Arlingtonian, spring supplement 2020-21

ARLINGTONIAN

MAY 2021

VOLUME 84, SPRING SUPPLEMENT

Pack Your Bags

Due to COVID-19, the future of international school trips is uncertain. BY JOURNALISM II STUDENT FIA GALLICCHIO, ‘22.

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or some, traveling offers new, fresh experiences and opens up the opportunity of exploring different cultures.

This is usually the case for senior Deniz Erdal who has looked out at the ruins of Troy and Bergeron and been amazed by the city of Ephesus. His family takes yearly trips to Turkey, but the traveling for Erdal doesn’t stop there.

“I’ve been to basically four continents,” Erdal said. “I love traveling.”

Due to concerns related to COVID-19, many traveling plans for people around the world were canceled during the past year. Students and teachers alike look forward to the school Spanish trip that happens every other year. While some had their travel arrangements canceled because of COVID-19, last year was an off year for the program.

“Fortunately, we did not plan one last year because we went the year before that,” Spanish teacher Anthony Naska said. “We go every other year because it takes a good year and half to plan the trip.”

However, future trips will still be affected by COVID-19. While some school trips will be happening this summer, the UAHS Spanish students are not as fortunate. “[The trip will not be happening this year] because we have no idea with the countries opening up,” Naska said.

There will not be a Spanish trip next year either.

“We’d have to start planning it right now, and there are just too many unknowns and variables ... so it’s probably not for at least two years,” Naska said.

In previous years, the Spanish trip provides students the opportunity to get immersed in a Spanish-speaking culture.

“You try to actually get students engaged with the local culture. The times I’ve taken students abroad, they’re also in 2 | SPRIN G SUPP L EMEN T | MA Y 2 0 2 1

classes, so they learn from someone—a Spanish teacher—and then they actually get to go out to the community,” said Naska, who frequently chaperones the Spanish trip. Naska serves as an example of why learning about other cultures is important.

“I think what got my passion started for language was when I was able to actually communicate with the people in Spanish,” he said.

Aside from students, some staff members such as history teacher Adele Vergis also enjoy the cultural and historical aspects of traveling.

“It’s fascinating to be able to see all these places that are also in ancient books and classical literature,” she said.

She also mentioned experiences that aren’t necessarily possible without traveling.

“I was driving down the Pacific coast, and I saw a crowd of people just standing by the ocean. So, we pulled over our car, and there was a mother whale and her baby whale, and this mother comes back every year with whatever children she has,” Vergis said. “It was one of the coolest things I saw.”

The past year, due to COVID-19, some students and staff were unable to travel. However, some people have still traveled within the US. “I went to see Indiana to see family,” Vergis said.

“But I haven’t left Ohio really this year.”

Similarly, Erdal has spent time traveling within the US. “I’ve been on college tours, so I’ve basically been up and down the east coast. I’ve been to Florida a couple of times,” Erdal said. While his travel plans were affected by the coronavirus, Erdal’s family was able to travel after taking necessary precautions “I was initially worried about COVID-19, but I feel like my family took necessary precautions," Erdal said. "We traveled by car instead of flying to sort of alleviate some of the risk of catching COVID-19, but … we were vaccinated pretty early on, so I felt more comfortable after that.”

However, Erdal is eager to travel internationally again.

“I love aviation, and I love flying, and it’s kind of been sad not being able to experience that for a long time. I’m excited to be able to travel again,” Erdal said. Similarly, Vergis plans to travel soon as well.

“I have a trip booked to go to Italy this summer,” she said.

While the Spanish trip won’t be happening anytime soon, students and staff look forward to traveling over summer break.

SPAIN, 2019 ▶ UA Spanish teachers and students traveled to Spain in 2019.

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Turning Back the Music Clock The impact that TikTok has had on popular music for students.

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BY JOURNALISM II STUDENT ANTONIA CAMPBELL, ‘22. GRAPHICS BY LUCY O’BRIEN, ‘22.

any TikTok users relate to the feeling of finding a song on TikTok that they felt a connection with instantly, or better yet, finding a song that they already knew and already had a relationship with.

“Driver’s License” by Olivia Rodrigo broke Spotify’s record of most streams in one day, with many listeners discovering the song through the TikTok app. Some may feel excitement when finding one of their favorite songs on TikTok, while others may feel a sense of worry or annoyance when they realize that they will continue to hear a certain clip of this song over and over until whatever trend that goes with the song fades. A favorite song is now a “TikTok song,” whether they like it or not, and it will become another user’s favorite song as well.

