THE LITTLE HAWK
FEATURE
The Iowa Department of Education changed the way it rated schools. City High, “Commendable” in 2023, is now classified as “Needs Improvement”
Table of Contents
4-9
Targeted: New Iowa Government Ranking System Harms City High and Other Big Schools
10-11
To Read or Not to Read?
14-15
Performer Pro!le: Brody Clarke
16-17
Performer Pro!le: Gideon Levine
18-19
Performer Pro!le: Abigail Sigafoose
20-21
LH Valentines Recipe: Local Spicy Italian Sausage & Cream
Pasta
22-23
Comics: Life is like a Box and Favorite Holiday
Louie the Little Hawk exes in the mirror in City High’s weight room. PHOTO BY MARTHA WILLARD
Letter From the Editors
Dear Little Hawks,
Your Feature Editors Yomi Hemley and Tai Caputo are back! We hope that this year is going well and you enjoy these gems from the Q&A with Louie that can be found online. We’re super
excited to start 2025 with a fantastic magazine for everyone. We have some great stories in store for you, such as an in-depth story about school rankings, some fun recipes, and musician pro!les!
Louie the Little Hawk admires the sunset from the plaza outside the cafeteria.
PHOTO BY NINA RENAUD
TARGETED
By Tai Caputo and Lily Rantanen
Iowa City High School “Needs Improvement,” according to the Iowa government. Every year, the Iowa Department of Education rates schools based on how well they meet a set of standards. But in 2024, the system changed.
“They changed how they rank schools all of a sudden, without telling anybody, and it’s based on [random] data points,” City High school counselor Mary Peterson said. “That’s kind of weird. How does that reflect how good a school is?”
City High was “Commendable” in 2023, but went down two levels to “Needs Improvement” in November of 2024 but is still ranked within the top 10 in the state, according to the U.S. News and World Report.
The calculations behind each overall ranking are multifaceted.
Each school is given an “Index Score,” which is based on a variety of factors, including test participation, proficiency levels in core subjects, and attendance. The Index Score determines which of six rankings a school is given: “Exceptional,” “High Performing,” “Commendable,” “Acceptable,”
“Needs Improvement,” and “Priority.”
City High’s Index Score is 563.12 out of 900 points, or 62.57 percent. This classifies it as “Commendable” (between 60.95 percent and 69.59 percent), a category that includes schools between the 54th and 86th percentiles.
However, the most significant change this year was the introduction of automatic category deductions if any subgroups didn’t reach 95 percent participation on the Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress (ISASP). The new method of calculation also deducted one level if schools were identified
New Evaluation System Drops All ICCSD High Schools’ Ratings
In 2024, the Iowa Department of Education changed the way it rated schools. City High, “Commendable” in 2023, is now classified as “Needs Improvement” as “Targeted.”
Because of this, City High’s overall rating dropped down two levels to “Needs Improvement,” between about the 14th and 32nd percentiles of all public schools in Iowa. The “Students with disabilities” subgroup met only 93 percent participation on the ISASPs. The school’s two targeted subgroups are “English Learners” (EL) and “Students with Disabilities” (IEP).
The explanation for City High’s rating drop on its Iowa Department of Education Performance Profile page reads: “Rating category was dropped by one for having at least
one student group with less than 95% participation rate on state assessments,” and “Rating category was dropped by one due to the school being identified for Targeted status.”
The Performance Profile website’s “Achievement Gaps” section explains the subgroup categorizations’ objectives.
“An important goal of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is to help improve the academic achievement of student groups. ESSA requires the reporting of student performance for all students as well as race/ ethnic subgroups, English learners (EL), students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch
(low socio-economic status) and students with disabilities. An overall score (index) is created for each student group as well as detail about the performance of that subgroup across multiple measures. Subgroups must have 20 or more students to have an overall score for each measure. Targeted subgroups are those student groups below the same benchmark which is used to identify comprehensive schools,” it states. According to the Department of Education, if a subgroup didn’t meet 95 percent participation last year, their Index Score score decreased by 10 of 100 points.
GRAPHIC BY LILY RANTANEN
Depending on what their Index Score was, this may or may not have dropped a school in ranking, and it had never dropped City High’s overall ranking. Schools’ Index Score was not affected at all if they were “Targeted,” which is a federal requirement.
City High’s neighbors, West High School and Liberty High School, faced similar deductions. Each were both initially in the “Commendable” category but were dropped down a level to “Acceptable” because of “Targeted” status.
