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News
September 14, 2018
Despite a silencing staff, students sold on shirt By Giuliana Geati Associate Editor-in-Chief After 3 years of specially designed school spirit T-shirts being handed out to students on the first day of school, this year’s students did not receive a T-shirt at all on the first day. After controversy raised by staff members from the lyrics printed on the shirts, “If you don’t know now you know” from a rap song by Notorious B.I.G, staff decided to not hand out the shirts to the students on the first day because they questioned their appropriateness. “We had a shirt designed. We didn’t anticipate the concerns the staff members would have. So once there was concerns, we had to pause and decide what we should do next. The concern wasn’t necessarily about students having the shirts, it was more about the adults wearing the shirts because they didn’t feel comfortable. This then raised the question, is it appropriate for the students,” Jerry Cook, school principal, said. After discussing the lyrics on the shirt, several staff members were concerned if the shirts portrayed an appropriate message for the students. “Many staff members thought that there are lyrics that are counter to our values, values that are in place to empower all students. I think it’s good that we had a dialogue with the parents. That’s the most important thing to me, and it should guide the decision making, as it did. That, to me, was absolutely the right thing. Dialogue with the community was critical and the voices were heard. The right decision was made. Our school is supposed to explore, care, connect and grow and I think there are lyrics to the song that run counter to that,” Chad Scoggins, English
teacher, said. Some students were upset that the shirts weren’t handed out at the student success summit as they had traditionally been before. “I think that getting T-shirts from the school each year allow students to have school spirit by giving them a new school shirt, but also class spirit for things like pep assemblies and spirit weeks where each grade competes,” Giaden Halfman, senior, said. “The best part [about getting T-shirts] is that the entire grade has one common shirt and we can all wear it,” Shailie Shah, senior, said. After not handing out the shirts at the student success summit, Cook worked to make sure that the shirts were appropriate for students to wear and handed them out the next week after the first home football game. “I talked to some parents and they didn’t see a problem with it. What we did instead was on Friday after the football game, we had T-shirts on tables and started to distribute them that way. So if you come to the home football games and you haven’t already received a shirt, you can receive a shirt there. We did not hand out the shirts on the Friday of the student success summit which we’ve done in the past, but we’re handing the shirts out now at the football games. It took us some time to work through [if the shirts were appropriate], so we didn’t hand them out on Friday but we are distributing the shirts now,” Cook said. The students, however, did not see the shirts as being inappropriate. “I don’t think the shirts were inappropriate. There were no bad words or inappropriate references and it was a nice gesture to hand them out to people who showed up to support the football team,” Halfman said. Photo Taken By Giuliana Geati
Cumulative problems lead to courtyard cuts By Alexis Knight Staff Reporter CONTINUED from front page photo story... Over the summer the trees in the courtyard were removed due to the hazardous problems they could cause. Some students have not taken notice to the absence of trees. “I didn’t know that the trees were gone. I don’t go outside. Since they were dying it was a good idea to remove them, they would have looked bad,” Kimberly Espinoza, junior, said. Other students claim that the courtyard looks bare without trees. “It looks ugly now because
the trees gave the courtyard color, and now it’s dull.” Lizbeth Gomez, senior, said. The reason for the removal of the trees was not to make the courtyard look dull. “So the simple answer is that the trees were dying, and they were falling. Last year we had two trees that fell because of high winds because they were so rotted out. So obviously, it poses a danger if you have kids out in the courtyard and a tree falls,” Jerry Cook, school principal, said. The trees in the courtyard were not the only plants subject to removal by the school board. “So we also had a lot of bushes, but there is kind of like a normal life cycle to shrubbery. They don’t die on their own, they just get to a certain point where they grow to large and you can’t trim them back. So we worked with an arborist who came in and gave us some suggestions, and
ultimately they decided that we should just take it all out and replant,” Cook said. With most of the trees and shrubbery gone, there have been questions whether or not the school will replant. “They will be replanting in phases because it is really expensive. The removal was expensive, and their replacement will be expensive. This year we will start replacing them, but it will be a multi-year process,” Cook said. Some students are indifferent to the fact that the trees have been removed. “I don’t care, I never went out there. I feel like even if they replaced the trees it wouldn’t make a difference because no one goes out there. It won’t make a difference to my senior year, plus we have enough trees for oxygen anyway,” Bria Brooks, senior, said.
Prospect Heights fire ignites relief efforts in WHS By Amanda Talalaj Editor-In-Chief On July 18, an 11-year old child playing with a lighter started a blaze that cost many people their life savings and homes altogether. With an estimated $10 million in damages, $4 million in property damages and $6 million in damages to the contents within people’s homes, some Prospect Heights residents were at a loss of what to do next. Luckily, fundraising efforts were quickly at work to help those affected by the fire. From areas to donate personal belongings and money to volunteer groups that worked all day to help, communities quickly banded together to help those lives who were decimated by this great fire.
The students at WHS were one very helpful community to the cause as well. Izabela Kwietniewski, senior, and Julia Domanska, senior, were two individuals who dedicated their time over the summer to volunteer. “Julia and I went to a building not far from some of the apartments to organize clothes in groups. It was nearby where the fire occurred, so you could see where people’s homes burned down and just how much was destroyed because of this fire. It was so sad,” Kwietniewski said. “Everything was a huge mess. So many of these piles of clothes just towered over one another and you could tell they needed lots of help. We were assigned to organize the clothes in groups based on gender, age, and season. I think it was a very fulfilling experience to take some time off in the summer and use it to help the less fortunate,” Domanska said.
Though volunteering was one option to help those affected by the fire, donations and fundraising were other options as well. Students, such as Christina Pierini, senior, went to the Wheeling Park District Aquatic Center in order to benefit WHS students and families affected by the fire. The fundraiser was held on August 4th, from 7 to 9 p.m. and it acquired a minimum donation of $5 per guest. “I went with a group of my friends and had a lot of fun there, but the most important reason why we were there was to give back. I hope our donations made a difference and helped those affected by the fire because it really was sad and unfair what happened to them,” Pierini said. The actions of these students and many more in the WHS community have helped many of their fellow students and families affected by the fire. For more information, see pages 6 and 7. Photos
Photos From Wikimedia Commons
Condos owned by Prospect Heights residents, including several WHS students and their families, were burned down and left in ruins. Countless, irreplaceable items were destroyed and the pictures above depict the aftermath of the fire.