Globe Newsmagazine, December 2016, Issue 4, Vol. 88

GLOBE issue 4, volume 88

S E PA R A T E

and

U N EQUA L

THE STORY OF RACE-BASED E D U C AT I O N A L A C C E S S I N S T . L O U I S

clayton high school, clayton, mo. - december 2016

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GLOBE

december 2016

F e at u re

25

14

Clayton Car Wash

22

A Snapshot of Fame

CHS graduate Dusty Kessler, a professional photographer, has traveled the world taking photos of famous individuals - he is now on the Justin Bieber Purpose World Tour.

Separate and Unequal

The Globe explores the story of racebased educational access in St. Louis in part two of a three part series: Separate and Unequal.

News 9

Sports

33

Clayton Champions

CHS seniors and girls’ basketball standouts play their final season together.

Coffee Beans

A look into the re-established Clayton Board of Education’s coffee talks with members of the Clayton community.

Review

38 10

Andy’s Frozen Custard

Opinion

STL Aquarium

St. Louis’ Union Station is gaining a new aquarium, including a half-million gallon shark tank, in fall 2018.

43

Early College Decisions

44

Pro/Con: Summer Separation

CONTENTS 3

GLOBE editor-in-chief camille respess

chief managing editors kevin rosenthal ellie tomasson

managing editors noah brown nicholas lee mitali sharma max steinbaum

section editors madeline bale michael bernard daniel cho lucy cohen sean kim jacob lagesse zachary sorenson ashleigh williams tara williams

copy editors

charlie brennan harry rubin neel vallurupalli

webmaster nicholas lee

business manager

lucy cohen

photo editors

alex gerchen katherine sleckman

distribution editor

staff

editors

sophia barnes sophie bernstein lise derksen mariclare gatter olivia joseph nisha klein elise levy grace morris lauren praiss olivia reuter nikki seraji martin sharpe catherine walsh samantha zeid

reporters

madeline ackerburg sarah baker barrett bentzinger richard cheng daniel cohen theodore fehr leo gavitt beverly goode justin guilak katie he lucas hoffman cicely krutzch cody krutzch san kwon fiona mcguire kellan morrissey laura parvulescu katherine snelling mary snelling philip stahl sara stemmler junyi su lila taylor karena tse victor wei

photographers

synthia baer samantha bolourtchi jennifer braverman daishanae crittenden ella engel sarah franzel akansha goel paige holmes catherine holtzman alivia jacobs xuenan jin areeba khan richard kuehn gabreille lask caroline marsden michael melinger grace monshausen mia redington alhan sayyed sarah schmidt claire schwarz eunice shin emma weber

adviser

erin castellano

grace monshausen

Professional Affilations: Sponsors of School Publications, Missouri Interscholastic Press Assocation, Missouri Journalism Education Assocation, National Scholastic Press Assocation, Columbia Scholastic Press Assocation

There are few moments I remember as vividly as I do sitting in my typical third grade private school classroom in Long Island, New York.

Projected on the SmartBoard – on a cold January day – was the presidential inauguration of a man whose name I had only seen on the covers of newspapers and in television headlines.

Every student in the school, from kindergarten to eighth grade, watched as Barack Obama swore his loyalty to the office of President of the United States. The teachers in the classroom weren’t endorsing a political party nor were they revealing their positions on foreign policy or abortion by having students watch the inauguration.

Somehow, there were no political implications. Perhaps that was because us students were not intellectually mature enough to extract those implications.

I will not soon forget the level of excitement in that room. So perhaps the students in the room recognized and attached themselves emotionally to the many foundational four or five-letter words Barack Obama used frequently throughout the speech.

Hope. Love. Unite. Faith. Dream.

To 8 or 9-year-old kids, there was nothing political about it.

Instead, it was simply a call for love and a vow for acceptance of all people. That’s something that everyone, not just political figures, can rally behind.

With January looming, I wonder: will my old school have current students watch the upcoming inauguration? And, if so, will it elicit a response anything like Barack Obama’s speech did eight years prior?

These questions aren’t attacks directly on the nation’s president-elect but rather questions that symbolize what we should be asking every time we hold an election, whether for president, local legislature, or student government. I had many more questions, but more importantly, I found ways to address them and to better understand what I personally saw as cumbersome systematic issues.

As a result of this election’s unanticipated results, I noticed an egregious amount of uncertainty and division among our student body. That said, it is easy to overlook some

FROM THE EDITOR underlying positive things that took place.

For me, the positivity emerged in the form of conversation.

The day after election day, my Spanish teacher gave us the entire period to vent amongst ourselves over the indignities some of us had regarding the election’s outcome. A few days later, she led a class discussion (in Spanish, of course) on modern stereotypes and racial biases.

Rather than continuing his lesson on the Mongols, my history teacher disrupted the often overwhelming AP curriculum to foster a dialogue, helping students understand some societal and historical trends that culminated in the unexpected results of the election.

My AP biology teacher fielded questions from students before diving into his teaching of the intricate steps of the immune system.

These were beautiful and comforting

conversations.

I had a few key takeaways.

First, not every supporter of a political candidate believes everything that they believe.

We, as a society, have a tendency to over-politicize things. We are all human.

No one has all of the answers.

Sometimes we must pop our ‘Clayton bubble’ and our own personal bubbles in order to develop an understanding of external realities.

Surrounding yourself with people of opposing viewpoints can be more valuable than surrounding yourself with people with similar ones.

Controversy is everywhere. Instead of treating it like an inevitability, we must make the less natural decision to reach beyond our comfort zones and reflect, listen and love.

Only then will we be able to embrace our differences and beign to heal our divisions. iiii

Noah Brown, Managing Editor The Globe Newsmagazine exists to inform, entertain, persuade and represent the student voice at CHS. All content decisions are made by the student editorial staff and the Globe is an entirely self-funded publication. Not every story that our reporters write is published in the print newsmagazines. Visit www.chsglobe.com for additional stories and photos and for more information about the Globe itself. We reserve the right to refuse any advertisement - for more information about advertising and subscriptions, please contact our office: Clayton High School Globe 1 Mark Twain Circle Clayton, MO 63105 (314) 854-6668

EDITOR’S NOTE 5

PA N O R A M A SENIOR KAMAL LADO INTRODUCES THE CHAMBER CHOIR AT THE FALL CHOIR CONCERT ON NOV. 3, 2016.

Photo by Areeba Kahn

NEWS Missouri Goes Red

U.S. President Barack Obama meets with President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2016 in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C. (Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/TNS)

NEW S and notes President Trump

Real estate mogul Donald J. Trump defeated Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton on November 8 to become the 45th President-elect. Defying expectations and vanquishing all pollsters and data through re-defining the Presidential campaign process, Trump won the key states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and North Carolina en route to victory. Trump’s attempt to “Make America Great Again” begins on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20.

Along with voting for the Republican candidate in five consecutive Presidential elections, the state of Missouri also elected a Republican governor and senator on Nov. 8. Although Republican incumbent senator Roy Blunt ran the opposite style of campaign as Republican governor-elect Eric Greitens (Blunt ran his campaign as a political insider against Democratic “outsider” Jason Kander and Greitens championed himself as a poltical “outsider” against Democratic establishment candidate Chris Koster), both Republicans were able to lock up victories in the Show-Me-State.

Winter Classic Nears St. Louis will host its first ever Winter Classic on Jan. 2 when the St. Louis Blues face the Chicago Blackhawks for a regular season hockey game at Busch Stadium. A make-over of the baseball field will also serve the Heritage Classic alumni game in which former Blues superstars Wayne Gretzky, Brett Hull and Bernie Federko, among others, will compete against retired Blackhawk greats. The weekend should be a cathartic opportunity for embittered former St. Louis Rams fans and will culminate the celebration of the Blues’ 50 year history.

Boys’ Swimming Wins Conference

Clayton scored 503 points to notch the school’s first Conference Championship in 40 years. Led by seniors Tiger Chen, Spencer Anderson and Ricky Kuehn with outstanding performances by underclassmen Wil Welch, Hutton Murdoch and Koji Barrette, the team scored 42 more points than their second-place rival Ladue swim squad. Also noteworthy was the diving performance of senior Taylor Edlin who set a new school record with his firstplace finish at the meet and his qualification for State despite a back injury.

NEWS 8

BY KEVIN ROSENTHAL / chief managing editor

coffee beans

NEWS

BY MADDY ACKERBURG, BARRETT BENTZINGER and LAUREN PRAISS

Clayton BOE holds coffee talks to hear from members of the Clayton community.

BOE President Kristin Redington and Vice President Lily Raymond at Northwest Coffee. (Mariclare Gatter).

On the outside patio of a quaint coffee shop, Clayton Board of Education members sit around a small table, having colloquial conversations regarding issues and future plans for the Clayton School District. Sitting at the small table, residents of the Clayton community discuss different ideas with the board members that they believe will make Clayton a safer and better place for their families.

Members of the Clayton community interested in becoming more involved in concerns to the District have been given a chance with the recommencement of the Clayton Coffee talks.

These discussions offer a comfortable environment where interested individuals have the opportunity to ask board members questions about current issues pertaining to the District.

Kristin Redington, Clayton Board of Education president, feels that the coffee talks serve as a comfortable way for Clayton community members to have conversations.

“It’s an opportunity to put yourself out there in the community in a more relaxed atmosphere,” Redington said. “People can come in and ask questions about the current status of things or bring up concerns.”

The coffee meetings had been suspended several years ago due to lack of attendance of

Clayton community members.

“We have done it in the past, but it kind of went away. They weren’t heavily attended,” Redington said. “But now the Board makeup has changed. Five newer members, including me, never got to participate in the coffee talks. The Board really wanted to reach out and invite the community to come ask questions.”

Since Redington and other members of the Board decided to re-establish the coffee meetings, the community has been given this great opportunity once again.

Meetings are held in different coffee shops in Clayton and the Central West End, providing a comfortable and inviting environment welcoming the community attending. Members of the board such as Redington welcome discussing a variety of topics that interest those present.

“The first meeting was about bike and pedestrian safety and the safety of walking to and from school,” Redington said. “We had another conversation in the first meeting about lunches in the elementary schools being too short. In the second meeting, was about the baseball field being renovated and the weighted versus unweighted GPA.”

NEWS 9

Alison Hoette, a Clayton parent, regularly attends coffee meetings and feels that these meetings are positive experiences.

“A few parents had questions for the board members, asking questions about electives at the high school and what was being offered,” Hoette said. “I talked to the board members about the issue of how they were going to promote the sports program that is connected with the Clayton Center.”

Due to the casual approach associated with “Coffee Talks,” board members are able to share unregulated conversations with passionate members within the Clayton community.

“It was a great way to have some one on one time with board members,” Hoette says.

“I do think it’s a better environment when you’re in a more relaxed setting. You get to hear what other parents have to say as well.”

In addition to parents, the Board also welcomes Clayton students to the coffee talks.

For the Board, these talks have been beneficial in the betterment of their understanding of the Clayton community.

“We keep a tab of what the conversations are about so we can bring it back to the Board and be more aware of what the ‘word on the street is’, rather than what our own observations are,” Redington said. iiii

STL AQUARIUM

BY JUSTIN GUILAK, SEAN KIM AND JACOB LAGESSE A multi-million dollar project is currently underway to create an aquarium in St. Louis.

Visitors to St. Louis’s first aquarium will be able to walk inches above the largest shark tank in the Midwest.

In a multimillion dollar renovation program, Lodging Hospitality Management (LHM) plans to replace the mall in Union Station with a million gallons of fish tanks.

After purchasing Union Station, LHM began plans for a total redesign of the old station, including light shows, train excursions, a total renovation of the 571 room hotel, a 200-foot ferris wheel called STL Wheel, and, of course, the aquarium.

The attraction, set to open in fall of 2018, will have a main feature of a nearly half-million gallon shark tank with a rope bridge across, LHM revealed in an August press conference.

Visitors can walk just above surface of the water, but v-shaped netting will prevent anyone from falling into the Midwest’s largest collection of sharks.

Bordering the hotel, the tank will also function as the backdrop for a unique 8,500 square foot event space for weddings, corporate dinners and other parties. Other exhibits will contain thousands of types of fish, stingrays and other aquatic species.

“We saw a big opportunity to fill the gap in the list of attractions that St. Louis has,” Todd Hotaling, LHM Vice President of Revenue and Marketing, said.

The goal of the aquarium was to help revive Union Station, as well as bring St. Louis an aquarium to compete with other cities. Its current plans exceed the size of its counterparts in Kansas City and other locations.

According to Hotaling, the aquarium will support the St. Louis tourism economy and complement the St. Louis Zoo. “A family coming in from Chicago that might just stay one night might now extend that to two nights or even three nights,” Hotaling said. “If it’s the holidays, that’s what we’re excited about.

“Not only will it bring in new people to the city, but it will support the locals that are going downtown to see the attraction and it will give them something new that we ha-

Concept design of an underwater area of the aquarium. (Photo from Lodging Hospitality Management) ven’t really had ever and put us up against other cities that have those types of attractions.”

Conservation is another reason behind the aquarium. One of the core questions for LHM when preparing to build the aquarium was how they aid sea life.

“What kind of impact can we, a hotel company have, in the conservation of sea life? It is really an interest for us,” Hotaling said.

The collection of such marine animals will soon start a process that, according to Hotaling, must begin up to a year before the aquarium will open.

“Before the tanks are even put in, they have to find a warehouse to house all the organisms and animals for about a year so that they can develop and grow,” Hotaling said.

However, unlike the signature feature of many St. Louis’s attractions, the aquarium will not be free.

Customers can expect a 20-30 dollar ad-

NEWS 10

mission fee, according to Hotaling.

Despite this, he suggested that there will likely be educational days, where the admission is discounted or waived for students.

Although the Saint Louis Zoo, Art Museum, History Museum and Science Center are funded by tax dollars, the St. Louis Aquarium will be privately funded, with the exception of 18.5 million dollars from the city in redirected taxes for the redevelopment.

In addition to the St. Louis Aquarium, Lodging Hospitality Management is also responsible for maintaining hotel franchises all over St. Louis.

“Our CEO, Bob O’Loughlin, is dedicated to developing St. Louis. It’s a great place to travel and a great place to live. We want to make sure everybody knows that and we want to keep developing the areas where there’s opportunity,” Hotaling said.

“Everybody’s so excited, everybody wants to talk about it and know more about it. The addition for St. Louis is great.” .

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CHARLIE’S

Wydown Sixth Grader stars in Mack and Moxy, a PBS and Netflix series.

Charlie Owens understands the power of a firm handshake.

“To make friends, I shake hands and ask for their name. Then I tell tell them mine and ask to be friends,” said Charlie Owens, a sixth grader at Wydown Middle School who was diagnosed with Autism at the age of two.

Although he has faced constant battles, Charlie has not only adapted to and excelled in his community, but he has also strived to help children across the country learn how to understand and befriend a child with Autism.

In celebration of his differences, Charlie assumed the identity of Trooper Charlie in the PBS and Netflix series Mack and Moxy; a children’s education show that focuses on the importance of charity and compassion.

Each episode features a unique nonprofit organization and the cause for which it stands.

A guest child then embodies the work of each nonprofit through a chain of songs, cartoons, and adventures.

In Charlie’s episode, A Spectrum of Possibilities, Trooper Charlie spreads the message of Easterseals, a nonprofit organization that helps people with disabilities achieve their full potential.

Throughout the episode, Charlie helps Mack and Moxy learn to be friends with Little Bird, a character in the show with Autism like Charlie.

