The Harbinger 19-20: Issue 4

the harbinger.

S H AW N E E M I S S I O N E A S T 7500 MISSION ROAD PRAIRIE VILLAGE, KS 66208 OCT. 14, 2019 VOLUME LXII ISSUE 4

Awaits A DV E N T U R E

Seniors prepare for their gap year of traveling across the country, living out of a van

02 | INSIDE COVER

cover design by | lila tulp

CARTOON | RIVER HENNICK

ONLINE

PREVIEW @smeharbinger

@smeharbinger

@smeharbie

STORIES

STAGERIGHT Q&A

STROUD’S FAIRWAY SHUTTERED DUE

A Q&A with four East students involved in Stageright, a youth performing arts center for kindergarten through twelfth grade.

Stroud’s Fairway officially closed on Sept. 30 due to redevelopments. by | campbell wood

by | sydney decker

IN FOCUS | PHOTOS OF THE WEEK

STAFF LIST

T O P Senior Pacey Salzman gets math help from math teacher Christopher Burrows. photo by | elise madden B O T T O M Seniors Wesley Costello, James Stowers, Noah Uresti and Phillip Clemente hold up the East flag in the student section before the fourth quarter of the East vs.

South football game photo by | ty browning

PRINT EDITORS Lila Tulp Carolyn Popper Caroline Chisholm ONLINE EDITORS Ben Henschel Jackie Cameron ASST. PRINT EDITORS Catherine Erickson Rose Kanaley ASST. ONLINE EDITORS Lauren West Riley Atkinson HEAD COPY EDITORS Carolyn Popper Jackie Cameron ASST. HEAD COPY EDITOR Natasha Thomas PHOTO EDITORS Aislinn Menke Ty Browning Kate Nixon ASST. PHOTO EDITORS Sarah Golder Trevor Paulus Julia Percy MOBILE MEDIA PHOTO EDITOR Elle Karras VIDEO EDITORS Maggie Schutt Ryan Gossick ASST. VIDEO

EDITOR Lawder DeSantis VIDEO TRAINING EDITOR Sydney Williams BROADCAST EDITORS Alex Dinyer Lucia Barraza ASST. BROADCAST EDITOR Sophie Henschel PHOTO MENTORS Taylor Keal Megan Biles Megan Stopperan STAFF WRITERS Natasha Thomas Ben Henschel Caroline Chisholm Lily Billingsley Lauren Dierks Lydia Underwood Thomas Paulus Campbell Wood Sydney Decker Rose Kanaley Allison Wilcox Lilah Faye Gabby Caponecchi Brynn Winkler Lauren West Jackie Cameron Kelly Murphy Maddox Mogenson

Winnie Wolf Jilli Foley Lila Tulp Catherine Erickson Lucia Barraza Carolyn Popper Sydney Newton Celia Condon Elizabeth Mikkelson Sophie Henschel Annabelle Moore Anna Stover Sarah Bledsoe Emma Brown COPY EDITORS Lila Tulp Carolyn Popper Caroline Chisholm Ben Henschel Jackie Cameron Natasha Thomas Catherine Erickson Lauren West Lydia Underwood Brynn Winkler Allison Wilcox Rose Kanaley Lily Billingsley Riley Atkinson Maddox Mogenson Campbell Wood Lucia Barraza Sarah Bledsoe EDITORIAL BOARD Lila Tulp

Carolyn Popper Caroline Chisholm Ben Henschel Jackie Cameron Natasha Thomas Catherine Erickson Lauren West Rose Kanaley Riley Atkinson Lilah Faye Brynn Winkler SECTION EDITORS EASTIPEDIA ONLINE Annabelle Moore EDITORIAL PRINT Lilah Faye NEWS PRINT Alison Wilcox ONLINE Brynn Winkler OPINION PRINT Maddox Mogenson PRINT Annabelle Moore ONLINE Sophie Henschel ONLINE Gabby Caponecchi FEATURE PRINT Natasha Thomas ONLINE Lily Billingsley A&E PRINT Lauren

Dierks ONLINE Thomas Paulus SPORTS PRINT Sarah Bledsoe ONLINE Lucia Barraza PAGE DESIGNERS Natasha Thomas Caroline Chisholm Carolyn Popper Lily Billingsley Lauren Dierks Lydia Underwood Thomas Paulus Rose Kanaley Allison Wilcox Lilah Faye Brynn Winkler Lauren West Jackie Cameron Kelly Murphy Maddox Mogenson Jilli Foley Lila Tulp Catherine Erickson Sydney Newton Celia Condon Elizabeth Mikkelson Sophie Henschel Sarah Bledsoe STAFF ARTISTS River Hennick Lilah Powlas STAFF

PHOTOGRAPHERS Reilly Moreland Annakate Dilks Noelle Griffin Hadley Hyatt Phoebe Hendon Bella Wolfe Elise Madden Grace Allen Morgan Woods Lucy Kostner MULTIMEDIA STAFF Olivia Olson Natalie Scholz Lawder Desantis Evelyn Roesner Ryan Gossick Maggie Schutt Max Patterson Alex Dinyer Sydney Williams Ally Talge PODCAST EDITOR Sydney Williams ADS MANAGER Sydney Newton CIRCULATION MANAGERS Campbell Wood Anna Stover CONTEST COORDINATOR Catherine Erickson SOCIAL CHAIR Lila Tulp

EDITORIAL | 03

design by | lilah faye editorial illustration by | river hennick

U N FA I R PAY TO P L AY

FOR: 11 AGAINST: 1 The individuals on the editorial board who agree with the viewpoint of the editorial are represented by for, and those that disagree with the viewpoint of the editorial are represented by against.

The newly signed “Fair Pay to Play Act” blurs the lines between amateur college sports and the professionals – in a negative way

T

he deceptively named “Fair Pay to Play Act” was signed

by California Governor Gavin Newsom last Monday, allowing college athletes to receive compensation for the use of their name and image. Come 2023, California will no longer abide by the NCAA’s bylaws surrounding their brand and image — a seismic shift in the traditional understanding of amateurism in college athletics.

This compensation for student athletes will fundamentally change the world of college sports we know and love — and not for the best.

Blatantly disregarding the almost 109-year-old NCAA regulations in an attempt to “do right” by their athletes erases the line between collegiate and professional sports.

The doors to bigger problems are also opened — gender inequality among athletes, scheduling limitations as punishment, eligibility guidelines and unethical sponsorship deals are among this laundry list.

Shockingly, there are no objections from the Californian student athletes — in addition to their free education, they’ll probably never have to work again after graduation day. But to the NCAA, paying athletes is a whole other — uncompensated — ball game.

California’s law breaks regulations, allowing students to book sponsorships, with some even going as far as hiring agents. Colleges would potentially be risking tens of millions of dollars, ultimately making them lose money rather than gain, in NCAA fines towards those California schools whose

athletes decide to monetize their renown — even risking their teams’ eligibility to compete within their conference.

Major brands like Nike would pay top dollar football and basketball talent at the biggest schools, while student-athletes in other sports or in smaller programs would be ignored — if they kept it how it is now this wouldn’t be nearly as big of an issue. Currently, corporate funds go to athletic departments and are generally distributed among all sports; with thirdparty payments. Those funds could instead mostly go directly to a few student-athletes, starving the rest.

This new regulation would inevitably eat away at the distinction between professional and college sports.

Celebrated college athletes could make money not only by endorsing sneakers and sports drinks, but also by autographing jerseys, pitching workout videos and putting their name on baseball bats and hockey sticks.

In simpler terms, they could profit from the fame that their work as an athlete brings, seemingly taking away the power professional athletes have worked so hard to earn.

There’s a reason we draw a fine line between amateur college teams and professional teams.

California’s changes aren’t scheduled to take effect until 2023, leaving the NCAA ample time to make their case in court in violation of the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution. If the law is upheld, the NCAA will have to decide whether to penalize the schools with fines, which may or may not be legally enforceable, or even expel them

from competing within the organization — which seems like the most reasonable solution.

The athletes getting paid at the college level would stir inequality and entitlement with pre-Madonna attitudes following them onto the court — when really they’re supposed to be promoting youth leadership and determination.

It’s no secret that men’s sports have a more “committed” fanbase than those of women’s sports and it remains that way as they climb the professional ladder *cough* the women’s national soccer team (which performs better than the men’s) *cough.* By adding the compensation to California’s law, the gap between the pay rates for men’s compared to women’s sports could potentially only widen — as if only earning 79 cents to the man’s dollar wasn’t enough. Yikes.

In addition to the gender gap, the viewership and television ratings of football and men’s basketball players drive the value of the player thus drive their popularity up — an unfair advantage to the vast majority of other sports, no matter male or female.

Student-athletes should be able to get what they deserve for bringing a valuable proposition that generates revenue.

That applies to all athletes, from a Heisman Trophy winner to an equestrian rider, but disregarding NCAA rules is not the solution — leave the cereal boxes and Gatorade sponsorships to the pros.

04 | NEWS

NEWS

design by | allison wilcox

by winnie wolf

HIGHLIGHTS Catch up on news around the school, the state and the nation

EAST

The Broadmoor Bistro will hold a Culinary Homecoming

THE BROADMOOR BISTRO — the restaurant located inside the Center for Academic Achievement — announced their ninth annual Culinary Homecoming Dinner which will take place on Oct. 23 at 6 p.m., hosted by Chef Pablo Muñoz, a Shawnee Mission culinary arts graduate.

The Bistro’s Culinary Homecoming Dinner is an event hosted each year by a different guest chef who creates the menu for the evening’s dinner guests.

At the CAA, culinary, commercial baking and restaurant management classes are offered to Shawnee Mission students.

For the dinner, students volunteered to help cook for the event guests of the night.

“I’m super excited about working with a guest chef and I’m hoping to learn new things through cooking with Muñoz,” junior and CAA culinary student Alex Garcia said.

According to Garcia, the most people the Bistro has served in a night has been about 75. He expects the Bistro to fill up quickly for the Culinary Homecoming Dinner as they are now taking reservations.

Muñoz will serve as the chef mentor at the event, assisting culinary students like Garcia in preparing a three-course meal to serve to dinner guests.

“Everyone in the restaurant has been improving their skills each week,” Garcia said. “I know that our Culinary Homecoming Dinner will be even better than anything we have done before.”

The set menu of the night features a citrus salad, grilled vegetable plate, chicken with Mexican risotto, tamarind-vanilla crust lamb chop and a dessert bruschetta on baguette.

L O C A L Renovations taking place at grocery stores in the area

T O P The produce section being renovated at Hy-Vee on Stateline Rd. photo by | lucy kostner

M A R K YO U R C AL E NDA R BAND CO N CE RT | OC T . 1 5

S M S D CO L L EG E C LI N I C | OC T . 1 6 S E N I O R S E RVI C E DAY | OC 7 . 1 6 TURN TO PAGE 5 FO R MOR E I N FOR MAT I ON

PO L L

AC T | 1 0/08 / 1 9

Have you been to the Broadmoor Bistro?

INSTAGRAM POLL | 231 VOTES

80% NO 20%

YES

Do you use TripAdvisor to plan vacations?

INSTAGRAM POLL | 206 VOTES

79% 21%

STA RT I N G N E X T S C H O O L Y E A R , ST U D E N TS W I L L B E A B L E TO : R E TA K E I N D I V I D UA L AC T S EC T I O N T E STS C H O OS E B E T W E E N O N L I N E T E ST I N G W I T H FA ST E R R E S U LTS O R PA P E R T E ST I N G G E T A N AC T S U P E RS CO R E

YES

NO

SCAN ME | NEWS Scan to read about the changes ACT has made to the test

THE LEAWOOD PRICE Chopper and Prairie Village Hy-Vee have recently renovated their stores to give them a modern interior and exterior look.

The Price Chopper at 95th and Mission Rd. finished their construction in September as one of the first steps to the Ranch Mart Shopping Center complete renovation.

New additions to Price Chopper include a Starbucks on the inside, a revamped deli and and a redesigned layout of their products and produce inside the store.

According to Cadence Commercial Real Estate, the company behind the design plan, Price Chopper is to remain the anchor building of the shopping center, meaning its new modern materials and architecture, fresh landscaping and updated lighting are

essential for the new look.

Similar to Price Chopper, the Hy-Vee on State Line Rd. is in the midst of their own interior construction, alongside all of their Kansas locations, and are expected to finish near 2020.

“We are excited to make this nearly $90 million investment in an area that has been a great home to Hy-Vee,” Chief Retail Officer for Hy-Vee Jeremy Gosch said on the Shelby Report.

While updates will vary for each location, general renovations include new foodservice options — like Hibachi, pizza and sushi islands, new floral departments, self-checkout lanes and the rebranding of Hy-Vee Gas locations.

N A T I O N A L TripAdvisor ending sales to animal cruelty facilities THE VACATION-BOOKING website TripAdvisor stated on Oct. 3 that they are no longer selling tickets to establishments that breed, import or publicly display whales and dolphins in response to a change in recent customer demands.

“Breeding animals to put them in captivity puts a strain on their health,” junior activist Morghan Golloher said. “I can understand why TripAdvisor wouldn’t want to sell tickets somewhere that supports the cause of harming animals.”

Even though TripAdvisor has decided not to state the establishments this policy applies to, many are speculating it is targeted to tourist destinations such as SeaWorld parks.

SeaWorld has been a target for animal rights groups due to their treatment of orcas.

While SeaWorld ended their orca breeding program in 2016 to emphasize education over entertainment, they’ve continued to allow other animals, including dolphins and porpoises, to perform for visitors.

“Regardless of TripAdvisor’s position, SeaWorld will continue to advance education and animal conservation efforts along with our millions of supporters and professional scientists from around the world,” Chris Dold, SeaWorld’s Chief Zoological Officer, said.

TripAdvisor has since stated exception to their new policy for seaside sanctuaries, which they defined must be “a natural body of coastal water” where they “must not train their animals to perform in any shows or performances for public display.”

