The Rock — April 2016

INDEPTHS Culture of violence: harmful acts attack all walks of life pages B3-B6

FEATURES Yoga practicers reap the health benefits page B1

SPORTS Kam Farid brings drive, expertise to boys’ tennis page C1 @rbhsbearingnews Bearing News Bearing News

Rock Bridge High School • 4303 S. Providence Rd. • Columbia MO, 65203 • Vol. 43, Issue 6 • April 28, 2016 • www.bearingnews.org

Sporting events spur friendly rivalry Athletes compete in Special Olympics, United Challenge

ji-ho lee

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hether they run, throw, volunteer or cheer, RBHS students play a large part in the annual United Challenge, headed by the Bruins United club.

This afternoon at 4 p.m. at Battle High School, students with disabilities will be paired with volunteers from the RBHS community to compete in athletic events against Hickman High School and BHS. In many ways, the event is similar to Special Olympics, Bruins United president Olivia Spaedy, a junior, said. The RBHS community is quite familiar with Special Olympics having hosted the event on April 16.

“Hosting a Special Olympics event can happen in a few different ways. The two most popular are via a request from Special Olympics and a school expressing an interest to Special Olympics that they are interested in hosting an event,” Diane Brimer, Regional Program Director of Special Olympics, said. “In the case of RBHS, it was Special Olympics coming to [the school] to request the use of their facility.”

The process of hosting such as event can be simple or complex, Brimer said.

Continued on A5

photo by Ty jamieson

Train and compete: Athletes compete at RBHS April 16 in the Special Olympics. Following this event, RBHS student athletes will travel to Battle High School to compete against other high schools in the United Challenge later today.

Senate bill starts debate jenna liu

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issouri students may soon see the creation of “bathroom patrol squads” with SB 720. Sponsored by Sen. Ed Emery, R-Lamar, the bill would demand public schools to enforce gender-specific facilities, requiring transgender students to use the bathroom or locker room of the gender listed on their birth certificates.

Emery said he began developing the bill after a constituent contacted him about the issue of transgender students using school facilities. “[The constituent] suggested that the state take the lead on this issue to give direction to local school boards on how to address a situation where a student demands to use a restroom facility of the biological sex different from their own,” Emery explained. “When she reached out, I looked into what other states were proposing on this issue and crafted legislation that is modest in nature and does not create an unfunded mandate for local districts.”

The bill’s current language allows schools to provide accommodations for transgender students, such as giving them access to unisex, faculty or single-sex bathrooms and locker rooms, provided that the student has written permission from a legal guardian.

Given that Columbia Public Schools’ non-discrimination policy covers gender identity and expression, the bill’s hypothetical passage could introduce some complicated legal questions. Assistant Principal Dr. Lisa Nieuwenhuizen said that though she will not speculate on the consequences of the bill, she does not believe that it will come to fruition.

“I don’t think the bill will hold up in a court of law,” Nieuwenhuizen said. “There have been cases — I know California had a case a year and a half ago — and basically the students were allowed to use the bathroom with which they identified.”

For junior Ian Koopman, who is transgender, that compromise pales in comparison to what he sees as clear discriminatory legislation.

Continued on A3

Students struggle with district blocks ogy, RBHS students typically spend more time updating and scrolling s members of the millennial through their Twitter feeds than jotgeneration are glued to cell ting down history notes. As a result, phone screens and technol- administrators and Columbia Public

School (CPS) technicians have attempted to block access to certain websites and apps.

“Columbia Public Schools is required by the federal government to filter our Internet access,” Director of Technology Services Dr. Chris Diggs said. “Both teachers and students have the same categories filtered as required by the Children’s Internet Protection Act.” CIPA requires that internet filters must filter materials that are obscene, contain child pornography or harmful to minors.

Students such as sophomore Henry Wilson, however, while understanding the reason for the block, feel that it oversteps its bounds.

“I think that there’s always going to be that risk [of finding child pornography] and I don’t know how blocking and filters work, but there’s still that risk that you run into it on the internet,” Wilson said. “There’s probably a bigger risk that you run photo by Caylea Ray into it on the internet than by scrollSchool scrolling: Students look through Twitter feeds despite ing through your Twitter feed.” blocks to most social media websites.

Continued on A5

ji-ho lee

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UPCOMING EVENTS In anticipation for performances, sports or graduation, here are the days to circle on your calendar in the upcoming month,

INDEX

News • • • • • • A1

APRIL

MAY

The Senior Prom takes place at the Courtyard Marriot at 9 p.m.

Bruin Baseball plays host to district rival Jefferson City at 5:30 p.m.

A&E • • • • • • A7

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Features • • • • • • B1

3

photo by Devesh Kumar

Seal of approval: If it passes, the Student Accountability Act will award students who perform well on certain tests by leaving a notation on their diplomas.

High scores lead to celebrated diplomas nicole schroeder

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lthough a time to celebrate for many students, the end of the school year brings with it many pressing thoughts, especially for upperclassmen. For juniors, the pressure of AP tests adds to the stress from the ACTs, while for seniors, graduation looms with the promise of a tassel moved and a diploma gained.

If HB 1946, better known as the Student Accountability Act, were to pass in the Missouri House of Representatives, however, those two worries could soon become much more similar than they are now.

Rep. Bryan Spencer introduced the bill which proposes that each school district in the state establishes new policies incentivizing students in their participation and performance on standardized tests.

With this bill, students who score higher than the national or statewide average on certain standardized tests receive record of these scores on their high school diplomas at graduation.

The goal of the Student Ac-

The RBHS PAC hosts two theatrical showcases and four musical performances from May 6-12.

6

Boys Tennis begins play in its District Tournament at Bethel Park.

countability Act is to “establish a policy designed to encourage students to give their best efforts on each portion of any statewide assessment,” in an effort to raise current district and statewide averages on tests such as the ACT or the ACT Compass. To senior Andrew Hopper, HB 1946 sounds like it would do just that.

“I think it’ll push people to do their best on standardized tests, which I know people don’t always do to their full potential,” Hopper said. “If the standardized test scores improve because people want to get a good mark on their diploma, then the standard for education will rise and the coursework will rise to meet that standard, which could help out our country’s supposed education problem, which is always a hot topic up for debate.”

Even for those students already motivated to get high scores on tests, Hopper said the bill could be a reward for their hard work and could be helpful later on as the student transitions from school into the workforce.

Continued on A5

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Graduation takes place at Mizzou Arena at 11 a.m.

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In-Depths • • • • • • B3 Sports • • • • • • C1 Commentary • • • • • • C5 Editorials • • • • • • C6

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Significant drug problem hides on Columbia streets

skyler froese

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olumbia shares an unfortunate characteristic with cities such as St. Louis, Oklahoma City and Chicago: all are Midwest cities with heroin abuse on the rise, according to St. Louis Public Radio, News 9 in Oklahoma City and the Chicago Tribune.

Four years ago, 14 Columbians were victims of overdoses, four of which were fatal, according to ABC 17 News. The Boone County Medical Examiner’s Office told the website in 2015 that heroin deaths were expected to rise.

“Just like any crime, heroin use can fluctuate,” civilian information officer Bryana Larimer said. “So when we talk about a growing problem, it’s just really hard to identify the changes in how it works because it’s something that we’re always targeting.”

In the time that the police department has targeted the drug, shocking results have emerged.

2015 started in a worrying fashion, as investigations of three different heroin deaths were underway by summer of that year. In March of 2016, four people were arrested in Columbia for possession of drug paraphernalia and 80 doses of heroin.

Larimer said this year, police believed a local convenience store was supplying K2, leading to investigations. The police indeed found a large quantity of the substance at the store, she said.

“This year, what they have seen is heroin related cases have been pretty steady,” Larimer said. “Now that is something that we are actively working with. It is something that our [Vice Narcotics] unit takes very seriously, and it’s something that they’re constantly out trying to get information on and trying to make arrests if necessary.”

These arrests did not come quickly enough in some cases. Former RBHS student, 17-yearold Seth Brooks’ brother, Lucas Brooks, died from a heroin overdose June 2, 2015. Lucas Brooks, an RBHS alumnus, was only 21 years old when he lost his battle with the drug addiction.

This deeply affected Seth, who fell into a deep depression after his brother’s passing.

Because of this traumatic event, he has become critical of the situation that caused this heartache.

“I think [the police] need to focus less on people selling it in Columbia and more on who is bringing it in,” Brooks said. “If they stop the inflow they can kill the drug.”

Early recognition is a key to curb the use of the drug, Brooks maintains. Larimer agrees and believes early intervention can save heroin users. She said getting a user help from a place such as Phoenix Health Programs or another one of Columbia’s rehabilitation fa-

(AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

A Cleveland police officer looks over bags of heroin at a news conference in Cleveland Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2010. Authorities say they have cracked an international drug-smuggling ring in what they believe is the largest heroin seizure in Ohio history. cilities is crucial.

“It’s important to know those signs because maybe you have a friend or a family member who might need help in that area,” Larimer said. “If you can recognize the signs, then you might be able to be their saving grace in getting them the help that they need.”

Brooks concurs; except for him, there is no ‘might.’ Brooks believes that if he or his family allowed themselves to see the marks of addiction, his brother’s fate would have changed.

“We could’ve been less naïve [about the situation],” Brooks said. “I think the signs were there the whole time, but we just never picked up on it.”

In light of the recent epidemic of addiction and deaths such as Lucas’s, the community has reached out to support addicts’ recovery process. While RBHS itself doesn’t offer any

rehabilitation programs, it does attempt to help addicts in other ways on the road to recovery.

“We’ve got lots of different avenues,” Nurse Tammy Adkins said. “I would say it’s more of a comprehensive coordinated approach: some curriculum in various classes, outreach counselor, guidance, disciplinary things.”

When students enroll in rehabilitation, the school does its best to accommodate them, Adkins said, whether it be by altering their schedule or home schooling. The school also watches for the signs of drug abuse in students, and will then confront the suspected student-user.

Brooks, Larimer and Adkins recommend that everyone be aware of the signs of drug use.

“There’s several different things that drugs

can do,” Adkins said. “You have a change in behavior or changes in speech patterns or watching the eyes change [or] lack of coordination, those would all be sort of red flags that there is some sort of substance use.”

Brooks believes people must be cognizant of these signs and have to be willing to discuss addiction in a mindful way. As the problem with heroin in Columbia continues, so must the conversation of what could happen to users and their families.

Brooks desires a truthful discussion, not one that downplays the outcome of heroin abuse or one that blames the addicts. For him, this discussion is particularly relevant to families.

“Just [let] kids know the hard truth,” Brooks said. “Parents kind of sugar-coat the truth when it comes to drugs. If you do heroin, you will slowly kill yourself.”

SB 720 would base use of lavatory on biological sex

infographic by Joy Park

Continued from A1 “It’s not about making people feel more secure,” Koopman said.

“It’s really about trying to pigeonhole transgender people because of their identity and because of the way they feel about themselves or their bodies.”

One of the main concerns that spurred the creation of this bill, Emery said, was the risk involved with allowing students of opposite biological sexes to be together in a facility where they might not be fully clothed, such as a locker room. Koopman, however, does not see the reasoning behind that argument.

“I don’t really understand where this bill is coming from, but the only thing I can really pin it down to is a kind of mass hysteria over transgender people,” Koopman said. “I realize this might be under the guise of transgender people would be more likely to somehow assault some other cisgendered person, however, I also know that recently there was a study done on how often that actually happens and there have been no reported cases of transgender people assaulting others in a bathroom.”

In terms of bathroom violence, Koopman is correct. A 2015 article in The Advocate, a LGBTinterest magazine, stated that there have been no verifiable reports of a transgender person harassing a

cisgender person, or of an individual similar attacks on his bill.

“Despite attempts by the Obama pretending to be transgender to acadministration to unilaterally indict cess certain restrooms.

Nevertheless, Emery said there is transgender concerns as discriminastill some danger in allowing a trans- tory, several court opinions have been gender student to use their preferred handed down that have dismissed bathroom or locker room, and that such Title IX claims,” Emery said. “A his bill both resolves that problem policy based on clear scientific facts and eases discomfort other students that have been accepted since the beginning of time is not discriminatory. may feel.

“There is a risk with having stu- Restricting students from access to dents from opposite biological certain facilities that are designated for the opposite sexes using physical sex is the same faappropriate both cilities where scientifically and students are It’s really about rationally.” in a state of trying to pigeonThough Koopundress,” Emhole transgender man himself does ery said. “Stunot use the male dents should people because of bathrooms at also have a their identity and RBHS — mainly right to their because of the way after citing conprivacy and they feel about cerns of how not be exposed themselves or their other students to students of would react — the opposite bodies. he strongly supphysical sex.” ian koopman ports the option Despite junior remaining availEmery’s faith able for other in the bill, SB 720 may certainly have a tough transgender students.

“I really feel like this bill is an atroad ahead. In November, an Illinois school district was found to have tack on teenagers’ bodies and it’s not violated Title IX, a federal law that allowing teenagers to feel safe about bans sex discrimination, by requiring their bodies when there are already a trans student to use a private chang- so many changes going on around us ing and showering facility separate and within us,” Koopman said. “If from the rest of his or her peers. In we don’t have a place to feel safe at spite of this, Emery said he still is school ... I don’t know where we’d not concerned with the possibility of end up.”

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Bruins United club to face off at Battle

Infographic by Stephanie Kang Source: http://www.opkansas.org/

CPD lacks vital resources

rochita ghosh

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n attempt by the Columbia Police Department (CPD) to use their resources effectively backfired when a study they contracted from Matrix Consulting Group — an organization specializing in analysis of local and state governments — showed their efforts were in vain.

The study revealed a decrease in response to service calls as a result of having two police officers on duty in a patrol unit, as opposed to keeping only one person assigned on patrol.

CPD public information officer Bryana Larimer said the change occurred from an effort to keep officers safe, but was at the cost of the well-being of the community. “[The study] noted that we were not as efficient with twoperson units as we could have been with just the one-person units,” Larimer said. “That makes sense because you’re ulti-

mately taking up an officer that could have been handling another call. So, what you had seen was a rise in wait time for calls for service.”

The problems don’t just stem from longer wait times when calls are made to the CPD. For freshman Chandler Schramm, the CPD’s lack of efficiency was yet another frustration voiced against the department, after feeling dissatisfied with the police’s response when a burglary occurred in her neighborhood in early March.

“It made my family really wary about our surroundings,” Schramm said. “We’d always close our garage and it made us all really scared, especially with my younger siblings. I wish the police could have done something or caught them faster, but they’re caught now so it’s okay.”

The CPD has since reverted back to one-person shifts in order to accommodate these rising calls and has readjusted other practices as well, Larimer said.

The study also showed that the times they received the most service calls coincided with times the police changed shifts, leading to the CPD changing shift times; however, Larimer says none of these factors are the ultimate root of the problem.

