Print Version: WG ECHO March 2018 Issue

ECHO See pg. 12: “Men’s basketball wins back-toback State championships” March 2018 Volume 103 Issue 7 Photo by Greg Frazier

100 Selma Ave st. Louis MO 63119 WGECHO.org

2

Table of Contents

ECHO

Pg. 3 Instagram account does not reflect ECHO values Pg. 3 Students should stop parking without passes Pg. 4-5 America needs gun control Pg. 6 Students share hopes for new principal Pg.7 Mayor faces opposition for first time in 16 years Pg.8-9 Students,staff,moms take action after MSD shooting Pg. 10 Former teacher arrested, charged for sexual contact Pg.11 Feminist Coalition honors women’s history month Pg. 12 Men’s basketball wins back-to-back State championships Pg. 13 Soccer team struggles to replace goalie Pg. 14 New movie realistically portrays love Pg.15 ‘Scribblenauts Showdown’punctuates lack of creativity Pg. 16 Willie’s Comic

2017-18 ECHO STAFF

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Caroline Fellows PRINT EDITOR: Riley Mullgardt JUNIOR EDITOR: Cole Schnell BUSINESS/ADS MANAGER: Evelyn Trampe VIDEO EDITOR: Ashli Wagner SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER: Natalie Johnson NEWS/OPINION EDITOR: Elise Keller SPORTS EDITOR: Greg Frazier FEATURE EDITOR: Rosa Parks PODCAST EDITOR: Eleanor Marshall ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR: Josie Krueger GRAPHICS EDITOR: Sean Mullins ADVISOR: Donald Johnson

SOME MATERIAL COURTESY OF AMERICAN SOCIETY OF NEWSPAPER EDITORS/MCT CAMPUS HIGH SCHOOL NEWSPAPER SERVICE The ECHO is a monthly publication of the newspaper staff of Webster Groves High School, 100 Selma Avenue, 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 SSP, Quill and Scroll, MJEA, JEA, MIPA, NSPA and CSPA.

March 2018

The ECHO FAMILY The ECHO Family helps make the ECHO possible. To become a member of the ECHO Family, please contact wgecho@wgmail.org. Thanks to all of our members!

Melanie Bennett Curtin Family Fellows Family Jean Dugan Meghan Gray Aerin Johnson Phil Wojak Ernie Yilmaz wgecho.org

ECHO

3

Opinion

Editorial

Instagram account does not reflect ECHO values Due to the inappropriate content of an Instagram account, the ECHO would like to bring awareness to the content in the videos and also distance itself from the account.

Recently, the ECHO staff became aware of an account with the handle “doingrandomsh*ttotheecho.”

As of now, there are three videos.

The first one features an ECHO issue that contained a story about the swastikas drawn at school and the “Me Too” movement being thrown into a fire pit and lit on fire. After burning for a few seconds, the “cameraman” gives a Nazi salute to the burning ECHO. The caption had a hashtag that said, “Me Too.” These are not issues to make lightly of. The first video is mocking serious topics the ECHO covered. Joking about sexual assault awareness and discrimination is unacceptable.

The second video is rather vapid. It features a cut up ECHO newspaper being put into a tea strainer. The video is titled, “How to make ECHO tea.” The ECHO does not advise anyone to try to make the newspaper into a cup of tea. Drinking newspaper is not healthy and can easily be exchanged for something better, like a

cup of peppermint tea.

The third video is captioned “ECHO vs Machete” and shows an ECHO issue being sliced by a machete.

While the ECHO had nothing to do with the creation of this account, the staff would like to formally apologize to anyone who saw these offensive videos. There is no reasoning behind this vacuous and pointless account.

The ECHO staffers had nothing to do with the making of this account and condemns the content that was featured in these videos which debase the content of the ECHO. Readers can certainly have their own opinion about the ECHO’s stories, but by no means should readers create hateful and discriminatory comments like the Nazi salute.

The ECHO tries to be as unbiased as possible but will not ever condone this account or discrimination of any kind.

If anyone has issues with the content or subjects the staff speak of in the ECHO, then he or she can either come talk to the staff directly, write a letter to the editor (share letters to wgecho@ wgmail.org) or join the ECHO.

Ellie’s Expression

Students should stop parking without passes

Eleanor Marshall Opinion Columnist

Juniors and seniors are allowed to purchase a parking pass, permitting them to park in the lots. Juniors share with a partner, and seniors get their own.

Seems like a perfect system, right?

Well, it’s not. People without parking passes are parking in the lots, taking the places of people who paid money ($50 to be exact) for the convenience to park there for the year. This is extremely unfair.

“Once I came to school, and there were no spots. I was late because I was at the doctor not because I was just late or anything,” junior Kate Booth said.

