Clayton High School. Clayton, MO. January 2019.
2 | SPONSORS
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS! The Globe is an entirely self-funded publication. We receive no funding from the school district for printing. Each issue of the Globe costs approximately $2000 to print. We are deeply grateful to our sponsors for their support of our publication. They make our work possible. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, please email us at globe@claytonschools.net. ISSUE SPONSORS ($2000 Level) Gail Workman Herbie’s in Clayton
GOLDEN GREYHOUND SPONSORS ($200+ Level) Big Bend Auto Center Center of Clayton Integrity DTLS Landscape Architecture Dale Avenue Pediatrics Windsor Madonna O Cotlar Centene
Yeung Realtors Melissa Clark Clayton Pilates Studio The Thompson Richardson Team St. Louis Suit Company English-to-English Clayton All in Coalition
WORLD TRAVELER SPONSORS ($100+ Level) Northwest Coffee The LaGesse Stanton Family The Brown Family The Higuchi Family The Sturmoski Family The Abburi Family Jane Cross Eugene Cross Bob and Betsy Cuneo Bob Chapman The Stemmler Family Charlotte de Sauvage Nolting The Curtis Family Sangeeta Khanna and Aseem Sharma The Chung Family Washington University Physicians Allergy & Immunology Clinics Mary and Dick Anthony
Robin and Neil Snelling Christy Hager DDS Ann Sachar Sarah Bernard Dr. James Fehr Dr. Anne Glowinski Angela and Troy Quinn Chandrakant C. Tailor Alex Waldbart Florist Protzel’s Delicatessen Cobblestone Quality Shoe Repair Celsius Cryo-Therapy The Erlin Family Debbie and Andy Schwartz Chandrakant Tailor The Choo-Kang Family The Family of Lary Baker Go Inc.
The Clayton boys’ basketball team celebrates a victory in their December game. Photo by Michael Melinger.
January 2019 12 Unicreamer
A new type of coffee creamer that is both sugar and dairy free while providing 3 grams of protein per serving.
20 The Gilded Zip Code: 63105
The Globe examines how zip codes influence life outcomes by analyzing the realms of families, health, schools, jobs and neighborhoods.
32A profile Kellen Mottl on CHS freshman swimmer Kellen Mottl, who has already broken a CHS swim record.
38 The Chocolate Pig An in-depth review about a new restaurant in St. Louis which features a variety of desserts as well as an aesthetically pleasing atmosphere.
3 | CONTENTS
globe. STAFF
EDITORS-IN-CHIEF
Keilan Morrissey
Eliot Blackmoore
Siddhi Narayan
Disha Chatterjee
Laura Parvulescu
Danielle Choo-Kang
Ruth Pierson
CHIEF VIDEO EDITOR
Cece Cohen
Sophia Puerto
Sean Kim
Ella Cuneo
Reese Quinn
Camille Curtis
Emma Raine
Michael Bernard and Jacob LaGesse
CHIEF DIGITAL EDITOR Justin Guilak
CHIEF PHOTO EDITOR Michael Melinger
REPORTERS Luka Bassnett
COPY EDITOR Anna Sturmoski
Sofia Erlin
Dheera Rathikindi
Kate Freedman
Helena Reuter
BUSINESS MANAGER
Sahithya Gokaraju
William Redington
Daniel Cohen
Mhari Harris
Maya Richter
Tallulah Hawley
Damien Stahl
Maxwell Keller
Ingrid Stahl
Sasha Keller
Abigail Sucher
Paul Liu
Jackson Swinigan
Shane LaGesse
Kaitlyn Tran
SECTION EDITORS
Rachel Liang
Louis Van’t Hof
David Higuchi, NEWS
Moriah Lotsoff
Jessie Wang
Sara Stemmler, FEATURE
Gabriela Madriz
Angela Xiao
Daniel Cohen, SPORTS
Kaia Mills-Lee
Lana Xu
Ashley Chung, OPINION
Margy Mooney
SENIOR MANAGING EDITORS Richard Cheng Grace Snelling Lila Taylor
Hongkai Jiang, REVIEW
PHOTOGRAPHERS
PAGE EDITORS Sarah Baker
Jimmy Malone
Josephine Cross
Neema Naemi
Lise Derksen
Junyi Su
Zachary Fisher
Sophie Thompson
Katie He
Bridget Walsh
Noor Jerath
Victor Wei
Isabella Clark
Caroline Marsden
Gwen Duplain
Mallory Palmer
Catherine Holtzman
Deborah Park
Xuenan Jin
Maya Richter
Lucia Johnson
Elia Rios
Areeba Khan
Annika Sandquist
Cicely Krutzsch
Madalyn Schroeder
Julian Lawless
Emma Siegel
Kathleen Lay
Anna Walsh
Whitney Le
Lauren Wolff
Audrey Deutsch Professional Affiliations: JournalismSTL, Missouri Interscholastic Press Association, Missouri Journalism Education Association, Journalism Education Association National Scholastic Press Association, Columbia Scholastic Press Association Please visit chsglobe.com for our editorial policy, mission statement, and ethics code. You can contact us at chsglobe@claytonschools.net with comments, story ideas or letters to the editor.
5 | editors letter
from the editor Just before winter break, we watched a documentary in economics class. Robert Reich, former U.S. Labor Secretary from the Clinton administration, told viewers the story of one of America’s biggest problems—the class gap. Through his lectures as a U.C. Berkeley professor, Reich explained the history of inequality in the United States and the nation’s current situation. In the past decade or so, he revealed, we reached an all-time high for inequality since 1928—in 2007, the top 1 percent took home over 20 percent of all national income. I am sure most people have also seen the graph showing the wealth distribution across each decile, showing an incredibly large spike in wealth for the top 10 percent and and even larger one for the top 1 percent. As an economics class, we obviously focused a little more on these sorts of big-picture explanations of inequality and looked into the structural policies that cause it. Seeing all that information told me that economic inequality is a big problem in the
Photo by by Michael Michael Melinger Melinger Photo
United States—but not much else. I don’t think I could know, from that data, what that level of inequality really means. They’re just numbers. I find it much harder to wrap my head around the severity and consequences of the issue just from seeing the graphs, and I am sure many others do too. What struck me was someone’s story. A woman and her family were interviewed in the documentary because they were struggling financially, and what she said truly expressed the severity of modern economic inequality. She and her husband had owned a condo for a few years and been in a stable financial situation, but he lost his job in the 2007 crash. Soon after, they were forced to move in to a friend’s house, where they two of them were trying to raise a family but struggling to handle all the costs. This woman had to consider making her young daughter walk home from school alone because the cost of daycare was too high for the family to keep paying. She had no way of communicating with her husband during the day because he did not have
a phone. Getting food on the table and paying bills was a new challenge every day. Whether or not the tank of gas was full, she suggested, could change how much groceries she could bring home. “I mean, it’s Wednesday. I’ll survive today,” she said. The fact that someone employed might need to have this mindset—might need to question on a daily basis how much food they could bring home to their family— completely shocked me. Maybe this is old news to everyone and I have just been ignorant about this issue most of my life, but I am willing to bet it’s not. Most students at Clayton, including me, grow up on a throne of economic privilege, with parents who will give almost anything to ensure their children have successful lives. The fact that they pay taxes for us to go to one of the top 15 school districts in the country goes to prove that. Right next door, too, WashU has the most economically unequal student body in the country, with three times more students from the top 1 percent than from the bottom 60 percent. As a result of this general wealth, I think, we collectively become obsessed with our own, upper class lives and therefore shielded from the disparities in the country. I am certainly not trying to attack anyone for having a large amount of wealth, nor am I asking people to give away their own money to solve the nation’s inequality. I just believe that there is a level of ignorance towards the perspectives of others. It would do us all good to make an effort to regularly consider the reality of other people’s situations and expose ourselves to stories of inequality. That could effect a small change in mindset, and a bunch of small shifts can make a difference in the world. So, to the Clayton students walking around campus with their MacBook Pro’s and brandnew car keys, I suggest you try to hear the stories of people on the other side of the gap. Take off your AirPods and see what “broke” really smells like.
