ACUMEN March 3, 2021: Through the Looking-Glass

MARCH 5, 2021 VOLUME XVIII ISSUE III

P ride & LOPOrejudice KING-GLASS THROUGH THE

Dearest Reader, ewis Carroll’s 1871 children’s novel Through the Looking-Glass follows young Alice’s return to Wonderland and her adventures in the magical world. Carroll’s sequel to his 1865 classic, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, tells the story of the young girl after she steps foot through a mirror into a strange and unusual house. Through fields of talking flowers, games of chess with a ruthless queen, and series of non-sensical poems, new mysteries lie around every corner of this mystical land.

In this issue, we step through a looking-glass of our own into the lives of students and their own adventures here, mirroring those that Alice experienced herself.

We hope to show you the magic of everyday life and the mysteries it holds through the lenses of those around us, and we sincerely hope you enjoy this issue of the Acumen as much as we have enjoyed creating it for you.

L

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Olivia Childress Editor-in-Chief

Through the Looking-Glass Queen’s Gambit Magnifying Microbes Body Positive Cat Crazy It’s a Small World After All Stuck in a Bubble Looking in a Mirror Eat Me For the Aesthetic Looking Back Dear Me, FRONT OLIVIA CHILDRESS EDITOR IN CHIEF OLIVIA CHILDRESS ASSOCIATE EDITORS PRANAV JOTHIRAJAH KAROLENA ZHOU DESIGN TEAM CHENYAO LIU SAUMYA SOMASI ARCHIT KALRA RAGHAV SRIRAM ZAINAB IDREES DARSHINI SHANKAR

WORDS CADY ARMSTRONG ANIKET BISWAL ANDREW CAITO EMILY CARLISLE TESSA COLLINSON

EDWARD DONG SAM HAWKINS ALLY HORWITZ ZAINAB IDREES SARAH KIM

04 06 08 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26

MADDIE KOSC KIERSTEN RIEDFORD RAGHAV SRIRAM GRACE XU

GRAPHICS RHEA ACHARYA EVA GLAZIER LILLIAN HE VALLIEI CHANDRAKUMAR SAM HAWKINS CHENYAO LIU EDWARD DONG PHOTOS NICK BECKMAN CALINA HE SHRUTHI RAVICHANDRAN VALLIEI CHANDRAKUMAR MADDIE KOSC KIERSTEN RIEDFORD MARISSA CHESLOCK

THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS 3.05 03

Check out classic novel’s plot, timeline of Lewis Carroll’s Alice series, adaptions GRAPHIC OLIVIA CHILDRESS

SOURCES SPARKNOTES, LEWIS CARROLL SOCIETY OF NORTH AMERICA, LEWIS CARROLL CENTRE

The Story Begins Alice sits in her rocking chair with her kitten and begins to tell the story of the “Looking-Glass House”, a world on the other side of the mirror where everything is backwards. As she steps through a mirror to arrive in the “LookingGlass House”, she finds a book and reads a nonsense poem titled “Jabberwocky.”

Alice leaves the house and wanders into a garden. Lost, she wonders out loud how to find her way, and a Tiger-Lily responds.

Other flowers join in and begin to mock her as Alice sets off to find the Red Queen. After she finds the Red Queen, Alice asks to join in a game of chess. The queen allows her to join in as the white pawn.

2 1

Alice inexplicably appears on a train with a goat, a beetle, and a man dressed in white paper.

She finds herself alone in a forest remembering nothing, not even her own name. After meeting a fawn who also has forgotten everything, the two carry on through the forest. As they reach the end, the fawn runs away in fear of Alice.

3

Alice Through the Ages Through the Looking Glass is published by Macmillan. The sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is wildly successful

Lewis Carroll 1832-1898

1871

Born Charles Lutwidge Dogdson, Lewis Carroll was an English mathematician and writer. Most well-known for his children’s fiction, notably his Alice series, Carroll is renowned for his wit and genius in his writing, incorporating mature themes and humor into his seemingly nonsensical tales.

1865 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is published by Macmillan, becoming one of the best-selling children’s novels of all time

After walking alone, she discovers two heavyset men named Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum. She gets the men’s attention and they alert her that Alice is only a figment of the Red King’s dream.

The two men get into a fight and Alice slips away to find the White Queen. She explains that time moves backwards and she must do the impossible daily.

4

Tim Burton’s live action film Alice in Wonderland is released

1951

2016

Walt Disney Animation Studios releases the hit animated film Alice in Wonderland

Tim Burton’s Alice Through the Looking Glass is released as a sequel to his 2010 film

Alice appears back in the forest to find Humpty Dumpty sitting on a wall, who preaches his ability to change the meaning of words at will. The forest shakes from a loud crash and the White King and his men rush to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. One of the men informs Alice that the Unicorn and Lion are battling in town, so she follows to watch the fight.

5

2010

She finds herself with the Red and White Queens who fall asleep in her lap. Their snoring sounds like music, and soon Alice realizes the queens have disappeared. She finds a castle with “Queen Alice” inscribed on the door. Alice walks in to find a feast that soon turns to mayhem. She pulls away the tablecloth and realizes...

...it was all a dream.

6

THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS 3.05 05

quEEN'S

GAMBIT “Queen’s Gambit” series brings out renewed interest to chess players WORDS ANIKET BISWAL, ANDREW CAITO PHOTOS VALLIEI CHANDRAKUMAR

F

or Akash “Reno” Bhowmik, Chess Club copresident and junior, chess has been a major part of his life. He said he knew the rules of chess and how to play in kindergarten and has since been fascinated with the game. Bhowmik said he started playing competitively after fourth grade and has competed in many tournaments every year, mostly individually. “[In middle school], we didn’t have a serious chess team so most of what I did then was individual,” he said. “I would travel to tournaments in Indiana, Ohio, etc. to compete.”

When he came to this school, Bhowmik said there was already a Chess Club that competed in tournaments in the Midwest region, but last year the club was disbanded due to a lack of members. He said he and a few of his friends decided to revive the club due to their shared interest for playing chess.

War and Pieces KING Each army has one.

Identifying feature: cross on top of piece.

A king can only move one space in any direction.

Thomas “Tommy” Klein, Chess Club member and freshman, said he got interested in chess from a much later age.

“I started playing chess in seventh grade but I only played for a few weeks then quit,” he said. “At the time, I wasn’t quite interested in chess as I am now.”

Klein said he got back into playing chess from watching a show related to it a few weeks back.

He said, “I watched ‘The Queen’s Gambit,’ which got me back into chess. I wanted to see if the school had a club where I could play and when I found this club, I reached out and joined.”

Because chess is such a strategy game, practice is key when deciphering the opponent’s moves.

Bhowmik said in-person meetings for the Chess Club usually focus on analyzing these moves.

He said, “Usually we just play games against each other and analyze different possible moves in those

Take a look at different pieces used in chess

QUEEN Each army has one.

Identifying feature: small sphere on top of piece.

A queen can move to any space vertically, horizontally, or diagonally.

BISHOP Each army has two.

Identifying feature: slit on top of piece.

A bishop can move to any space diagonally.

