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LAST STORY
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A I . .. LG Y P TA S I OS N
PHOTO BY ALYSON KUENNEN DESIGN BY WINGEL XUE
4 9 SENIOR ISSUE
SENIOR SURVEY
MAY 23, 2018
272 seniors surveyed
Did you enjoy high school?
Do you feel a teacher has had a significant impact on your life?
82% 18% 78% 22% 66% 34% 66% 42% 40% 18% 34% 57% 43 % 35% 65% YES
NO
Have you ever skipped class?
Do you believe in a higher power(s)?
YES
NO
Have you ever cheated on a test? YES
Have you been caught in the library with food?
NO
Have you ever had a crush on a teacher? YES
YES
NO
NO
Which year of high school was the hardest?
Have you ever pulled an all nighter studying?
YES
NO
44% 56%
3% 57%
22% 18%
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Are you sexually active?
Political affiliation?
YES
58% 27%15% What is your sexual orientation? STRAIGHT 83.8% BISEXUAL 9.2% GAY 3.3% OTHER 2.2% LESBIAN 1.1% QUEER 0.4%
Have you ever vaped?
YES
NO
34% 66%
NO
Have you ever been cheated on by a significant other?
NO
41% 59%
NO
Have you ever cheated on a significant other? YES
NO
Have you ever grinded at a school dance?
YES
NO
Have you ever snuck out? YES
Have you ever tried marijuana?
YES
NO
35% 65%
16% 84% 7% 93% 37% 63% 45% 55% 90%
YES
Have you ever been drunk?
YES
41% 59%
NO Did you lie on this survey? YES
10%
NO
ART BY ANGELA ZIRBES DESIGN BY CATHERINE JU
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SENIOR FUTURES
The 50th graduating class of West High is looking ahead on what’s next in their life after the cap and gown. COMPILED BY EMMA BRUSTKERN, ELLIE GRETTER & LUKE REYNOLDS DESIGN BY MEGAN BOLAND
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Amanda Aaberg- I am moving to Des Moines and am going to get gen eds done at DMACC. Elawab Abdalla- I will be going into pre-medicine at the University of Iowa. Ahmed Abdalla Ella Abdel Malek- I will be going to the University of Iowa to major in business.
“GOOD LUCK, MY DUDES”
-ELLA ABDEL MALEK
Nshwa Abdelrzig Kathelyn Acosta Espinal- Still making a decision between college and work. Dennis Acosta Espinal Jada Adams Thomas Adolph Cadine Adza Shalom Alarape- I will be attending Northwestern University and majoring in computer science.
“IS IT ‘CAUSE I’M BLACK?!”
-SHALOM ALARAPE Gage Albright Niki Alden-I plan on majoring in some sort of engineering but I am far too indecisive to say which type. Arbiona Alexander Tasneem Ali- I will be attending the University of Iowa as a biology major. GO HAWKS! Aymen Ali Musaab Ali Angel Alvarado Ben Amelon- I plan on majoring in mechanical engineering at the University of Iowa. Sharon Amouzou Paul Amrani- Next year, I plan on attending college to pursue a degree in Musical Theatre at Texas State University. Jake Anderson- I will be playing basketball for central college and majoring in Kinesiology.
¨I DON´T HAVE TIME FOR THIS¨ -STEVE BERGMAN
-JAKE ANDERSON
Theodore Anderson- I will be joining the Army National Guard next year with plans on going to the University of Iowa in two
years. Kesten Anderson Emma Andrus- I am attending the University of Iowa planning to major in Nursing or Elementary Education! Abigail Arens- Next fall I will be attending Iowa State University to study mechanical engineering. Kat Armstrong- I plan to attend Cornell College while hopefully studying sociology and civic engagement. Julia Austin- I will be attending Iowa State University in the fall. Ahmed Awad
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Abdelgadir Babekir Christopher Bacher- I plan on attending the University of Northern Iowa next year and majoring in social work with a minor in mental health. Jared Bailey- This next year I will be training for the National Guard as a Medical Specialist in unit 133. I plan on attending Iowa State University in the fall of 2019 to major in Kinesiology.
“THAT WAS ALMOST COOL.” -JARED BAILEY Jordan Bailey- I am serving the Lord on a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Take advantage of opportunities because the best of them may never come around again. Micah Bailey- Majoring in aerospace engineering and taking medical school prerequisites. Quinn Baker- I will be attending Iowa State and will be going through the pre-medical program. Jayson Barnes- Kirkwood Community College Lily Barnes- Starting at Kirkwood before switching to University of Iowa for medical school.
“I DON’T ALWAYS GRADUATE, BUT WHEN I DO, IT’ S BARELY...” -LILY BARNES
Breanna Barragan- Undecided, continue education at Kirkwood. Michael Bartelme- Studying mechanical engineering at Iowa. Mamadou Barry Addison Bebber Thomas Beckett- UNI, majoring in biology. Paige Beckner- I plan to attend Iowa State with an undecided major. Kitra Bell- My plans are to pursue my track career in college (the college is undecided). I will be majoring in health science and starting a career of becoming a personal trainer. Camryn Benge- I have been accepted by the University of Iowa as a pre-dental track student and plan to major in health and human physiology. Kaitlyn Binns Colleen Bloeser- Major in microbiology, pre-medicine track at the University of Oklahoma.
“SPERM DON’T FLY.” - DOUG HERMAN
-COLLEEN BLOESER Elle Bode- I will be attending the Direct Admit nursing program at the University of Iowa’s College of Nursing. Megan Boland- I will be attending the University of Iowa next year and I plan to major in business marketing. Kincaid Bonde- University of Iowa
“I LIKE MY SOUL THE SAME WAY I LIKE MY LOCKER: EMPTY .” -KINCAID BONDE Elmana Botembe Bre Bradshaw- I am majoring in speech and hearing sciences at the University of Iowa. Tyler Brand Nelson Brands- I will attend the University of Iowa. Christian Brauns- I plan to live at home for the first few years of college. Ryan Braverman- I will be attending IU Bloomington to major in finance. Joe Briddle- I will be studying business at Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa. Megan Brown- Nursing Program at Kirkwood in Cedar Rapids.
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“NOTHING CAN STOP YOU FROM MAKING YOUR GOALS. FALSE, GOALIES CAN.” -MEGAN BROWN
Kevonte Brown- Start a full time job and if still feeling college I’ll attend. Jeremy Brown Leah Brownsberger- I will be attending the University of Iowa, majoring in neuroscience with a minor in psychology. Emma Brustkern- I will be attending Drake University this fall with plans to study journalism and political science. Traevis Buchanan Anna Buckingham Janaya Buns- I am going to take core courses at Kirkwood Community College then switch colleges to take political science. Josh Burbidge- I will be going to the University of Iowa and studying computer science and engineering. Daniel Burgess- I will be attending Columbia University to study English and comparative literature, but I plan to spend most of my time eating bagels. Brandon Burkhardt- I plan to go to the University of Iowa to major in vocal performance, theatre, and music education as well as minoring in dance. Elizabeth Burns- I will be attending the University of Iowa next year majoring in Political Science. Kobe Burns Emily Burtch- I will be attending the University of Iowa. Trevor Byers- I have no Idea yet.
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Carrie Callahan- I plan to attend Loras College to play basketball. Nicholas Campbell Eric Cargin Tyler Carlson- I will be attending Iowa State University in the fall and plan on majoring in engineering.
“MAY YOUR HIGH SCHOOL CAREERS BE AS FRUITFUL AS HENRY VIII’S LOVE LIFE.”
-TYLER CARLSON Katherine Carter- I will be attending the University of Iowa in the fall and plan on majoring in business and minoring in psychology. Alexandra Cashen- I will be going to the University of Northern Iowa to study elementary education and special education.