JUSTIN GUILAK | CHIEF DIGITAL EDITOR
clemson beats alabama Clemson Tigers’ wide receiver Will Swinney signs the hat of an admiring fan before the big game. On Monday, Jan. 7, the Tigers defeated number the No. 1 ranked reigning champions, the Alabama Crimson Tide, 44 to 16. In the first quarter, Clemson’s AJ Terrell gave the Tigers an early lead with a pick six on Tua Tagovailoa. Alabama left 14-1, with Clemson remaining victorious with a record of 15-0, becoming the first team to end their season 15-0 since the University of Pennsylvania in 1897.
MICHAEL MELINGER | CHIEF PHOTO EDITOR
THE FIGHT OVER news & notes THE WALL DAVID HIGUCHI | NEWS SECTION EDITOR
‘‘How much more American blood must we shed?’’
(Carlos Barria/Getty Images/Pool/Abaca Press/TNS)
President Trump delivered his first prime time address Tuesday, Jan. 9 on the topic of border security. The government is currently shut down as a result of disagreement between parties on Trump’s request for $5.8 billion to build a wall on the southern border with Mexico.
Longest Govt. Shutdown in History *as of printing on Jan. 16
Four American troops were among 15 people killed on Wednesday, Jan. 16 in a suicide bombing in northern Syria that was claimed by the Islamic State, just weeks after President Trump ordered the withdrawal of United States forces. Photo by Lance Cpl. Andrew Johnston
DRONE DILEMA
The holiday plans of an estimated 140,000 people were affected when over 1,000 flights from London’s Gatwick airport were grounded after reports of drone sightings near the runway. The airport was forced to close for 36 hours between Dec. 19 and 21, leaving many passengers stranded. Less than a month later, on Jan. 8 London’s Heathrow airport was also briefly shutdown over similar reports of drone sightings. photo from Warren Rohner
“White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” - Rep. Steve King Members of both parties condemned the remarks which led to calls for his resignation. photo from Gage Skidmore
47,691,149 people liked a photo of an egg on Instagram, making it the most liked photo on the platform, breaking the previous record of 18 million likes held by Kylie Jenner. photo from @world_record_egg
er
6
on g on g of
10 | NEWS
the independence incident The speech and debate team encountered a scary situation at a recent competition DISHA CHATTERJEE | REPORTER ANGELA XIAO | REPORTER
Clayton speech and debate students after the awards ceremony at Truman High School in Independence, MO. Photo by Justin Seiwell
A
t 12:30 a.m. on Dec. 1, a CHS student meant to knock on the door of his roommates’ hotel room, as he had forgotten his key. He mistakenly knocked on the adjacent door. The guest staying in the neighboring room opened his door indignantly and confronted the student in a verbally threatening manner. The guest was holding a gun. The CHS speech and debate team was on an overnight trip in Independence, Missouri, four hours away from St. Louis, for a debate competition hosted by two high schools. The team stayed at a local hotel under the supervision of head coach Justin Seiwell and assistant coach Deana Tennill. Most students had headed to bed and only a handful were left in the lobby, finishing dinner, joking around and enjoying each others’ company. It was then that the incident occurred. “It was this middle-aged man that came out and yelled at me — well, I wouldn’t say
yelled, but he said, definitely not in a conversational tone, ‘Yes, what do you need?’ in a very menacing, loud way. Then I looked down and saw that he had a gun in his right hand. It was definitely not concealed, but it definitely wasn’t pointed at me either. He just had it at his side. So yeah, I was spooked,” CHS junior Krish Sardesai, the student involved in the incident, said. Sardesai immediately replied “nothing” to the guest and went to inform Seiwell, who was in the middle of a conversation with another student. As soon as Seiwell found out what had occurred, he dived headfirst into action. “My job is to make sure that my students are safe on these trips. That’s my primary job — I don’t worry about anything else other than are they safe and are they reasonably well-fed and well-rested, but the big thing is, are they safe,” Seiwell said. After Seiwell became aware of the incident, he ran to the front desk and informed the night manager. The night manager responded
that they had a method of dealing with similar situations, and they followed hotel policy. Seiwell then had to make an immediate judgment call, as his primary job was to make sure that his students were in a safe place. He decided based on the information given to him, which he had to assume was accurate, whether the gesture was a direct threat to Sardesai’s safety or simply a gesture indicating the patron owned a gun. “In my experience, I call it the Missouri posturing, which is like, I just need you to know that I’m holding this, I need you to know that I have this but I don’t really intend to use it. Which I experienced a lot — I went to college in Kirksville, Missouri, and this kind of stuff happened all the time. That was very common, just walking down the street, people would have their weapons, and just make sure that you knew they had one,” Seiwell said. Realizing that exiting the hotel would be difficult, as, due to the fact that most students
11 | NEWS were already in their rooms or asleep, they would cause more disruption by trying to leave, Seiwell decided to remain in the hotel. He sent the remaining students in the lobby back to their rooms and sent out a message through the group messenger, GroupMe, to all students telling them to go straight to bed, turn the lights out and stay very quiet. Seiwell, who was aware of which room the patron was allegedly staying in, stood outside the room and waited in case something else happened. “He actually stayed up the entire night outside the door to make sure [the man] did not come out again, which was probably one of the greatest things I’ve seen from someone, from a selflessness aspect, because we had competition the next morning. [Seiwell] was still very willing to do that for the sake of our safety. So, I’d say he definitely handled it very well,” Sardesai said. A private security service sent over a few security guards and a police officer as well. The police officer declined to pursue an investigation and said that he believed that what occurred was a posturing method rather than an ongoing threat. CHS junior and debate team member Diya Chatterjee also believed the incident was an example of a posturing method, and felt safe knowing she was not in direct harm. “I think [Seiwell] knew there would be no problem. Nothing probably would have happened, I think it was just a show of, ‘Oh, I carry a gun,’” she said. Students on the trip believe that, given the frightening nature of the situation, it was resolved in the best manner possible, and many felt safe despite the circumstances. “None of us really knew exactly what was going on until the morning following the incident, but Seiwell handled it in the best way possible. He sat outside the kids’ room all night and everyone felt really safe. It was a tricky situation but Seiwell and the police department handled it really well,” CHS sophomore and debate team member Ella Ferguson said. The morning after the incident was somber, but by the rest of the day, everyone seemed to have emotionally recovered. The students competed well at the tournament, and everyone returned home safely. Much follow-up ensued after the incident. There was significant review and reflection as to what had occurred. It was considered whether the actions taken were appropriate or if any further measures were necessary, and the conclusion was reached that the situation was handled in the best manner possible. “Our administration, myself, my assistant
“ INDEPENDENCE, MO 12/1/18 12:30 AM A Clayton High School student meant to knock on the door of his roommates’ hotel room, as he had forgotten his key. He mistakenly knocked on the adjacent door. The guest staying in the neighboring room opened his door indignantly and confronted the student in a verbally threatening manner. The guest was holding a gun.