According to the Iowa Department of Education, the rankings are used to determine which schools and subgroups need extra support. They are also used to “report to the community the academic proficiency of students in both the community and the state.”
IT WAS A MOVING TARGET. WE DIDN’T EVEN KNOW THAT WAS A THING AT THE TIME OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE ISASP.
John Bacon
The Iowa Performance Profiles have existed since 2018. For the past four years, City High has been consistently ranked as “Commendable.” Since the Performance Profiles were first developed in 2018, it has also been “Targeted” because not all subgroups meet a set of standards, as required by the ESSA. In the past, these subgroups have been “Students With Disabilities” and “English Language Learners,” just like they are this year.
This Targeted Status requires City High to develop a plan of improvement for the subgroups that didn’t meet standards over the next two years. But because of the new system, school administrators didn’t know that being recognized as “Targeted” would automatically drop them down a level in the rating system. City High Principal John Bacon expressed frustration over the automatic deduction for subgroups participating below 95 percent on ISASPs.
“It was a moving target. We didn’t even know that was a thing at the time of the administration of the [ISASPs],” Bacon said. “I don’t want to say, ‘Had we known that [the rating system would change], we would have tried harder to get every single one to be over the line, because I don’t even know that we
could have tried harder.”
Principal Bacon said that City High test administrators did their best to track down every single student they could to take the test.
“We really seriously worked with every single student that we possibly could to make sure they had taken the test,” he said. “There were kids that simply were not able to take the test. So we did everything we could to hit that 95 percent, but through factors that we don’t control, we fell just decimal points short of that,” Bacon said.
Of the 259 tests (this is a composite number–it includes all science, math, and language arts tests) that were supposed to be administered to students with disabilities, 241 were taken. That’s a 93.05% participation rate, just 2% short of the cutoff to be marked as “Targeted.” If just seven more tests were taken, regardless of what subject they were in, “Students With Disabilities” would not be a targeted subgroup.
City High School might be disadvantaged in school rankings from the start because of its demographics.
While much of Iowa is rural, Iowa City is not. Exactly fifty percent of all students in the district are white, but the other half are racial minorities. This is vastly different from most other districts in Iowa–Solon Community School District, which neighbors Iowa City, is 93% white, and Pleasant Valley School District, another large district in Iowa, is 73% white. Naturally, this creates more subgroups because each group must have at least 20 people to count.
Additionally, the Iowa City Community School District, with 14550 students, is the third-largest district in the state of Iowa, just behind Des Moines and Cedar Rapids. More than 41% of its students are classified as having a low socioeconomic status. Just like the ICCSD, Cedar Rapids and Des Moines suffered in the new rating system–all Cedar Rapids high schools were rated as “Priority,” even lower than City High’s “Needs Improvement” rating, and all Des Moines high schools were labeled as “Priority” with a comprehensive distinction.
City High has 1706 students and is the largest high school in the ICCSD. Its subgroups include all racial categories except for “Native American” and “Hawaiian/Pacific Islander”, English language-learners, low-socioeconomic students, and students with disabilities.
There are 2200 English Language Learners from kindergarten through 12th grade in the
District, making up about 15 percent of the total population. There are a hundred and one ELL teachers listed on the ICCSD Staff Directory. In contrast, Pleasant Valley High School has six ELL teachers for the entire district.
“You can be brand-new in America, hardly speaking any English at all, but by law, we have to give you the ISASP [Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress] in English,” Bacon said.
Because City High and the Iowa City Community School District have a large English learning population, it may automatically be at a disadvantage in the state ratings despite having the resources necessary to help these students.
“Smaller-town schools or less diverse communities that don’t have large ELL [English Language Learner] populations don’t get dinged because they don’t hit the threshold to count as a subgroup. So all the schools that have a sizable enough population to register as a subgroup are not likely to hit the achievement benchmarks that are necessary,” Bacon said.
“There’s all that, but we also work really, really hard,” Principal Hawley said. “When we were ‘targeted,’ we got down and dirty and made sure that we were doing things to move our students with disabilities up out of there, but it’s a smaller group [than at City High], so it was a little easier to do that.”
WHEN WE WERE TARGETED, WE GOT DOWN AND DIRTY AND MADE SURE THAT WE WERE DOING THINGS TO MOVE OUR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES UP OUT OF THERE.
Mike Hawley
There are eight schools in the Pleasant Valley School District and 28 schools in the ICCSD (counting Hills Elementary, which is no longer in operation this year). When accounting for the number of schools, the ICCSD has on average 3.6 ELL teachers per school, whereas the Pleasant Valley School District has only three-quarters of an ELL teacher per school.
