The Lair, Shawnee Mission Northwest, Theme Packet

WE’LL LET

YOU KNOW

SHAWNEE, KS

SHAWNEE MISSION NORTHWEST

52

VOLUME

52

WE’LL LET

YOU SMNW LAIR 2021

KNOW

SL

STUDENT LIFE 16-17 30-31 32-33 62-67 70-71 82-83 134-135 140-141 144-145 160-161 184-185 186-187 194-195 196-197 202-203 208-209 210-211 218-219 220-221 222-225

Schooling Choice Among Us District Leavers Election Thanksgiving Parking Lot Backpack Must-Haves Music Fantasy Football At-Home Setups COVID-One Year Later Teacher Vaccines TikTok Recipies Stock Market Screen Time Tea Story Trends Future for Seniors End of Year Predicitons Dance Courts

IC

THEME 2-7 Opening 22-23 51-52 100-101 128-129 182-183 378-383 Closing

ICYMI 8-9 38-39 66-67 102-103 164-165 198-199

ICYMI- Summer ICYMI 1 ICYMI- Elections ICYMI 2 ICYMI 3 ICYMI 4

PROFILES 56-57 68-69 80-81 94-95 104-105 112-113 130-131 162-163

Sarah Ellison Kelly Kowalczewski Kennedy Taylor Coach Birch Lunch Staff Custodians Coach Newcomb Hoelting Family

REFERENCE not sure yet , , we ll lyk

226-233 234-249 250-265 266-279 280-297 298-339 340-361 362-373 374-377

Faculty Freshmen Sophomores Juniors Seniors Groups Senior Ads Index Colophon

WE’LL LET YOU

AC

EVENTS 10-13 14-15 18-19 20-21 44-49 52-53 120-125 142-143 166-167 180-181 204-205 214-215 216-217

Pandemic Summer Sports Protest Final District Plan Remote First Day Homecoming First Day of Hybrid Sweetheart Superbowl First Day of Full-Time Assassins ACT/SAT New Superintendent Student Council Elections

ACADEMICS 34-35 36-37 84-85 96-97 108-109 132-133 146-147 176-177

Teaching at the Creek Teachers English Math Science Jewelry Class Mr. Murphy’s Routine Cougar Cart

figuring it out

tbd

SPORTS

ORGANIZATIONS

24-29 40-41 42-43 54-55 58-59 60-61 72-77 78-79 88-93 98-99 106-107 114-115 138-139 168-173 178-179 188-193 200-201 206-207 212-213

86-87 110-111 116-117 118-119 126-127 136-137 150-157 158-159 174-175

Football Girls’ Tennis Volleyball Boys’ Soccer Cross Country Gymnastics Cheer Girls’ Golf Basketball Wrestling Bowling Boys’ Swim Athletic Scholarships Baseball/Softball Girls’ Soccer Track and Field Boys’ Tennis Girls’ Swim Boys’ Golf

Clubs in a Pandemic Dance Team Student Council Winter Play Choir Orchestra Journalism/KUGR Band Black Student Union

ng spri al c musi

WE’LL LET YOU

SMNW LAIR 2021-2022

SHAWNEE MISSION NORTHWEST OFFICE: (913) 993-7200 MASCOT: Cougar STUDENTS: 1633 FACULTY: 138 PRINCIPAL: Dr. Lisa Gruman WEBSITE: smnorthwest.smsd.com ADDRESS: 12701 W. 67th St., Shawnee, KS 66216

Junior Kael Farkes stands ready to defend Oct. 2 at St. Thomas Aquinas. SM Northwest lost to St. Thomas Aquinas 34-35. “We gave the game our all and prepared all week as if it was the state championship so I was sad,” Farkes said. “It felt as if we could do more.” Photo by Josie Torres SEE MORE FOOTBALL ON PAGE 24

“TURN ON YOUR “You're muted” We went from nonstop talking in class, to silence over Webex in a matter of months.