“I have to park really far away when I come back from appointments because there are cars without passes in the closer spots. When I come back from lunch, sometimes I can only find one parking spot,” junior Meredith Rorie said.

The school does all it can to prevent illegal parking.

“I keep a violation log by recording the license plates,” administrative assistant Gayna Winkelmann said. “Students get a couple of warnings, but if they continue to park, we will put a sticker on their car. If it doesn’t stop after that, the car is towed.”

This idea is great, but people are still parking.

Booth came up with an alternate plan.

Photo by Ashli Wagner

A car will be towed if it continues to be parked without a parking pass.

“I think there should be assigned parking spaces so you know for sure if someone’s parked in the lot without a pass,” Booth said.

Whether policy becomes more strict or not, people without passes should stop parking in the lots. It’s disrespectful, and they take up extra space that the lots don’t have.

If you don’t have a pass, do the right thing and park on the street instead.

Write a Letter to the Editor at wgecho@wgmail.org wgecho.org

March 2018

4

Opinion

Op-ed

ECHO

America needs better gun control Josie Krueger Entertainment Editor According to Wikipedia, a school shooting is defined as “an attack at an educational institution, such as a school or university, involving the use of a firearm(s).”

There were 67 school shootings in 2017 in which a gun was brought to school, and 47 of those shootings involved death or injury-- some being supposed accidents, some being suicides and some being attacks on others.

So far in 2018, there have been 29 school shootings in the U.S., 18 of which resulted in death or injury.

This is sickening and unacceptable. Too many students and teachers have been killed for our government to keep ignoring this issue.

Contrary to the ideas of President Donald Trump, arming teachers is an ineffective and problematic way to prevent school shootings.

It is completely impractical to propose teachers go through training to learn how to handle/use a gun or to assume that they are capable of defending a classroom against a school shooter.

Not to mention, teachers can have the same mental issues as students, and they could at any point use the guns against the students. No one should assume that, because someone is a teacher, he or she would never cause harm to students if he or she had access to a gun in the classroom.

One student said, “Seeing my teachers with guns would make me feel unsafe going to school.”

Another student said, “School should be safe without the people who teach us skills and life lessons having to be armed.”

Although there is no definite way to end all school shootings, there are effective ways to prevent them, none of which are ignoring the problem. Unfortunately, the authorities of this country have not realized that ignorance perpetuates the issue.

School shootings can be reduced and prevented through gun laws that raise the minimum age to purchase a gun, outlaw certain automatic and semi-automatic weapons and require stricter and more extensive background checks for those trying to purchase a gun.

Senior Brady Chrisler said, “If you are not old enough to kill yourself with cigarettes, you are not old enough to kill yourself or someone else with a gun.”

It is erroneous to claim gun laws would not be effective in the U.S., and to those who oppose gun control on the grounds that nothing will change.

The National Firearms Agreement was passed in Australia in 1996 which imposed tighter registration requirements to purchase a gun and banned certain shotguns and semi-automatic rifles. Additionally, hundreds of thousands of guns were sold or surrendered to the government by Australian citizens. Since 1996, Australia has experienced a 20 percent decline in homicides. This law was passed in the same year as and as a result

March 2018

Graphic by Josie Krueger

According to an ECHO survey, 34.6 percent of the 77 respondents do not feel safe at school, and 65.4 percent do.

of a mass shooting in Tasmania in which 35 people were killed.

The U.S. government is so busy protecting the Second Amendment, that it has neglected to protect students and teachers who are trying to give or receive education. The Constitution is supposed to protect all U.S. citizens. Instead it is only protecting the ones killing their fellow citizens.

According to a survey from March 2018, about 35 percent of 77 respondents feel unsafe at school every day. One hundred percent of students, not only in Webster, but everywhere should feel safe at school--no questions asked.

Senior Oliver Chrisler said, “ I feel that this school does its best, but in any school in the nation, I would feel unsafe. It’s the lack of gun control and the sheer ignorance. The purposeful ignorance of people to say that it is not a gun related issue, but it is a mental health issue… It’s not a mental health issue; it’s a gun issue.”

Similarly, senior Trinity Baker-Simmons said, “No, I do not feel safe at school. I am constantly making plans in my head about what I would do in each of my classes if a school shooting happened. I think about how I would defend myself and what would be the best way to get out alive.”

No one should have to live in fear, especially students trying to make something of themselves in school. They do not deserve to have their future taken away from them. It is long past the time when the government should have addressed this issue. Gun laws are not too much to ask for, and these circumstances will worsen without them.

