THE ROAR NEWS
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1801 Harvey Mitchell Pkwy. S., College Station, Texas 77840 Friday, Sept. 23, 2016 Vol. 22 No. 1
the
iss issue
District discipline policy attempts objectivity, students question impact rachel lamb & june jeong executive editor & opinions editor Anything from too many dress code violations to cracking teacher’s passwords can land students in Consol’s In School Suspension (ISS). After hacking into a teacher’s computer for a prank, senior Alex Hanks was sent swiftly to ISS where he spent a week following an unchanging schedule, sitting at a desk and working on his school work in silence. “They give you a set of instructions you need to sign, you have to write out a paragraph every day, and then you do your school work,” Hanks said. “It changed a lot last year because they let people play math games. You don’t have your phone and you’re kind of treated like a kid.”
“ISS” continued on page 3
inthisissue
news pages 2-4 opinions page 5 viewpoints page 6 snapshots page 7
feature pages 10-13 sports pages 13-14 reviews page 15
etc page 16
UPCOMING
2 | news | the roar
NEWS
friday, sept. 23, 2016
SEPT 26 SEPT 27 SEPT 28 SEPT 29 SEPT 30
Mix-Match Monday School Pictures, Tourist Tuesday Homecoming Carnival Throwback Thursday Maroon Out, Homecoming game vs. Temple OCT 1 SAT Testing, Homecoming
IN THE
Consol boasts eleven National Merit semifinalists
On Wednesday, September 14, A&M Consolidated High School announced that seniors Kelly Krenek, Tian-Shu Huang, Andrew Pham, Brandon Zhao, Guillermo MuĂąoz, Benjamin Lamb, Dana Choe, AnhVi Burgess, Catarina Hurtado, and Alena Kang-Landsberg will receive commendation for earning a score that places them within the top one percent of high schoolers in Texas.
Homecoming Carnival to feature cardboard chariots, lot closure
To accomodate for the Homecoming Carnival starting at 4 p.m., on the morning of Wednesday September 28 the senior portion of the parking lot, including painted spaces, will be roped off and unavailable to park in after 7 a.m.
Rezoning committee releases final redistricting recommendations
On Tuesday, September 20, the CSISD Board was presented with finalized boundary recommendations that were made after revisions had been made in the forums held on September 6, 7, and 14. The Board strove to emphasize that the rezoning was based on comparability and equity between schools; though the only major change in the proposal was the switch of Nantucket to Pecan Trail Intermediate, to MS 3, to CSHS. The percentage of low socioeconomic students remained within a few percentiles across all middle schools and both high schools.
Students embark to Washington, DC for annual conference PHOTO BY HALEY MITCHELL Juniors Madison Latendra and Grace Machen help Amanda Schmiediche paint her parking space. The option to reserve and paint spaces was made available to juniors and seniors at the end of last year for the first time in school history.
Seniors Kelly Krenek and Alexis Girourard and juniors Delphine Djomo and Chris Minkler attended the Washington Leadership Training Institute during week of September 19 as representatives from A&M Consolidated High School and Texas State Skills USA. Krenek serves as state president; Djomo as parliamentarian.
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the roar | news | 3
friday, sept. 23, 2016
Administrators, students evaluate effectiveness of in school suspension program “ISS” cont. from page 1
The normal freedom and independence students experience at school is reduced while they are in ISS. “You don’t get to choose your lunch, you have to ask to go to the bathroom, there are certain times to go to the bathroom and get drinks stuff like that,” senior Harley Coons said. Like Coons, Hanks’ time in ISS affected him socially, as he was secluded from his friends and not allowed to participate in social functions, but the punishment gave him time to focus on his studies. “[It’s] an isolation, so you feel like you’re missing out,” Hanks said. “There’s a major disadvantage if you care about your social [life].” Though he feels that ISS was a suitable punishment in regard to some of his actions, Hanks questions the success of the system for students who have different circumstances. “There are people out there who just don’t really care about ISS. In fact, they’d rather just go to it,” Hanks said. “And the school sometimes can’t handle those kind of people and have to go to the state.” Assistant principal Omar Espitia agrees that the diversity of students’ personalities and situations calls for distinctive punishments. “I have found for some kids, just like education, you have to individualize [ISS],” Espitia said. “What may work for some students is not going to work for all students. So it’s never a one-size-fits-all.” For the small percentage of students who prefer ISS to attending school, the administration tries to assign alternative
consequences that will discourage less social students from misbehaving. “While [ISS] may work for about 90% of the kids, there are about 10% who say [they] like being where [they] don’t have to deal with a bunch of kids and crowds,” Espitia said. “Then I’ve got other kids where I [give out] a lot of three hour D-halls.” Even with the limited number of options that the school offers, senior Isabel Garcia feels that there should be another system in place to help students struggling with difficult situations at home. “I’m not saying not to punish the student, that’s not where I’m coming from,” Garcia said. “I’m just saying, if you are going to punish [the students], at least make them capable to learn [in class]. They are not getting the education they need in ISS.” The problem is further intensified by the fact that some students find it challenging to learn new material in ISS. “[Students] feel like they really don’t have any help,” Garcia said. “Say you have math lesson and you learn something new. [The teachers] don’t know [every subject]. It honestly makes things a lot more difficult.” Garcia believes that the underlying reason the students struggle is a lack of individual support and encouragement, both at home and at school. “They get upset because [some of the students] are trying as hard as they can, and they are not getting enough help,” Garcia said. “Then whenever they retaliate because they feel like that are not getting the attention they need, they get sent away. It’s just a never-ending cycle.”
