The Eyrie - Volume 41, Issue 5 - February 2022

ReMasked

Teachers, Students, and Parents share their opinons on masks

By: Timothy Wood

Now that masks are back in school parents, teachers, and students have mixed opinions.

“I do not think masks are beneficial in the general population or that they keep anyone safe out side of a medical setting. Accord ing to the latest update from the CDC, Medical grade masks, KN95/ N95 masks, are effective at slowing the spread of some illnesses. They should be fitted snugly to your face and changed regularly as your breath will dampen them rendering them ineffective in preventing air borne illness,” Parent Holly Palacio said.

Parent, Gina (who would prefer not to disclose last name) expresses her opinion on wearing the masks.

“No one wants to wear masks, but because my husband is immunocompromised, our fam ily has to be extremely cautious. The mask mandate was a sense of relief knowing an additional barrier would be there to help stop

the spread of Covid-19 since it is spreading so quickly and easily right now,” Gina said.

Teacher, Mrs. Rooks ex presses the beneficial side of wear ing a mask.

“I think it’s hard right now because my biggest worry is just that I don’t ever want the hospitals to be overwhelmed or anything like that. I have two little kids at home. So I wear really good fitting masks to help protect them. It does seem that a lot of doctors out there are saying it does help, you know with the spread. So I think that if I can do my part I will,” Rooks said.

Teacher, Mr. Gourly talks about his opinions on masks in general.

“It’s hard to tell exactly what the purpose of the mask is. Now it’s to stop a variant. The vari ant is going to happen at a lesser degree regardless. Variants are always weaker than the mother ship and as we go through this, I know there are still people that are

Photo by: Dan Palacio

sick and dying I know there are still people that are sick and dying and I feel for those people and their fami lies but masks aren’t the way… the size of a pebble of sand. So if you throw sand at a chain link fence it goes through it, it is the same thing for masks too,” Gourly said.

Sophomore Logan Carr emphasizes his thoughts on the mask mandate coming back.

“I think it’s a good option considering the crazy numbers that we’ve seen with Covid-19, what I don’t understand is people could just wear it on their chin, it’s bi zarre. I mean either they don’t care, or they feel like Covid-19 doesn’t even exist. I feel like it’s needed and I feel like people need to be much stricter about wearing their mask properly because people are getting sick,” Carr said.

Sophomore Landon Stotts Thinks masks are not needed.

“I don’t even think they are that helpful and nobody ever wears them right. I honestly think it’s pointless to make us wear masks. I think masks should be used at doc tors offices and for surgical proce dures,” Stotts said.

Photo courtesy of: Corss The Pacific Ltd.

Photo courtesy of: Flickr

Despite students demand, state won’t allow Falcon 50

By Dalton Roberts

Before the 2020 spring break became our end of school year and graduation, we had Falcon 50.

The 50 minute lunch split in two parts, A and B. During the A session, teachers from Business and Computers, International Languages, Math, Social Sciences, and 1⁄2 of P.E.. English, FACS, Industrial Tech., Performing Arts, Science, SPED/Read 180, Visual Arts, and the other 1⁄2 of P.E. would be available for students to meet and get help on homework.

During this time, teach ers from the B group would eat lunch. At the halfway mark, teachers would flip, leaving B group teachers available for stu dents.

Falcon 50 was based around the “power hour lunch” concept. According to an April 2016 article published by Brad W. Staley on the website for the National Association of Second ary Principals, the power hour concept comes with a variety of positives and challenges.

Some of the positives of the power hour include giving students more time to participate in clubs, more time to seek special services from IEP teachers, and more time to interact with admin

istrators as they explored the build ing during this time.

Staley continues his article to say that students at his school love power hour because it gave them time to use personal electronics, time to take care of business in the main or guidance office, and the freedom to make choices, leading to more individualized opportunities.

It also gave students a brain break from STEM (Science, technol ogy, engineering, and mathematics) classes that could be overwhelmed.

Power hour is not without problems. Staley indicates in his article that the increased student freedom meant new procedures must be taught and reinforced.

During the spring 2020 se mester, rumors said that the removal of Falcon 50 would come because students refused to follow rules and directions around lunchtime. How ever, this is not what ultimately lead to the end of Falcon 50.

Due to COVID restrictions, when students returned to the build ing in the 2020-2021 school year, we initially had a “grab-and-go” lunch, which eventually transitioned to a five section lunch schedule which has transitioned to three lunches for the 2021-22 school year.

“There were supervision issues with Falcon 50,” Principle Dr. Dale Longenecker said. Supervising is a problem

now more than ever with low staff ing and substitute teachers needing to sub two classes in the same hour. Students can say that they went from a teacher to a different teacher but they could have just sat and done nothing all lunch.

“The biggest issue was accounting for the minutes with Kansas. We can’t count minutes where students are not assigned to a teacher.” Dr. Longenecker said.

The biggest issue is the student has to be in class with this rule. This would cause changes in the schedule.

“Anything past the 25 min ute lunch would require a longer day,” Longenecker said.

This is true but not un reasonable. In the spring of 2019, the school day started at 7:50 and ended at 3:00 with Falcon 50.

Advisory was only on even block day and it was split between a traditional 30 minute advisory in the morning and a 50 minute seminar at the end of the day. There were also about 50 minute class es.

Staley indicates in his article that the school day was extended by a few minutes to meet the instructional time needed, as well as shortening transition/pass ing periods by one minute each.

“If we kept the 50 min ute Falcon 50, we would have to

start school at 7:35 or end at 3:25,” Longenecker said. Ending school at 3:25 would mess up most juniors and seniors schedules if they work after school, and affect students who have extracurricular activities.

The schedule could start earlier in the morning at 7:35 and cause more late attendance as teen agers already struggle with early start times.

Neither option is popular.

In addition to the instruc tion minutes, a lack of staffing also causes issues for a potential return of Falcon 50.

“The staff for cooks has been cut from 17 to 7 causing less lines [available] for students” said Dr. Longenecker.

When Falcon 50 was around, the four lines and a snack line were available for students.

Now we have three lunches with two lines and it doesn’t hold as many students as one did. This has also caused students to be orderly in lines so they are not in a big mess.

“There are no plans right now to bring it back across the Dis trict,” said Dr. Longenecker.

Despite the lack of support at a district level, Olathe North attempted a varied schedule this year by pairing advisory time with lunch.

In the variation, students would eat lunch as part of their advisory, allowing them to check into advisory and then move about the building to visit teachers as in a traditional advisory.

This schedule variation does cover some of the issues Staley and his school fixed after their first year to help with accountability.

Ultimately, Olathe North abandoned that schedule at the end of the fall semester and returned to the district schedule.

