The Northwest Passage: Issue 2

NW PASSAGE

THE PRICE OF A FUTURE COLLEGE SHOULD BE FREE

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INSIDE THE OVEN

NW PASSAGE

OUR PASSAGE

The purpose of the Northwest Passage is to relay important and interesting information to the community, administration and students of the Shawnee Mission Northwest High School.

As a news magazine, the Northwest Passage will cater to the interests and concerns of the student body. Outside concerns and activities will only be covered if they somehow affect the school or students.

The Northwest Passage is a 16-page news magazine. The paper will be distributed monthly as possible. Subscriptions will be available to the community for $25.

The Northwest Passage firmly supports the First Amendment and

opposes censorship. The content of the newspaper will be determined and created by the entire staff. When questions concerning word choice, legal problems or ethics arise, the editorial board and adviser will discuss the problem to find the solution. In these cases, the editor-in-chief will have the power to make the final decision.

Letters to the editor will be accepted and encouraged. The staff reserves the right to edit for grammatical mistakes, length and good taste. Letters may attack policy but not people. In no way will ideas or viewpoints be changed. The editor-inchief reserves the right to refuse any letter.

PUBLICATION OVERSIGHT

Editor-In-Chief Izak Zeller

CONTENT MANAGEMENT

Copy Editor Sofia Ball

Design Editor Greta Grist

Photo Editor Ashley Broils

Photo Editor Kara Simpson

WRITERS

Zia Carter

Jesus Lara Rivera

Grace Rau

Emma Wycoff

ADVISER

Chris Heady

DESIGNERS

Bella Alvarado

Will Fandel

Stella Miyares

Kennedy Woolf

Photo By Kara Simpson

cougar HUNT

The hunters have become the hunted

SMW’s flag flies in the wind, whipping back and forth as football players race out onto the field, their helmets winking gold in the evening sunlight.

Camouflage and Crocs are the SMW student section’s unofficial uniform. They scream across the field at their opponents, NW. The NW stands — a sea of inky black — shout in return.

Students on both sides share eye black and swipe it on in dark stripes from chapstick-like sticks. Selfies are taken and snaps are sent as friends stand together, cheering as the football players limber up for the game ahead.

They’re all high school students, but the football field between them creates a rift. They’re all high school students, but they’re bitter rivals, too.

It’s orange versus gold.

NW versus SMW.

Cougars versus Vikings.

And the Cougar Hunt has just begun. ***

The Cougar hunters, with their bandanas and fighting spirit, stomp and clap. Opposite of them are their prey, all dressed in black, preparing for the Viking’s funeral. Their rivalry isn’t taken lightly — both schools put the other down and adamantly claim that they are the best.

The two schools scream at one another as the football players suit up for battle. With a blow of the whistle, NW’s first football game of the season begins.

Soon the sky begins to darken, but neither school backs down. Even as the NW Cougars score the first point and touchdown of the game, the Viking cheerleaders smile and wave their black and gold pom poms, trying to raise their students’ spirits. NW’s shouted cheers and taunts are swept away by the wind.

Drums rumble like thunder as the Cougar fight song blasts through the air. The Viking's band conductors yell out song names and gesture with their white-gloved hands, commanding their band to play.

“Five, six, seven, eight!” the conductors shout.

One SMW student waves a football skewered on a stick, and a cougar mascot head hangs in front of their student section. With every kickoff, NW students raise their arms and shake their hands with an:

“Ooooooh!”

They scream with every breakaway run the Cougar’s make.

“Defense!” SMW cheers. “Here we go Vikings, here we go,!” they pours from the stands with sharp claps to pair.

The score has climbed to 21-0, and not in the Viking’s favor. The hunters have become the hunted.

As halftime begins, the SMW student section cheers and rocks back and forth, pretending they’re on a roller coaster. Their band races onto the field and into formation, playing ‘We Will Rock You.’

by Grace Rau design by Kennedy Woolf

“Cougars!” NW chants as the halftime performance comes to an end. SMW screams back.

At the start of the fourth quarter, both bands try to drown each other out with their rumbling music.