Being placed in ISS can even make students feel as though the school is actively against them. “When [students] get out, they feel like school is against them, and whoever put them in there is against them, so then they have to be rebellious,” Coons said. “It’s just what naturally happens.” The school can, on rare occasions, offer community service and other options such as working with teachers. However, the administration has little leeway to differentiate between students in regards to their outside situations. “The problem is that the guidelines are very well set and defined by the school board,” Espitia said. “It’s very hard for me to deviate from those. For consistency’s sake, we all have a spreadsheet and most infractions like bullying ... cheating or cell phone usage, those types of things are all in here.” The set guidelines primarily function to provide structure and ensure that every student is disciplined with consistency and to eliminate unfair advantages. “If I let one kid get by with one thing, like chewing gum or bringing a soft drink, then the other kids [will say], “How come he gets by with it but I don’t?” Espitia said. While Hanks acknowledges steps the school takes to help students individually, he feels that ISS is not the best solution to match the varying levels of infractions students make. “In my opinion, it’s ridiculous,” Hanks said. “[Students] go to a program for something as little as like tardies or IDs with a kid who actually brought a knife to school...and they’re put in the same program.”
Coons agrees that sending students to ISS for minor infractions like tardies “does not make sense.” “When I’m tardy too many times and they send me there, [administrators] know it’s going to keep happening,” Coons said. “Sometimes it just makes kids more mad. Like ‘Wow, they are really going to put me through this for the little thing I did.’” For more serious offenses, Hanks feels that the school could implement programs to show students the real consequences for their actions. “If you go to ISS, you’re treated like a classroom level, not like real life, where things will actually suck and will actually [impact] your future,” Hanks said. “There should be a program where cops actually come in and tell you what would happen and tell you ‘if you do this, this is how society will punish you.’” For most students, however, as long as they do their best to abide by the school’s code of conduct, Espitia stresses that they can avoid ISS and reprimands. “If you wear your ID, if you stay in dress code, and you get to class on time, nine times out of ten you will never come into my office.” At the end of the day, the school’s main priority is to simply provide a healthy, encouraging learning atmosphere for all students. “If you make the wrong choices you will receive the consequences,” Espitia said. “It’s not fair for the other 1800 kids that come here to learn, and come here for a safe environment, and they have to deal with some kid who doesn’t want to do what they are supposed to do.”
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4 | news | the roar
friday, sept. 23, 2016
Students research with professors at Texas A&M, prepare for future careers josh weimer | online editor
SUJAY SHANKAR
CHARLIE MCKENZIE SHLOK MOHANTY
LEXI KUPPERSMITH
Frustrated with the slow pace of his 7th grade science course, senior Shlok Mohanty turned to his own research. “In 7th grade I wasn’t really challenged [in science],” Mohanty said. “My dad knew some friends and asked if I could do research with them. I enjoyed it, so I just kept doing research because it’s fun and I like being challenged.” Mohanty began with physics in middle school; now, he works in medicine. “My first year I worked with proteins and gene fusion,” Mohanty said. “We were trying to test biomaterials with proteins. The second year I worked with Dr. Kapler, and we worked with DNA replication origins in cells.” Mohanty has also presented his research in the Austin Regional Science fair and plans to continue competing. “Right now, I’m writing a report for the Siemens science competition,” Mohanty said. “[And] I’m likely going to do the Austin regional [competition] again this year.”
Senior Charlie McKenzie’s introduction to research began over a year ago, when he started shadowing at St. Joseph’s Hospital; now, he’s working with graduate students at Texas A&M. “[My project] has to do with different tissues samples of different genes,” McKenzie said. “[I work in a lab with 20 graduate students], and they’re working on analyzing [the samples] for a breast cancer mutation.” McKenzie hopes his research can help him get into medical school and pursue medicine as a career. He will also be competing in the Austin Science Fair this spring. “I’m looking and different undergrad programs to help prepare me for the MCAT and then hopefully make me a competitive applicant for med school,” McKenzie said. “[I want] to end up doing residency and fellowship somewhere, and [maybe even] start my own practice.”
To senior Lexi Kuppersmith, 700 pages of Fox News comments is a challenge. “I’m very interested in linguistics, having gone through the dual language program in our public schools, and really just enjoying English and literary analysis,” Kuppersmith said. “Those fields can sometimes seem to not have very clear connections to real life, whereas with computational linguistics, you can use principles of language structure in order to have very real effects on people’s lives.” Computational linguistics can be used in search engines, artificial intelligence, and features such as autocorrect. Kuppersmith’s current project aims to develop an algorithm that can understand language that is inappropriate or inflammatory. “Right now I’ve collected my data from Fox News. I’m collecting comments in order to have a corpus of linguistic data to analyze for inflammatory language,” Kuppersmith said. “[I’m] trying to find patterns that can help the computer to understand which language is inapproprate.”
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For Senior Sujay Shankar, 3D printing is the medium of the future. “I’m trying to find a new material that can be 3D printed to form body tissue,” Shankar said. “The type of experiments I do are a lot of trial and error. I [use] different polymers and make different materials and run a bunch of tests to determine how strong they are, how much water they can absorb, all the properties that are inside the body.” Shankar hopes to create a material that could be mass produced and distributed to those in need of transplants or implants. Shankar has also been very successful in presenting his research at regional and international competitions. “I competed in Intel’s international science and engineering fair [in Phoenix Arizona],” Shankar said. “To get to that level you must first go through a regional fair, and I won at the regional fair.”
