Volume 4, Issue 2

IN THIS ISSUE

Cover by Solana Brown

12-13

Then and Now

6-9

In Our Nature

With the rise of viral videos, many are becoming more aware of environmental issues and are trying to solve them before it’s too late.

Photo by Jack Stromberg

2 • The Chariot

Between the new Troy High and old Troy High, the student culture has changed, but students are also impacted by past alumni.

Photo courtesy of The Gladiator Yearbook

14

Athlete of the Month: Jessica Robinson

With new opportunities, Robinson talks about her current team and hopes for her new one.

Photo by Jack Stromberg

27

22-23

To Talk or Not to Talk

Music of the Year: Albums that Defined 2018 Technology is everywhere in modern society and it drastically affects how we communicate and interact.

Photo Illustration by Tracy Cabej and Solana Brown

Web editor Michael Thistlethwaite and staff writer Vivienne Francois discuss the best albums of the year.

Photo by Annie Smuts

Should participation grades exist? Cocopy editor Elisabeth Andrews defends their validity and reflects on becoming more vocal.

Photo by Annie Smuts

Jan. 2019 • 3

AUTO GROUP

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Email troychariot@gmail.com for info.

Letter from the Editors

O

ver the last few months, many of you may have noticed that It’s been awhile since The Chariot released an issue. In the past we have published monthly, but our print content has been absent since late October.

That is because we have done a bit of reflecting. In early November, many of us attended the JEA/NSPA National Journalism Convention in Chicago and were inspired and taken aback by what some of our peers are doing. There are so many amazing journalism programs all over the country, and to be able to learn from them was an honor. But after coming back, we really thought critically about what were doing and how it compared to other programs around the country. The Chariot is still in its infancy as a publication, having only started four years ago, so we felt like we collectively needed to make our brand stick out. So, here we are today.

Many things have changed around here since our last issue. First, we must address the elephant in the room: we are now a magazine. This is something many of us have been wanting to do for a very long time, and after many months of negotiation, it has finally happened.

One of the problems we had with being a monthly newspaper was we simply cannot be timely because of the large gap between when we brainstorm and send to print. But magazines focus on in-depth issues rather than trying to be the first to report the news. We are still reporting the news—it is our duty—but we are doing that online and reserving

Arie

Annie Smuts Co-Editor-in-Chief

Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn Piggott Co-Copy Editor

Gabrielle Francois Co-Editor-in-Chief

i

And

Elisabeth Andrews Co-Copy, Opinion Editor

Ohio Olivia Perron Business, Feature Editor

Tracy

Tracy Cabej Design, In-Depth Editor Galbzy

Solana Brown Entertainment Editor

our print space for in-depth analysis.

Another big change is that students now have to pay for the magazine. This was a really tough decision for us and we debated it for weeks on end. We’re not doing this to be greedy. We are not pocketing the money or getting lazy trying to get advertisements. The truth is that printing a magazine is much more expensive than a newspaper—but we think that the content is much better.

We hope that you all will embrace this change and look forward to what we have to come. This has been a challenging transition, but we think it will reap many benefits.

In other news, we have begun podcasting. In order to explore the issues affecting our community and let sources tell their stories in their own words, we have begun our first podcast called “For Your Consideration.” A new episode is uploaded every week on Soundcloud and the host is editor-in-chief Annie Smuts. We have also begun venturing into creating multimedia packages, which are interactive web pages that provide you with information that is best conveyed visually. This is something we’re very excited to continue exploring in the future.

In conclusion, we have made a lot of changes lately, but we believe they are all for the better. We are moving to become a more modern publication in a field that is ever-evolving, which is a challenging feat but it is a challenge we are willing to take on. We hope you enjoy this issue, we worked very hard on it.

tt Jack fatherly Stromberg Photo Editor

Megan

a a e

Megan Wallace News Editor

Ninneman

Michael Thistlethwaite Sports, Web Editor

cos

Cole Mertz Source Editor

Sarmatia

i

r

Samantha Fisher Web Editor

Jan. 2019 • 5

PHOTOS BY JACK STROMBERG

I

n August of 2015, marine biologist Christine Figgener posted a video of her team removing a plastic straw from the nostril of a rescued sea turtle. Over time, the video went viral, starting a nationwide movement against plastic straws. Some companies, including Starbucks and American Airlines, are now aiming to eliminate the use of plastic straws.

“I think plastics in general really are getting out of control,” science teacher Rob Zynda said. “We need plastics, especially in the medical arena. Got to have it, not going to get rid of it. But there’s so much plastic that’s getting out into the water. Not even talking just oceans. Even in the Great Lakes they’re finding microplastics, which are essentially the breakdown of those plastics, in the muscle tissue of the fish.”

While there are other environmental issues the public should be aware of, Zynda believes the socalled war on plastic straws is a step in the right direction.

“You would think that it would be a positive that could lead to other avenues,” Zynda said. “I think putting it on the straws, people might say, ‘You know what, there’s more to it than straws.

Let’s do water bottles. Let’s do plastic cups.’”

Another infamous viral video is the one posted

by National Geographic depicting a starving polar bear in its final moments, likely after struggling to find food due to climate change. After being tweeted by Canadian minister of the Environment Catherine McKenna with the caption “This is what climate change looks like,” the video quickly became the face of the fight against global warming.

“I think climate change is tied into everything,” Zynda said. “We look at the ice caps melting, sea levels rising. You have a lot of countries that are at sea level as it is, some very populous countries like Bangladesh. They’re going to be in a big hurt as this continues. And it’s going to continue.”

Some may recall the outrage that ensued after American dentist Walter Palmer shot and killed a lion known as Cecil in July

6 • The Chariot • News

2015. Palmer traveled to Zimbabwe, where hunting guides lured Cecil off the wildlife reserve he was living on so Palmer could shoot him without facing charges.

“That was wrong,” Zynda said. “[Palmer] was part of the program. I would say you’re being a little bit ignorant to not realize what’s going on. Cecil the lion was drawing in more money in tourist dollars when it comes to the local economy. That just gives people who are legally hunting a black eye.”

“Troy High students should care about the environment because we’re the ones that are going to inhabit it. It only makes sense that we should take care of something that’s eventually going to be our home.”

- senior Anthony Zhang Zynda believes that when executed lawfully, regulated trophy hunting can be beneficial. Not only can it help the local economy, but it can do so without harming populations of animals.

“I am a hunter,” Zynda said. “I have no desire to go shoot an elephant or a tiger or lion. I think in some African communities, when it comes to a British

person or an Australian person or an American person spending 50 grand to shoot an elephant, and the local village gets to eat the elephant, that’s OK. I think those types of trophy hunts are managed.

We look at wildlife in the United States, and it’s managed. It’s designed not to cause extinction of a species, and that’s part of the deal.”

Senior Jahow Yu believes the South African legislation on trophy hunting of elephants is beneficial for both the local economy and the welfare of the wildlife.

“The South African law is one that is extremely well thought-out,” Yu said. “It recognizes a desire from the planet and satisfies it through actions that benefit the environment.”

Zynda warns of a more serious problem: illegal poaching.

“Poaching is huge,” Zynda said. “If you look at the elephant population, poaching is huge. It’s out of control, and it’s all about the ivory trade in China.”

In addition to elephants, highly endangered rhinoceroses are frequently poached for their horns. One subspecies, the northern white rhino, has only two living specimens, and both are females. The last male northern white rhino died on a reserve March 19, 2018. Rhino horn, like elephant ivory, has always been viewed as a collector’s item because of the carvings and other novelties that can be made from it. But unlike elephant ivory, rhino horn has recently become popular for traditional medicine, despite having no medicinal properties whatsoever.

“The rhino horn is interesting because it’s just keratin,” Zynda said. “Just like our fingernails and our hair. But it’s that whole idea that it’s a collector’s item. [People think,] ‘it’s exotic, so I want it.’”

In November of 2018, an organization known as VETPAW ( Veterans Empowered To Protect African Wildlife) posted an educational video about rhino poaching to its Instagram page and encouraged viewers to share it with others. Just like the sea turtle and the plastic straw or the starving polar bear, this PSA quickly went viral.

However, this is not the first time elephant and rhino poaching has become an issue.

“It was huge in the eighties,” Zynda said. “We slowed down that whole process, and now it’s fired up again.”

As human population increases, the struggle to protect the health of the planet is more difficult and important than ever

By Jack Stromberg • Photo Editor, Graphics Team China is infamous for its contributions to environmental issues. However, the Chinese government is trying to turn that around; one positive step being banning all ivory trade.

“When you look at China, you can see there’s a lot of hypocrisy,” Zynda said. “They’ll try to do something positive over here, yet they’re still doing the negatives over there. China produces the biggest portion of the world’s greenhouse gases.

We’re second. China is a leader in renewable energy, yet they burn fossil fuels like crazy. But when you think about endangered species, look at their pandas. They’re doing alright. They’re a proponent of keeping those guys going.”

However, Zynda does not condemn China’s environmental policies.

“With 1.3 billion people, you’re going to see impact. It’s just the way it’s going to be,” Zynda said. “Do they realize that they’ve got a problem?

Definitely. They’re trying to figure it out.”

In August 2018, an environmental organization known as Greenpeace produced a public service announcement regarding the plight of orangutans in Indonesia. Orangutans are currently being threatened by the seemingly endless construction of palm oil plantations in their native habitat. Mainly directed toward children, the minute-and-a-half long cartoon told a story of a little girl with a baby orangutan loose in her room. The ad was set to air on television in the United Kingdom, but was shot down by politicians for being “too political.”

“It’s a very sad thing, what those primates are going through,” Zynda said. “You would hope that it will stop. I don’t see it stopping. I tell my students all the time. I’ll show them a bengal tiger, and I have to say, ‘In your lifetime, these guys will be extinct.’ I show them the orangutans, and I say the same thing. These guys are on their way out, and it’s from human pressure.”

