FIND OUT WHERE THE CLASS OF 2025 SENIORS ARE GOING TO COLLEGE ON PAGES 14-17.
Student Life
4,5 Bump, Set, Spike
Cash Durbin
6,7 A.I. in Eduation
Emily Hathaway
26,27 Season Recap
Addison DeVore
Feature
8,9 Skipping from Solitude
Safa Al Ameer
10,11 Dealing with Distraction
Hannah Markiewicz
12,13 Oh the Places You’ll Go
Olivia Moore
14-17 Mustangs Beyond the Horizon
Anjali Kambhampati & Lilly
Copeland
18,19 Chill or Thrill?
Anthony Sutcliffe
Online
Into the Portal
Paul Struby
20,21 Happy Campers
Van Freeman
22, 23 Dear Underclassmen
Josie Jones
Editorial
24,25 Seniors Signing Off The North Star Seniors
30 Club Days Disconnect
Lauren Kopitas
Arts & Leisure
28,29 ISpy
Addison DeVore & Madi Garrelts
31 Crossword
Addison DeVore & Madi Garrelts
Pages 14-17 Discover where the 2025 seniors are going to college.
A Look into the Issue...
Pg. 8,9 “Teachers should be a little bit more aware of the state of mind a lot of the seniors are in, but at the end of the day, it is down to the seniors still,” Oma-Savage said. “They are still students. It’s still four full years of high school, you don’t just get to quit once you’re in your final year.”
Pg. 10,11 “If I click on a long-form video, I have trouble keeping interest in it before I click off and just start watching shorter videos,” Brune said.
The North Star Staff
EDITORS-IN-CHIEF
Addison DeVore
Madi Garrelts
STAFF WRITERS
Anthony Sutcliffe
Emily Hathaway
Olivia Moore
Van Freeman
Safa Al Ameer
SOCIAL MEDIA EDITORS
Hannah Markiewicz
Cash Durbin
DESIGN EDITOR
Anjali Kambhampati
WEB EDITORS
Paul Struby
Josie Jones
COPY EDITORS
Lauren Kopitas
Lilly Copeland
Anjali Kambhampati
Bump, Set, Spike
A new BVN boys’ volleyball club team joins the growing list of schools in the Blue Valley District as the sport grows and tries to become official.
By Cash Durbin
This spring was the first time since COVID that BVN has fielded a men’s volleyball team. With the help of sophomore Joshua Lobert, the team was formed, and BVN teacher and girls’ volleyball coach Matt Allin joined the team as the head coach and club sponsor. The end goal for the team is to make boys’ volleyball an officially sanctioned KSHSAA sport.
Lobert has played club volleyball since the sixth grade and wanted an opportunity to play for the school while his club season is over. This began with asking Allin if he would sponsor the club if he found enough participants.
“I just want to get some more reps in when the club season ends,” Lobert said. “And then for the team, I want us to have a winning record and just learn from our mistakes and be a better program.”
keep up with them, and we’re doing pretty well,” Lobert said.
Senior Adam Wang joined the team this year after hearing about it through Lobert. This is Wang’s first time
“Eventhoughwe’re afirst-yearclub, comparedtoother schools, like Blue ValleyWest,which havehadtheprogram for a while, we’re abletokeepupwith them,andwe’redoing prettywell, –Joshua Lobert
Since this is the volleyball club’s first season, the team has tried hard to build team chemistry.
“The team chemistry has definitely gotten better and improved throughout the season, just simply by practicing with each other,” Wang said.
Lobert, however, thinks that the team chemistry is good due to their mentality of having fun and not being as serious.
“Team chemistry is really good because we want to play, and it’s just for fun, so we don’t take it as seriously,” Lobert said.
Both Wang and Lobert think that the student support for the team is spread through word of mouth but that having an account on Instagram for the team will eventually cause more students to show up and support the team at their games.
“With this being the first season that BVN has a team again, the team is confident about how they compare to other schools that have had time to build their program.
“Even though we’re a firstyear club, compared to other schools, like Blue Valley West, which have had the program for a while, we’re able to
Design by Cash Durbin
playing volleyball on a team but has set himself some goals to accomplish during the season.
“[I want to] get better at the fundamentals of volleyball and understand the game,” Wang said.
“I think social media is a big part of it,” Wang said. “We currently have an Instagram, bvnboysvolleyball, and we post Game Day posts, and word of mouth is key.”
Wang has enjoyed the season so far and is happy that he decided to join the team when Lobert told him about it. Wang also recommends the club team to anyone even slightly interested
in it.
“I’d say to definitely try out, it’s a really fun sport, it’s a team sport, and you get to bond with your friends,” Wang said.
The coach of the team, BVN English immersion teacher Matt Allin, is also the coach of the girls’ team during the fall season. He has led the team to a state championship 4 years ago and many appearances in the state tournament since. Allin said that he was approached by Lobert about starting a team, and he said yes as long as Lobert found players who were interested in playing. The end goal for the team as of right now is to become KSHSAA official, which means that it becomes a sanctioned sport and gives more opportunities for boys to
play across the state. However, this track is difficult to achieve, and Allin is expecting it to take a while for it to potentially happen.
“It’s really difficult to [get sanctioned],” Allin said. “We’re trying to take the correct paths, but it has to be approved by KSHSAA, the Kansas State High School Activities Association, and before it even goes to a vote, you have to jump through all these other hurdles, and it’s just a long process. So I don’t expect it to be next year. It’s going to be a while.”
Allin said that while this is the first season for the team this year, it isn’t the first time that North has had a boys volleyball team. Before COVID-19, many schools started to make teams and play club competitions against
each other, and BVN was a beginning team that started the sport up for local high schools.
“We were one of the first teams that had it in 2019,” Allin said. “Then they didn’t have it in 2020 and 2021 because of COVID, but then it came back in 22.”