the roar | opinions | 5
friday, sept. 23, 2016
no flex zone
Compulsive apologies spur introspectiont
yanichka ariunbold section editor
Changing perspective on physical strength results in self-empowerment, optimismsn’t “How are your calves so freaking swole? Stop flexing. Yaniiii. This is a…” A dramatic pause ensues. “...*NO FLEX ZONE*.” Our school bus en route to Houston just arrived at the hotel, but my friend is too busy poking my leg to notice, enchanted by its aforementioned swole-ness. I’m uncomfortable, a little flattered, but mostly amused by her stealthy usage of the Rae Sremmurd lyric. “Uhhh. I’m not flexing...And can you not??” *** At the risk of sounding like someone who wants to slide into your DM’s, I would call myself a pretty buff individual, thanks to a decade’s worth of competitive swimming that gave me my signature bulkiness, along with awkwardly prominent shoulders and thick-ish arms that don’t look quite right with the rest of my body. (But hey, at least there are the swole calves.) I know it seems counterintuitive to not appreciate what I technically spent hours each day working for: an upper body that could pull me through the water faster, legs that could kick under the water more powerfully—but being uncomfortable with the way I was shaped came quite easily. By the time I was an abnormally buff 12-year-old, I’d already experienced my fair share of shifting self-consciously at the receiving end of gazes from people who would first eye me like I was some racehorse they were betting on and then, gesturing to their shoulders, ask my mom admiringly, “How did you make your daughter like that?” So what ended up staying with me through the years was a sharp feeling of uneasiness in my own skin. My broad shoulders, too-bulky legs, and arms-thatunsexily-pwned-everyone-in-my-seventhgrade-class-in-arm-wrestling were definitely on my side in the water, but on land, I was, frankly, embarrassed by them. I felt below-average simply for having aboveaverage muscle mass, for a girl. Which,
clearly, is a double standard—how girls with muscles look too manly, how guys with muscles look just right. The thing is, obviously, muscles themselves don’t have a gender, and, accordingly, they are in no way necessarily a masculine feature, nor an unfavorable characteristic for women. Girls can be strong and look good— the two are not mutually exclusive. Closely watching the 2016 Summer Olympics and the sheer girlpower it presented assured me of that. Just look at swimmers Katie Ledecky, Katinka Hosszu, and Simone Manuel, unmistakably tough women who proudly displayed their power, speed, and, yes, gloriously wide shoulders at the pool in Rio. Somehow, they’re all the more beautiful for their confidence in themselves, and their insanely strong bodies leave no doubt as to the extent of their hard work and dedication to the sport. And so, mid-fangirl over Ledecky’s legendary 800 free, I felt, for the first time in ages, a faint stirring of pride for my own bulkiness, a tangible remainder of the near-infinite times I propelled myself through a pool. Although I’ll always be painfully aware that 1) puffy sleeves and shoulderpadded blazers will never look good on me and 2) bad posture on me looks doubly bad, I’ve realized that all those years of exercise, the thousands upon thousands of kicks and strokes in the water that ultimately contributed to my bulky form and have literally made me the way I am, were unmistakably precious, even more so now that the fact that this is my sole remaining year as a competitive swimmer has set in. So instead of keeping my shoulders hunched over, like I often do, this year, I’ll hold them up proudly.
Yanichka is a section editor at The Roar. Want arm wrestling tips? Contact her at the. roar.ariunbold@gmail.com.
A couple of weeks ago, I went out to dinner with some friends who I hadn’t seen in a long time. I had been out of town for nearly a month, and after some time away, I thought it would be nice to see some close friends and chat over pasta. After all, it was nearing the end of the summer, and I wanted to touch base and share experiences. That’s what friends do, right? But about halfway through the evening, I realized that I had barely said a word, other than ordering my food and exchanging greetings. It wasn’t that I hadn’t been engaged, or that I was too busy eating. Surely if I had been away for a month, I would have something to say. And that’s when it started. In the middle of a conversation, I accidentally interrupted in the middle of another’s words when I offered an excited response to something she had said previously. Immediately, it seemed if all eyes had gone on me. Looking down a tad at the table, and speaking into my pasta, I spoke the two words that seemed to define the rest of the night. “I’m sorry.” “Oh no, it’s okay, what did you want to say?” the friend said. “Don’t worry about it, I forgot what I was going to say,” I hastily responded. I was then told three different times that I had done nothing wrong. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with apologizing when interrupting, it’s just common courtesy. That wasn’t the issue. The issue was the ensuing apologies throughout the night. I apologized three times in fifteen minutes, and each time I couldn’t even understand why I had done so. None of those times did I do anything that warranted an apology, yet like a telemarketer, I had offered something that absolutely nobody wanted. It’s no secret to anybody I know that my compulsive apologies are not a new thing. Over the course of a couple years, it has become just another bad habit of mine, up there with biting my nails and chewing ice.
drew howerton section editor
It not only stems from a paranoid mentality that I have done something wrong, it practically fuels that mentalityand that mentality presents me as a burden, rather than a simple person asking for directions. When I have to apologize for an action as simple as excusing myself from the table, it presents the notion that I have done something wrong, that I myself am something wrong that warrants forgiveness. And like a bad habit, I can’t just stop. With a bad habit, the realization comes to light years before the solution. I’m only one in a long, long line of family members who realize they have a problem but never fix it. My uncle passed away a couple of years ago; he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He always told me when I would come to visit that smoking kills, that it’s a terrible habit to pick up, and he would always, afterwards, pick up another cigarette and smoke. He had a realization, but unfortunately, he never had the solution that he wanted. I probably apologized when I cried at his passing. I’m still saddened at his passing, but it helps me realize that I don’t have to postpone a solution. I might not be dealing with a habit as bad as smoking, but I’m still hurting myself just the same. And that’s why when I apologize for things now, it’s not enough for me to push it under the rug or be passive in my own life, to act like I’m causing problems for those around me when they couldn’t care less if I accidentally interrupted them at dinner. My existence is not a burden, and while saying that doesn’t immediately make my habit go away, it’s a first step. And a first step is better than no step at all. Drew is a section editor at the Roar. Want to apologize to each other? Contact them at the.roar.howerton@gmail.com.
i’m not sorry
6 | viewpoints | the roar
friday, sept. 23, 2016
#BlackLivesMatter OR
#AllLivesMatter? ARTWORK BY JUNE JEONG
“Black Lives Matter” is a phrase that almost always creates a wide range of heated reactions. Though some argue that the concept is offensive because it is actively against the police and does not express the importance of valuing all lives, supporters of BLM stress that it is simply a call to action against institutional racism faced by black people.