Zynda believes the corporations responsible for Indonesia’s deforestation have no regard for the welfare of the endangered species living there, and are concerned only with expansion.

“It’s about greed,” Zynda said. “It’s about money. It’s not about sustainability. It’s about growth, growth, growth. It’s not about long-term.”

While Yu does not necessarily agree with the ethics of the impact business has on the planet, he

does defend the desire to make profit.

“At the end of the day, corporations all have one goal in mind: make profits,” Yu said. “It’s not that some companies don’t care about the environment.

Almost all do. Nowadays, countless companies will donate to conservation groups or do community service that helps the environment. But it’s important to remember that in a capitalist economy such as ours, everything a company does is to increase sales.”

However, this does not mean compromise cannot be reached.

“A lot of less-developed countries are using methods that are detrimental to the environment,” Yu said. “There needs to be regulation on how much pollution they produce. Just because they’re developing doesn’t mean they can do so without regard to the planet.”

“The public has to start thinking, ‘Do we need these huge homes? Do we need to have every gadget that’s out there?’”

- science teacher Rob Zynda Yu believes the key to fixing environmental policies is to find a good balance between protecting the economy as well as the planet.

“I believe that in the interest of humanity, we should figure out certain legislature that helps mitigate our carbon footprint but be laissez-faire enough to make sure U.S. companies are successful and competitive at home and abroad,” Yu said.

While orangutans, tigers, elephants and other animals in Indonesia threatened by deforestation are protected species, corporations responsible for wiping them out are not being held accountable for doing so.

“Indonesia has millions of people living there,”

Zynda said. “The standard of living is not great.

Your natural resources are where the money is to try to take care of your people. And that’s what they’re doing.

They really don’t have any regard for conservation because there are so many people living in poverty.”

Zynda believes the only chance at slowing palm oil production is to decrease the demand for it.

“Look at all the processed foods we consume, and how many of those foods have palm oil in them,” Zynda said. “Shut it down. Stop buying it. Maybe there will be a change.”

Zynda stresses that while some environmental issues may seem to be superficial, they bring an impact that will only increase if no attention is brought to them.

“I think the average person is already being affected by pollution,” Zynda said. “Our water quality. We have air quality issues.

Think about your food.

People go to Nino’s, to the fresh fruit market for fresh foods.

There’s all kinds of chemical compounds that we forget about, or don’t want to know about. A lot of these chemicals, after longterm exposure, are carcinogenic.”

Continued on page 8

Yu believes that state governments can begin to change their policies more easily than federal legislation.

“The environment is an asset that humanity as a whole is dependent upon,” Yu said. “Local governments have the ability to pass legislation rather quickly compared to multinational organizations, so the quickest reforms should start locally.”

Younger generations have an obligation to improve the environment if things are to change for the better.

“Troy High students should care about the environment because we’re the ones that are going to inhabit it,” senior and co-president of Environmental Activists Club Anthony Zhang said.

“The decisions that we make now are going to impact our living conditions and not anybody else’s. It only

m a k e s

Photos by Jack Stromberg Graphic by Solana Brown

8 • The Chariot • News

sense that we should take care of something that’s eventually going to be our home.”

Zhang believes our area’s impact on the environment is especially imperative because of one of our state’s most cherished resources.

“Something that sets us apart is the fact that we live in Michigan, the only state that borders all of the Great Lakes,” Zhang said. “As such, our actions that impact the environment should be held in a much higher importance due to the fact that our actions could compromise the quality of water in the Great Lakes.”

Some impacts of disregard for the environment are already becoming apparent locally.

“The asthma rates downriver in Detroit are very high because of what they’re breathing in,” Zynda said. “People are being affected.”

Zynda believes plastic pollution, along with other types of chemical pollution, is continuously becoming a bigger problem here in the Great Lakes.

“I’m a brewer,” Zynda said. “I grow hops. I brew beer. It’s been in my family for over a century. They’re finding [microplastics] in homebrewed beer. Michigan’s a big state when it comes to that, and they’re finding microplastics in our beer.”

The Great Lakes gets a new invasive species about every six months. One in particular is believed to be very dangerous to the ecosystem.

“The Asian Carp is huge,” Zynda said. “If they make it big in the Great Lakes, they’re really going to change the food web, to a point where the game fish that people pay money to go fishing for are going to be greatly impacted.”

Yu suggests that altering hunting and fishing laws to make exceptions for invasive would not only encourage removal of dangerous species, but would also boost the hunting and fishing industry in local areas and thus improve the local economy.

“If there was legislation passed, probably at a state level, that allowed for certain species considered a threat to the environment to be hunted more liberally, it would effectively kill two birds with one stone,” Yu said.

If more is not done to monitor and protect

the health of the Great Lakes, the fishing industry that brings a mass of wealth to the economy of Michigan and other surrounding states will be at risk.

“It’s an economic issue,” Zynda said. “People pay money to go fly fishing, or fishing for trout.

For Michigan, fishing is a multi-billion dollar industry.”

Zynda suggests that if people begin to reconsider some aspects of their lives, things may begin to change for the better.

“The public has to start thinking, ‘Do we need these huge homes? Do we need to have every gadget that’s out there?’” Zynda said. “I think if we had a simpler life that was more sustainable, we could have a decent life. Live in comfortable settings, but not have that carbon footprint or that impact on the environment that we have today.”

While the U.S. has the ability to make a signifi-

“Our actions that impact the environment should be held in a much higher importance due to the fact that our actions could compromise the quality of water in the Great Lakes.”

- senior Anthony Zhang cant positive impact, our government’s eagerness to protect the environment has weakened in recent years.

“Americans are very reactive,” Zynda said.

“We’re not proactive. Our own government comes out with a big report and says, ‘Look, this is an issue,’ and then our politicians say they

don’t believe it. It’s kind of sad.”

While the legitimacy of climate change has long been discussed and debated, disbelievers seem to be more prevalent now than in past years.

“You have all these scientists who work for NASA and NOAA, these big-time agencies, and

“Our own government comes out with a big report and says, ‘Look, this is an issue,’ and then our politicians say they don’t believe it.”

- science teacher Rob Zynda they’re saying we’ve got a problem and we need to fix it,” Zynda said. “And that they know what we can do to start to fix it. But we ignore it. We put our heads in the sand.”

While China’s ban on elephant ivory was a step forward, the U.S. took a step backward in 2018 by legalizing importation of the material.

In addition, the Migratory Birds Act (one of the first acts implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency since its establishment) was also repealed. This act protected nesting grounds of migratory seabirds.

“There’s an analogy I always use,” Zynda said. “Say you’re not feeling good. You go to the doctor, and the doctor says you’ve got a clogged artery. Do you look at the doctor and say, ‘You’re full of crap,’ or do you say, ‘Can you fix me, doc?’”

While solving this planet-sized problem is no easy task, the average person can make a difference. In June of 2018, amidst allegations of ethics scandals, EPA director Scott Pruitt was confronted by a woman named Kristin Mink. Mink criticized Pruitt’s decisions within the EPA, and urged him to resign before the scandals push him out. The encounter was recorded and posted on Facebook, and soon went viral. No more than two weeks later, Pruitt resigned.

Yu believes we’re capable of making improvements, and now is the time to start.

“At this point most of the world understands

the consequences of pollution,” Yu said. “Governments need to create more effective laws and the public has to actually become more diligent in their treatment of the environment, starting with recycling, composting and such. I definitely think we can change the way we are impacting the environment.”

Zynda believes that although it may be a tough road ahead, with enough action taken by everyday people, things can improve.

“I think the problem for most people is that the issue is too big,” Zynda said. “People don’t really want to deal with the change. But people lead over the years, and all of a sudden other people follow. You can see it happen in your own school, you can see it happen in your own community.

Eventually people are going to come on board. It may take a while. But in the end, it might work.”

Zhang also believes that the people hold the power to inspire change.

“Significant change comes from politicians and industrial leaders,” Zhang said. “But these leaders have to listen to the average people to maintain power. So therefore long term change comes from the attitudes and the needs of the average people. As long as the people continuously advocate for the environment, over time change will happen.”

Part of the key to solving these problems is educating the public on the issues at hand. In 2016, former Chinese basketball player Yao Ming partnered with WildAid to put out a PSA against shark fin soup, which was very trendy at the time, especially in China. This PSA alone made a strong impact, successfully lowering the demand for shark fin soup. By raising awareness, people’s perspectives can be changed.

“You’ve got to read,” Zynda said. “You’ve got to research. Don’t get stuck on just one news outlet, or one source. It really is about educating yourself.”

Zynda encourages those wanting to help to get involved.

“Start locally,” Zynda said. “Volunteer. Do a habitat improvement activity at the local state rec area up in Lake Orion or the Nature Center removing invasives. Work at Habitat for Humanity, building the small, economically efficient homes for the less fortunate. Spend a little extra money and make DTE or Consumers’ Energy ensure that some of your energy is renewable. All those

things are going to cause a little bit of benefit.”

Zhang encourages students to start making changes in their daily lives if they want to contribute to a healthier environment.

“One of the first would be to ditch plastic water bottles,” Zhang said. “We collect hundreds of water bottles each week and a lot of this waste could be negated if students just switched to drinking from the fountain or using a reusable water bottle. Students can reduce their water usage. Reuse plastic bags instead of throwing them away, I even have an entire drawer in my house devoted to plastic bags. And of course there’s always recycling your paper, plastics and all that shebang.”

For those who may be hesitant about getting involved, Zhang encourages students to do it with friends.

“As long as the people continuously advocate for the environment, over time change will happen.”

- senior Anthony Zhang

“It’s often hard to take action on your own, so the easiest way to inspire others would be inspire your friends to take actions with you,” Zhang said. “This could be as easy as going on a walk with your friends and picking up trash along the way or even joining a club with your friends where you can spend time with your friends and better the environment.”

Right now, it’s not quite clear what the future holds. Zynda is optimistic.