What people do not understand is that gun control supporters are not trying to ban all guns. They are not opposing deer hunting and the responsible use and handling of guns. However, they are opposed to a teenager having unnecessary access to a semi-automatic military style weapon, especially one like Nikolas Cruz.

Cruz, the 19 year old who shot 17 of his former Stoneman

wgecho.org

ECHO

Opinion

Citizens of St. Louis hold signs in support of gun control at the March 24, March for Our Lives.

Douglas High School classmates with an AR-15, was reported multiple times to the sheriff’s office as a potential school shooter prior to the shooting. Numerous other reports went to the sheriff, the school resource officer, and other authorities about his weapons and behaviors throughout two years leading up to the shooting. In Sept. 2017, the blogger “BenTheBondsman” reported to the FBI that Nikolas Cruz had written, “I’m going to be a professional school shooter.” on his Youtube page.

These signs were not missed; they were ignored.

Cruz is being defended on accounts of him being “deeply disturbed” and having “significant mental illness.”

First, why does someone with “significant mental illness,” especially one who had been expelled from his high school for bringing knives on campus and was reported so many times, have access to a gun?

Second, why does any regular citizen of the United States have access to the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle? The AR-15 and guns like it are not used for hunting; they are not used for defense; they are used in the military to kill people. This gun was not only used in the Stoneman Douglas shooting, but also in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012.

The United States is changing internally. The citizens are coming together in realization that something has to be done or else these shootings will not stop. They will increase. That something is gun control. What we need is our own government’s support

wgecho.org

5

Photo by Ashli Wagner

of this change. That way, we can make the technical changes that might not completely cease school shootings but will prevent many from happening.

Freshman Miette O’Malley said, “When a parent or guardian drops their child off at school, they shouldn’t have to think this is their last time each time, which many parents will have to bear for the rest of their lives. That’s something you expect going into a dangerous line of work, like a police officer or firefighters, not a student gaining an education.”

Photo by Ashli Wagner

Moms Demand Action participates in the March for Our Lives protest on March 24, in downtown St. Louis.

March 2018

6

News

ECHO

Students share hopes for new principal

Photo by Greg Frazier

Seniors Courtney Ramey, R.J. Wright and Carte’Are Gordon hand over the State championship trophy to Dr. Jon Clark in honor of his legacy both on and off the court. The Statesmen defeated Chaminade in Springfield on March 17.

Elise Keller News/Opinion Editor Dr. Jon Clark recently announced he will not return next fall and will instead retire after 15 years as Webster’s principal.

ECHO asked the students what they want in the person who takes Clark’s place.

The ECHO survey asked students about what makes a good principal, what they hope the new principal will do the same as Clark, what the new principal should do differently, and what they liked most about their favorite principal.

The majority of the students said the new principal shouldn’t do things much differently from Clark, and the majority of students said their favorite principal from elementary all the way up to high school was, in fact, principal Dr. Clark.

Common traits the students found important in a principal included understanding, caring, kindness and flexibility.

One student finds it important for a principal to be “concerned about issues regarding sexism and racism. I think they should be protective of their students. I want them to be concerned with the well being of students.”

Mickey Erb, Dr. Clark’s secretary, has similar hopes of the new principal.

“I hope the new principal has similar characteristics to Dr. Clark: fair, empathetic, accessible, forward-thinker, compassionate, visible/mobile --gets out with the students and gets to know them, and sets high expectations,” Erb said.

For students wanting to help in the search for a new principal, an email was sent with a survey included.

“Dr. (Sandy) Wiley and the HR team have already met with various student groups to gather feedback. All students have or will receive an email in their student email accounts regarding

March 2018

an opportunity to assist the team in choosing the next principal,” Erb said.

The selection for the new principal will be announced the week of April 23.

www.websterkirkwoodtimes.com

Proud to support the independent student journalists at The Echo

wgecho.org

7 ECHO News Mayor faces opposition for first time in 16 years Evelyn Trampe Business/Ads Manager Natalie Johnson Social Media Manager For the first time since 2002 mayor, Gerry Welch, will face opposition in her mayoral run.

To maintain her position as mayor, Welch will have to defeat two-term, eightyear city councilman Ken Burns.

Due to her long term as mayor, some may think that it difficult for Welch to keep the same passion and excitement she had when first elected, but Welch said that “has never been an issue.”

“As a collaborative problem solver, I Photo provided by Ken Burns and Gerry Welch daily find ways to make something bet- Webster Groves community members will vote for the incumbent Gerry Welch ter for the community and for individuals. or Ken Burns in the next mayoral election on April 3. “I’ve always been about Having been mayor for some time has al- positive leadership. That’s what I want to continue. I want to insure that this is a lowed me to build a lot of connections that positive race. That’s all I look for,” Welch said. can be used for good - from connecting an in-need family to one of our three food pantries to using the leg- islative advocacy committee that I have created to contact our state legislature concerning an important proposed bill,” Welch said. “ I am also always out in the community - talking with people and participating in projects and events. This interaction always inspires me,” Welch said.

