WG ECHO August 2022 Issue

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:

Lydia Urice

PRINT EDITOR: Izzy Poole

JUNIOR EDITOR: Hadley Hoskins

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER/ GRAPHICS EDITOR: Maren DeMargel

VIDEO EDITOR: Luca Giordano

NEWS/OPINION EDITOR: Ali Schulz

SPORTS EDITOR: Owen Crews

PODCAST EDITOR: Sam Klein

FEATURE ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR: Joe Harned BUSINESS MANAGERS: Soledad Lee Dakota Motley

TIK TOK/ PUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGER: Eleanor Kanerva ADVISOR: Donald Johnson

SOME MATERIAL FROM TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

The Echo is a monthly publication of the newspaper staff of Webster Groves High School, 100 Selma Ave., Webster Groves, MO.

To contact staff members, call 314-963-6400 ex. 11157 or write to wgecho@wgmail.org. Unsigned editorials are the opinion of a majority of staff members; signed articles are the opinion of the writer

Letters to the editor of 300 words or less are welcome; submit letters by the 10th of the month to wgecho@wgmail.org, or room 155. All letters must be signed, although the name may be withheld from publication if requested. The Echo has the right to edit letters for publication as long as intent remains unchanged.

The Echo is a member of Quill and Scroll, JEA, MIJA, NSPA and CSPA.

Cover Cutline: A collage of school work covers the floor and wall with school supplies littered on top. Cover art by Izzy Poole

theecho

Meet our ‘22-‘23 staffers Student athletes commit to college Students travel abroad

One-to-one Chromebooks for underclassmen Which elementary school is best? Letter from the Editor: Wait, is this the yearbook? Seniors share tips to freshmen

Layout by Izzy Poole and Lydia Urice

Meet our ‘22-‘23 staffers

Lydia Urice Senior Cancer

Maren DeMargel Senior Cancer

Joe Harned Senior Aquarius

Hadley Hoskins Junior Aries

Izzy Poole Senior Gemini

Student athletes commit to college

Maren DeMargel Social Media Manager

Why Truman State?

“I chose Truman because I really liked the coach, and all of the current players were super welcoming. Overall, I just really liked the school in general because of the education program, (specifically) the five year mas ters,” Allen said.

Why Wilmington?

Why Missouri State?

““I chose Missouri State because I took a tour of their facilities, and I really thought they were a step above everyone else’s that I’d been to,” Zareh said.

Why Austin Peay?

“When I went and visited there for soccer, the environment really felt like a family. The campus was beautiful, and I really loved the town it was in,” Burke said.

“I really enjoyed the coaches and the girls when I went on my visit last year. They’re really big on community and taking care of one another and mental health, so that’s really important in sports, especially in women’s sports,” Storck said.

Soledad Lee Junior Sagittarius

Sam Klein Junior Leo Ali Schulz Sophomore Cancer

Eleanor Kanerva Senior Taurus

Dakota Motley Senior Sagittarius

Luca Giordano Senior Cancer

Owen Crews Senior Leo

Bailey Allen Women’s Soccer Truman State University

William Zareh Men’s Baseball Missouri State University

Vivian Burke Women’s Soccer

Austin Peay State University

Emma Storck Women’s Soccer Wilmington College

Catching up on summer... Students travel abroad

Hadley Hoskins Junior Editor

Sam Klein Podcast Editor

I’m Sydney Arrandale, and I went to Italy, and within Italy I went to Rome, Sorento and a place called Santa Maria Castellabate.

I’m Adriana Berra, and I went to Honduras.

I’m Asher Rataj, and I went to Barcelona, Spain.

What stood out to you the most that was different?

There’s no ice in the water at restaurants and there’s limited A/C, but the architecture is way older and way different. There’s a lot more details and a lot of religious influence [in the architecture].

- Junior Sydney Arrandale

Teachers discuss time off during summer

Eleanor Kanerva Public Relations

Luca Giordano Video Editor

Teachers worked over the summer to prepare classrooms and curriculum for the next school year.

Part of preparation for the school year is meeting with other teachers to share curriculum plans and expectations.

Biology and chemistry teacher Cody Christopher met with biology teachers, going through and finalizing their curriculum.

New counselor Ellen Dorsey met with college and career counselor Karen Verstraete about expectations, hours and start times.

English department chair Kristin Moore met with the new English teachers and did personal development work for the gifted department.

Christopher prepared by looking at classes and getting new material. Chris-

topher said he spent one or two days per week in the school. These were choices that Christopher independently made.