“Maybe we can’t fix it all in a year, or ten years,” Zynda said. “But we can start.”

Jan 2019 • 9

VACCINATION

T

A recent trend of not vaccinating kids has caused old diseases to resurface

By Leah Guindi • Staff Writer

he Anti-vaccination movement has been around since vaccines were first invented. The movement gained more popularity and attention in 1994 when a deaf woman former Miss America, Heather Whitestone and her mother blamed vaccination for her deafness. In the 1990’s, news also surfaced that vaccines were the cause of autism. Although autism is developed in the womb, it did not and still doesn’t deter the belief. The belief is causing families not to vaccinate and eradicated diseases to reappear. So far, some of the diseases that have made a reappearance are Mumps, Measles, Whooping cough, and Chicken pox.

A vaccine is made from a small amount of dead or weak germs that can cause that disease. It builds up your immunity to the disease helping to prevent you from getting sick. In Michigan, vaccines are required unless a parent or guardian of the child gives a written statement to the administrator of the school. If the child is vaccinated, there needs to be a proof of immunization given to their school.

The Mumps was almost entirely eradicated but in 2015, 688 cases were reported to the Center for Disease Control. Similar to the Mumps, measles also had an outbreak in 2014 of 667 cases and another 189 cases in 2015. In 2016, 1.2 million people died from the vaccine-preventable disease: Tuberculosis. Both the Mumps and Measles and while measles is more severe it is still important to get the vaccination for both. Another re-emerging disease is Polio, a virus that destroys the nerve cells in the spinal cord. In 2017, there were 22 cases reported. These diseases decreased by almost 99 percent but are now slowly coming back.

Vaccinations for children are important because the diseases they prevent against can be dangerous and are potentially deadly due to the weakness of a child’s immunity. Since the Polio vaccine was introduced, it has prevented 1.5 million deaths of children. From 2000 to 2017, the measles vaccine prevented an estimated 21 million deaths.

Many anti-vaxxers believe that vaccines are just a ploy for profits and deaths due to not being vaccinated are a mirage by the media. Others believe that the Center for Disease Control is lying about the importance of vaccines and are on the payroll of Pharma companies. In America, vaccines can cost anywhere from $40-$200 per dose.

Although that could be argued with the fact that other countries in the world use the same vaccinations as the USA. Many people do not vaccinate for the flu due to a belief the vaccine doesn’t work. Some people don’t vaccinate out of fear for their child’s well-being and safety. A common belief among the anti-vaccination community that vaccines can cause mental delays and other problems.

“It’s a scary thing,” English teacher Jodie Duda said.

Some believe that there is no point of vaccination when the disease isn’t present in their country, but there is still risk. Vaccines prevented 21 million hospitalizations and 732,000 deaths among children in the last 20 years.

“I think vaccinations are a positive thing,” Duda said.

While there are people who don’t agree with vaccination many people still do. Around 85 percent of the world is vaccinated. Vaccines have already eradicated Smallpox saving an approximated five million lives each year, the next disease on its way to being eradicated is Polio but only if people are vaccinated.

“These are options to stop pain, save lives and help people,” doctor Magdy Migally said.

It is rare for a vaccine to cause a death or pain but there are some cases where a vaccine has taken a negative toll on a person. Guillain Barre syndrome is a condition where the immune system attacks nerves which can cause paralysis. Very rarely the flu shot can trigger GBS, but it can also be caused by just having the flu.

Often if there is a reaction to the flu shot it is minor and not as severe as GBS. “There is no argument about it vaccines are a must,” Migally said.

While there is a debate from both sides about the safety and usefulness of vaccines, the facts are that they save lives.

Graphics by Solana Brown

10 • The Chariot • News

Number of U.S. School Shootings Rises in 2018

Controversy swarms the country as school shootings increase and start to become the norm

By Bella Zaleski • Staff Writer

Photo by Bianca Bucholtz Junior Amrita Umamaheswaran and senior Mahnoor Imran participate in the National School Walkout on April 20, 2018 at Boulan Park.

Sept. 11: an 18-year-old student was shot and killed in a school in Las Vegas, Nevada. May 25: during a high school football game in Wellington, Florida, two people were shot. May 18: 13 people were injured and 10 were killed in a high school in Santa Fe, Texas. That’s just three out of 37 school shooting that have happened in 2018.

How many people have you heard talking about these tragedies? Probably few to none. According to a recent Harvard study, the rate of mass shootings since 2011 has tripled, and there hasn’t been much happening to stop it. There are many arguments that have been circulating ever since this problem occurred, regarding the second amendment and gun control laws. The media and the reactions of the country reveal an interesting topic to be discussed: are school shootings becoming normalized?

Since the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, there were 25 more school shootings that most people aren’t aware of. Large mass shootings like Sandy Hook, back in 2012, gained awareness on social media and caused the grieving of the entire nation. Yet in 2017, Rancho Tehama Elementary school experienced a mass shooting, killing five people and injuring dozens, and most had not seen it at all in the media.

Living in the post-Columbine generation, many students feel the reactions to shootings seem to lessen as the death count grows, and it starts to feel more like a number instead of a tragedy.

“The more bad things happen, the more it becomes a normal thing,” senior Zenon Stepien said.

While not blinking an eye at such events may

make our generation seem heartless, many say that the government is at fault for this mentality. A lack of action, whether it be gun control or other ways to stop this epidemic, have people all over the US discussing what is right and wrong.

Gun control being the big topic talked about.

While some seek to protect the Second Amendment, others want to sacrifice their right to bear arms to end this cycle.

Many conservatives are against gun control and argue that banning guns will not solve the problem. They feel that even if guns are banned, people will still be able to get their hands on them if they really want to. They think it would be similar to Prohibition; alcohol was banned, which created speakeasies and more crime-ridden and dangerous environments for drinking, ultimately making the problem worse. The same thing could potentially happen; guns are banned, creating a new black market and in the end causing more crime and more problems. There is also the argument on this side about the Second Amendment.

The United States was built on a foundation, and that foundation is the Constitution, which was meant to be a rulebook for the country. The amendments were made to protect the country and people’s rights and many feel that banning guns would be against the Constitution and its rights.

“I think that it is important to be able to defend ourselves because tyranny by the government is what we need to be prepared for,” senior Zenon Stepien said.

The other side of gun control argues many points made by the more conservative side.

Some people say that in order to protect schools

from shootings, the government needs to put more regulations on or even completely ban all guns. They feel that the Second Amendment shouldn’t matter with how many lives are being lost and that the government needs to take action. Countries like Australia banned guns, and haven’t had a mass shooting since 1996. So the question people are asking is, ‘If it works for them, why wouldn’t it work for us?’

“In my opinion, it’s not a problem about your Second Amendment, it’s a matter of losing lives,” senior Abby Short said.

Many students know, growing up, that when there was danger in the area of the school, they would go into a ‘code red’ lockdown, where all students and teachers would hide in their classrooms and lock the doors. For years, this was accepted as a proficient safety protocol, until the recent shootings that have evidently proven it wrong. Many schools have started creating new safety procedures, some of which have been controversial. Providing teachers with weapons has been a proposed idea, which only caused more room for arguments. Some think that this could instantly stop an attack, while others disagree and say that it just adds fire to fire, as well as cause unease for students. One new addition to many schools’ and Troy High’s safety procedures include plans for escape and fighting the attacker.

These very new reforms hope to bring change and new safety to students across the country, but only time will tell if it will work. Senior Zoe Rouvalis has faith in the new reforms, “I think what they’re doing at Troy High at least is good. They’re doing their best to keep us safe,” Rouvalis said.

Jan. 2019 • 11

Student and alumni share their perspectives on the growth of Troy High from the past to present

By Gabrielle Francois • Co-Editor-In-Chief rom being number 441 in the nation and among the top ten in the state, our school has seen growth and encountered changes along the way to receive the accreditation it has today. The evolving student culture at here has shaped the school and many former and current student experiences. It was originally founded in 1950, located on Livernois near Big Beaver. With around 1,500 students compared to 2,000 today, it continues to be a place where students of all backgrounds want to continue their education.

A 1986 alumni, Mike Smuts, has noticed the differences from when he was a student and suggests that perhaps the past competition between Troy High and Athens led to Troy students setting themselves apart.

“Troy High School did not receive much funding for facility improvements over many years, which caused the school to become a little ‘run down,’” Smuts said. “In contrast, Athens was a newer school with much fancier facilities and equipment. Therefore, I think THS students feel a little bit ‘left out’ and it provided some motivation for the students to excel academically as well as athletically.”

One thought that may enter people’s minds when they hear the school’s name, is the high academic performance level. Many of the alumni agree that it raised the bar academically and created a name for itself– now one of the best-ranked in the state.

Former anatomy and biology teacher Bob Hamilton believes that the atmosphere at Troy was more well-rounded, and had many opportunities to practice anything students wanted. However, Hamilton still firmly believes that the school does a great job trying to make it an environment for all.

“When I first started at Troy in the 70s and early 80s, education was more

12 • The Chariot • Feature

rounded because there wasn’t as much stress on academia; it was whatever you need and want to go into, you go into,” he said. “However, now, Troy High is educating its students based on all needs of society.”

Alumni Terri Mastrovito also agrees that the level of academics has shifted from when she attended the school.

“Academically, we weren’t bad, but nowhere near where it is today,” Mastrovito said. “We were recognized for sports and a growing district.”

Another big topic for discussion for our school is the high diversity level, which some say is one factor that sets it apart from other schools.

Senior Faith Keating enjoys being part of a school so diverse and sees the many benefits that may come with it.

“My mom always tells me that she never grew up in a very diverse place and that we’re so fortunate to be surrounded by all this culture and I think that’s really cool too,” Keating said.

Although academics have been presented strongly in the school, sports have also been a significant aspect here. Many alumni enjoy reflecting on the past successes that sports teams celebrated.