TikTok has found a way to connect its users. Everyone is listening to the same songs, and it doesn’t matter if the song is objectively “good” or “bad.” Especially with the recent surge of music streaming services, apps like TikTok have become a hotspot for songs to blow up.

“I feel like the first question you ask when you get in the car is, ‘Do you want aux?’ so no one really listens to radio anymore,” junior Lucy O’Brien said.

It doesn’t matter if the song came out yesterday or twenty years ago, any song from any era can blow up on TikTok anyday. When asked whether the music they found on TikTok was newer or older, many students said it was a combination of the two.

“It’s a mix of both because I feel like there’s ‘MusicTok’ and they’re diving into a lot of old songs from the nineties like a lot of Weezer, Neutral Milk Hotel, Radiohead, The Smiths, so that’s the older stuff, but I’ve also found newer artists from it like Phoebe Bridgers,” O’Brien said.

TikTok has had such a large impact on the music industry that albums that have come out years ago are climbing back up the charts. Albums like My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010) by Kanye West and Rumours (1977) by Fleetwood Mac are ranking in the Billboard Top 200 even though they were released decades ago.

Many students see this as a positive, with teenagers now having the resources to connect and listen to music that their parents or grandparents listened to when they were growing up.

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“I think it’s a good thing because you see a lot of Queen and stuff on TikTok and especially since TikTok has such a younger audience, I think it’s good for them to get introduced to older music that they might not find otherwise,” junior Julia Molnar said.

TikTok has become a powerful tool for artists to push their music out to the community. This may be attributed to how easy it is to go viral on TikTok compared to other social media platforms, and once a sound is popular on TikTok, users are listening to it potentially several times every time they open the app.

“There’s a few really small bands that I’ve heard people using their music for TikToks which I’ve found interesting,” said senior Noah Louys, from the band Befriend Strange Creatures.

Many newer artists have recognized TikTok as a way to gain more of a following. Louys is considering promoting himself on TikTok. “I should, I definitely should,” Louys said. “I’ve been mainly focusing on my Spotify. I follow a lot of music gurus on Instagram, and I’ve had good conversations with a lot of people in music before and they all say, ‘Even if you don’t like it, promote yourself on TikTok.’ So I need to start that.”

Not only are smaller artists taking advantage of TikTok’s effect on music, well-known artists are using TikTok as a tool as well.

“You see big celebrities like Justin Bieber on TikTok saying ‘Make a dance to my song!’ because they know that that’s how their song will get popular,” Molnar said. “It seems like now artists are trying to make their songs so that a 15 second portion of it can go viral as opposed to trying to get the entire song to be played on the radio.”

Whether this phenomenon is positive or negative is yet to be determined; however, some can agree that TikTok has brought teenagers’ music taste together.

“There was this weird period where it was just kind of like finding songs through social media and I feel like everyone’s music taste was pretty separate, but recently, because of TikTok, I think it’s kind of a new way to get music out,” O’Brien said.

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Trump's Activism Revival

Students share how their political activity has evolved during the Trump era.

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BY JOURNALISM II STUDENT ELLIE CRESPO, ‘22. GRAPHIC BY LUCY O'BRIEN, ‘22.

n his farewell address, Donald Trump reiterated a familiar claim, crediting himself for inspiring a nationwide movement, an assertion that he presented throughout the length of his presidency. “We built the greatest political movement in the history of our country,” he said, attributing the attitudes of his administration and constituency as the reason for this nation’s newly enthusiastic political climate. While some in the media choose to brush off this affirmation as simply a self-indulgent declaration, Trump’s claim has proven itself to be accurate given his involvement in the rise in political engagement among America’s youngest generation.

Though it may take years for the effect of former President Trump’s legacy to be fully understood, his impact on Generation Z’s level of political awareness is apparent. His tendency to go against the presidential standards set by America’s

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past leaders both excited his supporters and invoked visceral reactions from his opponents, inspiring a new wave of young voices to find their place in America’s political atmosphere.

Sophomore Katherine Bartlett believes that Trump’s administration played a major role in her political activity.

“How powerless I felt during the Trump administration made me educate myself and speak [about] my opinions to try to change the political climate near me,” she said.

Bartlett is a member of UAHS’s Students for Change, a group of educated student activists dedicated to change.

Students for Change is just one of many student activism clubs that have been popping up in high schools all across the nation. “[Trump’s] openly racist views and opinions—thinking that someone like that can gain a position of power really angered me,” junior and Students for Change member Joe Driscoll said.

Echoing the attitudes of other Americans, Driscoll’s impassioned reactions to Trump’s sentiments encouraged him to become interested in political activism.