”
coaches, we all kind of say that this was the most appropriate, safest and best course of action that we could have taken. I feel good about that now, but obviously for the first couple of days, I was kind of emotionally all over the place. Not quite sure what I could have done differently, but also, how many ways that could have gone very differently. At this point now, I’m done with it, I’ve processed it, I’m moving on,” Seiwell said. In Missouri, no permit is required to openly or conceal carry a firearm. The Advanced Guide to Missouri Gun Laws states that there is no requirement to register firearms or obtain a purchase permit. Missouri, as well as other states in the country, has several laws in support of the second amendment. However, this gives rise to situations similar to the one that occurred in Independence. Sardesai hopes incidents like this won’t occur again in the future, but he remains unsure after this experience. “From what Seiwell told me, what he did was completely legal, since he was able to have a concealed weapon. We as a team definitely don’t go to bad hotels. It was a pretty good hotel that we went to, and given that it was able to happen there, I wouldn’t necessarily rule it out, because [the man] didn’t do anything unlawful. I mean, there’s not really anything we could do to stop him. So, I hope it doesn’t happen again, but unfortunately, I don’t think it’s ruled out of the picture,” Sardesai said. While the vast majority of gun owners in the country are reasonable and do not pose any threat to others around them, due to the support and laws in place, Seiwell believes that these frightening yet completely legal incidents will continue to occur in the future as well. “The reality is, we have embraced the second amendment so much in the last 10 years and we’ve embraced this concept of conceal and carry, incidents like this are going to go way up. We’re going to see more and more of that because it’s very easy to buy a firearm, it’s perfectly legal to carry it in a concealed manner and there’s not much that a business, that law enforcement, that private individuals can do to stop that without substantive change to our laws,” he said. Seiwell warned students of these incidents occurring in the future. “I think that as you guys go on throughout your lives, really anywhere in the country, you’re going to experience this,” he said. “It’s the first time I’ve experienced this with my students, but it’s not the first time I’ve experienced this myself, and it definitely won’t be the last time you experience it.”
12 | FEATURE
unicreamer
Daughters of CHS campus supervisor Ron Lefcourt, Lori and Elise Lefcourt, talk about their animal friendly coffee creamer alternative Unicreamer. YIYUN XU | REPORTER
A
s more people look into healthy lifestyles, many turn away from animal-based products. This results in meeting the adequate amount of protein becoming a top priority for most. Protein-packed foods are a popular trend recently, and Unicreamer is among the top brands for alternative protein sources. Launched in March 2018, Unicreamer strives to provide its consumers an excellent source of protein while remaining animal-friendly. Available in three different flavors, Mocha, Hazelnut and Original, Unicreamer is a unique plant-based portable coffee creamer made with five natural ingredients or less, providing MCT oil, three grams of protein made from plants and less than 40 calories per serving. It is completely vegan and non-GMO, and also soy, gluten and lactose free. “We decided to build a company around a mission to be a voice for animals on a global scale,” said Lori Lefcourt, co-founder of Unicreamer. She is the daughter of Ron Lefcourt, one of Clayton’s campus supervisors, and Jody Lefcourt, a CHS graduate. “We also wanted to
give people a portable option [of dairy-free coffee creamer] on the go,” Lori said. Growing up in St. Louis, Lori and her sister, Elise Lefcourt, both graduated from University of Missouri with business degrees. Lori, who is three years older than Elise, has always wanted to be an entrepreneur. “I would come up with 20 different ideas a day, most of them were ridiculous, most of them would’ve never worked out,” Lori said. “But I’ve always dreamed about running my own company.” Lori moved to New York City after she graduated from college and worked in the financial industry on Wall Street. Elise moved to Chicago and has been very successful in medical sales. After working in New York for seven years, Lori quit her job and moved to Chicago with Elise to start Unicreamer. Elise still works in medical sales to help fund the company, but she splits up her time so that she can work on Unicreamer as much as possible. The love for entrepreneurship in the two sisters started with their father. “I’ve been an entrepreneur in my life, I’ve always had my
own business,” Ron said. “Maybe they caught that bug from me in a way I don’t know, but they finally had some idea that they thought was going to really work, so that’s why they started Unicreamer.” Starting Unicreamer wasn’t easy for the two sisters. “[In the beginning] we just started Googling, and used the power of the internet to find and interview a bunch of manufacturers,” said Lori. “Finally, I was connected to somebody who ended up to be one of the best protein formulators in the industry with over 25 industry awards.” In order to ask for this formulator’s help, Lori found out that he was going to be at a conference. She went to that conference and stopped him afterwards to talk with him. “Since then, he’s helped us reformulate our product into something we really loved,” said Lori. The goal of Unicreamer is to provide people a healthy alternative to the usual coffee creamer. “The health trends are leading people to cut out dairy and meat in their diets, so that was really important to us,” said Lori. “A lot of our competitors are collagen-based or have dairy, so we wanted to make sure that we gave people that portable option on the go where they didn’t have to sacrifice their health.” More communities are growing up in a healthier environment, and demand for nutrients is higher than it ever was. “Not only more healthy, the environment is more active, and in some ways, people on the go want things quick and fast,” Ron said. “I think [Unicreamer] is conducive to the lifestyle these days, the young professionals that are working out and healthy are looking for ways to increase protein intake. Now they have a way to do it if they’re a coffee drinker.” “When we made Unicreamer, it was for millennials around our age,” Lori said. “But what we are finding is that it’s really all different age groups that are looking to cut out dairy from their daily routines for health reasons.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 20 percent of high schoolers nationwide consume at least one serving of caffeinated beverage daily. If everyone stirs in a serving of Unicreamer in their beverage a day, they will all consume three additional grams of protein on top of their diet. Here at CHS, more than 50 percent of the
13 | FEATURE students drink coffee and more than 25 percent drink it regularly. Out of the students who drink coffee, nearly 60 percent of them add coffee creamer, and more than 60 percent of these students expressed that they are willing to convert to a type of dairy-free creamer that provides three grams of protein. With 15 percent of the students not consuming dairy, it’s nice that they know that they always have a healthy alternative. Unicreamer isn’t exclusive to coffee, it can be added to other food as well. “I put it in oatmeal, smoothies, lattes and such,” Ron said. “It
“We really love programs that help the healing bond between animals and humans” Lori Lefcourt has found some multi-purposefulness to it.” Despite being a great alternative to the usual Coffee Mate, Unicreamer has also partnered up with many anti-cruelty organizations to give back to the community. Lori and Elise grew up loving animals, and part of it caused both to become vegetarians. One of their missions with Unicreamer is to give back to animal welfare agencies. Despite being in business for only eight months, Unicreamer has already done partnerships and events with anti-cruelty programs in Chicago. Lori and her team are looking into partnerships with Marley’s Mutts, a nonprofit company that sponsors a program called “Pawsitive Change”, which saves dogs out of the death row, pairs them up with prisoners and give them hope. “In the long run, we plan to give a portion of profits back to global animal welfare nonprofits,” Lori said. Ron is very proud of his daughters for what they’ve accomplished. “As a parent, you always hope that your
children are healthy, happy, successful and find something that they really love doing,” said Ron. “It’s hard to start a business. It’s a lot of work and dedication and as parents, we have been totally supportive of their venture.” The sisters are not afraid of taking risks either. “For me, it’s all about failing forward in execution,” Lori said. “Sometimes when you’re starting a business, people can get overwhelmed with how scary things could possibly be. I think that people get overwhelmed with how successful they could possibly be because it seems too much. You should look at every single failure as a learning experience and continue to grow from there.” Elise also said that the best way to discover what you want to do is to surround yourself with people that you look up to and can ask for help when you need it. With St. Louis being their hometown, Lori and Elise are looking to expand into retail stores in St. Louis after Chicago, and they are more than willing to accept internships for those who are interested. “I was so impressed and inspired by the work [our interns] did [over the summer] that if there’s a college student who’s passionate about getting into entrepreneurship or the health industry or just learning, we’d a hundred percent consider taking them on,” Lori said. “We’re always looking for applications. It’s been challenging for us in the winter since you guys are at school, but if you guys are willing to put the time, and if you really enjoy it, go in the summer and, then we’d love [to accept interns].” Lori and Elise are envisioning Unicreamer as a product to be sold nationwide in the next few years, starting in the Midwest. Elise said, “In the short term, I’m super confident that we will be in many retail places and grocery stores by the middle of 2019.” “In the next 3 years, I want [Unicreamer] to be the number one coffee creamer that people go to as an alternative to dairy,” said Lori. “It’s going to take a lot of time and a lot of work, but I believe we can get there.”