Welch said her interests are very similar to those of high school students because she is “concerned about safety issues from gun violence to the opioid crisis,” and if re-elected would “continue to work for resources to train and provide police cooperation.” As well as help “build better relationships between the [Webster Groves School District] and city council.”

Burns also said he has something to offer WGHS students.

“Eight years ago I was the only city council candidate to publicly state support the bond issue that built the addition and improvements to your high school, and I hope all of the current school students are enjoying the benefits of the community deciding to support it as well,” Burns said.

Burns said the success of Webster Groves is not simply from city council, but rather “the success of our city is due the combined efforts of our residents to improving their families’ lives and their homes. WG is a ‘bottoms up’ success story. The city government is the recipient of this benefit, not the creator of it,” Burns said.

Burns is “confident in [his] ability to successful[ly] serve as Mayor of Webster Groves” and believes that both him and Welch “are dedicated to maintaining the excellent level of municipal services we have become accustomed to expecting.”

City council and school board elections are April 3.

wgecho.org

March 2018

8

Feature

ECHO

Students, staff, moms take a Cole Schnell Junior Editor Ashli Wagner Video Editor Three-hundred-nineteen students that teachers recorded on attendance walked-out to protest gun control on Wednesday, March 14. The topic of gun control is again in the limelight after another mass shooting, this time at Marjory Stoneman Douglas (MSD) High School in Parkland, FL. Hixson and Steger students also walked-out.

Seniors Sydney Cimarolli and Elliot Williams organized the high school walkout “to protest the lack of gun control measures at the local, state and federal levels,” as written in a graphic advertising the protest.

Cimarolli said students needed to protest “because nothing is getting done otherwise,without public pressure the lawmakers aren’t doing anything.”

The walkout was coordinated with #Enough National School Walkout organized by Women’s March Youth Empower. According to the womensmarch.com, 2,500 student walkouts were planned. Kirkwood High School students, like WGHS students, walked-out in coordination with the national school walkout.

The walkouts were individually organized by students at their respective high schools. The walkouts got national media attention from the New York Times, CNN, FOX, TIME Magazine and SNL.

Photo by Ashli Wagner

Sophomores Peyton St. James, Grace Hardison and Lindsey Bennett marched for stricter gun control at March for Our Lives. March participants walked from Union Station to the Arch. St. James said, “Even though I am only one voice, it can make a big impact on what can improve for the future.”

March 2018

Assistant principal John Raimondo said, “We feel good about students’ right to have a political view.” He added students have an “obligation to be in class.”

Students who walked out were counted as cutting class, but the cut could “become an excused absence if they write a statement or provide a verbal one on why they chose to protest and what they learned from it,” superintendent John Simpson said via an email to all students.

On the day after the protest, the administration sent a form to students who protested, and an announcement was made to tell them about the email and the consequences of protesting.

The form was available for students to provide a written statement by answering four questions: “What was the issue that caused you to participate Seniors Elliot Williams, Sydney Cima in this walk out?” “Why was protest. The protested lasted 17 minu this issue important to you?” Cimarolli read their demands and jun “How did it feel to be part of this walkout?” and “What can Webster Groves High School students, staff or administration do to improve safety at this school?”

Over 200 students have responded to the form.

Cimarolli said the organizers wanted “the event to be as nonpartisan as possible.”

The administration’s primary focus was safety during the protest, according to Raimondo.

Three students spoke during the 17-minute-walkout: Cimarolli, Williams and junior Rosa Parks.

At least seven local universities said they would not penalize students during the college application process for participating in the walkout.

Washington University (@WUSTL) tweeted, “Applicants: We encourage civic engagement.”

Webster University spokesperson, Patrick Giblin, said, “It (protesting) actually helps them,” according to stltoday.com.

Students also participated in March for Our Lives in downtown St. Louis and a few in Washington D.C. on March 24.

March for Our Lives was organized to protest against senseless gun violence.

“The more we care, the more they can’t ignore us,” junior Philip Freeman, who printed flyers to advertise the high school protest and attended March for Our Lives in Washington D.C.,

wgecho.org

ECHO

Feature

action after MSD shooting

Photo by Caroline Fellows

arolli, Kate Becker and Meredith Grimm-Howell lead the March 14, utes, a minute for every life lost in the MSD shooting. Williams and nior Rosa Parks read a slam poem she wrote for the protest.

said, “It’s the issue of our teenage lifetime.”

