Watch out for laced candy and kids on the road. More coverage on page 12.
Take a look at the football team’s new found success. More coverage on page 10.
Politicans’ priorities are in the wrong place. Lunch needs to be free for all students. More coverage on page 14.
Students partake in fall activities.
Homecoming 2022 was themed as Carnival of Rio de Janiero.
The new risks posed to children by Fentanyl-laced candy.
Students share experiences in the start of the allergy and pollen season.
A look into the football team’s recipe for success.
The varsity football team ran through the banner at the beginning of the homecom ing football game on Friday, Oct.14. The team won the homecoming football game 45-0 against St. Joseph Central. “I want to make varsity next year and my dream col lege is Penn State,” said sophomore Sallah Reason. photo by Brynlee Tucker
Ben Dunaway, Photo Editor
Veronica Mourwel, Design Editor
Tatem Petet, Copy Editor
Jacob Eischen, staffer
Lilian Everley, staffer
Lily House,staffer
Mia Ivan, staffer
Loran Loew, staffer
Julie McPhail, staffer
Bela Parrett, staffer
Ben Place, staffer
Alicia Porraz,staffer
Rachel Prate, staffer
Brynlee Tucker, staffer
Students’ opinions on the free-and-reduced lunch program.
“The Northmen’s Log” will publish four times during the school year. “Log” staff strongly supports freedom of 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 discussion by submitting Letter 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. Opinions expressed in “Log” do not reflect student, staff, or district endorsements of that opinion, product, or service.
Advertisers may contact the adviser at christina.geabhart@nkcschools.org for more information.
“Log” is a member of JEMKC, MIJA, NSPA, JEA, and Quill and Scroll.
of colorful leaves whirl around in the wind as they fall from ever so vibrant trees, and a pumpkin can be found beside every doorstep on the street. A few houses have large plas tic skeletons or fake spider webs strewn on bushes or trees in the front yard.
The harvest season comes to a close with Hallow een just days away, and students said they’re sad to see it go. In a recent fall activities survey, 57% of students prefer fall over all other seasons.
“I just love it, the colors, all the leaves, and all the movies. Like, I can live with the horror movies,” junior Marisa Heredia said. “The horrors are some times scary, but like the nice cool ones where it’s like, enjoy the fall, like ‘Charlie Brown.’”
cartoon by Bela ParrettStudents favorite activities include pumpkin pick ing and carving with 81.1% of students participating. 81.1% also watch horror or fall-themed film/TV.
“I would say I just like hanging out with my friends and like rather that’d be going to pumpkin patches, the haunt or even just like watching mov ies at home,” sophomore Isabel Ball said. “I am a big like, movie watcher. So like, I like watching like ‘Hocus Pocus,’ stuff like that.”
Students prefer horror movies and TV over other genres in the fall, and sports were surprisingly only at 6.7% of students watching in the fall.
“I really like ‘The Conjuring,’” senior Charlie Tra vis said.
Many kids also like to just enjoy the season and its beautiful weather, fall foliage and seasonal treats.
“For fall I like to just like hang out and enjoy all the festivities like Halloween,” Heredia said. “Or just like given the new drinks and foods I love pumpkin pie, bread, anything pumpkin flavor in the fall, so good.”
by Bela Parrett
Staley sophomore Lindsey Parish, Oak Park sophomores PJ Nixon and Sophia Marks chose pumpkins at Jeanie’s Farm Fresh on North Oak Trafficway on Sunday, Oct. 16. “I love this gourd,” Sophia Marks said. photo by Bela Parrett.
There are hundreds of different types of pollen produced across America. Some include ragweed, dock, and mugwort. Picture of speedwell, eriocaulon, and carex bigelowii taken at the Yellowstone National Park. Photo by Ben Dunaway.
More and more students and teachers are sneezing and sniffling, due to fall aller gy season kicking in. Senior Halle Byers stages a sneeze. photo illustration by Julie McPhail.
infographic by Lili Everley
Thisseason has seen a post-summer increase in flu-like symptoms, COVID quarantines and re cord-breaking pollen and ragweed counts, accord ing to KC weather forecasts.
“I think everyone is getting sick right now because no one is wearing masks,” senior Lerabari Tanee said. “Less people got sick during COVID because they were wearing masks. And the high pollen count could contribute to that going around.”
If someone were to walk into a random classroom, they would hear, sniff, sniff, cough, sneeze! They would not only hear the coughing and sneezing, but see lots of peo ple with red, swollen eyes from itching so much.
“I get a really runny nose and I sneeze a lot,” said senior Katie Klepper.