NEWS | 05

design by | sydney newton photos by | megan stopperan and kate nixon

P RO J EC TS PREVIEW

D EJA V U

A preview of the upcoming senior service day

by | elizabeth mikkelson

S

enior Service Day this year is on Wednesday, Oct. 16. According to SHARE — East’s student-run community service organization — almost 86 percent of the senior class (in the past few years, it has been about an 85 percent involvement) has already signed up to participate in the annual event and they are expecting more to sign up.

One thing that attracts seniors to sign-up, is that the seniors had many different options for the places they could volunteer for. Those who signed up for Adelante Thrift Store will help organize, sort, hang clothing and sweep

It’s a happy, positive, feel-good day. And everybody needs a little bit of that in their life.”

krissie wiggins | coordinator the floors. For the Briarwood Elementary Project, seniors will open car doors at morning pick-up and help teachers in the classroom. Another project, Nourish KC, will have the morning shift do meal-prep and the afternoon volunteers serve those meals to KC ’s homeless.

Although the day will be full of hard work, the goal is for seniors to feel accomplished in giving back to the community and make volunteering a habit.

Even with all of the seniors only doing a few hour-long shifts, they still make a huge impact together as a class. The students will be sent out all across Kansas City to perform a combined total of more than 1,200 hours of community service.

“There’s just a variety of projects that serve different needs, different populations, so they can pick and choose what might interest them,” SHARE program coordinator Krissie Wiggins said.

Seniors are invited to Harmon Park either before or after their projects, depending on if they have an afternoon or morning shift, for a senior picnic.

The day begins with participating seniors reporting to East to check in before

their shift — receiving a complimentary pick-me-up donut, provided by East.

From there, the students who are working the morning shift of volunteering will disperse to their projects and begin working. Some of the projects have shifts in the morning, and the rest are in the afternoon. Each shift lasts from two to five hours.

Senior Will Harding, one of the eight elected SHARE executives for this year, said Senior Service Day is a good way for students involved in National Honors Society (NHS) to get their required volunteer hours. However, the main goal is to give back to the community through service work and provide the seniors with a sense of compassion and respect for what they are doing.

In order to get as many volunteers as they can, SHARE has expanded their advertising and other platforms geared towards social media, like Instagram and through the daily announcements.

“We advertised it a lot by social media [and] we made T-shirts that we provide if you sign up,” Harding said. “It’s good for [people who don’t do SHARE] to kind of get out of their comfort zone and see what it’s like to volunteer.”

For the past four years, SHARE has had a team leader for each project to make the process more organized for the other seniors and the executives. This year, the leader sign-ups were first come first serve, along with the regular process of student sign-ups.

According to Wiggins, the project team leader is the person they keep a line of communication with about their specific organization and can contact with any concerns. Having this leadership opportunity also encourages more seniors to put their name on the sign-up list to volunteer and to be in a leadership role.

The desired end result of the coordinators and people involved is for students to be content with the work they did and the impact they had on their community.

“It’s a happy, positive, feel-good day,” Wiggins said. “And everybody needs a little bit of that in their life.”

T O P Senior Paige Prothe volunteers at Wayside Waifs on senior service day. “I think I’ve always just loved animals so I volunteered here to see what a normal day for the [animals] is like,” Prothe said photo by | lucy morantz T O P L E F T Senior Kevin Grinstead volunteers at Adelante Thrift Store on senior service day.

“It was a good time... hanging out with friends makes it a lot better because you can mess around all day but still stay on track,” Grinstead said. photo by | grace goldman L E F T Working with students of Prairie Elementary, senior Gia Hense helps them with their writing assignments. The group, organized by senior Meredith Norden, assisted the kids with work, and kept them on task. photo by | grace goldman

A LOOK INS ID E T H E P RO JECTS CO MMU NIT Y LIN K

HA P PY BOTTO M S

Community Linc provides housing,

Happy Bottoms provides diapers

aftercare and supportive services to

to children in low-income families

homeless people. Volunteers will help prepare apartments and organize things in storage.

in the KC metro area. Volunteers will package and help distribute diapers.

INC LU SIO N CO NNEC T IO NS

HA RV E STE RS

Inclusion connections is focused

provides food to families around the

on helping individuals with developmental disabilities. Volunteers with help with the job training

Harvesters is an organization that KC metro area. Volunteers will sort, box and package donated items.

program by making treats, toys and halloween decorations.

S ENIOR THO UGH TS

Senior Service Day participants voice their thoughts on this year’s projects

We’re doing meal prep for lunches. I thought that I would be serving the community in the KC Area.”

I’m going to help organize clothes and clean out the thrift store. It’s weird that it’s finally here.”

sophie sun | nourish kc

molly winne | adelante thrift

06 | NEWS

THE

IMPEACHMENT A breakdown of the impeachment process, who’s involved and why it’s happening

THE PROCESS 1

INQUIRY

by gabby caponnechi

TO BEGIN THE IMPEACHMENT PROCESS, a member of the House of Representatives must introduce an impeachment resolution describing how the president allegedly committed a “high crime or misdemeanor.”

Passing this resolution would authorize an inquiry (Pelosi has already launched an inquiry on President Trump’s impeachment).

An anonymous governmental worker from the intelligence community files an official whistleblower complaint expressing their concern over the July phone call between Trump and Zelensky. The complaint, which spanned nine pages, alleged the White House of trying to cover up the call by placing it on a server that was usually used for matters of national security or warfare.

SEPT. 13

article of impeachment for the president to be impeached, although they are not removed from office yet.

Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Adam Schiff (D-CA) issues a subpoena for the complaint, which led to mass discussion of the possibility of a quid pro quo — or a give-and-take offer — between Trump and Zelensky regarding Ukraine looking into Biden’s and Trump offering funding to Ukraine.

4 The impeachment moves to the Senate, where

a trial would be held to ultimately determine if the president committed a crime. There is no set procedure for how a trial is to be held. Currently, the Senate is majority Republican, whereas the House is ruled by a Democratic majority, which could introduce disagreement.

SEPT. 24 Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announces the launch of a formal inquiry for the impeachment of President Trump.

SEPT. 25

5 Due to the magnitude of a misconduct

accusation, the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court — currently John Roberts — would preside over the Senate trial.

The majority of the call’s transcript is released by the White House. There was no direct offering of a quid pro quo in the transcript, but questions were raised about the context and whether there was an implied quid pro quo.

Senators in this instance act as a jury and are required to listen to the evidence presented from each side and privately come to a conclusion.

SEPT. 26

7 After the Senators meet, they reconvene to vote on the pertinent question: is the president guilty or not guilty of the crimes he is accused of?

8 The conviction of the president would require a two-thirds vote from the Senate. If the president is found guilty, he would then be removed from office and the vice president would replace him.

The full whistleblower complaint is released to the public.

SEPT 27

Kurt Volker, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, resigns in lieu of the situation.

OCT. 6 The legal counsel for the first whistleblower announce a second whistleblower to be represented by them.

WAIT, WHAT? The means by which the House of Representatives claims a president is guilty of a “high crime” or “misdemeanor.”

THE REMOVAL OF A U.S. PRESIDENT After the Senators meet, they reconvene to vote on the pertinent question: is the president guilty or not guilty of the crimes he is accused of?

THE SENATE’S TRIAL AND CONVICTION The conviction of the president in a Senate trial, where Senators act as a jury with two sides of counsel representing the defense and the prosecution.

JULY 25

AUG. 25

3 The majority of the House must approve the

THE HOUSE’S IMPEACHMENT

THE TIMELINE PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP contacts Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky to inquire about 2020 candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden’s son — Hunter Biden — and his relations with Ukraine.

2 Next, the Speaker of the House — Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in this case — would direct the House Judiciary Committee to hold a hearing on the impeachment resolution. The outcome would decide whether an impeachment vote should be held on the House floor (the chamber in which House members debate and vote).

6

design by | lilah faye

THE FUTURE THE INVOLVED PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY AN UNIDENTIFIED WHISTLEBLOWER — AN EMPLOYEE OF A GOVERNMENT AGENCY REPORTING A VIOLATION — VOICED CONCERNS ABOUT THE TRUMP-ZELENSKY CALL.

AS OF OCTOBER 8, Gordon Sondland — US ambassador to the EU and a Trump donor — was prevented by the state department from testifying to a congressional impeachment hearing.

Consequently, the White House released a letter initially stating that they refuse to cooperate with this impeachment inquiry.

Instead, they are accusing Democrats of attempting to reverse the 2016 election results.

The prevention of Sondland’s cooperation has raised legal questions over the extent of Trump’s executive privilege, which will likely continue and set the course for the inquiry’s continuation.

NEWS | 07

design by | lauren west photo by | megan biles

RING RING The Prarie Village Police Department partners with Ring to ensure safety throughout local neighborhoods

by riley atkinson

R

ing, the Amazon-owned security system company, partnered with the Prairie Village Police Department to provide more neighborhood security.

The link between the department and individuals is optional, so there is no data for how many residents have Rings, but they do know there is a lot, according to Detective Caroline Van Cil from the Prairie Village Police Department.

Since the partnership was put into place in May, confusion has been expressed when requests arise as to what the police department has access to in regards to personal footage.

Ring has an app called Neighbors, which keeps the public updated about their neighborhood and helps to connect the police department to Ring users.

While trying to solve a case, detectives request footage through the Neighbors app based on what houses were around the crime that occurred. Residents in the neighborhood can then comment or send in videos from their cameras.

Detective Van Cil once received a response from an anonymous Ring account wondering why they were invading his privacy.

“My response back to it was ‘it’s all voluntary,’” Van Cil said. “You don’t have to give me anything, and I don’t think he knew that, but again it’s not me invading anyone’s privacy . . . I can’t link into anyone’s accounts or anything like that. It’s all voluntary basis.”

Users receive requests for footage, which they can decline or accept. They have full control over who views their Ring footage.

Those who do share their footage have the ability to assist in the detective work and speed up the process of finding criminals. A robbery case that Van Cil worked on was solved after sending out a request on the app.

“We were able to narrow down our car and our

suspect because of people sending in all these videos,” Van Cil said. “[The partnership has] helped us in the fact that there’s been less lag time between the crime occurring and us possibly identifying either a suspect or vehicle so it’s definitely helped. We love it.”

The Neighbors app has also created better public knowledge of what’s going on in the area, according to Van Cil. The feed within the app allows users to post when they have concerns or there’s an oddity occurring, so their neighbors are aware.

“Maybe more than anything [the benefit] was just the awareness to what’s going on in the neighborhood,” East parent Vanessa Nyhus said. “[Neighbors will] post a video like, ’here was somebody who walked across my yard last night or somebody who was trying to open the car doors in the driveway does anybody recognize them.’”

Senior Kala Christian and her family got a Ring because of a few break-in instances around her neighborhood.

The ring has helped their family feel safer overall, with a sense of security in the fact that they would be able to catch the suspect on camera.

“I’m like a scaredy cat, I don’t like being home alone if I’ve just heard of something scary so it definitely makes me feel more safe just because if anything happens we’ll have footage of it,” Christian said.

In the future, Van Cil is hoping the public has better knowledge of what the partnership with Ring is trying to do — provide a more secure neighborhood.

“The only problem would be the misconception of what exactly we do and what we have access to,” Van Cil said. “But then again the upside to it is we let these people know and then they send us stuff and then we solve crimes . . . I don’t think we’ll ever have access to people’s cameras and quite honestly I don’t want to have access to people’s cameras, but I think [in the future] the users will have better knowledge of what it is and what we’re trying to do.”

RING BREA KD OWN T H E O RI G I N A L V I D EO D OO R B E L L S E E , S P EA K TO A N D H EA R V I S I TO RS F RO M YO U R S M A RT P H O N E

T H E V I D EO D OO R B E L L P RO U LT R A - S L I M R I N G F E AT U R I N G M O T I O N ZO N E S, 180 H D V I D EO A N D T W O - WAY TA L K

T H E ST I C K U P C A M M O U N TS TO A L L S U R FA C E S , W E AT H E R R E S I S TA N T A N D P ROT EC TS AGA I N ST A L L W E AT H E R

*info and photos courtesy of Ring.com

08 | OPINION

design by | maddox mogenson

OPINION

HIGHLIGHTS A look into student opinions and the opinion section

T E S T D AY O P I N I O N S

THE WEEK IN 280 C H A R AC T E R S I N T RO D U C I N G R I H A N N A BY @ R I H A N N A : A V I S UA L AU TO B I O G R A P H Y F I L L E D W I T H 1 ,0 5 0 C O LO R I M AG E S F E AT U R I N G A LO O K I N TO H E R L I F E F RO M C H I L D H O O D, TO U R I N G, TO I C O N I C FA S H I O N LO O KS A N D E V E RY T H I N G I N B E T W E E N .

U R BA N O U T F I TT E R S | 1 0/0 7 / 1 9

W H AT IS YO UR ST UDY RO UT I NE FO R STANDA RD IZ E D T E STS?

T H E P R E S I D E N T I S N OW S U G G E ST I N G T H AT @ S P E A K E R P E LOS I I S G U I LT Y O F # T R E A S O N , A C R I M E P U N I S H A B L E BY D E AT H .

I like to take practice tests because I feel like it’s the only way to make it seem like the actual tests, and then I go through and check all my answers.

lydia seymour | junior

H E ’S A L S O S U G G E ST I N G T H AT M E M B E RS O F CO N G R E S S C A N B E I M P EAC H E D. T H E R E I S N O P ROV I S I O N I N T H E U. S . CO N ST I T U T I O N FO R # I M P EAC H M E N T O F M E M B E RS O F CO N G R E S S .

TO D D J. G I L L M A N | 1 0/0 6 / 1 9

DO YOU WO RRY A BO UT STAN DAR D I Z E D TESTS?

