The Harbinger Issue 8 2021

the harbinger.

S H AW N E E M I S S I O N E A S T 7500 MISSION ROAD PRAIRIE VILLAGE, KS 66208 DECEMBER 20, 2021 VOLUME LXIV ISSUE 8

Senior Ajay Lohr was born blind, but through the experiences he has faced and the people he has met, he’s learned to not let his disability define him

02 INSIDE COVER

staff list PRINT EDITORS Celia Condon Sydney Newton ONLINE EDITORS Sophie Henschel Campbell Wood ASST. PRINT EDITORS Peyton Moore Cesca Stamati ASST. ONLINE EDITORS Lyda Cosgrove Kate Heitmann HEAD COPY EDITOR Campbell Wood DESIGN EDITOR Nora Lynn PHOTO EDITORS Elise Madden Maggie Merckens ASST. PHOTO EDITORS Rachel Bingham Macy Crosser Hadley Chapman VIDEO EDITOR Roberto Galicia ASST. VIDEO EDITOR Maggie Klumpp PHOTO MENTORS Emily Pollock Grace Allen Lily Mantel MJ Wolf STAFF WRITERS Caroline Wood Madeline Funkey Anna Mitchell Christian Gooley Caroline Gould Mia Vogel

Paige Zadoo Gibbs Morris Greyson Imm Sophie Lindberg Ben Bradley Nora Lynn Katie Murphy Luke Beil Maggie Kissick Emma Krause COPY EDITORS Sydney Newton Celia Condon Campbell Wood Sophie Henschel Peyton Moore Cesca Stamati Kate Heitmann Lyda Cosgrove Caroline Wood Caroline Gould Greyson Imm Nora Lynn EDITORIAL BOARD Sydney Newton Celia Condon Campbell Wood Sophie Henschel Peyton Moore Cesca Stamati Kate Heitmann Lyda Cosgrove Caroline Wood Madeline Funkey Nora Lynn SECTION EDITORS EDITORIAL PRINT Madeline Funkey NEWS PRINT Caroline Gould ONLINE Kate Heitmann

THE HARBINGER

design by cesca stamati cover design by celia condon cover photo by lily mantel

OPINION PRINT Sophie Lindberg ONLINE Mia Vogel FEATURE PRINT Anna Mitchell ONLINE Greyson Imm A&E PRINT Nora Lynn ONLINE Paige Zadoo SPORTS PRINT Caroline Wood ONLINE Ben Bradley PAGE DESIGNERS Anna Mitchell Katie Murphy Madeline Funkey Christian Gooley Caroline Wood Bridget Connelly Luke Beil Emma Krause ART EDITOR Natalie Scholz ASS. ART EDITOR Nora Lynn STAFF ARTISTS Celia Condon Sophie Henschel Sophie Lindberg Christian Gooley Bridget Connelly Marissa Liberda STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS Audrey Condon Charlotte Emley

Elle Siegel Jill Rice Julia Fillmore Kate Beaulieu Maggie Klumpp Riley Eck Sabrina Dean Tristen Porter VIDEO STAFF Roberto Galacia Maggie Klumpp PODCAST EDITOR Ben Bradley SOCIAL MEDIA EDITORS Celia Condon Sophie Henschel ASST. SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Mia Vogel Paige Zadoo SOCIAL MEDIA STAFF Madeline Funkey Campbell Wood Christian Gooley Grace Allen Paige Zadoo Sophie Lindberg Ben Bradley Peyton Moore Lyda Cosgrove Nora Lynn Marissa Liberda Bridget Connelly ADS MANAGER Greyson Imm CONTEST COORDINATOR Peyton Moore CIRCULATION MANAGER Maggie Klumpp

click for pics

political cartoon by natalie scholz

read online FEATURE

SCAN ME • STORY A s H a n u k ka h c o m e s t o a n e n d , E a s t ’s J e w i s h st u d e n t s s h a re t h e i r fa vo r i t e w a y s t o c e l e b ra t e .

SCAN ME • STORY F i r s t - ye a r t e a c h e r M a l l o r y D i tt e m o re s p o n s o r s m u lt i p l e clubs and sports at East.

videos and podcasts

BOYS VARSITY BASKETBALL S c a n t o v i e w t h e g a l l e r y f ro m t h e Va r s i t y b oy s b a s ket b a l l game vs. BVNW on Dec. 9 by tristen porter

SCAN ME • PODCAST S t a f fe r s c o m e t o g e t h e r t o d i ve d e e p e r i n t o Ta y l o r S w i f t ’s re re c o rd i n g of h e r p o p u l a r a l b u m Re d .

GIRLS JV BASKETBALL

S c a n t o v i e w t h e g a l l e r y f ro m t h e J V g i r l s b a s ket b a l l g a m e v s .

Bishop Miege on Dec. 7 by macy crosser

photo by hadley chapman

SCAN ME • VIDEO With the 230th a n n i ve r s a r y of T h e B i l l of R i g h t s ’ ra t i f i c a t i o n o n D e c .

15, East students discuss t h e f i rs t a m e n d m e n t .

EDITORIAL 03

DECEMBER 20, 2021 design by madeline funkey cartoon by nora lynn

NOT A JOKE

Normalcy, fake news and gossip surrounds school shootings and takes away from the severity of the issue

J

UST HAVING FINISHED your math homework, face-washed and teeth-brushed, you head to bed. You turn off the lights and make sure your alarm is on, but check your phone one last time. A text from your friend group chat pops up.

“Guys, someone’s shooting up the school tomorrow.”

You set into a panic. Should you even go to school tomorrow? You don’t know what to do, so you investigate, texting everyone in your contacts. Your basketball group chat thinks that someone threatened a different school. But your English friends think it’s someone in your grade.

Students are too quick to send around false information about serious events like school shootings, spreading even more of a panic and distracting from the real issue at hand — how normalized the thought of a school shooting is.

S T U D E N T S A R E TO O q u i c k t o s e n d a ro u n d fa l s e i n fo r m a t i o n a b o u t s e r i o u s eve n t s l i ke s c h o o l s h o ot i n g s , s p re a d i n g eve n m o re of a p a n i c a n d d i s t ra c t i n g f ro m t h e re a l i s s u e a t h a n d — h o w n o r m a l i ze d t h e t h o u g h t of a school shooting is.

Just this past week, an anonymous threat went out nationwide directed towards an unspecified “East” high school. There was no high school in particular named, so when the email that had originated in Illinois circulated, there was massive confusion about what school it was actually referring to.

It eventually reached the Shawnee Mission East community and led many people to speculate that the shooting had occurred or was going to occur at Olathe East high school. Texts floated around with false reports of casualty numbers, injuries and more — with so many different stories, it was hours before anyone realized the shooting never even took place.

Over the past few years, school shootings have become a common topic as they’ve been happening more frequently across the nation.

According to a chart by chds.us there have been nearly 250 shootings or incidents in 2021 while there were less than 50 in the year 2012. While the conversations surrounding possibilities of

gun control and school shootings have helped to spread awareness, it’s also surged a spread in paranoia and rumors.

Another concern is that the more frequent occurrences and normalcy could potentially lead to the idea of committing a shooting into a student’s head.

Although spreading rumors can be damaging, it’s still important to share the information that you may get to friends or family to keep them safe and updated.

East Vice principal Dr. Susan Leonard has received many fake bomb threats at past schools that she’s worked at. Even though they weren’t always accurate, her schools have always taken the same precautions with each threat. It was important for them to know that their school was always being as safe as possible for their students and staff.

We live in a time where students are taught to prepare for a school shooting when our parents would have been preparing for a fire drill.

Sending in a shooting threat as an “impulsive prank” has become the equivalent of pulling a fire alarm.

Some students have been referring to this time of year as “school shooting season.” There shouldn’t be a “season” dedicated to something as tragic as students losing their lives, and normalizing the topic in a joking manner is only adding to the problem.

School shootings aren’t something to lightheartedly laugh about with your friends.

Now that instances of armed attacks at school are higher than ever, students should know better.

On some level, normalizing these tragedies in our daily conversation affects the number of times they appear in our everyday media intake.

In order to eventually end school shootings, we as a society need to think of them as less of a topic of discussion and something to gossip about, and more of a tragedy that shouldn’t appear in our Instagram feeds ever again. The last thing anyone wants is for a shooting to feel accessible to students.

F O R : 9 A GA I N ST : 1 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.

E D I TO R IAL PO LIC Y 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 confirmed 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.

04 NEWS

THE HARBINGER

NEWS IN BRIEF by charlotte emley

design by caroline gould

Catch up on school, local and national news

NATIONAL

Christmas trees have been more difficult to find this season *names changed to protect identity

MANY HAVE REPORTED Christmas trees being much

harder to find this season, with the selection also having worsened.

Due to the recession in 2008, tree farmers didn’t plant as many trees as they typically would. This is causing a visible effect 11-12 years later since Christmas trees would've now been full size from that time, growing about one foot per year.

2012 was the most recent year a higher, more normal amount of trees were planted at farms, meaning that the tree shortage should be fully rebounded by 2024.

“We had to go to 3 different stores to find a decent looking tree,” freshman Seri Steinbrecher said, “The tree we ended up with was shorter and slimmer than normal.”

LOCAL

trees, they're left with underground trees that need three more years to fully grow. Some Christmas tree farmers say it's a first for closing this early.

“Well, this is the first time we have had to do this in our farm’s 57 year history,” Tonry Christmas Tree Farms stated on their Facebook page. “But we will be closing early for the season. ”

Missouri attorney general threatens to sue over mask mandate

MISSOURI ATTORNEY GENERAL Eric Schmitt

threatened to sue Jackson County on Dec. 10 for a second time for illegal mask mandates, though federal guidelines don’t suggest bringing back the mandate.

The legislature voted 5-4 on Nov. 12 to end the mask mandate 10 days ahead of schedule despite federal guidelines suggesting that the mandate stays in place. However, the new Omicron variant has resulted in the Jackson County legislature rethinking their decision.

The Missouri state law requires governing bodies to approve health orders. With mask mandates constantly fluctuating, the Jackson County legislators have voted multiple times in support

EAST

People start to point to COVID-19 as a blame for the shortage, but according to C&G Newspapers, it's simply bad timing. Hardware stores are seeing the effects of the shortage with their usual suppliers not producing enough trees, causing customers to be left with limited options and higher prices. Many people have turned to getting artificial trees due to the lack of selection.

“There are very few artificial trees left,” Home Depot employee Kevin Dyer* said. “The real trees don’t look as good, so more people turned to getting artificial trees.”

Tree farms all over the country have already closed for the season because they sold out of tall Christmas trees weeks before they usually do. Though they aren't completely out of

of extending the county mask mandate, even after Schmitt sued previously to void the mask mandate.

Jackson County reinstated the proposal for masks indoors until Jan. 12 for everyone five years and older due to the high number of COVID cases and low vaccination rates. This upset Schmitt, causing him to threaten to sue for the second time.

With Swope Park and the Kansas City Zoo located in Jackson County, the mask mandate would affect students who visit these attractions, such as Environmental Education students who visit the zoo for their class.

Over the past week, Schmitt has sent letters to local public health and school districts directing them to stop enforcing mask mandates. Schmitt

claims the mask mandate being implemented is illegal, therefore making children criminals for wearing masks indoors.

“I urge you to stop imposing mask mandates, especially ones that make fiveyear-olds criminals,” Schmitt stated in a letter to the nine members of the county legislature.

The legislature will hold a meeting at the downtown courthouse on Monday Dec. 13 at 10 a.m. to discuss whether or not they will implement the mask mandate.

Two East faculty are implementing a teacher education class for students interesting in the teaching field

ENGLISH TEACHER SAMANTHA Feinberg

and Associate Principal Dr. Susan Leonard are working together to start a teacher education class at East, which will provide teaching experiences for students looking to pursue a career in education.