“Before the election, I was agreeing with a lot of what [Trump] was saying but after the election, and after he brought several cases to court and they said he did not have enough evidence to do a recount, then I was starting to see Trump’s kind of being irrational here,” junior Nick Eggleton said.

Eggleton, like many others, made the decision to shift away from being a political bystander to an active member in this nation’s democratic ecosystem following his disagreement with attitudes Trump had shared through Twitter and other platforms.

“A lot of the election fraud stuff definitely encouraged me to voice my opinion, [though] I wasn't taking a stance

on whether or not there was election fraud,” Eggleton said.

During his time in office, Trump showcased his outspoken nature on Twitter, making him the focal point of every news headline and political discussion.

“What Trump was doing with Twitter was something that no president has ever done,” Eggleton said. “They have never gone directly, uncensored and just talked to the public. [Trump] would [even] cuss in some of his tweets, and no president has ever done that. So I think a lot of the time it was just funny to read those tweets and be like ‘Wow, he just said that’ or ‘Wow, the most powerful man in the world just talked to a basketball player on Twitter.’”

Junior Eleni Kourlas, however, had a different reaction to Trump’s tweets.

“I would see a tweet, and it ... would make me get angry at him because what he would be saying would be so wrong. My friends would text me and would be like ‘Did you see what he said?’” Kourlas said.

“I thought it was embarrassing to have a national leader who would tweet like a middle schooler.”

Kourlas also cited his comments on Twitter as causation for her to engage in political activism through sharing petitions and posts on social media.

However, once Trump’s departure from office went into effect, his self-induced surge of political engagement began to die down.

“Lately I haven’t been looking at politics as much because there's not really as much happening,” Kourlas said, marking a regression back to political apathy after Donald Trump’s exit from office.

“It’s a bit disappointing that those that supported Biden during election season aren’t as vocal about their activism anymore,” junior Bhada Han said. “Not everything’s going to be immediately okay after we get Trump out of office.”

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A Second Switch

Two years after switching from computers to iPads, the district updates student's personal devices again.

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BY JOURNALISM II STUDENT GEORGE BERNARD, ‘23. GRAPHIC BY LUCY O’BRIEN, ‘22.

s the end of the school year comes to a close, the change to new iPads came and went without the controversy that came with the switch away from laptops two years ago. This is likely because it is an upgrade from older devices, rather than a switch to completely different devices. However, there are still lingering feelings of frustration and resentment from the district-wide switch to iPads from laptops.

“I haven't touched my iPad all year,” junior Matthew Abel said.

A similar sentiment is widespread, particularly in honors and AP classes with more rigorous workloads that require students to efficiently manage their time.

“A lot of students in my AP World History class bring a laptop from home,” history teacher Adele Vergis said.

In a poll of 392 students conducted by Arlingtonian in February 2019, 84% of respondents disapproved of the district's decision to switch to iPads, with just 10% approving and 6% undecided. The iPads were distributed at the beginning of last school year, giving students little time to become familiar with the new technology.

As with the first change, many students have been asking why the district has decided to change devices. To answer that question, it helps to understand the reasoning behind the initial switch.

According to a statement on the matter from UA Schools website, the four year lease on the laptops was coming due, and “it became clear that the laptops available today have very similar specifications to those included in the original lease four years ago. However, during this same four-year period, the capabilities of the iPad have grown significantly, providing additional learning opportunities and increased flexibility for students.”

While never directly acknowledged as a reason, iPads also give administrators greater control by using a custom app store and Apple Classroom to prevent the widespread misuse that plagued laptops. The same poll referenced earlier found that seven in ten students know someone who has circumvented the UAHS internet filter on their school laptop.

“The K-3 students did not receive iPads in the last distribution. Those grade levels currently use iPad 2 devices and need to be upgraded. Given the need for older students and staff to have more storage, we decided to move all of the iPad sixth generation devices to students in grades K-8 and provide the high school students and staff with the new iPad eighth generation that is a little larger FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM @UAARLINGTONIAN

and has greater storage capacity,” District Chief Technology Officer Denise Lutz said.

The new iPads deliver upgraded capabilities to students over the previous model. The old devices had a 9.7 inch screen (measured from diagonal corners), 2GB of memory and 32GB of storage. The newer ones have a 10.2 inch screen and 3GB of memory with 128GB of storage and a processor that is four times faster. Aside from those differences, which make it noticeably faster, the rest of the iPad stays relatively unchanged with the same cameras, home button, battery and pixel density.

All accessories, including Apple Pencil and other styluses, as well as chargers and keyboards are compatible with the new iPads.