Camouflage T-shirts printed with the orange words “Cougar Hunt” are scattered throughout SMW’s crowd. Two Vikings, Izzy Joyce and Cali Lester, are the creators behind the notorious Cougar Hunt T-shirts they wear — deemed patriotic by some and cocky by others.

But it’s not only SMW students that have bought the Cougar Hunt T-shirts.

NW senior Vincent Nixon brought along a Cougar Hunt shirt to the Viking funeral.

“I felt like it would be a great way to just rub it in,” Nixon said. “[So we can] relish the victory more.”

The Cougar Hunt shirts had stirred up whispers in the halls of NW the week before the big game, but it only fueled the Cougars’ fire. The NW Cougars beat the SMW Vikings forty-eight to six.

“I think that it’s a good rivalry between our two schools,” NW [grade FIND OUT ASAP] Olivia Holthaus says. “And we all know who’s the better team.”

And who’s that?

“Shawnee Mission NW.”

Seniors Ryann McEniry, Vincent Nixon, and Emelia Fothergill pose with the SM West “Cougar Hunt” shirts Sept. 1 in the SM South football stadium. Photo by Anna Torres

THE PRICE OF A FUTURE

A quality college education should be given to American citizens at no cost

The idea of free college has been around since 1847, but was removed in the mid-1960s by Ronald Reagen.

Higher education is notoriously expensive, with an average cost of $36,436 per student per year, according to the Education Data Intuitive.

Higher education has long been seen as a goal for students with diverse backgrounds, a way to move forward in a society that tends to not favor them.

The price tag, however, has torn down the dreams of many by making it nearly impossible to afford. If college were free, it would allow anyone with any background to earn their degree.

Student loan debt in the US totals $1.74 trillion. While the accumulation rate is slowing, that’s still a lot of money.

College graduates often start their careers with a large amount of debt, changing the way they spend money and hindering the economy. Debt

from college may delay big decisions like buying a house or starting a family, which stimulate the economy.

More education creates a more skilled and well-rounded workforce.

The more people who can access higher education, the more they can provide productivity and innovation, the higher the economy is driven.

Free college also reduces income inequality, making it easier for lowerincome students to snag high-paying jobs, narrowing the income gap.

Although, with free college tuition, comes the possibility that the quality of education you receive may not be to the same standard.

The all-access model for college might bring too many undedicated students, watering down your education. It will also increase taxes, although mostly on people in the highest tax brackets.

When they are free to charge, they can set their own prices and collect as much money as they want. The US could also see a decline in private schooling, as those schools rely on tuition for a good porion of their funding.

When governments provide education at no cost, they are essentially investing in the intellectual and economic potential of all citizens. This can be significant, as more educated people tend to produce a more positive effect on the economy and country, pay higher taxes and reduce the need for welfare programs like Social Security and food stamps. College provides countless opportunities and chances to move up in the country and society as a whole.

It just makes sense that we should be trying to give it to as many people as possible. disagree 4 7 agree /

Institutionally, colleges and universities generally aren’t in favor of a free tuition.

THE VOTE

A staff editorial is an opinion piece crafted by a single writer and voted on by the entire staff of the NW Passage. It is not an unbiased news article, but an opinion piece tackling a major issue. Here is how the NW Passage voted on this editorial.

Students give their opinion on free college tuition

WE HEARD YOU

“I feel like college should be free to an extent. It should depend on what profession you go into and how much materials you use during your course.”

- sophomore Valentina Maslovaric

“I think if there was a way to do it we should. A lot of people are not able to further their education because they can’t afford it, or will be put into debt.”

- freshman Yohanna Ayana

“I think if college were free, it would put them in a very difficult position unless they were supported by the government. However, it would allow people to properly pursue their dreams and would definitely help the economy.”

- junior Alyssa Vanderbilt

“A basic, general, community college education should be free. But if you’re going to a higher-up university to get a full degree, it should cast something.”