The class will be divided into two sections: one will be dedicated to learning how to grade papers properly, how to handle different student behavior and how to create lesson plans. The other section will include traveling to a school in the district — elementary, middle or even a high school — where students will get hands-on experience with a teacher and observe the dayto-day routine with their students. Students will be able to choose which grade level they want to train in and will be able to choose which school

if opting for the elementary option.

Junior Kate Schirger has always considered teaching as a career option. However, going into college with no experience in this field, she feared she may fall out of love with the idea — this class will allow her to explore this interest while in high school.

“This class would help me decide if I really want to be a teacher before I even go to college.”

Schirger said. “I don’t want to waste my time in college on something I don’t love.”

Currently, East is the only SMSD high school that does not offer this class. Feinberg and Leonard attempted to start the class in 2020, but only two students signed up, failing to fill the required minimum of 10.

The typical stereotypes of professions may

have affected the outcome of only two students signing up for the class.

According to Leonard, education can be a taboo subject as people tend to look down upon teachers for reasons like them making a lower income.

“Sometimes people don’t like to outwardly say, ‘I’m going to major in education,’” Leonard said.

Leonard is certain that once East provides this class, it will be here forever. Feinberg and Leonard are hoping in the school year of 202223, the class will finally be a success.

DECEMBER 20, 2021

design by sophie lindberg photos by elle siegel

MI E F

NIST

THE

East’s feminist club hosted a self defense workshop to help people in dangerous situations

DEFENSE

WHERE TO STRIKE Places that self defense class participants learned to heel palm strike in an attack situation EYES RIB CAGE STOMACH

by caro l i ne go uld AST’S FEMINIST

E

CLUB organized a free self-defense workshop on Dec. 14 to inclusively teach self defense skills in the case of a dangerous situation, recieving positive feedback from members and attendees.

The club consists of four leaders — freshman Hartley Graham and seniors Grace McCamy, Ella Heide and Chloe Stinson — who plan and brainstorm ideas for meetings and ways to improve the safety of the school, for girls especially. Their latest idea being the self-defense workshop, upon request of their members who thought it would be useful knowledge.

“Since it’s such as big thing for women in general, like we’re always told not to go out at night or walk alone, we just thought it was such a good idea to go with the topic of feminism,” Stinson said.

The club meets every two weeks, inclusive to all genders and identities, and strives to make women feel safer in the school and to educate students on important issues that women face daily.

W E WA N T E V E RYO N E t o fe e l s a fe , b e c a u s e yo u n eve r k n o w w h e n a d a n g e ro u s s i t u a t i o n c o u l d p o p u p . We w a n t t h e m t o fe e l p re p a re d a n d k n o w t h e b e st p l a c e s t o h i t [ i f i n a d a n g e ro u s situation].

HARTLEY GRAHAM FRESHMAN

ABOVE Senior Ella Heide practices a heel palm strike into teacher Kristina Lind’s sparring gloves during the self defense class hosted by the Feminist Club on Dec. 14 during seminar.

RIGHT Freshman Grace Brown goes for a heel palm strike into sparring gloves.

“The club strives to empower the people at our school to feel independent and to better understand skills and knowledge required to feel safe and confident in this world where women still face widespread inequality,” Graham said. “As part of that, we want the people in our school to know what to do in dangerous situations to be, and feel, safe.”

In response to the self-defense workshop idea, Graham’s dad reached out to instructor and owner of Ninja Fit Martial Arts Club Jake Miesner to teach the workshop for free at the school. After contacting the administration to make sure that visitors would be allowed with COVID regulations and deciding on a time and day, the workshop was scheduled and members worked to make posters and preemptively educate themselves on self-awareness.

Miesner does outside classes, along with his regular hour-long sessions where he trains martial arts and self-defense. He estimates that anywhere from 90-95% of his mentors are women, learning to protect themselves when in dangerous situations.

His passion for teaching these useful life skills to the majority being women began when he was in elementary school.

NEWS 05 “I got into martial arts because of bullies in school, and I wanted to be able to protect myself and my friends against them, which has been my continuation for wanting to teach martial arts and self-defense,” Miesner said.

“As things change, there’s new situations to talk about, and I just want people to be aware.”

He began teaching this awareness to the East crowd by having them throw out their own experiences during a conversation about situational awareness in the weights room, with one girl adding that she feels unsafe when going on runs by herself, and another saying how the construction workers near her bus stop make her uncomfortable.

“We reviewed situation awareness and let them bring up examples from their daily life, when they’ve felt their ‘spidey-sense’ tingling or if they’ve felt something odd,” Miesner said.

While the class emphasized the importance of being aware of their surroundings — whether that be when pumping gas at the gas station or waiting in a checkout line at the grocery store — participants were also able to get out some energy by practicing physical defense tactics.

“We did a couple of physical exercises, teaching them how to stand up for themselves and to fight some of the natural reactions they may have when someone tries to hurt you,” Miesner said. “I like to let people hit stuff hard and let their energy out.”

Frequent club attendee and freshman Ainsley Pyle attended the class and found it to be a great opportunity that she may have not been able to learn otherwise, especially since it was free and open to all students.

“A class like this is necessary for everyone, especially teenagers, since it can be really dangerous when you’re out at night hanging out with your friends or walking alone,” Pyle said. “So I think the class itself can be very beneficial to have these basic self-defense ideas if you were to ever get into an unfortunate situation.”

sit•u•a•tion•al a•ware•ness t h e p e rc e p t i o n of e nv i ro n m e n t a l e l e m e n t s a n d eve n t s w i t h re s p e c t t o t i m e o r s p a c e , t h e c o m p re h e n s i o n of t h e i r m e a n i n g , a n d t h e p ro j e c t i o n of t h e i r f u t u re s t a t u s

Pyle’s also optimistic that if the club were to organize another similar event, there would be yet another decent turnout, as she knows other students feel that it’s important for them to know how to defend themselves.

“I really enjoyed it, I thought it was a lot of fun and a great opportunity, especially since it was free and it was open to all students,“ Pyle said. I think it would be beneficial for students who would want to go again or weren’t able to make it last time.”

06 NEWS

THE HARBINGER

BIDEN’S BILL

design & art by campbell wood

The details of President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill and students’ thoughts on the new road infrustructure as discussed during his visit to Kansas City, MO on Dec. 8

by g ibbs morris

degradation of both Kansas and Missouri roads and highways, senior Evan Boyle details his experience with poor road maintenance and how it affects his job as a pizza delivery driver in Kansas City.

“I’ve been working at Pizza 51 across the street from UMKC for a year and a half and last winter I was still taking deliveries in my four-door Sedan with old tires,” Boyle said.

“Not only do they never clear the roads of snow that got me stuck constantly, which made me late for my deliveries, but the ice and snow also degrade the road a lot, making the time after winter just as bad for my tires.”

T H E R OA D S A R E t e r r i b l e a n d j a g g i t y , n ot t h e i d e a l c o n d i t i o n a nyo n e w o u l d w a nt t o d r i ve ove r c o n s t a n t ly .

JAXSON TERREROS FRESHMAN While Boyle said he wasn’t worried about the late deliveries affecting his chance at keeping his job, he does mention hating the extra hassle and precaution he had to take when making those deliveries — an issue that funds allocated to Missouri through the bill aim to solve.

While Boyle’s political agenda doesn’t fall in line with the Biden presidency for personal reasons, he believes the bill to be a step in the right direction, but that there are better ways to go about it.

“If I could’ve, I would’ve voted for [former-president Donald] Trump in the last election because I believe he is a better overall president more fit to serve

as a leader for our country, but I also think this infrastructure bill will be beneficial to everyone,” Boyle said. “However, I would’ve liked it more if [Biden] didn’t rush into one massive bill and rather use smaller, more specific bills that are cheaper and won’t put the U.S. further into debt.”

Freshman Jaxson Terreros believes that water infrastructure is a more pressing issue than maintaining roads. While he’s happy that the bill will include funding toward removing lead pipes, he feels as though the bill should go to further extents and mandate more testing to see if there is in fact lead within the tap water.

“I lived in Kansas City for five years so speaking from experience, I don’t believe the bill is a waste of money at all,” Terreros said. “The roads are terrible and jaggity, not the ideal condition anyone would want to drive over constantly. However, being a part of the debate team and actually debating over issues related to the bill, I think the funding towards water infrastructure is most important. While I believe finding problem areas in that regard is possible, I think it would be better to also mandate testing of water rather than just seeking out areas where lead pipes are present.”

As Biden proceeds with funding more states through the introduction of his bill, both Kansas and Missouri residents can expect to see improvements across the board regarding the many forms of infrastructure the bill covers. To find out more specifics, visit the White House website to learn more about the bill and its overall goals.

ADDITIONAL ADJUSTMENTS ELECTRIC CARS 500,000 new electric vehicle charging stations

Other parts of Biden’s infrastructure bill

AIRPORTS

WATER replace lead service lines and pipes for clean drinking water

$25B

system to make travel there more publicly accessible.

According to a Kansas City Star article, the Biden bill will be giving roughly $3.2 billion and $7.9 billion to Kansas and Missouri respectively to use for improving infrastructure as a whole.

This money will be used to cover a variety of issues but, according to the same KC Star article, around $2.6 billion of the $3.2 billion given to Kansas for infrastructure funding will be directly used in repairing highways over the span of five years. Around $6.5 billion of the $7.9 billion given to Missouri will be put toward fixing roads over the next five years.

Although infrastructure covers more than roads or highways, the lack of maintenance on streets is an issue that affects Kansas City residents and East students alike.

According to senior Ben Trusty, who lived in Kansas City, Missouri for six years prior to him moving to the Kansas side, he wasn’t able to drive while living in Missouri, as he and his family experienced trouble with unmaintained pavement while on the road. He thinks the bill is a step toward fixing the problem.

“I was too young to drive when I lived in KC, but my mom ended up damaging her car pretty significantly because of the bad roads over there,” Trusty said. “She hit a pothole and her wheel went too deep into the hole which bent her rim and axle. She ended up having to pay thousands of dollars that could’ve been spent elsewhere.”

To add onto the inconveniences caused by the unmaintained

$55B

RESIDENT JOE BIDEN traveled to Kansas City, Missouri on Dec. 8 to promote his new nationwide infrastructure bill that will affect all 50 states — the same bill that will provide funding to fix issues East students have faced for years either during day to day life or on the job.

Air Force One took off from Washington D.C. at 9:50 a.m. and landed in KC at 12:45 p.m., starting off Biden’s three hour visit to discuss the details of the roughly $3 trillion bill. Biden then arrived at the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority and gave his speech to various members of the KCATA and those who were allowed to attend the gathering about the changes coming with the new bill.

The bill in question is a multi-faceted plan to revamp and restructure multiple areas within the United States infrastructure.

According to the White House website, the bill will provide $110 billion in new funds for bridges, roads and major projects along with billions of more dollars to fund projects related to water infrastructure, high speed internet, public transit with the added benefit of environmental support, a product of the funds producing more environmentally friendly infrastructure.

One specific goal of the bill is removing all lead pipes from the U.S., shifting over to solely electric public transportation buses along with school buses and in Kansas City, revitalizing the downtown street car

$7.5B

P

fix repair and maintenance backlogs, and reduce congestion and emissions *information from cnn

DECEMBER 20, 2021 design by maggie merckens

A

CHILL

NIGHT

A B O V E A balloon a rc h c re a te d by s e n i o rs Finley Condon , M a d d i e T h i b o d e a u , a n d freshmen Lola Cond o n a n d G ra c e D e m et r i o u hangs on the sta i rc a s e i n s i d e A lexa n d e r Major ’s Bar n . C he e r le a d e rs a nd L a nc e r Danc ers along with t h e i r d a te s a tte n d e d t h e d a n c e f ro m 6 : 3 0 - 9 p . m .