“We have been understaffed for several years now,” Larimer said. “We are missing about 50 officers, and we did ask, back in 2014, for 50 more officers through a property tax increase.

That was not passed, and so we are still working at a level of understaffing and our officers are stretched very thin.”

Columbia Public Schools (CPS) does not expect this understaffing to change anything in their partnership with the CPD, according to CPS communications director Michelle Baumstark, and appreciates its current relationship. “[CPS] has a great partnership with the [CPD],” Baumstark said.

“The school district has school resource officers, which are CPD

officers, in its high schools .…

CPD officers [also] participate in community policing, which means officers frequently visit schools within their beats to develop relationships and familiarize themselves with our school buildings.”

While Schramm has access to all of these resources at school, she continues to feel unsafe at home because of the length of time the CPD took to find her neighborhood’s burglar. The CPD cannot promise any new developments because of the lack of funds that the CPD has.

“It’s up to those that run city government to make the decision on how we’re going to allocate the [city] budget and allocate funds,” Larimer said. “If that means us receiving funds to fund police officers, great … [but] we don’t make propositions like that, we just let people know this is where we’re at, this is how we’re running. We are a very transparent police department; we have nothing to hide.”

Continued from A1 “[It depends] on the requirements of the school hosting [the event],” Brimer explained. “The basic steps are requesting approval from the necessary individuals, agreeing on a date and then meeting about the planning or final plans.”

While RBHS offers just its facilities and volunteers for Special Olympics, the school offers personnel, whether they be athletes or assistants, for the United Challenge.

“The Special Olympics is a separate entity with funding that does not come from CPS but rather from local, national and state funding sources,” Linda Quinley, Chief Operations Officer of Columbia Public Schools (CPS) said. “They do request to use a few of our facilities for various events during competition and for the local team practices. We support that for them fully. When they host actual competitions, they charge a fee at the gate and run concessions with the proceeds and profits being retained by the organization.”

Although Special Olympics has taken place at RBHS during the past four years, the school has not been related to Special Olympics in any other manner.

RBHS did, however, sponsor a track and field team for the Challenge several years ago, Brimer said. “[Track and field] was the only sport that [CPS] sponsored,” Brimer said. “I cannot say exactly why they don’t sponsor a team. I’ve heard the rumors, but that’s all I have.”

Quinley said the reason for the split between Special Olympics and RBHS was for economic purposes.

“Columbia Public Schools received a donation many years ago to be used for the purpose of providing a coach and other needs for a team as long as funds would allow. The funds were used up a few years ago and therefore the CPS sponsorship ended,” Quinley said. “The district was not the sponsor of the event but rather added to the event during the time period the donated funds were in place to support the work.”

While the history between RBHS and Special Olympics may be a long and complicated one, both the events are intended to be beneficial and positive for the community and students involved in these activities.

“The purpose of United Challenge is to create an activity where everyone can come together from all over Columbia,” Spaedy said. “Every community can interact in an environment that is exciting and fun.”

Restrictions prohibit use of school network

use.

Continued from A1 “Teachers can also access Facebook,” In addition to the CIPA restrictions, CPS Diggs said, “because they are adults and adds its own filtering policies.

“At the request of our CPS District may use that professionally.”

Some students, however, feel that they Technology Committee we also have filtering policies for teachers, high school stu- should receive the same privileges as dents, middle school students and elemen- teachers in terms of internet accessibility.

“I think [the district] is too strict sometary students,” Diggs said. times when it comes to our wifi,” Wilson The District Technology Committee said.

“This school was based on freedom is made up of teachers from each school, with responsibility, and if we show that we parents and community members, and is headed by the Coordinator of Instructional don’t deserve that responsibility, maybe the freedom should be taken away, but unTechnology, Julie Nichols.

The committee implemented a recent til that happens, we deserve some freedom change to the filter, giving certain students on the Internet.”

Wilson explained that for most stuaccess to Twitter, an app that was banned dents, there are only at RBHS for much of a handful of applicathe school year. Diggs tions and social mesaid because superintendent Peter StiepleWe don’t need Pin- dia sites that are acman and many teachterest. We don’t cessed anyway.

“I think we should ers use the website need Facebook, but get Instagram and to communicate with as long as we’ve got Snapchat,” Wilson high school students, our essentials — Inssaid.

“We don’t need the restriction was tagram, Twitter and Pinterest.

We don’t lifted.

Snapchat — we’re need Facebook, but “With these [agegood. as long as we’ve got based] policies we alhenry wilson our essentials — Inlow high school stusophomore stagram, Twitter and dents to access Twitter Snapchat — we’re but we do not allow good.” the other groups of students to do so,” Sasser agrees that students should be Diggs said. able to access certain Internet material, While most students are content with especially if it is for educational purposes. using Twitter on school grounds, some teachers, because of the educational ben- But, she said the primary reason for allowefits, also think that it is a move in the right ing students to use certain Internet websites and applications is to promote responsibildirection.

“When I taught a certain piece of lit- ity and educate students about technology erature, [Twitter] was how I had students use.

“There are two parts to [the topic of filcommunicate with me about it both inside tering websites]: Trusting students with deand outside of school,” AP World History cision making and . . . making sure our deteacher Katherine Sasser said. “So, from a teacher’s perspective, I do see the ben- vices are functional for the ways that they efits of using Twitter in your classroom and should operate in the classroom,” Sasser said. “Students can use [technology] in a think that it should be acceptable.”

There are, however, some websites and way that isn’t frustrating and that might acapps that teachers such as Sasser are able tually help diminish the idea that devices to access, while students are still unable to are used inappropriately.”

infographic by Joy Park; source: HB 1946

New bill gives students motivation Continued from A1 “I think that it would help the people who have good test scores get more academic opportunities, especially the ones who don’t apply to college right out of high school. When they go and show their diploma to a college or other educating body, the school will know that they’re smart and well taught,” Hopper said. “The only real downside I can see are where people begin to say that it’s unfair for people to be able to achieve something that other people are incapable of accomplishing for reasons such as mental handicaps. In my mind, though, it’s still not a bad thing to be able to show that you’re capable of achieving a high score on a standardized test.”

While some people believe HB 1946 will be helpful in improving students’ test scores, others aren’t sure it will be so beneficial.

Test preparation coordinator Gwen Struchtemeyer said she worries the bill could create unneeded pressure on students to improve their test scores, solely for an extra mark on their diploma come graduation.

“The thing is, the students who this speaks to already do their best to score well on tests and they’re rewarded in a variety of other ways, including scholarship money, getting into the school of their choice, getting into honors colleges within those schools and getting special perks that way because they have shown the discipline and effort to practice tests and do better on them,” Struchtemeyer said. “The truth is, every kid sitting in commencement has accomplished something probably extraordinary, even if it wasn’t directly related to a test score.”

For most students, however, it is easy to see both positive and negative consequences that could happen if the bill were to pass.

“I think it is a good idea but at the same time

it could be a bad thing,” freshman Lily Abraham said. “It would motivate people to do better, but … I think it could cause some problems because it could show [differences in] scores between two people.”

Struchtemeyer agrees with Abraham and said while she thinks the house bill has good intentions with its proposal, it has the potential to cause too much of a divide between students who receive the extra accolades at graduation and those who didn’t score high enough on their standardized tests.

“By and large, knowing Rock Bridge’s standardized ACT score, we score well above the state of Missouri. So it seems to me what you’d have is you’d have a significant number — well over half — who would get such a notation on their diploma or in the commencement guide,” Struchtemeyer said. “There’s part of me that wonders how something like that would make the other 25 to 30 percent feel at graduation when, at graduation, we are celebrating every student’s achievement and a milestone in their lives.”

Whether or not the Student Accountability Act would be beneficial, however, Hopper said he believes there are many other issues with the current school system he hopes are addressed in the coming years.

Such attention to student achievements, he believes, would improve students’ performance in the classroom and their academic experience overall.

“I think legislature should make primary and secondary classes a bit more fast paced,” Hopper said. “I understand that some people have trouble keeping up with classes as it is, but I believe that if a standard is set for a class’s achievement, the class will move toward that standard in a way so that they can keep up.”

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arts & entertainment

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A night to forget your credit score kat sarafianos

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here are few moments in life where it’s all right to throw caution to the wind and spend more than planned on a few moments of glory — your wedding, maybe a vacation or two and prom.

Prom night might seem like a fleeting about-to-be memory, but that doesn’t mean people don’t fork up the cash for it.

A 2014 nationwide survey released

by Visa Inc., showed that the average American household with teenagers spent a staggering $919 on prom.

Visa’s prom survey also revealed some interesting regional and economic disparities, with Northeastern households spending on average a total of $1,169 compared to Midwestern families paying an average of $733 on prom.

Senior Maddy Gerau said she has spent approximately $500 on prom expenses and said she realizes her friends would probably spend much less, but that it’s a matter of personal preference.

“You can spend whatever you want to on prom, but for those who want to spend more, why not? After all, it is only one night,” Gerau said. “Why do so many people spend so much on weddings? Well, because it’s special, and it only happens once.”

While some students may agree that how much to spend on prom is a personal choice, Dr. Marsha Richins, professor of marketing at the Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. College of Business at the University of Missouri-Columbia, finds that on average when more is spent on a product, the more anxious a person feels about it.

In the long run, however, small events like prom — and how much was spent on it — does not affect happiness levels.

“It’s pretty much common sense that if you spend a lot of money that you can ill afford on something, you’re going to be more worried about whether you got your money’s worth than if you have money to burn,” Dr. Richins said. “Only very extraordinary events — such as the death of a loved one — affect long-run happiness. Events like a

prom or a wedding don’t affect stable levels of happiness, but may induce temporary feelings of happiness or sadness when one remembers them. When remembering the prom three months or 30 years later, people will remember the experiences they had, and, in most cases, the cost probably won’t be a factor.”

Students such as senior Brendan Fish agree with Richin’s findings, saying the one night timeline of prom should be a factor to keep in mind when shopping.

It’s not fiscally practical to spend a lot of money on something you’ll never wear again.

“I haven’t even thought about [how much I’ll spend], but I’ll probably spend in the $75 to $125 range,” Fish said. “I think it’s personal preference how much you spend on prom, although if it’s just a one night deal and you don’t really need a suit for anything else, I’d think it’d be the smart choice to rent a tux and pay less.”

Senior Amelia Hauck finds even spending her planned $150 to the Midwestern average of $733 is excessive, and hopes to make up for it by doing her own hair and makeup.

“I’ve always been raised practically. Last year I went to prom, too, and only spent $16 on my dress. I watched sales at a store and waited until I found the right price.

In fact, part of my dress figure includes an alteration, so I can wear it after prom,” Hauck said. “Even though I think prom is a pretty special event, I also don’t think spending hundreds of dollars on it is practical. It’s only one night.”

Dr. Richins said Americans often have difficulty reconciling spending a lot of money and long-term happiness. The age-old idea that money doesn’t buy happiness can be hard to wrap our heads around.

“I think a reason for the anxiety and guilt of consumerism is the nagging feeling that we — Americans in general — are wasting our money on a lot of unnecessary things and don’t really feel any better off or happier because of it,” Dr. Richins said. “We’re told that ‘Money doesn’t buy happiness,’ and we believe that — sort of — but we forget that when we’re looking at something we really want to have, and at that moment, we tend to believe that we really would be happier if we had that particular item.”

RBHS students, however, may prove to be an exception in prom’s case. Many students have caught on to spending money practicality and realizing money doesn’t buy happiness.

“It’s up to the individual, but I also think we should be careful how we spend money. As a society we just tend to spend a lot of money and not necessarily realize rather than spending so much on a high school prom, we could be saving it and using it for college money or a summer vacation,” Hauck said. “I wasn’t looking to spend even [$150] on the dress I found, but I think that sometimes we think the more blingy and expensive choice will make us happier. Ultimately, it’s the environment we put ourselves into [that make us happy], not the things we wear.” art by Stephanie Kang

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Y O G A

mind | body | connection

grace dorsey

I

t’s 9 a.m. on a Saturday. Guidance counselor Leslie Kersha walks around her yoga class, directing yogis with patience and skill refined over 16 years of instruction.

She takes care to pay attention to each of her student’s form, looking over every minute detail. The class shifts into warrior two pose, breathing in slow deep breaths. Kersha quickly spots a small misalignment in one her student’s knees. She deftly calls out a cue to the class and smiles when the novice takes note and straightens her leg into a perfect 90 degree angle.

Of course, yoga doesn’t just focus on physical postures, which are called Asanas. Yoga philosophy revolves around values and guidelines for living known as the Eight Limbs of Yoga. Kersha herself specifically looks to three other limbs as approaches to live her life. Pranayama refers to proper breath technique and control, the yamas center around internal conduct such as nonviolence and truthfulness while niyamas are defined by a desire to live a wholesome and enthusiastic life. Although these values are prevalent for Kersha today, her initial exposure to yoga wasn’t quite so fundamentally spiritual.

“The first time I ever did yoga was in the mid 90s, and I bought a VHS tape of power yoga from Bryan Kest. It had

three levels, which got progressively more difficult. I was young and in good shape, so I thought, ‘I’ll start off with level three.’ I did level three and didn’t do it too successfully and so I sold the VHS tapes in a garage sale,” Kersha said. “A few years later I was in Columbia. I had moved here, and I was teaching all sorts of group exercise classes at Gold’s gym. I had heard about Madonna doing yoga, and all these people doing yoga so I thought, ‘Oh, I’ll try this again.’ I rebought the set, except it was now DVD, and I started with level one and I bought a book called ‘Power Yoga’ by Beryl Bender-Birch, and I started reading that. After that I fell in love with it.”

Over the years, however, Kersha has reversed her mentality. Instead of practicing yoga solely for exercise purposes, yoga now encompasses how she lives her life.

“Initially it was about fitness and health but over the years— not that it’s not important— but I definitely see yoga as much for mental health as it’s for physical health now after I’ve been practicing for a long time. I think that’s one thing — I’m very much into yoga philosophy and psychology, of course being a counselor, psychology is very interesting to me, so my passion is the integration of yoga psychology and education and teaching people.

So teaching yoga allows me to integrate all those things- health and fitness, too. “ Similarly to Kersha, junior Luke Bley was introduced to yoga through health and fitness. Bley first tried the mind-body exercise his sophomore year of high school when he heard how Alex Ofodile increased his speed and flexibility for football. Bley wasn’t too keen on the idea— his first try doing hot yoga wasn’t an optimal experience.

“I tried [hot yoga] one time my sophomore year and didn’t really prepare well for it, so it was kinda hell. I never did it again that entire year,” Bley said.

“Then this offseason when I actually got into it, I got hydrated [before I went] and ate well. It was hard [and] it was really hot, but I enjoyed it.”

Bley believes the presence of an instructor during the initial stages of learning yoga was key in improving his technique, and that without a teacher the process would have been incredibly tough.

