www.edinazephyrus.com
June 4, 2021| 41:6
12
SENIOR FEATURES Friday, June 4, 2021
Linnea
S
Shively, page editor art by Annabelle Jakala
Isa Li page editor
econd-year Page Editor Linnea Shively has utilized her time on staff to delve into topics that pique her interest. Upon departing Edina High School, Linnea looks back on her time indulging in opportunities to strengthen her friendships and develop her investigative journalism skills, citing her junior year experience as one of her highlights. “Last year when we had all the juniors at a table together. It’s been a lot of fun and I’ve gotten to write a lot more articles I have a personal interest in… It’s given me an opportunity to dig deeper into things I have an interest in,” she said. Central to her high-school career was Linnea’s participation and eventual promotion to captain of Girls’ Track and Field, specializing in hurdles. Model UN also proved to
be instrumental in providing her with chances to travel, conferences bringing her to places such as Chicago, and virtual conferences with New York University. Next year, Linnea will remain a hornet—this time at Hillsdale College in Michigan, where she plans to concentrate on political science and journalism. After a tumultuous secondary experience, she’s looking forward to some semblance of normalcy that will allow her to fully embrace her post-secondary experience. Taking advantage of the college’s smaller yet vibrant campus, she plans to join the college paper and faith club. As for her advice to the current Zephyrus staff, Linnea emphasizes the merit of delving into your interests. “Don’t be scared to put down the ideas you want for idea day. Get involved with the planning and be involved in the community around you,” she says.
Rhea Hammond, photographer Urva Jha staff writer
F
irst-year photographer Rhea Hammond will always remember the connections she made within the Zephyrus community. Although it was her first year, Rhea adapted quickly, enjoying the environment she was in. She loves to photograph nature and people, but Rhea also stepped out of her comfort zone and helped out Zephyrus in various different ways, such as the time she made an infographic about the 2020 presidential debate. She does, however, like eating mac and cheese with a spoon (which we DO NOT stand for), but we’re just
looking past it. Outside of Zephyrus, Rhea plays bass clarinet in the concert band and is a captain of the Edina Girls’ Synchronized Swimming team. She plans on studying marine biology at the University of California-Santa Cruz next year. Rhea is thrilled about the new opportunities and changes that college and her future will bring, especially after she departs Minnesota and Edina High School. Her interest in science and math has made her enthusiastic about learning more about marine biology and excited for the new opportunities she will have in college. After she graduates, she wants to be remembered for making a positive impact on people. We’re all excited to see what the future has in store for her!
art by Annabelle Jakala
Madeline Brandel, art director Ellanor Splinter artist
2
020-2021 co-Art Director Madeline Brandel will be concluding her time at Zephyrus after this year. As she departs, she eagerly looks forward to bigger things while already missing her current responsibilities. Madeline plans to get her BA in psychology at Arizona State University, followed by her Ph.D. and eventually her own practice. She is also looking forward to leaving Edina and experiencing new things and meeting new people. Madeline joined Zephyrus in her sophomore year, where she formed friendships, one such with her co-Art Director, Sophie Charnell. Over her years in Zephyrus, she has enjoyed getting to know the community and working on passion projects such as the vlog she maintained in the early stages of quarantine: “ [The vlog] pushed me to meet a lot of new people and art by Ellanor Splinter
was fun to play around with a different form of media.” Aside from her staff projects, the positivity that she brought was something that will forever be an inspiration and something that this year’s art staff won’t forget. She expresses gratitude for Mr. Simpson, her APUSH and AP Psych teacher, whose classes piqued her interest. “Going to his classes was one of the most exciting and best parts of my day and it wasn’t just because of the content that I was learning, but it was also because of him as a teacher.” Throughout her four years at Edina High School, she has taken away the importance of balancing the foremost things in life. “[I] learned that I need to step back a little bit and be more ‘go with the flow.’” Madeline leaves behind big shoes to fill, and for the underclassmen, she leaves these words: “Let yourself talk to other people; those relationships will be the driving force behind you wanting to stay in Zephyrus.”
SENIOR FEATURES
Friday, June 4, 2021
13
Liliana Hanson, page editor
L
Mia DiLorenzo head staff writer
iliana Hanson, Page Editor, and resident cinephile will be graduating and departing from Zephyrus after two years on the paper. Reflecting on her staff tenure, she will fondly remember the in-class group projects and creating pieces of journalism in different mediums. “Me, some other staff writers, and Alex Stenman—who is no longer with us—got to make a video for ZHarmony and it was very chaotic, funny, and there were some great inside jokes that came out of it,” she said. (Liliana’s note: Former Head Staff Writer Alex Stenman is still alive; however, he has sadly graduated and left the Zephyrus room). Outside of her Zephyrus dedications, Liliana was an active member of the Edina Thespian Club where she worked with the tech crew on several productions.
