The Northmen's Log, December 2021, Volume 57, Issue 2 by The Northmen's Log

For new clubs, check out pages 8 and 9

For all winter coverage, read pages 10 through 15

For eSports, check out page 16

The Northmen’s Log Vol. 57, Issue 2 // December 2021 // Kansas City, MO

Staff

Letter from the Editor Hey Oak Park, I’m Kayleonah Trumble and I am the Editor-in-Chief of “The Northmen’s Log” magazine; I am excited to bring you Issue 2 of the magazine, especially since it leads right into winter break. This issue includes the new Stu-

dent of the Month format, information on upcoming finals, new clubs including esports and more. Since it is the winter issue there is also winter sports, winter traditions, and how our foreign exchange students celebrate the holidays back home and how different it is cele-

brating in America. There are also short stories about standard-based grading, winter concerts and dancing with Oak Park stars. This issue is full of information and I hope you enjoy reading it! Have a great winter break Oak Park; and we will see you back in January.

Staff: Kayleonah Trumble, Editor-In-Chief Luka Ashton, Northmen News Editor-In-Chief Haydenn Gallagher, social media editor Benjamin Dunaway, staffer Lilly Goss, staffer Katie Klepper, staffer Amelia McCoy, staffer Veronica Mourwel, staffer Brynlee Tucker, staffer Tatem Petet, staffer Christina Geabhart, adviser

Publication information “The Northmen’s Log” will publish four times during the school year. “Log” staff strongly supports the First Amendment and opposes censorship. Freedom of expression and press are fundamental values in a democratic society. Therefore, “Log” encourages readers to participate in the discussion by submitting Letters to the Editor in Room E134 or by email to

christina.geabhart@nkcschools.org. Letters cannot exceed 350 words and must be signed. “Log” will not run letters that are libelous, obscene, or that may cause a verifiable disruption to the education process at Oak Park. Advertisers may contact the adviser at christina.geabhart@nkcschools.org for more information. Subscriptions are available at $20

On the cover:

for a mailed copy, $10 for an emailed PDF version, and $25 for both. Opinions expressed in “Log” do not reflect student, staff, or district endorsements of that opinion, product or service. “Log” is a member of MIPA-MJEA, NSPA, and Quill and Scroll. “Log” is affiliated with MJEA, and JEMKC.

On Tuesday, Dec. 7, freshman Corbin Allen shoots a layup during the basketball game against St. Pius X. “My favorite aspect about basketball is the teamwork that is involved and you get to meet new people,” The game ended with a score of 65-36; the Northmen won. photo by Ben Dunaway

Table of contents

Table of Contents

4/5: Learners Mindset and Empathy Led to Student Recognition 6: Take Finals Head On 7: Briefs; Dancing with OP stars, Standard-based Grading, and Winter Concerts 8/9: Jump into Participation 10/11: Memories Keep Them Warm Miles from Home 12/13: Tangled up in Traditions 14/15: Meet the Coaches 16 Forget About Wii Sports, Here Comes Esports

News//Trumble

Learners Mindset and Empathy Led to Student Recognition Over the last few years, Student of the Month selected one male and one female, now four students in every grade level can be recognized by editor-in-chief Kayleonah Trumble

he Students of the Month program recognizes students who go above and beyond expectations. In years past, there have been two Students of the Month, one male and one female. Now there are 16, eight times as many each month than there used to be. “I just felt like, numbers wise, you know, if you’re only recognizing two or three kids each month, at a school of 1,700, you only get to 20 kids a year,” said principal Chris McCann, Ed.D. Student of the Month begins with teachers filling out Outstanding Oakies because a student met a particular POG, Portrait of a Graduate, traits each week. Then administrators will review the cards and have the student come down and talk on the phone with their parents to tell them the good news. Each student meets with their designated alphabet administrator, which is based off of the student’s last name. “So Mrs. [assistant principal Molly] Smith meets with the students that have gotten one for her alphabet or her pathway, Mrs. [assistant principal Jackie] Gosney meets with hers,” said assistant principal Mike Dial, Ed.D. Outstanding Oakies’ names are