“When I first went in, I had literally no idea how to do any of the poses, and even once I thought I understood them, my technique still wasn’t very good,” Bley said. “I definitely couldn’t have done it without going to a studio with an instructor.”

Yoga instructors can help prevent injury and improve overall technique by cuing adjustments when necessary and making reminders concerning breath and concentration. Living in Columbia, where yoga is offered at more than ten locations, means easy access to the benefits that Bley experienced.

One of the studios, alleyCat Yoga, 17 N 4th Street, is owned and operated by Susan Mathis who wishes to bring inner peace to everyone who walks through her doors. Mathis said her

personal experience with talented instructors after a long period of serious illness changed her life for the better.

“My first teacher was a CD that I practiced to in my basement before any yoga classes were regularly offered in Columbia. I found the practice challenging; after all, I didn’t have an actual teacher, but I was most drawn to the quiet space that would open up in my mind during and after practice. I searched for a way to learn more and ended up traveling to Massachusetts to the Kripalu Center for Yoga. My first real yoga class was in a very austere setting, taught by excellent teachers in the context of a full practice-lifestyle, breathing, yoga postures, focus, meditation. It was life changing,” Mathis said. “Soon after I discovered that alleyCat Yoga had opened in Columbia with Kripalu yoga teachers. I began attending regularly and became a dedicated student to yoga practice and lifestyle.

The thing that most appealed to me was that I began to reconnect with my body, experience less stress, quiet my constantly chattering mind, and view others with more love and kindness.”

Kersha also contends that yoga is most definitely a lifestyle and mind-body experience that when done properly can ease mental, physical and spiritual disruption. Unfortunately, Kersha said, through social media many are led to believe that yoga is a combination of headstands, handstands and inversions. This impression of yoga is quite the opposite from the truth. To combat this, Kersha has even taken to posting “unsung yoga hero” poses with captions explaining the significance of the posture.

“When I started teaching initially in the early 2000s, Instagram didn’t exist [and] social media didn’t exist. It wasn’t like it is now. Back then people were practicing yoga to do yoga. I love social media but as [it] came about people were shooting pictures of themselves doing yoga in postures that looked more like circus acts than actual yoga poses,” Kersha said. “When you go to a yoga class you’re not going to be doing those sorts of poses.

I’m kind of an old school yogi, but over the years I’ve been concerned with the fact that if you instagram yoga, you are probably going to see a lot of arm balances, handstands, upside down inversion poses that are one small snippet of really what a yoga practice is.”

Above all Kersha makes a point to look to the future and at how finding meaning in yoga is the key to success.

“If I can do a handstand, after I leave the room my life is still my life handstand or not. If I judge my practice because I can do a handstand what happens when I’m 90 years old and can’t do a handstand? Am I going to be crushed because I can’t do a handstand anymore?,” Kersha said. “I don’t look at doing poses as a performance. I’m not doing them to show off which is why I used to never post any yoga selfies. I mean for years I would never post a yoga selfie. I made a conscious decision last year to show people that yoga is more than standing on your head, hands or inverting.”

Benefits of yoga decrease chronic pain, blood 1 Helps pressure, excess weight and insomnia flexibility, muscle tone, strength and 2 Increases circulatory health

4 feature photo by Tyson Jamieson

mental clarity, relaxation and self3 Promotes awareness Improves athletic performance, injury recovery and vitality

source: The American Osteopathic Association

B2 features

therock • www.bearingnews.org • 4.28.16

art by Neil Cathro: source; NAACP and Human Rights Campaign

Living in the troublesome past

Age-old social, environmental issues lack improvement grace vance

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t’s a typical day at the University of Missouri-Columbia Child Development Laboratory. Teachers watch over the kids as they play on the playground and laugh, chase each other around the blacktop. Sounds of giggling and playful screams fill the air.

Something is off, though. A group of boys are crouched around a hole in the landscape, gawking. A moment later, one boy pulled a skull from the ground. They paused.

“What is it from?”

“I don’t know. Let’s find out!”

And so the trial of research began; they checked out books from the library, scanned the school computer for helpful research and inspected the skull tirelessly. From there, the boys formed what they called a “science club.”

Throughout the weeks that followed, a little girl became more and more interested in the new project, so she decided to help.

“I was like ‘Hey, that looks cool.

I want to try it out,’” sophomore Kristine Cho said. “Eventually, once I became more involved, the leader

of the group said ‘‘You shouldn’t have continuously struggled for be here because you are a girl. You representation in both social and can’t help with this project. This is a political spheres. boy’s thing to do.’”

“Within U.S. context, [obstacles After that moment, Cho explic- women faced] have varied dependitly identified as a feminist. ing on race, class, region, etc. For “I think there are still a lot of example, early twentieth century problems when it comes to dispari- suffragists — who were mostly ties between men white, naand women,” Cho tive-born said. “Because of and midthat I still think We’re losing ground, dle or upit’s a very imporand in some cas- per class tant issue. I find — unes [we are] losing derstood myself reacting ground we can’t [ t h e i r ] to a lot of this discouragement denial of make up. or ‘You can’t do voting jerrit frank rights to X because you’re environmental history professor be among a girl’ with a desire to prove them their most wrong.” pressing In her view, the core problem of concerns,” Rymph said. “For black gender inequality is everyday mi- women in the south, issues such as croaggressions as seen in sexist lan- racism, sexual violence and poverty guage or the wage gap. often loomed much larger.”

Catherine Rymph, a UMC U.S. In today’s world, she said sexual women’s history professor, said dis- violence is still a significant probcrimination against women is noth- lem to women internationally. ing new. From female suffragists in With all of the historic inequalithe 1920s to the housewife mental- ties that continue to exist, one may ity during World War II, women question whether the world has pro-

gressed past satisfying basic human rights.

Among issues prevalent in world history is the question of environmental sustainability. MU U.S environmental history professor Jerritt Frank said the world is “not even close” to learning from past mistakes regarding environmental protection. He believes this is partially because of the mindset that humans are in superior status to the rest of the environment.

“There’s a tremendous amount of work to be done. We’re losing ground, and in some cases [we are] losing ground we can’t make up,” Frank said. “There are endless opportunities for people [to help,] but almost all of them require more than what we’re doing now.”

Research from recent years seems to point toward the United States as the consumption culprit. A 2012 report said the primary energy consumption in the United States was equal to 18 percent the world’s total energy consumption.

“We haven’t faced a challenge like this as a global society ever,” Frank said. “For real, substantial philosophical changes to occur in

the realm of how we understand the non-human world, our political and economic structures have to substantially change, and they’re not going to change unless there’s a major disruption.”

For Frank, his two-year-old and four-year-old children are what makes him especially concerned for the future. However, even with the daunting future ahead, he said he still finds comfort in the power of the individual.

“We’ve seen [that] widespread consumer behavior can change a lot,” Frank said. “It’s about educating people on that kind of collective action.”

Cho agrees, and says that creating lasting positive change begins with a widespread alteration of beliefs.

“It doesn’t matter what gender, race or age you are. Once you make that connection to your own life, you can make the connection to what’s actually happening in the world,” Cho said. “I think there’s a chance for understanding that inequality occurring in our society.

From there, it’s just a matter of a change of mindset.”

Millennials question free speech nikol slatinska

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art by Shelby Yount

The Rock surveyed 190 students, or 10 percent of the student population.

re Americans taking their advantage of First Amendment rights too far? According to data from the Pew Research Center, 40 percent of millennials think so and would be okay with limiting free speech if it meant protecting minority groups.

Margaret Russell, a professor of Constitutional law at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California, believes it is more impactful to protest and speak out against hate speech than forbidding it outright.

“I think that banning speech is usually problematic because of the difficulty of identifying consistent definitions of what is ‘harmful,’” Russell said. “Why should the government define what is ‘offensive’ when we all have differing views?”

Russell tells her students it is imperative to act against offensive speech if they think the First Amendment should not protect it, and that giving up control to the government disempowers the public.

Senior LaTia Glasgow said even more problems would arise if the gov-

Personally, I think that when you use racial slurs, it is a verbal offense on that person so yeah, I would absolutely be for limiting speech if it is offensive.” photos by Devesh Kumar

brendan fish senior

ernment tried to limit free speech.

Overall, she believes free speech should never be restricted, and that anyone should be able to express their opinions even if they are offensive because being American grants that freedom.

“Although protecting people of color is important, I do not believe that we should take away people’s rights in order to prevent hurt feelings, because it’s impossible,” Glasgow said. “These amendments are what our country is based on, and violating them would make our country ‘less free.’”

Limiting free speech will actually oppress minorities even more, said Katie Barrows, who is speaking for the Foundation of Individual Rights in Education (FIRE).

The organization’s mission is to sustain individual rights at American colleges. Its experience with the topic of free speech showed that students who have no tolerance toward subjects they disagree with are the ones that call for censorship of speech.

President and CEO of FIRE, Greg Lukianoff, stated that students “are arguing not for freedom of speech, but, rather, freedom from speech.”

“As history proves, restricting free-

dom of expression always works to the detriment of oppressed minorities,” Barrows said. “Instead of shutting down bad ideas and hateful language, offensive speech should be met with more speech.”

Barrows pointed out that President Obama spoke on the matter, saying, “... you don’t have to be fearful of somebody spouting bad ideas. Just out-argue them. Beat ’em. Make the case as to why they’re wrong. Win over adherents. That’s how things work in a democracy.”

In terms of why millennials are more open to the idea of limiting speech as opposed to older generations, Russell believes it has to do with the fact that there is more awareness of the underlying issues of racism, homophobia and other forms of bigotry in today’s world.

Many of today’s college students come from protective childhoods, Barrows argued. Adults go out of their way to make sure their children are safe, sheltering them from opposing viewpoints.

“Our culture has become more partisan and with each side retreating into its own echo chambers. It’s therefore unsurprising that students arrive at college expecting comfort and ideological purity,” Barrows said. “Lastly, social

Depending on the situation you are in, I think it is okay to limit speech.

You should limit speech if it is offensive or if it is going to put anyone in danger.”

No, I don’t think speech should be limited, especially if it is only for the purpose of offense. If you are not doing it to not hurt someone, I don’t think it should be regulated at all.”

selma zweifel senior

wolf schaefer freshman

media has transformed the landscape for today’s college students: it allows them to demand solidarity and shun those who stray from the accepted view.”

In past years, the destructive effects of hateful slurs was not displayed as publicly as it is today, which ultimately led to older generations not being mindful of the offensiveness of some derogatory terms, Russell said.

“Education, empowerment and communication are key in the struggle to eliminate bias,” Russell said. “I find that the more we integrate our everyday experiences with people of different backgrounds, the more stimulating and enlightening our understanding of bigotry and its effects.”

Barrows agrees that the best education is speech, and that when bad ideas are refuted everyone benefits.

“Responding to hateful speech with more speech promotes critical thinking,” Barrows said, “which challenges us to analyze why we believe the things we Read more at do.”

Bearing News Yes! I think there are some words that don’t need to be used that have negative connotations towards certain races. I don’t really know how you would put that in action, like limiting them.” jodie bappe senior

therock • www.bearingnews.org • 4.28.16

therock 12.10.15

photo illustration by Neil Cathro

indepths

infographic by Neil Cathro; source: news.discovery.com and raisesmartkid.com

nikol slatinska

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tall, brawny man in an expensive-looking business suit runs through the streets of Miami, aimlessly shooting and killing anyone who stands in his way. He is on a mission, a mission that has lost its purpose amidst the chaos of the city he ravaged. Firing a quick bullet into a parked taxi driver’s head, the man kicks him out and hops into the cab, tearing through light after red light.

Only this isn’t actually a man, or at least not the felonious criminal pictured in the violent scenario. No, he is merely an animation controlled through a television screen by millions of American teens — 72 percent of all adolescents to be exact, according to a report from the Pew Research Center. From this obsession with video games has stemmed a $70.4 billion dollar industry, as reported by spilgames.com, as well as unnaturally harsh behavioral patterns of players.

Playing violent video games is associated with increased levels of aggressive thoughts and emotions. It can also lead to decreased levels in empathy, even though their relationship to criminal behavior has not been researched as much, said Dr. Nabil El-Ghoroury, an executive director at the American Psychological Association (APA).

“It is likely that those who play violent video games more, may receive a stronger impact, so if a person has been playing such games since they were very young, they would probably have a stronger effect,” El-Ghoroury said. “This would be similar to smoking, in that someone who smokes for a longer period of time is at greater risk than someone who has smoked for a shorter period of time.”

This impact can be hard to grasp, especially since 1.2 billion people worldwide reported to have played video games on a frequent basis in 2013, according to the spilgames.com “State of Online Gaming report”. Also, the same report suggests that video game sales are expected to increase by six percent each year.

Ardent gamer Maria Ramirez, a 2012 alumna, plays every chance she gets — holiday breaks usually work best. Since her free time is usually consumed by studying and homework, she sometimes finds herself in front of her TV screen with controller in hand after a long work shift at Shakespeare’s Pizza. Gaming, in a way, offers an escape from reality.

“I get to be someone else for a while. Anything is possible in a game,” Ramirez said. “There are different worlds, types of creatures and people and histories. If it’s an RPG [Role Playing Game], I can literally create someone from scratch and be whoever I want.”

RPGs and fantasy games such as “The Elder Scrolls,” “Dragon Age” and “Mass Effect” are Ramirez’s favorite, but she doesn’t limit herself. The survival horror genre with games like “Bioshock” and “Resident Evil,” and anything from “The Legend of Zelda” series, also appeal to her. Even though Ramirez doesn’t

gravitate toward particularly violent games, brutal aspects show up in nearly each one, whether it’s the deliberate slaying of enemies in “Dark Souls” or stomping a mushroom to death in “Mario” games. Dr. Lauren Caldwell-Fasig, who worked with the APA task force on a study of violent media, is all too familiar with these common gaming aspects.

The study’s findings correspond almost directly with El-Ghoroury’s information, except not enough long-term research is available to find out if those who play video games for a longer amount of time experience stronger psychological effects.

“Recent research does suggest that more exposure is related to heightened aggressive behaviors, thoughts and feelings,” Caldwell-Fasig said. “But more research on this question is needed for us to be able to say anything with confidence.”

Although El-Ghoroury confirmed that there is limited data on whether or not violent video games cause long-term psychological damage to players, he explained that violent media of any kind can cause increased negative emotions that can result in aggression.

According to a report from the National Center for Biotechnology Information, however, interactive media can have a greater influence than that of television, which presents a more detached form of exposure, due to the involvement and active processing necessary. El-Ghoroury hopes game ratings are helpful in determining if a game is appropriate for a player.

“Parents should know what their children are playing and for how long,” ElGhoroury said. “They should also limit the amount of time their children spend playing violent video games.”

For Ramirez, though, becoming desensitized to not only violence but other things, as well, is just a normal part of everyday life. She believes that just seeing something over and over, no matter what it is, will eventually make a person feel detached from it.

