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MONTAGE Serving the St. Louis Community College - Meramec community since 1964 • ACP Award Recipient VOLUME 55, ISSUE 8

JANUARY 30, 2020

WWW.MERAMECMONTAGE.COM

Lady Archers Dribble Forward Team strives toward regional tournament

T

Ashley biundo editor-in-chief

he STLCC Lady Archers basketball team is more than halfway through the season with a record of 5-11. Head coach Jacob Yorg said that the team is becoming more whole while preparing for the Regional Tournament at the end of February.

“The biggest thing for us is just coming together. With the amount of kids we have to play and the experience, they’re just coming together more as a whole, to be more cohesive, and that team mentality is going to be a thing,

especially in the end of February when it starts with the Regional Tournament,” Yorg said. “If we can come together, we should do really well, but it’s just getting that mindset of getting through these tough games.”

With the season soon to be coming to an end, there are still tough teams to play, including Lincoln Land Community College, Metropolitan Community College, and North Central Missouri College, according to Yorg. “The Lincoln Land game, just because we didn’t play well. It was the first game right before break. Then we came back and we had a hard overtime game and we played really well. And, anytime you can play a

top three team in the nation and go into overtime and have a chance to win, that just amps you up to want to play better,” he said. “So, I would say [Lincoln Land] right now since we haven’t played Metro or Central who are in our region. I think those inevitably will be tough because they matter more in the sense of Division Two versus all the other teams.”

The Lady Archers began their weekend games the weekend of Jan. 24. Yorg said that they are the rivals they are ready to play against. “We had Metro [last] weekend, which [was] our first weekend game. And then [next] weekend, we have North Central. So those are road games and they’ll be really big for us,” he said.

Continued on pg 8

Missouri legislature proposes new bills to prohibit administering ‘puberty blockers, hormone therapy’ Lawmaker, Political Science Professor weigh in Mary wilson Opinions editor Missouri politicians have introduced several pieces of legislation that aim to prevent transgender youth under 18 from recieving hormonal or surgical treatment.

According to the bill summary, Senate Bill 848, introduced by republican Senator William Eigel would make it so “any health care personnel licensed by a state licensing board in this state shall be prohibited from administering puberty blockers, prescribing hormone therapy” or performing gender-confirmation surgeries “for the purpose of gender reassignment for a child.”

The bill goes on to specify that any

medical professional who “willfully and knowingly does or assists any prohibited action under subsection 1” would be subjected to lose their license or application for license, as well as that parents or guardians would be “reported to the children’s division” if “he or she obtains medical or surgical treatment prohibited under subsection 1 of this section for his or her child.” ‘ Senator Eigel, who represents St. Charles in the 23rd district, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

A similar bill, House Bill 2051, introduced by republican State Representative Suzie Pollock, would make it so that “a person commits the offense of abuse or neglect of a child if

such a person assists, coerces, or provides for a child who is under eighteen years of age to undergo any surgical or hormonal treatment for the purpose of gender reassignment.”

Senator Eigel is not a medical professional. Representative Pollock is a registered Cardiovascular Invasive Specialist, according to her biography on the Missouri House website.

Cardiovascular Invasive Specialists “work with heart and circulation issues.” When asked for comment, Representative Pollock’s office sent a prepared statement via email.

“My only goal with this piece of legislation is to protect the well-being of children who are too young to make decisions that will have lifelong

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repercussions...somehow there are those who want us to accept that kids who still believe in Santa Claus are mentally and emotionally prepared to make the life-altering decision to change their gender,” the statement begins.

It goes on, “As someone who wants to see each and every young person have a happy and healthy childhood, I think it’s important we protect them from being forced into making decisions that only adults are equipped to make.”

South Dakota and South Carolina also have similar bills in their legislature.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), a professional membership group with over 67,000 members in the Continued on pg. 3

INSIDE Page 2 Safety On The Meramec Campus

Page 4 Wednesday, Feb. 12

Mental Health

Maryville University 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

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UMSL 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

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Saint Louis University 10 am.- 1 p.m.

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Thursday, Feb. 13

Page 7

Fontbonne University 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

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Page 5

Jake’s Take: The XFL is a shot in the arm to St. Louis

2 NEWS

January 30, 2020

Safety On The Meramec Campus What Makes Students Feel Safe and What Should Students Know Jools Pulcher Art & Life Editor

A

s the Spring semester begins, Meramec’s faculty and staff incorporate strategies to enhance safety for students.