A ST RO N O M E R S C OT T S H E P PA R D H A S D I S C OV E R E D 2 0 N E W M O O N S O R B I T I N G S AT U R N , B R I N G I N G I TS TOTA L TO 8 2 A N D M OV I N G I T A H E A D O F J U P I T E R , W H I C H H A S 7 9 . H E L P N A M E ‘ E M AT @ S AT U R N L U N AC Y

Of course I worry about it — college is always a pretty big factor in our lives, and a lot of times we have to worry about that.

N AT U R E N E W S & CO M M E N T | 1 0/08 / 1 9

sophie rice | junior

O P I N I O N AT E D

W H AT D O I W E A R ?

WOULD YOU EVER USE A DATING APP AS A MINOR? | 253 VOTES

20% YES

Following an afterparty theme is a difficult task for guys

I

80% NO

by maddox mogenson

t’s 3 a.m., I’ve been scrolling through Amazon for an hour hopelessly searching for an outfit that will fit my afterparty theme — jungle. I’ve tried it all: snakeskin, leopard print and zebra. But still no men’s options.

Afterparties are rites of passage for high schoolers, whether they’re for a birthday or school dance. The best part of planning an afterparty is deciding the theme — decorating your friend’s basement with fake snakes and blacklights is such an exhilarating experience. The only thing that’s not exhilarating about themes is finding something to wear.

Sure, I could always make my own outfit if I can’t find anything that suits me, but with four hours of homework on top of three hours of dance every day, I definitely

don’t have time for that.

Guys’ fashion is already bland — we don’t have many viable options besides three-striped Adidas sweatpants and Vineyard Vines ensembles. Imagine trying to find an outfit that fits the theme “neon rave.” That’s right, you can’t.

Before I get roasted for being an anti-feminist, I’m going to let you know that I completely understand that men have it easier in every way — except afterparty outfits.

Speaking of, let me tell you about my outfit for the jungle theme, or lack thereof. My idea was snakeskin, so I took to the world wide web to search for a sickening snake outfit. A simple Google search led me to websites upon websites, but they were all for girls.

It was only after I typed in

multiple keywords (“for guys,” “men’s”) that anything I could possibly wear came up. And let me tell you, that shirt was not pretty — a blurry cutout of a king cobra on a plain black shirt is definitely not snakeskin.

I’m not saying that every brand known to the human race should cater all of their fun and outof-the-box outfits to men. But I would appreciate it if my outfit for the theme “camo” wasn’t a legit U.S. Army costume.

But by some stroke of God, I found an adequate outfit for the jungle-themed party. No, my snakeskin jeans most definitely didn’t fit, but at least I didn’t show up to the party naked.

DO YOU THINK DATING APPS ARE SAFE? | 264 VOTES

29% YES 71% NO DO YOU LIKE TO COOK DINNER AT HOME? | 268 VOTES

69% YES 31% NO DO YOU HAVE A FOOD ALLERGY OR DIETARY RESTRICTION? | 277 VOTES

25% YES 75% NO

OPINION | 09

design by | sarah bledsoe photos by | julia percy

T H A N K YO U ,

MOM

Staffer attempts to cook dinner for an entire week, in order to better understand and appreciate all her mother does by lauren west

QUESTIONS A survey used to determine the family dynamics of students at East

58%

59%

18%

79%

Does your family eat dinner together most nights?

Do you ever grocery shop for your family?

Do you regularly cook dinner for your family?

Have you ever cooked dinner for your family?

YES

NO

LAUREN’S SHOPPING LIST Key ingreidents needed for staffer’s favorite meal: Grilled Pineapple, Chicken & Avocado Salad

CHEESE

FRESH PINEAPPLE

AVOCADO SCAN ME | RECIPE Scan here for a complete Grilled Pineapple, Chicken & Avocado Salad recipe.

E

very time my mom’s birthday passes, I find myself scribbling in the same thing on my homemade birthday card: “Thank you so much for everything you do.” Of course I mean it, but I’ve never understood it — until this past week.

It was finally time to give my mom a break from slaving away in the kitchen cooking her famous chicken parm — so I decided to attempt to make dinner Monday through Thursday to see how much my mom takes on every day to feed a family of four — and hopefully not poison my family.

Preparing meals for the week to feed a family is its own job — add on a paying job, household chores, raising kids and somehow our parents still don’t explode. It’s time to start appreciating.

My mom works as a part-time teacher from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and still manages to come home and have dinner on the table before 8 p.m. And on the days she doesn’t work, she’s doing laundry, picking up the house and going to Hen House.

Sunday afternoon I sat at my kitchen table with a piece of paper and pen trying to find a meal for every night. I flipped through cookbooks, checked my Pinterest “food board” and tried to think back to some of my mom’s past dishes.

What I thought would take me 15 minutes, took an hour. I was constantly thinking, “no, we had that recently,” “no, Andrew won’t eat that,” “no, that takes too long.” And when I finally finished, I still had to go to the grocery store.

When my brother complains that we are having a side of vegetables again, I now give my mom all the sympathy she deserves in planning out our meals.

Every time I was at the grocery store I found myself calling her immediately asking how to choose the juiciest pineapple or get the right cut of meat at the deli — something I never really thought about while walking alongside her in the store.

My first night cooking, I was fortunate that my mom was home. I made chicken avocado ranch wraps and even though I practically gave her a heart attack because I didn’t know you had to wash chicken before cooking it, she helped me through my first mental breakdown — wrapping chicken in tortillas.

The second night was breakfast for dinner, which meant use anything you have in your fridge to make a meal. Surprisingly, I felt pressure I never thought I’d feel when cooking for my family — what if they didn’t like it or I set off the fire alarm? I wonder if that’s something my mom has gotten used to?

By Wednesday, I had made a new friend — Jason the butcher. It was my third time at Hen House that week and I was so over it. The minute I got home and unpacked my ingredients, I fell to the floor — literally, my mom took a picture — because I realized I used the last of the pepper jack cheese last night in my egg burritos and needed more for this meal.

Helloooo Jason.

My only way of coping with the loss of gas to Hen House was to throw a temper tantrum on the floor, my mom would quietly get into her car and drive up to the Corinth Hen House to buy the missing ingredient for our dinner.

Thursday night was my big finale. Grilled chicken and pineapple salad — a family favorite. This recipe is super simple because you just have to cut up a ton of ingredients, but there’s a challenge: grilling.

While my dad is easily a grill master — considering he has multiple grilling devices — my mom has grilled whenever he isn’t home.

I’m proud to say I grilled well. There were golden grill marks on the chicken and I didn’t catch anything on fire. But, I still had my mom’s help. She still helped me spray down whatever you call the surface of a grill, I don’t know, a griddle? So I didn’t burn myself when the flames shot up.

Sure, I roll my eyes when my mom asks me for the third time what I want to eat for dinner this week. Yes, I’m guilty of complaining that dinner isn’t ready when I can hear my stomach grumbling. I’ve never quite understood all of the stress that goes into preparing meals, but my mom takes stress and handles it in the calmest, most graceful way.

I’m really glad that I will go into college knowing the importance of washing chicken. It’s comforting to know that no matter where I go, she is a phone call away to answer my dumb questions about wanting to find the juiciest pineapple or sending a picture to see if my chicken is too pink.

So with that, I feel that I can truly tell her, “Thank you so much for everything you do.”

10 | OPINION

design by | tommy paulus photo by | grace allen

Notifications

SWIPE

57m ago

“hey baby I have a PHD in Cuddles”

Notifications

49m ago

“hey we live close. so?“

Notifications

33m ago

“y did u leave me on read ;(“

SWIPE

Tinder’s user statistics

STATS

*coutersy of businessofapps.com

20 B ILLIO N matches since the app launched

MIL L ION dates users go on every week

4.1

MILLION sers pay for Tinder Gold

1

by jilli foley

NEVER

Tinder and dating apps are dangerous and unnecessary for teens

W

henever I find myself with an extra 90 minutes, I spend it watching “The Last Song” for the tenth time or trying to perfect my penalty kick on the soccer field. But for 50 million people, according to Business of Apps — and many of my classmates — this time is spent each day swiping through Tinder, searching to find booty calls or first dates.

The dating apps may be for adults 18 and up, but that’s not stopping teens to deviate the system.

A generation expected to be dependent on Juuling or Red Bull has found a new addiction: Tinder.

Users may say it’s the easiest or fastest way to find a boyfriend or husband, but I don’t see the point of giving up my rom-com fantasy to try and find a relationship with someone I don’t even know. With the news displaying headline after headline of dating-app-related deaths and assaults, I don’t see the problem of being safely single with my Ben and Jerry’s pint of Phish Food Ice Cream.

There’s been mass amounts of sexual assaults, date-rapes and deaths associated with online dating. According to Business of Apps, in 2011, 140 crimes were recorded on dating applications — by 2016, it increased to 676 cases. 106 were sexual crimes and 240 were violent attacks.

On Tinder there is everyone from grown adults with master degrees, to college students, to recent drivers ed graduates.

According to Verywell Family, an estimated 7 percent of Tinder users are between the ages of 13 and 17. At 13, I was still using my Rainbow Loom bracelet maker and maintaining a diet almost completely based on Kraft Mac & Cheese and Mandarin oranges. These kids, though, are connecting with 20-year-old men faster than I can boil water.

Most apps like Tinder, Grindr and Bumble have age restrictions of 18 and up. Even with the restriction, it doesn’t take much effort for teens to appear older than they are.

It’s quite disturbing seeing the girl you sit next to in Financial Literacy displaying herself as a 22-year-old college student. And don’t forget the bio saying “I’m Jesus on the streets and The Devil in the sheets.” — of course with multiple hearteyed emojis following.

I couldn’t tell you if it’s the instant gratification of receiving creepy compliments from strangers online or the pride of non-rejection for themselves that convinces people a dating app is the better alternative to actually meeting someone, but you can count me out of making a profile online to exploit my love life for millions to see.

Observing the app over my friend’s shoulder,

I spotted a profile of an ordinary user — Simon Bournhold, 20. Biology major. Enjoys Chinese food and golden retrievers. Blonde hair, hazel eyes, height 6’1” — less than a mile away.

A mile away — which could mean we’re neighbors — and could have been a frequent customer to my lemonade and easy bake oven business since the age of 7.

Swipe left.

As we kept swiping, I realized how unrealistic and dangerous these apps are. Each profile could be completely fake. You don’t know anything about the stranger — yes, even though you looked Even with the restriction, it doesn’t take much effort for teens to appear older than they are. jilli foley| junior

at their profile for a whole 4.5 seconds.

These could be 35 year olds swiping right on strangers, telling barely 18 year olds “You’re gorgeous” or “Come over baby.”

There’s no instruction sheet or a step by step process for dating apps. You can only control the danger and take that chance of getting in a dilemma when processing yourself through it.

So when you’re asked on a date to Olive Garden, there’s no way to tell if you will be dining with a father of two or a tween who still rides the bus.

Active users say it’s the developer’s fault, but it’s nobody’s fault but yours when you make the decision to sip a cappuccino with a 25-year-old convicted felon.

I’ve always questioned high school students who have profiles on Tinder. Just yesterday, I saw people in the lunch line giggling to their fake accounts. All under the age of 18.

Maybe some want to create connections with people, but I’ve mostly seen profiles that associate as a joke. But even if they’re not taken seriously, these accounts have serious consequences.

A variety of dating softwares are becoming a lot more accessible in society today with the ability to do so much without leaving your bed.

It’s easier nowadays to go on your phone and have websites find your future baby daddy instead of going out in the world and finding it yourself.

Call me old fashioned all you want, but I prefer meeting my prince charming from mutual friends or at school instead of some app doing it for you.

But for now, I’d rather dream about Liam Hemsworth shirtless on the beach than go on a date with a random stranger because he “super liked” me on some idiotic app.

OPINION | 11

design by | kelly murphy photos by | morgan woods

N OT JUST A

PRE F ER E NCE Restaurant staff should be trained on handling dietary needs

T

he waiter ran out of the kitchen and over to my table to tell me the stray spaghetti noodle in my penne pasta was not gluten-free — I knew I would be experiencing the consequences for weeks.

And this could’ve been avoided if the restaurant took my allergy seriously.

Customers with allergies should be able to experience a relaxing meal at a restaurant where they don’t have to worry about what they are eating. I make sure to take note of restaurants that are understanding and proactive about my allergies. Being allergic to gluten, shellfish, fish and eggs, I have to be very careful about where I eat.

They just have to ask one question — is it an allergy or a preference?

First impressions of restaurants are important — I am never going to eat at a restaurant again if they don’t make me feel safe. Why should I risk how I am going to feel for weeks on end for one accidental bite of gluten? If a restaurant messes up my food once, they’ll probably do it again.

A single Pringle can cause my digestive system to shut down, affecting how I do in school, how much sleep I get and, in turn, my mood. It feels as though I have been drugged with Benadryl that never wears off — so trust me, that one bite is never worth it.

Due to the new ongoing health craze surrounding cutting carbs, restaurants don’t always understand the difference between allergies and preferences. This causes waiters to forget to remind chefs they have to change their gloves and use separate fryers and knives.

If any gluten residue is left on my food, I’m in for a rough week.

They just have to ask one question — is it an allergy or a preference? I want the waiters to ask questions and double check on ingredients.

Making sure they have the right answer makes me feel better about my experience.

But restaurants that take my allergy seriously

are like the one lifesaver in a hurricane. Whether it’s taking the eggs off my fried rice or preparing the burger without a bun, Urban Table is always willing to accommodate my allergies. Their menu is marked with gluten-free options and their staff is very informed about the ingredients of their dishes, which is a rare occurrence at other restaurants.

Something as simple as ordering a chocolate milkshake from BRGR shouldn’t be dangerous, but for people with serious allergies, it can be.

I took one sip of my “chocolate milkshake” — only to realize the chunks weren’t made out of chocolate, they were gluten-filled Oreos. When I told the waitress, she rolled her eyes at me. She didn’t even comprehend that her one mistake would make me sick for the next week, which also happened to be my first week of summer.