PHOTO BY MJ WOLF T O P L E F T Sophom o re L i v M a d d e n a p p l i e s eye liner while s h e f i n i s h e s h e r m a ke u p i n the mirror.”It was n i c e b e c a u s e i t g a ve u s a g ood oppor tu n ity to g et c los e r outs i d e of cheer,” Madden said.

PHOTO BY ELISE MADDEN

Disclaimer Cheer Ball is not affiliated with Shawnee Mission East and was hosted by cheer and dance parents.

Cheerleaders and Lancer Dancers attend the annual Cheer Ball put on by cheer and dance parents at Alexander Major’s Barn on December 11

PHOTOSTORY 07

L E F T Junior Adya Burdick sa lsa d a n ces with her friend, Libby Deara. “I went with a friend who I really h a d a lot of f u n with, and we did a lot of salsa dancing,” Burdick said. “Another thing we got for chill ball this year was a 360 camera and we got some really cu te v id eos.”

PHOTO BY MJ WOLF

A B O V E After putting curlers in her hair, junior Sam Herpich opens her foundation apply it on her face before getting dressed for the dance. “Chill Ball is a different experience because it’s less stressful and you don’t have to worry about anyone feeling left out,” Herpich said.

PHOTO BY RILEY ECK L E F T Seniors Jack Muller, Megan Angell, Sydney Beck, and Rhett Wallace smile for a photo at Alexander Major’s Barn. For varsity Lancer Dancers, the night consisted of taking pictures at the Fontaine Hotel, arriving at the dance, and dressing up for a ra ve -t h e m e d SCAN ME • PHOTO a f ter p a rty .

Use this QR code to PHOTO BY MJ p u rc h a s e p h ot o s WOLF f ro m t h i s eve nt o n H a r b i e P h ot o

08 OPINION

THE HARBINGER

design by sophie lindberg

OPINION HIGHLIGHTS A look into student opinions, opinionated tweets and holiday favorites

HOLIDAY CHEER

A compilation of the highest-voted holiday favorites from our Instagram

FAVORITE KWANZAA PRINCIPLE

FAVORITE HANUKKAH TRADITIONS

FAVORITE STOCKING STUFFERS

I n s t a g ra m q u e s t i o n w i t h 5 vot e s

I n st a g ra m q u e st i o n w i t h 8 vot e s

I n st a g ra m q u e st i o n w i t h 2 3 vot e s

candy

Kujichagulia (Self determination)

lighting the menorah

Ujima (Responsibility)

party with extended family

Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)

latkes

YO U ’ R E A B I L L I O N A I R E — G R E AT, G O O D F O R YO U. YO U WA N T TO Z O O M A RO U N D O N A RO C K E T A N D P R E T E N D YO U ’ R E A N A S T RO N AU T ? T H AT ’ S F I N E , I T ’ S A F R E E C O U N T RY. B U T D O N ’ T A S K F O R G OV E R N M E N T S U B S I D I E S TO D O I T A N D T H E N W H I N E W H E N YO U ’ R E A S K E D TO PAY YO U R FA I R S H A R E O F TA X E S .

DETECTIVE HEATHER

12/14/21

TA K E O U R P O L L S @smeharbinger

Follow us on social media to participate in the polls

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S E K U

I T H O R O U G H LY E N J OY E D R E A D I N G A B O U T T H E A N T I C S O F J E A N A N D J O RT S A N D T H E C H E R RY O N TO P WA S A G ROW N WO M A N D E M A N D I N G R AC I A L J U S T I C E S E N S I T I V I T Y T R A I N I N G B E C AU S E O F A C AT. 1 0 / 1 0 P O S T.

I n s t a g ra m p o l l of 4 07 vo t e s

CHRISTMAS

94%

HANUKKAH

.4%

KWANZAA

.2%

DO YOU THINK THAT THE NUMBER OF SME ACCOUNTS HAS GOTTEN OUT OF HAND (I.E. SLEEPING, PARKING LOT, POSTURE, ECT.)?

I n s t a g ra m p o l l of 2 1 0 vo t e s

YES

60%

NO

40%

D

E

12/9/21

DO YOU CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS, HANUKKAH, OR KWANZAA?

DO YOU USE MANIFESTATIONS, PSYCHICS OR CRYSTALS ON A REGULAR BASIS? I n s t a g ra m p o l l of 1 8 3 vo t e s

T

BERNIE SANDERS

T A

12/12/21

East students’ thoughts relating to this issue’s opinion section

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QASIM RASHID, ESQ.

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H E R E ’ S T H E M E D I A S TO RY. S D T E AC H E R PAY R A N K S 4 9 T H N AT I O N A L LY. R AT H E R T H A N S I M P LY G R A N T T E AC H E R S T H E M O N E Y, T H E Y M A K E T H E M S C R A M B L E O N T H E G RO U N D L I K E B E G G A R S . B U T Y E A H , G O O D T H I N G WE’RE SPENDING $768B ON DEFENSE. DESPIC ABLE.

money skincare items

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T HIS WE E K Opinionated tweets from this week IN TWEETS

accessories

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21% NO

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OPINION 09

DECEMBER 20, 2021 design by luke beil

is it

crystal

A head to head opinion concerning spirituality’s validity

?

NO, IT ISN’T PRACTICAL

by peyton moore

A

GIRL WITH BROWN hair is going to ruin your life. You’re going to get cheated on. Your brother is going to get sick again.

Sitting with a psychic recommended by my friend in downtown KC, I listened to my predictions for the year. I went into the session with the intention of seeing if this spiritual world was worth my time or if it was just a bunch of hocus pocus. What I got instead was terrifying predictions that left me feeling incredibly anxious.

Every mind-trick or witchcraft is the same to an extent.

Carrying a crystal that may bring you love, using essential oils to cure the flu instead of modern-day, tested, medicine or trusting a candle’s flame to suspect the longevity of a friendship is simply impractical. Instead of relying on outside sources to be a happy person, people should focus simply on their mindset and who they are as people.

If you can look at a rose quartz crystal and “feel the

positive energy it’s radiating” then yes, maybe you’ll get a tiny boost of serotonin. But, in no way is it practical to say that a stone the size of my thumb is what’s getting you through the day.

Manifesting is the same way. It takes a positive attitude about life to be a happy, balanced person. You can try to manifest positivity but if you live with a negative view on life, attempting to manifest simply when you need something isn’t going to make you a better person.

The most important part of being positive is ultimately your perspective. Yes, crystals and candles might bring you a small amount of joy, but it won’t bring you happiness unless your perspective changes. By focusing on moving forward and looking at life optimistically, the chances of you being happy are much higher.

If you want something so badly that you’re willing to find the time every single day to put your energy towards that

goal, then yes, manifesting is practical for you. But if you try to manifest something that isn’t even practical in the first place, you have to accept that repeated affirmations on a piece of paper probably won’t do the trick.

For example, if a student in business school wants to land a big job in corporate America, that’s practical. But if you’re manifesting to be a Supreme Court justice without going to law school, then you should learn to accept disappointment as much as you accept your bundle of dried herbs being magic.

So no matter how many crystals, worry dolls, spells, herbs and mantras you find yourself frequenting, positive energy and your overall happiness shouldn’t be dependent on an amethyst crystal to make your fairytale dreams come true — it’s simply not practical.

aroma around the area rids it of the up-tight cramped feeling that I’ve convinced myself exists. Something about the scented smoke trailing from its base and dispersing into the air creates a clean-slate vibe and seems to erase my stress.

I constantly worry. And instead of letting these concerns take over my daily life, I use worry dolls. The guidelines

be sitting on a floor pillow, crystals in hand, with incense burning, writing down your wishes and burning the paper to release it into the realm of possibility, but it can also be the simple act of saying or even just thinking about what you want to happen so that it’s projected into the universe.

What you put out into the universe will come back to you. If you think positively about a job you applied for and say to yourself, “I think that went well. I can see myself in this position,” it’s much more likely to work out than if you were projecting, “That sucked, I suck, I’m going to fail.”

Spirituality isn’t something I would ever try to convince someone to practice simply because if you don’t believe in it, it won’t help you. But spiritual practices can help to

YES, THERE’S A PURPOSE

by hadley c h apman

I

N 8TH GRADE I became a “rock girl”. The girl who had rocks of every color, shape and size stuffed in the front zipper of my backpack. The girl who collected scents and oils as a hobby. Manifesting and spirituality is part of what made me, me.

But when people tell me that “they’re just rocks” or “there’s no point in having them,” it’s clear that they just don’t get it. They’re not understanding the purpose behind them.

Spirituality is similar to how others see religion. It’s based on recognizing that a higher power — in this case, the universe — is in control. It’s about realizing that everything, including your actions, has positive or negative energy. The trinkets associated with spirituality such as crystals, incense, or candles are what make people skeptical of the idea of trusting in the universe. There’s a common misconception that these things are believed to have magical powers, when in reality, it’s all about the energy they possess.

However, the act of lighting incense and “cleansing” things like your room can help to alleviate any stress you have. Sometimes the minuscule pile of clothes on my desk seems like it is taking up the entire room. Everything seems so chaotic and busy. Taking two minutes to burn the natural

stones that each channel different energies consist of giving a worry doll your problem and setting it underneath your pillow overnight. Before you know it, your anxiety over the problems will have vanished. I’m not saying that a five-centimeter-long doll is absorbing all my worries, but instead of spending my life overthinking I can make peace with myself and my worries by trusting things will work out however they’re supposed to.

Manifesting is the same thing — a way to exert positive energy into your future. I think that everyone manifests in some way — whether they know it or not. It doesn’t have to

paper dolls to ease your worries

incorporate positive practices into your everyday life. These routines stand to benefit everyone — devout practitioners and hesitant skeptics alike.

10 OPINION

THE HARBINGER

design by caroline wood

GREYSON’S LIKES

Some of the Instagram accounts that post pictures of students at SME and Greyson’s thoughts on how harmful they are

While many SME parody accounts on Instagram are harmless fun, many more gain followers and likes at the expense of students’ comfort and privacy

Following

Message

by g reyson imm

W

HER PHONE buzzed with a flood of texts from her friend, senior Emma Brown’s passive expression quickly turned into one of flustered embarrassment when she saw the message — a photo of Brown slumped over in her desk that looked like she was sleeping. An already embarrassing situation for most escalated to complete humiliation when it was posted to @smeslumped and had already gained 20+ likes in the span of a few minutes.

These recently created SME parody accounts, though usually started with the intention of “harmless fun,” often exploit the comfort and privacy of unsuspecting students for social media notoriety.

I, for one, have started doublechecking my posture whenever I’m sitting in class to make sure I don’t end up on @smepostures, or keeping my guard up at lunch to make sure nobody posts me enjoying a sandwich at my usual lunch table on @sme_eating.

My precautions aren’t unwarranted however. Out of an Instagram story poll of 118 East students, 74% said that they were featured on one of these parody accounts without their permission.

The violation of privacy is what makes these accounts inherently harmful. Sure, some may be unusual — like @smeducked, an account dedicated to putting rubber ducks on the Jeeps in the parking lot — but those posts aren’t exploiting someone’s privacy or targeting or calling out anyone in particular. The problem HEN

occurs when photos are taken without permission from the person in them — which really should be a matter of basic respect.

Building off of the principle of permission, the main criteria that separates the acceptable accounts with the problematic ones is an expectation of privacy — or lack thereof. Nobody expects privacy in places like the parking lot, so posting pictures of students’ chaotic parking jobs is harmless. However when someone uploads a picture of someone’s shoes underneath the bathroom stall, the line between lighthearted and harmful may be crossed.

I’ll admit, some submissions to the accounts are funny. For instance, planned-out, intentional pictures of students pretending to sleep on the floor of the gym entrance rolled in a carpet are lighthearted humor. But snapping a picture of your lab partner asleep without their knowledge, only for the photo to be seen by potentially hundreds of people, violates their boundaries and respect.