We suffered the frustrations of home Wi-Fi not working and tried to find the motivation to get out of bed but realized we didn’t even need to.

NO STUDENTS IN CLASSROOMS. THE district made the decision to stay online instead of going into hybrid learning. "I was defininetly bummed because it was the beginning of my senior year and I was excited to go back," senior Ashley Vil said. "But I understood and thought it was a smart move because everything was still so new with COVID-19 and I knew that the top priority was keeping everyone safe." Photo by Erin Dory

CAMERAS”

The days were neverending: class after class spent staring at a screen Going to assemblies through the computer And Facetiming friends during lunch (just not the same as seeing them in person).

SO MUCH WAS MISSING

NO MORE RUSHING THE FIELD AFTER A “COUGAR CRAZY” UPSET No more “Good mornings” from Dr. Gruman as she greeted our sleepy eyes.

No more trips to the library during English class We never knew when things might change

JUNIOR CODY RARD PUTS A mask on the Latin class’ mannequin, Maximus, in room 108. Maximus had the party hat covering his nose and mouth for a while. “I decided to bring the mask for him because the party hat was not a proper covering,” Rard said. Photo by Erin Dory

The new normal was to go with the flow.

After three months of online school, the district gave us the option of hybrid learning.

The silence that once filled the halls vanished as teachers welcomed students back to class.

But there was a sense of uncertainty.

Would the numbers rise again?

Would we get COVID from a classmate or teacher?

Lab partners wouldn’t be close enough to whisper equations or mouth answers.

With second-chance breakfast banned, students could no longer jog down the halls holstering two packages of banana bread as the minute bell music rang.

Sitting alone at lunch was less awkward than sitting six feet away from a friend.

It was a year like no other: Filled with uncertainty, Craving normal.

Even though we don’t have the answers yet...

WE’LL LET YOU

SENIOR MATT STEINMETZ LOOKS at his phone in the mall during lunch.

Students are required to sit six feet apart during lunch with only three people per table. Photo illustration by Josie Torres

CO N STA N T

CYclE

22 || DESIGN BY TEAGAN VANBLARCOM

You noticed that your grades were on the edge of becoming a disaster, but you acted like everything was fine.

You snooze your alarm to get that extra five minutes of sleep.

Even though you knew you were going to be late to school, again.

And all those times you frantically skimmed over review guides right before a test, but secretly knowing you were going to fail no matter what.

We didn’t recognize the lack of motivation.

We slept through breakfast to spend our days glued to our phones.

We pushed homework off till Sunday, because it wasn’t due till 11:59 p.m., but we never got it done.

There was stress of the unknown, cries from failure and eye rolls to others success.

School became a chore.

It’s that feeling when your mom asked you to empty the dishwasher or vacuum the living room.

You didn’t want to do it, you couldn’t find the motivation to do it.

So you found ways around it.

The excuses turned into weekly tasks.

“I have a doctors appointment”.

“I have practice after school so I’ll do it another night”.

“Well there’s always a quizlet”.

It was the panic attacks, the cycles of depression and the late nights we spent trying to get stuff done.

You would beg your parents to call you out of seminar because sitting in class for another 2 hours felt like eternity, even though you had work to do.

You went to the bathroom to sneak snacks, because you felt like you hadn’t eaten in years.

And everyone pushed their way through the crowd of tired students to make it to their car first, but they knew they would end up sitting in the parking lot fighting their way out.

You looked around the classroom where students’ pencils were moving to a rhythm and realized you had no clue what was going on.

“Did I space out?”

“I’ll figure it out later.

“Maybe someone will send me the answers tonight.”

15 math problems would end up being a task that took up our whole day.

The amount of times we got discouraged when something was confusing, we felt relief when we got a C instead of a D and we were always behind on something.

Sometimes we struggle with motivation and might not know how to get out of a rut.

But its the small steps we take to make things better.

Success isn’t something that happens overnight.

