2019 The Whirlwind: Issue 1

EARBUD RULE

School policy has changed.

Was it the right decision?

STUDENT DEBT

College costs a lot. What can be done differently?

WEST

HALLOWEEN

Exclusive features on safety, excitement of Halloween

ALBANY OCTOBER 2018 / ISSUE 1

SPECIAL REPORT

CONTENTS

SPECIAL REPORT News 4

Sports

EARBUDS + WIFI

Earbuds are now completely banned in class: why?

6

RECURRING FEATURES

Teachers salaries, midterm elections, and a new mascot

7

HOMELESS

How city council is easing up on the homeless

8-9

STUDENT DEBT AND OVERCROWDING

College is leaving students deep in debt Classrooms overcrowing due to construction prep

20

HAIR

22

GENDER

24

KREEPY KAT

Why some football players are growing their hair out

The gender bias in high school sports

The strange origin of the girls soccer team mascot

26

RECURRING FEATURES

The contents of a dancer’s bag, memorable sports stories and more

“You’re always too big. You’re always too small. You’re always too tall or too short... I realized that that’s not realistic or possible MADDIE for my body at all.”

ROWE SENIOR page 31

16-19

SPECIAL

SPECIAL REPORT: UNDER THE INFLUENCE

The emergence of drugs and substances, and their impacts on student addiction

16, 19 T H E

NARCOTIC GENERATION The widespread effects of narcotics on teenagers

17 M E D I A I N F L U ENCE

How music, movies, and TV may influence teen drug use

18 D R U G STATISTICS

Statistics from a student survey on drug use

2 THE WHIRLWIND / OCTOBER 2018

Opinion

Entertainment

10-11

27

NEW PLAY

EARBUDS

Staff Editorial on the new headphone policyWWW

All about “Radium Girls” the new student play

12

BUS SCHEDULES

28

HALLOWEEN

13

KAVANAUGH

30

CONSPIRACIES

14

CAMPING LAW

31

PROFILE

The problem with the arrival time of school busses Why people should still be held accountable for old crimes

Why the sentence for camping publicly should reamin a misdemeanor

15 R E C U R R I N G FEATURES

The potential dangers of Halloween, why students dress up, and siblings ruining your hoilday plans

Why people love or hate horror movies

What are conspiracies? Why are they coming up all of a suden?

A profile on senior Maddie Rowe and her modeling career

32 R E C U R R I N G FEATURES

Artists best works, interesting teacher possesions, and the best scary movies

WHIRLWIND STAFF

No tea.

No shade.

Just news.

With the fall season comes an exciting holI T ’ S A N E W S C H O O L Y E A R ; and iday many at this school are anxiously awaitwith it, we welcome a few new things. In this ing: Halloween.

With this holiday being only a year’s magazines we will introduce a brand new week away, our entertainment section has a few special report section. This section will tackle spooky stories ready. serious, newsworthy, and topical issues that perOn a not-so-new note, this issue dives into tain to students here at West Albany. This issue, an old struggle here at school--headphones the special report section will focus on drugs and the problems they bring up verand their impact on our community L E T T E R F R O M sus the benefits they can have in the of students. The topic at hand will change from issue to issue, but will al- T H E E D I T O R S classroom. In a new year, with a new ways be a topic we feel cannot be justifiably cov- staff, a new section, and new editors, we’re doing ered under the news title. With the new school things a bit different this year. However, we’re year, we also welcome the current fall sports sea- still a student news publication at heart. We may son--and all the sports it entails. Sports remains deal with serious issues such as drugs and nationquite a diverse section in terms of serious and al politics, but we still want to acknowledge the not so serious topics: ranging from gender dif- fun side of high school. At the end of the day, ferences in sports to some football players grow- that’s what brings us together as a school and ing out their hair. eases some of that necessary, serious discussion.

CONTACT US

Correcti o ns a nd L etter s to the Ed i tor s Pl ease send co r r e ct i o n s o r co m m e n t s o n thi s i ssu e to: wa hs whi r l wi nd @ g m a i l . com

FIND US AT WAHSWHIRLWIND.COM New Margin Coffee in Albany Offers a Space to Enjoy Life Jon Eick details the journey toward starting a business

Unique Yoga Classes Offered in Downtown Albany Charlotte Ridinger, teaches an array of strange yoga classes

Falling Into Season: Autumn Trends What to look foward to in the fall season

The Whirlwind would like to thank to following 2018-2019 sponsors BULLDOG LEVEL

Baldwin General Contracting, inc.

Danielle Budlong Dick Olsen

GOLD LEVEL

Anonymous Charlotte and Frank Cline Eclectic Zebra Elton & Kara Strametz Heidi Litchfield M&M

BLUE LEVEL

Al Serverson Amber Ferguson Christopher Bright Jane Marshall Maestro Beiser

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Megan Carroll Braxton Reece MANAGING EDITORS Hayley-Mae Harlan Patrick Spence COPY EDITORS Emily Haarstad Mattea Hellman BUSINESS MANAGER Preet Dhaliwal ART DIRECTOR Maggie Bedrin SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Alizah Bueno PHOTO/MULTIMEDIA EDITORS Jakob Jones Karissa Lamonte NEWS Malachi Murphy Amber Stefan OPINION Jonathan Perkins Kailee Young SPORTS Jordan Andreas Hayley-Mae Harlan ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Kaden Strametz Jenna Thomas STAFF Gabrielle Budlong Aisling Malone Sydney Morgan Grey Nazarian Lajla Raske Dezmond Remington Jaden Rodriguez Cheyenne Such Corbin Ulibarri Emmalynn Weible Abigail Winter Isabel Zerr ADVISER Michelle Balmeo CONTACT wahswhirlwind@gmail.com

HIRLWI

THE WHIRLWIND is a dedicated student forum.

Content and editorial decisions are made by student staff members exercising their rights as protected by the First Amendment and the Oregon Student Free Expression Law (Ore. Rev. Stat. sec. 336.477 (2007)). Opinions are those of The Whirlwind staff and not West Albany High School or the Greater Albany Public School District.

OCTOBER 2018 / THE WHIRLWIND 3

Education: access denied

Chromebook connections to the Wi-Fi are proving troublesome for teachers and students attempting to do work in the classroom

BY Emmalynn Weible

We’re Listening

Students and staff share their perspectives on the new school policy on earbuds and headphone usage

BY Grey Nazarian

T H I S S C H O O L Y E A R , a few new policies have been added. One addition is an updated earbud and headphone policy, which has been changed by school authorities to be a more strict version of the previous policy, and means that earbuds cannot be used or seen anywhere on campus. In the years past, students used earbuds to listen to music in the hallways or in classrooms. As earbud usage has increased, staff have become more 4 THE WHIRLWIND / OCTOBER 2018

concerned about their impact on student safety.

Counselor Jan Rasmussen expressed concern about the impact of earbuds during an emergency, stating “If we have a fire alarm or evacuation and [students] leave their earbuds on, they can’t hear what’s going on. They wouldn’t know what’s going on.” Rasmussen stated that earbuds have no place in classrooms or anywhere else within the school.

P A T C H Y I N T E R N E T connections have sparked frustration in classrooms this year amongst students and teachers.

Chromebooks, a tool used by students to research, write and access class assignments, continue to undergo issues logging in, processing, and loading materials needed by both students and teachers. While the demand for wireless internet access has increased due to the addition of Chromebook carts on campus, the Wi-Fi has not been able to keep up a steady pace.

Nevertheless, things were once worse.

In the early 2010s, the network couldn’t handle one classroom simultaneously logging on. Assistant principal Sean Saxton recollects the first usage of Chromebooks.

“I had one of the first Chromebook carts in the whole district, and the first time I tried to use them with my class, I had our district director of technology, the assistant superintendent, and our superintendent in my classroom to watch; and they did not work,” Saxton said.

Saxton knows how far technology has come in such little time. WAHS now has over 1,300 students, and a large number of devices can slow the network down. Many students also connect their cell phones to the school Wi-Fi, which, compounded with printers, smartboards, Apple TVs, security cameras, and more, causes sluggish loading paces, errors, and sometimes crashes.

There are not nearly as many issues with crashes, errors, and overall slowness, according to Saxton, but students and teachers still experience network issues.

Students are becoming dissociated from their surroundings because they use earbuds in s c h o o l , according to Rasmussen, and it becomes a barrier for communication between the s t u d e n t s and their sur roundings.

Rasmussen said, “I think the bigger issue is just the earbuds walking around J E S S I C A S M I T H in the hallway.”

V I C E P R I N C I P A L Though still not

“We weren’t able to keep [students] safe, so [the new policy] was really our only option”

s

. o , , d e s

i . . t y

e

t

t

y

.

According to Saxton, improving the network requires money, and WAHS alone cannot afford to host its own network.

Instead, we rely on the Educational Service District of Linn, Benton, and Lincoln counties to support the Wi-Fi we have now. If we wanted to quickly increase the network quality, it would require money the school does not currently have.

If students do not have an internet connection at home and the Wi-Fi is not working, librarian Jean Gritter and library media assistant Kathy Winningham can usually help students use the internet on hardwired computers. Though not always convenient, the library has four rows of computers for students to access, as well connections to printers in the production center.

The West Albany building is 64 years old and was built before the internet was created. It was not designed for the wiring required today.

“We all need to be patient as we are taxing the limits of our old building’s capabilities,” Gritter said, “but lots of people are working very hard to make it work better.” Gritter gave a warm smile while explaining her positive outlook on the situation. Students can be comforted to know the internet quality is only going to improve over time.

As Gritter said, there are people on staff who are consistently working to improve the technology in the school, such as network technician Jamin Kalita. Kalita works for the school district by improving

the efficiency of devices and supporting teachers’ and students’ technology use.

Printers, Chromebooks, PCs, and TVs are all within his range. He is the person who teachers call when the connection within the school is spotty.

“We’re doing infrastructure improvements, but we’re also constantly adding more Chromebooks,” Kalita said.

“And so it is a little bit opened up, but definitely slowly getting better because we have things we’re working on, like the bottlenecks.”

Despite current issues, Kalita remains optimistic. On the whole, the internet is getting better in schools. This is happening slowly, however, due to the rapid expansion and adding to the number of devices used on the network.

Ultimately, time and patience will be the solution to eventually dilute those trying load times, error codes, and login identification failures.

allowed, students used earbuds in hallways while the previous policy was in place.

In Rasmussen’s opinion, earbud usage in the hallway has been an issue because the students lose focus on their environment around them. However, in the library there are headphones available for checkout.

This is an exception to the policy because students are able to use headphones to work in a controlled and quiet setting.