Staley recommends switch ing to a more specific tutoring structure with limited traveling on

Fridays, limiting traveling to once at the beginning of power hour and once half way through, and imple menting more teacher duty stations to monitor behavior.

We have seen some of these procedures implemented during advisory time, like the limited travel, which means they could be implemented during a return to power 50.

While the whole school wants to see it return, the people that have experienced Falcon 50 probably won’t see it again as the current juniors were the last class with the privileges of Falcon 50. Without key changes to scheduling and KSDE requirements, students

are unlikely to see a power 50 con cept return.

Staley article: https://www.nassp. org/2016/04/26/a-powerful-ideafor-a-productive-student-lunch/

Above: The current schedule shortened classes to 45 minutes and added in a daily advisory time. The advisory time is counted as instructional time by KSDE, which means the 45-90 minutes are counted as instructional time. This means there are 360 instructional minutes a day, or 1,840 min utes per week.

Below: The spring 2019 schedule was adjusted to accomodate the need for additional minutes from time lost due to snow days. The daily start time was pushed back to 7:50, but Falcon 50 remained part of the schedule. Not counting the 25 minutes of Falcon 50, this resulted in 1,712 instructional minutes and a 50 minute seminar each week. Including the seminar, this is 1,762 minutes per week.

PHOTO BY Devon Schmidt

TOP LEFT

PHOTO BY Edsel Quintana Puente

TOP RIGHT PHOTO BY Staff

RIGHT

ABOVE PHOTO BY Danielle Desmarteau LEFT PHOTO BY Megan Proberts

THE S.A.D. days of winter

By: Riley Story

(seasonal affective disorder)

Photo by: Riley Story

During the gloomy days of winter, the season and people’s moods start to change. The lack of sunlight and vitamin D is held as one of the top reasons for seasonal mood change and when it starts affecting you and you may get depressed.

Seasonal affective Disorder (S.A.D.) is, According to the American Psychiatric Association, “a form of depression also known as SAD, seasonal depression or winter depression”. It’s depres sion caused by season change and how sad winter is because people can’t see sunlights as much, they can’t go outside and see friends as much.

“Feeling down as the weather gets colder, the days get shorter. You don’t get to see as much sunlight as before,” Jen Wasson said.

The lack of not being in the sun, fresh air, and being around friends outside can cause loneliness.

“Yea, I do feel like it probably affects children because they’re not able to get out and get fresh air,” Wasson said. It affects people mentally because in the winter they can’t get out and do much and they’re stuck at home, they can get lonely and depressed.

Due to COVID-19, some people have been affected even more dur ing the winter seasons.

“The isolation could increase some of the symptoms,” Sarah DeCelles said. People can be close to oth ers normally because of the social distancing and the quarantines, they can’t be as social as they were before.

“Less human interaction due to social distancing.” Sarah DeCelles said. This whole pandemic has brought people to negative places,

mood changes, it can cause argu ments with peers and it can lead to a lot of other things.

“I think Covid has brought on a lot of depression, just sadness from not being as social as before.” Sarah DeCelles said.

While seasonal depression may have a negative impact, there still are some ways to help. You can buy LED lamps; it’s called light therapy. It’s used to mimic the outdoor light source to help you overcome the mood swings. They cost between $20 and $90 depending on where you get it. To use it you put the lamp in front of you or near you and you can do your day to day things such as homework, reading and anything else. It might cause side effects such as headaches and eyestrain. If all else fails, you may need counseling if it gets severe. Counseling may not work for everyone, they may send you to the doctor. If they think you should re ceive medication they will prescribe you them to help you overcome.

Trying to move past the gloomy weather, there is still hope to make it through.

“Planet Fitness has red light therapy, instead of UV lights it has infrared lights that target the whole body,” Hallie Tompson said.

You can in any way in crease your Vitamin D, go outside when it’s sunny as much as you can, eat healthy, and try your best.

My Mental Health

A narrative of the mental health journey of Morgan Montgomery and her battle with anxiety and depression.

By: Morgan Montgomery

Mental health is a subject that, unfortunately, doesn’t get talked about enough. Many people, students included, have to seek treatment for mental illnesses and just overall negative mental health. While some have to be forced into it, others, such as myself, go will ingly.

I’ve struggled with depres sion and anxiety for as long as I can remember, but never got treated for it until my freshman year. I’m now a senior, but I still have pretty terrible mental health and struggle a lot with it. I lack motivationwhich isn’t to say I’m lazy- I’ve lost interest in many of the things I was previously interested in- that’s not to say I’ve changed interests, I’m just interested in nothing now- and I’ve isolated myself beyond what is normal for me- it’s not just me being an introvert, though I am.

In early November, I was down really bad and ended up hurting myself. Yes, I know, cliche. But despite the stereotype, it wasn’t for attention. I was hurting so bad inside that I needed an outlet. I needed something physical, real, tangible, to represent what I was going through. The physical pain of the cut was helping to release the mental pain of my life.

Not everyone who selfharms does it for attention, though it can be a sign of seeking out and wanting help. I had told a friend and they called the police to do a wellness check on me. The police showed up at my door around one a.m. and we all decided I needed to go to the hospital. I fell asleep at Advent Health hospital and, needless to say that night, or rather next morning, I was admitted to a mental hospital.

Now what I need people to understand is that a mental hospi tal isn’t what you see in movies. We aren’t locked in padded cells, we aren’t in straight-jackets, we aren’t treated like animals. We are treated like human beings. While yes, we had to sleep with the doors open, and yes the bathrooms were open save the magnetic door to cover so no one saw in, the staff was genu inely there to help us. We weren’t treated like we were broken, messed up, or stupid. They treated us with respect and made us, or at least me, feel valued.

I went to the mental hos pital voluntarily, I had asked to go because I knew I needed help that couldn’t be provided elsewhere. I

was there for four days and three nights. It helped immensely and I was discharged.

After I was discharged, I went down another slope. Instead of going back to the hospi tal, I went to a place called Cot tonwood Springs Changes. They did an assessment and decided I needed to be placed in PHP, which stands for Partial Hospitalization Program. It was from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and was mostly just group therapy with breaks between each and time for education and lunch.

I did that for about three and a half weeks then stepped down to the IOP, which stands for Intensive Outpatient Program, where it begins at the same time but ends at 11:15 a.m. The point of

Morgan Montgomery, Editor in Chief Photo by: Heather Springer

such being to reintegrate the patient into school and society instead of just solely going to therapy all day every day. I was in IOP for a week, then I was discharged.

What a lot of people probably don’t understand is that helping with one’s mental health is exhausting. Everyday was process ing and forcing yourself to really think insightfully into what was going on and how you could better yourself. I went home absolutely exhausted the first week.