“We had a lot of great athletic accomplishments, making it to the state finals in football, being ranked number 10 in basketball, as well as significant academic and community involvement items,” Smuts said.

Along with these sports comes school pride, and the school continues to strive for that. For some students, sports play a major part in their lives because they bring something new and enjoyable to the school other than academics.

“A moment that I know when I have pure colt determination is every time I step out on the soccer field and show that all my hard work– individually and with my teammates– has paid off,” sophomore Andrew Howard said. “It’s fun to represent your school in that way.”

Many current students now have teachers and peers around them that make them proud to be a Troy Colt- one of which whose mom graduated here.

“I like going to Troy High because of all of the people around you, they are all usually nice and you can ask questions and no one will be mean or make fun of you,” senior Garrett Mastrovito said. “The teachers are also very nice and helpful.”

Hamilton agrees that the school is a very beneficial place for individuals to be. One of the key components of the school that he thinks makes it a stand out is the respect.

“If you want a great word to describe Troy High I would say respect.

Respect for the building, respect for each other, respect for the education,” he said.

Administrators here have worked hard to make the school a safe and enjoyable environment for all and many past and present students recognize the quality of the support they receive.

“I had a few teachers that I really enjoyed [who] helped me through high school,” Terri Mastrovito said. “Mr. Glenn Corey gave me the confidence and a place where I could be successful in school. I will always be forever grateful to Mr. Corey for his encouragement and confidence in me.”

In addition, Hamilton also saw the value in a student’s expressions and was sure to be more than a teacher who just lectured every day.

“I taught about family and about love, why education is important instead of just doing it, and again that respect; I think the whole staff does that,” he said.

Despite the many changes the school has experienced, high school is

still high school and many say there are resemblances among the student bodies throughout the years. This includes similarities such as local rivalries or academic struggle or student bonding. One event that demonstrated a local rivalry is recalled by Smuts.

“There is a rather infamous run in between students from Troy and Athens during the winter of 1985 that took place at the Burger King at the corner of Rochester and Big Beaver,” Smuts said. “The altercation was reported on the front page of the Detroit newspapers.”

In addition to the school still participating in the local mischief and fun, the school has also continued to provide many local opportunities for its students. Individuals who desire more out of school experience or unique activities are given that access here.

Mastrovito, who was in the National Art Honor Society, was able to accomplish many community projects and was very thankful for her experience that the school contributed to.

“The most fun and interesting one was we got to paint the walls in the Troy jail,” Mastrovito said. “We painted a beach scene for the prisoners to look at. There were rules for what we could paint and we couldn’t put any people in it. It was an eye opening experience. We had to walk through the jail and holding cell and saw that people had no privacy.”

School pride exists in many forms and people value their school differently, but what makes our high school united is when people look past their differences and recognize that students from all generations are responsible for creating a culture that has proved so strong and provided a foundation for the rest of our success.

“I have made the best memories with my volleyball team and there is almost never a mean person you meet in school. They are welcoming and friendly,” Keating said.

Even after graduating, the feeling doesn’t go away for some, which may demonstrate the quality experience they received here.

“I am still proud to be a Troy Colt- mostly when watching my kids wear Troy High colors in their sports- I don’t think it goes away,” Mastrovito said.

As much as students don’t jump out of bed to go to school in the morning, our school has been, and is, a place where students can earn an education and be surrounded by those who want them to succeed. From the start, it has remained a high school that is welcoming and tries to provide all its students with resources to reach their maximum potential. Although time has passed, many alumni and staff, like Mastrovito, are proud to call themselves a Troy Colt. As former teacher Bob Hamilton repeatedly said, “It was a privilege to be with you guys.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF TROY GLADIATOR YEARBOOK

Jan. 2019 • 13

Athlete of the Month

Senior Jessica Robinson, who was invited to play for the University of Michigan as a sophomore, recently committed to the university and will play for its volleyball team for the next four years Q: What do you love about volleyball?

I like the fact that anyone can play. You don’t have to be tall or short or fast, you just have to work hard and be dedicated. That’s what I love. I could play with all my friends.

By Vanita Seed • Staff Writer Q: Any superstitions/lucky items?

Our entire team bought red scrunchies this year.

That was really fun. I have a saying on my shoe, around my shoelace—“You don’t get what you wish for. You get what you work for.” It’s been there since eighth grade.

Q: What is your favorite thing about the sport?

I like how passionate people can get about it. It’s a mental sport, so if you’re having a bad day, you can just pull yourself out of it with your teammates helping you and [by] believing in yourself. I like the fact that there’s so much passion, energy and psyche behind it.

Q: What are your Favorite memories from volleyball?

Going to China Chef before almost every game with the team. It was so much fun and it felt like a family meal and the food was amazing.

Q: What do you think you’ll miss about being on the team?

Putting tattoos on before every game (like My Little Pony, Minions, Cars, smiley faces. It was just so funny crowding into the bathroom and sticking tattoos all over our bodies. [I’ll also miss] sing-a-longs on the bus [and] beating Adams because that game was so intense.

Q: What is your favorite thing about practice?

My favorite [part of] practice is probably when we’re allowed to make up our own drills or when we’re allowed to run drills by ourselves. It’s just the players. The coaches don’t have any hand in it, and the captains are in charge and everyone’s just having fun and working hard.

Q: What is your favorite drill?

We have one drill called “Bingo-Bango-Bongo,” and it’s a lot of running around and having fun and really fast-paced volleyball.

Q: Do you plan to continue volleyball after college?

No, I don’t think so. By then, it’ll have been more than 10 years of volleyball. I think I’ll be tired of volleyball by then.

Q: How do you feel about how far the team came this season?

I’m really proud because it was our goal to reach districts, and we achieved it. I’m really proud of our entire team, because all the teams out there, they really wanted to beat us, and we held our ground and made sure we never lost.

Q: What’s your Message to younger athletes thinking of committing to a college?

I’d definitely for sure say stay focused. You can’t lose track of your goals.

Q: Besides volleyball, what else do you enjoy doing?

[Watching] superhero movies, comics, YouTube [and] spending time with friends.

Q: How do you feel about this season compared to previous seasons?

In past seasons we were just a team but this season we were like a family, and we’re all good friends.

We still hang out and text, so I think this year the team really became like a sisterhood. [This] was probably the [most fun] season I’ve had so far.

Q: What’s your Favorite subject?

Debate, for sure. That class changed my life. I love public-speaking now and writing speeches. I think that’s definitely something I want to go into more.

Q: What do you do together as a team, outside of practice and games?

We have pasta parties and we go out to movies all the time. We had a Friendsgiving and we have pool parties.

Q: What do you love about your teammates?

I love that we’re all so close. We tell each other everything and we always pick each other up. If someone’s down, we all work together—we gather around them and make them feel better, and we pick them up and tell them they’re OK. I like that because some other teams will just let you stay down in your funk, but we think it’s a really big team sport, so we help each other up all the time.

14 • The Chariot • Sports

Q: What are your plans for the University of Michigan?

I think I’m going to study public policy, which is a lot like debate.

Senior Jessica Robinson in a moment of triumph at a game.

Photo by Jack Stromberg

Q: How do you feel about committing there?

I’m really excited [and also] sort of nervous because I know they’re going to make me work really hard, harder than I’ve worked before [with] the workouts and how intense and fast-paced college volleyball is. I’m excited because I already love everybody there and I know it’s going to be a lot of fun.

All Flexes, No Stresses Student athletes stay active through exercise and diet despite the trend of Americans getting less active

By Jonah Scanlan • Staff Writer

Photo courtesy of Lukas Lemke

Senior Lukas Lemke shows off his muscles on Instagram after a g ym session at the Troy Community Center.

Time to go to the gym; a sentence dreaded by many. For them, going to the gym connotes hard work, adhering to a schedule and aching afterward. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, only 21 percent of Americans get the recommended amount of exercise per week, and assumably even fewer of these people enjoy it. This trend in lack of exercise is getting even worse in recent years. However, it seems that people who do exercise love it, and question why so many people don’t do it.

Seniors at Troy High such as Lukas Lemke go against this trend of lack of exercise.

“I work out to get rid of stress” Lemke said “It’s something I look forward to every day.”

Lemke takes many challenging classes in school, such as AP Calculus BC, and he makes use of these methods to de-stress. Lemke’s method has legitimate medical backing. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America claims that exercise is vital for improving mental fitness and can also reduce stress. Lemke changed his reasons for continuing to work out but eventually, it became because he enjoyed it.

“At first it was just to get faster, then it was kind of just to look better, but now it’s just to have fun,” Lemke said.

Lemke has been working out since his freshman year and has been documenting his change on an Instagram account throughout his journey. With the positives Lemke identified, a question that can be raised is why does such a small percentage of the population work out or

exercise?

“They just don’t have a reasoning to.” senior Kelvin Vang said. “It just doesn’t to matter them.”

Working out or getting enough exercise is accessible, and for many, it is more important than ever. According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, it’s projected that half of all American adults will be obese by 2030. Vang says he would recommend working out to anyone.

“It’s healthy for you and a good confidence

“[I never feel like quitting.] It’s always the opposite. If I can’t work out, then I really want to.”

-senior Lukas Lemke booster,” Vang said.

Vang started working out after he saw the success of his older brother, Kenny. Vang one day wants to achieve his goal of entering a bodybuilding competition. Like Vang, Lemke also recommends working out to anyone.

“You don’t always have to train super heavy,” Lemke said. “You can train for any kind of sport, really. You can just train to be healthier.”

Lemke encourages people to start slow and build up their routine, as everyone has to start from somewhere. Lemke has enjoyed working

out every step of the way. “[I never feel like quitting],” Lemke said. “It’s always the opposite. If I can’t work out, then I really want to.”

Another senior works out for different reasons. Senior David Cook lost over 60 pounds by cutting calories from his diet and going to the gym for two hours a day.

“If I didn’t change what I was doing, I couldn’t join the army,” Cook said.

However, he stressed that his exercise schedule isn’t the sole factor in his success.