The message of WGHS protest was “Time for Action,” a message that was inspired by the MSD students.

Cimarolli and Williams made a list of demands that they announced during the protest. They want the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to continue its research on gun violence, to digitize records of gun sales, to reinstate the 1994 assault weapons ban or instate a modern counterpart, to enact universal background checks, to limit sale of high-capacity magazines and to vote out elected officials who take money from the NRA. According to the Washington Post, the CDC was accused of promoting gun control by the NRA when it published research based on gun violence. Congress threatened to take away the CDC’s funding if it continued to research gun violence, but in 2012 President Barack Obama tried to reverse the research ban after the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting. The CDC continues to avoid gun violence research even though the ban was lifted.

Williams and Cimarolli demanded a ban on assault weapons and limited sale of high capacity magazines because high capacity magazines need to be limited.

No one needs that many bullets to hit a deer if they’re hunting, or an intruder if they’re using them for self-defense, Williams said.

wgecho.org

9

On March 1, Mom Demands Action were originally supposed to meet at the Webster Groves Public Library, but due to the number of people, the meeting was moved to the Hixson Middle School auditorium.

Moms Demand Action for stricter gun regulation in America is a non-profit organization that started back in 2010 by Shannon Watts after the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting. The organization was created “to demand action from legislators, state and federal; companies; and educational institutions to establish common-sense gun reforms,” according to the Moms Demand Action website.

According to volunteers, usually only a few hundred attend the meetings, but at the most recent meeting over 1,000 people showed up. Some members of Mom Demands Action protested at March for Our Lives in downtown St. Louis.

Following the shooting, the Board of Education held a question and answer session for school safety on Monday, March 12, at the district service center.

Via an email sent to all high school students on March 8, Simpson suggested three opportunities for students and staff to express their feelings about the MSD shooting: “Wear the school colors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (burgundy, maroon, and silver), donate in support of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School GoFundMe account, at a designated location within the school, respond to the following prompt, ‘In order to help keep my Photo by Ashli Wagner school safe, I will…’”

Members of Moms Demand AcThe crisis team, a tion walk at St. Louis’s March for group composed of adOur Lives on March 24. ministration, counselors, teachers, the nurse and resource officer to make peremptory measures for crises, increased the meetings to two times in the last month due to recent school shootings. Its members are currently discussing the possibility of a single-entry way, or something with a similar effect like multiple manned entry ways. The crisis team is also updating “lockout procedure,” “intruder/lockdown plan,” “active shooter protocol” and preventions.

In an effort to make the school safer, the high school administration and the central office have decided to install a buzzer on the main entrance. The buzzer allows the attendant at the main entrance to stop any intruders before entering the doors.

March 2018

10

ECHO

News

Photos from Webster Groves Police press release

David Mendelson was taken into custody on March 21, due to allegations of sexual contact during the 2009-2010 school year with a student. According to Superintendent John Simpson, Mendelson resigned in 2010.

Former teacher arrested, charged for sexual contact Caroline Fellows Editor-in-Chief David Mendelson, former English teacher at Webster Groves High School, was recently charged on two counts of sexual contact with a student by teacher.

A search warrant was issued on March 21, and Mendelson was taken into custody.

Both of his charges are class D felonies of sexual contact with a student on public school property, stating that between Aug. 1, 2009, and Dec. 9, 2009, he knowingly had sexual contact with a student with the initials E.S. while on property of Webster Groves High School.

His first charge details Mendelson having sexual intercourse with E.S., and his second charge details him engaging in oral sex with E.S. Superintendent John Simpson sent an email to Webster Groves School District families on March 21, saying the district contacted the police “in response to information the school district recently learned concerning Mendelson’s actions.”

While the police department investigates, the district will be unable to comment further.

“These charges may be very troubling to students, parents, and staff, as they are to us,” Simpson wrote in the email. “I’d like to assure our school community the safety of our children is our number one priority.”

Mendelson’s $100,000 cash bond was filed on March 23, and his criminal setting has been scheduled for April 23.

March 2018

wgecho.org

Feature 11 Feminist Coalition honors women’s history month

ECHO

Caroline Fellows Editor-in-Chief March is Women’s History Month when people around the United States recognize the contributions of women in history and in daily life.

The Feminist Coalition meets every other week on Tuesday mornings and holds mostly educational discussions.

“This month specifically we’re building a collage of submissions from people who write about a woman that inspires them,” senior Olivia Weik said.

At the beginning of March, students stopped by the Feminist Coalition table during lunch where they could fill in the template.

The collage is outside Feminist Coalition sponsor Kristin Moore’s room.

One student wrote about Emma Watson because “she is an outstanding actress but also never allowed her fame to turn her into someone else and always shows her support and stands up for women’s rights no matter what others might think of her.”