“I love failing because every single time, we learn something new and we meet people that could potentially help us get to the next level. If you could twist your mindset from being afraid of faillng to getting ecited about failing, that’s going to bring you to the next level” - Lori Lefcourt
14 | FEATURE
co-teaching
Mrs. Brooke Hartmann and Mr. Josh Meyers explain the advantages of their new co-teaching style SOFIA ERLIN | REPORTER
History teachers Brooke Hartmann and Josh Meyers work together to teach World and US History I at CHS. Photo by Erin Sucher-O’Grady
T
he benefits of shared leadership have been recognized in many aspects of American life. Planes are always flown by two pilots. Policemen work in pairs. Surgeons operate in groups. The gain of having more than one person doing a job has proved to be helpful in many careers. Now, two CHS history teachers, Josh Meyers and Ashley Hartmann, are piloting a co-teaching model for their freshman history classes. “The idea was to attempt to differentiate as much as possible for a wide variety of learners, so with two content-specific teachers in the same classroom, the hope is to meet the needs of as many different students as possible,” Clayton Social Studies Coordinator Paul Hoelscher said. The Clayton history department has tested variants of the co-teaching model in the past, but never with two content teachers. In fact, Meyers and Hartmann’s co-teaching model is one that has not been seen in any high schools across the nation. “As far as we know, there aren’t models at the high school level where two content teachers from the same discipline are co-teaching,” Meyers said. While the two have only been co-teaching together for six weeks, their students are already beginning to experience the benefits of co-teaching. “One of the most important aspects of co-teaching is giving feedback. Research indicates that feedback for students ideally should be both timely and specific. It is difficult for one teacher to do both, but with two teachers in the room it is easier. For example, during a class
activity, one teacher can be leading the activity and another teacher can individually provide assistance to a student who needs redirection or feedback without the rest of the class losing steam or the student not getting their question answered. This opportunity is allowing us to put best [teaching] practice into action in an authentic way that benefits all students,” said Hartmann. By having two teachers in the room, Hartmann and Meyers are able to cater to their students’ specific needs. “We have the opportunities to do enrichment as well as remediation. It gives us an enormous amount of flexibility to meet the individualized needs of students,” Meyers said. Furthermore, co-teaching allows teachers to see students’ reactions to information and allows teachers to make sure students are processing class material. “When you’re teaching, you don’t always recognize [how students process instruction], but someone watching you can be like ‘Hey, call on someone different because I haven’t heard that person’s
voice today,’” Hartmann said. Beyond allowing students to learn and process at their own paces, co-teaching helps teachers improve and reflect on themselves. “I really like [co-teaching] because I like the built-in thinking partner that is with me every day. We sit in the office in the mornings and plan together for an hour or an hour and a half every single day, during lunch we debrief the lesson and assess what worked and what should be changed, at the beginning of each unit we discuss what data we want to collect and what skills to assess… I like being challenged to a certain degree about why I’m doing what I’m doing and talking through those processes. I think it’s something that reflective teachers do and can only benefit from to improve their practices,” Meyers said. The biggest drawback when trying to implement a co-teaching model is the cost. Two teachers are being paid to teach one class. “That’s an issue that has to be considered; having two teachers in a classroom means that your staffing costs are higher than if you were using a traditional non-co-taught model,” Meyers said. After this year, Meyers and Hartmann are hoping to continue co-teaching at the freshman level. “We’re hoping that we can do this again next year with freshman. It’s a tough transition to high school and freshmen benefit from getting direct immediate feedback from teachers that know the content,” Hartmann said. Co-teaching could prove to be helpful in other disciplines as well as history. “I could see how this could be beneficial in other classrooms like math and science where there is less understanding,” said freshman Kaitlyn Tran. According to Meyers, co-teaching can additionally help to provide a more equal learning environment for all students. “As the school continues to focus on equity work I think co-teaching is one way to try to provide more equitable experiences for students,” Meyers said.
15 | FEATURE
Photo from Betsy Sinclair
magnify Captain parent Betsy Sinclair explains a fun and easy new way to make a difference MARGY MOONEY | REPORTER
T
he world is filled with hardship. Issues such as climate change, racial inequality and economic disparities plague our newsfeeds. Many people believe they can’t make a difference because they only have one voice and therefore assume that others will speak up for them. Making change can seem overwhelming, as it requires an abundance of time, money and a revolutionary idea. What if five minutes spent aimlessly scrolling through social media could be used to make a positive impact in your community instead? Meet Magnify. Magnify, (www.magnifyyourvoice.com), is an online social action
network used to make change. It was started in mid-2018 by a yogi, a data scientist and Betsy Sinclair, a political science professor at Washington University and Clayton parent. They saw a need to empower people who wanted to make a difference but were not sure how. Their goal was to make civic engagement “fun, easy and social.” In the time it takes to scroll through your Instagram feed or keep streaks on Snapchat, you can create or join a project and make a difference. To launch a project, users fill out a form detailing either an advocacy campaign, volunteer opportunity or community event. When a project is submitted, users can share it with friends and family. It does not need to be an extensive network, as Magnify helps these projects take off by matching them with like-minded users. Magnify also supports campaigns by doing research and helping users contact the appropriate government officials or businesses for their projects. Additionally, Magnify has made engagement fun by “gamifying” the experience. For every action users take, they earn a certain amount of points. The highest scores are
displayed on a leaderboard to motivate users to take action. One might think it takes something as large as the Women’s March to make an impact, but according to Magnify founder Sinclair, “With state-level offices and lower and private businesses, research has shown if at least 22 people reach out, usually there is a response. Elected officials don’t automatically wake up in the morning and know what people want or need. They need people to tell them. There is a lot people can do if they work together.” In Montgomery County, Maryland, a woman named Fricka Ling wanted to establish curbside composting. “[Ling] put up a project and shared it with her partner, her next-door neighbor and on the website Nextdoor. She basically had three people on her project,” Sinclair said. “But then people from Nextdoor started joining and sharing it with other people. Other people started commenting and adding information, like ‘You should change the person that you’re contacting,’ or ‘You should get this report,’ and eventually her project grew to have almost 50 members, which is crazy because she only shared it with three people. Then, about a month ago, the County Executive released a survey to all residents asking them what they thought.” While fixing climate change seemed overwhelming, this small action had an effect and helped Ling to feel like she was making a tangible difference. So far, 18 successful projects have been completed on Magnify. There are over 50 in progress that users can engage with. Projects are wide-ranging. In St. Louis, another woman wanted to play her small part in affecting climate change. Through Magnify, she asked Kaldi’s Coffee Citygarden to start composting their coffee grounds. They were not sure what to do with the compost, but because the grounds were organic, a local hydroponic farm wanted the compost and regularly picks it up for their farm. In Ferguson, a user noticed that people were sitting on a turned-over shopping cart and did not have shelter to wait for buses. This user launched a Magnify campaign asking for benches, bus shelters, and trash cans at five different stops. Is there a program you want that the high school does not offer? Have you noticed potholes that need to be fixed? Does your community have an unmet need? How do you want to make your community better? “You know what your community needs,” Sinclair said. “Look around and ask yourself, ‘What does my community need to be better?’ Dream big. Make a difference.”