“It’s all about food,” Cook said. “If you eat poorly, you’re not going to look good.”

Health teacher Lisa Danhoff encourages her students to exercise and be active.

“It’s important for everybody, doesn’t matter the age, to keep moving,” Danhoff said.

Danhoff also states the fact that exercise helps reduce stress and anxiety. She believes that anyone can start exercising. It’s just about having the motivation to start.

“Find something that you truly love to do, and it helps to have a partner that can motivate you,” Danhoff said.

Many students consider exercise to have a positive impact. The aforementioned students all pursue it for their own unique reasons and have achieved or are working to achieve a goal. The common denominator of all of them is that they enjoy working out. It’s a passion of theirs that they work at day after day.

Jan. 2019 • 15

Students and professionals discuss how technology and social media has affected youth

By Tracy Cabej • Design Editor Kaitlyn Piggott • Co-Copy Editor

In-Depth • Jan. 2019 • 17

ccording to the Office of Adolescent Health, every day, 94 percent of American teens will use the internet on their devices and 77 percent will go on some type of social media platform. So, this prompts the question: is social media and technology use helping our generation or hurting them?

Senior Nathaniel Drasovean believes that technology has caused people to avoid social interaction. Overall, he is against the use of technology and said it is hurting people. According to Drasovean, one of the major downfalls of social media and technology is the lack of long conversations people have.

“It encourages a lot of short conversations,” Drasovean said. “[They are] really brief versus where, before, if you really wanted to talk to someone, it would be more of a time commitment; you would go set a long period aside to go and talk and really get to know them better. Whereas now, [there] are people just sharing short bits of irrelevant information, like what I ate, or what I got on my grades, and people aren’t really forming strong social bonds with each other.”

Drasovean notes that people, whether they notice or not, compare themselves to other people they see on social media and he blames this on the fact that human beings are just social creatures. He said that with so-

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cial media, there is always going to be a fear of being outcasted or rejected from a social group when you are always seeing the best parts of other people’s lives. Social media is not giving the users and the world an accurate and realistic depiction of people’s lives. Technology and social media can halt in-person communication and being present in situations.

“I think a lot of people tend to avoid social interaction,” Drasovean said. “You see people all the time, on their tablets and they’re on their phones playing games or texting people instead of talking with whoever’s directly across from them.”

Senior Anish Kotnis agrees that social interaction has been hurt due to technology and social media use across Generation Z, which is comprised of individuals between the ages of three and 23. Kotnis also believes that social media oversteps boundaries and can be hazardous to teens.

“We don’t communicate with [our] friends at all,” Kotnis said.

“Everyone is in your business and they can see what you are doing. It is an invasion of privacy and dangerous.”

As for the future of social media and technology in society, Drasovean points out that there is a decline in Facebook among young users after the platform’s controversy surrounding privacy and users’ data rights. Due to

this decline, he doesn’t know what the future will hold. Although many teens and other young people are leaving Facebook, Drasovean says they are moving to other social media platforms, which he points out are commonly Snapchat and Instagram. Drasovean admits it would be difficult to quit social media because of the fact that almost everyone is on it. There is a fear of isolation with quitting these platforms.

F.O.M.O., which stands for Fear Of Missing Out, is a common term used to describe that empty or upset feeling one has when they find out they weren’t invited to a function. Kotnis attributes these feelings to social tension. People do not know how to react to life without social media. Drasovean says the only way social media will stop is if large groups were to quit, because it is just too difficult for a single person to do it individually; the change would end up making the individual feel alone and cut off from the rest of the world. Some may fear missing out on events and others want to escape the social obligations they feel they have.

“People are always up in your business and they know what you’re doing and what you’re up to,” Kotnis said.

Now with Snap Map, Instagram stories and Find My Friend, it is easier than ever to find out what others are up to and where

Issue 2

they are.

“Sometimes, I just ghost everyone for a little bit because I don’t really want to go on my phone,” Kotnis said. “I leave my phone somewhere and I don’t check it for hours or a day or so.”

Stepping away from social media and iPhones can be a good thing, according to Dr. Lauren Hazzouri, psychologist, speaker and founder of HeyLauren. She urges everyone to take a withdrawal from social media to focus on inner work.

“Social media isn’t going away anytime soon,” Hazzouri said. “So how you use your time during a social media detox to deal with the issues offline is key to ensuring you’re no longer triggered when you see a post online.”

Social media and smartphone usage have a direct correlation to one’s mental health, and the effects are not positive.

According to studies done by the Child Mind Institute, individuals who use social media for hours a day increase their risk of depression by 27 percent. In fact, between 2012 and 2015, depression increased by 21 percent for boys and 50 percent for girls.

Junior Grace Neill uses an array of social media and admits to possibly using social media and her phone “too much.” She wants to start a YouTube channel to show the world her skills as an amateur photographer and express her love of makeup,

which she has started to show on her Instagram profile. Neill believes that the good outweighs the bad in terms of technology use overall in Generation Z. One of her main positive effects of social media is communication.

“You can find really cool ways to use [social media]. For example, we can communicate across the world,” Neill said.

“I think it makes relationships stronger. It can help if you have family members that live in an-

other state. You can see what is going on in their lives when they post it on social media.”

Many students use social media as a way to express themselves but, Neill says, face-to-face communication has suffered as a result of such a rise in technology use among teens and adults.

She says that people are so used to just texting that it can be difficult to speak to one another in person. According to Neill, people have become too attached to their phones when the first thing they do when out with their friends is take out their phone.

Neill believes that being present in person is the best way to sustain a relationship, but when used properly, social media can be incredibly powerful and beneficial to staying in touch with loved ones.

While many people use social media platforms to show off their personality, Neill says she sometimes struggles to be herself on social media.

“I feel like I have to be like everyone else because you see people on Instagram that make you say, ‘Oh my gosh I wish I looked like that’ or, ‘I wish I had this,’” Neill said. “So, that can be kind of hard but when you realize how good we actually have it, being yourself is a lot easier than being someone you’re not.”

Psychologist Drew Yanke at Our People: Kids Empowered, believes that self-esteem plays a crucial role in deciding if social media is negative or positive.

Yanke believes it is contingent on the individual. He says that Generation Z in general needs “instant gratification” and needs everything to be “liked” but being on social media isn’t being in touch with the real world. Life, in the grander scheme of things, doesn’t work as social media does.

Yanke said there is a problem with too much technology use.

Children and adults alike can struggle to “balance” the real world and the world through their technology.

Continued on page 20

Jan. 2019 • 19

“I think kids aged two to 16 are now the generation that is deeply entwined into technology in an unhealthy way,” Yanke said. “There is now an inability to get bored, to not be entertained all the time.”

Yanke says that adults, especially, should keep technology away from other aspects of life.

“Adults are having a really hard time as well [as kids] with balancing technology and life,” Yanke said. “They should be separated.”

Yanke admits that technology has “connected” people but, unfortunately at the same time he believes that it has “pushed” people apart. He agrees that it brings a wide span of people across the world together.

“Communicating via social media is efficient, but does not satisfy the need to be together with people and share actual physical space with others,” Yanke said.

Too much technology directly affects the prefrontal cortex which manages emotions, time management and social skills. An excessive amount of phone and social media use over-stimulates this region of the brain. In much simpler terms, as Yanke explains it, uncontrolled and unmanaged technology use can numb the brain.

In a recent study performed by researchers at UCLA, they placed 32 teens in a simulation to see how their brain would react when one of their pictures was “liked.” The researchers found that certain parts of the brain activated in the areas to show reward. It also discusses why adolescents are so addicted. The results point out some major differences between social media and in-person communication and the effects on two individuals. On social media, you get instant likes even though you cannot see the person to see if they actually like whatever you posted. As for face-toface communication, you can tell by body language and the way they respond if what you say or do is something they agree with. Social media removes the idea of disapproval. The downfall to this is it could make the brain physically change and grow in poor ways. The more time spent on social media the less likely an individual will be able to pick up on social cues.

Yanke has generally seen youth be affected by making them more anxious and stressed. They are addicted and lack sleep.

Author and psychologist Jean M. Twenge wrote a book entitled “iGen” in which she includes all of

the characteristics that Yanke has noticed. Additional negative effects that she attributes to social media use include teens’ lack of urgency to learn or begin to drive and teens not going out with friends as often as previous generations. Overall, Twenge says teens are also dating less, tend to be lonelier and the rate of teenage depression and suicide has skyrocketed since 2011.

She would be right with that fact, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

There are three million teens that have had some type of major episode of depression at least once and two million who have severe depression that halts their daily life. There is now a causal effect relating social media use to depression.

Neill believes it can be hard to be herself on social media and this isn’t an uncommon issue for individuals. Studies used in Twenge’s book over many decades show that 37 percent of teens and kids now feel like they “can’t do anything right” because there is pressure on them to be like what they see on social media.

“I think that the media puts a lot of pressure on us,” Neill said. “When you become too obsessed, it starts to form this idea that everything has to be perfect but, in reality, no one’s life is really perfect.”

When teens feel like their life isn’t as “perfect” as other people’s lives seem to be on social media, it can lead to some alarming thoughts and symptoms. The more people spend time on social media, the more they become removed from the real world. They begin to see only the happiest parts of others’ lives, because that is all anyone posts about, and soon they cannot decipher that what they are seeing isn’t the whole picture. They can no longer see that what is shown on social media is no one’s real life. That picture perfect social media page is not real. Perfection is unattainable.

In 2012, psychologist Sherry Turkle gave a Ted Talk on smartphone use. She pointed out the fact that smartphones “don’t only change what we do; they change who we are.” So why do people go to their phones rather than engaging in real-life communication? Turkle believes it is all because of the editing. You can delete what you don’t really mean or would rather not say, but human relationships aren’t perfect. Texting is just a “mere connection” as Turkle says. She says people turn to their phones because people are vulnerable beings and are afraid of intimacy, therefore, tex-

ting and using social media is a more comfortable method of communicating. Due to this, teens are not learning what it is like to communicate outside of social media.