- sophomore Sirius Minick

LIGHT HOUSE

My personal story about hope

Her excitement was obvious. I took hold of the hot pink pipe. She led me through her apartment’s clubhouse. I was taken to a white wire lawn chair, shaded from the sun by an alley overhang. At this seat, another friend of hers and I had a staring contest. At this seat, she and I laughed, dazed by our

guidance, my leftover worries burned away curiosity. Then, it was community. And access made sure I was always tempted. These things kept me close to drugs,

Around a year later, 13-year-old me read the bedroom walls covered in writing. The lights were off, but a purple hue from somewhere was enough. She and her friends’ quiet snores filled the silent bedroom. Tabs still stuck to my tongue. My mind wouldn’t let me sleep off what I took. Every thought was loud and constant and paralyzing. But I was desperately yearning –learning – to move.

can’t save myself.

by Zia Carter design by Bella Alvarado

Breaking, drowning, I looked to her.

And she was sleeping. It dawned on me that I wouldn’t have felt comfortable telling her what I was going through, even if she was awake. What would she do? She wouldn’t even bother to try and save me.

Despair consumes me when no one else comes to mind. Except for one forgotten God.

My eyes landed on a magnet we had been playing with. One side read, “Come in, I’m clean!”

I recounted how the people at church did it, with their heads bowed and knees to the ground. So I did the same. The lie on the magnet made me cry, but she and her friends might be watching so I sobbed silently. Tears landed softly on the carpet an inch below my eyes.

I know I’m not but–

Terrified, I whisper, “Please.”

Not until two years later did anything actually click.

I never stopped daydreaming about one last high or the community I used to have. But I had no access because she and I weren’t friends anymore.

So what time I would’ve spent with her, I spent learning about God instead. In prayer, I heard Him respond to me. I learned that His voice was soft, loving, and understandable.

Still, I wasn’t fully committed.

Then the dissociation, something my therapist said the drugs almost solely caused, became worse. There were times when I didn’t recognize my brother’s face. Other times, my hand. At its toughest, I couldn’t determine whether anything was real, or if I was in some simulation. Or worse–nothing at all.

Ironically, the invisible God became the most real to me then. When nothing was real, He was.

Still, I wasn’t fully committed.

PhotobyKaraSimpson

It’s cold, but I already had my coat on. I was thirsty, but every sip of the off-brand 7UP went right through me. I was starving, but we only had hot fries. I’m convinced one of her friends, maybe all of them, are awake, and that terrifies me. It means they’re awake watching me. At this moment, I learned that I

Until that night in June at a youth retreat, after worship was already over and hot pizza was brought out. I moved myself to the bathroom because I wasn’t ready to move on. Everything I’d been searching for was finally at my fingertips–no more dissociation, no more ties to my past–and I almost had it.

A verse from the book of James echoed in my head,

“Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him [...]”

So I did. I lifted my face from my hands and walked into the room I had just stepped out of, where I knew my youth pastors were.

And I asked for prayer.

I was delivered from dissociation that night.

I stopped wanting to take drugs that night.

I learned that there is always hope that night. No matter the darkness.

STARTING OVER

by Emma Wyckoff

Going to private school your whole life makes public high school scarier

I looked at my reflection in the mirror. Knee-length khaki shorts, a bright pink collared shirt, and beat up Air force 1’s. I glanced down at the goosebumps already forming on my arms and legs.

It was gonna be a long day.

***

I went to private school. For my whole life. Today was my first day of public high school. I was terrified.

What would people think of me?

What would they say about me?

Would I make friends here? Would anyone even talk to me?

For once in my life, I didn’t know every single person I went to school with. Now, I only know a handful. Everything was so unfamiliar. Everything was different now.

I’m not ready for this.

Just three months ago, I was sitting in class. Listening to the deep monotonous voice of my favorite math teacher, Mr. Estes, talking about geometric proofs. I used to never hear a single curse word walking down the hallways. Everybody dressed neatly. No holes, rips, or stomachs showing. And absolutely no cell phones allowed. The rules gots stricter every year. It was too restricting. I couldn’t breathe.