All was fine and dandy, but I didn’t have a therapist after I was discharged so I went from having intensive care every day to having none whatsoever. As to be expected, I fell back off the wagon. I self-harmed again.

Currently, I’m back in the PHP program and don’t know how

long I’ll be in it this time. But I’m not ashamed. I have mental illness es. That is completely okay. Just because you have a mental illness or are challenged due to not having great mental health, that doesn’t mean your value has depreciated. It’s okay to not be okay and we need to normalize that. That’s not saying we need to glorify it, be cause we shouldn’t, absolutely not, but it needs to be normalized. So many people suffer from the effects of mental health and it’s not always obvious. Some people, like me, are fantastic at hiding it so you’d never know. So before you do or say something to some one, think about it. They’re going through so much you don’t even know about, so be kind. As cliche as that sounds, it’s true. Be kind to others but also be kind to yourself.

You deserve more than you know and you’ve got to give yourself more credit and just a little bit more grace.

Graphic by Kai Magana, concept by Abby Pierce

2022 Resolutions: Are They Worth

The Hassle?

A look into some new years resolutions, set by teachers

By: Allyson Hester

New Year’s Resolutions are a fun thing to do at the beginning of a new year. While it’s a popular thing to do, sometimes it’s interest ing where these ideas start.

One teacher mentioned he remembers setting New Year’s resolutions in elementary school and he remembers them being more for fun. For example, “I would let our family dog out more, play video games less, eat only 4 cookies instead of 5,” social studies teacher Brian Aiken said.

He later mentioned that he’s, “not sure if [he] was ever good at following through.” However, that was when he was in elementa ry school when everything seemed more short-term. It’s hard for any kid that age to stay on one subject for a long period of time.

Now he thinks resolu tions are “a wonderful practice. They ask us to self-reflect on the previous year,” Aiken said. He also mentioned that he doesn’t typically “make resolutions, although [he] probably should.”

Aside from making these long-term goals, he reflects greatly on certain things that he partici pates in. He thinks about “how [he] can adapt [his] thinking, attitude, and/or behavior on the go,” Aiken said. While he doesn’t make a yearly resolution, his life-long goal is “to never stray too far” from his personal “set of cores and values,” Aiken said.

While some people don’t set resolutions there are some peo ple that use resolutions to improve their daily life and fix things that they need to work on.

“I really just think about the good things I want to continue to do and how I can do less of the bad things,” librarian Amy Brown said. One of her resolutions is “giving myself permission to read books that [she] wouldn’t neces sarily put in our school library on a more regular basis,” Brown said. Not only that but she also wants to “limit [her] social media use or

“Giving myself permission to read books that I wouldn’t necessarily put in our school library”

- Amy Brown said

choose to look at happy things,” Brown said.

When you set goals for yourself, you are looking ahead for something you want to change. Her idea of these two goals are “ good for staying balanced,” Brown said. She hopes to be able to maintain these goals all year as she thinks “they will be easy to maintain,” Brown said.

However, she does think that with the 2022 election coming up this year, she may be tempted to

Aside from the very per sonalized goals that people make to fit only their lifestyle, there are general goals that are typically more popular.

“I don’t formally set them but in my mind, I do,” Geometry teacher Bailey Schmit said while talking about setting new years golas.

The two things she wants to focus on this year are “going to the gym more and eating healthi er,” Schmit said.

“I don’t really have any expectations, I just want to be healthier”

- Baily Schmidt said.

get back on social media. She hopes that she will “be able to do a better job of walking away if needed to while staying informed of the is sues that [she] cares about”, Brown said.

One way that she is going to help herself complete these goals is by “going on keto.” She said tha she has done it in the past and is hoping to be able to stick with it. Schmit says that she does not have

a workout goal. “I know that I will not go to the gym, that’s just not going to happen,” Schmit said. Instead, she is going to invest in a Peloton, hoping that having it at her house will motivate her more than having to drive to the gym.

“I don’t really have any expectations, I just want to be healthier” Schmidt said. Later on, she said that “realistically, I have no idea how long this will last but I hope all year.”

When people set new year’s resolutions it’s common knowledge that you are going to fail at least once. When asked what would happen if her resolution didn’t follow through she said “It may be my next year’s resolution.” She also said that “my goals come and go like waves, one month I’m on and the next I’m not as moti vated.”

Three Degrees of Expensive

Which path do you choose to save the extra buck?

By: Tim Wood and Liv Swaney

Private Public Community College

Do you know what they call a doc tor from Harvard and a doctor from Kansas University? A doctor. While the degree of the Harvard grad may be in a slightly more elegant font, and the ego of said degree holder may be larger, they are the same. This is not to solely bash the private universities.

Tuition in private institu tions is on average in 2021 is 350% higher than public, and anywhere from 300% to 450% higher than a community college. Those statistics are seemingly daunting, but when you consider the money poured into these elite schools by private donors, the cost is chipped away. With a lower student body popula tion, the amount of money offered for merit based and major specific scholarships is much greater than public and community college uni versities.

A student in 2021 attending a private institution can expect a base line of at least $25,000 in merit based scholarships alone. Addi tionally, major specific grants pay out at least $15,000 per scholarship receiver. Taking the bare mini mum numbers into consideration, students can have a little over a semester of tuition paid completely through guaranteed scholarships. Pick your poison, more expensive initial price with more guaranteed scholarships, or cheap er initial price with less guaranteed scholarships. At the end of the day, a doctor is a doctor, no matter where the degree originates.

There are a lot of good commu nity, private, and public colleges out their, here is a viewpoint on Public college

“Well I didn’t want to go to a private college because it’s expensive and then I just didn’t have any interest in a community college,” senior Parker Anderson said.

Anderson explains why he was more interested in the col lege.

“I was more interested in the location because I just wanted to live and get away. The dorms are pretty standard like a tradi tional college but it’s different from a community college because I’ll probably be on my own. It’s a cool location and a good distance campus is a good size,” Anderson said.

Parker emphasizes the differences in cost compared to other colleges.

“Well I have a scholarship op portunity, and then I mean the scholarships came and it was right where I wanted it to be so it just kind of worked out,” Anderson said.

Parker says what would have happened if he got a scholarship somewhere else.

“I would consider the scholar ship, it probably just varies on the amount they offer and everything else,” Anderson said.

A great transition school for those looking for the cheaper route to getting their degree. While you cannot receive anything higher than an associates degree, these schools offer the most diverse assortment of classes and majors. Oftentimes used as a way to get general education classes out of the way before attending a major university, these seemingly best option schools still have their downfalls.

On a per credit hour basis community colleges win by a landslide in being the most af fordable. What comes with taking the less expensive route, a route with less guarantee on quality of facilities and teachers. Many colleges use student teachers to instruct classes because their pay isn’t nearly that of a professor with a PHD. Similarly, the facili ties have less funds allocated to their improvement and mainte nance because of less private and state donors.

