The Express - February 2016

VOLUME 23 | ISSUE 4 | FEBRUARY | BLUE VALLEY NORTHWEST HIGH SCHOOL

“White is a common thing here. If you’re not white, you kind of pop out.”

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Feature

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Change of mind

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Balancing identities Leading up to the Diversity Assembly Feb. 5, students and staff open up about personal experiences and diversity at BVNW.

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Government jobs, dinner table talks

Students, teachers, alumni and college admissions professionals uncover the systematic reasons for the culture of cheating in our schools.

Senior Alec Feather and his parents describe their engagement in the political world and how it has helped shape Alec’s political identity.

Searching for a cure Senior Suruchi Ramanujan’s research on Alzheimer’s, motivated by her grandfather’s death, has earned her accolades in national science fairs.

CONTENTS

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Senior Hollie and sophomore Gavin Mullin’s dad has battled brain cancer that affects his personality and the family dynamics for 13 years.

Behind the grade

Sophomore Grace O’Grady holds up her phone to show her favorite horoscope app, Daily Horoscopes. Students share t he impact of horoscopes on t heir daily lives on page 22 (photo by Nicky Lentsch).

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Opinion

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Studying stars

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A rare event

BVNW community members debate the truth behind Astrology and horoscopes.

Senior Allie Ranallo and her mother are planning a fundraiser to raise awareness for rare diseases, which have affected her family.

Entertainment

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Perspectives

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Student life is showcased through a variety of photos.

Contact Information

Mailing address: 13260 Switzer Rd, Overland Park KS 66213 Phone: 913-239-3544 Website: BVNWnews.com

Responding to the Publication

Letters to the editor can be submitted electronically on our website at BVNWnews.com under the “Contact Us” tab. Letters may be published either on BVNWnews.com or in our print edition.

Letters must not contain personal attacks against an individual and may be edited.

Advertising

The Express and BVNWnews.com accept advertisements.

Pricing and information can be obtained by contacting us at BVNWnewspaper@bluevalleyk12.org.

Purpose

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 the February issue of Volume 23. Subscription rates are $10. The Express is printed by Sedalia Democrat, 700 S Massachusetts Ave Sedalia, MO 65301. 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 | ISSUE 4 | FEBRUARY 2016

Classic is not diverse

Sophomore Lauren Fischer discusses the need for modern and diverse books in ELA classes and the benefits of including these books.

I’m not sorry Senior Natasha Vyhovsky evaluates our tendency to overapologize and discusses being sorry-savvy.

Cheating more than ourselves Cheating our way to college can mean taking college admissions and $20,000 scholarships from those in our class.

THE EXPRESS STAFF EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Natasha Vyhovsky

BUSINESS MANAGER Madison Graves

REPORTERS

Olivia Baird

Lauren Fischer Eden Kurr Gabe Swartz Xiqing Wang Kaitlyn Noon Brandon Fagen

FEATURE EDITOR

PHOTOGRAPHERS

PRINT EDITOR

Laney Breidenthal

ONLINE EDITOR

PHOTO EDITOR Emily Staples

Justin Lehtinen Jack Oxley TJ Vore Nicky Lentsch

OPINION EDITOR

ARTIST

PUZZLE EDITOR

ASSISTANT ADVISER

Avery Mojica

Kimberly Hillstock

SPORTS COORDINATOR

ADVISER

Emma Bruce

Ayesha Vishnani

Morgan Lewis

Abdul Qaddour

Jim McCrossen

CHIEF WRITER Claudia Chen

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Senior Hollie Mullin, her sophomore brot her Gavin, her mot her Gail and her fat her Rob participate in last year’s Relay For Life at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park March 6-7. Mullin and her family participated in Relay For Life for t he full 12 hours to help t he event raise $213,000 for t he American Cancer Society. “Relay For Life really brought t he community toget her,” Hollie said. “It was awesome seeing everyone support each ot her and come toget her for a great cause” (photo courtesy of Hollie Mullin).

Head to head with cancer

by Natasha Vyhovsky

Hollie and Gavin Mullin deal with the recurrence of their dad’s brain cancer and the challenges the illness brings on their family.

At the age of five, senior Hollie Mullin was doing all the things five-year-olds do - like getting ready for kindergarten and learning to read. But instead of her dad walking her through phonics, Hollie was helping him relearn the alphabet and simple words, teaching him to read again in the process. “ [She has] always been very mature for [her] age and analytical, but definitely I think that made Hollie grow up pretty quickly just because our family dynamics changed in so many ways,” Hollie’s mom, Gail, said.

Thirteen years ago, Rob Mullin was diagnosed with brain cancer after doctors discovered a tumor the size of a large orange in his occipital lobe.

After surgery, chemotherapy and radiation and an original projected life expectancy of four to seven years, the family received news last summer of three

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new tumors in Rob’s brain - stage two, in the center, making them inoperable.

Radiation worked to shrink them, but the family is now at a standstill.

Hollie’s brother, sophomore Gavin Mullin, said he was too young to remember much about the diagnosis and treatments.

Through doctor’s visits, diagnoses and treatments, the Mullin family has to constantly adapt to changes in daily life, specifically, watching Rob slowly become a different person in many aspects.

“After his initial surgery, his IQ dropped by 28-30 points,” Gail said. “ Words are difficult; he still says ‘he’ for ‘she’ and ‘up’ for ‘down,’ and he has to really be careful when he’s picking up things like knives because his brain can’t differentiate between the sharp side and the dull side and the handle.”

Then, Gail paused, her voice getting

quieter, “Temper.”

“That’s something very different that I noticed,” Hollie said. “ Do you notice it?” “ Yeah, I notice it...I don’t really remember before his first tumor just because I was five...but this last time I really noticed the temper the most.”

Gail started to cry as she explained. “ He just has a shorter fuse, I think now; but it’s not his fault - it’s just where the tumors are.”

Gail said the worst days for the family are when they lack communication and she feels her kids are hurting. “ That hurts me, because I know I get frustrated like, ‘Why is his temper so bad?’ and it’s something I’ve had to work on because I know sometimes Hollie feels put in the middle,” Gail said. “ I think the worst day is when I feel like I let Hollie down.”

Gail said, while marriage is an effort

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itself, when a chronic illness is introduced, it puts more strain on the marriage financially, emotionally and spiritually. “ Even though Rob’s here, there are certain things about him that I miss from the way he was before,” Gail said.

Rob said his transition has been one of coming to terms with his growing limitations and dealing with the frustration that ensues. “ I’m a different person than I was,” Rob said. “ I get frustrated because of things flip flopping in my mind, so it’s very difficult, I think, for them, because when I get frustrated I’m snappy...and it’s not like I intend to.”

The hardest part of her dad’s recurrence, Hollie said, has been dealing with it her senior year. “ I know it sounds really selfish, but when he got his recurrence last summer, I was just like, ‘Why did this happen now?

I just really want to enjoy my senior year and have a good time.”

Because Rob had to leave his job as an account manager at Sprint and go on disability, Gail said Hollie has had to work every summer since she was 14 in order to buy things she wanted. She said she feels this has made Hollie different from typical teenagers who have things handed to them.

