The Rock September 2014

THE

ROCK

Boys’ soccer drops tough loss to Hickman in PKs READ STORY ON C2

Rock Bridge High School • 4303 S. Providence Rd. • Columbia Mo, 65203 • Vol. 42, Issue 1 • September 25, 2014

Random drug testing on the rise

RESTORING

Prevalence of high school screening widens in United States L uke C hval

students, a subject that has not yet been questioned by legislation or ust 30 miles away Jefferson by the courts.

City Public Schools joined a “We added fine arts to the drug long list of schools across the testing program that was first denation implementing random signed for athletics,” JCHS Actividrug testing in high schools. While ties Director Mark Caballero said. the Columbia Public Schools ad- “Now all our MSHSAA related ministrators say they have no inten- sports and activities are under the tions of creating such a policy, the same drug testing umbrella.” trend in the last 20 years has shown While JCHS has adopted the a large growth of random drug test- policies validated by the Supreme ing in U.S. public Court in their reschools. cent decision to [Random drug tests] In the case of include all activiwould limit the use of Vernonia School ty members, CPS drugs by the student District v. Acton has no such probody, which is, for in 1995, the U.S. gram, however, Supreme Court obvious reasons, a good CPS employees ruled that the are subject to ranthing.

Fourth Amenddom screening. ment does not “Columbia Grant Sykuta protect student Public Schools junior athletes from and MSHAA rerandom drug quire students tests by the school. to have a physical and health exYears later, in 2002, the Supreme amination in order to participate in Court case of Board of Education athletics,” CPS Community Relavs. Earls widened the realm of legal tions Director Michelle Baumstark searches to all students in competi- said. “The school district has politive extracurricular activities, in- cies prohibiting the use of illegal cluding non athletics such as debate substances by all students, not just and marching band. those participating in extracurricuIn conjunction with the Supreme lar activities. Additionally, the legal Court decisions, the Department of system can request drug testing if Education created a grant program there is an arrest made or if a stuin 2003 to provide federal funding dent is found in possession.” for school drug testing, however the Nevertheless, all participants program has since been concluded. in MSHSAA activities must sign A study by the National Institutes a statement affirming they will not of Health reported that 93 percent use illegal drugs, and CPS has a of districts randomly test its ath- zero tolerance policy regarding stuletes, about 65 percent randomly dents’ possession and use of drugs test students in extracurriculars, during school hours and on school and 28 percent randomly tested all property. Some students believe

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testing could be beneficial to reducing drug use within the school.

“I think random drug tests would be good for the school,” junior Grant Sykuta said. “It would limit the use of drugs by the student body which is, for obvious reasons, a good thing.”

For the last four years, sophomore Anna Marshall attended a Missouri school that randomly tests all students, Community R-VI in Laddonia, Mo. Last year, she was one of the students tested, and said while the experience wasn’t frightening, the school was harsh about punishments.

“I think it is a good idea,” Marshall said. “But if you refused to take it for privacy reasons, they would take your privileges such as your parking pass and kick you off extracurricular activities even if you didn’t use drugs so that was a little extreme.”

With the rising number of schools conducting random drug tests, going from nearly nonexistent in the ‘70s to a majority of schools testing athletes currently, newfound testing policies including the one at JCHS that hits close to home for RBHS, high school drug testing may become a national reality in the future, including CPS. Sykuta, who is a member of the cross country team, believes that the benefits of drug testing outweigh privacy concerns for students.

“I am a very competitive person,” Sykuta said. “So I want to ensure that everyone is on the same playing field in every sport and that their performance is not boosted by an illegal assist.”

ORDER

photo by Madelyn Stewart

The voice of reason: Assistant principal Dr. Tim Baker conferences with a student while using restorative practice techniques. Administrators are using this disciplinary method this year to reduce the amount of time students are out of the classroom.

Read Story on A5

Students express distaste for new nutrition policy J ohn F lanegin

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photo by Madelyn Stewart

Healthy Habits: Freshman Liam Stanley grabs a snack. Last summer, First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign helped to replace school foods with healthy alternatives.

hen the nearly 1,800 RBHS students filed back into the mobbed halls and classrooms on Aug. 19, an obvious change was seen within the cafeteria and vending machines.

Gone were the double chocolate Rice Krispy Treats, Hostess cupcakes, Skittles and the other often bought candylike items. In their place lay whole grain snacks, raisins and Dole mandarin oranges.

Since February 2010 when First Lady Michelle Obama introduced the “Let’s Move” Campaign, schools across the country have tried to improve nutrition and fitness in students. Obama has been working to make the campaign a staple in the American school system and see it start a spark in creating a more healthy generation.

“In the end ... this isn’t just a policy issue for me. This is a passion. This is my mission,” Obama said at a Grocery Manufacturers Association Conference in March of 2010.

“I am determined to work with folks across this country to change the way a generation of kids thinks about... nutrition.”

The campaign isn’t just ridding cafeterias across the country of their particularly sugary and sweet items, it has also started an initiative to get students more active.

According to the campaign’s website letsmove.gov, there are five steps to the “Let’s Move” campaign; creating a healthy start for children, empowering parents and caregivers, providing healthy food in schools, improving access to healthy affordable foods, and lastly increasing physical activity.

Unfortunately, students haven’t quite accepted these changes the way Obama and the school staff expected.

“I find it [the food] is less appetizing,” junior Abe Drury said, “and the lack of good food drives me toward off campus lunches.”

Two of 20 students from all grades said they would prefer to eat school lunch as opposed

to fast food restaurants such as McDonalds and Taco Bell.

Even the food and nutrition branch of CPS has initiated an option for the “less appetizing” school food. Papa John’s serves pizza in the north commons and is often packed with students of all grades searching for a less healthy, but more delicious lunch.

The new policies also have clubs within RBHS agitated and confused, as they can no longer have bake sales to earn money for field trips or purchases beneficial to the club.

“We were around $7,000 in debt in April of 2014, and if we didn’t clear it we wouldn’t have been able to go to overnight tournaments, which were the majority of the tournaments we went to,” junior debater Shray Kumar said.

“The floats and baked goods we sold during the last week of school helped us get a few extra hundred bucks to help clear up the debt.”

Activities director David Bones said the reason the bake sales have been limited is due to the new fed-

eral health regulations. “The new federal regulations and guidelines say that any food sold in schools between midnight and thirty minutes after school must meet the federal guidelines.” Bones said, “So basically that’s the same guidelines for the food in the cafeteria itself.”

There are loop-holes that allow for clubs to hold bake sales, but limit the inventory that can be sold. The food must be pre-packaged and can’t go over federal maximums for sugar and fat which can be calculated at squaremeals.org.

The uproar has yet to deter administration from any changes in the varieties of food, but food trucks will continue to appear far and few between in the circle drive just as they did the year prior, which leaves many students wanting more.

“Unless the cafeteria expands their stock,” junior Andrew Zynda said. “I don’t think I’ll be looking forward to lunch and eating school food.”

FEATURES Dumping buckets, raising funds

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has made quite a splash since its beginnings in July, raising more than $100 million for the cause and spreading awareness of the disease. Despite her intuitions, sophomore Gabbi Schust dumped the frigid water on her head when...

Read Story on B1

Early in the morning senior Kristen Tarr begins the journey to her internship at Bradford Research Farms on Rangeline Road, far from her home on the south side. Dressed in holey jeans, boots and a t-shirt with the sleeves cut off and bearing battle scars from trimming hay...

Read Story on C4

ISSUE inside this

News • • • • • • • • • A1 Foreign Affairs • • • • • A3 H&W • • • • • • • • • A7 Features • • • • • • • B1 In-Depths • • • • • • B4

Finding a classroom outside RBHS

Editorials • • • • • • Commentary • • • • • Sports • • • • • • • • S&T • • • • • • • • • A&E • • • • • • • •

B6 B8 C1 C4 C7

BEARING NEWS For more constant, accurate coverage of Rock Bridge High School news, sports and other content, visit bearingnews.org

A2 NEWS

www.bearingnews.org • The Rock • September 25, 2014

New lunch times restrict students’ ability to eat out

B rett S tover

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n a change from last year’s hourlong lunch for upperclassmen and midday 30-minute lunch for underclassmen, the RBHS administration has implemented a new schedule for students’ lunch break.

In the new lunch plan, time is divided into a 10:30-11:01 a.m. A Lunch and a 12:12-12:43 p.m. B Lunch on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. On Wednesdays and Thursdays, the lunch schedule remains the same as last year’s Bruin Block/hour lunch schedule.

Not only has this change led to an increase in class time, the early morning lunch has also limited the off-campus food options for students.

At Angelo’s Pizza and Steak on South Providence Road, manager Pano Skyvalidas says students initially attempted to eat at his restaurant, which opens at 11 a.m.

“The first couple weeks people would call,” Skyvalidas said. “And then [when they heard the opening time] they would say, ‘no, never mind.’”

Other restaurants have seen a decrease in early morning student patrons as well, largely on account of the new lunch schedule.

For the nearby fast-food chain Zaxby’s located on South Providence Road, entering its second year in business, the problem may include students’ lack of knowledge of its hours.

“Compared to what we had last school year, we haven’t seen nearly the rush that we had in the past as far as Rock Bridge students,” Zaxby’s manager Mike Geard said. “Typically, that was one of our busiest times of the day, Monday through Friday.

We’ve heard [about] the rescheduling of the lunches. We didn’t know if that had impacted us. We open at 10:30, so we’re still a viable option.

We need to do a better job of letting

photo by Madelyn Stewart

Eating in: Students eat lunch in the Main Commons Wednesday Sept. 17. New lunch times have made eating out inconvenient for some at RBHS [students] know that.”

Geard believes another obstacle students may face when visiting his restaurant is its speed of service. Zaxby’s serves its food slightly slower than other fast food restaurants, but Geard said he wants students to know service has gotten faster the longer the restaurant has been open.

Skyvalidas, too, sees speed as important to high school diners. He said he has noticed students purchase

more food from Angelo’s during the hour-long lunch shifts.

“We don’t have as many kids come and sit down [Monday, Tuesday and Friday],” Skyvalidas said. “When we have the hour it seems like we have more kids come and sit down and eat a bigger meal like chicken strips and a cheeseburger, but on the other days it’s fries, something quick and easy.”

While the new schedule has not affected senior Spencer Bumby’s

choice of restaurants, it has affected his speed of eating. He says he has to eat faster on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays in order to accommodate the shortened lunch.

“I eat in at restaurants only on Wednesdays and Thursdays nowadays,” Bumby said.

On Bruin Block days, he has to get a meal to go or go through the drivethrough.

Collectively, the schedule change

and the different lunch times have not had a serious impact on RBHS students other than a minor inconvenience, but the repercussions for businesses may be decidedly more negative.

“It used to be every day, like last year. When they had the whole hour, it seemed like we had a lot more kids here,” Skyvalidas said. “Now it’s just Wednesday and Thursday that you see more of the kids around.”

FOREIGN AFFAIRS A3

www.bearingnews.org • The Rock • September 25, 2014

A Country in Pieces Taking sides: After the recent invasion of Iraq by ISIS, the country became split between them, the Iraqi government, and Kurdistan.

NFL player harms his children

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innesota Vikings’ star running back Adrian Peterson whipped his 4-year-old son, causing open wounds. On Friday, Sept. 12, Peterson was indicted for child abuse in Texas. Shortly after, more allegations surfaced that claimed he caused harm to another one of his children as well.

Peterson apologized for his actions and claimed he is not a child abuser.

Vikings owners Zygi and Mark Wilf have suspended Peterson indefinitely from all team activities following the news of his child abuse case.

Sept 12-23

art by Abdul-Rahman Abdul-Kafi

New threat emerges in Iraq Abdul-rahman Abdul-kafi

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he United States declared war on a terrorist group, which rules more than half of Syria and Iraq, on Sept.

18 2014. However, in order to understand this current crisis centered in Iraq, one must first look at previous American invasions of Iraq and their impact on the society, economy and infrastructure of the Middle Eastern country.

Nearly a quarter century before, on Aug. 2, 1990, Saddam Hussein, a dictator in Iraq for many decades, invaded Kuwait, a country on the Persian Gulf directly south of Iraq. Immediately, the United Nations and the United States passed economic sanctions on Iraq, preventing any food or money from entering the country for over a decade.

Before these sanctions were lifted in 2003, half a million children and half a million adults starved to death because of the lack of food and water.

After the sanctions were removed, the United States, along with many European nations, invaded Iraq in an effort to topple Hussein. Within a few months, he was removed from power, imprisoned and hanged.

However, after his disposal and many years of war, Iraq remained in utter ruin.

The complete destruction of Iraq re-opened a dark chapter in its history, a chapter that has taken the lives of more than 100,000 men, women and children.

“I wish more people knew what America did in Iraq and how they left,” senior Muhammad Karim, a refugee from Iraq who has lived in America for five years, said. “The American military left while the Iraqi people were still getting hurt, getting bombed, getting killed.”

Sectarian violence which had not been seen for decades before Hussein’s dismissal in 2003 returned to the country that was once the most powerful nation in the Middle East.

“The roots of the crisis in Iraq today do not go back to the American invasion [in 2003],” Dr. Marvin Rogers, retired political science professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia and a specialist on third world societies and politics said. “They go back to Mesopotamia, and they go back 7,000 years. You have a multiethnic population which does not share anything except a commitment to doing and controlling what is best for their group without caring too much about anything else.”

Iraq contains three major different ethnic groups; the Shia, who compromise 6065 percent of the total population, the Sunni, with 15-20 percent of the population, and the Kurds, who are approximately 17 percent of the total population, according to a recent UN report.

The Sunni and Shia are “two major branches of Islam and the basic fundamental difference was a disagreement on who should have been the fourth successor to Muhammad around 700 A.D.,” Dr. Rogers said. The majority of the Muslim population in Iraq is Shia, which is similar to the population ratios in Iran and Bahrain.

“The Kurds are Sunni, but their lan-

guage is separate from Arabic and they are the feeling that there is no future for them not limited to Iraq,” Dr. Rogers said. “There because there is one group of people who control everything, from position in power are Kurds in Turkey, Syria and Iran.”

Kurdistan, a province in northeastern to influence to money, and the government Iraq, is home to more than four million is absolutely and utterly corrupt,” Dr. RogKurds. There are even more Kurds in Iran ers said. “They are stealing the money and and Turkey, in addition to the Kurdish pop- the opportunities. People can tolerate money corruption, but they cannot tolerate the ulation in Iraq.

“The Kurds are like the Jews prior to Is- fact that they have no future.”

The idea of a nation-state was developed rael,” Dr. Rogers said. “They are a group of people with a shared sense of identity, but in Europe, where, according to Dr. Rogers, the only difference is that the Kurds do not it worked. Each different nation-state was united by a relatively common language, have a piece of land that is theirs.”

Although Kurds are classified as one of like French in France, English in England, the largest ethnic groups without a place to and Spanish in Spain, and each had a simicall home, Kurdistan serves as a makeshift lar culture and heritage. However, when the country for them. In Iraq, Kurdistan has its European imperialists split up Africa and own military and government, along with a the Middle East into multiethnic nationstates, they did not take any of these factors lot of oil under the soil.

“The Iranians and the Turks are very into consideration.

“After World War I, all of the boundaries unhappy with the notion that Kurdistan in northern Iraq could establish complete au- of the Middle East were drawn by the Brittonomy,” Dr. Rogers said. “If that happens, ish and the French and they reflect the asthen the Kurdish minority in their countries pirations of their imperialist governments,” would want to establish complete autono- Dr. Rogers said. “The boundaries of Iraq were established by outsiders for the benefit my as well.”

