The Express - February 2015

ThEExprEss volume 22 | issue 4 | february | blue valley Northwest high school

Perspectives view more photos from the Diversity assembly as well as other student activities Page 25

Contents

10 Above: Sophomore A.J. and his brother freshman Joe Pleasant play oneon-one together after basketball practice. The brothers said they have a special chemistry on the court (photo by Maddison Barley).

Cover: Junior Tasia Robinson sings at the Diversity assembly on Jan. 30. She performed the traditional gospel hymn “His Eye is on the Sparrow� (photo by Jenny Lu).

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A Pleasant experience

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Maintaining the minimum Kansas is one of the few states that maintained the lowest minimum wage in the country. Find out how the BVNW community and others respond.

Veering toward vaping While many teenagers, including senior Ben Palsson, have partaken in the vaping trend, health officials and daily users disagree on the effect vaping may have on the community.

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speaking volumes For two years, senior Austin Klein has been doing voiceover work through a talent agency doing mostly radio advertisements.

sleepless habits According to a poll of 471 students, over 50 percent of BVNW students have trouble sleeping. Find out what you can do to improve your sleep.

the express | February 2015

the express staFF

editor-in-Chief

Sarah Hirsch

MAnAging editor

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Jack and the boombox Senior Jack Lapin carries around a boombox during every spirit week.

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Ankit Kadakia

entertainment Solve this issue’s crossword and Sudoku puzzles. Find the answers online at BVNWnews.com.

news editor

Natasha Vyhovsky

feAture editor

Laney Breidenthal

sPorts editor

Greyson Woerpel

Photo editor

Maddison Barley

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Perspectives Student life is showcased through a variety of photos.

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entertAinMent editor

opinion Read student columns and the staff editorial.

Zac Johnson

oPinion editor

Olivia Baird

Puzzle editor

Avery Mojica

soCiAl MediA MAnAger

Claudia Chen

Business MAnAger

Madison Graves

Junior Leena Clark shops around LUSH, a store where bath bombs are sold. To read more about the bath bomb trend, go to BVNWnews.com (photo by Nicole Tenold).

rePorters

Emma Bruce Brandon Fagen Cameron Hamm Flammy Huo Morgan Lewis Ayesha Vishnani

PhotogrAPhers

Aggie Cain Hope Lancaster Jenny Lu Emily Staples Nicole Tenold Caroline Trupp

grAPhiC designer

Hannah Adams

AssistAnt AdViser

Kimberly Hillstock

AdViser

Jim McCrossen The Express is the official high school news publication of the Blue Valley Northwest High School, an open forum distributed to all students seven times a year. This is Issue 4 of Volume 22.

Subscription rates are $10. The Express is printed by Osage Printing, 400 N Liberty St Independence, MO 64050.

This is a student publication and may contain controversial matter. Blue Valley Unified 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.

the express | February 2015

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Maintaining the minimum

by Ayesha Vishnani

Unlike many other states at the start of the new year, Kansas did not raise the minimum wage from the federal minimum of $7.25. This resulted in a wide range of responses from

With just $7.25, a student could purchase a movie ticket, two gallons of milk or three gallons of gas. However, $7.25 is also how much an employee could be paid after one hour of work in Kansas.

As of the beginning of the year, 29 states have minimum wages higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25, through either new or existing laws.

Kansas did not raise its minimum wage and continues to maintain the lowest possible minimum wage allowed by federal guidelines. Students, staff and others in the state of Kansas have differing viewpoints about the effect this will have on teenagers.

Junior Emily Ball, who works a minimum wage job at AMC Town Center 20, said that Kansas’ decision will negatively impact workers as well as businesses.

“I feel like a lot of workers are not going to be happy with that, especially because Kansas may not be one of the cities with more expensive costs of living, but the prices are definitely increasing along with [other states’],” Ball said. “So I feel like it’s just going to cause more problems in the future when they actually do have to increase the minimum wage.”

Ball said she works every weekend and averages six to eight hour shifts, working around 20 hours a week. She said she is often surprised by her paychecks because they are less than she would expect them to be.

“It’s kind of shocking because you put in so many hours and you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh my paycheck is going to be so big,’ but then it’s not as big as you expected because of minimum wage and taxes on top of that,” Ball said.

Ball said a decent minimum wage raise would be from $7.25 to $8.00. She said even a 50 cent raise would be beneficial to workers and she is not looking for an extreme increase such as $10.00.

Economics teacher Rob Meacham said a 50 to 75 cent raise would be fair to businesses and employees. Nevertheless, Meacham said a significant raise in minimum wage such as $10.00 would negatively impact teenagers because they would be the first workers to lose their jobs.

“People would start making non-money judgments to cut stuff and then suddenly it would be the teenagers who would be out of jobs first,” Meacham said. “Everybody would [ask things like] ‘Are you the worker who needs to support his family or is this just a part time thing for you to supplement income that you get at home?’”

Wichita Representative Jim Ward disagrees with this perspective. Ward said he does not think there will be a large shift in employment base nor that teenagers will lose their jobs. He recently proposed a bill that will increase the minimum wage to $10.25 in three years, although it has not passed, yet.

“Businesses hire whether it’s teenager or an adult based

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on what they believe that person can do to make them more money,” Ward said. “That’s the driving force.”

Meacham said a raised minimum wage is beneficial to workers because it enables them to utilize their incomes in more ways.

On the other hand, Meacham said the overall belief held by economists is that a significant increase in minimum wage leads to unemployment.

“A lot of times employers look at [a higher minimum wage] as too costly,” Meacham said. “Even though they have some employees, they won’t add others because they don’t want to pay that higher wage.”

Additionally, Meacham said that minimum wage is connected to the cost of living. According to Meacham, Kansas residents can acquire products and services at cheaper prices, so minimum wage being at the the federal level is not as problematic as it is in other states. Meacham also said Johnson County was unique in its cost of living and minimum wage workforce.