Though comedic social media profiles like SME Pizza Review Club and Barstool-esque have been common since middle school, the phenomenon of taking unsolicited pictures of people and posting them is a relatively new trend. With the rise in TikTok and Instagram “fame” accrued by these accounts within the past months, almost every high school in the nation has at least one, if not more, accounts similar to these.

Its growing popularity combined with the seemingly-overnight success of these accounts leads to more and more students having their privacy violated for social media clout. As long as people keep sending in submissions, the accounts will continue to generate likes and followers at the expense of ashamed students.

Take for example, @sleepytime.sme, who started their Instagram on Dec. 12.

After just two days and a handful of posts featuring sleeping students later, the account has already amassed 140+ followers. This isn’t the only instance of a profile like this gaining overnight popularity, however. Accounts like @ sme_eating, @smepostures and even @sme_bathroom_feet have all created their pages within the past weeks and have accrued 100+ likes/followers in most cases, more and more cropping up by the day The problem with these accounts isn’t the owners, or even the content itself. It’s the lack of permission given by students, especially in situations of expected privacy.

Next time you think of taking a picture of the kid in your first hour dozing off to a lecture about chemical bonding — consider how you’d feel if the roles were reversed. At the very least, ask for their permission. Fostering a culture of mutual trust among your classmates is always a good thing. Who knows? Maybe it’ll ensure you don’t end up on @smeslumped the next time you lay your head down in Chemistry.

@SME PARKING LOT It’s just as the bio states: “Posting the not-so-great parking jobs at East.” Cars parked over the line slightly and crooked parking jobs are a common sight in the East parking lot. This account posts some of the worst parking jobs you’ve seen — I’m talking places that you can’t even imagine parking in, like sidewalks, grass fields and in front of the South Ramp doors. Overall, this is a lighthearted account that pokes fun at the most universal and chaotic experience at East — the parking lot.

@SME SLUMPED Scrolling through the rows of students, slumped over with their eyes closed and heads down, one can find a barrage of both staged photos and genuine sleeping students alike.

Although the real pictures are problematic, the funny planned posts bring levity to the situation.

@SME POSTURES Hunched over, typing away on your MacBook, it’s easy to forget to keep your back straight and your shoulders up. Having a moment of bad posture is inevitable when sitting at the same desk for hours. However, these slip-ups can be immortalized for everyone on Instagram to see for years to come on the Internet.

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12 FEATURE

THE HARBINGER

design by anna mitchell

FEATURE HIGHLIGHTS T H I S W E E K I N P H OTO S

A look at different student’s classes and their work as we near the end of the semester

A B O V E Junior Lyd a C o s g rove m e a s u re s the length of pea se e d s p ro u t s d u r i n g a S o i l Salini zation Lab in A P E nv i o r m e nta l S c i e n c e to A B O V E J u n i o rs Ava C o o p e r a n d A n o h i ta P a u l o b s e r ve Mr. learn about the effe ct s of s a lf c o n c e nt ra t i o n B u r row ’s le ct u re o n t h e b o a rd i n t h e i r I B H L 1 . o n seed ger min ation. PHOTO BY SABRINA DEAN PHOTO BY MACY CROSSER

A CT S O F K I N D N E S S *in partnership with Homegrown Kitchen Be chosen for doing an act of kindness to be rewarded a gift card from Homegrown Kitchen.

TH I S W E E KS WI N N ER: ANOHITA PAUL gave each classmate in her IB Higher Level 1 class a compliment randomly with sincerity to make their day.

A B O V E Junior Samantha Robinson measures her groups largest bean that they have been watching over the past weeks.

PHOTO BY SABRINA DEAN

F E AT U R E D U N I Q U E TA L E N T

C AT E

HOLZBEIERLEIN CAN DO MANY IMPRESSIONS OF CELEBRITIES & SOUNDS HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU HAD THIS UNIQUE TALENT? I’ve always like singing, but I am bad at actually singing, so instead I just started mimicking other people’s voices. And I also, despite being a bad singer, have a big vocal range, so it’s easy to impersonate a lot of people.

WHAT ARE ALL YOUR IMPRESSIONS YOU CAN DO?

H O L I D AY & W I N T E R TRADITIONS

CAROLINE MARTUCCI D E C O R AT I N G CHRISTMAS TREE WITH MOM & CHRISTMAS MUSIC

J AC K KESSLER WHITE ELEPHANT GIFT EXCHANGE WITH EXTENDED F A M I LY

DIFFERENT

I can do Shakira, Christina Aguilera, an attempt at Frank Sinatra, Britney Spears, my old soccer coach. I tried Michael Bublé but it hasn’t worked. I am also really good at the Minecraft sound effects and other video game sound effects, and a lot of others.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE IMPRESSION AND WHY? My favorite impression is Britney Spears. I really like getting into performance for that, like I go all out and I think it’s funny because it doesn’t sound anything like me.

F E AT U R E D

K A B YA

PYA K U RYA L W H O L E F A M I LY GOES SLEDDING T H E F I R S T D AY I T SNOWS

E VA N D E E DY

E AT I N G B R E A K F A S T CASSEROLE AND SEEING G R A N D PA R E N T S

DECEMBER 20, 2021

design by katie murphy photo by kate beaulieu

BUILDING TRUST

FEATURE 13

SCAN ME • VIDEO S of t b a l l t e a m ’s f i r s t re a c t i o n t o t h e i r S H I E L D l o c ke r s

MONTANA STATE FOOTBALL SCAN ME • VIDEO Reve a l v i d e o fo r fo o t b a l l t e a m ’s l o c ke rs — fe a t u re d i n t h e g ra p h i c o n t h e l ef t

WAYNE STATE BASKETBALL SCAN ME • VIDEO

B a s ket b a l l t e a m ’s re a c t i o n t o t h e i r n e w l o c ke r s

H

ERE COME THE summer boys.

It was CEO Lori Gorman’s first thought when six seniors wearing Lululemon shorts and backward hats walked into Shield Casework, a cabinetry manufacturer, on their first day of work. Stepping onto the sawdust-covered floor of the warehouse with a hint of a new tan and expecting a fun summer job, Drew Trotter, Max Holzbeirlein, Tyler Moore, Hoch Saylor, Will McClelland and Michael Scott were the only teenage boys out of 100 or so employees.

“When they walked in, you just felt like you were headed to the pool or something,” Gorman said. “It was like, ‘OK, are you guys ready for some hard work?’”

Whirring drills, blasting fans and floating dust from freshly cut wood would become their everyday lives at Shield. Other employees were skeptical of the boys — after all, they were a group of teenagers who got in when Drew’s dad — the CEO of Shield’s sister company — asked if he and his friends wanted a job.

The boys’ parents encouraged them to trade in their occasional shifts scrubbing cars at Waterway or selling pizza at Indian Hills Country Club to get a “real job” with hard, manual labor. Sanding wood, screwing nails — something worthwhile to spend their summer on.

The rest of the summer, the boys worked weekdays from 9 to 4 at the warehouse assembling cabinetry, eventually fabricating lockers for famous NFL and college sports teams. So far, they’ve built lockers for Montana State, Utah State, Wayne State and Vanderbilt. Working on lockers for teams that play on TV wasn’t just something the boys could brag about to their friends — it meant their managers trusted them to take on the big jobs.

But they didn’t get their hands on the lockers right away. Their coworkers are in their 20s and 30s, most with a few years’ experience at Shield. It took them time to warm up to the inexperienced group of teenagers. Managers were supportive, but a few coworkers plugged in headphones and avoided them altogether.

“Some of them were blatantly mean to us,” Max said. “At first they were giving us side work. Cleaning up trash. Breaking down boxes. I don’t think they had that trust in us — they thought that we would mess stuff up.”

It didn’t help that on their first week, the boys got stuck behind a passing train for 25 minutes on their way back from lunch — not a solid excuse to their foreman.

Unconvinced, he told them to get back to work. The boys saw the other workers roll their eyes and mumble remarks.

“Nobody believed us,” Hoch said. “The people that were working in the shop were like, ‘Do they think they own the place?’

They didn’t say anything, but we could tell that they were annoyed with us.”

But over time, trust built up between the boys and their older coworkers. They proved that they could handle the tough work, according to Hoch. After a few shifts of sweeping floors and taking out trash, the managers gave them their first construction task: applying epoxy to plywood and screwing boards for 350 small shelters for the Los Angeles County homeless.

It wasn’t easy. This wasn’t washing cars at Waterway.

“The first time I started putting stuff together, they were like, ‘Go get a threequarters-inch flathead screw’ and I was like, ‘What are you talking about? I don’t know what that is,’” Max said.

Max and the boys soon learned what the screw was, and they switched out fiveinch-inseam Lulus for ragged old shorts and Shield T-shirts. In the middle of the summer, they worked on a shipment deadline for Utah State football — their first shift on a deadline. That morning, the shift manager told them to load 30 lockers — each weighing 700-900 pounds — onto two-by-four wooden pallets to be shipped out by 6:00 p.m. The only way to do that was by lifting them.

“Everyone was busting their tail to get this shipment out,” Max said. ”It was an 8 hour day that felt like 30 minutes. It felt like we were a team.”

Lifting the lockers tested Hoch’s work ethic. One more, he told himself. Keep going.

He says surviving the shift was the turning point — they were ready for heavier tasks.

Long days spent applying polymer and inserting screws became bearable for the boys when they got to know their coworkers.

Their project supervisor, Jared, helped them with assembling the lockers and would ask about their lives and weekend plans. Callie, who operated the forklift, would talk to Drew about cars and show them pictures of the sports bike she was modifying.

Andre, the line sander, would drop by in the break room to talk about lunch or show them Instagram memes. He called them “the Dream Team.” On the last day of work of the summer, he came to say goodbye and shook each of their hands.

“It was great working with you guys,” he said.

At the end of the shift that day, Gorman stopped the boys as they were leaving the warehouse.

“Hold on, we have something for you,” she said, leading them to the main office.

THEIR videos of the boys’ projects from this past summer

UTAH STATE SOFTBALL

LOCKERS

Six senior boys gain the trust of older employees and strengthen their work ethic and maturity at a cabinetry construction company, Shield

Streamers, cheesecakes with candles and 30 or so coworkers waited for them. After giving a thank-you speech for their help and promising the boys they were welcome back any time, they showed them the new concepts for their upcoming projects, including the ones for the Denver Broncos, which they’ll work on over winter break.

Their names are still written on the whiteboards in the engineering department — where their managers would write the boys’ daily tasks during the summer. Gorman said they couldn’t find it in themselves to erase the “summer boys’” names. They’re still active in the payroll system, and the door’s always open for them to come back to work.

The boys look forward to seeing their coworkers again and meeting new ones over winter break and the summer, when they’ll start the Carolina Panthers lockers. After they graduate, most of them plan to work there over breaks during college, and Drew is interested in a project managing career.

Whether or not they want to continue working in the construction field, they all appreciate the work ethic learned and friends made at Shield. Even if it meant driving home with a mix of sweat and epoxy stains on their clothes at the end of every shift.

“I feel like everyone should experience [a hard labor job],” Hoch said. “It gives you a lot of respect for the people that go out and bust their butts at a nine to five, doing that hard stuff. I’ve grown working as a team [member] in a workplace like that.”

14 FEATURE by celia condon

WHILE THE OTHER kids at Pawnee Elementary would play

capture the flag at recess and sing lyrics written on music sheets, then-fourth-grader Ajay Lohr sat inside and practiced braille with his teacher. He’d listen to their laughs and the sound of shoes smacking soccer balls as his finger tips grazed over the raised bumps of letters his friends couldn’t read.

Ajay was born blind, and looking back, he remembers feeling that he lacked the emotional intelligence and maturity the other students had. He couldn’t participate in activities that were common practice for them.