Hollie said while she feels a situation like hers would typically hurt her academics, she has instead been motivated to work harder because of it. “ If he were to pass away I just don’t want any regrets,” Hollie said. “ Not that I would disappoint him... but before he got his cancer, he was very smart and he could do all these things, so it’s like, I can do all these things, so I want to do them the best I can.” “ You’re very much like your dad before he was diagnosed,” Gail said to Hollie.

“Analytical. Very quick. Very focused.”

While grappling with Rob’s illness, the Mullin family has helped other brain tumor patients and caregivers in Kansas City since 2005 with their organization, Be Head Strong.

The Mullin family was friends with a man who was diagnosed with the same kind of cancer as Rob, and before he died, he asked the Mullin family to start an organization in Kansas City to help people with necessities such as groceries and bills.

The organization hosts an annual auction to raise money in addition to the corporate sponsorships and donations.

The auction will be March 6 this year, and all the proceeds go to Be Head Strong, which worked with St. Luke’s, KU and Children’s Mercy to provide help to 52

families last year.

For Rob, the organization allows him to connect with others going through his situation and relate to things only other brain cancer survivors can understand, such as personality changes and a loss of basic skills.

Rob said coming to terms with his changing personality as a result of his condition has meant getting to know himself again and learning to find joy in new things. “ Some things that I enjoyed, I couldn’t do anymore, and so you kind of have to find what things do I enjoy now, and that’s definitely been a challenge,” Rob said. “ I find more joy in hanging around with the kids and getting about to be with them and watch them grow up, and being able to be a bigger part of their lives has been the biggest part of it.”

Gail said, while the family’s journey has flipped their lives upside down, she hopes Hollie and Gavin are impacted from their adversity in a positive way. “ I hope Hollie and Gavin - five, 10, 15, 20 years from now - can always look back at their dad no matter where he is in his battle at that point and say, ‘This helped form who I am as person,’ and use it to better themselves and better other people as well,” Gail said.

Right: Hollie Mullin, her brot her Gavin and her fat her Rob pose for a photo on a family trip to Disney in 2004.

Mullin’s fat her said, “It was awesome, it let me enjoy time wit h t he family wit hout having to t hink about t he disease for a while,” (photo courtesy of Hollie Mullin). Left: wSenior Hollie Mullin’s fat her Rob’s brain scan taken in 2015 by an MRI scanner at KU Medical Center. Mullin’s fat her at t he time was diagnosed wit h t hree new tumors in t he middle of his brain t hat could not be surgically removed (photo courtesy of Gail Mullin).

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Balancing identities

by Eden Kurr and Xiqing Wang With politicians discussing policies related to immigration and a Diversity Assembly Feb. 5, the BVNW community provides insight on their individual experiences balancing cultural identities.

From building a wall to requiring identification cards, politicians are discussing a range of approaches to immigration and minority related issues. Eight individuals came directly from another country to BVNW this school year, according to records provided by registrar Laura Hughes.

While Diversity Club advisor Sarah Derks said she is not sure how politicians’ comments affect immigrants at BVNW, sophomore Sunny Henein, who moved from Egypt in 2005, said Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s comments show his lack of sensitivity toward minorities. Among the top presidential candidates, Trump has proposed restrictive measures on immigration.

“It makes me a little uncomfortable, and I don’t see fairness being represented in his words,” Henein said. “I think it’s a good thing to try to make America a better country, but you have to include everybody else.”

“I Wouldn’t label myself ‘American’” Henein speaks English and Arabic. She celebrates Christmas in December and in January. She eats burgers and fries, and baklava and koshari. She is a citizen of the U.S. and a citizen of Egypt. However, if questioned, she would identify herself with one of the two cultures.

“I consider myself Egyptian,” Henein said. “That’s where I was born. I wouldn’t label myself ‘American.’ If you’re American, you’d have to be a certain color. White, or maybe African American. I feel like if someone looked at me, they wouldn’t say, ‘She’s American.’ They would think I’m something else.”

Henein moved from Cairo, Egypt to the U.S. in 2005, when she was five years old. Henein said her family moved to the U.S. for better job and educational opportunities.

“I remember I was kind of excited to come to a new country,” Henein said. “But I was also kind of scared of meeting ‘foreigners,’ even though I was the foreigner.”

Because of her ethnicity, Henein said she faced difficulties growing up and felt like she did not fit in. She said she was part of a Girl Scout troop of all white individuals with the exception of herself, and she said she always felt like the odd one out.

“I occasionally think that people are a little bit racist because I’m either not the same skin color or the same race, so I’m treated differently sometimes,” Henein said. “Some people

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wouldn’t talk to me or wouldn’t be friends with me.”

Henein’s mom, Dolly Abdou, said it was difficult for Henein and her brother, Tibere, to adapt to the American lifestyle.

Abdou said the move was more challenging for Tibere than Sunny because Tibere was older than Sunny when they moved.

“They were out of the society,” Abdou said. “They were not born among the people here, so some kids wanted to be friends with them, and some didn’t.”

In order to help her kids adapt, Abdou said she got involved in a lot of their school activities, including holiday parties and athletic events. She said this allowed her family to get to know more people and adapt to American culture more quickly.

Abdou also said she would try to facilitate friendships to help her kids connect with others.

“I invited a lot of the kids to our house,” Abdou said. “I invited them to [eat] some of our food. I tried also setting up play dates and hanging-out dates with them and the parents so that they would be able to make friends. I also made friends with their moms, in hopes that if moms are friends, the kids will be friends, too.”

Henein said there is increased pressure on immigrants to fit in because of the need to assimilate into a new culture.

“Every country has their own ways of life,” Henein said. “And you might feel strange coming into a new place and making all of these new adjustments.”

Henein said she felt especially pressured to fit in due to the cultural differences between her and her classmates. She said she used to bring traditional Egyptian food to school for lunch, but because of people’s reactions to her food, she started to bring what are considered American meals for lunch.

“People would make fun of me and ask a bunch of questions like, ‘What are you eating?’ or ‘That smells funny,” Henein said.

Abdou said it took a long time for her family to adjust to the move from the city life of Cairo to the suburban life of Overland Park. She said she will never feel as comfortable living here as people who were born in the U.S. feel.

“I can’t say we’ve fully adapted,” Abdou said. “No matter how many years you live anywhere outside of your country, your heritage and your culture will still be controlling the way you behave and the way you talk. It’s just that you become acquainted, and people become used to you.”

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Sophomore Sunny Henein and her fat her Maged stand in front of t heir church’s Egyptian-t hemed boot h at t he Kansas City Et hnic Enrichment Festival August 2015. Henein and her family moved to t he United States in 2005 from Cairo, Egypt. “I love t he diversity of Nort hwest because it gives people t he chance to experience and learn about different cultures and religions t hat t hey are not normally accustomed to,” Henein said (photo courtesy of Dolly Abdou).

“It’s like I’m two people” Sophomore Michael Reyes stared down at his hands, silent, as he contemplated his family’s history.

“I don’t know how I exactly feel,” Reyes said. “Mad, I guess. I feel like I need to fit in with my Mexican culture, because if I don’t they’ll say I’m just a white kid - a Mexican that wants to be white - and if I try to fit into white society, I’m being told that I’m just a Mexican that wants to be a white person.”

Reyes said people who don’t understand his family’s background are a main source of conflicting feelings when it comes to his heritage.

“It’s like I’m two people,” Reyes said. “I can either be this or that; I can’t really be both because I would be criticized or judged by society.”

