EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Ali Schulz
PRINT/PODCAST EDITOR: Margaret Korte
JUNIOR EDITOR/BUSINESS MANAGER: Arianna Peper
FEATURE/VIDEO EDITOR:
Jasper Winterton
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER/ SPORTS EDITOR: Sam Enlund
ADVISOR:
Donald Johnson
ECHO Family Supporters
Jodie and Chris Allen
Abbie and Chris Enlund
John and Kathy Enlund
Kelsey and Sean Hogarty
Mary Jane and Rick Kuhn
Aerin Johnson
Keillyn Johnson
Evelyn Trampe
The Trampe Family
Theater department produces annual Broadway Revue Student wins State in Esports for competing in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Chelsea Center offers summer programs Basketball game honors Douglass High School
New mock trial team starts out strong Word Search
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 JournalismSTL, Quill and Scroll, JEA, MIJA, NSPA and CSPA.
Cover cutline:
Senior Adrianna Williams is honored during Women’s Basketball Senior nNight on Friday, Feb. 14.
Sophomore Scottie Adkinson drives to the basket during Men’s Basketball Senior Night in Robert’s Gym on Friday, Feb. 14.
Photos by Sam Enlund
Made in Canva
by Margaret Oliphant
Jasper Winterton Feature/Video Editor
“I’m so lucky and excited to get to produce this and to have this experience,” Jeni Carr-Schwartz, junior, said via Messages about the upcoming Broadway Revue.
Todd Schaefer, theater teacher, said via email that the school has been producing Broadway review shows for “over 50 years… if not more.”
Carr-Schwartz said her goal is to teach theater, so Schaefer approached her in the middle of first semester about producing the Broadway Revue this year. She has performed in the productions in the past, and said they are “Very easy; it’s not stressful or anything.”
So far, Carr-Schwartz is making posters and she handled the auditions for the show, which took place on Friday, Feb. 7.
Informing readers for over 45 years.
“I am looking forward to seeing everybody’s songs. I think they’re all gonna be really cool, and I’m looking forward to working with my group more on our song and choreographing and stuff,” -Charlotte Snell
Charlotte Snell, junior, has also performed for the revue in the past, and she said she had fun doing it but thinks it’s more stressful than performing in a musical.
Snell said the reason why she was nervous during her first revue was because “First of all, I knew my friends were in the crowd for the Broadway Revue, and that made me nervous, and also with a musical, you have more people supporting you, like a cast, rather than a song by yourself.” She said it was also her first time performing in front of other students.
“I am looking forward to seeing everybody’s songs. I think they’re all gonna be really cool, and I’m looking forward to working with my group more on our song and choreographing and stuff,” Snell added. She said there will be a lot more group performances this year, including choreography that will go along with the performances.
Schaefer said he has “No idea who did the first (Broadway Revue)...but it is a very popular concert to produce...Broadway musicals provide a lot of material to choose from.”
The revue will take place in the Frick Theater on March 19, at 7 p.m., and tickets will be $10. Schaefer said, “At this point it is only getting an evening run...but never say never.”
Sam Enlund Social Media/Graphic Editor
Junior Jack Bub is Webster Groves High School’s first Esports State Champion. Bub competed on Monday, Dec. 6, and was named Missouri Scholastic Esports Federation Class Two Super Smash Brothers Ultimate State Champion.
Bub has been a part of the Esports team at Webster for three years and won state in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, a Nintendo fighting game where players battle each other and attempt to be the last one standing.
Nintendo describes the game by saying on its website, “Unlike more traditional fighting games, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is all about launching your opponent (or opponents) off the stage and off the screen. Use all sorts of attacks to build up your rivals’ damage, then send them flying off the stage…”
Missouri Scholastic Esports Federation (MOSEF) was founded in 2019 and works with high schools to spread Esports across Missouri. The organization started as nine educators, but now consists of over 200 schools that represent over 4,000 students. MOSEF is behind the scheduling and planning of Esports tournaments and the state competition.