“When I was at [Cedar Rapids] Jefferson, we had six [ELL teachers] in my building,” Pleasant Valley principal Mike Hawley said. “So those things matter…we don’t have the [socioeconomic] variance that other schools have, and we have lots of people who are college-educated [whose] children come [to Pleasant Valley High School.]”
But, of course, that doesn’t mean that schools without as diverse a population as City High can slack off when it comes to the rating system.
Solon High School, which has 489 students, is one school that was rated as “High-Performing” in 2024. Since 2018, the school has consistently been rated either “High-Performing” or “Commendable.”
“We’re really small, white, and Christian. I know everyone; everyone knows me,” Solon student Miranda Simison ‘27 said about the school environment. “Our teachers actually care, though. They put way too much money and time into us.”
Solon is highly ranked because it has low chronic absenteeism rates; high state assessment participation in all of its qualifying subgroups; and high student proficiency in language arts, math, and science. High state assessment participation and chronic absenteeism are both categories that City High and other larger schools struggle with.
The factors Simison mentioned appear to affect Solon’s ratings more than one might expect. Because 94% of the student population is white, Solon does not have the 20 students required to qualify for any race-based subgroups–other than “white”–that
“
I THINK IT’S BETTER THAN MOST. I JUST DON’T THINK IT’S THE BEST. BUT OUR TEACHERS REALLY DO CARE ABOUT US
Miranda Simison
count towards its total score.
In 2024, only one student at Solon did not take the ISASP. Since 100% of the white students took the ISASP, this student must not have been white. Since the number of students who are not white is so small–around fourteen students are multiracial, ten are Hispanic, two are Asian, and one is Black–counting any of these subcategories in the total score would indicate that particular subgroup is targeted because even one person not taking the ISASP creates a total percentage under 95%.
Simison believes that the ratings accurately reflect Solon’s quality as a school.
“I really do think it’s in the top 10 percent [of Iowa High Schools],” Simison said.
But for others, the rating system is flawed. Principal Bacon expressed concern that because of subgroup deductions, the overall rankings might not reflect the true quality of the high school.
“
Of Iowa’s thirty-six 5A high schools, only one continues to be rated above “Acceptable.” This is Pleasant Valley High School, located in Scott County, an area where the majority of residents are of a higher socioeconomic status and are white.
“We sit out on the east end [of the Quad Cities], so most of us are in Bettendorf. We also have LeClaire, an area that is growing, which means that in large parts, housing is fairly expensive,” Principal Hawley said. “You don’t have a lot of refugees moving into this part of the world.”
Because of Pleasant Valley’s student demographics, it is an outlier among large high schools.
THE ATTENDANCE METRIC IS DETRIMENTAL TO SCHOOLS WHO DEAL WITH LOWER SOCIOECONOMIC ISSUES, WITH REFUGEE ISSUES.
“I’m worried [that], in this headline-driven world, people aren’t going to take the time to understand the nuances or intricacies of this...they just see a headline that’ll say ‘[City High] ‘Needs Improvement.’’ And that’s why it’s so hurtful,” Bacon said.
Mike Hawley
According to Mr. Bacon, City High has the largest special-education population in the ICCSD “by a wide margin.”
“We have almost twice as many IEP [students] as West does, and three or four times as many as Liberty. It’s wrong. It’s really wrong,” Bacon said.
“Any school district that serves diverse populations gets dinged based on the way this is set up…we serve everybody…it should be celebrated,” Bacon said.
The Iowa High School Sports Association splits high schools in Iowa into different classifications based on population size. The thirty-six biggest high schools are considered “5A,” the next thirty-six largest are “4A,” and so on.
No 5A high schools were considered “High-Performing” or “Exceptional” by the Iowa Performance Profiles.
Sasha Garver, who has two elementary and preschool aged children, moved from the Iowa City Coralville area to Pleasant Valley in 2022. Her decision was made in part because of school ratings, although not the DOE Performance Profiles.
“We did look at school ratings in the GreatSchools [program] that was embedded into the Zillow App when we were shopping for houses,” Garver said. “The year we were shopping Forest Grove and Pleasant View Elementary were the #1 and #2 elementary schools in the district and maybe the state. That also directly impacted the housing prices– the homes in the PV zone were $100-300K more than Bettendorf.”
White and Asian students, which are Pleasant Valley’s two largest racial populations, tend to score higher and do well in school. This also affects their score.