Many weeks ago, the terrorist group of the British and the French. They brought called ISIS, or the Islamic State of Iraq and together three major and many minor reliSyria, saw an opportunity to invade north- gious and ethnic groups and placed them in ern Iraq and claim land from the corrupt one area which they called Iraq.”

If Iraq had been divided in a similar and divided government of the country.

With just a few thousand troops, they man- way to Europe, it would look much difaged to kick the Iraqi government’s entire ferent than it does today. The Kurds speak Kurdish, and their heritage army from Mosul, is much different than the the second largest You have a multiethnic Sunnis in the west and the city in Iraq. population which does Shia in the south. Many of “The Iraqi army the Shia speak either Arabic, fled when a small no share anything Farsi or both, and almost all group ,[ISIS], apexcept a commitment proached them, and to doing and controlling Sunnis speak only Arabic.

The Shia and the Sunni, they left their weapwhat is best for their although both are branches ons, given by the group. of the same religion, share United States,” Dr. Dr. Marvin Rogers, little in common and have Rogers said. “These professor emeritus proved unable to coexist. rebels have tanks ISIS currently controls now, and their area most of the north of Iraq. After they reexpands from Syria through to Iraq.”

Though the Iraqi military was equipped leased a video of an ISIS insurgent beheadwith American weapons, tanks, aircrafts ing James Foley, an American journalist and missiles, they left all their weaponry who disappeared in Syria a few years ago, in Mosul, thus allowing ISIS to take the in- President Obama decided to begin bombing credibly powerful and technologically ad- the group.

“From the perspective of northern Iraq, vanced military arms for themselves to use it is a good war because America is trying against the Iraqi government in the south.

“ISIS is a break off from Al-Qaeda with to get ISIS out,” Karim said. “But from an egotistical, self-centered leader who has America[’s perspective], it is bad because been extraordinarily successful,” Dr. Rog- they are spending so much money.”

According to current Pentagon estiers said. “ISIS has amazed the world by the sheer competence by their military and mates, America has already spent over half a billion dollars in just bombing the their use of the media.”

Under Saddam Hussein’s rule, from area under ISIS control. A few weeks ago, the late ‘70s to the early 21st century, the Obama announced that he would send 350 dominant group in Iraq was the Sunnis. special forces to Northern Iraq to combat However, when the new government was the impending threat to the Iraqi governput in place, the entire political atmosphere ment, America’s ally since 2006.

Karim, along with Dr. Rogers, hopes changed.

“The dominant ethnic group which had that this new operation will not result in anbeen suppressed for decades by the Sunni other Iraq war similar to the Iraq war that began to completely run the show [after lasted from 2003 to 2011. Unless America the American invasion],” Dr. Rogers said. believes ISIS is a big enough threat for a “Power, job and opportunities were all full fledged war, there would be no reason given to the people who were denied them for one. However, comments from Obama and congress so far have hinted at that posunder Saddam Hussein.”

“The educated population of Iraq have sibility.

NFL logo painted on the field before an NFL football game between the Detroit Lions and the Green Bay Packers at Ford Field in Detroit, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2014. (AP Photo/Rick Osentoski)

iOS 8 release sees new features

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pple released its new operating system, iOS 8, on Sept. 17. The operating system is compatible with the iPhone 4s, iPhone 5, iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPod touch 5th generation, iPad 2, iPad with Retina display, iPad Air, iPad mini, and the iPad mini with Retina display.

Siri can now recognize a song that it listens to. In addition, Apple updated the spotlight search function, claiming to make it more efficient and effective.

A new Health app now comes preinstalled with iOS 8, allowing a user to track their day-to-day health activities.

Sept 17

America to aid Syrian rebels

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he House of Representatives voted 273-156 on Sept.

18 to approve President Barack Obama’s military strategy to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, which poses a threat to America’s allies in the Middle East.

This strategy includes the ability for American bombs and troops to enter Syria and attack ISIS there.

However, Obama also said that by doing so, America will not ally with Bashar Al Assad, the current leader of Syria who caused the deaths of over 100,000 Syrians in their recent civil war.

Rather, America will ally with and train the other rebel group in Syria, which also clashes with ISIS.

Sept 18

Two Syrian boys who fled with their families from the violence in their village, look on as one holds a gun toy at a displaced camp, in the Syrian village of Atmeh, near the Turkish border with Syria, Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012.(AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra) Stories by Abdul-Rahman Abdul-Kafi Sources: Washington Post,www.PCMAG. com, ESPN

Follow this code to Bearing News

A4 NEWS

www.bearingnews.org • The Rock • September 25, 2014

Security changes

lock down RBHS U A bby K empf

schedule for when the door will be locked and unlocked. During lunch and passing periods the door will be unlocked so the natural flow of traffic in and out of RBHS will not turn into a jam.

“If you are a visitor, what you can do is push the intercom button and this camera will let them see you down in the main office and then they hit a button and it unlocks the door,” Gaub said. “In the future [students and faculty] will have a [proximity] card and we can scan it to unlock the door.”

Gaub sees the benefits of the new system, however, he sees flaws in the effectiveness of the system’s ability to keep unwanted people out of the building. He also knows if everyone tries to scan their cards when coming back into the school during popular times, such as before and after lunch, the natural flow of traffic will be inhibited.

“There are plenty of downsides to it. The reality of it is that we have lots of exit doors and any time somebody walks out of those, if it doesn’t latch all the way, it’s not locked,” Gaub said. “Also, if you are going out one of the other doors, you can just hold it for somebody else.”

But Gaub said the system is still an improvement. Even if it does not directly make students safer, it ensures students have safety in their minds.

“I think it causes everybody to contemplate security. Say you are coming here in the middle of the hour and some adult that you’ve never seen before runs up and says ‘Hold the door for me.’ That should cause you to think, that person probably doesn’t belong here,” Gaub said. “All it can really do is increase people’s awareness that there should be an element of security.” art by Claire Simon

RBHS principal Dr. Jennifer Rukstad quickly defended the motto ‘Freedom with Responsibility’ and simply said no to a closed campus. Combined with the small cafeteria, closed campus would never work at RBHS, Stiepleman said.

“They suggested [to] close lunch and to close AUT off site, and from my perspective there was no way we were going to be able to [do that]. Really it was about honoring the systems that are already in place,” Stiepleman said. “When you say freedom with responsibility at Rock Bridge, it ought to mean something, and if we say freedom with responsibility but you can’t leave, it certainly jeopardizes that motto.”

America’s First Insurance declined to comment on their reasons for the necessity of the proximity card system.

After Stiepleman asked for a compromise of the proximity card system and his request was granted, the system was promptly installed during the summer. The cards have yet to be distributed.

RBHS assistant principal Brian Gaub said the new system will be relatively simple. A computer sets a

nder the request of CPS Insurance Provider America’s First Insurance, RBHS, HHS and the CACC are set to begin implementing a new security system with proximity cards and a buzz-in system.

CPS Superintendent Peter Stiepleman said America’s First Insurance demanded the system be in place to ensure the school’s security. All other CPS schools have the safety system already.

Stiepleman said the company hopes that RBHS can keep better track of students with the system.

Every time a student scans into the building with their card, the school will know the student is present.

The system also keeps any person without a card from entering the building.

On the second day as superintendent, Stiepleman received a letter telling him that the buzz-in system needed to be instituted at the remaining high schools and that campuses must be closed.

“They were saying if it’s the right thing to do at 19 elementary schools, and it’s the right thing to do at all six middle schools, and it’s right thing to do at two Breaking down the of the high schools. new proximity card Why is it that we aren’t moving forward with a buzz-in at Rock Bridge, Hickman and the Career Center,” Stiepleman said. “And I think they had a good question to ask.”

America’s First Insurance had originally asked for a completely closed campus to keep students in the locked building, reducing the risk of any accidents.

But Stiepleman immediately saw issues with this request.

TUDENT SVOICES

photo by Sury Rawat

I think [the buzzer system] is put in place with the right intent. I just don’t think it will work as well as they are trying to make it seem like it will. [The buzzer system] might make things a little easier to keep track of the students, but safer?

Not necessarily.

photo by Nicole Schroeder

Megan Watts Junior

I don’t really think it’s that bad. It’ll probably be a little inconvenient, like if you forget your [proximity] card, but it probably will improve safety.

photo by Nicole Schroeder

Mariah Dale Sophomore

photo by Nicole Schroeder

Administration to conduct random AUT checks H arsh S ingh

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he administration at RBHS has started doing random AUT checks to make sure students are at their rightful places during free time. Those with second and third hour AUTs will have to sign out before leaving the school and sign in after coming back to school.

Principal Dr. Jennifer Rukstad said even though this system existed last year, no one was able to monitor who was leaving for AUT. Students with first and fourth hour AUTs had to have signed a slip from their parents which can allow them to leave or come to school without signing in and out. She also said there will be random AUT checks to monitor students to ensure they are signing out of the school when they leave.

“We will be doing more frequent AUT checks than in the past. An AUT check will require all students on AUT in the building at that time to check-in,” Rukstad said. “Students with parental permission to leave and have signed out will be considered where they are supposed to be. Students who don’t check in will be subject to a consequence.”

She said the administrative team will be diligent in finding students and investigating “the reason they didn’t check-in or sign out.”

As the first of the AUT checks began, students, such as junior Josh Robbins, think this new system doesn’t fit with the school’s motto of “freedom with responsibility.”

“If I have A lunch, then Bruin Block, then AUT, I am not gonna come back to school just [to] sign out,” Robbins said.

“What happened to freedom [with] responsibility? I don’t get the purpose of AUT when they are putting so many restrictions on it.”

However, English teacher Deborah McDonough said the school isn’t trying to kill students’ freedom with this change; rather, she said administrators are just trying to keep them safe.

“Of all the schools that make up CPS, RBHS is truly unique when it comes to AUTs and trusting our students to be responsible when they either remain in or venture out of the building,” McDonough said. “Airports, office buildings, banks and even sports stadiums have a much higher degree of security today. I believe CPS’ intentions are to ensure safety.”

Rukstad said the insurance company played a pivotal part in the stricter en-

forcements for AUT. “The insurance situation has definitely served as a needed reminder to us that we must be more diligent in knowing when our students are in the building. The AUT checks are not meant to be a punitive action. They are meant to ensure student safety,” Rukstad said. “It is all of our responsibility to make sure we communicate appropriately where we are during the school day.”

McDonough said as students adapt to the change of being held accountable for signing out during AUT, they will feel more comfortable.

“RBHS students will rise to the inconveniences this system may entail and see it as not a threat to their AUTs, but instead see this situation as simply an added level of security we will learn to live with,” McDonough said.

Checking in: Juniors Meredi Grant during their AUT. Sever

NEWS A5

www.bearingnews.org • The Rock • September 25, 2014

Mending

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fences

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G race V ance

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new disciplinary measure known as “restorative practices” has been set in place for RBHS this year.

Starting in the juvenile justice system almost 20 years ago, it was first referred to as “restorative justice.” The idea of it is that students’ behavior does not always change with consequences alone. RBHS is among many other schools across Mo. that are beginning to use this practice.

Assistant principal Tim Baker said the idea behind restorative practices might seem like common sense, only it will not just repair a damaged relationship but also reduce the tension between the students. If either student isn’t holding a grudge about the incident, it is less likely to become worse over time.

“Restorative practices are really intended to restore whatever relationship has been damaged by whatever behavior occurred,” Baker said. “So really what we’re talking about is conferencing on a level of restoration, trying to repair the damage that was caused by whatever the offense was by not focusing on what the offender did, but on how it affected them and others.”

Before, Baker said, if a student got in trouble for insulting a peer, the offender would be punished, but there would never be any follow up on the situation.

The student and the peer’s relationship would always be damaged, he said, because the peer might still be hurt in some way by what the student did. With restorative practices, the goal would be to bring the two students together and repair the relationship before any interaction

e s s e s s l l

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e t e e

s u e d e s e t o g t e t -

in class so it wouldn’t become more of a problem later.

To restore the relationship in a non-threatening way, he said, a conference might include questions like, ‘how did it feel when this person offended you in this way’ and to avoid speaking directly about the incident itself.

This tactic has more impact on the wrongdoer than punishing them with a consequence.

“The best proof the old way was less effective is that discipline numbers never got any better,” Baker said. “It seems like every year we have just as many incidents as the year before.”

As of 2014, there have been 53 students with 20 or more office referrals, which Baker said is the same five to ten percent of the school population. He said this tells them that whatever consequences the school is giving to students is having little or no impact on them, because they continue to do things such as skip class or get into trouble in other ways.

The school is trying this approach, Baker said, because research suggests it will reduce the recidivism rates, or repeat offenders, much more powerfully than consequences.

Senior Mallory Bolerjack agrees that not every student responds well to consequences.

She said restorative practices is an effective way to target those students and create a safer environment in school.

“I think its a really good idea,” Bolerjack said. “[Its a way] of making sure kids know how to accept others and know what’s wrong and right.”

It will also encourage students to become more respectful and responsible toward others.

This allows the whole school to

causes disruptive students to rectify, learn from mistakes

work together and learn more effectively. She said it will aid students because it will help restore issues and teach them the appropriate way to react to situations.

“Essentially I feel like it’ll decrease the amount of [possible] bullying,” Bolerjack said. “Or decrease the amount of fights we have because these students will understand how they are supposed to react to certain situations.”

Although restorative practices are intended to benefit students by teaching them how to confront issues, many teachers have had problems with the processes during class to use these methods.

Science teacher April Sulze said the idea behind these disciplinary measures is great, but she has mixed feelings about the steps teachers have to take with these changes. To follow procedure for disruptive students in the classroom, teachers must conference with the student and communicate this with the parent, then determine an action plan with the student which might include a consequence assigned by the teacher. Sulze said if students don’t want to change their behavior, the follow through of this process can be very time consuming.

“I think that with certain students it can be very effective,” Sulze said. “However, there are always students who will either not cooperate or their behavior will not change no matter what you do.”

Sulze has always tried to handle behavioral issues among students by conferencing with the students and contacting their parents. Usually she will contact their parents through an email the student helps write. If the be-

havior doesn’t change, she will don’t learn from that, there’s no learning involved, right?” use the office referral system.

Not every situation requires Since the school has adopted this method of discipline, Sulze the use of restorative practices, said she has not seen any im- but when a person is wronging provements in student behavior. another, he said, it has been provThere is particularly one hour, en to be successful if done well. she said, where there are a lot of In the age group of high school, student behavior problems that Baker said, many students act need to be addressed immediate- before they think, which partly, and class time cannot be tak- ly results in a lot of profanity en to do appropriate restorative around the school. While this practices. When a students’ be- doesn’t seem to be that big of a havior is disruptive and defiant, deal at the time, he said, it is very she said the student needs to be harmful to be called a name like removed from that.

Baker the classroom said this situYou give somebody a quickly. This ation would consequence, and they be an example ensures that just don’t learn from the rest of the of when there class can conwould be a that. tinue learning. restorative Although practice conTim Baker Sulze has had ference with assistant principal difficulty with the students restorative involved and practices, she said she still sees potentially another adult, dethe benefits it provides for stu- pending on the situation. dents.