Now, I’m standing on the front porch smiling at my mom with my backpack weighing down my shoulders on my first day of freshman year. My mom drove me because it’s my first day. We get there, and I’m hesitant to get out. “You can do this, Emma”, my mom encouraged me. She’s right. I open my door and step out.

***

Walking into the front doors was like falling down a rabbit hole and waking up in Wonderland. I tug on the handle to the glass door. The first thing I notice is the noise. It’s so loud. Tons of people bustle around me. Some rush past, their footfalls thudding against the floor, probably headed for class. Others hang around in groups, chatting with friends they missed over the summer. I frantically looked around, searching for a familiar face. Anyone. Just one person I knew. I can feel a pit forming in my stomach. You can do this.

***

Winston Churchill once said, “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.”

Change is just a part of life.

And it’s scary. Private school was like being covered in bubble wrap. I felt safe. I saw all my elementary teachers walking down the halls every day. There were no sports tryouts. They were lucky if enough people even went out for the team. School was hard and tedious. Everyday I came home with a 15 page reading assignment and dumb questions to answer. It sucked. But that’s what I was used to.

I miss that safety net. I hate that I go to school every day feeling anxious. I hate that I can’t control my fingers nervously tapping on my thighs on the drive in the morning. I hate that I’m still waiting for it to go away.

Freshman Emma Wyckoff walks Aug. 30 down the hallway.

Photo by Braden Bazzel

A Whole New WORLD

Freshmen have mixed emotions on the annual bonfire

by Emma Wyckoff design By Will Fandel

She reached down and dipped her finger into the orange acrylic paint bottle and spread it evenly underneath both her eyes. She then spread her finger across the paint dripping down the side of the bottle and did the same for them. Kinley Wohlegemuth was ready for Bonfire.

Bonfire took place on August 30th, consisting of an assembly and celebration in the student parking lot to mark the kickoff of fall sports.

Everyone watched a group of about 10 freshmen wearing orange tutus and sunglasses dancing to “Crank That” by Soulija Boy. Everyone in the stands followed their lead.

Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me” was blasting throughout the gymnasium, everyone singing along. Sophomores were running across the court, jumping, and throwing their hands up in the air. The announcers made a few jokes that nobody could hear over the noise, and the juniors were up next.

Five boys were reenacting Ryan Gosling, singing “I’m Just Ken” to the junior crowd. The girls were wearing all pink for Barbie.

Finally, the seniors performed, dressed in all black.

30

Student

The crowd went wild. They were jumping, screaming and slowly losing their voices. After the seniors were given the spirit stick, everyone followed the band outside to the parking lot and famous bonfire. They thought it was pretty lame, it had already fallen over by the time they got outside. But most of the freshmen stuck to the same area, as they saw people sitting on others shoulders to get a better view. There were two drum solos, and the dancers were dancing to the beat of the band. Most people weren’t really focused on the bonfire. Everyone hung out on one side of the safety tape, far away from the main event. They couldn’t even see it, people had to climb the light post to get a view of its fallen embers.

The bonfire allowed students to hang out with each other as the bonfire slowly went out. “[She ran] up to me with a marker and asked me to sign her back,” Gomez said. “I kept thinking about how random it was and afterwards I just laughed it off.”

Junior Alondra Haack dances to “Dance the Night Away” by Dua Lipa Aug. 30 in the Main Gym. The theme for the Juniors skit was Summer throwback/Barbie. “I think we did really good with our skit,” Haack said. “We had really good songs, great choreography, and an overall hype theme.”

Freshman, Izzy Herbst, thought it was fun and exciting. She had a very enthusiastic attitude about the whole experience. On the other hand, Wohlegemuth said she really liked the assembly, but not the actual bonfire.

Sarah Granfors agreed. She thought the freshmen could make it fun if they tried to, but it was just okay. Standing around, talking to friends and checking phone screens were common activities.

“This sucks,” freshman Rylee Mendez said.

Photo by Ashley Broils

Junior Ray Gomez signs junior Elissa Green’s shirt Aug.

in the

Parking Lot during the bonfire.