New York Times article “The Power of Music, Tapped in a Cubicle” by Michael Crump acknowledges that music is an immersive learning tool and can allow for concentration and focus while working.

“People’s minds tend to wander,” says Crump, “Music can bring us back to the present moment.” With the bustle of crowded classrooms, some students use earbuds or headphones so they can listen to music in order to separate distractions.

LISTENING TO MUSIC WHILE WORKING...

“We all need to be patient as we are taxing the limits of our old building’s capabilities, but lots of people are working very hard to make it work better.”

JEAN GRITTER LIBRARIAN

IMPROVES FOCUS DECREASES FOCUS HAS NO EFFECT ON FOCUS

NEWS

DO YOU HAVE DIFFICULTY USING THE INTERNET FROM YOUR CHROMEBOOK?

66.7% said yes

HAS A CLASS YOU WERE IN EVER NOT BEEN ABLE TO DO SOMETHING BECAUSE OF WIFI CONNECTIVITY ISSUES?

89.4% said yes DO YOU CONNECT TO SCHOOL WIFI ON YOUR CELLPHONE?

25% said yes

Sophomore Isaac Pierce says he would prefer to use his earbuds to listen to music in class. When asked how often he would use his earbuds, Pierce responded, “When it is not distracting, so, every opportunity I get.” According to Pierce, earbuds have not been an issue at our school, but the new earbud policy has made it more difficult to learn successfully.

“It just became such a huge schoolwide issue that we weren’t able to keep [students] safe,” vice principal Jessica Smith mentions, “that was really our only option.” According to Smith, earbuds have been a safety issue in the past, and the new earbud policy is intended to avoid any safety concern. The policy has been changed for the purpose of improving communication.

NEWS / THE WHIRLWIND 5

Average teacher salaries by state

BY THE NUMBERS

In light of recent Oklahoma and Washington state teacher strikes, equal education funding has become a primary issue for the government. Currently, Oregon is hovering around the average ME $33,876 salary, $38,617, but schools are still looking for funds.

IN NH WA $35,241 $36,845 $40,426 VT MT ND MN $38,483 $30,036 $38,032 WV $37,644 MA ID OR $33,684 NY WI $35,534 $44,726 SD $33,743 $40,426 MI $44,935 WY $37,419 $36,234 RI $45,207 IA PA $41,481 NE CT NV $44,144 $35,766 OH IA $33,854 $37,973 $45,280 $35,249 UT $40,426 NJ CA CO $51,179 $35,722 MO VA KS $32,980 KY $39,398 DE $34,883 $44,782 $31,842 $36,494 $41,415 NC $37,514 MD AZ TN $36,402 SC OK $44,675 NM AR $33,057 $31,919 $34,068 *DC GA $33,973 $34,544 AL $51,359 $40,725 TX $38,477

BY Amber Stefan

HI $45,963

$40,725 LA $40,128

AK $46,785

MS $34,780

FL $37,405

During 2016-2017, the average teacher’s starting salary by state, not adjusted for cost of living, was collected by the National Education Association, to bring to light where educational funding improvements are needed in the United States.

WHAT’S NEXT? Upcoming: Midterm elections, abortion access, and housing controversies

T H E T I M E I S N O W . Midterm to provide abortion to low income elections are coming up and our women. In past elections, Oregon government officials, like Governor has voted five times to not repeal Kate Brown and opponent Knute Roe v. Wade, or similar measures Buehler, are encouraging everyone regarding abortion. The affordable with the h o u s i n g ability to measure QUALIFICATIONS TO vote to vote*. would use VOTE The midterm state and election will f e d e r a l You must be a *How to vote United States citizen and update take place funding to on Tuesday, create housing registration You must be a Nov. 6. The units for statuses can resident of Oregon main topics approximately be found You must be at least online at sos. on the ballot 7,500 and 18 years old* for Oregon 12,000 people. oregon.gov If you’re not 18 yet, include the B e y o n d you won’t be able interpretation these topics, to participate in an of the Roe Albany will election until after v.

Wade be electing a your 18th birthday ruling and new member affordable to the State housing. The House of inerpretation of the Roe v. Wade Representatives after the current ruling would determine what would representative retires. The current happen to women’s medical rights, candidates for this position are specifically on abortions. This ballot Democrat Jerred Taylor, Republican requests that Oregon prohibit using Shelley Boshart Davis, and state or public governments funding Independent Cynthia Hyatt.

FLASHBACK Old mascot vs. new mascot: Bulldogs reintroduce an old tradition

1979 Edition of the Whirlwind Original Photo Credit: Mark Olsen Photo Credit: Amber Stefan

IT HAS BEEN almost 40 years since the 1979 staff of the Whirlwind did a story on the West Albany High School mascot.

The mascot then was senior Diane Meehan.

Meehan wanted to create new and unique ways to spruce up the mascot. This included Meehan and a friend, Sean Eskeli, also a

senior, having the student body sign his blue and gold car for the bulldog to ride in. In the article, Meehan describes how she became the mascot explaining, “I wanted to be involved in school so I thought every other week I’d go out and sweat like a dog.”

Now, after about six years without a mascot, the bulldog mascot has been reborn. It has been rumored that the mascot is a freshman girl who just stumbled on to the costume and put it on for fun, but as of now, the newly reemerged mascot’s true identity is being kept confidential.

NEWS / THE WHIRLWIND 6

Protection of the public

New city council legislation votes to remove recurring low level crime in downtown Albany by restricting the access of homeless

BY Malachi Murphy, Dezmond Remington

I N A L B A N Y , T H E R E A R E many people without homes residing on downtown benches and taking advantage of the numerous organizations within their reach.

However, as Albany’s city council voted in March to enact new municipal codes 7.84.210-250, the people of our benches could be facing new threats. Within these pages of bureaucratic wording remains an outstanding three point code: if you get caught with any range of minor misdemeanors to offenses three times, you are kicked out of downtown Albany, otherwise known as the “enhanced law enforcement area.”

The enhanced law enforcement zone, also known as the “exclusionary zone,” is an increased police activity area ranging as far west as Elm Street, connecting through Bryant Park, following the river towards its east most point, Pine Street, and back to its southernmost point, the train station.

If someone were to get picked up by police for any suspected misdemeanor, they would then be cited and given a court date to appear and prove their innocence.

If proven guilty, they would then be put on the enhanced law enforcement zone’s list: three more offenses in a six month time span, and they are out.

The only city councilor to oppose the

measure was Dick Olson, representing downtown Albany as well as North Albany, who views the code as “a little harsh” stating, “People are homeless for a variety of reasons.” He elaborated, explaining some of it was people who got caught up in the housing market crisis 10 years ago, and afterwards it was extremely difficult to better their situation.

He then describes ‘harsh’, using the term ‘‘banished’ from the downtown area” “People [after the housing market crash] ended up being homeless. Well, now those people are willing and anxious to get a home, and accept help from CITY organizations like Helping Hands, Goodwill, Fish House, … and Jackson Street House.”

Contrary to Olson, Mike Sykes, councilman for the same ward as Olson, voted with the rest of council for the exclusionary zone. “If you don’t do something about the homeless, you will have a problem”, stated Sykes.

However, as Sykes brought a recent court ruling to attention, the legality of ex-

clusionary zones just like Albany’s has been questioned. “A new court ruling out of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals v. Boise on homelessness, and under the 14th amendment they’re saying that you can’t create a separate class of citizens, …” Addressing that “[with the homeless] the city can’t do anything about it, it’s going to take the state to do something about it, because of the rules and laws of the state of Oregon.”

Although disagreeing on the ideal municipal code, both councilmen agreed that drugs, housing prices, and lack of mental health are the prime cause of homelessness in Albany. As Sykes stated, “If they’re not solved, you are not going to be able to do anything about the homeless.”

Sykes explained that “there is really nothing you can do, except move them around,” however also explaining that “We tried to do something about it [homeless problem],” which was the intent of the exclusionary zone, to solve a seemingly unsolvable issue.

Later, he mentioned that the way the rules and regulations are, MIKE SYKES a lot of people don’t COUNCILMAN want to work, and they don’t want to get a job, compounding the issue. He implied living without amenities is a suitable arrangement for someone.

Sykes also pressed that the code simply makes people comply with basic rules and laws. “The exclusionary zone was put to get people to obey the law, basically, and not be constantly sleeping in alleyways, doorways, defecating on the streets, doing all these kinds of things.”

“If you commit a crime, you’re going to have to pay for it.”

HASTY FREEZ

Burgers & Ice Cream WHEN IT’S TIME FOR A TRIM...

Contact Us 838 Pacific Blvd SE, Albany (541) 928-0811 thecuttingroom@gmail.com

Hours: Closed Mon + Sun Tue-Fri 9am-6pm Sat 9am-4pm

655 SE Lyon St, Albany HOURS: Everyday 10am-10pm Phone: (541) 926-2144

Hungry?

In a hurry?

Hasty Freez is the stop for you!

NEWS / THE WHIRLWIND 7

OUT OF COLLEGE OUT OF CASH

Creative Commons

BY Patrick Spence

Students are leaving college with thousands of dollars of debt. How did this happen, and what is the path forward?

DYLAN PERFECT, A WAHS alumnus of 2017, spends his mornings riding the bus from his parents’ home in Albany over to Corvallis, where he attends Oregon State University. There, he takes a few classes, takes advantage of the campus facilities, and returns home.

Like thousands in his generation, Perfect has to find a way to balance the high cost of university tuition with finding a place to live, textbooks (he recommends purchasing them used), and online access to course content. Perfect considers himself “quite fortunate when paying for college”; he can apply a staff discount because his father works for a state university, he is dualenrolled at LBCC, and applied College

Now and AP credit to his university transcript, allowing him to finish in just three years.

Perfect encourages students to do what they can to reduce college costs; he cites the FAFSA and Oregon Promise as “musts” and notes there “are definitely quite a few scholarships offered throughout the community for students of many different backgrounds, but you have to keep your eye out for them.” Nevertheless, he is clearly frustrated with the system, stating, “When the cost of a four-year degree pushes past $100,000, it definitely becomes a barrier for entry for many prospective students.

While going to college is probably never going to be cheap, I think it's fair to say it

No Vacancy

Students, teachers feel the effects of sharing classrooms

BY Alizah Bueno

A S T U D E N T W A L K S I N T O her first class of the day with a smile on her face. The newly decorated room in B-hall gives off a comfortable environment and gives her a great start in the school day..

She notices the white cabinets that occupy the right side of the room. She sits in the front row while admiring the two different desks located in the front of the room.

Each desk personalized by their owner.

She looks up and admires the hanging decorations and the flags that are attached to the back wall. She then realizes that the classroom is shared by two different 8 THE WHIRLWIND / OCTOBER 2018

teachers.