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DEBATES AND UPDATES

As students transition to the new high school building, the community discusses new bathroom policies and new environmentaly conscious aspects of the future building.

BY JOURNALISM II STUDENTS SAFIA MALHOTRA, ‘24; IRIS MARK, ‘23; AND ELENA FERNANDEZ, ‘23.

GRAPHICS BY LUCY O’BRIEN, ‘22. PHOTOS BY PENELOPE CLARK, '21.

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ith the dawning of a new age of student voice and action, the new building provides a perfect platform for students and staff to cultivate a more positive atmosphere for generations to come. Features of the physical building only enhance this attitude, promoting the means of acceptance FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM @UAARLINGTONIAN

and environmental sustainability, both inside and outside the classroom.

As the Upper Arlington community is changing, many want to bring that same mindset into the new building. On Aug. 18, 2021, high school students will begin a new journey together when they enter the doors of the three-story glasspaned building that sits across from the W W W . A R LING T O NIA N. COM | 7

◀ UNDER CONSTRUCTION The new building has taken two years to build. It will be ready for students by the 2021-2022 school year.

current brick one.

While the new high school has yet to open its doors, there is already some controversy in its construction. A major source of concern around the new schools are the gender-neutral or all-user restrooms that were set to be installed in the new elementary and high schools. In protest, parents have taken the school to court and have gone to the state, while students have gone entire school days without using the restroom.

Community member, parent and former PTO president Cathy Pultz has spent the last three years protesting the all-user restrooms in the high school and elementary schools as well. She is currently president of the Upper Arlington Education Coalition, a group of parents in the Upper Arlington community who were focused on students returning to school five days a week amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

It later morphed into a group that informs people on what is happening in the community. The Coalition, as Pultz refers to it, has information posted 8 | SPRIN G SUPP L EMEN T | MA Y 2 0 2 1

on their website about the lawsuits, tax money and plans centered around the all-user restrooms and their impact on the school and the community.

Due to her involvement in the UAEC, Pultz was removed from the PTO and has since focused her energy into preventing the school district from building the all-user restrooms in the new high school.

Along with the UAEC, Pultz has gone to board meetings, conducted interviews with both local and national news outlets and created petitions in an attempt to halt the construction of the restrooms.

Pultz stated that she is not against the gender-neutral restrooms themselves, but rather that she would prefer separate bathrooms for separate genders along with gender-neutral bathrooms.

“The school district will come out now and say that there’s a choice in every building, but if you look at the plans, the choice of a bathroom is not close. At the high school, the only men’s and women’s separate facilities are by the gym,” Pultz said. “If you’re on the

third floor of the new building, you don’t have five minutes if you prefer to go to the boy bathroom or the girl bathroom—so you really don't have a choice.”

However, Chris Potts, Chief Operating Officer for Upper Arlington Schools, stated that the new high school will have gender-specific bathrooms and self-contained familystyle restrooms on every floor, providing a choice for all students.

“There may be a bit longer walk to the nearest genderspecific or self-contained familystyle restroom,” Potts said. “But our walkthroughs have shown that to be two minutes or less.”

In addition, these bathrooms have come with questions of the reason the disrict initially made the decision.

The main reason is simply to provide more privacy for all students. The private bathrooms in the new design have floor-to-ceiling walls and full-sized locking doors, so there are no floor or ceiling gaps like that of the genderspecific stalls in the current high school building. The design also means equal wait time for everyone, not just lines at one gender’s restroom.

The other reasons for the updated design come down to practicality and safety. At the elementary level, it’s easier to supervise students and minimize the risk of teasing and bullying when a teacher or other staff member can supervise the area and all of their students. It was not possible for one adult to do that when students would leave to FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @UAARLINGTONIAN

go to two separate restroom areas.

While classes don’t take restroom breaks together at the high school level, the new design still allows for more supervision than the older design while increasing privacy for each individual student.

There is also the fact that the school wants to be more welcoming to the LGBTQ+ community, specifically students who identify as transgender and non-binary, who may not feel comfortable in the bathroom of their sex at birth.

“When we have students who are questioning their assigned gender or sex or who identify differently than their assigned gender or sex, they are able to use the restroom without added stress for themselves or their classmates,” Potts said.

Freshman Thea Postalakis is an avid advocate for the all-user restrooms in the new schools.

“It’s a great decision for people who are trans and non-binary so that they can feel comfortable. As a cis [gendered] person that doesn’t affect me at all,” Postalakis said.

However, an argument brought up

by Pultz is the hygiene of the bathrooms, or lack thereof. Boys’ bathrooms in the high school are notorious for being in constant disarray, from dismantling of toilets to urine on stall walls.