Taking this into consider ation during the highs of COVID, community colleges provided the most flexible and health friendly opportunities to those newly graduated. Classes taken from home where your rent and utili ties are paid for, or clases from a $12,000 dorm room you cannot leave for the majority of the day. The versatility of community college programs is great for not only young students, but degree seeking people of all ages.

Future Plans, Are We Ready?

After years in person, hybrid, online, are seniors prepared for their new reality?

By: Liv Swaney

Class of 2022 has had three of the oddest years in history, after of course both world wars. Having years all in-person and mask less, hybrid, online, in-person and masked, we have been very resil ient with our current and possibly future situation. Our past state of chaos and confusion, which is now a new normal, left us with signifi cant education, social, and emotion al gaps, but birthed a generation of innovated beings

Spring break that never ended marked the beginning of the end of normalcy for the whole world, but most importantly the end of conventional learning. For better or for worse teachers and students alike have faced massive adversary over the past three years and who knows for how much longer. Consider this more of a col lective thank you to the faculty who continue to support and go through this time with us, and a hug to my peers who have endured the hell we call COVID. Cheers to the future and your next steps.

I pose the following ques tions to not only my peers, but to parents and faculty, are we ready? Are we ready to be on our own in a college setting? Do you think we have learned enough, have enough social awareness in an educational setting to be successful for our next step? Do you feel ready for what next school year presents you with?

Learning online taught us technological skills that far surpass the standards of regular high schooler capabilities. Preparedness for long hours writing emails and reports, online meetings, and much of the nine-to-five workforce are skills that we now possess, and do with ease. We are ready to take on

the corporate world from behind a screen, but we are not emotion ally or maturity wise able to deal with all of the stressors that come with the title of being an adult. COVID sparked the high est rise in mental health struggles in teens aged 12 to 18. Isolation for some was where they were most comfortable, and able to get the most work done while avoid ing social anxiety. For majority it murdered motivation, demolished determination, and broke down those indivuals fighting anxiety, depression, and whatever other monsters that dwell within them. We are ever resilient, took it blow by blow, and made it to our last year. We are ready for the tests of our will, but we are still children, wandering and welcoming a help ing hand.

When answering the question are we ready, maybe. We are ready for reality because noth ing about COVID or the world we lived in was sugar coated. We watched the news of hospitals turning away dying patients, we watched our schools lock their doors, we listened to the pending judgement on our future learning styles, we knew. We know what it is like to self teach, self motivate,

self preserve, we learned. Are we ready in that respect, yes.

We are still children. As much as we argue we are adults and should be treated as such, we are still brand new to the reality of life. Are we ready for the harshness of life, no.

The answer to are we ready will forever be muddled, but we are ready to start our lives. Rede fine who we are, restart our focus on whatever drives us to succeed, but no longer reviving the years of confusion and chaos. Goodluck to my peers, and good riddance to COVID.

Student Debt is Student Death

By: Liv Swaney

Since the 1990s, college tuition has soared 130%, while the number of high school graduates at tending traditional 4-year university rates has reached an all-time low. With the rise in vocational schools and 2-year bachelor degree-seeking generations, the cost for traditional colleges has been on a gradual rise for the past decade.

Another factor contributing to this are the online “at-your-ownpace” option colleges that became popular during COVID. The seem ingly never-ending virus continually eroding at what once was normalcy, its effects on the past, present, and future collegiate student body - CO VID has not been the norm forever, but student debt has. Even with the majority of the workforce at least having their associates, the price of said degree has some swimming in

debt far greater than the title of their degree.

Much like the balance of supply and demand, one would think with the rising prices of colleges, said colleges would be of fering more money in scholarships. Unfortunately, with less money going into the traditional colleges, less is available to incoming classes. Student debt could very well be the death of traditional institutions that have stood strong since their first establishment in 1636.

When talking about col leges it is crucial to be contextual to the location, type, and ranking that the university holds. While the top 10 Ivy League colleges are the hardest to be accepted to, and the most expensive, the majority of the students accepted receive at least half if not three-fourths of tuition

college scholarships, making them the same as most public universities costs before scholarships. Private universities offer flat higher tuition and lower acceptance rates but give out nearly the same amount in scholarships as ivy league colleges.

Public universities are the kicker. Most would assume public universities would be the cheapest based on not having the extreme requirements, and the sheer amount of money poured into them by the student body. Consequently, while it is easier to get into a public univer sity because so many people can attend said universities, the cost in tuition may not be high but room and board, and general living cost nearly match the tuition. Addi tionally, because of the size of the student body, the amount of money

Tradtional college now fighting for its place as top choice for degree seeking students, as the rise of student debt crushes its chances.

2022that is available is spread thin, meaning generally students end up paying the full price.

Community colleges and vocational schools are different from the other three. Generally, they are cheaper, faster, and are focused on students transitioning to the work force or traditional four year, with the least amount of debt. Students can receive scholarships to commu nity colleges and vocational schools, but the money offered is even less than public universities. Grant programs such as FAFSA and meritbased scholarships are the reason that many students even have the option to go to college, but they are not enough to prevent the inevitable outcome. Student debt.

The average American who went to school in the ’90s had anywhere from $6,000-$12,000 in student loans. In 2020 the aver age American has almost $40,000 in undergraduate debt. The total cost of all the student debt in 2020 was $1.45 trillion, and the number has only gone up. That amount of money could: end homelessness in America (which is quoted at $20 billion), and end hunger in America (around $25 billion). Thinking about being able to solve millions of American children going to bed not knowing where their next meal is

coming from with just a fraction of the total student debt in America, the financial disconnect between institutions and the people they educate is gleaming. Students can get a degree, but their degree just sits in its glass box. The amount of jobs available for newly graduated college students with a bachelor’s degree is slim.

America is at the highest employ ment level since the Great Depression, but not in the deficit of degree-requiring jobs. Jobs that are non-degree requiring, often in retail, food, marketing, or labor intensive, is where the deficit is being felt the most in corporate america, not the lawyers, scientist, and entrepre neurs.

Hypothetically let’s say you are a freshly graduated student with $40,000 worth of debt work ing a minimum wage job at $11.00 an hour at 40-50 hours a week. The average student debt pay back per month is $100-$400 a month with interest. The average living costs in America is $1,000-$2,500 a month. You, as the student, get paid $2,200 from your job. Subtract $1,000 at least, and then let’s say another $250 in student debt after interest, you are left with $850 per month. Living

expenses only entail rent, electric ity, water and gas. That $850 has to cover car payments, insurance, phone, grocery, gas for your car and any recurring payments for leisure activities.