Due to reconstruction, Teachers and students have been forced out of their F-hall classrooms, and are now sharing their classrooms with others.

Joey Running, a business teacher, shares her classroom with Spanish teacher Claudia Bleeker. At one point, that classroom even had three teachers using it. Running and Bleeker’s classroom split is clear, with half the classroom decorated one way and half the other. Running, describing the “readjusted” classroom, notes the two “teacher stations” and shared cabinets in the cramped classroom.

should be affordable.”

Perfect’s struggle to find the right formula for college is commonplace, and many borrowers—44.2 million, to be precise— have turned to college loans as a way to finance their education. Over the past three decades, the cost to attain a college degree has gone up ten times over as colleges and universities have sent tuition and other costs soaring at well over the rate of inflation. Of these borrowers, a quarter percent owe more than $30,000 and a tenth owe more than $50,000. Though these figures include all debt—ranging from community college to medical school, the numbers are astonishing.

These soaring figures, mirrored nowhere else in America’s economy, leave people wondering why so many students have taken out this much debt to pay for a college degree over the past few decades— something which should not cost all that much more today than it did in the middle of the twentieth century.

Indeed, total public expenditures on higher education have never been higher.

State funding for public universities reached a record inflation-adjusted high this decade, at 86.6 billion dollars. When accounting for the additional 34.3 billion spent by the federal government on its Pell Grant program—a subsidy for lowincome students to attend college, almost two percent of public resources go to higher education.

Granted, university enrollment has risen by 50 percent in the past 20 years, meaning Though the room has been adjusted, the teachers work professionally together and maintain a positive mindset, with Running mentioning it is not rare for teachers to swap classrooms for various reasons.

“These rooms are not our rooms,” Running said. “We can be assigned a different room every single year depending on how it works for the building. This isn’t my room, it’s the room that I am able to use.”

Over in D-hall, Marcie McArthur teaches math, but also shares her room with Military Leadership teacher Sergeant First Class James Leeper. McArthur says she has to pack up her stuff that she needs and head to a different classroom when she needs to get work done during her preparation period. On the days that she can sit in, she explains that she enjoys listening to the class because it is totally different than math.

y — o t e

n e r h e

e

e e e

— t e

. s

s t o

MONEY IN

WHERE DOES UNIVERSITY FUNDING COME FROM?

29% 22% 20% 29%

PUBLIC

$583

BUSINESS TUITION

OTHER

BILLION

35% 23% 17% 25%

TEACHING RESEARCH BUSINESS OTHER

AND WHERE DOES IT GO?

MONEY OUT

Ways to save money on college 1. Get College Now and AP Credit

Many students can cut a year or more off college by getting credit in high school.

2. Fill out the FAFSA Early

The FAFSA--a federal financial aid application--is your gateway to financial aid at most universities.

3. Apply for both nationwide and local scholarships

There are thousands of dollars out there for students of all backgrounds and passions.

4. Consider community college

Especially with the Oregon Promise, you can save a lot on a four year degree by covering your pre-requisites at a community college.

EMMALYNN

WEIBLE

S H A R E D S P A C E The B6 classroom is filled with cabinets and lanterns.

This is because Business teacher Joey Running and Spanish teacher Claudia Bleeker have co-located in this room.

Study Skills teacher Jane Marshall previously held her classes in F16. Due to the remodeling of the school, Marshall has had to move to C5A. Marshall’s once large room is now what she sees as “a tiny house.”

per-person public university expenditures are somewhat below their peak in the 1990s, yet this alone does not explain the rise in tuition—which has risen 1.6 percent more than inflation each year. The cost is hard to explain.

That said, a couple factors seem to be driving up the cost of college. According to the Department of Education, the number of administrators at universities has grown by 60 percent since the 1990s, significantly over the growth rate of professors—whose incomes have actually decreased since the 1970s. Secondly, some universities have raised their tuition so they can give certain students discounts.

A school can target these discounts at the specific students they want to have attend. Additionally, the process of getting a college loan has become much easier. With no necessary qualifications to borrow thousands of dollars in student loans, colleges can raise their prices knowing students—desperate to attend— will borrow whatever it takes in pursuit of a degree.

The amount of loans—subsidized by the government or taken out privately— has risen dramatically, matching tuition increases nationwide. These dollars going into expanded loan programs simply feed right into the universities, while students end up no better off. It seems dubious such increases in price would come if nobody could pay them—perhaps student debt creates itself. As tuition goes up, more students must take on expensive debt, only

so tuition can rise once again. Were such aid unavailable, tuition might not go up in the first place, and students and taxpayers would not be on the hook for billions.

Nevertheless, a college degree is often worth borrowing for. Dr. Greg Hamann, president of LBCC, believes, depending on what educational and career path one is pursuing, it can be worth borrowing for. He explains, “Done wisely, debt is just using other people’s money to do something that you want to do...If done right, you buy other people's wealth to get something you would not otherwise have.”

What Hamann warns against is taking out debt without a plan on paying it back.

He believes loans may “have a good return

Marshall spent about five years in her past room, and her move was “emotionally difficult.” Marshall shares her struggle to move when she explains, “When I knew it was going to be torn down, I had a way of thinking I was the last one.”

Marshall was going to be the last one to use that room and it brought her some peace, as she says. Ironically, that room is now being used as a detention center.

She really loved that room because she said it was “emotionally disconnected.”

She considered it a safe place for students because it is disconnected from the rest of the school. On a different note, she reminds us that “The space is really run by the people in here,” when she is in her new classroom.

In A-hall, Kyle Hall’s crowded Psychology classroom of 42 students miraculously runs smoothly. Hall claims that he has no problem with the large amount of students.

The only thing that can be overwhelming at times is the amount of papers that he has to grade, when the time comes. Hall feels that it may be harder in other subjects with a lot of students because each student needs attention at some time and some students may be affected by the lack of resources from the teachers. He explains his view on the problem with reason. “It’s frustrating for the teacher when the teacher wants to help and it’s frustrating for the kid when they aren’t getting the help they need.”

Hall’s classroom is one of the many classrooms that are crowded with students.

That means that there is some students who are maybe being overlooked when they need help. The F hall classes that are not being used causes some small problems at the moment but there is also some positives. The things we compromise now are not for nothing and there is going to a great final look when the school is done.

“

To not pursue education beyond high school leaves you no options...You cannot afford to not go on.”

LBCC PRESIDENT GREG HAMANN

on investment and they might not, so the real question is what do you get in return.”

However, Hamann claims, “To not pursue education beyond high school leaves you no options. It is not about whether or not you go on. It’s choosing where and how and for what purpose do you go on.” He elaborates that “you cannot afford to not go on. There are no jobs that can actually provide you with the kind of economic resources you need with just a high school education.”

NEWS / THE WHIRLWIND 9

Earbuds in, reality out?

New earbud policy causes more problems than solutions and hinders students’ abilities to work in the classroom D U R I N G T H E F I R S T W E E K of school, students of each class poured into the cafeteria for class meetings. Although many usually leave class meetings pretty complacent, this year’s students were quite upset about the announcement of a new rule. The WAHS administration implemented a new school-wide rule effective as of the start of this school year, that banned earbuds in the school under

any circumstances. This rule, not evident in the school’s handbook, which obviously hasn’t been updated in ages considering it still states class elections “will be held on October 3, 2014,” has since been reiterated in announcements and in class by teachers—not to mention how many times, “No headphones!” has been screamed down the halls. Nevertheless, it is the position of The Whirlwind that there is a place for

Systemic problem

The school board has problematic methods when it comes to the greater good of students

BY Jonathan Perkins

H A I R ’ S N O T C O M B E D , I’m tired. I put on whatever is clean, I’m tired. Skipped breakfast, running late all because I slept in until 6:30, still tired. Why is waking up at 6:30 considered ‘sleeping-in’? Who made the decision to put us through this? Short answer: The school board.

This recent schedule change reflects the school board’s disconnection from students. The Greater Albany Public Schools

10 THE WHIRLWIND / OCTOBER 2018

students’ earbuds in school under some circumstances.

Many students in art classes use music as inspiration for their art, and not being able to listen to music without hassle on their earbuds is quite the annoyance. For many, listening to music while working on a paper in English helps them focus. In the classroom, with the permission of the teacher, earbuds should be permitted. Because administration is worried about the safety of students, strict rules as to where earbuds are allowed could be put into place. Perhaps earbuds could be banned in hallways and always put away unless given explicit permission by the teacher to use them.

While administration and teachers like

website claims, “A positive outcome of the [changed start times] pilot is equalized learning time among all schools. All students will continue to have the same amount of instructional time as an outcome of the pilot.” It’s all about hours—not what we get out of the class, but how long we remain in that class. It doesn’t matter if students get to school so early they’re brain dead.

The school board’s purpose is to make sure their public schools are doing their best, in terms of having students be successful while in a well-created learning environment. Failure to do this job has huge ethical consequences, considering the future of student’s lives. When was the last the last time a school board member came to our school to see how the rules and regulations they’ve implemented are working?

They don’t actually see what’s really happening. The school board decisions well meet the needs of students.

e

s e r , r , -

s s t

e

] s s t t

c o e d s

l

JAKOB JONES

to say listening to music in class does not help you learn, evidence contradicts this claim.

Dr. Masha Godkin, a professor at Northcentral University in the department of Family Sciences, says, “Music has the potential to take a person from the Beta brainwave state to deeper Alpha, and then Theta brainwave states.” Theta brainwaves reduce stress and anxiety, causing the body to relax. Because anxiety and stress prevent the brain from focusing and can make learning very difficult, listening to music reduces stress, and in turn, helps one learn better.

Nancy Barile, an award winning teacher of 22 years, says in an article titled,

“Should You Let Students Listen to Music in the Classroom,” “When [my students] OPINION listen to music when writing essays, [they] usually begin working immediately and almost always hand in a product.”

If teachers let students choose whether or fire alarms; they’re loud enough to wake not to listen to music during work time the dead. Realistically, if headphones were in class, students might learn better and the only cause for that student’s inability to achievement may go up, but just banning hear the fire alarm, then how would it be earbuds is closed-minded and prevents possible for a deaf student to be aware of students from figuring out how they learn a fire alarm? best.