“When you look at more expensive places like Johnson County and you look at our minimum wage workforce, there’s not a ton of people working minimum wage jobs in this county that are in that ‘I raise a family of four and I have the only wage of our household,’” Meacham said.

He said the majority of minimum wage workers in this area are people who attend a high school like BVNW. Meacham said this means it is likely that they live with somebody who provides the basic necessities of the household. He said this suggests that the teenager most likely has the mentality that they would rather have a minimum wage job than no employment at all.

Ball, who depends on her parents for basic necessities, said she had a similar perspective to Meacham regarding the minimum wage, although she would like a raise.

“I feel like I get a decent amount [of money] from my perspective, because if I didn’t have this job I would be getting nothing,” Ball said.

Although Meacham discussed teenagers living in the Overland Park area, Ward said the belief that the majority of minimum wage jobs are held by teenagers is a common misperception.

Ward said there are more adults than teenagers that hold a minimum wage job in Kansas overall. Ward said a full time worker on minimum wage would earn just over $15,000 per year, which he said is only slightly above the poverty line.

“This is a fairness [issue],” Ward said. “You should not live in poverty if you work full time in America. We have to respect work.”

Even though he has never held a job before, junior Nick Mauer supports the concept of a minimum wage but does not think it should be raised.

the express | February 2015

“I think that raising the minimum wage itself is not a good tool to combat poverty or stimulate the economy,” Mauer said. “I also think it has an adverse effect on the economy including the loss of jobs and a rate rise in inflation.”

On the other hand, although Meacham said he agreed that increasing minimum wage leads to unemployment, he does not necessarily believe it leads to a dramatic inflation of prices.

“Some businesses would respond to the raising of minimum wage by maybe raising their prices slightly,” Meacham said. But really what causes widespread inflation...depends on how you mess with the money supply.”

Unlike Meacham, Mauer said that the government should take on a hands-off approach in the economy. He said that, due to the current situation of the country, it would not hurt workers or businesses.

“If the government was to take a hands-off approach now, there are unions and there are laws in place that prevent them from being exploited,” Mauer said. “Raising the minimum wage would cause instability in the economy which would lead to a decrease in jobs.”

Junior Alexis Newton, who initially received minimum wage at Jose Peppers, has a different approach to the minimum wage. She started working in June of 2014 as a seater, which was a simple job, according to Newton. “[The wage] was equivalent to the work I was doing,” Newton said. “I think it was fair for the work I was doing because I wasn’t in a skilled position.”

However, since then Newton said she has received two raises.

The first was to $8.00 after she had held her position for five months. The second raise was to $9.00 when she was promoted to a leadership position. “[The raise] kind of motivates me to work harder,” Newton said. “Before it was harder to get myself to be excited about going when I knew I was going to get a small paycheck for like a lot of running around and working stuff.”

Although Newton said that minimum wage would be hard to live off of, she does not think Kansas should raise the minimum wage based on the type of job.

“I think for unskilled jobs minimum wage is okay,” Newton said. “I don’t really see how somebody could be working a job as a seater that I had when I was working minimum wage and be getting paid a substantial amount of money. It wouldn’t be fair.”

the express | February 2015

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Veering toward vaping

by Cameron Hamm As the use of e-cigarettes (vaping) among teens climbs in popularity, daily vapers, the law and health professionals disagree on the consequences vaping may have on the community.

Above: Using e-cigarettes and vaporizers has become a trend for some high schoolers. Senior Ben Palsson vapes outside of school recently (photo by Emily Staples).

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ith the cartridge locked into place, the battery charged, and the heating element lit, senior Ben Palsson is ready to use his electronic cigarette, commonly referred to as an e-cigarette. The initial puff of vapor brings about a calming effect for Palsson, and the smell of berry lingers in the room. E-cigarettes have been on the market since 2004, however, according to a study published by the University of Michigan, the use of e-cigarettes (“vaping”) is on the rise in tenth and twelfth graders, while the use of traditional cigarettes and alcohol consumption is lessening. While the trend may be moving toward vaping, students, teachers and daily users disagree on what that means for our community.

Palsson, who said he is a regular vaper, started vaping during his sophomore year. Palsson said his habit began when his friends started vaping, and Palsson became curious enough to try it out. “[When my friends and I] would hang out, they would [pass the e-cigarette around] and I was like, ‘well, might as well do it with them since they’re doing it,’” Palsson said. “I wasn’t falling into peer pressure, it’s just something fun to do with your friends. It’s mainly a social thing.”

Palsson said e-cigarettes come with adjustable levels of nicotine. There are e-cigarettes with zero milligrams of nicotine for vapers who want only flavor, but Palsson said, although he started out vaping zero milligrams, he has been increasing the amount of nicotine in his e-cigarette, creating a dependency.

“I am kind of leaning toward… dependency at this point,” Palsson said.

“I’m not saying I need it every waking second of the day, but it’s always nice to have it [after] every two class periods.”

When asked if he vapes in school, Palsson declined to comment. Palsson’s father also declined to comment for the story.

Palsson said he has noticed no negative health effects from vaping. He said what attracts him to e-cigarettes versus traditional cigarettes or cigars is that he can exercise without having

The express | January 2015

difficulty breathing.

Tim O’Connor, general manager of vape shop Kansas City Vapes, said there is a growth in people using e-cigarettes, which is represented not just by his store’s expansion, but by the industry as a whole.

The clientele that visits KC Vapes ranges in age, O’Connor said. From freshmen in college, who are looking at the social aspect of it, to adults wanting to leave behind traditional smoking.

O’Connor said the general shift toward acceptance of e-cigarettes results from the lack of negative health effects that come from vaping.

“All you’re getting is nicotine and flavor [when you vape],” O’Connor said. “You’re not getting the tar or carcinogens [from traditional cigarettes]. You basically get eight carcinogens when you’re vaping, [and] a normal apple off the shelf has about four.”

Palsson said he sees more adolescents vaping instead of smoking because, in 2015, smoking is generally frowned upon, while vaping has started to become a normal occurrence.