Lobert is happy with how the team has done this year, but as his time at BVN goes on, he hopes the program will become an officially sanctioned school sport
“The goal of this program is to make an official KSHSAA sport, and this year there was a vote for all the athletic directors on making it an actual sport,” Lobert said.
Sophomore Joshua Lobert sets the ball to his teammates.
Photo by Cash Durbin.
The team helps up Freshman Matthew Lobert after he fell while celebrating a win.
Photo by Cash Durbin.
Head Coach and Club Sponsor Matt Allin shouts intructions to his team during a game.
Photo by Cash Durbin.
Senior Adam Wang serves the ball over the net.
Photo by Cash Durbin.
Scoreboards of multiple games the Mustangs have played this year against local high schools
it,” Hanson said.
Freshman Emerson Wakeman shared a similar opinion.
“I believe that’s it’s unfair and if students can’t use AI but professors can,” Wakeman said. “The rules around AI are very specific at our school and if teachers can get around them, then why can’t students?”
AI can automatically grade assignments, essays and assessments. This could be used to identify knowledge gaps and discover learning paths for students.
helping you save time on tasks that aren’t super important,” Hanson said. “So if I’m responding to an email and a clerical thing where no one’s going to look at it, then I might have AI help me come up with something a little bit more succinct. Then I can spend my time on the stuff that really matters, which is building relationships with students.”
In addition to the benefits mentioned, Hanson added that there are also risks and concerns associated
Design by Emily Hathaway
Chat GPT logo.
issue for adults and teachers too where it can become dangerous if we rely too much on technology because we might stop thinking for ourselves.”
Levy agreed with Hanson’s point on the dangers of relying solely on AI.
“If we use it as an assistant and helper, it’s just another tool a student can use to help achieve their best work,” Levy said. “But, if they become too dependent on it, it’s going to be a slippery slope…They must commit to it with the idea that it’s not a magic box that’s just gonna give them the answers.”
little things that are less important so that I can spend more face to face time with students.”
Initially Hanson believed her perspective on AI was more lenient
“If im expecting you guys not to use AI to do the assignment, then I don’t feel like I should use AI to grade it.
– KeaganHanson “
would not be beneficial and that students would just use AI as a crutch, but over time his perspective changed and he now believes that AI, if used properly, could be helpful for students and education in general.
Wakeman shares a similar view to Levy, and believes that AI could be helpful.
“AI can help you use more accurate answers and use your data better,” Wakeman said. “I think that AI is good for all around helping you when it comes to making a study guide or helping you ask questions, but a risk of AI is that it would give you misinformation.”
Hanson believes that the most important thing in education is building relationships with students.
“I don’t use AI very often, [but] when I do, it helps me save time on the less important tasks and have more time to do on the important tasks, like building relationships with students, talking to them and helping them with what they are going through in life or things that they are struggling with,” Hanson said. “If I have to spend a lot of time doing paperwork or creating lessons, I’m not able to spend as much time building relationships with students, then I think that’s a downside. AI helps me save time on some of the
because of her age.
“It is important for us to teach students how to use it properly, which is why I don’t love that AI is banned for students,” Hanson said. “I think that it is kind of like when the internet came out and when we were learning how to use Google and teachers freaked out about that. Instead of banning AI we should be teaching students how to use it and how to still think critically while using AI as a tool.”
Levy initially believed that AI
In addition to Wakemans concern, Hanson spoke about how she is concerned that currently students are just copying and pasting from AI without really digesting the information.
“You don’t have to remember every little thing you learn in high school but I think it’s important for students to learn how to think critically,” Hanson said. “A lot of the time if you’re just copying and pasting from AI and not even reading/understanding the answers then that can cause deficits in learning.”
Skipping fr
Why do students at BVN skip class?
By Safa Al Ameer
Classes are a place to learn; however, some people find it difficult to attend classes when they have nobody to talk to. On the other hand, there are cases like senioritis, where seniors see no point in coming to school if they’ve already been accepted to college. As of the 2022-23 school year, over one quarter of U.S. students in kindergarten through 12th grade missed a month or more of the school year. This is nearly double the number of students who were chronically absent before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on School Health.
Research shows that missing ten percent of school negatively affects a student’s academic performance. That is roughly two days a month, according to “10 Facts about Student Attendance.”
“In retrospect, it wasn’t exactly me skipping, it was me not catching up on the work that I skipped [that caused my grade to go down],” Dunbar said.
For Dunbar, friends can be distracting or encouraging in class. She has friends who can’t get
“Teachers should be a little bit more aware of the state of mind a lot of the seniors are in, but at the end of the day, it is down to the seniors still. They are still students. It’s still four full years of high school, you don’t just get to quit once you’re in your final year
PeterOma-Savage
getting distracted,” Dunbar said. “And it’s like, ‘‘Only tell me if it’s, my mom or my sibling’ that type of stuff.’”
According to “The Benefits of Friendships in Academic Settings: A Systematic Review and MetaAnalysis,” friendships increase grade point averages as they provide emotional support, reduce stress and result in collaborative learning.
Sophomore Harshil Sunkara says he met his now-best friend in a class where he had only one friend. Sunkara believes that friendships in classes help motivate learning.
Junior Kennedy Dunbar admits that she used to skip classes during her freshman year due to not having friends in class. She says her GPA is still recovering from the grades she got that year.
anything done and then friends that keep each other “honest.”
“I’ll have [my friend’s] phone and she’ll have mine that way, we’re not
“
“We tend to collaborate well and cooperate, and so we can learn the material together, and then it becomes easier outside school, also, because we can study together because we’re in the same class,” Sunkara said.
Sunkara says he wouldn’t skip a class due to not having friends as that was never the purpose of class for him.
“For me, it’s always been about the education and the work, so I never really had that issue [of skipping],” Sunkara said.