Administrators plan to hold “I think that the premise be- most restorative practice conferhind the practice is good,” Sulze ences in the newly located officsaid. “It can teach students how es spread throughout the buildto communicate effectively and ing, which allows the talks to be how inappropriate actions can more private than before when lead to real consequences that talks were conducted in the main can permanently affect them- office. Part of respecting people selves or others.” in general, Baker said, is their This practice will not only right for privacy. improve school disciplinary While restorative practices rates, Baker said, but also benefit is still very unfamiliar to the the students involved. He said school, he said, administrators one way it does that is through have gone through training and respecting the student’s time and continuously plan to learn from teaching them something along their results. Baker said these the way. Part of the school’s goal practices will remain a work in is for students to understand how progress for all the schools that their actions affect other people, have recently started using them. rather than just themselves.

“You know, [until] you try “This is a lot less disrespectful it and do it,” Baker said. “You way of dealing with a problem,” don’t really know how it’s going Baker said. “You give somebody to work. But so far we’ve liked a consequence, and they just our results.”

[The buzzer system] is a good idea, but I just don’t think, in our community, that it’s mandatory. Our community isn’t overall that dangerous.

The other choice is either having [the buzzer system] or not having an open campus at all, so I’d say it was a good compromise. I think it won’t really change the fundamentals of the school, to be honest, but it won’t really change how things work.

Shray Kumar Junior

New restorative practices

photo by Nicole Schroeder

Trevor Mandy Senior

I think it might be a little bit safer for people coming in so [that] crazy people don’t come in and shoot up the place.

photo by Madelyn Stewart

Morgan Merritt Freshman

AUT at RBHS

photo by Madelyn Stewart

ith Reehl and Jazz White check in with Assistant Principal Darlene ral AUT checks will be conducted randomly throughout this year.

1973: RBHS’ first school year, students have Daily Unassigned Time in 7-class schedule 1994: Block scheduling begins along with Alter -nating Unassigned Time 1999: Random AUT checks are implemented for first time 2001: Sophomores with a D or lower take man datory Intensive Tutoring Program, later becomes Advisory

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HEALTH & WELLNESS A7

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infographic by Claire Simon infographic sources by Emily Franke

New ‘brain games’ not the only way to improve mental capacity E mily Franke

B

efore she knew they were supposed to improve her brain strength, senior Emily Vu played games on Lumosity for entertainment.

With more than 60 million members, according to lumosity.com, Lumosity is just one popular braintraining game that helps members “keep their brains challenged.”

“I used to play brain games on [Lumosity] until I had to start paying. Honestly I prefer those kinds of games over video games,” Vu said.

“Playing [those] games is more for entertainment for me, not to help my brain.”

A similar game, Fit Brains by Rosetta Stone, claims to strengthen the brain by improving crucial skills such as memory, concentration and processing speed, according to fitbrains.com, by stimulating and challenging the brain. “‘Brain strength could mean different things to different people,” Eric Chudler, Ph.D., executive director of the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering at the University of Washington, said. “[‘Brain strength’] could mean a stronger memory. It could mean the ability to learn things faster, it could [mean] better problem solving abilities.”

Regardless of the specific meaning, Dr. Chudler said, it all comes down to strengthening neural circuits.

“Any time that you’re using the brain and challenging and taxing the brain, whether it’s through a brain game or through physical activity, you’re strengthening neural pathways that have already been estab-

lished or you’re challenging the brain to create new neural pathways,” science teacher Amy McKenzie said. “I see physical activity and those brain games falling into that category of either reinforcing connections we already have or [challenging them to make new ones].”

This concept of rewiring the brain is called neuroplasticity, Dr. Chudler said. When a new skill is learned, new or stronger connections form between nerve cells and repetition of certain skills helps form connections.

“You want to make sure, though, that you’re reinforcing neural pathways that you want to reinforce,” McKenzie said. “I think about the stress response, like true anxiety type of responses ... once that pathway, once those neural connections have been really well established, you tend to just go there, but if you can relearn some new habits and ways of responding to stress ... your brain can actually create some new pathways and new circuits.”

This is a relatively new idea of changing the way the brain functions, McKenzie said, and it can apply to physical activity. Additionally, educators use this concept of repetition.

In the Advanced Reading and the Study Skills classes at the Sylvan Learning of Columbia, center director Jill Dudley said practicing skills is at the core of success for students.

“We have a class called Advanced Reading Techniques, and that’s actually, if you really boil it down ... speed reading. It’s training your brain to read differently than you’ve read before,” Dudley said. “It’s training you to read at a faster pace and chunk words and chunk passages when

you’re reading them while still main- comprehension. Then, she said, they taining your comprehension, which can go back and find a happy medium is very counterintuitive to what rather than stay at their initial rate.

“A lot of it is stretching your brain you’re normally told... but for things that are more ... boring or dry you can to do things it’s never done before,” Dudley said. “It’s very divergent use that.”

In Advanced Reading, instructors from anything you’ve ever done before when follow a learnyou’re learning ing plan and I used to play brain games and when you’re teach students on [Lumosity] until I had reading, and so different ways to to start paying. Honestly you really have push themselves I prefer those kinds of to train your to read faster, games over video games. brain to think toDudley said. For tally totally difinstance, instrucEmily Vu, ferently.” tors tell students senior Additionally, to read through Sylvan Learna passage as fast as possible without worrying about ing Center’s Study Skills class helps comprehension; their speed, in words students improve their study habits, per minute, is then recorded along which Dudley said takes a similar efwith their percent comprehension fort to do. For people who do struggle of the text. Multiplying the speed to be someone who manages time, it by the percent comprehension gives is a big change to keep track of their students their Effective Reading Rate day and plan ahead.

“It’s a big, frightening thing for (ERR), which Dudley said is then them to have to completely change used to measure progress.

“Everyone enters with a differ- their way of thinking.” Dudley said. ent speed and a different ability lev- “Changing habits, they say, usuel, and you can see how much they ally takes at least 21 days. If you do grow. I think a lot of people increase something for 21 days, you’ve typitheir speed anywhere from 40 to 100 cally formed a new habit.”

The ability of the brain to form percent,” Dudley said. “I think it just depends on the student and how new habits and skills, as well as its hard they push themselves and also if ability to strengthen those pathways, they’re choosing to practice the tech- allows individuals to train their bodies and brains to perform certain niques at home.”

While practicing is a key factor skills and make it look easy, McKin improving a student’s ERR Dud- enzie said, and this ease shows the ley said, it’s also a matter of pushing training of their body and mind to their brains to the limit. After stu- do tasks seamlessly. Dr. Chudler said dents drive themselves to read faster, while not all skills will transfer, skills they can go back and learn exercises that use similar logic or parts of the such as chunking passages and look- brain are more likely to carry over to ing for keywords so they can improve other behaviors.

Organization leads to educational success N icole S chroeder

S

ophomore Haley Diel’s school binders are always organized. Labeled dividers separate her papers and her notebooks are labelled similarly to keep track of each subject’s notes. Even her flashdrive maintains order, each separated by class so she can find things quickly and easily.

“Every once in a while, I’ll take papers out and bring them home, so I have papers to reflect on and so things don’t get too overwhelming,” Diel said. “I have to be organized to work.”

Diel said she feels organization is an important skill to practice during high school, as it can help you in the future with getting a job or getting into college. She said she works hard to maintain a strict level of order in her own school life and that it helps her to perform better in her classes.

Diel is certainly not alone in her beliefs, with nearly 27 percent of RBHS students believing that abiding by a strict organizational system is necessary to succeeding in their classes, according to a recent poll of 193 students by The Rock.

Even so, although many RBHS students say such order is necessary, a majority, including sophomore Paxton Krehbiel, say it isn’t quite as important as Diel believes.

Krehbiel said although organization can be helpful in classes, it isn’t singularly important to one’s success. In fact, it is only when coupled with the neglect of deadlines or not doing one’s homework, Krehbiel said, that disorganization can become a problem.

“Disorder isn’t bad directly on its own,” Krehbiel said, “but when...you don’t have [work] on deadlines because of disorganization then it can ... hinder you.”

Krehbiel said his school work is often jumbled, simply because he can never find the time to put any of it into a specific order or he gets distracted when he tries. There are many other students, however, who do not share Krehbiel’s attitude toward this form of organizational structure.

Junior Javan Whitney-Warner said she feels maintaining order is beneficial to learning the required material in school and feels her system for ordering schoolwork allows her to study more efficiently.

“I like to have everything to where I can control all of my papers and all of the stuff that I have for school,” Whitney-Warner said.

“Sometimes my desk isn’t as organized or my room isn’t as organized as I’d like it to be, but there comes a point where I can’t stand it anymore and I have to fix it all.”

AP World Studies teacher Neal Blackburn agrees, and said he believes managing one’s classwork is important in knowing where class materials are, as well as using them effectively.

“I think just having a consistent way of organizing things in order to find your materials, access materials, and utilize materials is tremendously important,” Blackburn said. “So I think it would be a huge benefit to people to be a little bit more organized.”

Honors Algebra 2 teacher Marla Clowe agrees organization is an important skill for students to learn, and is one that can prove es-

For Dudley, a significant impact of learning good study skills and improving reading ability is how it carries over into other areas of a student’s academic life. Such skills carry over after high school into college as well as work.

“If you get to college, it doesn’t matter what class you’re in. You are going to have a textbook. Whether it’s a digital textbook or a physical textbook, you are going to have to read pages and pages of information to comprehend what you’re learning and so if you learn those reading comprehension strategies, you will automatically learn faster and better than you did before,” Dudley said. “A lot of students maybe can get through something if ... they just drill it, drill it, drill it, drill it in their head, but if they don’t have the comprehension skills it’s harder for [the information] to really stick.”

Math skills are a little more central to math, she said, and reading comprehension will help students comprehend almost every subject.

Consciously improving this skill, along with practicing and building good study habits, she said, will help students further down the road and allow them to take charge of their education and ultimately their future.

“That’s really important to being someone who is really thinking about their thinking.You’re not just learning by osmosis, you’re not just kind of going through the motions,” Dudley said. “You’re actively learning. You’re an active participant in your learning where you’re analyzing things and wanting to learn and understand the components to it ... so it makes you a stronger human being.”

photo by Caylea Erickson

Labeled Love: Social Studies teacher Debra Perry keeps her papers organized with labeled folders. sential for students in succeeding in school.

“The easier previous work is to find, the less time you have to spend searching and trying to figure out what you are supposed to know,” Clowe said. “By staying organized, hopefully it allows them to refer back to prior learning and build upon what they know.”

Despite the benefits of keeping schoolwork in order, many students do not believe themselves to be organized in their classes. In fact, according to the same survey on organization

by The Rock, only about 70 percent of RBHS students say they are organized in their classes.

For those students who don’t believe themselves to be organized, the lack of order and structure they face can become a problem.

Krehbiel said his disorganization, although not greatly affecting his success in school, does at time add stress in his life.

“You can get stressed out when you’re disorganized,” Krehbiel said. “Because you might lose track of stuff that’s important for that day or...you might need it for [at] this time right now but you can’t find it because you’re dis-

organized.”

A lack of organization can ultimately cause other long-term problems as well, particularly in the workplace, where a study by The Examiner in 2012 found that nearly 40 percent of the workday was wasted from unnecessary clutter.

Another study by the National Association of Professional Organizers, also in 2012, found that nearly nine percent of workers felt they would be more efficient in the workplace if they were better organized.

Primarily, Clowe said she recommends students struggling with organization simply take the time to develop a plan that will work for them and allows for their best work in and out of school. Blackburn agrees, and said there are many resources are available to help students who struggle with it.

“I think it would be a huge benefit to people to be a little bit more organized,” Blackburn said, “If there’s people that really have a hard time with that, I think the Cornell notes that the AVID program is using... I think that’s a great way to start.”

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FEATURES

ALSO INSIDE MSHSAA guidlines examined

photo by Mikaela Acton

No Chill: After senior Michael Chapman nominated him, senior Brady Butcher is doused with ice water to help raise awareness through the ALS Association’s ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.

People cool off as cash comes in

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge sweeps social media A bby K empf

T

he ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has made quite a splash since its beginnings in July, raising more than $100 million for the cause and spreading awareness of the disease.

Sophmore Gabbi Schust dumped the frigid water on her head when she was nominated by a friend to take the dare, despite her intuitions.

“I got challenged and I obviously knew it would be cold, but it was just freezing cold,” Schust said. “I felt like my whole body was in shock.”

The challenge is simply for the subject to have someone dump a bucket full of ice water on his/her head and to nominate a few others to do the same in the next 24 hours; if they fail to do this, they can instead choose to make a donation to the ALS foundation.

ALS stands for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and is commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease. This fatal disease is characterized by muscle degeneration, which leads to difficulty speaking, swallowing, and breathing.

Over time, the patient loses the ability to walk and talk, while cognitive function lingers until the very end, making the disease especially excruciating for the patient and family members. Death from respiratory failure normally occurs three to five years from the diagnosis. At the time, there is no known cure for ALS, but there are many research facilities in place for the sole purpose of finding a cure for the devistating disease.

The largest organization in the United States searching for a cure is the ALS Association. It has chapters, clinics and research centers set up

all over the country for the purpose of conducting new research, providing care for ALS patients and supporting their families.

Sherrie Hanneman, the director of communications for the Keith Worthington Chapter of the ALS Association serving Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri, said the challenge has been a tremendous surprise to everyone at the Association.

“When it first happened, I thought it was just another one of those social media things that you see, like eating a tablespoon full of cinnamon. I thought it was kind of a funny thing, and I was surprised when it started to take off,” Hanneman said. “After a couple weeks, it continued to gain steam and then after we got to ten or twenty million dollars. I thought it had run its course, but it didn’t. It just exploded.”

Due to the challenge, Hanneman said that ALS Association saw a 60 to 70 percent increase in donations during the past month and a half.

“It started as a way for people to raise a little money for [the] ALS Association and then it became bigger and then it took on a life of its own,” Hanneman said. “On a national level we are still seeing a couple million dollars come in each day. The staying power of it is what has been really interesting.”

However, Hanneman said the donations are not the only thing the association is excited about. She said the national attention the disease has gained is priceless.

“What was really interesting about it was there was a phenomenon that went along with it. It was not just a dumping a bucket of water over your head, it was making sure you were making your donation too,” Hanneman said.

“Then making sure that...you learn something “Most people I know still have no idea what about the disease, familiarize yourself with ALS even is. I feel like now it’s just an obnoxwhat you’re giving to, why you’re giving, who ious way to get attention,” Garfias said. “I’m sure that’s not for everyyou’re giving to. There one, and I do know some was a big awareness piece people that have donated that went along with it.”

[The Ice Bucket Chalmoney. However, from Social media enabled lenge] started as a way what I’ve seen, it hasn’t the challenge to grow. for people to raise a litcompletely fulfilled it’s With the ease in which tle money for [the] ALS purpose.” people consume media, Association and then Hanneman recogniztrends like the Ice Bucket it became bigger and es how social media can Challenge can easily take then it took on a life of twist things or spread off exponentially as one misinformation, but said person nominates a few its own. Sherrie Hanneman her mood is not damppeople and then those ALS Director of Communications ened by this. people nominate a few “Social media is what more people. it is. There is a reason But as everyone knows from playing “telephone” in the third why social media is a fun, mindless thing. But grade, sometimes the original message gets lost there is also a really important aspect of it,” after it’s been passed along too many times. Hanneman said. “It got people thinking about it.

For some, the challenge turned into a big show People who are actually interested who took the instead of supporting the real cause behind the time to go to more credible sites learned a lot.”

Hanneman also said the actual patients, the challenge.