As Trooper Charlie journeys through HelpeeLand with Mack and Moxy, he teaches viewers how to understand the communication and behaviors of Autistic children.

The goal is that communities can learn to appreciate people with disabilities not despite of, but because of their differences.

For weeks prior to the filming of the show, the producers of Mack and Moxy helped Charlie memorize his lines and prepare for filming through several FaceTime calls.

By the time he and his family arrived in Hollywood, Charlie remembers feeling like a “real movie actor,” and his diligent preparation did not go unnoticed.

As the crew of Mack and Moxy wrapped up the episode’s filming, they glanced uneasily at one another and exchanged whispered words.

“They finished at the end of the day and were all being weird, [so] I asked what was

NEWS 12

going on,” said Craig Owens, Charlie’s father. “They said they had never filmed an episode this quickly. It [had] never gone so smoothly.”

Throughout the day, the Mack and Moxy crew sped the process along by ensuring Charlie felt comfortable and confident.

“It’s just remarkable how many people are involved in this and how huge of an industry Hollywood is,” Craig said.

When Charlie asked for cinnamon toast crunch, for example, Craig remembers a production assistant shout into an earpiece, “‘Roger that! I’m headed to get cinnamon toast crunch.’”

“You can see how these child actors get spoiled so quickly,” Craig said.

Throughout the filming, Charlie took advantage of the opportunity to explore the intricacies of what appeared to be a nondescript warehouse from the outside but truly boasted an elaborate stage setup on the inside.

“I loved taking a look in the camera,” Charlie said. “And I liked the TV room a lot.

I [also] liked looking at the makeup room.”

After a successful filming and years of work with Easterseals, Charlie has almost become the “poster child” of the nonprofit.

TV DEBUT

BY MADELINE BALE AND CATHERINE WALSH “Elizabeth and I were asked to attend the national conference for Easterseals that lobbies for legislation and funding. We spoke a lot about our Mack and Moxy experience and about our family experience, too,” Craig said.

The Mack and Moxy experience only reinforced the celebration of Autism that has always occurred within the Owens household.

Because both Charlie and his twin brother Max were diagnosed with Autism at a young age, the Owens family has known nothing but life with Autism.

“As a parent, you never know what’s around the corner for any kid, so for us, Autism is just part of who we are,” said Charlie’s father Craig Owens. “Every day is a new adventure, and the [Mack and Moxy] experience with Charlie was really huge for us. It was a wonderful opportunity.”

Charlie also recognizes the impact he has had on children across the country. “I was able to teach people how to be friends with somebody [with Autism],” Charlie said.

“All of us are different in one way or another,” Craig said. “It is important that we, as a community, support one another and celebrate the differences that we have. The Clayton community has always emphasized that everyone is welcome here and that everyone has a place and an opportunity.

[Clayton] emphasizes that we are all part of the same community, which has been really touching.”

Looking to the future, Charlie is already envisioning a life as a director for himself.

In the meantime, he hopes to become involved in Clayton productions and employ the skills he has gained from his Mack and Moxy experience.“The show will give you imagination,” Charlie said.iiiii

Photos of Charlie Owens from Craig Owens.

NEWS 13

CLAYTON CAR WASH Beneath the towering architecture of Clayton’s large business corporation, on the intersection of Hanley Road and Carondelet Avenue, sits a small yet significant piece of St. Louis History: the Clayton Car Wash.

The historic location was founded in 1954. Rich Rutledge, the current owner of 30 years, has been with this monumental location for his whole life.

“My wife’s family started [the business],” Rutledge said. “I did work here when I was dating my wife as a teenager. I’ve worked here [since] the late 60’s.”

However, after his teenage years, Rutledge stepped away from the business for 30 years.

Rutledge has been able to witness the evolution of Clayton’s city layout through his years working in the weathered building.

“When the carwash started, Clayton had a three story limit on the height of buildings. When we built this, there were still homes behind us,” Rutledge said. “Right across the street was a Cadillac dealership. [There] was all sorts of vibrant stuff going on, not like today.”

To Rutledge, the main goal of the wash is to grow the operation and keep it in the family business. Rutledge, who is always looking for new employees, keeps a sign out front and trusts word-of-mouth to get new hands in the shop. A large portion of

the applicants that come to Rutledge looking for a job are former convicts. To the owner, this is a blessing in disguise.

“They generally turn out to be fairly decent employees,” Rutledge said. “They tend to be more reliable than a lot of people from the inner city because they need a second chance. They have to work. Otherwise, they may as well go back to jail.”

Stanley, one of the six remaining employees in this historic spot, has scrubbed

FEATURE 14

for the wash for [number of] years. “[Stanley] does what we tell him to,” Rutledge said.

“He can drive, he can vacuum, he can greet. He can do just about any job.”

Stanley’s shimmering personality is just enough to spark up a conversation with any customer. His kind instincts have even gotten him job offers from higher paying businesses in Clayton.

“One customer came in, and I found $2 grand in his car that he forgot about. He owns two businesses,” Stanley said. “When [a man] has a lot on his mind like that, he tends to forget $2 grand. I turned it in and he was grateful.

He tried to hire me right then and there.”

Stanley declined the offer. However, for his good Samaritan actions, the generous restaurant owner granted Stanley pasta for life. Stanley has also found jewelry, guns and even marijuana in the automobiles, all of which he returned to their rightful owners.

Not only is Stanley a versatile tool in the car wash, but he is also an experienced singer. When he was growing up, Stanley sang in a band by the name of “Switch”.

Now, Stanley solely sings to help put the staff in a cheerful mood in the mornings.

Stanley was raised in California by two legally deaf parents. From birth, Stanley was immersed in the world of sign language, a tool he would need to

by MICHAEL BERNARD / sports section editor with reporting by PHILIP STAHL / reporter THE HISTORY BEHIND A LANDMARK OF DOWNTOWN CLAYTON quickly learn in order to communicate with his parents. Stanley is also fluent in Spanish, which he learned in school.

“I just like to learn different languages,” Stanley said. “I’ve surprised a lot of people because I [speak] so fluently.”

According to Stanley, you can make more money as a sign language interpreter than he does at his current job. However, he stays dedicated to the car wash.

“My [sisters have] $100,000 dollar [homes] and nice cars through sign language. They are certified sign language interpreters,” said Stanley.

Although Stanley is not a certified sign language interpreter, he believes he bears the skills necessary to become one. Stanley is even able to use this challenging skill in his everyday job.

“I have run into customers that are deaf,” Stanley said. “We hired a deaf mute that I was able to translate.

He was working here for a long time.”

This employee has moved on from the car wash, but Stanley is still grateful for the opportunity of being able to give back to this man by helping him feel comfortable in the work environment.

Throughout his time working at this wash, Stanley’s salary has decreased substantially.

“Since the recession, [my pay] has decreased because the volume [of customers] has [decreased],” Stanley said.

“Back in the day I was able to work 66 hours a week consistently.

That has dropped dramatically.”

Stanley relies on this job to pay the bills. However, he doesn’t let a decrease in pay get him down.

“You gotta learn to adapt and keep trying to hope that things will get better,” Stanley said.

Stanley feels that the workers at the carwash share a special connection, one that is cherished tremendously by each individual in the aged building.

The few workers each share a community bond that is too strong to be broken.

“We try to stay cheerful here,” Stanley said. “We recently lost a real good co-worker. He passed [away] a couple days ago. Everybody is down in the dumps about that. I was really close to him.”

Even though the employee was quite old and suffered from many health problems, the sudden death

has left a dent in the grieving staff.

In times of emotional, physical or financial struggle, Stanley relies on Rutledge, the caring front runner of the operation, to give him support.

“I can talk to [Rutledge] pretty much about anything. He’s a good boss,” Stanley said. “He has helped me out in a lot of situations back in the day.”

Even though this prosperous business has been around for multiple decades, Rutledge recognizes that the Clayton Carwash will not sit in its stop forever.

“In lieu of what’s going on around Clayton and if somebody comes in and gives me a big sack of cash, I’ll leave. However, I do want to stay,” Rutledge said. “With Centene buying up everything in the world, you don’t know what’s going to happen.” iii

FEATURE 15

Photo of Rutledge by Katherine Sleckman.

LISA’S CHS graduate Lisa Einstein uses her passion of music to leave a lasting impact on her community.

“In 5th or 6th grade, I came home from school and asked [my dad]: ‘I’m the only girl in my honors math class. Do you think that there’s something genetically different between girls and boys, and boys are better at math and science?’ He was like ‘I can’t believe they tricked you, my own daughter,” said Lisa Einstein, CHS graduate of 2009 and Peace Corps volunteer. “[My dad] was really aware of the subtle forces that could undermine my confidence and make me not pursue the things I was really interested in pursuing,” Einstein said.

“His support of me within science and his broader commitment to making the world a better place [have] absolutely influenced my path. [He] really inspires me.”

However, during her senior year at CHS, Einstein’s dad suddenly passed away, a huge blow to the lives of both her and her sisterTracy.

“They really had a tough time going through their senior year because of the tragedy in their life. I think this drew me closer to them. I had gotten to know both of them pretty well,” CHS physics teacher Rex Rice said after getting to know Einstein through her involvement with the club Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Mathematics and Science (TEAMS). Rice was also her AP Physics teacher her senior year.

“Lisa was a very good physics student, but one of the hallmarks of [her] life is that she is just a creative person. When she was in AP Biology and also AP Physics, she would write songs employing the science concepts she was learning at the time,” Rice said. “[The songs] were very creative, on the verge of being professional.”

After CHS, Einstein attended Princeton University, where she pursued a degree in physics. At Princeton, Einstein wrote the thesis, “Innovate How We Educate: Understanding the Photoelectric Effect Through Physics, Education and Dance.”

This thesis has fueled her dedication in her career with the Let Girls Learn initiative.

During her time there, she often went to talks at the Woodrow Wilson school, a

Einstein playing the drums with one of the village locals. Photo from Einstein. school famous for public service.

“In the talks at the Woodrow Wilson school, girls education stood out to me as an issue that could change the world,” Einstein said. “I started reading more about it and could now give you about a million statistics on it.”

Through the speeches and lectures she participated in at the school, Einstein became committed to giving back.

“I wanted to contribute by getting my hands dirty and not just thinking about it,” Einstein said.

Einstein decided that the best way to fulfill this dream would be to head right where

FEATURE 16

this help was needed most.

Einstein arrived in Africa in July 2016 as a part of the first Peace Corps group back after the Peace Corps had evacuated all volunteers during the Ebola outbreak. For the first three months of the 27-month commitment, the volunteers trained in Guinean culture and language before deploying to their assigned outposts.

Einstein had to learn both French and Pular, the local language. She teaches classes in French but is still mastering Pular.

“I took French at CHS but barely spoke it in college,” Einstein said. “I had to re-warmup the neurons and undergo a lot of train-

LEGACY

BY MICHAEL BERNARD AND JACOB LAGESSE ing. I learned a lot of physics vocabulary.”

Before Einstein traveled to her assigned village, she stayed with a host brother in Guinea. There, Einstein quickly learned that the culture in Guinea is much different than what she is used to.

“My host brother Hustler said, ‘Girls can’t do math and science. They’re not good at it.’

I was taken aback,” Einstein said. “We talked it over for two hours. He seemed persuaded, but I wanted to be sure I had reached him.”

To Einstein, writing poetry is much easier than writing an essay. She took advantage of this fact at CHS, writing poems that enhanced her learning. In order to fully convince her host brother that girls can learn math and science, she decided to write a rap about the issue.

“Somebody challenges [Einstein] on whether girls can do science or not. She knows enough about the physics to stand her ground on that,” Rice said. “She has the creative ability to turn it into something that can appeal to an awful lot of people.”

When Einstein shared the rap with Hustler, he was not only persuaded, but also encouraging of Einstein to develop the rap into a song.

“We started working together on it. I had been taking drum lessons in the village with [a] guy. We were really good friends, and I thought it would be my dream for him to play on it,” Einstein said. “I asked him, and he really liked the song. He is a music student in the village, and he connected me with a recording studio in Guinea.”

In the tenth poorest country in the world, the recording situation was not perfect.

“While we were recording, the power went out twice,” Einstein said. “[It was] one day, totally hot, horrible recording studio, but we had fun.”

Once Einstein finished the song, she and her host brother performed the song at a Peace Corps talent show.

Then, after about a month, Einstein traveled to the village in which she was assigned to work as a physics educator. Out of 820 seventh to tenth grade students in the village,

only 198 of them are girls.

Using iMovie, Einstein was then able to incorporate footage of villagers at her initial training doing everyday things: writing, washing clothes and even playing drums.

Einstein used this footage as the basis of her music video. Einstein recorded the song in the beginning of September. In October, Einstein released the music video on the International Day of the Girl. “[I got] super positive feedback from diplomat type people who have worked in international development for years. [They] were like, ‘Wow, changing minds is really

hard. You’ve really found a powerful way of doing it,’” Einstein said. “I got an email from someone who showed it to kids they nanny to teach them about equality. That was really touching.”

Rice received an email from Einstein on the International Day of the Girl with a link to the video and became very emotional after watching the moving video several times.

“What makes her stand out is who she is,” Rice said. “Her personality, her willingness to integrate all the different parts of her life together.” .

Einstein’s students in front of the chalk board in their classroom. Photo from Einstein.

FEATURE 17

C-QUIG’S CHS Freshman expresses himself through music

Quigless rapping in his debut song “Autism” Ever since he was born, Charlie Quigless has been put through challenges that most other people have never faced. When he was just 3-years-old, Charlie Quigless was diagnosed with autism that was predicted to make living “normally” an arduous task.

When Charlie was diagnosed, his parents were told that he would not have any verbal speaking capabilities.

“There is no cure for autism. Charlie is a wonderful gifted child who is blessed. Autism isn’t an obstacle to overcome. He accepts himself and embraces his differences,” said Angela Quigless, the mother of Charlie Quigless. “As a society, it is more important that we learn to accept those with disabilities rather than try to change them or make them feel they need to overcome their disability.”

Before his move to Clayton, Charlie Quigless attended the St. Louis City Public School District. However, he did not have a positive experience with this schooling sys-

tem.

“I had been bullied a lot before I came to Wydown,” Charlie Quigless said. “If it wasn’t for my move to Clayton, I would still be a victim of bullying.”

According to Angela Quigless, making friends was originally very difficult for Charlie.

“The biggest obstacle has been educating others about how autism affects Charlie. The autism spectrum ranges from high to low and it affects each person differently,” Angela said. “Autism for Charlie means he learns differently or he may reach the same result but in a different way.”

For many children, dealing with problems means talking to a parent or counselor. However, Charlie does not deal with his

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problems with this traditional method, although he does appreciate the open and welcoming atmosphere at CHS. Instead, Charlie deals with his stress by writing music.

“I just think about my problems and type [them] in my phone,” Charlie said. Whenever he gets a minute, Charlie will pull out his phone and type what comes to his mind in the form of lyrics.

“He constantly has a beat in his head,”

Angela said.

Charlie has been writing his own music since he was in fifth grade. However, he had not released any of his songs until a few months ago when he released his first single “Autism”.

QUEST

BY MICHAEL BERNARD with JACOB LAGESSE “[The song] is about me having autism and what it’s like to have [it],” Charlie said.

In the song, Charlie says, “People used to make fun of my disability/Cause they don’t know that I think differently.”

The song currently has more than 3,400 views on YouTube, something Charlie is proud of. However, social media is not the only method Charlie uses to gain recognition with his song.