If not hearing the fire alarms, and thereTaking this course of action against fore not leaving class, is an extreme constudents using earbuds is a prime exam- cern, a possible solution to this is to have ple of the ways staff and administration the library be an earbud-safe place. This “baby” students. way, if students want to do homework with If anything, the new earbuds policy their headphones in or study while listenhinders students’ abilities to make their ing to music, they would be able to. There own choices. If a student uses their head- are always faculty in the library paying atphones to listen to music while working tention to what students are doing because in class and they end up not doing very the library is a place for many to quietly well on that assignment, at least they have get work done. Headphones are already allearned that studying technique does not lowed in the library, so allowing students to work for them. Not to mention that if a use earbuds as well would not be much of class activity involves headphones, some a change. In fact, it is bizarre to only allow teachers are saying students can only use headphone use in the library but not allow the school headphones, and for those who earbud use. are germaphobes or have severe anxiety, All in all, the new headphone policy sharing headphones with the rest of the is frustrating and prevents students from school is disgusting and exploring new studying EDITORIAL worrisome. techniques. Times are A main reason given for changing, technology is The opinion of The Whirlwind why the administration deimproving, and preventing editorial board cided on this new rule was students from using modbecause of a particular ern technology to help scenario where a student could not hear them study is behind the times. It makes a safety alarm because their headphones no sense that students can use laptops in were in. Of course, this is an issue, but it class to take notes or use Chromebooks is not always applicable to other scenar- for learning purposes, but headphones ios. There could have been confounding cannot be used for educational purposes. variables as to why that student did not It’s time the administration gets with the hear the fire alarm. Moreover, it would be times and stops baby-ing the students of extremely hard not to hear our school’s West Albany.

To understand the full picture, they need to be in the heart of the issue—understand what’s really happening in class, the way students act, what really happens when rules are passed. They must understand what actually works best for the student instead of what the board thinks is best for the student.

The Greater Albany Public Schools also explains, “The 201718 bell schedule changes were a pilot to align start times with research about student sleep needs and equalize learning time among schools. The results of the pilot were mixed and the changes created challenges that included long bus wait times at some locations, reduced ability for teachers to meet before and after school job requirements, and staff contract issues.” Understandably, the bus issue did need to be addressed. Staff members as well are extremely important, and the best is always wanted for them.

On the other hand, there will always be issues when it comes to job tardiness. There will always be issues with the bus. The important part is how to overcome these obstacles when the issue arrives. Not to try and shift everyones schedule hoping it’ll work.

What if the same issues still occur? Will there be a whole year with decreasing grades because students were tired, all to fix the bus system?

The main focus needs to be the students. If the students aren’t doing well, we can’t always blame them. They are victims of the system in place.

If the board members were more connected with students, they would better understand the impact of their decisions. Dealing with simple problems that would meet all needs.

OPINION / THE WHIRLWIND 11

Ready or not?

ABIGAIL WINTER

Buses are either getting to school too early or too late, whether students are ready or not

BY Lajla Raske

IF YOU’VE EVER RIDDEN a bus to school before, you’d know all about the craziness that may take place. Including all of the noisy talking, yelling, some trying to get sleep, others crowded, and some with plenty of room while aboard the big yellow bus.

After school, students need to walk to Memorial Middle School to catch their bus, which doesn’t leave enough time, making the times students arrive at school in the morning not the only problem.

Due to the time most buses come, students can’t ask any questions they have about homework and important assignments in the afternoon.

Freshman Rahima Monahan expresses how the bus schedule affects her. “Personally, I have to speed walk from West Albany to the very front of Memorial.

I believe we should have 15-20 minutes instead of 5-10 minutes,” Monahan said.

“I like it in the morning, but it is a pain in the afternoon.”

While many students may have less of a concern in the morning, there are some who worry about it in the afternoon.

If students were to miss their bus, they

would need to figure out arrangements to get home and if they miss asking an important question, they may not be able to complete a major assignment or be completely ready for a test. For this reason, the bus schedule should be fixed to where students have just the right amount of time in the morning and enough time to talk to teachers in the afternoon.

“When [the Junior H u n t e r B u r r i s bus is] in the front [of MMS], we don’t have enough time to get to it,” said freshman Hailey Mcree.” There is a reason we have study skills, so they should be using that time or in passing periods because you have 12 minutes to get to class.”

Even though students have other times during the day to speak with teachers, like during breaks, it would be best after school when students have already been through all their classes and know what they might ask teachers. Students wouldn’t have to worry about rushing to their classes

“It’s really annoying. Some buses will get here after school ends or some busses will show up 30 minutes after, wich is the bus I have to take.”

12 THE WHIRLWIND / OCTOBER 2017

in fear of receiving a tardy. Katie Rohrbough, a junior, says her bus comes every morning at about 6:57 a.m. She gets to school at about 7:05, leaving 35 minutes in the morning at school.

Although this may seem like a lot of time to speak with teachers, not all have their classrooms open this early because some get to school later and have other things they need to do.

“I’d really like it if the bus would come later, like towards 7:00, maybe like 7:05. I have to wake up earlier than I used to because the bus used to come at like 7:12 and now I have to get up earlier because it takes me a long time to get ready,” explains Rohrbough. “If the bus came later, it’d give me more time to relax in the morning and not be stressed out.”

In the afternoon, bus schedules are much different. Even though the times buses come in the morning depend more on the location they are coming from, there can be better control over how it is in the afternoon. While some students like the schedule how it is, others are affected by the faults in this system.

“It comes like 10 minutes after the bell. It gives me some time to do what I need to do.” Rohrbough said about her friend’s bus schedule, “My friend’s bus is right there and it leaves five minutes after the bell and she has to run to get to her bus and it’s really stressful.”

If the bus would be at the middle school 10 minutes later, students would be given more time to speak with teachers and grab anything they need from their lockers. This would get students home a little later and although some kids would not like it, this would be much less stressful. Students could take more time to get done what needs to get done. Students could have questions in their last class period when other students could also which means they have to wait. Students can’t wait very long because they need to get onto their bus.

While some like the bus schedule how it is, there are ways we can fix it.

For example, the buses should all come around the same time (10 minutes after school) giving students the opportunity to do what they need to do.

Time on Crime

How long should someone be held accountable for sexual assault?

BY Maggie Bedrin

P E O P L E W I L L A L W A Y S be held accountable for their mistakes and crimes; their past will come back to haunt them.

Brett Kavanaugh, the most recently appointed Supreme Court Justice, has been accused of assaulting four women. In light of these recent events, the question going around is, how long should someone be held accountable for sexual assault?

According to the New York Times, Kavanaugh has been accused of assaulting Christine Blasey Ford, Deborah Ramirez, Julie Swetnick, and an anonymous reporter. Ford claims when she was 15 in the 1980s, Kavanaugh drunkenly pinned her to a bed, tried to take her clothes off, and covered her mouth so she was unable to scream. Following that Swetnick claimed to have witnessed gang rapes and Kavanaugh inappropriately touching random individuals without their consent, all of which was reported by the New York Times.

When questioned about his drunkenness

by Senator Amy Klobuchar, he responded by turning the question back on her, refusing to answer entirely. 12.5% of sexual assault cases involve one of the people being intoxicated, stated by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

One of Kavanaugh’s childhood friends stated that he had seen Kavanaugh stumbling in a drunk haze, so intoxicated that he wouldn’t remember what he had done. If he is willing to lie about drinking, what else is he willing to lie about?

Victims of assault reacted with some statements for the world, it was the growth of the #MeToo movement, an Instagram uprising, started November 2017 in the form of hashtags under posts about people being sexual assaulted. It was used a form of reporting or just sharing, to spread the word and cause a change in our society.

Before that nationwide stand, people were looked down upon, shamed into silence, fired, and judged. According to National Sexual Violence Resource Center, one in five women will face rape in their lifetime, and one in 71 men face the same traumatizing actions. When looking into those numbers, you also must realize that those are only reported assaults, so one has to wonder how many

other cases have gone unreported.

High schoolers also face this threat, from teachers and students alike, taking them to court or letting them lie. According to Safe B.A.E (Before Anyone Else), 12-34 is highest risk years for sexual assault, and in 2017 10% of high school students reported sexual assault. The same source states, one in twenty switch schools because of those actions, leaving them paranoid and full of anxiety to say the least. Imagine someone having to go to class with the knowledge that the person/people who assaulted them is roaming the halls. The growing fear in the back of their mind, if they did it once will they do it again?

Most assaulters violent one than one person more than one time. Leaving you to question, when will the next one strike?

Many people haven’t been held accountable for their actions, one of which is Brett Kavanaugh, whose actions trail all the way down to high school. One in a thousand trials for sexual assault end in the accused

The White House

going to jail, as all the other run free. On top of that some get off with small sentences such as community service or just meer days in prison Many others have been let free of charges because of lack or evidence or just lacking of caring by the judge. Letting people free for these unforgivable actions is unacceptable. The time victims spend in recovery for such events will never be equal to the pain they perpetrators would endure in prison. Incarceration would be a start for all those criminals, but it is still a small sentence for such a unfathomable and traumatizing crime.

Maggie Bedrin

OPINION / THE WHIRLWIND 13

Violating the streets

KARISSA LAMONTE

Camping downtown should remain a misdemeanor to keep downtown safe, welcoming

BY Karissa Lamonte

CITY COUNCILORS OF Albany voted 5-1 on Sept. 5 to reduce the penalty of illegal camping by changing the charge from a misdemeanor to a violation, along with removing it from the list of offenses in the enhanced law enforcement zone in the downtown core. This means people cannot be prosecuted for illegal camping, and rather than being punished with the consequences of a misdemeanor which include jail time, fines up to $2,500, or community service, people caught illegal ly camping will get a fine up to $100, the penalty of receiving a violation.

The consequences of illegal camping should remain a misdemeanor.

It all started on Sept. 4 in Boise, Idaho when the federal appeals court agreed with six homeless people who claimed that “banning sleeping in public spaces amounts to cruel and

unusual punishment when shelters are full,” as xplained by the Corvallis Gazette-Times. What these homeless people claim goes against the eighth amendment, which states that “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted,” what these individuals said suggests that by making illegal camping no longer “banned” then it is no longer a “cruel and unusual punishment.”

The idea of this change seems to be obtaining the right to illegally camp.

Back in March, the Enhanced Law Enforcement Zone was established in downtown Albany. With crime being more likely downtown, law enforcement is most needed there. If someone were to commit three or more crimes in the downtown core within six months, that person could be found guilty of a persistent violation.

Depending on what the judge declares,

“Not only does illegal camping disturb the peace, but it could result in litter left behind throughout town.”

14 THE WHIRLWIND / OCTOBER 2018

someone could be banned from this area from as little as three months, all the way up to a year. With illegal camping no longer being on the list of offenses, this means the homeless may illegal camp as many times as they please without being found guilty of a persistent violation. They are allowed to continue camping in this downtown core, without real punishment being applied (besides a possible small fine, which doesn’t always teach a lesson.)

Rather than jail time, those charged with illegal camping should be required to do community service.