Essentially new students are living paycheck to paycheck for the next 13 years. The years where the next generation of the workforce is supposed to be getting off their feet and starting their careers, they are stuck barely making it through day to day life.

Student debt is student death, not the actual death of indi viduals, but the death of traditional colleges as we know it. Rising living prices and the plummeting of avail able decent paying jobs is resulting in student burnout and more unem ployment aid being distributed. This begs the question, where is the cap? How much longer will we let future generations progres sive thoughts and methods become crushed by turning their focus to basic survival? When do traditional colleges become more adaptive to their future inhabitants in order for their own survival? Let this be a twenty-first century declaration of independence to the institution, we are breaking up. No student debt without equal representation in de cisions on tuition and allocation of federal aid. Your move institutions.

Inflation: what is it and what has it done to our economy?

A look into what inflation is, how it affects our economy, and some ways we can try to control it.

By: Mya Roberts

Inflation has greatly af fected our economy. Inflation is the rate at which currency values are falling and the average price level for goods and services is rising. Inflation is caused by prices increasing due to an increase in production costs, including raw materials and wages. A surge in demand for products and services can cause inflation as well because consumers are willing to pay more for products.

Inflation affects many things in our economy. There is a very long list of things that inflation

has affected, a few of them have been listed below.

Purchasing power - infla tion decreases your purchasing power due to the rise in prices across the economy. Purchasing power is the value of a currency expressed in terms of the number of goods or services that one unit of money can buy.

Encourages spending - due to declining purchasing power, people want to buy now, rather than later. It’s better to get your shopping done now and stock up on the things that won’t lose any value. This means that consum ers will fill up their gas tank, stock

their freezers, buy shoes in the next size up for children, etc.

Cost of living - inflation raises the cost of living. The more the price of goods and services goes up the more we spend each year on overall expenses.

There are many more ways that inflation has affected our economy and the way that we live but there may be some ways that we can try to control the rate of inflation. These may include; Monetary policy - higher interest rates reduce demand in the economy, which leads to lower economic and inflation growth.

Control of money supplysome argue there is a close link be tween money supply and inflation, which means controlling money supply may control inflation.

Supply-side policies - poli cies that increase competitiveness and efficiency of the economy puts downward pressure on long-term costs.

Fiscal policy - a higher rate of income tax may reduce spend ing, demand and inflationary pres sures.

Wage controls - trying to control wages could help to reduce inflationary pressures. However it has been rarely used.

These theories may not work to control inflation but it could be worth a try.

will you be m y valentine?

Valentine’s Day has long been known as a day of deep affec tion, a day to give your loved ones chocolate, stuffed animals, and flowers. Stores are lined with pink and red decorations and hearts are everywhere. There truly seems to be love in the air during this holi day of romance.

However the true meaning behind Valentine’s Day is much different than that. A much darker origin is hidden behind candy hearts and chocolate covered strawberries.

Valentine’s Day originally came from Ancient Romanian tradi tion- a festival called “Lupercalia”, also known as the ritual of fertiliza tion.

Lupercalia was practiced on Feb. 15. Unlike the Valentine’s

Day we know today, this festival was bloody, violent, and sexually driven. During the duration of the ritual, the men would kill a goatfor fertility- and a dog- for purifica tion. The hide of the animals would be dipped into a pool of sacrificial blood and used as whips on the women.

Despite what some may think, the women were actually quite inviting of this practice. They believed that by getting whipped with these animal hides, they would be more fertile in the year following until the next ceremony a year later, where this heinous act would be repeated.

Nearing the end of the festival, eligible women would put their names in a big urn and all of the bachelors in town would take

turns randomly picking a name out of the pile. These couples would be paired for the next year, many times ending in marriage.

As for the name, “Valen tine’s Day”, it was indeed named after a man who called himself Saint Valentine. Although this is a well known fact, there are many different conspiracies over who Saint Valentine truly was.

One theory was he was a Roman Priest who conducted secret wedding ceremonies that went against the wishes of the higher

Image: Saint Valentine depiction

authorities, who at the time was Ro man Emperor Claudius II. Claudius’s views were that single men were more likely to fight in the war than married men, so he temporarily banned weddings. Valentine thought anyone should be able to marry when they choose, so he wed them in secret. He was inevitably caught and sentenced to death.

While imprisoned, Valentine healed a girl’s blindness. No one really knows how he did it, but he claimed it was through the power of God, bringing the entire family to revert to Christianity.

During the healing process, Valen tine ended up falling in love. Some stories say it was his jailer’s daugh ter, while others believe it was King Claudius’s daughter- the princess. One thing that is consistent in all versions of the tale, however, is that the good saint’s final words were in a letter written to his love, and signed “Your Valentine”, before being martyred by beheading on Feb. 14.

Another theory was he was a Bishop, also known for wedding lovers in secret, before finding the same fate of being martyred.

Although these are the two main accounts of Saint Valentine, there are many stories of other Saints named Valentine. Although there are different versions of the story, all of them agree that Saint Valentine was martyred on Feb. 14 and signed his final letter “Your Val entine”.

Tied with the many stories of Saint Valentine, is the attempted Christianization of Lupercalia. Dur ing the rise of Christianity, Luperca lia was deemed “un-Christian” and was banned. In place of the fallen

ritual, the Pope declared Feb. 14 as St. Valentine’s Day.

Although not nearly as gruesome, it was not for many years later that the day was associ ated with love.

Nowadays, when people hear the words “Valentine’s Day”, they think of love, candy and teddy bears. The day is entirely to celebrate a significant other or

other loved ones, a day dedicated to showing affection.

Nearly 2000 roses and 145 million cards are exchanged on the “most romantic day of the year”. The origins of the holiday are, sadly, far from sweet.

Image: Lupercalia festival depiction

Image: Saint Valentine depiction

Clash of the webs

Newsest Spider-Man “No Way Home” sparks more debate on who is the best Spider-Man

Tobey Maguire

By: Jalil Smith

When asked who is the best Spider-Man, Tobey Maguire always comes to mind. He not only has the very first Spider-Man movie, but his Spider-Man is still loved by many to this very day. He’s also one of the main reasons why a lot of people watched “Spider-Man: No Way Home”. Although both Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland are amazing in their own right, nei ther of them are as iconic as Magu ire.

Compared to the other Spider-Men, Maguire is the most accurate Peter Parker. In the com ics, Peter is portrayed as an awk ward yet very intelligent person. In Maguire’s movies Peter Parker was awkward, not “cool” like Garfield’s Spider-Man. He was also smart enough to make his own suit from scratch, which is something that Holland’s spider-man rarely does in his movies.