Reyes was born in Kansas, and he grew up in Overland Park, but his mother is from Veracruz, Mexico. He said that because of his family’s heritage, fitting into American culture can be difficult.

“White is a common thing here,” said Reyes. “If you’re not white, you kind of pop out.”

Reyes’s mother, Maria Lopez, moved from Veracruz,

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Sophomore Michael Reyes stands in front of a banner symbolizing t he unison between Mexican and American culture in his house. Alt hough Reyes was born in Overland Park, his mot her immigrated from Mexico (photo

by Justin Lehtinen).

Mexico, when she was 21. She got a job in the U.S. and made a life for herself. Reyes translated for Lopez in the interview.

“When my mom got here, she couldn’t do the same things that she did in Mexico without being judged or criticized,” Reyes said.

However, Lopez said she feels content in Kansas despite many new cultural norms, like being unable to celebrate the holidays she could in Mexico. Lopez saved up barely enough money to make it to America by plane.

Reyes said the hardest part of having Mexican heritage is being torn between two different societies.

“Sometimes I’m confused on what to do with both the American culture and the Mexican culture,” Reyes said.

He said he often faces prejudice from others when it comes to his heritage and the language he speaks at home.

“When I call my mom, and I have to talk in Spanish, but I’m with a whole bunch of people that don’t know Spanish, it feels weird and out-of-place,” Reyes said.

Lopez said although the immigration process was difficult, her journey has led to an improved life for her family.

“Without my heritage, I wouldn’t know everything I do about both Mexican culture and American culture,” Reyes said.

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ALEXIS JOHNSON, 11 Kylee Xu, 11 “There’s definitely a stereotype about the way a black person would speak-they kind of see it as an accent, a way someone would talk. Or sometimes people assume that someone is illiterate because of the way they talk. When people believe in stereotypes, it’s disappointing.

It’s like saying that I wouldn’t be as educated as another race. It’s kind of sad that it’s been so long and this still happens.”

“I don’t know much about other people’s religions, so sometimes they tell me stuff that I don’t understand. In AP U.S. History, we always learn about Catholic people coming here, and I don’t really understand the terms they use very often, so I have to study more. It’s just sometimes weird for me, because my friends always ask me to go to youth groups with them, and it just makes me feel awkward.”

Kayla Conner, 12 Siri Panchananam, 11 “In first grade, I had a birthday party and there was this girl who was really mean and I went upstairs to tell on her or something, and I just sat on the stairs, and she told everyone that she hated me because I was black.”

Parth Shah, 11 “It’s a little awkward when people ask me questions about my background, because growing up in an Indian household, I don’t want to say that I’m not Indian. When you’re a kid, you hang around with your parents a lot, and you go with your parents everywhere, so I was more exposed to the Indian culture. But then as I grew up and came to high school, I started becoming more extroverted and reaching out to other people.”

Matthew Lin, 10 “My parents always tell me that, on the inside, I’m Chinese and not American, and I have to retain that culture. But I’m happy with the way I am. I wouldn’t want to change my ethnicity with my family and background. That’s what makes me unique, and I appreciate that.”

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“Balancing two cultures just goes along with going to school and then going home. Going home, I feel more Indian than usual, because my mom is running in different languages, and I’m like, “Whoa.” But coming to school, I just talk like usual and leave my religion out of it. It’s kind of like Hannah Montana, except I’m OK with showing my other side and I don’t hide it. I can’t hide it.”

Mary Andrade, 11 “We bring diversity up but it’s not as often as it probably should be. It’s an uncomfortable topic for us, and it’s Johnson County too, ‘the bubble,’ and I feel like we’re not as willing to talk about it as we think we are. We just need to be willing to learn about other people and their backgrounds, and we shouldn’t be living in a world where people don’t like each other because they look different or they are different than you. You should just like everyone.”

Caleb Powell, 9 “Culture is your background, or traditions.

Ethnicity is classification: say, a sub sandwich versus a hoagie sandwich.”

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Diversity demographics at bvnw*

China, 1 Pakistan, 2 Saudia Arabia, 1 Vietnam, 1 Venezuela, 1 Brazil, 1

India, 1

*Demographics represent the number of individuals who came directly from another country to BVNW for the 2015-16 school year. Information provided by BVNW’s registrar, Laura Hughes.

Hispanic

Other

Year

White

AfricanAmerican

2011

79.4% 79.0% 77.5%

3.9% 3.8% 4.0%

3.8% 3.7% 4.6%

12.9% 13.5% 13.9%

76.2%

4.3%

5.0%

14.6%

75.5%

4.8%

5.4%

14.2%

2012 2013 2014 2015

Information gathered from the Kansas State Department of Education report card on BVNW student body population composition.

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Left: Ramanujan lifts samples of organic molecules from a container of liquid nitrogen. “I do some of the data collection,” Ramanujan said. “But [for] data synthesis, I generally stand behind and watch on that because I’m not super familiar with the techniques” (photo by TJ Vore).

Right: Ramanujan feeds cells she uses for research with media in the lab at the KU Medical Center (photo by TJ Vore).

Searching for a cure

by Abdul Qaddour

Senior Suruchi Ramanujan’s research on Alzheimer’s disease was motivated by the death of her grandfather when she was younger. Her research on the subject recently led her to being named a semifinalist in the Intel Science Talent Search.

B

efore elementary school began, senior Suruchi Ramanujan’s grandfather died from dementia. While not a disease itself, according to Mayo Clinic, dementia is a set of symptoms that leads to a decline in mental abilities that gets worse over time and can sometimes be fatal. Whenever Ramanujan asked her family members on specifics about dementia and how exactly her grandfather had died, she received very few answers in return.

“I like to solidify things,” Ramanujan said. “(I thought) if no one knows what exactly is happening in this disease, and other people are going through the same thing, then there’s definitely something I can do about it.”

With this mindset, Ramanujan conducted a science project in eighth grade on Alzheimer’s, the most common cause of dementia. This project was based off the idea that an increase in oxygen to the brain could slow the onset of Alzheimer’s. This project ultimately led her to be awarded an international finalist in the Google Science Fair.

Although she had always had an interest in science, Ramanujan said it was not until she did this experiment that she discovered a branch of science that truly interested her.

“The project was very simple, but I decided it was a stepping stone for future research,” Ramanujan said. “That’s when I decided to make a connection between (my project and career) and decided exactly what I wanted to do with my future.”

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Using this background, Ramanujan began volunteering at KU Medical Center with researchers Russell Swerdlow and Heather Wilkins her sophomore year. In the lab, she researches mitochondrial bioenergetics in Alzheimer’s disease.

“The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell,” Ramanujan. “In Alzheimer’s disease, what we see is lower energy metabolism by the mitochondria. My project involved adding nutrients in order to see the effects.”

In the lab, Ramanujan helps with the specific research process through doings things like feeding and splitting cells, separating DNA, as well as collecting data.

“Initially, I thought I was going to do independent research there, and I could make my own science fair projects,” Ramanujan said. “I ended up just doing the work that they do there, and so now I’m a part of their team.”

Wilkins said she is impressed by Ramanujan’s proactiveness of pursuing research at such a young age.

“We’re a graduate level research laboratory,” Wilkins said. “So, for someone who’s in high school to come in, it’s very, very impressive. She has to learn a lot of stuff that you really wouldn’t learn until college.”

