2014-04-18-insert

MENNONI T E TATE

I OWA

HI GHSCHOOL

WESTCLEARCREEK

AMANA

C I T Y

SCATTERGOODFRIENDS

Iowa Mennonite School

Clear Creek Amana

PHOTO BY//BRITTANI LANGLAND

PHOTO BY//BRITTANI LANGLAND

“West high, best high”

... or so the saying goes. Without a doubt, many of West’s students have a strong sense of school pride. However, not every successful student is a Trojan. In this insert, you will take a peek into five different schools: Iowa Mennonite School, Scattergood, Elizabeth Tate High, Clear Creek Amana and Iowa City High.

Scattergood

PHOTO BY//LUSHIA ANSON

For more coverage go to

wsspaper.com

Iowa City High PHOTO BY//JAYCIE WEATHERS

2 INSERT APRIL 2014

Elizabeth Tate High

PHOTO BY//LUCY BLAIR

DESIGN BY//BRITTANI LANGLAND

IOWA MENNONITE SCHOOL

IMS is a small private school near Kalona, that focuses on Mennonite values.

ABOUT IMS STUDENT POPULATION 100 students

TUITION

$7,900 for non-Mennonite church members, $4,400 for members.

DRESS CODE

No camouflage, as it goes against the nonviolent way of life.

SCHEDULE

Block scheduling on Wednesdays and Thursdays for more hands-on activities.

SPORTS

IMS has many sports like track, basketball and soccer, but students may join other high schools in the area for sports not offered.

CELEBRATIONS

LEFT: Students work with microscopes during a science class.

RIGHT: An English class forms a circle with their chairs to read from a book together.

By BRittani langland

Langland.Brittani@gmail.com

In the midst of the cornfields on the outside of Kalona, you will find the Iowa Mennonite School.

IMS is a private Mennonite high school, a Mennonite being an anabaptist Christian who believes in nonviolence, with around 100 students from around southeast Iowa. One of those students is Iowa City resident Olivia Yutzy ’14.

Yutzy attended Weber Elementary and Northwest Junior High School, but her mother and sister both went to IMS, and she grew up in the mennonite community.

“In seventh grade, I decided I was for sure coming to IMS, and I had to tell my friends, which was hard,” Yutzy said.

Moving from a class size of about 400 students to one of around 20 students was a good change, according to Yutzy.

“With our smaller class sizes, we get more one-on-one time with the teacher and we also get to know our classmates better,” Yutzy said.

Teachers at IMS also enjoy having DESIGN BY//JAYCIE WEATHERS

smaller class sizes.

“If I wanted to take my class on a field trip, we could all fit in a van, we don’t need a huge bus,” said science teacher Paul Kessler.

Other teachers like Lynn Yoder, who did her student teaching at West High, enjoy their improved

“THE ATMOSPHERE IS REALLY FUN AND LAID BACK. IT IS STILL SCHOOL, BUT I LIKE TO COME TO SCHOOL, BECAUSE I LIKE THE PEOPLE AND I LIKE THE TEACHERS.”

-Olivia Yutzy ’14 ability to connect with students in a smaller school. “[When] teaching at a small school, you get to know the kids really well,” Yoder said. “My son had cancer a couple years ago, and I just had an outpouring of little letters from students, text messages from them, and they said they were praying for us so that was really heart-warming.”

Small class sizes are not the only difference between IMS and public schools. IMS also incorporates

religion into its day. Every day, the school gathers in its auditorium for a 20-minute session called chapel, which allows students to listen to a speaker or participate in an activity.

“It is a good time to get away from the rest of the day and take time to relax and focus our energy on learning about the Bible or Christ and spending time talking about faith with our peers,” Yutzy said.

IMS students and administrators often encounter misconceptions about the Mennonite religion.

“Sometimes people who don’t really know much about Mennonites will associate them with the Amish and will think that they are really rural and still drive horses and buggies, but that is not the case,” said IMS Principal Norm Yoder.

Although IMS is a Mennonite school, not all of its students are Mennonites. “[IMS is a school for] any student that wants to receive a quality education and wants to look at the spiritual dimension as well,” Yoder said.