“I think [All Lives Matter] is really just an attempt to silence the Black Lives Matter Movement. Police lives are in danger, but their jobs require their lives to be in danger. And of course, all lives matter, but Black Lives Matter is a just a reminder to let you know that black lives aren’t seen as mattering right now. “ senior aysia martin “I’m not necessarily against [Black Lives Matter] but I think that they need to try and distance themselves from violent crimes against cops. I would agree with “All Lives Matter,” because it encompasses [all races] and says all lives are equal.” senior matthew arthur
The Roar 2016-2017 Staff Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Executive Editor Senior Editor Online Editor Opinions Editor Section Editors Staff Reporters Faculty Adviser Assistant Adviser
Vi Burgess Haley Mitchell Rachel Lamb Jennifer Zhan Josh Weimer June Jeong Yanichka Ariunbold Maya Girimaji Drew Howerton Katerina Kountakis Emily Caldwell Sueji Han Maya Rios Rachel Swartz Michael Williams Chauncey Lindner
The Roar Editorial Board Vi Burgess • Haley Mitchell • June Jeong
The Roar is produced by the Advanced Journalism class at A&M Consolidated High School, 1801 Harvey Mitchell Parkway S., College Station, Texas, 77840. The opinions expressed are those of the writers and are not reflective of the administrators, faculty or staff of the College Station Independent School District. Submissions to the editors are welcomed but must be signed and should not exceed 300 words. The editor reserves the right to edit submissions in the interest of clarity and length or to not print a letter at all. Letters containing obscene or libelous material will not be considered. The Editorial Board consists of the editor-in-chief, managing editor and opinions editor. The Roar is a member of the Interscholastic League Press Conference (ILPC), the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) and the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA). The Roar is a winner of the CSPA Gold Crown, the 1997, 1998, 2000-2016 ILPC Award of Distinguished Merit, the CSPA Gold Medal Award, the NSPA All-American distinction and 2005, 2014,2016 ILPC Bronze Star and 2007-2013 and 2015 Silver Star. College Station Independent School District does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex or handicap in providing education services. Monica Jones, Director of Human Resources, 1812 Welsh, College Station, Texas 77840 (979-764-5412) has been designated to coordinate compliance with the nondiscrimination requirements of Title IX. Molley Perry, Executive Director of Special Services, 1812 Welsh, Suite 120, College Station, Texas 77840 (979-764-5433) has been designated to coordinate compliance with the nondiscrimination. requirements of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
the roar’s consensus Eric Garner. Michael Brown. Trayvon Martin. Philando Castile. Alton Sterling. These are the names of the black men killed in police shootings within the past few years that have sparked national outrage, as well as a movement and a countermovement: ‘Black Lives Matter’ and ‘All Lives Matter’. ‘Black Lives Matter’ was sparked by the harm and killing of numerous named and unnamed African-American men and women. As a result, the movement seeks to bring light to the fact that racism is still present in society and its institutions. Many misconceptions have been formed about the movement, but the vast majority of activists in ‘Black Lives Matter’ are not involved in aggressive, violent actions, like the Dallas shootings this July. Those same shootings prompted a second countermovement, ‘Blue Lives Matter’, which was formed with the purpose of defending the merit of lives of police. While this movement has weight—senseless killing of police for the crimes that they, as individuals, did not commit is undoubtedly wrong—police brutality is a major reason that the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement exists. It’s also important to remember that the police choose a profession that involves putting their lives on the line, but black men and women are civilians and have not been asked to risk their livelihoods and lives. ‘All Lives Matter’ emerged as a response to ‘Black Lives Matter’, claiming that it is ridiculous to assume that just black lives matter. However, the proponents of ‘All Lives Matter’ misunderstand the message of ‘Black Lives Matter’: that in history as well as the present, the lives of black men and women have not mattered, and now society should recognize that black lives do matter just as much as all other races. Saying that of course all lives matter does not acknowledge, and in fact, perpetuates the systemic racism and inequality present not only in American society, but all over the world.
friday, sept. 23, 2016
the daily grind
the roar | snapshots | 7
Avid skateboarders grow through skatepark community, skill set, form of expression drew howerton section editor For sophomore Josh Delatorre, nothing compraes to the rush of skateboarding. “I love the adrenaline of going fast and doing a trick,” Delatorre said. “There’s nothing like it.” Junior Adrian Flores says that it was friends of his brother who got him interested in skateboarding. “I would see my older brothers friends skating and I always thought it was cool,” he said. “So I decided to get a skateboard and skate.” But performing tricks is what keeps Flores and Delatorre skating. “When you finally land a trick after months of attempting it, you feel
accomplished,” Flores said. “That’s the feeling that mainly makes you want to skate.” Delatorre says that rush gave him a reason to spend all his free time skating. “I spend too much time skating,” Delatorre said. “I still spend enough time on school, but when I have nothing to do, I skate.” Delatorre and Flores said that their time spent skateboarding has helped them become part of a larger community. “I’ve made tons of friends through skating, people that I otherwise wouldn’t have met,” Flores said. And both have found that the community, despite common misconceptions, welcomes newcomers with open arms. “A lot of people think
it’s just like, weed and drugs,” Delatorre said. “But once you get to know people, everyone’s really nice, and they always have something to tell you.” Along with kindness, Flores says that there’s no pressure to be competitive among skaters. “There is competition between skaters informally,” Flores said. “But it’s not really a sport in the community’s eyes.” And to them, skating has become more than just a hobby. Both said that skating has changed them for the better. “For the past two and a half years, I’ve constantly had something to do and I’ve always had fun doing it,” Delatorre said. “My greatest memories are with my friends skating early in the morning to late at night.”
PHOTO BY HALEY MITCHELL above: Sophomore Josh Delattore performs a kickflip.
left: Riding the rainbow, sophomore Josh Delattore concentrates on keeping his balance.
PHOTO BY HALEY MITCHELL
right: Delattore demonstrates proper footing.