GRAPHIC VALLIEI CHANDRAK

KNIGHT Each army has two.

Identifying feature: looks like a horse.

A knight has to move three spaces in an L-shape path.

MAKE A MOVE Akash “Reno” Bhowmik, Chess Club copresident and junior, picks up a chess piece to make a move against his opponent during the Feb. 24 meeting in F108. Bhowmik said he values the friendships he is able to enhance through Chess Club meetings. games. Also, we usually (prepare) for upcoming tournaments so the analysis we do helps a lot for those.”

Klein said he agreed with Bhowmik and also added that it is usually Bhowmik who explains the tactics during those in-person meetings. As for virtual meetings, Bhowmik said the club usually meets virtually to discuss some strategies and analyze moves from other matches. Klein said the club also discusses tactics for upcoming tournaments.

Klein said, “When we play against each other (at in-person meetings), that just helps us with experience and general chess practice. When (Bhowmik) teaches us tactics and strategies, it helps us learn from our mistakes and helps us defeat our opponent swiftly. Sometimes, we might face the same position in the future so practicing those moves helps us in those situations.”

Chess Club sponsor Robert Holman said he typically puts “The Queen’s Gambit” on during in-person meetings so the team can learn from other possible positions on the chessboard. However, he said he does not interfere much with the normal proceedings of the club; instead, he said he just lets Bhowmik and the rest of the members just play and learn from one another.

Bhowmik said most weeks the club practices three to four hours across the week. He said most of these practices are by themselves and there is an hour-long practice at the weekly meeting.

Bhowmik said the club has several goals in mind, one of which includes placing as a top 10 team at the Supernationals chess tournament in May.

KUMAR SOURCE DICEBREAKER

s

ROOK Each army has two.

Identifying feature: looks like a castle tower.

A rook can move to any space horizontally or vertically.

He said, “Because there is no qualifying round for that tournament, many teams show up to that so we would like to get a top 10 honor at that tournament. If we do, it would be great to know we practiced hard enough for that spot.”

Klein said he likes the Chess Club because he gets to increase his tournament experience. He said, “I think it was pretty cool to have played in my first every chess tournament, and I feel like this club has allowed me to find a new activity I enjoy.”

Bhowmik shared a similar sentiment. He said, “Since I started playing at Chess Club, I’ve been continuing to practice my technique for our tournaments, and I sometimes set aside time to look at tactics, opening theory and strategy. I also sometimes play training games against other members of the club to diagnose my mistakes in certain positions, and I’ve been more confident in sharp and unclear positions.

“Chess Club has furthered my interest in the game,” he added, “and the opportunity to play with teammates at various events throughout the year has had a very positive effect on my progress.

Indiana doesn’t have as big of a chess community compared to other states like Ohio and Illinois, so being able to play chess with friends at CHS is A something I value.”

Check out the starting set up of chess

PAWN Each army has eight.

Identifying feature: large sphere on top of piece.

A pawn can move two spaces forward first move, one space forward normally.

THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS 3.05 07

MAGNIFYING MICROBES CHS science teachers, students share experiences conducting experiments during COVID-19 pandemic WORDS RAGHAV SRIRAM

S

PHOTOS CALINA HE

imilarly to how Alice falls into a new world when she looks through a mirror in Lewis Carroll’s 1871 fantasy novel, “Through the LookingGlass”, senior Lindsay Vrobel said she is always amazed when she looks through a microscope.

However, with the COVID-19 pandemic, Vrobel said something as simple as looking through a microscope has now become a challenging task. “(In botany) we did an onion lab where we were supposed to be able to look at the cells of an onion through a microscope,” Vrobel said. “We propped an iPad against a microscope and viewed it under the projector which reduced the quality of what we were seeing. It made it a lot harder to see the organelles of the cell which makes it a lot more tough to see and understand the cell structure.”

Vrobel is not the only student who has had difficulties conducting labs with restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Eric Guo, AP Chemistry student and sophomore, said he has had challenges adjusting as well.

“With in-person labs, everyone has to wash their hands and keep their masks on and maintain social distancing. We had more strict time-limits since

PLANT CELL Lindsay Vrobel, botany student and senior, focuses the iPad to view the contents under the microscope.

Due to COVID-19, botany students have been using iPads to view the microscope, as opposed to directly looking through the eyepiece.

we could not stay within six feet of each other for more than fifteen minutes,” Guo said. “We would also always get worksheets, but a lot of times I would find that people would not be able to get the worksheets done during the actual lab time, so we would have to do the worksheets on our virtual days rather than completing the worksheet as we were doing the lab due to time restrictions.”

Additionally, Guo said now that he is a virtual student he has had to face new challenges when performing labs.

“Our teacher takes a video of her doing the labs, and we do the worksheet that comes with the labs.

So we watch the videos and we do the worksheet,” he said. “To be completely honest, I don’t really like this way of doing labs because it is just not as interesting as doing the labs yourself. Also, I don’t blame my teacher for this because it’s hard to fill and do the labs at the same time, but a lot of measurements are not as clear and oftentimes the reactions are harder to see.”

Science teacher James Hambley said he acknowledges the difficulty of the current situation, however, he said he has found a silver lining when it comes to science experiments.

“During zoology, it is really hard to get a dissection completed in less than 15 minutes,” he said. “What I have been doing is setting up rotations where you don’t get more than 15 minutes next to any particular person. So it changed it in that instead of working on one specimen, some students were jumping between one specimen to another one and that made their new partner catch them up on anything different. Some individuals went from dissecting a male rat and then during the next rotation they are dissecting a female rat and would have to be caught up quickly by their new partner.”

However, Hambley said that this structure may have been a blessing in disguise.

“When students have to explain where they are at in the dissection and what parts they have already identified to somebody coming to the group it kind of forces them to be thinking about how they are going to explain it to somebody who is being added during the next rotation,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting it because it just seemed like the traditional way where you and your group are with one specimen the whole time seemed to work well.”

Hambley said he tries to find some labs students can still perform at home. For example, he had students in his botany class conduct a soil texture lab where they analyzed the amount of clay, silt and soil in their own backyards.

“Even though they were at home trying to do it virtually (the experiment) worked for some students and it just didn’t work for other students, which I think that is kind of how virtual has

More Than The Eye Take a look at some of the parts of a microscope

Nosepiece: houses the objective lens

Objective Lenses: the primary optical lenses of the microscope

Eyepiece: what you look through at the top of the microscope

Stage: where the specimen to be viewed is placed

Illuminator: the light source for a microscope

Fine Focus Knobs: used to focus the microscope

GRAPHIC SARAH ZHENG SOURCES MICROSCOPEMASTER

MICROSCOPE SETUP Lindsay Vrobel, botany student and senior, uses the new microscope set up. The iPad was elevated on textbooks and held up with a block, which lets Vrobel to look at a slide of a plant cell through the iPad without touching the microscope.

been going,” Hambley said. “Some students can roll with it. And for some students, it’s just this insurmountable barrier that is just really getting in the way of their education.”