“The atmosphere is really fun and laid-back. It is still school, but I like to come to school because I like the people and I like the teachers,” Yutzy said.

Rather than prom, IMS opts for a dressy banquet with dinner, a march and another fun activity, like bowling as a group .

TEACHERS Referred to by‘15 first STUDENT NAME

names due to close relationships among students.

SOLAR PANELS

“Last year I did some electrical work with solar panels, so I thought I could do that at school.

I asked the school if I could do it, and they said okay. So I got the supplies, and we got about ten students to help with the project. So last year at the end of March we spent a week putting it up. The solar panel pays for about a quarter to a third of our electrical bill,” said science teacher Dick Yoder Short.

APRIL 2014 INSERT 3

SCATTERGOOD

Scattergood Friends School, established in 1890, has a campus of 27 acres with a few classroom buildings and two boarding houses, a restored prairie and a 35-acre farm. Scattergood is known for the integration of agricultural studies into their education system and shared work program, as well as their grounded Quaker faith. Throughout our day spent at Scattergood, we saw more and more of the solidity and strength of their tight community and progressive ideology.

BELOW LEFT: Students work on projects in class. BELOW RIGHT: A wooden sign greets visitors outside the main building.

ABOVE FAR LEFT: The recreation room for boarding students. ABOVE LEFT: Pieces of art made in class. ABOVE RIGHT: An American Cinema class working during the period ABOVE FAR RIGHT: Students are served lunch, using as much from the farm as possible. BOTTOM RIGHT: A student works on her self portrait using pastels.

By Lushia Anson and shirly wang

lushia.anson@gmail.com shirley.wang5615@gmail.com

A MOMENT IN COLLECTION We walk into the small main building quietly, trying our best not to distract the students in the meeting house room where they’re participating in Collection: a rare 15 minutes where around 52 teenagers are completely silent.

Sitting in a darkened room, the students reflect on themselves and the day ahead. Whenever anyone has a thought to share, he or she stands up and shares it with the group, then sits back down and resumes their reflection.

As a deeply-rooted Quaker 4 INSERT APRIL 2014

school, Scattergood sets time aside for students to contemplate in this way. According to Academic Dean Louis Herbst, the roots of Quakerism at Scattergood are more about “principles” rather than “faith” and the academics are kept nonreligious. However, many of the values of Quakerism are inevitably integrated into the school.

MORNING CLASSES Primarily, one of the Quakers’ core values of equality seems to influence a lot of how their classes are run. Students call all their teachers by their first names and classroom settings are casual; in our first class, Calculus I, the scene looks like that of a meeting room, with a central rectangular

table lined with swivelly chairs.

The small class size allows for this- only about 10 people are in the room, about a third of an average class size at West. The teacher, Dave, is friendly and acknowledges the kids on a personal basis. As with the Quaker faith, there is no system of dogma, and both teacher and student have a relationship of communal respect.

The class is shortly dismissed by the teacher. As part of the block scheduling, students have a different set of classes of different lengths each day ranging from an hour to two. It’s confusing to us, but with the help of a classmate, we soon are off to Global Economics, a social studies class that requires

a walk in the brisk cold to a small green building next door.

The Scattergood campus is small, but very diverse. As a boarding school, Scattergood houses many international students from all over the world. In Global Econ, the teacher introduces a new assignment that many students here will be able to relate to; students must find a topic that they’ll be able to connect on both global and local levels.

Our next class is Statistical Analysis, taught collaboratively by three teachers. Today, there are only two teachers assisting one student - a senior named Anna Wilson, - with her work on a research project on social media DESIGN BY//LYDIA HINMAN

use she’s completing for both the class and her required senior research paper. The paper will end up being around 40-60 pages; a substantial workload for Wilson.

“It’s stressful… but I trust that [the teachers] Louis [Herbst] and Dave are guiding me in the right direction.

No matter what, it’s a good learning experience, no matter what happens in the end,” Wilson said.

As a college preparatory school, the curriculum of most classes is built around preparing an outstanding application.

“If you want to get into a [toptiered school] you really need to separate yourself as being an exceptional person, doing some kind of project that really speaks to your ability to work in the real world,” Herbst said.