put into a Google form and teachers vote on those names to find the top 16 names for Students of the Month. “That Outstanding Oakie I was called down to the office and then went and talked with Mrs. [assistant to the principal Stephanie] Bouchard,” said junior Rachel Prate. Administrators take pictures of the students with their Outstanding Oakies and send it to their parents. “If they’re a DIT kid, a freshman because, that’s what the bulletin board is for. I also print it [the Outstanding Oakie] and put it on there,” Dial said. One of the ways Students of the Month can be recognized include parents and students being invited to a before-school breakfast during the month. “So you should get a letter from your AR teacher that explains that we have a breakfast. So if you’re Student of the Month, you and your parents are invited to have breakfast during that month, where we read a nice word from the person who honored you with an Outstanding Oakie, and then you get some breakfast,” said Bouchard. With this new celebration and new process, many students said they were not informed they were

“After my parents posted it on social media, a lot of people that I’m close to reached out and congratulated me,” said senior Izzy Christus Students of the Month until after the breakfast. “We’ve had a couple morning ceremonies,” said McCann. “We haven’t had as many students and parents arrive as we’d like to, so we’re working on that to make it more. We’d like to make sure we’re giving those kids the right recognition.” Improving the process is a key goal. “I actually didn’t find out until the morning after the breakfast during AR,” said senior Isabelle Christus. Administration sees progress toward its goal of increased student recognition. Prate said, “I think I found out because my mom was on the Oak Park Student of the Month page in the Oak Park section on NKC Schools.”

News//Trumble

Students of the Month so far this year

September

October

*Students of the month for November and December will be combined and those names will be out in January.

News//Ashton

Take Finals Head On by NorthmenNews editor-in-chief Luka Ashton

inter break starts this weekend, but the first semester continues on. After break, students will have a week of regular classes and then the Jan. 10 to 14 week will be Oak Park’s first finals week in four semesters due to COVID-19. “We haven’t given finals since December 2019, it’s been a minute, so we want to talk through what that will look like and what we’re doing to help support kids so that they can do okay,” said assistant principal Molly Smith. Teacher PLTs, Professional Learning Teams, met in December, determining what the assessments will look like for each class. Teachers will give these assessments, as well as a chance to improve upon the score given on the final. To get prepared over the course of winter break, students should talk with their teachers for specific advice.

News Briefs//Staff

Orchestra Excels When Playing Sophomore Churchill Coates performs with the chamber orchestra on Tuesday, Dec. 7. “Well for this particular concert, making sure all of the things in the auditorium worked,” said orchestra director Erick Theno, “Playing and performing they’ve done that enough times they know what to do. We do a good job, everythings great. But just making sure the sound system worked... that took a lot out of me.” photo by Christina Nguyen

Dancing in the Works Dancing with Oak Park Stars is coming up Wednesday, Feb. 2, during AR in the main gym. This event is based on the television show, “Dancing with the Stars.” Each dancer competes against others. Leadership agreed on this as a fundraiser for Children’s Mercy Hospital. Admission will be $3. “I’m honestly kind of just really excited to see how this goes,” said junior Destiny Weber. Pommies will be paired in various combinations, from pommie with pommie to pommies and non-dancing boyfriends, said junior Rylee Grossman.

Choir Voices Lift Spirits at Winter Concert Senior Tony Coronado performs his winter solo in the a cappella choir on Thursday, Dec. 9. “I hope that we can bring holiday cheer to an audience,” said choir director Chris Droegemueller. “I think that... especially for a cappella, there’s been some hard music. If we can tackle it and have it a decent performance. I think that’s a good goal for us.” photo by Christina Nguyen

New Grades Slide Up In August, standards-based grading had four available scores across a 10-point scale. However, at the end of November, administration decided to change 9 to 9.5 and add an 8.5 to help close the grade gaps. “We’re hopeful that on this new scale, we’re able to see what our kids actually know and what they’ve perceived,” said assistant principal Jackie Gosney, “so now it makes it easier to keep an A, even if you get one low score.” Adminstration said it hopes with this change, grades will better reflect the mastery a student actually holds in each course.

