The Little Hawk

Meet the candidates Page A6

The

LittleHawk

Iowa City High School • Iowa City, Iowa • Vol. 72 Issue 6 • Tuesday June 2, 2015 • www.thelittlehawk.com ifuckedyourmom

School Calendar Changes ICCSD school board implements a new hours system for 2015-16

By Jonas Geerdes & Riley Lewers

Iowa City on the Rise

By Lucy McGehee

W

hat started off as a small row of brick buildings and a glimmering golden dome continues to expand into the elevated, crane-littered skyline of the Iowa City seen today. The West Campus Residence Hall and the Voxar Music Building are set to become a part of the horizon by spring 2016.

“I walk past the Voxer Music Building construction site almost every morning and the building looks beautiful, and quite enormous,” Mallory Price, a University of Iowa School of Music student said. “I am excited to be able to have a place to play music, learn, listen, and enjoy.”

The Voxer Music Building will contain a 700-seat concert hall, a 200-seat recital hall, music rehearsal spaces, and additional classrooms. The flood of 2008 left the music department scattered; Voxer will eliminate this problem.

“The school lost instruments, buildings, concert halls, and equipment [after the flood]. It was a devastating loss.

It has been difficult for the school of music to bounce back,” Price said. “We, as a community, have had to adapt to the difficult changes; shortages of practice rooms, not acoustically sound lesson rooms, and cramped classrooms.”

The location of the construction site is on the busy intersection of Clinton and Burlington Streets. Construction comes with traffic regulations, as building equipment utilizes the surrounding roads, causing longer commutes and traffic congestion. Kenya Earl ‘17 drives regularly to the west side of town for basketball practice, and must drive

Construction is underway on several additions to the U of I campus, including new dorms and a new music building

ABOVE: Voxer music building under construction on the corner of Burlington and Clinton Streets. BELOW: Scaffolding on the West Campus Residence Hall as construction nears completion. PHOTOS BY MAX GRUBER

through interfering construction. “[Construction] blocks up traffic really badly, and the lanes change randomly, which is pretty time consuming for me,” Earl said. “It’s annoying. I’ll be late for stuff, like when I need to go to West sometimes, or the hospital.”

The 12-story West Campus Residence Hall began construction just up the same road in 2013, and will be one of the largest dorms on campus, proposed to house around 1,000 students. The cold temperatures and wintry conditions a year ago hindered the construction process.

“There are always issues when you are building something that has never been built before,” Jonathan Daniels, Vice President of Iowa Operations for Miron Construction, said. “I know the winter of 2013 and 2014 was hard on all the projects in Iowa City.”

The West Campus Residence Hall will cost $95 million dollars to complete, and the environment is being kept in mind as the building is being constructed. LEED certification is one of the goals of the dorm. Certification would mean that the building promotes clean energy and has an efficient water system.

“The new west campus residence hall is pursuing LEED certification, making it an energy efficient and environmentally friendly building,” Daniels said.

As new architectural technologies that are both beautiful and functional will be included in both buildings, the new spaces will serve a purpose to the college community.

“With the support of the community and donors, the school of music is getting a new building,” Price said. “I am ready to have the luxury of studying music in such a beautiful place at an amazing school. It is time for the School of Music to have a place to call home.”

High schoolers across the Iowa City Community School District can now breathe a sigh of relief.

The School Board voted, at its last meeting on Tuesday, May 12, not to change the school start time for next year to 7:45am. However, the board approved new start times of 8:00am for secondary schools and 8:45am for elementary schools.

Along with this, the 2015-16 school year will be measured in hours instead of days.

“I find the new start times ridiculous,” Kyle Kaufman ‘16 said.

“I can’t have my sister wait 45 minutes for her school to start because I can’t be with her because my school is starting. She would have to follow me around for first period.”

Although new school start times might be difficult for some families, it is necessary to allow the bus company enough time to run both its elementary and secondary school routes.

Currently the shorter elementary school day is encapsulated in the longer high school day. For the 2015-16 school year they will be staggered.

“I feel like it’s going to be easy to adjust to. I mean, its only a fiveminute difference,” Eddy Galstad ‘16 said. “At least the 7:45 option is out of the way.”

A lot of the what the school district looked at to determine what changes needed to be made involved figuring out how to improve the student day and student year K-12.

“One of the factors behind it was the increase of the instructional time at the elementary level,” Chase Ramey, Chief Talent Officer and Chief Community Affairs Officer, said. “We have an extremely short elementary day as compared to state standards right now. We want to provide additional instructional minutes at the elementary.

The big push behind it, and one of the big benefits of making this change, is it’s providing us so much more instructional time at the elementary level.” continued on A3

A2 PREVIEW

June 2, 2015 The Little Hawk Feature Magazine

Section A

THE FEATURED FOUR: THE CLUBS OF CITY HIGH

4

5

ON OUR ENVIRONMENT

By Caroline Brown, Sadie Hobbs & Lucy McGehee

ELL CULTURE FAIR UNITES

This series of stories explores the ways in which the Iowa City community interacts with our environment.

By Anna Denniston & Lindsey Parrott

By Claire Noack

THE BOHEMIAN AGE

11

By Sophia Schlesinger

ACCEPTING ANXIETY

As youth culture drifts towards Bohemian idealism — freespiritedness and the pursuit of art — the image is embodied in street fashion, which mimics the carefree ideal with flowing clothing and unique statement pieces.

Around the World in 20 Minutes: Students share their cultures with City High in the Commons

8

With so much pressure on students, is anxiety still being overlooked?

DOWNTOWN DESIGN

15

NATURALLY UNNATURAL

By Caroline Brown

June 2, 2015

Feature Magazine

By Rasmus Schlutter With so much pressure on students, is anxiety Everyone has their favorite holiday foods. Little Hawk staffers have chosen still being theirs for this delicious winter list. overlooked?

By Ayla Canin. Sonali Durham & Claire Goodfellow

*see page 16

accepting anxiety Section B

3

GIRLS IMPROVE FOR STATE

By Dominic Balestrieri-Fox

By Maddy Deninger The girls golf team works towards success at state.

CAFFEINE CONTROVERSY

CHEMICALS RAISE QUESTIONS

7

By Riley Lewers & Rasmus Schlutter

New research sheds light on safety of turf.

For years, both parents and experts have discussed the negative effects of caffeine consumption. However, a recent article indicated there might be more to the story.

A Letter From Your Editors

By Dominic Balestrieri-Fox, Sonali Durham, & Claire Noack

Whew. We made it. On this last day of the 20142015 school year, we, the newest Co-Executive Editors of The Little Hawk, are unbelievably excited to bring you the final issue of volume 72. Inside this paper you will find stories that range from the underrepresentation of minority teachers to pro-

files of student thespians in a community play. We worked hard to bring you a paper reflective of our school as a whole. This spring, we were recognized as one of the best student publications in the state, winning 43 awards from the Iowa High School Press Association. While we are honored to receive such recognition, we don’t put is as much time and effort as we do just to win awards. But as we wash our hands of this issue and breathe a sigh of relief that it is finally done, we are even more excited to look forward to the upcoming school year. We’ve switched up our lineup of editors, saying goodbye to our seniors and welcoming several sophomores to the team. We’re excited to offer a whole extra class period of journalism at City High, as our staff numbers have swelled to almost 70 reporters. In the future, armed with legions of fresh-faced journalism students, we hope to continue to bring you the high-quality paper you have become accustomed to, as well as continuing to branch out with new technologies like Aurasma. While we will still

cover serious topics at City High and in our larger community with the in-depth reporting they require, we plan to interact more with you, our reader, in more lighthearted formats, like Snapchat and Twitter. We aim to create a closer connection between our paper and our school, and we can’t wait to spend a whole year being editors at the school that leads

NEWS

A3

June 2, 2015

Iowa City Police Further Use of Body Cameras

By Sofie Lie & Lucy McGehee

Rendering of the additional six classroom spaces. They will rest above social studies rooms like Mr. Hellwig’s and Mrs. Gibbens’. PHOTO COURTESY OF ICCSD

City High Thriving: Up and Out

As City High’s numbers grow, its facilities must expand to fit.

By Sofie Lie, Claire Noack, & Olivia Parrott Since its completion in 1939, the City High building has undergone multiple additions. The 2016-2017 school year will be no different as the building is set to experience further expansion with the addition of a third floor level and overflow onto the current Hoover property.

“It’s amazing that having 1700 students was possible with the room that we have now,” Vice Principal Scott Jespersen said. “[The expansion] will allow us to add rooms to key areas, like social studies, language arts, and math, where we’re short classrooms.”

Jespersen worked closely with the local architectural firm, Shive-Hattery, and the ICCSD in designing a similar floor plan to that of the second floor.

“We sat down and collectively looked at whether the space would meet our future needs at City High School,” Jespersen said. “I helped guide the conversation and advocate for the needs of the building.”

The level, which will consist of six new classrooms, will be constructed over the course of the next year, and will open for the 2016-2017 school year. The structure is set to be finished during

the summer so as to not interrupt classes when school commences in the fall.

“The idea is that when school starts next year, we’re not going to really know that [the construction] is happening,” Principal John Bacon said.

“Hopefully it doesn’t have an impact on school throughout the year.”

The upward expansion was highly anticipated as the 2005 addition was built to hold a third level. “[City High] is surrounded by a neighborhood, so there isn’t room to sprawl out,” Bacon said. “When we have the opportunity to build up, which we have with this addition, I think that’s the right thing to do.”

In the last two years, the district decided to improve City High and its surrounding facilities.

The ICCSD made this decision after hiring a consulting firm which recommended bringing classroom space up to 21st century standards. While the new classroom space will not affect class sizes, it will decrease the number of teachers having to share classrooms upon completion in 2016.

“I will be pretty excited [when the construction is done],” Jespersen said. “This will be a big project, to know that we’re offering more space with the latest energy efficient lights -- that’s just really cool.”

Although the departments that will occupy

the six new rooms have not yet been decided, classrooms will allow students to more easily get help as more teachers will have their own rooms.

As City High grows up, the campus will also grow out with the addition of the property that Hoover Elementary currently sits on. The extra space will allow for additional facilities, such as a gym, cafeteria, and new classrooms that there simply is not room for within the current lot.

“The specific things of where everything is going to go has not been decided,” Bacon said.

“But that larger tract of land would be necessary for us to have these additions.”

Andrew Parr ‘16 sees several benefits to the new spaces, specifically the cafeteria.

“We could use a new one to have a better venue for events, like homecoming,” Parr said.

“Because right now it is small and gets hot.”

Parr also supports the additional classroom space.

“I feel like any new classroom is always going to be nicer, so it would just be better to have newer classrooms for the environment,” he said.

Along with the expansion of the City High campus comes the further spreading of City High influence within the larger community.

“To be [at City High] at a time where we are continuing to see growth and change is really fun,” Jespersen said.

*Scheduling Changes from A1 Additionally, this change allows for more flexibility in scheduling. Under the state of Iowa, school districts can either count by days or by hours. The state of Iowa mandates 180 days or 1080 hours of school each year.

The problem for the ICCSD with changing from days to hours is that, as of the 2015 school year, the elementary day is six hours and thirty minutes long, whereas the secondary day is seven hours and ten minutes long.

Once the ICCSD switches to hours, it must certify to its shortest day, not its longest day. Therefore, the elementary day length must match up with that of the secondary school length.

One factor that the school district took into consideration with making this change was the school year start date. School cannot start any earlier than August 23 for the upcoming school year.

This connects back to the switch to hours, because with the long school day, 1080 hours can be achieved in 175 days, shortening the length of the school year. This will offset

the later start date so that the 2015-16 will not extend far into June.

“I like that the new hours give us less time

year by five days, teachers will need to use their instructional time wisely.

“I do think it’s nice for kids to be out of school a little sooner if we can maximize the time that we’re here and make sure what we’re doing is essential to the learning of the students,” Davis said.

“How much time is used productively, and how much time is just ‘school time?’” she adds. “We need to maximize the time and make sure it is not seat time.”

Ramey is confident this change will be advantageous for students in the ICCSD. “We know that any change can always be difficult, but we do believe that this is what’s best for our students,” Ramey said. “It’s increasing the amount of time that our elementary students are going to get to spend at school and working with their teachers in instruction,” he said. “While we know there will be some challenges as we implement this, we will work hard to get through and make the transition as soon as possible for the benefit of everybody involved.”

“THE BIG PUSH BEHIND IT AND ONE OF THE BIG BENEFITS OF MAKING THIS CHANGE IS IT’S PROVIDING US SO MUCH MORE INSTRUCTIONAL TIME AT THE ELEMENTARY LEVEL.”

-CHASE RAMEY, CHIEF TALENT OFFICER AND CHIEF COMMUNITY AFFAIRS OFFICER at school this next year,” Galstad said. “It gives us a lot more time for summer.”

English teacher Colleen Davis believes that, with the reduction of the length of the school

Video cameras silently observe daily lives from supermarkets to school hallways. While they are usually tucked into the corner of a wall, the cameras are gradually making their way into the front of the uniforms of Iowa City police.