I hope that I never again have to endure the pain of the countless cross contaminations I’ve experienced, but I know I will. I know that every time I go out to eat there is a great possibility that I will get sick. This problem isn’t just in Kansas City, my first anaphylactic reaction to salmon was in New York. This problem follows me everywhere, and I can’t see it changing until the restaurants do.

I hope that I never again have to endure the pain of the countless cross contaminations I’ve experienced, but I know I will. I know that every time I go out to eat there is a great possibility that I will get sick.

Restaurants should ensure that their staff understands the severity of allergies and treats them accordingly. Waiters should know that it isn’t just a trend diet and that gluten allergies existed before the diet became popular. It is the restaurant’s job to make sure their staff reacts appropriately and responsibly to severe allergies because their customers are the ones that pay the price if they don’t.

C H I L D H O O D A L L E RG I E S BY T H E N U M B E R S 1.6 million children under 18 have food allergies. that’s

1 in 13 children

childhood hospitalizations for food allergies

tripled between the late 1990s and the mid-2000s U.S. families pay

$25 billion annually to care for children with food allergies

A N N A ’S A L L E RG I E S

by anna stover

DA I RY

diagnosed with dairy allergy at 8 weeks old

GLUTEN

stopped eating several foods for six weeks before discovering a gluten allergy in 5th grade

FISH/SHELLFISH eliminated fish/shellfish due to severe allergic reactions to salmon and trout in 8th grade

EGGS

eliminated all forms of eggs in 10th grade

*information courtesy of the food allergy research and education organization

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FEATURES | 13

design by | tommy paulus

F E AT U R E

HIGHLIGHTS

F E AT U R E D A RT I ST

A M A N DA COLLINS

WHAT KIND OF ART DO YOU DO? “I do makeup, and I don’t want to say cosplay, because that’s not what it is, but I do way more than just the basic eyeshadow and foundation look that most people think makeup is.”

HOW DID YOU GET INTO MAKEUP?

T O P L E F T Sophomore Cameron Oviatt laughs as one of the Thespian Exec members tells a joke during the All Theater Meeting photo by | bella wolfe T O P R I G H T The Chamber Choir performs their first song of the fall choir concert. photo by | megan stopperan L E F T Henry Cecil attempts a skateboarding trick at Harmon Skatepark after school while his friend films a video. photo by | annakate dilks

“In elementary school I was very tomboy-ish, then in middle school I decided to switch it up and start practicing on my eyebrows. I also love painting and acrylic paints are too expensive, so I decided to paint on my face.”

COULD YOU GO IN DEPTH ABOUT THIS LOOK? “So I got this idea from a popular makeup guru and i decided to take my own spin on. It took me 3 1/2 hours to complete, and it required a lot of preparation.”

DO YOU SEE YOURSELF HAVING A CAREER IN MAKEUP IN THE FUTURE? “I literally can’t see myself doing anything else besides make up, like working in a boring cubicle for the rest of my life seems like the worst. I would probably do my makeup in the blank screen of my work computer.”

M A R K YO U R C A L E N DA R S

WHERE DO YOU PULL FOR INSPIRATION?

SENIOR SERVICE DAY

OCT

OCT

7 p.m. | Indian Hills MS

OCT

N OV

2 25 16 17 EAST FUND AUCTION

PTSA CULVER’S NIGHT

MORP DANCE

7 p.m. to 9 p.m. | Annual all-grade mixer in the cafeteria.

The dance theme is Halloween.

“I really like Abby Roberts and I pull inspiration from a bunch of different makeup artists. I also love different [makeup] artists with things like prosthetics.”

SCAN ME | INSTAGRAM Amanda Collins’s makeup instagram account

14 | FEATURES

design by | riley atkinson photos by | ty browning

DINING FOR WOMEN East parents have pot-luck dinners to benefit charity

“W

by caroline chisholm

e remember the women about whom we’ve learned, the ones they strive to nurture, and the organizations that are trying to nurture them. By eating together, we remember and honor those women. And we express the hope that through our efforts, they may find more sustenance for their lives.

May we all be able to feast together some day.”

Once a month, this affirmation finds itself resonating through a Johnson County home just before 15 East-area moms dig into a potluck dinner. After a night full of glasses of wine and catching up on topics like their children’s college or high school lives or the last social function they attended, the moms gather together on a living room couch to watch a video relaying that month’s powerful message.

Instead of going out to buy dinner and drinks, the women each bring dishes and donate the money they would’ve spent on a night out to the Dining for Women organization. Their donations go directly to women facing problems like financial dependency and lack of education.

These women make up a Dining for Women chapter –– the first in the Prairie Village area. Dining for Women is a national non-profit organization that raises money to provide resources and support for young women and girls around the world. These chapter members, along with 8,000 others around the U.S., meet on a regular basis –– most of them monthly –– to share a meal together and watch heartfelt, inspiring videos about women overcoming barriers around the world.

While the night is centered around camaraderie and socialization, there is a more powerful message behind each meeting about serving others as well as an opportunity to become more educated through the Dining for Women organization and give back to other parts of the world.

“It isn’t just social, certainly we like that part of it, but it is a nice way to sort of combine education, fellowship and doing some charitable work,” East mother Lisa Veghlan said. “It meets a lot of those different qualifications all in one evening which is great.”

Through educational videos, presentations and documents, the members learn about the month’s featured grantees. The documentaries open the mothers’ eyes to young girls in Africa struggling with food insecurity and women struggling to be financially independent in India, according to East area mom and chapter member Libby Cunningham.

[The videos] show these women want to be educated, they want to have jobs, they want to be responsible for their own lives without needing a man,

libby cunningham | parent In February, they watched young girls in Tanzania without access to feminine supplies in their underdeveloped community being taught about their bodies and reproductive rights. In April, they watched young girls in Mauritania resorting to prostitution to escape poverty being taught dance as an outlet

for their struggles.

The group was started by chapter leader Sybbie Fox. She loved the idea of combining a fun social night with giving back a small portion to others, especially struggling women around the world. She gathered friends she believed would enjoy the charity and activism of being a part of the group.

And although these Johnson County women don’t have a direct connection to the issues the grantees face, they feel like they’re all able to find a way to relate in their own way.

Chapter member and East parent Maria Worthington identifies with the grantees due to her background in education. As an educator to others, she sees a worthwhile impact in educating these less fortunate nations in order to leave a sustaining impact.

“One reason this group appeals to me is because I am an educator and I have three daughters. I can identify when there are students in need,” Worthington said. “And I am able to see my daughters faces in some of these grantees. It gets me thinking how fortunate we are.”

Learning about what the grantees face has helped chapter members appreciate how fortunate the community they live in is. Through their participation in Dining for Women, they’ve gained a greater sense of world awareness and feel inclined to serve their communities in other ways.

“I really come away with feeling like I have learned so much about issues that are facing women and girls around the world,” Veglahn said. “I feel like I have made a very small, but hopefully meaningful part in making a difference in some of those girls lives.”

FEATURED GRANTEES Some of the projects that Dining for Women help

BREAKING THE BONDS benefit location

NEPAL

Helps children living in the world’s most impoverished places go to school and learn to read and write for a better future

YOUNG HEROES: WORTH benefit location

SWAZILAND

Suppor ts families of AIDS orphans in Swaziland. It em powers Swaziland’s most vulnerable youth and their caretakers so they may acheive their full potential

SCAN ME | SITE Visit dining for women’s website in order to learn more

FEATURES | 15

design by | lilah faye photos courtesy of | janie carr

by lydia underwood R I G H T Senior Janie Carr poses with a fellow Jimmy nominee.

MIDDLE RIGHT Carr practices with other Jimmy nominees in New York.

F A R R I G H T Carr gives a speech after accepting her Blue Star Award.

T

ADMIT ONE

hen eight-year-old Janie Carr sat in her cousin’s basement cutting out the orange paper stating “admit one” and writing down her name as the director. She ordered her cousins and little brother to keep rehearsing — they had a show to put on. Donning the sparkly, five-sizes-too-big heels and the ruffly Cinderella dress, she went upstairs with the rest of them.

It was show time.

Senior Janie Carr has always loved to sing and perform in front of her family. Now, 30 shows, a Blue-Star Award and a trip to the Jimmy Awards later, she has decided to take the risk and major in a program that very few people get accepted or make a career in — theater.

But this hasn’t always been the plan. Until Carr was casted as Ariel in East’s production of “The Little Mermaid” last spring, she imagined herself majoring in arts administration and working on the business side of theater, not performing on stage.

Carr had always found herself gazing at the banners for Blue Star Awards, but she never dreamed that she would get nominated, much less win, for her performance in “The Little Mermaid.” When her name was called at the award ceremony, Carr’s passion for performing was validated.

“I just love to watch her on stage,” Delia Carr, Janie’s mother, said tearing up. “She is so happy and she spreads all that joy to everyone else who is on stage. Nobody has

[Winning] the Blue Star award was my permission slip that I never knew I needed.”

janie carr | senior forced her to be up there, she does it all out of her own will and joy.”

Winning the Blue Star Award meant that Carr had the opportunity to join thousands of other theater kids her age at the Jimmy Awards in New York last June. There, she would spend a whole week preparing with the best high school performers in the country for a Broadway performance and an award ceremony.

By the end of September, after Carr had spent almost every day after school working on her auditions (often times putting theater over reading “Jane Eyre” or doing her AP French homework), she was finally able to record her pre-screens, which include three monologues, two songs and a “Wild Card” section where Carr is able to show what makes her unique. After the pre-screens are filmed, they’re sent to colleges.

Carr knew that her pre-screens would have to be perfect because schools base who gets an in-person audition off their pre-screen. Since the schools Carr wants to attend have 2 to 5 percent acceptance rates, accepting an average

of 12 applicants into the theater program, Carr is pushed to work even harder to be one of the 12.

“I think it’s a grueling process mentally because you have to prepare yourself for that rejection,” Carr said. “A school can be saying ‘no’ because they don’t need your type or aren’t looking for you.”

Carr will be auditioning for 34 schools in Novembers through a program called College Audition Project. She knows that auditions are the most stressful part — she could be rejected, get a callback or get an offer later that day. “[Not worrying about what other people are doing is] something that I kind of struggle with,” Carr said. “When you’re in a huge waiting room with hundreds of people and their parents, you’re thinking like, ‘what is she singing,’ and ‘what is she doing to stretch and prepare.’”

Auditions like the one for “The Little Mermaid” and other Starlight productions have taught her to prepare months in advance, causing her to worry about what everyone else is doing a little less because she knows she has done the most she can to prepare.

According to junior Lily Utt, when she found out Carr was the lead in “The Little Mermaid,” she knew that Carr would embody the character well and that all her hard work would pay off.

“She’s just a very versatile actor, singer and dancer,” Utt said. “And I think this part was really perfect for her vocal ties because she has this really beautiful, rich belt that is perfect for this type of Disney Princess ingenue type of role.”

For months leading up to opening night as Ariel, she was annotating her songs with pink highlighter, memorizing lines and googling how Ariel flips her hair. Before going onstage for the first time, Carr was pacing, stretching out her mouth and talking to underclassmen, trying to get rid of her nervous energy before she had to go onstage. Despite having a cold and having antibiotics in her system, it all went away when she stepped on stage — she felt right at home.

According to Carr, thanks to at least 30 shows during her career so far that all taught her to be more confident in herself and less afraid of failure, she gets to spend the rest of her life doing what she loves to do — telling a story and spreading joy to others through music. “[Winning] the Blue Star award was my Senior Janie Carr takes permission slip that I never knew I needed,” Carr the risk of pursuing said. “After going to the Jimmy Awards, I decided I was going to take that risk [and major in musical her passion of theater theater.] It really changed the trajectory of my as a career life completely.”

Again

design by | lila tulp

O N T H E R OA D

After graduating early, couple prepares for a gap year of traveling across the US and up to Alaksa while living out of their revamped 1986 van

THE S

A few of plan t

CO

SIG MOU S AW WA N A C AND KAN

SIGH

S AW Y GO [WHEN I OL GOALS GOING BASICA

CA

SIGH THE MOU WIL DEFI TO S WHE CAL

FEATURES | 17

S C E N I C RO U T E

f the stops Sawyer and Willa to stop at along the way

O LO R A D O

HTS TO SEE | ROCKY U N TA I N N AT I O N A L PA R K W Y E R ’ S TA K E | “ W H E N I N T T O C O L O R A D O I S AW O M P L E T E LY D I F F E R E N T , D BETTER, BEAUTY THAN NSAS.”

ALASKA

T S T O S E E | N AT I O N A L PA R K S E R ’ S TA K E | “ I H A D M Y OAL FOR THE GAP YEAR WA S ] A B O U T 1 3 Y E A R S D, THEN LAST YEAR MY WERE SOLIDIFIED WITH G TO ALASKA WHICH IS A L LY C O L O R A D O O N [ A BIGGER SCALE].”

ALIFORNIA

HTS TO SEE | COAST AND THE U N TA I N S L A ’ S TA K E | “ I I N I T E LY WA N T SEE THE BEACH EN WE GO TO IFORNIA.”

by carolyn popper

“C

an you hand me a half-inch?”

Two auto tech students crowd the exposed engine of the 1986 Ford E-150 — a blue, vintage monster of an automotive — as senior Sawyer Waterman attempts to replace the gaskets that leaked oil all over the engine. For the other students, the van is an interesting project to work on during their auto tech hour. For Sawyer, it’s his future home and every paycheck he’s ever saved.

“It’s my baby. It’s all of my money,” Sawyer said.

When Sawyer asked his girlfriend of 11 months, senior Willa Ivancic, to spend the next year driving across the country living out of the van, she took two days to fully consider.

She always knew he was going to ask her, just like Sawyer knew he wanted Willa with him on the gap year from the time they celebrated their one-month anniversary.

And as they laid on a towel overlooking Clinton Lake on their weekend camping trip, Willa felt the way she knew she would on the gap year.