Feature//Gallagher

Jump into Participation Oak Park has several new and revived clubs this year by staffer Tatem Petet

ak Park has seen clubs come and go throughout the years, and this year is no different. With a handful of new clubs, and some new spins on clubs from the past, here’s a look at what is fresh for Northmen this year:

Fellowship of Christian Athletes Fellowship of Christian Athletes, a faith-based club, offers members a place where they talk about their beliefs and work in the community. Freshman Alexis Spencer said, “Everyone is nice and accepting, and they have talked about some things that relate to school and how we can deal with it as Christians and has made it so I could grow as a person and a Christian.” Most recently, on Saturday, Dec. 4, they hosted a Christmas-themed face painting fund raising event for the local women’s shelter. Sponsor Rachel Cofer said she felt compelled to revive the club. “There was a need for fellowship in a place that you can grow together and go through healing after being isolated for so long.” This club meets during AR Tuesdays in W102.

Women’s Empowerment Club Women’s Empowerment Club fosters an environment of growth and confidence for women. Oak Park is not the first school in the district to have a Women’s Empowerment Club. Northtown has had a Women’s Empowerment Club for two years. The club’s most recent project was writing positive notes on the mirrors in the girls’ bathroom. Sponsor Katherine Whitaker said, “With things that are happening in society, women are continuing to get strong and stronger. And I think we need to not only get stronger individually, but as a group.” Junior Holly Willis started the club with her friend, junior Kaylee Sukup. “We have a lot of people that really need an outlet to talk about feelings, or how they’re feeling and what they are experiencing and just a way to kind of get people together and find a group that they can feel comfortable and have support from,” Willis said. Women’s Empowerment Club meets during AR every other Tuesday in the upstairs conference room.

“It’s really empowering to make a difference even on a small scale,” -junior Marin Chamberlin, Environmental Club

Environmental Club The Environmental Club is a student-led club that focuses on park cleanup and educating others on the environment. Sponsor Amy Asmussen expressed her admiration of the students who lead the Environmental Club. “All the students are really involved, very creative, and very excited about helping other students understand how to protect the environment.” Co-founder junior Marin Chamberlin shared her goals as a vice president. “It’s really empowering to make a difference even on a small scale,” Chamberlin said. “And I wanted to help people find that in the club.” Environmental Club meets during AR Fridays in S252.

Feature//Gallagher

On Saturday, Dec. 4, freshmen Alexis Spencer, sophomore Amelia Garcia, and sophomore Hannah Purkaple, plus other FCA members worked the Santa event selling facepaint and ornaments to raise money for Shelter KC’s holiday meals. For the first time ever, FCCLA had a second group involved with its seventh annual Santa event where that club invites community children to visit Santa, decorate cookies and makes crafts. Talking about the FCA club, Spencer said, “Everyone is nice and accepting and they have talked about some things that relate to school and how to deal with it as Christians and made it so I could grow as a person and a Christian.” Photo by Rachael Cofer

Bowling Club The Bowling Club was revived this year by freshman Alex Beals because of her interest in the sport. “I do have a passion for bowling,” she said. “I’ve been bowling for the past seven years, and I plan to have it as a career.” The Bowling Club meets from 3 to 5 p.m. Thursdays at Gladstone Bowl. If you are interested in joining the Bowling Club, go to Gladstone Bowl at 3 p.m. Thursdays and pay coach Shannon Rucker $3 to bowl. If you enjoy it, let Rucker know and she will officially add you to the roster. “It’s a lot of fun and it’s a really great way to improve your bowling skills and maybe make some friends along the way,” Beals said.