A person may never know how long their allergies will last. According to WebMD, allergies can last into September and Octo ber, but it all depends on how long people are exposed to the plant.
“My allergies come in and out throughout the week,” said junior Christa McCormack. “Like it could be a Mon day and they are awful, but then they are perfectly fine by Wednesday.”
According to GoodRX Health, the best ways to treat allergies are with Benadryl, Flonase, Sudafed and also a homemade saline solution which is made up of distilled water with non iodized salt. McCormack chooses Day quil, Tanee takes Claritin and Klepper takes small doses of apple cider vinegar.
“I get a runny, stuffy nose, sinus headache, sneezing, coughing, sore and itchy throat, and drainage,” -senior Emmie Schroederinfographic by Lili Everley
Seniors Paris Boston and Luke Mor rison wave at Clardy Elementary stu dents during the homecoming parade on Friday, Oct. 14. Boston and Morri son were part of the homecoming court. “It was very exciting to be nominated,” Boston said. “I was also nervous and stressed out to plan all that stuff in a short time.”
by Design Editor Veronica Mourwel and staffer Lily House
“Homecoming is the biggest thing,” says StuCo sponsor Devon O’Connor.
Homecoming started Tuesday, Oct. 11 and ended Saturday, Oct. 15 with the homecoming dance. Each year, it’s the largest school wide event that StuCo plans, works on and makes happen for the student body.
Homecoming was themed Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, a Brazilian tradition considered the biggest celebration in the world. The Brazilian Carnival involves parades and street parties where people wear bright colors and masks.
StuCo started planning for homecoming at the end of the
school year last year. StuCo uses homecoming as a way to pay for future StuCo events.
StuCo decided the theme for homecoming by having a big meeting and voting on what ideas to keep or discard until they all agreed on one theme.
O’Connor said the carnival idea has been thrown around for the past couple of years. O’Connor also said this theme gave StuCo the opportunity to have big feathers, glitter and make it something really big.
Music was also a big part of StuCo trying to differentiate Oak Park from the other high schools' homecomings. Some StuCo members went to the other homecomings. StuCo and said even though they had great elements and looked beautiful, the playlist wasn’t good, nobody was
dancing or having fun. This drove them to make sure the playlist was inclusive to all students.
When creating the playlist for the dance, StuCo partnered with Diversity Club to include hispanic and Brazilian music. The dance committee also made sure there was student representation in the playlist by sending out a Google form asking students what their must have songs were. O’Connor said there were about 1000 songs submitted.
StuCo decorated spirit week, the student section for the football game and the gym for the dance. For spirit week, StuCo stayed after school until 10:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6, decorating the halls. They started decorating the gym the morning of Friday, Oct. 14, before the assembly, and again Saturday morning, Oct. 15.
Juniors and seniors participate in this year’s Powderpuff football game. “The best part of Powderpuff was honestly probably being on the team I was on with the people,” ju nior Elleanna Miera said. “I really enjoyed hanging out with them and messing around during practice and other then the practices the game was fun too we all had great team work and wanted to play.”
Junior Kaylee Coleman runs the ball during the Powderpuff football game.“I felt honored to be quarterback for the junior powderpuff because I was quar terback for flag football,” Coleman said. “Having experience during foot ball season prepared me for Powder puff and I felt confident in a win.”
Juniors rushed seniors in a 18-0 shutout on the field during the annual Powderpuff game.
While it may have been a flag football game, the girls were going all out – and several falls, flips and somersaults were seen to avoid opponents.
Participating was on a “first come first serve” basis. A Google form for play ing was sent to the senior and junior class and the first 22 girls from each grade were able to play. Historically, Powderpuff is widely known as when cheerleaders and football players switch places, but StuCo wanted to be more inclusive and made it available to all upperclassmen.
After the Powderpuff participants were chosen, each team was able to pick their own coaches.
Junior Mia Urbina said the coaches were good at describing and defining what they’re supposed to be doing in a way the team understood.
They started practicing mid-Septem ber with one practice a week, then in creased their training as time went by. Powderpuff took place Thursday, Oct. 13 during AR.
After four short classes, stu dents entered the main gym to a colorful assortment of streamers, balloons and carnival decorations. Loud banging drums and cheers greeted students as they found their way to their assigned sec tion.
At the start of the assembly, each homecoming queen and king candidate was introduced through a physical banner of their name and a description of themselves projected on the video board.
Following the walk-out was the crowning of homecoming king Sharo Mahdi, the Pommies’ per formance and the senior dance.