“I’ve had parents tell me their daughters have been told to hover so they don't actually sit on the seat, or they've been told to go find a custodian to clean FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM @UAARLINGTONIAN

it, and I just think by this style you’ve made it unhygienic for boys and girls,” Pultz said, “You’re either asking a boy to touch the lid to lift it, or if the boy doesn’t want to lift it—which I don't blame him. Then there might be pee on the seat and then the girl has to deal with that.”

The lack of urinals in the bathrooms is both cause for worse hygiene and are also another source of controversy.

Many boys express frustrations over not being able to use a urinal in school bathrooms in the future.

“I just want all kids to feel comfortable,” Pultz said. “I don't think in this situation that all kids do.”

Postalakis expressed a different view.

“We’re in classrooms with these people. We’re with every gender, and so why would it be any different to be in the bathrooms with them? It's just a

bathroom,” Postalakis said.

Although the restrooms were already constructed, the plans for genderneutral signage will now be changed to gendered after a dispute between the city and the Board of Education over the legality of the all-user restrooms.

As support for creating a more accepting environment in the new school grows, the need for physical sustainability is called into action.

According to Chris Potts, sustainability was a priority from the very beginning of the planning phase.

“Early in the design process we created a ‘Green Team’ made up of students, staff and community members.

The committee met multiple times to review sustainability and potential areas of our new building that could be impacted,” Potts said.

Contrary to the almost nonexistent

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green roof at the south Students, staff and entry. Green administrators tour roofs consist the new building with of plants, construction helmets on. a growing medium and PHOTO COURTESY MATTHEW DORON a waterproof membrane, which not only creates a cooler and more pleasing ambiance, but provides a space for growing native vegetation.

In efforts to conserve water, the district opted for hand-activated dual-flush toilets and low-flow flush water fixtures.

The lighting systems are expected to provide about a 60% improvement in efficiency compared to the original building. The school will be equipped with high performance LED lighting and an automated lighting control system with daylight sensors. The sensors will take into account the amount of light provided by the windows to use the least amount of energy possible.

“I'm excited for the new school’s heating [and] AC system. Hopefully, it will be more efficient, [as] the old one was very inconsistent and it seemed like a waste of energy,” sophomore Sanay Tufekci said.

As expressed by UAHS students, the handling of waste has been a major point of concern, especially when considering the size of the new building.

“I feel that in this building, there’s less areas to recycle, and I hope that they try to encourage [more] recycling rather than throwing away trash,” said junior Kyra Dapore, an environmental science student.

Currently at UAHS, there is no clear system for recycling, and a possible food waste program has been out of the question so far. However, there has been a significant commitment to addressing ◀ HELMETS ON

policy regarding sustainability during the planning stages of the old high school, this proactive approach is a sharp turn from the lack of environmental procedures previously decided upon.

Environmental science teacher Beth Bailey said she’s enthusiastic about the opportunity for a higher level of environmental consciousness in the new building.

“I just hope that people have an awareness of a need for environmental sustainability,” Bailey said. “I think it's going to be exciting [with] a lot of the glass, and open lighting spaces.”

Along with this increased consciousness, comes simply an expectation of environmental awareness in future buildings.

“We believe that sustainability is more than a trend. In many parts of the United States sustainability is an expectation,” said Allen Schaffer, Director of Sustainability at Moody Nolan, the architecture firm in charge of the new building. “More and more 10 | SPRIN G SUPPL EMEN T | MA Y 2 0 2 1

people are recognizing that buildings can positively impact these issues and are asking the design and construction industry to respond with projects incorporating sustainable strategies.”

From an energy standpoint, the new building will have a significantly higher performing system. The design team took into consideration every aspect of the building to utilize as many environmentally friendly options as possible.

According to Potts, “The old buildings [have] inefficient heating and cooling systems, inefficient lighting and an old control system. Consistent with most older facilities, these inefficiencies [result] in requiring more energy to operate the building.”

The heating system is expected to provide about a 15% improvement over the energy code minimum and the cooling system will have about a 35% improvement. The design team has achieved this improvement by giving the building exterior high performance glazing to reduce solar heat gain and a

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these concerns in the new building.

“We did discuss … how the district could create a district-wide program for both food waste and recycling,” Potts said. “We are in the process of creating a committee of teachers from all buildings to develop a program that could be sustained and consistent in all school buildings.”

With this, students can hope for a friendlier waste management program and expect to have more influence in the decision making process. Potts expressed the desire for student voices to be important contributors in the discussion surrounding friendly disposing practices.