“Our largest minority population is Asian, but it is almost all Indian…academically, they do pretty well as a whole,” Hawley said, noting that while not all Asian–and specifically Indian–students do well, the group as a whole does. “We benefit as a school in that some of our populations do very well, and some of our populations [aren’t large enough] to even show up.”
Despite being ranked “High-Performing,” Hawley still finds flaws within the new system, especially the new attendance metric.
“On face value, I think there’s some merit
to it. I think we know we have to get students in the schools, or they’re not going to learn,” he said. “[But] I think smaller schools have an easier time tackling attendance than big schools…I think the attendance [metric] is detrimental to schools who deal with lower socioeconomic issues, with refugee issues.”
City High, which has a high percentage of students facing socioeconomic disadvantages, had an “Chronic Absenteeism” ranking over eleven points worse than the state average.
“If you think about a school where money is short, kids need to take care of kids. We see that a lot,” Hawley said. “They need to stay home because they have to take care of their siblings. Well, they’re not going to school. Two-parent families who both work and send their kids to school, [don’t have] the same issue.”
Iowa City West High School, which is the number one high school in Iowa according to U.S. News and World Report dropped down one rating from “Commendable” to “Acceptable” in 2024.
“While no ranking system can fully capture a school’s quality, I believe U.S. News & World Report offers a more accurate reflection of overall performance,” West High Principal Mitch Gross said.
Like City High School, West High has also been marked as “Targeted” for one subgroup.
“Given Iowa’s recent track record when it comes to supporting public education, it is hard for me to respect the judgement and analysis of the Iowa Department of Education. Having said that, the Iowa Department of Education’s rankings still provide valuable insights,” he said. “For example, West has been identified as a targeted school for students with IEPs—an important designation that helps guide our decisions, particularly in shaping professional development to better support our students’ needs.”
Principal Bacon remains proud of City High.
“This is one of the most beautifully diverse high schools in the state of Iowa. We serve everybody here, and I am so proud of all of our students. I think there are a number of ways that we can show the incredible growth and learning that is taking place with students across the board. To just look at individual statistics, and say that it’s not satisfactory growth from certain subgroups, I don’t think, tells the whole story,” Bacon said.
GIVEN IOWA’S RECENT TRACK RECOD WHEN IT COMES TO SUPPORTING PUBLIC EDUCATION, IT IS HARD FOR ME TO RESPECT THE JUDGEMENT OF THE IOWA
DEPARTMENT
OF EDUCATION.
Mitch Gross
To Read or Not to Read?
Should there be concern over high schoolers not reading enough?
By Yomi Hemley
A book was assigned to Megan Swartzendruber ‘25 and various other students interested in a Hills Bank scholarship. As someone who had been reading books consistently since elementary school, she had no trouble with the task. As she looked around at the other teenagers around her who claimed to never read books, she realized her situation was somewhat unique. She noticed a pattern in the high schoolers around her not reading much.
“When I’m either in class or an outside activity, and we’re supposed to read a book, there will be some people who say they really don’t ever read books. And there’s a whole bunch of people that have never finished a book and say they don’t like reading. That’s when it really stands out that people don’t read as much,” Swartzendruber said.
The Pew Research Center reports that 19% of 17-year-olds read almost every day. This has decreased more than 10% since 1984. In fact, in the age groups of nineyear-olds, 13-year-olds, and 17-year-olds, all report an increase in reading never or hardly since 1984. But should people be worried about this decrease in reading for high
schoolers?
“I don’t think it’s a misconception [that high schoolers read less], because I do think high school kids nowadays read a lot less. But I do think it’s unfair to say all high school kids don’t read, because I know me and plenty of other people read a lot. But I think high schoolers do not read that much in general. I’ve talked about [reading] before with people, and they brag about not having read books outside of school since middle school. So I think in general, our generation doesn’t read as much. It’s stupid. You’re bragging about not learning. You’re like, ‘Oh, I’m limiting myself from learning anything by not reading,’” Yaffa Roarick ‘25 said.
As high schoolers’ reading habits decline, teachers take note of this pattern.
“I started a new thing with this board over here where I’m like, put your favorite book, movie, show, music, game for the month. And there are not a lot of books up there on the like list. It’s sort of a visual indicator that people are reading for enjoyment less, or at the very least, are sharing that they’re reading for enjoyment less,” Mr. Lockhart, a World Literature and AP English Literature teacher said.
So the question is, what is causing this de-
cline in reading for fun, or even reading in general, among teenagers?
“I just don’t feel like I get assigned that many books. I’m taking an essay writing class and a grammar class and we don’t read any books. And in freshman and sophomore year, we didn’t read that much either. So maybe it wasn’t a decline. It’s overall just been not that much,” Roarick said.