BVNW school psychologist Monica Symes said due to the nicotine found in e cigs, vaping can still lead to unhealthy lifestyle habits.

“Nicotine causes neurotransmitters like serotonin and norepinephrine levels to increase, [leading to] a feeling of somewhat euphoria,” Symes said.

It is the crash, the burnt out feeling after receiving nicotine that leads to craving, Symes said. From there, a dependance on the drug can ensue.

University of Kansas professor of medicine Edward Ellerbeck said nicotine’s most harmful effect on adolescents is how it alters the structure of the brain.

“Nicotine is the most highly addictive substance that is unregulated in the United States,” Ellerbeck said. “Nicotine does this thing called neuroplasticity - that means it changes your brain.

Adolescent brains are [already] changing, and nicotine changes the brain’s receptors and neurotransmitter levels. We have biological data that suggests that the remodeling of the brain

[makes adolescents more] susceptible to addictions to other drugs.”

Symes said people often use e-cigarettes as a way to relax, and although she said vaping is healthier than traditional smoking, Symes said she does not encourage adolescents to use e-cigarettes.

“I am a firm believer in seeking ways to naturally make yourself feel good,” Symes said. “Each person is different, but anytime we introduce ourselves to a stimulus that is not naturally occurring in our bodies, it can [lead kids to think]‘If I could try electronic cigarettes, and it’s not ‘effecting’ me, then maybe I could try weed, or drinking’”, Symes said.

BVNW parent Will Crapser’s story leading to e-cigarettes is a bit different than most cases.

“I’m a bit atypical,” Crapser said.

“I smoked from about the time I was 18 to about the time I was 31, then I stopped altogether. And then, just a couple years ago, I had an excuse to start again. But instead of going back to tobacco cigarettes, I moved to electronic [cigarettes].”

Crapser said the vapor emitted from e-cigarettes has not been studied closely enough to prove that e-cigarettes are as healthy as people say.

“Scientists have studied tobacco smoke, and they can identify [tar and various components] causes lung cancer,” Crapser said. We can also say those components do not exist in the [e-cigarette]. That doesn’t mean that someone studied the vapor well enough to know, necessarily.”

Crapser said one of the reasons why he is more comfortable vaping than smoking traditional cigarettes is because he has seen his health improve over the time when he smoked traditional cigarettes.

“When I did smoke regularly, every year without fail I got at least one case of bronchitis,” Crapser said. “It hasn’t come back with the e cigs.”

Crapser said the data suggesting vaping is occurring more in teens makes logical sense.

“I think the lack of proof of it being bad for you probably makes it easier [for

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kids to try],” Crapser said. “It’s not like [with smoking] where everyone knows the health risks.”

Crapser said a large part of why e-cigarettes appeal to teens is the environment to which they belong to. “[I’ve been to KC Vapes]; Crapser said. “It feels like a sort of fringe environment. When it’s got a bunch of people in it, the vapor is hanging in the air, and it does smell interesting and the lights are kind of dim. It’s a weird sort of thing.”

Crapser said he does not consider the argument that e-cigarettes may be a gateway to traditional smoking and drugs to be legitimate. He said he chalks the rise in teen usage of e-cigarettes to teens acting like teens usually do.

Palsson said he does not worry that his e-cigarette use will lead to smoking.

After seeing the damage smoking caused on his parents’ health, Palsson said he plans on staying away from cigarettes.

“I’ve never had a cigarette in my life cause I’ve seen what it does to my parents,” Palsson said. “There’s some people that don’t care; they’ll move from e-cigarettes to traditional cigarettes. In that aspect, it can be damaging.”

Ultimately, what Crapser said attracts him most to e-cigarettes is the nicotine.

“Nicotine [still carries my interest],” Crapser said. “The things it does to your body are pleasant and helpful. Whatever excuse a smoker uses to say why they smoke, it doesn’t really matter because it’s the nicotine they’re after.”

BVNW School Resource Officer Jason Hill said when e-cigarettes first hit the market there was a confusion regarding when and where they were appropriate to use. After the city of Overland Park began issuing ordinances regarding e-cigarettes, Hill said the muddled laws behind it became clear.

According to the city’s municipal code, the purchase of tobacco products or electronic cigarettes by persons under 18 is illegal. Hill said e-cigarettes are grouped in the same municipal statutes as traditional cigarettes; the punishment for possessing a traditional cigarette is

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the same as possessing an e-cigarette, Hill said.

Vaping in non-smoking areas is also illegal, Hill said.

Palsson said he disagreed with the city’s statutes on e-cigarettes, arguing that teenagers will usually use an illegal substance during high school, and that e-cigarettes are a safe way to have fun.

“Naturally, kids experiment and I think with e cigs, its a way they can experiment without feeling addicted,” Palsson said.”

Palsson also argued that the zero milligram e-cigarettes are unfairly grouped with tobacco products when it comes to law.

“With e-cigarettes [that contain] zero milligram nicotine, I don’t think there should be any age limit,” Palsson said. “If it’s someone who’s 16 or 17 and if they want a zero milligram [e-cig], they should sell it just like candy. [The law] should only pertain to tobacco, not just [a] sugar glycerin juice vaporizer.

They’re completely different things.”

Crapser said, while smoking should not be encouraged to non-smokers, for those who do struggle with traditional smoking, vaping could be used as a lesser of two evils.

“There should be more studies performed on e-cigarettes and vaping should be more regulated,” Crapser said.

However, Ellerbeck said there are too many variations of e-cigarettes for there to be sufficient studies done on e-cigarettes. Although Ellerbeck said he would never encourage a teen to vape, the science community simply does not know enough to make a sound ruling on the health effects of e-cigarettes.

Crapser said since vapers focus primarily on nicotine, more should be done to understand the consequences of nicotine use, not just the effects of carcinogens found in cigarettes.

“Nobody knows the long term effects of nicotine in general. They’ve always studied the smoke,” Crapser said. “But the drug that we’re all seeking is the nicotine. Not the vapor. That’s the thing that really needs to be understood.”

the express | January 2015

The anatomy of a vaporizer...