“When things happen, you’ve got your perspective, and I’ve got my perspective. And then there’s the unbiased perspective,” Iowa City Police Sergeant Derek Frank said. “[The camera] gives us a chance to review things and see it from a different point of view, not just from what we’re seeing with our eyes or hearing with our ears, but what the recorder is picking up.”

Police body cameras are roughly the size of a deck of cards and are fairly discrete. The camera’s main purpose is to observe, and it doesn’t typically interfere with correspondence between police and others.

“When someone’s calling the police for assistance or approaching you for something, they’re not worried or act differently like, ‘Oh I need to act differently because this camera’s on,’” Frank said.

“It catches what is genuine.”

Of the many police departments in Iowa implementing the new recording devices, the Clinton County Police Department has recently began the use of the body cameras, prompted by the recent protests and violence in Ferguson. Rick Lincoln is sheriff of Clinton County and uncle of Heidi Mentz ‘17.

“I feel scared for my uncle sometimes because of all the things that can happen to police. I know it is one of the more dangerous jobs, so I get nervous for him,” Mentz said. “There will be proof for when things happen. Cameras will improve that because there will be proof for whatever happens, and it will be easier.”

The vast majority of Iowa City police wear the cameras, which were introduced to the ICPD a year and a half ago.

“I think it’s one of those things where you do it, implement it, and then down the line see what kind of benefits we are getting out of it, and review it every few years or so,” Frank said.

The ICPD will be utilizing the cameras more in the near future as they will be receiving a new shipment of the recording devices in the upcoming month. The cameras allow police to respond to public complaints because they offer an unbiased perspective. “[The camera] makes it a lot easier to see what actually happened,” Frank said. “It helps in internal affairs, like complaints, quite a bit, to either support or negate what’s being claimed.”

The Iowa State Patrol, who mainly monitor the highway system around Iowa, does not use body cameras largely due to cost, according to Trooper Jon Stickney. It would cost their department roughly 4.1 million dollars, plus an additional $150,000 dollars for storing the records, all of which paid for by tax dollars.

“As you can expect, money has to come from somewhere and is usually not an easy find. It would be considered a new money item and the taxpayers would in the end be paying for such a huge amount,” Stickney said. “Current trends in policing and past events such as Ferguson could or may expedite the taxpayers requests to allow for allocation of money to purchase body cameras for the future. That is a start.”

The Iowa State Patrol has used in-car dashboard cameras since 1995, and they have been proven to be beneficial to review scenarios.

“Suspects may be more compliant to an officer’s request to surrender, and in the end, any camera, whether it be a phone, body camera, or in-car video system, is a good piece of equipment to aid in the collection of evidence,” Stickney said.

Although there was police resistance upon the introduction of the body cameras to Iowa City, the ICPD has since adapted to the new technology.

“Cops don’t like change. That’s universal,” Frank said. “Whenever new things are implemented, cops say, ‘It’s bad, it’s bad, it’s bad,’ but once everyone gets used to using them, once it’s just another piece of equipment we have, I think everyone’s going to see the vast benefits from them.”

A4

NEWS June 2, 2015

The Featured Four: Clubs of City High

By Anna Denniston & Lindsey Parrott

CHESS CLUB:

Wednesdays after school, room 2311 Once a week, students assemble, knocking down opponents’ castles and slaying knights to protect their king. Kings, queens, castles, knights, and pawns are all pieces one uses in the complicated game of chess.

“Mr Brown and I started [chess club] as a way to provide another option for students to get involved in the school and use their brains in a way that stimulates thinking about moves in advance,” Steve Dodge, chess club sponsor and history teacher, said. “I think it’s a great game, and it gets you to really think about future moves. To be able to carefully think out what you’re doing is valuable in anything that you do. Chess is a game that allows you to practice that skill.”

Dodge believes the students are one of the best parts of Chess Club.

“We’ve got male and female. We’ve got ninth grade through twelfth grade. We have music students. We have athletes,” Dodge said. “We have a little of everyone that comes in, and I think it’s a good chance to bring a variety of different students together.”

For the past three years, Chess Club has hosted an annual tournament at City High.

“People don’t necessarily want to travel to a tournament or put in a lot of extra time on weekends, because most of the students are pretty busy in other activities. So we try to give them opportunities to play here,” Dodge said.

“After they play a while in the fall, we have a tournament. Students are pretty motivated by that as a chance to try and see how they do.”

Dodge encourages other students, regardless of experience, to join.

“It’s a change from video games and other

Ask An Ambassador

By Abby Dickson I was surrounded.

My claustrophobia was kicking in, and words I didn’t know pounded against my eardrums.

Did I just describe a trip to another country, or Algebra II Honors on the daily?

This year has been full of both challenges and opportunities.

Tough classes, crazy clubs, and intense sports have been wild this year. Stress has made me feel like I’m drowning in school, but this suffocating stress has been partially my fault.

“Oh, those AP Government essays can wait until next weekend!” was a constant quote from me this year. “Yeah, I can for sure go to five grad parties tomorrow!” has become one of my go-to catchphrases as of late. This has caused me several minor panic attacks and more than one night of cramming for tests and doing homework, but school hasn’t been all bad. The reason my life is crazy is because I’m so invested in all aspects of City High.

Since my freshman year, I’ve completely poured myself into every aspect of my life, but this year, I was forced to learn that, to quote Hannah Montana, “Everybody makes mistakes, and everybody has those days.” I have been forced to realize that I need to take breaks. For example, my Cross Country career has been riddled with injuries, but I was a decent runner. Every day of practice during my freshman and sophomore years, I ran as hard as I could, and for a little while, it payed off!

This year, I took easy days during practice, running more slowly than usual and running shorter distances. It paid off! I was still a good runner, but the strain on my body was greatly reduced. This is what most students do during highschool, but pushing yourself too hard 24/7 will hurt you deep inside your lil’ heart and brain.

If you take anything away from this column, take away this: Sometimes, you need to love yourself and take care of yourself before you take on school, homework, or extracurriculars.

things that a lot of young people take part in, and you can go back to kind of the old school chess and see how you do.”

MATH CLUB:

Mondays after school, room 1212 Few students would jump at the chance to solve for x any more than they already have to.

But for those who would, their alternatives go beyond just extra work sheets.

For the past 19 years, Math Club has served as an outlet for students wanting to extend their learning beyond the classroom. “[Students] kind of had an interest in [math], and we saw a need to open something up for new opportunities,” Stephanie McLaughlin, math teacher and Math Club sponsor, said.

Each week, about a dozen City High students meet in room 1212 to practice extra math outside of school.

“We do different kinds of math: Interesting, more challenging problems called contest math,” McLaughlin said. “Sometimes we do practice contests. Sometimes we just kind of pull out interesting ideas that we don’t really get to in the classroom. We put together some problems and work on those. Then we share solutions.”

Freshman Max Meyer attends Math Club on a regular basis.

“Math is ten times as fun [in the club] as it is in class,” he said.

This year Math Club has gone to all of the local Great Plains Math League competitions and has placed third in the state competition. On May 15, they attended a regional math competition in Kansas City.

Math competitions are made up of four rounds: Two individual rounds followed by a team round and a relay round.

“I think most people who actually do go and try a contest end up enjoying it and wanting to do more, but it’s hard to convince them that it’s going to be a fun thing before they try it,” McLaughlin said. “I’d just like to get more

people to experience that.”

McLaughlin hopes more students will consider doing Math Club in the future.

“Some people think, ‘ I won’t do as well as those guys so I shouldn’t do it,’ but you should,” she said. “You have to start somewhere. Sometimes kids who come and don’t do very well their first contest do better and better throughout the year, and end up being some of our best people.”

SCIENCE CLUB:

Wednesdays after school, room 1410 For the past 15 years, Mary Lestina has been conducting experiments and competing in competitions with the students in Science Club.

“I had students who approached me when I taught the freshman class, and they wanted to start a science club,” she said. “And so because of that, I was able to bring in guest speakers, do different projects, and go on different field trips really based on what the students were interested in learning more about.”

This year, the club has been busy with the America Rocketry Challenge, where students are required to design, build, and test a rocket to go up to an exact height and hold an egg for an exact amount of time. Science Club also competed in the Envirothon competition and hosted the first ever Iowa competition for the rocket program where other schools were invited to launch rockets together.

Although the science club placed eighth in the state, they did not compete at the national competition, as only the top fifty out of eight hundred teams are given the chance to advance.

However, Science Club contributes to City on more than just a competitive level.

“We bring in another interest base that students can get more involved in. If [students] want to learn more about sciences, they can,” Lestina said.

She encourages students to really think about their passions.

“If there’s something they want to do or learn more about, then they can come in and see us, and we can figure it out,” Lestina said.

PSYCH CLUB:

Wednesdays after school, room 2106 Dreams, mass murderers, and meditation.

These are just some of the topics Jane Green’s Psych Club discusses at their weekly meetings.

“I think it’s the kind of club that really appeals to teenagers because we look at whatever they find interesting,” Jane Green, Psych teacher at City High, explained. “Sometimes it’s eating disorders, a lot of times it’s criminal minds, profiling, serial killers, whatever.”

Psych Club was founded in 1995 as a way to “extend psychology learning outside of the classroom.”

“The kids wanted it, and it was kind of a chance for kids to be exposed to psych in more depth,” Green explained.

As psychology is an elective, there simply isn’t enough time to let students thoroughly explore anything during the course of the trimester. “[Psych Club] is a chance for [students] to really investigate whatever they’re interested in,” Green said. “I’m pretty open to new ideas, like if they want to have a speaker or something.”

Emma Lenz, a member of the club, agrees it’s very relaxed.

“We learn about disorders and mental conditions,” she said. “[Right now], we’re watching Perception. It’s about a guy who has schizophrenia.”

Although the number of City High’s Psych Club attendants varies from only 10 to 20, psychology is the U of I’s leading master’s degree with 1300 graduates every year.

“I want to give them a heads up,” Green said.

“I think [Psych] is a unique club, and it’s a great subject for kids to find out about before [they] go to college.”

RAGBRAI Spins Through Coralville

By Addy Smith 20,000 cyclists will pedal across Iowa this summer as a part of the ride RAGBRAI. Register’s Annual Great Bike Across Iowa will begin in Sioux City on July 18 and end in Davenport on July 25, stopping in six other towns along the way. And this year, Coralville is one of them.

Ryan Baker, the owner of World of Bikes in Iowa City, has been around for many RAGBRAIs and has ridden the route several times himself. “[RAGBRAI is] an incredible way to see the state in a fashion that you would never see it,” Baker said. “You actually get to meet people, see small towns, and taste the best food the state has to offer. For teenagers, it’s the same.

This is something you can’t learn in books about your state,” he said. “Iowa is a great state, and there is so much to see and do that can’t be done traveling on I-80.”

The ride averages a total of 468 miles a week-about 67 miles a day- and is not always on the flattest terrain, requiring some participants to spend all year preparing and training for these seven days.

“Hopefully you’ve already been riding; base miles are key to survival,” Baker said. “However, it’s a ride, not a race. Stop and eat the pie.

If it’s hot, find a slip and slide. Drink lots of water, and have fun,” he said.

Miles Miller ‘16 has been a part of every day of RAGBRAI since 2012.

“I wanted to participate because my family has done it for many years in the past, and they all have had such a great time,” Miller said.

“The first year I went with my family, and we went on our own. However, the last two years we rode with the group Bicyclists of Iowa City (BIC).”

With a leg of the ride coming through the Iowa River Landing in Coralville, and bringing over 20,000 people with it, business for Baker will be booming.

“Ramping up to RAGBRAI, we always get busier, both in sales and service work,” Baker said. “In the past, the days that RAGBRAI has come through town we are always busy in the shop.”

Not only does RAGBRAI bring great sales

1. Sioux City, July 18 2. Storm Lake, July 19 3. Fort Dodge, July 20

4. Eldora, July 21 5. Cedar Falls, July 22 6. Hiawatha, July 23

for Baker as a bike shop owner, but he loves the spirit and culture the ride gives to Iowa.

“It’s Iowa! This is the largest ride of it’s kind.

People travel from all over the world to ride it,” Baker said. “[RAGBRAI] showcases the personality of Iowa, from small town life to large cities.”

Even though Miller has been an avid bicyclist since as soon as he could ride, he enjoys RAGBRAI for its amiable environment.

“Others should participate because everyone is friendly, and it’s not a competitive atmosphere. It’s a ride, not a race,” Miller advises.

“Many people just talk to the person they ride next to without even knowing them.”

In his three years of RAGBRAI, Max Otoadese ‘16, has never had anything short of fun.

“One time we went to this farm, and there were thousands of people at this place. There was a band playing, and in the pool he had taken a tractor and made a giant water slide into his pool,” he said. “I just remember all of these crazy people in full suits just goin’ at it. It was

7. Iowa River Landing/ Coralville, July 24 8. Davenport, July 25

awesome,” Otoadese said.