Some students have claimed that they aren’t assigned many books in high school, ranging from around five to nine books assigned in their entire high school career. But when assigned books, many students still avoid reading.
“I don’t like the school books that are assigned, but I like reading when I get to choose the book. I don’t enjoy reading for an assignment because it feels forced, and it’s very easy to just look up synopses or summaries. Assigning books that people don’t care about contributes to the lack of people not reading. If the only books you’ve read have been assigned books that are boring, you’re gonna think all books are boring,” Greta Hayek ‘25 said.
The lack of freedom in the choice of book to read is not the only reason that stops high schoolers from reading assigned books. Pil-
Kate Meis ‘25 reads Romeo and Juliet in the library. PHOTO AND GRAPHICS BY YOMI HEMLEY
ing reading onto school and other work can be harder for some students.
“I feel like most people CliffsNotes stuff. Or they try [to do the assigned reading] but the teacher gives too big of a reading assignment and doesn’t really understand the sheer amount of time it takes to read 50 pages a day on top of all the other homework. So then kids just fall behind and then they start CliffsNoting all of it. They give it a good attempt, and then they just fall behind. But I think a lot of the books [teachers] assign, they assign for a reason. They educate you on different circumstances and they are important to read. So it does kind of irritate me that kids are like, ‘These are stupid. We shouldn’t read them.’ But also, who am I to judge? I’m sure they’re just cliff noting because they’re so busy in school,” Roarick said.
This refusal to read assigned books has become so apparent that teachers have started to adapt to this, adopting new teaching methods to make sure that students understand what is happening in class.
“There’s two books in World Lit that I read out loud almost entirely. I know Mrs. Lockhart does something similar. She plays audiobooks for a couple of them because, and I think you’d probably find a lot of agreement if you ask the other English teachers about this, but we’ve just seen a lot of times where reading is assigned and then when class rolls around and too many students haven’t done the reading to make whatever lesson we were gonna do impractical. In years past, you could kind of take it as a given that people would do the reading. But now more and more people aren’t, and enough people aren’t that it’s like shifting the way the class needs to be done,” Mr. Lockhart said.
Both students and teachers explain that this decrease in reading both for fun and for school has been caused by a number of factors including an increase in homework, confusing legislation surrounding books, and English teachers in turn not knowing what
1 in 5 SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLDS READ EVERY DAY
books are safe to assign. But the most common theme around the cause for the reading crisis is technology.
“I feel like less than half [of high schoolers] read daily because technology is more accessible and they can just be on their phone and scroll on social media instead of reading,” Hayek said.
Technology has made many things more accessible. For example, Kindles allow people to read multiple books on one device, making reading more books easier. But technology itself is also incredibly accessible, causing people to opt for devices instead of books out of convenience.
“[Students] spend more time on their phones. With the internet now, if you go places like the airport, you can just sit on your phone for a while. But you used to live with no internet or anything, and you just had to bring a book or something else to do. So I think now that we have the internet, more people find other things to do besides reading,” Swartzendruber said.
Spending a lot of time on phones and technology has caused a decrease in attention span. Since reading requires sustained attention, it is a harder activity for someone who has been conditioned to watch short 15-second videos on social media.
“Now, reading is different from anything else we do. We consume short bits online, whether that’s through reels or Tiktok, [while] a book forces you to sit with the ideas for a while. Books have a way of living with you more than other storytelling forms can. In a way, a book latches onto your soul and becomes a part of you in a way that I don’t think other things do,” Mr. Lockhart said.
Besides the unique satisfaction that comes from reading a book, reading also has many other benefits. Reading more, especially while younger, improves literacy. When high schoolers move on to college without reading
a lot, it shows.
“It’s a little scary to think that people going to college won’t even take the time to read a full book, and they’re going into higher education. I mean, the amount you read is not equivalent to your intelligence, but I think it’s interesting that someone could be going to an Ivy League school and they haven’t read a book in their free time in two years or something,” Roarick said.
The academic benefits from consistent reading starting from a young age cannot be replicated by social media and technology. Many students find that consistent reading has helped them throughout their academic career.
“Reading throughout elementary school and junior high really helped me now in my college classes where I have to read textbooks. So just being able to sit and read for long periods of time helped me read textbooks because I understand a little bit more,” Swartzendruber said.
However, reading is still appreciated by many teenagers. Although there has been an obvious decline, that does not mean that every high schooler does not read.