Meleah Chang- I am intending to major in biology and minor in music. Annie Chen- I plan to major in violin performance and business at Eastman School of Music Henry Chen- Iowa
“IF THE GIRLS WIN STATE, WE’RE STORMING THE COURT.” -Henry Chen Yan Chen- Going to Iowa, getting involved in many fun activities, making friends, and having fun. Kishonna Chew Arin Chinchilla- I will be going to college at the University of Iowa. Serene Cincotta Tessa Clouthier-Keenan Lindsay Clubb Rheymone Cole Catherine Collins- I will be attending Macalester College next year with a major in Political Science. Max Collins- Kirkwood 2 for 2 program with U of I, then go into history Arielle Comellas- I will attend Florida State University and be a one of the baton twirlers at the school. Antonio Comellas Adam Conrad Logan Cook- Play basketball at the University of Iowa. Gage Cook Kodi Cooper Karla Correa Longino Hayden Cox- I will attend the University of Iowa and pursue a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice. Diante Crawford- Taking a ton of math at Kirkwood to get my dream job. Ana Crespo- I will be attending Evangel University and majoring in Nursing and Spanish and minoring in Intercultural Studies. Ivan Cross Aiden Crowley- I plan to major in pre-med at the University of Iowa. Orion Crowley Ben Cupp- I plan on playing baseball and studying biology at Wartburg College. Austin Curtiss- I plan to attend the University of Iowa to study pre-med.
“HOPE FOR THE BEST, BUT PLAN FOR THE WORST.”
-AUSTIN CURTISS
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Callie Dains- I will be attending the University of Iowa to major in Elementary Education and hopefully spend some time traveling abroad. Nathan Daniels Quentin Davis- I will be going to college at Valparaiso University and studying meteorology. Hunter Davis- I am planning on going to the University of Iowa to study business. Jake Davis Samantha Deatsch- Studying nursing and work on being the most rad dog mom in town. Mason DeGrazia- I’ll eventually be majoring in psychology and possibly vocal music at Saint Olaf College.
“WHOEVER THREW THAT DIPLOMA, YOUR MOM’S A— OH HI GREGG” -MASON DEGRAZIA Drucilla DeMeulenaere Samuel Dempsey Awa Diakite Brad DiLeo- Major in elementary education at Central College. Nathan Dill- I will be attending the University of Iowa in the fall and plan on majoring in business. Anna Ditch Griffin Dodds Walter Donich- I plan on going to the University of Iowa to study something. Xavier Dove El Dillon Doyle Jennifer Du- I will be going to Vanderbilt University to study economics and computer science. Michael Duffy- I’ll be attending school at the University of Iowa next year, looking to eventually pursue a career in law or finance. Francis Duggan Drew Duncan- I will be going to the University of Iowa to major in instrumental performance. Robert Duncan
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Ayman El Gaddal- University of Iowa to pursue medicine. Mohamad El-Zein- I plan on going to Kirkwood Community College. Khalid Elhadi- I will be studying Human
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Physiology on a pre-med track. Nina Elkadi- I’ll be attending Harvard University in the fall to study (something like sociology) and eat a lot of seafood. Jackson Elkins Nesheim- I will be attending the University of Colorado at boulder and plan on a five year BA/Master’s in Linguistics. Leah Elliott- I’m planning to study Biomedical Engineering. Lena Elnagib Nandjill Elola- I will be attending the University of Iowa and major in Biochemistry. Eman Elsheikh- I will be attending Caltech and plan on majoring in chemical engineering (thank you, Polymer Man) on a pre-med track with a minor in finessing problem sets. Sarah Elsheikh Molly Erickson- I’m going to the University of Iowa and double majoring in art and political science! Which don’t overlap at all, so yikes.
“I DON’T KNOW HALF OF YOU HALF AS WELL AS I SHOULD LIKE; AND I LIKE LESS THAN HALF OF YOU HALF AS WELL AS YOU DESERVE.”
-MOLLY ERICKSON
Lauren Ernst- I plan on going to college and majoring in psychology and something else, either neuroscience or politics, philosophy and economics at the University of Michigan.
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Brianna Faulkner- I plan on majoring in elementary education at the University of Northern Iowa! Caden Fedeler- I plan to attend the University of Iowa to study Civil Engineering. Elise Femino- I will be going to the University of Iowa and majoring in Biomedical Engineering and Pre-med. Jackson Finer Sam Fink- I’m going to Kirkwood because other colleges are really expensive.
“LIFE IS SAD, PASTA IS RAD.”
-SAM FINK
Jacob Fisher Crystal Flanscha Lincoln Fletcher- Exist+Stuff+college Evan Flitz- I will be playing football and studying Chemical Engineering and Political Science at Pomona.
Aaron Fobian- Go to college, live in the dorms and study engineering at the University of Iowa. Quinn Foerstner- Go to college at Iowa major in marketing. Kyle Frei Taylor Fridrich- I plan to go to the University of Iowa to study on the Pre-Dental track. Anderson Fuller- Next year I plan on going on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to serve God and the people around me. After that, I plan on studying Computer Science at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.
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Josey Gale William Gale Enutifa Gamia Jonathan Gannon Jeff Garbutt- Run Track and Field and study communications or business at Marquette University. Antonio Garcia Kathryn Gardner- I’m going to go to Kirkwood next year and I plan on majoring in Speech Language Pathology at the University of Iowa after that. Ally Geasland- I’m going into college with a science major and plan on getting a Doctorate in Pharmacy. Austin Geasland- I am starting engineering classes next year at the University of Iowa. Evan Geng- Studying computer science at UW Madison. Gibson Sydney Gillispie- I will be attending Drake University in the fall and plan on majoring in Elementary Education. Ethan Goers- Yo boy is planning on working in the medical field. Psychology is pretty neat, so maybe majoring in that. Who knows… Brooke Goodman Olivia Goodwin Mae Grahs- I’ll be heading to Lawrence University in the fall to swim and study biology on a pre-vet track.
“NO, I WAS NOT BORN IN MAY.”
-MAE GRAHS
Alex Granner- I plan on big ballin’ down south at University of Virginia. Austin Gravatt Drew Graves- Heading to U of I for engineering and possibly Dentistry.
“REMEMBER, YOU WILL DIE, SO YOU MIGHT AS WELL DO IT DOING SOMETHING FUN. LIKE SKYDIVING. OR WRESTLING BEARS.” -DREW GRAVES
Issy Gray- I will be attending University of Iowa and majoring in pre-dentistry. Jarod Green Colby Greene- Attend Southeast Missouri State University to play volleyball and major in Elementary Education. Connor Greer- I will attend the Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa. Brittain Gregoire- I plan to attend the University of Iowa next year. Go Hawks! Hailey Gregory- California is a very expensive state to live in but it won’t stop me from living my dream of working with marine life. I plan to take a gap year in California to gain residency and then attend SBCC the following year. After two years, transfer to UCSB. Ellie Gretter- I plan to attend the University of Missouri and major in Strategic Communications. Go Tigers! Taylor Grider- Next year I plan to go to Kirkwood Community College. I plan to graduate in May 2019 with my associates degree in liberal arts. I then plan to transfer to the University of Iowa to double major in social work and psychology. Next, I plan to go right into grad school with a possibility of being accepted into the Accelerated Advanced Program for my masters degree in social work. I could possible have my masters degree within the next 4 years. Daniel Grimes CK Guran
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Nick Haddy- Going to the University of Iowa with an open major in business or education. Chandler Haight- I will be continuing my throwing career at Drake University. Grace Hall Devon Halstead- I plan on doing an electrician apprenticeship next year and plan on becoming an electrician, but if I don’t do that I will attend Kirkwood. Ally Halverson- I’ll be attending the University of Iowa in the fall, and I plan on double majoring in neuroscience and psychology. Maliyah Halvorsen Lujayn Hamad Megan Haman- I plan to attend the University of Iowa next year and I plan on majoring
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in both psychology and elementary school education. Allie Hambright- I will be attending Kirkwood in the fall and plan on majoring in Liberal Arts to become a teacher. Mason Hanson Paige Harken- I plan to study acting in Drake University’s BFA Theatre program as well as a possible minor in business. Connor Harris Reagan Hart- I plan to attend the University of Iowa next year to major in history. Therefore, when time travel is invented, I will be ready. Sophie Hass Schenkel Marin Heilskov- Major in biology for nursing at Wartburg College. Kylie Heisdorffer- I will be attending Kirkwood Community College to play softball. Brittany Henderson Hunter Herman- University of Wisconsin Steven’s Point- gonna study forestry and hopefully be able to speak to trees in my future.