Senior Hunter Leech lines up his shot on the way to throw the ball down the lane at Gladstone Bowl. “(The best part of being on the bowling team) is just having fun since I really like bowling and interacting with everyone,” said freshman Emma Powers another member in the bowling club. Photo by Haydenn Gallagher

Feature//Ashton

Memories Keep Them Warm Miles From Home by staffer Lilly Goss

rom around the world, there are many celebrations this time of year for the holidays – not all exclusively Christmas themed. One festival in Thailand, Loi Kra Thong Festival, is one of the most significant celebrations to the people of Thailand. “We have festivals, it’s for giving thanks to the water spirits that give water to us. We eat pork, chicken mostly and seafood,” exchange student senior Peet Ausen said. Decorations play important roles here in America and in Thailand. “We’ll dress in traditional clothing and decorate with a lot of Thai flowers. A powerful union of water and lights makes the festival a momentous time for every gazer,” Ausen said. Exchange student senior Moe Kurokawa from Japan said Christmas in her homeland isn’t too different than here in America. “In New Year’s season, we eat traditional food, and we have a Christmas tree and some lights,” said Kurokawa. Jumping over the Czech Republic, Christmas looks a little different for the country, especially when it comes to a Christmas mascot. “We have Christmas on the evening of the 24th, not the day after. We also don’t have Santa; we have a little Jesus. We eat carp with a special salad. On the 24th, you can gut apples. If you get a star out of the

seeds, then it’s like a good sign. If it’s an “X”, it’s a bad thing,” said exchange student senior Ota Pisa. Some traditions for the holidays in Italy are based more around spending time with family, such as cooking foods from scratch. “We like Christmas more than Halloween; in Italy we don’t celebrate a lot on Halloween like here,” said exchange student senior Ermes Braconi. Braconi said it takes a total of six hours to make his family’s holiday meals. “We eat tortellini, broth, usually we do that by hand. My family all together will make everything by hand,” Braconi said. In Germany, traditional foods eaten on Christmas vary from region and family. “In Germany, we also have a Christmas tree, we celebrate it with our family and friends. My family makes a lot of raclette, a French food. We put meat on it, mushrooms, and vegetables,” exchange student senior Simon Bichmann said. Not only will Christmas food be missed, but exchange students feel the absence of being away from people from their homelands. “Of course, I am missing my friends and family,” senior Manuel Mutschler from Germany said. “But I also found friends and people like family here, so I am looking forward to celebrating it here. I know the Christmas traditions in Germany, time to learn something new.”

Festivals are popular celebrations during the holiday times. “Loi Krathong means “to float a basket.” The tradition directs people to make a beautifully decked basket which is made of banana leaf,” Ausen said. The festival takes place in November every year, on a full moon night. Photo by Peet Ausen

Feature//Ashton Moe Kurokawa Japan

Peet Ausen Thailand

Manuel Mutschler Ota Pisa, Czech Germany Republic

Ausen stands with his father, Sawai and his older sister Pear, who have been attending the festival since he was a baby. “The Thais honor the Goddess of water and pay respects to Buddha,” Ausen said. This symbolizes releasing negative emotions and making good luck. Photo courtesy of Ausen family

Ermes Braconi, Italy

Simon Bichmann, Germany

Holidays are meant to be spent with family and loved ones; it can be a challenge for foreign exchange students here in America. “This is certainly the worst period for us exchange students in which we miss our home the most. But I am very happy to be here,” Braconi said. Photo was taken in Braconi’s home town, Sirolo, Italy. Photo courtesy of Braconi family

Feature//McCoy

by staffer Brynlee Tucker

s winter creeps closer and closer the holidays have begun, bringing families together and giving them time while celebrating holidays with significant meaning to them. “I go over to my grandma’s and make Christmas cookies and then we decorate the tree, we do it every year,” said senior Taygan O’Brien. The winter season brings food from all across the world, expanding people’s palates and introducing people to foods of all different cultures. “I love food. Anything that could fill me up, what it is really doesn’t matter to me,” said sophomore Andrew Tennison. Christmas is one of the most widely celebrated holidays, being celebrated by 9 out of 10 Americans, according to Pew Research Center’s 2017 survey, during this time of year and some people even start decorating for it right after Halloween, but not everyone celebrates Christmas. “Most of the time the different holidays are just Christmas and it’s plastered everywhere and I just deal with it although it is kind of annoying when Christmas is like a month away and it’s being promoted more than Hanukkah when it was happening at the exact same time,” said junior Jacob Carter. The holidays open a door of magic and memories. This door brings back those who are around every year and welcomes newcomers, ready to teach them new traditions even if they don’t celebrate the same holiday. “I get anybody a gift, even if they don’t celebrate Christmas. I feel like it’s just a nice thing to do,” said sophomore Jada McClaskey-Reynolds. The holidays aren’t the only part of winter people look forward to, school’s winter break gives people time off to focus on their families and participate in winter activities like ice skating, looking at light displays, and baking cookies. “I go to my Nana’s house before Christmas and we make cookies for Christmas,” said sophomore Kate Robertson.