But why is this? Why do teens struggle so much with removing themselves from the social media and the smartphone world? Previous generations received smartphones after their childhood, so they didn’t become accustomed to the world of smartphones until their adult years.

From 2011 to 2012, an extreme rise in smartphone sales led to almost half of the population having a smartphone, including nearly all of the middle class and upper-class populations. At this time, most current high school students were between the ages of eight and 12, leaving them with most of their childhood left. So when kids are growing up with such devices and platforms of communication, children and teens are more likely to become addicted to their phones and inadvertently remove themselves from the rest of the world.

There are many changes between any two generations, but smartphones and social media usage have made some glaring differences between Generation Z and those before. Yanke says contrasting two generations is only healthy, but this generation in comparison to the others has some major altercations.

So what does all of this mean for us? We have grown up with technology and its endless supply of information. It has become so entertaining and a part of us that we don’t know what life would be like without it. If there is an awkward silence, the first thing we do is reach for our smartphones.

When we are out with friends we are all on our phones. We cannot fathom life without social media or our phones. Whether we would like to admit it or not, technology and social media are ruining our generation more than they are helping us. We are so addicted to our screens and that little “like” button at the bottom of our pictures, that our relationships and social skills are suffering because of it. It has come to the point where we become anxious if we do not have our phones near us. At what point will we learn that enough is enough? Social media and technology are defining our generation as less resilient and just plain stressed out. We want to change the world.

We have to be in the world to do that. Enough is enough.

Jan. 2019 • 21

Music of the Year:

Albums that defined

““Sweetener,” “My Dear Melancholy,” “Golden Hour,” “Astroworld,” and “Kids See Ghosts” are albums that could be considered the best of the year the best of 2018.

By Vivienne Francois

2018

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By Vivienne Francois • Staff Writer

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reakups, new loves and hardships have the capability of impacting everyone. For an artist, there is nothing better than an inspirational phase. The relationship between Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson influenced Grande’s newest Album “Sweetener.” Love and positivity reflect vibrantly throughout her album. Her album inspires her audience as she showcases that when faced with tough and bitter situations, all you have to do is add sweetener. In pop culture today, it is hard to find a solid album that spreads a positive message while not being sad or depressing. I am not a common fan of hers but within her songs she uplifted me, meaning she most definitely can uplift others. In “God is a Woman,” Grande broke some societal barriers and she executed it with class and confidence giving some listeners stance. For me, it is clear to see that “Sweetener” is eligible to be considered one of the greatest albums of 2018 because it incorporates love and positivity that could spice up anyone’s day just like it has for me.

22 • The Chariot • Entertainment

t was all a sudden love and breakup for The Weeknd. It was a shock when news that The Weeknd and Selena Gomez were dating filtered through social media. After they called it quits in 2017, “My Dear Melancholy” raised questions on what exactly went wrong; but through the words of each song, he created an emotional tone that hinted at his strong love and bond with Gomez.

His top hit “Call Out My Name” is about creating comfort and prioritizing the one he once loved. Which left him with a realization that it was a mistake to do so because it had the price of falling for them and ending up broken-hearted.

All around, I believe that The Weeknd writes amazing relatable songs that have beautiful words intertwining R&B and Soul. This album is also very short and sweet, only by having six songs. In my opinion, albums that don’t have a lot of songs keep one at the edge of their seat, and unsatisfied. Using this tactic, The Weeknd allows no closure to his listeners and keeps to himself when being put under the spotlight.

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acey Musgraves’ album “Golden Hour” fought its way through the tough market built around rap. Most of the time, you don’t find country in top hits and as a country artist, Musgraves did something about it. According to The Rolling Stone she innovates country to what she calls “space country” or “galactic country.” Her space country songs are songs that include country, folk and electrica. When listening to her myself, I have never compared or heard similarities between her songs.

Musgraves doesn’t rely on something to inspire her, but instead, explores different sides and perspectives until she finds her muse. It is hard for even the best of artists to accomplish finding the purpose before writing a song. Most artists wait for inspiration to come to them. Musgraves didn’t start off as a space country artist. She was born singing country and western country while wearing traditional outfits. I am astonished how she was brought up on a certain way of singing and then composed it into a whole new genre as an adult.

I feel this spreads a great message and inspires her listeners to change for the better to find their own inspiration.

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By Michael Thistlethwaite • Sports, Web Editor

K

anye West has been on fire lately. His part in the production of the incredible Pusha T album “Daytona,” and his own work on “ye” made me extremely confident that his collaborative album with Kid Cudi would not disappoint. It did not. Kanye is once again following his own trend of short albums- a trend I am a big proponent of. It makes listening to the album easier, and it often seems that shorter albums contain some of an artist’s best work. This is clearly a better alternative than pumping out albums that are an hour and 40 minutes in length.

Listening to this album was quite enjoyable. Kanye is back in full form and has once again delivered the supreme quality of work he’s known for. The way he constructs songs and uses artists’ strengths to work off of his own is no doubt a positive.

Through the album, this is clear with Kanye and Cudi playing off each other, but it can even be seen in the very first track featuring Pusha T, a rapper whose distinctly nasally voice can’t be ignored. The first track on the album, “Feel the Love” is one of my favorites this year. After Pusha’s verse, Kanye breaks into these sporadic gunshot noises that are emphasized by the bass.

This combination of noises makes you want to run through a wall and creates a beautiful contrast between the hook by Cudi.

This project is highly emotional, with themes of mental health evident throughout. Both Kanye and Cudi have had their fair share of publicly prominent mental health issues.

Obviously, this impacted their music, as both “ye” and “Kids See Ghosts” are incredibly personal.

“4th Dimension” is the only song off this album I see being popular with the majority of hip-hop listeners, as it is the most traditional rap track on the album. It contains a sample of a 1936 Christmas song by Louis Prima titled “What Will Santa Claus Say?” and it’s the last thing you’d expect to be on a modern hip-hop album. Kanye, however, worked his magic and sampled the song beautifully, letting it play for 20 seconds before inserting a beat and rapping about things that aren’t appropriate for this article. It’s extremely well done, and ends with one of my favorite bars of the year: “If I get locked up, I won’t finish the sent-”.

“Freee (Ghost Town, pt. 2)” can almost be listened to as a sequel to “Ghost Town” from “ye”. “Freee” is majestic and the “Freeeeeee” gives you chills every time you listen to it.

This album is a masterpiece, and at only 24 minutes long, wastes no time in delivering the most enjoyable hip-hop experience of the year. Each song is worth a listen and the themes explored are worth diving deeper into. Give this album a listen.

You’ll be glad you did.

efore this album’s release, I had no reason to believe that Travis Scott (Jacques Webster) was going to drop a decent project.

He hadn’t put out a solid set of songs since his release of “Rodeo” back in 2015, and “Birds,” while containing a few decent tracks, saw the artist who once was ripe with excellent production get watered down by generic beats and lackluster features. In addition to this, his collaborative efforts were not up to the standard that I was used to seeing; This, coupled with the fact that “Astroworld” had so much hype leading up to it, led me to believe that his next album would flop. Fortunately, I was wrong.

The first time through listening to this album, I had to keep pulling my phone out to check the features because there are a lot. This detail initially startled me. When a hip-hop artist has a ton of bigname features, this usually means that they are compensating for an album containing no unique or sustaining qualities of its own, leaning on popular artists to drive sales. Each feature, however, is so beautifully done, with each song for the most part complementing the respective artist as well as Travis. Not once did I ponder the fact that Travis gathered an artist purely for clout. Whether it’s Gunna’s melodic voice at the beginning of “Yosemite,” or Swae Lee’s singing on “R.I.P. Screw,” the features hit hard. Drake unsurprisingly also comes through with an excellent feature on “Sicko Mode.”

The album starts off with “Stargazing,” filling the strong awaited theme of “Astroworld” perfectly. Travis cycles between his usual psychedelic autotune rap and a higher pitched frequency which he showcases at the end of a few hooks. Halfway through the song, Travis switches the beat, and it sounds like a completely different song. The 808s are beefy and instead of melodic singing, Travis shows us he is, after all, still a rapper. The four minutes and change keeps you satisfied and on your feet.

I don’t think I have to say anything about “Sicko Mode,” as it’s the highlight of the album and a classic example of a mainstream pop-rap hit. It is a song that is no doubt overplayed but is equally excellent in its bouncy production and catchy lyrics: “Like a light.”

“Stop Trying to be God” is a wonderful change of pace with its groovy jazz and saxophone snippets placed in the background. I’m a very big fan of this track due to the fact that it shows us that Travis is still not afraid to take a different approach to songs.

The area in which this album slightly disappoints is the ending.

“Butterfly Effect” is horridly out of place on this album, and while it was a fun song to listen to during the summer of 2017, it has overstayed its welcome and Travis putting it on “Astroworld” is a mistake. “Coffee Bean” also is a disappointing track that does little to close the album.

I didn’t see this coming from Travis. I expected an overrated, basic and hyped up album. What we instead received was a gift from Jacques Webster, with Astro-themed beats and some stellar autotune. Although it isn’t without fault, it’s still spectacular.

n Disney and Nickelodeo Fans compare today’s early 2000s shows to those of the hics Team ess, Feature Editor, Grap

By Olivia Perron • Buisn

T

ake it back to 1991 when Nickelodeon created “The Rugrats” TV series or 1997 when the show “Recess” came to air on Disney Channel. Disney Channel brought viewers “Even Stevens” in 2000 and “Lizzie McGuire” in 2001. Nickelodeon introduced viewers to “Blue’s Clues” in 1996 and “The Wild Thornberrys” in 1998. Throughout the years, the two networks brought viewers through a lineup of shows ranging from cartoons like “Spongebob Squarepants” in 1999 to family values stories like “That’s So Raven” in 2003. Today, the networks have brought to the scene a new era of shows with a variation of plots, and many viewers argue they are not as good as they used to be.