He immediately built a wall — one to protect him from being hurt by the other kids his age. He spent much of his time at school with the vision paras, preferring to spend free time at school on his own. He didn’t think they’d understand the parts of him that were unique — after all, elementary schoolers could be brutal.

Six years, two schools and many attempts at self-acceptance later, that wall would be torn down. It would flip his self-image and ability to form meaningful relationships. He would no longer think of his classmates as the kids who could see what he couldn’t, but as people who complemented his differences.

He would meet like-minded peers, who considered him as equal and who he shared interests with. But most importantly, he’d make friends who helped him realize that they were one in the same — despite their differences.

Ajay was born in Delhi, India, where he originally learned to speak Hindi. He grew up in a Catholic orphanage where he was taught braille and English around the age of three. While there, Ajay worked individually with teachers who were trained to help the visually impaired, but he remembers feeling out of place there since the other kids were sighted.

Ajay felt like an outsider.

A HELPING HAND

On the other side of the world in the U.S., Jenny and Brian Lohr were beginning the international adoption process, specifically in search of a child who was visually impaired, influenced by Jenny’s close relationship with her brother who was also blind. After reading a brief profile on Ajay, the Lohr’s reached out to the adoption company in search of more information.

“They sent me a picture, and it was him sitting on the floor, eating rice with his hands,” Jenny said. “We fell in love with him.”

THEY SENT ME a picture, and it was him sitting on the floor, eating rice with his hands. We fell in love with him.

JENNY LOHR AJAY’S MOM When Ajay was five when the adoption papers were signed with Jenny’s signature, he traveled with Jenny from Delhi to Kansas City, Kansas. Minimal, sometimes lonely meals turned into family dinners around a dining table, holidays celebrated by gifts and summer road trips to new places. But Ajay still didn’t feel like he could emulate the lifestyles of those around him.

“My childhood was one that was kind of blissful in the sense that I got to have a normal one,” now-senior Ajay said.

“But abnormal in the sense that I always knew that I was adopted. And so I did have to contend with the psychological repercussions of that.”

Those repercussions came in the form of self doubt, fear to open up and allowing his blindness to define him.

Ajay began attending the Kansas State School for the Blind

Ajay explains how the Braille Note Touch works, a device he uses everyday

YOU CAN BASICALLY THINK OF IT AS A MULTIPURPOSE COMPUTER. IT HAS THE ABILITY TO READ THINGS TO ME. I CAN WRITE THINGS AND SCROLL THROUGH MENUS. I CAN ALSO TURN IT INTO A TABLET WITH A SCREEN.

shortly after the adoption was finalized where he had one clear thing in common with his classmates. Still, bonding with them was hard — sharing a visual disability was often a barrier guarding the possibility to learn anything else about a person.

However, it was here that he met Charlie Bethay, a classmate one year younger than him, who was also blind and would soon put a crack in the sheltering, but lonely wall Ajay had built.

At first, the two were something of frenemies, often disagreeing in class or during recreational time at the school. They would even get into “cane fights,” provoked by disagreements about a game’s rules or a problem’s answer.

But over time, the two grew close. Cane fights were no longer, and the two instead spent time creating alternate realities to entertain themselves with.

“We had a day where we decided that anything we knew about math and numbers no longer existed,” Charlie said. “We kind of outlawed them in our own little society and we would get angry if anyone asked us what the time was or the answer to a math problem. For some reason it was fun for us to just decide to live in a world without numbers.”

This bond was one of the first Ajay formed in his childhood, and something that shaped his personality to this day. The two remain close friends 10 years later, and according to Ajay, the reason the two have remained close over the years is in fact because of how opposite they are. Their differences turned into something they could laugh over, and poke friendly fun at.

“Because of Charlie, I was taught that opposites attract,” Ajay said. “That just

Senior Ajay Lohr learned to embrace himself despite being born fully blind and open himself up to others after building meaningful relationships with his classmates

DECEMBER 20, 2O21

design by sydney newton photo by lily mantel

because two people may have different personalities, that does not mean that they cannot complement one another in a team.

There are times when we are together, and it feels like we’re unstoppable.”

Ajay and Charlie parted ways when they both left the KSSB to attend separate Shawnee Mission School District elementary schools, Pawnee and Briarwood.

Ajay closed himself off from thinking about any new friendships once again. This was the first time he’d experienced the commonalities of a sighted school: crowded hallways, chaotic lunch rooms, braille-less books and students who had no idea what it would be like to be a new student who was blind.

Because he had been surrounded by people who knew how to work with the visually impaired people, for most of his life, he was reluctant to form any relationships. In this environment, Ajay felt that students talked to him only to show sympathy, and not to truly get to know the real Ajay.

Ajay attended Westridge Middle School, and eventually transferred to East because of the opportunities it could provide for his disability. This also meant he would be in school again with Charlie, who naturally fed into East because of where he lived. Ajay looked forward to the comfort of his childhood friend.

During his sophomore year, Ajay decided to take debate where he met thensophomore Evelyn Roth. Although the activity itself didn’t mean much to him, his soon-to-be friendship with Evelyn would.

A few months into the school year, Ajay received an email from Evelyn, asking if

there was anything he needed help understanding on a recent debate assignment. For Ajay, it came as a pleasant surprise that Evelyn offered help not as someone who felt a need to show sympathy, but as someone who was simply experienced in an area he was interested in exploring.

“I thought to myself, ‘Why is this individual reaching out to me and treating me as an equal, when my entire life people have only seemed to want to show sympathy,’” Ajay said. “Even though there is nothing wrong with sympathy, this was just different from the others.”

Debate became a time for Evelyn and Ajay to bond. The two were at Olathe Northwest for a tournament, walking down a hallway when he revealed to her how strong his sensory awareness skills were, something he’d never had an opportunity to show off to a friend before. He suddenly stopped.

“In about 10 feet, there’s a wall,” Ajay said.

Evelyn stopped in awe, because it was true — there was a wall roughly 10 feet in front of them. For the remainder of their time together that day, Ajay showed his echolocating skills off to Evelyn. She placed him some distance from an object like a table or a chair, and he’d guess with extreme accuracy how close he was and to what.

While Ajay showed the unique parts of him, Evelyn did the same. On his birthday, she was bringing him a gift, and decided to bring her pet guinea pigs along.

“I said to him, “Guess what? I have my Guinea pigs,’” Evelyn said. “ I put my Guinea pig into his hands and I could tell not only by him literally just saying it but from his face that it was an extremely strange sensation for him.”

Evelyn chipped away at Ajay’s wall more and more. After many months of friendship, Ajay realized something: most of the times he’d felt like the odd one out, or excluded or hesitant to make friends, it was because he — not anyone else — was

FROM THERE TO HERE

allowing his disability to define him.

“I knew because of the care that Evelyn had shown me that I had been taking the wrong approach to people,” Ajay said. “I had been letting my blindness define me and it had closed me off from opening up to people who may have had the intentions Evelyn did. I knew I was never going to let it define me again.”

To the people close to Ajay in his life, it’s clear that any hardship, loss or struggle he’s faced as a result of his blindness or past only motivates him to work harder now, according to Jenny. Charlie says that Ajay speaks on “Shakespeare’s intelligence level,” is the “dad-joke” teller of the group and flourishes on his own, constantly assigning himself projects for fun.

I T H O U G H T TO my s e lf , W hy i s t h i s i n d i v i d u a l re a c h i n g o u t t o m e a n d t re a t i n g m e a s a n e q u a l , w h e n my e nt i re l i fe p e o p l e h a ve o n ly s e e m e d t o w a nt t o s h o w sy m p a t hy ? E ve n t h o u g h t h e re i s n ot h i n g w ro n g w i t h sy m p a t hy , t h i s w a s j u st d i f fe re nt f ro m t h e ot h e rs .

AJAY LOHR

SENIOR

He plans to attend college and hopes to study psychology or law. He doesn’t have plans to let any of these dreams or goals be diminished by anything that he can’t control.

“It would be a gross inaccuracy to say that [being blind] isn’t a challenge,” Ajay said. “However, I do not and will not ever allow it to define me. I love people for people, I see people for people and I will not allow my blindness to let anyone else do differently to me.”

A timeline of Ajay’s life, from his childhood to now

EARLY YEARS

GETTING ADOPTED

EARLY SCHOOLING

born fully blind, Ajay was born in Dehli, India and lived in an orphanage

Ajay lived in the orphanage until he was moved to KC at the age of five after being adopted

Ajay went to Kansas State School for the Blind, before attending Pawnee Elementary school and Westridge Middle School

HIGH SCHOOL Ajay now attends Shawnee Mission East High School, and will graduate in 2022

THEIR NEXT PROJECT

LADIES

LANDSCAPING

16 FEATURE

East community members Lauren Kline and Lori Stolberg are the only parents on the PTSA landscaping committee, and have transformed the committee as a whole over the years

THE BEFORE:

THE HARBINGER

design by nora lynn photos by kate beaulieu

THE PLAN FOR AFTER:

by s op h ie h e n s ch el

S

ITTING AT HER kitchen counter in the fall of 2004, then-East parent Lauren Kline opened the packet she received in the mail from the SME PTSA asking for volunteers for their committees.

Kline’s first daughter, Taylor, was a freshman at East that year, and she wanted to get involved.

She hoped to be a part of her daughter’s school by helping out the students and community.

After reviewing the committee options, she chose landscaping.

The job description included adding details to the exterior of the school with a variety of plants, working under Dana Tanner who ran the committee at the time. A few years later in 2009, Kline became accompanied by fellow East parent, Lori Stolberg, who, little did she know, would be working with her for over a decade to come.

Stolberg had volunteered to do the landscaping at her childrens’ school, Tomahawk Elementary, for multiple years prior, so when her first child came to East, she naturally carried over with the job title.

Stolberg and Kline’s first project together was helping to move the school’s entrance. Originally located at the current counseling office, the entrance was moved towards the main office.

They put in beds with various plants leading up to the main office doors, and a few around the memorial sitting on the northeast side of the building.

As they worked under Tanner, learning the necessary skills and growing a passion for creating an aesthetic exterior to the school for their children and their peers, their bond and commitment to the committee grew. They learned the proper ways to water, plant, weed, trim and more, preparing them for when they’d someday take over the committee themselves.

12 years later, they’re now the only two on the committee and have transformed it from watering plants and organizing flower beds to doing all of the planning and execution of new landscaping projects — even creating a friendship in the process.

“We really take pride in how it looks and what we want for the kids that go there,” Stolberg said.

“And we enjoy doing it. And we enjoy each other’s

company too, so it’s just kind of our thing.”

Through volunteering together at the school every Saturday for years, with the exception of downtime in the winter months, the two have formed a love for the program and don’t see an end in the near future — even though Stolberg’s kids have all graduated, and Kline’s last is a senior.

While Kline and Stolberg have put countless hours into the program over the years, they’re the two most commonly unknown committee members within the PTSA according to President Tiffonie Dirks. Because their funding is attained from the PTSA and other donation sources like friends and clients, most of the East community is oblivious to the work Kline and Stolberg do.

W E R E A L LY TA K E p r i d e i n h o w i t l o o k s a n d w h a t w e w a n t fo r t h e k i d s t h a t g o t h e re . A n d yo u k n o w , w e e n j oy d o i n g i t . A n d w e e n j oy e a c h ot h e r ’s c o m p a ny t o o , s o i t ’s j u s t k i n d of o u r t h i n g .

LORI STROLBERG EAST PARENT “They are two people that fly under the radar the most with what they do and how large their role is because they’ve done it for so long,” Dirks said. “It’s a huge role to take on and to do for so long — they [are] so underappreciated. I think it’s just [that] nobody understood how large their role was and how much time and effort and devotion they have for what they [do] and what they have given to East.”