Similarly, Freshman Maklin Grote has also never skipped classes because of a lack of friendship, but only because that has never been an issue for her. However, she can see herself doing that if it ever becomes one.
“[Friends are a] big part of why
Solitude
I go to class, but they’re not the full reason,” Grote said. “It makes sense [why someone would skip] because I wouldn’t want to sit through a class that’s really boring, with no friends in there because that would be kind of miserable.”
Grote says classes such as her weights class, which is all girls, have caused her to make more friends. Yet she thinks that sometimes you are pressured to make friends in a class without friends.
“It forces you to make friends more than encourage you because even if you didn’t want to, it would either have to be you in that class without friends or make some,” Grote said.
Although lack of friendship is one reason why someone might skip class, other reasons, such as senioritis, also contribute, at least to Senior Peter Oma-Savage. Oma-Savage describes senioritis as “your work ethic disappearing in the last few months of school.”
He says you don’t have to be a senior, as the cause of it had to do with something else.
“Burnout [causes senioritis] and like just being so close to the finish line? People think they can just crawl over it,” Oma-Savage said.
Most school districts don’t look at all the right data to improve school attendance. They track how many are skipping school without an excuse, but not how many are missing so many days in excused and unexcused absence that they are headed off track academically, according to,“10 Facts about Student Attendance.”
Oma-Savage said that although grades don’t matter as much when accepted into college, students should still try in school so they won’t build bad habits going into college. Although senior skip days do help, Oma-Savage said that teachers should keep an open mind.
“Teachers should be a little bit more aware of the state of mind a lot of the seniors are in, but at the end of the day, it is down to the seniors still,” Oma-Savage said. “ They are still students. It’s still four full years of high school, you don’t just get to quit once you’re in your final year.”
Would you skip class that you don’t have friends in?
Senior Huntly Ford reading independetly from peers. Photo by Safa Al Ameerw
Dealing WithDistracti on
BVN students describe how their shortened attention span affects their day-to-day life inside school.
By Hannah Markiewicz
Scroll, watch, scroll, repeat. For many people, living in the digital age consists of a constant flow of information, making it difficult to focus on anything besides a screen. Moreover, 85% of 184 students polled on @bvnnews on Instagram agreed that their attention span has decreased.
According to reporter Tessa Nussenbaum on “The Standard,” having the ability to immediately scroll past anything boring on apps like TikTok and Instagram significantly affects the concentration of high school students and makes it difficult to focus.
Freshman Molly Stevens, sophomore Noah Brune and sophomore Emily Patterson describe their experiences with technology and its effects on their attention span.
“because it does lower people’s attention span, it definitely lowered my attention span, I try not to spend too much time
Everybody is just scrolling for hours and hours and instead of watching longer videos on YouTube or watching shows or movies, or reading books, they’re just looking for that short rush of dopamine
consuming content on social media has made focusing in daily life more challenging.
“I have both Instagram and TikTok but I spend a lot of time on reels,” Patterson said. “If I open the app, I’ll just start scrolling and I just stay on there for a while and I won’t even realize.”
Brune and Stevens both said they use social media every day, and the effects of this daily use carry into school as well.
–EmilyPatterson “
“I try to [stay off my phone] if I’m working on an assignment, but sometimes I do check,” Brune said.
“[I find social media distracting]
Design by Hannah Markiewicz
on there,” Brune said. For Brune and Patterson,
While BVN implemented a new phone policy this year requiring students to put their phones in caddies during classes, the rule isn’t always enforced, and the usage of phones in school is still very prevalent. Phones leave people no time to be
bored as getting on a phone to keep busy and scrolling past any boring content is an option at the fingertips of many BVN students.
“Everybody is just scrolling for hours and hours, and instead of watching longer videos on YouTube or watching shows or movies, or reading books, they’re just looking for that short rush of dopamine,” Patterson said.
For Brune and Stevens, having access to their phone likely means checking it during class. Although they can go back to their work afterwards, this is proven to be unlikely.
According to a professor at UC Irvine, Dr. Gloria Mark, on “CNN,” an interruption of one task causes people to move on to the next task, and this will go on for four tasks before refocusing on the original task at hand. Additionally, she mentions that in 2004, the average attention span on a screen was two and a half minutes, and in May of 2024, it was 47 seconds.
the use of technology in schools are popular right now, what will this mean for the future?
“If I click on a long-form video, I have trouble keeping interest in it before I click off and just start watching shorter videos,” Brune said.
Trouble with focusing on content outside of the short-form videos on social media can arise in school as well.
“It’s not too hard [to focus on a long video in class], but I think it’s been affected,” Stevens said. While social media and
“[I worry about the future of people’s attention spans] a little bit,” Stevens said. “If someone’s in a job interview, they might get distracted by their phone or have a short attention span.”
Adding to Stevens’ point, according to Peter Dizikes on “MIT News,” technology has created fewer jobs than the amount it has taken. Moreover, even if people aren’t able to be as productive in the workplace, there is more likely than not technology that can do their job more efficiently.
“There are a lot of people
85%
of 184 students polled on @ bvnnews on instagram agreed that their attention span has decreased.
who just don’t have any attention span because they spend so much time [on their phone],” Brune said. “If you’re trying to hang out with somebody and they’re just constantly on their phone, scrolling reels or something, that’s a little concerning.”
Students may not know how technology will affect their attention spans in the future, but they do seem to be worried about it now.
Juniors Samantha Chen and Jameel Ahmed looking at their phones during AST.
Photo by Hannah Markiewicz
OH,THE PLACES YO U’LL GO
What
factors have caused some BVN seniors to attend college close to home while others have decided to move far away?