“I loved being in the senior dance,” senior Marin Chamberlin
said. “It felt like such a celebration of our connection as classmates, and just a fun way to spend time with one another.”
A lot of time and commitment was put into the preparation and arrangement of the assembly by StuCo.
“It was definitely worth it be cause we wanted homecoming to be super super decorated this year,” assembly committee leader Khalil Henderson said.
Decorating this event came with difficulties because of conflicting ideas. The backdrop for candidates was a long-debated process, but they sketched out the design as a group and came together.
Seniors Khalil Henderson and Nikolas Morales dance during the senior dance at the homecoming assembly. “I was pretty excited but whenever I found out what I had to wear I was kind of em barrassed,” Morales said.
Sophomore Clara Tim mons and junior Mia Lopez perform during this year’s homecoming parade on Friday, Oct. 14. The Pommies stopped and performed a small dance routine in front of Clardy Elementary School and received cheers from the students. “My favorite part was seeing all the kids and having them say ‘hi’ to you, and them just like cheering and doing dances with you,” Tim mons said. all photos by Brynlee Tucker
OP Diversity Club students ride in the bed of a truck during this year’s homecoming parade.
Sophomore Coop er Droegemueller performs a chore ographed dance. The OP choir did a performance of “Kings and Queens” by Ava Max in front of Clardy Elementa ry School to close out the parade.
Thebuzz of excite ment and joyous smiles were all that could be spotted at this year’s homecoming pa rade held the afternoon of Friday, Oct. 14 to pres ent a variety of clubs, sports, and classes. The route started in the east parking lot and made its way around to Gashland and Clardy elementaries.
“I have been in the parade every single year and I love it,” senior Colton Glanville said. “The atmosphere of having all the clubs and organizations walking and showing up in the parade is great.”
Performing students toward the front of the parade included cheer, Pommies, Color Guard, and the Marching North men band.
“I have been in another homecoming parade my freshman year, I enjoyed it,” said Color Guard member junior Bailey Brooks. “My favorite part is performing for others and my least favorite part is the arm pain.”
While some walked the route, others rode their group’s float. This year’s parade had several floats with unique, eye-catch ing designs.
The Diversity Club used colorful decorations made from paint, paper, balloons and streamers and dressed up to repre sent each of their cultur ally specific clubs.
Key Club drove Juras sic Park-themed cars and decorated their own safari hats. Senior Syd ney Prate said her overall experience was amazing and that she loved seeing the parade’s effect on the people watching, espe cially the kids’ reactions to the sounds the truck made on the speaker.
Toward the end of the parade was Oak Street’s themed float of kings and queens of carnival, based upon their show this year “Treat Me Like Royalty.” They included decorations to support their theme by painting cut-outs and posters and putting together differ ent pre-bought decora tions.
Many students who weren’t involved in the parade watched from the sides of the street.
“My favorite part of the parade was when treats and necklaces were being thrown,” said sophomore Samiya Blackwell.
From watching, to be ing in it, the parade left a lasting, livening impres sion to all.
On Wednesday, Sept. 21, home coming candidates were chosen and revealed to students.
Becoming a candidate was a big part of their home lives. King can didate senior Ben Droptiny said his mom was overjoyed when she found out he was a candidate. Queen candi date Gracie Curtiss said her mom and grandma cried.
Droptiny said he’s been wanting to be homecoming king since his fresh
man year and that he made promises to a few teachers. Queen candidate senior Paris Boston said she wanted to be queen when she was younger but didn’t think it could become true.
For some candidates, being nomi nated was unexpected. Curtiss said she told people to nominate her as a joke. Boston said she thought her other friends would get up since they’re pretty well known.
Bright lights lit up the night sky and the aroma of concession food wafted from the football stadium, as students eagerly set foot into the stands on Friday, Oct. 14.
“I haven’t really gone to years past homecoming football games, but going to this year’s was defi nitely one for the books with the amount of energy everyone brought,” said junior Angelina Bai ley.
The student section brought its highest spirits to the homecoming game. Many brought their spirit by dressing up for Pink-Out, while others contributed to cheering on players out on the field.
“I do have to say I had a lot more fun this year because I was on the sidelines cheering, which I think made a difference,” cheerleader
2021 King Adriano Garcia crowns senior Sharo Madhi homecoming king at the homecoming assem bly.“Sharo is definitely friend ly with a lot of people and, you know, I was really happy for him, because I thought he definitely deserved it,” said junior Caden Willmann. “Just the amount of people that you know, care about him and support him.”
junior Elleanna Miera said.