She also studied viola under Helina Pakola for 8 years, most recently performing with the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphony in the Philharmonic orchestra. Many of her most fond memories are with the Edina Thespian Club, a group that was crucial to her high school experience and personal endeavors. “After ‘Shakespeare in Love,’ my friends and I went out on the field with takeout from Perkins and tried to eat an entire pie,” she said. This fall, Liliana will be pursuing her passion for cinema as she attends Loyola Marymount University as a Screenwriting and Film Production major. She’d like to thank Taika Waititi, George Lucas, Dave Filoni, and Christopher Nolan for being her filmmaking inspirations and idols. Within the EHS faculty, she’d like to “shoutout the librarians— they’re cool and they let me check out books.” The Zephyrus staff will miss Liliana and her reverence for “Ratatouille” greatly, but we can’t wait to see what she does after graduation.
Sophie
A
Charnell, art director art by Ellanor Splinter
art by Lydia Olson
Ellanor Splinter artist
s the outgoing Zephyrus Editorial Board says goodbye, so does Sophie Charnell, co-Art Director. Sophie kicked off her time in Zephyrus at the beginning of her sophomore year, and as per her own advice, went in not knowing anyone. She has since fallen in love with the atmosphere that the Zephyrus staff created “Ellen dared me to wear sunglasses to school the entire [first] day of my first semester and I finally realized how fun the community was.” These moments, as well as her responsibilities as a visual editor, created a safe environment Sophie particularly loved. Although her high school experience was curtailed, Sophie still found the
opportunity to enjoy her time, citing this year’s prom and the company of her classmates as her favorite memories. Looking beyond high school, Sophie will be “heading straight for Michigan State” and is ecstatic to venture outside of the Edina bubble and meet new people. Her aspirations for future work reach towards being a Biology Professor. Sophie’s leadership on Zephyrus was nothing short of impressive. As she leaves the art staff, there is no doubt we will never forget the fun moments she and Madeline created, from playing “Among Us” on a Google Meet, to sending messages in the art staff GroupMe in all caps. Her word of advice to new staff members is this: “ [New staff] should walk in with zero expectations,” Sophie said.
Sadie Johnson Sieben, business manager
A
Caroline Seiler page editor
s the Business Manager of Zephyrus, Sadie Johnson Sieben has filled her high school experience at Edina High School with treasured memories. She didn’t overlook the opportunities given to her and took every one she got. She most enjoyed getting to attend the Minnesota High School Press Association convention in the fall of 2019 and appreciated the opportunity to have Zephyrus’s work recognized by other schools in the state. Her contributions to Zephyrus included not only the handfuls of well-crafted articles but also one longer piece she collaborated with another student on that was published in Best of SNO, a website that collects all of the best pieces of student journalism that are published through SNO platforms. She is most proud of her work on that article about former EHS teacher Alejandro Diaz’s departure to South Korea. “[It] show[s] me that I’m doing something right, and that just gives me more motivation to
progress and [get more] involved in journalism,” she said. Majoring in marketing with a minor in Spanish, Sadie will attend Iowa State University next year to kick off her post-secondary education. She is excited to meet new people and be more independent in college. One thing she is looking forward to getting more of after high school is working with likeminded individuals who share similar interests. She is not completely done with journalism, and would love to continue her education in it. Sadie would like to thank everyone on Zephyrus, especially staff advisor, Daniel Amborn. With his teacher’s insight, he has been a very helpful figure for her as a writer and student overall. As for some last words of advice that Sadie wishes she knew coming into high school: “Change is a good thing, it’s not always bad…. Sometimes it might feel like your whole world is falling on top of you, but in the end, that change is going to grow you into the person you want to be in life” art by Lydia Olson
14
ADVICE
Friday, June 4, 2021
Senior Advice
Pictures by Isadora Li
Zephryus compiled some advice seniors have for underclassmen!
“Make sure to have fun whenever possible. Try not to stress over school [too much]... Just have fun. Hang out with friends. Enjoy it while you can.” —Elias Wehr “Just join whatever you think you’d be interested in. Just take a shot at everything because you only really have [some time] to just do whatever you want and after that you have to make some commitments.” —Henry Rose “Don’t stress about the small things, just take advantage of the time you have here, because it flies. Do what you want to do, don’t feel pressured into doing things that you don’t think
you’re going to have fun with. Just have fun.” —Hank Stechmann “Try to go to teachers’ office hours and build good relationships with them, because you never know if you’ll need their help later. And they’re just fun to talk to.” —Divya Danthuluri “Join a lot of extracurriculars.. you end up becoming a lot closer with the people who stick around longer.” —Adam Soukup
“Do what you want to do because you’d like to do it, not because you want it to look good for colleges.” —Abby Meitrodt “Reach out if you need help because the teachers are here to help you and want you to succeed. Don’t stress out too much because you’ll end up where you’re meant to be. Calm down.”—Rebecca Gould “Take any opportunity that’s presented to you... if you just get yourself out there and do things that you think might sound fun or even surprise yourself with what you end up doing. I think you’re going to have a really fun time.” —Max Opitz