By Olivia Moore
College is often a lifechanging experience for young adults, allowing them to develop independence and discover who they are. It can either benefit high schoolers, providing them with clarity for their future and new life skills, or it can put a wrench in their plans and harm their mental health. Therefore, deciding which college to attend is an enormous decision for high school seniors to make, and there are numerous factors to consider besides academics, including the campus, the proximity to friends and family and the cost.
49% of 148 students polled on the @bvnnews Instagram have decided to attend college close to home. One of these students is August Dunn, who has committed to Kansas State University (K-State).
“It wasn’t difficult to make a decision on K-State because I have a lot of history with the campus, and it’s a big part of my family,” Dunn said.
also like that it’s a big school, and the campus is really pretty.”
Senior Greysen Williams agrees that visiting college campuses is a crucial step in deciding which college to attend.
“You really need to visit and see
“ I definitely had to consider the people down there and the environment. The people at K-State are all super friendly. I also like that it’s a big school, and the campus is really pretty.
–AugustDunn
because they want to be close to their family.
While Dunn didn’t directly decide to attend K-State because of how close it is to her family, she has discovered the proximity to Kansas City to be beneficial and convenient.
“I’m really happy that I chose a school that’s fairly close to home,” Dunn said. “K-State is a good distance where it’s easy to see my family, but far enough where I’m not going to school with everyone from high school.”
On the other hand, Williams, while not having decided on which college she wants to attend yet, knows that she does not want to stay in Kansas.
Although Dunn was already familiar with K-State, she made sure to visit the campus and figure out if it was the right school for her.
“I definitely had to consider the people down there and the environment. The people at K-State are all super friendly,” Dunn said. “I
Design by Olivia Moore
“
how you feel,” Williams said. “You should feel valued at college, which I feel like a lot of people forget.”
An additional factor to consider besides the campus is the proximity to friends and family. For some high school students, the main reason why they choose to attend college in-state is
“I want to get out of the bubble of Overland Park,” Williams said. “I feel like a lot of kids tend to go to the University of Kansas or Kansas State, which is completely fine, but I want to go out and grow into my own person without having the same people around me.”
Senior Ben
Graverson, who will be attending Auburn University, also knew that he did not want to stay in Kansas.
“I think it would be pretty fun to get out of here, meet new people and find a place to call home,” Graverson said.
Moving out-of-state for college also allows students to experience new cultures and learn about unfamiliar regions of the country.
“I’ll be going more southern, so it’ll be interesting to see southern hospitality and how other states’ cultures are,” Williams said. “One of the schools that I’m looking at is Oklahoma, and they have a big faith community.”
Despite Dunn attending college in Kansas, she says that she will still have opportunities to meet new people.
“I think my social circle will be completely different because none of the people that I’m friends with right now are going to K-State, which I’m personally excited for,” Dunn said. “I love meeting new people.”
In addition to college allowing students to meet new people, being in a new environment forces them to develop independence and learn new life skills.
“Without having your parents to tell you what to do, you’re kind of on your own, so you have to make smart decisions,” Graverson said.
Williams says that being far away from home will allow her to become a self-reliant adult.
“As an eldest child, I already have a lot of independence, but I think that being away from them [my family] will
make sure that I’m not coming home too often and figuring out how to grow up on my own,” Williams said.
Although Dunn is staying in Kansas, she believes that she will develop ample independence and learn important life skills as well.
“I think that students who go to college in-state develop the same amount of independence because you’re still living by yourself,” Dunn said. “You’re in a completely different environment, even if it’s closer to home.”
While being far away from friends and family in college allows students to grow into their own person and learn life skills, it can also present challenges such as homesickness.
According to the National Library of Medicine, up to 70% of college students claim to experience homesickness, but freshmen are the most susceptible. The National Library of Medicine states that homesickness can cause students to experience social anxiety, difficulty adjusting to college and academic challenges. This shows that it is important for students to determine if they are at risk for homesickness before moving far away.
However, Graverson did not have to consider homesickness when deciding on a college.
“I’ve never been much of a guy that gets homesick, so I don’t think it’ll affect me,” Graverson said.
On the other hand, Williams says that it will be difficult to move away from her family, but she also knows that it is important for the process of growing up.
“My mom had said that she’ll always be there for me, but she doesn’t want me to come home too often,” Williams said.
Graverson agreed that it is important to not rely too heavily on your parents in college.
“They’re always a phone call away, which is nice, but I also know that I’ll have people down there too,” Graverson said.
One of the most important factors for students to consider when deciding on a college is the cost. In-state tuition is the leading determinant for some students to attend school in Kansas.
However, Williams was driven out of Kansas by merit-based scholarships.
“If I didn’t have the opportunities that I did, then I would be looking at
more in-state options. Since I have more merit-based scholarships, that will help me with the cost,” Williams said.
Deciding which college to attend involves meticulously researching several factors, including the campus, the proximity to friends and family and the cost. Attending college in-state or out-of-state both have advantages and disadvantages, but no matter the location, college allows students to meet new people, develop independence and grow into their own person.
Are you going to college far away? YES NO
51% 49% Of 148 students polled on @bvnews.
August Dunn at Kansas State University.
Photo provided by August Dunn.
Ben Graverson (right) at the University of Auburn.
Photo provided by Ben Graverson.