That goes for anything, whether it’s violence or a cute kitten. But even if the violent content in a game itself doesn’t irk Ramirez, it still manages to bring out the aggression within her.

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be a violent game to make someone get angry.

I speak from personal experience as one day I was playing through a very mild game which I loved but had a knack for spiking tremendously in difficulty. I had been at it forever at this point, fighting the same person. I got so frustrated that I threw my controller across the room and nearly broke it,” Ramirez said. “That being said, that was one of the only times a game had driven me there. Usually, even when something is not going well, you’ll hear me in the room next door yelling stupid things that maybe I shouldn’t mention. But if I pause the game, I’ll be normal.”

rochita ghosh joy park

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the positive stories of the media in his classes, wanting to show that while violence has become a regular occurrence in some people’s lives, there is still good in the world.

“I prefer to show my students feature stories that do highlight the good in people and their personal voyage through life,” Wittman said. “I wouldn’t advise to only watch the good news simply because to make decisions in this world such as who might be your next president, you need to be informed, even if that information is not always pleasing.”

When senior Joy Wang sees this abundance of violence, she can’t help but feel uncomfortable, as she senses an air of glamorization across the various media outlets. She believes this heavy focus on violence only perpetuates its cycle.

“I feel like sometimes publicizing violence gives people the idea of carrying out violence themselves,” Wang said. “It’s like saying shooting a hundred people [and] punching people is actually okay.”

Behm-Morawitz gives weight to Wang’s ideas, citing studies such as one from Iowa State University that examines the effects of viewing violence at a young age; however, there are a wide range of effects on various age groups, Behm-Morawitz said.

“There are both short-term and long-term, or cumulative, effects of exposure to media violence,”

iolence is a universal language of humanity. The fear, the bloodshed, the gore — it instills the same horror for every human regardless of cultural or societal boundaries. Interpreting the expressions and actions of others is a natural human instinct, and on a media platform, such actions can be widely spread through mediums that especially cater to young adolescents like video games, movies and news outlets.

According to a 2000 report by the Federal Trade Commission, 80 percent of “R” rated movies, 70 percent of restricted video games, and 100 percent of music with “explicit content” warning labels were marketed to children under 17 years of age.

Media violence in the United States has not just increased in volume during the decade; rather, it has changed in substance and quality to contain more graphic, sexual and sadistic content. The dramatic nature of violence is what makes its selling point so high, as well as how easy it is to export violent materials to other parts of the world. “[Violence] draws attention from people and can be understood by audiences from almost any cultural background,” Dr. Elizabeth Behm-Morawitz, director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Communication at the University of Missouri-Columbia (UMC) said. “In contrast to humor, which might be more culturally specific and dependent, violence can be packaged in television shows and films and be easily exported as entertainment media globally.”

She said this international brand name upon violence makes it a safe choice for news outlets to market because of their broad audience.

“Our news media has a tendency to focus on sensational events, which may lead to a negativity bias in news coverage,” Behm-Morawitz said. “Thus, it’s not surprising that news infographic by Neil Cathro; source: Crime Traveller media frequently covers violence and features quite a bit of violent imagery and Behm-Morawitz said. “Media content can influence language.” individuals’ attitudes, beliefs and behaviors in the real Columbia Area Career Center (CACC) broadcast world. However, media [is] only one contributing journalism instructor Joseph Wittman said this sensa- factor to how someone perceives the world and their tionalism is what rouses bias and inaccuracy among place in it.” his students’ conversations surrounding the most reThe relationship between exposure to media viocent and current events, making it a prevalent issue lence and effects on audiences can be complex. For among both students and the general citizen in society. example, there is consistent evidence that playing “Unfortunately, students are not always paying at- violent video games can increase players’ aggressive tention to the source of the news and if there is bias cognitions, according to the American Psychological involved,” Wittman said. “Students make generaliza- Association, but when there is a prosocial narrative tions on happenings in the news and don’t always added to the video game violence — for example, look for both sides of the story. Some take everything when the video game character is fighting to save they see on television and assume that the world is go- someone —- the effects of the video game violence ing to end tomorrow. Others see it as isolated events can be prosocial in nature. that don’t really show the big picture of the individual Both entertainment and news media faced critisituation.” cism for some bias in the portrayal of violence. For Wittman ensures he displays both the negative and example, mugshots of non-white suspects are more

likely to be displayed than white suspects in the news.

Language used to describe suspected criminals also may differ based on the race or ethnicity of the person.

It is suggested that words like thug, terrorist, criminal, and “bad guy” are more often associated with minority individuals than white people being covered by U.S. news media, according to the Pacific Standard.

“Types of violent crimes and demographics of suspected criminals also do not always match or reflect violence and crime statistics of U.S. communities.

The public may receive a skewed perspective of violence in the U.S. based on media portrayals,” BehmMorawitz said. Her research particularly focuses on how avatar embodiment can be used to shift our perceptions in a positive way, of minority groups as well as ourselves.

“My research examines how mediated representations influence our perceptions of the self and others,” Behm-Morawitz said. “From a traditional media standpoint, I examine how viewing and identifying with television and film characters influence our perceptions of gender, race and sexuality. From an interactive media standpoint, I examine how embodying and interacting with avatars and virtual personas affect who we are as well as how we view others.”

Interaction between a person and avatars is inevitable in all genres, including those with violent material. Wang argues that the presence of violence may not necessarily affect this relationship; she uses reality television shows like “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” or “Two Broke Girls” to destress.

“I feel like having a place where people can escape the harsh reality of real life is a good idea,” Wang said. “Everyone has a threshold of how much pressure they can handle and if they don’t let it out, it may affect them negatively and they may become really aggressive. By having an outlet to release emotions to get a break from reality, people can rebound and be resilient.”

While taking a recess from life does reap some benefits, such as easing stress and boosting willpower according to WebMD, Wittman cautions against losing touch with reality.

“People need to be aware of violent happenings because they may be directly changed by an event. Their work, their family, potential vacations all are affected by bad things that occur in our world,” Wittman said.

“There are parts of certain cities that you know are not safe. Thanks to the media reporting on events, this knowledge has been gained.”

Wang feels grateful for this rise of information, despite the accompanying heavy attention on violence.

She adds that if one does not keep up with the news, regardless of what it may say, the person risks losing track of the world’s progress.

“I think we should definitely be aware of [the news],” Wang said. “We’re now living in a globally connected world and if we don’t know what’s going on in other parts of the world, we may develop predators and isolation against the outside and become really outdated.”

art by Neil Cathro

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therock • www.bearingnews.org • 4.28.16 therock • www.bearingnews.org • 4.28.16

jenna liu

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hen senior Sean Garfias was growing up, he knew he was a little different from his male classmates.

The majority of his friends were girls, while the rest of the little boys stuck with their own. He found his true calling in singing, rather than sports. Then, when the other boys started to notice girls, he began to notice them instead.

Despite knowing that he was gay at an early age, Garfias hid his identity. He went through middle school entrenched in the closet, but could not escape the bullies who tormented him. School eventually started to feel safer in his freshman year, and Garfias finally felt able to come out to classmates.

When he entered RBHS the next year, he expected a new school, new classes and new friends. What he wasn’t expecting were the words that came out of his teacher’s mouth.

“Someone else in the class brought up gay people and [the teacher] looked at us and said, ‘If you have that disease, you need to get out of my class.’” Garfias said. “She said that as a statement and laughed at it. There was a couple of people in there that thought it was funny because they don’t really agree with homosexuality.”

For Garfias, the moment was no laughing matter. He immediately felt uncomfortable and began to hate the teacher who he would be stuck with for the rest of the year.

“It was just really awkward because I don’t know if she knew that about me but I knew that people in the class did know that I was gay, so it was just really awkward to be in that environment,” Garfias said. “Ignorance is something that I don’t tolerate. It just gets under my skin. It was just upsetting to know I had to deal with her as a teacher and learn from her.”

While that teacher is no longer at RBHS, her comments brought back memories of his younger days at Gentry Middle School, a period of time that he described as “awful”.

Garfias had no support system at school and was in a constant state of tension and fear.

“I didn’t have any friends, I had no self-esteem. It was really hard to walk from one place to another without worrying about what someone would think or what somebody would say,” Garfias said. “I remember P.E. being a problem a lot, you know, having to change with the other guys. [Everything] was just awful. I was placed in a section with the

skyler froese

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t’s 7:40 a.m. at Memorial Middle School in Joplin, Missouri; the year is 2006. A student has just fired a MAC-10 into the ceiling.

Principal Stephen Gilbreth is on the phone with a parent when he hears the shot. He immediately goes out of his office and races down the hall to meet the shooter.

“I didn’t realize who I was confronting, but he had a hood pulled up over his head and a white T-shirt or some kind of white garment tied around his face so I could only see his eyes peering out of this,” Gilbreth said. “There was a hood pulled down over his head and so I’ve got to be honest that for a moment, there was an ‘Oh, crap’ moment when I got down to the end, and I was like, ‘Oh, my god, it’s just me and him and he’s got a gun.’”

Gilbreth had no way of knowing the assailant’s gun had actually jammed, nor did he know that the single gunshot had hit the cooling system of the school, releasing 380 gallons of cooling fluid from the ceiling. He only knew there were 700 other children needing protection. “[We] had a fairly lengthy conversation with him about putting the gun down. Eventually I talked him into walking out with me,” Gilbreth said, “... I walked him out of the building, and about that time 30, 40 seconds after we got out the building, there were police coming down the street and they apprehended him next door in what was the old public library.”

It was finished as quickly as it started. The brevity of the attack is no surprise, considering most school shootings are concluded within seven minutes, according to Columbia Public Schools security director John White. But even with the shooting over and no one hurt, Gilbreth said a gash would stay open in the community for another two years.

School shootings are a new standard in American life. According to Everytown For Gun Safety, an anti-gun violence organization, 174 schools have experienced shootings since 2013. Media frenzies to cover

big, sporty, jock, popular guys so it wasn’t any easier for me.”

For many minorities, the fear of violence, both physical and mental, is a fact of life. Violence Prevention Works, a bullying prevention campaign, reported that seventy-eight percent of gay teens are bullied at school.

One of the most infamous examples of discriminatory attitudes devolving in violent atrocities was the Holocaust, when Adolf Hitler ordered the genocide of six million Jewish people. Though the Holocaust is universally condemned, the same stereotypes that precipitated the event have not disappeared. Junior Ben Rouder, who is Jewish, regularly deals with inflammatory comments about his faith.

“At first it’s friendly. It’s like, ‘Oh, I dropped a quarter. Are you going to get that because you’re Jewish?’ And I play along [with it] because I don’t think it’s a big deal in a sense. Over time it comes to the point where it’s the only thing [people] talk about,” Rouder said. “ It gets really annoying after a while. They’ll make Holocaust jokes and things like that.

I just want to be friends and fit in.I know they’re not antisemitic, so I just play along. After a bit it gets really, really exhausting. You start to feel like you’re crumbling on the inside.”

While Garfias didn’t bear physical marks that some bullying leaves, the “verbal violence” he endured still affected him greatly. Unlike cuts and bruises, his scars cannot not be easily seen.

“About sixth or seventh grade was when I was first diagnosed with depression,” Garfias said. “[My experience] really challenged me to learn to turn the other cheek and just to ignore ignorance and to look out for myself. I think it made me stronger but if I could choose not to do it again, I wouldn’t.”

it, and in Joplin nationwide press arrived before the school day was even concluded. While the country grapples with the stories put out by the press, school staff such as guidance counselor Dr. Samuel Martin are especially affected by the stories of violence in the places they spend their lives.

“It just breaks my heart because, I think for me, school should be a place where you’re safe, where students can thrive, where students feel a sense of belonging...,” Dr. Martin said. “I think about Sandy Hook where there’s a mass killing like that.

That’s heartbreaking.”

Sandy Hook grabbed the nation’s attention by its particularly saddening victims. In December of 2012, 28 people, most of which elementary schoolers, were killed in their school. The tragedy struck a chord with many. America had witnessed school shootings, but none quite as devastating by way as the casualties.

Even in 2016, people still recount the heartbreak in Sandy Hook.

The whole world reacts to school shootings, but on its own the microcosm of Joplin buzzed with a myriad of emotions. Some community members gave love and support to MMS, others sent hatred and anger.

“I think most of it was, from the community anyway, huge support and an outpouring of gratitude. The folks that found fault with it, I don’t think they had a child in the school or even a child in the district,” Gilbreth said. “We live in a community of 50,000 people, so there’s bound to be somebody that you know is going to say something that’s inappropriate.”

While the districts where shootings have occurred takes the flack for these mistakes, other districts like CPS can learn from it.

“We literally look at each one of those and try to glean as much information as we can —what went wrong, what went right, where can we make changes,” White said. “What did the students do right? What did the staff do right? Did anybody do anything that we think we could do differently? So we learn from each one of those.”

The examination of other shootings caused RBHS’ use of the buzzer system and the ALICE plan, which stands for ‘Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate,’ to stop an active shooter. White admits with even all of this planning, the spontaneous nature of shootings make it hard to

plan. White said that in a shooting, a student’s job is to keep themself safe.

Assistant Principal Dr. Tim Baker is supportive of the ALICE plan and is one of the district’s trainers for teaching the protocol. He praises the organization and logic that this system provides. He said that the previous system of sitting, waiting and locking down was unsafe because it still kept students near the shooter.

“Before it was like all 30 buildings were doing their own things, and that’s scary. If we don’t know how we’re doing to respond. When everybody does it differently it’s more scary than anything,”Dr. Baker said.

“Now we’ve got a fairly consistent response from building to building.”

This protocol is not for an “if” but for a “when.” RBHS is no stranger to shooting. In Nov. 2011, suspects fired shots in front of the school on South Providence Road. A stray bullet hit a car, but no one sustained an injury and the school locked down. Police apprehended the shooters. While that altercation was resolved with little issue, there is always the threat of another shooting. Beyond the preventative security measures taken by CPS, there are resources aimed at stopping the shooters before they get a gun.

“We have a pretty good service for referring students that teachers have talked about,” Dr. Martin said.

“We have multiple eyes on students so it’s not just their biology teacher that’s watching them. It’s everybody, a team, a village.”

While White asserts that students should not be preoccupied with fear, he said they are the most important piece in the puzzle to prevent school shootings. White said most shooters tell a friend their plan in advance, and reporting those intentions can stop a shooting.

“If you see or hear something, you need to tell somebody,” White said. “[School shooters] have sent clues out or have given clues to the people who are close to them that they were thinking about doing something like this or had the potential to do something like that. So I would say that is probably the biggest impediment because it comes as a shock but yet somebody knew about it.”

Students are not only what can stop a shooting, but they are what remedies it after the fact. Gilbreth described a sense of unity shared by the students after the shooting. He believes that going through this experience proved to the children how

ro photo illustratino by Neil Cath

strong they and their faculty are.