PHOTO BY MAYA GIRIMAJI
8 | student
life | the roar
friday, sept. 2
ahead of the
curve PHOTO BY JENNIFER ZHAN ILLUSTRATION BY JUNE JEONG
the roar | student life| 9
23, 2016
Severe spine curvature spurs rehabilitation, reflection on disability, self-image jennifer zhan & rachel swartz senior editor & staff reporter Before surgery, junior Preston Davis’s ribcage protruded on her right side and twisted out painfully. One of her shoulders rose higher than the other, and her hips were pushed into an unusual, boxy shape. “It was really painful to do too much physical activity because [my ribcage] was on top of my lungs and I couldn’t breathe as easily,” Davis said. “Running sometimes hurt because [my] vertebrae weren’t stacked perfectly, so it would crush [my] discs.” Davis had scoliosis, a condition in which the spine curves either inward or from side to side. Her curve started off in the range of 30 degrees and deteriorated into two curves at almost 36 and 73 degrees. “While I had a smaller curve, I wore [a back brace] for 23 hours a day, every day,” Davis said. “I didn’t have to undergo surgery [until I was over] the 50 degree mark.” Some, like senior Maddie Miller, have cases of scoliosis that don’t require immediate treatment. Miller calls this a win-lose situation. “[When I found out I had scoliosis], I thought my dance career was over, and I felt like my world was ending,” Miller said. “I remember going home and crying for a good two hours.” Since her 16 degree curve ultimately didn’t demand any invasive treatment, Miller was able to keep dancing. However, this also meant she continued to deal with daily pain. “Sitting in an auditorium hurts if I don’t have a chair back for support. I’ll have really intense pain through my right side when we do barre in ballet. If I’m hunched over studying, my lower back will start to hurt,” Miller said.
“I mean, I’m not a drama queen, I’m not going to be like, ‘I won’t do it.’ I will, but it definitely causes a lot of pain.” Still, even after surgery, the struggles don’t end. Recovering patients can be placed on bedrest for as long as a semester. “Right after [my surgery], it was really difficult to do anything on my own,” Davis said. “My mom had to help me go to the bathroom and change clothes. I couldn’t even roll over in bed.” Davis had to stop playing volleyball until her wounds completely healed. Her teammate, junior Hailey Bishop, was also unable to participate in physical activities for almost a full year after her surgery. “Actually, just recently, I had to stop playing volleyball again,” Bishop said. “Even though it’s been a while since my surgery, the severe back pain didn’t go away, and I just couldn’t handle it anymore.” Bishop said that having the support of her nurses, doctors, friends and family served as a huge comfort during the harder parts of her experience. The sentiment is echoed by sophomore Shelby Cave. “At the beginning of the summer, I tried to buy swimsuits that would cover [my surgical scar],” Cave said. “But my friends kept saying, ‘No, it’s really cool. It shows what you went through, it’s your mark’. And I stopped caring as much.” Cave said she’s grown from her encounter with scoliosis, and not just in the sense of the inches she gained after her surgery. A scare with a malfunctioning machine during surgery prompted her to realize how good her life had been pre-diagnosis, and how lucky she was to be financially prepared for this, considering that the average cost of scoliosis operations falls around $150,000. “I realized that I should be more thankful
for my family, and think a lot more about how I am to other people,” Cave said. It turns out that scoliosis comes with many other wake-up calls. “I’m more understanding of people with disabilities now because I know that [a condition] might not seem bad, but it might not just [be affecting] you physically,” Davis said. “It could also be changing how you think of yourself mentally.” Miller said that her experience with scoliosis fostered an increased interest in human anatomy and physiology. “My muscles actually built up on each side of my spine, but I wasn’t aware that my body was doing it. I think it’s really cool that, for the most part, your body will try to help you out,” Miller said. “In the near future, I’m thinking about going into nutrition or biochemistry.” She added that she doesn’t intend to let scoliosis prevent her from living a normal life. Bishop agrees. “Of course there are some limitations as to what I can do now. But I’d say, life is pretty awesome,” Bishop said. “I don’t have to worry about anything. As long as I’m healthy, that’s all that matters.”
degrees of curvature
PHOTOS PROVIDED BY THE CAVE, MILLER, BISHOP AND DAVIS FAMILIES
sophomore shelby cave
senior maddie miller
junior hailey bishop
junior preston davis
10 | feature | the roar
friday, sept. 23, 2016
Model prepares for future career haley mitchell & emily caldwell managing editor and staff reporter Freshman Delaney Martinez may be new to the hallways of Consol, but she has already graced the pages of foreign high fashion magazines. “I actually got scouted off of Instagram and this agent got me signed with a New York agency and an LA agency,” Martinez said. “Sometimes they do really look at your following on Instagram and Twitter and stuff. It makes a huge difference.” Martinez has been modeling since she was twelve, but being a high fashion model and living in College Station can be difficult. “You kind of have to be in New York, or wherever they are, and then they send you on castings, and then you see if you get picked for the job,” Martinez said. “I can’t really do that until I’m sixteen, so right now I decided to go to high school and just wait it out.” Martinez’s choice of home base is definitely unorthodox. “I didn’t think anyone from College Station could do something like that,” freshman Ellie Rhoades, Martinez’s close friend, said. “I was really surprised.” Martinez went to a casting call from Nikki Pederson, a College Station-based talent scout whose discoveries include Rico and Rani Rodriguez from ABC’s “Modern Family” and Disney Channel’s “Austin and Ally”, respectively, and Tiffany Thornton from Disney Channel’s “Sonny With A Chance.” “I never really thought about it too much until I went to that casting call and was like, ‘This is really cool. This would be super fun to do,”
DELANEY’S TIPS FOR
Martinez said. “I kind of fell in love with it through that.” Martinez looks up to models like Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner, who are famous for their large social media followings. “I feel like they’re like superheroes, but they’re supermodels,” Martinez said. “Social media is a huge part of the business for the fashion designers and the brands, but also for the models.” Martinez’s career has taken off, landing her contracts with several agencies in Los Angeles and New York, though she has two years to wait until she can officially model. “It’s not a full time job for me yet. I’m still pretty young, so I haven’t gotten to do too much,” Martinez said. “Right now I’m just building up my portfolio and doing test shoots.” Until then, her bold and positive personality is already making an impact. “I just tell her that she looks cute every day, and I mean she really does. Her sense of style is just so different than everybody else’s. She’s not afraid to wear what she wants to wear,” Rhoades said. “She’s confident in herself, and the way that she presents herself is just so good. I feel like I can be myself around her.” Martinez’s involvement in the fashion world hasn’t just affected those around her. “It’s impacted me a lot, just in the way I see the fashion world now, and different models and stuff,” Martinez said. “It’s a crazy, totally different world.”