Beyond the Horizon
THE CLASS OF 2025
Blue Valley North High School
Design by Anjali Kambhampati
Kansas
University of Kansas
Sara Aamir
Henry Allen
Anass Alshobaki
Ashley Alverson
Yoanna Atanasova
Greggory Baldridge
Nate Beckman
Audrey Bell
Matthew Bell
Jonathan Blackford
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Kansas State University
Olivia Ashworth
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Kansas City Kansas
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Q Wallace
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University of Missouri
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Caleb Twyman
Finn VanderVegte
Hudson Walter Alex Wolf
University of Missouri, Kansas City
Dipsika Biswa
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Paritosh Patel
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Adam Wang
University of
Central Missouri
Tanyla Jackson
Maryville University
Alyvia Whigham
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Missouri Welding Institute
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State University
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Northwest Missouri
State University
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Rikki–Anne McLeod
Caroline Place
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Nikolai Humphrey
Eastern Illinois University
Camylle Graves
Illinois College
Claire Zell
Loyola University
Chicago
Alexis Ballard
North Park University
Wrigley Nolen
Texas
Texas Christian University
Maddy Hall
Johnny McMonagle
Alex Moynihan
Ava Rabroker
Abilene Christian
University
Jada Farrington
Hampton Stites
Greysen Williams
Baylor University
Aylin Ulusarac
Flight Aviation Academy
Murad Frazier
Texas A&M University
Athan Tran
Arkansas
University of Arkansas
Betsy Bogdan
Addison Brown
Emery Cannon
Kennedy Clark
Kate Hickey
Gwen Murphy
Josie Richardson
Julianna Riegel
Jackson VanSyckle
Nebraska
Creighton University
Jack Hamilton
Jacob Liesmann
Olivia Martin
Ava Van Erem
Addie Wilkie
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Blake Sebastian
Cael Verzani
University of Nebraska, Omaha
Briley Early
Shelby Smith
Indiana
Indiana University
Sophia Anderson
Miles Jackson
Davis Weber
University of Notre Dame
Mia Glasow
Emerson Harse
Adele Van Lieshout
Purdue University
Emma Ramboldt
Cherry Yu
California
Concorde Career College
Maggie Allen
University of California, Berkeley
Lauren Kopitas
University of California, San Diego
Max Zhang
San Diego City College
Hannah Ard
San Diego State University
Vega Mercer
Stanford University
Logan Parks
Colorado
Colorado State University
Evie Freed
Margo Hauser
Jack Ramsey
Cameron Wood
Mississippi
University of Mississippi
Chloe Costa
Anna Fleming
Barrett Jennings
Jackson State University
Jordan Tiger
Arizona
Arizona State University
Hunter Mayor
Izzy Robertson
Maryn Triplett
Florida
Florida Gulf Coast University
Mamie Phillips
Florida State University
Emily Plummer
University of Tampa
Ruhi Shah
Georgia
University of Georgia
Hamsini Isukapalli
Georgia Institute of Technology
Rishika Vunnama
Savannah College of Art and Design
Siena Masilionis
Iowa
University of Iowa
Amelia Brown
Grace Waldron
Iowa State University
Mithran Rajesh
Massachusetts
Harvard University
Caroline Massman
Aubrey Shaw
Tufts University
Luke Wakeman
Michigan
Central Michigan
University
Noemi Nightingale
College for Creative Studies
Ashton Morgan
University of Michigan
Beau Barren
Julia Taylor
University of Oklahoma
Tanner Johnson
Will Sandage
Oklahoma City Community College
Shawn Bufford Oklahoma
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Trevor Bennett
Aleena Bills
Vanderbilt University
Avery Christie Tennessee
University of Alabama
Morgan Thorpe
Auburn University
Ben Graverson Alabama
Nathan Roelofs Minnesota
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Elliot Karpin
New York
Ithaca College
Charlotte Barton
Merchant Marine Academy
Zurich Balda
South Carolina
University of South Carolina
Ali Hinds
Malia Nicholson
Elijah Dixon Washington,D.C.
American University
Landon Nelson
Howard University
Idaho
Brigham Young University, Idaho
Anne Henderson
Maryland
Johns Hopkins University
Fathia Rahman
Montana
University of Montana Ivy Spachman
New Jersey
Princeton University
Delia Gregory
North Carolina
Elon University
Sebastian Gonzalez
Layton
Ohio
Ohio State University
Mia Shipman
Pennsylvania
Carnegie Mellon University
Sriram Srinivasa Kalki
Washington
University of Washington Shivram Venkatachalam
Michelle Valenti University of Florida, Valencia, Spain Ada Boyd International
Universidad Europa de Madrid Payton Stover
Other
Zoe Bohlender
Paul Mitchell Cosmotology School
Addy Deskin
18-21 Program Mary Burke
Undecided
Johan Arboleda Diaz Audrey Brown Princesa Esqueda Zaytoon Malik Aditi Mishra
Senior Year at a Glance
Work Force
Cristiauna Barr Sean Walker Brayden Wasko
Gap Year
Ebrima Faye Janie Stilwell
All seniors were notified of this survey, however, not all responded. This data is representative of the 310 seniors that responded or were able to provide further information when contacted.
By Anjali Kambhampati and Lilly Copeland Photos by The North Star Staff
Design By Anthony Sutcliffe
Chill or Thrill?
BVN Students discuss their schedules during the upcoming summer.
By Anthony Sutcliffe
Summer marks the end of many students’ stressful and time-consuming school year. For some, summer is a time for relaxation, with only a few activities scheduled for the next three months, but for others, summer is the busiest time of the year. During summer, activities like sports and camps come full swing, filling up many people’s schedules.
There are plenty of reasons why someone might plan to have a laid-back summer schedule. Brooke Dahmer is a freshman at BVN who intentionally made her summer schedule less busy.
“
“During the summer, I feel like it’s my time to relax and chill without school,” Dahmer said.
football camps throughout the summer. However, for the rest of the day, he is relatively free.
“Football is five days a week from about 6:00 to 8:30 in the morning, and basketball has camps during the week,” McMonagle said.
During the summer, I feel like it’s my time to relax and chill without school.
–Brooke Dahmer
“
For both Dahmer and McMonagle, the small number of activities they are involved in means that they have a lot of free time and flexibility.
“I’m flexible most of the time,” McMonagle said.
Even though Dahmer isn’t busy, she has a good idea of what she will be spending most of her summer doing.