Science department chairperson Jennifer Drudge said, “It’s been challenging this year to figure out labs that we have done in the past that may have been 60-minute or 90 (-minute) labs or perhaps of labs that have gone over the course in a couple of days and figure out how to incorporate those in the classroom. We know that students need to be active in their learning. We know that these labs are really important, but at the same time, we need to maintain social distancing, which has been tricky.”

Vrobel said, “Honestly, (teachers) are doing the best they can. If I would have to say anything it would be for teachers to designate students with a lab partner. If they get sick you quarantine and you just got one person you work with on your labs and you can work with them the entire time and they A are just your one person.”

THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS 3.05 09

BODY POSITIVE Students discuss reflection of social messaging on body image WORDS SAM HAWKINS

S

ophomore Tessa Specchio was in eighth grade when she realized not enough people were talking about body image and eating disorders.

“I had anorexia (eating disorder characterized by restriction of eating), I went through the whole treatment thing, and I was like, ‘This is terrible and this needs to be addressed.’ When you’re in that (treatment) you hear from a bunch of other people because we have to do groups and stuff. And everyone was talking and I was like, ‘There’s so many people here, so many people have gone through this and I’ve never heard anybody talk about it,’” Specchio said. “After that I was like, ‘We need to talk about this (issue), this is so serious,’ and nobody talks about it ever. I get to be the screaming voice amongst a bunch of people being silent.”

Since then, Specchio said she is doing as much as she feels she can do to open up the conversation, including going to walks organized by the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), and posting on social media, especially around National Eating Disorder Awareness Day. Specchio is not the only person to have noticed this disparity. Junior Roxanne “Roxie” Kays said she agreed.

“I think (body image issues) causes a lot of other things, such as diet or even eating disorder culture, (which) are big problems that I think we like to stray away from talking about because it is difficult to even acknowledge that this is even happening,” Kays said.

One of a number of causes of eating disorders like anorexia is a negative body image, a widespread issue that can begin at as young as six years old, according to NEDA. In 2018, multinational research group Ipsos found that as much as 79% of Americans feel dissatisfied with their body at times.

Teenagers are among the most likely to feel at odds with the way they look. About half of teenage girls and one-third of teenage boys report using unhealthy methods such as fasting and smoking to control their weight and appearance.

Amy Liptak is a mental health counselor who works with teenagers and adults on issues including depression, anxiety, LGBTQ concerns, body image and eating disorders. She said that one reason why this happens is because teens are more susceptible to negative messaging. “(Teenagers) are in a place in their lives where they are defining their own identity, learning to have relationships, whether it be friendship or a romantic relationship with others, and learning to cope with how others see them

SUBMITTED PHOTO TESSA SPECCHIO

MIRROR-CLE Sophomore Tessa Specchio poses in front of a mirror.

Specchio said not enough people talk about eating disorders and hopes to shine light on it.

and treat them,” she said. “This tends to be a more intense experience for teenagers, and once a person reaches adulthood, for the most part, the individual has learned more coping skills and developed more self-esteem around who they are and (with) being comfortable with their body.”

So what is this negative messaging? Liptak cited racism, stating it is the idea that lighter skin is prettier; norms around gender and gender expression; and fatphobia, among other things. She said media and social networking can influence what teens see as attractive and socially acceptable.

“Fatphobia is such a huge problem that we don’t even necessarily think about or want to talk about,” Kays

said. “You notice skinny people going and eating huge burgers and cake and entire tubs of ice cream.

And they’re “relatable” or they’re praised for it or it’s funny or it’s entertaining. But when a fat person eats, like, anything, or they show anything that’s not superduper healthy, strict eating, then they are attacked for it. And it’s not someone’s fault. Because that’s our implicit bias to society.”

Kays also said some of their struggles with body image stemmed from stereotypes about race. They said they often heard the phrase “chopstick thin,” a reference to the stereotype that Asians are very skinny or even underweight.

“And that is something that I think really was really difficult for me to deal with,” they said, “when I have this really toxic mindset, because I’m Asian, so I have to be super skinny, or I have to be this or that. And in America being adopted by white parents, it was always weird for me, because I wasn’t going up with the Chinese cultural background that my Chinese friends were going up with. But I clearly did not look white. And so I felt like I was kind of stuck in the middle there for a while.”

“I think if anything, it’s not even (that) you need to be super skinny,” Specchio said, “you need to be whatever you’re not. If you’re skinny, then you need to gain weight, and if you’re curvy then you need to lose weight because you’re fat…. Even the people that we idolize like Gigi Hadid has been told that she’s fat because she had a literal child. Everything that we see about ourselves that we don’t like is because of, like, the things that society has put on us.”

All three said they agreed, however, that the conversations around beauty and body positivity are changing, in such ways as Specchio has sought to create.

“When my mom was in college in high school and college, people who had anorexia were (said to have) “the skinnies” and they talked about it like it was just like some sort of diet, and now, eating disorders are talked about with the serious tone that they need to be talked about. I feel like a lot more people are speaking out about

SUBMITTED PHOTO ROXIE KAYS

CULTURAL COMFORT Junior Roxie Kays sits at their dinner table eating a dumpling.

Kays said stereotypes about race often play into issues with one’s body image.

They have often heard references to the stereotype that Asians are very skinny or underweight.

their experience with not being confident in themselves,” said Specchio. “We have tons of transgender people who are totally like being so open about the awful struggle that they’ve had to go through against and like really paving the way for a lot of other people. We have body activists that are like opening up, there are plus size models now and different size mannequins— a lot of stuff has changed.”

“Body positivity seems to be moving in the right direction, and I think that it will continue to get better,” Liptak said. “Conversations need to be open and honest about accepting and loving ourselves and A each other for exactly who we are.”

Body Image

GRAPHIC LILLIAN HE SOURCES MACMH, NEDC, TIME

Take a look at how body image develops over stages in ones lift PRESCHOOL

women men percentage satisfied with body percentage dissatisfied with body

NO BODY AWARENESS - children recognize themselves - start comparing self to others - body size awareness begins around age 5

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 47%

53%

50%

50%

- cultural factors start influencing body dissatisfaction - self esteem for girls and boys diverges with girls having it worse

Scan this to visit the NEDA’s official website

MIDDLE/HIGH SCHOOL 20% 30%

80% 70%

- awareness of importance of body image - competitive athletics can impact self esteem - focus on “fitting in”

THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS 3.05 11

CAT CRAZY CHS students junior Cecilia Meneghini, senior Kevin Dagvadorj take care of cats in various ways, advocate for volunteering at shelters Q&A & PHOTO MADDIE KOSC

Q&A- Junior Cecilia Meneghini How did you initially become involved with reTails Adoption Agency?

Over the summer of 2019 I saw a flyer advertised in PetCo looking for volunteers for ReTails and me and my mom thought it would be fun!

What is involved in your role as a volunteer at reTails?

I clean litter boxes, set up beds for the cats, give them food and water, and play with the cats!

Do you have a favorite memory from volunteering with reTails?

I remember meeting my cat, Ramona, while volunteering (at reTails). She was so sweet and we wanted to take her home right away. She is a maine coon.

Why do you think it is important to volunteer with these cats?