Scrolling down her Instagram feed late Au- beneficiaries of the challenge, love it. Despite gust, Schust can count more Ice Bucket Chal- the outliers who see dumping a bucket of ice lenge videos than photos. Schust feels that most water on one’s head as foolish, the challenge people who take the challenge have superficial has been able to bring some joy to the lives of intentions instead of truly being motivated to many patients.

“Probably 90 percent of the people … spread awareness of ALS and help raise money were excited about what was going on. Some for research.

“It was really just an exercise in how much people felt like maybe it was silly, or that peopull one has with their friends on social media,” ple were just trying to get in on the celebrity craze,” Hanneman said. “But for the most part Schust said.

Junior Sean Garfias said he feels some ani- [patients] didn’t care. They were just like, ‘for mosity toward the fad as well. Garfias’ grand- once, people are talking about this disease and mother is currently battling ALS, and he feels we are not suffering all by ourselves in silence.’ the challenge is not serving its original purpose. It was great from our perspective.”

Art by Maddy Mueller

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MSHSAA rules conflict with outside activities

needs to be an understanding of how MSHSAA rules are made before judging their representation among sports and activities. Egan n order for roughly 580 high schools around Mo. said there is a misconception among students to operate most activities, students must organize that MSHSAA is a separate organization that their plans around the Missouri State High School tells all the schools what to do.

Activities Association. This organization creates Egan said MSHSAA is actually a collection of and enforces regulations that activities must follow all the schools in Mo. that want sponsorship under to coordinate events. them. If there are regulatory disagreements between Many of these policies are aimed specifically to- MSHSAA and the schools, they can initiate a process wards athletic activities. This leads some students to get certain rules changed. like junior Matthew Vincent, debate co-captain, to “So it’s not like MSHSAA is this ... other enquestion whether MSHSAA rules geared toward tity that ... dictates to all the schools,” Egan said. sports support both athletic and nonathletic activities “MSHSAA is actually what all the schools around with the same effectiveness. In his experience with the state ... agree to do.”

MSHSAA, Vincent said he sees a lot of sports-related The ratio of athletic to nonathletic activities in influence in the regulations, especially in rules re- MSHSAA is based on what schools across Mo. supgarding coaches. port and practice, Egan said. For example, RBHS “Our assistant coach last year was complaining ... sponsors activities such as cheerleading and choir as that he had to train to help stop concussions,” Vincent well as 19 different sports. said. “Which ... as debate we’re The advisory committee for not going to be doing as much MSHSAA is actually what MSHSAA tries to organize all acrunning around.” all the schools around the tivities so each one is represented The organization has two equally. They do this by dividstate ... agree to do. sets of rules they must abide by. ing their bylaws into athletic and David Egan MSHSAA regulations for sports nonathletic categories. There are athletic director come from a national federation general rules that everybody for athletics, which all sports follows, like being academmust follow. MSHSAA bylaws ically eligible, but some regulate each sport and activity in Mo., along with differences, such as transfer rules, only student eligibility requirements. apply to sports activities.

Davine Davis, MSHSAA assistant executive di“If you’re a music student and you rector, said there are also specific requirements for move from one school to another, activities like music that they must follow when con- you [don’t need] a transfer request,” sidering competitions. With each sport and activity Davis said. “[For] sports, once you there is an advisory committee of eight members who change schools you’re automatirepresent one-eighth of Mo. when divided into eight cally ineligible until a transfer reregions. quest has been submitted.”

The advisory committee “gets together once a Otherwise, the rules are the same for year. There’s an agenda on concerns, changes [and] both sides. In sports, Davis said, coaches policies that they want to look at to update and make and directors of athletic and nonathletic changes for the following year,” Davis said. “And activities are going to be trained each so each year then we go over our changes with our year on the rules specific to their sport or coaches and our schools.” activity, along with new rules.

Despite the steps MSHSAA has taken to fairly Even with the measures MSHSAA has represent athletic and nonathletic activities, some taken to organize and keep rules updated, members of debate, like Vincent, still feel limited there is still confusion over certain regulawith regards to long-distance tournament travel. One tions. Egan and Vincent both said they have rule in effect, Vincent said, is they can only go to 11 had difficulty understanding the bylaws in different tournaments a year, along with only being the handbook. allowed to travel 250 air miles away from Mo. per “I was looking more into [trying] to find tournament, except for once a year. where they were referencing to,” Vincent “Although it’s been more of a planning thing, we said. “It was really hard to find... informahaven’t been able to plan ... these tournaments just tion that related to us.” because we know of MSHSAA,” Vincent said.

When this happens, Egan said he simply Vincent said this limit on travel prevents the team calls MSHSAA and one of the executive difrom seeing a different variety of debates from around rectors will inform him on what the school can the country, which hurts their potential to expand fur- and cannot do.

“I don’t think it’s... [that] MSHSAA is more ther into other types of debate.

“MSHSAA tends to be more sports focused than pro-sports, anti-activities or anything like that,” Egan said. “I think it’s... a reflection of the state of nonathletic organizations.” Vincent said.

David Egan, RBHS athletic director, said there Missouri in terms of what our schools sponsor.”

G race Vance

I

Eligibility “All students participating in an interscholastic athletic activity representing a MSHSAA member school must meet the student essential bylaws ... , the common athletic activity bylaws ... , as well as all applicable activity-specific requirements.”

Citizenship “Students who represent a school in interscholastic activities must be creditable citizens and judged so by the proper authority. Those students whose character or conduct is such as to reflect discredit upon themselves or their schools are not considered ‘creditable citizens.’ Conduct shall be satisfactory in accord with the standards of good discipline.”

Heat Acclimatization

“For the health and safety of participants, member schools shall follow the Heat Acclimatization Schedule as described below ... for all fall sports ... The goal of the Heat Acclimatization Period is to increase exercise heat tolerance and enhance the ability to exercise safely and effectively in warm and hot conditions. This period shall begin on the first day of practice or conditioning.”

MSHSAAlaneous guidelines art by Ellie Stitzer

RBHS teen balances school, motherhood

C aylea E rickson

N

early 615,000 teen pregnancies occur each year in the United States while Mo. alone had 6,317 teens give birth in 2012, according to thenationalcampaign.org.

Junior Lexi Miller lives a regular teen life; she attends school at RBHS and spends time with friends. However, Miller is a teen mom.

Miller found out she was pregnant when she was 14, the summer before her freshman year, and gave birth to her daughter, Mia the following April after she turned 15. Before that, Miller was just a normal teenager.

“I was shocked but I was happy to be able to bring another life into this world,” said Miller.

“My mom was disappointed, but her opinion changed, and she slowly accepted [the pregnancy] and now spoils my daughter.”

Teen parenting can often make it difficult for a mother to continue to receive an education.

Only 40 percent of teen mothers graduate high school and fewer than two percent finish college by age 30.

Miller is a part-time student so she can continue to receive an education while still getting to take care of her daughter. She takes regular classes, as well as online classes during the day while her mom watches Mia. Once Miller arrives home to her daughter, her sole focus is Mia. “Being a teen mom ... is difficult. I deal with dirty looks and bullying,” Miller said. “When I was pregnant, people would say I was a wh*** or tell me to kill myself on Facebook. One person even told me to drink bleach so I wouldn’t bring another wh*** into the world.”

Miller gave birth a year and a half ago, and

though the amount of bullying and rude comments has decreased since, she still deals with bullying every once in a while.

Although Miller is a mother, she still gets to be a teenager. Not only does she still attend school, but she also finds time to hang out with

friends.

“My mom will watch Mia once a month on a night so I can go to the movies or go out for fun, but Mia’s with me any other time I’m out in public. I can have friends over and everything, but only kid friendly friends,” Miller said. “It’s

photo by Renata Williams

Junior Lexi Miller sits on the steps of her home with her daughter Mia. Miller discovered she was pregnant right before her freshman year. Mia will celebrate her 2nd birthday in April.

been a struggle managing school and time for Mia. I don’t get my homework done until late at night or the morning it’s due.”

Teen moms like Miller need the support of others to help them continue to be a student while being a mother. Nurse Tammy Adkins said the school has group counseling for expecting mothers to help support them through their pregnancy.

“We talk about what to expect during the pregnancy and answer any questions the mom has,” Adkins said. “We’re here to support [them].”

RBHS also offers through the school expecting mothers support from other students, teachers and counselors.

“We don’t have many pregnant teenagers at Rock Bridge right now,” Adkins said.

“Throughout the years the number of expecting mothers has decreased significantly.”

The 2013 teen birth rate shows that the number of teen pregnancies across America is decreasing. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics in 2013, teenage pregnancy rates in the U.S. have decreased by 57 percent during the last 21 years.

But Miller is more than just a statistic. Becoming a mom at 14 has drastically changed her life for the better.

“Being pregnant was the best feeling ever ... I had a constant reminder on why I should keep moving forward in my life,” Miller said.

“I got to feel my daughter ... grow and move slowly over time. When I gave birth, it was seven hours of horrible pain, but the minute I saw my daughter I had tears of joy and couldn’t stop crying ... My daughter is my life.”

B4 IN-DEPTHS

Ferguson is not a www.bearingnews.org • The Rock • September 25, 2014

Journalists often face off against police for

NICOLE SCHROEDER

O

ut of 1,000 people polled, nearly 45 percent said they had a great deal of confidence in the police investigations that have taken place during the events of Ferguson, Mo., about 41 percent said they did not have much confidence, leaving 14 percent unsure, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

Such results can raise many questions about how police investigate crimes in the community. However, even though the facts released by police were limited and the witness accounts about how Michael Brown was killed contradicted one another, people were still quick to form their own theories about the event and the investigations that occurred in the event.

This led to a large amount of confusion surrounding the case in the weeks that followed, something that is seen in many instances when various media platforms become involved on police investigations.

Katherine Reed, associate professor of print and digital news at the University of Missouri, said Ferguson is just one of many cases in which the public has

misinterpreted various facts of the investigation. Reed believes that many people point to social media as a incubator of false information.

“I think it’s Twitter. If the stories are not quite baked, so to speak, if there’s not enough information yet to know what’s happening, that can certainly scare people,” Reed said. “There’s...a lot of news being broken on Twitter, and there’s no context in Twitter-- it’s only 140 characters. That’s... the challenge... [is] being careful about not putting information out... before you’re able to put it in context.”

Reed said she believes there is a social stigma surrounding journalists in police investigations and feels, contrary to the Hollywood stereotype that journalists are willing to cross boundaries in police investigations to get information, the media in her experience are working with the police and could even contribute to the investigation.

Officer Latisha Stroer of the Columbia Police Department, however, disagrees. She said the media can push too far in an investigation, to the point where it can interfere with the police work.

“We put out a press release on major incidents that happen in the City of Columbia,” Stroer said. “What

hurts an investigation is when [journalists] speak to people [when] we do not want certain information out so that we can investigate first and put out accurate information once that has been done.”

Despite the reasons that police officers may ask journalists not to release certain information, KOMU News Director Randy Reeves said he doesn’t believe certain facts should be kept from the public. Rather, he said journalists have a responsibility to the public.

Reeves said in some situations he feels required to ignore those boundaries if he feels it is information necessary to keep people safe.

“If we find out something that we think is important and that the public should know, sometimes, the police would like to keep that quiet,” Reeves said. “They think that it would enhance their investigation to keep that quiet. I’m not saying that reporters don’t make mistakes... but I’d sleep very comfortably at night knowing that I’d given people at least some information so that they might be able to protect themselves.”

Reed, however, said the public can often misunderstand reporters’ intentions and wishes for people to understand their desires toward providing a voice for the community rather than working against the police.

“In all of the years I’ve been a ly seen anyone step over police ta sneaky to try and get informatio really want to humanize the victim that when you don’t have the info comes all about the death, and no life, and that’s not ideal. I don’t journalism.”

Overall, Stroer said she believ strive for accuracy over speed in a ry and should remain as neutral as “Usually, people listen to the fi stead of waiting for all of the facts Reeves, however, feels that jo sponsibility to the public in releas they uncover, even if police do no tion released.

“I would say that sometimes th little doubt that our mission and line up,” Reeves said. “Quite fran sibility to report what’s going on times that our job and the nature their job harder, and that’s just so ways have to weigh out. We’re not

Police prepartion: keep the safety on A ALICE YU

mong the tools normally on the duty belt of a police officer, nestled in a tight holster is one weapon that with a clear shot, can end a life. Holding such a capacity to induce harm, extensive training for the use of firearms is only a logical

Officers undergo extensive preparation to prepare for their job

demand.

“We are trained three times a year with our duty weapon,” RBHS Resource Officer Keisha Edwards said. “I’m also a rifle operator, and I am trained twice a year with a rifle. Those are eight hour days, sometimes three eight hours days [in a row].”

But after last year’s transition between two different brands of firearms—the Heckler and Koch handgun to the Glock handgun— Officer Edwards has trained more than 24 hours just this year, with training sessions split up into three eight-hour days. In those training sessions, officers learn how to operate, handle, clean and use the Glock. Included throughout all training sessions is the reinforcement of firearm safety.

“In the training, gun safety is a must. That’s one of the top priorities. We’re training eight hours a day, you want to first have safety,” Officer Edwards said. “One of the things I think we do best at the Columbia Police Department is constantly preach officer safety because that is first and foremost.”

At the University of Missouri-Columbia’s Law Enforcement Training Institute, firearm safety is a major component of the initial lesson.

“The first thing regarding firearms training that is taught are the fundamentals: safety, safety rules, stance, grip and presentation,” LETI seminar instructor Jason Sharp said. “This is done in the classroom and then we spend roughly three to four hours of dry fire exercises.”

With the requirement of at least 66 hours of firearm training, students attending LETI also learn about marksmanship, shooting stance, stress combat, firing at night and shooting decisions.

Along with learning about the physical aspect of firing a firearm, students are also schooled in the emotional facet of pulling a trigger.

“Day one of the Academy, we have a four hour block of ‘Officer Survival Mentality,” Sharp said. “This block of instruction covers a lot of the emotional and psychological aspects of law enforcement.”

Afterward, students learn to determine when it is and isn’t acceptable to use force with the study of constitutional and Missouri statutory laws. Following that lesson is an additional eight hours worth of training, meant to help students practice their judgement on the use of force.

“Requiring the officers to go through such intense training, perfect practice allows the actions to become muscle memory responses during, [what we refer to as,] combat stress. Beyond that, the officers need to make sure they can then live with their decisions for the rest of their life,” Sharp said. “The officer not only needs to be able to make the appropriate decision to use reasonable force, but they must also be able to write it right and say it right [in the report].”

As a longtime member of the Columbia Police Department, Officer Edwards’ training has been reinforced year after year, allowing her to be well-prepared in the face of an emergency.

“I’ve been a police officer for 13 years,” Officer Edwards said. “So two or three times [of training] a year for 13 years, it’s kind of stuck in your head of what to do and how to do it.”

This practice of post-academy training became common only after the 1980s, according to the Police Firearms Training Survey conducted by Gregory Morrison in 2008.

While law enforcement officers did take re-qualifying exams for their firearms, their training usually consisted of only a few practice shots at the department’s bull’s-eye target, inadequately preparing them for the use of their firearm in a dangerous situation.

“Training tends to be building blocks throughout the academy.

What you learn on day one you must retain for the practicals in week 15,” Sharp said. “Each block builds on another, and it’s like a piece of the puzzle for the final product at the end.”