Maguire’s Spider-Man has cooler concepts, such as biological web “shooters”, which logically makes sense given Peter’s alias. However, this means that Holland and Garfield’s Spider-Men are more comically accurate. Maguire is also the only Spider-Man to have encountered Venom and Sand man, who are more iconic than the Lizard from Garfield’s movie and Vulture from Holland’s movie.

Maguire also has deeper and more meaningful villain relationships. Except Sandman he

knew each villain on a personal level. For example, Green Goblin was both his friend’s father and his friend. He worked with Doctor Octopus and was taken over by Venom. Garfield barely knew Max before Electro, and the only connec tion that Holland had with Myste rio was through being Spider-Man.

An accurate Peter Parker, cooler abilities, and villain relation ships are what make Tobey Ma guire’s Spider-Man the best. It is a dream that he comes back in future MCU movies.

Andrew Garfield

By: Mark Elliot

If you want a good Peter Parker, go to Tobey Maguire. If you want a good Spider-Man, go to Tom Holland, if you want both, go to Andrew Garfield.

For starters, Garfield’s Amazing Spiderman has the best comedic lines. Holland’s SpiderMan does have good, quick-witted comments, but Garfield did it firstand did it better.

Garfield also has the best web swinging scenes, which is what sets him apart from Magu ire. A really special part about his swinging is the POV style, show ing what it would look like to be Spider-Man. The CGI in the swing ing scenes is also better than the other films.

Garfield also has the best love interest out of all the films, his and Emma Stone’s story is incred ibly written. Garfield really evolved as an actor throughout his films especially after Stone’s charac ter, Gwen Stacy, died as Garfield couldn’t save her in time. You could see the whole development of Garfield take shape after that and how amazing it was he got redemp tion in the newest Spider-Man, “No Way Home.”

Garfield is the perfect mid dle ground between Holland and Maguire. He acts the correct age, while Holland is supposed to be a teenager, and Maguire is supposed to be older, Garfield’s Spider-Man is the perfect age for the role.

Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man

Garfield also fought the most intelligent, but that’s not to say Maguire’s or Holland’s SpiderMan are dumb. Garfield created a lizard cure before Dr. Connors turned the world into a bunch of lizards, and he creatively made an overcurrent to defeat Electro in his sequel movie.

While all three SpiderMans are great, and it is difficult to compare the three, Andrew Gar field has the edge over the other two and we can all agree the best Spider-Man movie thus far is No Way Home.

Tom Holland

By: Abigail Pierce

The newest version of Spider-Man, played by Tom Hol land, is the best and most accu rate interpretation of young Peter Parker. Tom Holland was the best fit for Spider-Man and played out the role phenomenally, hence why they continue to cast him even though he’s already appeared in the most Marvel movies out of the three actors, and been a part of the Avengers, which the other two never accomplished.

Holland is the perfect mixture of awkwardness and con fidence. Peter Parker, as a student, is portrayed as very awkward and nerdy in the comics, but also confi dent and quick-acting while in the suit, and Holland performs both perfectly, while Tobey Maguire was a bit too awkward for Spider-Man, yet Andrew Garfield was “too cool” for Peter Parker.

Along with having the right attitude for the role, Holland was also the closest in age. For the film “Spider-Man Homecoming”, released in 2016, Peter Parker was supposedly a 15 year old high school Sophomore. During filming, Holland was 20 years old, only 5 years older than the character he was playing, as opposed to Ma guire’s 26 years old playing a 17 year old (9 year difference), and Garfield’s 27 years old playing a 17 year old (10 year difference).

Another importance in the films is chemistry between

the characters and actors alike. Although the powerful kiss be tween Maguire’s Peter Parker and Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane (MJ) was iconic, and fans truly felt the pain when Garfield’s Parker lost Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy, the connection between Holland and Zendaya is undeniable. Their real life relation ship really intensifies the love and emotion between Peter Parker and Michelle Jones (MJ), projecting the on-screen romance to the viewers. Overall, Tom Holland portrayed the best Spider-Man out of the three actors that once played him, nailing nearly every aspect of the role. Not to mention he does his own back flips.

Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man

Tom Holland as Spider-Man

Reboots and Spinoffs: For Money or Fans

With the recent trend of revivng and remaking old entertainment, one begs the question: Are these for the fans or for the money?

by Jalil Smith

This year could be a great year for the entertainment industry. There are new movies that people are looking forward to, video games with popular brands behind them, and lots of old artists who are going to come out with good music. Although all of these are separate types of media, they are each popular in their own way. Old media is especially popular. People still remem ber “The Proud Family”, “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”, “Saints Row”, “How I Met Your Mother” and “Saints Row”. These shows and video games are expected to be rebooted or to have a spin off this year. The question that needs to be asked is; Are these reboots and spin offs really for the consumers, or are they a cash grab?

“Bel-Air” show, from what is shown in the trailer, looks to have more drama than comedy. The comments seemed to have mixed reactions. Some are looking forward to the show and others seem to miss the original cast and that the show is trying to make money based off of the name.

“It’s times like these that I’m incredibly sad to not be able to see the amount of dislikes anymore,” Brian Thompson said.

Another comment has also provided a negative response.

“What was good about ‘How I Met Your Mother’ was the chemistry between the actors and the friend group. This friend group seems [like an] annoying cliché of what millennial[s] are,” Melissa Teodola said.

The “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” is being rebooted to “Bel-Air”. There is a trailer for the show on YouTube by the title “Bel-Air Trailer (HD) Fresh Prince Drama Reboot.” After watching the trailer and reading the comments, this upcoming show can definitely be seen as not faithful to the original show. The original show was usually more lighthearted and funny with a few life lessons tossed in between. The

“How I Met Your Mother” is a show that many people loved, it has nine seasons and is still being shown on cable. With all the popularity surround ing it, it’s no surprise that a spin off is being made. However, a lot of people are disinterested in it; judging by the comments on the “How I Met Your Fa ther” trailer posted by Hulu. Although there were mixed reviews on the “BelAir” reboot, the reception to this trailer is almost purely negative.

The top comment shows im mediate displeasure.

These spinoffs/reboots aren’t only applying to TV shows. The “Saints Row” video game was also revealed to have a reboot at the Game Awards. You can find the trailer for this reboot on the Saints Row YouTube channel. Just like “How I Met Your Mother”, this trailer also produced angry fans.

YouTuber Big Ounce believes that the creator of Saints Row only cares about the art.

“Volition really cares more about their artistic vision than pleasing fans,” Ounce said “Which is fine, but you need to strike a balance between both if you want real success with a franchise like this.”

Mrtwister360 thinks that this reboot is trying to make money based solely off of the name.

“This game would look prom ising if it wasn’t using the Saints Row IP as a selling point,” Mrtwister360 said.

After reading these comments and watching the trailers, it looks like most of these comments are trashing these new reboots and remakes. If the fans don’t like the first impressions, it’s safe to assume that the fans wouldn’t buy into the product.