“THE OFFICE, SEASON 7, EPISODE 19, MINUTE 14:45” -HUNTER HERMAN
Megan Herring- I look forward to attending Iowa Central and continue cheer and major in Accounting. TJ Hillberry- I will be attending Iowa State University next year and pursuing a degree in architecture. Nathan Hinkley Anna Hitchcock- I plan on going to BYU-Idaho to major in Psychology before attending dental school. Dadrian Hoambrecker Rachel Hoeft Anthony Holder Fiona Holmes- Surviving. William Holmes Ace Holst- I’m going to Central College to study business. Danielle Holthaus- I will attend Iowa State University where I plan to major in animal ecology. Andy Hou Xavier House Izabel Houselog- Attend Tippie at Iowa and try not to fail.. Melanie Housenga- I am planning on attending University of Iowa and majoring in accounting or financing. Braden Houston- Play baseball and eventually major in Kinesiology and Exercise Science at Southeastern Community College
Brandon Hu- Biomedical engineering at University of Iowa.
Osman Karar- I’m planning on majoring in engineering next year in University of Iowa.
“SHH... DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT.” -BRANDON HU
“THE MORE I LEARN, THE LESS I KNOW.”
Kyler Hulke- Continuing my career in the Iowa National Guard as a 19D Cavalry Scout. Olivia Hunt
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Gabriel Ingersoll Weng Elaina Irving- Next year I will attend the University of Iowa with a major in theatre.
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Ana Jacobson Anna Jacoby- I will be double majoring in Marketing and Public Relations with a minor in Spanish at Drake University. Ben Jaeger- I will attend Drake University to double major in theatre arts and rhetoric, media, & social change with a minor in vocal performance. Chirag Jain- I’m going to the University of Minnesota at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and planning on double majoring in psychology and neuroscience and double minoring in computer science and management. Rui Jin- I‘m going to the University of Michigan to pay too much tuition for public school. Chad Johnson- I will be attending the University of Iowa in the fall to study civil engineering. Elena Johnson- I plan on going to the University of Iowa and either plan to major in psychology or business. Sam Johnson- Work. Carter Johnson Bria Jones Leah Joselson Catherine Ju- Y’all can Wash me whip and Wash me nae nae while majoring in psychology at Wash U in St. Louis next year Sama Jwaied- I will be attending Austin Community College and be in the pre-med undergrad, then apply for medical school.
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Ryan Kadenge Cherie Kado Khushi Kapoor- HMU if you tryna go to Mars, I’m tryna make that rocket for you. #aerospaceengineering #stillahawkeyestateinmyheart
-OSMAN KARAR
Lucas Karwal- Study computer science at TCU. Lauren Katz- I’ll be attending Bowdoin College in the fall to study government and legal studies. Aisha Kazembe- I’m going to college. Brennon Keen Tessa Keenan- I’ll probably attend community college and then transfer to a university. Lena Khalil Liam Kieffer Woojin Kil Emerson Klever- I will be attending the University of Denver. Teresa Knecht- I will be studying pre-med at the University of Iowa. Shaylyn Knox Cade Koch- I will be studying at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts for a BFA in theatre/acting. I will remember you all fondly when I’m an old, washed up c-list actor.
“YOU’RE ONLY GIVEN A LITTLE SPARK OF MADNESS. YOU MUSTN’T LOSE IT.” - ROBIN WILLIAMS -CADE KOCH
Pranav Krishnamurthy- I will be studying aerospace engineering at Georgia Tech. Aaron Kruger- I plan to major in history and theatre at the University of Iowa. Kyler Krupp- I’m going to Iowa State to study chemical engineering Alyson Kuennen- I plan on attending the University of Iowa next fall to double major in mass communications and international studies. Yajatra Kulkarni- I’m going to Austria for a year then I’ll mentor Team 167 for the rest of my life. Micaila Kurtz- Majoring in bio at the University of Iowa.
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Maddie Laffey- I will be attending Aurora University next year to play volleyball. Charlie Lam-Lu- I plan on going to Macalester College for a double major in political science with a focus on international policy and economics. Amy LaMaster- I will be going to Mount Mercy University to study social work. Keimoney Lang Chris Langland- I’m going to the University of Iowa and I will be going into the pre-med program. Julia Lassner- I’m going to Luther College to start my vet school undergrad. Will Laverman- Go to the University of Iowa. Junhee Lee- I will be lurking in your mom’s basement, haunting your family as the ghost of subjunctive past. But if that doesn’t pan out, I guess I’ll got to MIT and become an anthropology major. Raijad Lee- I am going to Kirkwood and majoring in marketing. Gabrielle Lee Damarius Levi-Burks- I will be attending Webster University as a psychology major and minoring in theatre and dance. Davonte Levy- I’m going to Iowa Central to play rugby. Boyd Lickiss Spencer Liebermann- I’ll be attending the University of Iowa. Katie Lipes Kevin Liu- MIT Jose Lizama Bryan Vazquez Lopez- I will be attending the University of Iowa in the fall and plan of majoring in engineering. Jessica Lowman- Attend the architecture and civil engineering program at Kirkwood. Hannah Luce- I will be attending UNI. I plan to major in LYHS, Global Studies, minor in Public Relations and receive my non-profit management certificate. After graduation, I am hoping to work for an international non-profit organization! U-N-I FIGHT! Kaiya Luethje Claire Lynch- I will be attending Iowa State University and am planning on majoring in accounting. Natalie Lynxwiler
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Laura Machlab- I’ll be cheering on BIG 10 football at Northwestern next year! #gocats Xena Makky- I’ll be moving to Chicago to study at Loyola University Chicago, but I’m an undecided major. I really love to write/ English, so I will probably be leaning towards that, but I’m not sure yet. Zachary Malo
Olivia Manaligod- I will be attending the University of Iowa and studying voice performance and creative writing. I plan to become rich and famous but if that doesn’t happen I guess I’ll just sleep.
Meg Moreland- I plan on going into nursing at the University of Minnesota. Maddie Moriyama- I will be attending the University of Iowa to major in history and possibly double major in global development.
“I MADE A MILKSHAKE FRESHMAN YEAR BUT SO FAR NO BOYS HAVE COME TO MY YARD.”
“MY BIGGEST REGRET WAS TURNING DOWN SAM DEMPSEY WHEN HE ASKED ME OUT IN THE 4TH GRADE. SAM, IF YOU’RE READING THIS, YOU KNOW WHERE TO FIND ME. ”
-OLIVIA MANALIGOD
Jonah Marcussen Ruby Martin- I plan to continue my academic and swim career at Arizona State University along with studying kinesthesiology. Isabella Martinez- I will be attending the University of Iowa majoring in pre-dentistry Zachary Martinez Lucas Masada-Corey Jireh Massaki- Attending Kirkwood for two years, then moving to a four year college. Jackson Massey Sarah Masumbuko- Kirkwood Community College. Tommy Mattes- I plan to attend Kirkwood Community College. Tessa Maxey-Kinney- I am going to UNI and I am currently undecided. Christian Mbokolo Ethan McAreavy Kaleb McClenathan Chamone McComb Paul McGee Tamera McNamar Miranda Medina-Ruiz Ryan Mercado- Iowa State University Akram Mergani- Indian Hills College majoring in Aircraft mechanics Nicholas Meyer- Move to Ames, get a dog, make art at Iowa State. Sydney Meyerdirk- I will be attending college then moving out of state afterwards. Pareen Mhatre- I will be attending the University of Iowa to major in biomedical engineering on a pre-med track and minor in French, while coming home once in a while to raid the pantry and do laundry. Dylan Miene Isaac Miller- Go to Iowa State and get a degree in teaching. Owen Millers- Going to the University of Iowa to begin the path of becoming a pharmacist. Afnan Moghram Edrahim Mohamad Fatima Mohamed Kiana Mohammadinik Nanci Molina Nicholas Moon
-MADDIE MORIYAMA Colton Morrill- BYU-Idaho, major in web design, minor in music Carlin Morsch- Attending Coe College. Christopher Mott- I am going to Iowa for computer science engineering and will minor in data analytics and get an entrepreneur certificate on the way. Go Hawks! Amanpreet Mundra- I plan on attending the University of Iowa to major in nursing. Matthew Munson Maryam Musa- Attending Ohio State Melania Mushalangwa Ahmed Mustafa
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Mady Nachtman- I will be attending Drake University and majoring in political science. Ralph Nahra- I will be studying computer science at the University of Iowa. Anton Ndayishimiye Caleb Neel Camden Neely Daniel Neese- I will be attending Iowa State University and studying chemical engineering.