By changing illegal camping from a misdemeanor to a violation, making it not necessarily “illegal” anymore, we are allowing the homeless to continue their lifestyle and we imply that they may continue to illegally camp and commit this crime without any severe penalties.

Not only does illegal camping disturb the peace, but it could result in litter being left behind throughout town. What the six homeless people from Idaho said was valid, but not everyone could agree with what they claimed. Being homeless and not being allowed to illegally camp shouldn’t be classified as cruel and unusual, and it especially shouldn’t be classified as a punishment. Cities shouldn’t be at fault when the homeless shelters are full; they can’t control how many people sleep in the shelters. Cities are at fault when they aren’t providing any sort of shelter at all for the homeless, rather than changing the punishment for illegal camping, we should be trying to find more solutions to homelessness. We shouldn’t be normalizing sleeping in public places.

The Spooky Features

BY Kailee Young

HALLOWEEN: THE HOLIDAY celebrated by dressing up in costume, going up to strangers’ houses and demanding candy. While this may be a fun tradition for kids, is it really safe? The world has gotten more dangerous with kidnappings, and schemes of sex trafficking becoming more apparent in today’s world. Having a night of vulnerable kids going up to strangers, who may or may not have bad intentions, is not the best idea because it is so easy for a bad person to hurt that child.

While the idea of trick or treating seems fun for kids, it is not unheard of for them to get hurt. Some parents feel the need to check their children’s candy before they eat it to make sure it laced with isn’t poison or even razor blades.It is also not uncommon to hear, “Stay in groups. Don’t forget your phone,” and, “Don’t wander,” being shouted from the porch while the children run off to their night of fun. While it seems like this would be enough to keep kids safe while out, many don’t understand dangerous situations, and are likely to ignore their parents’ rules in order to have fun.

When all else fails, the only thing parents can rely on is the police and the goodness of their neighbors. However, the police can only patrol so many areas before they run short on officers. Many neighbors can

try to keep an eye out but usually are preoccupied by kids on their porch or their own kids. In short, many kids go unnoticed and this could lead them to deadly situations.

Not only is the threat of kidnapping and drugging already terrifying enough, kids also have the danger to get killed in the street by a distracted or drunk driver. According to the National Safety Council, kids are more than twice as likely to be hit and killed by a car on Halloween than any other day of the M A G G year. This is because many IE BE children tend to go trick D RI N or treating in the dark, a n d wear dark costumes as well, making it harder to see them.

In order to keep children safe on Halloween, parents should have a way of knowing where their kids are, and kids should have flashlights and plenty of glow sticks so cars can see them better. Kids should avoid the roads unless using a crosswalk, or if they have made eye contact with the driver. The police should also patrol in neighborhoods instead of on the main streets, and houses should remain well lit. Another precaution parents could take is to go trick or treating earlier in the night while it is still light, and make sure to keep their kids where they can see them. With all these precautions we can help keep our kids safe while having a happy Halloween.

COMPLAINT FILE: When did my sibling’s Halloween plans become my own?

BY Abigail Winter

The day of Halloween finally arrives, and people are extremely excited for the night.

Friends are participating in a haunted corn maze, going trick or treating around the neighborhood, or having a scary movie marathon back at home. But, just before someone leaves for the night, their family asks them to take their little brother or sister along, immediately throwing a wrench in their plans. With this huge responsibility

now in the person’s hands, it doesn’t seem like they’ll be able to do any of the fun plans that they had for the night. Instead of getting mad they should talk to their family about the plans they already had for the night, and suggest their sibling go with their friends instead of strangers. If their family still insists that their sibling go with them, they should finally try to compromise and find a way that their sibling can be incoporated into their plans without making them feel left out or bored.

Are you dressing up for Halloween? Why or why not?

“I personally do because I love dressing up and I love eccentric clothing and whenever I get the chance to do something abnormal, I do it.”

Freshman Joshua Chipman

“No, because I like to go to bed early and Halloween tends to run late” Sophomore Jake Patton

“Yes, because it’s a good outlet to express yourself and be somebody you’ve always wanted to be” Junior Alli Williams

“Yes, I dress up still because it’s fun to be creative and there’s so many options so I have to take advantage of every year that I can. It’s also the one day a year where it’s one hundred percent acceptable to be dressed up as something that could be “insane” on other days but normal-ish on Halloween. It’s overall a fun expirence.”

Senior Jasmine Ruiz OPINION / THE WHIRLWIND 15

THE NARCOTIC GENERATION

By Jaden Rodriguez, Emily Haarstad, Sydney Morgan, Isabel Zerr, Mattea Hellman

JAKOB JONES

In an anonymous online survey, 73 percent of 168 West Albany students said they know someone who is currently addicted or is on the path to addiction to drugs.

In fact, according to the 2017 Oregon Healthy Teens survey of high school juniors, 20.9 percent of juniors reported having used marijuana in the past 30 days.

And 46.9 percent of juniors reported having seen someone smoking of vaping tobacco on school property.

16 THE WHIRLWIND / OCTOBER 2018

The nature of addiction According to the American Psychiatric Association, addiction is compulsive substance abuse despite harmful consequences and illegal activity. These substances include nicotine, marijuana, and alcohol—the commonly used drugs of West Albany students, nicotine being the most used drug, according to student interviews and a survey.

Substance Abuse Disorder, or SAD, is the name used to describe subjects who are constantly using these harmful substances, according to The National Institute of Drug Abuse.

The levels of severity vary and can be classified as mild, moderate, or severe. The elements that influence the classification of substance abuse disorder are social impairment,

Continued on page 19

UNDER THE INFLUENCE

BY Mattea Hellman

FOR THE CURRENT adolescent generation, references to recreational drug use are often hidden behind heavy beats and droning monotones. Whether the theme of its lyricism glorifies the behavior or condemns it, drug references are commonly found within the music we hear every day. We recently conducted an online survey of 128 at WAHS: 51 percent said they almost MARIO TESTINO

always hear drug references in songs, 30 percent said they always hear drug references in T.V. and movies, and 33 percent said media consciously influences them. Sixty percent of survey respondents theorize that these messages contribute to rising rates of our own modern epidemic: teenage addiction. Here are some popular examples:

“ M Y H E A D H U R T F RO M T H E D R U G S , I T ’ S S O M E T H I N G I N T H E B U D MAN I NEED A N E W P L U G , I F E E L I T I N M Y V E I N S ” VEINS

“ I ’ D B E C RY I N G TO O I F I WAS N ’ T

RODNEY CHARTERS

SO HIGH” “ BA BY L E T M E D OW N J U ST L I K E M Y D R U G I CA N S E E A F R OW N WHEN I C A L L M Y PLUG I A I N ’ T O F F T H AT B ROW N B UT I L O V E MY MUD”

SEASON 4, EPISODE 5

SUCK MY BLOOD CHUCK GRANT FRANK OCKENFELS

“ W H I T E PA L M S , BA K I N G P OW D E R O N T H E STOV E , COOKIN’ UP A DREAM, TURNIN’ DIAMONDS INTO S N O W […]

“ N OW I ’ M S O M E T H I N ’ L I K E THE CHEMIST ON CAMPUS B UT T H E R E ’ S N O D R U G A R O U N D , Q U I T E L I K E W H AT I FO U N D I N YO U [...]

NOVACANE, NUMB THE PAIN NOVACANE, FOR THE PAIN

I C A N ’ T F E E L AN OTVHA CI NA NGE”

FLORIDA KILOS

“ YO U C O U L D H AV E S H UT YO U R M O UT H , C O O K E D , A N D M A D E AS M U C H M O N E Y AS YO U E V E R N E E D E D. I T WAS P E R F E CT ! ” SEASON 5, EPISODE 7

“T O O M A N Y B O T T L E S OF THIS W I N E W E CA N ’ T P RO N O U N C E TO O M A N Y B O W L S O F T H A T G R E E N , N O LU C K Y C H A R M S TO O M A N Y W H I T E L I E S A N D W H I T E

LINES”

SUPER RICH KIDS

C FLANIGAN

SPECIAL REPORT / THE WHIRLWIND 17

“Nicotine isn’t a benign 27.9% substance.”

of 11th graders said they have very easy access to vape products, according to the annual Oregon Healthy Teens Survey, 2017.

according to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration

“From 2011 to 2015, there was a 900% increase in e-cigarette use among high school students.” according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention

64% of WAHS students who own a tobacco product use it every day.

“I’ve had multiple bad experiences that I 73% could have avoided.” said one senior boy drug user

39% 12.9%

of WAHS students own a tobacco product.

of 11th graders said they’ve used an e-cigarette in the past 30 days, according to the Oregon Healthy Teens Survey, 2017.

of students said either they or someone they know are developing an addiction to substances.

61% 47%

of WAHS students said they have tried a drug (excluding alcohol) before.

of WAHS students who have tried a drug said that it was taken within the past month.

“I’ve had to hide it from friends for fear of judgement.” said one junior boy e-cigarette user All WAHS statistics were taken from an anonymous online survey of 168 students conducted by The Whirlwind.

18 THE WHIRLWIND / OCTOBER 2018

Continued from page 16

impaired control, and pharmacological criteria.

One common sign of SAD is the continual use of a drug, even after it has negatively affected a part of the user’s life— namely school, family, friendships, or work.

This was the case for one WAHS junior student, whose name we are not using to protect his privacy. The student was caught by his parents while using marijuana.

“My parents didn’t trust me, they still don’t after they found out,” the junior said.

Yet, even after being caught and losing the trust with his parents, he continued using.

“I got caught but I did it again because I liked the feeling I got after,” he said. “I didn’t really think about it or the consequences. It was impulsive.”

The contributing factors Impulse plays a huge part in teen substance use. In the moment, peer pressure or the desire for a fun time leaves no time to think about the consequences. Users see it as a way to have fun and forget the typical stresses of their personal world.

According to the American Academy Of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, “The majority of teens with substance abuse problems began using drugs or alcohol as a result of peer pressure.”

One junior boy, who claims he is not a drug user but has close friends who are, believes they use it to have a good time.

“I would say most of the time [they do it] because they don’t care about anything, they don’t give a [expletive], and want to spice up their life,.” the junior said.

According to the 2017 Oregon Healthy Teens Survey of 8th grade and junior students, by The Oregon Health Authority “The primary factors that seem to influence increased or decreased substance use among teens are perceived risk, perceived social approval, and perceived ability.”

Vaping, a method of tobacco or drug use that many view as less harmful than other methods, was the most frequently cited method of drug use amongst WAHS students according to those interviewed because of its ability to be disguised. Fruit flavored pods and small little devices allow students to vape almost anywhere, and because of that, they are.