Students are required to complete a paper before they graduate, designing their own methods of gathering data, analyzing it and presenting it before a special panel. “[We teach] kids what it is that professionals do in the real world and then how to work that way,” Herbst said. “ ... Scientists don’t read a textbook and then regurgitate what that textbook said. They get hit with a phenomenon that they can’t really understand and then they have to have a process to unpack what’s exactly happening there.”

When trying to cut down the length of her paper, Wilson proposes to take out a few questions from her survey. Herbst, however, convinces her to keep them.

“I know you’re trying to make it shorter, but we want to make it useful,” he said.

LUNCH At 12:20, a faculty member rings a large old-fashioned-looking bell, walking around the main building to signal lunch time. Unlike the

loud pile-in of students at the West High cafeteria, as soon as the students enter Scattergood’s dining area, they gather in silence around six-person tables and reach out to hold hands with whoever is on either side of them.

Eventually they break, and excited chatter arises as they line up for food. There is a fantastic menu of freshly-cooked organic food, including a quiche pie with peppers and mushrooms, couscous, and apple cobbler. The students fill their plates and eat quickly, and after about 15 minutes each person raises their hand, letting others know that it is time to fall silent

to the tables just as the Black Keys begin to play loudly on speakers in the kitchen. Scattergood’s work crew program gives everyone a job after lunch, from classroom maintenance to meal preparations.

“Everybody keeps the school running and maintained,” Herbst explained. “Every student has ownership of this space, and they know that if they leave something lying around, that somebody that they know has to come by and pick it up.”

Students, he notes, work essentially from eight in the morning until six at night when the duties are added. For us, the work certainly

“Everybody keeps the school running and maintained. Every student has

ownership of this space.

They know that if they leave something lying around, somebody that they know has to come by and pick it up.”

-Louis Herbst, Scattergood Academic Dean

again and raise their own hands.

The announcements start off lightheartedly; it’s a girl’s birthday and a cake with candles is brought out. Before she blows out the candles, she has two of her friends sing “Happy Birthday” to her in Swedish. Then one of the cooks stands up and announces which parts of the meal came from the Scattergood farm. The 35-acre farm is home to more than 140 different kinds of produce and about 200 animals. Today, because of the brutally cold weather, only the chopped cabbage was farm-grown. The leftovers from the meal are thrown to the pigs.

CREW As soon as the announcements finish, the students around us spring into action, grabbing plates and utensils and piling them by the sink. Everyone has a role, and there is no confusion about what they need to do. Beckoned into the kitchen, we are handed aprons and rags and directed

is tiring, but met with a strong sense of pride as we hang up the brooms and toss our aprons in the laundry.

PROJECT CLASSES Classes end today with projects, which are courses that allow for more hands-on learning. Because they are boarding school students, their school days can expand for special classes like these. Some students go to a 2-D art class, some prairie management (where students learn to sustain the 22-acre prairie on campus,) and others to Elizabethan Rapier, a class about different sword types. We join the Farm project class, and our assignment today is to tap trees and draw sap. In better weather, the students will go out to work on the school farm, planting vegetables, caring for the livestock and harvesting and maintaining the fields.

The teacher, Mark, hopes that students will be able to gain “some insight into how the world feeds us and what it takes to access everything” from this project.

Even after one day at Scattergood, a sense of enrichment brought by the emphasis on experiential learning and community effort follows us out the door. We leave Scattergood feeling inspired by new ideas and new people and wishing West had a course in Elvish.

ABOUT SCATTERGOOD LOCATION

West Branch, Iowa

STUDENT POPULATION 52 students

SCHOOL VALUES

The school is based on Quaker values that stress simplicity, peace, integrity, and community.

TYPICAL SCHOOL DAY

The school day starts at 8:30 am and consists of six class periods.

TUITION

Tuition is $27,000 per year, but most students recieve up to 75% financial aid.

BOARDING

Students have dorm rooms that house 2-3 girls or boys. If the room is kept clean, students gain “status”

CREW

Every student is part of the crew program. The crew program keeps the school running and well maintained.

STUDENT ‘15 STUDENT NAME SNAPSHOT

Anna Wilson ‘14

“The community and definitely the classes and teachers and the variety of classes that are offered. There are always super interesting topics like medieval lit and immigration lit and being exposed to topics that I wasn’t able to explore in a public school.