Esports began at Webster in 2022 with Ken Winingham as one of two coaches. Alongside chemistry teacher Collin Todd, Winingham has helped to coach a number of students in Esports. The sport started out as a video game club and has now become a league for students to compete in.
In Esports, students have three practices
a week and work to improve their skills on both JV and Varsity teams.
Winingham said, “These kids are spending so much time practicing and so much dedication that we don’t really refer to it as a game, because it’s work. There’s times where I don’t want to play games today, but I have to work on this technique, or I have to work on this strategy. It’s real dedication even though we are talking about games. You could say the same thing about any of the other sports. They are games that people get really dedicated to and become more than a game.”
This year, the State tournament was held at Piccadilly Palace in
Union, MO. After finishing fifth in State last year, Bub came back this year and finished first.
About winning the tournament Bub said, “It felt really good because I did not do that well last year, and I lost to the person that I beat, so it was nice being able to win that.”
Winingham said, “We were ecstatic… These kids are working really hard. They don’t come home sore, but they do have to give up big chunks of their lives to actually do this thing, and one of the reasons I really love this sport is because this is a group of people that has felt ignored for a long, long time. They are really good at something, but that something is not something that the rest of the world sees.”
Winingham added, “Here we are, a whole group of kids that have never worn the Webster colors, never been a part of a team, never had their name screamed by a crowd, and now they have a way to do all those things and they love it. Watching them love it makes me love it.” February 2025 | Feature
Margaret Korte Print/Podcast Editor
“Summer is a really great time for students to explore interests,” Kerry Arens, Chelsea Center coordinator, said.
Through the Chelsea Center, students can find summer experiential learning programs and opportunities to help them explore what they are interested in.
These programs are listed on the website Givepulse, where students can scroll through the list of available opportunities. They can also filter their search through different categories, like a program’s causes or pathways, or by keyword. For example, students can type in “summer” to see only opportunities for summer break.
Arens said Givepulse is a “warehouse of opportunities,” and the website serves as a way for students to be able to see for themselves what’s available.
The Chelsea Center staff gets notified when a student registers for an opportunity in Givepulse and will reach out to them to meet.
“We try to call everyone in,” Chelsea Center coordinator Patrick Bommarito said. They then schedule a meeting, usually during academic networking—though they will find any time that works.
Depending on the program, the Chelsea Center can provide varying support: in some cases, they can help to pay for an opportunity, build a resume or application, or answer whatever questions they may have.
Arens said Givepulse and the Chelsea Center can “serve as a conduit to opportunities.” Programs have their own applications, and acceptance for those applications aren’t through the Chelsea Center, but they will help with the process.
Arens said the Chelsea Center helps students “put their best foot forward.”
If there’s something they’re interested in outside of Givepulse, the Chelsea Center can help them find other opportunities.
“We don’t want students who don’t know what they want to
do, to feel like they can’t come in,” Arens said.
“Students can just pop by anytime,” Arens said. However, she said she understands if students feel intimidated by an in-person visit and can always email a Chelsea Center staff member.
“[Going in-person] can be a barrier to some students,” Arens said, but it doesn’t have to stop them from reaching out. A student can send an email and give some things they are interested in, and the Chelsea Center will respond with links for the student.
Students can also fill out the Chelsea Center interest form, and they will reach out to them for a meeting once they have received the response.
Givepulse can be a good way for students to be introduced to available programs before reaching out. It allows them to “explore before coming in,” Arens said.
Summer experiences in general can be beneficial to students by introducing them to something they could be interested in.
Regardless of the program, the Chelsea Center aims to provide students with experiences that they are passionate about and to support them through every step.
“It can be nice to know you have a team here,” Arens said.
Arianna Peper Junior Editor/Business Manager
“I believe it [Douglass Night] is one of the many things that make Webster so unique,” athletic director Chris Johnson said.
