The Rock - April 2019

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The Student Voice of Rock Bridge High School Since 1 973 • 4303 S. Providence Rd. Columbia, Mo. 6 5203 • Vol. 46 Issue 6 • April 25, 2019

Students pledge no texting and driving Emily Oba

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[SOURCE: WWW.CDC.GOV AND WWW.NCSL.ORG AND WWW.COMO.GOV]

ALLIE PIGG, ANNA XU/ THE ROCK

CPS district rejects CMNEA's changes to teacher evaluations T Anna Xu

eacher evaluations were one of seven items of deliberation between Columbia Public Schools (CPS) administration and school board and the Columbia Missouri National Education Association (CMNEA) for the 2019-20 school year.

These conversations, however, are null and void as CMNEA’s contract may not be eligible for renewal next school year, as currently the State Board of Mediation cannot conduct recertifications of unions. This is because of an injunction on House Bill 1413 that has halted the State Board of Mediation, RBHS principal Dr. Jennifer Rukstad said.

If CMNEA’s contract is not renewed with CPS, CMNEA representative and RBHS teacher Kory Kaufman worries CMNEA will lose its position as the primary bargaining unit with CPS. The subsequent loss of this position, Kaufman said, will reverse the progress made in the six years of bargaining. As of April 23, CMNEA filed a lawsuit against CPS for bargaining in bad faith.

Dr. Rukstad, however, senses the district won’t be the bad actors CMNEA fears.

“Could the district turn back on things they’ve agreed on through the past several years of collecting bargaining? They can, but they probably won’t because it does CPS, does the community of Columbia, does our schools no good to be that way,” Dr. Rukstad said. “If we agreed to it, it’s because we thought, ‘OK, it’s probably good for teachers and good for kids.’”

As for teacher evaluations, Dr. Rukstad said they will continue like this year under the Network for Educator Effectiveness (NEE) program of the University of Missouri—Columbia .

Principals or assistant principals observe and evaluate teachers at RBHS who will be retrained this summer, assistant principal Dr. Lisa Nieuwenhuizen said.

This year, 275 districts in Missouri utilize NEE, instructional consultant Cathie Loesing said. Before NEE, Loesing said, school districts had less effective evaluations that happened one class period a year.

“Usually if you were a fairly good teacher, you got all perfect scores,” Loesing said.

“But we believe at NEE that everybody has room for improvement, and we need to try and give teachers an accurate reflection of what they’re really strong in doing and what they could work [on].”

Non-tenured teachers must be observed six times a year and have a summative report every year. For tenured teachers, observation occurs three times while a summative evaluation only takes place every five years, according to CPS evaluation policy.

“Observation is where we go into the classroom, and we watch for 10 or 15 minutes and watch what’s going on and take some notes and give some feedback,” Dr. Nieuwenhuizen said. “At the end, those get compiled to make up their evaluation.”

Dr. Nieuwenhuizen said there are many ways to ensure evaluations are accurate and

MOY ZHONG / THE ROCK

[SOURCE: KURTIS JENSEN]

fair. For example, if a teacher isn’t instructing, such as when the class is watching a video, when a random evaluation takes place, Dr. Nieuwenhuizen said she comes back at a different time.

“We’re trained to evaluate only what we see in the snapshot that we’re there,” Dr. Nieuwenhuizen said. “So by going to different blocks, different times of the block, you should get like pixels of a digital image, and if you get enough pixels, you can really paint a picture.”

English teacher Deborah McDonough has been a teacher for 41 years, 18 of which were spent at RBHS. Because RBHS is a larger school, sometimes the evaluations aren’t as collaborative as she hopes.

“I wish there was more of a dialogue.

Like when you sit down with someone and you talk about a paper, you get a dialogue,” McDonough said. “I think the instrument doesn’t provide that. So you can say, 'I know this is the way you want me to improve but are you considering [my point of view?]'”

The scoring process, Nieuwenhuizen said, begins at a three and fluctuates from there depending on how well teachers hit standards. With a cap of seven, Nieuwenhuizen said she often scores her teachers in the four, five or six range, then provides feedback for why this is. McDonough said while she appreciates the evaluations, she doesn’t know if they actually improve her teaching.

“I think they’re helpful in making you aware of certain things,” McDonough said.

“I don’t know that they necessarily made my teaching better, but they’re trying to keep us up to date in certain trends in education.”

Last year, CPS introduced a new point of evaluation: student surveys. Junior Grace Hervey said she appreciates the survey because it allows her to communicate her feelings about her teachers in a constructive way.

“Some of my teachers like to drag on things longer than it needs to be. But it made me think about what I do like about [them],” Hervey said. “I don’t know if I got anything out of it, but I hope my teachers did.”

Dr. Nieuwenhuizen said although these surveys provide a useful tool, they have little impact on evaluations.

“I wouldn't say they have any [effect] at all. It’s something that teachers look at, and of course teachers want to get really good surveys,” Dr. Nieuwenhuizen said. “And if they don’t, that’s an opportunity for a conversation.”

COMMENTARIES. . . P6

IN-DEPTH. . . . . . P9-12

SPORTS. . . . . . . . . . P16

Stories of the past: Anna recalls stories her grandparents told her growing up while reflecting on their underlaying messages.

Artificial Intelligence: Present and future technologies spark controversy, concern and connection among students and experts.

Lead off: Junior Clayton Schnieder leads up from third base. Baseball will play against Blue Springs April 27.

urrently, the Vision Zero Action Plan is still underway. Its purpose is to provide initiatives for Vision Zero by focusing on three areas that can help improve road safety: engineering, education and enforcement.

The City of Columbia Council unanimously passed a Policy Resolution (PR178-16) and adopted the Vision Zero policy in December of 2016. Under the plan, Vision Zero pledged to eliminate all traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2030. To help with Vision Zero, RBHS students on the Youth Advisory Council (YAC) ran a distracted driving pledge, Vision Zero Program Manager Heather Cole said.

“The students among the three [Columbia Public Schools] high schools have gotten hundreds of students each year to take the pledge,” Cole said. “This is important for our mission because motor-vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among teens in the United States.”

An RBHS subgroup of YAC set up tables during lunch to show distracted driving simulations and also encouraged students to take a pledge against distracted driving.

VISION ZERO P3

[SOURCE: FOX NEWS, KY.GOV]

MOY ZHONG/ THE ROCK

House Bill 269 allows Bible literacy in schools Amanda Kurukulasuriya

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issouri is one of six states to push for Bible literacy in schools this year. Missouri House Bill (HB) 267, written by Republican State Rep. Ben Baker, would give schools permission to teach classes on the Hebrew Scriptures, as well as the Old and New Testament of the Bible in the context of “contemporary society and culture, including literature, art, music, mores, oratory and public policy,” according to the bill text.

The goal of the bill is to familiarize students with the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. HB 267 states knowledge of biblical content is a prerequisite to understanding Western society and culture.

Recently, the bill came under fire because the House rejected an amendment proposed by Republican State Representative Shamed Dogan of Missouri’s 98th District, which would add the Quran, the Vedas and the Sutras to the permitted texts. Brad Hudson, a co-sponsor of the bill, said this is because the Bible is the most significant religious text in regards to American and Western history.

“The primary focus of this bill has to do with the Bible and its influence upon Western culture and the founding of our nation,” Hudson said. “There is simply no other text that has had the influence upon Western culture and our nation as the Bible. Our founders quoted the scriptures either directly or indirectly more than any other single source. They are not to be religious classes.”

HB 267 is just one in a wave of legislation sweeping the nation. The President has tweeted his support for Bible literacy classes. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Kentucky, the only state that approved a Bible literacy bill, wrote a letter to the state Department of Education condemning Bible-centered classes.

Advanced Placement World History and World Religions teacher Gregory Irwin, who holds an undergraduate degree in philosophy and religion, is skeptical about the motivations of the bill.

PRINCIPAL P3

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INDEX . . . NEWS. . . . 1 EDITORIALS. . . . 5 COMMENTARIES . . . 7 IN-DEPTH. . . . . 9 FEATURES. . . . 13 SPORTS . . . . 16 A&E . . . . . 18

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NEWS | 3

Bill proposes Bible elective classes BIBLE LITERACY P1

Although the bill’s sponsors insist the Bible would only be taught from an academic standpoint, Irwin questions this, as having a class about exclusively one religious text seems to imply its promotion.

“Even though it’s an elective, in my mind you’re just getting into really unhealthy territory by saying we’re just going to focus on this one,” Irwin said. “If you want to learn more about the history of Christianity, go to church.

There’s the internet. Go to a Christian school where it’s required. If you’re going to offer it as a class, then you need to have single section offerings of Jainism, Confucianism, Islam [and] Buddhism. Part of the mission statement for Columbia Public Schools is to prepare kids for the world, so to just focus on the traditional religious texts of Christianity, the dominant religion of America, seems the opposite direction that we should be going.”

Junior Lucy Bozoian receives her Bible education at church where she participates in youth group. She is a devout Christian, but also believes public schools should strive for equality in how they educate on religious texts. She sees HB 267 as not only exclusionary, but also potentially detrimental to faith.

“I think that schools should be allowed to teach about religious texts, but I think if they’re going to teach about one, then they should be able to teach about all religious texts,” Bozoian said. “Love is what Christianity is based off of, and forced love isn’t real love. I think that the Constitution is right, that you should have the freedom to choose. I don’t want to try to force my religion on somebody because that’s not them willingly wanting to step into that relationship with Christ.”

While there is criticism of the bill, Hudson argues the Bible would be taught, not in promotion of Christianity, but in order to educate students on its effect on Western history. Additionally, Hudson stresses the classes would be in no way required.

“This is an elective course,” Hudson said. “No one is being forced to take it, so you’re going to have individuals who are choosing to take this particular course.”

Another point of contention is the qualification of those who will teach the Bible literacy classes.

“The Bible and Public Schools: A First Amendment Guide,” a report published by the National Bible Association and the First Amendment Center, states, “When selecting teachers to teach Bible electives, school districts should look for teachers who have some background in the academic study of religion. Unless they have already received academic preparation, faculty selected to teach a course about the Bible should receive substantive in-service training from qualified scholars before being permitted to teach such courses.”

Irwin worries even well-meaning teachers who do not have a background in the academic teaching of the Bible may accidentally make a statement of faith, but Hudson does not think this will be a problem.

“I think already there are procedures in place to make sure that our teachers are qualified to teach that curriculum from an academic standpoint,” Hudson said. “And I understand folks having the concern with regard to potentially a teacher taking this subject matter and using it as a religious class rather than an academic one. That potential could be there any time we reference a religious text at all, and that should not bring us to the point where we do not reference the historical significance of religious texts.”

ANNA XU / THE ROCK

It’s not only dangerous for you but you’re also posing a threat to people around you. We were on our way back from St. Louis and there was this giant truck that was just swerving in and out of the lanes. We think that he was doing something.”

— Malik Ibdah, senior

I’ve had family members that I’ve lost to distracted driving, and I’ve seen someone get into a crash in front of me. And I’ve also almost gotten into a car crash as a pedestrian. Walking in the actual parking lots itself means that you see distracted driving every day.”

— Shruti Gautham, sophomore

Yes, I’ve seen car accidents before. I think it’s kind of both, but more younger people are on their technology more, and they are more distracted than older people because they grew up without technology.”

— Saren Stegmeier, freshman

[SOURCES: CDC.GOV AND COMOVISIONZERO.ORG]

PHOTOS BY GEORGE FREY / INFOGRAPHIC BY SARAH KUHLMANN, ANNA XU / THE ROCK

Vision Zero acts to prevent distracted driving

VISION ZERO P1

Cover said Vision Zero is an important project because distracted driving deaths are preventable. “[Vision Zero] stresses dangers of distracted driving as a whole,” Cover said. “We often hear just about something like texting and driving when it comes to distracted driving, but there are other forms we’re less conscious of that are just as dangerous, and Vision Zero also stresses awareness of those.”

With the goal of eliminating traffic deaths by 2030, the Vision Zero Policy brings an effort toward change in Columbia. Previous City Manager Mike Matthes held Vision Zero World Cafe meetings that were open to the public and other city government employees. Through three meetings and an online survey, the group created the three teams — engineering, education and enforcement.

The Vision Zero plan aims to educate younger drivers. Not directly a part of Vision Zero but still

an advocate for safe driving, junior Olivia Guess together because you don’t have two hands on the makes sure she does not use her phone and pays wheel.”

While Guess is aware of the importance of stayfull attention to driving. While Guess only has ing focused while driveight months driving experiing, Cover said students ence, she experienced a couWe often hear just about something who want to help the Viple close calls. sion Zero initiative can While these near accidents like texting and driving when it comes support the goal as well were not because of distrac- to distracted driving, but there are tion, she knows instances other forms we’re less conscious of as make sure they are not driving distracted. when drivers were more care“[People should less with distraction. In fact, that are just as dangerous.” the National Highway Traffic — Will Cover make sure] when they’re Safety Administration stated junior a passenger in the car in 2017, 3,166 people died bethey aren’t distracting cause of distracted drivers in the driver, and they’re the United States. holding their friends accountable to that, too,” “I would consider a lot of things to be distract- Cover said. “The second thing they can do is aping,” Guess said. “Being on your phone, for one, ply to join the Youth Advisory Council at the end but talking with your friends can also be a distrac- of this month so they can help out with the Vision tion. Eating food while driving is just difficult all Zero initiative next year.”

Community reacts to Green New Deal Amanda Kurukulasuriya

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lthough Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. introduced the Green New Deal to Congress Feb. 7, many Americans are still unfamiliar with the contents of the bill.

Ocasio-Cortez tweeted a short film entitled “Art of the Green New Deal: A Message From the Future With AOC” April 17. The film includes visual art and a script narrated by Ocasio-Cortez detailing the origins of the bill and what she hopes it will achieve.

The legislation was created in response to the International Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) “Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C.” The report describes the disastrous effects of reaching an increase in climate of 2 degrees celsius above pre-industrialized levels including a 10 centimeter rise in sea levels, the collapse of coral reefs and the evacuation of the tropics and coastal cities.

The Green New Deal seeks to eliminate carbon emissions by, among other things, upgrading every building in the United States to attain optimal energy efficiency, investing in the creation of high speed rail and switching to 100 percent renewable, zero-emission energy sources within the decade.