“The kids were incredible. There was almost a sense of taking care of each other for at least the rest of that year, and I noticed quite a difference for even into the next year because at the time there were 750 kids at this school and for Joplin, that’s a big school,” Gilbreth said. “We had a free and reduced rate of 54 percent, so there’s a lot in terms of socioeconomic [inequalities]. There was a great deal of poverty in this school and they felt a sense of, ‘Hey, we’re a part of MMS.’” After the camera crews moved away and the initial shock subsided, some stains couldn’t be washed from consciousness. At the end of the year, a teacher from the school retired because of daily stress headaches.

Gilbreth himself is reminded of his scrape with gun violence every time he hears about it on the news, and the stench of gunpowder fills his nose as freshly as the day his student fired when a school shooting appears in the media.

Shootings usually leave behind a discussion on highly politicized issues such as gun control or mental health. Politicians have been using this as a reason to tighten gun control. After the Sandy Hook shooting, the state of Connecticut banned high capacity magazines and also broadened the preexisting automatic weapons ban. Shootings have also caused an outcry for mental health. What is seen when poor mental health is

armed has made many people wary to grant access to arms to mentally ill individuals.

“I know it’s been happening more frequently than it hasn’t been. There’s been a lot of stuff in the news, and it stays in the news for a long time,” junior Morgan Kruse said. “I also believe that whoever goes in there was not in their right mind, be it a student, a parent or a teacher but I think it goes a little above and beyond sometimes what it needs to.”

As more shootings occur, others are left as just statistics or proof in a debate. In other schools, it serves to break teachers’ hearts and to prepare all in the district to be safe in case the unthinkable does happen.

In the schools where shootings transpire, the coverage that allows others to react is just the second set of hurdles before the ordeal can be over.

Gilbreth believes the country needs to reexamine its use of social media surrounding these tragedies. In the brilliance of hindsight, many blamed the administration, speculates Gilbreth.

Some community members believed if the school had stopped the shooter at some point in his life, this wouldn’t have happened.

“People need to understand that teachers and folks that are a part of schools really do come to school everyday with pure motives to make a difference in a child’s life,” Gilbreth said, “When something so devastating happens it makes it difficult for everybody to understand it.”

infographic by Neil Cathro; source: fightingchancessolutions.com

features

4.28.16 • www.bearingnews.org • therock

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Upperclassmen end the year with pranks skyler froese

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raduation is a time to commemorate on the past. After four long years of hard work, seniors celebrate with events such as prom and the senior all-night party. One tradition that stands out, however, is senior pranks.

These shenanigans leave lasting marks on students.

For instance, senior Sam Schwartzkopf recalls a few escapades he witnessed seniors pull during his three years at RBHS. “I remember when they wrote all of these things all over the glass in the north commons.

[There were] red solo cups and that made [the cups] really hard to clean up,” Schwartzkopf said. “I heard of the time that the seniors a couple years back drove motorcycles through the main entrance all the way to the north commons. That was pretty cool, but I’m not sure if I can get away with that now.”

Senior Prince Chingarande began his RBHS career last year. He had never experienced senior pranks before, so the antics were surprising for him.

“Funnily, when they were pulled last year, I didn’t even know it was a thing,” Chingarande said. “I got to school and was like what in the heavens are these water cups doing in the north commons?”

Despite the initial confusion, Chingarande has grown fond of the pranks, fond enough that he plans to pull his own. He hopes to be remembered as the senior with “the weirdest prank ever.”

“I’m going to wear a diaper, run around the hallways yelling and hitting two sauce pans together,” Chingarande said.

“I think they reflect how freewilled we are and not ashamed to show our weird sides.”

Schwartzkopf said these pranks are, for the most part, wholesome and harmless.

This, however, has not always been the case for past pranks at RBHS. Victoria Yu, a 2010 alumna, recalls a prank going awry. The attempted hijinks ended with the arrest of 18 students.

“I remember hearing about a group of students that somehow managed to enter the school building past midnight trying to pull a prank but ended up being caught and arrested,” Yu said.

“The students had with them a bunch of balloons and pennies.

They were caught before they

could fully go through with the senior prank plan.”

Assistant Principal Dr. Lisa Nieuwenhuizen reminds students that other things can go wrong with senior pranks, such as property damage and the disruption of class. She stresses that seniors should recall that their freedom comes with responsibility.

“Some pranks require extensive cleanup or repair to school property,” Nieuwenhuizen said. “This is vandalism and is treated as such, with school and legal consequences when appropriate.”

Schwartzkopf agrees with Nieuwenhuizen. He sees messy pranks as inconsiderate to janitors. His ideal prank focuses on the temporary disruption of students.

“I would love it if they hid airhorns all over the place. …

There are these really small almost bluetooth-esque kind of remote control things you can set off where you just tighten an airhorn and let if off for five seconds,” Schwartzkopf said, “not long enough for them to find it but long enough to disrupt things and have those all over the place.”

Yu and Nieuwenhuizen are in consensus with Schwartzkopf.

All three agree that the controllable, cleanable pranks are best, especially when it comes off as funny or bizarre. Despite this support, Schwartzkopf doesn’t plan on pulling a prank.

“I feel like the people who do the senior pranks are the same people, or the same type of people,” Schwartzkopf said.

“They’re never people like me, they’re usually like student council [people].”

Beyond just the title of ‘student council member,’ Schwartzkopf believes the constant involvement in the school has made these students more willing to use their time to pull a prank. After all, it is their last chance to bring some fun into RBHS. While Schawartzcopf believes these pranks are ignored as he and other seniors look towards their futures, Yu looks back at this period fondly.

“Looking back, I think it’s okay to have a little fun through senior pranks, as long as students are still responsible.

Pranks should not result in property damage, offend anyone or break school policies,” Yu said.

“If a mess is made, those who participated in orchestrating the prank should help clean up the aftermath.”

infographic by Ana Ramirez; source: Columbia Daily Tribune, Missourian

Distinct, simple strategy sparks motivation rochita ghosh

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t is 11 p.m., a time when much of the population is fast asleep. For some high school students, however, it is the prime time to finally begin slaving away at their assignments, having procrastinated the past few hours away on Netflix or YouTube. Much of this group often

feels unsatisfied with their decision when later suffering from sleep deprivation and attempt methods of motivation like rewarding oneself upon completing a task.

Junior Chase Ford often finds himself in the group of people that stays up late to do work.

This leaves him no other option except trying a variety of things to motivate himself, includ-

infographic by Megan Goyette; source: Psychology Today

ing the reward system method — nothing has proved fruitful for him thus far.

“My typical method for self-motivation is usually based on the deadline. For example, if I don’t finish this chemistry worksheet I’m not going to be accepted into college,” Ford said. “[I] like the idea of putting a reward in place; however, I usually just skip straight to the reward and avoid the work.”

Hope exists for Ford yet; a new study conducted at the University of Pennsylvania shakes the integrity of the reward system by revealing a new way to boost motivation.

The research team asked four groups of people to walk 7,000 steps a day for six months — they provided the first group with no incentive and the second with $1.40 per day, or $42 per month.

For the third, the team provided a lottery ticket to win the same amount, and gave the fourth group $42 at the start of the month, and told them that for every day that they did not complete their goal, the researchers would take away $1.40.

The last group later proved to be the most successful at walking 7,000 steps by a margin of almost 50 percent, suggesting a fear of loss to be the most effective motivator for subjects in the study.

While Honors Biology teacher Kaitlin EuDaly does not utilize this approach to inspire her students, preferring to try to get her students to see the value of their work, she believes RBHS inherently uses the ideas behind the method.

“I think that’s kind of a way [RBHS] functions. Not necessarily a motivation of fear, but we allow students a lot of flexibility and freedom. If that is not used properly or responsibly, then in theory, those things would get revoked,” EuDaly said. “Obviously, a high school student values and desires [these things] and is motivated to keep their AUT or a seat in class. Then, the motivation is if you show me that you can do that, then you get to keep it.”

It is for these reasons that EuDaly believes the method could prove useful in a classroom setting, especially when guiding students toward developing internal motivation.

“As teachers, we would love if all of our students were intrinsically motivated, but the reality is that’s just not the case. So, I think having some sort of extrinsic motivation is important and helps our students move from [that] type of motivation,” EuDaly said. “I think a lot of research shows that punishment isn’t necessarily a good motivator but either positive or negative reinforcement, so this [method] kind of goes in with that.”

B8 features

therock • www.bearingnews.org • 4.28.16

Generational gap evokes judgment grace vance

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hey park in front of our fire hydrants; they block our streets; they come back in our lot and smoke dope. We’ve run people out of the trees by our buildings when they were having sex. They’ve set two fires already under the tree by our building... The rich kids out here have a whole lot to do with their time.”

Or so it was decreed by a Tribune article from 2001. These things and more were said about RBHS students during the time 2004 alumni Todd Gingrich was in high school, but is this viewpoint a common thread throughout each generation?

In Gingrich’s opinion, this cliché of high school students was the opposite of his experience.

“I definitely never fit those stereotypes… I did the usual things — read math books for fun, [taught] myself physics in Mr. Smith’s room after school, [played] some tennis, etc.,” Gingrich said. “I also built a hovercraft with my friends and played quite a lot of Trivial Pursuit… I was a pretty typical math/science nerd.”

For 1991 alumna and parent to a current freshman Angela Pigg, “egocentric” and “self absorbed” were the words of her generation — though she didn’t see it that way.

“They thought we were selfish. I remember thinking that adults didn’t think we had any work ethic. I think they looked at us as more lazy than they were, which is so funny because I totally don’t see it that way,” Pigg said. “I look at my daughter, and I think, ‘My God, she does so much more than I ever did.’ [For her generation] there is more being thrown at you, so much more to absorb than I ever had to. It’s funny because I don’t look at you guys as being lazy, I look at [it as,] ‘Maybe we were the lazy generation.’”

During her high school years, Pigg was the manager of the baseball team and a participant of the children’s theater class, leading her to oppose the older generation’s view that she and her peers were lazy. The same reasons that drove her to challenge those views are what she uses to understand her children’s social environment.

“When I’m at RBHS now, I wouldn’t say it’s a lot different. It is such a melting pot of different personalities, and I remember that when I was there, too,” Pigg said. “It doesn’t seem to me like it’s that much different of a culture than it was when I was there.”

Kimberly Thielen-Metcalf, AP U.S. History teacher, said that the most dignified generational differences stemmed from those who lived through the Great Depression because of their dramatically different lifestyle of material conservation and rationing.The people who survived the Depression gave birth to what would become the Greatest Generation, named for their service in World War II.

photo by Paulina Morales

Jumping for joy: Juan Morales, 54 years old, plays with his granddaughter, Victoria Morales, one year old, in their living room. Though they have an age gap of 53 years, the two still find plenty of things to do every time they are together. “[They] really just wanted to come home from the war and live a good life. You have their children, who turned into the hippies, and they balked against the status quo of ‘Everybody goes to church, everybody gets a job,’” Thielen-Metcalf said. “They were more ‘Find your own way, be a creative spirit. Don’t be such a conformist’ because your Greatest Generation turns into the conformists of the 50s, ‘We won [the war,] we’re going to do it like this.’”

Junior Helen Keithahn sees the lasting effects of conformist views in the way older generations regard millennials and technology.

“It’s unfortunate that people sometimes don’t take high schoolers seriously,” Keithahn said.

“High school is the time when it’s important for students to work hard and think critically to plan for their future,” Keithahn said.

Although Thielen-Metcalf said historical events direct generation attitudes, she also believes the business cycle directly influences it.

“You’ve got your abject poverty during the Great Depression, people who come out of World War II then into the biggest boom that has ever occurred. Those people give birth to children who can afford to follow their own path, the boomers,” Thielen-Metcalf said. “The boomers, though, have worked hard and they’ve saved.

Now we’re to a point where you can do all that hard work and come out of college and not even

find a job.”

Whether it’s a perception of roudiness, a lack of motivation or “too technology-centric,” Pigg said generational gaps that evoke judgement on adolescents will always be present, despite its change in appearance.

“The same reason why there’s such diversity at RBHS, I think that there’s diversity in every single generation that’s going to lead it… If I look at the past, it seems to me like it’s just repeating itself,” Pigg said. “It doesn’t seem to me like any generation is going down an any worse path. Maybe yes, as a society [people are] making choices that is putting us down a [bad] path, but I wouldn’t say one generation [is at fault.]”

LOP proves beneficial Students maximize time in supervised block

nikol slatinska

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art by Megan Goyette; source: RBHS Student Handbook

etween AUT and study halls, RBHS offers plenty of opportunities for students to complete schoolwork.

Still, some students find that prioritizing their time to get all of their tasks finished can prove difficult. Often, the solution for that is LOP (Loss of Privilege), which replaces that AUT time with a supervised block dedicated solely to finishing any late or missing work.

Sophomore Trey Robinson landed himself in one of these blocks by skipping a class, but his experience turned out much better than he expected.

“I was bored in LOP, but at the same time I did get a lot of work done,” Robinson said. “I feel like I have trouble structuring my work time all the time because I get distracted.”

LOP supervisor Brieann Fountain said the block provides students with computers and other materials necessary to complete their schoolwork, offering help to those who need it.

“I have had many students tell me throughout the school year that they feel they get a lot done when they are in ISS (In School Suspension) or LOP,” Fountain said. “I believe that the required silence really sets the tone for most students to focus on work.”

School administrators are happy with the results of LOP, particularly on students who don’t get in trouble often. The block is typically given to people for truancies or skipping a class. Usual-

ly, two LOPs are the consequence “There are study hall blocks availfor skipping one class. Assistant able, which I encourage students principal Dr. Tim Baker calls it a who need that extra study time to double-whammy and said it is the take. Students can visit with their way to discourage students from guidance counselors regarding their options for extra support in skipping a second time.

“We don’t really keep track or this area.”

Baker likes that LOP helps run reports of effectiveness, but we find LOP to be extremely ef- in two ways: it dissuades people fective for kids that don’t get into who are not accustomed to getting a lot of trouble. For example, if we in trouble from breaking the rules again and took away is academithe AUT of cally benefia student cial because that doesn’t I have had many students are really get students tell me forced to in trouble throughout the complete a lot and put them school year that they schoolwork during their in LOP feel they get a lot time. for that done when [in] LOP. In spite part of the of LOP’s day, they brieann fountain helpfulness wouldn’t LOP superviser in productivever want ity, Fountain to go back there,” Baker said. “But it’s prob- said replacing an AUT with an ably not as effective for kids that LOP block is not an option beget into trouble often. It loses its cause of the same reason she meneffectiveness when you go in tioned earlier, which is that LOP is there a lot. We recognize that, but meant to be a consequence, not an it’s the best in-house detention alternative to an AUT. She still, however, has had stuthat we’ve got.”

Since the room is also next to dents ask her to be in LOP to have the Success Center, tutoring op- time to work quietly and focus. portunities are, literally, right next Robinson agrees with her that aldoor. But regardless of LOP’s though it’s a helpful tool, replachelpfulness, Fountain does not ing AUT with LOP is not a good think it is the solution for every idea.