Ramanujan was named a national semifinalist Jan. 6 for the Intel Science Talent Search for the research she conuducted at KU Medical Center. But outside of the lab, Ramanujan has also pursued advanced levels of education.

Ramanujan took AP Calculus and Honors Biology in eighth grade and AP Biology as a sophomore. Biology teacher Jeremy Mohn, who taught Ramanujan in both biology classes, said he saw a motivation in Ramanujan for research that was unlike most students in her grade.

“I know that Suruchi, specifically, is motivated by a desire to help others and to gain knowledge that could potentially be used to treat disease,” Mohn said.

Ramanujan’s father, Sam Ramanujan, said he has witnessed Ramanujan mature throughout high school and through pursuing research.

“I think she has matured significantly,” Sam said. “(She) is able to manage time really well and sets goals a lot more carefully. Obviously, when she was younger we guided her a lot more, but in the last four years, she has been able to set goals based on what’s available in school.”

He said although Ramanujan spends a lot of time on research and academics, she still has a good balance of other activities outside of these.

“Even though (Ramanujan) has produced quite a bit in science and so on, it doesn’t take over her life,” Sam said. “I am assuming she misses out on some partying and so on, but she does activities...she does tennis and dance and so on.

It is a balance.”

Although she has been pursuing research for several years, Ramanujan said she does not see herself stopping anytime soon.

“I’ll probably continue my research [in college],” Ramanujan said. “I won’t have exactly the same research path, [so] I‘m probably going into someting similarly related.”

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Perspectives Photos of Husky life

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1. Juniors Dev Ojha, Maya Caldwell, Amanda Nguyen, Katie Dean, Alan Zulcic and senior Jackson Lange participate in an out-of-class activity during math teacher Jamie Finical’s seventh hour Honors Pre-Calculus class in the Atrium Jan. 20. The activity was to help review for the class’s upcoming mastery quiz over the Unit Circle.

“We took our learning outside of the classroom to understand the layout of the unit circle,” Lange said (photo by Jack Oxley).

2. Junior Emily Hiser gets advice from art teacher Christine LaValley after school for her Ceramics class. “Art has no limit,” Hiser said (photo by Justin Lehtinen).

3. Senior Sam Elliott lines up to wrestle a Blue Valley High School opponent for a dual in the Auxiliary Gym. BVNW won the dual 43-21 Jan. 8. “There’s a lot of work that goes into wrestling,” Elliot said (Justin Lehtinen).

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4. Anatomy teacher Keri Schumacher demonstrates the path of blood flow using hand motions in the Atrium with her sixth hour Anatomy and Physiology class (photo by Emily Staples).

5. Junior Ross Alumbaugh plays his violin in a string quartet during Symphonic Orchestra Jan. 8. Alumbaugh and the members of the quartet were practicing Joseph Haydn’s “Op. 1, No. 2 Finale” in preparation for the upcoming regional solo and small ensemble festival April 9. “It has been a very enjoyable and somewhat challenging piece to work on,” Alumbaugh said. “I look forward to seeing what the final product is in the end” (photo by Jack Oxley).

6. Junior Caleigh Plymale sings in choir with juniors Lily Sha and Rosa Hocking. Plymale is part of Chorale. “Choir is definitely the time in my day where I get to not stress about school and have fun with everyone there,” Plymale said (photo by Nicky Lentsch).

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7. Sophomore Jackson Heath prepares to take a free throw during the boys varsity basketball game against Blue Valley High School Jan. 8. The boys varsity team won the game 7154, making their record at the time 4-0. “It was not our best game, but we played hard as a team and pulled out a great win over Blue Valley,” Heath said (photo by Jack Oxley).

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8. Orchestra teacher Michael Arbucci informs attendees of the eighth grade enrollment night Jan. 20 about orchestra at BVNW. “We had a great time at eighth grade enrollment night; it was fun to see all the eighth graders and introduce them to orchestra,” Arbucci said (photo

by TJ Vore).

9. Junior Megan Courtney ponders what to draw in art teacher Stephanie Dalley’s fifth hour Design Fundamentals class. “Mrs. Dalley makes learning different techniques fun and engaging,” Courtney said (photo by Justin Lehtinen).

10. Senior Grant Pasowicz gives blood in the Auxiliary Gym for the Community Blood Center, hosted by National Honor Society. Each student was required to give a pint of blood, which will be given to people in need of blood transfusions (photo by Justin Lehtinen).

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Behind the grade

by Claudia Chen, Madison Graves and Morgan Lewis

I

Students and teachers reflect on the nature of cheating and how it transfers into the college atmosphere.

t started with telling a friend a few words on the quiz, but it quickly escalated into a chain of photo messages distributed to dozens of students. Two years ago, then a sophomore, senior Jack Gould began a system of memorizing and sharing vocabulary words for vocabulary quizzes in ELA teacher Bill Smithyman’s Honors English Language Arts class.

“Eventually someone found out, called in all the people [involved, and] I was traced back to the source, and I got caught,” Gould said. “I don’t normally cheat, [and] I don’t like to cheat. I regret it a lot.”

Gould is not the only student who has ever been part of cheating at BVNW; in fact, according to a randomized poll given during Advisory Jan. 21, 46 percent of BVNW students have helped someone else cheat, and 54 percent have cheated themselves.

Gould said while it is unethical and immoral to cheat, students sometimes cheat or act in an academically dishonest way simply to get the points or receive a good enough grade.

“I would probably say getting a good grade is the primary motivator [to cheat]...the culture of points that is generated by our education system, our environment and our social culture in general,” Gould said. “All that stuff motivates people to make their situation the best they can regardless of how it affects other people or regardless of the way in which they do it.”

Math and engineering teacher Karen Stohlmann, who dealt with a cheating incident earlier this year, said that the assignments and other things she assigns points to are ultimately for students’ learning.

“What I assign is never about the score,” Stohlmann said. “It’s always about what you learn from completing the assignment.”

Stohlmann said she sees a higher level of point and grade desperation in her more advanced classes. And while earning points is never the purpose or end goal when she gives assignments, points help incentivize completion of

assignments. And when completed honestly, Stohlmann said assignments lead to learning.

“Points and grades - that’s the currency that we have in high school,” Stohlmann said. “If I don’t give homework points, the urgency to complete my assignment, timemanagement-wise, is lower than somebody else who gives points.”

According to the KU Honors Program admissions, students accepted into the honors program last year averaged a 32.4 ACT score and a 3.95 GPA. Likewise, a 32 on the ACT and a 3.85 GPA automatically gets students who are admitted to KU a $20,000 scholarship from the university over four years. Assistant director of admissions for the KU Honors Program Ujash Patel said scholarship money and getting the grade for a high enough GPA are both reasons that cause cheating.

“Whenever I look at admissions into the Honors Program at KU, a student’s unweighted GPA is about 20 percent of the equation for getting into the program,” Patel said. “I think that for a lot of students, the pressure does get to them. On the flip side, I think a lot of it has to do with a lack of personal drive. Students do look for the easy way out.”

Once a student is admitted into college or a specific program, Patel said students who habitually cheat through high school have a much harder transition into college. “[In college,] you’re moving at a much more rapid pace, so if you didn’t take the time to do your due diligence and actually prepare and study and do these things in high school, you are going to have an even tougher transition,” Patel said.