As the new school’s completion draws ever closer, it is important to consider what exactly students and staff want to establish as a new precedent going forward.

Environmental stewardship is a priority, but there is an opportunity now for the social atmosphere, that cultivates relationships and connections, to be reshaped as well.

“I guess from a teacher’s perspective, and observations, I just hope that we all have a caretaker's view,” Bailey said. “[It] just bugs me when I see trash not being picked up the right way in the hallway or at lunch. So just ownership, [and] again not just for the environmental space but also of actions, and hopefully there are lots of organizations where kids can [talk to] and work with their peers.”

BUILDING THE SCHOOL ▶ Construction workers used and operated a crane when building the new school. They have worked through the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years and the summers inbetween.

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A New Place to Play

New and upgraded sports facilities will be installed in the new high school building.

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BY JOURNALISM II STUDENT AVA STANHOPE, ‘24. PHOTO BY PENELOPE CLARK, ‘21.

hen people picture something new they tend to imagine it as bigger and better. When it comes to the new high school there’s something for everyone, whether it’s the theatre or the new sports facilities.

With the bigger space of the new high school there will be more room for things the old high school couldn't have.

Athletic Director Tony Pusateri said, “They took all the square footage of everything that you student athletes had and they made sure they didn’t do anything smaller.”

Many of the most used athletic facilities will increase in size, from the swimming pool growing from nine lanes to eleven to the gym having four playing courts. With hopes of bringing better opportunities for student athletes from these new facilities comes a lot of appreciation for those who made it happen.

Pusateri expresssed gratitude.

“Our parents deserve so much for allowing this to happen and paying the taxes,” he said.

He also said he hopes that students will be proud of their new school.

With the move from this high school to the new high school, students will get to enjoy new things that they couldn’t now.

The crew team has had to spend long practices in the hallways because they never had a specific practice place. Now with the transfer over to the new high school, they will be provided with their own practice room.

“I feel really excited about the new high school, because of the new facility we're going to have for the crew team, and we’re finally going to have our own space to train instead of training in the lobby,'' junior Ethan Skinner said.

Along with the crew team having their own practice room, Pusateri confirmed that the swim and water polo teams will have their own space as well.

Freshman waterpolo athlete Andrew Rucker shared his excitement for the new schools opportunities for him and his team. With two more lanes than the old pool, Rucker is mostly looking forward to having more people swimming in heats.

When it comes to outside fields, a lot is being done for them as well. The track and football field have already been redone.

“That might even be a better track than Ohio State has,” Pusateri said.

He also stated that once the old high school is torn down, in its place will be brand new baseball and softball fields. To add to that, two practice fields are being built by Ridgeview and Brandon Road. The practice fields, softball and baseball stadiums will be built as soon as possible.

Freshman Khera North said she is excited for the new practice fields.

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“For field hockey, we ▲ AN OLD HOOP always had to worry about The old basketball nets hang in whether or not we’ll have the the gym of the current building. field to ourselves,” she said.

The current building will be With the new practice demolished this summer. fields more student athletes will be able to practice at better times and more teams can practice all at once by offering more consistent places to practice.

With the new facilities, better opportunities will come for each and every one of the high school’s student athletes, whether it’s being able to better train with the new training room equipment or being able to practice earlier. Almost every sport will now have at least two different places to practice.

For some students it’s harder to get to a later practice than it would be to go after school. Coaches have expressed worry that if practices are later, athletes may not be able to attend them.

Girls’ basketball coach Karli Burkett said she’s looking forward to the new gym the most. She believes that with a bigger gym more people can practice in it at the same time, providing better practice times for players.

Moving to the new school, students will be transferring over their athletic abilities and improving them with the new facilities.

“Our student athletes for the next 20 years are going to have the best place around,” Pusateri said.

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Practice Makes Purpose

Senior Annie Hargraves discusses her high school lacrosse career. BY JOURNALISM II STUDENT BROOKE MASON, ‘22. GRAPHIC BY LUCY O’BRIEN, ‘22.

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chool sports can be extremely influential on athletes' high school experiences and futures.

For senior Annie Hargraves, lacrosse has had a considerable impact on her life.

Hargraves began playing lacrosse at the beginning of her seventh grade year at Hastings. She continued to play throughout high school and now is committed to The Ohio State University for the sport.

Hargraves’ exceptional talent for lacrosse was easily recognizable as she was one of two freshmen who made varsity her freshman year. After Hargraves’ first high school lacrosse season, the Upper Arlington girls lacrosse program recognized her as co-rookie of the year.