Although some reboots and spinoffs seem to have very poor fan re

tion style!” LavenderGirl said. “They aren’t cardboard cutouts of a single face, each has his/her own classic characteristics! And the voices are back! Can’t wait to see this! So glad they’re back!”

The comment below this one shares the same sentiment.

“This feels like the iCarly reboot, where it was made FOR

are some companies that do care for their fans. His comments and positive reception proves it.

There is a simple answer to, “Are reboots and spinoffs for Money?”. Yes and no. There are clear examples of entertainment being made that not a single person asked for, but there are also cases in which lots of fans want.

The only true way to tell which is which is by reviews and or comments. Ultimately, only the fans can decide on whether or not the reboots and spinoff are worth it.

ception, there are some that don’t. This is the case for “The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder” by Disney+. The trailer for the upcoming show can be found on YouTube by the name “The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder | Official Trailer | Disney+”. The original comedy is kept intact, the voice actors still play their original character, and the animation has improved. The trailer hypes their audience up for the show and the comment section proves it.

One comment compliments the new animation.

“I actually like the new anima

THE FANS of the show,” Starie Tiger said. “And I am all FOR it!! Let’s goooooooo!!”

There are some spinoffs that are also receiving positive attention. If you remember “Toy Story” you will remember Buzz Lightyear. Pixar is now making a new movie based off of Buzz titled “Lightyear | Teaser Trailer”. The amount of views total 12 million+ with 466 thousand likes.

The comments definitely show how much they look forward to this movie.

“This feels like it’s really a gift to all the people who watched and loved the original toy story,” Scout 1032 said. “4 weeks later and I’m still crying at this.”

A comment a few blocks down states that this trailer gives them chills.

“[I got] Goosebumps through out the entire trailer,” guitarcoversAdy said. “Every time I watch this I get overwhelmed with emotions. Thank you so much, Pixar.”

These trailers prove that there

Down - Black Adam

Up - Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

PHOTO BY Gracie Akers

PHOTO BY Jordyn Napier Johnson

TOP LEFT

TOP RIGHT PHOTO BY James Neely

RIGHT

ABOVE PHOTO BY Coral Netten LEFT PHOTO BY Abby Burkart

College Football Recap

The biggest stories from this season

By: Quinton Coats

This year’s college football season was one of the most exciting and compelling seasons in years. From the emergence of Group of Five teams to Name, Image, and Like ness deals taking over, this year was not to disappoint. Looking back at all five conferences and a few wild card stories, this year had it all. From August through Janu ary, this past half year will have fans waiting and anticipating the return of College Football next season.

Taking a look into each Power Five Conference

Pac-12: The Pac-12 was an inter esting conference this year as it displayed some of the best football seen all year and some of the worst. Utah came out as the conference’s strongest team winning the confer ence championship in deciding fashion over powerhouse Oregon. One of the biggest stories of the Pac-12 this year was a coaching hire. With the vacancy in head coaching position at USC, the ath letic administration took no time to get one of the nations best offensive minds, Lincoln Riley. With this hire, it gave USC a huge recruit ing advantage as Riley has already brought in multiple four and five star recruits. The Pac-12 will be a strong conference next year

Big 12: The Big 12 this year shook things up as two new teams were in the conference championship game, Oklahoma State and Baylor. A big disappointment this year was Texas. Projected to make the conference championship and pos sibly make a run for the playoff, this team fell off a cliff after their game at the Cotton Bowl against Oklahoma. Baylor won the Big 12 championship game.

Big 10: The Big 10 is home to one of the biggest stories this season, Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines finally beat Ohio State. With this win, it propelled Michi gan into the conference champion ship and further on into thr Colle-

ge Football Playoff. Kenneth Walker III was an absolute freight train for Michigan State this year as he finished sixth in Heisman voting.

ACC: Holy switch up! The ACC had one of the biggest switch ups in history. The emergence of Kenny Pickett and Pittsburgh had college football fans in awe. With a Wake Forest vs. Pittsburgh conference championship game, Clemson no longer sits on the throne of su premacy in the ACC. According to athletic trainer Cooper Sax, the biggest story of this year’s college football season was “The decline in Clemson and their offensive pro duction…Their fire power and how much they dropped off…” This conference will be fun to watch next season.

Recap of the College Football Playoff

This year’s college football playoff was historic. With the first Group of 5 team to be in the playoff in it’s 8 year history. The first game of the playoff featured this team. Cincin nati, the first Group of Five team to be in the playoff, played a regular to the playoff. Alabama featured th-

this year’s Heisman Trophy winner, Bryce Young. The two teams faced off in the famous Cotton Bowl in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The game was competitive for the first quarter with a score of 10-3 Alabama through the first 15 min utes. The rest of the game was all Alabama as Linebacker Will Ander son led the stout Alabama defense against the above average Cincin nati Offense led by Quarterback Desmond Ridder. Bama proved to be too much for Cincy with a final score of 27-6. The second game of the Playoff was between first timer Michigan and patron Georgia. This game was not competitive at all as Georgia proved to be too powerful for the Wolverines. Quarterback Stetson Bennett of Georgia threw for 3 touchdowns and 313 yards in a blowout. Final score was 34-11. The final game in the College Foot ball Playoff was the most exciting. The Championship game between Georgia and Alabama was a re match of the SEC Championship game. With Alabama’s high flying offense going against Georgia’s hard hitting defense, it was expect ed to be a great football game. This game was highly contested until the fourth quarter. Aforementioned Stetson Bennett threw a good enough game to get by Alabama going for 2 touchdowns and 226 yards. With the win, it brought Georgia its first national champi onship since the year 1980a and it’s first championship in the CFP era. Georgia is expected to be a top team this upcoming season. They have a great shot at going back to back.

Jaxon SmithNjigba, WR, Ohio State Artwork By Springer

Bryce Young, QB Alabama

Artwork By Springer

SEC: No surprises here, the most dominant conference in the na tion once again. We got to see the emergence of Ole Miss Quarterback Matt Corral, the ups and downs of Arkansas, and the National Cham pion Georgia Bulldogs. “The big gest story this year was probably Georgia beating Alabama in the

National Championship game…” said Coach Jeff Gourley. Another big story is the historic recruiting class of Texas A&M. With an aver age rating of .9469 on 247 Sports, it ranks them in the top 5 recruiting classes of all time. The SEC was the standard this year; next year will be no different.

Wild Card Topic: Throwing for 5,000 yards in a 16 game, now 17 game NFL season is a tremendous feat, try throwing for 33 yards shy of 6,000 in a 12 game season. That’s what Western Kentucky Quarter back Bailey Zappe accomplished this year. Projected to be a fourth or fifth round pick in this year’s NFL draft, Bailey Zappe’s draft stock is projected to increase in the months leading up to the draft.