Stolberg doesn’t do it for her family anymore — she and Kline still care about the school’s exterior looks and providing students with possible education tools. That’s why they show up every week to keep up with their work and plan their next big projects.

“We look for areas that need some attention and that’s where we focus,” Kline said. “And we’ve tried to put some big interesting trees in so that they can be educational tools. We have a bald cypress that’s over by the choir and band

room and then there’s Kentucky Coffeetree — that one is by the gym.”

Kline and Stolberg dedicate their landscape planning to creating plant beds and landscapes that are long-lasting, low-maintenance and often educational for the students.

Their next big project? Renewing the East memorial outside the counseling office on the northeast side of the property. The memorial — a dedication to past honorable East members with artwork and plaques — has been sitting on it’s small patch of land since before either of them joined the committee. When they look at the few spare benches and empty grasses, they see a potential place for students and community members to hang out and read about East community members.

Kline and Stolberg hope to plant various grasses such as Miscanthus and Switchgrass there soon and add flowers in the spring to make the area more welcoming and honor everyone included in the memorial.

“We’re doing it to make people feel good about East,” Stolberg said. “Just having a nice place [that] also can be used for educational purposes. If the art department wants to go out and draw or whatever, and just being able to sit outside and even have a class and just have plant material around you is nice.”

They’re unsure of the future of the landscaping committee. After all, this is the last year either of them will have a student at East. They haven’t decided when they’ll end their Saturday meetings together, but won’t continue forever as they believe eventually it will be time to pass it onto the next crew. Klein says they love their jobs and are happy to continue, but want outside help from East students and parents that would be willing to continue the committee when they leave.

“If we could get some people that want to be involved in it, it would be nice,” Stolberg said.

“It’s not something that we are trying to keep to ourselves and not share, we would love to share it with other people. Well, as long as everyone else enjoys it too, that’s what’s important to us. That other people can enjoy it [and] appreciate it.”

FEATURE

DECEMBER 20, 2021

17

SEASON OF majorSUCCESS

design by ben bradley and celia condon

With new leadership and encouragment, the marching band found great success this season

by anna mitchell

“

WHO’S THE BADDEST? We’re the baddest!”

As the drum majors and seniors Bre Ledbetter, Abby Goodmon and junior Sam Fritz prepared to perform, they yelled out to one another their pre-competition chants before their first performance as leaders for their season — Lancer Day. “We, [as drum majors] just wanted to start fresh and kind of get rid of anything that wasn’t working in previous seasons,” Ledbetter said.

“We wanted to get to like finals and whatnot, but it wasn’t our main goal. We wanted to have a fun season and start new traditions that worked and help progress for upcoming years to be able to do what they need to get done.”

With it being both Ledbetter’s and Fritz’s first season as a drum major — the highest position within band, right below the band director — and Goodmon having little experience in a COVID-19 season last year, they weren’t expecting much success out of this season.

They thought at best they’d get better playing their instruments. They thought at best they would get to perform unmasked at all home football games. They thought at best they would get to have a couple fun competitions.

When the band first met at their yearly weeklong summer camp, the three leaders assumed this season was solely going to be based on enjoyment rather than competitive success.

However as members showed up to rehearsals extra early and the drum majors had everyone’s attention from start to finish of practices, they saw they didn’t just want a fun

season, the marching band wanted to succeed.

So, they took a new approach as leaders.

They pushed their band members harder with encouraging harsh memorization while also working to bring them closer and work out little mistakes within the band. Now, this closeness has led to more successful competitions than the past within the band that the trio never expected.

“At first we were like, ‘Okay, let’s just have fun this year,’” Goodmon said. “And then everyone came back wanting to work hard and so we were like, ‘Okay, let’s take that and run with it.’”

In the past, the band has struggled to remain consistent in competition wins alongside keeping a close bond with each other. However, this year, the band kept up with what they call “zero hour practices” where they rehearse at 7 a.m before school. They memorized each movement and note — all as a result of the new leaders who constantly remind them to try their best. Four-year band member Noah Gould has observed leadership over the years and its impact on seasons.

“I think with some switch of leadership this year and some really good drum majors, a new assistant band director and new percussion captain, [the leadership] brought us something really, really good,” Gould says. “[This season] brought some great opportunities and I really hope the underclassmen continue that.”

But after seven weeks of early morning practices and Thursday night rehearsals, their first competition at the University of Central Missouri on October 16 was a slight disappointment. The marching band didn’t make finals, despite being confident that their performance was top notch and they’d hit every movement with every note.

“We were definitely content in how we played, but we wanted to achieve what our band was capable of so that was definitely a push in the next couple of weeks,” Fritz said.

But the band knew that with work it was possible. The drum majors had confidence in their peers and skill to go into their upcoming and last competition Kansas Band Association, KBA, at KU. With KBA on October 30, they had a

few weeks to prepare themselves and prove that even after a year full of cutting holes in masks to play instruments and few chances to play their pregame ritual, they could make finals in state, and the drum majors made sure of it with constant positive encouragement.

“I definitely encourage section leaders to be on top of their sections, like get their music memorized, make sure they have older material, that way we’re not taking time out of rehearsal,” Ledbetter said. “I also was just making sure everyone stayed overall positive and [making] sure it’s a welcoming environment for sure.”

After the 11-minute performance, the drum majors all concluded it wasn’t their best yet.

However, hours later after watching bands from all over Kansas perform, the list of possible final placements was posted. The band was in shock with excitement as “Shawnee Mission East” was down as 12th place, the last team to make it into finals.

As their marching band season came to end, they were proud and confident in a successful season. Some members had gotten to travel to Rome in 2019 and current members were invited to London next year, but didn’t think they had any foreign opportunities this season.

However, two days before Thanksgiving Break, band director Alex Toepfer, who students call “dad” due to seeing him more than their own parents, presented an invitation to London’s virtual New Year’s Parade for this year, on top of their invitation to come in person next year.

Having not performed this routine since two months prior and no time to prepare, the announcement came as a shock. The drum majors knew the musicians would be rusty in the 45º and windy weather, but that didn’t stop them from hyping their band up and bringing out positivity that early morning.

The morning returning from Thanksgiving Break, students were back out on the turf at 7 a.m. fully dressed head to toe in black and blue uniforms to be filmed by London filmmakers.

The edit of 23 marching bands around the country will be broadcasted across the world, one of which will be our band dressed in black and columbia blue. Despite knowing this performance may not have been their best due to their lack of preparation and early morning grogginess, the drum majors remain happy to end with this as the season’s last hoorah, closing their performance with the usual “East!” shout and looking into the audience as a happy family.

“It’s just a huge family,” Goodmon said.

“That’s my favorite part about our program. We are all there for each other and we don’t care about backgrounds. We’re all just a big family and come together to create music everyday.”

FOLLOW THE LEADER Sop h more Miles Rob erts le a d s th e b a n d i n p la y i n g th e xylophone at the Mill Valley h a lf time sh ow.

PHOTO BY RACHEL BINGHAM

HOCO WELCOME COMMITTEE Senior Breanna Ledbetter con d u cts th e b a n d a s stu d ents walk into the homecoming assembly.

PHOTO BY RACHEL BINGHAM

WAV E I T O U T Junior Zachary Baker and the band perform the wave at the South football game this year to hype up the crowd.

PHOTO BY RACHEL BINGHAM

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DECEMBER 20, 2021 design by nora lynn photos from spotify and imdb

A&E HIGHLIGHTS

A&E 19

Catch up on what’s trending in the arts and entertainment world

cure for a

RECENT RELEASES MUSIC

PODCASTS P OD CA ST | L I M I T E D CA PACIT Y

A L BUM | KEYS A R T I ST | A L I C I A K E Y S

R U N T IM E | 35 M IN

R E L E A S E DAT E | D E C . 7

Th i s co llecti o n of s h o r t h o r ro r , t h r i l le r a n d s a ti re sto r i es ex p lo re th e twi sted wa ys we i nte ra ct w i t h d a r k h u m o r a n d s u r p r i s i n g t w i st s o n th e I nter n et.

A fol low-up al bum to he r 2020 guest-he av y release “Alicia,” this al bum s howcas es more of Keys’ stripped-back, piano-bas ed s ound.

Holiday HEADACHE

Sick of Christmas music already? Here’s a playlist with winter break vibes

SONG |

Though this song has a major

ARTIST |

two weeks without the burden of school work weighing you down.

COMING OF 80s summer vibe, it fits with any break making you ready AGE to take on a movie-worthy BLONDES

SONG |

LOVE IN THE TIME OF SO C I A LI SM SI NG L E | HEAT LIGHTNING

P OD CA ST | 27 C LU B

A RTI ST | MISTKI

R U N T IM E | 35 M IN

RELEA SE DATE | DEC. 7

Ma ny mu s i ca l i co n s , i n c lu d i n g J a n i s J o p l i n , J i mmy H en d r i x a n d mo re, d i ed a t 27 a fter th ey s h a p ed o u r cu ltu re.

Th e fo u r th a n d n ewest s ea s o n of 27 Clu b fo l lows t h e sto r y of A my Wi n eh o u s e.

T his s ingle feature s st i rri ng ly ri cs about ins omnia, fol lowe d by two songs described

by Mistki as love songs about real relations hips rather than power st ruggles w i t h a v i ctor.

ARTIST | YELLOW HOUSE

SONG |

CAR CRASH IN G MA JO R

ARTIST | fanclubwallet

SONG |

2022 MOVIES

WOODLAND

ARTIST |

MOVIE:

MOVIE:

THE FREE FALL

JUNE AGAIN

GENRE:

GENRE:

HORROR

DRAMA, COMEDY

RUN TIME:

RUN TIME: 1 HR 39 MIN

1 HR 22 MIN

THE PAPER KITES

SONG | PA RI S SO N G

ARTIST | OH!hello

SONG | REA L ESTATE SUMMARY:

SUMMARY:

After an attempt at taking her own life, a young woman must struggle with handling her over bearing husband

During a transient period of clarity from her dementia, June Wilton has little time get her estranged children together and save the family business

ARTIST | ADAM MELCHOR

The mix of guitars in this song is so soothing it’s almost like a lullaby — like a Christmas song in disguise. The lyrics and cal ming tone al low t he song to make you think of all happy things.

Much like a cold but sunny winter morning, this song sof t but st il l sle e pily energized. The intro also has a slight resemblance to bells smiling while being rung quietly.

Whether it’s the sweet sunshine voice or the smooth guitar, something about this song radiates a feeling of content while being with people you’ve missed after a week of finals stress.

Some may say this song is cheesy, but it definitely matches the excitement surrounding winter break.

This is a perfect break after Jingle Bell Rock during a holiday party.

Though the song has a spring-like vibe, the lyrics definitely surround being wit h pe ople spe cial to you.

Plus, the chorus sounds like the feeling of quietly waking up late on Christmas morning.

20 A&E

THE HARBINGER

design by cesca stamati photos by sabrina dean

ef

WANT TO SEE HER DAY?

THE

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EXPERIENCE A holiday bucket list of festive tasks to recreate from the movie “Elf”

by lyda cosgrove

A

S THE IMPENDING doom of semester

finals hovers over your mind, the thrill of Christmas cheer usually felt around this time of year may seem lacking. If you’re anything like me, it’s probably time to turn off the Scrooge-like attitude about studying and turn to everyone’s ultimate holiday inspiration — Buddy the Elf — for a day of festive fun.

BUILDING YOUR BUDDY OUTFIT THERE’S NO WAY I could be as iconic as Buddy wearing Lululemon leggings and a sweater — I had to embrace my elf-ness to the fullest. Amazon has head-to-toe Buddy the Elf costumes ranging from $50-90, but if that doesn’t fit in your high school student budget, there are plenty of ways to piece together something just as festive.