These strategies range from working the Welcome Wagon tables to guide students to classes and keeping office doors open during office hours to hosting events such as Campus Life’s Campus Expo to showcase community efforts.

But when it comes to physical safety, the level of safety and security felt seems to vary from one student to the next.

Student Caden Self said, “The amount of people around me on campus makes me feel safe on campus. I know if anything happened someone would step in. It’s a nice environment and I like it here.”

However, while students like Self said they feel comfortable and safe on campus, there are some students such as Nicole

Schade who feel unsafe on the Meramec campus. Schade said, “Nothing makes me feel safe at Meramec. Certain professors make me feel comfortable, like I won’t be attacked or judged.

But I feel like my personal items are never safe and there doesn’t seem to be enough campus security. I’ve had stuff stolen from my car while in class before.”

Schade isn’t the only student who feels security doesn’t have enough of a presence on campus.

Student Erin Puhan said, “I feel like the presence of security or police officers should be more frequent. Meramec has a record of being a safe campus, but it would help if officers were present more frequently because right now they are tucked away in a corner and hard to reach.”

Adis Becirovic, a lieutenant with the St. Louis Community College Police Department, gave tips on how to stay safe while on campus. Lieutenant Becirovic said, “The first tip is to attend our safety courses throughout

the year.” St. Louis Community College’s Police force hosts safety courses throughout the semester and updates on these courses are often sent to student emails and posted around campus.

In addition, Lieutenant Becirovic encourages students to be aware of their surroundings and trust their instincts. Becirovic said, “Be aware of your surroundings and always trust your gut. If you feel unsafe, leave that situation.

Take extra precautions at night and if you feel unsafe on your own and call our number. We can offer safety escorts between classes, Forest Park Campus Police direct students during a safety drill at STLCC-Forest Park. meetings, or even to your car.”

To get in touch with the Lt. Becirovic also advises students to always check the campus police students to be conscious of their backseats of their cars before Meramec social media, as it allows for beginning the drive home from department, contact 314-513easy tracking. He also advises campus.

4800.

NEWS 3

January 30, 2020

EDITORS ASHLEY BIUNDO

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

JACOB POLITTE

ONLINE EDITOR

BRI HEANEY OLIVER PULCHER MARY WILSON SYED ALI

NEWS EDITOR ART & LIFE EDITOR OPINIONS EDITOR PHOTO EDITOR

STAFF EVE COHEN REMY XA

STAFF WRITER/PHOTO STAFF WRITER

Shannon Philpott-Sanders Faculty Adviser

Graphic by: Mary Wilson

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Legislation ‘definitely a constitutional question’ Continued from p. 1

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USA, Canada and Mexico, released a Both pieces of legislation contradict policy statement in September of 2018 the suggestions made by the Endocrine “urging support and care of transgender Society. The Endocrine Society released and gender diverse children and a statement in 2017 that “adolescents adolescents.” who meet the diagnostic criteria...

The AAP’s policy statement says that [If the bills pass] kids will “adolescents and adults who somehow have to survive years identify as transgender have of depression in their bodies high rates of depression, anxiety, eating disorders, before they can make their self-harm and suicide.” own choices...

The statement cites a Logan Crews cohort study that found that “56 percent of youth who identified as transgender reported preivous suicidal ideation, and fulfill criteria for treatment and are 31 percent reported a previous suicide requesting treatment should initially attempt, compared with 20 percent and undergo treatment to suppress pubertal 11 percent among matched youth who development.” identified as cisgender, respectively.”

Meramec professor of political CNN published a piece citing a science, John Messmer, said that the bills January 2020 study in the journal are “definitely a constitutional question.

“Pediatrics,” which included a study Whenever you’re talking about something showing that “those who underwent that is a fundamental liberty, you’ve got a the puberty-blocking treatment had question of ‘is there a due process right lower odds of lifetime suicidal ideation here?’ Not only of the children, but of the and past-month severe psychological parents. There is precedent of parents distress, compared to those who wanted being allowed to raise their children the treatment but did not receive it.” the way they see fit, and that includes

“

”

making health decisions for them. If you have a law that says ‘No you can’t in this circumstance,’ I can see a lawyer arguing it’s a constitutional issue.”

“It [the bills] would absolulutely harm transgender youth,” said Logan Crews, a patient at Washington University’s gender clinic and a freshman at Trinity University in San Antonio.

Messmer said that once bills go through hearings, the next step is an executive session in a committee to work on the bill. Next, there’s a vote. If the bill makes it out of committee, there’s a vote with the full chamber. If the bill passes, the process repeats on the other side.