While Palsson started vaping using typical e-cigarretes, he recently purchased his own vaporizer, a device that gradualogens. “Basically when you turn the e-cig on, it will vaporize that liquid and turn it into [vapor]. I spent about $80 on [my vaporizer].�

Cartridge: Holds the oil that is waiting to be vaporized. There are oils that can be used.

Tip/Inhaler: Where being vaporized Battery: Provides energy the cigarette, including heating the vapor.

Left: Senior Ben Palsson displays the different components of his vaporizor while explaining how it works (photos by Emily Staples).

Above: graphic by Hannah Adams

the express | January 2015

Atomizer: What heats the oil

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A Pleasant experience

by Morgan Lewis

basketball together. The two share their experience of playing together on the team.

Left: From left to right, brothers freshman Joe and sophomore A.J. Pleasant pose together with a basketball.

The brothers said playing together is more fun than being on different teams (photo by Maddison Barley).

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he game is about to begin and the roar of the crowd is stifled behind closed doors. Two players have been playing together their whole life. Growing up together has brought out chemistry that not many other players have. With seven minutes until the start of the game, sophomore A.J. Pleasant and his little brother, freshman Joe Pleasant step on the court together and face the challenge before them.

Both Pleasant brothers agree that being together on the court is more fun than being on two separate teams. A.J. said it makes him feel more comfortable to have someone he lives with on the court playing with him.

They were on the same Amateur Athletic Union team because Joe played an age group higher with his brother.

Joe said they have a good chemistry and work well together. He said they have an easy connection and have continued that connection since fourth grade.

The transition to varsity was not easy for either of the boys, according to Joe. They had to adjust to the upperclassman and the level of intensity. While A.J. went from JV to starting varsity; Joe went from middle school to starting varsity.

“Most of my friends made JV, so I assumed I was in that range,” Joe said.

“Then coach told me I was starting varsity the first game. I was nervous because I didn’t want to step on anybody’s toes because they are the upperclassman and I’m the freshman. I have to earn myself here.”

According to A.J., Joe and he were both making a tough transition, and while Joe’s may have been harder, it took some time for A.J. to adjust as well. After A.J. adapted, he helped Joe get accustomed to the different settings.

Head basketball coach Ed Fritz said the boys have good interactions when they are

The express | February 2015

on the court. They always look for ways to help improve each other’s skills.

“I think they look for each other and they’re quick to point things out if they see something the other needs to work on,” Fritz said. “It’s a really healthy relationship.”

Renita Pleasant, the boys’ mother, said it is very exciting for the boys to be playing together. While they have played together before, it has a different feel when they play at BVNW. “Joseph has always looked up to his big brother and this isn’t the first time they’ve played on the team together,” Renita said. “But I think it’s exciting for them. Especially the first year in high

We’re both just enjoying the ride together.

KnoWing he’s there With me, and he’s on the same boat i am maKes it that much more enjoyable.

-freshman Joe Pleasant school to be with your big brother.”

A.J. and Joe said there are advantages and disadvantages to playing together. A.J. said one of the disadvantages is if one of them being too selfish on the court.

“An advantage is someone to look up to and someone I really trust,” Joe said. “He can give me guidelines during practice.

If we have problems at home,... it might still bug me while I’m practicing. I have to learn to forget about it.”

While the boys play well together, tough losses can bring out more negative feelings, Joe said. They eventually get past it and remember that they are not just brothers. If something bad happens, they may argue with each other about the

game.

“After games if something bad happens we get on each other, and sure that part may get annoying but after a while you just get used to it,” Joe said. “You get past the whole brother-to-brother thing and say ‘you guys are teammates.’”

Renita said she thinks there is not much competition between the boys. They play against each other but it is helpful by bringing out each others’ strengths.

“They don’t really compete in terms of being better than the other one, but they do play against each other,” Renita said.

“It’s neat because [when they play one on one] A.J. is fast and Joseph is really tall.

When A.J. goes against someone taller, it helps, and if Joseph goes against someone who is smaller and faster, it helps him.”

Fritz also said he does not think there is competition among the boys. He believes they have an appreciation for each other.

“They have a lot of respect for each other and with A.J. being the older brother,” Fritz said. “Joe looks up to him a lot.”

A.J. said they give each other guidance on what they can improve on. When a loss happens, he said they try to give each other advice and tell them about what they did wrong.

“If [Joe] didn’t do something that one game and we lose, he would do the same for me,” A.J. said. “We both get onto each other when we need to.”

The boys said that they have a certain chemistry on the court. Both know when and where the other likes to receive the ball during a game. A.J. said both of them know how the other is relaxed and able to shoot from on the court.

“We’re both just enjoying the ride together,” Joe said. “Knowing he’s there with me and he’s on the same boat I am makes it that much more enjoyable.”

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by Laney Breidenthal Doing mostly radio advertisements and local commercials, senior Austin Klein began doing voiceover work two years ago.

enior Austin Klein has been acting from a young age, from participating in YouTube videos with his friends to being a part of nine theatre productions at BVNW. Klein said he has learned how to speak and how to be in character, which are attributes he said have helped him do voiceover work.

“I’ve been doing voiceover work over the last two years,” Klein said. “Really, I’ve always kind of thought about it as a possibility, but it was kind of a thing I was going to do in a month or so, but I finally went out and contacted a talent agency about two years ago.”

Klein said he has always had people who come up to him and tell him they think he has a great voice, however, he dismissed their comments until he thought about it and realized that doing voiceover work was actually something he could do. Since he has been with Exposure, a modeling and talent agency based in Kansas City, Klein said he has done mostly radio commercials, getting hired to do

The express | FeBrUArY 2015

work for Lee jeans, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska and some smaller gigs.

“He’s super professional; he’s got a great voice,” Klein’s agent at Exposure, David Keith, said. “He sounds 20 years older than he really is, his voice is so deep.

He’s really talented; he’s got a big future ahead of him.”