It’s the challenges that made this year interesting, overcoming them is what makes it so special.

STORY BY MADDY GRAFF

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ERIN DORY

THEME | MOTIVATION || 23

lOsINg MySelF

TRIGGER WARNING: EATING DISORDER

“It’s just food.”

“You’re killing yourself.”

“Is it really that hard to eat?”

“I don’t know what to do anymore. How can we help you, because we’re out of ideas?”

It was the quiet drives to the doctor’s office every two weeks for a check-in. The horrendous protein shakes that I had to chug twice a day.

When I look back, these are the things that haunt me.

I no longer recognize the person I was six months ago.

“You’re skin and bones” is something nobody wants to hear. I just wanted to see myself as beautiful or pretty. But it’s easy to get lost in a sea of body shaming that you forget there’s so much more to you.

It’s hard to open up about it. The topic is too sensitive. Too personal. When it comes up, the room falls silent, and everyone looks anywhere but at me.

But today we’re gonna talk about it – that whisper in the back of your head that’s always there. It tells you not to eat. It tells you how gross you look.

“Take your shoes off and step on the scale for me” Every time I heard those words a little part of my heart shattered, knowing I had dug myself into a 20-foot hole.

I took my coat off and walked down the hall with Dr. Lindz and slid my shoes off to step onto the scale. I was never allowed to see the result. (I’m still not allowed too.)

Stranded in a room with three doctors, I listened.

“Your body is deteriorating to nothing” “We fear that you have pushed it too close to death.”

50 || DESIGN BY TEAGAN VANBLARCOM

But death wasn’t my biggest fear. Failing those who loved me was.

How can I make you understand the physical and emotional battles recovery puts you through?

Where do I even start?

How about the 3,000 calories I was supposed to eat every day?

Or getting my blood drawn every month?

Or the number of therapists I tried, that never ended up working?

My family tried to talk to me about it, but it always seemed as if they were nagging me or forcing food down my throat.

It was something I had to conquer by myself. A puzzle inside my head that only I could solve.

So I drank those awful protein shakes that tasted like the mold that grows on strawberries.

I ate whatever my meal plan told me to eat whether I wanted to or not.

It wasn’t just a daily struggle – it was an hourly struggle to keep my head up.

I wondered why I let myself get to this point. My only answer was, “I thought I was being healthy.”

And just when you think you’ve conquered it all, it comes creeping back. It sends you down a spiral of mixed emotions and social norms. It only takes one word, one video, or even one person to trigger a setback that can last weeks.

Six months later, I stepped on the scale for my normal weigh-in. This time I stopped, turned around, and smiled at my mom.

“I’m so proud of you,” she said, her voice shaking.

“I love you, too,” I said, warm tears running down my face.

The war is never over, but you win a battle here and there.

Today was a win.

STORY BY MADDY GRAFF

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ERIN DORY

THEME | LOSING MYSELF || 51

IT’S THE

lItTLe THiNgS It’s crazy how fast things can change, but it’s the little things that made moments so special.

It was that look you gave to a friend when you felt clueless after seeing the first problem on a test. It was that feeling when you pulled your warm shorts out of the dryer to find $20 in the pocket. Or that shock when your mom filled your car up with gas.

It was the little things that got us through it all: being able to eat pizza and drink a Carribean Way smoothie on Fridays during lunch, singing until you lost your voice during Fly Over, or hearing the band parade through the halls on Cappuccino Day. But COVID-19 changed it all.

You could barely hear your friends at lunch due to the six-foot rule. You couldn’t leave the room to use the bathroom until you scanned the QR code. And seniors couldn’t ride the Cougar Coaster together for the first and only time during the Prom assembly.

We couldn’t scream “WE. ARE. NORTH. WEST. COUGARS.” or get a hand on the Spirit Stick while we mocked the underclassmen.

We used to spend 7-10 hours at school every day, but when we returned full-time in March, the complaints of students exhausted after first hour filled the halls.