So her answer was yes.Since his first job of picking up cigarette butts off the downtown streets of KC for minimum wage, Sawyer stashed his money in the gap year fund. He was dubbed Woodside Country Club’s “most hard working towel boy.” When he unloaded boxes for UPS after school, he lost weight burning through muscle mass from lifting hundred-pound boxes for seven hours a day.

It was the hardest job he’d ever worked and his mom encouraged him to quit, but it paid 30 bucks an hour. In the end, he handed over $6,400 in cash for the van and upwards of an additional $2,000 in repairs.

From the assistance of Youtube tutorials, his grandpa and auto tech teacher Mr. Gay, Sawyer installed insulation and replaced the radiator, fuses and gaskets. Parts were cheap when he could find them on RockAuto. com. The back of the van was stripped to accommodate Willa’s one condition — a bed.

No futon. If she was giving up half of her closet, she at least wanted a mattress under her pillow. It still needs air conditioning and a built-in shower on the outside of the van made from PVC pipes, but when they drive it around Kansas City, they can already see canyons.

“I’m so proud of him,” Willa said. “He’s done so much for this van, so much effort, time and money. And it’s his dream.”

Willa is independent, too. According to her mother, Sara Rieman, she never once needed to be told to finish her homework, go to bed, wake up for school, make her own hair appointments. She worked two jobs without complaint for the van. When she decided to graduate a year early, Sawyer would sit with Willa at her kitchen table until she completed her extra year’s worth of online classes each night.

“We learned a long time ago the best way

to parent her is to let her be her own person,” her mother Sara Rieman said.

When Willa told her mom and stepdad her gap year plans over dinner, they urged Willa not to let her future be decided by a relationship. It hadn’t been long since Willa planned to be an au pair in Europe after high school. They loved Sawyer, and could see that he loved her, but both her parents were married young and divorced early. They told her she was her own person and she couldn’t lose herself to someone else’s plans. As soon as she wanted to come home, they’d send a plane ticket.

And Sawyer reminded his mom that this may be the only time in his life when he can live out of a van and travel around the country.

If he could go, he promised to fully fund the entire project. His mom, Kelly Main, knew he was right — he has a nickname in the family, “Sawyer the Lawyer,” because he always wins his cases.

“If you raise your children to be independent, then you have to let them go and do the things they’re strong enough to do,” Main said.

Sawyer and Willa aren’t naive. Sawyer says they’re optimistic, but more realistic. They’re aware of the likelihood that they may break up before the gap year begins in the summer.

If they do, Willa will fly to Europe and resume her plan to be an au pair and Sawyer will find a different travel mate. Lately, they’ve spent more time together to practice for the long hours together in the van, camping at nearby state parks over the weekend. Sometimes Willa is a backseat driver. To find alone time, Sawyer might go for a run while Willa goes into town to shop.

“I’ll get flashes of our future together when we’re camping or driving and singing or exploring new places,” Willa said.

This December, after Sawyer graduates a semester early, they’ll move into their own studio apartment together downtown until they save enough for the van. Willa likes that the studio apartment is small — it’ll be better practice for the van. She knows that the apartment will help them figure out both what works and what doesn’t when living together.

It’s small, but it’s theirs.

They both see the plastered smiles and mechanical nods of people thinking their gap year’s a little too crazy. Sawyer’s church camp friends find it ridiculous he’s not going to college right after high school. But both of their life goals are not to end up plagued by student loans, like both of their parents were. Willa hopes to find her career path somewhere along the gap year and Sawyer hopes to find his work in electricity, maybe as a wind turbine technician.

They’re practically the same person — everyone who meets them together can tell.

Willa feels like they read each other’s minds sometimes and they’ve had only three or four real fights in the time they’ve been dating.

When Sawyer gets pessimistic, her zen, hippie attitude lifts him, which he knows will work well when the van breaks down. Senior Quinn Cosgrove notices how supportive they are to each other. Even their laughs are similar, he says.

“Willa has always smiled so freely,” Willa’s mom said. “She makes herself vulnerable with her smile, and that’s how Sawyer is. So when she found him I was like, how did she find her exact counterpart?”

There’s a million reasons not to do anything. But there’s only one time in your life you’ll be able to do something as stupid and amazing as this.”

sawyer waterman | senior They decided they will both bring $10,000 for the trip. Setting aside $400 for each month in the van for necessities, they’ll have enough extra in case of emergencies with the van, or if they want to try an excursion like skydiving.

Willa wants to stay in Portland for a month and Sawyer wants at least two in Alaska. They haven’t picked out their route back home yet.

They’ll figure out which easy, transferable jobs to pick up in each city like Postmate driving or pizza delivery when they get there. Sawyer hoped he could learn enough coding to freelance on the road, but he’s only reached a base level knowledge. At night, they’ll sleep in the parking areas just outside of national parks. If need be, they’ll make a Walmart parking lot work. Sawyer will buy a gym membership to Planet Fitness so they can use the showers and wash their clostes along the way. Willa dreams of picking up a stray dog on the way to bring along and starting an Instagram account, maybe a blog.

“But we’re not doing it for the social media attention. We’re doing it to live,” Willa said.

Imagining what life will look like, they both see the same thing: opening the back doors of the van to something different every morning — mountains, open fields, canyons.

Sawyer will make tea, Willa will fry eggs on the portable stove. She plans to make food based on where they are, like salmon in Alaska. Willa trusts that when the van inevitably breaks down, he won’t waste time to fix it. Sawyer doesn’t sit around.

Without solid plans for each destination, or even a specific list of destinations, Sawyer and Willa will live without an itinerary. They want to wake up each morning surprised and exhilarated for whatever comes next.

“There’s a million reasons not to do anything. But there’s only one time in your life you’ll be able to do something as stupid and amazing as this,” Sawyer said.

18 | FEATURES

S COTT P OO R E

E

by celia condon ast graduate of 1992 Scott Poore’s first thought of pets isn’t a Hallmark card of a perfectly groomed, fourpound, golden lab puppy with a perfectly wrapped, red bow on its head, peeking out of a gift box. When Poore thinks of a man’s best friend, his first thought is the mixed mutt in the back kennel at the shelter.

Following the thought of the pictureimperfect pup, he thinks, ‘How can I help?’

With the idea of giving back to the community, Poore traded his steady income, “normal person job,” for the doghouse.

With a compelling devotion for dogs, Poore decided that animal shelters were the ideal place to start. Only after quitting his job and signing the papers to be a volunteer at Great Plains SPCA, a local animal shelter, Poore started to live like the giving person he was aiming to be.

Poore noticed that at every animal shelter, there was always the orphan dog who has coined the “she’s shy and doesn’t like other dogs” excuse.

“I became obsessed with figuring out what’s right with [the shy] dog,” Poore said.

“And that animal at every shelter is what lit the fire in me.”

Poore began filling all of his free time by volunteering — consequently, he was at dog shelters up to 50 hours a week, and eventually decided to start working at the shelter.

“He’s always connected on a different level with the dogs,” Great Plains employee Meagan Hundley said. “He can see it from their perspective.”

After two years of working part-time and volunteering at the shelter, Poore returned to his day job — although he loved the shelters, he needed to maintain a regular salary. He had the idea to design a simple t-shirt with “KC” inside a dog paw and sell it in the hopes of making a profit he could donate to Great Plains as a going-away present.

“A friend of mine said, ‘You need to turn this into an actual business,’” Poore said.

“And I’m really glad he did.”

Poore expanded from the simple design, to an online clothing store. After hiring someone to help create a name, he pulled the words “mission” and “driven” from two different ideas, and soon realized they were the epitome of him.

“I realized, I a m Mission Driven.” Poore said.

And the new company, Mission Driven was born.

After the business took off, Poore decided to make Mission Driven and dogs his only priority, left his day job again — this time for good — and was back to volunteering 50 hours

per week.

Poore’s goal was initially taking care of dogs by walking them, feeding them and cuddling them, but things changed when he decided to help Queen, a small, chestnutcolored pit bull mix — although her breed was never confirmed due to her being a stray.

According to Poore, Queen had recently reached the heartbreaking anniversary of 400 days as a sheltered dog, so he thought it was time to be inspired. She was nearing the state of ‘unadoptable’ because she was apprehensive toward other dogs — Poore knew it was his job to step in.

Poore had the idea to move into Queen’s kennel, in the hopes that a potential family would hear about her. Seven nights later, Poore’s idea had caught the attention of the news, and after learning about Queen’s story, her new parents were ready to adopt.

Despite working with new dogs each day, there’s one dog that Poore won’t ever assist with family finding. Poore’s own dog and ’son,’ Leo, a curly-haired golden furred dog was found by Poore himself, tied up to a tree at Great Plains at 6 a.m.

When he found him that morning, he knew Leo would be a in his life for a long time. Leo has a sleepover with a new dog daily as Poore brings a new furry friend into their home every night.

“He takes the dogs away from here into his home, which is their favorite thing.”

Hundley said.

To Poore, dogs are like people, and to Leo, every dog is his friend.

If a dog is timid or shy of people— which is common in homeless dogs — Leo will do the work for Poore, by welcoming the dog with a warm puppy cuddle. “[Poore] always has a soft spot for our older dogs,”Great Plains employee Morgan Carl, another said. “I’d be walking through [the shelter] and look in and see Scott snuggled up next to a dog.”

Poore strives to help new furry friends everyday, simultaneously completing his own original mission along the way.

“After two years, I learned so much,” Poore said. “My heart and soul was in this place.”

C H AS E H A N N A by rose kanaley

C

hase Hanna was three years old when his grandpa handed him a set of plastic mini golf clubs in his yard in Carthage, Illinois.

He soon began practicing the repetitive motion of swinging the clubs that would become his future.

After graduating from the East in 2013 and the University of Kansas in 2017, Hanna has traded the plastic club for an iron and driver, and made the adjustment from a collegiate player to a professional golfer.

He is currently playing in the Korn Ferry Tour and Pro Golfers’ Association (PGA) Latinoamérica league.

From a young age, Hanna was good — and he knew it. The potential for reaching the professional league drove Hanna to push himself in high school to take golf seriously, starting with being the top player on the team. He played in all the tournaments he could, going to the golf course daily to “tee it up.” He challenged himself to play Division I golf in college, and was thrilled to be recruited to play at KU, a school he’d been a fan of his whole life. Next up was starting a career in the sport.

During his collegiate golf career at KU, his team won the Big 12 golf tournament — one of the biggest conferences in college golf. Having their highest finish in the Big 12 since 1997, Hanna led the team all season with an average score of 70.71. Hanna’s now working on qualifying for the European Tour and Korn Ferry tour in 2020, his longterm goal being to make it into the PGA American league.

“It was certainly a very cool tournament to win, not only for myself, but to win it for something that’s bigger than just yourself,” Hanna said. “Golf is such an individual sport, but to be able to win it for the school and my teammates, and to help my team have a real solid week was really cool.”

Playing for the PGA Latinoamérica league, most of Hanna’s tournaments are in Latin American countries, although he still has tournaments in the U.S. for the Korn Ferry Tour.

Traveling to professional tournaments around the world — Europe, Brazil, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Mexico — is a plus for Hanna because he gets to experience the world while doing what he loves. But, finally getting settled in one spot just to get up and leave isn’t always easy.

“It’s a cool way to see a lot of parts of the world, but it can also be pretty tiresome and wear you out,” Hanna said. “It’s tough.

You kind of feel like a nomad at times, but it’s not an insane amount of trouble in the sense that it’s usually just a flight every week, you’re just going from place to place.”

His younger sister Madison, a junior at

Shawnee Mission South, has found that Chase’s golf career has given them more time with each other — she’s caddied for a few of his PGA Latinoamérica tournaments and watches whenever she can. “[Chase’s golf career] brought us closer because I go to his tournaments to see him play and we get to bond over that now,” Madison said.

And Madison isn’t the only family member who’s grown closer with him because of golf.

Hanna’s grandpa, Jerry Eads signed him up for his first golf tournament, the Little People’s Tournament, at age five when Hanna went to visit him in Carthage, Illinois. During his senior year in high school, he went back to win the tournament. Eads support and constant interest in Hanna’s schedule and success has never faltered since he began in the Little People’s Tournament, a golf competition for kids ages 3 to 18.

“It did leave me awful proud to watch him and see how he was developing,” Eads said. “It was just a great thrill to watch him play golf and it still is.”

Hanna is constantly playing either to qualify, compete or practice all year, with his off season from Thanksgiving to New Years. Spending seven to eight hours a day practicing golf or competing can leave Hanna exhausted, but it’s something Hanna loves. In addition to his training, he still makes time to play recreationally with friends — he couldn’t be where he is today without a love for the sport.

“I love playing and I don’t roll up to the golf course very solemnly where I’m like ‘Ugh, I wish I could do something else,’” Hanna said. “I feel like, for anybody who’s gotten to this level, you’ve got to have the drive, the love for it, whatever you want to call it. If you’re showing up to the golf course and dreading it, then you’re probably not any good anyways.”

Golf changed Hanna’s outlook on his future, and he never stopped wanting to enter the professional league once he realized his potential. “ I t ’ s pretty easy to focus on what other people do well and what you don’t,” Hanna s a i d .

“But if you can just keep your blinders on and focus on what you need to improve on and focus on your games, then you’re going to get to where you want to go.”

FEATURES | 19 design by | natasha thomas

T Y L E R E N D E RS

POORE’S PATH Meet some of the Great Plain’s pups up for adoption

by natasha thomas

large terrier 3-yearold male

5

years ago

Poore starts volunteering at Great Plains

3

DANNY

years ago Poore begins designing his first “KC” dog paw shirts

large boxer

2018

4-yearold female

BELLA

Poore begins his online clothing store: Mission Driven

H A N N A ’S S TAT S Fast facts about Hanna’s golf career:

4 1 FINIS H

TO P 1 0

M I KC

LO C AT I O N S BRIARCLIFF CAFE + BAR |

F I N I S HES

DOWNTOWN

2ND P LACE

CROSSROADS

2 019 ORDER

44

OF MERIT

RANK:

T URNED PRO IN

2017

MARKETPLACE | PLAZA

CORINTH SQUARE

PRAIRIEFIRE

O

ut of the multitude of clubs and activities that then junior Tyler Enders saw offered at East, something was missing: a ping-pong club.