But a single JUUL pod, one of the most popular commercially available products in

the e-cigarette market, contains the equivalent of 20 normal tobacco cigarettes The experience Some of the students interviewed admitted to “hitting the juul” in class and blowing it down their shirt to feel a rush of nicotine. They believe the crave for this rush isn’t classified as an addiction.

“It’s such a nice feeling, to get that rush of nicotine... and feel all dizzy for a few moments.” another junior boy, who asked The Whirlwind not to use his name to protect his identity, said. “...” The student doesn’t classify his desire for nicotine as an addiction, but instead a desire. “It’s something I could live without. I don’t have withdrawls. I just like the feeling it gives me.”

Too many times teens think something as simple as “hitting the juul” or “blazing” or taking a swig of their parents’ bottle of alcohol isn’t a big deal. Yet, another student, a senior boy, admits to taking it

attacks.”

“About a week after that I did molly and it set me back into the trip, [...] so I had to go to the hospital. [It] was all pretty scary.”

The senior later learned that the drug he was sold wasn’t what he was told it was, and he claims that another drug he took about a week after returned him to the same state as the previous drug trip, and he had to go to the hospital for treatment.

Though the senior eventually woke up, for many others one mistake will result in the end of their life. In 2015, 772 teens died due to drug overdose, according to National Institute on Drug Abuse for Teens.

The unknown While the world knows what alcohol and drugs like heroin do to the bodies of constant users, we have not yet seen what the results of vaping will be. “I believe vaping will strongly affect our bodies” one junior girl, who uses marijuana and too far. When asked if he wished he had vape, said “For most, it’s time taken out stopped at certain points, he said, “Yes, of our lives, just like stepping outside to because I’ve had multiple bad experiences smoke a cigarette. I am quite curious to that I could have avoided.” see the medical results of vaping in 50 The senior described one of these expe- years.” riences while reminiscing on the horror of With nicotine being the most popular one bad mistake. substance at West Albany, according to “I had never taken more than one dose all students interviewed, it’s assured this of acid and I wanted to try two... I went to generation will see the results JUULing this party and someone I had gotten acid has on the human body firsthand. from before said he had a vile on him, so I And while vaping nicotine is popupaid him, like before even stepping into the lar among students, the use of vaping party.” The source stared off, recalling this devices for other drugs is increasing as regretful night. well. So while many believe that the use After taking the first drug, the senior of nicotine reduces the risk associattook two additional drugs, creating a toxic ed with smoking traditional cigarettes, mix. some researchers are concerned about “After I took a dab, I was coughing and the widespread use of vaping devices I put my head down, and after that I was serving as an entrypoint for other drug unresponsive for around, like, four hours... use.

I woke up and the first thing I remember was puking and... had a lot of panic

Special / THE WHIRLWIND 18

P

WATCH THE

HAIR

BY Aisling Malone

20 THE WHIRLWIND / OCTOBER 2018

JAKOB JONES

Players sport long locks

JUNIOR RIELLY FIGUEROA

JUNIOR AUSTIN LEEPER

JUNIOR TIMMY HUBERT

SOPHOMORE RILYE WEDDLE

79

3 inches

6 inches

7 inches

Riley Figaroa

JUNIOR BLAKE BOWERS

Cole Norlander

SOPHMORE ZACK CEHRS

Timmy Huebert

12 inches

Blake Bowers

13 inches

Forrest Myers

14 inches

Austin Leeper

SOPHOMORE T.J. ZIMMERMAN

7 inches

“When I’m eating food, it can get in my mouth sometimes, and I kind of just have to spit it out.”

Rilye Weddle

SENIOR FORREST MYERS

8 inches

“I dyed it blue once and people called me Papa Smurf.”

Zach Cehrs

JUNIOR COLBY NORLANDER

9 inches

“A lot of people will come up behind you and just start touching [your hair], they start feeling it and they just love it so much.”

AS THEIR HEADS SWIVEL back and forth, the movements of blonde, brown, and black hair become capped by a helmet as they run out on the field. Sitting in the stands you can see the players’ hair poking out of their helmet. For a few years, about eight or nine football players have an unspoken pact to grow their hair out, and they’re learning how long hair can be hard to manage while playing a sport, whether it’s getting caught in objects or getting in the way.

Varsity football head coach Brian Mehl explained that “as long as they play good ball and they’re a good member of our team, then I don’t have that big of issues with it.” Some of the players get annoyed by little things students do to their hair.

Junior Austin Leeper says that the worst thing is ”when people try to pull it”, while Junior Timmy Hubert says that “In the middle of a drill all of a sudden my hair just fell in my face and I couldn’t really see and I had to go off for a few to fix my hair.”

Hair can go everywhere, as a lot of people know. Many players have been seen trying to tame their strands with hair ties, scrunchies, and headbands.

This isn’t the first time the football team has done something spunky with their hair. Coach Cole Pouliot remembers, “Every once in awhile, players want to do something for fun. Sometimes they shave their heads or one year they did mohawks.”

With this generation of players not being the only ones to do this kind of thing, this could be counted as a tradition that is pretty unique to West Albany and is just one more way of showing our team spirit.

T. J. Zimmerman

WHAT IS THE FUNNIEST IS THE THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO YOUR HAIR?

SPORTS

total inches of hair between the nine players SPORTS / THE WHIRLWIND 21

Broken Rules Gender bias evident throughout most sports, resulting in unequally enforced rules, unnecessary moderation

BY Gabrielle Budlong and Cheyenne Such

I M A G I N E F I N D I N G T H E S P O R T of your dreams, something you can channel your energy into, something you looked forward to everyday that meant everything to you. Now imagine being shot down constantly during this sport by fans, coaches, and other players. Sadly, this is a reality for many women in athletics, such as tennis players, Serena Williams and Alize Cornet.

While inequalities in sports may not be the most popularized media subject, it is undeniably reappearing. At West Albany, coach and student opinions differed starkly about the subject. What’s causing these inequalities? How do these affect everyone involved? How can we resolve these and move toward equality?

Sophomore Caleb Hart participates in cross country and wrestling. His main concern is that both genders don’t have equal opportunities or options in sports.

“Say someone, like a female, wants to play football. They have to try for the men’s team,” explains Hart. “So one: that makes them feel less valued, and two: it’s going to be a lot harder for them to make it onto the team.”

Hart goes on to explain that these inequalities may stem from society’s view of women as less aggressive than men. However he mentions that advances are being made as to providing equal opportunities, such as adding the new women’s wrestling league in Oregon.

Sophomore Kendall Walton voices concern for younger viewers. She sees how much impact role models have on the aspirations and selfperceptions of young people.

“If all a child sees is male sports and male athlete enthusiasts, then they don’t believe that they have the same capability as the men they see in sports,” Walton said.

Walton also has seen in her own 22 THE WHIRLWIND / OCTOBER 2018

n

experience that female coaches are valued less because some people may believe that they don’t have the same knowledge or power as their male counterparts, especially when they coach in male-dominated fields. However, Walton does believe that the student body does a great job of supporting both genders when it comes to sports by attending both genders’ games, especially compared to other schools and sports at a professional level.

The differences between male and female players appear most in the way rules are set and enforced. All three of the athletes interviewed agreed that male athletes are coached to be far more aggressive than female athletes of the same sport.

“Men are viewed as more aggressive, so are coached more aggressively,” sophomore Cloey Marsh explained. “Women are not coached as aggressively, and I think that the coaches know that they don’t tend to be as aggressive or they don’t realize that they could be as aggressive, so they shy away from that kind of coaching.”

June Morris, head coach of the cross country team, which has both male and female athletes, could only recall one experience of discrimination, where a bus driver who was trying to make small talk with her and the co-coach assumed that co-coach Blain Willard was of higher

authority because he is a male. Morris recounts that the likely reasoning behind this assumption was simply that “that’s been our cultural norm for a long time.”

According to the Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport,

4%

of all sport media coverage goes to women’s sports, despite 40% of all athletes being women.

While athletes and coaches point to many factors that influence the gender divide in sports, the largest problems include lack of participation and tradition, which equates to less support and fewer changes.

Bryan Barker, assistant coach for JV football, wrestling, softball, and also a Special Olympics coach, doesn’t see a lot of inequalities within our school, but he believes the main cause of inequality that does exist falls onto the shoulders of the

student body. Barker tries to attend every game he can, and he notices a significant difference between the attendance of male games and their female equivalents. Barker observes that the audience of volleyball games is mainly coaches, parents, and some football players that go to the game after their practice ends. However, students manage to fill up entire stadiums for Friday football games.

“I would think that a lot of girls would like to support their fellow female athletes, and I don’t see that from the student body.

I see more teachers and parents,” Barker said. “I really believe that more of the inequality comes from [students].”

Barker wants to see more support evenly spread throughout all of our school activities, whether it be sports, chess, or speech and debate.

The majority of our staff and students at West Albany agree that there are inequalities between different gendered sports, but also that our high school does a good job of putting these inequalities to rest through our inclusion of so many sports and clubs. Many inequalities are, however, apparent in college sports and national leagues. While it’s never easy to shift an entire society’s mindset, eventually any inequality can be overcome.

International Examples EXAMPLES OF GENDER BIASED INEQUALITIES WITHIN TENNIS

There are many examples of unfairness to women or men in different sports, some of them not as obvious as others.

On Sept. 19, Serena Williams played a tennis match against 20-year old Naomi Osaka. Williams got three points taken away from her throughout the game, which caused her to lose to Osaka. Her first point was deducted for receiving coaching signals, the second for breaking her racket, and then the last one that cost her the game was for calling the umpire a “thief.”

Williams wasn’t as upset from losing as she was from the umpire being sexist. Williams’ evidence of sexism from the umpire was her experience of seeing male tennis players have much worse outbursts at umpires and not be penalized for it. Whether or not the umpire was intentionally being sexist is unknown, but many have perceived the point reductions the same as CHEYENNE SUCH

Williams did. Regardless, Williams feels she deserves an apology from the umpire.

French tennis player Alize Cornet changed her outfit during a 10 minute break during a game on Aug. 28. When Cornet got back to the court, she realized her shirt was on backwards. Cornet removed her shirt and put it back on the right way, briefly revealing her black sports bra underneath. Immediately, the umpire announced that she would be receiving a penalty for this. However, male tennis players remove their shirts during matches from time to time without penalty. After receiving major backlash, officials from the organization say that Cornet did not actually break any rules.

The same week that Cornet was slapped with a penalty for her brief shirt removal, Serena Williams’ outfit

was banned. Williams wore a cat-suit styled bodysuit to the 2018 French Open. She claimed the outfit made her feel like a “Wakanda warrior princess.”