“I would never consider that student who finds himself or herself with a lack of motivation for because AUT is a chance for kids to relax and take a mental break school.

“LOP is meant for conse- from work if they choose to do quences only. However, I certain- so,” Robinson said. “LOP would ly support students being able to just give kids one less thing to have solutions for motivation to look forward to. I think it isn’t for do school work,” Fountain said. everyone.”

sports therock 4.28.16

Newcomer continues legacy Freshman latest Farid to carry on family dynasty alice yu

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or most children, there’s no recollection of the first word that came out of their mouth; nonetheless, that one word was joined by another and another until sentences formed.

In freshman Kameron Farid’s case, he doesn’t remember the first time he picked up the racket, but one hit led to the next, which led to tournaments, wins and eventually a spot on the varsity boys’ tennis team.

It can be said the rest is history, but Farid has only started to write his legacy with his role as the number one player on the varsity boys’ tennis team. “[Starting tennis] was like a dream. That’s the only thing I can tell you. You don’t know when it starts and you don’t know when it’s going to end.

That’s all I can say,” Farid said. “I don’t know when I first picked up the racket.

Hopefully I don’t know when the last time I pick up a racket is.”

While Farid may be new to Bruin tennis, his last name is not. With two older sisters who’ve played on the varsity girls’ tennis team — senior Ronni Farid who’s currently the number six player and ‘14 alumna Sophi Farid who was the number one player her sophomore and junior year— this isn’t coach Ben Loeb’s first time training a Farid.

With a sister in eighth grade, Corinne, this certainly won’t be Loeb’s last time either.

“There are some similarities. They are all driven people with a high ceiling for being successful with whatever they are passionate

about,” Loeb said. “Kam has the making of being our next Ford Zitsch and play number one for four years. [Ronni and Kam] both are driven to get better and to win. They both value team success a lot.”

With four freshmen players out of the six on varsity, there are high hopes for this season as well as the future.

From 2010 to 2012, the boys’ tennis team won three consecutive state championships and with the young talent on the team, the dream of bringing home more consecutive state championships seems closer than ever.

“We’ve been waiting for this class to come up,” junior Brian Baker said. “I’m hoping to get two state titles. I think it’s possible with the talent we have. I was really impressed with what we did at Chattanooga. We really held our own out there, and I think we impressed a lot of people.

They were really surprised we had so many freshmen because we performed like we had more experience.”

The road to a state title is by no means easy, and Kam started the season with his share of challenges. Fighting a back injury from February, Kam had to ease up on his training and adopt a cautious attitude at practices. From cutting back in practice — something Kam’s a bit reluctant to do — to dealing with the psychological pressures of the sport, Kam’s had to overcome both physiological and psychological hardships.

“I usually don’t take days off, to be honest. If people ask if I’m good at tennis, I try to stay humble. Honestly, I’m not good at it, but I’m working on it. I think the main problem people have is they

always try to figure out how good you are at a sport instead of just accepting who you are at a sport,” Kam Farid said.

“There’s just a lot of competition and the psychological standpoint I’ve come to is it’s not about who’s number one, but who wins state, who wins nationals because that’s kind of more important. It could be anybody on the lineup and we’ll still be a great team.”

With the hope of bringing back four state championships in mind, Kam is adjusting to the team aspect of high school tennis. Although together for a mere couple of months, Kam has already noticed a sense of unity with the Bruins. From enduring laps meant to serve as punishments to cleaning up the court after practice, everybody’s working together.

“I’m used to always playing on my own. You’re only ranked individually unless you’re a doubles player, but it’s just kind of different when you’re competing on your own and you’re playing for your own benefit. You’ve got to make team sacrifices, which I’m not really used to yet. I’m going to make sacrifices for the team, but this is just the beginning,” Kam said.

“Tennis is usually an individual sport and now as a team sport, we kind of all need to work together. It doesn’t really matter if it’s one, two, three, four, five; we’re all just one.”

For Ronni, watching her younger brother acclimate to the team offers a fresh perspective on her own first year on the varsity girls’ tennis team. While they’ve never played on the same team — girls’ tennis is a fall sport while boys’ tennis is a spring

sport — Ronni is getting a whole new look on her own high school career as well as Sophi’s role as a big sister.

“We’re starting to get into this little generic routine, and it’s really cool because I see what I did as a freshman but now he’s doing, so it’s kind of weird to be like, ‘Oh, I kind of remember that,’” Ronni said. “Now I’m in my sister’s shoes, which is weird. I can’t really fill her shoes.”

For Ronni and Kam, the competition isn’t limited to the tennis court. While tennis plays a large hand in both siblings’ lives, they still make time for other battles, namely Call of Duty: Black Ops after a grueling practice.

“A few weeks ago, My Black Ops random team beat his, and I threw the remote down, and I was just screaming and running around the house because the day that I beat Kameron at Black Ops is the day I’m winning,” Ronni said. “I refused to play after that. I quite for three days. I refused and it was just like endless bragging rights.”

Be it succeeding on the tennis court or on a Black Ops battlefield, Kam’s competitive nature and motivation are admirable traits that indicated leader, even at his young age.

“Kam’s for sure a motivated kid. He’s really dedicated to the sport. He takes practice and he takes his matches seriously,” Baker said. “That’s just always good, because sometimes when you’re that young, there’s some immaturity there, but even for the freshmen, he’s a good role model because he shows you can still be mature while you’re that young and still have an impact on the team.”

photo by Jaehyung Rhee

Victory reliant on youth

Boys’ golf team heads to district tournament abby kempf

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bout to tee off at the district tournament May 2 at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri, the boys’ golf team is hunting for their seventh straight district title.

It hasn’t all been smooth swinging, however, since past leaders Matt Echelmeier, Jack Knoesel and Ben Humphreys passed the torch to a squad made up of mostly underclassmen, head coach Douglas Daniels said.

“Because we had to replace three players due to graduation, inexperience is the biggest obstacle,” Daniels said. “But we try to play a full slate of matches so the jitters that come with inexperience may disappear the more matches we play.”

JV player freshman Kavi Patel said initially it was hard to acclimate to the team environment but that the boys connected quickly.

“I didn’t know anybody so when I played it kind of was like I was playing by myself,” Patel said. “But then after the first match I became pretty close friends with a lot of the guys.”

With a record of 9-1-3, however, the five unseasoned varsity members have shown maturity and determination after quickly defeating their “jitters,” Daniels said.

“The year has gone well. We are Stephen Sowers and junior Ben Knoa young team with a five-man var- esel have not let their command over sity squad that features one senior, the sport dwindle.

“Sowers is our only player who one junior, two sophomores and one freshman,” Daniels said. “The fresh- played on both state championship man Ross Steelman has made quite a teams of 2014 and 2015, and we expect him to be splash, placat the top of his ing first in a game when disfew matches. I would We all also want to trict play begins 2,” Daniels also add that improve and beat May said.

“Along sophomore each other, and with Ross SteelHudson DuDoug gives us the man, junior Ben binski is starting to best chances to get Knoesel and sophomore Sam show the better.

Rentschler, are form that reross steelman the other playsulted in him freshman ers on the Bruin earning allvarsity to be state honors by placing second at last year’s state playing in their first season of a full varsity schedule. Both are gaining championship.”

Steelman attributes his success confidence with each event and are and his teammates’ success to their becoming more consistent with their “good team chemistry,” and their play.” desire to improve their abilities. He Steelman anticipates a victory, also said Daniels’ excellent coaching saying they are “rounding into shape at the right time.” While Daniels has helped to tee off their drive.

“We all get along really well as a has reservations about the foreign team,” Steelman said. “We all also course, he knows his squad is ready want to improve and beat each other, for the challenge.

“I believe in this team,” Daniels and Doug gives us the best chances said. “I anticipate they will rise to the to get better.”

While the youth has come on occasion and bring RBHS its seventh strong, team veterans such as senior straight district title.”

photo by Marco Rea

Teeing off: Senior Stephen Sowers practices his swing during practice March 7. at L.A Nickel golf course. Sowers, a member of the team since his freshman year, has been an integral part of the squads’ two consecutive state titles in 2014 and 2015.

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therock • www.bearingnews.org • 4.28.16

sports

4.28.16 • www.bearingnews.org • therock

1976

Professional tennis player Renee Richards comes out as transgender after news of her operation is leaked to the press. She would go on to compete in the 1977 US Open as the first openly transgender woman to ever play at a professional tennis tournament.

Transgender athletes face trials from MSHSAA policy jenna liu

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ore than 40 years after Title IX gave women more athletic opportunities, a new gender issue has arisen that could mean Mianne Bagger turned into one of the most fadramatic reform in the world of high mous athletes in the world when she became school sports.

Though the International Olympic the first openly transitioned female to participate photo by Caylea Ray Committee recently decided to allow in a professional golf tournament. Bagger still transgender athletes to compete in the competes professionally on the Australian Ladies Olympics, there has yet to be a national Professional Golf Tour. standard for the manner in which high school transgender athletes can compete.

Texas determines gender, as it pertains to sports teams, through students’ Fallon Fox is the first openly transgender athlete birth certificates. Nebraska leaves the decision up to individual school disin the history of the MMA. Fox flew to Thailand for tricts. Minnesota allows students to gender reassignment surgery in 2006. She was determine which team best aligns with forced to come out publicly in 2013 after a reporter their gender identity. Each state has released her birth certificate. It is not yet known if vastly different policies, with Missouri being no exception.

Fox possesses any advantages over other females.

The Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) handbook states that a transgender student may participate on their preferred-gender team as long as he or she has underFamous United States track star and Olympic gold gone at least a year of hormone therapy. medalist Caitlyn Jenner, formerly William Bruce Sophomore Abigail Barrett, a former Jenner, came out publicly as a transgender womswimmer at Battle High School who identifies as gender non-conforming, an on the cover of Vanity Fair. In a powerful 2015 said she has reservations about MSHinterview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer, Jenner said “for SAA’s requirements for transgender all intents and purposes, I am a woman.” students.

“I don’t like [the policy],” Barrett said. “I can see where they think that’s fair, but for them to say, ‘You can’t participate until you legitimize yourself.’ It isn’t fair at all.”

The International Olympics Committee (IOC) rules The MSHSAA policy, which is takthat transgender athletes would be allowed to en directly from the National Collegiate compete in the Olympics. Female-to-male athAthletic Association (NCAA) regulaletes can compete without restrictions while maletions, took effect around two years ago, MSHSAA Communications Director to-female athletes must have undergone one year Jason West said. The process of the of hormone therapy. policy began when questions started to arise over how transgender athletes should compete.

“We needed to have something in place,” West said. “We knew that there were some member schools that were finding themselves in different situations when it came to transgender [athletes], so that’s kind of what prompted the discussion.”

While the policy has been in place for two years, Columbia Public Schools Athletic Director Bruce Whitesides said he has not personally handled any cases involving a transgender athlete in the district.

“I haven’t heard of any transgender athletes,” Whitesides said. “Nobody has challenged the policy so far.”

Whitesides said transgender studentathletes would likely not even need to go through the district’s athletic department in order to compete with their preferred team.

“I would think that [transgender athletes] would be able to communicate with their athletic director in their building,” Whitesides said.

2004

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2006

2015

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Major moments in trans-athletics

Despite MSHSAA providing an opportunity for transgender students to compete athletically, Barrett said her experience on the swim team gave her the impression that in the arena of high school sports, transgender students are not welcomed with open arms.

“I don’t think [athletics] are open to transgender people at all,” Barrett said. “There are some athletes that have come out, but they’re seen as not having the right amount of masculinity; it’s with gender expression as well. Males who are more feminine are looked down upon, so men who transition to women...you know.”

Despite Barrett’s assertion that the swim team is not an accepting environment, Zach Mertens, swim coach for RBHS, Hickman High School and Battle High School, said he would absolutely support any transgender athlete who wanted to join the team.

“If a transgender individual wanted to join the team, as a coach I would ensure that they were compliant with all MSHSAA guidelines before joining the team,” Mertens said. “Largely, I believe that these steps must be taken by the student and the student’s family. My role as a coach is to support the athlete during their transition and after.”

For Barrett, however, swimming for a team again in the future doesn’t seem likely. While MSHSAA has laid out its rules for transgender athletes, the organization currently has not taken a position on how athletes who identify as Barrett does can compete.

“I don’t identify as either [gender], so it’s a little bit more difficult for me,” Barrett said. “I’m biologically a female, so it makes sense to be on the female team, but I don’t feel correct in this body and there isn’t really anything that can fix it because being gender-queer, I don’t see how I can transition into anything that isn’t my body.”

Despite Barrett’s quandary, West said MSHSAA does not have a plan to revisit the policy. He believes the current regulations are as clear and balanced as they can be and properly address what Missouri athletes need to properly perform and compete for their school.

“We want to keep the policy as simple and straightforward as possible,” West said. “I think that’s what we’ve accomplished right now; to have as much fairness for everyone involved.”

Though no openly transgender students of either sex have joined the swim team, Mertens said he expects the team to welcome and accept any transgender athlete who takes that plunge.

“The expectation on the team is one of acceptance and community,” art by Erin Barchet Mertens said. “I expect members of our team to embrace someone who looks differently than current team members individually look or feel with respect and the knowledge that the more diverse a community becomes, the stronger it becomes.”

Female trans person (male to female) must be on gender transition medication for one year to compete on a girl’s team

MSHSAA regulations for transgender athletes

A trans male (female to male) who has undergone testosterone treatment may compete on a boy’s team

Policy taken from the NCAA, implemented 2014

art by Erin Barchet; source: 2015-2016 MSHSAA handbook

C4 sports Bill ushers in new form of concussion education ji-ho lee

I

n an age where player safety dominates not only the landscape of sports but also media and entertainment, one Missouri legislator has proposed amendments to a bill to further guarantee the safety of players.

House Bill 2388, sponsored by Rep. Paul Fitzwater, proposes amendments to the Interscholastic Youth Sports Brain Injury Prevention Act of 2011 by requiring more organizations to inform its participants of head injuries and instructing coaches and officials to undergo training regarding player safety.

Although Fitzwater said the initial legislation appeared thorough, he wished to add the amendment in order to protect a larger audience.

“The reason why we amended the bill in committee was because we are trying to educate more people on how to identify concussions among athletes and kids,” Fitzwater said. “The problem that we had with the original bill is that we left the officials out, and what the amendment does is it adds the officials, and MSHSAA was OK with that.”

RBHS football coach AJ Ofodile, however, said many players at the high school level, especially at RBHS, are already under well-prepared staff.

“It’s our expectation in our district that we all go through mandatory concussion education,” Ofodile said.

“We’re all expected to understand exactly what a concussion is, exactly the symptoms and the signs to look for and exactly what the protocols are to handle those things.”