Klein first noticed his voice was different from others’ between his eighth grade and freshman year; he said he grew a foot taller and his voice dropped an octave.

“It’s just become sort of a running joke throughout my choir experience here that I was just that kid with the super deep voice,” Klein said.

Keith said Klein does not have a voice that sounds like a teenager’s, so Klein auditions for roles when the company is looking for 30- to 40-year-old voices.

“We don’t have any kids his age [at Exposure] with a voice like his; I was blown away by it,” Keith said. “He’s just so young and he sounds so old on the phone when he’s doing voiceover; that’s super unique…We have teenage actors who

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sound like teenagers, and that’s awesome because they can book the teenage stuff, but we don’t have anyone as young as Austin that has a voice like Austin’s.”

While Klein has attempted to do oncamera work, he said he has not found success due to the fact that there is a disconnect between what he looks like and what he sounds like.

“The problem with [doing on-camera work] is I look like I’m 17 and I sound like I’m 40, and when people see commercials, they’re like, ‘I don’t get what’s happening here; why does that kid sound like he chain smokes and lives in the Bronx?’”

Klein said.

According to choral director Kevin Coker, upon first meeting Klein, people are struck by his physical stature, and then they hear him speak.

“When he speaks to you, this booming bass voice comes out of his mouth, and such a wonderful personality comes along with it,” Coker said. “That’s going to get him so far in life…I’ve never met a kid who has such a God-given talent that’s so humble about it. This is just who he is; it’s a part of him as a person.”

Klein said having such a mature voice makes it much more difficult for him to get hired; he is competing for jobs against seasoned professionals. “[It] makes the whole industry that much more competitive for me because my voice is going up against people who have been doing this for 20 years, people who have been doing this all their lives, and for someone who has as little training experience as I have, that puts me at a disadvantage because I can’t compete against people my age for a role,” Klein said. “That’s just not what I sound like.”

Coker said Klein has the ability to be successful in doing voiceover work due to the fact that Klein is not altering his voice

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in any way.

“If he were manipulating the voice, if he were changing it, if he were trying to imitate a certain sound in his head, then it’s probably not healthy and you’re going to see through that in the long run,” Coker said, “but it’s just Austin speaking, and… you can’t teach someone to speak that low. There’s a small, small percentage of people who can speak like that, so why not go after it?”

THIS BOOMING BASS VOICE COMES OUT OF HIS MOUTH, AND SUCH A WONDERFUL PERSONALITY COMES ALONG WITH IT. -choral director Kevin Coker

Getting hired to do voiceover work is an extensive process and is one that involves an abundance of auditioning, according to Klein. The voiceover artists record themselves reading the material and send it to their talent agency, which then sends that audition to the company and then the company picks who they want for their commercial.

“For every 10 spots you audition for, you probably get one of them,” Klein said. “[It is competitive], especially in the Kansas City area. Kansas City...is huge for voiceover work; it probably has something to do with our non-regional dialect. People from Kansas City really don’t have accents for some reason, whereas someone from Boston or someone from [Los Angeles] or someone from Houston might.”

The most challenging aspect of doing voiceover work to Klein is making his voice sound interesting, excited and energetic because he said it does not transfer well

over a recording.

“When you’re recording, you have to put an extreme amount of energy into just making your voice reach all the highs and the lows and the emotion that you’re trying to put across because very little of that translates outward,” Klein said.

“Maintaining energy in your voice is a really difficult part of it.”

Klein said the majority of learning the trade of voiceover work is reading about how to create characters and placing a mental image of someone in the audience’s heads, which is the ultimate goal of voiceover work.

“There’s no college or school or formal training for people who want to do voiceover work,” Klein said. “It’s a lot of informal scouring of the internet for YouTube videos and finding books and really watching other people’s work. It’s a lot of self-guided learning.”

Making a living out of doing voiceover work is a very difficult thing to do; one must be extremely talented and be able to create lots of different characters and voices, Klein said. While Klein is not planning on pursuing voiceover work as a main career, he believes it to be an enjoyable hobby that he could pursue on the side of whatever career he chooses.

“I really just do it because it’s fun to be able to send in basically snippets of my acting and maybe have it show up on the radio or on TV,” Klein said.

Klein’s mother, Sue Klein, said doing voiceover work has been beneficial for Klein because it is a different way for him to perform; he has to express what he is attempting to say with just his voice and no visual input. She said differentiating himself in the voiceover world is similar to getting a job in acting.

“You have to be in the right place at the right time for the right job,” Sue said.

the express | February 2015

“So if that happens for him or if there’s a need for his kind of voice, he’s going to get work. And it won’t be that he’s going to get every job that’s available, but there’ll be a job out there for him where he’s going to be just the perfect voice for the work.”

Klein believes his voice has been successful because people respond to it in ways they do not respond to other peoples’ voices.

“If [my voice] was just deep, I think it would be one thing,” Klein said. “I think there’s a certain resonance to it and a certain character to it. A lot of times, when I’m on stage, people will describe my voice as liquid chocolate or stuff like that, and it’s always a little funny to hear that.”

There are considerable financial gains from doing voiceover work: Klein said he has made approximately $3,500 over the past two years, and he said doing a national radio or TV ad can make the voiceover artist as much as $10,000.

However, Klein said he does not do it for the money.

“Really, just being on the radio or being on TV is enough for me,” Klein said.

“Being able to express the art of acting that I love in a different medium is really just fulfilling in it of itself. All that is associated with being on the radio, being on TV, getting the money, it’s just kind of supplementary to that.”

Sue Klein said her son is able to be successful in doing voiceover work due to the fact that he is responsible, dependable, he has been acting for several years and he is a good reader, allowing him to get his point across in very few takes.

“I think when I hear him, I’m just kind of amazed,” Sue said. “I just feel so grateful to just be able to witness that and watch it, and it’s just something Austin was born with.”

Above: Senior Austin Klein speaks into the microphone to create a recording connected to his computer. Below: Klein reads off a script for a homeowners association commerical (photos by Hope Lancaster).

