to listen to what he says and improve at their craft.

“He’s always there, he puts in so much time for our weights program”, Varsity player and sophomore Brady Haughton said. “And I’ve just seen a big growth with all of our athletes, not just me, but everybody has grown a lot. he lives in that weight room.”

WORDS CAN’T even explain how excited I was when I was told he got the job.

With my senior year coming, I wanted them to hire someone who could step in and make immediate improvements.

JOEY HOFFMANN

JUNIOR

After announcing his NFL retirement, Mark decided to start his own training business which he owned for seven years before deciding the business aspect wasn’t for him. He wanted to try the high school coaching route.

He then started his high school coaching career at Gardner Edgerton as the strength and linebackers coach before coming to East where he quickly fell in love with the consistency he was able to create at the high school level.

“High school kind of just allowed the consistency aspect where you

The main thing that Mark believes in is the work ethic that needs to be installed into the athletes to have a successful culture and team. In high school football, players are only guaranteed nine games per season and with that comes months of training for the opportunity to get faster and stronger and become an overall better player. Mark hopes to be able to teach his players how to attack these months before and during the season so that they can all grow to their potential.

“I’m big on attacking every day and trying to get better every single day,” Simoneau said. “It’s about that consistency and the work ethic, and everybody coming together as a team. To me that makes the difference.”

Introducing former NFL player and new head football coach Mark Simoneau

story by christian gooley

design by larkin brundige photo by ryan dehan

Simoneau’s time on the field and coahing

SENIOR TYLER KIRCHOFF had prepared for the worst: the boys volleyball team not getting another season. After their first official season in 2022, Kirchhoff was determined to keep the team going this spring. But nothing was guaranteed, and he didn’t even know if people would show up for tryouts.

But a pleasant surprise awaited him. 14 students arrived to try out for the team — a far better outcome than the eight players who showed up last year.

The Spike Boys was created last year by thensenior Noah Gould to meet the creativity, activity and service hour requirements for IB Diploma candidates by leading and organizing team activities. This year, Kirchhoff took on Gould’s duties as team captain, to continue the team so he and his friends could keep playing the sport they all enjoy.

SUCCESS

sophomore Jaxson Terreros was convinced by his friend Nick Martini to join.

Terreros was impressed with Kirchhoff’s leadership, the low stakes culture of the club and the support he got from the seniors.

“The [seniors] are like freak athletes compared to me,” Terros said. “But the first time I met Tyler, he was coming to our first meeting with bagels for everyone, putting in the time and effort to set this club up on his own.”

NOW WE’LL WORK together to make sure this club continues even after [the seniors] leave this year.

TYLER KIRCHOFF

SENIOR

a club and they’re an actual sports team.”

With limited opportunities for practice before the season starts and only the five returning players with experience playing competitively, the team asked senior and varsity volleyball player Ava McDonald to help coach.

As boys volleyball is not an officially approved sport by the Kansas State High School Activities Association, the team joined the Heart of America KC Boys Volleyball League.

Kirchhoff believes this year will see improvements including more accessible practice locations and a decline in player fees.

“[Last year’s returning players] all agreed that we did a poor job last year,” Kirchhoff said. “Now we’ll work together to make sure this club continues even after [the seniors] leave this year.”

With little experience playing volleyball outside of eighth grade gym glass,

This year, Kirchhoff registered the team as an official East Club, proving a cost-cutting benefit they lacked access to last year like free use of the East gym for practices.

But even with a free practice space, without KSHSAA approval, the team has no funding for other expenses. Now, new players will have required fees to play.

This year’s participation fee will be $200 dollars for new players, and $110 for returning seniors — much cheaper than last year according to Kirchhoff. This helps pay for league fees, uniforms, equipment and other expenses.

McDonald’s job as coach is to attend games and practices, set up drills and individually work with players while Kirchhoff handles the organizational components of running a club — emailing parents, coordinating with club sponsors and promoting the team’s tryouts and games.

“I don’t necessarily think of myself as a coach, but more of a friend,” McDonald said. “I’ve been playing volleyball with them for years, and over the last couple, I’ve seen them all really improve and I want to do my best to continue that trend.”

WINNING GAMES will always be fun. Watching everyon get better and take the program further each year will be great to see.

AVA MCDONALD

SENIOR

However, there are drawbacks to the team’s new club status. According to Kirchhoff, the club isn’t prioritized compared to approved school sports.

“For example, if track gets rained out one day and they can’t use the field for practice, we get kicked out of the gym so they can run,” Kirchhoff said. “We’re just

Important events

Senior and team member

Roberto Galicia is excited to see how McDonald’s volleyball experience will add to her leadership.

“Ava is going to be running more practices as coach compared to last year’s [coaches],” Galicia said. “She’s gonna give us more drills and training exercises to help improve before our games.”