This season was full of fireworks, questions, disappointment, and excitement. Future teams have big shoes to fill as this was the most exciting season in years. From the emergence of the Group of Five to the ups and downs of the ACC, this year was full of surprises. Next year couldn’t come any slower. Many fans will be impatiently waiting for the return of College Football once again this summer.

Race for Super Bowl LV

Breakdown of the NFL Playoffs so far, and an outlook for this years Super Bowl

By: Mark Elliott

The stage has been set for Super Bowl LVI, Rams vs. Bengals, a matchup not many anticipated. This year’s matchup will take place at SoFi Stadium, the second year in a row a team will play on their own field for the Super Bowl. Last year, the Bucs won it on their home turf, and this year the Rams will look to do the same. The Rams as a fran chise have made three Super Bowl appearances prior to this year, 1980, 2000, and 2019. Rams only won it in 2000, as did the St. Louis Rams. They have never won it all as the Los Angeles Rams. The Bengals have two previous appearances in 1982 and 1989, both of which losses to the 49ers.

Virtually nobody foresaw the Bengals making this deep of a playoff run, or even making the playoffs. Last season, they went

4-11-1 and their starting quar terback Joe Burrow tore his ACL towards the end of the season. This season, leading up to the playoffs, people questioned the legitimacy of the Bengals as they were highly inconsistent throughout the season. Having bad losses to teams such as the Dolphins, Jets, and Bears. Many counted them out in the playoffs because of their inconsistency, but they proved everyone wrong as they have all year long.

The Bengals also didn’t have a cakewalk to the playoffs. Playing the one and two seed on the road back to back weeks. They upset the Titans 19-16 in the divi sional round, the Titans had their star running back Derrick Henry reactivated off of injury reserve. So holding the one seed with their full strength of offense to 16 points was a very impressive outing for

the Bengals defense. The next week, they went into Arrowhead to play the Chiefs, who were heavily favored to win this game. Bengals trailed by 11 at half just as they did in their previous matchup earlier in the season. Just as before, the Ben gals rallied from behind to stun the Chiefs, this time to go to the Super Bowl.

The Rams were a favorite Super Bowl candidate out of the NFC at the start of the season, as they made a high risk high reward trade prior to the season. The Rams sent two first round picks, a third round pick, and Jared Goff in ex change for Lions quarterback Mat thew Stafford. Stafford, who hadn’t won a playoff game in Detroit, was the Rams’ plan for the final piece of the puzzle. Trading those picks was an all or nothing move, and LA was all in on Stafford. As of this mo ment, this trade looks pretty good for the Rams, but not having those picks could hurt them down the road.

Round one, Rams played division rival Arizona Cardinals, whom they split the season se ries with. This time around, they handled business at home blowing out the Cardinals 34-11, Stafford’s first playoff win. In the Divisional Round, they traveled to Tampa Bay to duel the defending Super Bowl Champion Buccaneers. The Rams took a commanding 27-3

lead over the Bucs, but Tom Brady helped them rally back and tied it at 27-27 late in the fourth quarter. Thanks to a dime from Stafford to MVP candidate Cooper Kupp the Rams got in range and won on a field goal before time expired. Two tough teams back to back weeks, and for the NFC Championship they played another division rival San Francisco 49ers, who swept the Rams in the regular season. In a late fourth quarter rally, the Rams were able to comeback on the 49ers and punch their ticket to the Super Bowl. Seeking to avenge their loss from 2018.

Many people are looking forward to this matchup because it is two relatively new teams to the Super Bowl in recent history. The Bengals hadn’t won a playoff game in 31 years leading up to this year’s postseason. The Rams have had a lot of up and down years in the past 10 years or so. The problem with this matchup is the Rams are better in nearly every category–on paper. The Bengals are no stranger to being the underdogs, as they have rarely been favored in big games vs. elite opponents. The only team categories I would say the Bengals have the advantage in, is

running backs, safeties, and possi bly the wide receiver core. Despite the large on paper advantage, this Super Bowl should be a really good game. Some people would want to see the Bengals win, the under dogs with a likeable quarterback and team. Other people may be cheering for the Rams to see wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and Matt Stafford win a Super Bowl, after their long and championshipless careers.

My key X-Factors for the Rams are Cooper Kupp and Aaron Donald. If Donald can continue his dominance up front against a weak Bengals offensive line, and if Cooper Kupp continues to rack up his yardage and touchdowns, the Rams will be a very tough team to beat. When these two are on, the Rams have rarely lost this season. My key X-Factors for the Bengals are Ja’Marr Chase and Jessie Bates. Chase is a rookie receiver who has gone crazy this year and will likely be the offensive rookie of the year. The offense runs through him, when he succeeds so does the Ben gals, as for Bates, he will have his hands full with responsibilities of stopping the run game and ensur

ing Beckham and Kupp don’t get free.

The spread on this game is Rams -3.5, which means the Rams are favored to win by four points. My prediction for this game is 2825 Bengals, they have been prov ing people wrong all year and I believe they will continue to do so. Regardless, the 2021-22 NFL season has been a very good one, and this Super Bowl should be a great close to an amazing season.

STRAWBERRY CHEX MIX

INGREDIENTS

4-6 cups Rice Chex cereal

1 8- oz bag Strawberry Candy Melts OR

1 bag of white chocolate baking chips {12 oz} AND

1 box of Strawberry Creme Jell-O Pudding** {pudding NOT gelatin!} Valentines M&M’s Sprinkles

Measure out Chex cereal into a large bowl. Note: if you’re using the Strawberry Candy Melts, you’ll use 4 cups of cereal. If you’re using the white chocolate chips + pudding mix, you’ll use 6 cups of cereal.

Pour chocolate into a small glass dish. Add 1/2 tsp shortening, if desired, to help the chocolate coat the cereal easier. Microwave for 1 minute 20 seconds. Let sit in the microwave for 3 minutes. Remove and gently stir. If chocolate loses its shape and looks smooth, it’s done. If not, return to the microwave in 15 second increments, letting it sit for 2-3 minutes each time, until melted and smooth.

If you used White Chocolate Chips + Pudding Mix: Add 4 TBSP of the strawberry creme pudding into the white chocolate and stir gently until smooth. Add 2 drops of red food coloring, if desired.

Pour the chocolate mixture over the Chex cereal and stir gently to coat. Transfer cereal mixture to a large piece of wax paper. Sprinkle with M&M’s and Valentines sprinkles, if desired.

Let cool to set. Break pieces and store in an airtight container to save. Candy can be made up to 3-4 days ahead, if desired. It saves well!

Recipe courtesy of Butter with a Side of Bread blog