The Panther Press Senior Issue: May 2023 Print Vol. 1 Issue No. 1

SENIOR ISSUE

photo by senior Josh Butler

CONTENTS

PAGE 3 AND 8

SENIOR GOODBYES

Whitmer Staff and students share their warm wishes and good byes to the class of 2023.

PAGE 4

DEEP DIVING INTO BOOKTOK: THE "SHATTER ME" SERIES

Senior Ivey Tucker breaks down her thoughts on New York Times and USA Today Best Selling author Tahereh Mafi's book 'Shatter Me'.

PAGE 6

PAUSING WITH A SENIOR

Madison Fogle, Panther Press senior staff member, paused a few senior panthers and just checked in with where they were this last part of the school year. Here is what they had to share.

photo by senior Josh Butler The Panther

Abby, Emma, & Grace Nieman

Wait,therearethreeofyou? Youaremyalltimefavorite tripletsandeachofyouis yourownawesomehuman! Bestofluckandgochange theworld!

Lovealways, Mrs.Steer

TO THE SENIOR TO THE SENIOR SECRET SPIRITS, SECRET SPIRITS,

“Ad Astra” - to the stars.

So proud of you, Choir seniors. Keep smiling and singing.

-Miss Miller

BEST WISHES TO THE CLASS OF 2023!

MRS. SWISHER

We are so proud of you and all of your accomplishments. Thank you for making this year so much fun and filling so many events with Panther Spirit.

Love,

Ms. Fairchild and Mrs. Caris

Best of luck!

You are loved.

Ms. Finley

BIANCA, I HAVE ENJOYED WATCHING YOU BECOME THE BEST VERSION OF YOU SINCE YOUR FRESHMAN YEAR. I WISH YOU THE VERY BEST AFTER GRADUATION.

-MRS. WILSON

YOU HAVE GROWN INTO A BEAUTIFUL YOUNG LADY. I'M SO PROUD OF YOUR STRENGTH, COURAGE, KINDNESS & FEARLESSNESS. YOU WERE ONCE MY LITTLE GIRL, & NOW MY SHINING STAR.

I LOVE YOU!

-MRS. ALSPAUGH (MOM)

Taylor Alspaugh

Deep Diving into BookTok: The "Shatter Me" Series

Senior Ivey Tucker breaks down her thoughts on New York Times and USA Today Best Selling author Tahereh Mafi's book 'Shatter Me'.

By IVEY TUCKER

When it comes to teens and young adults, trends from social media tend to expand quickly and TikTok is the largest general influence on teenagers in 2023. In the last couple years, TikTok has evolved a new side of the platform called, ‘BookTok.

BookTok includes videos about opinions, reviews, and or recommendations on books to read. Due to BookTok, reading has surfaced as a “trend” in teens now and has allowed them to realize how interesting reading can really be. Authors and books have gotten more recognition than ever before and have had their work being sold in almost any store. Authors like Colleen Hoover, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Jenny Han, Laurie Halse Anderson, and others have all gained so much recognition, their books have even been able to turn into movies or T.V shows due to their extreme popularity. Though the spotlight for popular books always changes, there are some that have been a part of the recurring topic.

The “Shatter Me Series,” has surfaced over social media for some months now and has had tons of mixed reviews. While this series is an absolute favorite for many, others disagree. The series falls into a mix of romance/ young adult/ dystopian and is aimed towards 9-12 grade

The series follows a female lead, Juliette, who is a teenager that was never able to experience a human touch before. She finds herself locked away from the world until The Reestablishment decides to use her as a weapon When reading the series there are a total of 11 books but only the main six are necessary to read

Book Reviews

"Shatter Me": Book #1

The first book, “Shatter me,” is constantly following Juliette's point of view Throughout the book she is very unsure of herself, her past, present, and her future. As the reader’s POV, we get an insight of her thoughts, which can appear very heavy and dark We meet other characters, Aaron Warner being one of them Aaron Warner is the Chief Commander and Regent of Sector 45 while also being the son of the Supreme Commander His role is leading Sector 45 in The Reestablishment, which is where Juliet is being held. Another character that is followed through the series is Adam Kent He is a soldier of Aaron’s and gets paired with Juliette as part of his assignment

'Shatter Me' Series cont. to page 5

Later on, the reader finds that Adam and Juliette's connection goes deeper than anticipated. The book goes into a great deep-dive of emotions and explores the mind of Juliette perfectly Sharing her point of view, her story and what will come next

"Unravel Me": Book #2

In the second book, “Unravel Me,” there’s much more character development Things move fast for Juliette and the book takes you on a ride of emotions. A group of “rebels” are introduced as Juliette’s allies and get the courage to fight against The Reestablishment When seeing the outside world, she realizes just how much damage has been done The Earth, that was once beautiful, is filled with toxins and hatred on the streets. The rebels are actually just plain, poor citizens finding a way to survive When she realizes this, it makes her hatred for The Reestablishment grow stronger

The mix of strong emotions and her power forces her to learn about her powers and how deep they really go, now exploring them instead of being scared This book introduces the question 'Is Warner the bad guy, or is it all an act?'