My Hallmark strap-on elf shoes, a Buddy the Elf T-shirt from Target and a red and green elf hat complete with pointed ears (found in my family’s Christmas decor storage) earned me a lot of chuckles and stares from passersby, and even some compliments on my “cute” shoes and “Ho-hoho’s.”

ALL PHOTOS J u n i o r Lyd a C o s g rove re cre ate s t he s p a g h ett i - e a t i n g , rota t i n g d o o r a n d e s c a la to r s c e n e s f ro m “ E lf . ”

BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS SEVEN-YEAR-OLD ME WOULD watch my TV screen in awe as Buddy crushed up candy after candy for his magical spaghetti concoction with the four elf food groups.

But as I drizzled maple syrup over my refrigerated pasta from the night before, I couldn’t help but gag. There was no holding back, and no other way I could possibly kick off my day in full Buddy-style. I handcrushed the M&Ms, mini marshmallows and chocolate Pop-Tart completely covered in both maple and chocolate syrup for a slimy, multi-colored mess.

The flavor wasn’t as awful as I was expecting, it was moreso the texture that took some bravery to overcome — slippery brown n o o d l e s with soggy bites of Pop-Tart, crunchy M&M’s and squishy marshmallows d i d n ’ t necessarily have me going in for more.

DOWNTOWN ADVENTURES HYPED UP ON a sugar rush and ready to throw my dignity out the window, I was on my merry way to Crown Center for the real fun to begin. Here I recreated Buddy’s iconic escalator splits scene, sprawling my legs up the Halls escalator, which left my quads in aching pain everytime I stood up. Not to mention the slight embarrassment of dodging between holiday shoppers and kids waiting to meet Santa.

I then marched over to the Westin Hotel at Crown Center in search of a revolving door for all my spinning desires. After working up the courage to ask the security guard for permission to act like a fool in the valet parking area, to which he responded “I don’t

care,” I used all my upper body strength to spin around and around until I was just dizzy enough to walk on the sidewalk without falling into the street.

Though I couldn’t find a crosswalk to jump line-to-line on like Buddy does in New York City, I figured at this point in the adventure I could jump anyway — lines or no lines. This turned out to be the most humiliating activity of them all, as a line of stopped cars watched me awkwardly leapfrog, elf shoes slipping off and elf hat blowing away in the wind. I received a few friendly or maybe not-so-friendly honks from drivers, but I’m hoping the moment added some joy to their day.

ANSWERING THE PHONE, BUDDY STYLE YOU MAY HAVE just missed National Answer-the-Phone-Like-Buddy-theElf Day on Dec. 18, but who says you can’t chime, “Buddy the Elf, what’s your favorite color?” every time you answer a phone call any day? When

my sister gave me a call, I cheerfully picked up and asked, as she responded with silence and hung up before I could say, “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.”

on

DECEMBER 20, 2021 design by madeline funkey photos by lily mantel

A&E 21

CHEW TH S Reviewing the new Taiwanese restaurant, Chewology Gyoza Bar, located in Westport seem to be any sort of organization of the menu — with no distinct sections of what was an appetizer, entree or dessert — but the detailed descriptions of each dish made up for that.

Many of the items were unfamiliar, like Gua Bao made with pork belly and peanuts or their Rotating Pickles, a platter of various types of pickles, so I played it safe with a few of the basics the waitress recommended like the Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken and Pork and Cabbage Dumplings.

As far as drinks, she recommended their original: boba tea with tapioca pearls.

I’ve ordered similar drinks before, but Chewology’s was set apart by its heavy green tea aftertaste, a detail I loved.

However, my so-far happy experience with the restaurant ended at the tea.

My appetizers were the Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken and Pork and Cabbage Dumplings. If you put the popcorn chicken in my mouth while I was blindfolded, I’d say with confidence that it was Trader Joe’s popcorn chicken from the frozen aisle — the taste was definitely average. Despite its appetizer-sized serving, it definitely filled me up. At $9, it was probably the only thing

YELP REVIEW “the dumplings filling was stuffed & skin was thin. I think a little more chive flavor would’ve been nice...the customer service was excellent.”

I could see myself going back for.

Once again I was disappointed in the lack of originality with the dumplings as I was with the popcorn chicken. However, the restaurant’s house side of soy sWauce made the appetizer stand out, complete with a combination of chives, onions and lime zest.

I ’ M U S E D TO e a t i n g To p Ra m e n ’s c h i c ke n f l a vo re d n o o d l e s , s o t h e a u t h e nt i c ra m e n w a s a n e w c o n c e pt t o m e , b u t o n e was content with.

The restaurant priced the six dumplings at $12, which wasn’t worth what tasted like something I could easily buy for $5 at any local grocery store — a price I think is much more appropriate.

For my main dish I ordered the Three Cup Mushroom Ramen and overall was pretty satisfied. I’m used to eating Top Ramen’s chicken flavored noodles, so the authentic ramen was a new concept to me, but one I was content with.

The noodles and broth were filled with flavors of basil and onions but not in a way

PAIGE’S THOUGHTS yeah but....

i agree that with the dumplings statement, but the customer service was sub par.

totally. “extremely disappointed in the false advertising of the menu. They market themselves as Taiwanese street food but this is like a horrific combination of mismatched Asian cuisines that it’s actually insulting....”

I

i completely agrees with this comment. The false advertising felt heavily present.

that was too overpowering. There were a few too many mushrooms and vegetables floating around for my liking, but it didn’t sway my opinion of the dish to negative. For $14 this was probably the only dish that was actually worth my money — or at least the only one I’m not fully regretting splurging on.

The service was efficient and the whole staff met the bare minimum of being nice but no one exceeded the threshold of just “polite.” While everything was horribly overpriced and underwhelming, there were still positives such as the tea and pretty cups and plates. My meal’s total was $44 including the tip — a price I’d be willing to pay if it had been five-star food and service.

In this case, I wasn’t fond of spending four hours of my nannying earnings.

If you catch me at Chewology again, it’ll either be so I can gaze at the aesthetically pleasing menus or strike up a conversation with a staff member — but it definitely won’t be for their overpriced, underwhelming food.

CHEWOLOGY

VS

BLUE KOI

Comparing Chewology to a local Asian restaurant

NOT A HUGE VARIETY OF FOOD & LACKING IN FLAVOR WAS NOTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY

authenticity:

Paige agrees or disagrees with Yelp reviews of chewlogy

RATING THE REVIEWS

HEN I FIRST heard the word “Chewology,” I was intrigued. It turns out it was a Taiwanese street food restaurant — something I’ve never tried before. I quickly made plans to venture out of my flavor palate comfort zone.

It’s located at 900 Westport Rd. in Kansas City, Missouri across the street from Sonic, and in hindsight, I should’ve just gone with the fast food option. As a two-story building with practically blacked-out windows and a faint sign displaying the restaurant name, it certainly had no curb appeal and I’m not sure I would’ve ever noticed just walking by.

But when I walked in, the atmosphere was vastly different than the outside.

With sleek monochromatic lights and tables set dainty crystal cups and plates, the restaurant is laid out in two rooms — one with a bar and the other with dining tables and a direct view into the kitchen.

Chewology’s menus are eye-catching with multiple handwritten and copied pages tied by a string onto a small, wooden board with graphics and designs of everything they offer, from dumplings to boba tea. I never thought I’d be in awe by the faint details of a restaurant menu. There didn’t

LARGER SELECTION & MUCH FLAVOR

customer service:

W

THIS OR THAT?

by p a ige zadoo

VERY NICE & RESOURCEFUL

22 LOCAL LANCER

Cece WHAT IS YOUR NAME? My full name is Cecelanda Baylor.

WHO ARE YOUR FAVORITE ARTISTS TO LISTEN TO? My girls are Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Katy Perry and Nicki Manaj. Oh and Rihanna.

WHAT IS YOUR ALL-TIME FAVORITE SONG? This is my girl Rihanna, it’s called Shine Bright Like A Diamond.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE COLOR? Pink.

WHERE DO YOU LIKE TO GO FOR YOUR ICE CREAM? Andy’s. I go there a lot with my friends and my mom and my brother and my big sister. Once a week.

WHAT SPORTS HAVE YOU PLAYED? In my life, I’ve played basketball, kickball, soccer and football. And bowling. The bowling alley [is] my life.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE TV SHOW? My favorite show I like is Austin and Ally.

My favorite characters are Austin, because Austin is a dancer and has awesome singing, and I like Ally, Trish and Dez. DO YOU HAVE A JOB? I have a job at a place called Golden Scoop Ice Cream. It's my new job. I work [with] ice cream, cookies and brownies. And I like their sundaes.

SO GOLDEN SCOOP IS YOUR JOB RIGHT NOW, IN HIGH SCHOOL, WHAT JOB WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE WHEN YOU’RE OLDER? Working at Golden Scoop Ice Cream place. [I’d like to] keep working there for my whole life. I work with cake and I work with ice cream and I work with cookies and brownies.

IF YOU COULD TELL SOMETHING TO THE WHOLE SCHOOL WHAT WOULD YOU SAY? I would tell the whole school about my friends and my music and my weekends and my vacations.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO GO ON VACATION? Disney World.

THE HARBINGER

design by celia condon photo by maggie merckens

lancers, wishing you good luck on your finals and peaceful, happy times with loved ones over the holidays!

24 SPORTS

THE HARBINGER

design by caroline wood

SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS Gallery, recent basketball game scores and MU-KU rivalry

L E F T Sophomore Finan Marien-McManus p ic ks u p o p p o n ent f ro m G a rd n e r E d g e r to n to s la m h i m d ow n i n t h e m a tt t r y to g et h i m o u t of t h e ci rcle . PHOTO BY SABRINA DEAN BOTTOM LEFT Freshman Cooper Ford grabs opponent from Gardner Edgerton’s leg to try to shift on top of him, but ultimately ended on the bottom.

PHOTO BY SABRINA DEAN BELOW Sophomore Finan MarienMcManus nails opponent from Gardner Edgerton to the matt, and looks at the referee as they keep count of how long he is down. PHOTO BY SABRINA DEAN

SEASON START OUT

The results of the basketball teams’ most recent games

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B OY S B - B A L L

FRIENDLY COMPETITION 65 - 102 Explaining the hyped around the Mizzou vs. KU game

DEC. 11 @ALLEN FIELDHOUSE

MISSOURI TIGERS T H E E N E R GY O F t h e c ro w d w a s c ra z y a n d n o t h i n g I ’ ve eve r s e e n b efo re . T h e K U fa n s j u s t d o n ’ t l i ke M i z zo u .

MILES CROSSER JUNIOR

VS

KANSAS JAYHAWKS

V

DEC. 10

St. James

52-53

JV

DEC. 14

BVNorth

71-40

C

DEC. 14

BVNorth

6 0 - 67

FR

DEC. 14

BVNorth

50-51

GIRLS B-BALL V

DEC. 7

Miege

28-71

JV

DEC. 13

B V SW

20-28

C

DEC. 10

BVNW

36-19

FR

DEC. 13

B V SW

20-21

I T ’ S S U C H A r i va l r y a n d eve r yo n e l ove s i t . A n d w e ’ re n ot eve n i n t h e s a m e c o nfe re n c e a s t h e m b u t i t ’s s u c h a f u n g a m e t o s e e a n d k i n d of r u b i t i n t h e M i z zo u fa n s ’ fa c e s .

GRACE KNOFF

JUNIOR

SPORTS 25

DECEMBER 20, 2021

design by peyton moore photos by macy crosser & hadley chapman coverage by peyton moore, grace allen & christian gooley

IT’S

JUNIOR SEASON?

BOYS BACK

THE

The Boys Basketball team competed in a tournament on Dec. 9-10 with most of their players benched

Many juniors started for the first time during the tournament

(ARE ALMOST)

TEAM

LEADERS

The non-official captains of the team share their views on the tournament days I FEEL LIKE this year will be different than the past we have a shot at playoffs this year and we have a really selfless group of guys that can make a state championship run.