Sam Tomek ‘16 started doing RAGBRAI with his grandfather in 2007. Tomek’s grandfather has been a RAGBRAI participant for 40 years.

“RAGBRAI brings a lot of money into the cities, and a lot of people come from all over the world and U.S. When I was on my Grandpa’s team, there were people from places as far away as Texas and California,” Tomek said.

Otoadese encourages everybody, even the most amateur riders, to experience RAGBRAI. The annual ride is a team effort.

“RAGBRAI is a great source of exercise, and you don’t even have to go for the whole week,” Otoadese said. “You could just ride for a day and still get that awesome feeling of accomplishment. The atmosphere is always very upbeat and happy, and you never feel like you’re at the end because you get passed by thousands of people along the way, yet there’s always thousands of people behind you.”

A5

NEWS June 2, 2015

Marching Band Preparing to Light Up the Field

By Eleanor Mildenstein

ABOVE: Celestin Madide ‘15 from Rwanda shares his Tutsi culture with students and teachers alike. RIGHT: Zawadi Ngenda, ‘15 presents her PowerPoint to several students. LEFT: Honduran students created a posterboard about their country.

PHOTOS BY BELLA PITTMAN

Around the World in 20 Minutes

ELL students brought traditional clothing and prepared displays for presentations in the Commons

By Claire Noack The City High Commons echoed with chatter in many languages and burst with color from the traditional dress of students from all over the world. The English Language Learner, or ELL program, held a culture fair on Tuesday, May 19 to showcase the cultures of City High students’ native countries.

“What was really cool about it was giving the students a chance to kind of share their cultures, not only with the rest of the school but also with each other,” future ELL teacher Dana Slavin said. “And learning more about things that they possibly didn’t even know.”

Students from the Intermediate level of the ELL programs created presentations to educate other students about their lives before coming

to Iowa. The intermediate level is the second level of students in the ELL program.

“They’re pretty new to the country.

We have a beginner class, and then an intermediate class,” ELL teacher Leah Tweedy said. “Some students have been here less than a year.”

To become part of the ELL program, students fill out Home Language Surveys at their local schools. Then, their knowledge of English is assessed, and they are placed in the appropriate class level.

Displays were present from many countries, such as the Central American countries of Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, and many African nations like Rwanda, the Congo, and Guinea.

One student, Celestin Maide ‘15, presented about Rwanda, his home country. He was actually born in the

northern part of Congo, but moved to Rwanda due to war. His presentation included items like: the Rwandan flag, explanations of housing in his country, and pictures of cows, a very important animal in his Tutsi culture.

“There are Hutus and Tutsis, and they are different,” Maide said. “They are other cultures, but they speak the same language.”

When Maide first came to America, he lived in North Carolina. He soon moved to Iowa City to join his sister. According to Maide, there are many differences between his old life and his new life.

“The way I live today is not like the way I used to live before,” Maide said.

“Today, like school, the way I used to study back in Africa, and here is different.”

The way that students in Africa learn has changed as well. According

LHONLINE

to Maide, more and more Rwandan children are going to school.

“40 years ago most people didn’t go to school. But now, people go to school. Like my dad, he finished middle school only, he didn’t go to high school or college,” Maide said. “But this generation of Tutsi culture, they go to school, finish high school, and college.”

One custom that Maide struggled to let go of was the Tutsi practice of not looking people in the eye to show respect. In Tutsi culture, it is okay to look people of the same generation in the eye, but to look teachers or other authority teachers in the eye would be disrespectful. Maide learned that making eye contact is expected in America.

“I remember one day when my teacher, she told me everything. She said, ‘look at me,’” Maide said. “She thought I was feeling shy.”

Say goodbye to superheroes and capes, and get ready to rock as the Little Hawk Marching Band prepares for their upcoming season. The band’s new theme is centered on Latina music, which is a reach from last year’s superhero-themed, “Behind the Mask”. After the loss of this year’s seniors, next year’s sophomores, such Audrey Friestad ‘18, will be stepping up to march in the halftime show for the first time.

“I’m excited. I saw the halftime show this year, and I saw what the upperclassmen were doing,” Friestad said. “I thought it was really interesting. It looks like a lot of work, but I’m willing to put in the work.”

Drum major Kayla Schumacher ‘16 is confident about the abilities of the new sophomores.

“I think next year’s sophomores are going to be great at marching,” she said. “I can’t wait to share the whole halftime with them!”

Marching band is one of the few times where all grades are together in band. This allows the band members to bond.

“My favorite part of marching band is getting to connect with everyone, even if you don’t know them, and having fun with the music,” Schumacher said.

The “Latina Fire” theme will feature songs by many artists, including Carlos Santana and Pitbull. Ryan Arp, director of the marching band, explains why he chose the theme.

“I’ve kind of always liked that style, and I think it fits well with the band,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a show that not only is fun for the students to perform, but is also fun for the audience to listen to.”

With each new season and the loss of seniors, a new class steps in to take their place. Friestad said while she’s excited to march in the halftime show, she also has some anxiety.

“I’m nervous that we’re going to mess up, or I’m going to mess up,” she said. “I’m also nervous about getting a good clarinet to march with next year, because I obviously can’t use my concert band one.”

Arp also shared his feelings on the loss of seniors.

“There’s a good group of freshmen coming up, future sophomores.

It happens every year. That’s part of being a teacher, and hopefully you have planned things to the point where the loss of those seniors can be replaced by the next class coming in,” he said. “City High has a great tradition, and there’s some unwritten rule that people just step up when they get to be older students. That’s what makes it always work, and that’s how high school rolls,” Arp said. “In high school you lose seniors every year, but people step up, and that’s what makes it awesome.”

W W W . T H E L I T T L E H A W K . C O M

A6

NEWS June 2, 2015

Meet the candidates

ART BY AYLA CANIN & ESTIE DILLARD

Presidential Candidates

Eddy

Galstad

childhood nickname

Dream job

Campaign issue

Eddy, Eddy Spaghetti, and Spaghettio. (My mom still calls me that.)

Traveler of the world who helps people. I want to help people.

Parking, better bathrooms, & making sure threre is food in C lunch.

Mary Poppins. Just being involved with someting that was that magical was amazing.

Foster a sense of unity in City High while benefiting the community.

Storming the soccer field [at West] sophomore year.

best chs memory

best dance move

embarrassing moment

It’s a dead tie between the lazy shoulder and the shopping cart.

It was in first grade, and I squirted, by accident, a Hi-C in my friend’s mom’s face

I am a poor dancer.

When I got tech falled [in wrestling].

Daniel

DK

Philanthropist

Mohammed

Mo Mo

Psychologist

Increase minority enrollment in AP and honors classes.

When Scott Tribbey The Egyptian scored the winning goal at the West High game, and we stormed the field.

Elkster

President of the USA

Make everyone feel involved and as if they have a voice.

Making it to Peanut butter semifinals at Nationals with the dance team.

Kelly

Shaban

Elke

Windschitl

Trying to run track and field in fifth grade and tripping over a hurdle

One time I went to set down and someone pulled out the chair in first grade

Vice Presidential Candidates

Sy

Butler

Quincey

[No nickname]

Quinbert

Scholz

Jacob struve

Miniman

An astronomer

Foster a sense of unity in City High while benefiting the community.

Going to Drake.

The robot

Professional dancer

Bringing everyone in the school together.

The Hawaiian Dance.

The whip

Astronaut

Diversify clubs and AP classes.

Watching Scott score the winning goal last year.

I don’t dance.

I feel no shame

When I ripped my pants in elementary school, and they didn’t have a change for me.

When I was little and on a road trip, I wet my pants in our friend’s car

A7

NEWS June 2, 2015

Top 10 Summer Destinations

By Maddy Deninger

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Lake McBride A great place for swimming, hiking, and picnics

summer of the arts Festival Listen to performers, see local artists, and enjoy delicious food

Iowa City farmer's market Shop a variety of locally grown produce, pastries, and other goods

Forbidden Planet Pizza Arcade Eat pizza and play pinball in a fun atmosphere

Terry trueblood recreation area Enjoy paddleboarding, hiking, and kayaking

6. Film scene

Watch a variety of independent and international films

7. Hickory hill trails Hike an extensive network of nature trails

8. city park pool

A fun place to swim and hang out with friends

9.

10.

Peninsula disc golf course Play a game of frisbee golf with some friends or family

Campus recreation and wellness center The U of I CRWC offers everything from swimming to basketball to rock climbing

summer crossword

A8

NEWS June 2, 2015

By Claire Goodfellow

To Modify or Not to Modify: The GM Debate Flourishes

Signs hang from the market cceiling reading“locally grown” and some things that I think it is acceptable to not eat organic.” “ all organic”, and the food on the shelves is labeled “non GMO” and Coming to Sycamore Mall later this year, Lucky’s Market will be a “100% Whole grain”. Over the past few years these health food stores new addition to Iowa City and the growing number of health foods have become increasingly popular, and Frankie Schneckloth, Bread places in the community.

Garden Market’s Marketing and Creative Director, says that she has “It’s good because it will be more convenient for people on that side seen a growth in this health food movement. of town to buy from that place,” Van Der Weide said. “It’s good to have “We like to bring local food to the store,” Schneckloth said. “We options in other places.” want to provide as many options for people to get that wholesome Even though there are a growing number of options, the health nutritious food.” market movement is still a small movement.

Mae Van Der Weide 16’ says that most of the teenagers she hangs “If you look at it as a rising tide, we are a small boat,” Schneckloth out with don’t usually eat very healthy things but that things like juicsaid. “So we are excited to have another grocery store join our team.” ing and detox are becoming more popular.

Schneckloth says that other businesses and Bread Garden are “I don’t know many people who have done it,” Van Der Weide said. all taking similar actions in the health food movement, however there “But when I did it I think it helped and I felt a lot cleaner.” is a distinction between them.

Schneckloth says that there are many benefits to eating locally “The Co-Op does all organic and non-GMO, and Hy-Vee is pretty grown and organic food such as keeping money in the community and conventional.[the Bread Garden] falls somewhere in the middle,” Schplaces like Bread Garden, which supports local farmers. neckloth said.”I think that Lucky’s is similar to [The Bread Garden] in “Organic foods have definitely become more of a thing,” Schthat I know&they focus more on the local stuff.”

Byrespect Aylabut Canin Sonali Durham neckloth said. “The fewer chemicals that are put on our food, the less Eating healthy is something that Schneckloth says is definitely on chemicals are in our body.” people’s radars, and as she warns against unnecessarily organic food, Somethingy that is often confused in the is the difference she believes in the movement a whole. the end of 2016, Panera willindustry have dropped a long “GMO is a technology that hasasgreat potential to enhance array of negative effects on human health. Pesticide-resistant between organic locally grown.

Foodsfrom must its go through a special “I think some of the parts of it,value like juicing and cleansing, fadsallow farmers to apply pesticides more aggressively, allist and of artificial ingredients menu. It’s not food quality, food safety, nutritional and reduce food are crops certification process be labeled organic, Schneckloth says that are a little extreme, ” Schneckloth said. “Irisk think that a balanced apthe onlytobrand doingasso, either;and a movement against waste,and ” MacDonald said. “There is no inherent to human lowing them to spray directly on their crops without damaging a lot of farmers do not haveand thegenetically time to go modified through this procedure. will stick for theusing long haul. ” non-organic foods is gain- healthproach from foods that around are produced the technology. ” them. These pesticide-tainted crops are then ingested by con“Althoughing they are notacross certified organic, most of the food that traction theas nation.

Despite the opinions of professionals like MacDonald, pub- sumers.

[BreadMohammed Garden] buys from‘16 theisfarmers is at organic based farmer’s Shaban a cashier Panera, and on willthe expelic outcry against GM food has been widespread, and has lead “I’d say [I worry about eating pesticides],” Peterson said. “It methods, Schneckloth rience ”the upcoming said. menu change firsthand. to the formation of groups like Millions against Monsanto. crosses my mind every once in a while.”

Some arguethink they the don’tolder shopgeneration at these health markets “I don’t reallyfood cares, but I because think However, the World Health Organization’s website states that Whether or not GMOs are truly harmful, concerned conthey arepeople too expensive. says that of shetaking doesn’t always now are moreSchneckloth aware of theherself consequences bad “GM foods currently available on the international market have sumers have recently been advocating for the better labeling of eatthings, all-organic foods becausefood] it is not financially sensible, ” he said. “[Natural is probably safer.

I don’talthough know if shepassed safety assessments and are not likely to present risks for GM foods. Although such legislation has not yet been widely tries choose or those when she can. aren’t good for you.” human health.” In fact, all GM foods are evaluated for safety, adopted, consumer groups continue to advocate for it, while it’sto healthier not,options but chemicals probably “I do it’s true that pricesingredients can go out of theseem market, which is while conventionally-grown foods are not.