Hargraves continued to improve, and she was selected for The Ohio High School Lacrosse Association’s second team all region during her sophomore year. The girls varsity lacrosse team also won the state championship when Hargraves was a sophomore.

However, Hargraves’ exciting high school lacrosse career was shortened when the 2020 season was canceled due to the coronavirus.

The 2021 season started off strong with Hargraves being selected to be one of the two senior captains for the varsity team. She also was featured in The USA Lacrosse Magazines list of top 25 players to watch in the country.

Hargraves’ final season came to an abrupt end when she was severely injured during practice the night before the team’s fourth game.

“I was dodging around my defender and when I stepped with my left foot, my knee kind of buckled back and I heard a pop,” Hargraves said.

“I fell to the ground and wasn’t able to continue playing or walk after [the fall].”

After visiting the doctor, Hargraves’ MRI revealed she had torn her ACL and meniscus in her left knee. This meant Hargraves would not ◀ IN ACTION Hargraves prepares to seize the puck midgame.

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be able to play her senior season.

“It’s been a very emotional few weeks, being able to accept that I won’t be playing anymore and having to realize that,” Hargraves said. “I’m still struggling with game days and just standing there watching.”

The recovery time for Hargraves’ injuries is six to nine months following surgery.

“My surgery is scheduled for May 4 and the doctors want to get me into rehab the Friday following my surgery,” Hargraves said. “From there, I'll just continue doing rehab and hoping to be back by the end of fall.”

Although playing sports can be stressful and can result in injuries, often athletes find comfort at practices and with the sport’s community “Lacrosse is the one part of my day where I feel like I can be myself and no one’s really judging me,” Hargraves said. “I feel ok to make mistakes there and that I won’t be judged by other people, so it's the one place where I feel completely safe.”

Balancing school, sports, other extracurriculars and free time can be extremely difficult. However, athletes can learn important life skills from their experiences on various teams. “[Lacrosse has] helped me grow as a person. I’ve learned so many new things like learning how to work with people and learning that it's ok to mess up,” Hargraves said.

High school sports can also help shape athletes’ futures and college plans.

“Lacrosse has really impacted my life. It's given me a lot of opportunities like going to my dream school. It's [my dream has] always been going to Ohio State and playing a sport there is even better,” Hargraves said.

Hargraves’ injuries do not affect her commitment to The Ohio State University. However, they will affect her training for the 2022 season.

“I will most likely miss Fallball but it's just basically scrimmaging other teams—teams we’d play in the regular season—just scrimmaging them pre-season and just practicing,” Hargraves said. “I’m going to most likely miss all of that but I’m hoping I won’t miss any of the regular season. I’m hoping I’ll be able to play by then.”

Despite the setbacks, Hargraves has remained positive.

“I have such a big support system from UA lacrosse, my family and Ohio State so I know I’m going to come back even stronger and even better on the lacrosse field,” she said. “Some advice for other athletes is to stay positive. I know it sounds cliche but you have a huge support system around you that you don’t even realize.”

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The Support Continues Behind two staff members of UAHS.

BY JOURNALISM II STUDENT GRETA MILLER, ‘23. PHOTOS BY PENELOPE CLARK, ‘21.

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ransitioning from the old high school to the new high school is a big change for many. With all of the changes, a few things will still remain the same. Upper Arlington High School will continue to have hundreds of staff members helping students throughout the day. Kathy Moore and Daniel Linton are two of the staff members who students frequently see in the hallways.

DA N I E L L I N TO N - O F F I C E R Linton is a familiar face to many throughout the day. He welcomes every student at the senior doors, whether they are entering the building for their morning classes, returning to the building after lunch or exiting the building for the end of the day. Linton has been a special duty resource officer in the UA high school for the past three years. Prior to that, he was an officer with the Upper Arlington Police Department for 19 years and retired in 2016.

Transitioning from the patrol car to the halls of the high school has been a pleasant change for Linton. He enjoys interacting with students, staff and his senior door colleague.

“I’ve gotten to know a lot of really nice kids, and it’s kind of a pleasure doing this job,” he said. Having been surrounded by students for the past few years, he tries to tell kids to enjoy this time because it goes quickly.

Linton is not sure whether he will be a part of the new high school in the fall, but he hopes to be monitoring a new door in August.

D R . K AT H Y M O O R E - C O L L EG E C O U N S E LO R Kathy Moore has been the UAHS college counselor for nine years and interacts with most students in the building by the 14 | SPRIN G SUPPL EMEN T | MA Y 2 0 2 1

time they graduate. She knows the ins and outs of the college application process and says her favorite part of the job is watching students develop and progress throughout high school.