• Remember that people of all ages see your posts; be careful! • Always try to be positive! • Be a role model to others!
MODEL STATUS PHOTO PROVIDED BY DELANEY MARTINEZ
friday, sept. 23, 2016
THE POWER OF LOVE
the roar | feature | 11
Cheerleader reflects on, overcomes stress related disorder maya girimaji section editor Every time somebody says “I’m so stressed I could pull out my hair,” junior Tatum Love thinks, “Oh. I did that.” Love was diagnosed with trichotillomania when she was in the sixth grade. According to trichstop.com, trichotillomania can affect 0.6% to 4.0% of the overall population. “It’s an obsessive compulsive disorder from anxiety and depression. It has many similarities to self harm,” Love said. “It causes you to pull out your hair and some people have it worse than others and some people just pluck the hair, like I did, and others will pull it out, eat it.” Before being diagnosed, she got lice at her friend’s house and tried picking out the eggs. She ended up pulling out her hair, accidentally, and realized that it relieved some of her stress. “I was in sixth grade, taking seventh grade advanced math and I felt alone because I didn’t have many friends in that class,” Love said. “It was [the stress from that] on top of getting lice and it just spiraled downwards.” Not aware of what it was, Love didn’t realize gravity of the situation until Stephanie Love, Tatum’s mother, discovered nickel-sized bald spots on her head. “I first came to know about Tatum pulling out her hair when she was in 6th grade. Her sister brought her to me one morning before school when she had been helping her with
her hair,” Stephanie Love said. “I will never forget the look on her face, scared and worried that I’d be mad or disappointed. I was neither. I was just confused as to how it got there in the first place, much less why.” Love and her mother began to research for the next month and once they discovered that it was trichotillomania, Love was sent to a therapist for one year. “A lot of it is internal. You have to find yourself. I did have a way of dealing with it, but it wasn’t the best because I still pulled out my hair. But going to therapy and knowing that you’re not alone [really helped],” Love said. “I tried to keep my hands busy. I would doodle in class and mess with a little bean bag. It was a lot of being honest and speaking to people about it.” For Love, depression and trichotillomania fed each other. When she was depressed, she pulled out her hair. But because she pulled out her hair, she was depressed. Whenever she was feeling depressed, though, she could reach out to a few close friends without having to worry about being judged. However, for Love’s friends, the signs of trichotillomania weren’t very obvious in the beginning. “No one can prepare you for the moment that your best friend looks you in the eyes and tells you that she has been struggling for years with a mental illness. It was heartbreaking. My first reaction was complete shock,” junior Caitlin Corkran said. “I never would have expected it because I always thought of Tatum as a confident and joyful person and I just never
thought I would hear her tell me about these self-doubts she was having.” Stephanie Love remembers how hard it was to watch her daughter struggle in those grueling years. Middle school is already a tumultuous time for kids when you’re trying to “find yourself,” and going through trichotillomania just made the whole process more complicated. “When you spread rumors about “that bald girl” or “the one with cancer” people hear it. Your words affect that person more than you will ever know,” Love said. “I hated being called bald, even though I was. It destroys you.” Despite struggling with trichotillomania for three years, and still fighting the urge to relapse, Love believes that this happened for a reason. Even though, at the time, she constantly asked “Why me?” she wouldn’t change it because it built her as a person and strengthened her relationship with her family, friends, and God. “If there’s one thing I’d love for everyone to know about Tatum it’s that she’s incredibly courageous! Throughout this journey, she taught me many times what real courage looks like. When I dropped her off at AMCMS each day, she’d walk into the school with her [flowered headband] and her head held high,” Stephanie Love said. “She continued to cheer and dance competitively through it all. We put her Thunder Elite bow on another head band and she still danced front and center. She showed braveness when I know it was hard and (even when she may have wanted to) she never, ever gave up.”
trichotillomania - a psychiatric disorder characterized by the compulsive plucking out of hairs from one's own body, especially from the scalp, eyebrows, or eyelashes. PHOTO BY MAYA GIRIMAJI
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12 | feature | the roar
friday, sept. 23, 2016
glo up sophomore zoe keller
Makeup artists find creative outlet through cosmetics Despite their clients’ reactions, not many see makeup as a respectable career. “I wish more people would respect [makeDoing makeup is the highlight of sopho- up] because it’s what I enjoy doing. It’s my pasmore Zoe Keller’s day. sion,” Keller said. “I respect other people’s pas“For most people, drawing is their outlet. sions. If they think that they’re going to the Makeup is my outlet,” Keller said. “Whenever major leagues, I don’t say they’re not going to. I’m having a bad day, I go to my room and I lay So I don’t get why some people come after me [my makeup] all out and I just go at it.” saying ‘Well, you’re never gonna make it.’” Last year, Keller started a small business doFor right now, Keller is mostly advertising ing girls’ makeup for events such as homecom- through Twitter, but ultimately, she dreams of ing and prom; she continued with it because of doing makeup for celebrities. her first client’s ecstatic reaction. “I would like to work for a moviestar kind of “She looked in the mirror and said ‘Oh my like Mario [Dedivanovic]; he does all of the KarGod, I feel like a princess,’” Keller said. “I would dashians and he’s just a big name,” Keller said. “I just like to hope to one make peoday to be as ple happy good as he for homeis.” coming; I’d Khan, like to make on the other them feel hand, plans junior good about to go into MEHR KHAN themselves.” medicine, L i k e but still Keller, junior Mehr Khan, also a makeup artist, plans to pursue makeup on the side. stresses that part of the reason she does makeup “I would like to maybe open a small little is to help others’ self-image. salon or something,” Khan said. “My sister likes “[The best part of doing makeup is] enhanc- to do hair and she’s really good at it; we were saying their natural features, and making them see ing for fun that we would open a salon and she how beautiful they really are,” Khan said. “Every would do hair and I would do makeup.” time I do someone’s makeup, it makes me really Keller and Khan both believe the customer’s happy [for them] to see themselves in a different satisfaction is ultimately what that the makeup light.” business should be about. According to Khan, many see makeup as a “I feel like people should love themselves bad thing, especially on young girls, but for both without make up as they do with makeup and of the makeup artists, cosmetics boost self ex- it should be something that you use to just be pression and passion. yourself,” Khan said. “I like the way it makes “I felt like I could be very confident. I am them feel and I like the way it makes me feel confident without makeup but with the makeup whenever I do [makeup] for other people.” I felt very special,” Khan’s client and junior Allie Vollentine said.