Throughout the night, cheer leaders and Pommies danced and cheered from the sidelines in order to keep the stadium full of energy and excitement. For many stu dents, coming out to the game was in support of the team and for the social aspect of spending time with schoolmates and friends.
Another major part of this game was being there during half-time, where all homecoming queen can didates were asked to walk out onto the field with their parents. The final, awaited reveal came down to the crowning of homecoming queen Kira Cherry.
This long, eventful night ended with Oak Park’s final victory of 45-0 against the St. Joe Central Indians.
and 1 receiving touch down for the Northmen.
enjoyed an exciting string of wins this sea son, defying the odds and showing the school what a winning team looks like for the first time in over a decade. The team’s step up in play hasn’t come out of nowhere, it’s the result of multiple factors that have been years in the making.
The most glamor ous part of the team’s success this year is the individual players on both sides of the ball who have performed above all expecta tions.
Star sophomore Travon Pankey successful ly stepped up into the role of work-horse running back run ning for 120 yards per game and 8 yards per carry while averaging a touchdown a game.
On the defensive end, senior Karl Knaack proved himself as a star, stepping up in crucial moments with clutch interceptions, blocked punts and open-field field tackles.
Senior Marlon Gant be came an offensive weap on for Oak Park, posing a threat in the air and on the ground, gathering up 9 rushing touchdowns
A less talked about, but just as important fac tor is the impact of the seniors’ dedication since their first practice.
“What we are trying to do simply can’t happen overnight,” said assistant coach Ross Sharp. “This success that we’re hav ing now is because these guys have been bought in since their freshman year, four years ago, and now they’re seeing the rewards of the buy-in,” Sharp said.
During Sharp’s five years with the team, the team learned that results on the feild start in the classroom.
“The suc cess we’re seeing now is because of that investment from play ers from five years ago, four years ago, kind of lay ing it forward on how we need to do this. It’s been gradually getting better and better,”
To find the last season where OP accumulated seven wins in only eight games, someone would have to look all the way back to 2005. Since then, the team struggled to replicate that level of success, falling to zero wins on the season twice and not making it to more than five wins at all until this year.
“We have a combination of good football players and kids who have bought into our systems and kids are giving great effort,”
- coach Ken Clemens
Junior Aiden Hinkle scrambles under pressure against St. Jo seph Central during the homecoming game on Friday, Oct 14. “The culture this year has been better and we have better team chemistry and just a new scheme of the offense and change of coaching and defense just really changed the cul ture,” Hinkle said.
On left: Senior Xavier Williams and sophomore Travon Pan key celebrate a key play.
Senior Marlon Gant Jr. runs the football for a first down during the homecoming game. “This year all of our seniors stepped up being leaders as well as the underclassmen. I have also been trying to push myself a little harder this year,” Gant said. all photos by Ben Dunaway.
When people think of Halloween, the first thought that may come to mind is kids, trick-or-treating, playful costumes and roaming the familiar streets of a neighborhood in hopes of an abundance of candy. However, this year, it may not be so wholesome.
Cartels and other drug dealers have created counterfeit candy laced with Fentanyl, a pharmaceutical drug used for heavy pain management. According to school resource officer Darren Longo, drug cartels have found a creative way to ensure life-long clien tele.
“Fentanyl can be particularly dangerous because it is…geared towards children and uses bright colors to entice them and get them hooked so they keep coming back,” Longo said.
Fentanyl is extremely powerful at 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more powerful than heroin, according to the Center for Disease Control.
Longo emphasized the Fentanyl-laced candy is not only a national crisis, but present within the local community.
Some students plan to alter the way they trick-ortreat this year to avoid concerns with Fentanyl-laced candy.
“If I go, there is probably some houses I will avoid because I don’t know very well,” junior Kaden Bar nard said. “Anything I can do to avoid people giving Fentanyl out.”
There are easy ways to avoid Fentanyl-laced candy.
“It is very important that whenever you go trick-or-treating you check to make sure it is facto ry-sealed,” Lon go said. “That is the only way you can make sure it is not laced.”
The problem with Fentanyl-laced candy is that it can be easily hidden and a very small amount can result in lethal conse quences.
“The problem with Fentanyl is that one person can get high and the next person can die off the exact same dosage,” Longo said.
It also affects the way parents will be trick-ortreating.
“I think I will probably check the bag more,” AVID coordinator and parent of three Amanda Edinger said.
Many people will be looking for safer options this year.