“I’VE EATEN ROUGHLY 3,700 PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY SANDWICHES SINCE STARTING KINDERGARTEN AND THIS IS MY BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT.”
-DANIEL NEESE Hieu Nguyen Jessica Nguyen Catie Nielsen- I will be attending Iowa State University and plan on majoring in engineering. Jamaal Njoroge Bailey Nock- I plan to run in circles for the
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University of Colorado next year and major in exercise sciences. #SkoBuffs! Kia Noibi Devin Nolte- I plan to study computer science at the University of Iowa.
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Hakeem Odunsi Chakubuta Omari- College or apprenticeship.
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Tyler Pals- Go to Kirkwood and figure out what I want to do. Yayue Pang- I am going to University of California, Davis to study wildlife, fish and conservation biology. Miguel Paredes Ravi Parekh- I plan on majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology at Cornell College. Belle Parker- I plan on going to the University of Iowa to study communications. Natalie Parker- I will be attending the University of Northern Iowa to pursue a degree in chemistry, while possibly minoring in music. I want to be a forensic chemist or do something regarding neuroscience. Ryan Parshall Solomon Parson Amanda Parsons- I will be majoring in global affairs with a concentration in public health at George Mason.
“YOU’RE EATING LARD IN MY CLASSROOM?” -BRADY SHUTT
-AMANDA PARSONS
Abigail Pate- I plan to attend Kirkwood Community College to get through my basics. Holly Paulsen Mayela Pelayo Josh Pelland- Plan on going to Kirkwood in Cedar Rapids. Rylee Petitgout- I plan to attend the University of Iowa as I was a direct admit into the College of Nursing. Zachary Plank Ethan Postler- I will be playing football at Moorpark College. Garrett Powell Danielle Preuschl- Attend the University of Iowa Nick Pryor- University of Iowa Noah Pullen- I will be studying business at Kirkwood the transferring to the U of I.
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Syed Rahman Prateek Raikwar- I will be attending the University of Iowa to major in biology on a pre-med track. Elizabeth Raley Valeria Ramos- I will be attending a college next year. Michael Rash Bailey Raso- University of Iowa with a major in environmental studies and psychology.
“THAT’S WHAT.”- SHE -BAILEY RASO
Jane Ratliff- I plan to go to DMACC and be the volleyball manager. Gracie Rechkemmer- I am attending Iowa State University to major in global resource systems and environmental science. LaShay Reed Jack Reynolds- I will be attending Coe College in Cedar Rapids. I have not declared my major yet, but I want to explore careers in the English, fine arts, sociology and psychology fields. Luke Reynolds- I plan on going to Coe College in Cedar Rapids. I’ll major in creative writing and theatre arts with a focus on acting. I’ll also dye my hair and pierce my nose and a ear and get a musical note tattoo on my thumb. LOL JK. Or am I? Madelyn Rhinehart Marsean Rhodes Sadie Rhomberg- I’m going to study pre-nutrition and hopefully become a registered dietitian.
“YOU JUST NEED TO PASS MATH.” -MOM -SADIE RHOMBERG
Zach Ring- I will be going to the University of Iowa to major in vocal music education. Breana Rinker- I plan on majoring in public health with the College of Public Health at the University of Iowa. Trumell Roberts Parionna Roby Natalie Roetlin- Medical school at the University of Iowa. Claire Ronnebaum- I will be attending a small school that you probably never heard of called Clarke University. I plan on majoring in nursing and secondary education. Kaitlyn Rose- I plan to attend the University of Iowa to study elementary education. Margaret Ross- Going to college at Kirkwood for nursing, planning to pursue a ca-
reer of a nurse practitioner. Faith Roskens- I will be a pre-med student attending the University of Iowa in the fall. Joseph Runge Ellie Ruppenkamp- I will be going to the University of Iowa College of Engineering.
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Rhiannon Salamone Arshaq Saleem- I plan on majoring in biochemistry and neuroscience. Alexis Samaniego- In the fall, I will be attending the University of Iowa doing a major in pre-medicine as the first step of becoming an anesthesiologist. Hariam Saravanan- I will be attending the University of Iowa in the fall and plan on double majoring in psychology and dentistry. Rachel Saunders- I am attending Creighton University to play basketball. Elijah Saxton- Hard work and Consistency. Adriana Schafer- I plan to travel to Mexico this summer, and if the wall isn’t built while I’m down there, I plan to come to the University of Iowa in the fall. Trevor Schense- I will be attending Kirkwood Community College in the fall for two years and then transferring to a four-year college. I plan on majoring in computer programming and minoring in Spanish. Michael Schilling Soren Schmidt Trenton Schmidt-Rundell- I will be attending Iowa State University next fall majoring in undeclared engineering. Ella Schmitz- I plan to drown in student debt.
“I WENT FROM A’S TO D’S AND SO DID MY GRADES.”
-ELLA SCHMITZ
Megan Schneider- I will be attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to study social sciences. Cale Schoon Ben Schroeder- I plan to major in computer science at ISU. Lauren Schuchard Alex Schwickerath Mason Selk Fenna Semken- I will attend Loyola University Chicago to double major in social work and public health and minor in linguistics. Jeongwoo Seo- I will be attending Vanderbilt and plan on majoring in engineering. Ethan Seylar- I will be going to the University of Iowa and will be majoring in God-knowswhat. Jake Sharafuddin- Pre-med at the University of Iowa.
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Drew Shaw Dillon Shephard Anthony Shirazi- I’m going to the University of Iowa to study chemical engineering. Patrick Shirazi- I will be attending Iowa State University and plan on majoring in software engineering. Haley Shook- Majoring in animal sciences at ISU Caecilia Shoppa- I will be attending Drake University this fall to study journalism and psychology. Leo Shriver- I’ll be going to the University of Iowa. That’s it! Anas Sidahmed Safeya Siddig- I will be attending Penn State next year in the fall. I will be majoring in psychology; however, this may change. Wala Siddig- I will be attending Northwestern University next year and plan on majoring in some type of engineering. Darnell Simpson Seybian Sims Meghan Sinn- Double major in biochemical engineering and microbiotics. Dewitt Smith- 2 year then maybe a 4 year at Morehouse College. Jason Smith- Traveling to 10 different countries, then The University of Iowa. Guy Snow Riley Snyder- Going to Upper Iowa University for athletic training. Ryan Stark- University of Iowa Engineering. Quiana Starling Zach Starman- Majoring in chemical engineering at the University of Iowa. Jackson Steburg- I will be attending Iowa State University in the fall, and i plan on majoring in chemical engineering. Pieper Stence Tyler Stern Tori Stielow- Staying at home and working ‘til I can get enough money to move out. Kyra Stoll- Attending Luther College to major in chemistry and environmental and play softball. Nathan Stone- I will be attending the University of Iowa in the fall to study mathematics. Ashton Stumpf Samer Suleman- I will be attending the University of Iowa next year with plans of going into the education department. James Sullivan Kyle Sulwer- Going to Moody Bible Institute for missional aviation. Emily Swift
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Ameen Taha- Two years at Kirkwood, two years at Iowa, law school at Iowa. Nathan Tansey- Attend college and pass classes. Parris Taylor Nadim Teghanemt- I am going to the University of Iowa and majoring in engineering. Halle Terry- I will be attending the University of Elon in the fall and plan on majoring in psychology. Shawn Thacker- This fall I will attend Yale University and (probably) study global affairs and (hopefully) eat a lot of good pizza.
“EVERYONE IS A SNAKE, BUT IT’S UP TO YOU HOW POISONOUS YOU WANT TO BE.”