Junior Shanley Silvey, an avid environmental advocate, visited Republican Senator Roy Blunt’s Columbia office in February to deliver a letter voicing her support of the Green New Deal and then protested outside the building.

She and other high school students chanted and held signs which included slogans such as “Change policy, not climate,” “No ‘clean’ coal” and “Act on facts.” She supports the bill because she believes extensive measures are necessary to combat rising global temperatures.

“I feel it is very important that we do something drastic now before it’s too late to reverse the effects,” Silvey said. “I think climate change is one of the most urgent and time sensitive issues we face today, and the Green New Deal is a perfect way to tackle such a daunting problem.”

While sophomore Quinn Tyler agrees that global warming is a serious concern, she thinks the bill

[SOURCES: WWW.NYTIMES.COM AND WWW.CNN.COM]

is an unrealistic solution. Tyler, a self-described Libertarian, believes the Green New Deal would be a strain on an already depleted national budget.

“I really don’t think that the Green New Deal is a financially responsible decision for us to be [making]. We’re very, very far in debt already,” Tyler said. “We need to figure out the funding situation and find a way to do something good for the environment that isn’t going to encroach on people’s personal freedoms or cause a massive decrease in our budget.”

While tackling the mitigation of climate change, the 14-page bill also addresses a wide range of social issues, including income inequality, job creation and access to higher education.

During Renee Hoagenson’s unsuccessful bid to represent Missouri’s 4th Congressional District in 2018, she championed many of the issues that the Green New Deal attempts to tackle, such as higher wages and health insurance.

While she supports the changes Ocasio-Cortez is pushing for, Hoagenson worries the expansive nature of the bill will prevent it from receiving bipartisan support.

“The only thing that I think is problematic with the Green New Deal is that it seems to address too much that is not related to global warming,” Hoagenson said, “and since we have such a short period

SARAH KUHLMAN, JI-SUNG LEE / THE ROCK

of time in which to address global warming, we need address other [issues] in another bill.”

While the bill is cosponsored by six 2020 presidential candidates, some Democrats see it as unrealistic, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calling the bill a “list of aspirations.” Far from condemning Ocasio-Cortez’s aspirational attitude, though, Hoagenson finds the young Congresswoman’s commitment admirable and refreshing.

“I think she’s a voice that we need,” Hoagenson said. “What I really like about this freshmen class is that they are willing to say the things that they believe that may or may not be palatable. They understand that it’s OK to take a stance and that it’s OK for other people to disagree.”

Regardless of whether or not the Green New Deal is a definitive solution, the IPPC’s report warns of the dangers of failing to address climate change. The report predicts a 1.5 to 2 degree celsius increase in global temperature will cause irreversible damage to the Earth and its inhabitants.

“I think ultimately we’re going to have to understand that we’re not going to get everyone on board with climate change, but we are still going to have to address it,” Hoagenson said. “It’s time to stop asking, ‘Do you believe in climate change?’ and start saying, ‘These are the things we’re looking at doing for climate change.’”

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EDITORIALS | 5

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BEFORE EDUCATION:

AFTER EDUCATION:

Americans need linguistic diversity George Frey

L

#1 DRIVER BEFORE LAWS:

AFTER LAWS:

VALERIA VELASQUEZ / THE ROCK

Say no to fines, yes to education D istracted driving is indisputably danger- stop raising penalties for those who break the ous. Sending or reading a text for five law but instead treat the problem at its root.

Education programs are far more likely to seconds at 55 mph is the equivalent of driving the length of a football field blindfold- work than response-based legislation. High ed, according to the U.S. Department of Trans- Visibility Enforcement (HVE) and public health education programs are likely to solve portation (DOT).

But in trying to prevent the thousands of the problem better than distracted driving ordinances according to Children’s Hospital lives lost annually to preoccupied drivers, of Philadelphia, Research Institute. legislation in Missouri and nationHVE is an especially wide has been largely ineffecShould Missouri promising option for Mistive and targets the wrong part change its laws souri. HVE incorporates of the problem. efforts to educate people One Dallas Morning News to be less strict? on laws according to analysis said, “Crash THE ROCK STAFF VOTED the National Highdata in 12 Texas cities way Traffic Safewith cellphone rules YES — 16 ty Administration found no consistent (NHTSA). Breaking reduction in distracted NO — 12 from traditional law driving wrecks after enforcement, HVE cities enacted bans.”

Additionally, NPR wrote in 2014 that despite applies a preventative approach to solving disanti-texting laws passed in 41 states, drivers tracted driving.

Preventing the problem is decidely more efhave not been deterred from distracted driving.

Missouri especially needs change as road- fective in the fight for traffic safety. The DOT ways become more and more dangerous. reports HVE has been successful in deterring The Kansas City Star reported, “Since 2014, distracted driving.

When looking toward an effective solution cellphone-related crashes in Missouri have increased by 35 percent, with nearly 2,600 to distracted driving, it is important to examine crashes in 2017. At least 100 people died from what is proven to work. Massachusetts is the safest state to drive in, as reported by Centers distracted driving the previous year.”

These dangerous road conditions derive for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention by from the punitive nature of America’s current Healthgrove. Additionally, according to a study distracted driving laws. Legislators need to conducted by the CDC, only 32 percent of teen

drivers in Massachusetts reported texting or emailing while driving, a statistic that ranks among the lowest of state averages.

Careful analysis by the Boston Globe concluded graduated driver licensing programs in Massachusetts excel at teaching safe driving skills and habits to teen drivers, a key component to why the state’s drivers are so safe.

These teen-education strategies correct distracted driving before it begins.

Finally, the issue is a matter of the way America handles laws themselves. Increased punishment, empirically, does not change the amount of criminal offending, Psychology Today wrote. The reason lies in human nature, according to Dr. Michael Karson, Professor of Professional Psychology. Dr. Karson wrote, “Punishment does not change the tendency to engage in the behavior that was punished. Instead, it makes the [person] want to avoid the source of punishment. As soon as the situation seems different in some way, the tendency to engage in the behavior will reassert itself.”

The failure of Texas and New York’s attempts at preventing distracted driving through lucrative punishment prove this theory. Massachusetts’ approach, along with HVE, is the correct one in solving the problem of distracted driving.

Deterrence and education are the route to safe roads in Missouri. Benjamin Franklin puts it best, “It is easier to prevent bad habits than to break them.”

Safe driving calls for mirror on service road Ann Fitzmaurice

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ulling out of RBHS’ south parking lot and onto the service road, a driver has three options: left, right and an accident.

The third choice becomes available with either direction the driver decides to take during school hours. The impending car crash is not truly anyone’s fault; whoever is driving the car to the parking lot could be extra careful and still get T-boned, and the oncoming cars could slow down and still not be aware that someone is attempting to pull out.

The reason for wrecking one’s car and one’s insurance cost is because RBHS does not have traffic mirrors outside the south lot.

Outside of the Chick-Fil-A, 305 N. Stadium Blvd., a traffic mirror allows customers to safely pull onto the road when a dumpster obstructs their views. At RBHS, cars parked on the side of the road by the south entrance block drivers’ ability to see oncoming traffic, but without a safety mirror. Other businesses have already imple-

The Rock

Rock Bridge High School 4303 S. Providence Rd. Columbia, Mo. 65203 Vol. 46, Issue 6 April 25 2019 Population: 1,934 Students, 190 Faculty Circulation: 1,600 Contact information: Phone: (573) 214-3141

mented a traffic mirror to keep people and their cars from injury.

RBHS needs to adopt the same system.

RBHS prohibits freshmen and sophomores from leaving campus for their own safety, but does administration stop caring about safety when those same students attempt to leave at the end of the day?

Without a traffic mirror helping students enter the roadway, the current answer to this question seems close to a yes.

Blind spot collisions are one of the most common yet most easily preventable types of accidents, as reported by National Safety Mirror, and blind spot technology on cars reduced total car crashes by 14 percent and accidents yielding injury by 23 percent, according to a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Although equipping every student car with blind-spot detection technology is not realistic, RBHS can do its part to keep students safe by installing a mirror.

A traffic mirror is not costly. In Website: bearingnews.org Advertising: $50 — 1/4 Page $100 — 1/2 Page $150 — Full Page $200 — Back Page The Journalism Newspaper and Honors Seminar classes produce The Rock, Bearing News and Southpaw. The paper’s purpose is to accurately inform, educate and enlighten readers in an open

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order for the mirror to be effective, there needs to be two mirrors touching each other on one side to form a V-shape, with one mirror pointing to the north side of the service road, and one to the south.

The mirrors are commonly mounted to posts and trees, so RBHS would need to install a pole three to five feet in the ground in addition to the mirror itself.

The traffic mirror costs less than yearly car maintenance, according to the National Safety Mirror website, and RBHS could easily pay for these expenses. If administration used the money from 12 students’ parking passes — $50 each — it would pay for the two mirrors

forum. The Rock is a member of the National Scholastic Press Association, Columbia Scholastic Press Association and Quill & Scroll.The Rock accepts letters to the editors from its readers regarding any possible issues of concern in the publication. If you have a letter to send, email it to contact@bearingnews.org.

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RBHS needs to keep students safe.

Additionally, geometry classes could use the traffic mirrors as a learning opportunity to study parabolas, and their help with the math of installing the mirrors could be an academic project with real-life results.

Students do not create the danger outside of the south parking lot.

The people who park on the side of the road are parking legally; cars are exiting slowly and cautiously, and oncoming cars have the right of way, though they can also not see which cars are attempting to pull out. Traffic mirrors are a simple solution to a threatening daily endeavor.

standards set by the staff.

Editors-In-Chief: Ann Fitzmaurice Ji-Sung Lee Emily Oba Katie Whaley Business Manager: Ethan Hayes A&E Editor: Ben Kimchi Commentaries Editor: Saly Seye Editorials Editor: Ethan Hayes

anguage is the essence of humanity and arguably what sets us apart from animals.

The many different facets of language — speaking, reading and writing — are vital to most cultures. Both written and unwritten, Romance or Germanic, people around the world speak a variety of languages.

An estimated 1.2 billion people are native speakers of Mandarin Chinese, according to the online language learning service, Babble.

Spanish is second in line for the world’s most spoken language with an estimate of more than 400 million native speakers, while English ranks third with almost 360 million.

Because of these numbers, at least in many other parts of the world, there is a precedent to learn English over all other languages, even if it is not the most predominant language by population.

In many European countries, students are required to learn at least one year of a foreign language, especially during elementary school. Countries like Malta, Lichtenstein and Luxembourg have 100 percent of their students enrolled in a foreign language class during their elementary education, according to European Commission’s Eurostat.

Meanwhile outside Europe, in nations such as India, an estimated 125 million people can speak English, making it second to the United States in its total number of English speakers, despite the fact that Hindi is the majority language, according to The World Atlas.

It’s no surprise that European and Indian children have quite a substantial knowledge of foreign languages over their American counterparts which, according to Pew Research Center, the United States has no universal language learning requirements for its students. In other words, every single region in the United States has different standards, as does every single university when it comes to prospective students. Not having a concrete system of language learning in the United States is not only confusing but also ineffective in helping colleges accept students.

At the University of Missouri—Columbia for example, it is required for incoming freshman to have at least two years of a foreign language under their belt, whereas at schools like the University of California—Los Angeles or the University of Illinois—Urbana/ Champaign recommend three to four years.

The United States is inconsistent with foreign language requirements.

An idea that is prevalent among some Americans, as cited by language service ‘Mimic Method,’ is, ‘Why exactly would I learn a language, let alone force my child to learn one when everyone outside the United States speaks English on at least a basic level?’

Well, for one, that mindset is America-centric.

Second, learning a second language not only gives Americans the ability to navigate other parts of the world easier, but studying language actually increases brain function, as well. In a 2012 study conducted at Sweden’s Lund University, two groups were given time to intensely study a variety of topics over a period of three months. With those who studied language, the part of the brain responsible for taking new information, the hippocampus, showed signs of growth; whereas, the other groups’ did not develop at the same rate, despite the fact that they were also studying particular topics at an intensive level.

What is also important to acknowledge when it comes to Americans learning languages is that the United States has a culture that heavily emphasizes assimilation or blending into the existing culture as much as possible. While we, as a nation, like to pride ourselves on being a ‘melting pot,’ that cultural idea disregards the diversity of immigrants. Instead, we should strive to be ‘a salad,’ a diverse mixture of cultural backgrounds that are celebrated, not ignored. We can still all be united under one flag, but at the end of the day, we can also be united in our diversity and retain our unique individual cultures.

Learning a language provides a plethora of opportunities for American youth, not just in the business world but also the ability to form bonds and understand those who come from other cultures. What really makes the world turn is not cultural insularity but the ability to be understanding and curious as to what the world and its people have in store.

Features Editor: Maddie Murphy In-Depth Editor: Bailey Stover News Editor: Anna Xu Sports Editors: Emily Oba Ann Fitzmaurice Art & Design Editor: Moy Zhong Multimedia Editor: Kai Ford Staff Writers: George Frey,

Jared Geyer, Atiyah Lane, Isaac Parrish, Will Napier, Jordyn Thompson Artists: Reece Furkin, Sarah Kuhlmann, Isabel Thoroughman, Valeria Velasquez, Moy Zhong Photographers: Camryn DeVore, Sophie Eaton, George Frey, Allie Pigg Multimedia: Matthew Burns, Isaac Parrish, Jack Speake, Alyvia Swearingen Adviser: Robin Stover

6 | EDITORIALS

THE ROCK | WWW.BEARINGNEWS.ORG | APRIL 25, 2019

The price is right

Will pay to play for my children Katie Whaley

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LT

ISABE

AN / UGHM HORO

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hy is everyone mad at Lori Laughlin? She was doing what every parent should for his or her children. What is criminal is not her behavior; rather, that she might go to prison for paving the way for Olivia Jade and that other daughter.

There’s nothing more beautiful than a parent illegally plotting with a million-dollar institution to receive vicarious satisfaction.

Such aspersions were the case when parents of more than 50 individuals allegedly bribed, lied and canoodled with the highest ranking colleges in the nation.

The extraordinary exchange shone a light on their brilliance: success is not measured in foolish merit but in the golden hush money spread to the pockets of educational heroes.

Those parents knew thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours working a job amount to nothing compared to a degree from Georgetown. They put everything on the line to ensure their kids’ success. Isn’t sacrifice and commitment what parenthood is all about? Those so-called “scandals” are indisputable acts of unconditional love.