The president of the French Tennis Federation, Bernard Giudicelli, claimed that the outfit would be banned and never allowed again. Giudicelli even said, “You have to respect the game and the place.” Fans, media, and other athletes rushed to Williams’ side and defended the outfit because of the health reasons for it. Williams had been having problems with blood clots and the cat-suit was supposed to prevent these. The outfit wasn’t revealing, didn’t restrict her movement, and didn’t seem to impact the game in any negative way. So why, they asked, restrict what female tennis players can wear, especially when it’s in support of good health?

SPORTS / THE WHIRLWIND 23

24 THE WHIRLWIND / OCTOBER 2018

HAYLEY-MAE HARLAN

N

Kreepy Kat

Creepy vintage baby doll carried around on home game days serves as girls soccer team mascot

BY Hayley-Mae Harlan

S H E S I T S O N T H E B E N C H creepy baby doll?’ and we’ll say, ‘Hey, for every girls soccer game. She we have a home game tonight at could be considered the team’s seven, so come support us!’”

“I don’t wanna see that thing biggest fan. She advertises home games, provides moral support, and ever again,” senior Logan Klein said.

“Looking at it was a bit gets decked out in disturbing.” soccer gear. She is The mascot, known also a deformed baby formally as Kreepy doll.

Kat, gets dressed up by Sophomore the team in different Kendall Walton outfits. She lost an and junior Bethany arm, but the team just Marteeny retold writes it off as old Kat’s origin story, age. The Instagram starting with the LOGAN KLEIN SENIOR account for Kat is run 2014-15 team at the by the seniors of the coast for a bonding team. You can find it trip.

Marteeny, though she was not on the team at under @kreepy_kat, where her new the time, said coach Erik Ihde told looks get shown off along with team the team, “‘Here’s $20, you can events. Anyone can tell that she’s not get whatever you want at this flea pleasant to look at, but she stands for tradition and friendship for the team. market.’”

“This year we went to Black Butte “Immediately they bought Kat,” Walton said. She cost $18, and the at [junior] Annie Berry’s grandparents’ house. It was tradition she Follow Kat and the girls a really fun brought to soccer team on Instagram trip. We have the team was @kreepy_kat Festivus. This priceless. @wahsoccer year it was The doll at five in the makes an appearance at practices, games, in the morning, and it’s just a bunch of hallways, on Instagram, and spends fun games that we play. We do a lot the night with the new players, too. of scavenger hunts, too. We have This year, the team has established team dinner like twice a week,” said a tradition of passing Kat off to Marteeny. “I really like all the girls on other players on the team at school, the team. They’re super nice and we who take her to their classes on the just get along really well. Of course, day of a home game. Their idea is I love soccer, too, so it’s really nice intended to draw attention and get to play the sport that I love with the people that I really like.” more people to attend the games.

“I created a monster,” Ihde said.

“At West Albany, soccer isn’t the main sport,” Walton said. “Kat is part of the team — a hideous “Obviously people will turn their part of the team, but a part of the heads and say, ‘Why do you have a team nonetheless.”

“I don’t wanna see that thing ever again.”

PHOTOS USED WITH PERMISSION OF SENIOR SIENNA HIGINBOTHAM

SPORTS / THE WHIRLWIND 25

A LOOK INSIDE THE BAG OF JUNIOR HI-STEPPER JAHNAY TRAYNOR

WHAT’S IN MY BAG?

INSPIRED BY

Cross Country Chain of Inspiration SENIOR

ROXANE JERY is inspired by

Hairbrush Ankle Weight

Bobby Pins and Hair Ties

Keys Deodorant

“Emelia because I used to run with her and I would try to stay next to her.

Thanks to her, because I was following her, I improved my time.”

Q-tips

JUNIOR

EMELIA WATTS is inspired by

Dry Shampoo Shampoo, Conditioner, and Body Wash

Perfume and Lotion

Dance Shoes

Hair Straightener

“Elena Stein because she is so supportive and hard-working. She always makes everyone feel super welcome and included into every silly activity that our crazy team comes up with.”

SOPHOMORE

ELENA STEIN

BY Jordan Andreas

IF I’M NOT THEN I’M

,

SOPHOMORE ELI P O D R A B S K Y has been playing soccer since he was eight years old, and he’s been playing the saxophone since he was in fifth grade. The time given to each activity doesn’t seem to create conflicts, but there are exceptions.

“The last game that we had, and the last concert that we had, we had to reschedule both of them because they were on the same night.”

When asked which one he would rather pursue, he struggled to choose between the two, explaining that he puts more time into soccer, but music is a really big part of his life.

26 THE WHIRLWIND / OCTOBER 2018

JORDAN ANDREAS

MEMORABLE MOMENT T H I S Y E A R , T H E B O Y S varsity water polo team traveled to Parkrose High School for a tournament on Sept. 14-15, with a player who was sick to his stomach. Junior Colby Huddleston describes this tournament as his most memorable moment this year.

“We started out the game 0 to 5 with a kid throwing up...We ended up shutting them out for the whole last three quarters of the game and winning 15 to five, which allowed us to go to the championship game to play Parkrose.”

is inspired by

“Sarah Hamilton because she has so much spirit and love for the sport.”

SOPHOMORE

SARAH HAMILTON is inspired by

“Malachi Murphy because he has good team spirit, he supports others like there’s no tomorrow, and he’s passionate about what he does [running].”

Radium Girls

ENTERTAINMENT

Latest fall play is a law drama centering around the dangers of the workplace environment, the lethality of the radioactive element: radium

BY Jakob Jones

ON A SCALE OF ONE to ten, would you recommend a radium-laced drink promising medicinal benefits to a friend?

“Absolutely not,” said senior Bekah Kenney, who plays Grace Fryer in the drama department’s production of “Radium Girls.”

The play debuts the first week of November. The play’s story takes place amidst the Roaring ‘20s, a decade when new and mystical products were being invented for an eager consumer world. Some of these new products were derived from the seemingly magical element radium. Unbeknownst to the world at the time, radium is a dangerous, radioactive material. Female factory workers who worked with the substance, dubbed “radium girls,” gradually sickened from radiation poisoning and perished soon after. The play follows the true story of two radium girls—Grace Fryer and Katherine Schaub—as they realize radium may not be the miracle ingredient the world believes. After their fellow workers die around them, they seek vengeance against the company they worked for.

West Albany’s newest play stands out from many of its previous fall dramas. Senior Harrison Cordle, who plays the two parts of Von Sochocky and Knef, said one of the most intriguing aspects is how the story blurs the line between right and wrong.

“There are no real bad guys or good guys in a way, and you never know who is going to win,” Cordle said. “I think people are going to be excited to see that in the show.”

This observation lends itself well to the play’s antagonist: Arthur Roeder, played by

JAKOB JONES

Pictured above [left to right] freshman David Nicholas, junior Lexi Ludgreen, sophomore Lauren Rose, senior Bekah Kenney, senior Kasper O’Neil, senior Sam Rossback, freshman Tori Thorp, sophomore Megan Dorn, junior Elizabeth Lake, senior Logan Klein

senior Logan Klein. Roeder owns the business where the radium girls work, and at first, Roeder refuses to believe the dangers of radium, focusing on the interests of the entire company. Having a villain who isn’t completely evil and intimidating is always a fresh sight.

To make the new play the best that it can be, the cast and crew are hard at work polishing off the performance and set.

Director Cate INTERESTED? Caffarella exRadium Girls plained it is Nov. 2, 7 p.m. important for Nov. 3, 2p.m. & 7 p.m. them to cap$5 tickets at the door West Albany High School, ture the feel of the play. “A Little Theater lot of times we try to go for comedy, a little bit lighter, a little bit funner, to make our audience laugh... This is the first time we’ve done a story that has actually happened. This is a historical drama of sorts... We are trying to make it very real for the audience, to have them go through the same experiences that the girls went through.”

The booming industrialism in the 1920s and the horror of working with radioactive materials is captured well in the play. Rusty pipes in the Little Theater were often out of place in previous plays, however, they fit

the glum city scape in the play. The actual horror the girls suffered is summed up by Kenney, saying, “Things glow in the dark, and people like, die. It’s scary stuff.” Indeed, at one point in the play, blood oozes from the mouth of one of the actors as a result of osteonecrosis in the jaw.

Aside from the special effects and the acting, Caffarella encourages people to watch the play. Fryer and Schaub were women who actually existed; the play is a new medium to tell their story. “This was the first set of employees to sue their employer because of hazardous work conditions,” Caffarella said. “Their lawsuit led to the establishment of things like OSHA and having safety regulations in the workplace, making sure employers were held accountable for the safety of their workers.” In the past, nobody verified the safety of the products they were consuming and producing. In the 1920s, it may have been radium. In the 1950s, it could’ve been asbestos—a material used in construction and buildings which was found to be carcinogenic nearly 20 years later. Presently, there could be many products we are exposed to on a daily basis, which is why Caffarella says the play will help pose the idea that, “maybe we as a culture need to rethink the way we consume.”

ENTERTAINMENT / THE WHIRLWIND 27

JENNA THOMAS

Why do people chase horror, thrill, and excitement?

BY Kaden Strametz

HALLOWEEN, A NIGHT F U L L O F mythical, cartoonish, playful, scary, and eccentric costumes, but most importantly a night full of fright. This raises the question, why do others love horror? Is it the thrill, the adrenaline, the surprise?

Junior Erin Maloney said, “It’s exciting because there’s different genres of it, and it can either be a jump scare [or] it could be a slow build up. It can lead you down a complete different direction.” Either way, she explains, “it’s fun.” According to sophomore Ben Hugulet, the reason for others loving horror is, “the feeling of the intensity, getting jump scared, [and] the adrenaline.” Who would love that? Why would anyone enjoy that?

Hugulet himself despises horror movies. “I put myself in that situation and I wouldn’t necessarily enjoy being in that situation,” he explains. The feeling of insecurity or uncertainty while watching these fear inflicting movies is something others who hate—or even love—horror movies feel. “It could just be like the overall mood of the movies, books or games. It can cause anxiety and that’s not really a feeling most want to endure, so they tend to avoid it,” Maloney said.

Does that mean if you watch someone running down a hallway trying to escape the clutches of demonic a creature or crazy, murderous, lunatic the experience is any different than what we would experience you were actually being chased? The

answer is no according to Glenn Sparks, a professor of communication at Purdue University, who told WebMD, “We can tell ourselves the images on the screen are not real, but emotionally our brain reacts as if they are ... our ‘old brain’ still governs our reactions,” Sparks explains.

“It goes back to...our tribal ancestors, where the entrance to manhood was associated with hardship. We’ve lost that in modern society,” which we have replaced with our entertainment preferences.

In any case we love what we love. To say that it is the adrenaline is to say the least; however, we can narrow it down to the more we endure the more we can say we experienced.