“I think probably the best way to think about reading is to think about it in terms of getting to know another person. Because while reading has declined a little bit, I don’t necessarily think that writing has. I found that with a lot of writing assignments, particularly personal writing assignments, people really sink their teeth into that and they like thinking about themselves and they want to put their life down on paper and figure things out. And so every book is kind of an attempt by another person at some point in time, trying to make sense of the world. And so if you think about it like that, in terms of trying to get to know the world view of another person, it can actually be a little more personal to folks,” Mr. Lockhart said.
According Pew Research Center
By Yomi Hemley
Brody Clarke ‘25 struggled to tell his mom he broke his trumpet after just one year with the instrument. Instead of facing this confrontation, he decided to take on a new instrument in sixth grade. Because of his prior piano lessons, it was only natural that he should switch to percussion.
“I started playing the drum set because in seventh grade I was gonna try out for jazz piano, but it went really bad. I really wanted to be in the jazz band and I was worried I wasn’t gonna be in it. So I’m like, ‘okay, what can I do?’ I play percussion so I decided to go out for drums. Then I started working on drums,” Clarke said.
Clarke is involved with
Combo, Concert Choir, Wind Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble, and two personal bands because of his belief that music is important for a balanced life.
“I don’t know if I would [do band] if the community for music and performing arts at City High wasn’t as good as it was. I found a lot of friends through music, and also music is just a way of expressing yourself a little bit. It’s really rewarding just doing something well and doing something impressive. Unlike a lot of other extra correct extracurriculars, it’s less stressful because A, it’s not like sports where you’re gonna feel pain, and B, it’s not like speech or debate, where you have to improvise on the spot and you can embarrass yourself. Music and performing arts is the only type of thing
you can use your heart rather than your brain. That’s pretty special. And I feel like I found myself through doing that,” Clarke said.
Besides the rewarding art of music and the community around it, Clarke believes that music and his other interests just clash well together. His love to be busy works well with the consistent practice needed to be good at an instrument.
“Either music works for me because math works for me or vice versa. Because with music, I’ve always just accepted the fact that you get this music and then you have to practice it outside of the class and practice until you learn it. With music, I can just consistently put work into it and then get rewarded by it. That’s kind of similar to math. All you have to do is do the homework. That’s also why I like working out too. There’s just consistent workload, consistent reward, and I very much find that in music,” Clarke said.
Although Clarke has many extracurriculars spanning various areas, he is grateful for his experience with music and the performing arts. Through these programs at City High, he has found both himself, and his people.
“I’m really grateful that my parents forced me to try an instrument very early on because I think it has been the most positive overall extracurricular and the most consistently positive thing I’ve done in my life so far. There’s a lot of valuable lessons from music as much as there are benefits from it, but I think the biggest thing is making yourself vulnerable and doing something uncomfortable. Everyone should try music because the music program at City High is just so heavily emphasized, and there’s just so many cool people through here,” Clarke said.
Brody performs on drums during Winter Show. PHOTO COURTESY OF TOMMY HAINES
GIDEON LEVINE ‘26
A look into the dedication of a classical pianist
PHOTO COURTESY OF GIDEON LEVINE
By Tai Caputo
In Gideon Levine 26’s first memory, he is sitting at a small, electronic keyboard, ten years ago, struggling to learn “Mary Had a Little Lamb” after his first piano lesson.
“I got it eventually,” Levine said. “I remember the first lesson…It was just sort of an introduction, and I remember feeling extremely attached to [my teacher] from the start.”
Levine now studies with Réne Lecuona, Professor of Piano at the University of Iowa. Last year, as a sophomore, he won the Iowa Music Teachers’ Association Piano Auditions at the highest level.
Levine’s virtuosity is the result of discipline and focus. “I’ve always made [piano] a priority in my life. Like when I’m planning out my day or my week, I always know where I’m [going to] do piano and where I’m gonna do academics, so I’ve really been able to create a good balance in between the two where I’m able to get both done at a pretty consistent level,” Levine said.
Pianists are not included in the conventional orchestra or band structures. For that reason, Levine’s musical journey has been an individual pursuit.
“If I were an orchestral musician, I’d at least be in orchestra at school and share that with other people, but that absence of piano in most school musical ensembles–except pit or combo or something like that–I think it does separate me, [and] because it’s a solo instrument, for the most part. I obviously play concertos and [pieces with more than solo piano], but other instruments, at the very least, have an accompanist most of the time, or they’re in a larger group. So I wouldn’t say I feel lonely as a pianist, but I do feel more solitary,” Levine said.