“I’m probably going to be going to the pool a lot, hanging out with my friends and just relaxing,” Dahmer said.
Sophomore Will McMonagle also has a laid-back summer schedule. In the mornings, he has basketball and
“All my mornings are filled up, but after that, I’m flexible.”
Other students pack their summer schedules with activities like sports and summer camps. Junior Tatum Schroering is one of these students.
Schroering is involved in three sports at North. Each sport has a camp for kids during the summer, which Schroering attends and volunteers at.
She also spends much of her summer as a camp counselor at the JCC.
“I have morning workouts for volleyball from eight to ten,” Shroering said.
Shroering’s schedule doesn’t lighten up after that either, as her busy day continues into the evening with work.
“After workouts, I go to camp for the rest of the day,” Schroering said. “Then I go home, have dinner, and go to bed.”
Sometimes, Schroering’s schedule makes her question whether or not she likes how busy her schedule is.
“Sometimes I do [wish for a laidback schedule],” Schroering said. “But then I ask myself, What would I do during the day?”
Another junior, Thomas Dent, packs his weekends with activities like baseball and work during the summer.
“I probably have a good amount of free time during the week, but the weekends are full from baseball,” Dent said.
During the weekends, Dent has baseball tournaments. Depending on the success of his team, games can start as early as 8:00 A.M. and end as late as 10:00 P.M. Despite how busy his weekends get, Dent would not change a thing.
“No, [I don’t wish I had a less busy schedule], I like playing baseball,” Dent said.
McMonagle agreed with Dent. He said sports during the summer make him feel productive.
“I do these activities so I don’t sleep in and waste my summer,” McMonagle said.
Even though they have busy schedules, Schroering and Dent have
found a time in the summer when they could schedule a vacation.
“Usually in the summer, we have at least one vacation,” Schroering said.
This year, Schroering and her family are going to Arizona. She also spends a lot of time with her family at her lake house. Dent and his family have also planned a trip to get away.
“I’m going to Colorado over the summer,” Dent said.
The free time that Dent does have is very important to him, as he spends most of it with his older brother.
“He’s back from college, so [the summer] is one of the only times I can spend a lot of time with him,” Dent said.
Happy Campers
How are BVN students involved with camps over the summer?
By Van Freeman
When the final bell rings on May 23, the students of BVN are free to enjoy their summers however they please. Some students may relax, while others get involved with summer camps. But what camps do they go to and why?
Senior Maryn Triplett shared her experience with Camp WIN, a girls’ summer camp that teaches girls 6-12 different sports.
“[Camp WIN takes place] over the course of four days, and they do four sports each day,” Triplett said. “It introduces the girls to a bunch of different sports. They can try it out and see what they like, so after the camp, they can get involved with sports.”
Despite starting out as a camper, Triplett will now be a camp captain this year at Camp WIN. Similarly,
junior Camille Garrett will be a teen staff member at her summer camp, Youth Front.
“I first heard about it years ago, when I was in second or third grade,” Garrett said. “My older brother went when he was in middle school, and then I started going when I was in middle school.”
Youth Front is a Christian summer camp that’s goal is to promote children’s development with a variety of different programs and activities to help build faith, friendship and leadership.
“[As a member of] Teen Staff, you are assigned a certain job for the week that you’re there, and the jobs consist of being a lifeguard, helping out with the day camp kids or you could be on the kitchen staff and prepare food for the campers, or just clean up after
them,” Garrett said,
Junior Grant Hunnicutt is also working at a private church camp called Summer in the Sun.
“You get to see a lot of different perspectives, and there’s a lot of challenges you have to overcome, with all the kids’ problems and all their fights.” Hunnicutt said.
This is Hunnicutt’s second year at Summer in the Sun, but his first year as a counselor.
“I’m a counselor for the kids,” Hunnicutt said. “I just watch over all the kids and make sure they have a good time.”
Triplett enjoys working at summer camps due to the community and fulfillment it brings her.
“I think it’s great for kids and parents, and also for high schoolers,” Triplett said. “It gets you active and
Design by Van Freeman
doing something. It also means being able to contribute to the community and just being a part of something that’s bigger than yourself.”
Garrett also shared her own opinions on the appeal of summer camps.
“The appeal [to me is] having fun and making new friends, because a bunch of people that aren’t from where you live come together, and you get to hang out with them,” Garrett said. “And you don’t know anyone, so you just get to be yourself.”
Despite the shared sentiments that summer camps are a fun way to get involved during the summer, the students acknowledged the negatives of signing up for summer camps.
“It is a time commitment,” Triplett said. “Specifically for Camp WIN, it’s about eight hours a day for the counselors, and it does take a lot of mental and emotional effort, resilience and patience, so it can be a bit emotionally and physically draining at times.”
keep students active.
“At Youth Front, your phone gets taken from you basically the whole time you’re there,” Garrett said. “I feel like that’s helpful, because if we did have our phones, I definitely think that kids wouldn’t be as engaged with each other.”
Triplett shared a similar method, instead focusing on keeping the captains engaged.
“For [Camp WIN], all captains can’t bring their phones at all, and all the kids are under fifth grade, so they don’t really have phones,” Triplett said. “Some of them do have Apple Watches and stuff, just so they can keep in contact with their parents [though]. I think it is a great way to unplug and disconnect from the digital world which we’re so often connected to. I think it’s actually a great escape.”
“The appeal [to me is] having fun and making new friends, because a bunch of people that aren’t from where you live come together, and you get to hang out with them. And you don’t know anyone, so you just get to be yourself.
–MarynTriplett
“
When asked their overall opinions on going to a summer camp, they all had positive things to say.
Hunnicutt agreed it takes a lot out of him to work at a summer camp.
“It’s sometimes stressful, because there’s a lot going on.” Hunnicutt said.
Despite the stresses these camps may bring, the students aim to help where they can.