Johnson said, “It’s an important part of our history, and I am glad we continue to have a night such as this to honor our past.”
Douglass Night is an annual tradition at Webster Groves High School in honor of Douglass High School which was an all African American high school that closed in 1956.
This year the game will take place on Friday, Feb. 28, in Roberts Gym. The women’s game will be at 5:45 p.m. and the men’s game will take place at 7:30 p.m. Tickets will cost $5.
Johnson said this year Webster did a special merchandise store with exclusive Douglass High School gear.
The link was sent out a few weeks ago to the district as well as the community for anyone to purchase Douglass gear. All orders are to be delivered next week for those who purchased them in
time to get them before the game.
Johnson said, “We’re hoping to see a lot more purple in the crowd this night.”
Ali Schulz Editor-in-Chief
Mock Trial took home a win when it, in its first-ever competition on Jan. 16, defeated St. Louis University High by a unanimous vote after months of practice.
The team was recently created by junior Cassie Fisher. She started the team after she did a law program at Yale last year that included a mock trial.
“I thought it was fun but also informative and decided I would like to start something similar up at Webster,” Fisher said.
To create the team, Fisher first had to find a sponsor.
“At first I was thinking a social studies teacher, but then I brought it up to my Latin teacher, [Jeff] Smith, and he said he was willing to sponsor us,” Fisher said.
Then, Fisher turned towards recruiting members. She recruited her friend junior Ruby Toro, who in turn helped find others. Fisher then went to the Webster Groves High School activities fair where she had an informative sign and candy to hand out.
“That’s where I recruited a lot of our members and some freshmen,” Fisher said.
Max Giordano, freshman, is one of the members recruited by Fisher. About his recruitment, Giordano said the team dynamic is incredible, and he is “so glad this program was created at the beginning of the school year.”
Finally, after the team had enough members, they needed to get a mentor. That is where lawyer Matthew Floyd’s name came up. Floyd, originally from Michigan, moved to St. Louis in the 1990s. He attended Washington University as an undergraduate and law school student. On why he decided to stay, Floyd said “I really liked the sports and the venues, so I figured just, I’d like to stick around.”
Floyd is an experienced lawyer, having been in practice for 20 years and owning his own law firm, currently in Olivette, for around 15 years. He deals with a lot of litigation and is “in court maybe three or four times a week,” Floyd added.
In his free time, Floyd has judged a few mock trial tournaments himself and wanted an opportunity to teach a mock trial team himself. He was told by a colleague about Webster’s search for a coach, and he immediately took up the opportunity to help the students. “I have not regretted it one moment,” Floyd said of his experience since he started coaching.
“These kids are absolutely incredible. They are brilliant. They inspire me,” Floyd added.
So, after the mock trial team had members, a sponsor, and a coach, they got to work. The team was given a case, and in December they figured out who they were playing in rounds one and two, along with what side of the case they would be arguing in each competition. To prepare, they not only have to do a deep dive into the case, but they also have to practice their presentation repeatedly, committing to around five to seven hours of practice a week.
In addition, the team has done dress rehearsals, which is where they “set up the Frick Theater to look like a courtroom and just run through our entire case,” Fisher said.
These practices set the team up for the actual competitions, which tend to last around two hours. At the trial, the team goes to a real-life courtroom where they impersonate the lawyers and witnesses. There, “there are two jury members who score us on everything we do. There is also a judge who makes a verdict on who they believe has won,” Fisher said.
When the team won against St. Louis University High School, the two jurors and the judges both ruled in favor of Webster.
In addition, on February 13 the team beat Francis Howell North by a vote of 2-1.
“It’s amazing to see how they’re able to pull it all together, and they’re able to do it at such a young age,” Floyd said of the team’s performance.
To join the mock trial team, one can contact Fisher or Smith, whose classroom is in the language hallway.
“If you like law and like to argue, you should come see me,” Fisher concluded.