Levine practices piano for two to three hours every day. He is inspired, in his work, by the many great pianists who have made recordings of his favorite pieces.
“The main reason I really want to improve and get better is not so that I can make [lots of] money playing tours and stuff; it’s because I want to play all the music that I listen to and that I have loved for years. That is my main goal, and I want to be able to do that for my whole life,” Levine said.
He became especially dedicated after the pandemic, when he began playing more advanced music.“[That was when] I realized, like, wow, [piano] is something that I can play, and through discovering this more complex music that I was playing, I started listening to more classical music and the whole world opened up and I was interested in everything and wanted to play everything,” Levine said.
Right now, Levine is working on the Chopin Ballade No. 2 in F Major Op. 38, Bach Overture from Partita No. 4 in D Major, BWV 828, and Grieg Concerto in A minor Op. 16, in addition to the typical technical repertoire of scales and etudes.
At City High, Levine is an active member of Wind Ensemble and Jazz Ensemble as a saxophonist.
“Most people think of me as a saxophone player, be-
cause that’s what they see me play in school. But piano really is my main passion, my main thing that I do, and I dedicate a ton of time to it. I’m at a much higher level on piano than saxophone, so the possibilities with piano seem, like, a lot more than with saxophone,” Levine said.
He also plays tennis, and used to be a member of Show Choir, but stepped away from participation in order to spend more time practicing piano.
“I think I would probably play more sports if I weren’t as dedicated to piano. . . To be in those groups would be fun, but I’m not sad about having to dedicate time to piano because it is what I want to do, what I choose to do. It’s not an obligation for me to practice three hours a day; I do it myself,” Levine said.
This past year, he founded an organization, MIC, that provides opportunities for younger musicians to perform.
“What we do is we try to organize performance opportunities or concert opportunities for people who apply, so usually they’re City High students, so we let
“THE MAIN REASON I REALLY WANT TO IMPROVE AND GET BETTER [IS] BECAUSE I WANT TO PLAY ALL THE MUSIC THAT I LISTEN TO AND HAVE LOVED FOR YEARS.”
- Gideon Levine
them sort of get out there and let them get performance opportunities and then profits go to local charities, local causes around Iowa City.
Levine has other interests besides music: psychology, history, and literature. He is preparing for college auditions and applications next year. He is looking to do a double-major or dual-degree program that would allow him to pursue both music and academics.
“I’m a musician because playing music gives me something that I don’t get from other things. It challenges me on an academic level and a physical level, but the result is something that I love so much. Hearing my music come together is the most satisfying thing that I experience. So it’s just that satisfaction with completing something or feeling like you really do something well that makes me really keep doing it,” Levine said.
PERFORMER PROFILE
abigail sigafoose
Abigail Sigafoose ‘26 finds joy in performing, teaching, and learning violin.
By Lily Rantanen
Abigail Sigafoose ‘26 was five years old when she first played Twinkle Twinkle on the Hancher stage. She was six when she did it again– seven for the third time– and now, at sixteen, she is about to play Twinkle Twinkle in front of thousands of eager audience members like she has done for ten years in a row.
Every year on the first Sunday of February, Preucil School of Music–where Sigafoose takes violin lessons from Lisa Guttenberg, helps out at group classes for younger kids, and plays in the string orchestra–puts on a concert at Hancher Auditorium. The view is spectacular–hundreds of students from age two to twenty, all playing everything from Shostakovich’s Romance to Twinkle Twinkle on one of Southeast Iowa’s largest stages.
“It just fills my heart with this joy of knowing [that] everyone’s playing the same thing–I’m playing with little kids; I was a little kid once, and now look at me,” Sigafoose said about the experience. “It’s a very full circle moment.”
Sigafoose has been selected for the Iowa All-State Orchestra every year since she was a freshman. This year, she was chosen for the High School Honors Performance series at Carnegie Hall. From February 6 to 10, she will travel to New York to play in a string orchestra with other young musicians. But her success doesn’t come without times when she can’t play as well. Off days are something that a lot of non-musicians would be surprised to learn, Sigafoose thinks. She’s playing in Carnegie Hall this year–but some days she can’t even play a scale.
“My mom is a professional organist. She’s been playing the piano for over 40 years, the organ for 30, and [some days] she can’t play,” she said. “You try and it just doesn’t work, and then you come back the next day, and I think that’s what really counts. Just because you don’t practice one day, you come back the next day. You show up and you try again and you don’t give up.”
That’s what it means to be a musician, to Sigafoose. It’s not about the awards, or about the box you can check off on your college applications. It’s about coming back, day after day, to share music with others.