“Students that do cheat in high school, I honestly believe they will have a significantly tougher time learning and achieving good grades in college.”

2015 graduate Rachel Chalupa, who now attends Creighton University, said that if a student cheats their way to a high GPA, that student is setting him or herself up for unachievable expectations in college.

“Colleges aren’t looking at who can cheat the best, by any

54 percent of BVNW students report that they have cheated, during a random poll of 439 students in Advisory Jan. 21. (photo by Emily Staples).

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means,” Chalupa said. “They’re looking at your ability.

And if your ability to keep up with the class and learn the information is not accurately reflected in your grade point average, then you’re not doing yourself any favors, because the college then will have expectations for you that you no longer can hold because you never once did that work in high school.”

According to BVNW assistant principal of curriculum and instruction Katie Bonnema, punishments for academic dishonesty at BVNW vary on a case-by-case basis. Punishments can range from receiving a zero on an assignment and a phone call to parents, to removal from honor societies, to an in school suspension and, in some cases, all three.

“The teacher is the first level of involvement,” Bonnema said. “They will typically bring the matter to the attention of administration.”

Despite these punishments, oftentimes they stay within the halls of BVNW. The Director of Admissions at the University of Kansas, Lisa Pinamonti Kress, said KU admissions offices do not look at academic misconduct such as cheating and plagiarism on transcripts when admitting students to the university.

So, while getting points and a good grade is a motivator to cheat, Smithyman argues that college admission is not the reason students cheat.

“I don’t think a kid plans to cheat; I don’t think a kid looks at ‘I wonder who’s looking at my transcript,’” Smithyman said. “My transcript as it relates to college is not why I, in the moment, decide to look at my neighbor’s test. It’s not why, in the moment, I pull a study guide from online that I can print off versus one that I do myself. That is an immediate gratification thing. I have kids who cheat in the moment because it’s just easier.”

Although cheating may seem like a quick and easy way out, Gould said he has seen people spend more effort to cheat than to learn the actual material.

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“I have found people who have legitimately gone to much more effort than it would take to learn the material in cheating,” Gould said. “A lot of the things people cheat on like vocab quizzes and short memorization things, it would require minimal efforta short, few minutes of studying [and] going over the material to get it done the legitimate way.”

Aside from punishments from administration and teachers, Smithyman said there are definitely moral and social consequences if caught cheating.

“I have kids who have a hard time making eyecontact with me in the halls because they may have cheated or plagiarized,” Smithyman said. “I do think one of the consequences is [feeling like] ‘I don’t want my teachers to think ill of me, I don’t want my teachers to underestimate me...or think I’m not a great kid.’”

THIS IS A LOT EASIER SAID THAN DONE, BUT MAKE [SCHOOL] ABOUT THE LEARNING. - senior Jack Gould Senior Nate Kochuyt said that while academic dishonesty exists, he always completes his own work.

“I think that you should always just do your own work just because school is about learning,” Kochuyt said. “Even if I don’t get [something] done, I know that it’s my own work.”

Kochuyt also said that he understands the reasons why people cheat, but the knowledge gained through doing one’s own work is worth staying academically honest.

“With [all] that pressure on you, it doesn’t surprise

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Have you ever cheated?

Yes 54.44% No 45.56% Maybe 2.05% Have you ever helped someone cheat?

Yes 46.01% No 53.99% The Express conducted a randomized poll of 439 students during Advisory Jan. 21. me in the slightest of people being academically dishonest,” Kochuyt said. “That being said, I myself am involved in musicals, plays - I’m here until 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. every single night, but I still try to find the time as best as I can to do my own work.”

Smithyman said that students are ultimately responsible for the decisions they make on whether or not to complete something with complete academic integrity.

“I think it’s easy to say, ‘Well, the system makes me cheat because the system is so hard,’” Smithyman said.

“That’s true, [but] the other system that’s really hard is any degree you get after high school, you know. So we teachers kind of think we’re preparing students for a real world where there are consequences.”

Although Chalupa said she can understand why someone would blame the system for making them cheat, she disagrees and says students know what they sign up for, and blaming it on the system is not a legitimate excuse when it comes to college courses.

“In college, if you know you’re going to struggle with things, you can take 12 credit hours as opposed to 18,” Chalupa said. “You can’t really blame it on the system

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because you are the one deciding how much you can take on. You can’t get mad at a professor for assigning an essay that’s due next week, because that’s just the way the ball rolls in college...and you’re here to learn how to manage your time...and when you have so much time outside of classes, I really don’t think you can blame anyone but yourself if that ends up becoming a problem.”

Gould said he regrets the decision he made sophomore year, and he thinks it is important for there to be consequences for breaking school rules. However, he also said that a change within the overall educational culture could help shift a student’s mindset from earning points and making the grade focus to valuing the knowledge and learning the material.

“This is a lot easier said than done, but make [school] about the learning,” Gould said. “Emphasize in classrooms, in the way we go about teaching and the way we organize our rules, that it’s not all about GPA, good scores, all that stuff. Emphasize the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom.”

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Government jobs, Dinner table talks With the upcoming presidential election, senior Alec Feather reflects on how his parents’ experiences working for the government has impacted his involvement in politics.

by Ayesha Vishnani When President Obama faced off against Mitt Romney in the 2012 elections, a young citizen spectator took a seat on the couch next to his parents, and began his own political journey.

Senior Alec Feather began paying attention to the political world during the election process four years ago. Alec, who is now the co-president of the Political Science Club, said he watched the election process play out with the guidance of his parents.

“After the Obama election, I began following current events,” Alec said. “I followed them kind of passively. I wasn’t involved; I didn’t have specific candidates I supported. But I followed things like Guantanamo Bay (and) the war on terror.”

With more exposure, Alec said he began forming a political identity.

During this period, Alec said he considered himself very liberal, partially as a reflection of his parents. His mother said she identifies as a Democrat on most issues, whereas his father said he would identify as a fiscal conservative and a social libertarian.

Alec said he also benefited from his parents’ experiences in working for the government. His mother, Ginger Feather, worked as a

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translator for the Department of Defense (DOD) and worked for the Pentagon at different sites translating Russian, Arabic and French.

She said her work focused on identifying terrorist activities underway and providing information for groups such as the White House, the Department of State and the United Nations.

After 9/11, the family moved to Overland Park, and Ginger taught Arabic and Russian at Johnson County Community College. She said her experience working for the government and interacting with youth has allowed her to have specific political goals.

“Politically I think my goals are to get the generation to kind of dig deeper and understand the issues so that they can make better choices and be knowledgeable about what’s actually going on in the world,” Ginger said.

Ginger said one of the ways Alec has been able to expand his approach to the world is when he took Russian at JCCC and accompanied her to Moscow where he studied at Moscow State University.

She said this required him to engage in the

Russian language and with the people if he wanted to learn or fulfill basic needs.

Ginger said she encourages Alec to become accustomed to and aware of his surroundings through real world experience.

“We’ve raised them to be independent and not be afraid of places or people,” Ginger said. “Often, young people are treated like babies or young children instead of like the future. By treating them like they do have answers, I think that’s enabled Alec to come up with answers.”

Alec said an important part of this process was the political engagements at home. He said his family normally watches major political events together from inauguration addresses to important speeches by Congress. Additionally, whether at the dinner table or on a long car ride, current events are a regular topic in the household.