-SHAWN THACKER
Drew Thayer- I will attend the University of Iowa and plan on studying molecular biology. John Thayer- I am going to Kirkwood for culinary school. Samalya Thenuwara- I will be exploring science and videography at the University of Iowa. Alleyna Thomas- I am going to the University of Iowa and planning on majoring in nursing. Sam Thomasson- I plan to major in wind turbine and technology distribution at Iowa Lakes. Tyler Thomasson- I plan to major in graphic design at Iowa State University. Samantha Titus- I am attending the University of Iowa with an interest in neuropsychology or speech-language pathology. I am hoping to minor in sign language also. Kaylynn Tomas- I plan on attending Kirkwood Community College for two years then attending the University of Iowa. Ethan Trepka- I plan to attend college at Dartmouth. Keyshawn Trice Jackson Trom Logan Trumbull- I plan on going to Mount Mercy University to pursue my passion in physical therapy. I will also continue to play baseball. Anna Truszkowski- I plan on studying nursing with a minor in French at Loyola University Chicago. Sasha Tyler- I will be earning my Bachelor of Fine Arts majoring in musical theatre at Creighton University.
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Lane Ungaro- I will attend the University of Iowa for chemical engineering.
Desirae Ungaro
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Alexander Vaughn- Two years of trade school. Erick Vazquez Joseph Verry- I plan to go to the University of Iowa to major in Biomedical Engineering on a pre-med track with a possible minor in vocal performance. Jennifer Vest- I am going to Kirkwood because I am unsure of what I want to do with my life. Heidi Vogts- I am going to be attending UNI to major in secondary social studies education. Hans VonRabenau
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Samuel Wagner- Undecided engineering at Iowa State University.
“I’D SAY “GOODBYE” BUT MOST OF YOU NEVER SAID “HI” IN THE FIRST PLACE.” -SAMUEL WAGNER
Tom Wagner- At UNI I will be studying history education with a minor in music history. I will also be playing in the jazz bands and singing in the Varsity Men’s Chorus. After college I plan to teach American History at a 3A high school. Robert Walling- Double major in software engineering and trumpet performance at Iowa State. Liz Walters- I am going to Iowa State and maybe I will study business, maybe not. Maybe I will drop out and just watch Shark Tank. Mason Wang- I am going to do econ or something at Uchicago. Xiaoqian Wang- I will be attending the University of California San Diego in fall 2018 and majoring in management science under the Econ department. Audra Warren- I plan on attending the University of Iowa, double majoring in physical and occupational therapy. Clay Warren- You can catch me in Cali hustling on the daily and livin’ my life! Madeleine Wehmeyer- I know I want to do something with art in college, but for now I am going in as undecided at Kirkwood because I don’t really know for sure what I want to do yet. Liana Weiner Crystal Wen- Play hard, study hard.
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Austin West- I will be going to the University of Iowa next year, where I will major in exercise science and run track. Dominic Weston- I am going to Drake University to study music and psychology. Alfonso Wheeler- I will be attending the University of Iowa to study psychology and then take that into law school. Andre White Matthew Wichhart- I plan to go to Kirkwood for one of two years then transfer to UNI to become a math teacher. Ryan Wicke- My plans are to attend the University of Iowa and learn stuff. Collin Wicks- I plan on going to Kirkwood Community College for two years and work that time as well. Sadie Widmer- I will be attending the University of Northern Iowa to major in elementary education with a minor and focus in special education K-12. Andrew Wildes- electrical engineering at U of I. Dashawn Willis- I’m planning on attending Grandview and majoring in graphic design.
“WHEN IS THIS DUE?”
-DASHAWN WILLIS
Jack Wilson- Attend Kirkwood Community College and play baseball there. Chase Wilson Nathaniel Wojchowski Jack Wolf- Probably like things and stuff.
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Wingel Xue- I will be attending Johns Hopkins University and plan on majoring in molecular biology.
“KILL THEM WITH KINDNESS. OR JUST KILL THEM.”
-WINGEL XUE
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Chloe Yanacheak- I intend to major in forensic chemistry, and I think I will add another major but haven’t decided between conservation biology and environmental science. Brina Yoder Hae-Joo Yoon- I’m not sure where I’m going to college yet, but I plan to study international relations or psychology.
Samantha Young- I will be going to the University of Illinois at Chicago to study family and disability development. Go Flames! Lydia Youngquist- I plan on attending Iowa State with hopes of becoming an accountant so I can fulfill my dream of working for Dunder Mifflin.
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Melissa Zelenjakovic- I will be attending the University of Iowa and major in nursing. Lien Zhu- I will attend Washington University in St. Louis. Harry Zielinski- I will be attending the University of Wisconsin as a pre-business student. Angela Zirbes- I am moving to New York City this fall to follow my passions in art. I will be pursuing a BFA in Illustration and plan to continue writing and illustrating children’s books! Chloe Zukin
out where the class OH, THE PLACES YOU’LL GO Find of 2018 is headed to next year with this map.
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7
3 1
8
1
4
243
2
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6
3 8 2
1 2
3
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1 2 2
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East South Central
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Pacific
Mountain
West South Central
BRIDGING THE GAP
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BY JUNHEE LEE With high school diploma in hand, most seniors choose to either go to college or enter the workforce. Some, however, choose to do neither, spending a year or two enriching their lives through a slightly different route. Hear from two West seniors who are following their own paths.
YAJATRA KULKARNI What: I will be taking a gap year and doing a cultural foreign student exchange. I will be traveling to Austria for one year and living with different host families to gain first-hand experience about their culture and traditions. For how long: Rotary … is an international organization that aims to bring people together to provide humanitarian services; they will be sponsoring my student exchange. [This] exchange will last a year.
Hopes: My main reason for wanting to go to Austria was that I didn’t want to pick a very “mainstream” or stereotypical tourist country—I wanted to develop some maturity, get the rich cultural experience and still learn a useful language. Austria is a beautiful place, has the cultural diversity that I was looking for and is landlocked between a lot of the countries that I am interested in visiting.
ANDER FULLER What: Next year I plan to serve on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am currently waiting to hear where I will serve, but I plan to leave this summer. The purpose of a mission is to serve and love the people where you are called. I’m looking forward to this great opportunity to serve God and His children.
For how long: I will serve my mission for two years, then come home. Hopes: I hope to grow not only as a follower of Christ, but as a human being. I hope to learn more about people in general and have a better understanding of the struggles they go through. I hope to be able to better reach out and help those that are in need. PHOTOS BY PAREEN MHATRE DESIGN BY PRATEEK RAIKWAR & SHAWN THACKER
STAFF SUPERLATIVES
ARTWORK AND PHOTO ILLUSTRATIONS BY ALYSON KUENNEN
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CATHERINE “Most likely to raise a cat army”
PAREEN “Most likely to star in a Bollywood movie” LAUREN LUKE “Most likely to write “Most likely to a new edition of become an anime” the dictionary”
REAGAN “Most likely to become a time traveler”
ANGIE “Most likely to blind you with aesthetic”
CAECILLIA “Most likely to end up on Broadway”
SHAWN “Most likely to secretly love Cardi B”
SAMALYA “Most likely to run a school in Sri Lanka”
EMAN “Most likely to squeal”
MASON “Most likely to get banned from all libraries”
MEGAN “Most likely to say ‘I’m cold’ when in the middle of a volcano” ELLIE “Most likely to lose her debit card every week”
HAE-JOO “Most likely to become a K-pop star”
SADIE “Most likely to start a vegan restaurant” WINGEL “Most likely to make a teacher cry”
FENNA “Most likely to bake a mean glutenfree apple pie” PRATEEK “Most likely to be Frese 2.0”
ALYSON “Most likely to wear dank pants”
TYLER “Most likely to be THE Photoshop god”
EMMA “Most likely to yell at you about Google Doc etiquette”
ETHAN NICK “Most likely “Most likely to to die in an wear chacos in a elevator” snow storm”
NINA “Most likely to become the next Lil Pump”
JUNHEE “Most likely to be a professional yodeler”
DESIGN BY TYLER THOMASSON
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BAILEY NOCK
RACHAEL SAUNDERS
LOGAN COOK GIRLS BASKETBALL UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
CROSS COUNTRY & TRACK AND FIELD UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO-BOULDER
CHANDLER HAIGHT
JEFF GARBUTT
AUSTIN WEST
GIRLS BASKETBALL CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY
TRACK AND FIELD DRAKE UNIVERSITY
TRACK AND FIELD MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY
TRACK AND FIELD UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
CO,MPILED BY ELLIE GRETTER ART BY ANGELA ZIRBES DESIGN BY TYLER THOMASSON
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SENIOR ISSUE MAY 23, 2018
D1 ATHLETES 11 Trojans will continue on to play sports at the Division I level next year at eight different universities around the country.