“They showed [my video] back at Wydown at lunchtime,” Charlie said. “They showed it at church.”

According to Quigless, his parents both are very supportive of his endeavor. Charlie’s father has helped Charlie start his career.

“I wouldn’t be rapping if it wasn’t for my dad,” Charlie said. “He introduced me to all the people I needed to get a head start on my future.”

Even though his father had no previous music experience, Charlie’s father was still able to help his son to the best of his abilities.

According to Charlie, his father knows the right people to help his career gain success.

Charlie is also very involved in the Clayton and St. Louis communities. He is appearing in the two CHS productions of

“Snow Angel” and “Hairspray”. He also volunteers at the Imagination Station Camp at The Heights in Richmond Heights where he writes and performs skits for the adolescent campers.

Over the summer, Charlie wrote another song. Titled “Violence Has to End,” the song received over 350 views on the very day it was published. The song promotes the epidemic of bullying throughout the world.

Since he has had his own experience with bullies, Charlie was particularly connected with the lyrics.

“We all have bullies that cause us strife/ But we found a way to get them out of our lives/Bullies are around, but we don’t need them/You gotta stand your ground to keep

Quigless with his producer Tarboy Williams.

your freedom/With that, bullies can’t do anything,” Charlie sings in his new single.

Charlie was inspired by some of the recent world traumas, such as the Orlando shooting and the shooting in San Bernardino.

At CHS, Charlie earns good grades in his classes. However, given his circumstances, Charlie feels that this task is very difficult.

“Keeping up in school is hard for me/ Cause I don’t comprehend everything that I see/When I have a question, it’s hard to ask/ And finding an answer is a difficult task,”

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Charlie rapped.

In 20 years, Angela believes that Charlie will be living out his dream as a performer. As of now, Charlie plans on continuing his performing career trying to live out his dream of following in the footsteps of his idol and hero: Michael Jackson.

“He is probably my favorite musician of all time,” Charlie said.

Although his rap career is just beginning, his mom is already extremely proud of her son. “We are glad Charlie has found his niche, his passion,” Angela said. “We love the fact that his rap is clean and has a positive message.”

REFUGEES IN STL

BY CHARLIE BRENNAN and MITALI SHARMA I. INTRODUCTION “The Syrian situation in St. Louis is like this: Imagine if you were dropped in a forest and somebody said, ‘You can live there.

Figure it out for yourself,’” said a man who refused to give his name. Himself an immigrant from Egypt, the man helps Syrian refugees acclimate to their new environment and has seen firsthand the obstacles the refuges have to face.

Seven minutes drive from the heart of Clayton and just across the Delmar divide, poverty is the norm.

The streets are lined with litter, weeds rule the sidewalks and graffiti plasters the buildings. The small apartment complex on Hodiamont - home to various of the refugee families - is no exception.

These families have taken a dangerous journey to reach the so-called western ‘land of promise.’ Many lost their property - everything from houses to clothing - and were forced to stay in overcrowded refugee camps. Healthcare and food were also rare commodities during this period of dangerous backroad travel, which itself is major concern for the majority of families who traveled with young children.

But various problems still face the Syrians here in St. Louis, including the aforementioned living conditions, but they are thankful to have reached the United States after all. Khaldoon Elzoobi, a physician who helps the refugees assimilate, said, “Although some things need to be improved, the Syrians are grateful to be in the United States.”

II. THE FACTS According to the Immigration and Nationality Act created by the U.S. government, people are able to gain refugee status by being outside their country of origin and having a “well-founded” fear of persecution due to race, religion, nationality, social group or political opinion.

Even after this status is given, resettlement only occurs if the refugee is already registered with the United Nations of High Commissioner of Refugees and residing in Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt or Turkey. If not residing in one of those countries, a referral from a United States embassy will also work.

According to the International Institute of St. Louis, it takes about 18-24 months for the application and clearing process.

Post-travel, refugees are assigned to one of ten national agencies which then refers them to a local sponsor agency.

The International Institute is one of these agencies which takes in refugees for resettlement in St. Louis.

The percentage of Syrians joining the St. Louis refugee community has grown just these two past years.

III. PERSONAL STORIES Mohammad Abarra: I was a barber by profession. My grandfather taught my father and my father taught me. It is a skill I inherited through my family. By the end of 2011 the war in Homs was full fledged and my family was evicted from our home. I have five kids: a girl 15-years-old, a boy 12-yearsold, a girl 8-years-old, a boy 3-years-old, and a 1-year-old boy. I moved from one suburb of Homs to another suburb of Homs. There was a large urban population of over one million people with major universities in it. The city was multicultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious. After I fled Homs, I moved to Damascus. I stayed in a place called Saida Zeina which ended up being the fulcrum of the Civil War. My family and I remained there for four months. Then once I left for Jordan I had to cross the plain of Hauran. Normally, it is an hours drive from Damascus to the border; however, the trip took over twelve hours. We stayed one week in the camp Zaatari. It was a mass of tents.

We received our water in water jugs. There, I was able to work in the city as a barber. Finally, The United Nations called me. When we arrived in Jordan, the United Nations took over and began seeking resettlement for my family. In Jordan, the schools were very bad and the nutrition was poor. The United States government vetted us for two years in Jordan before we were able to move to the US. Once we were allowed, we flew from Jordan to Chicago and then on to St.

FEATURE 20

Louis. The International Institute met us at the airport, and when we arrived to this apartment there were six chairs a table and some mattresses. I have been living here for almost five months. I had to leave all of my belongings behind in Syria. I lost my house.

I lost my barber shop. I sold my car before the war, yet I was not able to bring any money over. We arrived with only the clothes we were wearing.

I have two sisters in Beirut and my mother-in-law is still living in Syria with her family. Anyone who is counted as a person against the government had their houses destroyed.

In this country, I cannot work as a barber yet because I do not have a license. For the past three months I have been doing job interviews with the hope of employment. I am getting by; however, this is the last month which I have rent covered. After that, the Islamic Foundation is stepping in to help pay for the rent.”

Abdo: I have five children. I stuck it out in Syria until 2014 in a small village called Rayan which was essentially neutral in the war. I lost my house and my livelihood in Homs. I am a cement mixer by trade and I was able to work until Syria became too unsafe to live there. It took me three days to get from Homs to the border of Jordan.

We were packed in a little truck with over a hundred people. A normal drive on the old Syrian highway system would take somebody only three hours to get to the border, but it took much longer because we had to drive on the backroads due to violence.

We basically ran out of the refugee camps because, once you are in, you are not permitted to leave. After we escaped the refugee

camps, we moved on to the capitol and the next day I was working to support my family. There was little food, and my family often went hungry. We are thankful to be here.

Dr. Shakir: My wife, Dura’s, father was kidnapped over two years ago by the government. He was a pediatric doctor who ran a hospital in Syria. After he attempted to negotiate peace between the two fighting sides, people came and took him away. Nobody has seen him since. She worries and prays for him often. She is unsure whether he alive or dead.

IV. OBSTACLES Though not anymore under the rule of an oppressive government and in the midst of severe violence, hardship is still the norm for these refugee families.

Immediately after moving into their new homes, these Syrians found themselves displaced in a foreign city without money, without jobs, without knowledge of the language and with hundreds of children to feed.

However, these matters were swept from their minds as soon as the first gunshots were heard in the night. These disturbances resonated from the playground across the street where the children had been playing just hours before.

From one woman being given the middle finger at a bus stop, to another man being fired from his job for praying outside the workplace during his break. In addition, during the first week of November, two unknown men came through Hodiamont and in the parking lot, smashed windows from Syrian cars.

On top of all of these new issues the Syrians are facing, they still carry the weight of problems from their time in Syria and Jordan. Some have PTSD, some have medical issues which have not been taken care of during their time in Jordan and others suffer from common conditions that can drain the money from a struggling family.

V. HOPE These Syrians have been brought to the St. Louis area through the International Institute. This government contracted organization has supplied the families with the first five months’ rent for the refugees. In addition, they provide English classes and a special school for the children.

When the International Institute begins to stop the financial aid to these refugees, the Islamic foundation steps in and attempts to help pay for utilities, rent and other essentials for these refugees.

“We give out money for the Ssyrian’s rent, utilities, groceries and sometimes their medical bills. We spend about $275,000 through $300,000, but this year we are

spending much more than that due to the influx of refugees,” said Adil Imdad, a leader in the Islamic Foundation.

In addition to providing monetary assistance, the Islamic Foundation provides a free clinic where anybody who is poor regardless of religious affiliation can use to acquire dental and medical services. The foundation offers free legal counsel and notarizing of documents.

Imdad said, “Finally, we provide free

funerals to all Muslims. We only charge for the graveyard costs: grave and digging costs; however, those who are extremely poor the Islamic Foundation will pitch in money to pay for the graveyard.”

The resilience of the Syrians is undeniable. Through these obstacles, many are eager to assemble their situations back into their normal lives. The majority of the men have acquired one or more part time jobs.

They have begun to move out of north St. Louis and they are getting back on their feet.

Despite all of the nativity in Trump’s America, Imdad adds, “I think most of the citizens are very receptive of the refugees.”

Even with all of the positive influences on the Syrians, there is still much to be remedied. Imdad believes that, “Everybody can help these refugees. They can donate money or “adopt” families. They can donate old cars to the foundation and we can fix them up and give them to the refugees.

Finally, they can volunteer at Baitulmal, unpacking boxes and sorting the donations.”

Photo by Charlie Brennan

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Statistics provided by the International Institute of St. Louis.

SNAPSHOT

CHS alum and photographer Dusty Kessler. (PHOTO FROM KESSLER) “You’re gonna love this, hold on, stand by,” 2011 CHS graduate Dusty Kessler said over our FaceTime interview.

He panned over to the street directly in front of him just quickly enough for us to catch a glimpse of a horse-drawn carriage passing by on the cobblestone.

Kessler is currently staying in Prague for one portion of the Justin Beiber Purpose Tour. He was standing outside of a restaurant for the duration of the interview. Connection was patchy in some places, but we got some clear images of the cream colored buildings and night sky throughout the interview.

He’s been to Paris, “partied hard” in London, played soccer with Bieber himself, and will be visiting Germany in the near future.

So far, his talents have earned him not only a successful career and reputation in the photography business, but also countless incredible experiences.

Kessler claims that he would not be where he is today if he hadn’t gone to Clayton schools.

CHS fine arts and photography teacher Christina Vodicka described Kessler as a “sponge.” Vodicka explained the type of student Kessler was by describing his response to assignments: “I would say, ‘Dusty go do this,’ and he’d say ‘Okay.’ He would make it his own, but he was always willing to just take on anything.”

And that he did.

For the past three months, Kessler has been traveling with the Justin Bieber Purpose Tour, mainly working with a band called The Knocks, who open for Bieber.

His job consists of moving around the venue, photographing and videotaping performances to increase publicity.

Kessler acquired this job while working with G-Eazy, the rapper whom he refers to as his

FEATURE 22

“best friend.”

While working with G-Eazy, he asked an assistant who was familiar with The Knocks if there were any job openings available for the tour.

“I was like ‘Yo, do you guys need a photographer or anything?’ and he was like, ‘Let me check with management and get back to you,’ and two or three days later, I’m having conversations with people like Justin’s management company,” Kessler said.

Although Kessler does not see Bieber on a daily basis, he has played soccer with him several times and has celebrated with him after performances.

Kessler uses photography as both a job and an art form.

While his career revolves mostly around the documentation of celebrities or those in the limelight, his dream is to capture the lives of up and coming stars who have not yet reached fame.

OF FAME

BY MARY SNELLING, KATHERINE SNELLING, SARA STEMMLER AND LILA TAYLOR

Kessler appreciates capturing what he calls the “rise and progression” of individuals on their path to stardom. “I mean I’ve taken photos of Kanye, I’ve taken photos of Drake, and The Weeknd, but at the end of the day that doesn’t really matter to me,” he said. “Because they’re all the way up here, and I’d rather work with somebody when they’re small and help them get to that point.”

Although he has worked for many celebrities, his career continues to take him by surprise.

“Wow I was just on a Justin Bieber tour for two and a half months,” Kessler said. “It’s weird, it’s really weird.” .

ALL PHOTOS BY DUSTY KESSLER

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S E PA R A T E and

U N EQUA L THE STORY OF RACE-BASED E D U C AT I O N A L A C C E S S I N S T . L O U I S

b y C a m i l l e R e s p e s s a n d E l l i e To m a s s o n

S

The Liddell Family. Photo from Michael Liddell.

She vowed to never return.

Trina Dyan Clark James graduated from Clayton High School in 1989, and after that, she made a promise to herself: she would never live in St. Louis again.

So, after high school, James went on to study engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology, then Stanford, and even landed a job at Apple as a mechanical engineer - a career that lasted 10 years.

“I had an amazing mechanical engineering career, which made it even more shocking for everyone when I decided I was going to leave engineering and go into education with the express purpose of moving back to St. Louis after complaining from afar for 10 years,” James said.

After spending two years studying education management as a graduate student at the University of California Davis, James

broke her promise. She returned to St. Louis.

“I moved back to St. Louis to contribute to education reform in hopes of being apart of eradicating the inequities in education that I had personally experienced growing up,” she said.

These educational inequities James felt have historically pervaded St. Louis.

Since the 1940s, white flight out of the city of St. Louis has depleted the tax base of the urban core. In turn, the St. Louis City public school system (SLPS) suffered major decreases in funding which created a growing disparity of the quality of education between St. Louis City and County public school systems.

James, like so many others, was a victim of this separate and unequal educational system.

She attended the SLPS before coming to the School District of Clayton through the St. Louis Voluntary Student Transfer Program (VST) in 1984.

VST, which has existed in St. Louis since 1982, has bussed tens of thousands of black students - including James - from St. Louis City to St. Louis County in attempts of increasing racial integration in public schools.

II. The Liddell Family All Minnie Liddell wanted was for her five children, and so many other black children, to have quality public educations.

In 1971, 17 years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in the Brown ver-

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sus Board of Education of Topeka ruling that the establishment of racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, the Liddell family was living in North St. Louis.

Minnie’s oldest son, Craton Liddell, was set to attend Yeatman Elementary School for the 1971-1972 school year. Yeatman Elementary was in the Liddell’s neighborhood and was of quality standards. So, Minnie Liddell was pleased that Craton would be attending this school, only to find out shortly that her son actually would not.

“It was a new school and she was, as I understand it, thrilled that they were going to be going to Yeatman,” civil rights attorney Veronica Johnson said. “But at the last minute there were adjustments to the boundaries so that it would be an all white school and her children who lived near by were now going to be going to an inferior school.”

The SLPS School Board explained the Liddell’s reassignment to be caused by Yeatman Elementary School being overcrowded, so Craton was to be attending Bates Elementary, a distance away from the Liddell’s home.

This was not the first time Craton had been reassigned to a new school.

“He had been to five different elementary schools in six years because of the rezoning that was happening,” Michael Liddell, Craton’s youngest sibling, and the only living child of Minnie Liddell, said. Minnie Liddell did not put Craton, and Michael’s four other older siblings in the SPLS for six weeks of the 1971-1972 school year.

“My mother pulled him, and pulled all my brothers and siblings out of school, and she just homeschooled them until they could figure out what they were going to do to get them in the right schools to flourish so to speak,” Michael, who was born in 1976, said.

In addition to boycotting the SLPS for that school year, Minnie also organized and led the Concerned Parents of North St. Louis, a group which strove to tackle the issue of their children being placed in inferior schools in St. Louis.