“The new shows just don’t give me that same feeling,” junior Varun Channasiddeswaraiah said.

“Maybe it’s because we’re older and just can’t relate, but they simply are not as good and do not hold a candle to the original 2000s Disney Channel shows.”

Created in 1977, Nickelodeon brings viewers as does Disney Channel which was created in 1983. These channels brought kids a form of entertainment unable to be obtained anywhere but through a television screen. Some know shows from these channels that began around the time the Gen Z generation was born.

At the mention of the titles, many former viewers become nostalgic. “The Suite Life of

Zack and Cody,” “Good Luck Charlie” and “Shake It Up” are examples of shows that had kids rushing home after school to tune in. “iCarly,” “Drake and Josh,” “Sam and Cat” and “Victorious” can bring back reminders of the sitcoms that were once something viewers looked forward to watching after school. “The Fairly Odd Parents,” “The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron” and “Spongebob” all bring back memories of the each cartoon character and their own personality. These few shows are just a small pool of all the ones that the two networks had to offer.

“The new Disney Channel shows have all sort of fallen off,” Channasiddeswaraiah said.

Graphics By Olivia Perron

24 • The Chariot • Entertainment

“The nostalgia I get when I think about coming home after school and turning on the TV to see what’s on and waking up early on a Saturday morning to watch ‘Recess’... It just isn’t the same anymore.”

When today’s teens think back to their childhood, they may think that today’s shows are just not as good, but today’s kids are fans of the shows that air now. Those shows define their childhood. As for parents, their childhood shows were the “Flintstones” and the “The Jetsons” and teens might look at those shows as out of date while our parents look at our shows as not that good. Kids look at teen shows as out of date and it’s a continuous loop of the next generation getting new shows and the older generations not liking the shows because they have their own opinions. The love- hate cycles never ends .

“TV shows are subjective,” junior Caleb Watts said. “Growing up, our parents probably didn’t like the shows that we would watch, and their parents probably thought the same. What we find entertaining, others may think is too old or too annoying.”

Some shows airing in 2014 shows include “Bunk’d,” “K.C Undercover,” “Bizaardvark,” “Game Shakers” and “Andi Mack.” “Andi Mack,” which premiered in 2017 on Disney Channel, is a show about a girl who comes back from a world traveling trip to find out her sister, Bex, is actually her mother. The plot of the story follows her journey of self-discovery with the life changing news. Along with Disney Channel’s new show, Nickelodeon’s newest show is called “Knight Squad.” It portrays two knights in training who are complete opposites but they decide to form an alliance to protect each other’s secrets.

Disney and Nickelodeon have slowed their production of new shows. In 2004, 2013 and 2014, Nickelodeon released at least three new shows per year. In 2007, 2010, and 2015, Disney

released at least four shows per year. As of 2018, both Disney and Nickelodeon only debuted one show each. The new shows have generated interest in young viewers of today but they continue to stir up the older generations’ nostalgia.

“I feel like Disney Channel has recently grown more and more outdated,” junior Jonas Tatari said. “With these new shows, I don’t feel like I’m watching a show about some teenagers, but more like I’m watching a bunch of grown executives trying to be relatable. It feels stiff and forced. I [also] feel like the age of the target audience is slowly devolving as these new shows

“The stars get younger and younger with the years, and the jokes have become weaker.”

-junior Jonas Tatari

[air]. The stars get younger and younger with the years, and the jokes have become weaker.”

The love-hate relationship that fans are faced with while watching Disney Channel has also been sprung up by controversy in recent years.

“Bizaardvark” was thrust into the limelight in 2017 when cast member Jake Paul, who played Dirk Mann, was asked to exit the show based on reasons that have not been made public.

Issues with past Disney and Nickelodeon stars going down the wrong path after their TV series ended, include Miley Cyrus, who played Miley Stewart on “Hannah Montana,” Jamie Lynn Spears, who played Zoey on “Zoey 101,” and Amanda Bynes, who played Amanda on “The Amanda Show.” Cyrus started her career as Hannah Montana, but following the show’s ending and as she grew up, she started swirling, ended up in rehab and is now on her road to recovery.

News arose for the reason that “Zoey 101” allegedly ended after Spears got pregnant at 16.

She decided to settle back in her hometown in Louisiana to raise her daughter. Bynes’ fall from fame was very public after she was arrested for driving while under the influence. These Disney Channel and Nickelodeon stars followed their fame of their series with struggles and now their journey of rehabilitation.

“Being thrown into the world of Hollywood at such a young age can cause a lot of stress on the actors and cause them to think irrationally,” Watts said “They probably turned to drugs as a comfort from everything, or they just had too much time and money. For example, Macaulay Culkin is one of those very well known child actors who became a hardcore drug addict and ruined himself by abusing them. He wasn’t the first one, and he certainly won’t be the last.”

Seeing a chance to air popular episodes from shows that ended years ago, Disney Channel aired a special throughout the month of December airing old holiday episodes including “Lizzie Mcguire - Aaron Carter’s Coming to Town,” “Evens Stevens - Heck of a Hanukkah,” “Phineas and Ferb - Phineas and Ferb’s Christmas Vacation,” “The Proud Family-Seven Days of Kwanzaa” and “That’s So Raven- Escape Claus” The only thing fans hope for now is that someone would start showing old original Disney movies.

“Disney Channel used to be very popular among kids and teens and have original ideas, but throughout the years, Disney has become less popular because their shows have become less intriguing and original,” freshman Esha Patel said. “The quality and variety of shows have gone down drastically and that’s why many people don’t watch Disney Channel anymore, including me. Their ideas have also become repetitive.”

Many of the teens of today might be fixated upon their hate of the new shows that are on air, but to the younger generation, their shows are the only thing they have seen.

Jan. 2019 • 25

The Most Wonderful Students share how they feel about equal representation of religious holidays in America

BY MURRYUM FAROOQI • STAFF WRITER

T

he Christmas lights went up. All of America was bombarded with Christmas commercials on television, magazines displaying gift guides, songs on the radio and brightly-lit homes in neighborhoods. Public elementary schools around the country gave students Christmas-themed assignments; everyone was mailed advertisements for Christmas sales and Somerset, as well as every other mall in America, pulled out their holiday decorations. I could go on and on.

What about the dozens of other religious holidays celebrated every year by millions of Americans? America is one of the most diverse countries in the world, but if someone didn’t know any better, they’d probably think all of America only celebrated Christmas. Do most Americans even know that the holidays celebrated by their fellow Americans aren’t only Christmas and Hanukkah? Even with Hanukkah being popularly known, so many other celebrations aren’t given half the limelight Christmas is treated with every year.

Religion is a large part of many people’s identities, and ignoring a whole religion until it becomes something convenient to run a smear campaign on just isn’t right. National debates around the politicization of Islam and Muslims aren’t just “hot topics”; they have to do with real people, real Americans. Many Americans, like senior Maria Malhi—who celebrates Eid—wish people would at least acknowledge that their

religious holidays are part of the American experience as well.

“I felt like there should have been a mention like, oh, there’s Eid, you know, happy Eid, something like that,” Malhi said.

Malhi highlights something very important: even the smallest things can make the biggest difference. Everyone can do their part to be just a little more aware of traditions that people around them have, and something as small as a “Happy Eid”—just showing knowledge of a special time in someone else’s life makes them feel less foreign and more welcome.

The sad truth, however, is that instead, people are often totally alienated and made to feel like they don’t belong or aren’t really American, despite the fact that they aren’t foreign at all.

When actually they are people who were born in the U.S., people who serve in the army, in government and so many other important positions.

Our country’s current state just goes to show this. When politicians started to call for birthright citizenship to be revoked, they were ultimately claiming that you shouldn’t deserve citizenship if your parents embodied the American dream and immigrated to America. They were claiming that being a little different, dare I say unique, is un-American.

This is why the recent election of people like Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, the first Muslim women to have seats in the U.S. Congress, are

“[This] is such a diverse city; there are a lot of different things that people celebrate that I don’t even have any clue about.”

-Senior Morgan MacDonald 26 • The Chariot • Opinion

so important. Muslims are seeing themselves included and represented in government more than ever. This is the kind of inclusion we need in every aspect of society. Being aware of the current customs and traditions of the people around you leads to more open-mindedness and allows people to better empathize with each other. In a country as divided as our own, I think simply creating a more aware and inclusive environment can make a world of difference.

There are so many everyday items that have always ignored every holiday except Christmas.

When Starbucks came out and said they would no longer have Christmas decorations on their cups, it seemed like they were trying to solve the problem by not having any holiday decorations at all. However, I think that was the wrong move, not just because people were angry that they got rid of Christmas decorations, but because they didn’t even consider just including all decorations.

The Starbucks cup fiasco was made into a big deal for all the wrong reasons. Until then, Starbucks had no Eid, Hanukkah or Diwali decorations ever, only Christmas decorations. Senior Anagha Srivatsa agrees that Starbucks should work on being more inclusive.

“You just put a lamp out [for Diwali], like something small,” Srivatsa said. “I think it’s just enough to acknowledge that it exists [and] Christmas isn’t the only thing that’s going on this

Eid Ul- Adha • June 3 at Sunset

Time of The Year time of year.”

If Starbucks wants to encourage its customers to come to their store to feel some kind of “holiday spirit,” and if they want all of their customers to feel like they are cared about, they should either have decorations for all religions or have no holiday decorations at all. The fact that there was outrage and people were feeling offended bothers me even more. So many other religions that are totally ignored live with it every day, and as soon as Starbucks’ Christmas cups are gone, it becomes a national crisis?

This is the nature of something that has been bothering me throughout the process of writing this story. I have a feeling that people might ignore the earnest truth behind this story and label it as “anti-Christmas,” just like Starbucks removing Christmas cup decorations was labeled as “anti-Christmas.” The fact that Christmas was the only holiday Starbucks seemed to care about in the first place seemed to be deemed irrelevant.