COLBY GREENE
VOLLEYBALL SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE UNIVERSITY
RUBY MARTIN
GIRLS SWIMMING ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
NELSON BRANDS WRESTLING UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
DILLON DOYLE FOOTBALL UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
FRANCIS DUGGAN
WRESTLING IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
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A DV E R T I S E M E N T S MAY 23, 2018
䌀伀刀䄀䰀嘀䤀䰀䰀䔀 倀唀䈀䰀䤀䌀 䰀䤀䈀刀䄀刀夀ᤠ匀
吀䔀䔀一 匀唀䴀䴀䔀刀 刀䔀䄀䐀䤀一䜀 倀刀伀䜀刀䄀䴀
Teen classes available
MarogerArts.com (319) 333-1222 info@MarogerArts.com 800 2nd St · Coralville
Done by a teen student
Unit 100
Free introductory lesson
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SENIOR ISSUE
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SENIOR ISSUE MAY 23, 2018
Sorry Mr. Meade, but sometimes during fourth I’d go in your office and steal Red Vines out of the big bucket you had.
Whenever someone parked too close to me and I had to crawl into my car from the passenger side, I very nicely slammed my door into the side of their car.
I took a pregnancy test in the UNI Dome while the football team was on the road to the championship. Luckily, West had a positive night and I did not.
During spring break sophomore year, I was at the Omaha zoo. As I was exploring the zoo with my mom, I saw a familiar face in the crowd—Dominic Iannone. Obviously, I did what seemed natural; I took out my phone and took pictures of him and his family. Any normal person would have said hi, but I couldn’t because the shame of dropping AP Euro still lingered over me. To this day, I still have the pictures, and I’ll look at them every once in a while to reminisce about our fun day at the zoo.
COMPILED BY ALYSON KUENNEN PHOTO ILLUSTRATIONS BY ALYSON KUENNEN DESIGN BY CATHERINE JU
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Junior year in PE on cardio days, I showed the same picture of my rowing machine monitor to [my teacher] for over three months. I had fourth open so all I had to do is claim I got there early to do my “work” for the day. Sometimes I got my shirt wet in the water fountain just to make it look like I was sweating. Got an A at the end of the tri.
Freshman year, I walked into a bathroom in the 9th grade center and saw [a former faculty member] at the urinal. He had his hands on his hips like Superman, despite the fact that he was, at the time, peeing. I think that it was a power move, and it worked. I was intimidated and went into a stall to pee rather than peeing at a urinal next to him.
I just touched a bathroom stall door and it fell off? And it’s still not there?
First tri through second tri junior year, I parked in the same illegal parking spot every day. One day this truck started taking the spot and they’d get to school at like 7 a.m. so I never beat them to it. So in order to get the spot back, I made a fake warning parking ticket and left it on their car. One of my teachers signed off on it and everything, and they never parked there again.
SENIOR COLUMNS
KINDNESS MATTERS
BY EMMA BRUSTKERN I’ve had my share of bad days at West, but one day last October was particularly awful. I was honestly doomed from the start, but my feelings were intensified by a rough Spanish presentation. To make matters even worse, as tears welled up in my eyes a girl turned to me and said, “Your face is all red and blotchy.”
In all fairness, she probably wasn’t that blunt. Still, the tears that were already building suddenly wouldn’t stop coming. As I sat in Spanish, it was hard to breathe and the world felt like it was crashing down around me. Midway through that day, I got a Facebook message. It was from a classmate in my Spanish class. I had never really talked to him other than in-class discussions, but I knew he was a native Spanish speaker. His messages, however, were in English. He asked me if I was okay, and I ranted to him about my day and my awful presentation. He consoled me and told me it was easy to feel overwhelmed when you’re speaking an unfamiliar language; he felt the same way when he had to speak in English. Even though our conversation was brief, I think about it often. I continue to be amazed by the fact he could be so open and kind even when we didn’t know each other and barely spoke the same language.
I live my life under the mantra “kindness matters.” I believe that even the smallest act of kindness can make a difference in someone’s life. Although high school was hard, my strongest memories from West are times when people showed me love. Kindness is something that transcends culture, language, life experiences and everything else. So thank you, West High, for being (mostly) kind to me. Thank you to the boy in my Spanish class. Thank you to my friend in chemistry who gave me a paper flower when I told him I was having a rough day. Thank you to my teachers who help me even when I feel like a lost cause. Thank you to my best friends for showing me how to love and be loved (Lydia, Elaina, Molly, Kat, Claire, Will, Reagan - you light up my life). I don’t claim to be a paragon of joy and light and kindness all the time, but believe me, I try my best. I hope that West High remembers me not necessarily for my accomplishments, but for the way I loved.
FINDING MY PASSION
BY ELLIE GRETTER
Over the last four years, so many things in my life have changed. But the one thing that has stuck with me is sports. Whether it’s participating in athletics, covering them or attending games, sports have always been something I could trust to be a constant. However, when I first started high school I didn’t even like seeing sports on my Twitter timeline. My parents forced me to join cross country even though I had hopes of becoming the Entertainment Editor for West Side Story. But after the sports unit in Intro to Newspaper and some convincing from my teammate and former sports editor for West Side Story, I became a sports reporter. I instantly fell in love with my new job. I loved getting to cover athletes because I knew how hard I had to work every day as an athlete. Working for West Side Story gave me the chance to spotlight athletes who did not garner attention from the bigger publications but were still working just as hard
as the stars on their teams. That was definitely the most rewarding aspect of my job and what I enjoyed the most. Some of my favorite memories in high school centered around Friday Night Lights. Whether it was skipping a day of school to go to the UNIDome or plastering City High in the Battle of the Boot, those were some of the most memorable nights of all of my four years. There is something so magical about a whole school coming together to cheer for the same team and getting to do that with your best friends while doused in glitter and themed outfits makes it even better. I’ll never forget my senior year football season getting to (finally!) stand in the front row and force the cheerleaders (sorry) to do the “rock steady” cheer on repeat for what seemed like 20 minutes. Sports has made up some of the best memories of my life and I am so thankful I gave it a chance
BABY BYE BYE BYE BY CAECILIA SHOPPA
I remember at the end of freshman year when I thought, “I don’t think I’ll miss this in college.” And now, I’m sitting here thinking about all the weird and wonderful memories from the past four years of my life. Ones that I’ll look back on this fall that will make me cry and laugh and most likely cringe. But most importantly, ones that will make me miss this chapter in my life. These are the highlights of the last four years of
my life. Freshman: Wow… You needed confidence. Remember how much fun you had in show choir in junior high? You loved performing! Why did you decide to do the swim team? Because your friends were doing it? Because you didn’t want to be alone? Because you felt safe? I want to thank Mr. Person, my first choir director, for pushing me to audition for the musical. I found
my freshman year. Through sports, I have learned so many things about myself and others and I am so grateful to have been forced into it. The message behind all of this is, try something new! Even if you have no belief that you’ll succeed, there is always a chance that you will. You might as well risk a little to potentially gain a whole lot of happiness that you didn’t even think was possible.
