BATHROOM CLOSURES Amid inappropriate behavior, administration closes bathrooms, causing frustration for many students

ROSEMARY HORMOZ REPORTER

It’s the year’s hot topic: bathroom closures around the school due to vandalism and vaping. Everyone at Utica has different opinions on how the school should handle the situation. Students say it’s not fair to the kids that actually have to use the bathroom since they’re now required to walk across the school. Staff, however, say it’s what needs to be done in order to get everything under control.

The real reason for these lockdowns is the use of vaping devices among students.

“The reason for all these closures are too many students congregating in the bathrooms,” principal Timothy Youngblood said, “along with vaping being an issue.”

Many teachers seem to be agreeing with the fact that there seems to be a serious problem throughout Utica, and this is one way to curb those issues.

“Obviously there’s a problem that needs to be addressed,” teacher Collin Syler said. “While this certainly isn’t the ideal solution, sometimes you have to work with the tools that you have.”

Closing bathrooms in a public school with hundreds of students is definitely not ideal, and students are starting to feel irritated.

“I have to walk across the school just to use the bathroom,” sophomore Mellisa Hormoz said. “Even with all these lockdowns, students still find a way to vape.”

The problem doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon. Some believe that the only way we can solve this issue is through positive peer pressure and a collaborative effort from both students and teachers.

“The ones who are not using the bathroom improperly need to exert positive peer pressure and make it known that improper use is unacceptable to the rest of us,” school resource officer Leslie Heisler said. “The responsibility of stopping kids from making bad decisions can’t just lie in the hands of the adults; the kids have to help, too.”

Although we don’t hear a ton about the status of the issue, Youngblood and the administrators are working quietly behind the scenes to get things back to the way they were.

“Students should know,” Youngblood said, “that we are trying our best to get the bathrooms cleared for students who are actually using them for their intended purpose.”

The scenes inside the bathrooms are not pretty. There’s fog in the air, people everywhere, and lines out the door.

“One thing that is definitely bothering me with all the closures is the lines we have to wait in just to use the bathrooms,” junior Rosemary Manni said. “I am always late to my classes because of the lines in the bathrooms.”

Some teachers around the school understand that their students might come in late because of the lines and are understanding of the situation.

“My teachers never mark me tardy,” sophomore Holly Hirmiz said. “When I walk in late, I let them know it’s because of the bathrooms and they fully understand.”

Hopefully this school year is a reminder to all of the extent the school’s administration will go to in order to ensure the bathrooms are being used for the right reasons, even if those measures seem ineffective or drastic to students.

Singing in a choir doesn’t mean that the members sing the same thing, they have them sing their parts with diverse styles.

“The choir is made of the alto, sopranos and baritones,” junior Katlyn Pace said. “Altos on the left, baritones in the middle, and sopranos on the right.”

This concert wasn’t just any other concert with singing, there were performances as well.

“We had choreography and solo acts performed by students,” junior Katie Maryanski said. “The solo acts took time and had to be practiced at home.”

It was commonly said to be a lively and positive atmosphere.

“The lobby was decorated,“ Maryanski said, “and they were selling popcorn, hot chocolate and roses.”

Multiple songs were sung by the choir and solo acts, such as “The Girl in 14”, “Somewhere in My Memory,” and “AFRICA.”

“It was fun and very entertaining,” principal Timothy Youngblood said. “Lindsey [Tycholiz-Mckiddy] is doing a good job rebuilding the class.”

The choir class worked very hard on the performance.

“It went well,” Pace said. “We never practiced with the elementary schools and only practiced on stage a couple days before.”

The choir class was relatively small throughout this year, but choir students encourage more people to join choir.

“We promoted the choir class on Instagram,” Collette said, “hoping that more people would join.”

The concert was considered a positive experience for many choir members.

“Student should join choir,” Pace said. “It is very fun.”

Students interested in joining choir can talk to choir teacher Lindsey Tycholiz-McKiddy.

The winter concert was enjoyed by both the audience that attended the event, as well as the choir members that performed on stage. It contained hardworking students and a display of talents, singing, and dancing.

“My results were not what I expected. I made a new account, so it only had all of my new stuff and none of my old stuff.”

Junior Lauren Garwood

“My only issue with my results is that I wish I had spent more time listening to it. I had set a goal to get the total time listened to 100,000 minutes but unfortunately didn’t reach it.”

Senior Alaina Wisswell

2022’s hottest tracks, artists, and more

NUMBER ONE MOST STREAMED ARTIST OF 2022

The top streamed artist of 2022 is Bad Bunny, with more than 18.5 million streams throughout the year.

MEDIA INFLUENCE

After being featured in “Stranger Things,” “Running Up That Hill” by Kate Bush saw an increase in streams by 8,700% in 2022.

“I was very shocked by the artists and the songs that were in my top five. I didn’t realize how much I listened to them.”

Junior Gracie Wetherington

THROWBACK SONGS

Many of 2022’s hit songs are from over 20 years ago, such as “Running Up That Hill” by Kate Bush and “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana.

PODCASTS

Popular podcasts on Spotify include “The Joe Rogan Experience” and “Crime Junkie.”

Spotify’s top songs of 2022

“My results were alright. I feel like it only represented me in the first half of 2022, not the second half. ”

Junior Tyler Watford

“I didn’t think I listened to Kanye that much; usually Rihanna is on top.”

Junior Loriana Mannino

“I really love the layout this year.; I thought the design was really cool. I found the artists to be pretty accurate to what I thought it’d be.”

Junior Grace Jenkins

“AS IT WAS” by Harry Styles “HEAT WAVES” by Glass Animals

“STAY (with Justin Bieber)” by The Kid LAROI

“ME PORTO BONITO” by Bad Bunny feat. Chencho Corleone

“I felt my Spotify Wrapped was pretty accurate besides my top song, but maybe I just never realized how much I listened to it.”

Junior Adi Catarino

“My results surprised me. I don’t use Spotify often so I definitely didn’t expect to have so many minutes.”

Senior Zoey Lawrence

“I felt my Spotify Wrapped was fairly accurate. I spent a lot of time listening to classical music, so I wasn’t surprised when Chopin was my top artist.”

Junior Breanna Kosanke

“TITI ME PREGUNTÓ” by Bad Bunny

“RUNNING UP THAT HILL” by Kate Bush

SHARING LYRICS

Spotify has the option to share lyric segments to social media. Some of 2022’s songs with the most shared lyrics include “Heat Waves” by Glass Animals and “Heather” by Conan Gray.

Each year, Spotify Wrapped showcases information about the year’s most popular songs, artists, and more on both an individual and a global scale.

All sorts of different songs topped the charts throughout 2022, such as “As It Was” by Harry Styles.

The most streamed albums over 20 yeas old are “The Marshall Mathers LP” by Eminem and “1” by The Beatles.

Not all of 2022’s most popular songs are that recent, though. “Running Up That Hill” by Kate Bush was first released in 1985.

Below is a compilation of tracks, artists, and fun facts featured in this year’s Spotify Wrapped.

MOVIE RELEASES After “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” was released, streams of the official Spotify playlist for the film increased by 4,000%.