Photo by Haylee Bell

The Oven

It’s three in the afternoon, and cross country runners are floating inside the pool. The smell of chlorine fills the air.

Their feet barely touch the bottom as they try to improve their endurance, splishing and splashing around. All while Justin Stigge, cross country coach and physics teacher, stands on the side, giving words of encouragement. His voice echoes throughout the room as he tells one of the runners to lift his knees higher and another to focus.

Normally, cross country runners would be running on the sidewalk in the neighborhood by three in the afternoon, but because of the heat they were forced to practice their endurance inside of the pool.

During the fourth week of August, Kansas was hit by an intense heatwave. For five days the temperature ranged from 70 degrees in the morning to over 100 degrees past 3:00 p.m..

According to NASA, high pressure and warm air combined with high humidity resulted in a “heat dome” settling right over Kansas.

Sports teams like cross country, football, softball, and tennis were required by the district to practice early in the morning, late at night, or stay inside. Cross country had to choose between getting up at 5:00 a.m. or running so late that they have to worry about tripping over curbs.

Whereas football teams used portable lights to see the field presunrise.

Sports have not been the only ones affected by the heatwave. The district also worked hard to manage the heat.

John Cole, the head custodian, sat at his desk Tuesday, August 22, when suddenly, there came an email.

He opened it and sighed.

He grabbed a bucket and a mop and walked out of his office, met by

by Jesus Lara Rivera design by Stella Miyares

around the building

another janitor. They stared at the ceiling as water dripped through the tiles, forming puddles on the linoleum flooring.

He sighed, mopped up the water and at last put the bucket down. As he walked away, another drop fell into the bucket.

Due to the rise in temperature, rise in humidity, and constant use of the cooling system, the pipes above the tiles began to sweat and drip water throughout the school. Later as Cole sits at his desk, peacefully eating his lunch, an email appears on his desktop.

Once again he opens it and sighs.

He grabs his keys and a large toolbox and finally he heads out. This time Cole is forced to once again

repair one of the old AC units.

“I found out from the district that they’re budgeting for new air conditioners to replace the old ones within the next year or two,” Cole said. In charge of the whole operation was Principal Lisa Gruman.

On Monday afternoon Gruman stood outside in the scorching sunlight, sweat running down her face.

That day, students complained about how hot it was in the auxiliary gym, the heat inside the buses, and about having to walk back home in the heat.

Dr. Gruman’s radio beeps and hums. A voice comes from within, it sounds worried and a bit frustrated: one of the buses canceled.

Minutes passed, Gruman and other administrators had gone in and out of the building, trying their best to bring water bottles and other utilities to bus drivers. At 2:45 p.m. all the buses were gone, all the students were taken care of and the sun was high in the sky. Gruman at last let go, she took a deep breath, and walked into the building. With the temperature rising, the school had to spend extra funds to keep the school a safe place for all.

“I’m not sure what the costs would have been in the cooling process, that’s kind of managed at the district level,” Gruman said. “But in terms of just our typical expenses, that wouldn’t have changed much except for utilities.”

Temperatures rose above 100-degrees for five days straight, practices changed to early in the morning, custodians were assigned more tasks, and the principal was forced to bear the heat.

“This was something I had [never] seen before.” Gruman said.

Throughout the Midwest a massive ‘Heat Dome’ has caused chaos

Coach Justin Stigge times the cross country players as they swim Aug. 24 in the Pool. Due to an extreme increase of hot weather of Aug. 20 to Aug. 26, sports teams were forbidden by state law from practicing outdoors in the afternoon. “The number one reason for practicing in the pool is because it’s way better for our legs than running in the building,” Stigge said.

Photo by Kara Simpson

ALL AT ONCE

Members of the community grieve the loss of Will Ensley

by Sofia Ball design by Greta Grist

July 26, 2023.

Senior Josie Malara was getting ready for a job interview when she got the text.

“Call me ASAP.”

Suddenly, she’s sprinting down the halls of Overland Park Regional Hospital, asking every nurse in sight if they knew where Will Ensley was.

Will Ensley, the boy she met her freshman year of high school. The boy who asked her to homecoming.