“I love starting the process, seeing the growth, and learning where students go,” Moore said.

A typical day for Moore depends on the time of year. The fall is busy with the senior class— answering questions, helping them finish building their college lists, and completing applications. Come Dec. 1, she opens her schedule to any student, which is typically when juniors start coming in with questions. During scheduling in the winter, Moore starts seeing students of all ages with questions regarding classes that colleges want. She also discusses scholarship information with students and hosts roughly 200 college representatives throughout the school year. Moore’s typical day, as we transition to the new school, will most likely be the same.

In the new school building, however, Moore will be more centrally located.

She hopes to have more exposure to freshmen and sophomores, while still continuing the tradition of meeting with juniors and seniors.

The central theme of Moore’s work involves helping students’ college applications stand out from the crowd. She suggests that many of the traditional ways to highlight skills include taking rigorous coursework, submitting standardized test scores, demonstrating leadership, servicing the community, earning national awards and highlighting musical or athletic talents. More importantly, though, Moore believes a college application is most effective when it is truly authentic and reflects who the student is.

“I would encourage kids to really be true to themselves and be confident in who they are,” Moore said. “Truly, the name of the school means nothing if you won’t be happy there.”

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A Perfect Summer Fantasy Read Columnist shares her love for the series A Court of Thorns and Roses.

B

eauty and the Beast is a classic fairy tale that many of us know.

It’s the story where the beast falls in love with Belle, but what if Beauty and the Beast was darker and had a little more magic? What if Beauty and the Beast had faeries and other creatures of the sort? A Court of Thorns and Roses is an ongoing series by Sarah J. Maas with currently four main books and one novella. While it may just seem like a Beauty and the Beast retelling, the whole series is a rollercoaster of emotions and you never know what or who is bad or good, keeping you on the edge of your seat.

In the first two books in the series, A Court of Thorns and Roses, we meet our main female protagonist, Feyre Archeron.

The wall, near where Feyre lives, is what separates the faerie lands called Prythian, which are where all the faerie courts are.

Its description makes it easy to understand and visualize. Throughout the books, you see Feyre learn about herself and Prythian while dealing with hardships and traumatic experiences. These books were the slowest

IMAGE COURTESY FANDOM

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for me to read because it took a while to get super action packed but it’s worth the wait.

The next book continues almost right after the big plot twist that ended the last book, which had completely surprised me the first time I read it. This book is my personal favorite because it has beautiful quotes written smoothly throughout. We see a war happen that was only briefly mentioned in the first book. As a result of the war, we see Feyre change as a character. I wasn’t able to put it down and read the hundreds of pages in one sitting.

The third book was the saddest book, and for that reason it is my second favorite.

I love sad and heartbreaking plot twists,

BY JOURNALISM II STUDENT GIA STELLA, ‘24. which this book delivers. The author knows how to pull your heartstrings in the worst friendships, connections and relationships and best way possible. The war continues that she has needed since day one. It shows on in the book, but with a new enemy from how strong she is and how tough she is to the second book. In this book, Feyre really break. It was well written, and I had a few begins to step into herself and feel confident hard times reading it because of how much with the person she has become. She learns I could relate to Nesta at times. how to finally get over some of the trauma All of the books are written so well, she’s endured and when she has an episode while making sure to keep the readers she can healthily cope with it. She deals engaged with the plot and the characters. with depression, PTSD, extreme guilt and Maas does a great job at little bits of much much more. The most common and foreshadowing you won’t catch unless you healthy coping mechanism that she uses is reread the series. All of these books deal painting. She’s always loved painting, even incredibly well with mental health and in the first two books, so I’m always happy how to cope with it, which I feel is even to read about her painting. more important now than ever because The fourth novel is also the first adultpeople are dealing with post-COVID-19 rated one in the series; the others were rated depressive episodes. I know personally that as young adult. A Court of Silver Flames is I cope through reading, and being able to primarily about Feyres’s older sister, Nesta. read a book that has characters who also We see Nesta start dealing with her trauma are coping makes it a much more enjoyable such as PTSD, but this time we see her read. I do wish it had more diversity, but starting off coping in an unhealthy way, but other than that, it’s a great read. You won’t throughout the book she learns and drops want to put it down and it’ll keep you awake those unhealthy habits and learns to cope in at night just to read a little more. Though a healthy manner. We see her cold exterior the series isn’t perfect, it’s still a new classic begin to break down. We also see her finally you should read over the summer if you accept her feelings towards her soulmate. want to try something new or if you are a Throughout the book, Nesta finally builds longtime lover of fantasy.

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