myself there. Without having that experience, I would still be that scared freshman. Sophomore: This was your year of firsts. First year of show choir. First solo. First AP class (yikes). First real relationship. Yes, you were still scared of losing people. You still let people walk over you. But you finally got the confidence you needed. You were so scared for your special act at the Spring Swing Show. But it was also a turning point. You got up there (not knowing that you had strep and mono) and performed the hell out of that song. You made your parents cry
GET IT TOGETHER, GIRL! BY FENNA SEMKEN
Dear Freshman Fenna, The next four years are gonna be quite the rollercoaster (so take your dramamine!). You will definitely have some moments where you wish you could disappear as easily as Harry Potter in his invisibility cloak. But alas, you can’t; so instead, listen up and you’ll avoid some ish with the advice of your new friend, Senior Fenna. First off, don’t order a white homecoming dress. Seemed like a fine idea at the time, but you will end up spilling hot coffee on it at Burger King. Yes, it stains. Don’t think you are talented enough to text while walking through the overpopulated hallways. You will run into a wall. So. Many. Times. (But it does create many inside jokes w your besties.) When building your paper car in science, you will face quite a bit of trouble, but don’t scrap the wheels and make a sleigh. You’ll fail the project, despite all the glitter and stickers decorations (shout out to my
girl Kaka). During English 10H, your anxiety gets the best of you and you make yourself sick for days. But you will be okay (even tho you never learned how to f#@%in read). When you go to the bathroom, be careful! Pay attention to the ‘Caution-Wet Floor’ signs and step over the puddle instead of falling into the wall. Also, be careful of the hook on the stall door. You will hit your head, get a concussion, and sport a purple donut bruise on your forehead for weeks. Go on the Europe trip with Iannone; It will 100% change your life. But be careful when you are in the Austrian Mountains, because you will get too excited about singing ‘The Hills Are Alive’ from the Sound of Music and hyperventilate because of the altitude. Dom will have to call his wife to make sure you aren’t dying. Ugh. Senior year will be wonderful. You’ll become closer than ever with you friends- hi Tay, Calla, & Ang!
Senioritis will kick in and you’ll skip more school than you attend, but in the end, you’ll get into your dream college and meet you future BFF! So don’t worry, you’ll get through this awk time. There will be many, many rough moments, but you’ll discover who you are. Now cue Hannah Montana’s “I’ll Always Remember You” and cry because, even though you complain 24/7 about West, you’ll be beyond thankful for the memories. And that’s all I have to say about that. XOXO, Senior Fenna
MONEY MOVES
BY SHAWN THACKER
After bearing the burden of the tradition of excellence for four long years, my high school experience at West has drawn to a much anticipated close. At the peak of high school seniority, the time has come for me to impart some of my latent wisdom in a series of mostly inapplicable, dismissive remarks, to all unfortunate enough to happen upon this column. Learn to drive freshman year; otherwise you’ll regret it later Hartwig memes will outlast any other memory from English 9 Being a AP Euro Scholar™ doesn’t make you better than everyone else (but you’ll certainly think otherwise at the time) Although you used to despise words like rip and lmao, by sophomore year these terms will become the core of your lexicon Coffee is a lifestyle, not a beverage As a junior you will encounter the word senioritis, but however hard you try you won’t comprehend its true meaning until the eve of your last trimester
Take Brit Lit—Barnhouse is the best teacher you’ll ever have and King Lear’s pretty interesting, I guess The only things you’ll remember from AP Shutt with Mr. Gov are the rule of propinquity and the cycle of incumbency—neither of which you’ll ever need to know Using big words doesn’t make you sound smart (see what I did up there?) Aftermath outweighs the shame of “getting a drink” in Kirpes’s class Time spent with friends is time better spent than overdosing on caffeine in an attempt to fight your way through homework Be like Motor Boat in Their Eyes Were Watching God and sleep through the hurricane that is senior year—it’ll all work out anyways and you’ll appreciate the extra shut-eye Turns out Mr. Frese isn’t married to the librarian Pretending to like people takes too much effort Mr. Welch doesn’t actually hate you <3 Bodak Yellow will be the anthem of your senior year
with pride. You’ll always remember that night. Junior: This year was… interesting. It had its ups and downs. Things fell into place with friends, making new ones through show choir. Having panch nights and bonfires and fireworks and long car rides. But you also had to learn to deal with stress and anxiety and fear. It was hard, but you had support from family and friends. You learned a lot about yourself this year, so don’t look back on it with shame. Look back with satisfaction. Senior: I’ve finally come full circle. After all
the ups and downs of the last four years, I have finally found nirvana. This has been the best year of my life. I am healthy, strong and confident. Yes, bad things still happen. But this year, the good overpowered the bad. In the last six months I’ve made the closest friends of my life. Freshman year I never thought I’d have a group who I could depend on like them, whether it was getting late night tacos, recreating Vines, going with me to get my haircut, or eating ice cream while watching stupid youtube videos. I’ve never felt so lucky in my life.
West High, it’s been, well, four years. Even though I may not look back with nostalgia on all of my time spent walking through these dank, asbestos-ridden halls, I’ll never forget the memories you’ve given me. Now, as the cloud of high school has come to pass, I can’t wait for my Bright College Years to begin.
SEVEN EXPERIENCES THAT DEFINED HIGH SCHOOL BY PAREEN MHATRE
1. Receiving my first B during first trimester of freshman year. I guess I really underestimated the difficulty of English 9. To my English teacher, please keep on teaching the grammar unit. Thanks to you, yes, I did earn a solid 89 in the class, but on the other hand, I scored a 35 on the English section of the ACT all three times I took it. 2. It wouldn’t be a senior column if I didn’t include an AP Euro reference. However, the sad part is that I don’t actually remember anything that happened in Euro (sorry, Iannone) except for…*cue dramatic music* THE WAVE. 3. Failing my first test. It’s going to happen to you one day — trust me. 4. Purposefully filling up my schedule so I won’t have to take PE. But rumor has it that a particular guidance counselor lets you off the hook, even if you’re not taking seven classes. 5. Thinking I had senioritis when I was a fresh-
man, but I really didn’t. You don’t have senioritis until you’re a SENIOR during third trimester. @ Non-seniors, no matter how much you convince yourself, you don’t have senioritis. You’re just lazy. 6. To my OG desi gang: Those Bollywood movie “nights” are surely going to be missed, even though we started watching them together in January of this year (*sheds a tear and plays “Khabi Khushi Khabie Gham” in the background*). 7. To my 1st/5th period table this year: Sincerest thanks for having last minute Calc and APUSH study sessions with me and for playing the Indian version of “Jingle Bells” constantly. I hope you enjoyed my dancing. Well, there you have it. I’m not sure if there is anything you can take away from this column or whether it was just pure entertainment. Maybe a lil’ bit of both. Peace out, West. Yours truly, Pareen
FINDING MY PLACE BY MEGAN BOLAND
Beginning freshman year, everyone is the new kid, right? I think it is safe to say some more than others. When I walked through the doors on the first day, I had exactly one friend. I moved from Regina to West because I wanted to have opportunities that Regina didn’t offer. I never thought about how hard it would be to make friends. I wouldn’t consider myself antisocial, but I do have a harder time talking to new people. During the first trimester I managed to make a couple friends and kept telling myself that that is all I need to get through high school. But as time went on, it
wasn’t enough. I realized I was not doing anything I was truly passionate about. During second trimester, I stumbled across the theatre call board and saw that they were putting on the musical “Cinderella.” I knew I could never act because I was too shy to even audition, but I noticed they had a seperate sheet labeled “crew.” Being in a private school previously, I had no idea that crew was even a thing, so no matter how nervous I was, I decided to suck it up and go to the meeting. That was the best decision I made in high school. After joining theatre, I made so many friends
that I am still close with now. While working on the shows, everyone becomes family. You spend countless hours with them during tech week and show week. After being involved with theatre for four years, I can honestly say it is the most accepting group of people I have ever met. I often think about what my life may be like if I hadn’t joined the activities I did. Newspaper, show choir and theatre have all impacted my life so much more than I thought they would. I look back at myself freshman year. I was shy, awkward and had no self confidence. Now when I look at myself, I no
IOWA FREAKIN’ CITY BY NINA ELKADI
All I wanted to do was move to California. I thought by way of sunshine I’d suddenly find myself in “my place.” This all changed when I met some rando Californian on Reddit. She posted looking to hang out with someone in IC (I am NOT recommending this), and we met up. We ate “Local Burritos” at the Farmer’s Market and apple turnovers at Wilson’s, biked down Rohret, hiked to the spillway, ate Heyn’s ice cream and bought souvenirs at Raygun. Throughout that day it hit me. Albeit cliche, a place really is about the people (and imo, food) and not much else. To put it simply, Iowa City freakin’ rocks. Here are some thank you’s I need to get out of the way before I go. Thank you to Horn Elementary for letting me be a “Horn Star.” Thank you to Northwest Junior High for introducing me to the finest group of people I’ve met. And to those people, thank you for showing me what it means to feel truly comfortable just from
the presence of others. Thank you to downtown for allowing me to live the college life my whole life. S/o to the Northside; including but not limited to: Oasis, The High Ground, Secret Stand-Up Shows, Public Space One, The Press-Citizen, Artifacts, Hamburg Inn, The Haunted Bookshop, Bluebird, etc… Thank you to John’s Grocery for giving me a real ~edgy teen~ experience when I smoked a cigarillo behind the store at midnight. And to the person I was with that night, you’re right, tobacco is disgusting (to all of you impressionable young people reading this—smoking is bad!). Thank you to my Chacos for sticking by me through the muck of Terry Trueblood, the tipped kayaks on the Iowa River, the hours spent capturing the flag at Wildlife Camp and the zebra mussels at the bottom of Charlie’s lake. Thank you to Yelp for allowing me to embrace my love of food and thank you to the community ambassador for turning a blind eye to the fact that I’m
very obviously not 21. Thank you to West High for giving me the newsroom, the closet (still salty it’s a tech room), some pretty great mentors and an education. Thank you to my parents for raising me to figure out things on my own, but also being there when I really can’t figure anything out. Thank you Iowa City for giving me only of the most idyllic childhoods. Cambridge, you’ve got hella to live up to.