16 | FEATURE
cynthia liu CHS sophomore Cynthia Liu’s singing reached millions in China. RICHARD CHENG | SENIOR MANAGING EDITOR
The National Aquatics Center, nicknamed the “water cube” at the Games of the the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing, China. (Abaca Press/MCT)
Most Clayton High School students might spend their summer at camps, relaxing at home or on vacation. Some select, highly-motivated kids might even get a jump start on their summer homework before the first weeks of August. For Cynthia Liu, her summer culminated in a finals singing performance hosted in the 2008 Beijing Olympics Water Cube. Her audience? Millions of viewers all over China. Clayton High School sophomore Cynthia Liu’s singing talents reached an international audience the summer of 2018 when she participated in the Water Cube Cup competition hosted in China. The competition, which has been held since 2011, has attracted over 8,000 participants from more than 30 countries and regions around the world. SCA Times said that the competition, which requires the use of Chinese in all performances, “intends to foster Chinese teenagers’ enthusiasm towards Chinese language and culture.”
The collection of talented singers from around the globe participate in the competition in a very similar manner to NBC’s “The Voice.” Contestants perform for judges on live television, and viewers from home can vote on singers they want to move forward to the next round. Singers perform in the swimming stadium from the Beijing Olympics, or “Water Cube” -- the same stadium where Michael Phelps and the rest of the USA swimming team brought home 31 gold medals. Before her gargantuan international experience in China, Liu first qualified for the Midwest competition in Chicago after moving past a regional portion. At this point, there are three regional rounds to form the national representation of the US: Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City. At the Midwest qualification, the competition featured significantly more singers than the regional contest, and Liu really only participated for the experience with no expectations of
winning. “I didn’t think I was going to win in Chicago, I just kind of did it on an impulse,” said Liu. Still, Liu refined her skills and dedicated weeks of preparation towards her qualification performance. To her surprise, Cynthia Liu progressed with 15 other singers towards the national-level qualification stage, surpassing her own expectations. Liu said, “After I moved past Chicago, then, I was like, ‘Oh, okay. This is really happening.’” Already, Liu had progressed all the way to a national stage. Liu began to dedicate more time towards her singing as competing in Beijing began to look possible. When she stood on the national stage, Liu felt more anxious than in the previous round. Liu said, “I was one of the first to go and I was super nervous. I barely remember performing, it was a blur.” When scores were announced, Liu was shocked to be one of two individuals selected
17 | FEATURE
Photo by Michael Melinger to perform at the international competition. “Even though I didn’t end up in first place, I was just so grateful and shocked that I didn’t care. I had never expected to get second and qualify for internationals,” Liu said. A total of 70 teenagers arrived in Beijing from countries all around the world. While Liu understood the magnitude of the competition, the full scope of her accomplishment thus far dawned on her when she arrived in China. Liu said, “I didn’t think [the competition] was that big of a deal, but when I went, I was shocked.”
At the competition, a judge chooses each singer in a very similar fashion again to The Voice. After performing a preliminary audition, judges express interest and take contestants in as students. For Liu, her mentor was the celebrity singer, Li Cong. While she found the mentorship extremely helpful, Liu admitted the process was arduous at times. “For internationals, it’s like 24/7 for weeks, “ said Liu. “In China, there’s teachers who make you wake up at 6 AM and you practice until dinner.” On stage, contestants are encouraged to perform whatever music they find comfort-
able. For Liu, Chinese pop songs made up the majority of her repertoire. However, she did venture into opera for the finals of the competition to try out a new style of music she was not necessarily exposed to. While the atmosphere of the Water Cube Cup was certainly cutthroat, that was not the only surprising aspect that Liu experienced. “It’s a lot of competition, but it’s also a lot of publicity,” Liu said. In fact, at Liu’s final performance before the semi-finals of the entire competition, over 70,000 Chinese viewers watched her performance live. By the time that voting became relevant, over 100,000 fans voted for Liu to progress to the next round. Unfortunately, she was edged out by another contestant on votes and concluded her competition run. “It was an incredible experience, and I definitely finished better than I expected,” said Liu. Even though she did not become the Water Cube Cup champion, Liu proved her vocal talents on an international scale to millions of supportive fans. “It was already such an honor to make it there. So I was really so nervous and under a lot of pressure, but I really enjoyed that last performance. The awe never went away, even when I was performing on the stage.” Surprisingly, Liu’s passion does not fall into the singing industry. While she might consider a career in performing arts, her true calling is on the dance floor. “Dance is actually by far my top extracurricular, but with the events of this summer, I think singing will rise to be a close second,” said Liu. Regardless of what career path she chooses, Liu reflects that her experience on such a grand scale was a privilege and a memory she will forever keep with her.
18 | FEATURE
richard writes CHS janitor Richmond “Richard” Engelke leads a secret life as a self-published author VIVIAN CHEN | REPORTER DHEERA RATHIKINDI | REPORTER
Photo of Engelke by Michael Melinger
R
ichmond Engelke, Richard for short, is a maintenance employee at CHS. However, when he isn’t ensuring that Clayton is a clean and safe environment, Engelke pursues his hobby and passion: writing full-length novels. Before Engelke began writing, he owned a video store called “Hollywood and Vine,” named after two famous streets in California. While working at the store, he practiced his writing by penning short stories based off of movie titles and the descriptive blurbs on the backs of DVD boxes. He soon found that these small acts of writing would develop into a lifelong passion, thanks to one of his customers. “A lady who came into my store, her name was Nancy Gleason, and she was the head of writing at UMSL… one day she bumped into me, probably around the year 1995, and goes, ‘You know, you can write a book,’” Engelke said. Engelke’s first response wasn’t an eager one. “I said, ‘You’re crazy’,” said Engelke, chuckling as he recalled the memory. “[Gleason] goes, ‘No… your short stories are so good.’ So she had me write some short stories and took them to one of her classes.” Two years later, Engelke had written his first book.
“It’s horrible, it’s not well-written, but it was a start,” he said. “Today, I have a copy of the book, and I want to rewrite it. The whole book.” Engelke later wrote “Proof of Perfection,” a story following the investigation of a blonde woman’s strange death. This book would cause him to be recognized by John Lutz, an award-winning American mystery writer. “He read my book, and he wrote what they call a blurb… he wrote a statement about me. And I was quite in shock. He talked to me, and he said, ‘Just keep writing. You’ve got a good story… I like your style… As you keep writing, you’ll hone your skills, you’ll become better at what you do,’” Engelke said. Engelke took Lutz’s advice and continued writing. He soon found it to benefit him in a number of ways. With no college degree and only a high school diploma, he discovered that writing allowed him to grow academically. “Through all of this, I’ve learned to talk in complete sentences, I know how to structure sentences [and] when to use ‘can’t’ and ‘cannot’,” Engelke said. “If you listen to what people say to you, once you begin writing, you’ll find yourself talking in complete sentences [and] you’ll know where the punctuation marks go.” A few of Engelke’s other books include “Santa Muerte: (Saint of Death),” “Circle of Life,” and
“Raising the Kingdom.” “Raising the Kingdom” is part of a three book series, similar to “Proof of Perfection.” Engelke sticks to no specific genre but instead chooses to write what’s on his mind. Engelke also takes an unorthodox approach to the way he picks the covers to his books. For one of his trilogies, he used the same cover for each book. “It was just a crazy idea. And I talked it over with a couple of my friends who know me well enough and they actually went, ‘That’s very clever.’ It is unconventional and very clever,” Engelke said. Engelke self-publishes all of his books through Amazon. “Book companies own you, body and soul… I’m unconventional. I don’t want you to touch my work, that’s my art. That’s why I self-publish… I’m very stubborn and bull-headed,” he said. “You’re the creator… It’s not [the publisher’s] child. All they’re doing is taking it and printing it… [When you self-publish], you’re taking the power away from the people with the power.” So next time you search for school supplies or a phone case on Amazon, consider adding “Raising The Kingdom” or “Proof of Perfection” to your cart. You might be impressed by what you read.