"Ignite Me": Book #3

Character Growth. Omega Point destroyed/ everyone might be dead? Relying on Warner Warners feelings for her

"Ignite Me,” is intense. Emotions are high between friendships, romantic interests and especially enemies. Where Juliette felt safe and at home is now gone and she has no sense of direction on how to get it back Only thing she can feel is anger With strong feelings, come her powers that she tries to keep tame. Juliette continues her character growth and turns as a person. Juliette Ferrars is angry, and she will let that be known to the world

"Restore Me": Book #4, "Defy Me": Book #5, and "Imagine Me": Book #6

In the final three books, Juliette changes majorly and so does almost everything learned throughout the entire book Her main goal in the world is to change what it has become and with the support from her friends, she works to meet it The first three books are all about her growth. The last three, these books are all about her power.

She’s learning how to separate her emotions from her abilities and only use her powers when appropriate Instead of revenge, she wants peace More than anything, Juliette wants people who feel hopeless and unloved, like she once did, to feel supported and know they’re not alone

Overall Writer’s review

“The Shatter Me” Series was the first series I read and didn’t stop reading for one second I saw lots of discussion online where some people loved this book and others hated it I, for one, side with the fans of this series. I think this series captures real, raw emotions beautifully while adding a little fun in the mix I loved how this book was all about Juliette and her world, especially the world through her point of view But I also loved the funny jokes that were made The humor made reading less tense

Mostly, I love how my opinions on almost everyone in this series were constantly changing Kenji was my favorite character throughout this series because of his fun and witty personality, but also his protective and loyal personality too And with Aaron Warner, he was a character I thought I was going to hate throughout the entire series. He quickly redeemed himself and I am very thankful for that “The Shatter Me” series will always have a special place in my heart and the world inside this book is living forever in my mind I hope many people find this series as enjoyable as I did.

PAUSING WITH A

Madison Fogle, Panther Press senior staff member, paused a few senior panthers and just checked in with where they were this last part of the school year Here is what they had to share

By MADISON FOGLE

Currently, I'm having an internship with the city of Toledo in their I.T. department, and I'm gonna try and see if I can get hired in and work for the city. I.T. has always been my interest. It's just like, playing around on computers ever since I was little was always interesting, and then with the city it's I never ... like work at school it's just always kind of been more like I have to do it instead of I got to do it, but at the city, it's generally a fun experience, and I really like the people there.

JOHN ELDRIDGE

WHY DO YOU LIKE CREATING ART?

Um, it's just really cool to see people get excited about stuff, and it's ... like it's really cool to be able to like, think of something, like anything you think of and put it down and actually make it a real thing.

WESTON EARLY

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST STRUGGLE RIGHT NOW?

KATLYN HABEGGER

Definitely keeping everything balanced with like time management and stuff because I'm in 10 clubs here, and I was in theater for three months, and then um, I work four jobs, and just yeah. Um, I rely on my calendar a lot. Um, I make sure that I do things to like, keep my schedule balanced a little bit, so like I take time for myself in each day, that way I have time to like decompress and reflect, but I also make sure that I don't like overload myself, so I make sure that I do things that are at separate times, that way I can make sure that I keep it all together.

GRACIE MANNER

WHAT ARE YOU MAJORING IN ?

Right now, it's um like...it's pre track to PA, which is a physician's assistant, but I don't know if I want to do that or not. It's just like kind of a way to get into the health field.

HOW IS SENIOR YEAR GOING?

It's challenging sometimes. We have a senior project, so that's overwhelming sometimes. Mine's actually the passion project, so it's over well I'm doing gun safety and law enforcement.

WHY DO YOU WANT TO BE A PHYSICAL THERAPIST?

Um, because I had physical therapy myself, and I know like how it um, it impacted me and how it helped me get back to the sports that I was doing.

WHAT ARE YOUR INTERESTS RIGHT NOW?

Um surgical technician at Mercy College actually. Um, I feel like they don't get as much credit as they deserve. They are just as helpful as a surgeon is at saving lives. Without them, the surgeon wouldn't have their utensils.

PAUSING WITH A

ANGELINA WAGNER

ALYCIN STALHOOD

SAMANTHA HERBSTER

Hey Lance,

I hope you had a good senior year, stay kind and funny and always be yourself

From, Connie/Kevin

CONGRATULATIONS ON FINISHING HIGH SCHOOL

TO MRS. G'S & MRS. K'S 6/7TH PERIOD CLASS - YOU WILL BE MISSED!!!!

WE'VE HAD A GREAT YEAR AND SADLY, IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO FLY ON YOUR OWN.

GO USE ALL THAT ALGEBRA 2 STUFF...YOU KNOW YOU WILL (JACOB).

GRANNY, PLEASE DON'T GROW TOO OLD TOO FAST!!! WE'RE HERE IS YOU EVER NEED ANYTHING :)))

GOOD LUCK

2023 GRADUATES!

MAY YOU HAVE ALL THE SUCCESS IN THE WORLD. USE TODAY'S TECHNOLOGIES TO BETTER THE WORLD!

MR. PUFFENBERGER

WTMR Seniors, Best of luck in all your adventures!

I'll always be proud to have taught you a thing or two along the way.

Mr. Carnes

TO SKY.

SKY A VERY SMART GUY HE’S UNIQUE SKY’S GOING PLACES

Congrats!

FROM,

Cassandra Logan, I’m going to miss you and I hope your path goes well this year has been fun with you and I’m sad we only had one semester together don’t forget about me.

Jahzara