,

For a sample of Klein s work, go to BVNWnews.com the express | February 2015

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Humans of Northwest

JCCC Honors: Dig deeper. Aim higher.

“I was first pulled in by the scholarships, but the Honors Program allowed me to further understand my studies and connect with professors. I also was drawn in by the potential to study abroad.”

Q: What is your favorite memory?

A: To see his response and more, visit the HUMANS OF NORTHWEST (@BVNWnews) Instagram.

Lizzy, JCCC Honors student and De Soto High School graduate JCCC’s Honors Program stimulates and challenges academically talented students. An Honors application is required for admission. For more information, call Pat Decker at 913-469-8500, ext. 2512, or visit

www.jccc.edu/honors.

Sleepless habits

by Claudia Chen

Due to a multitude of reasons, many students such as senior Amanda 17

A

fter a day of attending four Advanced Placement classes, working as a nanny and completing three hours of homework, she lies down and attempts to sleep. Despite a long day, like most other nights, senior Amanda DeJesus finds she cannot fall asleep.

“It’s odd because you’d think I’d be so tired, because I have a lot of coursework and I also have a job, and I have a social life,” DeJesus said. “I think most of it has to do with stress.”

DeJesus said she first started noticing trouble falling asleep during her sophomore and junior years of high school, when coursework became more rigorous. She said she now spends time at night stressing out about her future, which prevents her from falling asleep.

“Now I’m stressing about college,” DeJesus said. “Thinking about a lot of stuff while I’m laying in bed...such as scholarship applications and deadlines, finding a roommate; things like that [keep me up].”

Counselor Becky Coker said she sees many students who have trouble sleeping at night, and one popular reason is stress.

“If people have all this stuff in their head and they can’t focus...there are a couple different relaxation techniques and things [they] can do,” Coker said. “[You can] keep a notepad and a pencil next to your bed and whatever you think of, write it down. Having it down on paper will then let your mind go at ease so that you’re not stressing out about it.”

According to Michael Anderson, sleep medicine specialist and director of the Sleep Disorders Center at the Overland Park Regional Medical Center, there are four steps to the sleep cycle. The heaviest and last step of the cycle is rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.

“We typically cycle from stage one to two to three to REM sleep every 90 minutes,” Anderson said. “After you have your first REM period, you go back into

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non-REM. Ninety minutes after that you have your second REM period.”

One thing that can prevent people from reaching the deep and resting state of REM sleep is sleeping next to a cell phone.

Coker said this is because it is a source of constant distraction and stimulation.

“Maybe [you fall asleep], but then you get a text message and then you wake up, and you’ve completely disrupted your sleep cycle,” Coker said.

Junior Arman Alhosseini said he has trouble sleeping several nights a week and attributes his cell phone usage as one of the reasons for this.

The ThoughT of being communicaTed wiTh or communicaTing wiTh oThers [keeps me up]

-junior Arman Alhosseini

“[At night], I try to see if anyone texts me...and then I update Twitter to see if anything happens...and then I go on Snapchat to see if anyone Snapchats me… and then I just go and watch people’s Snapchat stories,” Alhosseini said. “I keep doing that cycle.”

Alhosseini said some nights his parents do not allow him to go to sleep with his cell phone, and he finds he gets fewer hours of sleep on the nights that he brings his cellphone to bed.

“The nights I am allowed to bring my phone up, I use it, and it becomes a distraction,” Alhosseini said. “My phone and the thought of my phone and the thought of being communicated with or communicating with others [keeps me up].”

DeJesus said she charges and keeps her cell phone next to her bed at night.

Anderson said the light that comes from nearby electronic devices can cause people difficulty falling asleep.

“[Beyond] sort of the stress and excitement from being on electronic devices, we think that the light actually suppresses melatonin, which is a hormone,” Anderson said. “This can cause you to have delayed sleep onset.”

Because of the disruption technology can cause, Coker said she recommends a set time each night when technology is turned off or placed in another room.

“We tell parents to take away phones at bedtime, whatever time you agree upon… because I would say nowadays that’s probably the number one reason why kids are not getting the quality of sleep they need,” Coker said.

Beyond putting away technology, Anderson said using the bed solely for the purpose of sleeping may help as well.

“The idea is that the bed should always be used for sleeping,” Anderson said.

“If you start trying to do your calculus homework in bed, being in bed becomes associated with stress about calculus.”

Anderson said the biggest piece of advice he can give to students in high school is to not sleep in too much on the weekends. He said sleeping in too much will interrupt the sleep cycle and cause sleep problems in the upcoming week.

“If you’re used to getting up at 6:30 or 7, sleeping in until 9 or 9:30 on the weekends is probably not going to disturb your sleep too much,” Anderson said. “If you stay up until 4 o’clock on Friday night and 4 o’clock on Saturday night and sleep until 1 or 2 in the afternoon on Saturday and Sunday, then lo and behold you can’t fall asleep Sunday night.”

For students and teenagers especially, Coker said getting enough sleep is essential for the development of the brain and for performance both in and out of school.

“For teenagers, your frontal lobe isn’t completely developed yet,” Coker said.

“It’s really, really important to sleep because it helps your brain develop the way it’s supposed to.”

the express | February 2015

55% 89% 58% of students have trouble sleeping at night.

of students use their phone or other electronic devices before bed.

of students use their bed to do homework.

*The Express staff polled 471 students at lunch Jan. 27.

If you have trouble sleeping, avoid... using your bed to do homework

oversleeping on weekends

frequent napping

cellphones and other electronic devices

smoking and alcohol

*information provided by sleep medicine specialist Michael Anderson

Previous page: Senior Amanda DeJesus uses her phone in bed. Sleep medicine specialist Michael Anderson said the light from electronic devices can causes a suppression of melatonin, which can lead to difficulty falling asleep (photo by Jenny Lu).

the express | February 2015

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Specializing in urgent care, appointment requests and after hour needs.