Irrefutably, a human being’s worth in

life equates to his or her university status.

Kids who attend community colleges serve no purpose to this Earth besides increasing the release of carbon dioxide when they die.

Those at much more expensive and distinguished universities should receive endless praise like puppies do, as they have obviously earned a spot at the table next to Jesus.

Every parent should know the significance of collegiate status and absorb that information with extreme haste, hostility and initiative. Rich families should, of course, buy their way into whatever school as they would on a weekend shopping trip.

Families in the minority that are not millionaires should act much like any person on Black Friday; every day parents should fight each other in admission’s offices of high-profile universities for the golden opportunity.

Videos of stampedes of parents trampling and hitting each other to get golden “You’re admitted!” tickets should saturate Instagram feeds and Twitter threads. There’s nothing more American than a parent whacking a teenager to achieve the American Dream.

Even losers to the fights, parents should not give up. There are more ways to honestly earn a spot into top universities, such as blackmail, psychological manipulation and

seduction. If parents love their children, as a divorced dad does a stray dog, they would do a combination of all three of these things simultaneously to ensure their kids’ success.

Parents should have full control over their children’s lives all the time, as they know what’s best for their kids like a farmer knows for their crops.

They must attend school with their kids every day to complete their daily assignments and tag-team on tests. Play their football games and golf matches for them and perform their playing tests and concerts to score all A’s. Children cannot be trusted to make good decisions, as they are too young and dumb. Parents, however, never make mistakes.

Better yet, hospitals should cut out baby’s tongues the day they’re born as their parents will always be with them and speak for them anyway. There’s no purpose for a child to have any different desire than their parents’.

For now, we must protect the 50-some millionaires who bulldozed the kids’ way into elite colleges (and University of San Diego). We should erect statues in their honor. All they wanted was what’s best for their kids.

At whatever cost.

Anonymity levels the playing field of college admissions Bailey Stover

50

Fifty mothers and fathers. Fifty men and women with net worths in the tens of millions. Fifty American citizens subject to the laws of the United States arrested in the recent college admissions scandal regarding college admissions bribery and standardized test cheating, unable to buy their way out.

The long history of parents using gifts and famous family names to give their children a competitive edge in the college admissions process is a glaring example of how the rich stack the deck in their favor.

“Children from the top one percent are 77 times more likely to attend an elite private college compared with children in the bottom 20 percent,” according to Stanford University, Brown University and University of California—Berkeley researchers. If the wealthy and privileged are willing to bend the rules to their breaking point, it is no surprise they will use outright illegal methods to attain their goal.

The only difference this time is they were caught.

While some elite colleges do not take the “legacy” status of an applicant, showing he or she is the child of an alumni, into consideration during the selection process, an article in the LA Times,

said the Ivy League and a number of top private universities give legacies “special treatment.” Legacy admissions, the article reported, can make up between 10 and 25 percent of the student body, giving priority treatment to some families while relegating others to the bottom of the waiting list.

Operation Varsity Blues merely scratches the surface of the corruption and immorality plaguing elite colleges. While need blind admission, omitting students’ financial need from their applications during the selection process, is a step in the right direction, elite colleges must rethink their admissions criteria.

In 1998 Charles Kushner, a New Jersey real estate developer and father of the Senior Advisor to the President of the United States, Jared Kushner, pledged $2.5 million to Harvard University. One year later, the school admitted his son.

More recently, music industry icons and entrepreneurs Andre Young, known professionally as Dr. Dre, and Jimmy Iovine donated $70 million in 2013 to the University of Southern California (USC) to establish the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation. After his

daughter was accepted into USC this year, Dr. Dre said on Instagram that she got in on her own, while at the same time referencing the illegal actions other parents took to secure a place for their children in schools of higher education.

While both Dr. Dre’s and Charles Kushner’s actions were technically legal, the morality of their intentions is highly questionable. Monetary donations and other gifts from parents to universities elevate a candidate’s desirability during the admission process, unleveling the playing field and giving certain applicants an unfair advantage in a theoretically meritocratic process.

The government’s investigation of suspicious admittance activity led to a lawsuit over Harvard University’s admissions practices. Included in the emails the school released was one list, called the “Dean’s Interest List,” the admissions office makes.

An article from Insider, an online media company, said “Court filings show the list has a significantly inflated acceptance rate and is almost entirely made up of people related to top donors.”

A late March article from insidehighered.com, an online publication and media company covering college and university topics, said in late March since the Operation Varsity Blues admissions scandal broke, “numerous articles have noted that large donations in some cases precede or follow the admission of donors’ children,” even though the donations themselves meet the appropriate legal criteria.

Name blind admissions will guarantee that regardless of a parent’s

contributions to a school, financial or otherwise, admissions officers evaluate all applicants with the same rigorous criteria so potential students receive equal treatment during the selection process.

Although name blind admissions may seem unprecedented, they are the next step in creating a more merit-based education system. Rather than using their last name, parental connections or monetary “generosity” to garner favor with the admissions board, applicants will face evaluation based upon their community involvement, academic success and content of character. With name blind admissions, the best and the brightest will have an equal place at elite universities across the country.

The ugly truth, however, is that for students who cannot afford the high price tag to attend these colleges, they receive financial aid packages. Without endowments from their wealthy attendees, or more specifically their wealthy parents, universities will not be able to provide financial aid to deserving students. In October 2018 US News & World Report published an article ranking the top 10 universities with the largest endowments.

Harvard

University claimed first place with a $37,096,474,000 endowment at the end of the 2017 fiscal year. For the 55 percent of students who attend the school and receive need-based scholarship aid, the average grant for the 2017-18 academic year was more than $53,000 to help cover the combined cost, without financial aid, for tuition, room, board and fees of $67,580.

It may seem students are helpless to correct this corruption and abuse of power, and perhaps that is the case, but with age comes experience and status. Even if there is nothing that today’s youth can do now, as young people grow up and attain positions where they have the ability to affect lasting change in legislation regarding education, it is our responsibility to protect those who cannot protect themselves against people who misuse their privilege.

As for the people who will one day serve as the presidents, provosts and admission’s officers of different elite universities, it is vital they use their positions to reform admission’s policies to include name blind criteria.

If they fail to do so, this pattern of citizens using wealth and privilege to purchase success will continue. It is the duty of those with the ability to change systems of higher education and create purely meritocratic admissions criteria.

GEORGE FREY / THE ROCK

THE ROCK | WWW.BEARINGNEWS.ORG | APRIL 25, 2019

COMMENTARIES | 7

Hold positivity, 1 not grudges

2

Atiyah Lane

I

’ve learned that life is too short to be upset all the time. As many grudges as I’ve held against people, it’s time for me to let it go. When I look back at certain reasons of why I stopped talking to people, I realize it’s not that serious.

I’ve taken it to the point where I pay attention to the people that wish me a happy birthday and the people that did not, therefore, I can make sure I know who to tell and who not to tell. That isn’t a serious grudge to hold against people, but I think it falls under the saying, “Treat people how you want to be treated.”

I’m not a person who does things for people and always expects something in return; no one should be that person. People should do things for others because they want to, not because they feel like they have to or to make themselves look good. There is also a difference between doing for others just because you want to and constantly doing things and not getting any of that energy back from someone.

If I wish you happy birthday every year and you never wish me happy birthday, I’m not wishing you happy birthday anymore. I’m not necessarily mad at you. I’m just matching your energy.

Matching energy is a big thing that I’ve started doing with people. It has helped me from holding grudges; instead, I just treat people the way they treat me. It makes me more distant from people and sometimes the distant love is well-needed.

I’ve had plenty of situations with friends where I needed them when I was down, and they weren’t there for me.

One of my closest friends lives seven hours away, so all we can do is talk over the phone or FaceTime. During our bad days, though, I feel better with her physical presence in case I needed a hug or someone to just keep me company while I’m down. I don’t have too many friends that can do that for me so when I’m not having a good day and she doesn’t text back or answer the phone, I’ll get upset and just stop talking to her for a while.

Or if we do talk, the conversation is very dry. I get people can’t understand everything that I go through, but I at least like for people to try or get a sense of my emotion, and show sympathy.

Once I feel like someone does not care about my feelings, conversations get shorter, and the love gets more distant. I don’t like being that way.

I hate being mad at someone or acting like I don’t care about them, but sometimes that’s the only way to get people’s attention.

My relationship with my dad consists of me having to not care a lot. We’ve never had an actual “father-daughter relationship.” My mother raised me alone and although my dad is somewhat in my life, he’s not actually in my life. Any time something special happens in my life, if I receive an award or if I’m having a celebration, the only person that I make sure is there and knows about everything is my mom.

When I was younger, my dad was great at disappointing me, and he still is today. I won’t say the grudge I hold against him is huge or that I have any hate or anger toward him, but I’ve gotten to the point where I simply don’t care anymore.

There are times where I wish I could tell him my great news or send him my homecoming pictures, but then I realize he doesn’t deserve the pride he wants to feel. How can you be proud of something you had no knowledge about? Why should I let you post my birthday pictures on your Facebook for all your family and friends to see when I barely even hear from you? I don’t feel bad at all anymore. I used to care so much about his feelings but as I said, once I felt like he didn’t care about my feelings, our conversation got shorter and the love is distant. I encourage people never to feel bad about doing what is best for them.

I’ve let so many things slide in my life, moved past situations and kept my thoughts to myself when I should’ve said something. Instead of going to tell another person how I feel about someone, I’m starting to be more direct with how I feel and tell it straight to the person.

Lately, I’ve been focusing on my worth, my happiness and keeping positive energy. I learned that holding a grudge against someone, and not even telling them I’m mad, doesn’t do me any good. I’ve given a lot of people too many chances when they definitely didn’t deserve it.

My goal is to tell people what makes me upset or feel some type of way one time though. I’ll leave the problem to them on whether or not they want to work on fixing it or to continue on without change. That shows me their true colors and it’s realization that the person doesn’t deserve to be a part of my life. I’m trying not to hold grudges anymore but to simply just be done and let it go. It isn’t worth my happiness.

CAMRYN DEVORE / THE ROCK

DONG XU

DONG XU

GRINNING (1): Anna Xu’s grandmother Huang Meiying carries Xu in Knoxville, Tenn., Xu’s place of birth.

LAKESIDE (2): Anna Xu and her younger brother Ben Xu, now a freshman, take a picture with Huang and her grandfather Chu Yan in front of Lake of the Ozarks.

ON TOP (3): Anna Xu, Huang, Chu, Ben Xu and Anna Xu’s mother, Chu Jingxi, pose for a vacation photo.

3

Grandparent, dearest

DONG XU

Wisdom an important family heirloom Anna Xu

M

y parents never read me many children’s books, but I had something better; my grandparents would tell me stories about how cute I was as

a baby.

I would yank my neighbors’ flowers off their lawn and run off with a mischievous grin to how on my first airplane flight, and I stumbled up and down the aisle calling everyone Lao Lao, the Chinese word for grandma.

Apparently, quite a few of the passengers were offended.

In Tenn. 17 years ago, my grandma said she helped out with my birth. She remembers when I came out; she exclaimed, “是个小许 东！” or how I looked just like a little version of my father. I still remember the glow on her face every time she repeated that story. Because both my mother and father were working, my grandmother helped care for me the first year of my life, witnessing my first words and steps.

Always a worrier, my grandmother would wake in the middle of the night to check up on me. Even when my parents were home, my grandma secretly tiptoed down the stairs and peered into the crib to verify my safety.

Hearing these stories of my childhood helps me appreciate my grandparents even when I have no recollection.

Since birth, I’ve transformed from a crying baby, to a sassy toddler, to a withdrawn child, to an awkward teenager to God knows what today. As a junior in high school, I don’t think I’ve ever been more unsure as to where my life is headed. Should I pursue math? science? writing? speech? art?

More than that, who am I as a person? Am I really the extrovert I tell myself I am? I see how hard I tried to fake it and change myself as a middle schooler.

Only recently have I realized these questions, while about me, cannot be answered all by myself. Instead, I need to look toward my role models, those who know better than I. Although my grandparents lived in a vastly different place, time and circumstance, the narratives of their lives have taught me important virtues and enlightened me as to who I want to be.

My grandparents on my mother’s side grew up with farming families in an era where China struggled financially. On my father’s side, my grandparents’ situation was a bit better than that of my maternal grandparents, but they still lived several people to a room about the size of a master bedroom.

On my mother’s side, both my grandparents had seven siblings; however, only three of them survived to adulthood. My grandfather had six brothers and one sister. He said one of his saddest memories was when his sister died just shy of 10. His father died early, as well, so my grandfather, the eldest in his

late teens, and his mother had to fill the hole visiting my mother’s old neighbor, she told me how hardworking my mother was, eventually he left behind.

At 80 years old, my grandfather still em- landing her at a top university in China and bodies self-sufficiency and responsibility. Af- then emigrating to America. My mother just ter receiving green cards to live with us, my laughed the subject off; however, she later told grandparents insisted they reside in and pay me that her success came from her grandma for their own place because they didn’t want forcing her to study instead of allowing her to to impose. Speaking extremely minimal En- play with the neighbors all the time.

My grandmother taught me there is no such glish, they conversed with the other seniors in the senior living apartments by playing Bingo, thing as an easy life, but that’s no excuse not writing birthday cards or just smiling. Today, to try one’s hardest. When they didn’t have to, my grandfather still prepares me home cooked my grandparents took it upon themselves to meals, ready as soon as I arrive home because go to school, enduring great difficulty though he knows how much I hate the cafeteria food. I’m sure there were much easier alternatives.

I’ve always resented hearing my mother By listening to and observing my grandfather, I reflect on my own situation. I am also demand me to study harder; however, my enthe oldest of my family, but I only pout at the tire life is the result of my grandparents bechores expected of me that my brother gets ing trailblazers and my parents’ hard work. I out of. I complain at trivial things because don’t want to take for granted what my family fought for. Even when the world is unfair they’re “unfair.”

While I may not know who exactly I am, — I’m an Asian-American who may have a I do know that I want to be more like my harder time earning a spot — I also recognize grandfather, someone that my grandmother the privilege I have of being from a family of could rely on when she was sick, someone honest workers.