Sophomore Elleanna Miera spends time with her four younger brothers downtown after ice skating at Crown Center on the Ice Terrace. “During the holiday time, I love to bake cookies with my brothers. They love it and it’s always pretty fun especially to see them make things and then get excited about eating them,” said sophomore Elleanna Miera. Photo by Becca Ouimet.

Feature//McCoy This house was decorated for Christmas with a light show on the garage door, lights on the room, a display of Jesus and a path of lights in the yard, plus a hot air balloon hanging from the tree. “I think Christmas lights are pretty, I like how they sparkle at night and I like looking at them when I drive at night,” said sophomore Emma Tran. photo by Brynlee Tucker

This house’s owners were ready to spread holiday joy, decorating their house with bright colored lights and candy canes. “Christmas lights remind me that other people are festive during the holidays,” said sophomore Angelina Bailey. They spread their joy with their front yard sign along with their decorative snowman on Thursday, Dec. 2. photo by Brynlee Tucker

The houses owners have decked it out in Christmas spirit, with its bright lights reflected on the house and its magical Christmas-themed blow-ups in the front yard. They are ready to spread Christmas cheer all through the holiday season. “I like looking at Christmas lights, they’re pretty,” said sophomore Nate Paulsen. photo by Brynlee Tucker.

Sports//Mourwel

Meet the Coaches An introduction of the new coaches for this season by staffer Veronica Mourwel

his season, Joe McKinstry coaches the girls basketball team and Gary Mayabb returns in his first year back coaching the wrestling team. Normally, coaching positions are advertised district-wide and applicants apply online. Once there is a pool of candidates, the school’s activities director interviews them and brings back the one or two and offers them the job. If they accept, they go to the human resources department and fill out the paperwork. Activities director, Chad Valadez, said he chooses using his own criteria. Valadez said he chose based on experience, successes, and if they’re able to build relationships with kids. Valadez also said he wants the coaches to have goals for the teams and an idea of how to get there and be successful. “I have criteria that I want to, you know, that I’m going to look at to hire a head coach,” Valadez said. Valadez reached out to McKinstry and Mayabb to see if they would be interested in coaching at OP. Valadez knew McKinstry was an Oak Park graduate and that Mayabb coached at OP years ago and won six state championships. Valadez also knew of McKinstry’s successes in coaching at college level. Valadez said he was excited to get them back.

Meet McKinstry This winter, 1999 alumnus McKinstry coaches the girls basketball team. McKinstry started playing basket-

ball when he was 5 with his two older brothers in his driveway. McKinstry grew up watching college basketball and the NBA and played basketball through college. “I played all sports. I played baseball, I played soccer, but basketball to me just with how fast it is and how quick you have to make reactions and have to think that’s what really kept me locked into it more than other sports,” McKinstry said. McKinstry played basketball at William Penn University, Oskaloosa, Iowa; when he graduated, he became an assistant coach for the men’s basketball team there. After a year, he was head coach of the women’s basketball team at Kansas City Kansas Community College for seven years. At KCKCC, McKinstry won two national championships and went to the national tournament four times. McKinstry said he was not interested in coaching a high school basketball team unless it was for Oak Park. “It was just a new opportunity and a new challenge to try and impact young people in a different way,” McKinstry said. Freshman Lily Everley said McKinstry pushes the team to be the best versions of themselves on and off the court. Everley said McKinstry’s coaching style is tough and technical. Everley also said McKinstry’s past experience at KCKCC working with different types of defense plays at a high level has helped with the team’s offense and defense. “I guess you could say for like, getting the small things right to build on the big things for our success,” Everley said.