Due to interactions with his parents, Alec said he has been able to have a better approach with others when engaging in political discussions.

“Oftentimes respect and fair treatment go out of the window in politics,” Alec said.

“In specific interactions, I have recognized opportunities to belittle or treat someone like a child merely because they don’t have specific information or can’t articulate what they think, and I’ve ultimately realized that’s a vicious circle.”

Alec’s father, David Feather, worked for the Department of Energy in Washington, D.C. during the Reagan, Clinton and Bush administrations. David said the approach he has to political discussions with Alec and the family reflects how he grew up.

“We had six kids, and I remember at

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Senior Alec Feather and his family stand in front of George Washington’s house in Mount Vernon, Va. At the time the picture was taken, Feather was 11 years old (photo courtesy of the Feather family) the dinner table there would be constant discussions about people taking different points of view and arguing them,” David said. “In many cases, it wouldn’t have to be point of views you supported.”

David said this, combined with his experience in seeing politics firsthand, has enabled him to encourage Alec to defend his stances.

Because Ginger is working on her PhD in Political Science with a focus on women in the Middle East, she has a specialized approach to politics, whereas discussions with his father are more overarching and philosophical. Alec said as a co-president of Political Science club, he is forced to stay informed on a daily basis.

“It’s one thing to sit in a chair, listen and point out my opinions,” Alec said. “It’s another thing to be the guy in front of the room who is then sometimes taking heat; you don’t want to say something that’s incorrect.”

Feather, like his parents, said he has learned it is important to take new sources that are known for being skewed one way or the other with a grain of salt.

“I’d say...watch a little bit of Fox News,

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read a little bit of the Washington Post, watch a little bit of the Daily Show. None of those sources on their own are necessarily going to be great, but you’ll have all the different viewpoints and you can form your opinion rather than being told what to think on a specific issue.”

Alec said other ways he has engaged in politics is hosting a watch party for a debate, following candidates closely and donating to a candidate he admires. He said he recently donated $3 to the Bernie Sanders campaign.

WITH MY FRIENDS AND PEOPLE WHO I KNOW WON’T PUNCH ME IN THE FACE, I REALLY LOVE PLAYING DEVIL’S ADVOCATE BECAUSE I LIKE HEARING ALL THE OPINIONS SURROUNDING AN ISSUE.

-senior Alec Feather

Although Alec said he expresses his personal views during Political Science club and with his parents, he also attempts to understand other viewpoints.

“With my friends and people who I

know won’t punch me in the face, I really love playing devil’s advocate because I like hearing all the opinions surrounding an issue,” Alec said. “Take environmental regulation...that’s something I would play devil’s advocate and say, ‘Well, why don’t we just stop all environmental regulation and trust in the innate goodness of mankind?’ which isn’t necessarily what I think. But I’d really like to hear what other people think regarding that.”

Alec said he seeks to find a balance between challenging views and being a leader by taking a more conciliatory route when discussing certain issues. He said the influence of his parents and the experience he has gained as co-president of Political Science club has enabled him to realize his desire to compromise and mediate policy.

In the future, Alec said he wants to major in political science, and if he excels in the field, he hopes to act as a diplomat or work at an embassy in another country.

“I would always prefer to bring a small group of people together and to talk about something, understand where everyone sits,” Alec said. “Mostly, I want to build bridges, and I don’t want to burn them.

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Studying stars

by Emma Bruce

Astrology is perceived differently among members in the BVNW community. Students and staff share their views on the it and their experiences using stars as a prediction method.

According to astrological beliefs, if Mercury is in retrograde, you might have a tendency to go back over prior events. For believers in astrology, the motion of planets, like Mercury, can influence their actions and decisions in their lives. Some take it seriously, others use it for fun and some do not believe at all.

Astronomy teacher Sarah Derks said people have been studying stars for thousands of years. Astrology is the use of constellations and alignment of planets as a means of determining one’s personal and emotional pathway, according to Derks, and astrology was once the leading science due to lack of empirical evidence for anything else. She said it was also used for entertainment.

“We have TV, and iPads and iPhones; [people during the time astrology was first studied] had nothing,” Derks said. “They had this beautiful, brilliant, unencumbered night sky, and so it was a new story every year.”

Senior Tasia Jewel said she uses astrology for entertainment, and she said her interest began over the summer through a friend. She said she liked how closely she resembled the traits of Aries, the zodiac sign she falls under due to her birthday.

“I just love astrology [and] how it can describe someone,” Jewel said. “It kind of justifies my relationships with people and who I am, [why] sometimes I act the way I do.”

Junior Kaylan Moore said she also became interested in

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astrology due to the similarities between the personality traits of Virgo, her zodiac sign, and her own personality.

Moore said she checks her horoscope roughly once a week on the app Daily Horoscope. The app offers multiple types of horoscopes and a zodiac compatibility calculator. “[Daily Horoscope] has your yearly (horoscope), and it also has your Chinese horoscope,” Moore said. “The Chinese one is based on your year instead of your month, so there’s a different animal each year... it goes more into what your year is going to look like instead of just your day or your month.”

Sophomore Grace O’Grady said she also uses the Daily Horoscope app. She said her interest began last year after seeing her weekly horoscope on the Cosmopolitan Snapchat story.

O’Grady said she checks the Daily Horoscope app almost every day.

“I really like reading the daily (horoscope),” O’Grady said.

“That’s probably my favorite, because sometimes it will give me a hint about my day like, ‘Watch out for this,’ or like, ‘Be weary of this,’ or it can help me relate to what I’m going through sometimes.”

Jewel said she connects with astrology because it is believable to her. She said she does not take it extremely seriously, but she does believe the stars have an effect on human lives.

“As an Aries, I’m very free spirited,” Jewel said. “I’ve

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Junior Kaylan Moore holds up her phone to show all the different horoscope signs on the app Daily Horoscopes. Kaylan is a Virgo and started reading them her freshman year. “One day I heard about what zodiac signs were, so I was curious about what my sign was,” she said (photo by Nicky Lentsch). [practiced] lots of different religions, I’ve kind of explored. I don’t see astrology as ‘this is the way I live my life,’ but it is something that I connect with and is a part of my life, but isn’t my religion or what I base my life off of. So I guess I would say [I study astrology] for fun, but it’s still something that I think is somewhat true.”

Derks said when she reads horoscopes online, she believes they are fitting to her personality to an extent. However, she said she also believes she could find somebody under the same zodiac symbol that did not fit the description and that there is no science behind astrology, to her knowledge.

“I think there’s been enough research, maybe there’s more psychology behind [zodiac symbols], but I don’t know [if there is science behind astrology],” Derks said. “I would venture to say no, because the alignment of the stars and where the planets are and how close the stars are to us shouldn’t have any effect on the month I was born or what my personality is going to be.”

Moore, however, said she believes it is possible there is science behind it despite no evidence of it.

“There’s a bunch of stuff we don’t know, so it’s very possible, and I do believe that it has some influence on us and that we just have no scientific way of proving it,” Moore said.

With the new understanding of astronomy, scientists now have knowledge of the relations of Earth, the planets and stars.

Derks said, at the time astrology was coming about, scientists also believed the Earth was the center of the universe. “[The] closest star is four light years away, so that’s 9.7 trillion miles times four,” Derks said. “It’s very, very far away, and it has no bearing on my life whatsoever.”