I love animals and always have! I want to make sure that they have someone caring for them, as I’m sure being in a shelter is scary (and frightening) for them.

How can others get involved with reTails Adoption Agency?

Cecilia Meneghini’s cat, Ramona, stares off into the distance. Meneghini met and adopted Ramona while she was volunteering at reTails.

SUBMITTED PHOTO CECILIA MENEGHINI

If you go into PetCo they have flyers advertised for volunteers! They have contact information on the flyers! We messaged the number on the flyer when we first started.

Q&A Senior Kevin Dagvadorj How did you initially become involved with fostering cats?

What is your favorite part about fostering cats?

I volunteered at a cat shelter with my friend who ended up fostering a litter of cats herself.

Eventually, she got me to do it and I adopted one of the cats that I ended up fostering.

My favorite part about it is meeting new kittens and just seeing these adorable fur balls come into your home to play around. I loved being able to just play with new cats every couple of weeks, see their different personalities, and then see them go to a new happy home at the end.

What is involved in the role of someone who fosters a cat?

You have to have a lot of time on your hands so that you can take the cats to the vet to get their shots as well as be spayed and neutered so that they are ready to be adopted by the next person.

You also have to have a lot of patience and energy so that you can play with them and so that they can get enough energy out of their systems.

How can other students get involved with fostering cats?

There are a lot of shelters around Carmel and central Indiana that need a lot of help. The one that I go through is Paws on My Heart and I know that you can get involved really easily.

Is there anything specific that you’ve learned, about cats or just in general, as somebody who fostered cats?

I learned that taking care of another animal isn’t as easy as it seems. There’s a lot that goes into it. There are small things like cleaning the litter box and feeding them, and then bigger tasks like making sure that they’re cared for just like any other member of a family.

Senior Kevin Dagvadorj poses alongside her foster cat Yuki. Dagvadorj said, “taking care of these cats is definitely not as easy as it may seem, but it is a very rewarding experience that I think more people should consider becoming involved with”

THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS 3.05 13

Multilin

Check out the mos

It’s a Small World

After All

Students, teachers share experiences on exposure to world languages, learning English as new language WORDS AUSTIN GUO

PHOTOS TSION DANIEL

GRAPHIC CHENYAO LIU S

B

MY NAME IS ...

Sophomore Zishuo Wang poses with a sign that says “Hi! My name is Zishuo” in his first language, Chinese.

Wang said, “When you speak a different language than English, it is kind of difficult because the environment of learning English is not there where I lived.”

efore moving to the United States, Fernando Yáñez, Spanish teacher and native Spanish speaker, spoke mostly Spanish in his daily life.

“I am a Spanish native speaker so I grew up in a Spanish-speaking country, in Spain, learning Spanish and going to a school in Spanish,” Yáñez said. “In high school, I started taking some English courses like students do here in Carmel.”

Yáñez later moved to the United States and was exposed to English, a language that he did not have much experience with outside of school courses.

“After high school, I didn’t practice much (English) probably in the next 10 years until I moved to the U.S. When I moved to the U.S., I basically started living in English and working in English and speaking with everyone in English,” Yáñez said.

While he had his struggles with the language at first, Yáñez said that his high school knowledge helped greatly with his learning of English.

“I knew very little (English) and I understood very little. I just had the foundation of the high school courses, but thanks to that foundation and a lot of practice and a lot of watching television and talking with people, I was able to understand more and more each time and I would say it took me at least a good couple of years for me to become comfortable,” Yáñez said.

Some world language speakers, on the other hand, had little difficulties with their languages. Junior Pol Berger Romeu said he learned Spanish, Catalan, and English in his childhood and that he can speak all of those languages comfortably.

“Since I moved here early, I didn’t really struggle to learn (English). (My experience) was just like any

Translatio

Check out some dai most common langu spoken by ENL stud

Language

Spanish: español Arabic: ‫( ةيبرعلا‬al ar Mandarin: 中文 (zh Gujarati: ગુજરાતી (g

Please por favor ‫( كلضف نم‬min fadhlik) 请 (qǐng)

કૃપા કરીને (krupa karine

Excuse me disculpar ‫( اوفع‬afwan) 对不起 (duì bu qǐ) માફ કરજો (maaf karjo)

SOURCES CAMBRID

ngual

st common languages spoken by CHS’s ENL students

Spanish: 36% Arabic: 18% Indian languages (Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Nepali, Punjabi, Telugu, Urdu, etc.): 11% Chinese languages (Cantonese, Fuzhounese, Mandarin): 9%

SOURCE CCS

on Station

ily phrases in uages dents

rabiyya) hōng wén) gujarati)

e)

Thank you gracias ‫( اركش‬shrukan) 谢谢 (xiè xiè) આભાર (abhara)

Goodbye adiós ‫( عادو‬wadan) 再见 (zài jiàn) આવજો (avajo) GRAPHIC CHENYAO LIU

DGE DICTIONARY, OMNIGLOT

Other languages: 26% other kid (that learns English by) just going outside and going to different places. They speak English so you pick up on it pretty quickly. I learned English just like the other languages I know,” Romeu said.

“I speak Spanish and Catalan everyday at home and when I go to Spain to visit my family, I speak it all the time. I’d say I’m pretty fluent in it. Speaking and hearing and understanding is pretty much the same as English,” Romeu said.

Romeu said his background in Spanish and Catalan has also helped him pick up other related languages.

“At school, I’ve taken French. French is really similar to Catalan. Catalan is essentially a mixture of Spanish and French,” Romeu said. “When you already know a language like Spanish or Catalan, those syllables translate pretty well to a language like French. You can already pronounce things a bit better. Also, with a lot of French terms and stuff like that, they’re already, if not identical, extremely similar to a language like Catalan.”

While most students learn a language other than English at school, some students actually learn English at school. Sophomore Zishuo Wang moved to the United States from China when he was in preschool and learned English at school from kindergarten to fifth grade.

“I learned mainly from the school’s special programs. I think I learned mainly vocab during the program,” Wang said. “I guess school helped a lot with the environment of speaking English. At first, I spoke zero English and as I grow up, I have spoken it more and more.”

Yáñez, Romeu and Wang all said they agreed immersion and simply being surrounded by the language helped them greatly with learning English

LEARNING THROUGH READING Sophomore Zishuo Wang reads a book in English. Wang said one way he improves his English is through reading. and other languages. Yáñez said that media was a particularly useful tool.

“I think TV and movies are extremely important and right now, there are many tools that I even use when learning English. Various things like Netflix and all of these streaming companies where you can pick many shows and many movies and you can watch in Spanish and subtitles in Spanish (helped me),” Yáñez said. “I think it helps a lot and it has been very helpful for me (to learn English).”

Wang has also used more traditional resources to improve his English.

Wang said, “I’m definitely still working on improving my English skills. I learn vocab from reading textbooks and researching stuff.”

Yáñez said ultimately putting in effort was one of the most important things he did to improve his English.

Yáñez said, “Number one is going to be a bit stereotypical, but you have to put effort. You have to put a lot of effort in your pronunciation and understanding people. Consistency and of course talking. Sometimes I don’t care if I make a mistake; I keep talking with the person. I try to communicate and, in the long term, it’s for the best. I just talk and talk and talk and talk.”