This boycott and organization of the parent group led to her children being reassigned to a school of their choice. The Liddell’s chose Simmons Elementary.

But the battle did not stop there.

According to Michael, the Concerned Parents of North St. Louis went to lobbyists and courts to learn more about St. Louis public education.

“She noticed black students had second-hand resources, books and even buildings that showed the schools we were going

to were in poor condition,” Michael said.

On Feb. 18, 1972, Minnie Liddell and four other black North St. Louis parents filed a class action lawsuit against the City of St. Louis’ Board of Education.

According to Michael, Minnie’s leadership in this lawsuit was inspired by her concern for education, which spread far beyond the opportunities for her five children.

“She really did let us know that what she was doing was not just for us, but for kids that hadn’t even been born yet,” Michael said. “Part of the reason she was the person that she was is because she actually did care about education for everybody.”

III. The Case When Minnie Liddell filed the lawsuit against the City of St. Louis Board of Education, she had no idea that it would become the longest-running and most contentious desegregation case in the United States.

After three years, in 1975 Chief Judge James Meredith, who heard the Liddell v.

Board of Education for the City of St. Louis case was ready to approve a settlement created

Mark Bremer, left, represented the county districts in the Voluntary Student Transfer settlement proceedings. Photo from Bremer.

by both parties’ attorneys, but the NAACP disagreed with the settlement and sought to step into the case.

The original settlement was mostly based around hiring more minority teachers, but the NAACP intervened because this would not address the deeply rooted problem of the segregated system; they wanted to treat the sickness not the symptoms.

Attorney Veronica Johnson represents the NAACP in the Liddell vs BOE case.

“The [original settlement] plan was for an interdistrict remedy. In other words, within the boundaries of the St. Louis Public School Districts,” Johnson said. “That is when my client, the National Office of the NAACP got involved and worked for an intra-district transfer program that would include the suburban schools.”

The NAACP succeeded and this intra-district transfer program would evolve into the longest running public school desegregation program in the nation.

The VST program began in 1982. The program bussed black kids from the St. Louis City districts to the county and, in smaller quantities, white students from the county into charter schools in the city in hopes of desegregating both school systems.

“The purpose of all of this is to provide the victims of the dual, or the segregated system which had been in effect, the eighth circuit said, for five generations, to provide them the opportunities for an integrated learning experience which they had been denied. So there were a number of ways to do that,” Mark Bremer, lawyer for the Voluntary Interdistrict Choice Corporation (VICC), said. “[Black students] can go out to the county schools where they can get an education in an integrated, predominantly white, but integrated school district now because they’re there. Also, you [could] bring the white kids from the county into the magnet schools in the city so that they’re not all black, so that they can be integrated. But the whole purpose of this is to provide a remedy for the victims of the dual system, which are just the black kids in the city.”

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Each year the county schools accepted city students and vice versa and the demographics began to shift. The amount of black students entering the county schools was much greater than the amount of white students entering charter schools in the city.

But then Missouri got tired of footing the bill. In 1996, the state of Missouri filed for unitary status which would effectively terminate the program.

“At that time the amount of money that the state of Missouri had payed for desegregation of the St. Louis schools as well as to a lesser extent the Kansas city schools, was more than the total spent by all states in the United States historically except for California,” Bremer said. “So the state of Missouri wanted to end the program. So they filed that motion to end the desegregation programs and particularly to end the state’s obligation to pay for all of it.”

Qualifying for unitary status would mean that the school district is completely integrated and the vestiges of the dual system have been eradicated. Under the Equal Protection Act, the VST program is only constitutional as a remedy for prior wrongdoings of the segregated system, so if the district were to achieve unitary status any race based program, including the VST program, would be considered racial discrimination and thereby unconstitutional.

“Ordinarily you can’t make decisions based on race, but where you have had a violation of the Equal Protection Act where blacks have been discriminated against, then in order to remedy that you have to have race-based decision making otherwise you can’t diversify and integrate and provide them the lost opportunities that they were deprived of,” Bremer said.

The state did not get this motion for unitary status, however it did spark the re-negotiation of a new settlement plan.

“When we settled the agreement in 1999. [The State of Missouri] did not want to keep funding the schools forever. So as part of the deal, we agreed to changes in the foundation formula. That is how much is paid for each student. We agreed to certain changes in the foundation formula that weighed poverty a little heavier and all the parties agreed that we would submit a sales tax to the voters in the City of St. Louis to get their approval,” Johnson said. “The sales tax then along with changes to the foundation formula funded all the remedial programs, the magnet schools, improvements to academics, vocational educational aspects of it.”

The new settlement created the Volun-

tary Interdistrict Choice Corporation (VICC), a non-profit organization that oversaw the VST program. Under the previous provisions of the lawsuit, the court created the Voluntary Interdistrict Coordinating Council, also VICC, but the new corporation would take over for the court appointed committee.

So now with the state of Missouri not being responsibile for funding, the VST program changed from being supervised by the judge to being led by a board of directors made up of the superintendents of participating schools as part of the new VICC. The plan was never meant to be permanent.

“We were contemplating that the program would phase out in about a 20 year period reduced by about five percent per year because in my view as a lawyer, under the Supreme Court decisions construing the constitution, the desegregation remedies cannot go in perpetuity they can’t go forever,” Bremer said. “Now that’s still a very long time though because it started in 1980 and then in 1999 it was contemplated over another 20 year period. It’s not forever, it’s not in perpetuity, but it’s many generations of students.”

Ultimately, the complexity of the dual, segregated system in St. Louis has drawn the case out over generations of participants. “[W]ith this case we have gone through two or three federal judges. In other words, the case has outlived two or three federal judges. It has outlived Mrs. Liddell, the first named plaintiff and her son, Craton, they both passed. There was an Erleen Caldwell who as a parent who worked with the NAACP, I think she has passed and most of the lawyers who are working it now are the second generation of lawyers,” Johnson said. “It is a case that has a life of its own and that is something that I think reflects the difficulty of the problem and the inadequacy of the judicial system to remedy societal problem.”

The VST program is not a remedy for the societal problem of institutionalized racism that has entrenched American society for the whole of its existence, but it is hard to ask any law or judicially instituted program to do that. Even so, the VST program has certainly touched the lives of so many families that have gained access to integrated education.

Minnie Liddell started her legal battle as a concerned mother fighting for her children’s education, but as her passions grew stronger, her fight for equality in public education helped provide opportunities not only for her own children, but for black children throughout the St. Louis region.

“She opened up a lot of doors for a lot of African-American people as a result of this case,” Michael said. “She has an impact on people that’s so far reaching in the surrounding areas

of this city. For her to be able to do that and for me to know she was responsible for that, that means a lot to me and I’m sure it would’ve meant a lot to her. She never ever ever stopped fighting, all the way until the end.”

Minnie Liddell died in 2004 at 64-yearsold.

While she was living, her dedication never waned even as the scope of the case expanded.

“She was always on the phone with the lawyers even after the program had been settled. She was always trying to find new ways and new ideas to make the system better,” Michael said.

IV. The Students Keith Foxworth, Class of 1984

Keith Foxworth was looking for an opportunity to continue playing the sports he was passionate about, so he came to Clayton High School as a sophomore in 1982 through the Voluntary Student Transfer program.

Prior to entering the School District of Clayton, Foxworth attended Beaumont High School in North St. Louis, which was just a short distance from his home.

“At that time I think because tennis and soccer, which were two of the sports I played no longer being in the city schools, I decided to make a change,” Foxworth said.

And make a change he did.

For the remainder of his high school career, Foxworth rode what he remembers as a 35 to 45 minute bus ride before and after school in order to get to CHS. “I had to get up early,” he said. “It made my day longer but it was one of those things where you feel like it was worth it.”

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For Foxworth, attending Clayton meant he could participate in athletics, which he thrived in. While at CHS, Foxworth was number one on the boys’ tennis team and has continued his tennis career both in college and professionally.

But, Foxworth’s decision to go to CHS through the VST program was not strictly because of athletic opportunities.

“Going to Clayton was just the opportunity to go to the better school system,” Foxworth said. “Not just the sports but also the idea of being in a better school system and having access to a better education.”

When Foxworth was attending CHS, the VST program was in its first years.

“I think the year I went to CHS I think there was maybe three other African Americans in my class at that time,” Foxworth said. “I think there were actually one or two African Americans who grew up in the Clayton School system. They knew pretty much everybody there. So they were maybe a little more acclimated that I was.”

Although more acclimated than he, Foxworth did not struggle in these aspects while at Clayton. “[Coming to Clayton] wasn’t that difficult for me because I had been playing tennis since I was 6-years-old and had been around every nationality you could think of. Also, my church was pretty mixed as well, so I had a wide variety of people I came in contact with,” he said. “Whereas some of the other transfer students, I think their interaction with other nationalities was probably limited. For me, it did not feel like a culture shock. I was not particularly uncomfortable that way.”

Even so, Foxworth did experience some racism while in high school.

“I do recall having at least one incident where there was some racial tension,” Foxworth said. “A kid made a comment about the size of my lips and we almost got in a fight about it.”

Due to the educational differences in Beaumont and Clayton, Foxworth found himself less educationally advanced in certain situations than some of his peers.

“As far as the educational side of it. It was tougher. There were certain things that students who were already at Clayton knew, that I didn’t know,” he said.

Foxworth believes the educational disparities between the Beaumont and Clayton were striking while he was in high school.

“I felt like the programs in the city weren’t as accelerated as they could have been, for whatever reason,” Foxworth said.

Trina Dyan Clark James, Class of 1989

When James first entered the School District of Clayton in eighth grade, she noticed a distinct difference between herself and the other students in her classes.

“I was the only black in my classes,” James said. “I was placed on the honors track based off my testing. I remember being really pissed that I wasn’t in the class with any other black kids.”

So, James tried to do something about this situation.

“On the first [math] test I purposely failed because I wanted to be in the regular math class.

[My math teacher] called my mom and my dad and they had a meeting. So they forced me to retake the test. I took the test for real and got 100 percent on it.

They already had me pegged as, ‘You’re going down this route,’” she said.

And go down this route she did.

James was in honors and AP classes during her four years at CHS. This is where the distinct divide between her academic life and social life became more evident.

“When I went to my classes, I felt like I was in this other world,” she said. “When it got to lunch time when I could hang out with my people, at the black table, and then the bell would ring again, and I would go back into this other world.” In addition to excelling in the classroom, James was an active participant in Clayton’s extracurricular activities.

“I was the only black official for CHS club,” James said. “I was the first black to be part of the homecoming court. On paper I was still succeeding, I was the poster child for desegregation.”

But, starting the Organization of Black Awarness (OBA) during her sophomore year was what she remembers as her biggest contribution to CHS. OBA was a school sponsored program which strove to acknowledge and celebrate black culture within the walls of CHS. This group did not exist without some struggle.

After being a congressional page in DC for the first semester of her junior year, James returned to CHS and led OBA’s organization of events surrounding Black History Month.

“I came back to being told my junior year to be told by [CHS principal] Dr. Burr that we wouldn’t be allowed to have Black History Month because he felt like we were separating ourselves. So, we could have Peoples Month at Clayton instead. That wasn’t fair,” she said. “Clayton had Peoples Month, while OBA, we did our own thing.

We protested by doing our own thing anyways. By our senior year, he got the message that we were not backing down. So we did have Black History Month as a school.”

Although James was able to find a way to have acknowledgement of black culture in CHS through the formation of OBA, she believes that the VST program was harmful to the black communities in St. Louis.

“I think [VST] actually did a disservice to the black community, because it caused to fragment us even more,” James said.

After moving back to St. Louis from California, James moved to Clayton so her two oldest children could attend Clayton Schools. Her oldest son graduated in 2012 and her daughter graduated in 2015.

But James did not initially put her youngest son in the District, instead he attended Jamaa Learning Center - the charter school she founded in North St. Louis from 2011 to 2015.

“I ultimately left [California] to accomplish what was the end goal from when I left engineering, which was to open a high-performing charter public school in the Ville neighborhood,” James said. “So that in my specific neighborhood, no child would have to leave to receive the quality of education that I had received.”

But, after conflicts, Jamaa Learning Center lost its funding and closed its door at the end of the 2015-2016 school year.

“My son is now at Glenridge, our home elementary school. He is there now as a fifth grader. I know that I am getting my child a great education, but it does kind of hurt that we put that effort in so that a lot of kids in the city of St. Louis could receive a quality education, and it didn’t quite work out,” she said.

James’ inspiration to have this charter school came from her frustration with the remedies St. Louis has put in place - namely the VST program - which she participated in 28 years ago.

“I feel like [VST] was kind of a band

28

aid policy,” James said. “I don’t think they were thinking in the long-term when it was created.

That’s a problem.”

Stefanie Moore, Class of 1990

“Like a week before school started, she was like, ‘This is where you’re going’ and I was like, ‘What the hell!’” CHS alum Stephanie Moore said, recounting when her mother told her she would be going to Clayton High School through the VST program for her high school career.

For Moore, going to Clayton, which was not in her neighborhood, seemed like a ridiculous idea. But, she did as her mother told her, and attended CHS from 1986 to 1990.

Racially speaking, going to CHS did not differ too widely from Moore’s previous educational experiences.

“It was somewhat the same. The schools which I had went to prior - a private school and a catholic school - I was always the minority,” she said. “That wasn’t an issue for me.”

But, Moore certainly did take issue with other aspects of CHS, namely, the social environment.

“We weren’t welcome there,” Moore said.

“And that I wasn’t used to. You’re outside of your element. You are with people who have a very different economic status than you. I had issues where some of the teachers automatically assumed that you weren’t as smart as the people that were already there. And that was very evident by either how they talked to us, how we were berated in classes. There were very few minority teachers there.”

Moore found that minority students were treated differently, but, in Moore’s observations, involvement in sports further complicated this treatment.

“There was a big difference in how you were treated if [were black and] you played sports, so that was interesting,” she said. “If you play sports and were a varsity athlete, you were put in a different category. You were kind of seen a little bit differently. I played varsity sports all

four years, but I was also very radical in how I accepted the world that was presented to me all the time.”

This radical viewpoint stemmed from a frustration with the environment at CHS - especially involving racial tensions.

“We didn’t talk like they wanted us to talk, we were easily angered, we didn’t socialize with them outside of school because we had no way home for the most part,” she said.

Moore does not believe that attending CHS through the VST program was the best for her.

“I do wish that I had a different experience, but I will say that being at Clayton taught me a tolerance to deal with very racist people that I may not have had the opportunity to deal with outside of that,” she said. “And it taught me a lot about privilege and that I had none. And I had to work hard and no matter how hard I worked people would be like, ‘It’s only because you went to Clayton.’”

Moore has gone on to be a social worker, and has one daughter, who graduated from Ladue in 2013.

“We moved to Olivette and she went to Ladue for two reasons: one, I needed her to be able to learn how to deal with racism as time went on. I don’t think racism has gotten worse, it’s just more in the open now,” she said. “I needed her to learn how to deal with it in order to survive in life.”

Secondly, Moore wanted her to be in a school environment which was conducive to learning, she feels as though the SLPS would not have been that for her daughter.

Although Moore recognizes the benefits of diversity in schools, she does not agree with the principles of the VST program.

“It was interesting that the idea was to give black kids in the city better experiences better education, opportunities by putting them in these county schools versus putting the same amount of money into the city schools,” she said. “I don’t agree with it.”