Thethink promise of “natural” may appealing corporations that produce GM crops are largely against it. tootobad when itcustomers. is a healthBut concern, Schneckloth said. “Butmean? there are potential what,” exactly, does “natural” “The technology is confusing to consumers, and there is a “Those groups that are promoting mandatory labeling do The U.S. Food and Drug administration has not adopted a spe- great deal of misinformation,” MacDonald said. “Once people not fully understand the cost that will be incurred by such a cific definition of either “natural” or “organic”, which gives com- understand the exact process that is used to develop GMO plants requirement,” MacDonald said. “Food costs would rise sigpanies some leeway in labeling their products as such. It can also (or animals) and they nificantly if this was lead to confusion on the part of consumers -- about what those are assured of the mandated – with no terms mean, and about why one might look for them on food. testing and oversight benefit to consumers.

“I think if something’s organic, people like to think that that has been done to There are no safety or it’s good for you,” Olivia Peterson ‘15 said. “But no one really demonstrate safety, health risks associknows.” they typically are betated with consuming Although the concept of organic foods has existed for de- ter able to accept this GMO foods. Because cades, genetically modified, or GM, food is a newer innovation. technology.” of that I am opposed According to the World Health Organization, any organism “in Although health to mandatory labelwhich the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that is the most-discussed ing.” does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombina- concern with GM Others believe tion” is a genetically modified organism (GMO). foods, they also raise that shoppers should Farmers have been selectively cross-breeding crops to other ethical dilembe aware of what they produce better traits for millennia. Genetic modification has mas. Because GM are buying. sparked controversy in part because it allows combinations of seeds are created by “[Labeling] convery diverse organisms. humans, most comtinues to be fought Scott Koepke is the Education Outreach Coordinator at the panies that produce in courts and legislaNew Pioneer Co-op. He spends his time helping local schools to them consider their tures,” Koepke said. start organic gardens. products to be protected by intellectual property rules, and de- “As it stands now, the only way to reasonably be assured that “I think it’s essential that folks know the difference between sign the crops not to produce viable seeds that could be collect- you’re eating GMO-free food is to buy certified organic.” hybrids and genetic modification. They are two very different ed and replanted in following years. This forces small farmers to While GM crops bring a slew of controversies and debates sciences,” Koepke said. “It’s one thing to cross a tomato with an- buy new seed every year, which can be a financial burden. with them, they do improve yields. A study by the European other tomato (species with species) to select for desirable traits “Ethically speaking, I believe it’s wrong to insert a ‘termina- Commission’s Joint Research Centre found that areas farmed -- we’ve been doing that for centuries. It’s quite another to cross tor gene’ in seeds, as Monsanto has done, that prevents that seed with GM crops reported five to 25 percent increases over those a tomato with a fish (genus with genus).” from being saved,” Koepke said. without.

Koepke believes that the latter should not be used in food GMOs are created to have more desirable traits, like bet“Farming is complicated, and there is value in all kinds of production as it has been shown to cause health problems in ter drought resistance or pesticide tolerance. Although these approaches,” MacDonald said. “Organic approaches are useful; humans and animals, as well as compromise microbial diversity. modifications increase food production capacity, they also raise however, it may not be possible to generate adequate amounts But organic gardening is a much more expensive and labor in- concerns for Koepke. If crops can withstand higher levels of pes- and the variety of foods needed using this approach alone.” tensive practice, prompting many companies to choose conven- ticide use, farmers are likely to take advantage of that, which can There is still research to be done on GMO foods, but with a tional and non-organic methods to meet their customer’s needs introduce new problems. projected world population of 9.6 billion by 2050, food producand get governments to subsidize these companies.

“There are thresholds of synthetic applications of herbicides tion will have to meet ever-increasing demands.

“We don’t have a food shortage crisis,” Koepke said. “We have and pesticides that are greatly diminishing microbial life in the “To produce high quality, nutritious foods to meet the needs a political priorities crisis.” soil,” Koepke said. “That microbial life, as it decomposes organic of all consumers, we need to utilize all of the technology we have However, not everyone agrees with Koepke’s evaluation of matter in the soil-food web’s ‘poop loop,’ is producing chemical- available,” MacDonald said. “Neither conventional nor organic the situation. Ruth MacDonald is a professor in the department ly-available nutrients for root systems to absorb.” farming approaches are perfect; we need to use research and sciof Food Science and Human Nutrition at Iowa State University, Even beyond their effects on microbial systems, pesticides ence to continually improve our food production systems.” and has done research on the food safety of GMOs. can be harmful to humans. If ingested, they can have a wide

The debate over GM foods has grown into a major political issue over the past decade. Even as major corporations become involved, the research isn’t conclusive on either side.

B

“TO PRODUCE HIGH QUALITY, NUTRITIOUS FOODS TO MEET THE NEEDS OF ALL CONSUMERS WE NEED TO UTILIZE ALL OF THE TECHNOLOGY WE HAVE AVAILABLE. NEITHER CONVENTIONAL NOR ORGANIC FARMING APPROACHES ARE PERFECT; WE NEED TO USE RESEARCH AND SCIENCE TO CONTINUALLY IMPROVE OUR FOOD PRODUCTION SYSTEMS.” -DR. RUTH MACDONALD

A9

NEWS June 2, 2015

To Modify or Not to Modify: the GM Debate Flourishes

By Ayla Canin & Sonali Durham

Everyone has their favorite holidayBusiness foods. Little Hawkto staffers have chosen Health Movement Brings Iowa City theirs for this delicious winter list.

By Claire Goodfellow

S

igns hang from the ceiling saying “locally grown” and “ all organic”, and the food on the shelves is labeled “non GMO” and “100% Whole grain”. Over the past few years these health food stores have become increasingly popular, and Frankie Schneckloth, Bread Garden Market’s Marketing and Creative Director, says that she has seen a growth in this health food movement.

“We like to bring local food to the store,” Schneckloth said. “We want to provide as many options for people to get that wholesome nutritious food.”

Mae Van Der Weide 16’ says that most of the teenagers she hangs out with don’t usually eat very healthy things but that things like juicing and detox are becoming more popular.

“I don’t know many people who have done it,” Van Der Weide said. “But when I did it I think it helped and I felt a lot cleaner.”

Schneckloth says that there are many benefits to eating locally grown and organic food such as keeping money in the community and places like Bread Garden, which supports local farmers.

“Organic foods have definitely become more of a thing,” Schneckloth said. “The fewer chemicals that are put on our food, the less chemicals are in our body.”

Something that is often confused in the industry is the difference between organic and locally grown.

Foods must go through a special certification process to be labeled as organic, and Schneckloth says that a lot of farmers do not have the time to go through this procedure.

“Although they are not certified as organic, most of the food that [Bread Garden] buys from the farmers is organic based on the farmer’s methods,” Schneckloth said.

Some argue they don’t shop at these health food markets because they are too expensive. Schneckloth herself says that

she doesn’t always eat all-organic foods because it is not financially sensible, although she tries to choose those options when she can.

“I do think it’s true that prices can go out of the market, which is too bad when it is a health concern,” Schneckloth said.

“But there are some things that I think it is acceptable to not eat organic.”

Coming to Sycamore Mall later this year, Lucky’s Market will be a new addition to Iowa City and the growing number of health foods places in the community.

“It’s good because it will be more convenient for people on that side of town to buy from that place,” Van Der Weide said.

“It’s good to have options in other places.”

Even though there are a growing num-

“I THINK THAT A BALANCED APPROACH WILL STICK AROUND FOR THE LONG HAUL.” -FRANKIE SCHNECKLOTH

ber of options, the health market movement is still a small movement.

“If you look at it as a rising tide, we are a small boat,” Schneckloth said. “So we are excited to have another grocery store join our team.”

Schneckloth says that other businesses and Bread Garden are all taking similar actions in the health food movement, however there is a distinction between them.

“The Co-Op does all organic and nonGMO, and Hy-Vee is pretty conventional. [the Bread Garden] falls somewhere in the middle,” Schneckloth said.”I think that Lucky’s is similar to [The Bread Garden] in that respect but I know they focus more on the local stuff.”

Eating healthy is something that Schneckloth says is definitely on people’s radars, and as she warns against unnecessarily organic food, she believes in the movement as a whole.

“I think some of the parts of it, like juicing and cleansing, are fads and are a little extreme,” Schneckloth said. “I think that a balanced approach will stick around for the long haul.”

SOURCES: usda.gov, facts. randomhistory.com, & rd.com. INFOGRAPHIC

BY OLIVIA PARROTT

A10 OPINION

June 2, 2015

Staff Editorial:

The GMO Conundrum Genetically Modified Organisms are taking over the agricultural world, but is that as good for us as it is for business?

LH Executive Editors

Claire Noack, Dominic Balestrieri-Fox Sonali Durham

News Editor Olivia Parrot

Opinion Editors

Cody Owen, Ellis Fontana

Feature Editor Caroline Brown

Sports Editor Jonathan House

Photo Editors

Caroline Brown, Max Gruber

A&E Editor

Jonas Geerdes

Copy Editor

Madeline Deninger

Ad Managers Bella Pittman

Executive Online Editors Sarah Smith, Nova Meurice,

Opinion Online Editors

Lydia Kaufman, Sadie Hobbs

Online News Editors Sofie Lie, Lucy McGehee

Staff

gina appleby, adelaide bass, samuel bloom, ayla canin, madeline deninger, anna denniston, rachel fischer, ellis fontana, duncan forbes, claire goodfellow, max gruber, sadie hobbs, jonathan house, brock hunger, lydia kaufmann, riley lewers, sofie lie, stella lindaman, mae mcdonough, lucy mcgehee, eleanor mildenstein, cole nicholson, lindsey parrott, miles pei, lily persaud, el bruho, isabella pittman, nasim salih, miranda salinas, sophia schlesinger, rasmus schlutter, addy smith, elizabeth tran, brady vanlo, niara washington, joseph weideman

Adviser

jonathan rogers

Online Bios and Stories www.thelittlehawk.com/staff

mission statement

The Little Hawk, the student newspaper of City High School, aims to inform, educate and entertain readers; to provide an educational opportunity for the students who produce it; and to provide a medium for commercial advertising.

Equity Statements

It is the policy of the Iowa City Community School District not to discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, disability, or socioeconomic status in its educational programs, activities, or employment practices.

If you believe you have (or your child has) been discriminated against or treated unjustly at school, please contact the Equity Director, Ross Wilburn, at 509 S. Dubuque Street, 319-688-1000.

F

ood. It’s something that we all need. So, naturally, when something creates headlines about food, we become concerned. I mean, food is more or less the only thing that teenagers universally enjoy.

GMO’s; what they are and how they affect us is the most important subject in the world of food production today.

Before any debate on the subject is opened, there should be some clarification. GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organism, meaning that it is a living thing whose genes have been manipulated in order to produce certain genes.

For example, different types of corn are bred to create a corn that can withstand certain pesticides and not be horribly poisoned. As far as we, and the scientific community at large are aware, GMO’s aren’t harmful in and of themselves. Things like pesticide and artificial growth hormones in our food are harmful. The general purpose of GMO’s is to improve crop yield and survivability. So, being the state that gets made fun of for all the farming, things like this are obviously very important to us. I mean, that’s all we’ve got, our farming. GMO’s do have a weakness, though. Since natural

Do you think we should continue to increase use of GMO’s in agriculture?

YES:

9

NO:

plant pollination no longer occurs in these communities of special plants, there isn’t nearly as much genetic diversity as there would be normally. This means that a disease that harms one of the GMO plants has a solid chance of killing a vast number of them, as they all have the same weaknesses coded into their genes.

Now, there is a worry in the scientific community that this weakness has been a large oversight, and that adapting to adverse climate conditions that will soon make parts of the country traditionally known for food production into arid, dry areas reminiscent of the now ironically named ‘fertile crescent.’

Likewise, the never-ending battle between insects and chemicals will probably not end for

at least the next few decades.

Farmers do have to make a profit, and to do that they need to be able to grow crops that survive to be harvested.

Likewise, there are some serious drawbacks to the use of GMO’s. Due to the addition of new proteins that weren’t otherwise present in the plant, people are more prone to have an allergic reaction to the food.

The antibiotics now built into the plants contribute to the massive amount of antibiotics in our diets, which has steadily made antibiotic drugs less effective.

GMO’s right now are a very important part in our agriculture. They provide better and healthier alternatives to food that can improve our diets and lifestyle. However, we should be careful that we don’t allow the GMO industry to take over the agriculture industry and replace conventional and natural grown foods. As stated above, GMO’s do have significant drawbacks that could damage the food industry by wiping out vast amounts of a crops and causing starvation.

Needless to say, that is bad, so we at the Little Hawk believe that GMO’s should be kept at a reasonable level, because we don’t like to starve.

7

A11

OPINION June 2, 2015

I Don’t Care What Your Anaconda Wants!

Thumbs

By Sadie Hobbs and Caroline Brown

So last week I was in the car with my parents, everything was going just fine until the song “Anaconda” came on the radio. Literally the most awkward experience you can imagine. So I changed stations and Big Sean’s “Dance (A$$)” started playing, which made the car ride even worse. Honestly, what has music come to?