maya rios | staff reporter
“Every time I do someone’s makeup, it makes me really happy [for them] to see themselves in a different light.”
PHOTO BY HALEY MITCHELL
Naked One and Done Foundation Bye-Bye Undereye Concealer Nars Duo Sticks e.l.f. blush Anastasia brow pencil Maybelline Age Rewind concealer NYX brow gel Makeup Forever Obsessive Lash mascara
signature looks
junior mehr khan
NYX lipstick Colour Pop matte lipstick Urban Decay primer Tarte foundation & face powder Mac lipstick ABH eyebrow duo powder Too Faced foundation PORTRAITS BY MAYA RIOS
the roar | sports | 13
friday, sept. 23, 2016
hold your breath
Swimmer sets new records, finds unprecedented success yanichka ariunbold section editor
UPCOMING MEETS Oct 6 - Dual Meet with Bryan @ TIGER Nat (5:00/6:00) Oct 11 - Dual Meet with Cy Woods @ TIGER Nat (5:00/6:00) Nov 5 - Bob Stallings Invite @ TAMU (all day)
above: Sophomore Jessica Peng finishes her butterfly set. PHOTOS BY YANICHKA ARIUNBOLD
By the year 2019, the name “Jessica Peng” may cover the entire Tiger Swimming record board. “Jessica can do everything; she can do all four strokes. She can sprint, she can go distance,” swim coach Ryan Goodwyn said. “She could have the 500 freestyle record now if she wanted it badly enough, and she’s definitely fast enough to get the 200 and 100 freestyles.” Already a holder of the 200 IM and 100 butterfly records, Peng, just a sophomore, has already competed in swim competitions and programs at the state, national and even international levels. Most notably, Peng was selected as one of 50 swimmers nationwide to participate in the 2016 Diversity Select Camp last May. “They have this power point ranking system that’s based on your times in different events,” Peng said. “So the faster the time, the higher the point, and then they add all the points up for your overall score, which for me was good enough to get me into the camp.” The camp was tailored to encourage diversity in an up-and-coming generation of exceptionally talented young swimmers. “Everyone in the US can apply to go to it because what the [directors] wanted to do was get people of diverse ethnicities into swimming,” Peng said. “They did a really good job with the camp-- we met [Olympians] Allison Schmitt and Camille Adams there, and that was really cool.”
According to Goodwyn, Peng’s exposure to high-profile meets, such as the UIL State Swimming Championships, Texas Age Group State Championships and the North American Challenge Cup, has taken away her fear at “what would to an average kid feel like the biggest meet of their life.” “When you’ve swum against kids representing something bigger than Aggie Swim Club, more than just A&M Consolidated, when you’re
Her teammates believe that Peng’s impressive concentration in the pool means that she’s capable of fulfilling any of her lofty swimming ambitions. “Jessica’s always doing what she needs to be doing, and it’s kind of really awesome because it shows you that can be better if you’re doing everything the way you’re supposed to and keeping up,” sophomore and teammate Kyleigh Harrell said. “I feel like she totally deserves all her success, and it’s really cool to be hanging out with somebody to be doing stuff like that.” Goodwyn further stresses the extent to which Peng’s work ethic “leads by example” for the rest of the team. “I just think what she adds is pressure. If you’re a boy and you think you’re working hard, and you look over, and there’s Jessica kicking your butt, you want to step it up,” Goodwyn said. “So what she adds is a consistent hardworking element to the pool that makes everyone else want to keep up.” To Peng, who’s been a club swimmer for eight years, Tiger Swimming’s constant positivity and encouragement made her first year of high school swimming tremendously enjoyable. “[My club coach] did a really good job of making us feel like a family at [the Texas Age Group State Championships] because we all had to cheer at finals for each other, so I already knew that sort of feeling,” Peng said. “But at high school, it was like every single meet, at dual meets, we were cheering. It was such a blast.”
“What Jessica adds is consistent hardworking element to the pool that makes everyone else want to keep up.” swimming coach RYAN GOODWYN representing the Gulf Region or representing the United States, nerves at a dual meet or even Regionals aren’t going to be bad,” Goodwyn said. “It also helps when you’re the top seed by six seconds, at Districts.” Peng, with a 200 freestyle time only half a second off of the Junior Nationals cut, is already set on qualifying for the next big competition: the Olympic Trials. “Once you get the Winter and Summer Junior National cuts, the Trials cuts are fairly close,” Peng said. “I’m 3 seconds off the Trials Cut in the 200 free in long course, and though that’s a big improvement, it’s not crazy, like ten seconds.”
14 | sports | the roar
starter pack
Junior quarterbacks form closer bond, improve athleticism through shared position katerina kountakis section editor There’s an understudy under center. While junior Cade Williams leads the football team on the field on the gridiron, junior Daylan Faltysek stands ready to step in at a moment’s notice. “We expect our quarterbacks to operate our offense, manage the system, and get the ball out to the playmakers,” head football coach David Raffield said. “But the biggest thing is distributing the ball out to the people that need to make plays.” There was no tension between the juniors when Williams and Faltysek were chosen to play as quarterbacks. “We go to each other for help and have each other’s backs,” Williams said. “We are good friends.” Raffield believes Williams and Faltysek are the best players on the team right now, and Williams started 24 games as a receiver in the past years.