So Enders and his friends started one. The club wasn’t very serious, and they didn’t want it to be — which was obvious based on the jokes they made all throughout the first intercom announcement they made to advertise it.

By Enders’ estimates, about 70 people crammed into a classroom for the first after-school meeting.

Enders has always loved bringing people together to accomplish a common goal — whether it was starting a ping-pong club or planning events during his two years on STUCO. Recently the entrepreneurship Enders’ used in his ping-pong club has evolved into something a little more large-scale — starting four different businesses with a total of 15 different locations, including the wellknown Made in KC. They all began the same way: Enders saw room to improve, and his flair for actualizing an idea and creating a friendly environment did the rest.

Enders and his olderby-a-year friend, 2008 East graduate Thomas Mclntyre, used to end their school week at First Fridays in the West Bottoms. There they saw artists trying to sell their work out of their studios — the only problem was that the majority of people purchasing art weren’t strolling through the West Bottoms, they were in the suburbs.

Just like the ping-pong club missing from East, Enders saw a gap to fill. It wasn’t until 2015 that Enders had found his opportunity to do something about it, when a friend and jewelry artist came to Enders with a similar struggle.

“Great at making jewelry,” Enders said, “Not so great at running her business or selling her product.”

Ender’s didn’t know jewelry, but he did know business.

When McIntyre suggested that this was an opportunity to solve the problem they saw as high schoolers, Enders saw a chance to help his friend, and do what he loved — taking ideas and putting them into action. So the two set up a new website, took updated product photos and got their friend’s jewelry into stores and upcoming shows.

She wasn’t the only local artist too focused on their craft to be able to concentrate on the business side of their work. Enders and McIntyre started collaborating with more local artists interested in their model and setting up pop up shops, and in the spring of 2015 they began their own company — Made in KC. The two agree that setting up the first Made in KC store in Prairiefire was a challenge. Without people like accountants, marketing managers or graphic designers working for them, the two filled several roles outside their comfort zone. But Enders says that the growing phase of a company might be his favorite.

“I would honestly be happy to build a small company

that cleans dryer vents.” Enders said. “I really enjoy the process of bringing people together to work on something.”

Enders and McIntyre didn’t adopt the concept of business formalities in coworker relationships. They often interrupted each other at their desks, walked over when they had a thought instead of sending an email and made sure employees felt welcome to come up to them at any time.

Enders attributes the laid-back mentality to the reason why he’s enjoyed the start-up of their businesses so much, and in turn why they’ve landed so much success.

“I don’t know if this is a faux pas or not, but I consider all of our core staff to be friends.” Enders said.

“We spend a lot of time together, we have a lot of fun.

We have a very laid back office, people come and go as they please.”

Faux pas or not, the business model was working.

As the business took off, Enders and McIntyre kept putting in the work — researching how much money to spend on shelves or the most strategic place to put the checkout queue. And if a pipe burst, or the Plaza flooded or the landlord decided that they weren’t going to pay for something they said they would, Enders and McIntyre tackled that as well.

They started a second store, this time in Briarcliff. Then came a third. With each new addition, the customers kept coming.

Today Made in KC has six locations, but the mentality is the same as when they started.

“There’s a lot of laughing and joking that goes on.” Enders said.

“There’s a lot of people sitting on couches for seemingly half the day, or who will go and take a really long lunch because everyone knows that they’re still expected to get their work done.”

Not five minutes after Enders said this, an employee came over, gave Enders a hug and walked away.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if someone comes [to the conference room] and knocks on the door and pokes their head in right now.” Enders said.

The most recent addition to Made in KC is their Front Range location in Corinth — and Enders and McIntyre don’t plan on stopping there.

Wherever their next location is, it’s sure to have the same ping-pong club-founding spirit that started it all.

Buy Tickets Now 7 PM, November 2, 2019 SME East Fund Auction Indian Hills Country Club Purchase tickets and sponsorships at http://bidpal.net/eastfundauction19 For more information visit our website at http://www.theeastfund.org

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A&E | 21

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A&E

HIGHLIGHTS

Staffer reviews a movie based off of one of her summer reads *spoiler alert*

The Harbinger hub for all things trending in the arts and entertainment world

S TA F F E R ’ S S U M M E R R E A D S Staffer reviews four books she read over the summer all by the same author ­— Jodi Picoult

MY SISTER’S KEEPER

NINETEEN MINUTES

PAG E S | 4 3 2

PAG E S | 4 6 4

“A novel based on a true story about a donor sister that finally sticks up to her parents after old sister needs another donation for her severe cancer.”

“[A novel] about a scenario based on the Colombine School shooting and other shootings relating towards the students perspectives.”

T H E PA C T

S M A L L G R E AT T H I N G S

PAG E S | 51 2

PAG E S | 4 80

“[A novel] about two lovers who express true love even with the sorrow and depression that’s stuffed in the package — suicide.”

“[A novel] about two kids that live in Maycomb, Alabama.

One summer they meet a new neighbor who gets them fascinated with their creepy neighbor.”

MARIO KART TOUR

by jilli foley

WHEN I SAW “My Sister’s Keeper” pop up on the Trending Now page on Netflix, I really hoped I would be filled with tears and awe like I was after I read the 432-page book for my outside reading project. Let’s just say that wasn’t the case. As you can imagine, as I read the book on my flight to Ohio the people three rows ahead of me wondered who couldn’t get their baby to stop crying.

The story is told through different perspectives centered around Kate, a teenage girl with Leukemia, and her younger sister Anna, who was conceived solely to be an organ donor for her dying sister.

Following many excruciating surgeries, Anna decides she doesn’t want to sacrifice herself up for her sister anymore and sues her parents to stop the treatments, which would cause Kate to die.

After interacting with both the movie and the book I realized that the novel “My Sister’s Keeper” is tainted by it’s movie counterpart. The theme and purpose of the story is strengthened by what happens at the end of the novel, but the movie takes a different turn ruining the original emotional close. It produces more of a “well duh” moment in it’s ending rather than a shocking surprise Of course, having the cry-at-anything-sad gene from my dad, my popcorn was almost soggy with tears due to both plots. The talented actors throughout blew me away and the tone for both productions was excellent. But my jaw dropped tremendously at the difference in the endings.

But the movie producers need to realize they are irking their most eager customers for this movie — essentially all of Jodi Picoult’s fan club. What if Dumbledore never died because of his popularity in “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” or the twins in “The Parent Trap” just looked similar, but didn’t actually have biological genes?

You can’t just change a distinct action in the book to make it more dramatic for viewers. Stick to the freakin’ book.

MY SISTER’S KEEPER

****

| 4 STA RS

“I like Wii Mario Kart more due to the easier steering and more courses like rainbow road.”

hudson mosher | junior SCAN ME | APP STORE Download the Mario Kart app

R AT E D | P G -1 3 TIME | 1hr 49min

***

| 3 STA R S

Interacting with both the movie and the book, you realize the major differences between plots. The book displayed a better story. jilli foley | junior

22 | A&E

Staffer spends the day eating — and judging — different grilled cheese sandwiches at the KC Grilled Cheese Festival

G SAY

( G RI L L E D )

CHEESE LONGBOARD’S WRAPS best risk-taker & flavor

DO YOU LIKE GRILLED CHEESE | 262 VOTES

89% YES 11% NO

design by | lila tulp photos by | aislinn menke

by | j a c ki e ca m e ro n

Longboards Wraps and Bowls won my token — quite literally, as there were mini tokens to vote on your favorite — for best grilled cheese. Let me clarify — grilled mac n’ cheese. The sweet Hawaiian roll balanced the savory cheesy pasta perfectly, while the size eased my guilt about indulging in at least six variations of grilled cheese in one day. Plus, the added spices gave the creamy cheese sauce an extra kick.

BLACKDOG COFFEE You would think a coffee house’s specialty would be its vanilla latte, but think again.

Black Dog’s triple grilled cheese on sourdough bread offered perfectly layered cheese (think Earth’s layers, but cheddar, American and Swiss). The pools of grease bubbled on top of the butter-drenchedbread, adding to the delish factor.

*****

B L A C K D O G C O F F E E | 4 . 5 S TA R S

best looking sammy

rilled cheese is the safest option on any restaurant menu — how can you go wrong with a slice of whole-wheat bread and cheddar cheese?

Thankfully, Kansas City understands the hype surrounding grilled cheese and dedicates a whole festival to it. Hosted in the Hyvee Arena, formerly known as the Kemper Arena, the Kansas City Grilled Cheese Festival offered seven different vendors’ takes on cheesy goodness. Read below to see which sandwiches proved their tear-apartmelted-mess worth.

JUDGE JACKIE Jackie’s scoring rubric and guide to finding the perfect grilled cheese sandwich COOK-ABILITY | NOT TOO CRISPY C H E E S I N E S S | F I N D A P E R F E C T VA R I E T Y U N D E R D O G | M O S T S U R P R I S I N G P L AY E R S I M P L I C I T Y | TA S T E S H O M E - C O O K E D P I O N E E R | R I S K S A R E A L W AY S G O O D B R E A D C H O I C E | S O U R D O U G H ? W H E AT ?

M E L T R A T I O | I F I T ’ S R U B B E R Y , L E AV E

TACO NACO Based on the fact that it was a taco restaurant trying their hand at a grilled cheese, I should’ve known to skip it and opt for another mac n’ cheese sammy. The toast was burnt and dry (did they seriously forget butter?) and the cheese was rubbery. They were also serving chicken tacos and cheese quesadillas — I think they should’ve left it at that.

best grilled cheese fail (stick to the tacos)

PARKS & REC Viewed as the grilled cheese underdog, the Parks and Rec department showed me something I’d take to a picnic at Loose Park — a simple Ve lve e t a , w h o l e wheat combo. The cheese was so melted it was practically glued to the bread and to my stomach. I don’t know if they practice making these bite-size masterpieces in their office, but they should seriously consider a job in the restaurant biz.

AND THE

WINNER

LONGBOARD’S WRAPS AND BOWLS

*****

A&E | 23

*photo courtesy of IMDb

design by | maddox mogenson

NOT A JOKE

Todd Phillips’ “Joker” showcases the human side of the notorious villain

BOX OFFICE BREAKDOWN

RELEASED IN 4,734 THEATERS

The box office numbers of “Joker” DOMESTIC $119,813,012 GROSS WORLDWIDE $272,013,012 GROSS OPENING $96,202,337 WEEKEND

“J

by ben henschel

oker” is an

intellectual minefield that won’t leave your mind alone until the next morning.

“Are you having any negative thoughts?”

— a psychiatrist fearfully asks the mentally ill titular character Arthur Fleck, played masterfully

by Joaquin Phoenix. But somehow the question eerily extends itself out to the audience, beckoning them into his fractured mind.

Directed and co-written by Todd Phillips, the film does far from what some fans have claimed it to do: dismissing murder, embodying super-villains as heroes, enabling the

The world of “Joker” — and yes, the world of a young Bruce Wayne — feels just a shot away from ours, but remains far enough to ponder the possibility of it, not fear it.

ben henschel | senior most gruesome of thoughts. It isn’t a blueprint to rise up and fight back. It’s a marvelous, ponderous reminder of society’s potential for overextension.

But above all else, “Joker” is a must-watch movie of two minds. On one hand, it paints the city of Gotham as heaven for the rich and hell for the poor — on the other, it suggests a fantasy which accepts violence and sees it as the route to escape from the common man’s struggle. Both come together to create an extraordinary film about the duality of man, the role society can play in a distressed life and the decline of a battered mind toeing the edge of sanity.

Ironically, this isn’t a film about the Joker — it’s a film about Arthur, and how he might become the Joker. Arthur is a man who writes jokes incessantly, but can’t make a good one to save his life. He’s a seemingly content, forrent clown twirling signs in the street.

But he also hallucinates, suffers from chronic, uncontrollable bursts of laughter and has severe illusions of grandeur. His mental illness prevents him from his aspirations, and even a normal life. He tried stand-up comedy — he’d always wanted to — only to be made fun

of on national television by his idol, a late-night talk show host.

It doesn’t help that he’s held together by the thinnest of strings, with the first show of emotion by a woman prompting him to secretly follow her for a day. “Joker” follows this troubled life of Arthur’s, and all of the dreams that seem tenable to him, but are known to be unreachable by the audience, like a career in comedy and bringing smiles to the world.

And then it slowly rips those dreams apart, one by one, and explores what an ill, broken spirit might do in a crime-ridden city like Gotham. The title gives you an idea of what that could be — the Joker is perhaps the most famous, murderous comic book villain of all time — but it almost certainly won’t play out exactly as you’d expect.

Phoenix showcases the perfect psychological ticks and tendencies to show how, and gives enough innocence to understand why someone like Arthur could take a darker turn in Gotham. Arthur, in a manner akin to Alan Moore’s classic 1988 graphic novel, “Batman: The Killing Joke,” has always been one bad day away from lunacy.

Phoenix never lets the audience forget about the instability from the moment he trades the book of dark jokes for a revolver, all the way up to the film’s incredible 30-minute crescendo of a finale. At this point, Phoenix is easily top dog for an Oscar.

Arthur often reminisces and fantasizes, and his fantasies intersect with reality at certain points. It leaves you with the unique realization that you might not know which was which. What actually happened? Remarkably, the possibilities are numerous. Arthur’s reliability as a narrator is as shaky as the morals he begins to let go of, since every scene never really leaves his perspective or viewpoint.

Yet even as a fantasy, the most concerning and brilliant revelation of the film is how close the world of reality seems to be to Gotham. The world of “Joker” — and yes, the world of a young Bruce Wayne — feels just a shot away from ours, but remains far enough to ponder the possibility of it, not fear it. And characters like Arthur are reflections of the most extreme.