“Given everything we know,” the statement from Representative Pollock’s office says, “I believe it’s important that we put strong protections in place that will ensure young people aren’t pushed into changing their gender during a time in their life when they’re clearly not equipped to make such a decision.” “[If the bills pass] kids will somehow have to survive years of depression in their bodies before they can make their own choices...and the sad reality is that a lot of these kids don’t make it through those years,” Crews said.

STLCC Nursing Program expands at all campuses First Come, First Serve Registration BRI HEANEY news editor Saint Louis Community College (STLCC) is planning on further expanding their Nursing Program beginning with the Fall 2020 semester. The programs that are based out of the Meramec and Forest Park campuses will be welcoming the same number of students, however the Wildwood and Florissant Valley campuses will be offering a 20 percent increase in student spots starting with

the fall semester.

This is part of an initiative to increase the schools nursing program by 75 percent over the next five years. Currently, STLCC has a total of 432 students enrolled in the nursing program according to a press release from the college dated Jan. 9.

Meramec was the home of Saint Louis Community College’s first Nursing Program in 1963. Two years later, the Forest Park campus followed with a nursing program and by 1970 all three of the original campuses offered a nursing

program.

According to an official STLCC press release, “Saint Louis Community College is known for the strength of its nursing program.”

Applications are still being accepted for the fall 2020 semester. The cost for the program is approximately $19,000 for two years and is a 78 credit-hour program, according to STLCC. For more information go to: https://www.stlcc. edu/programs-academics/pathways/ health-sciences/nursing/.

4 ART & LIFE

January 30, 2020

Mental Health At Meramec

How Students Can Take Care of Their Minds

C

BY:JOOLS PULCHER ART AND LIFE EDITOR

ollege can be a stressful time for all parties involved. With everything from classes to jobs and family life, college can be an especially balancing the workload and mental health.

St. Louis Community College offers free mental health counseling in order to aid in the success of its students. These counselors are trained and kept on campus to help students with anything from a serious in the moment crisis, to more regular mental health check ins.

According to Donna Zumwinkel, a counselor on the Florissant Valley campus, counselors can assist students with most challenges they may face. “Counselors help students with barriers that might be standing in the way of their success. Often times when students struggle in college, it is not because of their academic ability but because of other issues going on in the student’s life,” Zumwinkel said. “Things like anxiety, overwhelming stress, depression, grief or relationship problems can all impact a student’s ability to be successful in school.

So we help students with strategies to deal with some of these things so they can continue working toward achieving both personal and academic goals.”

Though the issues student come in for may range quite a bit, according to Troy Hansen, a counselor on the Meramec campus, there are a few common issues students come in for. “I would say the number

one problem that students come in with is anxiety or something related to anxiety. It’s not always academic anxiety. It’s a lot of times just kind of general anxiety or due to other circumstances in their lives,” Hansen said. “Certainly, we have plenty of students who also experienced depression. That’s probably the number two situation that students would come and seek counseling for. And then the third one, is probably overall stress.It’s very stressful being a college student.”

Sometimes the Counseling Center may assist students in figuring out routines for self care to aid the students outside of therapy. “Self-care is different for every person so identifying things that can help is an individual process. For some it might be walking their dog, others it might be music, journaling or another kind of creative expression,” Zumwinkel said. “There are proven positive benefits of exercise. Research clearly shows that exercise helps manage the symptoms of both depression and anxiety. It doesn’t have to be a major workout involving gym membership … a 15 minute walk or yoga at home is a great start! In addition, Behavioral Health Response is a free community resource, available 24 hours a day throughout the St. Louis area. Put their number in your phone now (314) 469-6644.”

Ultimately, the counselors at Meramec and their counterparts across the district are willing to help anyone who may need their assistance, according to Hansen. They encourage anyone to seek them out. “The best tip I can give anyone considering counseling is when in doubt, come on over,” Hansen said.

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ART & LIFE 5

January 30, 2020

What’s New With The Queer Crew?

Meramec’s QSU looks for a new beginning BY: Jools Pulcher

L

Art and Life Editor

ast April, one club made waves on the Meramec campus with a sponsored Drag Show which took place in the Meramec Theatre. This club was Meramec’s own Queer Student Union. The Queer Student Union, otherwise know by it’s acronym QSU, is a student led club designed to create community for students who are LGBT+.

In addition to this, the club has organized efforts to host events and efforts which raise awareness for LGBT causes and improve the campus overall.

Due to scheduling differences and personal challenges, the club was left leaderless and it ceased to exist. That was until several students began searching for it again toward the end of last semester.