Ryan Smith, Class of 1990

“Eighth grade year you’re looking for a high school and in my mind [I was going to] Sumner. There was really no doubt about it. I had been looking forward to that for forever, but my mom had a different perspective. She wanted to expose me to a different way of living.

She wanted to introduce me to some other sorts of people, so that’s when [VST] came into play,” CHS alum Ryan Smith said.

So, Smith went to CHS for all of his high school career.

Smith attended school at Bryan Hill Elementary school in the St. Louis City School District from kindergarten to eighth grade.

“Nobody white lived in the area I grew up in. The area I went to school in, out of the nine years of going there, I don’t think I went to school with one white guy,” Smith said.

Smith wanted to go into high school with his friends. His neighborhood was his home and he did not want to be bussed away from it.

“Most of my family went to the Sumner School District and I didn’t think it was fair that I didn’t get to go to a school that had such historical value that was in my neighborhood. I didn’t feel like I needed to be catching a school bus to go to a school that wasn’t even in my area where I can go to a school that is so close,” Smith said. “Clayton just seemed to be a long way to me.”

But despite Smith’s objections, he found himself boarding the bus the first day of his freshman year on its way to the suburbs.

“The bus thing, that’s a daily reminder. It’s like getting shipped in. I hated it. I hated the bus ride,” Smith said. “Pulling up in front of the school where you’ve got parents looking at you like you’re some animal.”

But Smith’s problems did not end when he got off the bus.

“It was a huge adjustment for me. I went from a school that was super small, I think my graduating class in eighth grade might have been 14 people to now starting completely over and basically feeling like I was the odd ball out,” Smith said. “I was very smart, so going from feeling that the world was all at your hands to feeling I don’t fit here, I don’t belong, the adjustment academically was tough.”

One of the reasons Smith thought the academic transition was so difficult was because the curriculum of his old school and that of Clayton did not line up.

“In mathematics, which was my strong suit, my school wasn’t teaching what Clayton was teaching, at least at that grade level. So, I didn’t have Algebra. Coming to Clayton at that point all of the freshmen coming in had already had algebra,” Smith said. “So now I feel like I’m playing catch up to some guys that I felt like I was on the same level academically, but I guess

29

I wasn’t.”

This led to an extreme lack of confidence for Smith.

“It felt like I had to be two different people. I felt like when I leave home I turned into this guy that was not as confident. I had to be this guy who was constantly proving himself all the time and then going back home and being that confident guy who feels like I can do anything,” Smith said.

Smith had to deal with these insecurities and try to find his place within CHS, but he never felt like he fully belonged.

“I couldn’t spend weekends at Clayton.

It wasn’t good for my psyche,” he said. “I felt like I had to unplug in order to recharge in order to deal with the feeling of not belonging.”

Through these conflicting feelings Smith never stopped trying.

“But that effort came at a cost. My sophomore year I dealt with depression.

I had to go see somebody about it. It was a huge culture shock to go from the community I grew up in to go out and getting mixed with people who come to school in BMWs. The whole open campus thing, it was like dealing with a whole different world. And at that point I didn’t know how to adjust to it,” Smith said. “I dealt with depression and of course it wasn’t strictly because of that, other things played in, but having to transition mentally every day, it wears on you, especially as a youngster.”

Arlo Henderson, Class of 1990

“I was born in St. Louis and lived around Natural Bridge and Goodfellow. It was a pretty nice neighborhood until mid 80s when crack cocaine hit it. Lots of drug sales and violence hit the community,” CHS alum Arlo Henderson said.

Although Henderson lived in North

St. Louis, he attended the Wilson School, in Clayton, from Kindergarten through fourth grade.

“My parents placed me at the Wilson School due to a test score I got on a Pre-K assessment. They thought the environment would best foster my academic abilities,” he said.

Being a person of color, Henderson took notice at a young age of the limited amount of black peers he had while at the Wilson School.

“At Wilson there were about three or four black kids in my class. I was used to being around more black people,” he said. “But I never felt like that was an issue.”

When Henderson was in the fifth grade, in 1982, he entered the School District of Clayton through the VST program, he attended Glenridge Elementary.

As Henderson grew up in the District, he made friends with both other VST students and students who resided in Clayton. Even so, he found himself having to be different versions of himself in his home-life and his school-life.

“At CHS, you almost have to develop a new personality but I had already done that when attending private school early on,” he said. “I knew I could not be the person I was in Clayton and survive in the environment I grew up in because there was too much going on, it’s so much different. You had to be a nice guy in Clayton.”

With this reality, Henderson had feelings of not belonging.

“You kind of felt like an outsider a little bit,” he said. “At the end of the day you would get on a bus and leave the District.”

In the classroom, Henderson recalls excelling. He was in honors and AP classes while at CHS, which, as he remembers, surprised some of his classmates.

“Some of my peers may not have realized that there were smart black people who were of my background, I grew up in a pretty rough area in the city,” he said.

Henderson also believed that teachers and parents in the District were not sufficiently knowledgeable on all that the VST program would entail, even on the day to day scale.

“I don’t think the teachers got nearly as much preparation for us as they needed,” he said. “I don’t think the parents got as much information as they should have. I think there should have been a quarterly check-in to find out what was going on.”

After graduating from CHS 27 years ago

through the VST program, Henderson finds it to be something that negatively impacted St. Louis.

“I’m not a big fan of [the VST program]. I think, in retrospect, it’s the worst thing that has ever happened to St. Louis,” Henderson said. “It took all of us out of the communities we were in, and if they hadn’t, those schools would have been better places. Clayton didn’t need our help.”

Even with these negative feelings about the program, Henderson returned to St. Louis in 2012, moved to Clayton, and placed his children in the District.

“I came back to Clayton because I liked the educational opportunity there. We looked at other districts, but I felt that the kids they would interact with on a day to day basis would be better in Clayton,” he said. “I like the community, it’s safe.”

His daughter, Taylor Henderson, graduated from CHS in 2015.

Although Henderson does not support all aspects of the VST program, he does find a benefit in racial diversity in schools.

“It’s great to have white people to have discussions with as you grow up. Clayton has a different level of intelligence because of its academic environment. You come out as a thinker. You’re able to understand more diverse perspectives,” he said. “There were a lot of great things that came out of it.”

But, Henderson also finds that the VST program has had damaging effects on the St. Louis Public Schools.

“Look what happened to the city schools, because of the [VST] program, its effects were astronomical. I think it was a very selfish program,” he said. “Nobody thought about what it was doing to everybody. It was like, “Hey, we’ve got a program with diversity. Let’s try to fix it.

Here’s our solution.”

V. The Climate The Voluntary Student Transfer program began in St. Louis County and City schools for the 1982-1983 school year, and that year, there was a total of 907 VST students enrolled in the program. In its first year, there were 24 participating school districts.

In the same year that the VST program began at CHS - 1982 - 22-year-old business teacher Mike Musick began his 26

30

year long career at Clayton.

As this new teacher, Musick was able to watch the start of the first school day for the 1982-1983 school year, which differed greatly from years prior.

“Busses showed up for the first time at CHS. We had one bus that circled the Clayton area,” Musick said. “I’m pretty sure we had 16 busses that showed up that first day. Most of the sports programs were done by cabs. For a 22 year old, this was a crazy, amazing thing.”

“This crazy, amazing thing,” as Musick recounts it, would turn into the longest running school desegregation program in the nation - and Clayton, so far, has been part of the program for its 35 year long existence.

Applicants to the VST program have historically been able to select the three public schools in St. Louis county they would be most interested in attending.

As CHS Instructional Coordinator Stacy Felps remembers, not many students were ranking Clayton as their top-choice.

“We were a highly selective destination school for being apart of the program. It was an intimidating school,” Felps said. “We were told that a lot of students wouldn’t list Clayton as one of their choices because they were afraid of the academics and of coming here.”

Felps entered CHS as a math teacher in 1984 as a math teacher at the age of 20 - she received her undergraduate degree from Mizzou in three years. At this point in time, VST students entering CHS had to take a series of tests to conclude what classes they would be placed in.

Felps recalls a distinct difference in the racial diversity of her higher and lower level math classes in her first year at CHS. “With our tracking, and within my Honors Algebra Trig Class, I can’t picture any VST kids in my first class. If there were, there were very few,” she said. “I taught a basic geometry class, less than college prep. It wasn’t predominately black, but it was unproportionally black.”

Patterns similar to these have continued throughout CHS; black students in CHS’s higher level classes are distinct minorities.

For Henderson, a VST student, and also an honors and AP student, there was a disconnect in the level of understanding between the VST students and their teachers.

“They didn’t understand what our lives

were like. They didn’t understand what the VST kids lives were like,” Henderson said.

“They did not understand that we were at bus stops at 5:30 in the morning taking busses out to school.”

Although teachers did not experience first-hand what it felt to be apart of the VST program as students, CHS history teacher David Aiello recalls an effort, whether minimal or not, the District put in place to understand better where all their students were coming from.

Aiello began his teaching career at Clayton in 1985, just three years after the VST had been implemented.

As Aiello recalls, during what are called “associate years” at Clayton, the fourth and fifth years that a teacher is part of the District, time is dedicated to looking into both the craft of the teacher, but also the District as a whole.

“I remember one of the things we did during that time period was that all those in years four and five went on a bus tour of Clayton and also of the city, where they told us that this is where some of the kids that we teach come from,” he said.

Additionally, the District hired Dr. Virginia Beard to be an assistant to the superintendent, with a focus on the racial achievement gap and the desegregation program. The position was terminated only a few years after it was implemented.

At CHS, for many, the most notable racial division during this time period was noted, of course, in the Commons.

James, who attended both Wydown and CHS, remembers that in middle school, there were black students and white students sitting together at lunch, but at CHS, that changed.

“Something happened between Wydown and Clayton because once we got there, there weren’t many blacks sitting with whites,” she said. “That’s where the black table started. I felt that there was this discomfort, there was a little bit of racism underlying everything, but it was never blatant.”

This combining of races, even with the racial tensions that ensued, was the basis for which the VST program was put in place.

“The kids were coming to Clayton not for a better experience, but for a different experience -- one where blacks and whites would go to school together,” Musick said.. iii

Top. Mike Musick, who was an administator in the District during desegreagation. Photo from CLAMO yearbook.

Bottom. Craton Liddell, the plantiff in the major St. Louis school desegragation case holds his little brother Michael Liddell.

Photo from Michael Liddell.

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CLAYTON CHAMPIONS

BY KEVIN ROSENTHAL / chief managing editor

Brooke Jones

Tyra Edwards

Daishanae Critteden Expectations for the 2016-17 Clayton varsity girls’ basketball season were high as opening tipoff approached for the Lady Greyhounds.

More raw talent filled this varsity girls’ roster than any other within the Clayton girls’ basketball program since the turn of the millennium.

But talented teams falter who cannot relate, communicate and synchronize.

Fortunately for the current Lady Hound squad, they were banded together since before any one of them experienced her first growth spurt.

Clayton seniors Brooke Jones, Daishanae Crittenden and Tyra Edwards first played basketball together in fourth grade.

In middle school, fellow seniors Claire Millett and Pierce Sams joined the crew that would form the cornerstone of Clayton’s competitors on the court in 2016-17.

Patrick Ostapowicz has spent eight years on the coaching staff of the Clayton varsity girls’ basketball team.

He has tailored batches of Lady Greyhounds in his tenure as assistant coach but has never worked with a group of girls so committed to each other as this year’s team.

“This year’s team stands out because of their selflessness and willingness to make sacrifices for the greater good. They truly are a team in every sense of the word. Individual stats and accolades mean nothing to this group. It's team success above all else,” Ostapowicz said. “Couple that with the abundant talent that this group brings to the court and you truly have a team capable of great things, things that have never been done in this program before.”

Last season’s leader in points-scored Brooke Jones sees the deep-rooted chemistry which surges through the team as the possible edge capable of translating talent to wins.

“Playing with each other so long, we’ve gotten insight as to the type of players we all are. We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses,” Jones said. “It’s easier for us to work together during games because we know each other not just as players, but as people too.

Through all four years of donning the varsity orange and blue, Jones has never been without Ostapowicz at her side.

“I’ve gotten to know Coach O pretty well through the years,” Jones said. Lots of things have changed on the team since my Freshman year, but Coach O has been there consistently. He’s always at practice, always willing to help; he’s one of those people who is there whenever you need him.”

Now in his third year of a partnership with head coach Ron Westfall - hired in 2014 - Ostapowicz and Westfall nurture the bonds forged by their players as many as eight years ago.

“It certainly helps that this year’s group of girls, the seniors in particular, have been playing with each other since grade school,” Ostapowicz said. “You can coach cohesiveness to a certain extent, but nothing can replicate or substitute experience, and that's something this group certainly has. This group has gotten to a point where they speak an unspoken language with each other on

SPORTS 32

the floor. They know how to read and anticipate each other’s actions and thoughts. The opportunity is there for them to be special, and they're willing to do what it takes to realize their potential.”

Ostapowicz’s description of his team’s ability to understand each other hints at near-telepathic communication as a means of success.

Convincing evidence of the team’s spark kindling came during the season opener last week at Normandy.

The Lady Hounds thwomped Normandy 76-7 and blanked their competitors during the first half on the road with a mind-boggling 53-0 score after two quarters.

“The win against Normandy was great.

Any win always is. But this group isn't reading too much into that win,” Ostapowicz said. “Our goal is to strive for excellence in the little stuff everyday, knowing that the payoff will be big stuff in the end. That takes a level of commitment and trust. We won't pat ourselves on the back until it's all over at the end of the season and we look back knowing we left everything we had on the floor.”

The chemistry of the girls on the court should inform the success of the team in 2016-17. This team is capable of being Clayton varsity girls’ basketball’s first champions in decades.

“We really think we can win the district championship,” Jones said. “That’s what we’re working towards. So right now it’s all about building bonds to make sure everyone is comfortable on the court and to make sure our game is strong enough to make us Clayton’s first district champs since 1988.” iiii

ATHLETE PROFILE

FRIEDMAN’S FEINT

Max Friedman, a junior, enters his second year wrestling and as a team captain.

BY MAX STEINBAUM / managing editor

Max Friedman during a wrestling meet.

(Alex Gerchen) “Max’s biggest strength is his determination,” CHS sophomore Adam Sieber said.

“When there’s a goal, he’ll accomplish it.”

Adam Sieber is Max Friedman’s co-captain on Clayton’s varsity wrestling team.

The duo were unanimously elected co-captains by their teammates at the beginning of the season.

Sieber feels that Friedman immediately emerged as a strong leader.

“He uses his voice to help the coaches and I teach first-year wrestlers the basics,” Sieber said. “This year, he’s very focused on his achievements as an individual, but also focused on team goals.”

Friedman also recognized his responsibilities as a team captain, believing encouraging his teammates to be one of his primary duties.

“I have to make sure everyone is practicing and competing as hard as they can,” Friedman said.

A wrestler of two years, Friedman loves

the individual nature of the sport.

“It’s one-on-one,” Friedman said. “If you lose, you can’t blame it on anyone else but yourself.”

He also feels that the reward of winning a wrestling match surpasses that of any other sport. “[I love] the feeling of getting your hand raised,” Friedman said. “Personally, that’s a lot better than scoring a touchdown.”

Over the course of the season, Friedman said that he seeks to improve his endurance.

As individual goals, he mentioned winning over half of his matches and qualifying for State.

Cory Reichert, Clayton’s head wrestling coach, spoke to Friedman’s ability as a wrestler.

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“He’s one of the strongest, fastest, and most aggressive guys on the team,” Reichert said.