Moore said astrology is a fun hobby, but she knows it can be inconsistent. Both Moore and O’Grady said they use their

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Sophomore Grace O’Grady checks her horoscope using the app Daily Horoscopes. O’Grady started getting into horoscopes her Freshman year. “I like that it gives me hope that my day will turn out good, and it has become part of my routine,” O’Grady said (photo by Nicky Lentsch).

horoscopes for advice and tips instead of taking it close to heart.

“If I am stressed out or I’m mad or I have really strong emotions, I’ll go look at [my horoscope] and see if there’s a reason or something...that I can go do or fix,” Moore said. “I think that’s really cool to go look at. Even though I don’t live by it spiritually, it’s also like a good advice thing.”

O’Grady said she thinks there is some science to astrology, but she mainly just enjoys it as a fun activity.

“I guess I just kind of like to think there’s a layout,” O’Grady said. “I don’t like not knowing what’s going to happen, so I like to plan out my life and my future, so I like having a thing every day telling me what my day’s going to be like so I don’t have to worry about it.”

Derks said she thinks people follow astrology because they want to believe in a greater power. She said the popularity of astrology goes in waves depending on the stress levels of the nation and if they have other things to worry about.

“We want something beyond ourselves to control, because sometimes if we can’t feel like we have control, then something else has to have control and maybe don’t want to believe in Allah or Buddha or God...we need to believe in...something we can see,” Derks said. “I can see the stars... There’s definitely a little bit of nature in it, and some people like that connection to nature.”

Jewel said she thinks astrology is important because it can be used as a tool of self discovery and can help you find your way.

“That’s what I needed at the time I found astrology,” Jewel said. “I was still kind of lost, in a way, so when [my friend] told me about astrology, I was like, ‘I’ll look into this.’ As much as some people think it’s dumb, it helped me find myself and peace within myself and knowing who I am.”

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A rare event

by Lauren Fischer

Senior Allie Ranallo poses for a photo with her parents Kelly and George for an article in the magazine “Parenting Children with Special Needs” discussing Ranallo’s experience with Turner Syndrome. Ranallo is taking part in her mother’s organization RareKC’s fundraiser Feb. 29 for rare disease awareness and research. “The idea for RareKC has been in the making for two years and this is the first year we are doing a fundraiser,” Ranallo said.

“The idea started on the way down to the Lake of the Ozarks with me, my mom, and one of my best friends,” (photo courtesy of “Parenting Children with Special Needs”).

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Since she was four, rare diseases have been part of senior Allie Ranallo’s life. This has given her a passion for educating and spreading awareness, and she is now planning a fundraiser with her mother that will get Kansas City involved in the fight against rare diseases.

Rare diseases have been a common occurrence in senior Allie Ranallo’s family.

When Allie was four years old, her younger sister Katie died unexpectedly from an undiagnosed rare disease. Allie herself was diagnosed at eight with Turner Syndrome.

Biology teacher Jeremy Mohn described it as a rare disease caused by a complete or partial absence of the second sex chromosome. However, Allie said she has used her experiences to fuel her passion for spreading awareness and educating others about rare diseases.

Allie and her mother, Kelly Ranallo, are organizing a fundraiser on Feb. 29, World Rare Disease day, to help raise money for the families of people affected by rare diseases and spread awareness for these diseases. According to the National Institutes of Health, a disease is considered rare if there are fewer than 200,000 affected individuals in the United States.

The idea for the fundraiser began two years ago. Allie, her mother and her friend senior Vibha Agarwal were discussing how they could impact families whose lives have been touched by a rare disease.

“When you have that small a number, it’s hard to find coordinated care, and in many cases it’s hard to find providers who even know what the disease is, let alone ever treated somebody with it,” Kelly said.

The fundraiser is organized by RareKC, a non-profit organization helping families who have been affected by rare diseases.

Kelly started RareKC in 2015 and the

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organization has grown rapidly since then.

“One of the purposes of creating RareKC is really to create initiative [for rare diseases] and create a platform so that those families who are small in number individually based on their actual medical diagnosis, or their genetic condition can come together and we can build a stronger voice and fight the challenges,” Kelly said.

Agarwal said the idea for RareKC has changed and developed over the years, and has grown bigger and better.

“At the beginning, [RareKC] was going to be more of just an awareness campaign...”

Agarwal said. “I would have never imagined that we would have gotten here.”

The first part of the fundraiser will be a town hall meeting at the Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City.

Kelly said the goal is to raise awareness for rare diseases and discuss what innovation Kansas City needs to become a national leader in treating rare diseases.

“I think the primary thing [the fundraiser] will do is bring awareness, and I think that’s the biggest thing we can do,” Allie said. “The topic of children’s research and the topic of rare diseases isn’t something that’s studied much or something that is brought up.”

Allie said RareKC is also trying to turn Kansas City denim blue on Feb. 29 by telling businesses, schools and people in the Kansas City region to wear their favorite jeans and share what makes them unique on social media.

“Having a rare disease is unique and it’s not necessarily unique in a bad way,” Allie said.

Allie and Agarwal said their current role in the fundraiser is to help manage the social media aspect of the event.

Allie and her mother said they have grown closer by working on this fundraiser.

“Most people would maybe feel sorry for [Allie]... [but] to see her take that challenge and turn around and make it a passion not only for herself but to impact [other people], there is nothing that could make me prouder as a mom,” Kelly said.

Allie said the fundraiser has impacted her life. “[The fundraiser] has given me a lot of opportunities to meet with the families of people who have rare diseases... which has been amazing because they have amazing stories to tell,” Allie said.

Kelly said all eyes will be on Kansas City on Feb. 29 to see if RareKC can make the fundraiser successful by turning the city denim blue for the day. Kelly said that if this fundraiser is triumphant, many cities will follow suit and try to spread more awareness for rare diseases.

Allie and Kelly said they are very excited for the impact the fundraiser will have on those affected by rare diseases.

“It’s made me realize how lucky I am, because a lot of these children have diseases that are even more rare than mine,” Allie said. “Seeing the children themselves and how happy they are is very inspiring.”

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Entertainment

CROSSWORD

by Avery Mojica

Title: 19 and Counting

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To comply with constraints, hints indicating abbreviations or multiple words are not included in theme.