Fitzwater’s proposed amendments, however, span more than just the high school level. Initially, the bill affected athletes in grades 7-12 only, but a new wave of young athletes has led to the expansion of the bill’s coverage.

“Peewee football and peewee soccer around the state has become popular, like the second and third graders playing contact football,” Fitzwater said. “We felt that if these coaches are going to be involved with this, they need to know how to identify a poten-

therock • www.bearingnews.org • 4.28.16

If you just have a doctor there at the tial concussion in an athlete.”

As an athlete who has received game, why would you not just let the a concussion, junior soccer player doctor address the injury?”

Fitzwater also admits that the Brandon Rettke said the amendment amendments still have some flaws, will have a positive impact.

“I think coaches being trained to with the primary issue regarding enproperly assess if [a player] has a con- forcement of the new bill.

“With the officials, [the bill] can cussion or not is definitely necessary,” Rettke said. “I think the bill could be be enforced because they have to get helpful if it is executed properly with online and actually log in to the ofgood training for coaches and [offi- ficial website and it shows when they come on there. But for some of the cials].”

The amendment affects officials, peewee coaches, there’s really no along with coaches, referees and um- way to monitor whether or not they pires, who are required to watch a watched the video,” Fitzwater said. short video about player safety and “We are going to encourage those head injuries. This addition could add coaches who are involved with those kids at that levanother voice el to get onof influence to a line and watch player who may not feel injured, I think coaches be- [the video] but really but is unsafe to ing trained to prop- there’s no enforceplay. erly assess if [a play- ment at that “I’ve seen kids hit in a er] has a concussion level.”

Ofodile also football game, or not is definitely feels that the and a coach necessary. recent increase asks, ‘You OK,’ brandon rettke in concussion and [the player] junior awareness has says, ‘Yeah, I’m indirectly crefine.’ Well when a coach asks a player that, you know ated negative consequences.

“Any time there is a mental health he’s going to be fine. Players don’t want to go out of the game,” Fitzwater issue with a player, the first thing said. “I think an official should have people say is it has to be a concusthe ability to say, ‘Hey, kid, you need sion and that’s really short-sided,” Ofodile said. “There’s not a catch-all. to go out.’”

Ofodile agrees the new rules and There is substance abuse that leads to awareness that Fitzwater has proposed mental health issues … and other in— which has accumulated over sev- cidents of mental health not related to those things .… I think it is neglecteral years — is extremely positive.

“Years ago when I played, really ful to automatically say it has to be the concussion protocol was if you a concussion and also neglect all of were coherent you were cleared and these issues that could lead to mental good to go,” Ofodile said. “We know health issues.”

Despite its flaws, Fitzwater hopes now how big of a mistake that is.”

Although it is seemingly benefi- the new amendments can ultimately cial, sophomore football player Drew ensure greater safety for athletes.

“The overall impact of this bill is Boswell finds the amendments, and the original bill itself, to be largely we hope that we can educate more and more people that are involved unnecessary.

“It’s your choice to play sports, with youth and athletes in sports and you’re putting yourself in that across Missouri and across this counposition, so you know the risk of get- try,” Fitzwater said. “We want to eduting hurt in the sport,” Boswell said. cate more people on how to identify a “[The bill] won’t help the situation. potential concussions.”

infographic by Ana Ramirez; source: concussiontreatment.com

Next week for Bruin athletics Baseball

5:00 p.m May 4 | Hickman HS — Away

Girls’ soccer

4:30 p.m. May 6 | Cor Jesu — Home

Safe and sound: Senior Taten Lyngstad slides to third, avoiding a tag against Southern Boone April 14 at RBHS. The Bruins beat the Eagles 11-1.

Putting on the moves: Senior Cara Wilfong looks for an open teammate April 8 against Blue Springs South.

The Bruins are now 7-8 on the season.

Gunter to goal: Junior Molly Gunter threads the Blue Springs South Jaguars defense in route to a scoring opportunity. The game resulted in a 4-0 loss for the Bruins.

photo by Chloe Jost

Boys’ tennis

9:30 a.m April 30 Bethel Park North Central Missouri Invitational

Noon May 7 | RBHS Rock Bridge Invitational Sprinting to the finish: Junior Rilwan Ibitoye races at Jefferson City High school April 5 where the JV team took home first.

photo by Abby Blitz

photo by Cassi Viox

Serve it up: Sophomore Max Weber practices April 6 at Bethel Park.

Boys’ and girls’ track

photo by Levi Smith

Run down: Junior Nick Wohlbold (left) and senior Avery Jennings trap a Southern Boone runner April 14. photo by Paulina Morales

Girls’ soccer

5 p.m. May 4 | Hickman HS — Home

photo by Cassi Viox

Baseball

5 p.m. May 7 | Fatima — Home

commentaries

4.28.16 • www.bearingnews.org • therock

C5

Books are more than printed words on a page ashley tanner

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infographic by Erin Barchet; source: timetoast.com

No equality without inclusivity nicole schroeder

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was in my sophomore year when I first heard about person-first language. Scrolling through articles on The Mighty, an online site dedicated to sharing the stories of those with special needs, I came across the concept in a small post written for Disability Awareness Month in March.

Though it seemed simple, the idea was enough to cause me to pause in my browsing. It amazed me that changing the order of one’s words in a sentence, saying “the boy with Autism” instead of “the autistic boy” was powerful enough to change the entire tone of the conversation from being about a disability to being about a person.

Unfortunately, for many of those outside of the special needs community, it can be difficult to understand the significance of such a change. The meaning between the two phrases is practically the same, so without an explanation, it can seem like advocates are splitting hairs over wording. Since I originally learned about person-first language, I’ve noticed so many people in the media or in everyday conversations list someone’s disability before anything else, simply because they didn’t realize their words alone were alienating.

It isn’t just people’s wording that can cause issues. When my two younger brothers were in ele-

mentary school, inclusiveness was never a problem. Despite being 13 months apart in age, the two have been in the same grade since kindergarten — Matthew, the older of the two, repeated his first year of school. Matthew has Down Syndrome and was in the special education class, but that never stopped my brother and his friends from playing with him at recess or eating lunch at the same table as he did.

Yet, as time has passed, I’ve watched the same students who used to play games and share a table with Matthew grow apart from him, not because they don’t like him, but simply because they’ve gotten older. The same kids who used to have full conversations with him now talk to him just a little bit differently. It’s not that they don’t treat him like a person anymore; they just treat him like a person with a disability.

I’ve seen so many people who, without noticing it, look at those with special needs differently from everyone else. They shoot awkward glances at their friends when the special education class walks past on their way to the lunchroom, or they chuckle a little too obviously to themselves when one of the students has a meltdown. Worse yet, these people address those with special needs by crouching to their eye level and talking down to them, as if these students were toddlers and not their peers.

Society doesn’t always help feminist movements that have ocwith this degrading point of view. curred nationwide in the past deWhen people separate the students cade are just a few examples — it’s with special needs from the rest no surprise that so many have been of the student body in schools, it making the effort to be more inkeeps them tucked away from op- clusive. It is possible, however, to portunities to socialize with others try too hard. If we already look at in their grades. It’s too easy for those with disabilities or any other people to think of these students under-appreciated groups around as different when their classrooms us as being different, how can we are confined to the basement of the ever expect to truly treat them as school or when they’re required to being the same as the rest of us?

To genuinely be a community sit in a different section of the cafdriven to include others, we have to eteria than other students.

Of course, I understand that be able to see each other as people. some students are lower function- Some of us may be different than ing than their general education others, yes — but then again, we’re peers and won’t understand every- all different and unique in our own ways. Wheththing from er someone a regular has a differpoint of ent skin color view. I also Only when we than those know that so can learn to see around them many other everyone as a or a differfactors affect person first will ent number the location of chromoof special ed we finally be able somes, he or classrooms to call each other should aside from equal and mean it. she still be treated social interthe same as action. But these are just some of the things everyone around them. If we can that contribute to people’s blatant learn to embrace our differences lack of inclusiveness toward those while also looking past them to the person underneath, then we will with special needs.

With society in recent years truly be inclusive.

Only when we can learn to see becoming more concerned with treating people equally — the U.S. everyone as a person first will we Supreme Court legalizing gay mar- finally be able to call each other riage in June 2015 or the various equals and mean it.

Studious student remembered skyler froese

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photo illustration by Jaehyung Rhee

true friend and companion of all Bruins has joined the great study group in the sky.

RBHS AP Student lived a short and stressful life. She was described by her friends as “tired,” “cranky” and “like really, really stressed out.

Like dude, she skipped Scary Movie 37 to study. What the heck?”

Medics arrived at the scene to find her crushed under three textbooks, an iPad and her own expectations for her academic performance. The autopsy later showed dangerous amounts of coffee and Zaxby’s chicken fingers in her system from earlier attempts to spend a week straight at school studying.

“There were pencils and papers everywhere,” medics on scene said, “she was still white-knuckling her iPad and I don’t think she had cleaned out her backpack since freshman year.”

She is survived in death by two of her friends who as of last year permanently “literally can’t even.” She is also succeeded by her immediate family who have not seen her since August.

“We miss her dearly,” her family said. “We don’t know if any can ever fill the hole in our heart left by no longer getting to brag about our daughter’s 4.0 and ACT scores.”

Her parents said the death could have been foreseen. In her freshman year, she was diagnosed with manic perfectionism; symptoms include loss of AUTs and clouded perception of B pluses. She displayed other worrying symptoms, such as extreme exhaustion, sweatpantus wearius (the unusually frequent appearance of sweat pants and other pajamas in daily wardrobe) and monthly spending on Rockstar energy drinks that began to eclipse the cost of her car insurance.

“The official cause of death was cranial combustion, so like, her brain actually exploded,” said a Boone County coroner. “Like, do y’all remember the slime stuff that Nickelodeon poured on kids? That was what her brain looked like.”

She was an exemplary student involved in more extracurriculars than this publication could physically publish in a single issue. Upon further investigation on which of these extracurriculars she ac-

tually enjoyed and which were just for her resume, no one was available for comment.

She will be dearly missed by her friends and peers. Her friends recall their last moments of drinking coffee or softly sobbing into Tindall together, and they wish they could have really relished their time with her before her untimely cranial combustion.

“Wait, what do you mean her head exploded?” A peer in one of her honors classes said. “Are you kidding me?

I was gonna copy her homework third hour. Now what am I gonna do?”

A funeral will be held in the library a week from Thursday.

Her grave will be dedicated in her favorite parking spot in the north lot with a headstone inscribed as follows; as she slept in class, she sleeps forever.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that money be donated to her sibling’s college and AP class fund. Her parents plan on simply making her sibling into a smaller academic replica of her, and hope that funds for even more extracurriculars and classes can help the family as it heals.

“Dang.” Her sibling said.

“Just… well... um… dang.”

he boy who lived. To the average, unsuspecting muggle, the boy who lived wouldn’t mean much, but to a devoted reader who has spent hours and hours reading about Harry’s tragic life, it means the world.

I didn’t grow up reading the books or waiting excitedly in line to see the movies. Even though the excitement behind Harry Potter wasn’t a part of my childhood, I still get to experience a J.K. Rowling book release. Her next publication will come out on Harry’s birthday, July 31. It is the script for the London play, The Cursed Child, centered around Potter’s youngest son, Albus Severus. It is a special opportunity to be able to have just finished reading the books, and continue to see their lives play out in the new release.

The first time I opened a Harry Potter book was in early April 2015. I decided to read it after continually hearing references in my creative writing class, so during reading time in class one day I went to the library and checked out Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. It’s 309 pages long, but I read it in a matter of hours. I couldn’t put it down until I had read the last word, yearning for more.

The next day, I marched into the library and searched the bindings of each book to find number two. The Chamber of Secrets was even more thrilling than the first. After meeting Voldemort for the second time at the wee age of 12, Harry’s bravery baffled me. He stood up to the person who killed both of his parents with courage, not knowing whether he would live or die. His actions made me wonder if I would have the same courage to put my life on the line to protect loved ones, or if I would be a coward and hide.

Order of the Phoenix had the biggest impact on my life. Harry had to grow up now more than he ever had to before. As a high school student, life is increasingly difficult. There are hard-to-overcome obstacles, perhaps not as dire as the ones Harry and his friends endure, but nonetheless difficult.

Not long after I began reading Harry Potter, my stepdad died in a car accident.

I had been reading Harry Potter when I heard the sirens that were on their way to him, but I didn’t know it then. For a long time, Harry Potter was a reminder of who I had lost. It took me months to be able to pick up one of the books and read it again. When I was finally able to, Harry Potter soon became much more meaningful to me.

And now that I have, Harry Potter has been a get-away for me. Whenever I am feeling sad, I open the world of Hogwarts and the tears become a faint memory, replaced by magical tales of bravery. The series means so much more to me than just an excellent example of literature about the boy who lived. It’s a story about two brothers who made a dream come true. And an excellent example of girls with both brains and brawn. The books taught me that not all family has to be blood related and not to be so quick to judge someone; sometimes, people get put in impossible situations and end up making bad decisions, but they can be redeemed. Most importantly, Harry Potter taught me I have no better strength than myself.

Rowling taught me through Harry Potter that books are so much more than just pages. They are feelings that can’t be expressed vocally, images trapped in the mind typed onto paper. They are a way to forget about the world and feel whole, even if only for a moment. Books provide knowledge, solace and inspiration. Harry Potter gave me hope when I had none, and the series means so much more to me than just an incredible story about the boy who lived. It’s a series about a boy who survived, and I know I will, too.

feature photo of author by Cassi Viox

C6 editorials

therock • www.bearingnews.org • 4.28.16

Bill would cage transgender people, obstruct acceptance SB 720 would require transgender students to use the bathroom that accords with the gender on their birth certificate.

I

t’s not preposterous to say the state of Missouri is not the most enthusiastic about concepts like “equality” or “political correctness.”

Support for this bill comes from fear. People fear their safety and liberty will disappear if transgender people use the same bathroom as them.

Their fears are meaningless, and unfounded. If anything, the people with a reason to be afraid are members of the transgender community.

Every day transgender individuals face brutal scrutiny from themselves and society, which compounds the ill-effects of gender dysphoria, a mental and medical condition that defines the transgender identity. Part of the disorder is an intense shame and loathing for their bodies, according to WebMD. These feelings intensify when the outside world seems to support their feelings of being out of place.

These feelings are so strong that some sufferers of gender dysphoria are convinced that their life is no longer worth living. According to a 2014 UCLA study, nearly half of all transgender and gender-nonconforming adults have attempted suicide.

In addition, transgender people are already the targets of homicide and other hate crimes.

According to the same study, 57 percent of transgender peoples’ families don’t talk to them and 69 percent have experienced homelessness. These somber statistics are caused by transphobia and they will never stop unless the walls between transgender and cisgender people are taken down.

Bathrooms in particular are

Should SB 720 become law?

