WEST SIDE
Boys Basketball 2013/2014 p. 12
STORIES
May 2014 • Wauwatosa West High School • 11400 W Center Street, Wauwatosa WI • Volume 18, Issue 2
Students Manage Stress
Adeeb Taujoo • Staff Writer With the stressful end of the semester in sight and the promise of final grades going on high school transcripts, some students are finding these months very stressful. In a survey of Wauwatosa West students, more than 90% percent said they felt stressed. “I’m stressed because I don’t have enough time to accomplish everything I want to in one day,” said junior Allen Witkowski, “Its just an impossible task.” Many students find themselves juggling school work, extracurriculars, and jobs into a 24 hour day. When asked what the most stressful part of their agenda was, over 50% of students replied that homework causes the most anxiety. Senior Jon Weithaus said that he often has too much to do outside of school. “I’m taking 6 classes this semester and I have a bunch of homework,” said Weithaus. “It would be difficult to accomplish everything if I didn’t have a study hall.” Wauwatosa West social worker Sue Walczak agreed with the notion that students have very packed schedules. • See Stress on page 7
District Combats School Illness There is a whooping cough outbreak in Tosa, and although there have not been any cases at West, as district nurse Sally Roepe said, “that doesn’t mean that there won’t be.” According to Roepe, whooping cough, or pertussis, cycles through communities about every five years, and is supposed to last about a year. Tosa is in year number three. Roepe explains that rumors that East High School almost shut down due to the outbreak are untrue, however. “I know there were some rumors going around that we were going to close the school down and I think it was wishful thinking, but no, no. There are no plans to do that,” she said. “... With something like this, we don’t have any rules or limitations on anything.” This is due to the length of the incubation period of the illness. The time between being exposed to whooping cough and actually getting it can be up to three weeks. “That’s a very long period of time,” Roepe said, “... you could go for quite a while and not have kids with it and all of a sudden you’ve got a few more kids who have it. In the meantime, everybody else who did have it is taking their medicine, they’re better, they’re back at school already.” Whooping cough isn’t the only concern, however. There is a wide range of illnesses going around. West’s administrative assistant Betty Marks said she sees the most illness going around during December and January. According to Marks, 30 students on average call in sick every day. Official data was not available. Dr. Heather Ho, family care physician at the Glendale clinic, explained that the reason for this is up for debate. “Some of the theories are that we’re all inside a little bit more, so we don’t get out and get fresh air. We recirculate the air in the rooms and the buildings and that may cause more illness. Another theory is that when we go outside, the cold weather is a little bit more harsh on our mucous membranes, or the inside of our nose and our mouth, and that puts us at increased risk for getting a viral or bacterial infection because the mucous membrane has been damaged by the cold,” she said. Winter weather is not the only factor that’s playing into students getting sick. “Well, it’s quite common for diseases to spread easily in schools,” Ho said. Nicole Stevens, medical assistant at the Glendale Clinic, agreed, saying: “Schools have a lot of people in small spaces.”
• See Illness on page 3
Photo by Juli Johnson
Aleksandra Zielonka • Broadcast Editor
KEEPING IN TOUCH - During her 5th period study hall in the Trojan Room, Senior Jade Braggs checks the scripture of the day on her Bible App. “I think there are so many positive ways to use technology and the internet. It is unfortunate we misuse such an amazing tool to spread negativity.” Braggs estimates teachers use the BYOD “tech go” policy about once or twice a day on average.
Rise of the Cyberbully Zoe Stack • Staff Writer At one point or another everyone has had something hurtful said to them. Even if you’re one of the most famous teens on the planet like Justin Bieber, you aren’t safe from these comments. The pop star says that the media has been throwing jabs at his personal life, which are, “no [different] than bullying that goes on in school.” But what sort of bullying does happen in school these days? The digital age has definitely given rise to a bullying 2.0. However, opinions vary as to how serious a problem cyberbullying is. For those that have gone through cyberbullying, there is no question of how important, painful or life changing it can be. “So many people are hurting because of what people say to them and they don’t really realize
that your words can kill someone.” Says one victim of cyberbullying. She has been both physically and cyber bullied and the cyberbullying has continued to this day. She knows only too well the hardships one can endure after hurtful comments have been made. She has recently been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, and has had eating disorders, all in response to the bullying she has undergone. She is not alone, however, in her struggles against online attackers. One student moved here in August to get away from the cyberbullying that she underwent at her former school. She says that her family would never have moved here if it wasn’t for what happened to her at school. • See Cyberbullying on page 9