Back in the 1960’s, jazz music filled night clubs, school dances, and downtown scenes on Friday nights. Songs like “L-O-V-E” by Nat King and “The Way You Look Tonight” by Frank Sinatra were the songs everyone wanted to listen to, but now, when I turn on the radio, the popular music makes me want to barf. Music isn’t even music anymore.

Popular songs now don’t have meaningful lyrics like they did in the 1930’s-1970’s. Nowadays, music on the radio is almost embarrassing to listen to. The lyrics are filled with messages about objectifying women, and how men should treat them. For example the song “Or Nah” by Ty Dolla $ign is degrading to women and describes sexual actions that the singer is almost demanding women to perform. Yes, there were inappropriate songs back in the day, but none of them could even compare to the songs that are out now. The messages in the lyrics reflect very poorly on our culture, specifically on young men. Ask any girl, when you meet a guy the common assumption is that he doesn’t care about getting to know you, he just likes the way you look. “Love at first sight” is no longer a romantic idea in any way, especially because of all this bad music. Honestly, guys are just hurting themselves by singing this crap because it makes you feel like crap.

Surprise!

To all the artists out there that think their music is cool, singing about sex in a derogatory way

doesn’t make me want to have sex with you. In fact, it makes me want to punch you and run because you sound like a pedophile. The new music has also greatly affected the way young people dance. Instead of slow dancing and the cupid shuffle, grinding is the new style. Even though pretty much everyone does it, grinding is a trashy way to dance and it’s just dumb. It may be fun, but it shouldn’t be the only kind of dancing that exists.

Not to mention, most artists have songwriters who write all of their songs for them. If artists need a songwriter then why don’t they write songs that actually mean something and not songs that just repeat one line for two minutes. All the creativity and music theory has vanished.

Keyboard sounds have replaced natural talent. The popular singers that are on the radio today don’t even have to be good singers. Technologies, such as auto-tune, can completely change the sound and pitch of the singer’s voice. The industry has become much more competitive with the singer’s pitch trying to sound nearly perfect. Auto-tune can fool most people when it comes to the radio, but when it comes to live performances, there is no fooling the audience when the singer sounds completely awful. Auto-tune can also be used in the background music, which makes the song sound techy and almost robotic. The instruments that could be clearly heard in the past, have now disappeared.

Music is trash now.

The next time you go to buy music, think about who you’re supporting.

Mary Poppins winning awards More spots in the jock lot Mad Max Having a longer summer BATMAN! This thing

Game of Thrones: The Musical Having two plays next year

ART BY NOVA MEURICE

Continuing to have math class after you take the final

CUBA!

By Cody Owen and Ellis Fontana

My fellow patriots of freedom, I have come to inform you of a great travesty that will soon befall our great nation. We must prepare for the largest invasion since Beatlemania: Cubania.

And no, this isn’t’ the systematic invasion of an army of malevolent cubes. I mean the lifting of the U.S. embargo on Cuba. Allowing trade and tourism to flow between the two countries.

Which is absolutely TERRIBLE! There hasn’t been such an affront to patriotism since they tried to re-cast the A-Team. Seriously, Bradley Cooper?

You may be asking, why would the U.S. want to end such a meaningful and healthy embargo? It’s been so effective, in fact, that the U.N. has released a report complaining about it every year since 1992. And we all know, if the U.N. is complaining about you, it means you’re an international baller. If anything, that means

The return of the gnats

this embargo should keep on going if only to show the United Nations who’s really in charge (Hint: It’s America).

Likewise, the embargo serves a very important purpose. It was begun with the intention of stamping out Communism in developing.

And what better way to do that than to turn developing countries into third-world time capsules? Cuba’s doing fine on its own. Just look at the thriving antique car market. Nearly every Cuban car-owner drives a vintage vehicle.

What would they even have to offer us? Cigars and nickel? I don’t need anymore nickels! They could at least export dimes, if they want to keep us interested. To top it all off, the majority of their exports are classified as “unclassified transactions.” Do you know what that means?

Their biggest export is secret communism!

Are we just going to lay down and become

communisms? NO! The day that happens is the day when my life effectively becomes Red Dawn. And I mean the cool newer one, you know, where I get to be Chris Hemsworth and everyone isn’t dead at the end.

We cannot allow a relationship between our glorious state and the darned commies. We’ve come so far, and we’re about to forfeit years of progress! Besides, there are plenty of other places to go in the Caribbean! I’d rather vacation in Haiti! Once it’s open, we need to follow our sacred American traditions and boycott, maybe even tar and feather if we feel up to it. I say everybody sign a petition to embargo not just Cuba, but the whole Caribbean! In fact, I hear Mexico has some socialist values, boycott them too! Why not add the entire Southern Hemisphere while we’re at it!? We’ll embargo the whole world! Muahahahaha…

Seniors leaving Finals Producing two plays next year School starting at 8 a.m. next year

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OPINION June 2, 2015

The Bohemian Age

By Sophia Schlesinger As locals in a college town, we face a unique situation in terms of local fashion trends. Downtown Iowa City is filled with very polarized styles that tend to be either yoga pants and some type of Uggs, or club dresses paired with very tall, very potentially lethal high heels. Members of our staff at the Little Hawk have had a lot of difficulty writing about fashion because there isn’t really much of a fashion scene here. The way people dress here is largely based on trend, and doesn’t actually involve the process of inventing a unique style. This is especially common in high school (I’m definitely guilty, myself), particularly in the changing season where we all flock to the cyber universe to figure out what trends are in for the summer season. For example, anyone walking through the halls of City High has probably noticed the influx of Birkenstocks.

That being said, there’s nothing wrong with following trends, and I think in the middle of the Midwest it’s somewhat inevitable. Because of the unpredictable nature of our climate, we can’t really develop something characteristic of the Midwest, because most of the time we’re just trying to stay warm or stay cool, and look alright while doing so, creating a pretty eclectic style. For this reason, most of our summer trends are coming from coastal areas, like Florida and California, where it’s pretty sunny year round. Following these trends is leading warm weather fashion toward a sort of beach-boho blend, with lots of pieces that flow, drape and generally fit loosely, in contrast to more urban trends which tend to be tighter and flashier. In a general sense, fashion is becoming more relaxed and practical, and features natural hair and light or no makeup.

It seems to be the era of bohemian styles, which is going along with the free spirited attitude developing in youth culture. There’s been a revival of music festivals like Coachella-- where we’re seeing perhaps the most diverse array of young people being interested in and attending these kind of festivals and the culture around them: One of traveling and having intimate experiences with strangers. Evidence of this new blossoming culture is facilitated all over the internet, especially on apps like Instagram and Vine, which means we’re seeing a lot of people posting selfies on beaches coupled with inspirational captions. This is only mildly irritating, but it’s easy to roll one’s eyes at the kind of yoga-doing, tea-drinking, beach-loving façade established by various Instagram users. People referring to themselves as “gypsies” has also become a rather unfortunate symptom of these trends. Sorry to disappoint, but currently the term has a greater connotation as a racial slur than it does as a word for a “free-spirited person.” Our lack of education on the treatment of Romani people doesn’t give us the right to use this word for our own purposes.

The ‘70s are also coming back, as they seem to every now and then. Elements such as flared stretch pants, embroidered pieces, and circular-rimmed sunglasses are all making reappearances, as well as lots of gaudy jewelry. However, because there’s a blending of ‘70s style with bohemian style, there’s a lot of in-between styles, and it’s easy to bend

RIGHT TO REMAIN

SILENT

“Depends, does he get a utility belt?”

-Mr. Burkle, on whether he could take Mr. Wilson in a fight

“Some kid dropped acid the other day.

Not in a drug-type way; literally, acid fell on my shoe.”

-Ms. Rustwick

“Man, that is some ripe grass.”

-Mr. Sheldon

“I can leave now and save us all some time.”

-Mr. Koepnick, in his job interview

“If I wrote an autobiography, it’d be called The Italian Stallion.”

-Mr. Cimaglia

“There are five levels of A-ness.”

-Ms. Corbin

“

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the style to fit the weather. It seems like a lot of the warmer coastal regions, like Florida and California, are seeing increasing popularity in brightly patterned cloth shorts, which are one of my personal favorites in terms of trends. Many of these coastal styles tend to use gauzy materials like linen, which adds to the flow and movement of the piece.

Regions that tend to fluctuate more in temperature are seeing lots of soft pants, made of materials like linen, and in slouchy styles like joggers, culottes, and trousers.

I think the intent of a lot of these simpler clothing pieces is to draw attention to the intricacies of an outfit. Subtle coloring and fit pulls the eye toward the details of an outfit-- such as the beading on the straps on a pair of sandals, the layering of bracelets, or the embroidery on a shirt. It also pulls attention to the subtleties in body modification, which are also becoming popular. Small tattoos and tiny piercings are increasingly common; we’re seeing lots of minimal silver nose hoops and delicate diamond studs in noses, ears, and belly buttons. I think the decrease in size of tattoos is also encouraging people to think carefully about what exactly they decide to put on their bodies and the symbolism behind a tattoo. My hope is that the emphasis on small details is prompting people to generally get better tattoos, but I think the occasional generic quote tattoo is unavoidable. This also means that lots of people are getting the same tattoo-- such as birds or flowers. I think these types of tattoos will always look quietly elegant and lovely, and I definitely appreciate them on other people. But if I were to tattoo my own body, I would probably choose something unique to my character.

Overall, I’m admiring the direction of the fashion world.

Pieces are generally becoming far more comfortable and less restrictive, which had been rare in previous fashion eras. I’m also clueless in matching colors, so the push towards simplicity has aided my relatively colorless wardrobe. All of this free-spirited sentiment goes with a culture that values positivity and simplicity, which is a nice direction for anyone to take at any time, but entering the summer season with this developing culture feels like a fresh breath of air.

The Trouble With Sleep

By Joey Weideman

Although the school board did not decide to move school start times to 7:45, the very possibility presents a chilling cultural trend towards a disruption of the sanctity of sleep.

In the end, school will only start five minutes earlier next year, but the debate shows how little sleep is prioritized by and for high school students today.

Sleep is incredibly important for health.

This is especially true for teenagers in the physical and mental development stage before adulthood. Not getting enough sleep can hinder the ability to learn and process information. It makes it harder to perform physical tasks like sports, walking, running and driving. In extreme cases it has also been linked to depression, and strongly correlates with other diseases. Its detrimental effect on decision-making can increase the risk of vehicular accidents, as well as general everyday blunders.

But how much sleep is enough? The National Sleep Foundation’s website says that eight to ten hours of sleep every night is the optimal amount for teenagers. Getting those eight to ten hours make for better functioning students and people.

School starting earlier is particularly worrying in this regard. During adolescence, the natural biological sleep cycles shift to later in the day. It becomes natural to stay up past eleven o’clock every night. That makes the natural waking point somewhere between seven and nine in the morning. Biologically speaking, pushing school start times to nine or ten wouldn’t cause teenagers to stay up an hour or two later, it would just put school more in line with natural sleep cycles.

That means that sleep isn’t laziness. If a person is sleeping instead of doing homework, they aren’t a slacker. They are far more akin to a health nut. In the end, getting the right amount of sleep is just more important than doing that last bit of schoolwork or waking up earlier to try and be more productive.

OPINION June, 2015

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ARTS

A14 Upcoming Events On Clue @ Blue Moose - June 26th Doors open at 6 - $12-$27

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ENTERTAINMENT

Ben Folds @ McGrath Amphitheatre - July 18th - $22-$52 1st Free Movie @ Pentacrest - June 13th at 8: 45 P.M - FREE

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Cassidy Slater-Scott ‘17, Fred Oglivile ‘17, Addie Bass ‘17, Nick Mendoza ‘16, Elias Perez ‘19, and Genevive Wisdom ‘17 are set to take stage on June 21st at Coraville Center of Performing Arts. PHOTO BY MAX GRUBER

The City Family City Circle Acting Company presents Addams Family with a City High dominated cast for the 2015 summer musical.

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By Jonas Geerdes

ity Circle, one of the major acting companies based in Coralville, has decided on The Addams Family as the upcoming summer musical. The Addams Family portrays the family older than both the television and the movie adaptions. Wednesday Addams, princess of darkness, falls lovestruck with a young, normal man named Lucas Beineke. The two get engaged and trouble pursuits as Wednesday tries to keep the secret from her family.

The musical is double casted with two different sets of actors. One of the casts contains mostly City High or soon to be City High students, with five of the season leads from City with another lead from Southeast. On the double casting, Genevieve Wisdom ‘17, who plays the damsel in distress Wednesday, explained it was a rough start.

“At first it was intimidating,” Wisdom explained. “There are so many comparisons. However, the directors have always said they don’t want the shows to be the same.”

Nick Mendoza ‘16 portrays Gomez Addams in the musical. He believes that the double casting provides new elements to the production.

“It’s really interesting,” Gomez explained. “To see the other Gomez’s interpretation compared to mine, and see how it

all adds to the show.” Mendoza was the first person to audition for the musical, with his audition being his first outside of a school production. He described it as an awful audition, with his song choice being Oh What A Night by the Four Seasons.