AP photo by Charlie Riedel

inforgraphic by Claire Simon information sources civilrights.org and cnn.com

IN-DEPTHS B5

an isolated event www.bearingnews.org • The Rock • September 25, 2014

rces

journalist, I’ve rareape or…do anything on,” Reed said. “We m, and it’s hard to do ormation. Then it beot about the person’s think that’s the best

ves the media should a breaking news stos they possibly can. first thing put out ins,” Stroer said. ournalists have a resing information that ot want that informa-

n o s ergu

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s l r u unf

th, you n a ents ic v r e e f o Am nd frican whirlwi A f o a ng eled hooti u f n The s ow el Br a h c i M

here’s probably very their mission don’t nkly, it’s our responn. I’m sure there are e of their job makes omething that we alt on the same team.” inforgraphic by Claire Simon information source salon.com

Racial profiling mixed with police work leads to persecution of miniorities JENNA LIU

E

ver since then, she just wants to get away.”

Two years ago, junior Milanne BellFox was living in Hillsdale, a suburb in St. Louis County. She had grown up as an only child in a single mother, African American household, so the news that their family was about to get bigger with the addition of a baby brother was a change. When her mother was two months into the pregnancy, she was pulled over by the police for a license plate check.

“She’s a pregnant woman, and they stopped her, and she got out of the car,” Bell-Fox said.

“And all of a sudden, from what she’s told me, they basically beat her up.”

Bell-Fox said her mother had a wrapped wrist because of chronic pain and had complained when the officers put handcuffs on her.

According to Bell-Fox, her mother never filed a complaint with the authorities because she was scared of repercussions. Bell-Fox said her mother is still emotionally scarred from the incident.

“That was why we moved to Columbia,” Bell-Fox said. “Ever since then, she just wants to get away.”

Bell-Fox said this kind of behavior was not unusual for the police in her community, so she said the events that occurred in Ferugson did not surprise her. Bell-Fox has a personal connection to the situation, as the soft-spoken 16-year-old once walked down the same hallways as Michael Brown while both were students at Normandy High School.

In the wake of the situation in Ferguson, the attention on racial tensions in America ignited discourse on the issue of the “The Talk,” with hashtags such as #IGotTheTalk and “IGaveTheTalk” trending on Twitter in the weeks after Brown’s death.

The tweets referred to a tradition of African American parents speaking with their children regarding how to behave when police approach them.

Bell-Fox said her mother has given her a version of the “The Talk” her whole life.

“The talk goes back to all of those things, that the police will profile you,” Bell-Fox said.

“So when you approach a police, the main thing my mom has taught me is to be respectful, and basically, kiss their butt.”

Although Bell-Fox’s mother has never gone to prison, many of her male relatives have spoken to her about their experiences with the American criminal justice system.

“I’ve gotten the talk from multiple family members, because a lot of the males in my family have been imprisoned for multiple years, and recently got out,” Bell-Fox said. “They talk about their experience in jail, and they say that police treat them like animals.”

There have long been accusations that police forces across the nation have structural bias against African Americans, particularly young black males. According to a study in the policy journal Crime and Delinquency, almost 50 percent of African American males will be arrested by age 23, as compared to 38 percent of whites.

For senior Haley Birk, these statistics do not present a convincing argument that police are biased against African Americans.

“I think race just happens to be a coincidence. Correlation does not prove causation,” Birk said. “You can’t prove police officers are racist just because more black people get put in jail.”

Though Birk, who is caucasian, concedes there may be individual officers who act with racial prejudice, she said police departments as a whole are not racist institutions.

“For the most part, police are just doing their jobs, and I don’t think there’s any issue with it,” Birk said.

Bell-Fox said while police officers have jobs for the most part, they’re not going to discriminate just because of your race,” Birk said. to do, they are carrying them out incorrectly.

“I think the police, their job is to protect so- “They’re more likely going to discriminate on ciety, protect people,” Bell-Fox said. “And per- the type of car you have.”

Eapen Thampy, the co-founder of the marisonally, I think one thing they do wrong is their approach because their approach may be based juana legislation reform association Show-Me Cannabis, views the report differently. He said off of racial profiling.”

A report released by the Missouri Attorney America’s enactment of drug legislation is raGeneral’s office in May brought renewed atten- cially biased and creates these disparties.

“Drug prohibition has historically been a tion on the issue of police officers racially profiling black Missourians. The report revealed that fundamentally racist exercise, as the prohibition there are high racial discrepancies in how police of marijuana and cocaine are generally justified officers conduct routine traffic stops, with black with a racist ideology,” Thampy said. “Law endrivers 66 percent more likely to be pulled over forcement has huge incentives to arrest and incarcerate people and these efforts have affected in comparison to white drivers.

This statistic is not surprising to junior An- and targeted racial minorities most severely.”

A 2009 Human Rights Watch report revealed thony Robinson. A young black male, Robinson has not personally dealt with police searches, that black Americans are arrested for drug offenses at three times the rate white Americans but has had friends who have experienced this. are, even though higher per“There was this one friend that I had who lived in KanBesides looking at centages of whites use ilnarcotics, as reported sas City as well. He got pulled African Americans as legal by a 2011 survey from the over for I guess playing his targets, look at them as Substance Abuse and Menmusic too loud, and it went on people, treat them as tal Health Services Adminlonger than it should,” Robpeople. istration. inson said. “The cop should In Bell-Fox’s own exhave just told him ‘Hey, turn Milanne Bell-Fox, perience, she said the use your music down,’ but he junior and peddling of narcotics searched his car. He didn’t by the African American have a warrant at all.”

Specific to the Columbia Police Department, community stems from the racially motivated the Attorney General’s report showed that of obstacles black people face in life. “[In the past] I’ve had to live in a house the cars Columbia Police Department officers stopped and searched, 13 percent belonged to where drugs were sold, because that’s the only black drivers, while three percent belonged to way to pay the bills, that’s the only way of living,” Bell-Fox said. “Say you’re a black teen. whites.

Officer Latisha Stroer said she would not You can’t find a good job because of profiling, comment on race relations in Ferguson, and did so you sell drugs, and then you go to prison not respond to further questions about the 2014 and when you get out you can’t get a job because this is on your record. What am I going traffic stop report.

Birk defended the Columbia Police Depart- to do? I’ll sell drugs. It’s a cycle.”

Bell-Fox had a final message for the nearly ment by reiterating her belief that police departments are not racist institutions, and that race is 800,000 police officers in the United States.

“Besides looking at African Americans as not a factor in most police action.

“There are going to be police officers targets, look at them as people, treat them as who are racist out there, people,” Bell-Fox said. “Approach them difb u t ferent and treat them as equally as any other race, not less.”

B6 EDITORIALS

www.bearingnews.org • The Rock • September 25, 2014

art by Maddy Mueller

Buzz-in system causes loss of freedom

C

PS didn’t want it.

Superintendent Peter Steipleman didn’t want it.

Dr. Jennifer Rukstad didn’t want

it either.

But nonetheless. the new security system is here to stay. That much is clear. However, what is worrying about this change was the lack — absence — of any significant student input. For most students, the first time they heard of a ‘buzzer system’ was when the administration told them about it in the first day of school.

While this regrettable installation should in no way reflect on the actions of the CPS and RBHS administration — in fact, those involved should be commended for compromising to achieve the best possible outcome — CPS should change their decision-making process in order to connect the students with it.

RBHS has a history of student involve-

ment with little to no assistance from teachers or administrators. In the 1990s, Student Coalition helped start a movement against class rank, which resulted in the current non-existence of that system.

Outreach groups like Rock Bridge Reaches Out and Global Issues have touched thousands in the community and around the world. More recently in 2012, Students’ Say, a student-led group started by sophomores, lobbied the School Board to change the start times from the proposed 7:30 a.m. to

our current 9 a.m. start time.

Looking back at the school’s history, it is needless to say that the students of RBHS have long been active in the decisions made by our district. However, we must not take this history of cooperation for granted.

We must safeguard a g a i n s t abrupt and potentially harmful decisions that could be

New district rules forced RBHS to implement a buzz-in system, thus making it a hassel to enter and exit the building. Is the future of freedom with responsibility at stake?

“The Rock” staff voted

YES - 10

NO - 6

handed down in 10, 25 or even 100 years.

CPS or RBHS should make public all potential policy changes the moment they begin being discussed at any level. This common courtesy will help the district’s administrative actions gain greater transparency and help foster a greater trust between the students and the administration.

More importantly, student input should not be a helpful addition to high-level decisions, it should be a necessary one. CPS must choose a separate panel of students to serve as the voice of the student body at school board meetings and other high-level talks.

Future RBHS students and current juniors, sophomores and freshmen should make the district administration hear their voices and consider their input. After all, we are the students, and we are the affected group,so it only makes sense for CPS to take our voices into consideration in game-changing decisions.

‘The Rock’ outlines its editorial, advertisting policy Comments?

T

he paper’s Editorial Board, made up of the Editors-InChief of The Rock and Bearing News. The Advisor of the Journalism Departments will review all opinion pieces, including staffwritten editorials, submitted for publication, for use in the opinion pages only. Columns expressed in signed works are those of the author and not necessarily the entire staff.

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Law enforcement reacts to violence in Ferguson

EDITORIALS B7

www.bearingnews.org • The Rock • September 25, 2014

JENNA LIU

huge mistakes in dealing with the procedural aspect of Michael Brown’s death. After letting his ne minute past noon on August 9, Fer- body bake on hot concrete for four hours, police guson police officer Darren Wilson chief Thomas Jackson didn’t manage to make shot and killed a young black male. his force seem any more competent when he deHis name was Michael Brown. He cided to release video that supposedly depicted Brown robbing a convenience store. was 18 and unarmed.

The video release immediately caused an A span of four hours passed between the time uproar, with Brown’s relatives accusing the dethat Brown fell to the ground and when personpartment of attempting to smear a dead teen. nel arrived to take him away. In those 240 minutes, Brown’s lifeless body remained in public Jackson later admitted that the police officer view, partially uncovered and left like forgotten in question was not aware that Brown was a trash on the asphalt of Canfield Drive. The utter suspect at the time of the shooting, which begs disrespect shown to his body was the first di- the question —why did they release it? It was vergence from standard protocol committed by a disgustingly blatant effort to lower the pubthe Ferguson Police Department and signaled lic’s view of Brown and somehow make him “deserving” of getting six bullets pumped into the start of two weeks of irrehis body. sponsible behavior on the part All the video did was add Members of the of members of forces sworn fuel to the angry confrontato serve and protect. community constructed tions between demonstrators Members of the commua memorial on the spot and the police. The night the nity constructed a memorial where Michael Brown video came out, on the spot where Michael was shot to remember ill-advised the tenuous peace in FerguBrown was shot to remember a boy who had just son created by the arrival of a boy who had just graduated graduated from high the Missouri Highway Pafrom high school and planned school. trol shattered, and violence to begin college in just a few flared up once more. days.

Together, this demDuring the next couple weeks, protesters fed up with reading about the onstrates deep-set problems with how the death of yet another young black male, gathered Ferguson Police Department was trained in the streets of Ferguson. Anger quickly built and run. This is not a criticism of indias questions concerning which officer had killed vidual officers; the majority of them Brown remained unanswered. National news working the streets of Ferguson during media arrived in Ferguson, capturing images of the unrest were simply following orders, hundreds marching through the city, chanting a however misguided. The problem lies with the entity of the police department, collective mantra of “hands up, don’t shoot.”

When darkness came over Ferguson, certain and with those who had authority of the individuals in the crowd of demonstrators com- situation but failed entirely in their task.

Though there may not be agreement mitted acts of violence. They ransacked shops on the actions of Michael Brown and and vandalized buildings, with the media quickwhether or not Darren Wilson was jusly descending upon the chaos to snap photos of tified in killing him, it is undeniable broken glass and a burnt gas station.

The issue is not whether these individuals that the Ferguson and St. Louis Police were justified in damaging property and wreak- shoulder a significant amount of reing havoc; they were undeniably in the wrong, sponsibility for the violence that ocwith their actions dishonoring the memory of curred afterwards due to a series of Michael Brown. However, the manner in which inexcusable procedural mistakes the Ferguson and St. Louis police departments and their botched handling of responded was both shameful and utterly stu- looters.

This cannot happen again, pid. Hundreds of officers in full riot gear indiscriminately sprayed rubber bullets into packed particularly in Missouri, crowds and deployed tear gas because of the which will now be inextricably linked with two disasvery serious threat of thrown water bottles.

Aimlessly grouping the peaceful majority trous weeks of shame. Muand the threatening minority together and shov- nicipal police departments ing a military-grade offensive in their faces is across the state must re-exabsolutely not the way to go about de-escalating amine their policies regarding police training. From the a dangerous situation.

The police further incited fear when they initial shooting of Michael somehow found probable cause to handcuff two Brown to the tear gas and rubber journalists. Wesley Lowery of the Washington bullets fired at protesters, police officers made Post and Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post crucial missteps that could have been avoided were arrested for the crime of leaving a McDon- with proper training and a more professional alds too slowly. The authorities’ lack of regard mentality.

The police are supposed to serve and protect, for journalistic freedom and the First Amendment in general was representative of the police not treat certain groups of people as the enemy. department’s role in continuing the chaos in Fer- By beginning the long road towards eradicating this aspect of police culture, we can work toguson.

Aside from their handling of looters, the wards a future where a situation like Ferguson Ferguson Police Department also made several is the exception, not the rule.

53 03

67.4%

Percent of population in Ferguson that is African American

Total number of police officers employed in Ferguson, Mo. Total number of African American police officers employed in Ferguson, Mo.

INJUSTICE

M U R R D E S A

T

W? O N K U O Y

art by Ellie Stitzer

ER

DID

O

CHARGED an innocent man for BLEEDING on their uniforms after they BEAT him.

Ferguson police

TASED a mentally ill man TWICE, leading to his DEATH. Ferguson police

Sources: www.PolitiFact.com, New York Times infographic by Abdul-Rahman Abdul-Kafi

New security system is the perfect fit for RBHS GRAHAM RATERMANN

F

or far too long, any random stranger could wander into the halls of RBHS willy-nilly, whether they’re a volunteer, a parent bringing a forgotten lunch or someone else with more sinister intentions.

Security has always been lax, but finally something is being done about it with the addition of the door buzz-in system and the soon-tocome introduction of proximity cards.

In 1973 when RBHS first opened its doors, everyone was welcome in because the world was innocent and buzz-in systems didn’t exist.

There was a small skirmish in Southeast Asia and a minor misunderstanding between President Nixon and the people of the United States, but other than that, the main concern was smoking in the bathroom or casual, old time bullying. However, as the world grew darker, RBHS

fell behind the times.

The buzzer is a good first step in the right direction to protect the school from lurking danger, but more needs to be done. Just as citizens need the federal government to provide a helping, harmless supervisor, students need some sort of a big brother to guide and protect them.

The next step in further securing the school and its students should come in the form of hall passes in order to regulate the unimpeded stampede of students leaving class and milling about during Alternating Unassigned Time to make it easier to keep tabs on everyone at all times.

Next, the blatant and unrestricted use of the media center must be stopped. Students gather there at all times, unaccounted for, which is a severe problem if anything bad were to happen.

A drastic step that some may not approve of, but will eventually prove useful, is to eliminate AUT and replace it with a supervised study

hall. Not only will students be more productive, but they will also avoid all the risks of leaving campus.

When a student departs from campus, they’re exposed to a myriad of risks, like car accidents, strangers and junk food not regulated by the federal government.