(913) 808-5579

13469 Switzer Rd. Overland Park, KS 66213

Visit

http://ucchiropractic.com

for more info!

Jack and the boombox Senior Jack Lapin explains why he has carried around a

Why did you start?

Why do you enjoy it?

Have any teachers or administrators tried to stop you?

What is your boombox method during Spirit Week?

I really enjoy sharing my music playing a song by Kendrick

on my shoulder and blaring

Senior Jack Lapin holds his boombox, which he uses to fill the halls with music during Spirit Week. Lapin has been using the boombox during all of his four years of high school Spirit Week (photo by Caroline Trupp).

The express | February 2015

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Follow

ws @BVNWinngenews, sports for break nd more. updates a

Perspectives 1.

photos of husky life

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4.

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1. Junior Payton Pierce admires the BVNW alumni art displayed in the art gallery (photo by Aggie Cain).

2. ESOL teacher Mary Head prepares to donate blood during the blood drive organized by National Honor Society on Jan. 21 (photo by Nicole Tenold).

3. Junior Mya Mertz dribbles down the court during the girls varsity basketball game against O’Hara High School. BVNW won the game 63-28 (photo by Aggie Cain).

4. Maria the Mexican, a rock Mariachi band, performs at the Diversity Assembly on Jan. 30. The band includes vocalists Maria and Teresa Cuevas and guitarist Garrett Nordstrom (photo by Jenny Lu)..

The express | february 2015

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3.

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3.

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4.

the express | february 2015

5.

1. Junior Karrington Kenninson plays Hacky Sac with his peers in the atrium during lunch (photo by Hope Lancaster).

2. Senior Janice Chen works on a painting project for her Independent Study class (photo by Caroline Trupp).

3. Sophomore Alli McConnell performs with the Dazzler dance team during halftime of the boys varsity basketball game Jan. 13. The varsity basketball team was defeated by BVW 54-68. (photo by Maddison Barley).

4 . Sophomore Darien Jackson lifts during weights class. The class is taught by Tim Serbousek and John Reichart (Photo by Caroline Trupp).

5. Senior Dalton Schoen defends the basketball during the boys varsity basketball game against Blue Valley West. Schoen has played on the varsity basketball team for three years (photo by Maddison Barley).

6. Senior Brennan Case plays the violin during Symphonic Orchestra class (photo by Caroline Trupp). the express | february 2015

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ENTERTAINMENT

CrOssWOrD

By Avery Mojica

CrOssWOrD CLues aCrOss

Title: It’s in the Air

1. Male titles 5. A whole bunch 9. Bunches of birds 11. They often require passwords *13. Rhyming composition (2 words) *15. It includes terms of endearment (2 words) 17. Big name in stereo speakers 18. Cars, slangily 20. Actress Zellweger 21. Side of a room 23. Helsinki natives *25. Troubadour’s creations (2 words) 27. Synonym for enough 28. Chip selection 30. Moriarty, to Holmes 31. Kind of Internet service (2 words) 34. Grow yellow, as a banana 35. It can hold your horses?

36. Window section 38. Roads (abbr.)

39. Use a peeler on *40. Taylor Swift song (2 words) *45. Friends and family (2 words) 50. “Terrible” monarch 51. Fine, in Spanish 53. State Farm guy

DOWN

1. Inning for stretching?

54. Actress ____ Gilbert of 2. “___ had it!”

“Roseanne” 3. TV host Kelly ____ 55. “Look at the facts!” (2 4. 1988 Olympics city words) 5. Sweeties... or a hint to 58. Whiner 60. Absolutely perfect (2 words) solving the answers to this puzzle that are 8 or more 62. Class that Mr. Smithyman letters long teaches at BVNW (abbr.)

6. Architectural curve 63. Apple on a desk?

7. It is represented by Sn 65. Durango, e.g. (abbr.)

8. Anna’s query, “Do you 66. Anagram of “sap” want to build a _______?”

67. “Beats me,” in chat lingo 9. Sarajevo locale (abbr.)

10 Unable to be talked out of *68. Song by The Supremes (2 words) 75. “To ___ is human...”

11. Aches (for) 76. Shakespearean denial 12. Paper fastener 77. Olive ___ (Popeye’s lover) 13. River to the Bay of Biscay 78. Most common word in 14. Van man English 15. Last name in communism 79. “You stink!”

16. Island known for immi81. Sneak across the border gration 85. Paid athlete 17. Pals, in chat lingo (abbr.)

86. A time for romance... or when the answers to the starred 19. Cargo haulers 20. Bouquet items clues may be relevant 22. Periscope part 89. Cone-producing tree 24. Lathers 90. Seventh Greek letter 26. Virgo’s month, for the 91. Lubricate most part (abbr.)

92. Coastal bird 27. Showed on TV 94. Distort 29. Whack 96. Don’t prefer 31. “I double-dog ____ you!”

98. Late English princess 99. One may be thrown into the 33. Turning point?

35. Keep 37. Songwriter Clapton 39. Dawdling 40. Word with jacket or story 41. Elliptical outlines

42. Leave 43. Opposite of WSW 44. The shorter you are?

45. DNA testing facility 46. Bear, in Spanish 47. Indigene 48. Wear away, as soil 49. Fell prey to quicksand 52. Where “F” means “Ford” (abbr.)

53. Web app platform 56. Ad-libbed bit, for short 57. ___ chi 59. Part of a Big Mac 60. Number on a sunscreen bottle (abbr.)

61. Diminutive 64. Noted news network 69. Celestial object 70. Used a stun gun on 71. Church song 72. Mammal sometimes whacked?

73. It’s not pretty 74. “Well, well, well!”

82. Spork, e.g.

83. “Scram, ya varmint!”