MY B(SIDE)AD BY REAGAN HART
“Revolution.” Ever heard of the song? Do you know who sang it? How about “Hey Jude?” I bet more people know who sang that. Both songs actually came out in 1968 on the same Beatles 45 rpm record, with “Hey Jude” on the A-side and “Revolution” on the B-side. The B-side of records was for the less important song. Although some did make it high on the charts, most were shadowed by the singers’ greatest hits. This isn’t a list of my greatest hits, but the B-side of high school. To start out, I was five minutes late to my first day of high school. Once, I set off my car alarm and stood there panicking. Someone had to grab my keys and turn the alarm off for me. I once emailed a psychology professor and he responded “Dear Mr. Hart…”. I’ve left my lunchbox about everywhere. I wrote an entire essay saying “fallow” instead of “follow.” In front of the entire band I once loudly
knocked over three music stands. When my German teacher asked me where I buy flour from, I didn’t understand the word for “flour.” After asking for a translation, I responded with “Blumenladen” (flower store). The first time I drove my brother, a tornado watch went into effect while we were at the mall. One time, I had to redo a chemistry assignment because both thermometers didn’t work. I got into a car accident the first time I drove to school (not my fault; someone rear-ended me). I missed one point on the AP Gov court cases test. How is that possible on a matching test?! I once got lost driving to the post office and called my mom. She asked what direction I was going and I yelled back, “I don’t know; the sun is to my left.” And lastly, in marching band, I got lost playing “Hey Jude” more often than not (sorry, Mr. Medd). Back when records were sold, the B-side gave buyers a little more for their money. People didn’t want to buy half a record, and I wouldn’t want to
longer see that. I’m confident and happy with the things I do. I’m writing this for all those people who may be going through something similar to my experience. All I can say from my experience is just do what you want to do. The worst that can happen is rejection, and no matter how much it sucks, we all go through it. High school is the time to experiment and learn what you are interested in and who you are. Freshman year I had no idea who I was. But now, being a senior about to graduate, I think I finally found my place.
2018
experience only half of life. So even with these mistakes and many more, my high school years were successful. Therefore, my advice is to enjoy the “my bad” moments. Well, I hope you laughed, because that was my goal. Also, if you’ve never heard “Revolution,” go listen.
SPECIAL THANKS TO
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SENIOR ISSUE MAY 23, 2018
OVER THE EDGE BY PRATEEK RAIKWAR
Dear freshman Teekma, You took some L’s. Like when you were ditched at homecoming. And maybe getting cut from the soccer team. But you learned from those experiences. You learned what not to do at homecoming (or who not to ask?) and that you could play virtual soccer instead! More than that, you had good memories
playing frisbee in the courtyard on Thursdays and discovering your interest in writing through Intro to Journalism (nice novel, lol). Booyah grandma (credit to Hartweezy)! Dear sophomore Prattu, I still wonder why the social studies curriculum defines your intelligence. If not taking AP Human made you a reject, what was not taking AP Euro? Respect to you for ~meandering~ through those snakes. Regardless, you still goofed by going overboard with the academics. Preparing for Mrs. Walker’s homework quizzes wasn’t worth the time, even if you won the illustrious title of “Sophomore Helper” by passing out cookies at the NHS ceremony. I guess even if you did work too hard, maybe you “played” harder—wearing that girl’s watermelon bra was a...privilege? Dear junior Raik, You didn’t learn your lesson from sophomore year, and this time, you really thought you were the shit (side note: to that girl I dated, sorry for being super arrogant)! To be fair, Mr. Kirpes never had to order you to get a drink and you even remember that to ban franking is to end the official congressional cycle of incumbency. But your ego took its
toll again, this time on your well-being—climbing West High with your breast friends (@Barnhouse), almost getting caught, turning yourself in, then crying for mercy was another L. Not sure which of those choices was the worst. Maybe you should’ve sat that one out (or maybe not—you couldn’t make the JV soccer team’s bench over other “players” anyways). Dear current Raik, I’m proud of you. You actually dropped a course. Oh, and actually stepped out of your obsession with academics (a little bit?). Way to finally embrace your inner nerdiness on JETS, designer on newspaper staff (this issue’s page 39!), and awkwardness as you strutted your lankiness at Walk it Out. Beyond stepping out of your comfort zone, you learned to “hit the books” in AP Bio, took a few more L’s (haha Heart of Darkness), and rejected some Hos (joke’s on you, freshmen homecoming date—wow, this was actually about AP Stats, bad joke). Although your first three years of high school were all really the same, good on you for switching it up for your final year. Bring that to college. Actually, you’re still the same—you’ve always been hella extra. Don’t change that either. - Raik out.
SINCERELY, ME BY LUKE REYNOLDS Dear Me, High school is going to be an experience. Be prepared. There will be times when you question what you’re doing and why you’re doing it, but it’ll all be worth it. You’ll learn lessons along the way, and they’ll make you a better person. Being in a relationship in high school just because you like the idea of it doesn’t make it valid. You’ll be glad when you’re out of it. Writing is absolutely everything to you. Crafting someone else’s story is like cracking open a pot of gold and discovering infinite rainbows. Cross country is not you. You’ll be glad to ditch the sweaty uniform for something more fun despite its drama: theatre. Being gay doesn’t take away your humanity. You have a heart like everyone else. First crushes, especially after you’ve come out, are AWKWARD. *hand clap* AS. *hand clap* HELL. *hand clap* Choir is way more fun than it was in junior high. IT WILL TAKE OVER YOUR LIFE AND MAKE YOU APPRECIATE WHAT YOU ARE CAPABLE OF DOING.
Sometimes friends will leave your life because of mistakes you make. Accept that and don’t dwell on them. Hold onto the memories you make so you’ll never forget them. Let go of the things that make you lose confidence. They shouldn’t matter. Empathy doesn’t make you weak. It makes you able to recognize where people are coming from. And last but not least: Read all the books, listen to all the music, watch all the anime and be one with the world until you are found and appreciated by yourself first. Others will follow. I know you can do it. It will take some time, but trust the process. You’re still growing. So am I. You and I still have those moments where we’re kids again. Embrace them. You are going to build a castle out of everything that’s in your life. That’s magical. I love you so much. Strength doesn’t matter; kindness does. That will never change. Good luck. Sincerely, Me DESIGN BY JUNHEE LEE