“I got into a room and sang my song. And I did terrible,” Mendoza said. Patrick Dulaney, one of the two directors, then asked Mendoza to try again. “[Patrick] yells, ‘Stop! Do it again.’ And so I sang it again.

[Patrick] then asked what the song was about, and I said it was about losing your virginity,” Mendoza said, explaining his audition. “[Patrick] goes, ‘Okay, now why don’t you lose your virginity and sing it again.’ And that got a chuckle out of me, and I was able to finish the audition,” Mendoza said.

Mendoza then secured his first lead role in theater.

“Its a lot of responsibility. If you mess up, people are going to take much more notice of that than say in your ensemble,” Mendoza said. “In ensemble, you’re mostly responsible for dancing and singing, but when you’re a lead, you have to be acting and constantly doing something with somebody.”

Besides having an all student cast, the production has tried to attract other teens to their make-up and costume departments.

The Adams Family presented by City Circle Acting Company @Coraville Center for Perfroming Arts

Date

ART BY AJ BOULAND

“We’re trying to incorporate more teenagers besides the cast,” Addie Bass ‘17 explained. “We’d like to have an all teen make-up and dress-up crew.” Bass, who plays the morbid mother Morticia, says the chemistry onstage is similar to that of the Addams Family.

“It’s really open,” Bass said. “Like the family, we all have this really good connection.” Bass says for her, a large part of the show is the music.

“I love the jazz influence in the music,” Bass said. “I enjoy singing jazz and alto, and if you combine that with the dark humor, it’s just perfection.” Director Robyn Wisdom explained why the music was a big strength in the show.

“The choral singing is fantastic. These guys can blow the doors off when they’re singing together,” Robyn explained.

“There’s so much going on during the big numbers in this show that audiences are going to have to see it twice in order to see everything that happens on stage.”

The show plays from June 19th through June 21st, with a total of three shows. Wisdom hopes for a large turnout.

“There is so much talent in this cast. The show has something for everyone,” Wisdom explained. “There is the goofiness that the kids love, but yet they’s some of the humor that only adults will get. Its just going to be a really fun show.”

Ticket Prices Orchestra

$12-$27

Balcony

$12-$22

Mezzaine

$12-$22

Time

June 19th

7:30 P.M.

June 20th

7:30 P.M.

June 21st

2:30 P.M.

A15

A&E June 2, 2015

I. C. Architecture: Downtown Design

TOP 14 SONGS To Pump You Up For Gametime

By Rasmus Schlutter Students and professors alike walk downtown, enjoying the pleasant and engaging atmosphere of the diverse cityscape. Some Iowa Citians are captivated by glass clad buildings, others by the rustic charm of older architecture.

“Some of the older buildings are very dull and don’t add a lot of color to the downtown scene,” Estie Dillard ‘17, said.

Dillard, a fan of modern architecture, explains she likes the new additions to the area.

Modern designs like the Gehry-designed Iowa Advanced Technology Laboratories facility are more popular among fans of modern architecture like Dillard. Constructed on the Iowa River, the building is made of sheets of steel and has a large limestone section facing out towards the street.

“I regret that its landward face was not completed in a more interesting fashion,” Robert Bork, professor of Art History at the University of Iowa, said. “The IATL does at least create a focus of visual interest along the river.”

An example of Gehry’s trademark deconstructivism style architecture, the building was met with mixed responses from both the public and its designer, with many complaining about its functionality and design.

“I understand and sympathize with Gehry’s desire to break out of the Modernist box tradition, but many of his designs seem more capricious than engaging,” Bork said.

The Old Capitol is another one of Iowa City’s most wellknown buildings. The building is done in Greek Revival style and was designed by the same architect who constructed the Illinois capitol. With rising columns and a golden dome, the Old Capitol is a recognizable symbol of downtown Iowa City.

“I like the Old Capitol, and I find that it makes a nice focus for the city and the campus, especially given the way that the Pentacrest has been organized around it,” Bork said.

Bork values the elegance of the building’s design and sees it as a reminder of Iowa City’s early beginnings.

“The interior has real dignity, and the whole building anchors the city to its nineteenth-century roots in a way that I appreciate,” Bork explained.

Old Capitol also brings together all kinds of Iowa Citians, and it has functioned as a meeting space for both University

students and other residents.

“I really like the Old Capitol. It has a great lawn and atmosphere, and people are always playing frisbee out on the lawn,” said student Esme Rummelhart ‘17.

The Englert Theatre has also remained a focal point to downtown life. A prime example of Tudor Revival style architecture, the Englert remained a theatre until 1999, when the City of Iowa City bought the property to prevent it from being turned into a nightclub, according to the Englert website. In 2004, the building was restored to its original function, and now continues to house PHOTO BY MAX GRUBER popular plays, live music, and comedies.

“I am very pleased that the Englert was restored to function as a theater and to provide a focus for social life downtown,” Bork said.

With over 700 seats, the Englert is the center of the Iowa City performing arts scene.

“The interior space of the Englert is really nice,” Rummelhart explained. “It’s really comfortable, and it doesn’t feel preppy or too clean. It’s very homey.”

Iowa City architecture has gone through many different changes and developments. Variation among architectural styles means that all residents can find buildings downtown they enjoy.

Some Iowa Citians like Bork are drawn to the city’s older buildings.

“Places like the Englert help to give the downtown some individuality and texture,” Bork said.

Others, like Dillard, enjoy the new modern additions to the city.

“I like how simple the architecture has become in recent years,” Dillard said. “It makes the downtown look very modern and neat.”

Avengers Age of Ultron: Is it Worthy?

Movie Review:

Many superhero franchises have come and gone, leaving behind nothing but cliched endings and overused plot twists, and that’s what makes the Marvel Universe so different.

Marvel has lead the pack in diverse characters and villains viewers can empathize with, which is what made Marvel’s Avengers in 2012 so special. With the perfect mixture of humor and a delightfully campy amount of action, it set the bar pretty high for the second installment that premiered this year. With the expectations so high, it was hard not to feel a little disappointment when Avengers: Age of Ultron hit theatres May 1st.

Some might say that the characterization and plot could be summed up in the first line said by an Avenger. Delivered

by Iron Man,“Sh*t.” In the opening scene, it is made obvious to viewers that this is going to be an action movie. The focus stays mainly on conflict and artificial intelligence, but lacks in meaningful characterization, save for a few scenes shoe-horned in showing the second lives of Hawkeye and Black Widow, though their second lives don’t coincide in the way you might expect.

In addition to the original Avengers team, Age of Ultron introduced a new audience to Avengers never before seen on screen. New superheroes like the Maximoff twins, The Vision, Falcon, and War Machine bring new life and extend the diversity of the initiative. Characters like the War Machine and Falcon had already been introduced, but this movie secures a spot for them in the new Avengers Initiative. Pietro and Wanda Maximoff are inducted to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe (MCU) as villains, but midway through the movie are welcomed onto the team. The Vision, brainchild of Tony Stark, makes a surprise entrance in the final quarter of the film.

Along with introducing new additions to the MCU (such as Dr. Cho and the unexpectedly nuclear family of Hawkeye), Director Joss Whedon tried his hand at giving depth to characters, but ignored the previous characterization of the heroes in earlier movies. For instance, we see Tony Stark devolving back to his one-dimensional, rude, sassy character trope that we’d thought we were rid of after Iron Man 3. Another example would be “Clintasha,” the fan-coupling of Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff , who make a complete turnaround from their

accordingtoathlete: Rasmus Schlutter

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2

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Bastille

Ellie Goulding

Shakira

4 Ai Su Eu T e pego Michael Telo

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10 Ft. Tall AfroJack feat. Wrabel

6 Waka Waka 7

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SunRise Slaptop

By Addie Bass and Gina Appleby

8 9

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10 All or Nothing

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11 Rise UP Yves

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13 relationship in the first Avengers.

The movie also frequently forays on the theme of a higher power.

Many of the confrontations between the Avengers and Ultron take place in churches. Ultron makes frequent references to religion, and when he does, he sheds a light on how superheroes are often characterized as gods on earth. Ultron, sitting in a church, says, “They put the building in the middle of the city, so that everyone could be equally close to God. I like that, the symmetry, the geometry of belief.” With a franchise that deals heavily with gods, Thor and Loki being prime examples, Joss Whedon puts a new spin on the idea of earth being interfered with by a higher power. This material gives the movie a new appeal to adults who were dragged to the theater by younger fans.

Though Avengers: Age of Ultron consistently lacks in consistency, the movie’s one liners and ridiculous fight scenes combine to give viewers a memorable experience at the cinema. If you’re a hardcore fan who wants to see a heartfelt rendition of the comics reincarnated, this probably isn’t what you’re looking for. But for casual fans, this is exactly what you saw coming.

Stereo Love Edward Maya

14 LionHearted Porter Robinson

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A&E June 2, 2015

: Xavier Fields QA Xavier Fields ‘15, an academic, has chosen music over all other subjects. He shares with his reasons for pursuing that dream.

By Jonas Geerdes LH: When did you start?

I started playing saxophone in the 5th grade like everyone else.

LH: Why did you pick the saxophone I played the saxophone because I knew I wanted to be in band, and I also wanted to try music in general. It was also my first time playing music. We went into a room and tested out all the instruments, and we each got scored. And saxophone was what I got the best score with, so I stuck with it.

LH: Why chose a music major over any other academic?

So ever since I started sax and learning more about it, I’ve gotten really interested in it. Music is just really entertaining to me, and there are so many different ways I can go about it. It’s just what I’m passionate about.

I’m still interested in other subjects. I just don’t know what I would do career wise.

LH: Do you see a career with your saxophone?

I’m still unsure with the career part, but I know I want music to be a part of my job.

LH: What style of music do you listen to?

I listen to jazz because I play that a lot. I also listen to a lot of other stuff.

Some classical, modern, alternative, pop. Just all across the spectrum?

LH: What are some musical accomplishments?

On the saxophone I have been on the wind ensemble as the principal tenor saxophone player for two years, and I’ve been in a few honor bands. I am also on the combo for 4th Avenue Jazz company.

LH: What is the hardest part about playing the saxophone?

You have to accept that you aren’t going to be the best. There people in this school, city, and state who are way better than me. They put more time in it and make it a bigger priority. It’s hard to come to terms with that. You have to look at it like you’re setting your own records.

LH: How often do you practice?

Now, not as much as I should. I typically practice forty-five minutes to an hour a day, but I’m no longer there. The end of the year is just busy timewise and has gotten in the way of practice.

LH: What are some inspirations in music?

I focus on attitude. I actually look up to Kanye West because I think he is a musical genius. You can find a lot of conventional elements in his music even though it’s not what you would traditionally think of. I also look up to a lot of modern day composers, like Julia Wolf for example. I really like her stuff.

LH: How has City band experience been?

I’m really happy with it. The band program here is amazing. The directors have helped me improve so much and have found a lot of opportunities for me. City High band is just good preparation for the college experience.

LH: Any tips to aspiring musicians?

Put in a lot of time and try to make opportunities for yourself. I had a lot of initiative for music composition sophomore year but I didn’t do much until my junior year. I could’ve done a lot more if I started early.

So, start early and work hard at it.

LH: Where can people expect to see you play in the future?

I will be playing with Jazz Combo this upcoming summer. A few of our big gigs are at Twin Cities Jazz Fest and the Iowa City Jazz Fest.

PHOTO BY CAROLINE BROWN

Sports

CHEMICALS RAiSE QUESTIONS

June 2, 2015

With scientists researching and NBC’s reporting of anecdotal evidence, more questions about the safety of artificial turf arise.

BY DOMINIC BALESTRIERI-FOX

PHOTO BY CAROLINE BROWN

B3

SPORTS June 2, 2015

GIRL’S GOLF

ABOVE: Sarah Overton ‘16 lines up a put at Pleasant Valley Golf Couse on May 5 . PHOTO BY MADDY DENINGER

Girls Improve for

State

By Maddy Deninger

Sarah Overton ‘16 plays number one for City High’s girl’s golf team, and currently leads the division. Her simple plan to meet her goal of getting to the state tournament hasn’t changed since the first day of practice: To constantly improve.

“It’s just [to] keep working hard at practice everyday. I know I need to get my putting a little more under control, and I need to get my shots going a little straighter.”

Coach Jerry Hora has his own goals for the girls to achieve this season.

“Right now we’re in second place in the division. If we can stay in that position, that would be a huge accomplishment for these girls to say that they’re a second place division [team], because last year they finished fifth,” Hora said.

After the divisional meet on May 19, the team did just that, ending in second place behind West High, with a score of 200. Despite meeting goals, the season has had both ups and downs, according to Hora.

“We’ve got a couple girls who aren’t playing as well as they were earlier in the year, so we’re trying to get back to that play that they had early on,” Hora said. “We’ve got other girls that are playing better than what they did [earlier].

I think our biggest challenge right now is to get everyone to play to their capability on the same day. We’d be a fairly good team [in that case].”

Overton has faced personal challenges this season, one in the form of injury.