EMMETT HILL I FELT THE need to get them together and I think I’m the only one who has had varsity minutes in the past so I felt the need to bring everyone together and build up their confidence.

PATTY BERGKAMP

A

LOADED

BENCH

The players who are hurt or quarantined due to a covid outbreak on the team

&

34

PLAYERS PLAYERS I N J U R E D QUARANTINED

SPENCER

BLACKETER

EMMET T HILL

BEN

SLICKER

DISLOCATED KNEECAP RETURN: HOPEFULLY JAN. 08 TORE HIS ACL & MCL RETURN: STARTED PRACTICING ON DEC. 13

STRESS FRACTURED FOOT RETURN: 4-6 WEEKS

WILLALEXANDER STARTING FORWARD I WAS NERVOUS as it was my first varsity game, but most of us juniors played on RSA basketball team together before and during summer league so we already know how each other play.

BUT

WATCH OUT

HASSAN SUFI

STARTING GUARD

THE ONLY KID that has really played with a crowd is Emmett, but he was hurt. I didn’t realize it would be so loud that I wouldn’t be able to hear coach hair yelling at me or my teammates wouldn’t be able hear the plays called out. I loved how everyone came out and was rowdy from the start.

But at some point we had to learn to block out the noise.

KOPP GEORGE STARTING GUARD I WAS EXCITED to get to play in my first varsity game but when I heard that I was staring I got kinda nervous. But before the game when the student section was cheering and Hair was giving us his pep talk I think we all felt the energy and kept it through the entire game.

A look at the games that Pep Club believes everyone must show out for in the student section

SOUTH

ROCKHURST

NORTH

JAN.

JAN.

FEB.

14

SEC GAME DAY

28

WHITEOUT

24

BLACKOUT

26 SPORTS

THE HARBINGER

THE MINI- M E’S

design by kate heitmann photos by sabrina dean

Playing for the “Lancers” teams in middle school helped current east students get a background for high school football and cheer, even though these teams aren’t associated with East

by maggie kissick TANDING IN THE wrestling gym at

S

their first cheer practice of the season, freshman cheerleaders prepare to learn the basics of cheer — learning how to do motions, jumps and how to stunt Since some girls entering the program had no cheerleading experience, this is the first time they’re learning the basics that’ll be in their various cheers and band dances.

But for six of the sophomores, including sophomore Taylor Borchers, mastering the routines is a breeze. This isn’t their first time cheering, or on the sidelines rooting for the Lancers — they were on the Kansas City Football and Cheer Association middle school cheer team.

Sophomore Hayden Falley was also a step ahead, having played on the middle school football team and now at East. He learned things like how to run plays, which prepared him for high school football.

“We were an East-based team,” Falley said. “So we had East jerseys, East helmets, [former] East coaching staff and we ran the same offensive plays [as East]. All of this was there to get us ready for high school. We were basically just playing as a high school team but on a smaller scale.”

KCFC allows cheerleaders to experience the gameday side of cheer. It also teaches football players the basics of football, such as how to run plays before playing in high school.

All of the football and cheer teams are formed based on age and which high school they’re closest to. Even though the program isn’t associated with East, their team mascot is the Lancer — as the teams mainly consist of future East students. The cheer and football teams played at the same time, supporting each other on the field. From there, they all moved onto high school, still cheering and playing with one another.

This program allowed for a smoother

transition from middle school to high school, according to sophomore Jack Kessler. “[One] important thing in middle school to learn is just how to tackle,” Kessler said. “That will set you up really good for high school. So we did a lot of tackling drills, learning how to tackle safely and properly. And I think that was the biggest thing because I’m a linebacker now in high school, so instead of wasting time learning how to tackle, I’ve been tackling the right way for a long time.”

For students like Borchers who had never cheered before, the middle school team was a way to become acclimated to the sport so she didn’t feel as lost in the chaos of a competition team.

I N M I D D L E S C H O O L , yo u r d a d s a re c o a c h i n g . I t ’s a l o t less serious. High school i s m o re i m p o r t a nt , yo u h a ve a n a c t u a l coaching staff.

HAYDEN FALLEY

SOPHOMORE

Middle school practices consisted of learning the basics of cheer, like figuring out their stunting positions and how to stunt safely. They also learned different stretches, such as sitting in a straddle against a wall, to improve their jumps. Borchers still uses these techniques today.

“Being on the team in middle school kind of opened my eyes to what cheer really was,” Borchers said. “I thought it was just a bunch of yelling, shaking your poms and having a positive attitude, but there’s a lot going into it, like different types of stunts, tumbling and jumps. If I hadn’t cheered in middle school, I probably wouldn’t have seen everything that goes into it.”

The expectations of the teams increased with age, according to sophomore

cheerleader Kylie Chaplin. Attendance was pretty lenient, but now at the high school level, cheerleaders are expected to run laps if they’re late.

Middle school served as a “trial period,” where people could play both sides of positions or switch around stunting positions, according to Kessler. However, that’s rarely the case anymore. High school practices are focused on specializing in positions and doing more challenging conditioning drills, according to Falley.

“In middle school, your dads are coaching,” Falley said. “It’s a lot less serious.

High school is more important, you have an actual coaching staff and there’s a large amount of fans at your games, it’s [much] more official.”

The difference between cheering at middle and high school football games is also noticeable, according to sophomore cheerleader Riley Moore. The games in middle school were overall unorganized, according to Moore. The girls had to stand right on the field sidelines because there wasn’t a track to stand on. They weren’t allowed to stunt unless it was during

THE SONGS THEY’RE The then and now comparisons of the songs the football teams listen to LISTENING TO MIDDLE SCHOOL TEAM

EAST TEAM

iSPY by kyle ft. lil yatchy

“White Girl Wednesday” (Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, y2k music) “Techno Thursday” (electronic dance music)

7th grade

a quarter, and they weren’t allowed to face the crowd to do their cheers during the game.

“At football games, people would turn around and talk to each other,” Moore said.

“It was very low pressure, talking was no big deal.”

Since most of the teams have been playing and cheering with the same people for so long, they’ve been able to watch each other grow. From doing more difficult stunts at quarters to getting taller and stronger, being together for so long has allowed them to be comfortable with each other as a team and celebrate each other’s accomplishments, according to Borchers. “[Most] of my friends from the middle school team tried out for high school cheer,” Borchers said. “So from tryouts, to practices now, it’s comforting to have that support system and have all of these people here to help me when I need it.”

sophomore

Sophomore Riley Moore’s seventh grade self looks at herself now playing for the East team.

PHOTO BY SABRINA DEAN

DECEMBER 20, 2021

design and photos by elise madden

HOLIDAY HARMONY

PHOTOSTORY 27 The chamber choir and drum line performed at the 36th annual holiday tree lighting in Corinth Square on Dec. 2

A B O V E Seniors Bella Wolfe and Essy Siegel sing along to the Dan cerz U n l imited performance before they prepare to go on stage. “It was really awesome to get back into performin g becau se that’s what I think chamber choir is about,” Siegel said.

“It’s for the people who may not go to Shawnee mission east or our choir concerts.”

A B O V E W h i le wal k i n g w i t h t h e drum line, the la n c e r t h rows up a p e a c e s i g n as th e mayo r announces t h e m a s c ot s alo n g w i t h t h e Briarwo o d B u l ld o g and t h e KC wo lf .

R I G H T B efo re the ch a m b e r c h o i r per fo r m an c e, junior Fritz Sul l i va n , s e n i o r Toby Ro d r i g u ez and se n i o r A n d rew Frick l i ste n to Ke n Foley a n d p re p a re to g o o n sta g e .

T h e c h ambe r choir sang “Dec k t h e H a l ls , ” “Chri st m a s S o n g ” an d “ D i n g-a Ding-a Ding.”

ABOVE After the chamber choir performance, junior Fritz Sullivan hands senior Bella Wolfe h er ph on e. “We ch ose th ose three songs because there’s not accompaniment with them. We needed it to be acapella,” Wolfe said. “The song that went the best was defin itely deck th e h al ls. ”

SCAN ME PHOTO RIGHT C hoir d irector Ken Foley d ire ct s t he c ha mb e r choir as they sing “Christmas S o n g . ” “ We d i d a c o u p le up b ea t song s a nd one slower o ne so t hey ha d a litt le variety,” Foley said. “My favorite p a r t wa s t h e fa ct t h a t the community was able to g et to g et h e r a n d h a ve a celeb ra tion. We were thrille d to b e a p a r t of t ha t . ”

Use this QR code to p u rc h a s e p h ot o s f ro m t h i s eve nt o n Harbie P h ot o

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GEMINIS ARE ALL over the place during the holiday season. They love baking Christmas cookies and rewatching “Elf” — or basically any Christmas activity. No matter the Christmas excursion, Geminis will be the first on board, their holiday playlist queued, at the first mention of holiday fun.

SCORPIO’S AREN’T BIG on Christmas — they’re more Halloween people. However, they definitely love coming up with secret plans for the holidays, and like to keep people guessing what presents they’ll get them.

er c n

A CANCER’S CHRISTMAS list is filled with blankets and stuffed animals. They love exchanging personal and thoughtful gifts to and from friends and family. Their ultimate pet peeve is getting something regifted, so think twice before wrapping up your uncle’s Star Wars mug from last Christmas — they might take it personally.

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o g r

THE FRIDAY AFTER Thanksgiving you won’t see Virgos in a food coma. They’ll have their house decked in holiday decorations by Dec. 1 — if not sooner. They are often their friend groups’ secret santa organizer and always have a never-ending Christmas list.

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le

AQUARIUSES ARE THE Friend who’s most likely to wrap a gift card in the shape of a bike just to mess with your mind. They love tricking people into thinking they have someone else during gift exchanges.

However, they think Christmas is stupid — and love feeling unique in that belief. When it comes to gifts, all they want is crystals or incense.

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s co

o i p r

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CHRISTMAS IS A time full of fantasy for Pisces. They love every holiday story, from spirit tales to childhood ones. They love pretending like they’re in the North Pole, and think that every change in weather is a sign from Santa Claus himself.

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HONESTLY, LIBRA’S DON’T know what their favorite holiday activity is. They’re willing to do or see every kind of holiday movie, game and decoration — but they may get sidetracked or lost in thought during the process.

ri us a t t

SAGITTARIUSES MOST ENJOY Salvation Army bell ringing and caroling loudly at their neighbors’ door during the winter season. They often are the early risers on Christmas morning, waiting at the top of the stairs well before 6:00 a.m. while screaming and jumping with pure excitement.

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DURING THE HOLIDAYS, you’ll catch Leos on the couch — binging any and all holiday films. Their favorites are “Christmas Vacation” and “Home Alone,” which they love to act and sing along to. And if they aren’t in front of their TV underneath a pile of warm blankets, you’ll find them staring in the local church reenactment of the birth of Jesus Christ.

WHEN IT COMES to the holidays, you can probably find a Taurus taking a hot bath with a peppermint-scented candle burning nearby and hot cocoa in hand. A Taurus’s favorite holiday food is apple pie and their favorite gift is often the classic polka-dot patterned fuzzy socks from Target.

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a

ARIES LOVE TO ski and sled, and are always the first one down the mountain — on every single run. Their love language is often gifting, striving to be the ultimate present givers. They spend Christmas morning playing competitive board games with their family.

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pis

As the holiday season approaches, here’s your festive holiday horoscope inspired by the characteristics of each zodiac sign

THE HARBINGER

design & copy by sydney newton

orn c i r

CAPRICORNS ARE ALWAYS the ones taking care of their family members when they visit for their holidays. They bring the Christmas cookies and make sure everyone has a present. Putting themselves out there for caroling may not be their thing, but they’d be thrilled with a planner or journal to quietly work on as a gift.

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ho, ho HOROSCOPES!

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