ment Science teacher steps in to teach AP chemistry class

Science teacher steps in to teach AP Chemistry class

Maren DeMargel Contributing Writer

Science teacher Mebbie Landsness has worked at Webster Groves High School for four years, and this year, she has been given a new opportunity.

When AP Chemistry teacher Dr. Lisa Sylvester had to leave to help the Army Reserves with its COVID-19 response, Landsness was excited to step in and teach the class she left behind.

“AP Chemistry is such a unique challenge. It’s really fast paced and high level, and I love seeing students rise to that challenge,” Landsness said via email.

Normally, Landsness teaches courses in forensic science and sophomore chemistry. Even though she hasn’t taught AP Chemistry in a while, she feels ready to take on the challenge. “My Master’s degree was in physical chemistry so it’s nice to get back in the higher level chemistry game,” Landsness said via email.

Even though Landsness is excited for this new role, there are still challenges associated with it. “I think the speed with which we have to move through the curriculum, especially in our current schedule, is the most challenging, but I love that the students have been so ready and willing to go through this challenge with me. They really are the best!” Landsness said via email.

Even though this transition has been a challenge, Landsness’s students speak very highly of her and her teaching abilities.

“She handled the transition with grace and balanced her classes amazingly. She always finds time to put us first as students and dedicates so much effort to our class. She is literally the only reason I’m still in the class. She is brilliant,” AP Chemistry student Ivy Clark said via direct message.

Landsness is grateful for the support she has received from her students and the science department.

“We are all working hard to make this

Photo by Zeke La Mantia

Science teacher Mebbie Landsness enjoys her skeleton as company during her fourth hour planning period.

transition something that is smooth and beneficial for students, and I couldn’t be luckier to work with this awesome group of staff and students!” Landsness said via email.

Ava’s Anecdote Students discuss accuracy of astrology

Ava Musgraves Feature Editor

With the world we currently live in, there aren’t many constants we can rely on, but one we can is daily horoscopes that correspond with one’s zodiac sign.

A zodiac sign is one of the many things humans decided to assign babies at birth. To put it simply the pattern of stars that corresponds to a month determines the sign of the group of people born in that month.

Once you get into it all, it’s really not as simple as it’s written off as. My question is, “How accurate can personality traits based on star charts really be?”

Senior Annalise McCann said she is a Gemini, and she feels that she “kinda relates to her sign, usually happy and different sides to her personality. I am more excited around people but more reserved when I’m alone,” Which is a classic Gemini trait.

Not only does astrology make assumptions about one’s personality, but also compatibility of relationships, romantic and platonic. For example, the Taurus and Virgo signs are supposed to be compatible because they both are earth signs, but the Gemini and Virgo signs are not.

Senior Ava Sauer said about whether zodiac sign traits are too broad, “I think they are too broad, but because you can also go off your rising or moon sign, it can help hit all the marks in your personality, I’m an Aquarius but also a rising and moon Pisces, which I relate to more.”

Astrology should not be confused with astronomy. According to a study done by the National Science Foundation more than half of millennials think astrology is a science.

When Issac Newton came up with the math behind the rotation of the planets in relation to gravity, astronomy became known as a science and astrology lost its relevance to the scientific field.

For Time Magazine, astronomer Sten Ozwald said, “We don’t really know who first came up with the idea for looking at things in nature and divining influences on humans. Even if astrology’s answers aren’t based on scientific study, the reason people keep turning to the sky does come down to something very real — a psychological phenomenon called the human tendency for self-selection, the search for interpretations that match what we already hope to be true.”

Even though zodiac signs aren’t backed up with scientific evidence, looking to nature for answers about why we are the way we are isn’t totally crazy, even according to NASA astronomers like Ozwald. So don’t feel crazy for believing in zodiac signs, because our ancestors have found meaning in the stars thoroughly throughout history, and it’s pretty fun to read your horoscope.