“The school doesn’t make us do anything. They actually are really good about us taking time to ourselves: spend time with family, friends,” Christopher said.

Moore planned individually by looking over changes to Advanced Placement (AP) tests. Moore also planned by improving upon last year’s curriculum and plans.

“I’m always planning for the next year: redoing things that I didn’t like the first time or changing something up for the next time or building more depth in something I’m already doing,” Moore said.

Christopher felt balance was important in not working too many hours for preparations and expressed that Webster gives teachers enough time to enjoy summer.

“I had more free time than I did not. I still had an enjoyable summer. I did not feel like I spent too much time working and not enough time actually having my life outside of (school),” Christopher said.

This is Dorsey’s first year here. She of-

ficially started Aug. 1, two to three weeks before students would begin to start school. Dorsey did not need to work over the summer due to her unique position of being a new staff member.

“I did have to do a lot of new teacher meetings and training which is district wide, but that was all super helpful to get to know how Webster works,” Dorsey said.

Although different teachers spent different amounts of time working over the summer, teachers weren’t pressured by Webster to do work over the summer.

“Since I’ve been here at Webster, I’ve never felt like I’ve had to do too much. I’ve never felt that Webster has made it seem like I have to do a bunch of work over the summer,” Christopher said

“Summer work is always optional. It’s encouraged, and I do think it’s really beneficial. I think it’s really good for team building, and I think it’s really good for kind of establishing a common place for the year, but they don’t require you to do any of it,” Moore said.

“There’s lots of sports.”

- Sophomore Asher Rataj

Junior Sydney Arrandale with her cousin Maddie Elliott in Rome. Photo provided by Sydney Arrandale

abroad over summer break

There’s this mountain by my grandparents house where I stayed that’s called the Coca Cola mountain. You can walk up it and there’s like an orange stand.

- Adriana Berra

A picture of mountains in Spain. Taken by sophomore Asher Rataj

“Pasta.

One on one Chromebooks for underclassmen

Hadley Hoskins Junior Editor

Chromebooks will be assigned and loaned to freshmen and sophomores on a one-to-one basis starting Sept. 12, for freshmen and Sept. 26, for sophomores.

In an email sent out to families of these students, principal Matt Irvin said the plan was modeled off of the Hixson Middle School one-to-one technology plan. He added the decision was adapted due to the fewer courses available to freshmen and

For parents and students that opt to insure their Chromebook, repairs to the Chromebook will be covered one time this school year. Parents and students that do not insure the device will be responsible for the cost of any damages.

Before students will be assigned Chromebooks, parents must sign and submit the Acceptable Use Policy Agreement

(The “AUP”), the technology agreement, and whether they plan to insure the device. These documents are available in the email sent out to parents about this transi-

Every student will also be assigned a charger and a case. Damages to the case will also be covered under the insurance plan, as long as that is the first damage that school year.

Students are allowed to opt out of the plan and bring their own devices.

Juniors and seniors will continue to use computer carts and check out devices.

What was the coolest thing you did?

Water crashes onto the beach in Italy.

Photo provided by Sydney Arrandale

Sophomore Asher Rataj poses with his family in Spain.

Photo provided by Asher Rataj

The sun shines over a mountain landscape in Spain.

Boats sail around the ocean in Spain.

A photo of the ocean taken by sophomore Asher Rataj

Which Elementary School is Best?

Dakota Motley Business Manager

Ali Schulz Opinion/News Editor

While opinions clash on different fronts, one of the main arguments is which elementary school is the best. Students at this school tend to judge others on what elementary school they went to.

The district has six elementary schools: Hudson, Edgar, Clark, Bristol, Avery and Giv ens (formerly the Computer School). They each have unique characteristics that some find interesting and oth ers just find weird.

“I loved Edgar. The teachers were great, the environment was great, and everyone was really friendly,” senior Addie Harrison said.

Senior Arctic Grosvenor from Hudson had similar opinions, “Hudson was hon-

estly really nice because the classes were really small and so it was like a com munity because I know it was one of the smallest of the bunch.”

While Grosvenor and Harrison had common opinions of their elementa ry schools junior Andrew Brown had a different take on his elementary school.

“Avery was alright, like I liked it at the time, but I also think that it has some big ger flaws…First off the kids at Avery are crazy. I don’t know if you can account that to the school or not. I didn’t realize that until I got put into a room with a bunch of other Avery kids, and we started talking about our experience. That it was like, ‘Holy crap, a lot of stuff happened at Avery.’ teachers putting in rules where kids can’t touch each other, or making people sit in boy/girl order,” Brown said.