“We’re also planning on doing a school supplies drive for the Immigrant & Refugee Women’s Program in St. Louis,” Weik said.

According to the Immigrant & Refugee Women’s Program website, the program’s mission is “to increase the independence and reduce the isolation of immigrant and refugee women by teaching them basic English and practical living skills in the se-

wgecho.org

Photo by Caroline Fellows

This collage is posted outside Feminist Coalition sponsor Kristin Moore’s room, Room 284.

curity of their own homes.”

“They help them emotionally assimilate to society and basically give them all the support they need,” senior Sydney Cimarolli said.

About the message she hopes to spread by doing these activities Weik said, “The stressing of the importance of intersectionality and recognizing that all different types of women of all religions of society are all important.”

March 2018

12

Sports

ECHO

Men’s basketball wins back-to-back State championships

Photo by Greg Frazier

Senior Courtney Ramey goes up for a layup against Liberty in the semi-final game on March 15. Webster’s victory over Liberty advanced the team to the final to become back-toback State champions.

Riley Mullgardt Print Editor Varsity men’s basketball proved its well deserved ranking of eighth in the state by winning the Class Five State Championship for the second year in a row, this year against Chaminade with a 101-90 final score.

“That was one of the most stressful games I had ever cheered at. It was hard to call our cheers because all of us just wanted to scream along with the student section,” senior cheerleading captain Jennifer Egley said.

The game consisted of Webster holding the lead with 22-12 at the end of the first quarter as Chaminade struggled to guard senior Cart’Are Gordon and 39-36 at the end of the first half, but a total of 58 fouls were called leading to top scoring players, like senior Courtney Ramey and eventually senior R.J. Wright, to be benched in

March 2018

Photo by Greg Frazier

Junior Ray Adams shoots during the State championship game. He scored a total of 17 points.

the second half of the game.

“Fouling out of my last high school basketball game was crazy. I started [the season] on the bench and finished it on the bench,” Ramey said.

Ramey had a broken wrist when the season first started resulting in his not playing the first eight games.

“I was really proud of my teammates and how they finished the game, kept the lead and eventually won us State again,” Ramey said.

When Ramey was fouled out of the game, Webster had a 82-70 lead but within the next minute, the score had jumped to 85-82.

The team quickly regrouped and stayed on top with Wright scoring six of his 16 points quickly thereafter.

Junior Ray Adams then went off scoring a total of 17 points in the game giving Webster a 77-58 with six minutes to play.

This lead large enough to hold against Chaminade’s final efforts.

Wright later fouled out too.

“I thought [being fouled out] was funny.

It was my first time doing that so I viewed it as a milestone,” Wright said.

As the buzzer went off signaling the end of the championship game the stadium flowed with screams from Webster fans.

After the presentation of the trophy, Ramey, Gordon and Wright immediately gave the trophy to principal Dr. Jon Clark, who will retire at the end of this year.

“I cried when we won and when [the players] took the trophy to Dr. Clark. It was an emotional rollercoaster,” said junior Karis Robinson.

Missouri Basketball Coaches Association also named coach Jay Blossom “Coach of the Year” and Ramey “Player of the Year.”

“Winning State again really meant a lot, it helped us leave a legacy at a school that is rich in tradition and just for me it helped me leave the school as a champion,” Ramey said.

wgecho.org

Sports

ECHO

Frazier from the Field

13

Soccer team struggles to replace goalie

Photo by Greg Frazier

Freshman Sonia Bergfeld gazes at her teammates during the Liberty match on March 23.

Greg Frazier Sports Columnist Despite expectations from fellow goalkeepers and herself, freshman Sonia Bergfeld took to the pitch to play full time in the first game of the season against Liberty (Wentzville) at Lou Fusz Soccer Park

on March 23.

Liberty proved to be a challenging opponent against Webster.

The conditions of the game were poor.

Medium winds clashed with cold rain on an astro turf to make goalkeeping a significantly confusing experience.

Liberty had possession for most of both halves keeping Bergfeld on her toes throughout.

Senior State champion left-back Anna Divin accompanied Bergfeld in defensive measures against Liberty, having to help prevent many potential goals due to Bergfeld’s lack of confidence.

Divin could only keep back Liberty’s Blue Jays for so long, however, and three balls eventually found the back of the netting.

The second goal began in Bergfeld’s gloves but slipped through to the net. It’s safe to assume that Sonia’s gloves were extremely slippery given the conditions at the game.

Liberty won the game 2-3.

Interestingly enough, freshman Whitley Coltrane started the second game of the season against Oswego East. The Stateswomen won that game 4-1 last Thursday, March 24.