ww
David Stine Furniture is proud to support The Globe
David Stine Furniture custom • handcrafted • one-of-a-kind stinewoodworking.com
TITLE OF STATISTIC
6 310 5 Michael Bernard, Jacob LaGesse, Michael Melinger, Grace Snelling, Sara Stemmler, Anna Sturmoski and Lila Taylor
6310 Intro
Every August, a new class of Sperry-stepping, Patagonia-sporting students strut through the doors of CHS into what will be one of their many experiences with the “Gilded Zip Code.” These students, the majority of whom are the offspring of mid- and upper-level professionals are fortunate enough to be born into the gilded zip code — an area of good neighborhoods, families and economic status. Residents of the gilded zip code believe in hard work and merit, but as their consolidation of wealth grows, so do their disproportionate advantages. Enriched through tax breaks, investment in the stock market and rising property values, the class belonging to the gilded zip code continues to consolidate wealth. While recent administrations have issued tax breaks for the rich to continue this consolidation, the idea isn’t new. “We’ve seen rising concentration of wealth not just within the top quintile of Americans in terms of wealth and income, but also more specifically within the top 10 percent and then within the top one percent … that idea of greater concentration of wealth and income isn’t new. It’s dated back to really the early 1980s, late 1970s,” Daniel Glossenger, CHS AP Economics teacher, said. However, for most Americans, this consolidation resides in home-ownership. “The vast majority of wealth in this country, in terms of the middle class, is in home equity. Access to home ownership was and remains both the Republican and the Democratic party goal. So both George W. Bush and Bill Clinton pushed getting access to home loans for people with lower incomes and Barack Obama did as well,” Glossenger said. A seemingly bi-partisan goal breaks off at the upper 10 percent of Americans. For this
crowd, 9.9 percent of whom belong to the gilded zip code, the world of bonds and global financial markets enters the picture. “High income earners are able to take gains in income and put those gains into financial markets. And I say that broadly to say a trust fund wouldn’t be just money sitting in an account, right? It’s invested in bonds, it’s invested in real estate investment trusts or [real estate investment trusts] where it’s invested in the stock market,” Glossenger said. The reason for this is evident in the income growth of the upper quintile of Americans. Richard Reeves, a scholar at the Brookings Institution and author of “Dream Hoarders: How the American Upper Middle Class Is Leaving Everyone Else in the Dust, Why That Is a Problem, and What to Do About It,” points to a Congressional Budget Office study spanning over 34 years between 1979 and 2013 in which Americans in the top 20 percent saw a 4 trillion dollar income increase compared to the bottom four-fifths, who had a mere 3 trillion dollar increase total. This increase opens up many more opportunities for consolidation of wealth to the top quintile. Trust funds or accounts with growth opportunity are set up to exceed inflation. These accounts can often outlast one’s life or be opened for young children to access later in life. While the name “trust fund” might sound daunting, the reality is that many Americans who have good access to job opportunities are able to consolidate their wealth in a growing account. As for the bottom earners, they can, in part, attribute their growth, or lack thereof, to wage stagnation. “The labor market is really where income concentration on very high income folks is happening, and wage stagnation is happening for a large number of Americans,” Glossenger said. “[Building generational wealth] is fairly
straightforward for people who are earning a relatively high income. It’s relatively challenging for people whose wages have stagnated.” For those not facing the same issues as the lower and middle class, the passing of consolidated wealth is much easier. By dumping money into great neighborhoods with good school districts, they directly impact the futures of not only their own children but also those of the children of their gilded zip code neighbors. “Clayton has always outspent other school districts. We could go back to the 1950s and 1930s and look at per pupil spending—this district has spent more than every other district for decades, if not a century,” Glossenger said. The District’s spending, combined with the other various factors of the gilded zip code provide Clayton students an innate advantage. Bright-eyed CHS students enter the high school ready to toil away at hours of honors freshman physics homework to get ahead in this seemingly meritocratic system. But they wouldn’t have gotten a spot in this system if it weren’t for their family’s consolidated wealth and reaping of the benefits in the gilded zip code. “We say it’s a merit based system. I didn’t get my job here entirely on merit. I knew people here and my original internship placement here was because the person running the internships knew the school and they had a long standing relationship. So I think we lie to ourselves if we say everything’s based on merit,” Glossenger said. In a society that often attributes its successes to merit, it is important to consider other factors of wealth that are at play. Proponents of wealth are at the center of a web that stretches towards experiences of education, health, jobs, neighborhoods and family.
05
CLAYTON by the numbers
77.6% white $590,800 median home value
$91,531
median household income data from the U.S. census bureau
Education Five digits of separation. This is the phrase that former California Senator Gloria Romero coined to describe the devastating influence of zip code on a child’s quality of education. Five digits that could mean the difference between a safe household and an unstable one, a high school or college degree, a blue collar or white collar job — five digits that ultimately have a substantial impact on the future of a child. Just one misplaced integer can alter the course of a life. In 2013, The Washington Post created a tangible map of every zip code in the US. Each zip code was then evaluated, on a scale of zero to 100, on the combined quality of education and income of its inhabitants. Clayton, with a code of 63105, scored a 95 on the scale, qualifying it as one of only 650 total “Super Zips” (zip codes in the top five percent) in the nation. 63106, a north St. Louis neighborhood only one digit away from Clayton, scored a one. According to the United States Census, those living in 63106 are primarily African-American with a median household income of $15,031 and 11 percent have a bachelor’s degree or higher. Conversely, 96.8 percent of residents of zip code 63105 have a college education. These are not just statistics, they are predictions. Studies have consistently found that the level of education of a parent is directly correlated to that of their children. For those born in an area of a low socioeconomic status, obtaining a higher level of education is especially difficult and rare. In 2007, two predominantly African American city school districts, Riverview Gardens School District and St. Louis Public Schools, lost accreditation. Shortly afterwards, in 2012, Normandy School District lost its accreditation as well. Though all three schools made improvements and reopened in the following years, the state of education in the city remains turbulent. This means a lack of security for the many low-income children going to those schools, a large portion of whom had to be bused away from their own neighborhoods when their districts shut down. The Hawthorn Leadership School for Girls,
located in a zip code which was given a score of eight by The Washington Post, is working to overcome these issues and to provide a safe environment and high quality learning program for its students. “One of the things the founder, Mary Stillman, and the other founding board members focused on was making Hawthorn a joyous place. We wanted the girls to really feel safe, and feel appreciated, and to have a good time while they are working hard, and I think that’s the way it feels,” Edes Gilbert, board member and co-founder of Hawthorn said. Hawthorn, founded in 2014, is an all-girls charter school located in the 63113 location of the city. As such, it is non-selective and receives funding from the state to provide meal support and academics for girls grades six through 12. Because it is essentially a public school run like a private school, it operates on a first-come first-serve basis. Hawthorn is steadily growing, but has not yet reached capacity. “Any new enterprise takes awhile to get started. Part of it is because it’s all girls. Also, because we’re new, we don’t have a lot of ‘fun things’ about high school that you do. It’s coming, but it’s been slow,” Gilbert said. Although it may be developing slowly, Hawthorn has come a long way from its founding, with programs such as volleyball, dance team and track receiving lots of enthusiasm from participants. Shared resources with local facilities and money coming in from the city via a foundation that runs parallel to the school are also to thank for these advancements, as well as teacher compensation. “St. Louis has been very supportive. We raise somewhere around a million dollars a year. So that fills in the blanks, and allows us to pay the teachers a little bit more,” Gilbert said.