“It’s terrifying because you can hide it really easily,” Barnard said. “You won’t taste it, you won’t smell it, you would never know.”
by Mia IvanTrick or treat! It’s almost Halloween and kids are wondering what they’re going to do and possibly be.
Every year, there’s the dilemma of choosing cos tumes mostly for the younger generations. This year several freshmen said trick or treating was on the calendar for them but shopping for horns and wings was not.
“High school ers are too old to dress up by them selves,” freshman Allie Coleman said,
Though fresh man Aloysious Tarley said, “I’m for sure dressing up this year.”
As the month progressed, students made their plans and then figured out transportation. Trans portation was a crucial aspect when being out at night with younger children running witlessly around the city.
According to the FARS fatality database, it is estimated that an average of 5.5 child pedestrian fatalities occur on Halloween and only 2.6 fatalities regularly.
School resource officer Darren Longo said, “Hal loween can be a dangerous night for everyone in volved with the amount of drinking and partying that occurs.”
There are a few things young drivers can do to keep themselves and children safe.
Another Clay County sheriff’s deputy and school resource officer Lucas Slayton said, “Obey all traffic laws and don’t be distracted by what’s in or outside the car, but especially on Halloween night.”
“Halloween can be a dangerous night...”
-school resource officer
Darren Longo
and stress that comes with penny pinching.
The federal government has provided two years of free lunches through the Keep Kids Fed Act. This year, some students struggle to find the cash for a sandwich, while others don’t even apply for the bene fits of the free-andreduced lunch program.
This relief in lunch and break fast payments helped many people realize something though: what’s stopping the government from always handing out free lunches? No, but seriously, what’s stopping them?
take advantage of the opportuni ty the district and government is offering. It is truly sad we live in a society that makes people feel ashamed to take help when it’s offered.
The Northmen’s Log magazine staff believe there’s an answerthe government should return to subsidizing breakfasts and lunch es for all students, while families with financial need continue to receive the additional program benefits.
On average, for the last five years, roughly 40% of the Oak Park student body qualified for the free-and-reduced lunch program, according to school score cards. That’s about 700 students who qualify.
These students reap the benefits of more than free-and-reduced lunch fees, including reduced price on graduation gowns and caps, reduced ACT prices, free college application fees at some universities and more.
As the pandemic hit in 2020, lunches became a free option for every student in the fall of 2021 across the North Kansas City School District, not just those on free-and-reduced.
Free lunch suddenly became available to every student in the country in a time of need stretch ing across two school years. More than ever, a family who could nor mally afford their student’s lunch understood the hardship
By law, students must attend school and receive a free education, right? They even set aside time, although not nearly enough, for students to eat. Does that make sense? The government is going to force children and young adults into a school system and not feed them?
A household of three must make $42,606 or less annually to qualify for free-and-reduced lunch. What about a family that has a slightly higher income of $43,000 a year?
If a family is paying for breakfast and lunch every day for an en tire school year, that’s easily over $600 a school year. The difference of $394 annually is not going to cover that in its entirety, yet, that same family won’t qualify for assistance.
As much as the students and families would love a free lunch, the families who qualify need to take advantage. The application for free-and-reduced lunch itself is a barrier. Many parents are busy, may not speak English, or don’t know who to reach out to for help. All too often some students, par ents and families are embarrassed to admit that they need help. Or don’t pursue help when it’s avail able.
Families need to put their pride aside, educate themselves, and
Accepting these offerings not only help with the daily lunch and breakfast payments, but also covers many other costs families may not be able to afford. Nobody wants their child to be in a posi tion where they can’t walk across the stage with a cap and gown, the free-and-reduced lunch pro gram can make that happen.
What’s most shocking about the removal of the Keep Kids Fed Act is that nobody complained about free breakfast and lunch. No students or parents complained. No parents angrily announced, so this is what they are doing with my tax dollars?
This argument suddenly turns the attention and responsibility away from the school district and its families, and places it squarely in the government’s lap.
The government found fund ing to provide free meals, even during trying times. Surely they can provide it now. Why isn’t this a priority? Especially when rough ly 40% of our student body is on free-and-reduced, and even more are found in no man’s land where they can’t afford the food but also don’t qualify.
Politicians need to bring back the Keep Kids Fed Act permanent ly, so we can keep the students of Oak Park fed, and the students around the country fed, for free. And in the meantime, families need to take advantage of the help that is being provided to them.
“Yes, because some kids
not have the money to buy lunch and
day.”
“Yeah, I think it should be free, because eating is like a necessity for life.
“Yes, because we are
required to be here. So I think we should be
senior Avery Baxter
“No, because that’s how the school makes
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