“I’m in a bit of a new position [this year] where I’ll be helping the captains, and kind of facilitating them, to help guide them a little bit more, to take some of that pressure off,” Triplett said.
Another issue that summer camps may face is keeping students engaged and off their phones. However, Youth Front and Camp WIN have ways to
“I think it’s just for the kids to have fun, so I enjoy seeing how they have fun, and inspiring people to do things [they wouldn’t].” Hunnicutt said.
Garrett shared a similar opinion, citing the memories made at summer camp.
“I definitely think people should go [to summer camps], because like I said earlier, it gets you more involved, and you can make more friends that way. And I just think, overall, it’s really fun, and creates a lot of memories.” Garrett said.
StoryBy JosieJones
U N D E R
As the end of the school year quickly comes to a close, seniors share advice that the 2025 class wants underclassmen to know.
Don’t procrastinate! - Olivia Welhoelter
Don’t quit something fun! - Noah Morris
Design By Josie Jones
Be involved in as many extracurricular and social events as possible while still working hard in school to accomplish your goals! - Rory Place
Find good friends! - Isabella Edwards
A R
C l A S S m E N
Just have fun! - Anna Fleming
Use the tools you have around you! - Carter Lengel
Fall in love with making mistakes! - Allison Felkner
Just ask teachers for help! - Miles Jackson
Respect and maturity goes a long way with adults and teachers! - Huntley Ford
So Long Seniors
The Seniors of the news staff reflect on their time with the North Star Publication. From all of us, thank you to this publication and our amazing advisor Mrs. Van Wyhe. We appreciate the memories this staff has given us.
By The North Star Seniors
Madi Garrelts
When thinking of my high school experience, I know I’ll always think of the newsroom as one of my favorite places. Walking in there each day to be greeted by the other North Star staff with big smiles will always warm my heart. I’d love to thank Addi, my incredible co-editor-in-chief. I could have never done this without you by my side. I loved all the Starbucks editing days and the silly talks we shared. I can’t wait to see you shine at K-State, I hope they know they’re getting a good one! Thank you also to Anjail, I know I dragged you along sophomore year to be here with me, and I’m so glad I did. Since fourth grade, I have been able to make so many incredible memories with you, some of my favorites being right here in the newsroom. I know I’ll also miss all the fun talks Anjali, Lilly and I shared in our little corner. As to the rest of the staff, I’m going to miss you so much. The work you have put in this year has been incredible. All of you are so special, and I feel so lucky to have met all of you. I can’t wait to watch what you guys do next year, and know I will always be rooting for you!!
Addison DeVore
Ever since I was young I knew one of my passions was writing. During my freshman year I applied to be on the news staff not knowing it would be the best decision of my high school career. Photography, writing, design, all wrapped together on top of making amazing memories. I have loved being on the sidelines at games and capturing our biggest Mustang wins. I am grateful for Sejin and Anna being great mentors to me last year and for last years staff for always being supportive. Being an editor-in-chief this year has brought me so much perspective and has taught me so much about myself and others. I am thankful for my coeditor-in-chief, as I couldn’t have done it without you, and will miss you next year. Mizzou journalism is going to be shocked by your amazingness. And to Paul and Olivia, good luck carrying on as editor-in-chiefs!! I am so excited to see what you do. For the rest of the news staff, I am so proud of how much you have grown this year and will miss you so much.
Lauren Kopitas
Though an extremely timid student when I first began high school, newspaper and adjacent outlets have encouraged my expressive growth at BVN, uplifting the inquisitive spirit that I now recognize as my young adult self. I’ve spent two years as a staff writer and copy editor on The North Star, and my experience both within and beyond the newsroom has further developed my understanding of journalism as the unbroken voice of actuality. It’s been a privilege to lend the enduring tool of language to lesser-known niches of the school community, and as I progress through higher education, I’ll continue to elevate the world’s untold stories. Meanwhile, I encourage all of The North Star’s readers to keep seeking global and personal analysis in the media that challenges them to think outside the box and perhaps abandon it for good.
Lilly Copeland
I joined the newspaper staff with hesitation and uncertainty about what to expect. I needed a class for my seventh hour, and a friend suggested it as a way to build my resume while having fun. However, I could never have anticipated the memories and relationships I would gain from this experience. I have served as a staff writer and copy editor for the past two years, highlighting the stories and experiences of our BVN community. Additionally, I have met some of my best friends through the class. I will never forget my talks with Madi and Anjali in our corner of the room, going to KSPA at KU, laughing through the ceremonies at Quill and Scroll, and the interesting conversations we had at my junior endof-year dinner. While I may not be pursuing journalism post-graduation, I will always appreciate the people I met and the memories I made in this class. If you are ever considering Newspaper, don’t hesitate like I did and just join.
Cash Durbin
The thing about BVN I will miss most in the days after I graduate will be the newspaper and the community surrounding it. Throughout my 2 years on staff, I have made and developed lifelong friendships that I wouldn’t trade for anything. From walking into room 411, my first day junior year, scared of all the new, unfamiliar faces, to my senior year, loving all the friendships I gained through this class. The newspaper put me into situations that I never would have imagined when I first entered high school, from photographing my favorite sports and developing a love for photography to interviewing random strangers about their businesses at the Kansas State Fair. For me, the memories that will stick with me the most are eating a hamburger with donut buns at the state fair with Paul and placing top 6 and qualifying for state in 2 regional categories for KSPA my senior year. I will always love all the memories, fun times, and experiences I have made through the newspaper, and I thank all the people who have made it as great as it was. Mrs. Van Wyhe, thank you for being a supporter of me and letting me keep doing news while also exploring my other passions and interests in this last semester. Thank you, BVNNEWS!