The smaller classes really hold me accountable.

I can’t just sit in the back.”

APRIL 2014 INSERT 5

ABOUT TATE LOCATION

Iowa City, a block from Sycamore Mall

POPULATION

125 students

Homework

There is no homework given to students.

clubs

Every Thursday, a time to go to a school club is built into the schedule.

basketball

Tate recently won the basketball Recreational league Championship.

Counselor

MECCA and Four Oaks counselors are provided for students.

CORR

Tate uses a PBIS program (Positive Behavior Interventions and Support) they call CORR. Each letter of the acronym stands for a different virtue. If teachers see a student using one of the virtues, they are rewarded.

Caring: Students use kind words and actions.

Keeping Tate clean, safe and healthy.

Ownership: Owning

up to your words and actions. Being honest.

Respect: Using appropriate language and honoring personal space.

Responsibility: Follow cell phone policy and follow the zero tolerance contraband.

6 INSERT APRIL 2014

ELIZABETH TATE HIGH

Tate High, the ICCSD’s alternative high school, is known for their individually structured courses and specialized attention given to students.

By lUcy blair

lucybear12@gmail.com

When traditional methods of education aren’t enough to help a student succeed in school, what do they do? Where do they go? ICCSD students can go to Elizabeth Tate High School for help. Standing about a block from the Sycamore Mall, Tate High is a place where each student is looked at individually, and each class is structured around credits and providing a lot of one-on-one time for teachers and students.

A typical day for Tate begins with a prep period for all the teachers.

At 8:55, the students arrive.

“We start later mainly [to get rid of] tardiness,” said Tate Principal Ann Browning.

Students attend six periods that consist of core classes such as math, science and English. There are only a few elective classes like art and psychology, and there are no study halls or open periods. At 2:15 the school is dismissed. “[We end school at an earlier time because] a lot of students have to be at work by four, or have day care issues, so they have to be able to get to these places by four o’clock,” Browning said.

Since there are only a few elective classes, Tate offers other opportunities for students to get involved. Some activities include yoga, student-family advocates

and a variety of clubs that meet every Thursday. One of those clubs in a book club that occasionally goes to Java House to Empty classroom during passing time. read and discuss books McCray also believes that the together. Recently, Tate’s recreational basketball league also atmosphere at Tate brings “so much won the regional championship, less stress,” because the school is and the boxing team is invited to less college-oriented. Students are the nearby title fighting club. The never given homework; all of the school also offers either court- work is done in class. “[Since there is no homework] ordered or personally requested counseling from MECCA and Four you don’t have to worry when you Oaks counselors, who sit down and sleep,” McCray said.

Students who still struggle talk with students individually.

Currently 125 students roam the in school at Tate due to lack of

I just think people aren’t sure what Tate’s all about, and really, when they get here, they see that kids are just struggling and trying to find their way.”

-Ann Browning eight-classroom school. Every trimester, Tate graduates a few of its students, but then also gains about 15 students from West High, City High and other neighboring high schools.

One of these students is Alyssa McCray ’15, who transferred to Tate from City High school.

“Everyone has this unity ... we’re here, so [we] might as well deal with it,” she said.

LEFT: Teacher and student walks down the only hallway of the school RIGHT: Tate students study with their computer class. photos by//lucy blair

attendance or are too old are referred to the Phoenix Program, which is a mix between online schooling and in-class work. “[In the Phoenix Program students are] treated more like adults; they come when they can get here, just to get the credits.

It is always offered year-round,” Browning said.

Despite all the opportunities Tate provides for its students, rumors and misconceptions relating to the school are still not uncommon.

“We get more noticed for the group of kids smoking outside before school,” Browning said. “I just think people aren’t sure what Tate’s all about, and really, when they get here, they see that kids are just struggling and trying to find their way, and it’s a pretty normal day in a normal high school.”