My family history motivates me to hold who never gave excuses to shrug off drudgery, someone who always did the most he possibly myself to high standards. While I may not know exactly who I am, I know what it is I could.

Although I’ve never had the need to grow want to strive for. There were so many other up fast, something I’m really thankful for is anecdotes my grandparents told me that I will my grandfather’s stories that motivate me to remember for the rest of my life.

Although the stories of the past may feel do better, something he’s proven to me that I disconnected from our own, as times have can do.

Both my grandparents were also relent- definitely changed, by listening to the generless in their studies. They had to walk great ations before, we can gain priceless wisdom distances for education, and my grandpa said and perspective. because he couldn’t afford a backpack, he Losing my grandma a few weeks ago felt dragged a plastic sack to school. Most im- like losing a big part of myself. pressive, though, was I remember she my grandmother, who would always remind was one of two girls My entire life is the result of my me to, “抓紧,” in her village to enroll grandparents being trailblazers and which, when directin high school. And my parents’ hard work. I don’t want ly translated, means not only did she go, to take for granted what my family firmly grasp. To me, but she also excelled. this always meant fofought for.”

A meticulous and discus on your studies, stop wasting time ciplined studier, my grandmother consistently scored the top in her and work hard. I remember reacting to this class. My grandfather joked that every guy in phrase with annoyance while reassuring her, high school had a crush on her and that he was half-heartedly, that I would, while secretly continuing my YouTube video, game or other just her fifth admirer.

All four of my grandparents graduated distraction. Sometimes, to express my displeacollege and received more prestigious jobs sure I would ignore her on purpose. Looking from the government than their parents. My back, there were so many times I could have grandfather said he once went to a convention just listened to my grandmother and made her oversees where, when seeing he represented happy so easily, but I didn’t.

Not only was she right, that I should stop China, was asked if he knew Huang Meiying, to which he proudly announced that she was procrastinating my studies, this phrase means more than how I labeled it. She meant to firmhis wife.

Not only did my grandmother value her ly grasp life and family. No matter how sad I education and career, but she also hoped her am today that she’s gone, I know I will carry children would follow in her footsteps. When her stories and advice forever.

The persistence shown throughout my I visited China earlier this year, I got to see my mother’s old home. It was a cramped, govern- grandparents’ lives is something I find pride ment assigned house with narrow and uneven in, and their resilience reassures me that while stone hallways separating the houses and cats I may be confused as to where my life is headscampering along creaky windowsills. When ed now, like my family, I will find my way.

8 | ADS

THE ROCK | WWW.BEARINGNEWS.ORG | APRIL 25, 2019

THE ROCK | WWW.BEARINGNEWS.ORG | APRIL 25, 2019

IN-DEPTH | 9

earth, home to 7.7 billion people, rapidly approaches its carrying capacity. technology, more advanced than ever before, progresses at a breakneck speed. in a sea of infinite INDIVIDUALS preoccupied

Z oy M ng ho

to the inevitable,

by

how will society respond

d te ra st Illu

with present trivialities,

irreversible, inescapable

SINGULARITY?

10 | IN-DEPTH

THE ROCK | WWW.BEARINGNEWS.ORG | APRIL 25, 2019

cutting edge Artificial intelligence possesses controversial potential Bailey Stover

As AI changes, so, too, do the careers that come in contact with it. In college, senior Leo s with a flipped coin spin- Zhuang plans to major in electrical engineerning in mid-air, the issue of ing and is considering minoring in computer artificial intelligence (AI) is science. While he said Terminator shows one still undecided as to which possibility of what AI can accomplish, he said, way it will land: benefit or in reality, he thinks technology will solve probharm. On the one hand, an lems humans cannot because of its ability to test article in Forbes, an Ameri- and account for all possibilities.

Current medical professionals must test can business magazine, outlined how AI holds the potential to enhance efficiency and human treatments for cancer and other seemingly lifestyle, add jobs and strength to the economy random diseases on human patients, Zhuang said, but with AI, scientists and engineers may and solve complex social problems.

On the other hand, the same article noted be able to model the effectiveness of different AI could cause humans to lose control of their medications to treat illnesses through simulatechnology, absolve them of all responsibility tions instead. He said researchers are already and create unforeseen and unintended conse- using supercomputers to run simulations of nuclear deterioration to discover how to best quences.

If society is to believe the message of popular manage nuclear waste. As AI continues to imcinematic hits like Avengers: Age of Ultron, Blade prove, Zhuang said he thinks humanity has the Runner and The Matrix, then AI is dangerous potential to begin using it to answer questions it and volatile, possessing the ability to negatively does not currently know how to solve.

“I think we can reach a point where at least and irrevocably alter human life on Earth. The Future of Life Institute (FLI), an organization there’s a lot of human integration with the techaimed at supporting research and initiatives for nology. Like you see today with the, you know, safeguarding life and creating optimistic visions Amazon Alexa, Siri and those kind of things, of the future, said although science fiction can there’s a lot of [technological dependency on portray AI as robots with human-like quali- humans],” Zhuang said. “It’s not very automatties, the category of technology can encompass ed. It’s not well refined. It still requires a lot of anything from Apple’s Siri and self-driving cars human knowledge, but I think we can reach a to IBM’s Watson supercomputer and Google’s point within the next few years where it really is more efficient to use technology that they’re search algorithms.

Dr. Yi Shang is a professor and the Director creating.”

Today’s AI, FLI said, is called “narrow AI” of Graduate Studies with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences or “weak AI” and is designed to perform one at the University of Missouri—Columbia. From specific task. Looking to the future, however, 2001 to 2003, he worked as a research scientist the organization said many researchers aim to at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. He has create “general AI” or “strong AI.” FLI said that published more than 190 referred journals and while “narrow AI may outperform humans at conference papers and received six U.S. patents. whatever its specific task is,” general AI “would Dr. Shang said he “pioneered the multidimen- outperform humans at nearly every cognitive sional scaling based approach for ad hoc net- task.”

With advances in personal digital assiswork localization” and has been “actively worktants like Alexa and Siri, Zhuang said ing on machine learning, big data he thinks AI could reach the analytics, mobile computing [SOURCE: PEW RESEARCH CENTER] point where it acts as a and bioinformatics in reAmericans see a wide range personal helper rathcent years.” of advances coming to pass er than working In the past 20 simply in its in the next 20 years. years, Dr. Shang current capacsaid he has Percent of U.S. adults who say the following ity as a “tool conducted scenarios will happen in the next 20 years. where you research in Definitely will not Probably will tell it to areas rangDefinitely will Probably will not do things.” ing from Doctors will use computer programs to Instead, he web search diagnose and treat most diseases. theorizes and recomone day it mendation 2 18 will be able systems to 58 21 to schedule developing meetings, new methods Most stores will be fully automated dinner reserfor “challengand involve little human interaction. vations and offer ing real-world suggestions based 2 32 problems, such as on observation and artificial neural net52 13 knowledge of one’s life. work training” and working Zhuang said the emphasis “big with protein sequence analysis and names in technology, ” like Elon Musk, put on structure prediction.

“Technology and AI have made great AI’s capabilities makes it seem “so cool,” but [strides] in the past 20 years and become an es- he said it is scary when he uses Google, and its sential and integrated part of the society. AI and search algorithm can show him what he wants deep learning in the past 10 years have made to search based off of only a single letter.

“It’s honestly like a learning process for the big breakthroughs,” Dr. Shang said. “[They] imAI because they just need to collect more data, pact many aspects of scientific research, various process the data, and, I think with research and industries and the world.”

A

computer science, data, even like electrical sys- that kind of ability,” Park said, “because if it’s tems I think that the whole process can become truly an artificial intelligence, then it can think faster,” Zhuang said. “And whenever these sys- by itself and produce [a] valid response.”

Even with AI’s potential in medicine, Park tems become faster, you can do more with it, and when you do more with it, you get advance- said she once watched a video of a small robot make a tower with red blocks. After the tower ments.”

Zhuang’s teammate on the robotics team, was complete, a person instructed the robot to junior Haanbee Park, said what interests her destroy the blocks. Park said the machine reabout robotics is the idea that they involve sponded and said, “But I just built a tower, and “not just science, technology and math,” but it will be sad if I destroy it right away.” While also art and a “deeper thinking into designing she said she is pretty sure it was programmed something that can achieve a goal.” Park plans to say that, she remains ambivalent about the application of AI in society. to major in mechanical engineering with a minor in “Just the idea that a computer can either electrical enthink by itself is actually kind of gineering or muscary to me rather than fasciARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE sic composition nating, although it is a very in college. She cool thing, like the tech(noun) nology to achieve that enjoys workkind of goal is admiraing with 1. A branch of computer science her hands, ble for some people,” dealing with the simulation of so she faPark said. “For a robot intelligent behavior in computers. vors the to have this feeling of discipline of sadness, I think that 2. The capability of a machine to mechanical also means it can have imitate intelligent human behavior. engineering happiness but also anger, over other paths, and it could work by itself to such as electrical or do something other than what chemical engineering, humans commanded, which is because of its physicality. As kind of scary to me at least.” technology advances, Park said she Although she does not dispute the potenhopes it will help people rather than hurt them. tial benefits advanced technologies could bring “I think it would be possible to make the about, Park said the idea of AI thinking for itartificial intelligence, and I’m pretty sure if it’s self is what is scary. If such technology exists in made, then it will be used in [a] variety of fields the future, she said it will be used in a variety of and other technologies, but I’m not sure if that’s fields. Still, Park is unsure if that is a good or a [a] good way to go or a bad way to go,” Park bad way to go.

“The one that I thought about was that there said, “because I am personally against artificial intelligence because as humans rely more on is a possibility it can act by itself without [a] technology or computers, sometimes it gets a person’s command, like [a] human’s command, little too far and maybe — It feels very distant because it can think by itself,” Park said. “Then from the way we were living traditionally be- it will say — It will probably think, like, ‘Why cause it’s too much dependent on the technol- not?’ It will do what’s best for it. It will think ogy, which I don’t think it’s [the] ideal way to for itself and consider what’s best and do that, live a life.” and that could be against what humans expect Although Zhuang said he thinks general AI it to do.” will make life simpler, he does not believe the With AI and advanced forms of programtechnology will change it. Prior to email’s initial ming, Dr. Shang said they have the capability limited use in the 1960s, Zhuang said people to both benefit and harm people, depending had to correspond using hand-written messag- on their application. He said AI is “almost eves, but they still got by. Then, with a faster form erywhere you look,” and in the future, it will of communication, people continued to keep in change the way people work and live. touch using written messages, even though the “As with any advanced technologies, AI is a speed and accessibility of information changed. double-edged sword. If it falls into the wrong “If you think about what we have now, like hands, bad things will [happen],” Dr. Shang FaceTime calling, if someone’s out of the coun- said. “The technology must be controlled by try or in a different state, it’s still not the same as good people for good purposes.” sitting down with them, talking with them next With the proposed realities of Terminator to you. And even today that hasn’t changed,” and other science fiction, Zhuang said he does Zhuang said. “We still value other people next not think they are realistic portrayals of how AI to us, physically, so I don’t think it will change will be used. Ultimately, he said, AI is designed much.” by humans. If it were to possess the ability to Park said AI will process information faster hurt humans beings in any capacity, Zhuang than current technology allows and holds the said he thinks its creators would make some potential to help with mental disabilities if ap- kind of safety measure in the event of an emerplied to the biomedical field. In 2015 David D. gency.

Luxton edited the book “Artificial Intelligence “At the end of the day, it’s the human trust in Behavioral and Mental Health Care,” which factor: how much [do] we trust the AI?” covered topics ranging from robotics technolo- Zhuang said. “For example, if we had an autogy in mental health care to ethical issues and AI mated system to set off nuclear missiles, I don’t technologies in public health surveillance and think we’d make something for that, you know? research.

We’d make something to make our breakfast, “I think it will help to communicate, like but we wouldn’t make something for that, so I improve communication of a person who lacks don’t think that’ll happen.”

THE ROCK | WWW.BEARINGNEWS.ORG | APRIL 25, 2019

IN-DEPTH | 11

Biomimicry influences architecture George Frey ext to a tranquil lake in southern Columbia, Keith and Cathy Miller’s home stands on the grassy shore.

Several large glass windows compose the exterior of the home, and natural light manages to enter and create a peaceful and open space inside the house.

These architectural fixtures allow views of the lakefront and adjacent trees. Even though understanding nature and creating good design may require different disciplines, they accomplish much the same purpose: benefiting humanity.

For Keith Miller, the principal architect at Columbia Associates Architecture, integrating traits of the natural world into the design, as well as taking into account how his blueprints shape the psychology of those inside, is essential in the construction of buildings that make the occupants feel at ease and connected with the natural world.

“Architecture is creating the environment where people live and work 24/7. We serve to create spaces that are safe, comfortable and inspiring,” Miller said. “We house the human body and work to extend life, create curiosity of the space around us, promote interactions between people, create places of worship and governance and create memories, design business icons and make for a safe and nurturing home. As the human race becomes more urbanized, the connection with nature is critical.”

In the connection between the designs of mother nature and those of humankind, designers use biomimicry, the replication of unique singularities in nature, to their advantage. Whether a building is on a waterfront or on top of a mountain, the ecosystem provides inspiration for architects, engineers and biologists on how buildings can be designed

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building that can blend into the environment. Like, you can’t deto integrate with the environment around them.

University of Missouri—Columbia sophomore and 2017 sign a tree house in the middle of New York. It just makes sense alumna Stephanie Tarr specializes in biology and the study of to go the natural route and create something which fits in as opbiomimicry. Tarr said she believes the evolution of plants and posed to stands out,” Fonseca-Perez said. “I don’t think architecanimals can be replicated in modern designs, but the quest to ture changes. It just evolves with us. We change trends, and architecture does the same thing. For example, create technology that imitates nature is a cycle of failures and you don’t see Victorian houses being successes. built anymore. Instead, you see “When I think of mimicry, I think of emulating the houses with more geometric successes of one organism in order to confer success to shapes. Architecture just yourself. They say that imitation is the best form of changes along with our flattery. Animals have evolved to display traits that mindset.” have worked for other organisms,” Tarr said. “HuI don’t think architecture mans learn from the billions of years of trial and Real life processchanges. It just evolves error that is natural selection, shows us the chares in nature, such as with us. We change trends, acteristics that are and aren’t advantageous, and photosynthesis, have and architecture does the this can give us insight into what design ideas do been able to provide same thing.” and don’t work.” answers as to what arDesigns that are able to protect occupants and chitects and engineers Edwin Fonseca-Perez, withstand the elements are becoming more needed can do to lessen the efsenior fects of climate change. as the effects of climate change, such as storms and Biomimicry experts confloods, become more severe. Miller said aesthetics are tinue to struggle with the issue not the only design element that can mimic parts of nature; of whether or not it is possible to the safety measures of the buildings themselves can, too. integrate the principles of nature with the “A good design takes into account nature, the nature of the land it grows from while protecting the building occupants from constructs of mankind.