Club Representatives Eileen Kalota and Frank Willmeno, along with other club representatives joining them this semester, are spearheading the revival of QSU. According to Willmeno, he and his fellow representatives are restarting QSU for multiple reasons. “We want to restart the club because there is still a lot of interest there. Plus, when I was a part of it last semester, we had some well

attended events like the Drag Show and our meetings were pretty well attended as well. And I also didn’t want QSU to end in the first place,” Willmeno said.

According to Kalota, there are several things QSU needs to achieve, beyond simply declaring itself a club again, before it can officially be revived. “We want to get it restarted again, and to have regular meetings. We want to be able to advance the club but we can’t do that until the club is active again,” Kalota said. “There are certain things we need to do in order to be able to do that. We need to have a list of people who will be attending meetings as active members and we need a constitution, which we already have.”

Once QSU has what it needs to become active again, the club has several more events in mind for the upcoming semester. According to Willmeno, the club hopes to bring back the drag show during this semester though “this time we are going to get new performers.

They will be just as good as the previous performers.”

The club also hopes to host a free screening for HIV and STD’s for Valentine’s Day and Dating Violence Education and Sex Education Panels.

QSU’s meetings will be Wednesdays from 2-4:30 p.m. Location TBA.

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January 30, 2020

OPINIONS 7

What does “pro-life” mean?

Abortion did not begin when Roe v. Wade was passed

I

Mary wilson opinions editor

’m not alone in the belief that the term “pro-life” should be changed to “anti abortion” or “pro-birth.”

Then-candidate Donald Trump campaigned that under his administration, Roe v. Wade, which gives American women the constitutional right to a safe and legal abortion, would be overturned. In debates with Hilary Clinton, he preached the dangers of late-term abortions. The Christian right rejoiced. At last, they had a candidate. A candidate who would respect life, in all stages.

Some churches urged their parishioners to “vote with their conscience.” The choice was made clear: either vote for a candidate who vowed to make abortion illegal, or vote for the candidate who had said she agreed with Roe v. Wade.

What would Jesus do?

We’re nearing the end of Trump’s first term, and Roe v. Wade has not been overturned yet. Though it stands on shaky legs--multiple states, including Missouri, have restricted safe abortion so much that it’s nearly impossibe to access--for now we live in a nation where the Supreme Court has said that access to abortion is a constiutitional right.

We’re nearing the end of Trump’s first term, and the “pro-life” President has slashed food stamp benefits.

Kaiser Health News reports that his administration’s new rules could “result in nearly 700,000 people across

the country losing their food stamps.”

Call me a snowflake liberal, but I’m confused as to how someone can proudly identify as “pro life” and advocate for people losing food stamps.

We’re nearing the end of Trump’s first term, and the “prolife” President has cut access to life-saving healthcare at the same time he addressed the annual “March for Life,” an anti-abortion rally. In February 2018, Trump’s administration allowed “states to impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients,” according to thebalance.com.

Call me stubborn, but isn’t access to healthcare related to life?

Perhaps I’ve focused too much on Trump. He didn’t invent this conundrum. The divide between “pro life” and “pro choice” people has been widening since before he took office.

The Republican party, the “pro-life” party, is historically against gun control and efforts to widen access to healthcare.

Missouri is one of 14 states left that hasn’t expanded Medicaid, yet we have some of the strictest anti-abortion laws in the country. Fifteen children died from gun violence this summer in St. Louis alone, yet the focus in Jefferson City is on eliminating access to abortion.

Abortion did not begin when Roe v. Wade was passed. National Public

Radio reports that before Roe v. Wade, between “20 percent and 25 perent of all pregnancies ended in abortion.”

Pregnant women who wanted abortions were forced to self-induce an abortion, the most common, or rely on underground networks. NPR reports that immediately before Roe v. Wade, “200 women died per year” of complications

Graphic by: Mary Wilson from abortions.

If someone wants to make abortions illegal, then say it.

But someone who wants to end legal abortion, while advocating for people losing food stamps and healthcare, isn’t “pro-life.”

They’re simply “anti-abortion.”

Jake’s Take: The XFL is a shot in the arm to St. Louis

Football is back in St. Louis, but will it last long term? jacob politte online editor On Feb. 23, the St. Louis Blackhawks will play their debut home game at The Dome at America’s Center. The establishment of The Blackhawks marks the triumphant return of the sport of football to the city of St. Louis for the first time since 2015.