It’s not a great environment in public schools, either. Elementary students are given Christmas-themed assignments, regardless of their religion. Kids who don’t celebrate Christmas can often be made to feel like they haven’t ever experienced joy with the classic “I can’t believe you don’t celebrate Christmas!” line from other kids who have potentially never really learned about or been exposed to other religions. As for the kids not celebrating Christmas, their friends

DIWALI • Oct. 27

talk about their Christmas trees and Christmas wish lists, and when their holiday rolls around, it might as well be nonexistent to everyone at school.

This even happens at our school, while it might make sense for a language class to teach how people of the language celebrate certain holidays, it’s not really secular for there to be religion-related assignments in any other class. As a public school, we should work to make students aware of all religions and their traditions and celebrations, but school assignments shouldn’t be related to a religious holiday. It can make kids not celebrating Christmas feel like they should be celebrating it, unless they want to be the odd one out.

In my family at least, my mom makes an effort to educate students in my brother’s elementary school around Eid. She talks about how there are two Eids a year, and how we do things like exchange gifts, go to our Mosque, dress up and spend time with family. That way, kids can understand that everyone around them celebrates, even though what they celebrate might not be Christmas. Senior Morgan MacDonald agrees that it wouldn’t hurt to be a little more aware and inclusive when it comes to holidays. “[This] is such a diverse city; there are a lot of different things that people celebrate that I don’t even have any clue about,” MacDonald said. “It’d be cool to know about the people you are around

Photos by Murryum Farooqi, Patti Kubota, Michael Thistlethwaite

every day.”

It’s true. Over and over again I hear people talk about how divided our nation is, and I can’t help but think that part of the reason is that most people know very little about people who do things differently than them and they hardly ever make an effort to learn. The thing is, we can’t grow together as a country if we simply leave people we don’t understand completely out of the picture.

Not seeing my religion reflected in pretty much any part of the media, unless it is being blamed for some form of violence, adds to the stigma that keeps Islam and Islamic holidays shrouded in mystery and scares conglomerates away from even advertising to the whole demographic. The fact is, we’re normal people, and like anyone else, want to feel included in our homeland. It’s simply not fair that only a select group of Americans get to feel like they are an important and valued part of society.

American culture doesn’t only include Christmas, but it includes Diwali, Eid, Hanukkah, Ramadan and everything in between, and that is what’s supposed to make America so special.

Even though we may all have different traditions, we must embrace them all and embody the salad bowl analogy of diversity. It’s time for America on TV, on paper and in government to start representing the whole nation as there is no one “true” American.

Christmas• Dec. 25 Jan. 2019 • 27

Staff Editor-in-Chief Gabrielle Francois Annie Smuts Copy Editor Kaitlyn Piggott Copy, Opinion Editor Elisabeth Andrews Business, Feature Editor, Graphics Team Olivia Perron Design, In-Depth Editor Tracy Cabej Cartoonist, Entertainment Editor, Graphics Team Solana Brown Graphics Team, Photo Editor Jack Stromberg News Editor Megan Wallace Sports, Web Editor Michael Thistlethwaite Source Editor Cole Mertz Web Editor Samantha Fisher Staff Writers Chloe Collins Daniel David Murryum Farooqi Vivienne Francois Emy Galustyan Leah Guindi Patti Kubota Meriam Meram Jonah Scanlan Vanita Seed Nicholas Talarico Bella Zaleski Adviser Jayna Rumble

Staff Policy

The Chariot is a student-produced news publication that publishes information relevant to the times as well as material that is essential to the overall well-being of its readers. It is The Chariot’s responsibility to cover school, city, state, national and international events and issues that affect the concerns of the campus, its students or its readers.

The Chariot operates as a designated public forum for student expression. The Editorial Board consisting of student editors is the sole decision-making and policy setting body and has final say over all content decisions. The adviser and administration have non-review roles and may offer advice on sensitive issues and will offer criticisms as warranted, but the Editorial Board reserves all rights to determine what material shall be published.

Editorials represent the collective opinion of the staff. Opinions expressed by individuals and in letters to the editors represent those of the author. Letters to the editors should be typed, double-spaced and must include the author’s name, signature and class or position. Names of individuals may be withheld upon request, pending a vote of the Editorial Board. Letters may be submitted in hard copy to room 204 at Troy High School or via email at troychariot@gmail.com. All letters are subject to review by the Editorial Board. Letters will not be edited except to fix space limitations. Should the Editorial Board deem a letter to be potentially libelous or containing content inappropriate for publication, it will be returned to the author with an opportunity for corrections. The Editorial Board is solely responsible for these decisions.

28 • The Chariot • Opinion

Graphic by Solana Brown

Tipping the Technological Scales Staff reflects on positive and negative aspects of technolog y A Staff Editorial Technology and social media have been rapidly implemented into our daily lives. Some cannot make it a day without technology by their side. The endless uses for technological application in this world draw us toward this excessive use of technology, but there are setbacks that come with these platforms too. As a staff, the question we are asking our peers to consider is: the use of technology hurting or helping us more? Is there a limit that we should hold ourselves to when it comes to further exploration and discovery of technology? Whether you believe it’s a positive addition to society or not, our goal was to bring this subject to light and allow our peers to deeply consider what it does for our lives, whether it be positive or negative.

Education is a major field where technology has been implemented. According to Education Week, Public schools in the U.S. supply at least one computer for every five students and spend more than $3 billion per year on digital resources for the schools. Especially from a journalist’s perspective, technology is becoming an increasingly important resource for us because it opens our access to more resources and allows us to reach a larger audience. However, some

may still say the benefits of technology, such as convenience or proficiency, are not adequate enough to replace print journalism.

Stepping outside of the educational point of view, technology opens up our world to many new social aspects and connects us with others. With this, many would counter that the relationships built throughout social media are not always beneficial to us and may take away from other relationships in our lives. According to the American Psychology Association, millennials have the highest stress level related to technology, 48 percent. Additionally, 45 percent of millennials report that because of technology, they feel disconnected from their family even when they spending time with them in real life.

There are countless pros and cons that technology contributes to our society that it makes it almost impossible to choose a side.

However, as a staff, we ask our peers to analyze both sides and educate themselves on this topic.

Consider if interaction on social media platforms is equal to what we experience face to face?

How can we balance the use of interpersonal interaction and technology?

To Talk or Not to Talk Copy and opinion editor Elisabeth Andrews talks about whether participation grades are fair for people who are more introverted or have anxiety Elisabeth Andrews • Copy, Opinion Editor Growing up the youngest in a big family meant that it was always loud. Very loud. I don’t remember much from when I was a kid, but I do remember preferring to listen to my family talk instead of chiming in myself. I would listen to them playfully argue at Christmas and we’d spend hours playing board games because we wouldn’t stop talking.

There weren’t many participation grades when I attended middle school; my main problem was presentations. I would get so nervous that I would have to mumble and stutter my way through it. Something about standing in front of the entire class, everyone’s eyes on me and being graded on how well I did scared me, and I ended up getting worse grades not for the content I presented, but for my poise.

As an introvert, when I was first introduced to seminars and simulations in high school, all I could feel was panic. It was impossible for me to turn to someone and ask to be their partner in a simulation we were doing. In a seminar, about half the class would sit in a circle and talk about a topic the teacher gave us pertaining to a book or movie we had just finished, and we would be graded on how much we said and what we said. In these seminars, I found it hard to get a word in. When my teachers would ask the class how they felt about the passage we just read, my head would be full of words but I wasn’t able to raise my hand and voice them. I was stuck for a long time and my grades suffered for it. I thought that it was unfair that so much of my grades depended on talking in front of the class. It was easier for me to voice my opinion in a worksheet or an essay, but it was obvious that this was the way things were going to go, and I just had to accept that.

There wasn’t any other option for me; it was either change or let my grades suffer.

Change isn’t an easy thing. Not for me, and I don’t think for anyone. I forced myself to join things that I normally wouldn’t be comfortable doing. I joined newspaper, tech crew for theatre and became a volunteer for Mrs. Isaac in the library doing circulation. I put

myself in situations where it was a necessity to speak up. For a while, my heart would pound when I had to interview someone or when someone came up to check out a book at the library. I would still hesitate before raising my hand to voice my opinion in class, but it eventually became easier.

It happened so slowly I didn’t even notice it. I could stand up in front of a class by myself and my voice wouldn’t quiver. I wasn’t afraid when a teacher called my name in class. When someone would come up and check out a book, I would talk to them about it if it was a series that I liked. Being in a seminar was suddenly fun and something that I looked forward to.

I still have introverted qualities: I still like to stay silent and listen when there is a huge conversation going on, and I prefer to stay home than hang out every day after school with my friends. Now it is possible to speak up in a class and it is something I want to do, and my grades have gotten better. That’s all that matters, right?

For some people, participating in a seminar isn’t that big of a deal, but I had to change and put myself through many anxiety-raising situations. I look back at myself freshman year and I’m proud of who I am today, but I hate that had to change just to do better academically. I used to not get why simulations and seminars were such a big deal and why they were done so much. Yet, as time went on and I got through my anxiety, I realized how fun they were. Simulations I did in Mr. Dan Mastrovito’s classes are now some of my favorite memories. Talking about a book I really enjoy in a seminar or a class discussion is now something I look forward to in Mrs. Laura Liamini’s class. I get why we’re graded on these situations and why we do them in classes. I think teachers genuinely love to hear our responses and want to teach us something in a different style than just a lecture. I now know that teachers aren’t doing it just to be harsh, but that they are doing it to better our learning experiences. Isn’t that what we want from every teacher?

Graphics by Solana Brown

Jan. 2019 • 29

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34 • The Chariot • Opinion

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Somebody, Nobody: K, Okay, OK

By Solana Brown • Cartoonist, Entertainment Editor, Graphics Team

Jan. 2019 • 31