Senior Ellie Keegan said, “Clark was

nice. Because it was small, it was like a community. It was just a big community and a very small school. The teachers were really nice, and I feel like everyone worked together,” which is close to what another teen from Bristol Elementary said.

“I thought Bristol was a pretty good school. I don’t really remember it that much, I just remember it was from kindergarten to fifth grade, but I mean there were obviously some issues to work on. Such as, being a bit more inclusive with things,” senior Lizzie Nieman said.

The elementary schools had many positive aspects, but they also have issues that need to be ad dressed. Students had different experiences at their schools, making everyone’s opinion on the best elementary school different.

Graphic by Luca Giordano

Graphic by Lydia Urice

Letter from the editor

Wait... is this the yearbook?

Lydia Urice Editor-in-Chief

Hi everyone!

It’s Lydia, your Editor-In-Chief. If you’re new or you’re not- Welcome! Many of you have asked me, “What is Echo?” and “Are Echo and yearbook different?” I’m here to they are different. While both include the word Echo, (which will be to as ‘yearbook’ in this article) and Echo Newspaper (which will be referred to as ‘Echo’ in this article), and they are entirely separate. They may have the same

formidable sponsor, the one and only Donald Johnson, and we all show up to events with a camera around our necks, but we have different staffs, different class periods and different published products. In addition to that Jocelyn Reiss

Echo Newspaper has a website (wgecho.org-check it out!) as well as a presence on social media platforms, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. We distribute about once a month, usually at the end of the month and the monthly issue is free. We do charge for the

issue in May.

Three new administrators this year

Soledad Lee Business Manager

Webster has three new administrators who are ready for the upcoming school year.

Assistant principal Dr. Tony Gragnani wants to support students and is starting up the Esports (electronic sports) program soon.

“I think first off we’re going to start up the Esports program. That’s something that I lead and do a lot of that work around the state of Missouri. I also want to continue to help students make sure their voices are heard at school.” Gragnani said.

Alternative Education Coordinator Simone Cunningham looks forward to changing how people think about alternative education, a space where students have the opportunity to have an individualized education in the Mead Center.

Assistant principal Dr. Jenna KlenkeGalbreath looks forward to connecting with students and staying present in the community,

“Just being present and attending all of the extracurriculars, whether that’s choir, drama or sports,” Klenke-Galbreath said.

by Soledad Lee

“As a learning community, we must embrace the diversity that exists amongst us. Alternative education is no different. Our work in alternative educa tion requires us to think outside the box for the wellbeing of our students and I love it,” Cunningham said via email.

senior

Echo staffers gather for a BeReal on the first week of school.

Photo by Izzy Poole

Photos

Seniors give tips to freshmen

Izzy Poole Print Editor

Ellie Halls

“Get involved, and I know that is kind of cliche, but it makes your high school experience so much better like I’m a cheerleader, and I have so much fun because of it, and I’m in a lot of clubs. I’m busy which may sound hectic but it actually makes me happier instead of just sitting around.

“Don’t ruin your grades for yourself your freshman year because if you get bad grades, it’s so hard to get your GPA back up . Freshman year you need to get good grades so that the rest of high school will be easier for you.”

Olivia Hager

“My tips to freshmen would be probably to focus on your own self growth and don’t worry about other people. Friends come and go, but focusing on what you truly want out of life is most important.”

“I would say just try to talk to a lot of people because typically people are really friendly and want to help and be your friend, so don’t be afraid to reach out.”

“One tip I would give to freshmen, I’d honestly just say do your work and keep up with it. Just try your best. It’s all a learning experience and just give it your all. It’s going to get harder so prepare your freshman year. You don’t want to let yourself slack off or else it’s going to transfer through your high school years.”

Seniors start off their year by spending time with each other.

“Don’t be scared to get involved with the school a lot of clubs are really including. I’m with the music program, the band, and they’re like a family over there.” Visit

“Have faith in yourself and push yourself because I feel like a lot of times as a freshman I didn’t have confidence to take those harder classes or push myself to join those scary clubs or those sports I’ve never played before, but when I actually did it, I enjoyed it so much. I had so much fun and learned so much through high school by pushing myself, and I think it’s just something everyone should do.”

Joseph Garzia

Addy Harrison

Annabelle Mueller

Oscar Spatola