“
cause kids are chaotic enough…playing the violin as a kid can be really important, even if you don’t become a professional musician, because it teaches you a lot of skills.”
Growing up in a highly musical family–a professional organist mother and a bluegrass fanatic father–Sigafoose has been influenced by a broad mishmash of music genres.
YOU SHOW UP AND YOU TRY AGAIN AND YOU DON’T GIVE UP.
Abigail Sigafoose
“Just because you love something doesn’t mean you always want to deal with it. I love playing the violin, [but] that doesn’t mean I want to practice [everyday]. It’s taught me a lot of determination,” she said.
Outside of her work with the violin, Sigafoose continues to be musical. She is in City High’s varsity show choir, 4th Ave, and plays piano. Violin takes up much of Sigafoose’s life, but that doesn’t mean that she’s always the one playing. Since ___, she has done ‘work study’ at Preucil on Friday evenings–a program where older music students will help out younger students during group classes.
“I help the teacher of the group class–I tune violins; sometimes I play a little bit of piano if they don’t have an accompanist that day; I’ll set up chairs,” she said. “You just want everything to go as smoothly as possible be-
“My mom has done a lot of [organ performance] throughout the country…on my dad’s side, it’s also very musical, but in a different sense. My grandpa performs in a couple of bluegrass and country bands, and my dad used to [perform as well].” she said. “I’ve always seen my taste in music as kind of a mash up between classical and hillbilly country.”
A free accompanist for performances is great, but sometimes having a relative who is a professional musician can be stressful.
“Sometimes it can feel like too many cooks in a kitchen. Sometimes it feels a lot having like a professional musician right there,” Sigafoose said. “I’m like, ‘I know I’m not a professional, but I’m trying my best.’”
For Sigafoose, her love for the violin comes from sharing music with others and performing.
“I’ve met a lot of people, made a lot of connections and friends through it. I feel like it’s helped me grow as a person, because it’s been such a consistent thing,” she said. “You grow up, you change schools, you move, but violin’s been consistent and it’s just a really important part of my life that brings me a lot of joy.”
“YOU GROW UP, YOU CHANGE SCHOOLS, YOU MOVE, BUT VIOLIN’S BEEN CONSISTENT AND...BRINGS ME JOY”
ABIGAIL SIGAFOOSE
SPICY ITALIAN SAUSAGE & CREAM PASTA
Locally Spiced, Lovingly Made: Creamy Italian Sausage Pasta for Valentine’s Day
By Hattie Conover & Ruby Schulz
Valentine’s Day is a wonderful opportunity to show appreciation and love for the people in your life. So whether you are making dinner at home for your significant other or bringing a dish to a Galentine’s party, this pasta is the perfect dish to bring. I would recommend using the New Pi Hot Italian Pork Sausage; the quality of the meat and robust flavor are worth the extra couple of dollars. This recipe combines some of my favorite flavors to make the ideal dish to share during the season of love.
Ingredients
1 lb of pasta of your choice
4 cloves of garlic
1 yellow onion
1 lb New Pi Bulk Hot Italian Pork Sausage
½ tsp red pepper flakes
½ tsp salt
2 cups heavy cream
5 oz of spinach
1 cup shredded Parmigiano Reggiano
Directions
1. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add a generous amount of salt; once the pasta is cooked, reserve a half cup of pasta water.
2. While water is heating, mince garlic and finely chop half of an onion.
3. Bring a skillet to high heat and brown the Italian sausage; once almost cooked through, add garlic, onion, red pepper flakes, and salt.
4. Drain excess fat from the skillet (I like using a paper towel).
5. Turn the heat to low, add the heavy cream to the skillet, then bring to a simmer and add spinach.
6. Cook and stir while the spinach wilts.
7. Stir in cheese until melted and smooth.
8. Combine the strained pasta and sauce, adding pasta water until desired consistency.
9. Serve immediately and top with freshly grated cheese.
PHOTOS BY HATTIE CONOVER
PHOTO BY HATTIE CONOVER
Life is Like a Box...
By Yomi Hemley
A Little Cardio
By Yomi Hemley
LH GAMES
By Yomi Hemley
Across:
1. The person you like
2. Two people who are in a relationship
4. Someone who puts in a lot of effort into their relationship is this
6. It beats in your chest
8. A fancy dinner or a night at the movies
Down:
1. A common Valentine’s Day gift
3. _____ Valentine
4. Flowers that represent love
5. A popular Valentine’s Day color
7. Something you propose with