“I eventually found him.”

The boy she watched Little Miss Sunshine with and he complained the whole time.

“He was in the ICU.”

The boy she spent hours with at the park, swinging in hammocks as their parents left dozens of missed calls and messages.

“His mom hugged me.”

The boy she dragged to Spirit Halloween for fun, only to end up in his pickup once again, watching the sun set.

“She asked if I wanted to see him.”

The boy she Facetimed on Christmas, watching the eagerness he had putting Lego sets together.

“It didn’t look like him.”

The boy she spent a six month anniversary with, watching Nightmare Before Christmas in PJ’s when she said

“I love you,” for the first time, and he said it back immediately with a smile on his face.

“I was in the room till they forced us all out.”

On July 26, Ensley, an incoming senior, was rushed to the hospital after injuries sustained in a nine car pile up. He passed away that morning.

In a letter to Shawnee Mission Northwest families, Principal Lisa Gruman wrote, “Death is always difficult to handle, but especially when someone is so young. It will be important to recognize that all of us

Photos Courtesy of Tad Lambert

will need time to process what has happened and express our feelings.”

This story is about grief, the impact Ensley had on loved ones and the impression he left on everyone.

Like Ryan Lee.

He would never be the same.

Lee swam in high school and at the University of Kansas. He calls himself “a swim nerd.”

He never wanted to teach, not at first.

But 17 years in, he met Ensley

“A coach’s dream,” Lee said.

The first time Lee laid eyes on Will, he was barely old enough to ride in the front seat. He was afraid to put his face in the water. Varsity swimmer, senior Will Ensley, school record holder of the 100-yard breaststroke, was afraid to put his face in the water.

“Wow, this kid is not good,” Lee thought at the time.

Even so, Lee had made a connection, a friendship with a boy he met during the night program at Turner High School.

“I always ask my athletes to sacrifice the normal teenage stuff,” Lee said. “With Will, I never had to worry.”

Ensley always had to eat chicken, rice and sweet potatoes the night before a meet, and spaghetti and vegetables the night before that. He went to bed at 9:30 p.m. and had the same breakfast each morning. His walls were smothered with team pictures and medals. Still, to this day, at the center of Will’s desk is a tidy stack of notebook paper with lists of stretches for every day of the week.

Ensley had good grades, college credit, neat handwriting and the kind of notes people paid for. He was a good student, a good athlete, a good person. He was a creature of habit. He was disciplined.

But deep down, this well-mannered young man, who was told he’d have a bright future one day, was still a vulnerable little boy, afraid of the water. The one who trusted his coach, and soaked up his every word like pool water.

As the years progressed Lee and Ensley spent more and more time together, discussing practice, records and what he could do to help the girls swim team. He split times of Olympian swimmers as Lee watched in amazement.

They grew together.

They understood each other.

Now, Ryan Lee can’t step onto a pool deck without choking up.

“I think of him every day.”

A peace lily stood by the front door. Photos sat on the mantle of the stone fireplaces. A knit blanket folded over a rocking chair.

“I’m not even sure where to start,” Sharon Ensley, Will’s mother, said.

The house was quiet. Tissue boxes appeared on both sides of the brown couch.

“It helps to speak about him,” Randall Ensley, Will’s dad, said. “It helps us process it better. I don’t think I could keep it in, anyway.”

In the weeks since Will’s death, they have gone on bike rides and walks. Mr. Ensley is back at work part time as a sales rep. Several weeks of dinners, plants, texts and letters had been sent to the Ensley home. Their older son, Jack, is off at college.

Things are moving so fast, yet nothing’s changed.

Will’s bedspread is untouched, the grandfather’s watch he’d wear to school dances remains on his nightstand. His backpack, his pens, his “Well Dressed Wednesday” magazine are just where he had left them.

But there was nothing on his bedroom floor to explain his dislike for movies, his trip to the Oregon Coast, or the time he caught a catfish in a kayak and it pulled him around the cove. There was nothing in his notebooks that described the way he’d lay on the dog when he was little or the time he made potato pancakes for a Friendsgiving.