Tarr, personally, said it is completely feasible for humans to the effects of nature,” Miller said. “Nature can be very cruel and unforgiving, high winds, flooding, earthquakes, severe cold and coexist with nature, starting with designs, the greatest example heat. Our job is to recreate an internal environment that protects of this being renewable energy.

“Any building with solar panels is inspired by nature. Solar its inhabitants.”

As the climate morphs and weather becomes more severe, fu- panels act like photosystems in photosynthesis in that they ture architects will have to look at and understand qualities in harvest light energy from the sun to power an entire nature they can replicate and to examine those traits to create building or organism,” Tarr said. “It’s totally possible sustainable, environmentally friendly designs. Some aspiring ar- to integrate nature with the modern world. Sochitects, like senior Edwin Fonseca-Perez, believe architecture as lar panels are a way to do both, in that they a whole won’t totally do a 180 per se, but that as the world trans- draw off the light-harvesting technoloforms, trends in design will evolve. gy from photosystems while also “Architecture does branch out from a natural using green energy.” phenomenon. You can design a

Jobs lost to machines provide space for new opportunities Isaac Parrish

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actory workers. Switchboard operators.

Bowling alley pinsetters. Robots have already taken over countless jobs once run by people. With recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), people are starting to worry about what this might mean for the current job market.

Seventy-six percent of Americans expect widespread automation will lead to greater levels of economic inequality, and 64 percent worry people will have difficulty finding what to do for a living or how to spend their time, according to Pew Research Center.

Not everyone is afraid, however. Schools are embracing new technology in an effort to provide new opportunities for their students. Junior Jerry Hou, a member of the robotics team, Army Ants, sees the advancement of AI as a part of the natural progression of technological advancement. Instead of focusing on the dilemma of how AI is taking jobs away, Hou believes society should simply adapt to it.

“It is without a doubt that using AI and robots is more efficient than hiring people to do the labor; the trend of the market is going to shift that way,” Hou said. “Going against the market will only experience failure since a company that hires people will be in every way less competitive and will go out of market.”

The developer of the world’s first speaker-independent continuous speech recognition system, Kai-Fu Lee, said in an interview on “60 Minutes” that 40 percent of blue and white collar jobs around the world are susceptible to being taken over by technology capable of handling the tasks automatically. Lee also noted that society will probably adapt to these

changes accordingly, as it did with other tech- think there is any threat technology will ever nological innovations within the last century, take over the job market completely.

“People are going to lose jobs in production, but warned that capable AI will emerge sooner but then you need people to work on the robots, than those other innovations did.

Even though certain jobs may face extinc- fix the robots, program the robots, engineer the tion as AI’s presence in the workforce becomes robots, code the robots,” Grieshaber said. “One more prominent, the loss of those opportuni- job taken away opens another door.”

Dr. Jianlin Cheng, who is the 2018 William ties doesn’t remove the potential for others to arise and replace them. In a New York Times ar- and Nancy Thompson Distinguished Professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer ticle, former World Chess Champion Garry Science Department at the UniKasparov, who lost a match to the IBM computer Deep versity of Missouri—Columbia, also expresses Blue more than 20 [SOURCE: PEW RESEARCH CENTER] optimism for the years ago, said, Percent of U.S. adults who say future.

“Machines they have heard, read or thought about “The adhave been the idea that robots and computers may be vancement replacing able to do many jobs currently done by humans. of AI will humans displace since A lot 24 14 some the first A little tradio n e 61 tional was inNothing at all jobs,” vented Percent who say this concept seems realistic D r . thousands Cheng 20 17 of years said. ago — “For in5 57 st ance, and on s o m e the very Not very Extremely jobs such next day it Not at all Somewhat as taxi drivprobably created new jobs ers and truck when three people drivers may be rewere needed to fix it.” placed by self-driving Senior Matthew Grietechnology. In the future, shaber, who plans to work with a lot of work will be automated mechanical engineering after graduation and is and a lot of devices will have some intelligence currently taking automotive technology at the and are connected. Virtual assistants will help Columbia Area Career Center, said he does not us manage our daily chores. We often see on-

line virtual doctors instead of going to clinic in person, [and] we will use self-driving cars and taxi.”

Several jobs handled by people historically faced a similar fate to what Dr. Cheng described. For Hou, an example that comes to mind is the development of calculators. Before the invention of the electronic calculator in the early 1960s, it was the job of humans to compute numbers and complete complex mathematical problems. Once calculators came into prominence, Hou said the work became cheaper and more efficient, so it became more cost-effective for businesses to utilize technology instead of manual labor.

“There isn’t much ethicality involved with [the integration of AI into the workforce]. The people that [lose] their jobs just have to adapt to the progression of society,” Hou said. “Anyone that tries to stick with manual calculations would inevitably be less competitive and lose to those companies that use calculators. There’s no way around this.”

Hou said he believes that a society adapted to such changes in the workforce will offer better opportunities for those whose jobs are lost.

Even if they can’t take their skills elsewhere, the harsh conditions will force them to learn a new skill, which will open new opportunities.

“Like the technological revolutions in human history, some new technological jobs will be created,” Dr. Cheng said. “Generally the AI advancement will improve the productivity of our society and have a positive impact on the economy and our daily life. Therefore, the advancement is something that we [should] look forward to. However, some efforts need to be taken to prepare the workforce whose jobs are displaced by AI for other job opportunities.”

12 | IN-DEPTH

THE ROCK | WWW.BEARINGNEWS.ORG | APRIL 25, 2019

Heating uP

Climate in crisis; students speak out Katie Whaley

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pace: the final frontier. Humans seek out new wonders and oddities deep into the vastness of the galaxy.

They boldly send ships to places no one on Earth has ever seen to discover, to understand and to satisfy our continuous stream of existential wonderings of how humans came to exist and what their purpose is.

Two weeks ago, scientists in the Event Horizon Telescope group produced the first image of a black hole ever seen. It captures a bright, orange, spiraling wheel orbiting an ominous, black circle. The ring’s central point, called a singularity, contains infinitely dense mass and is brimming with light and matter the human eye cannot see, according to Vox. Yet, on Earth, humans can learn a lot from a singularity to better understand a serious dilemma they face: reaching the human carrying capacity, the number of people that can survive on Earth without environmental degradation, reported Science.org.

Currently, the earth holds 7.3 billion people and grows by at least 74 million people a year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Though the exact number is uncertain, as humans do not reproduce consistently, consume resources or interact with the environment uniformly, at least 20 studies have predicted the earth can only support eight billion people, reported the Australian Academy of Science.

Unlike a singularity within a black hole, carrying capacity curbs at a specific point, and the human population cannot continue to grow without reaping serious consequences on the environment. The earth, in addition, has limitations on its resources and functions that humans need to survive.

To learn about significant environmental concerns, such as humans reaching carrying capacity, junior Kellen Clowe has watched documentaries, read books and data packets from science agencies and looked up any inquiries he had on the internet since his freshman year. Clowe can see how the earth is suffering now because of an excess of non-environmentally conscious people. Instead of limiting the number of people, he said he believes the earth can survive with the increase as long as people care about the environment.

“Population growth is a problem but mostly just because humans are so wasteful of resources. The earth could sustain more people, but because many humans waste resources like food and water daily, there isn’t much left for more people, especially in areas where food and water is more scarce,” Clowe said. “Also, the more people there are, the more fossil fuels have to be burned to provide energy for them, at least until the whole world switches to cleaner energy sources.”

To Dr. Fengpeng Sun, who teaches global environmental change and climate change impact and policy response at the University of Missouri–Kansas City, the number of individuals it takes to reach the carrying capacity matters less than how people interact with the environment. Instead of estimating a specific number, Dr. Sun said, logically, the greater the increase of people on Earth, the more people there are to utilize resources and pollute the planet.

Differing from Clowe, Dr. Sun said population growth correlates with environmental damage. He said the world population will continue to grow, and people will use more resources.

“More people? OK, that means we have more cars. More cars? OK, so that means we’re going to use more gasoline,” Dr. Sun said. “Because we have more people . . . we put more and more carbon dioxide into the air. So population is definitely another factor which explains the huge increase in carbon dioxide concentrations in the past 30 to 40 years.”

Dr. Sun highlights carbon dioxide emissions as a main contributing factor to global warming or the rising global temperatures. He said humans release carbon dioxide into the air through driving their cars and use too many nonrenewable energy sources, such as the burning of fossil fuels, too much.

Carbon dioxide emissions reached a record global high of 37.1 billion metric tons in 2018, according to a report from the Global Carbon Project. To better understand what that number means, Scientific American created a graphical display of a wildfire producing an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide. It would take a wildfire more than the size of Africa to reach the same emission of carbon dioxide that is produced yearly.

Additionally, the report estimated the total carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere hit their highest level ever at 407 parts per million – about 45 percent higher than their pre-industrial levels. The increase of the gas correlates to the warming of the planet, as the earth’s surface temperature has risen 1.62 degrees fahrenheit since the late 19th century, according to NASA. “Human beings [release] too much carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and then this warms up the surface atmosphere temperature, and [that] causes global warming,” Dr. Sun said. “You cannot continue warming, warming. This year one degrees, next year another one degrees. And [soon] it is going to be too hot. People are going to want to curb carbon dioxide emission into the atmosphere through some kind of policy agreement.”

Similar to carrying capacity, there is a limit to how much the earth can warm without causing serious damage, such as the melting of ice caps and glaciers, extreme droughts and flooding and rising sea levels. Increased temperatures also change weather and climate worldwide. Clowe attributes much of the earth’s change in climate to man-made causes and said he believes people do not realize the effect they have on the earth.

“The term ‘global warming’ is harmful, in my opinion. So many people disregard the science just because it snows outside or is cold, but no one says anything when it’s in the upper 70s in early April.

Global warming [and] climate change should be taught in school because misinformation is harmful, especially when trying to solve the problem,” Clowe said. “Not many people know that 2014 [to] 2018 were the hottest four years in recorded history or understand that even when it is cold in one place it is hot somewhere else in the world. For instance, when the polar vortex hit this winter there was public mocking of global warming in the [United States], but not many people know that at the same time as the polar vortex hit North America, Australia was being hit by record-breaking temperatures over 120 degrees fahrenheit.”

As someone who grew up enjoying and appreciating nature, senior Micah Prenger cares a lot about the environment. He knows a lot about the environment and how people should interact with it. In terms of changes in climate, Prenger is hopeful the damage humans are doing today will not be permanent.

“I am not certain it will be irreversible, but we are digging it deeper. The more we cause damage, the more effort it takes to repair,” Prenger said. “I have faith that nature and humanity will find a way to solve this. This will take generations of humanity with the environment-first mindsets.”

Being environmentally aware is a priority of keeping the earth healthy, Prenger said. Following that thought, Dr. Sun said a healthy Earth is a key factor in maintaining important resources. In fact, Dr. Sun cites the earth’s tipping point, or a time where natural systems are so overstressed that they cannot be recovered, as a consequence to damaging the earth. Dr. Sun said scientists do not know for sure when this event will take place or what will really happen after the earth reaches that point.

For Clowe, he can easily picture the earth reaching the tipping point in his lifetime or the next generation’s. He said he can imagine food and water prices rising and a migration of people from big cities on the coast that will “soon be underwater.” He could also picture a considerable change in weather, such as consistent droughts, extreme storms like hurricanes, which will increase in frequency because of warmer ocean temperatures and flooding. He does not, however, see the effects being permanent.

“Because global warming is such a slow but unbudging event, I don’t think the world will look very different at the point in time when it becomes too late or irreversible,” Clowe said. “That point in time will happen during my lifetime, but I think it will take a few more years for the effects of global warming to cause life on Earth to be drastically different.”

FEATURES | 13

THE ROCK | WWW.BEARINGNEWS.ORG | APRIL 25, 2019

Hooves to my heart: once in a lifetime friendship 2

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BAILEY STOVER / THE ROCK

BAILEY STOVER / THE ROCK

HOLD YOUR HORSES: 1) Junior Lydia Olmsted rides Ghazi, at Cedar Creek Therapeutic Riding Center Friday, April 12. Olmsted is slowly trotting around the riding center’s covered practice arena along with several other riders and horses. 2) Olmsted, no longer on horseback, spends time with Ghazi after finishing riding at Cedar Creek Friday, April 12. 3) Ghazi affectionately leans into Olmsted as they pose for a photo after competing together at the Callaway Rough Riders Show in Fulton, Mo. Oct. 21, 2017.

Bailey Stover

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n Fridays at 6:30 p.m., junior Lydia Olmsted arrives at Cedar Creek Therapeutic Riding Center and greets her beloved horse, Dar Ghazi, who she has ridden for about seven years. Olmsted said they share a bond, and she enjoys having the freedom to control and ride a horse independently.

Using an earpiece to hear instructions from an experienced volunteer, she expertly guides Ghazi around the arena, circling barrels and stepping over bars. “[Ghazi and I] know each other well and can communicate well, and it’s definitely a really kind of loving relationship,” Olmsted said. “I’ve had a lot of other horses there, too, that I’ve kind of worked with, and they’ve all been really sweet and everything, but I feel like Ghazi is definitely one of the favorites.”

Karen Grindler, the founder and director of Cedar Creek and a self-proclaimed “stall mucker, mower, fence fixer [and] bathroom cleaner,” first met Olmsted when she was about two and a half or three years old, the first time Olmsted came out to the facility to ride.

Olmsted said she does not remember ever being scared or frantic about riding, even though she was young.