Two final steps that may not be necessary but should be considered are armed security guards at all doors and the implantation of a micro tracking chip into each and every student’s ID, which would then be required to be carried at all times.

RBHS should follow the shining example of HHS or BHS. Their security driven approach has served them well. It’s silly to allow students to choose how they want to spend their free time. High schoolers will never make the right choice. With seniors leaving for college in a year where they will be living alone, free

and independent, it is best to keep them locked down in a strict, supervised schedule so that when they arrive at college they can have an example of what real school is like.

Whether students go to flip burgers or attend a university after their high school years, they’ll know that the security prepared them.

Initially such changes may be met with undoubtedly stiff resistance. Students will want the freedoms they’ve been accustomed to, but as time passes, they’ll realize these changes will be in their own self-interest.

The thrill and risk of open campus, AUT and freedom with responsibility will be replaced with the safety and security of hall passes, study hall, and microchips wrapped in a warm blanket of big brotherly love, all under the ever watchful eye of campus security. After all, everyone would love to give up a few freedoms for a guarantee of security in the long run.

B8 COMMENTARY

www.bearingnews.org • The Rock • September 25, 2014

Daily sexism fosters double standards, inequality Gender microaggressions are actions designed to create an atmosphere of inequality for women. Oftentimes they are so commonplace, they are hidden by a cloak of normalcy.

It is time for us to realize that sexism must never be “normal.”

J enna L iu

I

n debate, there are certain unspoken rules regarding one’s behavior during a round: shake hands before and after, wear appropriate clothing and, if you happen to be a female debating a male, be nice.

This is not your typical socially required politeness; what I am referring to is an almost sickening level of sweetness and deference that protects against any accusations of rudeness.

At debate camp this summer, I faced my roommate, Aurora, in the semifinal round of the tournament.

Besides being one of the best debaters I’ve encountered, Aurora is unapologetically brash and commanding, which shows in her debates.

During the cross examination period of our round, she slammed me with question after question, cutting me off at every other syllable and generally doing her job as a debater.

After the round was finished, we shook hands, and I congratulated her on being the amazing debater that she was.

Her next round was against one of our friends, a boy named Mario.

From the start of the round, I could tell something was different. Aurora’s tone was more dulcet and jovial, and she made sure to sit with her legs modestly crossed, a complacent smile pasted on her face.

When cross examination arrived, I watched with disgust and resignation as Aurora asked questions in a cooing manner appropriate for a parent attempting to get a coddled child to eat their vegetables.

One of the fiercest debaters I’ve

ever met had transformed from an unapologetic interrogator to a kindergarten teacher-like figure who unfailingly said “please” and “thank you” every five seconds; the only difference between her opponents was that the second was wearing a suit and tie.

It is these powerful yet inconspicuous details that define sexism in the 21st century. Denials of the imbalance in gender rights all fail to acknowledge an invisible discrimination that cannot be clearly outlined in statistics, though inequities on that front are certainly plentiful.

This is a doctor asking my friend, who had been shadowing him for a month, if she wanted to be a nurse.

This is the “tsk” I once heard a mother direct toward a girl in a crop top, even after laughing good-naturedly at a boy stripping off his shirt and flexing his muscles during a RBHS assembly.

This is my seventh grade female guidance counselor suggesting I take the Family and Consumer Sciences class because “girls should learn to cook early, so they can provide for their husband and children.”

Every day, society teaches young girls that the only way the world will accept them is if they stay safely within the confines of glass boxes.

When people tell me to go make them a sandwich, I am supposed to laugh and loosen up, because obviously they were just joking and sexism is over, right?

No. Sexism is still very much alive. Its heart beats with every girl who is catcalled in the street for simply existing. It takes a breath at each instance

art by Maddy Mueller

a woman is made to feel ashamed of her sexuality. It laughs when we pretend it does not exist.

There is no reason whatsoever why idiotic expectations of how a woman must behave should continue to dictate my actions and how I am perceived by others.

As a woman, I do not have the responsibility to “act like a lady.” I do not have to cross my legs demurely because the sight of a female sitting in a typically male position offends someone else’s sensibilities. I will not be silent while ridiculous double standards hinder my ability to live life freely.

It is easy to unintentionally overlook this kind of sexism, as it has become so ingrained in our society.

However, this is the precise reason why microaggressions are incredibly dangerous.

When placing different standards on human beings based on gender is so commonplace that we don’t even realize it is happening, society as a whole runs the risk of accepting the unacceptable as “normal.”

Even I have thought things in the past I am not proud of, have judged other women based on clothing or behavior that I considered “slutty.”

Looking back, I realized that I would not have had the same reaction toward a man who dressed or acted in a similar manner. Nobody is immune from the pervasive nature of double standards and nobody can be completely free of prejudice.

What we can do is examine the way we react to certain situations, and attempt to be better.

I challenge every one of us to take a look at our day-to-day life and try to recognize the casual sexism we perpetuate and receive in a vicious cycle of ignorance.

Though the glass ceiling may soon be a thing of the past because of the prominence of powerful women such as Sheryl Sandberg, Hillary Clinton and Marissa Mayer, the walls caging us in still stand unyielding.

It is time for us to break free of societal constructs, recognize and eliminate microaggressions designed to condition us to accept everyday discrimination and redefine what it means to be a woman.

Club athletes not part of school athletic spirit E mily F ranke

I art by Maddy Mueller

Lack of door decs reduces bonding experiences for lower classmen, takes away from RBHS environment R enata Williams

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oming into high school, everyone wants to find somewhere to fit in, whether one wants to admit it or not. As a sophomore, I really didn’t know where I fit because I felt lost in such a big school filled with upperclassmen. Many classes helped me find my way, guiding me through my first year at RBHS and ultimately setting the tone for my whole high school career.

The one class that stuck out to me, though, was advisory — a supervised Alternating Unassigned Time (AUT) that all sophomores had to attend.

Advisory brought a group of random sophomores together with one or two senior mentors and a teacher. It was often times either a study hall or a time to mingle with friends, but throughout the year, we did activities that —for lack of better terms— forced us to work as a class. These activities not only brought our class together, but invited the school to join in as well. Advisory separated RBHS from any other school and, to me, was by far the best part of my sophomore year.

My favorite task that we did was door decs. Basically, each advisory class got one door in school that they decorated depending on the theme given by Student Council.

In my year, our theme was “paint the town.” It was a versatile theme that allowed for much creativity. My advisory class decorated our door as if it were a city being painted by Sesame Street characters.

We drew the characters, buildings and props in order to bring the theme together. The day right before the door decs got judged, I stayed after school to drip paint down the Sesame Street characters that were holding paint brushes.

The process of working on door decs was great for bringing us sophomores together, but the best part was how the door decs brought the school together. Teachers

judged door decs the next day and picked some to send to the next round of activities. Up and down the hallways, everyone admired the unique door decs. Even if you didn’t win, it was cool to see how creative the other advisories had been with the given theme. Door decs (along with other advisory events) were a tradition that meant something to RBHS and set RBHS apart from other high schools.

My class was the last class to get the chance to experience that tradition of advisory. I don’t see how that’s fair to future classes. Every lower classman that I’ve talked to dreads going to Bruin Block, but I never felt that way about Advisory. And if the school really “had” to implement Bruin Block, I don’t see why the advisory class, which the lower classmen are still required to take on top of Bruin Block, couldn’t have kept up the tradition of the advisory activities.

Of course the school had to change after RBHS added freshmen, but the new rules have treated the class behind me like freshmen as well. Some changes that were made seem to overcompensate for the addition. Instead of being a part of RBHS’ traditions, all generations behind me are losing an important addition to the school.

Sure, students have Bruin Block and Supervised AUT (Advisory), but without the fun activities and school-wide participation, both Bruin Block and Advisory are pointless classes to just fill up time.

When it comes to all of the classes under me, I wish I could give them the great experience I had when I was new to RBHS. My class had the opportunity to truly be a part of the school, as well as create our own adventure out of it.

Door decs should come back into Advisory not only to uphold RBHS’ traditions, but also to allow for the socalled togetherness that Bruin Block claims to give students.

n a family of six, I was born and raised a Bruin. From the time I was little, my family dragged me to and from all of the softball, soccer and basketball games. I saw all of the musicals; I cheered at sports tournaments and show choir contests alike. I became the biggest fan at show choir performances and competitions, and I watched every play my sister worked the stage crew for.

My siblings spent hours at rehearsals and practices, working over-time to make their school look good in the community. They took pride in their school and, seeing how much their school took pride in them, taught me the importance of being involved in high school. I looked forward to the time I would spend as a student at RBHS; the activities I could participate in, the freedom I could have and the pride I could have for, and earn from, my school.

While I dreamed of what my three years here would be like, I never once considered being an athlete. From the time I started playing in seventh grade, lacrosse was a part of my life I never associated with school. It was solely an extracurricular activity. It was an opportunity for enrichment my school could never and, as far as I knew, would never provide.

There had always been a distinction in my mind between what was and what was not a school sport, and lacrosse had always fallen in the latter category. Through all of my sister’s games for Columbia Women’s lacrosse in high school, her tournaments on the Mizzou Club team in college and even my own years with the youth league and CWL, there was always a clear separation between my school and my sport.

Without the opportunity to represent my school, I couldn’t possibly be an athlete by my school’s standards.

Playing for a community or club team is so far separated from being a varsity athlete for RBHS. As a growing sport in the state, and a

little known sport in Columbia, my team never had the opportunity or the skill level to compete in tournaments. Without tournaments, we never brought home trophies, medals or titles. Compared to the state ranked teams, our lack of hardware is drastic.

Not only do high school sanctioned teams receive more medals than my community team, but they also receive more support and praise from the community as well. At each assembly since my sophomore year, every sanctioned RBHS sport has received recognition for its recent successes. While not all teams have earned the same invitation to stand on stage in front of the entire student body, Dr. Jennifer Rukstad, principal, reads each victory aloud.

Not only this, but their achievements line the walls of the gym, as well. Their trophies are on display in the main commons. An athlete at RBHS brings home triumph, pride and hardware for their school, and, in return, earns the respect and adoration of their peers and the administration. When they win, everyone takes part in their boundless victory lap.

When my team wins, we celebrate ourselves on our own. We crash on our goalie; we congratulate each attacker who scored goals, we hit sticks and go out for dinner as a team. When we go undefeated, our coaches and families, along with some friends, pat us on the back for our hard work, and the next day our victory lap is finished and our lives move on.

Without the ability to represent my school and without the support of the community, my team cannot compare to any school team. With this separation between my school’s sports and my own sport, it is difficult not to feel indifferent to the spirit and pride my school has for its athletes. However, athletes are not the only members of the school, and if the school took more notice of all community members, others with my experience might find a better connection to their school spirit.

SPORTS

ALSO INSIDE Girls golf, girls tennis prepare for districts

Bruins to take on rival Jays tomorrow B rett S tover

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he football team will travel to Jefferson City tomorrow for their Week 6 matchup with the Jefferson City High School Jays.

Players on both squads have faced each other often, as the teams have played four times in the past three years. Last year, they played in back-to-back games. The Jays (4-1) defeated the Bruins in the final game of the reguar season at RBHS, but the Bruins (3-2) turned around to spank them in the first round of the playoffs in a 48-18 victory in Jeff City.

However, senior quarterback Logan Twehous suffered a concussion in the homecoming loss, ending the regular season on a sour note.

He was unable to play the following weekend, sitting on the sidelines and watching Carson Ringdahl and Hayden Johnson lead the Bruins to victory.

“It was nice to see just the passion and fight. their matchup with the Jays with a lower record, You know the team could have very easily said, but their only losses are to the current No. 1 and ‘Oh, we can’t win and don’t have a chance,’ but No.5 ranked teams in Class 6. they fought it out They cling to and played great. It their No. 10 rankwas awesome to see ing, but the Jays are and really because unranked on account of them we got on of their sligtly eas-The Bruins defeated the Jays in our playoff roll.” ier schedule. Both That win, movteams have defeated the playoffs 48-14 last year after ing the Bruins to their common oppobeing defeated at home on homenents, DeSmet and 5-5 on the seasonn coming.

HHS, by similarly and breaking a four-The Bruins play one of the toughlarge margins. game losing streak, est schedules in the state, facing Despite the abunbegan the Bruins’ dance of history bemagical run to the multiple ranked teams this year. tween the two teams, state title game -The Bruins average 31.8 points senior offensive where they lost to per game, while the Jays’ defense guard Daniel Wolf Kansas City powergives up only 15 points per game. said that the team house Blue Springs.

The Bruins enter is preparing for the

Extra Points

matchup just like they would any other game. “[We’re] practicing hard and having a good attitude for this week’s game,” Wolf said. “We believe that we can win, so we just need to do things right and get the win.”

The Bruins have struggled this year on both sides of the ball on occasions. The offense has been stagnant at times, but has also shown flashes of brilliance. Twehous believes by focusing and slowing the game down in his mind he can help his team improve.

“As a quarterback, at times everything can feel like it’s going 100 miles per hour,” Twehous said, “but when you slow it down the game just becomes simple. That is something I’ve really been working on.”

The Bruins look to improve their record build off last week’s Providence Bowl win.

The game will be played at Atkins Stadium in Jeff City this Friday, Sept. 26. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

art by Maddy Mueller

Closer

Look Tennis

The RBHS girls tennis team starts off its postseason playing in the districts starting Sept. 30. The tennis team was one step away from the state title last year before losing to Lee’s Summit North

Football The Bruins look to build on a solid 42-23 Providence Bowl win last Friday when they play Jeff City at Atkins Stadium on Sept. 26. photo by Mikaela Acton

photo by Erin Kleekamp

Soccer

After failing to break the 2-2 tie during overtime, the boys soccer team lost a heartbreaker against HHS Sept.

16 in a penalty shootout. The loss snapped the Bruins five year winning streak. photo by Suryanshi Rawat

C2 SPORTS

www.bearingnews.org • The Rock • September 25, 2014

Soccer drops

nail-biter to Hickman in PKs J ohn F lanegin

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photo by Madelyn Stewart

photos by Suryanshi Rawat

photos by Suryanshi Rawat

photos by Suryanshi Rawat

Frustrating loss: (Above) Junior Brett Bales takes on HHS midfielder Matias Aura in a foot race in front of goal. (Left) Senior Cooper Kaufman out leaps a HHS player to head the ball. (Middle) The team huddles at halftime for a pep talk from and to discuss strategy. (Right) Junior defender Yusuf Shoune stretches to corral a pass before turning upfield and looking for a pass.

t was heartbreak for the Boys soccer team (3-6) at Lemone Field on Sept. 16 after a 2-2 (0-3 penalty kicks) loss to crosstown rival HHS (63). The Kewpies snapped an eight-game losing streak over a span of nearly five years to the Bruins after the win.

The Bruins were locked in early, with the opening goal coming off a 30-yard screamer from junior forward Tarnue Tyler just 18 minutes in. It didn’t take long to find the back of the net again when junior midfielder Brett Bales cashed in a free kick from 25 yards extending the Bruins’ lead to 2-0 with 25 minutes past in the first half.

The team went into halftime confident and looked to add more goals to its already impressive margin.

“We wanted to bring the same intensity,” senior forward Joey Koetting said, “and play from the first half into the second.”

Seven minutes after halftime, RBHS had an unfortunate own goal when Bales attempted to clear a Hickman cross and deflected it into his own net. Senior goalkeeper Andy Imhoff was left frozen and watched the ball sail over his head for a Kewpie score, leaving HHS with only a one point deficit.