His favorite TV shows, ‘Stranger Things’, ‘The Umbrella Academy’ or ‘Breaking Bad’ weren’t stitched in his letterman jacket. There was nothing to show for the time he went to Raising’ Caines, got food poisoning and was scared to go back.

“I’d like to get through a day without crying,” Mrs. Ensley said. “I know it will come but it’s so hard to live without him. I laugh sometimes thinking about his pronunciation of things when he was a kid or the way he danced.”

There will always be reminders.

There will always be days when Mr. and Mrs. Ensley feel like a dark cloud that no one wants to look up and see looming over them. They will always miss their son, and nothing can change that.

that didn’t get to say what they wanted to to Will until after he was gone, and plus —”

Mr. Ensley jumps in, “It isn’t just kids, it’s a lot of people.”

“Yes,” Mrs. Ensley says, “but you don’t think you’re going to die.”

“Lots of people go through life thinking them and their friends and family are all kind of bulletproof and they’re not,” Mr. Ensley says.

There’s a long pause.

“Life is fragile.”

A few weeks ago Tad Lambert was planning a trip to Canada. Planning was an overstatement.

Most people take their senior trip to Mexico, New York, Miami or California.

But Lambert is choosing Canada.

It was stupid, but it wasn’t.

These days nothing was out of the question, whether it meant roaming around Nebraska Furniture Mart on a Tuesday afternoon, calling in sick at his summer job in Lakeview Village, scrolling through his camera roll or grabbing his keys for a spur-of-the-moment McDonald’s run.

The trip through Swan Drive is hilly, full of bright houses with brick driveways, surrounded by a forest.

“Don’t take your friends and family for granted,” Mrs. Ensley said. “Love people while you have ‘em and we know that Will was loved. So that makes me feel better, but makes it ache more too, you know. Kids don’t always think that they need to tell their friends how much they love them but they really should. I know there are kids

It wasn’t because he wanted a new bed frame, needed the money or had an insatiable hunger for a quarter pounder with cheese.

He wanted to feel something. He needed a distraction

It had hardly been three weeks since he attended his best friend’s funeral. And already it felt like everybody moved on.

While others were making dinner plans,

CONTINUED FROM 11:

taking IRP notes and selfies, Lambert was in a constant battle with his thoughts.

He hated to be alone.

His Instagram story, meant to be his way of saying goodbye, a diary entry, a tribute to Will, already had double the likes as his second most liked post. Which were genuine and which weren’t Tad couldn’t tell, but either way it felt like a trend.

It made him angry.

It made him angry that they weren’t there in the hospital, that they hadn’t seen the excitement on Will’s face when he got a new water bottle, that they never showed up at his house unannounced for a “boys night,” that they never ate on his bedroom floor as Will did homework, or screwed around with Happy Meal toys.

Others got sad at the mention of Will in school assemblies, or emails to parents or the senior tribute on the football Instagram. For Lambert it’s every time he walks through the front doors, every time he sees a white truck on the highway, every time he opens messages.

It’s all the time. It is every day.

Because no 17-year-old should have to walk up to a casket, watch it lower to the ground, shovel a scoop of dirt.

No 17-year-old should have to lose their best friend

No 17-year old should have to graduate without them.

Mr. Ensley sets his son’s urn in the ground. He places a shovel of dirt atop it. One by one, members of the boy’s swim team walk up and pour a small vial of SMNW pool water into the ground with Will.

Josie went home and watched Little Miss Sunshine that night, her favorite movie, the first movie she ever watched with him. She still has his sweatshirt, the one she got him in Arizona, and sealed in a plastic bag, so it never loses his smell.

The first day of school, all eyes were on her. Once a week, she meets up to talk with the Ensley’s. She still has AP Psych, Environmental Ed and Independent Reading with Mrs. Anthony.

She went to Sonic after Bonfire and ate pancakes on paper plates at Senior Sunrise.

She’s not planning on going to homecoming.

“Can’t do that,” she says.

She’s still a teenager.

As for finding hope.