Romeu said his exposure with so many languages has given him numerous opportunities and potential paths to explore in his future.

“For me, especially looking into my future, I have so many different possibilities with different languages. If I really wanted to, I could see myself moving to Europe after college or even before college,” Romeu said. “The real intangible benefit of speaking all these languages is really the opportunities it opens up, whether that’s A for jobs or college opportunities.”

THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS 3.05 15

STUCK IN A BUBBLE unior Emilie “Emmie” Porter now parks her bike in the bike rack outside this school without locking it, but for Porter this practice in Carmel is a broad departure from her previous home in Albuquerque, N.M. “I’m not used to being able to just leave my bike outside. When I first got it here (to Carmel), I rode my bike to the grocery store and they were like, ‘Oh, you can just leave your bike in front of the store.’ And I was like, ‘What do you mean? You can just leave your bike outside of the store and the bike will be there when you get back?’” Porter, who moved to Carmel in December 2019, said. “I’m used to locking it and making sure I hurry back to make sure it isn’t stolen. Albuquerque is a very different environment than the town of Carmel itself.”

Porter is not alone in her belief that Carmel is a safe city. In 2018, Town & Country magazine ranked Carmel as the best place to live in the United States in terms of safety, standard of living and public education.

English teacher Grant Benefiel reflected on the difference in experiences of teaching in England at Wycombe High School in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, versus at this school.

Benefiel said, “The schools I’ve taught at are very different. CHS has impressed me a lot with the resources and opportunities that it presents to its students. There is practically a club for every interest you could possibly have.

And if on the off-chance the school doesn’t have the club, it is super easy to form it yourself. That isn’t something that everywhere else has. Carmel students are very lucky to have these at their fingertips.”

J

Comparatively, Junior Marina Saweeros has lived in Carmel for her entire life.

Saweeros said, “I’ve never been to a school outside of the CCS district and sometimes forget that other places are different from Carmel. It is important to educate ourselves about issues in the world and recognize that the rest of the world does not live the way we do.”

Porter agreed with Saweeros, stating that she feels as though Carmel residents live in a bubble.

Porter said, “I definitely think the ‘Carmel Bubble’ exists. In Carmel, I’m never worried that I won’t get home safe, whereas in New Mexico if you went to the grocery store alone as a teenage girl, you would literally be kidnapped.

Where I’m from, there is a common understanding that teenage girls don’t go out alone after the sun sets.”

However, according to Benefiel, Carmel is not without its drawbacks.

“CHS is a great school but it certainly is massive. In a way, students don’t know each other. In some of my classes, I have students that just don’t know one another at all,” Benefiel said. “Near the start of the year, I did a partner activity and I had multiple students who didn’t know who their assigned partners were. At the other schools I’ve taught at, it is not like every student knows everyone else, but they at least know of each other and could recognize who they were.”

Saweeros said she agreed with Benefiel that CHS often feels large.

Saweeros said, “There is definitely a sense of disconnect. It is rare that I recognize someone in the hallways during passing periods, let alone know them personally. Whenever someone asks me, ‘Oh, you go to Carmel, do you know this person?’ It is rare that my answer is ‘yes.’”

CHS students, staff reflect on moving to Carmel, size of CHS

Porter said she agreed that this school can be overwhelming at the beginning.

“The transition was rough. I left every person I’ve ever known, and went from 100 kids in my grade that I went to school with since kindergarten to going to a school where I have 1,000 kids in my grade and knew absolutely no one,” Porter said. “The size of (this school) was very overwhelming.”

In fact, more people than ever are moving to Carmel. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Carmel has nearly quadrupled in size in the last 20 years from 26,756 in 1990 to 93,510 in 2018.

Porter said, “My parents definitely chose Carmel specifically as opposed to other suburbs around Indianapolis for the schools. The quality of education you get for public schools doesn’t get much better than that.”

Saweeros said, “I definitely appreciate and recognize that I’m blessed to go to CHS. But I also think it is important to recognize (areas) where Carmel has room for improvement.”

Additionally, according to Porter, moving to Carmel has helped her grow intelectually and as a person.

“To be honest, I was scared at first. I was nervous that I would be super behind everyone else and that I wouldn’t have anyone to sit with.

But the amazing teachers at CHS are so willing to work with students and all the programs (this school) has to get involved really eased the transition,” Porter said. “When my Greyhound Connections leader gave me their number and told me I could eat with them, CHS seemed a lot more welcoming and that helped me calm down.”

Furthermore, according to Porter, this experience has motivated her to help others new to this school

WORDS CADY ARMSTRONG

GRAPHIC PRANAV JOTHIRAJAH

as well through joining Greyhound Connections.

Porter said, “I want to pay it forward to other new kids. Moving is scary. But for me, moving to CHS was the best thing that has ever A happened to me.”

District by District Check out reading and math proficiency numbers within local Indiana districts

Proficiency according to No Child Left Behind: district reading average state reading average district math average state math average

Zionsville Community Schools Ranked 2nd in the state 49% 46%

Indianapolis Public Schools* 23% 19%

49% 46%

*ranking not found

GRAPHIC SAM HAWKINS SOURCE NEIGHBORHOOD SCOUT

Hamilton Southeastern Ranked 10th in the state 49%

77%

46%

73%

67% 69%

Carmel Clay Schools Ranked 1st in the state 49% 46%

78% 76%

THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS 3.05 17

Looking in a Mirror Identical twins share their differences, similarities WORDS ALLY HORWITZ

enior Gretchen Moore’s relationship with her identical twin, senior Anna Moore, has not changed much since they were younger, when they pretended to be each other in seventh grade science class.

“We were super close and we would do everything together. We would literally spend hours playing Barbies together in our basement. I think the only thing that has changed is we have come to learn to be a little more independent,” Gretchen said.

She said having a twin comes with many benefits and very few drawbacks. Having a twin, Gretchen said, changes your sense of individuality to a degree.

Gretchen said, “The only thing I dislike about having a twin is sometimes it’s hard to be known as your own person. Everyone usually associates me with having a twin unlike my friends and family that really know me as my own person.”

Junior Sage Mehta said she is also mistaken for her identical twin, junior Jade Mehta, by people who do not know them. She said she agreed with Gretchen and said it can be hard to be one unique individual in a set of twins.

“The worst part about being a twin is definitely just the concept that you’re not the only ‘you’ in a sense to a lot of other people, so it’s hard to be an individual,” she said.

S

TWINNING Juniors Jade Mehta (left) and Sage Mehta (right) spend time together after school in the commons.

Though they have many different interests, both of them enjoy each other’s company and are good friends.

PHOTO MARISSA FINNEY

Identical twins, or ‘monozygotic twins,’ share all of their genes. This is a result of a single fertilized egg that splits in two, allowing two genetically identical children to develop during pregnancy, according to Psychology Today. Identical twins share DNA and look the same, while fraternal twins are a result of the fertilization of two separate eggs during the same pregnancy, and these twins do not often look as similar.