The little things helped us get through the setbacks that COVID threw at us.

Remember the feeling when you saw a friend walk into the same class for the first time in 4 months? Or when we snuck out of school during seminar because… well... every class did it.

When we look back on 2021, we may not

100 || DESIGN BY TEAGAN VANBLARCOM

remember every single thing that our teachers taught us or how many times we were told to walk on the right side of the hallway or the number of assignments we forgot to turn in.

But there are some things we won’t ever forget.

Like when Environmental Ed lost a snake and found it days later… or when we watched the girls basketball team cut the net down, strand by strand, after winning state... and then there was the time the Foods room had to be evacuated because someone broke a thermometer and mercury leaked out.

Even COVID had little things that got us through the year.

We got to take time to relax and focus on our mental health when we needed it most.

We reconnected with old friends and relationships grew between those we only considered “school friends.” It was crazy how many people we saw out on daily walks during those five months before school started in early September.

It was a year that threw everyone for a loop.

We wondered what the next step was. When things would go back to something that seemed normal.

Maybe we learned to watch for the little things, like the sunset that might have been ignored the year before or we were too busy to watch.

We appreciated the smiles that were now hidden behind masks and realized that we could see a smile even just in a person’s eyes.

There have been so many little things that we took for granted but now are grateful for.

It was always the little things.

STORY BY MADDY GRAFF

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JOSIE TORRES

THEME | THE LITTLE THINGS || 101

slOWIng

DOWN

“I’ve been on the low I’ve been taking my time / I feel like I’m out of my mind / It feels like my life ain’t mine / who can relate?”

It’s that feeling of complete freedom.

The carelessness of it all.

Feeling the wind hit your face, the warmth sneaking through the sunroof, and the loud base of “1-800-273-8255” blowing your speakers out.

Crazy how car rides can be such a get-away.

A good excuse to escape the shame of unfinished homework, screaming matches with your parents, or drama within the friend group.

“I don’t wanna be alive / I don’t wanna be alive / I just wanna die today / I just wanna die.”

At any moment you could take a random turn and change the attitude in the car.

Swerving to avoid a stray cat or the kids playing four-square in the street never gets old.

The world could be collapsing around you, but you’re not fazed.

You revel in the countless times your friends have to pay at the drive-thru, because you “accidentally” forget your wallet.

You have all the control.

“Oh I don’t wanna / I don’t wanna / I don’t even

128 || DESIGN BY TEAGAN VANBLARCOM

want to die anymore.”

From the back seat your friends yell “SKIP” to every song.

“Skip.”

“Skip!”

“SKIP!” But you don’t skip this time as you flash a smirk of “I love you” into the rear-view mirror.

The strings of the guitar rumble beneath the screams to the lyrics.

“I knew my rent was gonna be late about a week ago / I work my butt off / but I still can’t pay it though” And just like that the stress of grades, relationships, and the future is gone.

Vanished.

Who cares about the party you’ll miss Saturday or if you’ll make it to work on time?

What matters is the moment – this moment – lasting forever.

You never know if one car ride will be the last, so don’t waste it.

Just like Pitbull said “Have me a good time before my time is up, HEY lets get it now!”

STORY

BY MADDY GRAFF

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JOSIE TORRES

THEME | SLOWING DOWN || 129

IT WAS

worth it COVID-19 put me through the ringer.

Friendships dropped like flies. Friday night drive-ins and shopping trips vanished. And I lost myself in the process.

Academics went by the wayside. I couldn’t get past the second chapter of “The Great Gatsby,” but Netflix kept me engaged.

I always wanted to be carefree. To know that life’s hard lessons would be worth it in the end.

COVID-19 became my teacher.

I finally learned to steer clear of drama.

Hobbies turned into passions.

And I ditched skin care routines and yoga classes for the freedom of my younger self.