While Olmsted has ridden a variety of different horses in her 13 years of experience, Grindler said there was

an immediate connection between Olmsted and Ghazi when she first started riding him about five years ago. Grindler said she is glad Ghazi has “one good, really close friend,” since, at 28-years-old, he is nearing the end of his life. “[Lydia rides] like anybody else that rides: content, happy, graceful, composed, beautiful. She rides that horse with finesse, and they’re definitely one when she rides [him] around the arena and trots or canters,” Grindler said. “He knows, I think he knows Lydia’s limitations, possibly, because he turns sometimes when we’re not there or paying attention at the exact moment to make sure she knows it’s time to turn. Of course, Lydia’s got our arena counted out, so she knows the space in her mind, but Ghazi seems to always just do the right thing, so it’s a great relationship.”

During the United Professional Horsemen’s Association Exceptional Challenge Cup at the American Royal held in Kansas City, Mo. a couple years ago, Olmsted placed as a top 10 finalist. Grindler said the staff communicated through a walkie-talkie with her so she could navigate smoothly around an unfamiliar arena. Grindler said Olmsted is “pretty much an impeccable rider,” a quality she attributes to Olmsted’s ability to focus on the movement of the horse and communicate with it more than the average rider would be able to.

Unlike the other competitors at the

JULI OLMSTED

STAR STRUCK: Olmsted attended the St. Louis Cardinals’ spring training camp in Jupiter, Fl. and ran into catcher Yadier Molina March 26, 2014.

American Royal who Grindler said Olmsted relies rode on fancy saddlebreds, warm- on touch and verbloods and other expensive horses, bal communication Olmsted competed on Ghazi. When to connect with he was younger, Grindler said, he Ghazi because she was a “very fancy Arabian horse,” has septo-optic dysplasia, a condition but, because he has aged, he no lon- that affects one in every 10,000 newger looks like the other horses in the borns. She has nystagmus, which can arena. Because it is a horse show, make it appear to her as if lights are Grindler said the judges critique not flashing and walls and doors are movjust the rider but the horse as well, ing. While she can see light slightly which means with a competent rider, and can tell if an object is blocking the “fanciest, most beautiful saddle- the light, she cannot perceive any bred” typically wins. specifics about the size, proximity “The incredible thing about that or other aspects of the object. Along day was that the first, second and with this, Olmsted said she is deaf in third person were announced, and her right ear and uses a hearing aid so then the announcer said to the crowd she can hear out of both ears. that, ‘Our next rider is Lydia OlmThe sounds of St. Louis Cardinal sted, and I baseball, though, don’t know she hears loud and Nobody describes things the if any of you clear. realized it “I enjoy just all same as Lydia because she’s or not, but of the [sounds], describing them as a person Lydia just you know, the without sight,” did that ensound of the crack - Karen Grindler, tire compeof the bat, the ball tition and hitting the glove,” founder and director of Cedar she cannot said Olmsted, who Creek Therapeutic Riding Center see.’ And the first learned of the whole crowd Cardinals in 2012 was like ‘Waah,’ and then he jumped while attending New Haven Elemenout of the announcer’s booth and in- tary School after a classmate menstead of interviewing rider number tioned it one Friday. one, two or three, he ran up to Lydia She went home and asked her and started interviewing her out loud mother what a Cardinals’ game was. to the crowd asking what her expe- Her mother turned the game on, and rience was like, how she felt, and it the announcers were talking about was a really incredible moment,” Yadier Molina, the team’s current Grindler said. “And the same thing catcher. Olmsted was instantly drawn happened when they came out of the to the sport, and she knew she liked arena. The newspapers weren’t real- Molina. She had the chance to meet ly so interested in one, two or three. infielder Matt Carpenter, who she has They were interested in the girl who been trying to meet for years, briefly rode the horse that couldn’t see.” at this past winter’s Winter Warm-Up The American Royal is one of Ol- in St. Louis. Whenever she sees Momsted’s favorite memories. She said lina, who she calls “Yadi,” she said she had never felt Ghazi be so hap- he will take a moment to say hello py before in her time with him. The and give her a hug. thrill of the experience and the rush “I really enjoy a lot of things, like of adrenaline from competing made the [statistics and the] strategy of the the competition something she will game,” Olmsted said. “It’s kind of never forget. She said Ghazi is one of hard to identify a favorite part, but the most important things in her life those are some aspects of the game I even though he is not human. really enjoy.”

After lessons, Grindler said OlmJunior Grace Dyer first met Olmsted will stay after to hang out with sted in their fifth grade class at Mill Ghazi. He rests his head on Olm- Creek Elementary School. Dyer said sted’s shoulder, Grindler said, and Olmsted is caring, easy to talk to and sometimes they will stay in an em- is good about finding commonalities brace for more than five minutes. Of- between what she is going through ten, horses do not want people to grab and what other people are going onto them, hug them and hold them through to make connections. She for an extended period of time, Grin- said everyone has grown a lot since dler said, but with Olmsted, Ghazi is fifth grade but that Olmsted has “al“as content as ever to hang out with ways had the same sort of bright perher” for as long as she can stay. sonality” and positive attitude.

“I think the first time I looked over “A few years ago I went to a Carthe stall and saw them in an embrace dinals game with her,” Dyer said. for more than five minutes [is when] “She’s a huge Cardinals fan, and honI realized that that horse really loved estly I’m not very into baseball and her a lot,” Grindler said. “I think the never really have been, or sports in first time I saw that relationship and general, but it was really fun.” realized how special it is was [when] In high school, Dyer and OlmI said, ‘It’s time to go’ and started sted see each other on a somewhat going into the house and doing a few consistent basis, but Dyer said when things and coming back out 30 min- they do eat lunch together they use utes later and seeing if she was any- the time to fill one another in on how where near finished, or asking a barn their days are going, talk about what manager if they could stay an extra classes are like and catch up on the 45 minutes so that Lydia could just important events in each other’s life. hang with her horse.”

Even when something problematic is

3

ANASTASIA POTTER

going on in Olmsted’s life, Dyer said, she does not let it “damper the mood” or take from her natural positivity.

“I honestly don’t know if I’ve ever heard her say something that’s not nice,” Dyer said. “She’s very caring, always asks how you’re doing. Very strong, like goes through a lot of inconveniences and stuff. Obviously a lot of stuff at school is harder, but she handles it so graciously.”

Because of her vision-impairment, Dyer said every day is harder for Olmsted than for people who do not have to deal with extra obstacles to access their education. Dyer said even though problems with technology are not always a teacher’s fault, Olmsted faces barriers to her education when they do not have the necessary materials ready and brailed.

“It’s technology issue after technology issue for her, and she never lets that get her down,” Dyer said.

“She stays on top of things and is never complaining. She never makes the focus [on] bad things. [She’s] like, ‘Oh, it’s okay. We’re going to get this handled.’”

Since she first met Olmsted, Grindler said she has always been a “very bright child” and a “very polite, well-mannered young woman.”

She said Olmsted has always been thoughtful, kind and appreciative of anything others do to help her. On days when Cedar Creek does not have lessons and when session is not going on, Grindler said Olmsted will come to simply be with her horse.

“They’ll send me a text to say, ‘Lydia’s had a crummy week at school. Could she come see her horse?’ Of course, I always say yes, and then they come out and she’ll just hang out, catch him, tie him, and they’ll just hang,” Grindler said.

“She’ll brush him, talk to him. She doesn’t even have to ride him. She just wants to be with her friend.”

Grindler said Olmsted was a little quieter when she was younger compared to her more outspoken nature now. While she said most two and three year olds do not talk as much, from the time Olmsted was a young girl, she had the “vocabulary and the brain of a little adult,” making her an “interesting kid to listen to.” Olmsted is more than a rider for Grindler; she is her friend. Grindler said she likes to talk and hang out with Olmsted.

“Nobody describes things the same as Lydia because she’s describing them as a person without sight,” Grindler said. “So she has these adjectives and these adverbs that she uses that you hadn’t even ever thought of. This crunch of the gravel when you walk down to the barn from the horse’s foot. Things like that that she’ll bring up, and you’re like, ‘Wow. That is so cool.’ So I feel really lucky to have met and gotten to know Lydia and spend time with Lydia because she’s a really cool little human being.”

THE ROCK | WWW.BEARINGNEWS.ORG | APRIL 25, 2019

14 | FEATURES

there, and it’s not uncommon,” Colvin said. To educate and empower youth, Boone County offers a Rape Aggression Defense program den American is sexually assaulted every 92 seconds, ac- signed specifically for women, which covers topics including travel safecording to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network ty, use of weapons and what to do after an attack. Twenty-five percent of (RAINN). Every nine minutes, the victim is a child. The girls and about 16.7 percent of boys will be sexually abused before they network reported on average there are 321,500 rape and turn 18 years old, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource sexual assault victims age 12 or older in the United States annually. Center.

“I think parents need to have frank conversations with their kids.

RAINN is the largest nonprofit anti-sexual assault organization in [Sexual assault is] an uncomfortable topic, but I’ve always felt like when the country and operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline.

Having worked as a police officer at the University of Missou- you’re having ‘the talk,’ that sex talk, that probably soon after it’s probari—Columbia for more than 20 years, Lieutenant April Colvin, bly a good idea, and even before,” Colvin said. “I think parents just need who is the second shift lieutenant for patrol and supervises the to not be afraid to cover that topic. Kids are finding out earlier and earlier crime prevention unit, is no stranger to the violence young adults about sex in general, so I think parents, by kind of shunning that topic, are and teenagers can encounter at college. While the National Center doing their kids a disservice.”

Because Jacquin’s mother had conversations with her that she knew for Victims of Crime reports 28 percent of U.S. teens between 14 and 17 have been sexually victimized, Colvin said it is still her friends’ parents did not have with them, she adopted a “big sister role” a possibility college-aged young adults will face some form of throughout college. Jacquin said this empowered her to handle situations sexual assault during their time at university or later. She said and protect her friends, especially those who were “not as equipped and avoiding isolated areas, using the buddy system and “listening to aware” and those who would make “really poor decisions.”

As a way to expose her to the reality of being a female in this day and your gut” are simple ways to stay safe in potentially dangerous age, junior Leela Cullity’s parents created a way for her younger sister and situations.

“You know, if something’s making you uncomfortable, her to go downtown on the weekends. Cullity said a lack of awareness can there’s probably a reason that it’s making you uncomfortable, make any situation a woman is in “100 times more scary.” She said her and sometimes we can’t really put it into words, but we know parents’ preparation made being downtown alone less intimidating.

“I think since I was extremely little my parents have informed me of that it is. That feeling of fear and apprehension is there for a reason, and I think a lot of people tend to kind of push that out the dangers of being a girl and being alone,” Cullity said. “I think as soon of the way,” Colvin said. “They think, ‘Oh, well, you know, as I was old enough to be alone and in certain settings, like downtown or I’m sure it’s okay. I’m sure it’s okay.’ But it’s there, and it’s even at school, they’ve prepared me, and they’ve told me, ‘This is what you’re going to have to deal with,’ and, ‘It’s what it is,’ and, ‘Do what you there for a reason.”

From a relatively young age, math teacher Angel Jacquin’s can to make sure that nothing bad happens to you.’”

Although Cullity said she has a sense of safety and relative naiveté mother made sure to educate her on the dangers she may face as a woman in America. While Jacquin said her brothers nev- when it comes to the treatment of females in today’s society, she is not er took self-defense classes growing up, she said she and her entirely unprepared to deal with threats that may come her way. While younger sister took about 10. As a going away present when going door-to-door during the summer as a volunteer for Missouri senator she left for college, Jacquin’s mother gave her 10 different Claire McCaskill’s re-election bid, Cullity and her mother decided it was “the best decision to carry some form forms of pepper spray to take of self-defense,” in her case a miniawith her. ture bottle of pepper spray.

When practicing self-de“I had an instance when I was gofense, Colvin said the goal Self-defense techniques, first off, should be ing into my office for the Claire Mcis to use the least amount of practiced and practiced often. It’s not just Caskill campaign, and a man literally energy and have the lowsomething that you just learn, file away in the ran up to me and went to go shake est chance of injury while back of your head and go on.” me and ask me if I could Venmo still delivering “one heck of him some money for a drink,” Cullian impact” to a vulnerable ty said. “And this was like a college, and painful place on the at- Lieutenant April Colvin, Mizzou student. He had money. He tacker’s body. She said this University of Missouri—Columbia police lieutenant was wealthy. This was just a normal should allow the victim to student, and that was definitely really “end the fight quickly” and scary, and I did not appreciate that. It at the same time manage to sort of taught me what could happen to me in the future.” leave the situation.

At least half of all violent crimes, including sexual assault, involve Colvin said there are certain places on the human body that are vulnerable: shins, feet, groin, eyes, nose “alcohol consumption by the perpetrator, the victim, or both,” according and the solar plexus area. She said striking with the to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Especially on knees, elbows or fists are hard parts of the body to hit a college campus, Colvin said, alcohol tends to be “very prevalent in rape with. Sometimes, she said, using the palm of a hand can and sexual assault cases.” She estimates at least 90 percent of the time, be better than using a fist because it reduces the chance alcohol, what she called the “number one date-rape drug,” is involved in some capacity in rape and sexual assault cases. When people are consumof broken bones.

“Self-defense techniques, first off, should be prac- ing alcohol, Colvin said drinking responsibly and making sure someone is ticed and practiced often. It’s not just something that sober enough to make good decisions can help keep others safe.

“At parties, even if you’re not drinking, keep an eye on your drinks. you just learn, file away in the back of your head and go on,” Colvin said. “Really, for it to be effective, you Don’t set your drinks down where somebody can slip something into should practice it on a semi-regular basis. I would say it ’cause that can happen,” Colvin said. “Also, you can go to bars, and basically you have to know what you can strike with, there have been cases where bartenders have slipped stuff into drinks. So what parts of your body you can strike with and what you could go, you could be the designated driver and grab a soda, and if you’re not really paying attention to what’s happening, that bartender you’re aiming at.”

If Jacquin’s brothers wanted to walk across the could slip something in.”

Jacquin said she has friends with “horror stories” because they were street at night, they easily could. She said, however, if she wished to, then her mother wanted one of her not being aware or trusted the wrong people. While she hopes teenagers brothers to “escort” her because of the news at the wait to drink until they are of age, she said never accepting an open drink time about when most assaults happened. Jacquin and having an eye on the drink at all times are important because someone said she kept a baseball bat and a lacrosse stick in can slip something into the drink “at any place at any time.” In college, the back seat of her car in the event she ever needed Jacquin said she and her friends had the “Sober Sister rule.” Whenever to have a weapon for self-defense. This made both they went anywhere, she said there was always a girl who they trusted her and her brothers feel safe, especially since she who would remain completely sober the entire time and who would keep worked jobs late at night. Jacquin’s mother also tabs on everybody.