The goal for this year remains the same as last year: improvement.

“Winning games will always be fun,” McDonald said. “Watching everyone get better and take the program further each year will be great to see.”

- MIDDLE HITTER

- PLAYED FOR 9 YEARS

- CLUB FOR 3 YEARS

- JV AS FRESHMAN

- 3 YEARS VARSITY ACCOLADES

- POWER LEAGUE

TOURNAMENT 2020

- LOUISBURG TOURNAMENT 2021

- LOUISBURG TOURNAMENT 2022

Spike Boys

FIRST GAME OF

story by connor vogel The Spike Boys — a boys volleyball team — becomes East affiliated

design by veronica mangine photo by macy crosser

NEPOLANCERS

Meet a few student “nepotismbabies” — relatives of families that have influenced East

ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL MOTHER SUSAN LEONARD SENIOR BROTHER

CJ LEONARD

ART TEACHER FATHER

SENIOR SISTER CATE HOLZBEIERLEIN

BROTHER

MAGGIE LEONARD

WHEN MOST PEOPLE think of the last name Leonard, they think of Associate Principal Dr. Susan Leonard, or senior varsity football player CJ Leonard. Coming in freshman year, now-junior Maggie Leoanrd was immediately greeted by warm waves and smiles by students and staff as she walked down the hall.

“I remember in middle school, when we were signing up for our classes,” Leonard said. “The ladies were like, ‘Can we take a picture with you and send it to your mom?’ I felt like a celebrity.”

While having her mom right down the hallway has its perks, Leonard says it can be weird having her always looking over her shoulder.

“When you’re complaining about a teacher to your parents, I can’t do that because she’s on the teacher’s side every time,” Leonard said.

IRA FINKLESTON

NOT MANY PEOPLE can say their dad has been a well-loved art teacher for fifteen years at their school — but junior Ira Finkleston can. He grew up crawling on the art tables that most students learn to paint on.

“It’s pretty nice because most of my teachers have known me for a while,” Finkelston said. “Especially the ladies who work in the front office, they have known me since I was two.”

While most of Finkleston’s friends share funny stories from their class periods, he uses the popular classroom as somewhere to go during the school day to take a break.

“Overall, I think I benefit from [having my dad at school] because it makes me feel more comfortable here,” Finkleston said.

BO KIMMEL CLASS OF 2019 SISTER

CLASS OF 2022

CLASS OF 2022 BROTHER MAX HOLZBEIERLEIN CLASS OF 2020 SISTER HELEN HOLZBEIERLEIN

RILEY KIMMEL

BROTHER

CLASS OF 2021

BROTHER

CLASS OF 2017

BROTHER

CLASS OF 2015

LOUISA HOLZBEIERLEIN

GROWING UP WITH four older siblings involved in everything from soccer, lacrosse and Columbia Brew, freshman Louisa Holzbeierlein has always had people to help give her advice.

Having an older sister still at East, senior Cate Holzbeierlien, makes it easier for her to go around school and into places like the coffee shop where all of the senior workers recognize her.

“It was really nice [during link crew orientation] because I already knew who my link leaders were,” Louisa said.

While most people struggle picking which classes they want to take when they first come in as a freshman, Holzbeierlein knew what she wanted and was even able to help her friends.

“One of my friends wanted to put Chemistry on their schedule for next year, but they were in the wrong math,” Holzbeierlein said. “I told them that they should take Algebra 2 first because that’s what my sister told me.”

FRESHMEN LILA AND Grant Kimmel are the youngest of the four Kimmel sibling clan. Having two older siblings, 2019 and 2022 East alumni Riley and Bo, the twins had a path set for them when they came through high school.

“My brother played soccer, swim, lacrosse and I’ve done all three,” Grant said. “Same with Lila. She was thinking about doing soccer, but she did swim because of Riley.”

Some teachers think Grant looks like his older brother, sparking easy conversations that wouldn’t have come naturally otherwise.

“If I didn’t have older siblings [when I came to East] I would have been a lot more intimidated,” Lila said. “It made me feel a lot more comfortable.”

EMERSON BIHUNIAK

BEING THE YOUNGEST of four brothers, no one was surprised when senior Emmerson Bihunik stepped onto the soccer field his freshman year. With all three brothers being star soccer players, he knew he wanted to continue the legacy.

Even before his first season, Bihuniak already knew most of the coaches after growing up watching in the stands for years as his brothers played on the team, including one who was a junior when he started.

“It would have been different not knowing the coaches,” Bihuniak said. “I probably would’ve had to prove myself a little bit harder. The coaches already knowing me and being pretty decent as a freshman made tryouts easier.”

photos by molly miller & lydia coe

copy by ben bradley

GRANT KIMMEL

design by ava cooper