“I’ve been battling a back issue the entire season. It kind of calmed down a couples weeks ago, but then it spiked up again yesterday, so I had to battle with that during our meet yesterday and today,” Overton said after her meet on May 5, which she won with score of 39.

Although there are still challenges facing the team, there has been significant development made.

“I have seen a great deal of improvement in some girls in their ball striking. I’ve seen some improvement in their short game. I’ve also seen a great deal of improvement in what their feeling is towards the game,” Hora said. “I think earlier on they were thinking, ‘Let’s just have some fun.’ Now they’re taking the game a little more seriously.”

Emmalie Bohnsack ‘15 supports Hora’s belief; she thinks that she has improved significantly since the season started.

“At the beginning of the season I definitely struggled quite a bit just chipping and putting, and I’ve seen that improve quite a bit over the season,” Bohnsack said.

Heading into the regional meet, Bohnsack shared her goals for the rest of the season.

“My driving is not where I want it to be, so that’s definitely something that I would like to see improve,” Bohnsack said.

Off the course, the team has a good relationship, according to Hora.

“We’re a close team. The girls are very close to each other, and they all care about one another,” Hora said. “We don’t really have any bickering.”

11th

City High’s No. 1

Sarah Overton

IN THE STATE

No.1

In the 5A division

ABOVE: Autum Moen ‘16 tees off at the divisional meet on May 19. PHOTO BY MADDY DENINGER

B2

June 2, 2015

SPORTS

TRACK

City State Track Girls’ Top Results:

4x800 Relay Kinsee Brands Mary Arch Fanta Traore

Sarah Plock 400 400 Hurdles Dash

7th

1st 4th

Molly Shepherd

ABOVE: Molly Shepherd ‘15 at Raffensberger Track after the state meet. Shepherd qualified for three relay events, including the 4x400, 4x800, and the Distance Medley Relay. PHOTO BY DOMINIC BALESTRIERI-FOX

Boys’ Season Comes to an End

By Anton Buri After 15th and 22nd overall finishes at the Drake Relays, the boy’s track team had to slowly put the pieces together in preparation for the sub state and state meet.

City High sent two relay teams to the Drake Relays this season, the 4x100m and the 4x200m relay teams.

With the loss of star runner, Bryson Runge ‘15, City High’s coaching staff was stuck with the decision of who was going to fill the 4x200m and 4x100m relay spot he left behind. Juma Burnett ‘16 and Jason Jones ‘16 were given the opportunity to fill Runge’s spot at Drake, with Burnett set to anchor in the 4x100m relay and Jones to anchor the 4x200m relay.

“With how sudden Bryson’s injury came across, I definitely believe those guys stepped up and performed very well for their relay teams,” assistant coach Ryan Ahlers said. “Nobody on those teams really singled them out and they all kept a positive attitude even with the loss of one of their star teammates.”

Despite not finishing in the top three in any event at Drake, Ahlers emphasizes that the main focus for the team should be the sub state and state meet.

“Drake is a very special event and many states don’t get the chance to have an event like this,” Ahlers said. “However, we do need to have the mindset to compete our all, but remember that it is not the end of the season and there will always be room to improve,” Experience and improvement has always been the main goal for not only the athletes, but for the coaching staff as well.

“It takes running together to win those sprint relays,” Smith said. “We need to really work on getting the baton around the track, especially in the sprint relays when teamwork is the key to success.”

City High competed in the district track meet which took place on May 14th at Linn-Mar High School, where the Little Hawks came out successful with over five athletes qualifying for the state track meet.

“From a coach’s perspective, I think we performed very well at districts,” Ahlers said. “It was a rainy day, but the team really competed to the best of their ability and we were very close to having many people qualify.”

Seniors Jens Dancer ‘15 and Eric McDonald ‘15 were two team leaders that stepped up to the challenge and focused on

preparing many of their teammates below them for track and field seasons in the coming years.

“We’ve definitely had some great underclassmen competition with the lack of upperclassmen on our distance team,” Dancer said. “The addition of JP Rethwisch ‘18 and Lucas Firmstone ‘18 have been very good for varsity and they have a bright future ahead of them at City High.”

McDonald thinks the same for the throwers below him.

“We’re a little behind the other schools,” McDonald said.

“However, for next year we have throwers such as Micah Martin ‘16 who are really gonna step up and take over my leadership spot and they can be really successful,” When State came, both McDonald and Dancer shared the same thoughts on how the team and their teammates should perform.

“We really need to start getting the fire going again,” McDonald said. “The guys need to get the mindset in them that this event is their event to win,” At the state track meet, the Little Hawks did just that, with two top 5 finishes. The 4x100 team with the usual roster of Chuck Riley ‘15, Rajay Rodney ‘17, James Martinez-Burney ‘16 and Bryson Runge ‘15 placed 3rd overall at the state meet with a time of 43.21 seconds.

Bryson Runge finished 4th overall at state in the 100m dash with a time of 11.29s and was only 5 hundredths of a second behind the 1st place finisher, Cray Washington of Fort Dodge.

“State wasn’t what I really expected,” Runge said. “There were a lot of young guys that stepped up in our 4x100 team and City has a bright future ahead of them in track and field,” Runge is still undecided about what college he is going to attend for his track career.

“There are a lot of places that have given me really good offers for college and I’m honored of that,” Runge said. “However, I like the track program at Iowa, so I’m leaning towards them a little more.”

With the season over, coach Mike Moore is proud of the Little Hawks for the exciting competition they put on at both the Drake Relays and the state meet.

“We may not have been where we wanted to be at the end of the season,” Moore said, “But there is always a lot of time for all of the younger athletes to learn before the next track season and we’ll only improve and become a better team.”

Girls Reach The Finish Line Plock- 400m, 400H Arch- 800m Bywater- 3000m Vanderhoef- High Jump 4x1- Johnson, Hanrahan, Gamamou, Plock, Franklin, Vanderhoef 4x2- Gamamou, Johnson, M Deprenger, Blowers, Hanrahan, G Brown 4x4- M Deprenger, Shepherd, Gamamou, F Traore, Plock, S DePrenger 4x8- Verdick , Shepherd, Brands, Arch, F Traore, Smith, DMR- M DePrenger, S DePrenger, F Traore, Shepherd, Arch, Hanrahan 17 girls qualified for 10 events. Sarah Plock ‘15 took 4th in the 400 with a time of 57.86, and placed first in the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:01.67 The 4x800 team with Molly Shepherd ‘15, Kinsee Brands ‘18, Mary Arch ‘16 and Fanta Traore ‘16 finished 7th in 9:34.64.

Sports

CHEMICALS RAiSE QUESTIONS

June 2, 2015

With scientists researching and NBC’s reporting of anecdotal evidence, more questions about the safety of artificial turf arise.

BY DOMINIC BALESTRIERI-FOX

PHOTO BY CAROLINE BROWN

B6

SPORTS June 2, 2015

SOCCER

ABOVE: Victor Brown-Rodriguez ‘16 works with Henry Mosher ‘16 to control the ball against West High. The Little Hawks won (2-1) BOTTOM RIGHT: Maddie Deprenger ‘16 drives up the side of the pitch at a home game.

PHOTOS BY CAROLINE BROWN

Little Hawks Look to Regroup Before State

By Jonathan House

The City High Boys Soccer Team is ranked 7th in the state in class 3A as of May 26. They finished the regular season at (14-3), thanks in part to their depth.

“Our biggest strengths have been our bench and our ability to trust our substitutes, which we haven’t had in previous years,” captain Peter Larsen ‘15 said.

The Little Hawks have played a difficult schedule, playing against 12th ranked Iowa City West, 4th ranked Linn Mar, 6th ranked Cedar Rapids Prairie, and 3rd ranked Dubuque Hempstead. They began their road to a state championship on May 28th with a substate game against Ottumwa at home.

The team struggled at the beginning of May, losing three out of four games from May 6th-15th. They started the season (11-0) before their losing skid started. At one point, they were ranked as high as 2nd in the state. Part of their struggles were due to injuries to their goalkeepers.

“We were creating all of the necessary chances to score, we just weren’t putting the ball in the net,” Larsen said of the Little Hawk’s struggles.

The Little Hawks were able to end their losing streak at the end of the year with wins against crosstown rival West High in overtime, and a win against Dubuque Senior to finish out the regular season.

“It felt good [to beat West]. We are very confident going into substate now,” Scott Trib-

Progress Bodes Well for Little Hawks

By Innes Hicsasmaz Growth. That was Head Coach Michael Prunty’s main goal at the beginning of this season. As the regional tournament approaches on June 2, the team has proven they have found their rhythm and a sense of confidence in their playing.

“Some of the first games were a little shaky, but throughout the entire season our goal was progressing every game and getting better, so when we do get to Regionals, we’re able to compete and hopefully make it into State,” Captain Lizzy Ward ‘16 said.

This season, the girls have kept up with some of the best teams in the state, even winning against previously undefeated Dubuque Hempstead in overtime. A hard loss to No. 1 West High was disappointing, but showed just how much the team has grown.

“We did really well defensively as a team to stay tight and make it really tough for West to attack centrally,” Coach Prunty said. “We were successful for 75 minutes of the game at keeping their dangerous players facing away from the goal. A lot of credit goes to the team for that because it demands a lot from them mentally and physically.”

Freshman Sydney DePrenger, with eight goals so far this season, scored the lone goal against the Ladies of Troy.

“It was a great feeling,” DePrenger said. “Just turning around and seeing all your teammates running up and jumping onto you, it just makes you feel good about yourself.”

“I think we took a really great step in that game because we were able to hang with them,” Ward said. “[West] has beaten everyone by two or more- knowing that we only lost by one, it’s a good feeling. Knowing that we’re making progress.”

bey ‘15 said.

Now the Little Hawks must put the past behind them and focus on the state and substate tournaments. City High received a bye in the first round of substate, but still have two singleelimination games before the state tournament. The Little Hawks went in with home turf advantage throughout substate.

“When we are consistent, and we don’t make mistakes. We are a very strong team. Our own mistakes are costing us,” Head Coach Jose Fajardo said. “Hopefully we can solve them before knock out competition starts.”

Larsen believes that things will improve, but only with hard work.

“To continue to win games, we need to keep training hard, take games one at a time, and not look too far forward,” Larsen said.

The Little Hawks have to prepare as they would for any game, but realize the consequences of losing, and the competition is only going to get harder.

“To prepare for the state tournament, we’re just practicing like normal, but with a new understanding of the consequences for losing,” Larsen said.

Despite the losing streak earlier in the year, the team remains confident.

“We can compete against anyone. Our goal from the beginning of the season has not changed: We want and believe that we can win state,” coach Fajardo said. “I am sure many teams have the same goal.”

B4

June 2, 2015

SPORTS

TENNIS

Girls Can’t Stop Girls’ Tennis:

By Sam Bloom As the the girls team gathers before a match, they don’t just look like a team; they look like a family. That chemistry has gotten them to a (16-0) regular season record and the number one ranking in the state. The team has won the MVC division title three years in a row including this year. Going into state team play, however, has only resulted in first round exits.

“We are all really unique with how we play and our own personalities, so we are all very different kinds of people,” Bihotza James-Lejarcegui ‘18 said. “On the court we work really well together, especially in doubles, and we support each other well.”

Bihotza has only lost one match all year and is also in the state tournament for doubles with Susie Gianola ‘16.

“I think that we definitely made an improvement from last year,” Eve Small ‘15 said of James’s addition to the team.

The Girl’s Tennis team has completed their road to the state bracket with two shut-out victories. Now they face an opponent they’ve never played.

The team’s two graduating seniors, Small and Kit Finley are wrapping up their careers on a high note. Small is looking at a state singles championship, having fallen short two years in a row.

“I would definitely like to win [singles],” Small said. “I would like our team to go as far as it can as well. I am excited for it to be done”.

The team wrapped up regional singles and doubles play at the HTRC on Thursday May 20. James, Innes Hicsasmaz ‘16, Small, and Gianola will all represent City in state play. Hicsasmaz and Small met in the finals with Small prevailing (6-1, 6-3) against her fellow teammate. The doubles tandem of James and Gianola fell in a tight three set match against the Jans sisters (4-6,7-5, 6-1).

On May 24th, the team completed their road to the state bracket with dominating wins against Cedar Rapids Kennedy and Clinton, both (5-0) victories. The team had faced both

teams earlier and won each match with ease (9-0). Moving to the first round of state, the team is set to play Pleasant Valley in what will be a tough match as both teams are unbeaten this season.

Adding to the intensity of the match, the teams have never met due to being in separate divisions.

Hicsasmaz thinks that the team shouldn’t worry about the opponent, but instead just play their hardest.

“We don’t know a lot about this team except that they’re good”, says Innes, “The key is to think of it as just another match. Don’t hype it up. If we get into our heads, we’ll only beat ourselves.”

The state single and doubles tournament will begin on June 4th and go through June 5th. The state team title preliminary rounds were May 26-27th and will end with the final being played out at the HTRC courts on Saturday, June 6th.