Recommended Horror Movies of 2018 Hereditary

Halloween

Universal Pictures,Blumhous Productions,Miramax

A murderous lunitic, Michael Myers escapes to finish what he started 40 years ago.

28 THE WHIRLWIND / OCTOBER 2018

A24

After the death of matriarch a family uncovers cryptic secrets.

A Quiet Place

Paramount Pictures

In the year 2020 earths population has been wiped almost been wiped out by creatures.

Haunted every seven years

West Albany’s haunted houses are only offered every seven years

BY Corbin Ulibarri

HALLOWEEN HAS ALWAYS BEEN A TIME of fearful joy, which West Albany embodies every time at their haunted house. Some may not realize it, but it has been almost four years since the last Halloween haunted house has been put on, and it will not happen again for another three years. Science teacher Chris Hains noted that in the past, haunted houses would go down to the basement, but that was almost too scary.

“It’s kind of too bad,” remarked science teacher Kelli Backer.

“It gave students something to do that’s fun and social. It would be nice to see that come back.” The last time a haunted house was done, it was well received by many of the student body and much anticipated.

“It was well put together and actually had good jump scares,” remembers junior Connor Delp. “It was professional, scary, and surprising all at the same time.” According to Delp, the lines to get into the haunted house were also really long, showing how much the school had gotten together for this one event. It’s also worth noting that because this event only happens once every seven years, some of the student body at West Albany will never get the chance to experience or help with the creation of a haunted house.

“I think it’s cool that it’s kind of rare, but at the same time not every class gets to do it,” Hains said. “It seems that maybe if the students ask for it, they could get it more often.”

HAUNTED HOUSE LOCATIONS TO VISIT THIS HALLOWEEN SAUVIE ISLAND

Haunted Corn Maze $15 per person 16205 NW Gillihan Rd. Portland, OR

THE FEAR PDX Haunted House $30 per person 12301 NE Glisan St. Portland, OR

THE FRIGHTUARY

Haunted House $15 per person 796 W 13th Ave. Eugene, OR

Hours

Tuesday - Saturday 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.

Sunday - Monday Closed

Contact Information (541) 704-1128

Website

thefirstburger.com 210 1st Ave W, Albany, Oregon 97321 ENTERTAINMENT / THE WHIRLWIND 29

Put on your tinfoil hats

Why are conspiracy theories making a resurgence?

BY Preet Dhaliwal

D U E T O T H E R I S E of social media, more and more teenagers are starting to learn about and believe conspiracy theories. With this comes the spread of false information. What are conspiracy theories?

“Conspiracy theories are stories which [we] pick and choose evidence that fits that theory, and have a tendency to ignore or reject evidence that defies their theory,” social studies teacher Marty Johnston said.

Conspiracy theories throughout history have never been taken seriously by the general population, but as time goes on, they have been gaining more and more believers—along with more controversy.

Some examples of conspiracies are the moon landing, Bush did 9/11, existence of the Illuminati, etc.

Conspiracies are almost everywhere, but how are they spread? Conspiracies come from anyone and everyone in the world.

“Rumors in general tend to gain ground and spread throughout social media and the internet,” Johnston explains. The spread of conspiracies is increasing, but the amount of people who believe them don’t correlate with the people who do believe in conspiracy theories are very avid believers. One of the most popular and believed conspiracies is that the moon landing. never happened. Even people who believe the moon landing happened, like Johnston, would say that its the most likely to be a conspiracy.

When challenged by social studies teacher Kyle Hall to pick a conspiracy theory that seems the most believable, Johnston replies with “probably the moon landing.” Hall chose the Kennedy assassination because of the lack of information and how sketchy it was.

Social studies teacher Todd Zimmerman strongly believes the moon landing was staged and offers proof to back up

his claim. He points to how it was never done again, and how no other country attempted it.

“The lack of any other country being able to pull off this one event, this one thing, that somehow the rest of the world has never been replicate it” indicates the moon landing was faked, according to Zimmermann. He argues, “Nuclear weapons have been replicated and every other piece of technology that has been invented by humankind has been knocked off. “The moon landing has never been replicated or repeated.”

The spread of unreliable sources such as YouTubers like Shane Dawson and people not reading multiple sources to find out if something is real or not leads to the birth of conspiracy theories and false information.

This then finds its way to the internet and social media, where millions of people read it and then spread it on to JENNA THOMAS friends and family.

All Clubs start @ 7:14pm unless noted otherwise

Mon. Oct 29 6:14 - 8:14pm West & South

Bose Family Farm Meet @All Star Staffing

Mon. Nov 5 West & South

Pumpkin Bash @All Star Staffing

Mon. Nov 19 WAHS Club

@All Star Staffing

Mon. Dec 10 West & South Mr. Christmas Tree

@Neighborhood Church

www.albanyyounglife.com 30 THE WHIRLWIND / OCTOBER 2018

@abanyyounglife

A new model

Senior Maddie Rowe casts off expectations in her journey to becoming a freelance teenage model

BY Jenna Thomas

WITH AROUND 20 GIRLS waiting eagerly in a room to hear back about whether their photos and personalities made the cut, the atmosphere was tense and nerve-wracking. When results were in, senior Maddie Rowe was the only one called back by the agency.

“I felt bad because of all the other people,”Maddie said. “There were some girls that were crying.” After noticing Maddie when she followed them on Instagram, Muse Management, a Portland-based modeling agency, reached out to her and invited her to an open call for an opportunity to be signed. Maddie’s close friend, Kaylee Buset, once accompanied her to a casting.

JENNA THOMAS

“I felt very out of my comfort zone, but it was kind of fun to see,” Buset said. “I just kind of sat awkwardly on the couch.

I was like ‘wow.’” According to Buset, the environment was professional and intimidating, but the models themselves were very friendly. “It seemed like a lot to me at first, but I always supported Maddie in what she did.”

According to Lisa Rowe, Maddie’s mother, Maddie was 14 years old when she first started modeling.

“My first thoughts were that I was worried about the industry and body image,” Lisa recalled. However, she found the experiences to be good for her daughter’s self-esteem at times, and she enjoyed seeing how Maddie wanted to get up in front of people. Maddie’s original views were similar to her mother’s.

“I didn’t think that it would help me become more confident because it’s so demanding and so belittling, and the rules are so strict,” she explained, “but I think it helped me become more confident.”

After working with more local artists and fashion designers and experiencing all of the negative effects of the modeling industry, Maddie eventually chose to put in the work on her own. “You’re always too big. You’re always too small.

You’re always too tall or too short. It can be two at the same time,” she explained. “I realized

that that’s not realistic or possible for my body at all.”

Concerning the rules and dimensions Maddie never perfectly met for many possible jobs, Buset explained, “Just seeing her get rejected was kind of disappointing, and their strict standards were interesting.”

Maddie eventually moved on to art photography and local jobs, essentially becoming freelance. “Why am I doing this when I could be doing it on my own?” she offered.

She found a bigger appeal in the depth of art photography over the money-making purposes of the modeling industry.

“I think with art photography, it’s more that I feel like I’m putting something into the artist’s work,” Maddie said. As opposed to the demanding nature of modeling for an agency, art photography and freelance jobs give more perspective, according to Maddie.

MADDIE ROWE SENIOR “It gives you an idea of how you’re not actually the important person in the group. Like you’re the model, yes, but it’s not all about you… It’s kind of more of a creative feeling—like I’m making something, not just money.”

Lisa recognizes the disappointment in Maddie’s modeling experiences due to the agency and industry altogether, and she sees Maddie thriving more in art photography.

“She loves getting her picture taken,” she said. “She seems like a natural in that.”

Maddie is not currently signed with an agency, but rather finds jobs in her own time and ability. Her words of wisdom for those interested in the career: “You have to definitely know yourself for it,” she claims, citing how entering with an attitude of self-consciousness will eventually break you down under the industry’s demanding nature. With her lessons learned and experience under her belt, Maddie’s future consists of paving her own path.

“I don’t think that I’ll be doing a lot of professional stuff with agencies, but I think [I’ll be] doing it a lot on my own and finding jobs and just having people take pictures of me because they want to [and] because they have a cool idea.”

“You’re always too big. You’re always too small.

You’re always too tall or too short...

I realized that that’s not realistic or possible for my body at all.”

ENTERTAINMENT / THE WHIRLWIND 31

SP

MY BEST WORK

TTED

BY Braxton Reece

On a file cabinet in the back of his room, sits a music video from 2011, featuring a younger Chris Martin and some high school buddies.

SENIOR RACHEL

JOHNSON

“I chose it because pugs are cute, and I really like doing water coloring, I think it’s really fun and relaxing... and my favorite color is blue so, blue pajamas.”

SARAH BALL

JUNIOR

ANNIE BERRY

“It’s a paper sculpture, and its a self portrait, I like to use the white on the outside, and the really colorful, kind of crazy part on the inside, and I like it cause you can look at it from different angles, even the back looks different.”

JUNIOR

MORGAN LANGLEY

2004

“The most scared most scared I’ve ever been walking out of a movie was ‘The Grudge.’...I had to sleep with the lights on that night.”

“I do one thing and then just kind of build on it and this is just kind of what it turned into...I was trying to develop a repeating idea, so I did the queen of hearts.”

“I guess it’s just like a mood to me, I just draw how I feel most of the time…she has horns, so she’s like a demon, demons are usually forsaken, I like to hide words in my stuff…she’s just a really hot girl.”

In 2006, The Who, one of Kyle Hall’s favorite bands at the time, is coming to Portland. He invites his girlfriend of 8-9 months (who would later become his wife) to the concert with him, under the impression that he will be paying for the 100+ dollar ticket, he will not.

HEAD 2 HEAD

SPANISH TEACHER KEN BEISER

“The Grudge”

Under his whiteboard, stretching far, are a line of Altoid cans. Marty Johnston has a few a day, and has been stacking the empty cans for almost 8 years now.

JUNIOR

“The Ring” 2002

“‘The Ring’ is also really good, it’s not necessarily super scary but I really like that one.”

32 THE WHIRLWIND / OCTOBER 2018

“Paranormal Activity” 2007

“I had never seen anything like that before in long form, in a film. It was like one of the scary TV shows. I thought it was good.”

“Event Horizon” 1997

“My all time favorite movie is ‘Event Horizon.’

It’s more of a scifi movie... and it really scared me. I don’t know why, but it’s really good.”

SENIOR SOPHIE ADAMS

“The Conjuring” 2013

“I really like ‘The Conjuring’ because it’s just scary. It’s good.

It actually kind of scared me.”

“The Babadook” 2014

“I thought it was good because it wasn’t super scary, but it made me think a little bit, and it was low budget.

It had a weird feel to it I kind of liked.”