Joe McKinstry, when he was a student at OP. He graduated in 1999. photo courtesy of McKinstry

The girls basketball team wins 53-43 against Van Horn Monday, Dec. 6. As of publishing time Monday, Dec. 13, the team was 4-2, with a winning 3-0 streak at home.

Sports//Mourwel Meet Mayabb Years ago, Gary Mayabb was the OP wrestling coach, then head coach at Staley, but for the past five years, Mayabb was manager of the USA wrestling team in Colorado Springs, Colo. Mayabb was first offered the job as head coach for the USA wrestling team 20 years ago, but declined to stay with teaching, when he got the opportunity again he accepted and went to Colorado. “It’s a great way to see the world and to view the world through the lens of what the sport can give back and our way of giving back to the sport,” Mayabb said. Mayabb first started wrestling at Kearney High School, then finished wrestling his senior year at Cameron High School. Mayabb said he came back to Kansas City because it was home. His three daughters all were products of the North Kansas City Schools District and two of his children graduated from OP. “We were fortunate enough to win a state title for high school and that kind of probably hooked me a little bit,” Mayabb said. Mayabb said he missed the

bond he is able to develop with his athletes from seeing them in the classroom and practices that he couldn’t get internationally. Mayabb teaches psychology. Mayabb said he loves everything about it and how it gives a model on how to advance and be more efficient and effective with life. Mayabb said sports and personal enhancement psychology helps to understand why people do what they do. “Oh, I love it. I love understanding it. I love reading about it. I love watching it work,” Mayabb said. Senior Paul Hernandez said there’s high hopes for the season. Hernandez also said the team’s mentality and overall skill have been better with Mayabb. Hernandez described Mayabb’s coaching style as open-minded, tough, and pressure applied. “I think we’re gonna see big things this year out of the wrestling team,” Hernandez said. While this is Mayabb’s and McKinstry’s first season; other sports have returning coaches Brennan Scanlon of the boys basketball team and Ethan Rose of the girls swim team.

Gary Mayabb and Tony Pan at Junior Pan-American Championships. photo courtesy of Mayabb

The wrestling team started conditioning in early November under the new managment of Mayabb. Picture by Marisa Heredia. Freshman Corbin Allen shoots a lay up. In the Tuesday, Dec. 7, game the boys beat St. Pius X, 65-36. As of Monday, Dec. 13 at publishing time, the boys were undefeated, 2-0 on season. Picture by Ben Dunaway The swim team continues their winter season at the Gladstone Community Center on Friday, Dec. 10. On Saturday, Dec. 11, the team took 14th in its first meet. Picture by Katie Klepper

Sports//Trumble

Forget about Wii sports, here comes eSports by staffer Ben Dunaway

sports has been in the Northland in the last couple years; Liberty and North Kansas City high schools have been playing. Recently, Oak Park started its own esports team with more than 80 kids, who signed up on the https://app.generationesports.com website. Esports is an up-and-coming form of competition through online gaming. Students are able to play games at school or at home to compete in tournaments for the school. To join, sign up on Generation eSports then email coach Eric Whited at eric.whited@nkcschools. org to add you on the team. “Esports itself is your own video games or electronic sports and here in the last year or so, it’s had a pretty substantial adoption in high school leagues,” said Whited. The esports team has a variety of

games that will be played during competitions such as “Valorant,” “Rainbow Six Siege,” “Clash Royale,” and more, provided by the HSEL, high school esports league, website, https://www.highschoolesportsleague.com. “I’m leaving the choice of games up to the students that are interested; we already have a selection of games available to us through HSEL,” said Whited. Students have heard about this idea for a while; and they are excited the school started the team. “My hope for the team is we can communicate pretty well and we encourage each other to help each other get better in different aspects of the game,” said junior Colton Glanville. Players have been waiting to play for this team. “I’ve been playing a lot of games and practicing for this team over the past few weeks,” said senior Thomas Dyer.

graphic by Ben Dunaway

Players have choices for games they may play

art courtesy of Wallpaper Abyss, WallpaperAccess and wallpaper-mania