Anjali Kambhampati
Room 411 will forever be a nostalgic place for me, and the past three years with BVN news have been such an amazing experience. I remember walking into newspaper as a sophomore and being so intimidated by everyone on staff. I never left Madi’s side, my forever day one, whom I’m glad I became so close with through this class. This class and the people in it have brought me out of my shell, and I am so thankful for all of the memories. I will always be grateful for Sejin’s pep talks in the corner of the classroom and Lexi’s kindness. I am going to miss every single staff member so much next year, and I’m sad that walking to newspaper won’t be a part of my routine anymore. I will miss writing, designing, and taking photos, and I know that future staff will do amazing things. Finally, I am so grateful for Mrs. Van Wyhe and all of her support and guidance. She is the best newspaper advisor ever, and the future staff is so lucky to have her. Thank you BVN news for all the great memories,
Season
As spring sports come to a close, read about the end of their season.
By Addison DeVore
Baseball
The team is currently ranked 14th with 10 wins, 7 losses and 1 tie. They will be competing in regionals on May 19.
Softball
The team is ranked fourth in the 6A East-Regional category and currently has 16 wins and 5 losses. The team will head to state on May 29.
Girls Soccer
The team is currently first in the EKL with 9 wins, 1 loss and 0 ties. Regionals will start May 19.
Design by Addison DeVore
Recap
Boys Tennis
Player Jack Sutton has a singles record of 9-9 and Emerson
Harse has a 10-8 record. Abhinav Kambhampati has a double record of 10-13. They will be heading to state on May 16.
Girls Swim & Dive
The team placed first in the Shawnee Mission Invitiational with a final score of 413. The top swimmer was Margo Hauser who scored 40 with four golds. They will head to state on May 22.
Boys Golf
The team placed first in the BVN Brookridge Invitational with a score of 298. Player Drew Krystyn tied for third with a score of 73. State will be held on May 26.
Design By Madi Garrelts
I SPY
By Addison DeVore and Madi Garrelts
Dewy the Monkey
Palm Beach Sign
Sunglasses
Daisy Necklace
Day’s
Club D I S C ON N E C T
How do students’ and administrators’ varied responses to this monthly event suggest a generational misapprehension?
By Lauren Kopitas
On the final Thursday of every month, the school’s halls abound with chatter seeping from packed classrooms as students reluctantly engage with their Club Day curriculum of choice. Though helpful in theory, these monthly meetings fall short of the effects they were created to realize. Instead, they detract work time from students’ busy schedules, prescribe spotty socialization, and perhaps even further distance students from administrators in what could be termed a behavioral misreading.
Junior Ashley Sharma suggested that Club Day doesn’t quite fulfill its intent to minimize student stress via extracurricular activities and new friendships.
“[The event] was clearly put in place to give students the opportunity to explore their interests outside of class and meet new people, but in such a competitive school, most students are frustrated by the fact that Club Day takes an hour of free work time out of their schedules,” Sharma said. “That might not sound like a very big amount of time, but AST’s flexibility is critical to some peoples’ success here.”
Though the productive potential of AST periods for both students and teachers limits Club Days to a monthly
basis, their infrequent appearance in Thursday schedules proves equally limiting. Many students feel that this irregularity limits their own ability to create significant connections with fellow club members.
“Because kids in the same club only see one another once a month -if that -- they don’t have much time to develop strong friendships with people around them, which drives down the value of the meetings,” Sharma said. “Enriching relationships that actually make you want to go to class and clubs . . . are partly the result of exposure over and over again.”
While broad, the list of Club Day offerings contains few options in which a cohesive community has taken root throughout the school year. Most meeting attendees complete homework assignments or simply talk with existing friends, and notably few participate in club activities due to the occasion’s emptily obligatory tone.
“With Club Day, I feel like admin wanted to give kids the opportunity to socialize, but they knew that we couldn’t be totally trusted after what happened with kids stealing things from the bathroom during North Time,” Sharma said. “However, Club Day as a more rigid replacement for North Time doesn’t feel organic. It
feels forced, it feels disconnected from students’ needs, and that’s where it doesn’t work.”
Though it would be easy for administrators to dismiss students’ disdain for Club Day as a symptom of the generation’s often-cited ironic insularity and minimal social etiquette, this mentality cannot be minimized by school staff until it is intuitively understood. In the meantime, administrators’ advice or urged socialization may feel like a hollow prescription for well-rounded living, which could be interpreted by students as a signal of disconnect or even condescension.
“Students who were used to directing their own school days just a few years ago during the pandemic have returned to structured learning after getting used to a structureless world,” Sharma said. “They’re now expected by adults to remember social rules only to find out that they can’t, or that they were never really taught those rules to begin with.”
Immerse yourself into the summer with this issues end-ofschool themed crossword. Use the articles and your knowledge to answer all of the questions.
By Madi Garrelts and Addison DeVore
CR SS W R D
ACROSS
3. A new technology that is controversial in schools.
6. The day that the editorial in this issue is against.
7. The summer camp that helps teach girls sports in the Happy Campers story.
8. The Dr. Seuss story referenced in the college destination story on pages 12 and 13.
10. A reason some students skip school, according to the story Skipping for Solitude.
DOWN
1. The percentage of seniors polled on @bvnnews on instagram that said they were going to college close to home.
2. The new boy’s sports team BVN has implemented.
4. A cold summer desert.
5. The 2025 graduation ceremony will be held at the ___. 9. When the sun goes down at night.
The North Star is the official high school news publication of Blue Valley North High School, an open forum distirbuted to all the students four times a year. This is the May issue of volume 39. This issue of The North Star is published digitally through ISSUU and in print by Valley Print Logistics. This is a student publication and may contain controversial matter. Blue Valley School District No. 229 and its board members, officers and employees disclaim any responsibility for the content of this student publication; it is not an expression of School District Policy. Students and editors are solely responsible for the content of this student publication.