84. Chewing like a beaver 85. Buddy 88. Party dish 93. Clear (of) 95. Alias letters (abbr.)

97. ___ Tzu, Chinese philosopher

suDOKu

By Avery Mojica FIND ANSWERS TO THE CROSSWORD PUZZLE ONLINE, AT BVNWNEWS.COM 28

the express | February 2015

the express | February 2015

29

OPINION

Education needs enrichment

by Olivia Baird

A few weeks ago in my Spanish class, we flipped through the typical slideshow of conversation-starting topics in order to practice our Spanish-speaking. Among the cheesy questions that awkwardly incorporate vocabulary, a slide popped up that asked, “What are you passionate about?” To my surprise, I could not find the words, English or Spanish, to formulate an answer.

That very prompt has troubled me

since. I’m in the process of choosing colleges, majors and professions I’m interested in, yet I don’t know what my passions are. How do I decide on such things if I’m unaware of my own interests?

Grade school, middle school and even freshman year incorporated enrichment in the classroom, allowing us to explore educational topics as well as exploring our own minds and interests. Now that I am in more advanced classes, my sense of discovery has been smothered.

Many of my days are chock full of mindnumbing work; I have become an expert at robotically filling in worksheets, writing essays and doing what I am supposed to do. These things may translate well on my grade card, but my passions and interests simply cannot be unlocked by bubbling in memorized answers on a Scantron.

The fact of the matter is this: passion can’t be found in the pages of notes I take each day. I won’t find my passions among the answer choices on a multiple-choice

As someone enrolled in four weighted classes, I’m used to a lot of extra work. I’m accustomed to little sleep, and I’m more than familiar with 12 hours of homework on the weekends. I signed up for hard classes because I relish challenges, and I crave pushing myself, oftentimes, to a point far from sanity. I’m learning more than ever this year; however, with all this extra work and strain honors and AP students take on, we desperately need a break--a real break--without homework.

Teachers tend to assign homework over breaks to be able to get more done, and we continue doing things this way because we think there aren’t alternatives that will provide adequate results. We can do things differently, however. In fact, there are extremely successful schools that currently prohibit homework over breaks.

Students frantically await winter, spring and summer breaks for a chance to catch up on desperately needed sleep, to enjoy family we never get to see, and to have uninterrupted freedom to let our brains recharge. This idea sounds magnificent, a grandiose allure that keeps so many of us pulling through finals week. Newsflash:

our long-awaited breaks aren’t even breaks at all. Every AP English junior is about to take on yet another strenuous assignment over spring “break,” and try to do everything the very best we can between road trips and family obligations.

We’re faced with the agonizing choice between challenging ourselves or choosing to take easier classes and getting a break.

This doesn’t need to be the case.

I know that teachers, AP specifically, have strict syllabi to follow. I know they try their best to fit all the work that needs to be done in the allotted number of school days. I’m not accusing anyone of outright ignoring our needs, but there are other options. In 2011-2012, our AP test pass rate was 70 percent. Palo Alto High School in California has a policy against homework on breaks--even for AP classes. They have a 95 percent AP test pass rate. According to Debbie Whitson, AP Macroeconomics teacher, the school has a high achieving group of students who don’t need work to “keep up” over breaks. Most teachers at Palo Alto do reviews of past material the first few weeks back from a break, and they still manage to get all required work

worksheet. It surfaces during thoughtprovoking conversation and lies amongst curiosity and exploration.

Why, then, are we not offered the chance to delve into our curiosities during the school day?

The issue isn’t the format of school; it’s necessary to teach the skills of following directions and listening. The real problem is that we have forgotten that among the class structure, curiosity should be encouraged, and enthusiastic learning should be valued above memorization.

A change every student would welcome is a sense of interest. We must incorporate self-discovery into the curriculum, whether it be through self-structured writing or having the ability to delve into the topics that appeal to us personally. In order to discover our passions, we must be allowed to discover ourselves. Higher-level classes should not sacrifice stimulation just for the sake of standardization. They should welcome it.

Breaking backs over “break”

30

by Natasha Vyhovsky

done each semester. She said it pushes AP teachers to prioritize assignments and get the most out of class time. She said winter, spring and summer breaks only spread out work; teachers can still teach everything required, they simply have to condense it to a couple class periods rather than the few weeks off school for breaks.

Honors students put in endless work for months. We signed up for extra work, which we do every every weekend and every night until the wee hours of the morning. With this work, we desperately need a break now and then without having to sacrifice the extra learning we crave.

FIND COLUMNS, REVIEWS AND MORE ONLINE AT BVNWNEWS.COM

thE ExprEss | dEcEmBEr 2014

STAFF EDITORIAL

It is our problem The common justification for not doing something has become “it’s not my problem.” We like to place the responsibility on everybody else’s shoulders while subtly removing it from our own.

It’s easy to remove ourselves from situations if we pretend like these issues don’t even exist or affect us.

Douglas Adams discussed this concept in his novel “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” He said “[It] is something we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem.” Granted, this might be a fictitious piece of writing, but it really does apply here. Whether we’re silently watching that one kid cheat in chemistry or we’re avoiding that coffee spill in the locker area, we’re closing ourselves off. If we keep falling into this pattern of ignoring issues because we assume other people will do them for us, we will cease to even acknowledge that these tasks exist. It might seem easy and ideal in the moment, but in the long run it will end up being quite detrimental.

Not to say that we’re all self-absorbed cronies, but we tend to give up the ability to critically think by leaving problems to someone else.

As we all saw in last week’s Husky Headlines show, when a student blatantly cheated on a quiz, nobody stepped up and called him out on it. It doesn’t seem like the student’s peers were immoral lemmings, yet even though they could have easily told the teacher in private, they avoided the situation altogether. This is most likely due to the diffusion of responsibility—they all assumed somebody else was going to take care of it.

Take a second, and think. If you leave that task to someone else, and they leave it to another person, most likely nobody will ever actually do it. Unless we want to live in a world where it’s every man for himself, we need to start maintaining accountability. Do we really want to be known for being a self-absorbed school? It’s essential to stop saying “someone else will” and start saying “I will.”

do you ever avoid responsibilities because you assume someone else will do them?

Yes 85% No 15% out of 505 students polled during lunch Jan. 30.

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