“I’m still figuring that out.”

But everyday, she tries.

FIGHT AFTER THE FIRST FOOTBALL GAME

by Izak Zeller design by Greta Grist

On Sept. 1, 2023, a fight broke out between two groups

A fight broke out between two unidentified groups quickly after the first football game behind the Shawnee Mission South in the parking lot last Friday. Students were left stranded, some scared and others confused.

“We were waiting for our ride,” senior Piper Stackhouse said. “Then this pickup trucks pulls out from nowhere, you could hear the screech of the tires. Then they started screaming.”

The other group was walking in the parking lot when they were confronted, according to multiple witnesses. One group of three people inside the pickup truck, specifically

an adult woman, prompted the fight, according to Stackhouse.

“The [teens] started walking off,” senior Isabelle Hernandez said. “Then the [group of three] all got in the car and tried to drive after them. They drove over like two medians and hit a lightpost.”

The cops were called to the scene and when they arrived, the group in the pickup truck attempted to drive away, according to multiple witnesses. However, due to multiple police cruisers appearing at the scene, they were stopped.

“People started running to see what was happening,” Hernandez said.

She said she heard someone yelling

about a gun and protecting his son.

Seniors Taryn Day and Courtney Ellison, who were picking up trash after the game, were left stuck on the football field. They felt like they were unable to leave due to the commotion, so the called 911. After being on the phone for 45 minutes, they were told it was safe to leave.

“There were like eight cop cars and an [ambulance],” Stackhouse said. “It took two policemen to tackle the adult guy to the ground.”

Due to an ongoing investigation into the incident, NW administration declined to comment.

song arrangement of “For Whom The Bell Tolls” and “Master of Puppets” by Metallica on his trumpet Aug. 30 in the Main Gym. The bonfire assembly was where the Marching Band first performed their show for the student body. “We’ve been working on this music since May,” Teschendorf said. “However, we came up with [the bonfire performance] the day of [the assembly].”

MONTH IN MONTH IN

give up.”

1. Sophomore Abby O’Conner hits a tennis ball Aug. 29 on the Tennis Courts. O’Conner competed against a SM East opponent and lost 6-8. “I played a tough opponent I have competed with before because we’re pretty equally matched” O’Conner said. “In the beginning I wasn’t doing my best but I came back, made it closer and didn’t

Photo by Braden Bazzel

2. During the bonfire assembly, junior Gustin Teschendorf performs a

Photo by Braden Bazzel

During the Northwest Media Kickoff event, senior Nick Roberts gets lifted up by the 1980’s team Aug. 26 at SM Northwest. The song “The Time Of My Life” from the movie “Dirty Dancing” was playing at this time. “In the movie Dirty Dancing, they performed the same lift but with less people,” Roberts said. “Since the movie came out in the 80’s, we decided that it would fit in the performance.”

Photo by Anna Torres

3. Seniors Tristen Newell and Cullen McCaffery talk Aug. 18 on the Football Field. Seniors were invited by StuCo to celebrate the first ever senior sunrise event. “Senior sunrise went really great,” Newell said. “I had a lot of fun with my friends and it was a great way to start the year.”

Photo by Kara Simpson

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6. Arms extended, junior Easton Volk plays with the Drumline Aug. 24 in the Main Gym. The Marching Band performed at the bonfire assembly. “I like playing at assemblies more [than games] because they are a lot more casual,” Volk said. “The fans are a lot closer to us and we get to play more fun music.” Photo by Sidra Sakati

5. Surrounded by students, junior Nina Hussaini dances with sophomore Maggie Lamons at the freshman mixer Aug 18 in the Cafeteria. Hussaini and Lamons were the first ones to jump in the circle and slow dance, causing a chain reaction. Photo by Claire Reed

4. Senior Tru Smith scores a touchdown Sept. 1 on the SM South Football Field. The Cougars defeated the Vikings 48-6. “I had to thank God for my first varsity touchdown, it’s a dream” Smith said. “I didn’t only score one but I got two, so it was a great experience.”

Photo By Ashley Broils

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