I’m not much of a sports fan, but even I was a bit upset at the departure of the Rams. Enos Stanley Kroenke, the Missouriborn owner of the Rams, clearly had no intentions of keeping the team in St. Louis, and trash talked the city on his way out.

Years later, that bitterness from many Rams fans still remains.

The 2018 announcement that the XFL, a long-defunct football league that was created by pro wrestling promoter Vince McMahon, would be returning certainly drew a lot of attention. The initial XFL was a flop of epic proportions; pro-wrestling tactics were mixed in far too much with the

sport, ratings plummeted and eventually the league went defunct after less than 3 months worth of games and two years of operation.

McMahon lost $35 million of his own money on the league, as did their then television partner NBC. This time, however, McMahon seems to be aware

people like Oliver Luck in charge, and doing everything in his power to legitimize the league outright; this includes airing on prominent networks such as ABC, ESPN, and FOX. St. Louis was among the first of the cities to have been reported in Nov. 2018 to have gotten an XFL team, and this was

of his previous mistakes, and is doing his best to avoid making them.

This includes putting competent

later confirmed at a press conference in New Jersey the following month.

While a ball hasn’t been thrown and

a play hasn’t been called, the XFL’s involvement with the city appears to have already proven to be far more beneficial to the city than the relationship with the Rams ever was.

The XFL will pay the Dome $100,000 per game, 4 times more than the Rams’ $25,000 per game; this is in addition to a $300,000 flat fee that the XFL will pay to host games there.

The league sounds enthusiastic to have a team in the city, and the Dome officials matched that enthusiasm. While The Dome has been used for many events since the departure of the Rams, it finally feels like it has a real purpose again, at least until the new MLS stadium is built.

I don’t know if the XFL will be a long-term success. It’ll be difficult to shake the feeling that this yet another Vince McMahon vanity project (he’s had a lot of those). But the XFL is a good thing for a city that had a football team ripped away from them.

For the first time in nearly half a decade, St. Louis has a nationally recognized football team. Win or lose, it’s a good time to be a St. Louisan right now.

8 SPORTS

January 30, 2020

Lady Archers ‘starting to grow’ as a team

Continued from p.1

“And then in February, we just play non stop more conference games, but I would say anytime we’re coming up to North Central or Metro is going to be the biggest games we have because we only got four games to make a difference in seeding.”

As the season is coming along the

players have evolved more and have become closer as a team, working through different plays and styles, according to Yorg. “We are starting to grow and work on our ability, as we get to know each other, to be open and honest,” he said. “We, as coaches, need to continue to get better at teaching

them how to communicate better, and just try to help them understand how to truly work together because it’s so new to each other to an extent still, but also their styles of play are so different. So I think that trying to teach them to be dynamic and to be a cohesive unit on the team is something we’re going to try to do.”

Although the season had a rocky start, the Lady Archers have the strength to win more games and get into the Regional Tournament, said Yorg. “I think our strength is our ability to win,” he said. “When we play our style and we play what’s in ourselves, we can be a really good team.”

LEFT: Sophomore forward, Taylor Thompson goes up for a lay-up the shot against Lincoln Land Community Colleg on Jan. 15.

MIDDLE: Freshman forward, Ashalei Hughes looks for her teammate to pass the ball on Jan 15.

RIGHT: Freshman Forward, Louise Pilley jumps up to take a shot against Lincoln Land Community College on Jan. 15.

Women’s basketball

men’s basketball

Saturday, Feb. 1 @ North Central Missouri College 1 pm

Saturday, Feb. 1 @ North Central Missouri College 3 pm

Tuesday, Feb. 4 @ Three Rivers CC- MO 5 pm

Tuesday, Feb. 4 @ Three Rivers CC- MO 7 pm

Thursday, Feb. 6 @ Lindenwood University Belleville 5:30 pm

Saturday, Feb. 8 West Kentucky Community & Technical College @ Forest Park 3 pm

Saturday, Feb. 8 West Kentucky Community & Technical College @ Forest Park 1 pm Monday, Feb. 12 Arkansas State Mid-South @ Forest Park 5:30 pm Saturday, Feb. 15 Metropolitan Community College @ Forest Park 1 pm

Men’s Basketball Update

Monday, Feb. 10 Millikin University JV @ Forest Park 7 pm Saturday, Feb. 15 Metropolitan Community College @ Forest Park 3 pm Monday, Feb.17 @ Mineral Area College 7 pm

Record: 8-11-0

LEFT: Armani Vermillion dribbing down the court on Jan. 15 against Lincoln Land CC. RIGHT: Ricky Guynn