“They were not allowed to walk away from a party. They were not gave her and her brothers Maglite flashlights to keep in their glove compartments. These doubled allowed to go anywhere with a guy, whether it was a boyfriend or not. I as both a strong light source and could also be mean, they just weren’t allowed to leave our sight,” Jacquin said. “It was a big rule we had, and I think it helped everybody feel safer to have a good used as a weapon to protect themselves.

“It’s even to the point where if we got pulled time and have a good, be in a good, safe environment knowing we had a over by a cop and we were alone in the car, we safe way home, knowing that somebody’s watching out for us if we can’t were to put our flashers on to let the cop know handle our own decisions.”

In potentially dangerous situations, Colvin said having situational we knew we were going to be pulled over,” Jacquin said, “and we were not to pull over until we awareness, the ability to understand and respond effectively to an emerwere in a crowded area, and you only cracked gency situation, can help ward off attackers. She also said it can help the window down so much if you’re alone or people have a “jump on things,” which allows them to react sooner than don’t feel comfortable because you never know if they were not paying attention. In non-violent situations of catcalling and verbal harassment, Colvin said everyone has his or her own way of who the predator is.”

Her mother’s protectiveness, however, was handling the event. Unless it is “really bad,” Colvin recommended and not unfounded, primarily because she worked personally practices the policy of ignoring the comments because she said in the medical world. Jacquin said her mother a lot of times the harasser wants a reaction.

“I feel like if I turn around and I go to confront this person, am I going has a “more realistic view of the worst things that can happen” because of the people who to escalate this to a point where I don’t really want to? You know, am I she saw come into the hospital and the sto- gonna make it worse than it already was? Now is it a shame that we basiries she heard from co-workers who had to cally have to just walk on and take it? It absolutely is,” Colvin said. “But walk through parking garages at night. The I’m kind of the, ‘I’m gonna keep going; I’m gonna keep my head high, awareness her mother instilled in her became and I’m not going to give you any reaction whatsoever ’cause that’s what a form of prevention for Jacquin. She said you’re looking for.’”

As a role model for her younger sister, Cullity said she demonstrates her mother wanted her and her siblings to be strong and pursue whatever they were inter- effective ways of “shutting people down” who are catcalling her or her ested in while at the same time remaining sister on the street. She said she has seen her sister copy how she responds in those situations. In terms of protecting her safety, Cullity said cognizant of the world around them.

“I think that’s why [my mom was like], she thinks the best way to respond to a verbal attack is to ignore it “rather ‘Okay, you want to go do this? You want than turn around and be aggressive back at them.” She said engaging with to bike to college every day at wee hours the verbal harasser is a “direct way to create a more hostile situation,” in the morning by yourself, fine. I’m gon- which could potentially put her in harm’s way.

“Even though I have told my sister we really would like to defend na load you up with that pepper spray and make sure you have self-defense lessons ourselves verbally against these people and tell them to stop saying these so that you’re fully prepared to do that,’” things to us, it’s just not the right thing to do,” Cullity said. “Well. It’s not the incorrect thing, it’s just the safer thing to do, and it’s the best way to Jacquin said.

Violence against young adults is “out protect yourself in a situation like that.”

Bailey Stover

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Senior athletes reminisce their favorite moment

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Baseball prepares for Blue Springs Emily Oba

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ith a [20-5] season, the baseball team will strive to strengthen its record and gain momentum for districts Saturday, April 27. The Bruins will play the Blue Springs High School Wildcats. Assistant Coach Jeff Bazat has confidence in his team for upcoming games.

“The team needs to play well on a consistent basis,” Bazat said. “Playing four high quality games each week, the players have to do the little things on a daily basis to constantly be successful.”

Bazat is confident in the Bruins and said if the players bring a high level of energy and focus each day, they will be prepared for each opponent. Senior shortstop and pitcher Wyatt Towe shares the same mentality and knows the team will come in ‘‘guns blazing every time.’’

“Baseball is such an up and down game that it’s hard to keep consistency,” Towe said. “However, what I think we do well as a team is that we never back down, and we don’t care who we play.”

In order for the team to be ready for each game, junior utility Will Norris said baseball is a unique sport when it comes to preparation because one play can quickly change an entire game.

“We don’t prepare for each opponent individually,” Norris said. “We just prepare to play the best baseball we can for seven innings, and we feel confident that if we do that we will be successful.”

From past seasons, Towe remembers the Wildcats [6-19] as a good team and

ALLIE PIGG / THE ROCK

Anel Castro holds a sign as the cheer team performs in a school assembly.

“The highlight of my career was competing in the National level in Orlando, Florida, as we took 13th place in the nation in our division. We worked all year this year to compete nationally. For my senior year especially, it was a fabulous experience.”

-Anel Castro

said the Bruins won’t drastically change h o w t h e y practice leading up to the game. “ I t ’ s more so preparing for the skill sets of the players that the [opposing team] has,” Towe said, “for example, if they have a good pitcher or power hitter.”

Bazat said the team’s goal, a district championship, is the endgame.

With a little less than half a season before districts, Norris said overall the players have done everything pretty well so far. Districts will be played Saturday, May 11 to Saturday, May 18.

“The games we’ve lost have all been really close, and it’s good to experience that for when playoffs come,” Norris said. “We’ve been successful pitching and hitting recently, but there’s always room for improvement.”

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FIRST PITCH: April 15, senior Zach Hay throws the first pitch against St. Dominic High School (SDHS). The Bruins will play again at 11:30 a.m.

April 27 against Blue Springs.

CAMRYN DEVORE / THE ROCK

Wyatt Towe stands with head football coach Van Vanatta during senior night.

“I would say that the highlight of my football career would probably have been when we beat Rockhurst my junior year, and we were faced with a fourth and l9 on the game winning drive. On the next play I caught a pass from Trevor Twehous over a Rockhurst defender to give us a first down on the 3-yard line. It was the highlight because it was a crucial play in winning one of the biggest games of our times at RBHS.” -Wyatt Towe

BASEBALL RECORDS FRESHMEN [5-2-1] SOPHOMORE [4-1] CAMRYN DEVORE / THE ROCK

LEAD OFF: Junior Clayton Schneider leads off from third base as the Bruins play SDHS April 15. The Bruins defeated the Crusaders (7-6). They will play again at the Timberland Tournament tomorrow.

JUNIOR VARSITY [5-7-1] VARSITY [20-5]

Girls’ soccer gears up for tournament Ethan Hayes

CAMRYN DEVORE / THE ROCK

Spencer Miles steps into the batter’s box and stands waiting for the pitch.

“Well, for now, winning state in basketball, but since baseball isn’t over yet I’m looking forward to see what this team has. We are a very special team, and I think we can go very deep and possibly bring a title back.”

-Spencer Miles

CAMRYN DEVORE / THE ROCK

Gemma Ross gets ready to bat in the game against JCHS on home territory.

“My favorite moment was the Joplin Tournament, just spending time with my friends in a room. Tournaments and things like that were always the best.”

-Gemma Ross

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lready halfway through its season, the girls’ soccer team [7-5-0] is gearing up for a tournament at St. Dominic High School today. For the past two weeks, the team has been improving its kinship as players and overall defense.

“Bonding as a team builds our positivity, and it is very obvious on the field, especially with our last win against Jeff City,” sophomore midfielder Hannah Juengerman said.

Good relations among players, sophomore forward Istahil Omar said, is key to applying improvements to their performance. Omar hopes this tournament will demonstrate the hard work they have been putting into their field communication and ball play. Specifically, Omar wants to perform better at connecting passes and finishing the ball.

The Bruins finished the first half of their season against Jefferson City High School April 9 making them [5-4]. The team continued to gain momentum with a victory against Battle High School April 13.

“We had been on a hard streak of losses, and our [Jefferson City] game was a good win,” Omar said.

“If our team can continue to pull through, it would be awesome for us to set our bars high for future games.”

The district tournament will take place May 11. The Bruins advanced to quarterfinals last year, losing out to Lee’s Summit West High School. Head coach Scott Wittenborn thinks today’s game will be a good indication of the girls ability to play in the postseason rounds.

“Hickman will most likely be our staunchest district rival, though we have added Troy to our district this year as well and they may prove to be tough competition, as well,” Wittenborn said. “Hickman is a very talented team this year and, as a crosstown rival, will once again prove to be a tough game.”

Both Omar and Juengerman agree with Wittenborn that the Kewpies are their biggest competition because of their high level of skill and technique.

“Since we are playing Hickman at districts this year, they are probably our main competition for the rest of the season,” Omar said. “As home town rivals, we’re always very competitive, but this year we will be playing each other to go to state.”

Juengermann said one of the team’s biggest strengths leading up to the upcoming match is its energy and applying it during all 80 minutes of the game. For Juengermann, today is an opportunity to create the momentum for the team, which it needs in order win a state championship title.

“Something that I have been

working on with [Coach Wittenborn] is playing 1-2 touch,” Juengermann said. “With my club

teams, I am put in a position where I am more confident to take more touches that are effective.”

ALLIE PIGG / THE ROCK

MAINTAINING CONTROL: Sophomore midfielder Hannah Juengermann sprints by a Pleasant Hill High School defender Thursday, April 18.

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THE ROCK | WWW.BEARINGNEWS.ORG | APRIL 25, 2019

Opinion: school spirit deficit is disconcerting Ethan Hayes

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efore arriving at RBHS my freshman year, I had high hopes for the student life and perks of being a Bruin. The large campus size, giant student body, unassigned seating for lunch and most importantly, the sport games, are all hallmarks of our school. As a wide-eyed middle school student eager to begin my high school career, I imagined standing in the student section at a Friday night football game wearing green and gold face paint with a Bruin head t-shirt.

Sadly, the real world rarely meets fantasy born expectations. When I was finally able to go to a RBHS football game during my freshman year, I was met not with spirit but rather teenage chauvinism.

People in the student section threw food and drinks and additionally lambasted the cheerleaders, referees and football players with boos and chants.

By the end of the game, we were losing, and many, if not most, of the students had left the bleachers entirely and gone home. What surprised me most was the disappointed faces I saw from my fellow classmen, who were at the time freshmen.

Our first high school football game was supposed to be a night of bonding, cheap popcorn, doing the wave and fun; instead, we had a night of disappointment.

Games later in the season followed suit with this unfortunate pattern. People went along with the attire themes, such as ‘white out’ and ‘neon,’ but that was the

extent of student pride as the foolishness and teenage antics persisted at each game.

The week leading up to homecoming wasn’t much better. The various spirit day themes weren’t getting much participation outside the student government officers, a handful of freshmen and court members.

The school spirit that should’ve been present beforehand was absent.

School pride is important because it separates a normal high school experience from an extraordinary one. It is a perfectly viable option for students in high school to go through the four years of education with their heads buried in their phones, avoiding social events such as sports games and school dances if their main focus is a traditional public education.

What school spirit does is create depth and lasting purpose for students during this stressful and anxiety ridden period in their lives.

Being entirely academically focused may be enough for some people, but after the seventh or eighth test in an advanced placement class, I realized that the meaning my grades gave me was fleeting. After the last final of my second semester, I registered that all the late night study cramming and homework-filled weekends aren’t enough.

Many students notice that something is missing and will soon realize they missed out on everything that a high schooler should experience. They didn’t go to games or dress out for school events or even buy any school merchandise. High school can’t be all work and no play; oth-

erwise, we all become as dull as the textbooks we read.

By the end of freshman year, I was so apathetic and cynical to the lack of enthusiasm from our student body that I didn’t bother to go to any basketball games.

Throughout my sophomore and junior year, the issue only got steadily worse.

With 2,021 students at RBHS, it’s disappointing that we as Bruins take no pride in our school. We don’t go beyond the half-hearted efforts we normally now give in support of our sports teams. As an upperclassman cheerleader, I traveled alongside both the varsity football and basketball teams to various away games and saw schools half our size demonstrate more than twice the school spirit at one game then we at RBHS did in an entire season.

I am not trying to shame or call out our current student spirit groups or their leaders. A leader can’t invoke a response from an unwilling person. The blame for our lack of energy is shared among all 2,021 of us. As individuals, it is our responsibility to hold each other accountable. As a collective it is our responsibility to encourage those who participate in extracurricular activities.

We have failed in both those duties. We don’t show school spirit because we don’t see the value in doing so.

We have forgotten what it means to be a Bruin and the upcoming senior class must learn from our mistakes by evaluating what it means to be a part of this school; otherwise, they are doomed to repeat our mistakes.

FEATURE PHOTO BY GEORGE FREY

Boys’ tennis keeps momentum, equips for HHS Kewpies match Isaac Parrish

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he boys’ tennis team [11-10] will take on the Hickman High School (HHS) Kewpies today. Although the crosstown rivalry between the Bruins and HHS spans ages, the outcome of the game at this point won’t hold much weight on RBHS’ season record.

Head coach Ben Loeb said the team practices for the match just like any other.

“We don’t specifically prepare for Hickman,” Loeb said. “We prepare for whoever our next opponent will be. But we will try to get more than our top six ready to play in some of the varsity matches.”

Senior Zach Greuber has good faith in the outcome of the game, seeing as the season has been going so well; the only dual lost so far was in the semifinals of the Deco Turf National Tournament. To prepare, he said the team members compete against each other to gain confidence in their ability to play well when it matters.

“I think our team is as strong as ever and that we are setting ourselves up to compete for our fourth straight team state title,” Greuber said. “We all want this very badly, so we will continue to work as hard as we can to achieve this goal. Our relationship with each other is very good. We do

practically everything together, so we’re extremely comfortable around each other.”

Senior Kavin Anand said playing for RBHS’ tennis team is like being in a family, as the friendships he has built over the years makes the whole process more enjoyable. He hopes to play for a tennis club or team at Stanford University where he will attend this fall. As for HHS, Anand looks forward to contributing to the longtime rivalry. “[We’re focusing on] increasing our intensity,” Anand said. “We want to make sure we compete at our best no matter the skill of the opponent.”