“Williams is very experienced and an incredible competitor,” Raffield said. “He brings playmaker ability to the table.” Faltysek has been playing football since he was five years old and has grown up wanting to play quarterback. “Daylan is learning how to manage and become a playmaker,” Raffield said. “His deal will be to get the ball into the playmakers’ hands.” In some situations, there might be a power struggle between the starter and backup quarterbacks, but it’s different for Raffield. “I was not worried about picking two juniors to be quarterbacks, because we believe the best people should be on the field, it is not about the class,” Raffield said. But the players and quarterbacks are still feeling the pressure, with only 27 seniors returning to play, creating a challenge for the team. “Because there aren’t that many seniors, the juniors have to step up,” Faltysek said. “An-
other challenge is that sometimes you get too focused and forget to have fun with the game. You have to make sure to have fun.” To Williams, being a quarterback means being a leader on and off the field, even if it is difficult at times. “Anywhere you go, you have to represent the Tigers,” Williams said. “You are the guy that has to give the ball and run the offense, so your team and the offense players are looking up to you.” In order to earn their spots on the team, Williams and Faltysek have dedicated much time and effort to be quarterbacks. In the spring, every football position is open and every potential football player competes for them. “We are real big about competing every day for your spot,” Raffield said. “It’s not like a thing where you just sign up for a position or once you play a position, you don’t get moved. It’s a chess piece game every year and it’s trying to get the best kids on the field.”
D
friday, sept. 23, 2016
A
B
C
A: Junior Cade Williams scrambles to evade Austin High’s defensive line. B: Running the ball, Williams slips past the defense. C: Junior Daylan Faltysek leaps up to catch a pass. D: Clutching the ball, Faltysek attempts to avoid a tackle from the opposing team. The Tigers will play against Temple on September 30 for the homecoming game. PHOTOS BY JENNIFER ZHAN
the roar | review |15
friday, sept. 23, 2016
er. In my humble opinion, any of these items is slightly more valuable.) In order to milk the full value out of the experience, you have to stick around and go outside to patio. The drinks came fast, so we headed outside to the garden, which looked pretty much like it came out of a trendy Instagram feed. As we sipped on our drinks, we also ran around the garden, blew bubbles, drew with chalk, and took amazingly cute photos next to the bright chairs, tables and various plants and other accoutrements. Between the quality of the juice (fair), the price (awful for a high schooler with no disposable income) and the atmosphere (out of this world), it’s well worth a visit if you have an hour and lots of spare change. Otherwise? Don’t bother fighting your way through traffic to get to Northgate.
E C I JU
e
Walking into the Northgate Juice Joint feels like walking into a cross between a children’s book and an animated version of paradise—the entire venue is filled with bold colors and blocky shapes that make the tiny place feel like a sophisticated playground. When we walked in, we were overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information on the walls; between the overflowing menu with about 50 options and the bright art and decor, it was a little bit of a sensory overload. We tried the lemonade, cafe mocha and the Flamingo, and they were pretty good, but they definitely weren’t completely worth the price on their own. Each drink runs from around $6 to $7, which is ridiculously expensive for a juice or a smoothie. (This could also get you a Hybird from Freebirds, four chicken tenders from Wings ‘n More, or a sandwich from Blue Bak-
N | s O w R e i T v H e r G r A a TE or
vi burgess, katerina kountakis & sueji han editor-in-chief, section editor & staff reporter
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We tried the cafe mocha, lemonade and Flamingo smoothie. PHOTOS BY VI BURGESS
T N I JO
16 | etcetera | the roar
holy cow
friday, sept. 23, 2016
Senior raises livestock on family ranch sueji han | staff reporter Senior Hunter Scott has an udderly outstanding field of cows. “Cows are like children,” Scott said. “You know when you have children you have to put those little things into the outlet to not electrocute themselves? One of the cows bit the electrical fence and flipped over.” Just as looking after little children requires lots of work, looking out for cows requires constant supervision. “All of the little things they do I have to keep track of, or else things disappear like the wiring harness,” Scott said. “If they eat it, then that makes them very sick.” Many cows in one place can be quite a handful; for Scott’s family, taking care of the cows is like a second job. “I don’t know how many cows we exactly own; [it’s] somewhere around the teens,” Scott said. “I like number 5, Ginger, [because] she’s well behaved.” Scott has been helping to raise cows on his family’s ranch since 2011. “We do have a few Jersey Bulls, known as milk cows,” Scott said. “[We also have] Brangus, which are a combination of Angus and Brahman, but they’re generally more aggressive.”
The cows take a lot of upkeep not only because they consume massive amounts of feed and water, but also because of specific diseases and industry regulations. “Cows have been precious in the beef industry for many years,” Scott said. “Since there’s no drought now, the cost of raising cows is hurting our profits.” In people’s lives there are always ups and downs. Unfortunately, like people, cows also have a downfall to their lives. “Beef cows are to be slaughtered within 2 years,” Scott said. “After 2 years, there’s a higher chance towards Mad Cow Disease.” Raising livestock is hard work, but for Scott, there’s always an upside. “The most interesting part is being able to see how the grass that the cows eat turn into meat and protein which only some animals can do,” Scott said. “The most frustrating is holding all the responsibility for everything that happens to them as they are alive.” Cows are animals, meaning that like other animals, they do crazy things. “You should not be surprised that the cows are afraid of you, because they usually always are,” Scott said. “You have to be out there long enough and interact, in order for them to get comfortable.”
above: Senior Hunter Scott poses next to three Brangus cows.
above: Two Brangus cows wait to be directed to the feeding area. below: Scott prepares to feed a Jersey Bull.
PHOTOS BY SUEJI HAN