Generous donations to the school allow it to provide for the majority of its students who live in impoverished homes. “There’s quite a variety [of family situations]. Low income would be a common denominator. Over 83 percent are on paid lunch. We serve breakfast as well, because you can’t learn if you’re really hungry, and if you haven’t had dinner the night before. We serve breakfast and lunch for everybody. The state pays a certain amount for every child, and we add to that to cover the rest.”
""This was not about white people sailing in from clayton with their checkbooks. These Are people who rEally believe in education. Gilbert stressed that even with substantial funds, the success of the school and its students is largely dependent on the determination of parents to build a successful future for their children. “Parents are basically working two jobs. But they’re on the low end of the salary scale. I would say that 98 percent of the parents are focused on allowing the girls to have opportunities that they did not have. You can see the American Dream. You are going to get an education. Parents are by and large amazing. Even if they haven’t had a lot of schooling themselves, they are really focused on supporting
the school, and we try to support them, so we spend a fair amount of time with parents.” Although St. Louis has and will continue to have wealth disparities, often related to location, Gilbert believes that educating St. Louis’ youth in a way that leaves little out-ofpocket costs for families is one step towards ensuring successful futures for children regardless of their socioeconomic status, and a subsequent narrowing of this gap. “This wasn’t about white people sailing in from Clayton with their checkbooks. These are people who really believe in education, and are ready to roll up their sleeves and work for it. I got involved because it really seemed to me that St. Louis was having a hard time as a city when I was here in the 80s. St. Louis is still having a hard time, but the lack of hope and opportunity for young people just seemed to me devastating, just the little that I had seen of it. And I’d like to think that we can offer our girls hope.” Brian Walsh, member of a Clayton law practice and Clayton parent, echoed Gilbert regarding the influence education can have on the rest of one’s life for low and even middle class families. Growing up as one of six siblings and attending school in a rural location of Long Island, Walsh stated that he owes a large part of his and his children’s success to his education. “My education instilled in me the fact that it is so important, even if you decide to do nothing with it, it just rounds you out. It gives you a base, so you can educate your own children.” Although Walsh eventually made the jump to law school at George Washington University in a much more urban setting after completing his undergrad, he said that even the vast difference in setting was not the most shocking transition for him. The few resources of his high school setting instead made the transition from high school to college more drastic. “It’s interesting, because I’m watching you guys get prepared for college and everything else, and that whole piece was missing in my high school. So the bigger leap for me was high school to college,” Walsh said. The substantial resources available to Clayton to make the high school to college transition fluid not only ensure that most students will go on to a four-year university, but also ensure student success in this setting, and eventually pave the way for an independent life. “When I first moved here well over 20 years ago, we lived in Kirkwood, and it was not quite as affluent as Clayton was, so I think there were several routes that kids could take other than the traditional college, or gap year and then college. I got nothing but ridicule from my siblings for leaving and going to college. But I think, in Clayton especially, the expectation is you’re going to go to a good school, and you’re going to get a good educa-
ZIP CODE
63106:
11%
have a bachelor’s degree or higher
$15,031 median household income
tion, and you’re going to leave home,” Walsh said. According to CHS Counseling Department Chair Carolyn Blair, approximately 98 to 100 percent of Clayton students go on to pursue a college education on any given year. “Our percentage rate is pretty high. Compared to neighboring [public] and private schools. We are probably more similar to private schools than we are to [other public schools],” Blair said. Although similar to others in the St. Louis area, the matriculation of Clayton students differs from private schools in one major way: location. “When you look at where our students go, that’s probably the largest difference with us. So at schools like Pattonville, or Lindbergh, over half of their class goes to community college, and the rest go to Mizzou, or very closeby state colleges. Whereas my first 10 years here, more students, I’d say about 70 percent of our class, matriculated out-of-state than did in-state,” Blair said.
Although Clayton’s high rate of matriculation is often a source of pride for its patrons, the relative wealth and resources of Clayton may contribute to the pressure placed on students to immediately receive a traditional secondary education, students for whom this may not be the best option. “We have students that decide to do something else. Frankly, we have students who would prefer to do something else, but because they go here, they feel pressured to [go to college] because they feel like they have to because that’s what you do.” Though zip code and socioeconomic status contribute largely to one’s ability to pursue a higher education, it is important to remember that college is not the right path for everyone. In an environment like Clayton, college is often regarded as a necessity rather than one option among many. Education is a vast field with a multitude of resources, which, when explored, can supplement one’s future greatly, regardless of wealth.
Neighborhood photo from Centene
18 years. Based solely on geographic location, a child born in Clayton, zip code 63105, is expected to live 18 years longer than a child born in the JeffVanderLou area, zip code 63106. A difference of just one zip code digit can significantly alter the course of a life. One’s predicted opportunities and outcome are determined by the neighborhood in which one grows up. The resources a community provides are essential in early childhood development and later life; the school district, access to jobs, healthcare and housing all play a role. Those fortunate enough to enter the world in a richer family in a wealthier area will have innate advantages throughout their life, subject to the generational wealth and connections accumulated by their parents before their birth. However, those born in poorer neighborhoods will have to exhibit a greater effort to reach the same level of success as their wealthier counterparts. “The idea that our whole society is built on merit is an illusion,” Glossenger said. “We have a meritocrat-
ic system up to a point, but it’s access to the things that give you merit, that is really, really difficult to obtain. I think it’s easy for people who live in systems and within structures that merit comes naturally to say, ‘well, of course it was through my own hard work.’” To many lower-income Americans, purchasing property is central to achieving the American Dream; a chance to acquire wealth and pass it on to future generations. However, given the current housing market, simply owning a home is no longer enough to ensure economic prosperity. Houses in wealthier areas are much more likely to significantly appreciate in value than those in poorer areas. “It’s easier to maintain property values when you have a large number of high income and high wealth individuals in a certain area,” Glossenger said. “And property values are usually tied to school districts as well.” The current divided state of St. Louis is a result of decades of white flight. Beginning in the 1950s and 60s, St. Louis experienced a large movement of white families out of the city and into surrounding suburbs. “Some of it was racism, some of it was classicism, wanting to live in an area with people who looked like you, made the same amount of money as you,” Michelle Witthaus, a program director for Washington University’s Health Equity Works program out of the Brown School, said. According to Glossenger, racial housing segregation was often perpetuated by ostensibly race-neutral restrictive zoning policies. By prohibiting construction of more affordable housing options, such as apartment buildings or town-homes, in favor of bigger properties with large lawns, the government indirectly shaped the demographic of the area by determining the economic statuses of the people who live there. However, in 1916, the City of St. Louis implemented a purely racial zoning ordinance. This ordinance, the first of its kind in the nation, stated that people of a certain race could not purchase a home in a neighborhood where more 75 percent of the inhabitants were of a different race. Although the Buchanan v. Warley U.S. Supreme Court case reversed and outlawed this referendum the following year, it set a precedent for the development of other racist housing policies and started a trend of white flight towards exclusive suburbs surrounding the city. On a local level, racial deed covenants provided neighborhoods with a way to control their demographics and prohibit individuals of certain races from purchasing property. After a 1926 U.S. Supreme Court case, Corrigan v. Buckley, ruled that these covenants were not subject to the 14th amendment, which grants equal rights and legal protection to citizens, they quickly gained in popularity.