I focused on what made me smile: making spaghetti and meatballs with my mom. Spilling school gossip to my grandma. And chasing my friends around the neighborhood as we played hide-andseek.

They say junior year is the hardest. COVID-19 made it even worse.

The lack of accountability thanks to hybrid teaching crammed teachers’ inboxes with begs for extensions.

176 || DESIGN BY TEAGAN VANBLARCOM

No more face-to-face interactions. COVID-19 did that to us.

We couldn’t see our grandparents on birthdays or holidays. (Unless we met on Facetime.)

Then there was grocery shopping.

I remember coming home from Hyvee to wipe off cereal boxes with Clorox Wipes only to make them soggy. What had this world come to?

But looking back COVID-19 taught us some good things.

I learned so much about myself and grew from my mistakes.

I got closer to my parents and focused on my mental health.

I learned to slow down.

If COVID-19 never happened my life would be much different today.

My dad once told me, “You can only grow from the things that make you stronger. You can choose the road with no bumps or turns or the one where you walk out a better person. It’s up to you.”

Thank you, COVID-19.

STORY BY MADDY GRAFF

THEME | LETTER TO COVID || 177

And just like that things changed as we sensed a taste of the “normal” we missed for 366 days.

The COVID vaccine rolled out as cases declined

SENIOR DANIELLE ESTRADA PAINTS A POSTER to publicize prom April 16 in room 121. This year’s prom theme was “Under the Stars.” The dance was held outside on the field at SM North District Stadium. “I think the theme fits our situation perfectly because we will actually be under the stars,” Estrada said. “To further publicize, we’ve let everyone know that prom is free this year and there’s also a raffle.” Photo by Erin Dory

378 | THEME

And with that came hope Hope to share test answers at lunch and crack jokes at team dinners To dance until our feet hurt at prom To shake Dr. Gruman’s hand while crossing the stage at graduation

CLOSING | 379

Well, guess what, WE DID Except things were a little different.

“Welcome back, NW” High-fives turned into thumbs-up After-school chit-chat turned into mad dashes to the parking lot to avoid traffic We finally connected with friends in the halls to talk about weekend plans

380 | THEME

We may have failed a test or two Or forgotten what time lunch actually was (since we didn’t get to choose) But we celebrated the good things.

SENIOR KENNEDY TAYLOR LOOKS TO THE crowd right after she is crowned Feb. 18 in the Main Gym. Taylor was nominated by Young Democrats and girls’ basketball, and was crowned Sweetheart queen. “I was very shocked,,” Taylor said. “I turned to look at my dad and said ‘oh, my God’ and he said ‘Congratulations, baby girl.’”

Photo by Erin Dory

CLOSING | 381

SENIOR BRIAN HARRELL FIST BUMPS SM EAST swimmer Carson Connor Jan. 28 at SM Aquatic Center. Harrell finished the 100 yd fly with a time of 54.55 sec. “Sportsmanships means to work hard and never give your opponents an easy race,” Harrell said. Photo by Josie Torres

382 | THEME

In a year filled with uncertainty Craving normal Even though things seemed unpredictable, we now have the answers And we’re letting you know

WE’LL LET YOU

CLOSING | 383

YOUR YEAR

HOW TO MASH1. Fill in each category 2. Pick a number 3. Count down the page using your number 4. Cross off every item you land on, until you have one left in each category

THIS YEAR PROBABLY DIDN'T GO AS YOU PLANNED... MAKE YOUR OWN MASH SHEET BY FILLING IN THE BLANKS AND SEE HOW ELSE YOUR 2020-21 YEAR COULD HAVE GONE

M

(SMNW)

A

S

(SMS)

H

(SME)

(SMN)

CRUSHES

ORGANIZATIONS

CLUBS

GPA

FAV. SONGS

FAV. TEACHERS

# OF ABSENSCES

LET US

KNOW SCAN THIS QR CODE AND DM US YOUR RESULTS!

WE’LL LET YOU