In addition to Friedman’s physical talent, Reichert admires his drive.

“He leads by example, in daily warmups, practices, and meets,” Reichert said. “He doesn’t like to fail and he pushes his teammates to think the same. He holds them accountable.”

Friedman’s popularity with his teammates and leadership skills have also enabled him to emerge as a effective co-captain.

“He’s well-liked by everyone,” Reichert said. “He’s coachable, and his teammates follow his example.”

According to Sieber, Friedman’s dedication promises to strengthen Clayton wrestling.

“He’s working hard on making himself and the rest of the team more devoted to the sport,” Sieber said. “Come next year, we’ll be even stronger as a team.” iiii

BY NICHOLAS LEE AND HARRY RUBIN

There is only one fantasy sport in the world where competitors can meet and compete with their players in real life. Of that fantasy sport, there is only one confirmed league in existence in the entire world.

Ten years ago, Clayton head cross country coach James Crowe had an idea.

“There were all this fantasy football and fantasy baseball, and I didn’t really want any of that. I thought cross country lends itself to a tremendous opportunity for fantasy, and I told one of my assistants at the time, David Hackett. We sat down, hammered out some rules, and the first year, we had four people playing, and we had a lot of fun,” Crowe said.

The rules Crowe and Hackett created were simple: Each competitor drafts 10 runners and picks a starting lineup of seven.

The results of all meets are merged into one super-meet in which all runners are ranked by that week’s 5k times. That super-meet is then scored as if it is a normal cross country meet, where the top time gets one point, second gets two and so on. The lowest team score wins the week and is awarded 10 fantasy points, second place team is awarded eight fantasy points, and each successive team receives one fantasy point fewer. Fantasy points are accumulated over the course of the year and the top four after the regular season qualify for the state championships.

The winner for the regular season and state championships both receive a Woofie’s hot

V V

CROSSING THE FINISH LINE

Stephen Kielhofner receives Hoffman’s certificate (Photos courtesy of Harry Rubin and Nicholas Lee)

dog.

“Hackett and I both really enjoyed a Woofie’s hot dog. They’re amazing, delicious, and that’s kind of a nice prize, and we can’t really gamble with actual money, so that’s how we decided,” Crowe said.

John Spencer, a Cross Country Coach at Westminster Christian Academy, appreciates what Crowe has created.

“There’s no better fantasy sport out there,” he said. “Fantasy football takes no effort. Fantasy cross country is a thing for the intellectual. Fantasy football is something for anybody.”

This past year, Spencer’s team failed to make it to state, ending the season in last place. Spencer blames his team’s failure on his lack of time, arguing, “I could’ve won if I’d done something. I had a few other things going on this year.”

“Things” refers to Spencer’s newborn baby, a commitment the other coaches in the league respect, though they may not understand.

“Spencer’s performance was disappointing,” Crowe said. “Some people place more of a value on their family than they do on

SPORTS 34

fantasy. I don’t understand it, but who am I to say?”

Through the years, fantasy cross country’s practice of high schoolers drafting other high schoolers for their teams has led to some interesting scenarios. Mark Spewak, former Ladue runner and current coach, leaped at the opportunity to draft himself his senior year.

“In the summer of 2010, I had a lot of confidence in myself as a runner. I really believed I was going to be a state contender going into my senior cross country season.

I believe it was the 3rd or 4th round when I decided I was going to pick myself. Boy did that backfire,” Spewak said.

For Spewak, keeping his fantasy team competitive was a top priority, even if it meant cutting ties with himself.

“My season got off to a very slow start.

For whatever reason I still thought I was going to continue to get faster. It became clear that my sub par performances each week were slowing my fantasy team down.

I decided to drop myself and pick up a free agent from Farmington High School,” Spe-

wak said.

Although Spewak ended up helping his Ladue team to the Class 3 state title, the victory was a bittersweet experience.

“The funny thing was after I dropped myself, I started dropping huge personal records. A fellow member of the league ended up picking me up and using me to beat me at State. It was one of the toughest losses I have endured to this day,” Spewak said.

Another fantasy team this year was cocoached by CHS sophomores Andrew Wang and Andrew Withrow. Withrow was attracted to the simplicity of the fantasy sport.

“You just look at the times, and whoever ran the fastest time wins. It makes it really straightforward,” he said.

The Wang-Withrow team had the advantage of the first draft pick, allowing them to employ their unusual strategy: “We drafted the dudes with cool names, like Victor Mugeche,” Wang said.

The Wang-Withrow team performed extremely well for most of the season, winning the regular season and securing a spot at the state championships. Wang had the opportunity to run at the state championships himself, allowing him to talk to some of his runners including Mugeche.

“Meeting Mugeche was very exhilarating because he possesses great powers and he will be famous one day,” Wang said.

Mugeche also seemed happy to meet his fantasy coach.

“I think we have substantial evidence that he was quite excited to see me,” Wang said. “It was a very humbling experience for him because he realized that people besides his fellow runners care about what he does.”

To his disappointment, Withrow was unable to attend the state championships.

“I would’ve liked to talk to my runners about how they approach running and why they like running,” he said.

Nevertheless, being a fantasy coach has inspired Withrow in his own running career.

“It has definitely shown me the skill some runners have and it has motivated me to run harder myself,” he said.

Although CHS senior Hugo Hoffman had never heard of fantasy cross country, he had no hesitations joining the league.

“I decided to do it because I enjoy looking at cross country statistics and making predictions for runner’s future performances,” he said. “Those are the main skills for being a good fantasy coach.”

Hoffman knew he would be competing against experienced fantasy coaches and devised his strategy accordingly.

“We figured other coaches would be choosing runners based on whoever had

the best performance last year, but we added another factor into our drafting of our runners,” Hoffman said. “We gave a greater weight to good performances done by young runners because young runners tend to improve more the next year they run.”

As a result, Hoffman’s team consisted of mostly underclassmen, with absolutely no seniors. For the most part, Hoffman’s strategy paid off, securing his team second place at the state competition.

Hoffman was proud of his fantasy team and extremely appreciative of his runners.

“At the end of the year, I had a lot of gratitude towards our runners because they helped us secure a spot in the state fantasy meet,” he said. “I thought that as a gesture of appreciation I’d make each of our runners a personalized awards certificate.”

In the past Hoffman has participated on CHS’s own cross country team, but this year, he found himself prioritizing fantasy cross country over all other commitments.

“Looking at all these impressive performances encouraged me to get into shape, but it just conflicted too much with my coaching schedule,” he said.

Now that the fantasy cross country season has come to a close, Hoffman hopes to use the encouragement and inspiration he got from fantasy to other areas of his life.

“There’s a lot less stress in my life now.

A lot less late nights,” he said. “Now I have time to do other things after school like running and homework.”

Despite some disappointments, Hoffman views this past fantasy season as a positive experience.

“I’m inspired by my runners and I hope that they’re inspired by our fantasy team and what it means to be on it,” he said.

For many runners, being a part of someone’s fantasy team can provide the extra motivation they need for success. The night before the 2016 MSHSAA Cross Country State Championships, Whitfield senior Simon Gelber learned that fantasy coach Spewak had drafted him early in the season and was now depending upon his state performance.

“It’s awesome. It makes me feel like I’ve actually accomplished something,” Gelber said. “I will run faster. I have to now.” Less than 24 hours later, Gelber won the Class 2 State Championships with a time of 16:24.

Other runners, like Springfield Catholic junior and three-time state champion Stephen Kielhofner felt a similar sense of accomplishment and motivation as Gelber.

“It brings warmth to my heart and I’m glad to know that I’m part of someone’s fan-

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tasy cross country team,” Kielhofner said.

Although Kielhofner was drafted in the first round this past season, he was only the eighth overall draft pick. After winning the Class 3 state championship, he expressed hopes to be next season’s fantasy cross country league’s number one draft pick.

“This is actually my only objective now, this is the only thing I’m going to work towards,” Kielhofner said.

Ben Naeger, St. Genevieve senior and two-time state champion, finds the attention of being a fantasy runner to be quite rewarding.

“I guess it’s pretty cool now that people are looking at me,” he said after placing second in the Class 3 State Championships. “It’s definitely pretty cool to watch people make their predictions. Everybody’s doing it, why not make it a competition?” Naeger said.

Throughout the years, the league has grown from four competitors to twelve, and a spinoff fantasy track league has spawned in the springtime. But there is one more place Crowe sees the league going.

“As the sport progresses, I think there could be an opening for a girls fantasy league,” Crowe said.

Wang alongside his first round draft pick Victor Mugeche.

REVIEW

The Edge of

by SOPHIA BARNES and ASHLEIGH WILLIAMS

When something sad happens in your life, you think you’re the only one that has felt this way. No one else has any idea what I you’re going through, it’s just you.

Seventeen-year-old Nadine, played by Hailee Steinfeld, in the new blockbuster The Edge of Seventeen always feels down in the dumps, and when she is, she thinks that nobody understands.

Nadine struggles with a hard loss she faced earlier in life, and the loss of her best friend, when Nadine pushed Krista, played by Haley Lu Richardson, out of her life for dating Nadine’s brother.

The only person Nadine feels like she can talk to about her problems with is her history teacher. Although it may seem like he doesn’t have any interest in listening, she talks to him anyway. Nadine never seems to think about how other people may have their own issues too. In one scene when she complains about having such a hard time and not wanting to speak to Krista ever again, her mother says,

“Everybody is as miserable as I am, they’re just better at pretending”.

In comparing this film with other coming-of-age movies, like The Breakfast Club and Boyhood, one finds that this movie falls right into this category. Nadine feels like an outsider, an adult trapped in a teenage skin.

This film has a modern twist though.

Much of the movie is based on the social interactions of teenagers today. Nadine describes people her age as too self-interested, and to some extent, her thoughts might be true. The fact that people of our generation “think that people care that they are eating a taco” (as Nadine says), rightly exposes the flaws of a modern teenager.

Yet, the pointing out of these flaws is similar to past films of the same category.

The Breakfast Club focused on teenagers tendency to typecast others, Mean Girls exposed the difference between individual and group behavior, and The Edge of Seventeen: the effect which social media has on teenage

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relationships.

Surprisingly, the relationships between the characters are more complicated than what is apparent on the surface. For instance, Nadine’s best friend, Krista, is not played as the end-all villain of the film. In fact, she is portrayed as someone who still cares for Nadine despite everything that has happened between them.

What sets this movie apart from other of its kind is the complexity of each character.

The insecurities that plague the protagonist aren’t masked by blinding, artificial confidence. When she goes to a party as a plus one to her brother and best friend, she goes to the bathroom, locks the door, and asks herself, “why are you so awkward?”.

What makes the character (and the movie itself) so likable is their relatability. They aren’t caricatures of what teenagers want to be - rather, they are characters that everyone in the audience can relate to in one way or another.

Hailee Steinfeld as Nadine Byrd in a scene from the movie “The Edge of Seventeen” directed by Kelly Fremon Craig. (STX Entertainment/TNS)

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REVIEW

Doctor Strange

by ZACHARY SORENSON / section editor Benedict Cumberbatch plays Dr. Strange, your average neurosurgeon, intelligent, arrogant, blessed with photographic memory and killer pecs.

Despite all of this Dr. Strange finds himself distracted by a phone whilst recklessly driving on a cliffside, and then finds himself careening off the cliff. Hands smashed, life falling apart, he finds that the only road to recovery is to head to Nepal hoping to find a revolutionary treatment. He meets a strange, whitewashed, bald headed Guru, played by Tilda Swinton, who offers him some “herbal” tea; little did he know he was in for the trip of his life.

Dr. Strange proves to be a thoroughly good movie. It follows happily in the vein of the ever growing number of preceding superhero movies. It combines both action and comedy, pushes towards the expansive universe of marvel, and also is able to accomplish a strong nar-

rative arc over the span of the movie.

The special effects naturally stand out, incorporating a great deal of the inception type visual concepts, while also avoiding the risk of being overly confusing and convoluted.

There is also a strong showing from both Cumberbatch and Mads Mikkelsen, who plays the primary antagonist, as both actors managed to slide perfectly into their roles. Nevertheless, I felt that the supporting characters, while useful for a handful of jokes, didn’t contribute much other than to serve as props.

In short it’s an effective superhero movie, good, fun, not too experimental, not particularly innovative. I recommend you see it in 3-D as to fully appreciate the effort put into the special effects. At a solid 8.5/10 Dr. Strange is a good movie to lose yourself for an afternoon, Cumberbatch’s performance has legs which is promising for the marvel movies to come.

Arrival

Benedict Cumberbatch as D r. St r a n g e i n t h e m o v i e “Doctor Strange” directed

by Scott Derrickson.

(Mar vel Studios/MCT)

by NEEL VALLURUPALLI / copy editor A sci-fi film depicting the worldly chaos and trauma of an unexpected extra-terrestrial invasion followed by the bloody war between alien and man with the protagonist saving the day by defeating the alien-mothership through an act of unprecedented bravery. Sound familiar? Thankfully “Arrival” does not conform to the overused plot of the traditional alien invasion films.

Rather, “Arrival” provides a fresh perspective to the sci-fi genre focusing on the attempt of interaction and communication between the humans and the aliens while simultaneously keeping us entertained with stunning visual and sound effects.

The film follows linguist Louise Banks

(Amy Adams) as she is recruited by the military to investigate the arrival of twelve spaceships, her liaison with the military Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) — who does not play the cliché warmongering military man of other sci-fi movies (think “Independence Day”) but rather a humane and compassionate leader looking to solve the crisis at hand — asks Banks to learn to communicate with the aliens, dubbed Heptapods, and ask them why they are here.

Meanwhile Ian Donelly (Jeremy Banneker) a witty physicist with a dry sense of humor introduces himself as Bank’s partner.

The score in this film is composed by Jóhann Jóhannsson, the music is solemn

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yet mesmerizing much in parallel to the mysterious yet dark nature of the presence of the aliens on Earth giving the music a sense of purpose in the film. The sound effects were also tremendous, ranging from the language of the Heptapods to the deep rumbles of the military machinery.

Although this movie was great in many ways, the movie felt slowly paced at times mainly due to the extensive use of bleak coloring as well as long, heft, scientific dialogue.

Overall, “Arrival” is an entertaining, fresh and creative movie that might be the long overdue redefining film of the alien sci-fi genre. Go out and experience this movie for yourself in the cinemas to fully appreciate the ingenuity of this film.

REVIEW

Andy’s Coolest New Branch The highly-anticipated branch of Andy’s Frozen Custard opened on Hanley this fall.

BY RICHARD CHENG / reporter

Photo by Michael Melinger Everyone loves ice cream.

This simple fact motivated me to visit the newest location of Andy’s Frozen Custard.

As I walk up to the shop located on South Hanley, I am greeted by a simple counter accompanied with a large menu.

The air is buzzing with the voices of excited children, I glance at the diverse choices of delicious desserts.

From concretes to floats to splits, dozens

of delectable ice cream combinations stand before me.

After a moment of deliberation, I give into my love for peanut butter and chocolate and select the James Brownie Funky Jackhammer.

After waiting in line, I am finally in front

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of the counter. I receive a warm greeting from the staff and I place my order and receive my treat within a minute.

The James Brownie Funky Jackhammer is placed on the counter.

Served simply in a plastic cup with a spoon, my inner 8-year-old cries at the sheer beauty of what is in front of me.

Fragments of brownies and cookies are embedded in a thick vanilla frozen custard.

The custard itself is blended with peanut butter, and to finalize the glory, oozing warm fudge is slathered all over.