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CROSSWORD CLUES ACROSS 1. Mediterranean island 6. Small piece of jewelry 11. It’s a common drone zone 14. Having a curse or spell 15. Victims of many a prank 16. Outcome of excavation 17. Thematic clue, part one (4 words) 20. “Love and War” singer ___ Ora 21. “I can ___ Cheezburger?” (meme) 22. Neil, Patrick or Harris 23. A cause of wear and tear 24. Wayside Waifs adoptee 25. Pain-sleep medication (2 words) 27. A socialist candidate 29. Overwhelm with comedy 30. Trivial Pursuit piece 31. The home of Luxembourg 33. Congregational reply 34. Thematic clue, part two (2 words) 38. A sound of lamentation 39. Prior ___ (an early heads-up) 40. Dadaist sculptor Jean ___ 41. Hike up a tall mountain

43. Pickle-making company 47. Job offering at Target 49. Schedule preposition 50. “Seriously...” in text chat 51. Concerns for a primper 52. Resident of a jail cell 53. A city north of Anaheim 54. Final piece of the clue (2 words) 57. Suffix with end or send 58. Baby nocturnal hooter 59. “Calvin and Hobbes” girl 60. Famous guitarist ___ Paul 61. Makes a cardigan, maybe 62. Current Syrian leader

SUDOKU

DOWN

1. Small, angel-like cupid 2. Make edits to, as a story 3. Historic English city 4. Kilo- times one billion 5. A last name in ice cream 6. It’s also called A sharp 7. “I’ll pay you back” papers 8. ___ Jonas who created DNCE 9. A historic Brazil city 10. One place to find Seals? (2 words) 11. “And yes, that’s the truth” (3 words) 12. Rice ___ (a Kellogg’s cereal) 13. Reply from a Magic 8-Ball 18. Show set in a Boston bar 19. “More than I need to know” 24. Twelve-time papal name 25. Storm ___ (weather warning) 26. There’s 16 on a chess board 28. Inert gas used in light 29. Invoke heebie-jeebies 32. A tenant’s counterpart 33. In Poseidon’s homeland 34 . A movie by Henry Selick 35. Tunes like “Hit The Quan” (2 words) 36. Wonderful and godlike

37. 11-time Final Four champs 38. Big thing at McDonald’s?

41. 2010 chart-topper for Kesha 42. Having all new linings 44. Result of a coming exam 45. Large Spanish airline 46. Ran after a convict, say 48. Lawn cultivation tool 49. Electric cars by Chevy 52. Online tech review hub 53. Measuring units for A/C: 54. Zero, for soccer scores 55. ___ Whitney (cotton gin guy) 56. Luggage-screening org.: Abbr.

by Avery Mojica

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Opinion

Classic is not diverse by Lauren Fischer

sophomore year, I am disappointed. In two years of high school ELA, I have only read two books that do not have a white male protagonist. While it is impossible to incorporate books including every race, books with characters differing from the standard should be included in our ELA classes. People want to read books with characters who allow them to explore new types of storytelling.

You will meet your stereotypical As classic as they are, some novels we George, Ralph, Paul, Chris and Holden in read are just tired. There are many new your literary journey at BVNW. These are ways of life in the 21st century that these only five of the numerous white male older books simply cannot portray characters that dominate the books anymore, making them less relatable. If students read in ELA. Protagonists that we were exposed to modern material in differ in race and gender are rare our ELA classes, students would shed a occurrences, as are books from the 21st new perspective on their everyday life, century. and not just life in the 1900s.

As I think back to all of the books we Despite the importance of new and read throughout my freshman and diverse literature, the classic books we

read should not be completely ignored.

There are approved novels such as “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros that have characters differing in race and gender. The novel focuses on a young Latina girl named Esperanza and her experiences growing up in a rough neighborhood in Chicago. Books like this would expose students to a different kind of narrator.

I recently watched a TED talk by Chimamanda Adichie, a Nigerian novelist.

In the talk, Adichie discussed the danger of only reading one side to a story.

Adichie’s talk made me realize how small of a perspective we have gained from reading “one story” in our ELA classes. We as students have been exposed to the dangers of a single story, and if it continues we will never know what true diversity looks like.

when we don’t know the answer to a question. We need to stop apologizing when we mean to say “thanks for listening” or “thanks for your patience.”

I’m most guilty of this personally — I apologize instinctively every day. I worry about being too abrasive or insensitive; it’s so common to unnecessarily apologize in certain situations that it feels weird not to.

Recently, I apologized to a friend “for being such a mess” after I unloaded an episode of quiet tears in his car. He asked me about life and if it would feel good to cry, and before I knew it I was doing just that. So why did I feel the need to apologize to him three times for using too many of his tissues and bringing down his Saturday night? He invited the emotional conversation to happen, he encouraged me to cry, and I still felt like it would be rude to not apologize .

We apologize for our emotions constantly without realizing how wrong that is. Thank people for being there for you - but don’t apologize for needing

them or for having feelings.

When we are conscious of our empty apologies, the less we will worry about being rude by saving our apologies for when we mean them. And when we save them, they will mean much more.

My goal is to save apologies for three occasions: If I’ve made a commitment I can’t keep, if I’ve hurt someone or if I’m offering someone my sympathy for a situation I wish he wasn’t faced with.

I’m no longer going to apologize for having an unfavorable opinion, taking my time, running late, asking too many questions, crying or not understanding something.

And when I say “I’m sorry,” the people around me will be certain that I truly am.

I’m not sorry by Natasha Vyhovsky “I’m sorry I’m talking so much, but — ”

The girl across the room in class, sharing an idea.

“I’m sorry, I fell asleep.” My friend responding two hours later to my text.

“I’m sorry I’m taking your time.” The classmate who asked me for help with her assignment.

“Can you help me get that shirt down?

I’m sorry…” A customer at work, asking me

to do my job.

Somewhere along the line, we created a culture that feels obligated to apologize for being human, and consequently, one that has deteriorated the weight of a true apology.

Why do we apologize for speaking? For sleeping? For asking for help? Why do we involuntarily fill spaces in conversations with apologies when we’ve done nothing wrong?

Why do we apologize when we truly mean to say thank you?

We seemingly have an underlying guilt for bothering others, so we apologize when we feel we’re taking too much time or

30

THE EXPRESS | ISSUE 4 | FEBRUARY 2016

Staff editorial

Cheating more than ourselves It’s the day of the test — you are nervously erasing your answer, unsure of the formula you’re supposed to be using. You look up and see the boy in front of you glancing at another classmate’s answer. Feeling the blood rise to your face, you realize his cheating could potentially increase his class rank, bumping you down several places, and the $15,000 scholarship you applied for could slip through your fingers.

We hear it all the time: when we cheat in school, we’re only cheating ourselves.

However, that’s not at all the case. When we cheat on tests, projects and assignments in school and standardized tests, we are cheating every single person involved. We are cheating the students in our class out of class rank that lead to college admissions and scholarship money.

Do we consider how much some people rely on an honest system — one where their success depends on working hard in the same way as everyone else — to be able to pay for college?

At BVNW, the unwritten rule we follow is never narking on your fellow classmate, so it would be improbable to expect everyone to change that overnight. However, we need to alter our thinking and become aware that our five minutes of cheating can cause people to struggle to make ends meet, forcing them to work a part-time job to pay for tuition they could have gotten a scholarship to pay for.

Every one of us is guilty of cheating in one way or another at some point. Many of us have asked to copy a friend’s worksheet because we did not complete it; many of us have sent the answers to an assignment to a classmate who didn’t want to do the work.

The culture of cheating on a large scale won’t change until the education system in our country makes some drastic changes; however, we as students can recognize that cheating — especially on tests — affects the other students in our classes and the colleges that are duped into giving scholarship money for dishonest work.

Cheating in school will eventually catch up to us, but we all know that. What we don’t acknowledge is how many people around us might struggle because of the corners we cut. The next time we catch ourselves making a habit out of cheating, or cheating on something especially significant, let’s think about the value of the points we’re taking in terms of someone’s college fund.

Would you report cheating?

Yes 34.62% No 62.87% Maybe 2.51% The Express conducted a randomized poll of 439 students during Advisory Jan. 21.

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THE EXPRESS | ISSUE 4 | FEBRUARY 2016

editorial cartoon by Madison Graves

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