For Greuber, the game holds a little extra value. Some of his best friends he’s had since elementary school and that he’s been separated from because of the district lines being changed have picked up tennis at HHS. Competing against his friends allows Greuber to see them every so often. To prepare for such an important match and reunitement, Greuber claimed one thing the team can probably improve on is attitude.

“We like to get pretty hyped, but often we rebound into negative energy if things don’t go our way,” Greuber said. “If we could get better at preventing these rebounds, it would help us stay at a constant high level of competition with the better teams.”

SOPHIE EATON / THE ROCK

ZONED IN: Sophomore Garrett Roach looks toward the ball as he practices with the varsity team April 15. They play next at the MICDS Tournament of Champions April 26.

CAMRYN DEVORE / THE ROCK

EYES AHEAD: Track and field runners, freshman Kieth Collins, junior Trey Manuel and freshman Connor Earleywine race eachother at practice, Monday, April 22.

Track trains for Dale Collier Invitational Boys, girls strive for district, sectional, state championships Jared Geyer

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he track season continues as the RBHS varsity team prepares for the Dale Collier Invitational in Kirkwood.

The meet this Saturday is the second to last varsity invitational before the district, sectional and state track meet.

Head coach Neal Blackburn leads all facets of the team. Every day Blackburn gives updates and words of advice to his athletes, hoping to help their confidence and determination.

“Track and field can be extremely challenging based on the workouts the athletes have to execute,” Blackburn said. “Physically, athletes will be pushed to the utmost of their ability level to get the most from them.

Mentally, that can take a toll on the person due to the demands placed upon them.”

Underclassmen in both sprints and long distance help the sustained success of the varsity track team.

Sophomore Tyra Wilson is already one of the top 25 hurdlers in the country for her age group, running the 60m hurdle event in 8.6 seconds.

She hopes the girls’ team will be able to take the state title this year.

Even with consistent success, Wilson looks forward and works hard to continuously improve. This desire for improvement drives her lifestyle and commitment to the team.

“Track helps to develop my hur- the impact that running long disdle coordination, running skills and tance has had on her life and the overall physical techniques. I train mindset it has given her. regularly to improve my strength on “Long distance has made me the the track and in the weight room,” person I am today,” Steuber said.

Wilson said. “Mentally, it keeps my “Yes, every day you can find me sanity in check. I find peace in run- running, but there is more to it. The ning track and joy in winning.” fun thing about distance running is Long distance runners will also you don’t know how defeating it can represent RBHS at the Dale Collier be until you’re only halfway through Invitational. Long distance daily your 3200 [meter race] on the track activities require multiple types of and realize you have to do everyworkouts and runs that calibrate dif- thing again. My mental strength ferent physimore so cal and menthan my tal states of physical is “Long distance has made me the what I bethe runner. person I am today. Yes, every day lieve has Sophomore you can find me running, but there made me Matthew Griffith sees the runner I is more to it.” the different am today.”

As the runs as ben- Maci Steuber d i s t r i c t , eficial for freshman s e c t i o n a l staying in and state shape, burnm e e t s ing calories move closer on the calendar, Blackand strengthening muscles.

“Long runs benefit the body more burn hopes he has created an enviaerobically, which is why they are ronment for his team to grow as runneeded once a week. Workouts help ners and as people over the course more anaerobically to get the body of the season.

“My hope is that each of our used to running at a faster pace,” Griffith said. “Recovery runs are student-athletes simply approaches slower, more relaxed runs that are each day with a desire to work hard used in between workouts so that the and make gains,” Blackburn said. body can recover from the previous “Hopefully the athletes can maintain their training level with few inday and be ready for the next.”

Freshman Maci Steuber is also terruptions, and with those qualities among the pantheon of varsity long in place, the extrinsic rewards may distance runners. She appreciates follow.”

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THE ROCK | WWW.BEARINGNEWS.ORG | APRIL 25, 2019

Creepy classics revived from the dead Students combine old, new inspirations in theatrical showcase Amanda Kurukulasuriya

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BHS will experience Halloween in May when the likes of Dracula, Frankenstein and the Addams Family take to the Performing Arts Center stage.

The Advanced Acting and Musical Theater classes will present their annual theatrical showcase May 3 and 4 at 7 p.m. with a number of spooky selections to fit their ‘macabre’ theme. While the showcase is a longstanding RBHS tradition, this year, students had a more substantial role in its production.

In February the drama department experienced a small but welcome disruption. Advanced Acting teacher Holly Kerns gave birth to a baby boy and was out on maternity leave for eight weeks, so for the first time in her five years at RBHS, she gave the responsibility of directing to students.

Although several of the kids were new to the job, she assigned all of the upperclassmen in Advanced Acting a scene to direct. Even with the responsibility on the directors, Kerns had full trust in them.

“It was really fun to see their vision, especially because I’ve

been away,” Kerns said. “They’ve feeding students lines when they brought this whole thing together, went off book and later helping with and they did a really awesome job. characterization. The job could be You can tell they’ve been paying at- intimidating, but it was also an extention when we’re working on oth- citing opportunity. er stuff in class on how the process “[As] an actor, you can play works.” around with the way you want to exSenior Polina Kopeikin has a large press yourself,” Kopeikin said, “but stake in the theatrical showcase. She it’s really within more of a certain is the only student in both the Ad- frame because of what your direcvanced Acttor told you; ing and Muwhereas, as sical Theater The shows are really, really fun. That’s a director classes, and you are the what you really look forward to when one that is between the you’re doing theater is seeing your setting that two classes she has leadwork come through and having an [ f r a m e ] , ing roles in which is audience.” three scenes. way more - Audrey Mueller She will responsiJunior play Dracbility. [Diula from recting] is “Dracula,” the Gray Steward from kind of scary because obviously “The Gray Steward” and Morticia you don’t want to accidentally ruin from “The Addams Family.” She your relationship with one of your is especially excited for “Dracula” friends, but I think we’re all probecause they have re-imagined the fessional enough where we can unstory to make it steampunk, which derstand that we’re all experienced she thinks adds a level of edge to the enough to be directing.”

Even with the responsibility of classic.

She is also directing “The Unin- directing, junior Audrey Mueller is vited” and assisting with set design enthusiastic about the showcase. She and costumes. For Kopeikin, di- has been in acting since her freshrecting entailed blocking the scene, man year and is directing “Dracula”

in tandem with junior Michael Bledsoe. While putting the show together can be stressful, especially since the musical theater class and acting classes don’t rehearse together until the week of the show, Mueller thinks the effort is well worth it. She eagerly anticipates the first performance, even though it means five-hour after school rehearsals during what the actors call tech week, or the week of the performance.

“The shows are really, really fun,” Mueller said. “That’s what you really look forward to when you’re doing theater is seeing your work come through and having an audience. Tech week is stressful, but it’s also really satisfying because that’s when you get the sets together. You get the whole crew and your outfits, and that’s when you really start to feel like this is serious. I’m really in the scene.”

The theatrical showcase, while a challenge to put together, is an especially exciting opportunity for actors because it gives them a chance to explore a variety of material. The eclectic nature of the show is also meant to appeal to audiences. Parents and friends usually come to support students, but Kerns wants to draw in the wider community as

well. Kerns’ selections are a mix of familiar stories, old classics and contemporary material.

“There is something for everyone,” Kerns said. “Some of it’s funny. Some of it’s dark and intense.

Some of it’s really big and flamboyant. There’s lots of lights and costuming and big dance numbers and stuff going on that’s fun to watch.

It’s like a collage.”

The showcase will be a culmination of the students’ work in class as well as the final performance at RBHS for seniors. During the course of the four years some seniors have spent with her, Kerns has forged close bonds with them. She said between having class and out of school rehearsals with students, she spends a lot of time getting to know the kids.

“It’s always really exciting,” Kerns said. “It’s bittersweet because it’s the end of the year, so you know this is the last show for some students. It’s a quick thing and then it’s gone, and then students that have been so much a part of my life as a teacher are moving on. It’s lovely and celebratory and [a] happy occasion, and at the same time we’ve got to hold onto these memories because it’s fleeting.”

Anatomy of the stage

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ISABEL THOROUGHMAN / THE ROCK

Musicians prepare for upcoming state music festival Moy Zhong

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oday through Saturday, band, choir and orchestra students will commute to and from the University of Missouri—Columbia’s campus to perform the same pieces they previously prepared for the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) district festival in Mexico, Mo. After receiving a “1” rating, the top rating for demonstrating exemplary musical talent in Mexico, the students qualified for state performances. At state, a panel of judges will award them, from the lowest to highest: a bronze, silver or gold ranking.

Although senior Kailey Beaty is confident in the flute solo and trio that she has prepared for the event, she is unsure of what they will be scored at state.

“Districts is almost always graded easier than state, so there is less pressure in my opinion when I go to districts,” Beaty said. “State is harder because everyone there has gotten a 1, but not everyone will walk away with [another top rank] again.”

Beaty has competed in MSHSAA music festivals since freshman year. Beaty recalls consistently earning top rankings at districts while her scores fluctuated at state.

Director of Bands Patrick Sullivan associates the festivals’ grading differences with the adjusted state scale.

“The state adjudication sheet that the judge fills out is very different. I’ve heard feedback from different students, it’s a lot more subjective,” Sullivan said. “The judging at state is typically—you typically say that it’s tougher. I know that there are some colleagues of mine, they use this term and I kind of agree with them, ‘A 1 at districts is a 2 rating at state.’ So, that’s kind of a good perspective for students to look at too. So judging is a little more stringent when you get to state.”

Although this year marks his first time participating in MSHSAA music festivals, freshman Brandon Kim embraces the harsher judging of the state competition. Aside from minor adjustments to his violin solo, Kim’s preparation for state barely differs from his preparation for districts. Additionally, Kim’s prior experience with

music competition calms his pre-performance nerves. “[State is] not that much different from going into [districts] because it’s mainly the same piece; you’re just playing it again,” Kim said.

“It’s not that nerve-racking other than the important competitions like [Missouri Music Teachers Association Conference (MMTA)] or stuff like that. It’s definitely not my first rodeo, so I think I’m okay.”

Kim recommends that students take part in MSHSAA music festivals to take advantage of receiving helpful feedback from judges and a chance to test their musical prowess. Sullivan echoes Kim’s sentiment, saying the solo and small ensemble experience is one of the best experiences a musician can get.

“For three to seven minutes it’s just you,” Sullivan said. “It really pushes students to be independent, to push their musicianship to another level of confidence; whereas, if you’re sitting in a section of students and you flub up, you know somebody else is there to cover for you—you don’t have that in a small ensemble experience.”

Upcoming events Band Concert May 6, 7 p.m. in the PAC

Orchestra concert May 7, 7 p.m. in the PAC

Choir concert May 9, 7 p.m. in the PAC MOY ZHONG / THE ROCK

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Take memories. Leave footsteps.

Students share travel tales, lessons learned

ABOUT dallas

“The coolest part for me [at the John F. Kennedy museum], is on the road outside where they have an ‘X’ where the first shot hit him, and it’s really interestig seeing the perspective right out the window where the assassin was.”

“The [Dallas band trip], was more of a bonding trip, it was a really fun time. We got to room with our friends each night, so it was a moment to ease the school work and have a moment to spend time with friends, we would go out for dinner each night, and we had some freedom each night to hangout or go to the pool.”

-Justin Hahm, 10 illustrated by Reece furkin

“The [John F. Kennedy] museum, [for me, sightseeing wise], was probably the most interesting part of the trip, but the most fun was Six Flags.”

ABOUT Iceland - Ryan Hull, 12 illustrated by isabel thoroughman “I don’t know if I consider Columbia my home. I don’t think that I’ve experienced other places enough to pick Columbia as the best place to have a home.”

“It was very like, “Iceland is very interesting historically. it is a very beautiful country.”

- iceland

“I have always had a very deep interest in that kind of Viking era part of history. it was very much getting a new perspective on the way that people live.”

“Also, Iceland is basically built on top of, like, five volcanoes.”

“And it was very simple.”

“I’ve been away from home without my parents a couple times. Iceland is definitely a whole other country so it was very complicated.”

‘oh, my goodness, do I have this? do I have this? who was going to be able to keep me in check?’”

“and when I got there, it’s just me, I’m just in a different country.”

“Iceland was very much an extremely interesting country. it was always a place that I’ve been curious about.“

ABOUT SPAIN - Allison Scrivner, 12 - Spain illustrated by Valeria Velasquez

“The only thing I want to do right now is go back there and visit everyone I had to leave. It holds a really big part OF me now.”

“It was a lot different for fun [in spain], the weather was never really bad. I feel like people were happier over there because it wasn’t so cold.”

“It was like I had an entire different life. I had a family over there, I felt loved over there, everyone over there was a real part of my life.

Some days, like, I feel like SPAIN is more my home than Columbia is.”

ABOUT Greece - Sam Fierke, 11 illustrated by Valeria Velasquez “I wanted to go to Greece because I had not gone on a lot of international trips before and EF [TOURS] seemed promising. I’ve always been interested in the history and culture there, and I wanted to see [IT], I had been to Europe once, BUT I wanted to see kind of what the difference was further south and east.”

“Greek religion has been an interest of mine because it’s sO different THAN a lot of religions surrounding us in the western world. it’s cool to pick apart what’s true and what’s theory and which parts are simply story to explain things. I like the idea of representation of certain elements of life and of earth.”

“The very first day there was this really cool meal provided, and we got to go eat traditional Greek food--everything we ate there, for the most part, was traditional Greek food, I really enjoyed the gelato there. There was a tangerine one that tasted exactly like tangerines, I kept going back, and I spent a good chunk of my money that I brought there on gelato.”

samantha fierke, 11 - Greece “My favorite was definitely Delphi. We got to hike up all the way [to the monument] and learn along the way; you could see the Greek lettering. I thought it was really interesting how the epicenter of Greece in ancient times was able to bring together politics and culture of the world in that way.”

“I’m not quite sure what I was expecting [IN Greece]. I expected most of it to be modern, but I was surprised, you usually don’t expect things to be like they are in movies, But the scenery in “Mama Mia” and the scenery in Athens was like the same thing. it was all really pretty, you had beautiful stone and ancient architechures,” “there was a giant airport that had been shut down for years and years, and it was just sitting there. But I remember getting up on the roof of our hotel and looking out and seeing this city that was just stone, it looked like it had been built from the ground up.”