And “Joker” strays far from any comic book movie trope: the computer-generated action and bombastic fights are left behind for a grounded, gritty character study. The film sprints through the action and crawls through the pain, letting the ugliness rip with psychological terror and

RANKED 58TH FOR OPENING GROSS

RANKED 548TH FOR ALL-TIME WORLDWIDE GROSS 90% AUDIENCE SCORE ON ROTTEN TOMATOES fear. This isn’t a movie for the faint of mind.

The ubiquitous comparisons to Martin Scorsese’s classic 1976 film “Taxi Driver” — which follows Travis Bickle, a PTSD-stricken veteran-turned-cab-driver and his mental digression into compulsive violence — are more than warranted. The guttural, surreal, increased uncomfortability of each scene is intellectually brilliant and incredibly unsavory, just as scenes were in “Taxi Driver.”

The city engulfs Arthur and Travis in similar ways, cornering and controlling them with no moments or

BEN’S RATING But above all else, Joker is a must-watch movie of two minds. On the one hand, it paints society as heaven for the rich and hell for the poor — and on the other, suggests a fantasy which accepts violence as a means of escape from the common man’s struggle. ben henschel | senior

***** feelings of an open horizon. Their motives to fight back are rooted in fantasy, but still force a few hours of think time after the credits roll to reflect on how real it all seems.

By the end, you feel and think more than you can handle — so yes, make sure you’ve got several hours cleared for a post-“Joker” mental landing. How to unpack the movie will vary from viewer-to-viewer, but it’s important to see past the violence. Its layered plot and vividly gritty, timeless cinematography offer a remarkable peephole into how social issues and a battered psyche can intersect in the extreme — which will leave you half-torn, halfmesmerized.

The film is more of a warning than a will-to-violence.

It brilliantly transcends the world of fiction to plant an idea, testing not only how many bad days away someone like Arthur can be from falling off the edge — but more importantly, how many bad steps away society is from being able to push a man like him off of it. You’re left with one blistering question: How far is our world from Arthur’s?

24 | A&E

design by | caroline chisholm

by carolyn popper by lilah faye AFTER ANXIOUSLY AWAITING the arrival of the iOS 13 update, watching the September keynote and listening to Tim Cook talk about Apple Arcade for hours on loop, I would kind of consider myself an Apple expert. A whole collection of curated games from one of the biggest tech companies in the world? Count me in.

As if anyone would expect anything else, the first five hours after I updated

S Q U EA KY SAS Q UATC H .

SNEAKY SASQUATCH is a laid-back, snack-inthe-afternoon-instead-ofdinner kind of game. You might miss it on your first look around the Arcade, but it’s one you shouldn’t skip over. To put it simply, you go around a campground as a sasquatch stealing food from campers as you evade capture from the rangers.

The idea isn’t complicated and the execution feels like the creators accomplished

exactly what they intended to make – the cutest sasquatch simulator. You just mess around. There isn’t any story, but there doesn’t need to be. You make your own story through the campers you steal from, the grand escapes from the rangers and the wild animal friends you make along the way. The simplicity and charm of the game keeps it from ever feeling tedious or boring.

SCAN ME | APPLE ARCADE TRAILER Want to see the games in action?

Scan here to watch the Apple released trailer for the new Apple Arcade.

were dedicated solely to trying out all the shiny new games at my disposal. And I’m glad to say that Apple’s newest venture into curated games lives up to the brand’s standard of amazing.

In case you haven’t heard of it, Apple Arcade is a new monthly subscription for games — essentially the Netflix of the App Store. And just like Netflix, the Arcade has a lot of options. It can be tough to decide which games are worth your time, let alone decide if the subscription is worth the $4.99 a month – but trust me, it is.

SAYO N A R A H EA RTS .

NEON-DRENCHED AND colorful, Sayonara Wild Hearts is more of a playable-music-video than it is a video game. So if you’re looking for an eye-catching visual experience, Sayonara Wild Hearts is for you. But if you were hoping for a challenge, it falls short of any game-like structure.

There’s little control in the game — you’re just along for the ride.

The control you do have is over where the heroine drifts as you collect hearts to add to your

high score, but the ride itself is hypnotizing. The zodiac-inspired settings feel like they were pulled straight from the 80s and 90s cartoons like SheRah or Sailor Moon. The story is mesmerizing and well-paced, so you’ll never be bored as you watch the masked heroine slide through hearts on the back of deer, motorcycles and playing cards. The whole experience is emotionally moving– definitely the standout game of the Arcade.

AS S E M B L E W I T H C A R E .

ASSEMBLE WITH CARE is a trick, in the best way. You think you’re in for a run-ofthe-mill visual novel, but in reality the story behind the game and the game itself takes place as relaxing brain-teasers.

I promise this game is more than just pretty illustrations (however shoutout to the illustration team, it’s killer).

If you aren’t handy in real life you can be in this game. You take up shop as a repair woman whose job is about repairing objects and relationships. You follow Maria through her trip to Bellavara, a small town in India, where she becomes the local handy woman . She fixes neon signs, video game systems and old watches, all while learning the importance of each object to its owner.

The puzzle aspect of fixing

these broken objects by taking them apart and putting them back together is a good break from your annoying IB English poetry journal, but these tasks can seem too easy at times and other times deceivingly complex, which provide both variety and an uneven playing experience. For those of us who can’t match the cogs of a watch, the harder levels drag on for too long, and feel like they’ve been included just to prolong the experience.

Clocking in at a total of 45 minutes to complete, Assemble With Care is short and ends with a conclusion that’s satisfying but still leaves you wanting more. Assemble With Care isn’t a game changer – it’s barely a game at all, but it’s definitely worth your care.

PHOTOSTORY | 25

design by | aislinn menke

A DAP TIN G TO TH E STORY Juniors in the repertory theater class put together a TO P FA R R I G H T Juniors Austin Housley and Megan Roe listen to junior Mazey Heim during their adaptation of the children’s book “Owen.” “[The story is about] a boy named Owen who is starting school and he carries around a baby blanket and [his parents are] trying to figure out what they should do about the blanket situation,” Housley said. photo by | ty browning

performance of their own adaptations of children’s stories

RIGHT While playing the role of a pirate, junior Ellie Freeman holds up a sword during the adaptation of “Meanwhile.” “We were just looking for pirateesk things [to wear]. We got the sword, [which is] supposed to look like a plate of some kind that pirates wear, and the skirt is just there for flare,” Freeman said. photo by | annakate dilks B OTTO M FA R RIGHT Junior Austin Housley controls the lights while directing his adaptation of “Pinkalicious.” photo by | sarah golder LEFT Junior Elinor Zugazagoitia holds junior Ellie Freeman’s hands during the adaptation of “The Kissing Hand”. “[The adaptations] are a way of learning how to direct our own shows to prepare for senior year where we direct our own Frequent Friday [...] it gives us a good learning experience without being too difficult,” Zugazagoitia said. photo by | sarah golder LEFT Junior Barbara deZutter laughs during the adaptation of junior Mazey Heim’s show “No Tooting at Tea.” “Our costume loft has so many costumes so that dress is used in children’s shows every year because people love it and Mazey really wanted to use it for her show because she thought it was childish,” deZutter said. photo by | annakate dilks

HOMES TOUR

Wednesday, September 25, 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.

THANKS TO ALL THE $30 COMMITTEE Tour Pass: MEMBERS, VOLUNTEERS AND SPONSORS FOR MAKING RENOVATION SENSATION 2019 A BIG SUCCESS 3700 W 64th St, Mission Hills

5208 W 68th St, Prairie Village

4916 W 65th St, Prairie Village

4604 W 87th Pl, Prairie Village

Please join us and be a part of this wonderful fundraiser for the Shawnee Mission East SHARE Program!

Looking for ways to connect with the SME Community?

8825 Aberdeen Dr, Leawood

BE A VOLUNTEER!

BE A GUEST!

We need dozens of volunteers to assist visitors through the homes on tour day, September 25, 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Come tour our five featured remodeled or newly built homes showing the latest trends in home design and décor.

Please visit bit.ly/RenSenVolunteer to sign up online and view open shifts.

To buy tour passes visit bit.ly/Rensentourpass or visit one of our local outlets at Spruce Home or participating Hen Houses (Corinth, Fairway and Prairie Village).

Tickets will be available the day of the event at each tour home.

For more information, visit

SMEastSHARE.com

SPORTS | 27

design by | sarah bledsoe

ST U D E N T ’S P O L L

S P O RTS

HIGHLIGHTS Sports updates, schedules and quotes about the fall sport season

32% BASKETBALL DO YOU EVER WATCH THE HARBINGER BROADCASTS | 366 VOTES

59% NO

OCT

14

68% FOOTBALL

41% YES

M A R K YO U R C A L E N DA R OCT

WHICH GAMES ARE MORE FUN TO ATTEND | 432 VOTES

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO A GIRLS VOLLEYBALL GAME | 387 VOTES

18

G O L F | Va r s i t y

T E N N I S | Va r s i t y s t a t e

tournament 6A

7 p.m. and 10/19 8 a.m.

regionals - 18 holes 1

a t Ko s s o v e r Te n n i s

p.m. at Deer Creek Golf

Center vs. TBA

42% YES 58% NO

Course

AT H L E T E ’ S TA K E

COMING UP THIS WEEK

HOW OFTEN DOES YOUR TEAM PRACTICE AND IS IT HARD TO BALANCE SCHOOL AND AN EAST SPORT?

C R O S S C O U N T R Y | VA R S I T Y L E A G U E 8 a . m . 1 0 / 1 9 F O O T B A L L | VA R S I T Y G A M E 7 p . m . 1 0 / 1 8 G O L F | VA R S I T Y T O U R N A M E N T 1 p . m . 1 0 / 1 4 GY M N A S T I C S | A L L A R O U N D M E E T 6 p . m . 1 0 / 1 7 VA R S I T Y L E A G U E 1 1 a . m . 1 0 / 1 9 S O C C E R | VA R S I T Y G A M E 7 p . m . 1 0 / 1 5 VA R S I T Y G A M E 7 p . m . 1 0 / 1 7 T E N N I S | VA R S I T Y S T A T E T B D 1 0 / 1 8 VA R S I T Y S T A T E T B D 1 0 / 1 9 V O L L E Y B A L L | VA R S I T Y D U E L 6 p . m . 1 0 / 1 5 VA R S I T Y T O U R N A M E N T 8 a . m . 1 0 / 1 9

photo by | kate nixon

We practice every day of the week and we practice at 7 a.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and then on Thursday we have practice from 6 to 9. Right now it is flag season so it is not super labor extensive. But once we get into national season it gets really stressful and dance and school becomes a lot and it’s hard to manage but flag season is a lot easier.

gretchen raedle | senior

I practice six days a week including Saturday’s. Sometimes it’s really hard to come home after practice to hours of homework. But it’s worth it, I’m glad I play a sport at east.

avery haughton | senior

SCAN ME | VIDEO

T O P Senior Cole Long listens intently while Coach Hoover speaks to the offensive players during halftime. photo by | noelle griffin L E F T Junior Avery Wilson focuses shortly before dismounting the bars. photo by | kate nixon

Watch the game day replay from 10/4 to see Lancer football takes down SM South 14 - 6 smeharbinger.net

28 | SPORTS

design by | lauren dierks photos by | reilly moreland

ROAD TO REGIONALS

BOTH JV AND VARSITY PLAYED 18 HOLES AT OAKWOOD COUNTRY CLUB

SME girls golf heads to regionals with sights set on state

by emma brown

S

ix varsity girl golfers will compete at regionals on Oct. 14 at Deer Creek Golf Club.

Their performance at regionals determines their spot in the state tournament on Oct. 21 and 22 at Cary Park Golf Club in Hutchinson, KS. Senior Martha Saferstein, juniors Quincy Hepler, Megan Stopperan, Hanna Robinett, Hope Robinett and sophomore Tess Roman are the six players competing at regionals. The four lowest scores from the competitors on each team will determine which team has the lowest overall score and which team will win.

All the six golfers’ skill levels are similar, since they all grew up playing on courses in the area.

“We honestly have a really close top three girls,” Hanna Robinett said. “And four, five and six are not far behind at all.”

East’s golf team has a total of 17 players, which according to Roman, is large compared to other schools. They practice everyday at nearby country clubs including Indian Hills Country Club, Kansas City Country Club and Mission Hills Country Club.

We honestly have a really close top three girls. And four, five and six are not far behind at all.

hanna robinett | junior According to Roman, all the girls feel confident in their skills, and are prepared for tournaments with team pep talks and pump up songs during the van ride on their way to tournaments. Each practice, head coach Dave Hanson gives the girls drills to do for putting and chipping and they then end practice with a certain number of shots to hit to make sure the girls are prepared.

They have been practicing constantly for the past few weeks, working on short and long game, chipping and driving.

Practice is two hours every day after school and some of the girls, like Roman,

play over the weekend on their own to prepare for regionals and state. Her individual golf practices take about two and a half to three hours.

“I’m not nervous for regionals,” Hanna Robinett said. “I don’t think anyone on our team is nervous.”

Last year Mill Valley beat East in state by only four strokes, blindsiding East to fall into second, who felt like they had a good chance at winning. This year the girls are ready to reclaim the title from Mill Valley.

“We have either gotten first or second in almost all of our tournaments this year,” Roman said. “Varsity just won the second part of Sunflower League, which is a really big deal.”

The tournament at Eagle Bend was a pivotal moment because it was a tournament with 22 other teams — from both 5A and 6A schools, and their biggest win was the Sunflower League. Tess, Hanna and Quincy placed top three with a trio of scores in the 70’s.

Not only are they winning most tournaments — they’ve also broken a record.

“We have actually set a record of how far ahead we are in our league,” Hanna Robinett said. ”We are ahead of over 100 strokes within the first two rounds of the league, and that has never been done.”