Juniors took over in this match, with

Emma Atherton, Zoe Schultz and Gretchen Skoglund all scoring.

Senior Isabel Burke also managed to find the back of the netting. Skoglund appears to be pairing up with Atherton to be leading scorers for the season. Skoglund got the two points for Webster in the Liberty game as well.

It’s still the start of the season and Webster still has no answer for who will replace State champion and 2017 graduate Megan McClure.

Four potential goalkeepers remain.

Backup to McClure senior Rebecca DeGreeff, junior Hope Johnson and two freshman, Bergfeld and Coltrane.

Johnson and Bergfeld are similar goalkeepers but they don’t compare to McClure’s height. However, “being short doesn’t matter if you’re still a good goalkeeper,” Johnson said.

Field player and basketball player Coltrane has been introduced to the important position of goalkeeping. However, she maintains to be a field player.

“I’m unsure for whether I’ll be starting, but I’m going to continue to train. It’ll be hard on the team but I think it’s a possibility to go to State if we have someone good in goal,” Coltrane said.

Upcoming Games Friday, March 30, at Ritenour 4:15 p.m.

Tuesday, April 3, vs Mehlville 5:45 p.m.

Friday, April 6, vs Westminster 5:30 p.m.

Saturday, April 7, vs Rolla

2 p.m.

Wednesday, April 11, vs Ladue 4 p.m.

wgecho.org

March 2018

14

Entertainment

Josie’s Journal

ECHO

New movie realistically portrays love Josie Krueger Entertainment Columnist Director Luca Guadagnino brings André Aciman’s 2007 novel to life in the film “Call Me by Your Name,” released in January 2018.

Aciman described how, while hearing the director Luca Guadagnino’s plan for the movie’s ending and hearing the primary artist featured on the soundtrack as an American pop singer, his “heart sank.” He felt the story was being portrayed through a vision completely opposite of his own. However, he ended up feeling quite differently once he saw the film in its completeness.

According to Vanity Fair, Aciman said, “When I finally saw the film at the Berlin International Film Festival, I was stunned.

“The ending captured the very spirit of the novel I had written in ways that I could never have imagined or anticipated, and as for the music, it resonated with the love of the two young men, so much so that the final scene with Elio and Sufjan’s song stayed with me long, long after I walked out of the movie theater and, as happens so rarely, into the next morning and the evening after that.”

The story is told from the point of view of Elio, a 17-year-old Italian boy played by actor Timothée Chalamet (“Interstellar”) and follows his summer love with Oliver, a 24-year-old American journalist played by actor Armie Hammer (“Cars 3”).

Elio (Chalamet) is spending his summer in his family’s summer/winter villa when Oliver (Hammer) arrives to assist Mr. Perlman, Elio’s father played by American actor Michael Stuhlbarg, in his Greco-Roman studies. Over the course of the movie, Elio and Oliver develop a friendship and then a romantic relationship that is never forgotten, nor emotionally concluded by either of them.

The film simultaneously includes picturesque images of small town Italy’s style and nature, while developing a storyline that envelops the audience. Likewise, the close perspective the audience has to the characters, Elio specifically, almost forces them to become emotionally attached to the storyline in one way or another.

Additionally, including two original songs composed specifically for the film by American singer/songwriter Sufjan Stevens, the “Call Me by Your Name” soundtrack is a piece of art perfectly maintaining and accompanying the moods of the film and the love between Elio and Oliver. The soundtrack is crafted also to capture the cultural aspects of the movie, with songs distinct to all three included: Italian, American and French.

What makes the film, the story in particular, unique is that there was no opposing force to the pair’s love at any point. Usually in a romance, there is conflict that is keeping them apart.

In “Call Me by Your Name,” there are no obstacles to overcome, and, although the relationship eventually results in heartbreak, it was not because of something Elio and Oliver fought to overcome. It was because of a choice they made independent

March 2018

Photo by Scott Varley/TNS Adapted Screenplay winner “Call Me by Your Name,” James Ivory backstage at the 90th Academy Awards on Sunday, March 4, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood.

of any outside conflict. Chalamet describes the movie as “a pure celebration of love.”

The film and its characters were nominated for three 2018 Oscars. The film itself is nominated for Best Picture with Chalamet nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role and “Mystery of Love” by Stevens nominated for Best Original Song.

James Ivory received the 2018 Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for “Call Me By Your Name.”

wgecho.org

ECHO

Entertainment

Electric Retrospective

15

Review: ‘Scribblenauts Showdown’ punctuates lack of creativity Sean Mullins Technology Columnist When a franchise’s future is handed to a different creator, it can take that series in interesting new directions. However, “Scribblenauts Showdown” is a word of warning that a new direction isn’t always the best.