According to author Nancy Segal, who has a doctorate in twin psychology and behavior, the most surprising discovery of identical twins over the course of her career is how identical they can be in terms of their behavior, even after spending many years apart in some cases.

In regard to twin similarity and human behavior, she said via email, “The twin study is a simple and elegant way of discovering the contribution of genes and environments to individual differences in behavior and physical traits. This is done by comparing how similar identical twins and fraternal twins are. Greater identical twin similarity is consistent with genetic effects.”

However, Jade said she is convinced there is more to a person than DNA and environmental influence.

It’s Twins!

Learn more about the biology, statistics behind twins

Fraternal Twins 2 eggs fertilized by 2 different sperms Egg #1

Egg #2

Identical Twins 1 egg fertilized by 1 sperm Sperm

2017

Sperm #2

Sperm #1

Fertilization Fertilization

~50% Shared genome

2 non-identical twins Jade said, “I’m pretty convinced the whole ‘you are who you are because of DNA and the environment’ isn’t the whole story because I’m kinda the proof of that.”

Jade said she and Sage have different interests both inside and outside of school.

“We are the same in many ways but with different applications. So like I play the piano and can spend hours playing with no problem, while Sage can spend hours drawing and I’d be so bored doing that,” Jade said.

Gretchen said her and Anna, who share some of the same friends and play the same sports, also share similar beliefs. However, like Jade and Sage, she said her and her sister also have different interests.

“Some things that make Anna and I similar are definitely our beliefs. Our whole family is Catholic so we have very similar morals in the ways we think people should be treated, which is with love and respect. We also have the same friends so we tend to be around people who are very kind and funny. One thing that is different is I tend to stress out about more things, and Anna is more laid back. I also love to run and Anna hates it.”

Jade said her and Sage also share the same friends. She also said she thinks of herself as the more laid-back twin.

Sage said having a twin means having someone to relate to and share experiences with.

“The best part is just always having someone (else) there that knows you really well, so whenever you reference things someone can also relate too,” she said.

Gretchen said having an identical twin is amazing.

“My favorite part about being a twin is always having someone there for you, whether it be when I was little and always having someone to play Barbies with or now just having someone to eat lunch with. People have heard this a billion times but being a twin is truly having A a built-in best friend—it’s amazing,” she said.

By The Numbers

Early embryo splits into two individuals

100% Shared genome

2 identical twins

3.3%

1980

76%

increase in twin birth rate 14% from of twins are 1980identical 2017 of births are twins

GRAPHIC EDWARD DONG SOURCE HEALTHLINE, VERYWELL

INDIVIDUALITY Seniors Gretchen Moore (left) and her sister Anna Moore (right) walk through the park together. Gretchen said she wishes people would see her and her twin as individuals instead of the same person.

SUBMITTED PHOTO GRETCHEN MOORE

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS 3.05 19

Q&A with baker, senior Isabel Ross

Short & Sweet

Learn Isabel Ross’ shortbread cookie recipe

1 Preheat oven to 350°F. together 2 sticks (1/2 lb) of 2 Cream butter and 1/2 cups powdered sugar.

Q&A SARAH KIM SUBMITTED PHOTOS ISABEL ROS

How did you start out baking and cooking?

I started out baking and cooking in middle school around eighth grade. I started out because I watched videos on YouTube of people baking and cooking and that looked really cool.

What inspired you to start cooking and baking?

3 Add 2 cups of flour

and mix to form dough.

4 Roll out and cut into desired shape.

5 Bake for 10-12 minutes until done!

GRAPHIC RHEA ACHARYA SOURCE ISABEL ROSS

As a kid I always saw my grandma’s cooking in the kitchen, and I love (her) food. As I grew older I wanted to be able to cook like them, as they were so important to the family. I first learned how to bake, because it was something that no one in my family knew how to do, and later into high school was when I really started to learn how to cook.

TIME TO MIX IT UP Senior Isabel Ros mixes ingredients in a pot before she pours it into her stand mixer. Ros said she is making a delicious Italian Meringue buttercream for a treat for her and her family.

What tips or advice would you give to someone that wanted Something that I really enjoy is that it to start cooking and baking?

What would your favorite thing about baking and cooking be?

really allows me to bond with friends where we can hang out and cook a meal together or bond with family. And also it’s really experimental because you can be creative with it or you can be uncreative if you just want to follow a recipe. It’s just fun to do.

Do you plan to continue pursuing this after high school?

Yes, I plan on going to culinary school and studying culinary arts. I hope to one day open a restaurant or open a business related to food.

My tip on starting to cook or bake is to start by making food that you like, and that you’re comfortable with. For example if you like cakes, you should start by making cupcakes as it’s easier A and still a good product

MIXING IT UP Senior Isabel Ros ices a birthday cake in her kitchen.

Ros said she has been baking since 8th grade and takes the culinary classes at CHS to improve her skills.

How did you expand on your experience at the high school?

The first thing I did was enroll in any of the cooking classes at the high school that I could. I have taken all of them from Introduction to Nutrition and Wellness to Foreign Foods, Baking, and culinary classes. I also joined Family, Career & Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) and competed on their ProStart team and their Baking and Pastry team.

THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS 3.05 21

For the

Aesthetic

Students connect “aesthetics” to identity, perception of others

WORDS GRACE XU PHOTOS SHRUTHI RAVICHANDRAN

A

ccording to senior Alexis “Lexi” Carter, her friends often view her as owning a “hippielike” or “granola” aesthetic, exemplified by her love of the outdoors, comfortable fashion, vegan diet and fondness for crystals.

This concept of aesthetics has enjoyed a recent boom in social media popularity and pop culture, with the number of Google searches for “aesthetic” and related terms such as “cottagecore,” “granola aesthetic” or “dark academia” all peaking in recent months. As aestheticism has permeated into pop culture, Carter said, like many, she perceives the meaning of “aesthetic” to go far beyond its dictionary definition of visual appeal.

“I would define (aesthetic) as how others perceive you,” Carter said, “and that can be even with the way that you talk, the way that you dress, the kind of belongings that you have—the things that you naturally just go towards and their categories.”

According to Kurt Hugenberg, psychological and brain sciences professor and director of the Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Facial Expression Lab at IU Bloomington, the emergence of various pop culture aesthetics is essentially the result of categorization and stereotyping, a part of human nature that plays a big role in our perception of others. “(Stereotyping and categorization) are almost always used in our first impressions of others. If you’re going to see me as a middle-aged white guy,

“GRANOLA GIRL” Senior Alexis “Lexi” Carter admires a pair of sunglasses on display at Broad Ripple Vintage.

Carter said she would describe herself as a “Granola Girl”, or someone who enjoys being outdoors and spirituality who also tends to dress in more muted earth tones.

you’re probably going to make guesses—maybe that I enjoy watching football more than I like folding origami or gardening. These guesses may be wrong, but they are stereotypes, and they’re going to guide the conversation,” Hugenberg said. “How you treat me affects how I treat you, so these initial guesses for how to start an interaction play out throughout the interaction. Now if we’d known each other for years, you’d know that I would actually much prefer to fold origami than I would to watch football.”