What's IN your bag?

Wilson Bag

WITH INNES HICSASMAZ

Where I keep anything I'll possibly ever need on the court.

Two Pairs of Court Shoes I like to switch shoes between matches to keep my feet fresh and dry.

Three Rackets Three rackets are better than one, in case I break the strings of one, and break the frame of another. Both have happened. #MUSCLES

Can of Balls Always good to have some extras lying around.

Roger Federer Hat I've played with a hat for so long that it messes with my game if I take it off. It's like horse blinders.

B5

SPORTS June 2, 2015

Promise of What’s to Come Boys’ Tennis:

By Miles Pei Tough losses and tough wins; that has been the case for the Varsity Boys Tennis team.

City ended the season with an above average record of (85), finishing just short of first place in the Mississippi Division.

“I definitely haven’t been playing as well as I wanted to,” Joe Hoff ‘17, the top player on the boys varsity team, said. “I lost to a few people that I really wanted to beat this year.”

A few weeks ago, the varsity team needed to win against Cedar Rapids Washington if they wanted to get first in the Mississippi Division and get a chance to win the Mississippi Valley Conference Division title.

“I’ve seen a lot of improvement in the team which I couldn’t be happier about,” Hoff said.

Hopes were high after the team started to gain momentum after winning two of their meets before the big one against Washington.

1st

IN THE STATE

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Player Profile 1.

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The boys finish their season with a tough loss, but hard work and a look at statistics may build a better team for the future.

“In the last half of the season we won most of our matches, so we’ve been pretty confident since then,” Max Gruber ‘16, the second top player on the varsity boys team, said.

Unfortunately, the varsity team lost (2-7) against Washington near the end of the season. The only chance the team had to get into 1st place was if a lower ranking team beat Cedar Rapids Washington in an upset.

“I think what was wrong was I didn’t set many goals this year, which I plan on changing when next year comes around,” Hoff said.

The loss to Cedar Rapids Washington was tough, but the boys varsity team ended the season with a strong three match winning streak. Although the team wasn’t able to finish first in the Mississippi Division, the varsity boys are still is working hard at achieving their one goal: Get to state.

“We would all like to make it to state,” Gruber said. “Not many of us have ever made it to state.”

Max Gruber and Chip Hardesty were both very eager about what they have in store for next year’s tennis season.

“I’m going to be going over statistics on major tourna-

MEET

YOUR

VARSITY

SQUAD

ments to see what is a winning strategy,” Chip Hardesty, head coach for the varsity team, said. “I’ll be able to statistically say if what the players are doing is either productive or not.”

Coach Hardesty has yet to try this tactic, which is why the stakes are high when it comes to devising new strategies against tough teams.

“We have a lot of up and coming players that are improving greatly,” Gruber said.

The team has had many shoes to fill in after the graduation of Kurt Blankenheim, Jacob Cabbage, Drew Jaspers, and Kunj Saxena, leaving over 50 percent of the team open for recruitment.

“I see some promise in this years freshmen to really step up next year,” said Coach Hardesty.

Three players Coach Hardesty talked about were Sam Bloom, Michael Sadeky, and Gabe Waigel. All three will most likely join the varsity team with the leave of the seniors. The season has had it’s ups and downs for City High, but the team is planning on practicing over the summer to improve on what they have learned this year.

2nd IN THE MVC

CHECK OUT INNES HICSASMAZ’S PROFILE ON JOE HOFF FROM THE APRIL ISSUE AT thelittlehawk.com

Eve Small Innes Hicsasmaz Susanna Gianola Kit Finley Lucy Wagner Bihotza James

Joe Hoff Max Gruber Kunj Saxena Greg Hensley Drew Jaspers Kurt Blankenheim

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B7

SPORTS June 2, 2015

ARTICIAL TURF

Turf Chemicals Raise Questions PHOTO BY DOMINIC BALESTRIERI-FOX

Questions have risen about the safety of artificial turf fields after an inprobably not something I would be extremely concerned about.” vestigative report by NBC News last fall, which documented a small group Athletes commonly experience cuts and abrasions while playing on a of soccer goalies who had been diagnosed with cancer. Environmental turf field. City High’s varsity soccer goalie, Daniel Goldenstein ‘15, often groups responded with demands for more research on turf fields, which comes into physical contact with the turf at high speed. have up until now proven to be safe.

“You get pockets of it in between your compression shorts, by the “We’ve got 14 studies on our website that says we can find no negative waistband, you get it up in your knees, and your socks and your cuts,” health effects,” Dr. Davis Lee, a Turf Council board member, said in the Goldenstein said. “Light abrasions are definitely more common on turf. original NBC story. While those studies aren’t ‘Turf burn’ is what they call it.” “absolutely conclusive,” he added, “There’s Direct contact with the bloodstream is of “IF YOU GO INTO THE HOSPITAL, higher risk, according to Lehmler. certainly a preponderance of evidence to this point that says, in fact, it is safe.”

“Now you’re sliding all over this turf, you YOU FIND ONE PERSON WHO The City High turf field was installed have physical contact. Maybe it gets into your HAS A CANCER, THERE IS NO to replace the old practice field, which was bloodstream, so that may be a more direct frequently flooded and subsequently dried, WAY FOR YOU TO FIND OUT IF route of exposure for something,” Lehmler forming a hard, concrete-like playing surface. said.

THIS PERSON HAS A CANCER In addition, the turf provides the soccer teams However, even that situation bounces back BECAUSE TWENTY YEARS AGO to the question of dosage. with a closer home venue than their previous field at Longfellow Elementary. At the time of “What is the amount that you are exposed THEY WERE A GOALIE ON ARTIinstallment, there wasn’t any concern over the to that gets into your systemic circulation?

FICIAL TURF. THIS IS JUST SCIENcontroversy surrounding artificial turf.

We could probably go after you play a soccer “It wasn’t anything that anybody knew TIFICALLY SOMETHING WE ARE game and draw some blood on the players about. I haven’t been doing this job very long, and we would probably find these chemicals UNABLE TO DO,” just a few years, but just with the fields that in people’s blood. Now, that being said, just have gone in in our conference these past few because we can find it doesn’t mean anyone is years, it isn’t anything anybody’s brought up,” -DR. HANS-JOACHIM LEHMLER going to die or anyone is going to get cancer Athletic Director Terry Coleman said. because of that,” Lehmler said.

Dr. Hans-Joachim Lehmler is an organic At this point, there is no clinical evidence chemist at the University of Iowa Occupational & Environmental Health to suggest that athletes’ exposure to turf can actually lead to cancer, only who has experience with some of the compounds found in artificial turf. anecdotal evidence.

“If you grill, then the meat turns black. The black that you have in “If you go into the hospital, you find one person who has a cancer, there is a form of carbon, primarily, and probably it’s not very nutritious there is no way for you to find out if this person has a cancer because but more and more hazardous, and that is one of the things that we are twenty years ago they were a goalie on artificial turf. This is just scientifiexposed to, the PAHs,” Lehmler said. cally something we are unable to do,” Lehmler said.

Those PAHs, or Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, are honeycombUntil more research comes out, there is no clear-cut answer as to like molecules that occur in the crumb-rubber pellets found in some whether the turf poses a health risk. Lehmler suggests that a walk through artificial turf fields, such as the one at City High. PAHs are comprised of a City’s parking lot might expose you to more PAHs than a game on the turf. broad group of molecularly distinct compounds with a range of toxicity.

“If you just walk [to City High] you may inhale more PAHs by virtue “There is ample evidence that PAHs are carcinogens. I don’t think that of the fact that everybody is driving in high school, that you’re exposed to people would necessarily dispute that. We know a lot about the toxicity of more PAHs that way than if you’re playing,” Lehmler said. these compounds, partly because they’re also in smoke from cigarettes,” Limiting exposure to the turf and showering after practice is the easiest Lehmler said. “They are in air pollution, so every time the big truck or bus way to reduce any risk, according to Lehmler. drives by you and in that cloud of stuff that you can actually see, that prob“When you’re done, you go and take a shower, you wash your hands, ably has a lot of PAHs in it.” get the stuff off you. Avoid skin contact, particularly getting it into abraBecause each installer of artificial turf can source their rubber fill pelsions.” Lehmler said. lets from a different manufacturer, the chemicals present in artificial turf Aside from preventative measures, Coleman is confident that the can vary from field to field, according to mountsinai.org. district could find a solution to the problem if the turf were to be proven “I would bet this stuff, you know if you go from your school to some harmful. school in California, that because it’s a different manufacturer, that it’s a “Obviously if there was evidence that this actually harms people, no very very different material, that has potentially very different health efone is going to install it, or would install it,” Coleman said. “If it comes fects,” Lehmler said. back after some research that there was some risk, we would take whatever The manufacturing process required to create artificial turf pellets actions necessary to make it safe.” involves grinding up old tires- the main component of the product. The Until that time, Goldenstein will continue to play. He has made up his pellets created can accumulate dust, creating a pathway for inhalation. mind that he isn’t at enough risk to merit concern.

Lehmler doesn’t believe, however, that athletes run a significant risk from “[I’m] not so worried. Sometimes the turf gets caught in a scab, but exposure to the compounds coming off of the pellets. you always wash it out. I think it’s honestly fear-mongering. It takes some “When you’re playing soccer, you get your hands dirty, you know you pretty serious exposure to get worried about it, and I don’t think we’re getget something. I don’t think this is necessarily going to be extremely hazting that with the turf,” Goldenstein said. ardous to your health based on the PAHs,” Lehmler said. “In toxicology the “Until I’m told that there’s a serious risk to my health, I will continue to dose makes the poison, so you know if you eat a whole drum of this [turf], play on the turf.” it’s probably not a good thing. I think from an ingestion perspective, it’s

B8

SPORTS June 2, 2015

SUMMER

Young Team Prepares for Season Ahead

Covering grounders and hitting for the fences, the girls of City High’s varsity softball team are spending their school nights preparing for this years softball season. Ellie Dixon ‘17 is one of the varsity players devoting her evenings to the team.

“It’s amazing the kind of bond you form with people you spend every day with in the summer. I’m excited to continue those relationships again,” Dixon said.

Dixon plays middle-infield and brings more than just her physical abilities to the field.

“I think I mostly contribute with my voice,” Dixon said. “I try to make the communication with my teammates easier by being very vocal on and off the field.”

Dixon’s team member, Bryn Hanrahan ‘17, will be playing in her third year of varsity this ABOVE: Ellie Dixon ‘17 takes a practice swing at the City High softball field. BOTTOM LEFT: Brett McCleary ‘17 season. practices his pitching at Mercer Park. BOTTOM RIGHT: Nathan Kabat ‘16 winds up for a pitch at Mercer “I need to be a good leader along with the PHOTOS BY LYDIA KAUFMANN AND JONATHAN HOUSE seniors and try to encourage my teammates to

work hard and be positive,” Hanrahan said. “I play centerfield, and I bat at the top of the line up so my role is to be a leader for the outfielders and to get on base and drive in as many runs as I can.”

Even with the loss of upperclassmen like Sasha Frauenholtz and Peyton Koenig, a pitching and catching duo, the team’s spirit has not dimmed.

“We definitely lost some talent with the seniors leaving, but I think if we continue the hard work we put in last year we’ll achieve some of our goals,” Dixon said.

Senior team leader Samantha Blowers will be playing her final season at City High.

“As one of the only seniors, I have to be a leader and help the younger girls get used to the level we play at,” Blowers said.

Blowers is hopeful about the season ahead and looks forward to the team’s success.

“I’m excited to see how well we finish the season and how we bring together our strengths and put it together as a team,” Blowers said. “But we are still a very young team, so I think that in a couple years the program will be a lot stronger.”

to be very exciting,” pitcher/catcher Brett McCleary ‘17 said. “We have tons of experienced guys that could potentially step up and really help our team.”

With a young team last year that was full of sophomore and juniors the team struggled initially. Over time things began to click, and results were shown through more wins, followed by another rough patch towards the end.

“I think if there’s a specific area that needs

‘14 and Quentin Forrester ‘14, and first baseman Joseph Arch ‘14. Another loss was the injury of Nile Ringen ‘16, who suffered a season ending injury before the season even started.

Ringen had a team high .339 batting average and had a .419 on base percentage.

The Little Hawks started the season on Memorial Day with two wins against Davenport West. The team begins their home schedule against Dubuque Hempstead on Friday.

By Stella Lindaman and Lydia Kaufmann

By Brock Hunger The City High baseball team takes the field this summer with seasoned talent and a more experienced team, the hopes are high for a successful season and a run at the state playoffs.

The Little Hawks look to improve on their (1229) record last season.

“I think this season coming up is going

to get better on the field its definitely at the plate, McCleary said. “We need to be hitting the ball this year to have success.”

The Little Hawks return some key players in Nick Sueppel ‘15, Brady Cotton ‘15, and Evan Grace ‘15. Though just a junior last year, catcher Nick Sueppel batted .282 and had a .419 on base percentage.

There have been losses to this year’s team with seniors such as pitchers Michael Haring