The Scribblenauts series, originally created by 5th Cell, focuses on Maxwell, whose magic notebook can spawn anything he writes in it. Maxwell travels the world, solving problems by summoning nouns or applying adjectives to them. The series emphasizes creative thinking, since every problem has hundreds of solutions. For example, to rescue a cat from a tree, Maxwell can summon a ladder, but a jetpack can also do the job.

Given its unique mechanics, one would think the next Scribblenauts game would stick with its sandbox gameplay and word puzzles. However, rather than a new game with additions to Maxwell’s abilities, such as how “Super Scribblenauts” introduced adjectives, the series returned after a four year hiatus with “Scribblenauts Showdown,” a minigame collection including elements of previous entries, with 5th Cell being replaced by Shiver Entertainment.

Minigame collections, a type of party game, have a certain stigma due to frequently released mediocre games destined for bargain bins. The issue became worse with the Wii, which popularized motion-control minigames. Excellent games like “Mario Party” and the surprisingly entertaining “SpongeBob SquarePants: Lights, Camera, Pants!” prove the subgenre isn’t inherently awful. However, minigame collections generally fall prey to mediocrity due to cut corners and weak minigames.

The 25 minigames are separated into Wordy games, which have the player type a word from a random category to help them win, and Speedy games, which are action minigames closer to other party games. They can be played in Showdown mode, a board game with minigames between turns a la “Mario Party,” or Versus mode, which only includes minigames.

Speedy games are nothing to write home about, but since Wordy games incorporate the typing mechanics from previous entries, it makes them feel slightly more interesting. The word prompts allow players to create objects that give them a slight advantage in competitions, such as choosing smaller dishes in the eating competition, or just write silly objects for fun, like using Santa Claus as bait in a fishing game.

Sadly, the minigames aren’t engaging enough to constitute this being a minigame collection. Most of the minigames are over within 30 seconds to a minute, and they become stale after a few replays. Furthermore, the minigames are either common minigame types from other party games, like the dance-off minigame, or blatant copies of other games, like the diner game copied from Midway’s arcade classic, “Tapper.”

For those not interested in minigames, Sandbox mode provides puzzle-solving gameplay in true Scribblenauts fashion.

However, there are only eight levels with a few puzzles each, and the mode can be finished in less than two hours. Challenges are

wgecho.org

Image from Warner Bros.

Maxwell prepares a meal in one of the new minigames.

incredibly basic, but some objectives provide cheap difficulty.

Specific puzzles have unclear win conditions, and others don’t reward the player immediately, even though ingame hints show the puzzle was solved correctly.

Since typing is a major mechanic, Scribblenauts games always release on systems with touch screens or keyboards. However, despite 3DS, iOS and PC previously receiving Scribblenauts games, all of which have typing options, “Showdown” is only on home consoles, so typing is relegated to a convoluted combination of the control stick and buttons. The button layout for character movement is confusing, which makes traversing levels as tedious as typing is.

The Scribblenauts series has a unique art style in which characters look and move like marionettes without strings, but a few minor changes have been made, such as slight redesigns for Maxwell and other returning characters. While short title screen animations are fluidly animated and charming to watch, the game lags if too many objects are onscreen, which slows the pace of certain modes.

Although a few unmemorable songs were added, the music is mostly taken from 2012’s “Scribblenauts Unlimited.” “Unlimited” has a hidden gem of a soundtrack by the fantastic David J. Franco, who worked with 5th Cell back when it owned the series.

However, the returning music is used unfittingly. It’s difficult to get excited about racing through volcanoes when melancholy music from the “Unlimited” prison level, Payper N. Penitentiary, is playing.

5th Cell’s games, from “Drawn to Life” to “Lock’s Quest,” always pride themselves on creative thinking and unique solutions, but “Scribblenauts Showdown” only exists to capitalize on the series’s success without the passionate team behind earlier installments at double the previous entries’ prices. Given the lack of content, terrible design choices, and removal of 5th Cell’s involvement, it seems the writing is on the wall for the future of Scribblenauts.

“Scribblenauts Showdown” is available for $39.99 on Nintendo Switch, XBox One, and PlayStation 4. This review was made using the Nintendo Switch version.

Go to the Electric Retrospective blog at https://electricretrospective.wordpress.com for more game reviews and news. New posts release every Tuesday.

March 2018

16

Entertainment

ECHO

We Welcome You to join us in fellowship and worship Activities: • NAMI Family Classes Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. through May 9.

Registration is required. For more info please contact 314-962-4670 or visit www.namistl.org/programs.

• Thursday night Open Court Basketball • Easter Egg Hunt March 31, at 1 p.m.

March 2018

wgecho.org