The Kewpies struck again and tied up the game with 11 minutes remaining in regulation when Samuel Hosmer-Quint slid the ball past Imhoff after receiving a penalty kick.

Junior defender Jonah Lage noticed a shift in momentum after HHS scored the equalizer.

“We started seeing HHS pick up their intensity and start to build up more confidence when they finally tied us,” Lage said, “The game got a little rougher and a bit sloppy in those dying moments.”

After regulation ended in a 2-2 stalemate, the game required two additional halves each ten minutes long. Both teams saw chances, but Imhoff and and Hickman goalie Jacob Gunn made pivotal saves coming down the stretch.

Koetting and the Bruins prepared for a penalty shootout, which put the teams’ winning ways in jeopardy.

“We felt that it was ours to win and that we needed to continue the winning tradition,” Koetting said, “I wouldn’t say we felt too under pressure, but there’s always that additional element when there’s a big crowd against your rivals.”

The shootout began with a Kewpie score and ended with a Bruins’ miss when Bales’ shot was returned by Gunn after a great diving save.

The Hickman crowd erupted as a wave of students began to swarm onto the pitch. The five year, eight game reign had ended, David had beaten Goliath.

“This was a big wake up call, and we have some things to work out as a team, we should use this defeat as a motivator. ” Lage said, “But I think I speak for both teams when I say we can’t wait to play them in round two.”

Golf swings into districts D erek Wang

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he RBHS girls golf team will tee off on its postseason run on Sept. 29. This year, they hope to win state. Head coach Melissa Coil said the team has been hard at work preparing for districts.

While the team hopes to make it through sectionals, Coil has trouble gauging their competition.

“It’s hard telling where we’re at,” Coil said. “We are certainly competitive but we haven’t seen everyone in our district yet so we don’t have a full picture of where we sit in the whole field of teams. We play the course this week so that’ll be a good gauge for us.”

Junior Julia Hill said the team has been playing as much as they can in preparation for Districts.

Hill said the team has been working hardest on their mental game, which has caused them to struggle in the past. Last year, although RBHS placed 2nd in district 4 of the Class 2 competition, they were unable to make it past sectionals.

“I really want us to do well this year so we can try and make it to

State,” Hill said. “I look forward to working towards a win.”

The entire team is setting high expectations for themselves. Senior Sam Farmer believes getting through districts is a very reasonable goal, since the team placed second last year, coming behind only Jefferson City. Farmer believes she has a shot at being one of the top individual players as well.

“As a team, I expect us to make it out [of districts] by being a top two team,” Farmer said. “As an individual I expect to place in the top five, hopefully I can make a run at individual winner. I think we have a really good shot at winning [districts].”

Coil said she is looking forward to the competition no matter the outcome. She believes the team is sound but needs work mentally.

Most importantly, however, Coil wants the team to feel like it played the best they possibly could, whatever the result.

“I want them to walk away from the course feeling like they gave it their all,” Coil said. “If they do that, it doesn’t matter where we finish.”

photo by Erin Kleekamp

Looking ahead: Freshman Madeline Monsees surveys the green as she lines up her putt on Sept. 16. She played for the JV team in a closely contested game they won against HHS and BHS.

BEARING DOWN

SPORTS C3

www.bearingnews.org • The Rock • September 25, 2014

Girls tennis gears up mentally and physically for a deep post-season run H arsh S ingh

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n five days, the RBHS girls tennis team will begin its quest for a state title by playing in the class two district eight, district tournament held at Bethel park, the Bruin’s home court.

The team returns four starters from the 2013-2014 team who lost a heartbreaking match against Lee’s Summit North in the state championship game last year. After preparing for the postseason for a year, the Bruins are ready to make another playoff push.

Freshman Faith Wright is readying herself for districts for the first time ever and said she is mentally and physically ready for the tough road ahead.

“We are conditioning ourselves to be able to spend multiple hours competing on the court and reminding each other to stay mentally tough in pressure situations,” Wright said. “We are determined to act and support each other as a team, and help pump everyone for the hard matches leading to state.”

Last year, in a grueling state semifinal, RBHS edged St. Joseph’s Academy 5-4 in a hard-fought match.

To be motivated, Wright said their head coach, Ben Loeb, talks to them after each practice about ways to remain focused and composed.

“Coach reminds us each practice of how we need to work hard every time we set foot on [the] court and to do everything in our power to be prepared for state as best as we can,” Wright said.

“Our goal is to be focused and get into that winner mindset mode to take it all the way this year.”

The more experienced players on the

team keep the younger players focused for the challenge ahead. Junior Tess Lovig, who is on the varsity team for her third year, said the senior members are trying to prepare freshmen Katherine Dudley and Wright for how postseason matches will feel as it is an experience that is hard to describe due to the intesity.

“Before districts, everyone is very excited because it is the beginning of another amazing journey and every match we play brings us closer together as a team,” Lovig said. “We are all working so hard so that we can achieve the results we want.”

The players believe they can go all the way. Lovig said the team has a positive attitude about the postseason this year, which can help their mental strength for the upcoming matches.

“We have fun at practice, but it is also very intense and hard working,” Lovig said. “We have a better chance of achieving our goals by practicing hard, playing well under pressure and remaining as close knit of a team as we are.”

Loeb, like his players, expects the team to at least make the final four. He said high intensity practices are key to reaching that goal.

“I want us to be like the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs came so close two seasons ago and then came back to win it all this past June. I want us to be like them,” Loeb said. “We need to hold ourselves accountable to earn success. I think Lee’s Summit North is the toughest team in our state that we have played. The road will not be easy as we are in a more challenging sectional than we used to be as well.”

photo by Mikaela Acton

Tossing it up: Junior Ronni Faird tosses a tennis ball in the air as she goes through the motion of serving.

art by Maddy Mueller

Wright overcomes injury, competes at a high level D erek Wang

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s talented young students join RBHS, the older students often find that it is difficult to keep their spots on varsity.

Freshman Faith Wright is one of the talented freshmen who is on a RBHS varsity athletics team. She has been playing tennis for 20 hours a week since she was 11 years old.

Throughout the years, Wright has been spending the majority of her time taking lessons at the Country Club of Missouri, improving her skills in order to become the number two player on the school team.

“Just after a few months that I picked up a racket, I improved so much,” Wright said.

“That made me want to strive to become even better and see how far I could really go with it.

I’ve kept improving over these few years.”

RBHS head tennis coach Ben Loeb said Wright has developed into an excellent tennis player and has great chemistry with the rest of the team. Loeb appreciates how much effort Wright has put in to improve her skills over the season.

“She has been playing very well,” Loeb

said. “She has made a lot of progress in both that the team is more of a family than just her singles and doubles games. The thing I like teammates.

“I have 17 sisters,” Wright said. “We win most about Faith is that she is very coachable.

She is willing to listen and make some adjust- together and lose together, and no matter the outcome, we love the sport and all love doing ments.”

Freshman Katherine Dudley, Wright’s it together.”

However, what Wright enjoys the most doubles partner, said she really enjoys getting to play doubles with Wright, especially since about tennis is just being able to play the sport. they are the same age. Dudley said that she Wright said that once she started playing tennis, she began to spend a lot and Wright complement of her free time on the tennis each others’ skills perfectly I have 17 sisters. We court, striving to become the when they play together, win together and lose player she is now. with Wright staying back together, and no matter “I live for the points out on to cover the baseline and the court that make me feel Dudley moving forward to the outcome, we love like a professional tennis playguard the net. the sport... er and give me that moment of “Faith is very strong at Faith Wright why I play the game,” Wright the baseline and is very freshman said. aggressive,” Dudley said.

However, practicing for “We work very well together because we know that we both want to that much for so long comes at a risk. Wright win and do our very best. She is a strong com- had to stop playing tennis altogether for more petitor and a great partner.” than than a third of the year due to a condiThe whole team is interconnected with each tion called osteochondritis issecans. A piece of other, with the ultimate success of the entire bone had chipped off of her elbow, embedding team dependent on the individual successes itself in the muscles of her right arm and renof each member. Because of this, Wright feels dering it useless.

“I had elbow surgery from overuse of playing tennis in the beginning of the year,” Wright said. “My right elbow has been hurting since I was 10, the doctors thought I had tennis elbow or tendinitis. One practice it finally just gave out and it locked up. I couldn’t bend my elbow whatsoever and was in a lot of pain. We went to the emergency room and I had surgery the next day. Not being able to live the only life that I’ve known for four months was the worst, but the feeling coming back was something that I can’t even put into words.”

Wright is one of the leaders on the team, despite her young age. She had to beat almost every single other Bruin in order to obtain her position. Wright said that she felt a little more pressure than usual because she felt she had to prove herself as a freshman. However, Wright does not feel any animosity from her older teammates.

“I’ve known the older girls way before [the] season started,” Wright said. “They know my abilities as a tennis player and even though I’m sure they want as high a spot on the team as they can, they want the team as a whole to do well. We’ve become even better friends and now teammates, which is awesome.”

C4 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

www.bearingnews.org • The Rock • September 25, 2014

Walking clubs become daily routine for staff E mily U nterschutz

A

merica is almost in the lead with the second highest population of people who are obese. More than one-third of the population is obese, more prone to heart attacks and at risk for diseases such as diabetes.

The staff at RBHS, however, is tackling the problem head-on.

“About three and a half years ago I weighed 65 pounds more than I do right now,” Performing Arts secretary Jan Fowler said. “I was at serious risk for diabetes, so I decided to start walking when I had a chance.”

According to betterhealth.vic.gov, half an hour of walking can reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes and cut body fat.

Fowler said she watched a video that explained how walking quickly for 30 minutes could add up to as much exercise as walking two miles. The healthier she became, the easier and faster walking became for her. She has become so used to walking, she stores tennis shoes in her desk drawer to prepare her for the opportunity.

“People come and say to me, ‘Oh, I should be doing that.’ I think it really does encourage other people to move,” Fowler said. “It’s a nice mental break from work.”

Junior Vaughn O’Gorman said he walks to relieve stress.

“I actually started because I saw a couple teachers walking in the halls,” O’Gorman said. “I didn’t realize it would have this much of an impact on me. I feel more comfortable going up the stairs. It’s easier to longboard, even to skateboard. I’ve never felt, and I don’t know if this is a cliché thing to say, more rejuvenated. I feel better. I feel healthier.”

The Huffington Post agrees, saying that walking makes a person calmer because walking releases endorphins, successfully making the exerciser less stressed.

Japanese teacher Shawn Beaty says that he also walks, but in the morning before school.

“I saw the bookkeeper walking in the mornings, too, and decided it’s more fun to walk with other people. You can’t get bored that way,” Beaty said. “I’ve invited other people, too, but they’re all just health haters.”

Beaty said he started walking simply because he was bored, but now it’s turned into more of a social gathering.

English teacher Debbie McDonough agrees, and says that although she doesn’t walk at school, she has her own squad at home.

“I’m awake at 5 a.m. each morning and walk with my neighbors. We call ourselves Team Chamois,” McDonough said. “It really is a positive and healthy way to start the day.”

photo by Caylea Erickson

Health in Hand: With spare time on her hands, Performing Arts secretary Jan Fowler walks a few laps on the track Fri., Sept.

19. Storing a pair of tennis shoes in her desk drawer, Fowler walks whenever she can.

photo by Sury Rawat

A taste of the country: Bradford Research Center hosted a Tomato Festival Thurs., Sept. 4 where visitors could sample a variety of tomatoes, salsa and peppers. Along with food tastings, the festival also had a Kids’ Corner where senior Kristen Tarr supervised the milk tasting station. Tarr also escorted children and their parents on hay rides to the corn maze.

You say tomato, I say the future of environmental sustenance A bby K empf

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n an early Aug. morning, senior Kristen Tarr began the journey to her internship at Bradford Research Farms on Rangeline Road, far from her home on the south side. Dressed in holey jeans, boots and a T-shirt with the sleeves cut off and bearing battle scars from trimming hay, Tarr prepared herself to work and learn.

The concept of helping others has always intrigued Tarr. However, she has recently realized another passion: the environment.

“I had other interests in helping people, like special education or becoming a nurse, just helping people in general, but then I realized I could really help people in securing the future — a sustainable future,” Tarr said, “so I am really interested in sustainability practices, and I got interested in that by seeing how much of a lack [of sustainability practices] there was.”

Her interest in nature combined with her love of science and math meant Bradford Research Farms was just the place for her.

She enrolled in the EEE Internship program with Kathryn Fishman-Weaver and quickly began to pursue a spot at the farm.

“I sent my resumé to Bradford Research farms, and I got in contact with the superintendent and I met with them and told them about my interest in environmental science and ecology,” Tarr said, “so they gave me some ideas of projects I could check out over the summer.”

Tim Reinbott, superintendent of Bradford Research Farms, said Tarr was not only a good intern, but was also a big help to an ongoing study that Reinbott is conducting at the farm.

“The project was about cover crops, and that’s a big sustainable, agricultural thing right now,” Reinbott said. “[Tarr], on that project, worked on the whole thing. She helped lay all the plots out; she got all the pieces together for me, and then she put the study out herself. She really did an excellent job on that.”

The research farm helped Tarr dive into the world of sustainability through projects

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concerning fallow crops. One of her favorite pertain to her exact interests, she still learned projects was the drought simulator, which that she was right about her passion. Labs tests to see which crops can better withstand and research are in her future.

“I want to do droughts. This inforclimate research. mation enables farmers I really like data to grow crops that will and working with grow well, no matter math, so I rewhat conditions the ally want to be replants have to endure. searcher and be in With access to this ina lab and work on formation, farmers will studies and then ultimately get the bigpublish them. But gest yield possible. also I’m interested Besides the drought in sustainability so simulator, Tarr also doing lots of studobserved the compost ies on that and project at the farm. The maybe helping compost facility helps the community be with community susmore sustainable,” tainability by creating Tarr said. “Also, I fertilizers along with want to work for helping to relieve landthe government fills, Tarr said. and get more laws “They have a big in place for procompost facility that tecting forests and composts some of feature photo by Suryanshi Rawat our resources, like Mizzou’s waste from our rivers, and their dining hall,” Tarr [limiting] pollusaid. “It’s really cool I want to do climate research. tion and regulating because they add some I really like data and working how much toxic bacteria into it and heat with math so I really want to waste and garbage it up to speed up the be researcher and be in a lab... can be dumped. process. It smells reKristen Tarr, I’m not sure really ally bad.” senior but somewhere like But not even the that.” overpowering stench Tarr said Bradford Research Farm was could deter Tarr, who already knew research was the route for her. Neither could entire the perfect opportunity for a Columbia teen like her. The lessons she learned at the farm days filled with planting.

“One time I went out there and I planted will stick with her for a lifetime and give her for the whole morning. We planted mari- some peace of mind, reinforcing her feeling golds, cosmos, dill — like the stuff in dill that she is going down the right career path.

“Being out at the farm, I get to see what pickles. We just planted so much. And then we pulled a bunch of weeds from another research specialists do on a daily basis. All plot, and that was a lot of work,” Tarr said. these guys work for the University and their “There was another day when I was out all entire job is getting to conduct research unafternoon. We planted 40 rows of eight to 10 der the name of the University and publish plants, so if you do the math on that, that’s a their findings,” Tarr said. “I was out in a real lot of plants. Those plants were cotton, pea- work environment for something I’m interested in doing. It was showing me a model nuts, and sesame.”

Even when the work at the farm didn’t of what my actual career could look like.”

Madeline, When you were three, you sat on my knee.

Always blowing bubbles, and getting into troubles.