Not waiting at all, I take the spoon, swirl it through all of the ingredients and jam it unceremoniously into my mouth.

Immediately, I am hit with the slight savory notes of the peanut butter, which are instantly melded into the vanilla and chocolate.

The brownies provide a slight crunch and an extremely satisfying chew throughout the entire experience.

As I found myself unable to stop scooping heaps of ice cream into my mouth, the plastic cup is sadly empty after what seemed like a few moments.

I think to myself, that was simply delicious.

And delicious frozen custard is exactly what John and Carol Kuntz wanted to bring to Missouri in 1986.

After first having frozen custard in Wisconsin, the two decided to open a brand of their own in Osage Beach, Missouri.

They named the store after their son Andy. After a couple decades of expanding, the business has opened 29 locations in Missouri and other Midwestern states and continues to serve quality food.

Believe me when I say that the concretes rival those at Ted Drewes.

So as winter slowly arrives and the temperature falls, ice cream may not seem the most timely dessert, but should that stop you from continuing to indulge in this creamy dessert? It certainly won’t stop me.

If you want to satisfy your sweet tooth, Andy’s Frozen Custard is a great location to enjoy great custard for both adults and kids alike. i i i i

REVIEW

L a ra C ro f t ’ s C o m e b a c k

BY SEAN KIM / review section editor

Playstation users can rejoice. After a year of waiting for a Playstation release, the “Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration” edition that contains a phenomenal campaign, gorgeous graphics, and all the DLCs that Crystal Dynamics has gracefully provided PS4 players at a $59.99 is definitely worth the wait.

“Tomb Raider” has always had great campaigns. The game picks up after the events of 2013’s fabulous “Tomb Raider” reboot, following the journey of Lara Croft, and her search for the Divine Source, something that will provide immortality. At an initial glance, this seems like the typical campaign.

Lara goes searching for something based off a myth or a story, and then things go south.

However, unlike its predecessor, the story gives Croft a strong reasoning to go “Indiana Jones-ing,” provides a strong villain that players will be able to empathize with, and explores her family history, and involves secondary characters into the plot, all summing up for a fantastic story.

Complementing the great story is the visuals. Set in the snowy environment of Siberia, Crystal Dynamics provides the player with carefully detailed locations such as awe-inspiring mountains, ice caves, and abandoned tombs. For Lara, her hair and facial expressions are a definite improvement from previous games, especially in the cinematic cut scenes.

Gameplay wise, the game is similar, with some additions. Movement is smooth as always, puzzles have gotten harder, very imaginatively designed, providing for a more challenging yet entertaining experience.

With the skill-advancement system, the designers have created an outfit system, where players can choose different outfits that have different advantages depending on the situation the player is placed in.

Obviously, the game wouldn’t be a “Tomb Raider” game without familiar usages of various stunts through the usage of zip lines, climbing frightening heights with the pickax, leveling up skills and weapons for ridiculous take-down moves, and pulling things apart with the rope arrow.

Combat is repetitive, Lara shreds her way through enemies.

I’m not necessarily saying the combat is bad, the stealth in this game is phenomenal, silently taking down guards with arrows or finishing them off with a pickaxe, and it sure

is fun killing bad guys with whatever’s at reach, but when you are forced into an open fire fight, it gets to a point where you wonder how many of them are left during some missions rather than feeling like it was fun.

Despite this, I do admire the developers adding new ways for Lara to kill her opponents through making poison arrows and explosives paired with the increased involvement in foraging for certain things to level up skills and gain different types of weapons.

So in conclusion, the core game is fantastic, with a great campaign paired with gorgeous spectacles and improved gameplay, providing gamers with a lot of hours to explore the vast outreaches of Siberia.

However, PS4 users may be wondering: “What’s new? Why should I buy the game at $59.99 when it has been delayed for us for a year?”

There is no multiplayer-deathmatch mode in “Rise of the Tomb Raider,” and I appreciate that. 2013’s “Tomb Raider’s” multiplayer was an awful attempt to snag off the success of shoot em’ up games such as “Call of Duty” and “Battlefield”, but with the introduction to the DLC, Endurance Co-op mode, it’s more of a multiplayer survival game. You gang up with a buddy, and you survive your way through the harsh conditions of the Siberian environment.

I like this gamemode, as each Tomb Raider games does involve some aspect of survival in the very beginning, but completely ignores it as the game progresses.

Well, included in the new edition is Blood Ties, a two part story mode. One is where the player has to explore Lara’s childhood home, looking for clues to the cause of her mother’s death, and more information about her father, and Lara’s history as whole.

I especially loved this mode as it fleshed out Croft’s character to more than just a video game heroine.

While there is no death involved with this mode, Blood Ties is engaging, making you thoroughly search the house for artifacts, messages, letters and various tools, leading up to a giant pay off at the very end.

In addition, you can even experience the mode in VR, but unfortunately, I don’t have the money for it.

Another edition to Blood Ties is the

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nightmare mode, where you are forced into Croft’s imagination, fighting through hordes of neon blue zombies haunting the Croft Manor. While it is not as story driven as the other Blood Ties mode, it is definitely fun to just sit back and fight off zombies for quite some time.

Similar to Nightmare mode is the new DLC called Cold Darkness Awakened. Although not as confined as Nightmare mode, the player is still placed into a situation where they have to fight zombies. However, what’s different is that this mode requires more stealth, and is not as dedicated to combat as this mode is more story based. The other DLC added is the Baba Yaga Witch DLC, which involves more of the secondary characters, and provides many hours worth of exploring the very trippy side story.

Lastly, the 20 Year Edition enables the player to have all exclusive weapons and outfits. My personal favorite are the 5 classic Lara Croft skins, all based off the polygonal character model from older games, providing a very out-of-place yet hilarious experience to wander through Siberia.

Ultimately, “Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration” is worth the wait for PS4 players. Chock full with entertaining, lasting DLC’s paired with the amazing campaign filled with familiar gameplay, new additions, and beautiful visuals, “Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration” successfully makes up to Playstation users by providing the best installment in the series yet.

REVIEW

F A N TA S T I C B E A S T S

Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), flicking his wand. (Photo from MCT Campus)

BY VICTOR WEI / reporter Let me be honest here: I still have yet to watch the sixth and seventh movies of the Harry Potter franchise, but ever since I started reading the first book a few months ago, I’ve truly been interested into the magical world.

So when I first heard “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” was coming to theaters, I hoped the film would equal Harry Potter (The Cursed Child was rather disappointing). It exceeded my expectations.

Fantastic Beasts portrays suspense, action, humor and a thrilling plot, combined with great cinematography and amazing special effects, all while maintaining the magical aura of the wizarding world.

The film trades late 20th century England with 1926 New York City, where MACUSA rules over the wizards and witches instead of the Ministry, and wizarding folk live alongside No-Majs (American for muggles).

Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), a British magizoologist, lands in New York, supposedly to educate his fellow wizards about caring for magical creatures. As he travels through New York, a few creatures escape from Newt’s suitcase, causing minor trouble throughout the city. As Newt chases these creatures, he accidentally misplaces his suitcase with Jacob Kowalski’s, (Dan Fogler) a no-maj. This brings major trouble as dangerous beasts escape the suitcase, dragging Newt, Jacob and other companions into an exciting adventure to track the beasts down before they wreak havoc for both the wizarding and muggle worlds.

One element that I find intriguing

about Fantastic Beasts is the successful “genre-mashing”. The movie is clearly a fantasy/action film, but it’s also a drama and a thriller. While the main plot focuses on the action and adventure in recapturing magical creatures, there is a subplot involving Mary Lou Barebone, a radical anti-magic muggle, her adopted son Credence (Ezra Miller) and Percival Graves.

This subplot introduces a darker side to the story, eventually developing into a full scale conflict. But despite this, the film is full of laughter, thanks to Jacob Kowalski, the muggle that is a little confused and dazzled throughout the film. And then there’s always the touch of romance between the characters. These aspects of the film all fold together, creating a powerful story.

Nevertheless, what fantasy film is good without stunning visual effects? Fantastic Beasts was converted into 3D film as well, but it really isn’t necessary to wear 3D glasses to get the “full experience.” The beasts came to life, popping out of the screen and leaving audience members in a trance-like state. The various scenes with the niffler, erumpent and thunderbird made the creatures come alive, always making me yearn for more beautiful scenes of the wondrous creatures.

Speaking of CGI characters, the real life characters are on point as well. From the very first scene, Eddie Redmayne depicts Newt Scamander shy and clumsy manner perfect-

REVIEW 40

ly, while being serious and determined when called for. Dan Fogler is also the perfect actor to play the humorous and bewildered character Jacob Kowalski. First off, his facial features give him the look of an honest and free-spirited New Yorker, which matches the character of Kowalski as well-kind and wellmeaning--but mostly confused and amazed at the magical world. Fogler’s natural humor plays a huge part in developing Kowalski, as this character’s jokes (and sometimes slow wits) make the film lighthearted and comedic when needed.

Although the movie was excellent for the most part, there could’ve been more of the wand action we all love, and even though the characters were well portrayed, it really is hard to care much for them.

Characters such as Porpentina Goldstein were rather underdeveloped. In fact, by the end of the film, I didn’t quite catch her name since I didn’t really feel the need to. Even though Jacob Kowalski is a hilarious figure that can’t easily be forgotten, it’s hard to establish an emotional connection with these characters the way many people do with Harry, Hermione and Ron. Ultimately, Fantastic Beasts was an very entertaining film, packed with action and suspense. As I walked out of the theater, I felt a little bit reluctant about returning to the Half-Blood Prince. Don’t get me wrong, I love the boy-who-lived, but Fantastic Beasts has created a whole new enchanting world-one that will definitely grow and expand to rival the one of Harry Potter.

REVIEW

HACKSAW RIDGE

Desmond T. Doss, played by Andrew Garfield. (Photo from MCT Campus)

BY SEAN KIM / review section editor Whether you like Mel Gibson or not, Gibson’s most recent film, “Hacksaw Ridge,” is simply put, a masterpiece.

Following the true story of Desmond T Doss, the World War II army medic who refused to use a gun, the film encompasses the entirety of Doss’s life ranging from memories of his childhood, the beginning of his relationship with his wife his wife, military boot camp controversy, origins of his core beliefs, and of course, his valiant service during the Battle of Okinawa.

“Hacksaw Ridge” tops Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan,” the film in which many consider to be the best depiction of World War II. Sure, “Saving Private Ryan” is probably the grittiest depiction of the war, but “Hacksaw Ridge’s” choice to focus on an individual rather than a group results in a much more personal message to the audience.

If “Saving Private Ryan” gave the message that war is hell, “Hacksaw Ridge” inspires and strengthens the moral compass of the viewer with Doss’s traits of seeking peace, being a hero, and staying true to one’s core values.

Andrew Garfield portrays the valiant medic, giving his best performance since Fincher’s “The Social Network.” Mainly communicating through his eyes rather than speaking, Garfield captures the fury of emotions ranging from fear to determination on and off the battlefield.

Additionally, the supporting cast consisting of notable names such as Teresa

Palmer, Vince Vaughn, Hugo Weaving and Sam Worthington all do a terrific job of adding depth to Garfield’s character.

Of course, since Desmond Doss is a medic, the audience is greeted with Gibson’s vision of terrifying imagery of mutilated soldiers, the constant sound of firearms, explosions, death, and the desperate calls for help from Doss’s fellow soldiers.

I particularly appreciate Gibson’s effort to portray the horrors of war rather than tone it down. Although all of the third act depicted the war almost in a terrifying way, there were two scenes which hit me hard.

As Doss’s fresh battalion treks up the hill to prepare for the new wave of assault, a battle-scarred group of men come down the hill filled with trucks upon trucks of dead bodies, some eyes open, some mouths gaping. The soldiers lucky enough to survive give the new troops looks of sorrow, knowing that most of them will not make it back alive. Obviously, the other scene is the extensive battle sequence. Despite the fact that the viewer does expect to see many die, the film showcases so many soldiers dropping left and right, even characters that the viewer gets familiar with are at risk, possibly getting into individual scuffles with Japanese soldiers, being pierced by bayonets, ripped apart by machine guns, all suffering without bias.

However, what is most impressive is that

REVIEW 41

amidst the carnage, Gibson finds a way to focus more on Doss, carefully detailing many of the numerous heroic acts he did, risking his life, consistently saying the phrase, “Please Lord, let me get one more,” before heading out into the battlefield despite his horrendous injuries. There aren’t that many words to describe how inspiring Gibson portrays Doss other than epic. Each save gave me the sensation of relief, widening my astonishment, wondering how a man could be willing to risk his life so many times.

Apart from the war scenes, the film does a terrific job of detailing Doss’s background.

Rather than jumping right into the war, the film’s choice to incorporate Doss’s family trying to stop their son from going to war, his beautifully captured relationship with Dorothy (Teresa Palmer), and his natural knack for helping people from a young age helps the audience believe that Doss was a real man.

To be honest, I cannot think of any issues about this movie. Every decision to do something in the film clearly makes sense to me, and everything ranging from set design, writing, and acting are seamlessly composed together.

Ultimately, “Hacksaw Ridge” is a beautiful film that depicts Desmond Doss’s heroic efforts in saving a multitude of soldiers in the Battle of Okinawa without carrying a firearm. To the grittiness of war and the sense of epicness that the film induces, “Hacksaw Ridge” strives to inspire all to support peace, and look out for one another.

OPINION

LOVE TRUMPS H AT E Why Hate, When You Can Love?

BY ELISE LEVY / page editor

In the weeks following election night, many emotions have emerged on the forefront of the American people. Among feelings of loss, disappointment, failure and fear, one particular reaction permeates the public: hatred.

In response to the election, a hashtag with the title Trump’s America is circulating across Twitter and other social media, depicting the types of discriminatory behavior coming forth. Tweets featuring headlines such as “White Texas Teens Chant ‘Build That Wall’ To Latino Students During High School Volleyball Match” and pictures of graffiti with the Nazi swastika are just two examples of the rising ridicule and racism.

Other posts recount personal experiences of angry name calling, such as “Cotton Picker” to African American high school students and a Muslim university student being told she cannot wear her hijab anymore.

This behavior is not a reflection of all Trump supporters, nor does it demonstrate views of republicanism and American conservatism, yet the political party is no longer an important factor. What is important, is the discriminatory and racist behavior developing.

Intolerance can be seen on the liberal side of life as well, especially in our own Clayton community. Students are refusing to speak to their relatives who voted for Trump and shaming their own peers for their conservative views.

The Internet definition of hatred is “intense dislike” or “ill will,” yet the reprehensible conduct infiltrating the nation seems more severe than an intense dislike.

Hatred is a destructive force. It is the root to some of the most horrific moments in American history. The emotion of hatred is powerful and can overtake someone’s mind so quickly. One can easily submit to hatred.

But hatred’s priceless antonyms are harder to accept: forgiveness, hope, compassion and kindness.

Less than a hundred year ago, females gained the right to vote. Also in the last century, the Civil Rights Act outlawed racial discrimination. Even in recent years, homosexuals were granted the legalization of gay marriage. There’s a million more actions to take before we hit total equality and harmony, but compared to a hundred years ago, the United States is the most egalitarian it has ever been.

So why come so far to take so many steps back? Why spread so much hatred and anger? How do we, as students, combat it?

Love. It is the simple answer to all. Love, compassion and kindness is the solution.

Maybe compassion cannot keep racial injustice from occurring and maybe kindness cannot stop the slough of racial slurs, but it’s a darn good place to start.