The Rock staff voted:

Yes: 4

No: 16

a hotspot for the abuse of transgender individuals. A study by the Williams Institute showed that 68 percent of transgender individuals in the DC area had been verbally assaulted in the restroom, and nine percent had been physically assaulted. The fact that more than two thirds of the polled group had been assaulted is mind boggling. Everyone needs to use the bathroom, without fearing their safety. An oft-cited reason for the bill is concern over violence or attacks that could arise if a transgender person used their preferred bathroom. That argument, however, is completely unfounded.

According to the LGBT rights magazine, Advocate, there has never been a filed instance of a transgender person assaulting a cisgender person in a bathroom. Another reasoning behind the bill is that having a ‘boy’ in the girls room or vice versa would be uncomfortable. What this reasoning fails to consider, though, is that most transgender people present in the same way they identify. Unless someone was inspecting strangers’ genitals, there would be no way of knowing that someone is transgender.

There have already been several movements that attempt to illustrate the ridiculous nature of bills like SB 720. The hashtag #WeJustNeedToPee accompanied photos of people who presented as male in the women’s bathroom, and vice versa. The image of a burly man in a women’s room underlines that having people use the bathroom that accords with their birth sex can be more uncomfortable than using the restroom of their choice.

art by Megan Goyette

The driving force behind this bill is people’s fear, obsession and hatred for those who are different. These forces are so hideously powerful that the bigoted philosophy of small government is abandoned for the ability to police a person’s genitals. There is the longtime held belief that transgender people are liars and tricksters because they present in a way contrary to the gender they are assigned at birth, according to the magazine Everyday Feminism.

This fear of deception erupts

into violence and a strange obsession with transgender people.

No one would ask a cisgender person about what is between their legs because that question is simply impolite and inappropriate. Because transgender people are seen as different, suddenly the parts designated private are everybody’s business.

The people who face this anger and intolerance are not just faceless statistics. They are part of the RBHS family. These are friends and students and classmates. They have loaned you a

pencil, held your hand and even loved you. There is no moral way to let fellow Bruins suffer.

Fictional fears support a law about something as trivial as someone’s genitals. These fears can be put to rest with something as simple as a phone call or an email to a district representative.

SB 720 cannot pass because it is made out of hate and intolerance, an attitude that cannot be allowed to continue if transgender individuals are ever going to receive their full rights.

The Rock Rock Bridge High School 4303 S. Providence Rd., Columbia, Mo. 65203 Vol. 43, Issue 6 April 28, 2016 Population: 1884 Students, 170 Faculty Circulation: 1,500 Contact Information: Phone: 573-214-3141 Contact us at bearingnews.org Advertising: $50 - -1/4 Page $100 - - 1/2 Page $150 - - Full Page $200 - - Backpage The Journalism Newspaper and Honors Seminar classes produce The Rock, Bearing News and Southpaw.

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Religious freedom should not trump basic human dignity jenna liu

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icture strolling into a bakery, brimming with excitement about the plans for your wedding. You and your partner decided all the details you want for the wedding cake, down to the number of dots across the top of each tier. When walking up to the counter, you both launch into your meticulous planning, but the person stops you, stating that the business holds the right to not offer service based upon your marriage because it violates his or her religious beliefs.

This has become a reality for same-sex couples in certain states. In recent weeks, Georgia has come under a hail storm of condemnation for its “religious liberty” bill, which would allow businesses to deny services to people based on personal religious beliefs.

After Disney and Marvel announced that they would take their productions elsewhere, the CEO of Salesforce stated his intention to end the company’s Georgia programs. Millions of Americans weighed in on social media to express their outrage, and Governor Nathan Deal vetoed the bill.

Now Missouri is on track to make the same egregious mistake with its own version of the Georgia legislation.

SJR 39, sponsored by Sen. Bob Onder (RWentzville), presents the same kind of discriminatory policies that evoked so much backlash in Georgia.

How can such bigotry still make its way into our supposedly evolved society?

During the Civil Rights Movement, the issue of private businesses turning away AfricanAmericans was a cornerstone of the institu-

tional bias the movement fought against. Now, 50 years later, we are seeing the same kind of close-minded thinking deployed to harm our fellow Americans.

Sen. Harry Byrd used passages from Leviticus and Genesis when speaking out in favor of whites-only establishments in 1967. As it was during the Civil Rights Movement, businesses in support of the resolution are trying to use religious text to provide a basis for their discriminatory behavior.

It is true that businesses are allowed to deny services to certain individuals who do not abide by their requests; no shirt, no shoes, no service is a common example. Using the aforementioned policy to justify SJR 39, however, ignores the purpose of federal “protected classes.”

Like it or not, the United States has a history of using attributes such as race and sexual orientation to discriminate against certain groups. While turning away an individual on the basis of behavior or state of dress is up to the business’ discretion, the same business has no ground when they are refusing service based on an innate characteristic like sexual orientation or gender identity.

Opposition to this resolution is not an attack on the Christian faith. If the legislation were to pass, many different classes of people could see a swift change in how they are treated at different businesses.

SJR 39 would protect the right of a Hasidic Jew working at a restaurant to eject a woman eating by herself, or the right for a Muslim man to refuse service to Christians and Jews.

It’s time to realize that the kind of legislation currently making its way through the Missouri House is damaging and dangerous to every citi-

zen in this state.

In addition, if moral arguments don’t work, economic ones might. When Indiana enacted a similar religious freedom bill last April, the business backlash was immediate. Other states instituted travel bans, planned concerts and conventions were cancelled and companies like Salesforce, Apple and Angie’s List threatened to pull their business.

All together, Forbes magazine estimated that Indiana’s bill cost the city of Indianapolis alone approximately $60 million. Missouri simply cannot afford that loss.

Thankfully, some lawmakers are trying to help our state avoid that future. On March 7, a group of Missouri Democrats embarked on what would be a 39-hour filibuster in opposi-

art by Shelby Yount

tion to the resolution. The group spoke nonstop hour after hour because they knew that this resolution would only splinter an increasingly divided state. They knew we are better than this, that as Missourians, we should care about our gay brothers and sisters just as much as our straight ones.

Now it is time to turn that care into political action. Options include writing to your state representatives, particularly those who have declared support for the resolution, and state your strong opposition to their stance. Start petitions and make phone calls to educate your peers about the dangers of this legislation.

If the resolution does make it onto the ballot in November, cast a vote for equality and for unity. Vote no on SJR 39.

editorials

4.28.16 • www.bearingnews.org • therock

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Voting rigged against minorities abby kempf

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any seniors had their first experience voting Mar. 15. Freshfaced 18-year-olds wandered into their precinct’s polling place and nervously handed a voting official their driver’s license. The official smiled and ushered them to either the electronic or paper voting area.

It doesn’t seem like a big deal to hand someone your ID. Everyone goes to the License Bureau when he turns 16 and smiles awkwardly in his first ever driver’s license picture, right?

Well, not everyone.

A teenager living in poverty has many obstacles in the way of obtaining an ID. His parents work late. The teenager himself works, takes care of his siblings and struggles to complete homework.

Besides, even if the teen managed to get a ride to the License Bureau, most poor families don’t have the spare cash to splurge for an unnecessary photo.

Identification isn’t universal. Not everyone has the opportunity to get an ID. But, everyone should have the right to vote. Yet, that is not always the case.

In Missouri, if a voter does not have an identification photo he or she can only cast a ballot if at least two election officials attest that they know him/her. What an antiquated law. Unfortunately, Missouri is no longer only populated by farmers who know everyone else in their two-horse town.

The Brennan Center for Justice published a headlining study in 2012 that measured the effect of harsher voter registration laws and ID laws passed earlier that year.

The study claimed that more than 5 million Americans would be affected by the changes.

This number is larger than the victory margin in recent presidential elections.

A later study showed that states which required photo IDs to vote had a voter turnout of two points lower than other

photo by Cassi Viox

art by Ana Ramirez

Republicans do not even attempt to cover states. Examining who the nonvoters are begins up their loathe for democratic votes. They have to paint a picture of inequality.

According to the Center for American Prog- vehemently fought any reform on voter regress, 34 percent of nonvoters are younger than istration laws that would allow more citizens 30 years old; 70 percent are younger than 50. to carry out their civic duty. Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), current Meanwhile, 43 percent of Republican presinonvoters are Hispanic, dential hopeful, African American or ansaid “That’s just other racial minority and Not everyone has more votes in the 46 percent of nonvoters the opportunity Democratic Party,” have family incomes of explaining why he less than $30,000 a year. to get an ID. But, is against statehood 54 percent of nonvoters everyone should for Washington have not attended college. have the right to D.C..

It is completely clear In fact, the 2012 that voter ID laws alienvote.

Republican Party ate the poor, the minorities platform states, and the young. Many elections could have turned out very differently if “Honest elections are the foundation of representative government. We applaud legislation everyone truly had the right to vote.

Disparity and equity are some of today’s to require photo identification for voting and to biggest buzzwords, yet America has, for the prevent election fraud, particularly with regard most part, glossed over this stain on the face to registration and absentee ballots.”

While conservatives fret over voter fraud, of equality.

Oh say, can you see Closing off classrooms creates feel of jail joy park

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iology 101: all living things need energy in order to survive. For humans, our main source of energy is the bright, golden, all-encompassing sun — the sun that allows biodiversity to cover every square inch of the face of the earth that sustains the human life. To say the least, we would not exist without the sun.

RBHS, however, doesn’t think its students need the sun. Here, they prioritize environmental efficiency over students’ well-being.

Instead of being able to look at a glimpse of nature, RBHS students must spend approximately 5,000 hours a year in dim fluorescent-lit rooms that occasionally surrender to a tiny window in the corner.

Confining young, maturing minds indoors for eight consecutive hours is absurd. Students feel imprisoned and restrained in classrooms where learning should be cultivated, not challenged. Sitting in on a lecture over parametrics in the basement of a 43-yearold building with cemented walls that blocks off cellular service does indeed transmit a prison-ish vibe.

Administrators have to keep

in mind that not all students participate in fall, winter or spring sports where practices and games are held outdoors. Some students simply do not have the time or opportunity outside of the classroom to enjoy the weather. After all, there’s no better feeling than gulping in a lung full of fresh oxygen and nitrogen, which always seems to do the job in clearing the mind.

While RBHS’ brick exterior and floor planning might make installing more windows now a near-impossible feat, there are still ways to incorporate the outdoors into the curriculum. Biology teachers could find ways to use nature to illustrate biological concepts, while math teachers could potentially use flowers to demonstrate the Fibonacci sequence.

Even if teachers aren’t able to tie in classwork with the outdoors, devoting some class time to being outside is beneficial for everybody. Spending just five minutes outside can have tremendous benefits for the human body and for student learning. According to the National Wildlife Federation, schools with environmental education programs scored higher on standardized tests and children’s stress levels fell within minutes

of seeing green space.

Introducing an outdoor program may seem like a hassle for administrators and teachers, but RBHS has already introduced slight changes to students’ classroom experience. This year, teachers were requested to include more physical activity into the classroom, which translated to brief calisthenic activities with their students.

While this is an admirable effort at improving students’ health and well-being, a weekly requirement for some outdoor activity would be a much better use of class time.

Instead of doing some jumping jacks and then sitting back down, students and teachers should be able to enjoy some sunshine, stretch their legs and continue learning.

Let us be an innovative school and incorporate the environment into how students learn, in order to improve the welfare of our future leaders and educators.

A minute issue like the lack of windows and outdoor activity can seem insignificant, but when the problem has ramifications on one’s physical and mental health, we all have a responsibility to stand up for ourselves.

photo by Jae Rhee, photo illustration by Devesh Kumar

which U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman declared virtually nonexistent, would-be-voters are having their constitutional privilege to vote stripped away.

When registering to vote, people have to give their name, address, social security number and other identifying information.

If someone could register — which in Missouri you can do by mail just as everyone must do to pay their utility bills — and then use the registration card instead of an ID, everyone would be able to vote and those who are paranoid about voter fraud could have their worries soothed.

Now is the time to fight for equality. With a momentous election just around the corner, now is the time to call your representative and demand that the right to vote is secure for every member of this nation.

Don’t just claim you are moving to Canada if Trump wins. Ensure the marginalized, alienated groups the right to vote and be a part of one of the most integral and important processes of a free nation.

MU budget cuts threaten families ji-ho lee

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ith a single stroke of a pen, legislators used a tattered past as justification to cut $8 million from the University of Missouri - Columbia (UMC). With a single stroke of a pen, legislators tore down families they had never even met.

With one stroke, state congressmen rejected students and teachers they did not know because of a series of unfortunate events that required action.

A majority of the budget cuts, $7.6 million, affect the University’s central administration, while the remaining sum, $402,059, accumulate to the salaries of three former faculty members.

While the state legislators think they are doing something good for the state and the community by punishing a school with a negative history, they are doing the exact opposite.

Racially charged campus protests by groups like #ConcernedStudent1950 and the actions of individuals like Melissa Click, who made controversial remarks about blocking reporters are the reason behind the economic consequence.

The budget cut, however, affects many people at UMC who had nothing to do with the protests.

Beyond reprimanding innocent people, the budget cut harms those who felt the protests were negative and unhelpful. There is no soul on campus left untouched by the legislature’s actions.

A highly confusing aspect of this budget cut is its purpose.

What inspired the legislators to pass this legislation?

If state congressmen are attempting to improve the school, taking $8 million from a university that is already being hammered by decreased enrollment will do nothing but injure the institution.

If legislators are trying to punish the school, the consequence should be more directed toward those who created the situation in the first place.

On the other hand, if legisla-

tors are trying to take jobs from hard-working professors, overcrowd classrooms, decrease the diversity of classes and educational opportunities and make an already difficult job even harder for interim president Mike Middleton and future leaders of the university, the state legislators did a terrific job.

House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Flanigan said the committee decided to move forward with the budget cuts in response to the actions of Click, the “red tape and delays” exhibited by school officials, faculty teaching waivers, conflict of interest policies and the allowance of improper behavior by employees.

While Flanigan’s explanation seems understandable, the congressman’s inability to recognize the massive ripple effect of the budget cuts makes the cuts unjustifiable. UMC administration has indeed struggled severely in recent months.

But the budget cuts punish more than just the administration, and some of the administrators who caused much of this ruckus are no longer employed by the university in the first place.

Nearly all of the people who created the turmoil and conflict on Mizzou’s campus last November remain unaffected by the legislation.

Instead, it is the professors and educators, the backbone of the university, the men and women who ensure that students receive the best education they can possibly get, the people who had nothing to do with the events at UMC five months ago, that get punished.

While it is difficult to do anything to reverse what has already been signed into action, a large reason for the introduction of the budget cuts in the first place was a series of events that was used to generalize an entire university.

In the future, as controversial events take place, do not turn specific events into large generalizations. Instead, investigate the true causes of the events, rather than build an opinion based on heresay reputations.

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therock • www.bearingnews.org • 4.28.16