Hugenberg said this stereotyping and categorization applies to the modern-day concept of aesthetic as well, when people might make assumptions about someone’s lifestyle based on their fashion or vice versa. As for how various aesthetics have actually developed, Carter said most are influenced by their beliefs and the people around them.

“Definitely my parents influenced how I originally started to develop this aesthetic,” Carter said. “My parents dress kind of in the same way that I do, and they have similar values to me socially, politically and with the environment and all that. I think that they definitely contributed to that, but also as I began to develop my own interests in life, think for myself and get interested in a bunch of different other things, I think that my style and my aesthetic reflected that.”

From his experience, Adrien Qi, co-founder of Resell Club and junior, said aesthetics can be similar to brand imaging, a major part of the reselling

SELF

process—a process where products, often brand BRAND clothes, are resold by a third party for a profit. A Junior Adrien lot of brands popular in the reselling industry begin Qi poses in the skating community, according to Qi, and wearing emphasize an “anti-traditionalist” aesthetic. some popular “I think brand loyalty is one of the most important streetwear parts (of reselling). If we look into specific brands like brands such Supreme, the box logo is one of their iconic logos. as an Anti Just seeing it gives a lot of people a sense of loyalty, Social Social but I think nowadays a lot view it as more cliché,” Qi Club hat said. “Nowadays, it’s really hard to see someone wear and Nike SB a Supreme box at school, just because it’s like flexing Dunk Lows and a lot of people don’t find that super aesthetic.” shoes. Qi Qi also said social media has allowed for ease said he does of conceptualization of “visual ideas” in aesthetics, not think it fashion or otherwise. Senior Kylie McPherson said is necessarily she has experienced this impact of social media important firsthand, as she owns a Pinterest account with over to curate an 28,000 monthly viewers currently. image for “I think (the popularity of aesthetics) has risen, yourself, but and I think that comes from social media and the rather to find people that are big on social media,” McPherson said. what hobbies “The one that keeps coming to my mind is (YouTuber you enjoy and influencer) Emma Chamberlain. I feel like and to create she’s influenced a lot of fashion trends. And I think a space for aesthetics—that’s become a more mainstream word; yourself everybody knows what that means.” within that.

Hugenberg said while people often seek He also said out communities that align with their beliefs, that this whether through social media or in-person, their usually leads communities can also impact their beliefs. to you finding “People tend to seek out group memberships your style that they want to identify with,” Hugenberg said, and aesthetic. presenting himself in several hypothetical examples.

SLEEPING BEAR Senior Lexi Carter (right) poses with her mother, Julie Carter (left), at the Sleeping Bear Dunes in Michigan on July 19, 2019.

Carter said a cause she believes in is preserving the environment, a value that has been imparted on her by both of her parents.

SUBMITTED PHOTO LEXI CARTER

“Perhaps I want to become a vegan because I want to signal the fact, say, that I’m left-leaning and young.

Or with gun ownership, maybe I want to signify that I’m right-leaning and Midwestern. So I’ll seek out identities that signal the things that I value, but it’s also the case that when we join a group, part of the process of joining a group is learning what the norms of the group are. And there’s quite a lot of research that shows that when folks are being socialized as a member of a new group, their attitudes tend to shift to be in line with that group.”

McPherson, for instance, said she has felt herself sometimes influenced by online aesthetics communities, such being inspired in her fashion choices, room decor or study motivation, but personally has not experienced sustained influence as she values her own style first.

Similarly, Qi said it is important to appreciate your own aesthetic.

“If you personally like wearing (brands such as Supreme) and that psychologically makes you feel better, it just makes you more confident,” Qi said.

“If other people are looking down on that, I don’t think we should really care about them.”

In the end, Carter said values should come first, and other aspects of lifestyle and identity, aesthetics or otherwise, will naturally follow.

“I would think that your beliefs would come first,” Carter said. “I wasn’t purposely like, ‘Okay, this is who I want to be.’ It was just kind of like, ‘This fits for me.’

This is the kind of person I want to be, but it naturally A happened. It just reflected what I was thinking.”

THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS 3.05 23

Looking Back CHS students reflect on COVID time, quarantine WORDS EMILY CARLISLE

I

SPEAKUPS EVA GLAZIER

always thought that my senior year would be magical. As a kid, I dreamt that I would be so sad to leave high school and I would spend every day of my senior year just cherishing every moment. I didn’t think I would have to worry about “senioritis.” I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Ever since the pandemic hit, I’ve become more and more ready to just leave everything behind. Of course, I have loved the time spent at this school and there are some parts of life that will be bittersweet to say goodbye to, but I am so ready for something, anything new. So many of us have been stuck in the same routine since March, and I can’t imagine that I am the only one facing major burnout. I don’t think that what I am dealing with is just senioritis either, because it’s not just school that I have no motivation for–it’s everything. The days blur together and I find myself growing tired of what used to excite me.

Don’t get me wrong, I have picked up some hobbies and watched new shows during all of this, but I rarely see friends outside of school, and, when I do, it is nowhere near normal. I am an extrovert whose love language is physical touch… which is a little bit difficult given the current situation. I am so bored with life right now and I struggle to focus on anything. More than anything, this pandemic has made me realize what I used to take for granted. I never thought twice about hugging my friends or going out to eat. I cannot wait for college and just a chance to experience something new. I’ll meet new people, see new things and just get to live my life how I want to.

Even if things aren’t fully back to normal by the time August rolls around, I know that the class of 2021 will be very excited to gain some A semblance of freedom and normalcy.

Sophomore Josh Salisbury COVID(-19) has affected my outlook on life in ways I don’t think it would’ve done before. It has made me realize how much we take for granted and how much I miss school.

I never would’ve thought I’d miss school, but I missed going to school and seeing my friends. I miss all the social events that would’ve happened had COVID not happened. It has also made me realize how grateful I am for all the doctors taking care of everyone around the globe and how much of a great job they’ve done.

Freshman Sophie Bonnici I say quarantine and COVID(-19) has had not only a big impact in my life, but how I view life. I am much more grateful for what I am given because this pandemic has made me realize what a gift and how precious life really is. In addition, it has also made me realize that the world is much bigger than Carmel or Indiana.

I have a greater understanding of how delicate life is and to enjoy every minute of it. This has resulted in me trying new things in order to be able to experience everything life has to offer.

THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS 3.05 25

DEAR ME,

HiLite staff members write letters, give advice to younger selves WORDS CADY ARMSTRONG, TESSA COLLINSON, EDWARD DONG, ZAINAB IDREES, KIERSTEN RIEDFORD

rmstrong Cady Aom ore year self,

in the Dear soph year and a half ke a a t ou ab lf se ta ur to tell you to Howdy! It’s yo you this letter yourself. As you’re ng ti ri w I’m . rd on future rough an stop being so ha step back and re probably trying to plow th lmingly u’ he yo w , er reading this le feeling ov tand why nt of work whi extreme amou Right now, you don’t unders you did t d. anxious and sa d get done wha em to focus an g up until 3:30 a.m. se t n’ ca st ju u in yo frequently stay everything last year. You’re at 6, and still not getting up only to wake . k this is normal t? You have ADHD, in th u Yo . ha done w ss ue takes ot! G Surprise, it’s n e anxiety disorder. Now, it ing. feel sessiv OCD and ob to finally admit how you’re t? Well, ar ou ye is a th lf re to figu you ha ke you so long s, but that’s a whole m Why does it ta or n al et to soci ay, I am that goes back ’t get into right now. Anyw like a el on fe w u I c Yo relax. other topi to tell you to re not. That’s your is th l al u yo telling but you’ deserve to d bad student, bad person an like you don’t ect and el fe u Yo u. yo to pe g t u isn’ rf anxiety lyin do. Future yo , you’re trying. u Yo p. ee sl out. But shower or urself to red everything still hasn’t figu e slack. Stop comparing yo work m en so ev Give yourself when your brain doesn’t are and u es at yo your classm ne the way fi y tl ec rf pe u’re like theirs. Yo g you think you don’t. hin yt er ev e deserv

RIDING INTO T FUTUR HE Tessa E Collinso then-todn, and curr dler HiLite ent Managin Editor a g senior, r nd her bike.ides Collinso she wou n said tell her pld self to ke ast persever ep in light o ing challeng f will face es she .

SUBMITT ED TESSA CO PHOTO LLINSON

Tessa Collinson

Dear 14-year-old Tessa, but buckle up kiddo.

I know right now you think life is great, is superficial. Your “friends” from now You can’t see it, but your life right friends you’re super close with end dance really don’t care about you, those two change drastically, all while dealing up causing a lot of drama, your dreams will and eventually passing away. with your Lola (grandmother) being sick sad and alone, but as you like to ll I can’t lie to you, it’ll take a toll. You’ feel , I know, it’s so cliché but it’s true. say: everything happens for a reason. I know space for new people in your life.

All those friends you lost end up making while but realize it gave you the time You quit dancing and cry about it for a e clubs and get a job. Losing Lola som FAMILY TIME to fall in love with newspaper staff, join suffer for very long.

Current HiLite News Edito hurts, yet you’ll be glad she didn’t have to r an d jun that. But the highs are insanely ior nd Ca arou dy way Ar no ms (center) poses for a photo trong Life hurts. There’s wi th he r sis now is nothing compared to what ters Grace (left) and Megan (right). Armstro better than the lows. Your “happiness” ng sai d she use the experiences you’ll gain beca wo uld tell he past self to relax and not you’ll feel later. So hang in there, compare herself to others r th it. . throughout the rest of high school is wor SUBMITTED PHOTO CADY ARMSTRONG

Kiersten Riedford

To freshman me, Look at you, head low, so invested in your phone as you wander about the freshman center aimlessly trying to find ou t which part of the triangle you’re actual ly in. Look at you, carryi ng books in your hands because if you tried to shove yet another textbook in your backpack, the seams might break. Look at you , so small yet so ambitious, dreaming of it all. I’m so proud of you . Th you will do in the future, which is nothing but memo e things ries to me now, are astounding compar ed to what you think you ’re going to do. The things that you thi nk are hard now, honestly, it’s going to keep getting harder. But the difference between you and the people around you is how you wil l persevere.

Perseverance and courage, you’ll read a speech in AP makes those words seem like Lan the only traits that you’ll eve g that succeed. And, quite honestl r need to y, it seems to be as simple as that. Courage to be willing to take on the har them. You will be great if you dships, perseverance to get through acquire both traits. But one have to keep in mind, des pite those hardships you wil thing you l face, is that you can’t give up on a dream no matter how crazy it may seem. That longing to chase your goals dow That’s your drive, and still my n, to have something to be proud of. drive. If there is one thing you to learn, it’s that you have ’re going to start chasing after your goals early. It sucks, I know, especially if you take to get there. But the ear realize how much work it’s going to lier, the better.

All in all, little me, you’re four years at this school, bu going to witness a lot in the next t it’s all for the better. Every experience you have at this school is going to prepare you for the world more than you ever thoug ht it could. This school has doing that, making you gro a way of w. This school has taugh t you more than you’ll ever need to know, so have confidenc e that you’re going to succeed. You wil l succeed because you had courage and perseverance no matter wh at was thrown at you.

Edward Dong

To my past self, happiness there was a way to What if I told you e th ground? working yourself to and success without conception a e, you’ll develop Somewhere, sometim ce will bring you contentment rifi that hard work and sac e. Yes, you’ll need work to tru t no s es vision and joy. That’ find happiness requir supplement it, but to ed to reach out of that timid l ne and personality. You’l ends, spend time with them fri w ne day. bubble to make to find the fun in each d the y wa ur yo en and go out of Sp . where it’s needed Work hard, but only oud of! talent that you’ll be pr al time to develop a speci it yourself to one thing when mm I know it’s hard to co much time p between or with so jum to ch there’s so mu (and your u but I promise that yo n’t have to just lounge around, do u Yo ! more interesting conversations) will be born athlete to stand out. You alto be a genius or natur t where no one else is looking. en tal a for k u came just have to loo ur family and where yo yo t ge for n’t do y, g my Finall sin rai of ed al. I once dream my ng cti from. Nothing is etern rfe pe rs, yea r gh his toddle younger brother throu grandpa or learning our family th s got lost sidewalk calligraphy wi t somehow those hope bu , ma nd gra th ay, but history wi tod s ng thi am of those dre do ll sti I y. wa the your eyes along d in the past now. Keep they’re irreversibly locke every day, because remember re on the future but treasu ence or responsibility that you eri exp r, yea A ry eve that for you lose. ing eth som is re the gain,

Zainab Idrees

Dear freshman me, The next two years of your life are going to be crazy! Guess what? A pandemic hits, and everyone has to wear masks and quarantine. It’s like a science fiction movie, except it’s real life. The world could be a movie right now. You’re not really good at adjusting to change. A lot of change is going to come in the next two years, and it’s going to change just about everything. No more volunteering, no more movie theaters, no more social gatherings, and no more 11 p.m. grocery dashes because you want to eat a Twix bar.

But you credit yourself with being patient. Well, keep doing that. Be patient with other people, even if they do get on your nerves. Be patient with the WiFi when your computer decides it won’t connect for the millionth time. Be patient with yourself. That’s a thing you struggle with. When progress isn’t external, you think it’s not happening, and that’s definitely not true.

And finally, be patient about the pandemic. Things are going to change.

You’re going to be stuck at home. But hey, you do some awesome things too!

You learn how to Rollerblade! You binge watch nostalgic movies! You learn how to play a couple of songs on the piano! You learn a little bit of ASL! And you established an active routine where you would go running at 7 in the morning!

Be proud of yourself for that. You used to be a couch potato (sorry, but it was true). Now you actually know how to run and are way healthier and happier than before! I think you’re very much going to like the girl you are now. So yeah, there will be a lot of change. But you will come out of it better.

And trust me, you’ll like this new girl way better than the old one.

SIBLIN G 6-year o SMILES Julia Do ld Edward Dong n photo. E g dress up befor and sister developedward said he we a formal appreciad a special talenishes he t ted mom ents withand SUBMITT ED PHOTO family.

EDWARD D ONG

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