Islamophobia, racism, discrimination, prejudice, anti-semitism, scapegoating, bigotry and intolerance are very real and have been for centuries. Yet at the pinnacle of the holiday season, what better time is there than to spread love?

Hatred takes so much energy and it is a waste of precious time. Instead, spread love.

Pay for a stranger’s coffee. Tell your friends and family how much you appreciate them.

Anything from a smile, to a hug, to a donation will speak more than the hate that is so tangible in today’s world.

So take the opportunity of your fortune to lift hearts and lend a helping hand because no matter your race, your religion, your ethnicity, who you love or who you voted for, love trumps hate. iiii

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OPINION

E A R L Y A P P L I C AT I O N S

BY DANIEL CHO / feature section editor

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During this time of the year, many seniors are struggling as they scramble to put together their college applications to a college where they are committing the next four years of their life to. On the other hand, others are relaxed after finishing their college applications thanks to a system called early admissions.

There are two types of early admissions applications: early decision and early action.

The stark difference between the two is that early decision is a binding application. If accepted, the applicant has to go that university unless enough financial aid is not given.

On the other hand, early action still allows an applicant to weigh their options and possibly look into other schools before reaching a final decision.

For many, having to take the time during the summer and the beginning of their senior year may not be appealing just to apply to college early.

However, this eagerness has many ben-

efits. To keep it simple, by applying early, it enhances your chances of being accepted as much fewer students apply early.

Many analysts have studied the acceptance rates of universities and have found overwhelming evidence to suggest that schools accept a higher percentage of students from their early application pool than their regular application pool.

Furthermore, colleges want students that are interested. And the best way to display this interest is through early applications.

When you take the time to put in more effort in order to apply early, it shows the certain college that you care for the school that you apply to. Especially in the highly competitive environment today, showing that you care is a huge factor for admissions offices across the nation.

Finally, applying early helps you make decisions sooner. There are three situations that can occur from an early admissions application -- being accepted, rejected, or de-

OPINION 43

ferred. No matter what happens after your application, applying early helps a student plan their senior year better.

If accepted, they can finally conclude their stressful journey of the college search.

If rejected, you can work on and finalize your regular decision applications. And if deferred, you can begin thinking of ways to appeal to your college of choice during the regular round.

Although the early application season is near its end, it is still relevant for the many applicants to come.

Before applying through the early admissions process, weigh your chances. If you’re test scores and applications are where you want it to be, then an early application is the way to go. Do not feel pressured that applying through early action or early decision is the only way to get into the college of your dreams.

A well thought out application is much more important than applying early.

PRO/CON

LEARNING AND LIFE

Should students be assigned homework over breaks?

BY ELLIE TOMASSON / chief managing editor I realize that I’m going to be on the less popular side of this argument. Believe me - I understand the stress of break homework.

Even the words break homework together sound discordant. But I am still a proponent of break work.

That being said, I do not think all break homework is created equal. I am not advocating for soul sucking math packets or extensive research projects, but a more enjoyable and invigorating alternative.

What I am primarily against is the harsh divide between school life and personal life. In this split schema, school is something slogged through and endured in order to get to live life on the weekends and on breaks. But this is a very backwards way to approach learning that benefits nobody. The only thing kids are taught in the classroom is to hate the classroom.

The chasm between academic life and emotional life propagates the culture of achievement-based success and learning that plagues CHS. This way learning is con-

fined to the classroom and left behind when you leave. The idea that break work could alleviate this problem may seem counterintuitive because break work seems like it would be playing into the intensity and pressure of school, but I think properly administered, break homework can do just the opposite.

Many opponents of break homework argue that kids should be kids and not be forced to learn in their break time. Break work helps integrate learning into leisure time so that the two can become somewhat associated. Break work can help to kindle a curiosity and love of learning within students.

Break work is completely ineffective in this respect if students are not motivated or interested enough to do it. Busywork and work that does not interest students only causes them to procrastinate. In order for students to get something out of break homework there should be some element of choice in break work.

This should be guided choice with

OPINION 44

enough room for kids to find something that piques their interest. For example, students could chose books, poems, articles, videos, or other information transmission methods to look into a topic related to the course subject. Break work is always going to be dreadful if it is not of interest to the students, so why not let the students choose what interests them.

Now, this method is not meant to move the curriculum forward and try to use break time as regular school time, but just as light stimulation to keep the brain engaged over break as opposed to compartmentalizing our mental space.

The period of education in a person’s life is the time of finding one’s identity. It should be a time of absorbing knowledge and exploring the world guided by parents and teachers.

Students should be encouraged to learn throughout their lives, not just when they’re sitting in a classroom. This training will help students continue learning even after their formal education is over. iii i

PRO/CON

BENEFICIAL BREAKS

BY KEVIN ROSENTHAL AND MAX STEINBAUM

It is May 25. It is a Wednesday. But dates do not matter anymore.

The final final is vanquished. The bell tolls for students who Pompeii an ecstatic howl. Freedom; the prospect of sweet summer sweeps the hallways as students surge from nine months of monotonous containment. The asphyxiating air of crammed corridors gives way, if only temporarily, to the welcome warmth of the outside. Everything seems a little bit brighter out there.

Victorious -- for now -- you drive out of the Stuber lot. Surfin’ USA. Flip flops, window down, and summer breeze. A quick glimpse at nirvana.

You’re home now.

No. Wait.... what? What is The Odyssey doing on your desk?!

The reverie is over.

You have to annotate every third page of Odysseus’ infinite quest: color-coded highlights, dog-eared pages, and the works.

Then chase all of that with a (minimum) five-pager on the heroic cycle.

Nothing like summer!

It is a mistake to let the school year infect June and beyond. The school year and summer are meant to be separate entities.

Indeed, they should be near antonyms. The American school calendar is designed so that there is a distinction between time to work and time to relax. Neither time should bleed into the other.

We’ve got a good ratio going. But summer work undermines the integrity of this balance.

According to a 2015 CHS Globe survey of nearly 300 students, 97.9 percent consider themselves “generally very busy” during the school year. That considered, shouldn’t students be rewarded with ten weeks of reprieve for nine months of what nearly all Clayton students consider almost overwhelming workloads?

Clayton allows its students to sculpt their own schedules. There is no cap to the number of AP classes a student may take, or limit to the amount extracurriculars in which a student can participate. The autonomy given to students by the administration is, in a sense, honorable. Students are entrusted to be cognizant of their academic capabilities and stamina over a school year. Why should this academic freedom not extend into the

summer?

Clayton students as a whole did not benefit from the district’s sloppy attempt in 2012 to introduce a summer math packet.

The packet was an endless stream of stapled worksheets compressed into a cerulean cover (the same color as the sky under which Clayton children could have been playing) and there seemed to be no big-picture goal within the district other than for children to drill problems.

Math teachers may counter by saying that work well done is productive, but let’s be realistic: the vast majority of students don’t put effort into solving quadratic equations when they could, and should, be doing something more fun -- and especially when the only payoff is a single homework pass or a measly four points out of four in the first quarter grade book.

Somewhere on the world wide web is a cherry-pickable statistic that kids lose 30 percent of their brain mass or something when they don’t have school work over the summer. But we all know that devastating brain damage is not a result of ditching The Odyssey in July. Kids probably actually benefit, if anything, from a brief mental health break over the summer.

It should not only be a priority, but also a responsibility for adults to allow kids to hop off the hamster wheel for a few months in favor of individual exploration.

Vital, more intangible, and potentially equally valuable learning, depending on the person, takes place during these few coveted summer months which, when balanced with knowledge gained during the school year, helps create well-rounded graduates ready to face the “real world.”

Summer work should be abolished because it has the potential to enforce the mental removal of teenagers from moments of play-time during fleeting childhood due to the guilt or remorse one might feel for enjoying herself rather than systematically charting exactly how many pages of a book must be read per day to finish a book on time should be enough to abolish summer school work.

If some claims seem embellished because one single book or one single math packet

OPINION 45

may not sound like all too much work over the course of ten weeks, consider this. Is a person who is draped in a blanket clutching a mug of earl grey on the couch more relaxed with or without intermittent beeps sounding from the hallway’s busted smoke alarm?

Yes, the summer school work assigned by the Clayton School District is always manageable over the many weeks allotted to complete the assignments, but these prescriptions find a way to nag at students during their period of freedom.

Summer work is like a smoke alarm; not ever-present but somehow still ever-looming, riddled with the sinister capability to take one out of the moment with a single beep, leaving one’s ears ringing and mind racing even when the beep has subsided.

The idea that students should not be able to fully separate school from vacation time is a uniquely American construct. In fact, highly developed Western nations in Europe balk at Americans who do not hop off the hamster wheel. Hard work is venerated in Europe, but fun is taken seriously as well. In England, the holiday is the holiday, and in France les vacances sont les vacances.

In an era in which technology is progressing more quickly than we can comprehend, we must step back and re-negotiate what it means to be human.

Augmented Reality and the Singularity Effect are both expected reach human civilization within the next four decades.

This means a current Clayton student who meets his life expectancy will likely be witness to the day computer games become so advanced that they are indistinguishable from reality, and should be able to, before he dies, essentially upload his consciousness to a piece of hardware.

The most unified American barometer for our students’ success in 2016 is based on which teenagers are able to fill in bubbles with a pencil deemed correct by a machine. Imagine where we will be in the next century as humans become increasingly similar to automatons.

Let’s make an effort to slow the wheel down before it is too late.

Over break, our only job should be to not have one. Simple as a summer breeze.

S TA F F E D :

Po s t - E l e c t i o n E t i q u e t t e There has been an eruption of racism and hate across the United States. We had been seeing this through social media and on the news, but a couple weeks ago it really hit home.

At Ladue High School, African-American students were told to go to the back of the bus while Whites students chanted, “Trump, Trump, Trump.”

For many, this is exactly the kind of behavior they feared upon seeing the results of the past election -- chaos, hate and division in the country we call home.

This country was founded upon the idea of a representative government. We believe that every citizen gets a say in the leadership, laws, and policies of the country. We believe that we stand for the rights of all people, not just a select few. So, why did we lose sight of these foundations during the election?

As American citizens, we used to feel it our duty to vote. So, why did so many people not visit the polls this year?

Even for non-citizens, as Americans, we felt it was our duty to campaign for a better society and a better leader. So, why were we constantly hearing that our voices do not matter?

The election has now come and gone.

Donald Trump is the president elect and Hillary Clinton has conceded. For many, those words are still a shock.

It is easy to lose hope when things do not go our way, when we are frustrated, or when we are apprehensive for the quality of our lives and the lives of generations to come.

Yet, do not give in to those fears and forget what makes us Americans. Citizen and non-citizen alike, those pillars that built the United States up from the start have not been shaken. We still believe in the same things. We still have our constitution. We are still a country in which the people can make a difference -- especially if they are upset with the status quo.

Time after time throughout this nation’s history, people have come together to bring about change and to fight for what they believe is right. It made a difference and we can still do the same today.

With spirits running low, finding ideas and taking action may be the last thing on your mind. That’s why we have put together a few.

1.

Don’t believe every headline you see. The amount of fake news that swayed opinions this past election is absurd. Keep up with the latest news but know what is credible and follow up on articles you have read.

2.

Do your research. Whether this be about a candidate’s past or the background of a proposition, know the topics you are voting on well.

3.

Do not let racism and paranoia enter your community. What happened in Ladue and what’s happening all around the country is horrendous, and do not let that kind of behavior pass. Stand up for people around you and spread compassion, not hate.

4.

Spread the word. This could be getting others to vote (which would increase voter turn out) or simply just voicing your opinion on an issue in efforts to spread your side of the argument.

5.

Keep the discussions and conversations going. Just because the election is over, it does not mean that the issues do not exist anymore or that we cannot voice our opinions unless something big happens. Keep talking about topics like race and keep progress important to you going.

6.

Get involved in local politics. We may feel that the new presidency is going to drastically change our daily lives but much of that falls into the hands of local politicians. Help build the community you want by voting in local elections and/or volunteering.

7.

Talk to your senators. Your senators and state representatives are still representing yourself and your community in the federal government. Make your voice heard by calling them and giving your opinions on issues that matter to you.

8.

Make personal efforts to care for the environment. Although many fear what the election means for the environment, there is much that the individual can do to help. Pick up litter. Bike to work if the weather’s nice. These things, despite being small, do make a difference if everyone takes part.

9.

Donate to organizations and causes that you support like Planned Parenthood and credible news organizations. The work those organizations are doing will not stop as long as people chip in to fund them.

10.

Keep an open mind. Sitting down and have a production conversation with somebody you do not agree with may surprise you, in addition to you being able to see their side of the story.

Let’s come together, and remember that we are a group of 300 million people who have the ability to push for change and make the United States a better place. 300 million people can do that, no matter who the president is.

OPINION 46

Q&A: QUI TRAN

A look into the life and experiences of Vietnamesse Chef and Co-Owner of Mai Lee, Qui Tran,

BY TARA WILLIAMS / opinion section editor

but we have such a willingness to help one another. There's great comradery here. Me and a lot of the chefs in town cook at a lot of fundraisers together and are always lending a hand to one another which is rare in some cities.

Q: What lessons have you learned from working in the restaurant industry?

A: One of the biggest things I've learned from the restaurant industry is that it's very dynamic and that if you want to succeed, you have to adapt with the times. Stay true to your food and yourself but always be open to learning new things and working with others in your industry to elevate one another.

Q: If you can, can you tell us about Nudo Ramen?

Photo from Qui Tran Q: If you had the opportunity to cook dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would you cook with and what would you make?

A: I would love to cook a traditional Vietnamese meal that consists of a caramelized fish along with a lemongrass and tamarind based soup with shrimp and vegetables with chef Shigetoshi Nakamura who is one of the four Ramen Gods of Japan and he's the one that taught me a lot about Ramen because he understands how to make incredible stocks and broths.

Q: If you had the opportunity to eat dinner with any three people, dead or alive, who would they be, and what/where would you eat?

A: Can't think of the three I would have dinner with but I would love to go eat at one of my favorite Italian restaurants called Carbone. So if any of you would like to join me, Let's go!!!

Q: Do you have any dream culinary collabs (either in or out of Stl)?

A: I would love to cook with Guy Savoy or Eric Ripert. So far those are my 2 favorite high end chefs and it's amazing how they pack all that flavor in such a small bite!!

Q: Who would you consider to be a major influence in your business or personal life?

A: My parents are my major influence in my life. They showed me that you can have whatever you want in life but you have to work hard for it. They taught me humility and always be respectful of others and always be humble.

Q: What do you think makes the St. Louis restaurant scene unique?

A: I really love our St. Louis food scene.

What makes us unique from other major food cities...and I can't speak for all of them

Q&A 47

A: Nudo is going to be a fast casual noodle joint. We will be specializing in different types of noodle soups. We will be doing different types of PHO which is a Vietnamese beef noodle soup and also many different styles of Ramen which comes from Japan. I hope to be open by February.

Q: Do you have any advice for students who are interested in the restaurant business?

A: My advice for anyone looking to start their own business is....Don't do it!!! Be a doctor. Just kidding!! If you do decide to go into the restaurant business, be prepared and willing to work 15 hours a day.

You have to be dedicated to your craft and work towards improving yourself and your business everyday. Be open and willing to learn from others and elevate yourself and those around you. You have to lead your people everyday because it's going to be a tough journey.

The Center of Clayton Stay active all winter with membership.

Resident rates available for all Clayton School District families.

(314)-290-8500 www.centerofclayton.com

Center C C The Center of Clayton