Now that you’re a senior, You are much meaner.

You said nothing of the date that senior ads were due, so now, my dear, I’m late!

Your message stuck in the cue.

I’m scribbling the thoughts I want printed forever on this dirty napkin, I have no clue whatsoever what to do with you, my forgetful child.

For emancipation, you should file.

Just kidding! At least I think.

But seriously, you stink.

Love, Mom and Dad

Forms for ads can be found on the RBHS homepage. Senior pictures to replace your school pictures are due November 21st. Yearbooks can only be bought first semester and they are $50!

Can be bought online or in room 328/329. Link is also on the RBHS homepage.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY C5

www.bearingnews.org • The Rock • September 25, 2014

artwork by Ellie Stitzer

Connecting the aggression N icole S chroeder

T

elevision today is a near-daily ritual in almost every household, with the average American watching television for about nine years in their lifetime, according to a study

by A.C. Nielsen Co. in 2013.

One genre of television show, reality TV, is rising in popularity, with an estimated 8.45 million viewers alone watching the 2011 season premiere of Jersey Shore, according to the show’s ratings on MTV. Despite these statistics, however, a new study by Bryan Gibson at Central Michigan University shows the aggressive behaviors that are often featured on reality TV shows can lead to the same behaviors in their audience.

The study, which was published in August 2014, discovered that audiences who watched one episode of a reality show that displayed aggressive behaviors, such as Jersey Shore or Real Housewives, reacted more aggressively afterwards when asked to press a keyboard button faster than what they believed was another participant in the study, with the reward

of playing a loud noise in the other participant’s ear when they won.

Those who watched the aggressive shows, rather than reality shows such as Little People, Big World, were observed to play the sound both louder and longer than other participants.

The results of the study may seem debatable on the surface, but school psychologist Sara Gay said she believes the aggressive behaviors displayed on these shows can have an effect on their audiences, particularly on those who have aggressive tendencies to begin with.

“I think that the…significant factor is just the person’s background and their previous history of aggression and violence,” Gay said.

“If they have a history of being violent or aggressive, or just being in really hostile relationships, then that might be a trigger for them, but for someone like me who does not have any of those kinds of relationships in my life it’s just kind of…mindless entertainment.”

As a student that enjoys such entertainment through reality TV, sophomore Lindsay Durdle said she enjoys watching shows such as Keeping Up with the Kardashians and Dance Moms,

but feels they can often be verbally aggressive towards each other on the shows.

“They are always fighting,” Durdle said, “but it might be staged, so I don’t know how much of it is real.”

Junior Sean Garfias said he also believes the shows are staged and because of this, chooses not to watch them.

“It’s not actually reality TV. Most of [those shows] are scripted,” Garfias said. “My family and I used to live in Orange County, and my brother saw a couple of his old girlfriends on [The New Housewives of Orange County], and he got in contact with one of them … and she said, ‘Oh, of course it’s not real. It’s all scripted…. It’s not really reality.’”

Despite the knowledge that such shows can often be staged, Garfias still said he believes reality shows can have a negative impact on people and can encourage aggressive behavior.

“I know, for me, what I would think is that if you’re around something that much, and you watch reality TV shows… religiously,” Garfias said, “I feel like you could...take on characteristics or something and possibly become aggres-

sive.”

Sophomore Tyson Jamieson agrees with Garfias, even though he doesn’t watch reality shows often and he still feels the characters in the shows are often aggressive toward one another.

“From what I’ve seen, they sound very snarky and short-tempered. On some shows there have actually been fights that break out,” Jamieson said. “If [the audience member] is impressionable, stuff like that will leave a mark.”

Gay said that although reality shows can impress aggressive behaviors on their audience members, she believes as long as people are watching them with a rational mindset the shows can still be a harmless form of entertainment.

“I think one way [to watch the show without becoming aggressive] is to remember that… even though it’s called reality TV, oftentimes it may not be,” Gay said. “If a person watching this TV feels stressed or has violent or aggressive tendencies, then they need to find healthy ways to cope with it, aside from watching that TV.”

Hooked on technology Call of the social world pesters attention spans during class A bby K empf

S

enior Sarah Nelson pulls out her phone for the fifth time during her Advanced Placement Biology class. She knows she is just going to see another text message from her mom, quite possibly containing a cute picture of her ten year old sister, but she still clicks the center button of her iPhone compulsively every few minutes.

Nelson knows firsthand how difficult it can be to ignore the pull to use her device during class.

“It is difficult for us to sit there and not be on our phones,” during

class, Nelson said. “If we aren’t on our phones, we are thinking about being on our phones, so it’s hard.”

With the multitude of technology, tablets, laptops and the infamous iPhone available in teenagers’ lives, media consumption and time spent online is at an all time high among children, according to a new study released by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The same study reports that students ages 11-14 spend an average of eight hours a day absorbing media in forms such as music, computers, cell phones, televisions and video games. No matter the form of media being consumed, students are getting technological exposure by staring at screens.

Not only is the amount of screen time increasing, rates in ownership of electronic devices are also rising. Just from 2005 to 2010, ownership of cell phones in children ages eight to 18 increased from 39 percent to 66 percent.

Technology is becoming such an essential part of students’ lives, especially with the widespread use of online textbooks and online classes, that for some, it has grown into an addiction.

Dr. Christopher Engelhardt, a researcher for the Department of Health Psychology at Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders at the University of Missouri, said addiction to technology

is becoming a serious problem, to focus on it,” Perry said. “I do with eight to 10 percent of the know that technology in the classroom can be a distraction.” population addicted to gaming.

Perry consistently sees stu“People can become addicted to internet and video games for a dents zoned out with dim blue variety of reasons. For example, light casting shadows on their video games, faces, paying litin particular, If we aren’t on our tle to no attention often feature phones, we are think- to the physical variable reoutside of ing about being on our world ward schedthem. phones, so it’s hard. ules, much “I see people like slot walking down Sarah Nelson, machines at the hall and they senior a casino,” are just checking Engelhardt said. “But other fac- their phones. Everybody has their tors...might include playing video phone out,” Perry said. “I think games for social reasons, [like] as a society it’s an appendage to ‘my friends play them so I play us now, so instead of greeting my them too.’ Playing video games fellow people of humanity, I’m is an attempt to escape the real checking in [on my phone].” world.”

Addiction to technology is not Once someone checks into the just about constantly checking virtual world, they check out of your iPhone for a new message or reality. Immersed in the social seeing if iOS 8 had finally downsphere, the present world gets loaded. pushed to the back of the mind When technology stops people and sometimes even disappears. from performing daily life tasks, Students may think they can mul- this is when the addiction truly titask, but studies conducted by begins, and it can be dangerous, David E. Meyer at the Univer- Engelhardt said. sity of Michigan have proved this “People have died from deep isn’t true. vein thrombosis because they Social studies teacher Debra played video games for extended Perry sees the ineffectiveness of periods of time,” Engelhardt said. students attempting to be on their “Game addiction...is not simply device and be present in class playing a lot of video games. It’s concurrently. more than that. Specifically, the “We all think we can multi- games need to negatively intertask and get more done, but per- fere with daily functioning [such haps what we are getas] missing work or not showting done isn’t being ering in order to play done as well as video games.” it could be if we were able

a piece of your

ATTENTION: Keep notes Prioritize tasks Take a quick break in between Set a timer Create a reward system “Chunk” tasks together

artwork by Maddy Mueller

information source: www.health.com

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT C7

www.bearingnews.org • The Rock • September 25, 2014

1.

2.

photo by Erin Kleekamp

photo by Erin Kleekamp

1. At halftime during last week’s Providence Bowl, Andrew Gleen, Garret Pangborn, Louis Hendricks and Nick Whitworth play the saxophone during the woodwind feature of Moonstruck, this years theme.

2. Spinning her flag freshman color guard member Mariah Dasczynski provides a burst of color against the night sky. The guard adds visual impact to a field show that the band alone cannot.

3. The Emerald Regiment practices in the early morning hours of Friday, Sept. 19.

The band rehearses together for around 12 hours per week, with groups like the front ensemble and guard meeting even more often.

Emerald Regiment takes first at St. Charles West C aylea E rickson

A

t their first competition in St. Charles West High School last weekend, the Emerald Regiment brought home five trophies, including first place overall.

In the past six years that the band has competed at this competition, this is the best the musicians have ever done. Following this success, the band still has three more competitions this season.

“The Emerald Regiment swept the competition, winning all caption awards [in] our division and overall,” drum major Emily Vu said. “For preliminary in our division we got best musical effect,

best visual effect and first in the Maroon division. For finals we got best musical effect … and first place overall.”

Not only did the judges at St. Charles West think the RBHS Emerald Regiment performed favorably, but the students who marched felt they did well. Freshman Kaelyn Kovarik, new to marching band felt her final performance was stronger than her preliminary performance.

“Personally, as a first time marcher, I messed up a lot [and made] more mistakes than usual, likely due to nerves,” Kovarik said.

“By the finals, I was back into my groove for the most part and felt good about how I did.”

Although the Emerald Regiment

received first in all the awards at St. Charles West, Vu looks forward to improving Moonstruck, this years marching band theme, and to see how the band progresses throughout the season. While the band’s success is a big deal, assistant band director, Patrick Sullivan said there is more to competitions than winning.

“Our band is very competitive, but even though we want to be successful at the next three competitions, we want students to understand that [winning] isn’t the main focus on why we have marching band,” Sullivan said. “We’ve been discussing, even before St. Charles West, a list of things that we prioritize and what we want to fix and

tweak. It’s still early so we’re looking at design issues. We’re doing some tweaks before what we consider the final project on the field.”

At most competitions the Emerald Regiment attend, they have a preliminary round where they perform during a 15 minute time slot.

“At the end of preliminary competition, scores are tallied and awards are announced for each division in awards ceremony,” Sullivan said. “Top scoring bands are chosen to compete in finals.”

The Emerald Regiment hopes to continue performing well at the next three competitions, the next one being the Owasso Marching Competition in Oklahoma.

“The way [competitions] work,

we unload our buses, go in and watch a few bands and then we go back and there’s an hour and a half warm up process,” Sullivan said.

“We get into uniforms, warm up visually and musically, and then we have to get the whole band to the stadium ...We do that process twice if we make finals.”

Though they strive to be successful in their competitions, winning is not their only goal.

“We want to build a marching band program that builds success upon success and isn’t just about competitions,” Sullivan said. “We do things very well at a high level and when we go on these competitions we’ll sometimes be rewarded for this success.”

3.

photo by Devesh Kumar

Columbian youth engage in Hobbit Day festivities E mily Franke

I

n the midst of Tolkien Week, Sept. 2127, one special day marks the birthday celebration of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins.

Fans of J.R.R. Tolkien’s famed The Lord of the Rings trilogy honor the two beloved Hobbits by participating in Hobbit-themed celebrations and reminiscing the culture of Middle Earth, all in tribute of the ‘Long Awaited Party’ which opens The Fellowship of the Ring, according to daysoftheyear.com.

On Tuesday, in celebration of this special day, children ages eight and up participated in hobbit related activities. This program, hosted by children’s and youth services librarian Johnathan Shoff and children’s team member Dana Bocke, provided free, hobbit-themed fun.

“Dana and I saw 17 lovely people for our Hobbit Day program. After making name tags using Dwarvish runes, Dana showed her awesome presentation that included trivia, riddles, and a look at the latest movie trailer. Then kids made books using all sorts of decorations,” Shoff said.

“Kids proceeded to try and slay Smaug the dragon with a Nerf crossbow. Finally, everyone had to go find all 13 dwarves in the Children’s Department. Numerous kids learned where the holiday selection is located, as the clue for Balin the dwarf was that he looks like Santa Claus. Everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves, and we got many thanks and even a couple hugs.”

Each season the library asks children’s department staff to submit one or two program ideas, most of which are accepted, Shoff said. After the submission and acceptance of his program idea, Shoff and Bocke spent around four hours taking the

event from the planning stage to setting everything up for it.

“I’m a huge fan of Tolkien’s work,” Shoff said. “And with The Hobbit being consistently checked out in the Children’s Department, even before the movie started up, I thought it might be fun to do a program.”

Additionally, RBHS seniors Alex Isgriggs and CJ Phillips plan to show the 1977 cartoon The Hobbit tonight at the Secret Film Society’s meeting. This not-sosecret showing of the rarely seen Middle Earth classic will provide students an opportunity to see the newly remastered cartoon, Isgriggs said.

“Most people haven’t seen the cartoon,” Isgriggs said. “And for a while it’s been kind of unavailable in a good condition because ... the DVDs were out of print,” After first viewing his dad’s VHS of The Hobbit (cartoon) as a young child, Isgriggs was already familiar with Tolkien’s story before he read The Hobbit in fifth grade. After reading it completely in eighth grade, he said, he felt like he knew the story better and could see where the cartoon really came from because of Tolkien’s descriptive writing.

“The cool thing about J.R.R. Tolkien the way that he writes. He’s very descriptive ... because he’s trying to paint a picture, he’s trying to create this whole new world that no one’s ever heard of before, and he can do it in a way that’s not so inaccessible,” Isgriggs said. “Hes’ just a very detailed writer and really gives you a feeling about what things look like, how things act.”

Read the rest of the story on Bearingnews.org:

Wind Ensemble to perform at MMEA convention G raham R atterman

T

he band program recently heard a sweet melody as the wind ensemble has been selected to perform at the prestigious Missouri Music Educators Association In-Service Workshop held Jan. 28-31 at the Tan-Tar-A resort in Osage Beach.

Near the end of last school year, the wind ensemble began the audition process for performing at the MMEA convention. Before June 1 the band had to submit a recording with three pieces. The recording is taken out of state to a selection committee that analyzes the piece.

The recording is reviewed with the name of the school being withheld and only an assigned number representing the school. Elementary through collegiate bands are able to send in a tape. Of the 65 high school bands that submitted tapes, only seven were selected to perform at the conference.

“It’s difficult because most bands don’t send one in unless they think they have a good shot,” Steve Mathews, the wind ensemble director, said. “Your chances are more that you won’t make it then you will be selected.”

Other selected high school ensembles include Jefferson, Kearney, Lindbergh, Orrick and Timberland.

“When you’re looking at MMEA, every high school in the state can audition for it,” senior

percussionist Jared Meyer said. “So being one of the few high schools that get selected to go in front of an audience that actually knows what they’re listening to is not only an honor, it’s a little scary, but I think it’ll be a lot of fun.”

Being selected for MMEA is nothing new for RBHS. In 2010 RBHS’s wind ensemble’s performance at MMEA was very well received, drawing a standing ovation. In 2013, the jazz ensemble’s performance received favorable reviews from those in attendance.

“The audience is music teachers so they’re critics,” Mathews said.

With the prestige of the event comes added pressure. Even though it is currently competitive marching season, wind ensemble has started holding additional rehearsals. Mathews also plans on bringing in collegiate level directors to clinic the ensemble and to get a different perspective.

Normally district band tryouts are in March, but MMEA in January will force wind ensemble members to reach a higher level of playing earlier.

“The expectations are higher for Rock Bridge just like a lot of our other programs here at school, like athletics, speech and debate or culinary,” Mathews said. “The expectations are high, and I don’t think it’s so much the expectations I put the kids; I think a lot of it is they know, and they put the expectation on themselves.”

photo by Mikeala Acton

art by Maddy Mueller

Wind Ensemble practices for the Missouri Music Educators Association state convention The group was one of six high school bands selected in the state.

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