The strong season so far has boosted the girls confidence and they are ready for this year’s competition. They are expected to win state this year, according to Hanna Robinett, now that their biggest competition, Mill Valley, lost some of their older stronger players last year.

After each win, the team goes and celebrates with a dinner, whichever girl shoots the lowest score picks the spot — for state they want to go bigger than a team dinner.

“Mill Valley last year got a police escort back to school, and I think that would be kind of fun if we showed up to school and the sirens were blaring,” Hanna Robinett said “We would do something different, but we would definitely celebrate.”

VARSITY PLAYED 9 HOLES AT TOMAHAWK HILLS

JV PLAYED 18 HOLES AT SYCAMORE RIDGE

T O P During golf, senior Martha Saferstein hits a ball from the driving range. photo by | reilly moreland B O T T O M Sophomore Tess Roman practices hitting balls from the driving range during practice. photo by | reilly moreland

JV PLAYED 18 HOLES AT SMILELYS GOLF COURSE

VARSITY COMPETES IN REGIONALS AT DEER CREEK

SEASON OVERVIEW A timeline of golf tournaments leading up to regionals

SPORTS | 29

design by | catherine erickson

S P O RTS I N B R I E F by lily billingsley

STAT E

Girls tennis state will occur at the Kossover Tennis Center in Topeka on Oct. 18 and 19

GIRL’S TENNIS WILL compete at the state competition on Oct. 18 and 19 at Kossover Tennis Center in Topeka.

The team is planning on sending freshmen Greta Stechschulte and Bryson Langford, sophomores Bridget Epstein and Eva Kading and juniors Allison Wilcox and Quinci Cartmell to state this year.

According to Kading, the team sees promise for a first place finish at state this year after placing first at the Sunflower League competition. At the competition, Langford and Stechschulte placed first in doubles, while Cartmell and Epstein were doubles runner-up. In singles,Wilcox

placed first and Kading placed eighth.

While the team won the state title in 2014, they have lost to Blue Valley North (BVN) for the past four years. However, after beating BVN in a duel and placing well as a team at tournaments, the team’s record has improved this season compared to last.

Kading thinks their record is a good sign for the team’s chance at winning state this year.

“I think we for sure have a chance [to win state],” Kading said. “Blue Valley North normally wins state but we just beat them for the first time in a while. So I think that we have a really good chance.”

W R E ST L I N G B R EA K D OW N The differences between boys and girls wrestling according to KSHSAA rules

R EG I O N A LS B OYS

| F E B. 2 1 A N D 22, 20 20

FO U R D I V I S I O N S | 6 A , 5 A , 4 A , 3 - 2-1 A

GIRLS

| F E B. 1 5 , 2 02 0

ONE DIVISION

STAT E B OYS | F E B. 2 8 A N D 29, 20 20

G I R L S | F E B. 2 7, 2 02 0

STAT E Q UA L I F I E RS | TO P E I G H T I N

STAT E Q UA L I F I E RS | TO P FO U R

6 A , 5 A A N D TO P FO U R I N 4 A , 3 - 2 -1 A

W R E ST L E RS I N EAC H W E I G H T C L AS S

P E R W E I G H T C L AS S AT R EG I O N A L S

AT R EG I O N A L S

*information courtesy of KSHSAA.org

N AT I O N A L VARSITY

CROSS

What’s going on with East sports on the school, local and national levels

COUNTRY

competed in the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival at the University of Arkansas on Oct. 5.

The girls team placed 16th out of 81 teams and the boys placed 27th out of 103 teams, wearing their matching yellow and red chile pepper shorts the entire 3.1 miles. East was the first team from Kansas to attend the event, which now hosts more than 120 high school teams from around the country. Each year the top nine boys and top nine girls attend the meet.

The trip gave the runners a chance to grow closer and run outside of their

A B O V E The six members of the tennis state team pose during a practice. photo by | phoebe hendon

East wrestling is starting a girls program, who will wrestle separately from the boys EAST ANNOUNCED THAT a new girls wrestling program will be added for the 2019-20 winter season.

The girls will wrestle separately from the boys in meets and will have their own regional and state tournaments. Girls wrestling is also being implemented at the other Shawnee Mission high schools and middle schools this year. Girls have always technically been allowed to wrestle for East, but this is the first year girls will wrestle separately.

No girls have attended the meetings for all of wrestling yet, but the season does not start until Nov. 18. However, East’s head wrestling coach Chip Ufford is optimistic for the future of

EAST

the program as five girls are wrestling at Indian Hills Middle School this year.

Eighth grader Abby Rose, who is going into her second year of wrestling for Indian Hills, sees the program as a new and needed opportunity for girls. “[Girl’s wrestling] is important because girls should be allowed to do sports that are rough,” Rose said.

“Guys shouldn’t just be the ones to do rough sports. Girls need to show guys that we are tough.”

Ufford is encouraging girls to try the sport and become the first to compete for East.

“We want girls with courage to come our way,” Ufford said. “They could make history.”

East’s cross country team competed in the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival normal routes up and down Mission Rd. They bonded through scouting the course the morning before the meet, eating team dinners and taking ice baths.

Junior and varsity runner Grace Strongman believes that the meet was also an opportunity for the team to show that they can compete against teams from all across the country.

“Both teams came into the season as underdogs but have been improving steadily,” Strongman said. “The boys proved that with their victory at Rim Rock and the girls showed it with our strong showing in Arkansas.”

A B O V E The girls who ran in the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival jump after completing the meet. photo courtesy of | eleanor hlobik

30 | SPORTS

design by | jackie cameron photos courtesy of | @sme_cheer Instagram

S PREADI N G THE SP I RI T The Honorary Coach cheerleading program recognizes teachers impact on students

by

sophie henschel

THE HONORARY COACH CHEERLEADING program was created by English teacher and former cheer coach, Mallory Gaunce, during her 2015-16 year of coaching.

Gaunce’s goal was to give each of the senior cheerleaders a chance to honor a teacher who impacted their life in or outside of school.

At the start of the season, each senior cheerleader chooses a teacher.

Throughout the season, they each have a week to give their teacher the award of honorary coach. The scheduling is mapped out so that seniors give out an award every football game day, and the last award will fall on the day of the last game.

They surprise their teacher with an honorary coach cheer shirt, and a picture of

them posted on the cheer Instagram (@sme_cheer) with a paragraph explaining why they chose that teacher.

Gaunce got the inspiration to begin the tradition after attending a highschool girls basketball game in Leavenworth, KS. At the game, each senior player called a teacher up to the court to be honored for their impact. Because cheer doesn’t have their own specific games, Gaunce decided they would deliver the award on their own time.

Each year, a cheerleader is chosen to make a design that will be displayed on the shirts — this year senior Chloe Sowden designed the lancer blue shirts with white text that reads “2019-2020 SME Cheer Honorary Coach.”

“The girls by the time they get to their senior year were super excited to pick their teacher,” Gaunce said. “It’s something they would look forward to.”

M EET TH E C HEER L EA DERS

I never would’ve imagined finding it enjoyable to spend my free time at a marketing competition, but I am beyond thankful for Mercedes to introducing this to me and being so encouraging along the way. ellie phillips | senior

I will always remember my experience in Chem I but will remember more the impact that Mr. Appier had on me.

savannah bahr | senior

SENIOR ELLIE PHILLIPS GAVE her Honorary Coach shirt to marketing teacher and DECA advisor, Mercedes Rasmussen. From the start of the cheer season this year, Phillips had her mind set on Rasmussen.

Since her junior year marketing class, she and Rasmussen have been building their relationship, planning for the year, going over role plays, and just having conversations about Phillips’ life. Following her sister Hannah’s lead, Phillips has taken Rasmussen’s classes both junior and senior year.

“Hannah spent a lot of time with me as well,” Rasmussen said. “She would bring Ellie in here, and I got to know Ellie before she was in my class.”

Rasmussen was eager to get close with Phillips, having gotten to know her sister so well in the past few years.

Phillips has gone to all of the DECA trips possible, competed in every DECA competition last year and has begun judging in competitions this year.

After Rasmussen urged Phillips to run for DECA state officer this year, their relationship only grew stronger.

“I just thought it was going to be a resume builder, but I ended up really enjoying it and meeting a lot of new people,” Phillips said. “I was just really thankful to Mercedes for [introducing me to] that.”

Grateful for all the opportunities Rasmussen has helped her find, Phillips decided she was the perfect fit for the award.

For Rasmussen, the shirt is a symbol of the mother-like relationship she formed with Phillips.

“I know that it’s personal and I’ve developed a relationship with them where they feel comfortable being themselves in my classroom,” Rasmussen said.

“We get to know each other on a different level where they know they can come to me — this is a safe room for them.”

Phillips and Rasmussen plan to continue their DECA journey through this year, building their relationship through all of the planning, competing and traveling that comes.

SENIOR SAVANNAH BAHR’S CHOICE ended up being easy — but it took an intervention to make it clear. It wasn’t always so obvious though, Chemistry teacher Steven Appier was the last teacher she would’ve asked a couple of years ago.

When Bahr was a sophomore, she could’ve sworn she was Appier’s least favorite student. Last year as a junior, one of Bahr’s friends, senior Ava Stechschulte, who was taking AP Chemistry with Appier at the time, dragged Bahr up to Appier’s room for a bit of an intervention.

After hearing from Stechschulte, Appier felt the need to express to Bahr that he never hated her — he proclaimed that he always liked Bahr as a student and person. “[The talk] was so awkward,” Bahr said. “But after that, I would always just go to Appier’s room after [school] and we’d just chat — we did that all the time.”

Their daily chats always started out discussing chemistry, and slowly developed to extensive rants about what was going well, or not so well, in their

lives. They’d talk about Bahr’s homecoming date, the A she got on her English test, how his day of teaching was going, etcetera.

“She’s a very interesting character, and so we have quite a bit of banter back and forth between the two of us,” Appier said. “I love the kid, though.”

When Bahr gifted Appier with the award, he was astonished. He knew they had a strong relationship, but was surprised that out of the 109 teachers and faculty she could’ve chosen, he was her first pick.

Appier accepted the shirt with open arms, honored to have been chosen.

The shirt acted as a tie of their friendship — it reassured their strong student-teacher relationship.

Since then, the friendship between Bahr and Appier has only flourished.

“It really makes you feel good,” Appier said.

“That it’s not for the glory, it’s not for the money, it’s for the kids. Really, it’s inspirational, it’s an honor.”

design by | kate nixon

PHOTOSTORY | 31

M A RC H I N G

L A N C ERS The Marching Band performed their marching show “Irish Rhapsody” for the first time this year during the SMSD Marching Festival on Oct. 7

A B O V E While warming up before the festival, freshman Brennan Montalbano talks with other members of his section about the song “Seven Nation Army.” “I had edited the song and made it kind of like a remix that me and my friend practiced,” Montalbano said. photo by | aislinn menke A B OV E R I G H T Junior Asher Luikart plays the marimba. photo by | kate nixon M I D D L E L E F T Junior Quinn Krohn squats at the beginning of the show while listening to main singer Ian Byrne of The Elders, a local Celtic band, read the beginning narration. photo by | kate nixon M I D D L E R I G H T Sophomore Darwin Suever warms up on the tenor drums before going on the field. photo by | annakate dilks F A R L E F T Freshman Wyatt Oligmueller plays flute during the third movement of the show. “I was just trying to focus and not mess up my moves,” Oligmueller said. photo by | sarah golder L E F T Junior and Drum Major Mac Muehlberger stands at attention before conducting the band. “This [was] our first kind of important show of the year...so you know [I was] pretty nervous because I [was] doing a show in front of all my counterparts and my peers,” Muehlberger said. photo by | aislinn menke

32 | ALT-COPY

Mood GET IN THE

design by | lila tulp copy by | annabelle moore

THE EYES THE PERFECT BALANCE between maroon and glitter is this makeup season’s eye-catcher. From Kylie Cosmetics eyeshadow singles, Raspberry Sugar is a metallic rose bronze that will top off your fall look giving it that extra umph. photo courtesy of | kylie cosmetics

T H E D ECO R WHEN I THINK of fall, I imagine sitting in my window seat surrounded by my seasonal room decor. This antelope-patterned rug is a must have — its neutral colors set a wide variety of possibilities for other decor in the room, yet it also acts as a bold statement through its uniqueness and personality. Along with the funky rug, this white deer head that hangs next to my bathroom door and keeps my necklaces untangled is a two-forone: fun to look at and serves a purpose. photos by | taylor keal

T H E LO O K FEATURED ON REVOLVE’S Hot List, these two outfits were made for the fall season — when the temperature is 60 degrees and the leaves are turning warm and comforting colors — these outfits match that vision.

Outfit 1: This tiger print skirt acts as the focal point of this outfit, paired perfectly with neutral colors and gold accents. This look is perfect for a Friendsgiving, dinner or fall day.

Outfit 2: This classic denim button down is the epitome of fall style. Pair it with some stylish leather pants, this outfit is what you need this fall season. photos courtesy of | revolve

THE TEA OKAY, HERE’S THE tea. Teavana’s Imperial Spiced Chai Tea with cinnamon and papaya is assured to meet your fall morning needs. Teavana describes their tasty tea as “a richly flavored blend of chai spices and sweet tropical fruit. Ginger, cinnamon and star anise deliciously swirl alongside pineapple and papaya atop an oolong, rooibos and yerba maté base.” photos courtesy of | teavana

SCAN ME | BOARD Scan this QR code to get the links to all of Annabelle’s picks

T H E PAT T E R N WITHOUT A DOUBT, this season’s pattern is cheetah print. Cheetah print pillows, dresses, boots and screensavers — you name it. Throw tigers in there and you’ll be fierce. photos courtesy of | pinterest

THE NAILS NOW THAT NAIL colors of white, yellow and pink are making their slow departure, it’s the season for deeper, darker colors. What is the IT color of fall this year?

Strong Coal-ition by OPI. photos courtesy of | OPI