DESIGN BY//SHIRLEY WANG

IOWA CITY HIGH

er ea th ew ay ci // j by os

Talk of tests, spring sports and “proma” (drama centered around prom), make Little Hawk hallways indistinguishable from Trojan hallways, except (maybe) the overcrowding and theme of green and gold. Yes, our cross-town rival isn’t full of trolls or other unpleasant warlocks. In fact, its environment is warm and welcoming, an ideal atmosphere for school.

Courses at City are similar to those offered at West, according to Ellen Carman ’14.

“Next year we’re offering a dance class instead of PE ... so that’ll be new and different,” Carman said.

City High emphasizes AP and honors classes, which is made apparent by the number of students enrolled in them.

“Basically, there’s always an AP option,” Carman says, as she rattles off a multitude of AP choices.

ot

weathers.jaycie@gmail.com

City’s skilled teaching staff utilizes SmartBoards in every classroom effectively and the newspaper lab is fully equipped with Mac computers.

Students take pride in their school’s long-standing tradition and historical charm, according to Carman.

“The third floor classrooms don’t have air conditioning… but personally I think it’s worth it because the way City High looks is really unique and I think it’ll be really cool to be like ‘I went to that high school,’” she said.

The sense of community on the east side is overwhelming.

“The City High family is a huge deal and [Principal Bacon] talks about it all the time,” Carman said.

“I really like that, I think there’s a lot of focus on academics in the traditional sense … but also learning how to be a halfway decent person is kind of an important part of our school,” she said.

ph

By jaycie weathers

s

Across town, red and white may flood the halls, but the differences from West are few and far between.

TOP: The entryway of City is clad in a red and white display board and Welcome Center.

BOTTOM: Students in an AP Calculus class prepare for note-taking.

CLEAR CREEK AMANA

CCA is home to a growing population of students from a large region. photos by//apoorva raikwar

By apoorva raikwar

apoorva.s.raikwar@gmail.com

Clear Creek Amana High school is expanding rapidly as part of the second-fastest growing school district in the state. Its approximately 500 students come from a broad geographic area that encompasses the Amana Colonies, Tiffin, Coralville, North Liberty, Oxford, Cosgrove and Homestead.

For this reason, the school has an activity bus for students who are involved with activities after school and are not able to take the bus right after school.

“It runs at 5:30 between the education centers,

so kids can do sports here and jump on the bus and go to one of three elementary schools, so then parents can pick them up wherever is closest to them,” said English teacher Christine Maas.

Being a school with a large portion of students coming from smaller towns, “there are a lot of misconceptions … that they don’t have the same priorities as you might have at West or City. I think that everybody has similar teenage priorities in that you’re here to get an education, but you’re also here to socialize and to prepare yourself for whatever comes after high school,” said Media Specialist Jackie Biger.

One major difference between

West and CCA is the scheduling system. CCA has a block system in which students attend four different classes on A and B days for approximately 90 minutes.

Additionally, there is a 45-minute advisory everyday for students to talk to teachers, do homework, have a band lesson, or even work out.

“I think [block scheduling] helps tremendously. I have more time in the classroom, so I’m more efficient,” said junior Trevor Toy. Most teachers agreed.

Another thing on which most students and teachers agreed was the familiarity gained from having smaller classes.

“Walking down the hall, any eleventh grader I see, I know their name and little bit about them,” said History teacher Evan Schulte.

As senior Morgan Finnigan put it, “Everybody knows everybody.”

FAR LEFT: CCA’s library is a practical study area which students take advantage of.

LEFT: Like West, CCA drama performed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in their auditorium.

DESIGN BY/KATIE PEPLOW

APRIL 2014 INSERT 7

what’s your ideal school?

COMPilED by//danial syed PHOTOS by//danial syed DESIGN BY//VELARCHANA SANTHANA

“A school where every teacher is extremely SPECIALIZED in what they’re teaching. No general qualifications, like ‘I have a degree in teaching English.’”

-Alex Granfield ’17

-Ryan Bozer ’15

“A

school

with

MOTIVATED body

that

is

a

good, student

capable

accomplishing anything.”

-Ryo Ohashi ’17

“[A school with] more FOCUS on the ARTS.”

of

“A large school, with a lot of diversity, OPPORTUNITIES and clubs. I’d like to go to a place with a lot of guidance from good people, teachers and students ... basically, WEST.” Sydney Beaurivage ’14