Often, these restrictions comprised clauses on home mortgages that stated landlords could not sell a property to non-white families. “They were on houses for sometimes up to 50 years,” Witthaus said. “With that, we really started to see this immense segregation in St. Louis. People would put these covenants on their properties and an entire neighborhood would remain white, really limiting options for African Americans to purchase homes.” With the implementation of the Fair Housing Act in 1968, Congress outlawed housing discrimination based on race, religion, sex or nationality, and thus racial deed covenants. Usage of covenants had been in decline since 1948 when the Shelley v. Kraemer U.S. Supreme Court case ruled that they could not be supported judicially. However, housing discrimination continued. “Even though racial deed covenants were no longer legal, we found new ways to segregate communities,” Witthaus said. “Real estate agents continued to steer white clients to certain subdivisions and black clients to certain subdivisions. We’ve continued to find innovative ways to segregate people that aren’t technically illegal.” The effects of this segregation have endured. According to Witthaus, today St. Louis ranks among the top 10 most segregated metropolitan areas in the nation. In neighborhoods with high poverty rates, social mobility is severely limited by the availability of services and amenities that promote healthy lifestyles. In communities similar to Clayton, infrastructure such as paved sidewalks and well-maintained parks allow residents to exercise outside, and close proximity to grocery stores allows access to fresh produce, contributing to healthier diets. Poorer neighborhoods are also more likely to have greater crime rates and exposure to pollution, according to a 2015 report from the For the Sake of All initiative. “There are many health disparities in St. Louis, but we can measure them by the amount of time one is expected to live,” Witthaus said. “And here it is directly related to your zip code and what you have access to where you live.”
Jobs “[A strong socioeconomic background] helped me land a really good college,” Jennifer McKeown, CHS graduate and current resident of University City, said. McKeown, like many others, believes that the upper class is often drawn to Clayton in search of a good education for their children. Those who fall below the high economic standards of Clayton, as a result of expensive real estate and competitive businesses, are often prevented from existing inside the exclusive “Clayton bubble.” “I would love to live in Clayton,” McKeown said. “I don’t know if that’s something we can afford now.” The high academic standards of Clayton are appealing to McKeown, as she experienced the school district’s rigor firsthand before graduating in 2003. McKeown believes that the education she received at CHS helped solidify her future success. She attended Tufts University and is currently a Youth in Need counselor at Craig Elementary in the Parkway School District. According to McKeown, her education at Clayton plays a tremendous role in her current life, as CHS provided her with many opportunities and resources to pursue her goals. “I think the connections that I made at Clayton carry on since I’ve been back here, and help professionally and help my family,” McKeown said. “The connections have helped build some good professional opportunities.” According to Glossenger the connections in the field play a very important role in the job search. Often times, the highest paying jobs require these connections, and without a connection in a high paying field, job explorers are often left in the dust. Without these personal connections to guide him, Glossenger perhaps would not have ended up with a job at CHS. In fact, the idea that the obtaining of jobs is entirely based on merit is a common belief, and according to Glossenger, a common misconception. In reality, there are many other factors of networking at play. Equally if not more important to the securing of a job as networking is the pursuit of internships, and the two often coincide. Author Matthew Stewart who wrote the Atlantic’s June 2018 cover story entitled, “The Birth of the New American Aristocracy,” echoed a similar idea. “Over half of Ivy League graduates typically go straight into one of four career tracks that are generally reserved for the well educated: finance, management consulting, medicine or law. To keep it simple, let’s just say that there are two types of occupations in the world: those whose members have collective influence in setting their own pay, and those whose members must face the music on their own,” Stewart
writes. Generally, those able to attend college are members of the first group. CHS has a graduation rate of 98 percent, significantly higher than the national average of 90 percent of people 25 and older, according to the U.S. Census. CHS graduates will have more opportunities to succeed in higher paying jobs, and to have control over their pay, than most high school graduates. According to Glossenger, high school has a large impact on a student’s future, not just their college career. Moving between quintiles is possible, but is made much easier through a proper education. “When you’re just out of college, you might be in a relatively low income quintile, and you may have zero income for a year, who knows, but over the course of your lifetime, you might get really, really high levels of income,” Glossenger said. Though rising from a state of poverty to one of wealth is admittedly extremely difficult, a higher education has been directly correlated with the ability to change one’s socioeconomic status. “It’s access to education, access to college education or higher education in general. And it’s access to vocational training. It’s access to good paying jobs,” Glossenger said. “And in this country today, good paying jobs are accessible primarily through a vocational training, you know, essentially post high school technical education or through advanced degrees, four-year degrees and higher.” There is no doubt that Clayton students are privileged in their ability to access academic resources, and this is reflected in the fact that the majority of its graduates attend a four year college. However, it is important to recognize that only 46 percent of high school students throughout the nation attend a four-year university. “I think we live in a bubble here in Clayton where we think that the vast majority of high school students go to a four-year college. The vast majority of young people, even today, do not finish a four-year degree. It’s not what’s done and it’s not through a choice as much when we say an individual’s choice. I think a lot of it is a structural outcome. There’s lots of things about access to higher education that are problematic,” Glossenger said. One chronic problem is the increasing average college tuition. It is currently rising at a rate that is greater than the rate of inflation, thus pushing the less wealthy away from this essential opportunity for securing a high paying job. Although there are many factors such as networking, merit and location that all factor into one’s ability to obtain a high-paying job, socioeconomic status widely determines what opportunities are available to each individual, and can determine the state of their future. The disparity of wealth in our country inevitably leads to a disparity in jobs, which leaves populations at the lower end looking towards a dim future. “[The most affluent people],” Glossenger said, “are hoarding the American dream.”
Family 63105 attracts a certain kind of family. Homes are expensive, streets are safe and public schools are more than adequate. According to the 2017 United States Census, 16,805 people inhabited Clayton. 14.8 percent of households contained children under the age of 18. 77.6 percent of the population was white. The median income per household was $91,531. As of 2017, that amount is $38,664 for St. Louis. Nationally, it is $61,372. So what is so special about Clayton families? And how are these families able to accumulate wealth? “Almost all of your classmates are going to go to college, and that’s a lot of money,” Washington University economics professor Robert Pollak said. “That’s going to play a big role in determining their lifetime income.” Much is still unknown about how significant the wealth of one’s family is to their own wealth and in the future. The concept of wealth is turbid, with economists frequently questioning the effect of one’s income on their accumulation of wealth. Inheritance also plays a large role in how wealth is passed down from one generation to the next, yet, as lifespans increase, this process is happening later and later in life. “Think about your classmates and the parents of your classmates,” said Pollak. “Think about the grandparents’ generation. Remember that the parents are not actually going to inherit yet. Your parents generation will not inherit until both the grandmother and grandfather died. They won’t inherit until the surviving spouse dies. That’s a long time off in general, but particularly for the people we’re talking about.” This resting period causes a delayed surge of wealth due to the passing on of family members. The sum of inheritance money may be great, but it is difficult to predict this amount as it has not yet been passed on. As a result, economists have begun to measure upper middle class success in terms of human capital instead.
“There’s a tremendous amount of money that’s going to be inherited by your parents’ generation, but they’re going to be pretty old. So for most people, I would think about it in terms of human capital and investment in education,” Pollak said. However, the money and resources donated to a child living in Clayton does not just merely include a college education. “Consider the School District of Clayton,” Pollak said. “We can think of the public schools as being, in a sense, free. They are paid for with taxes. That’s one of the reasons why homes in Clayton are really expensive. It’s because they’re in a good school district. And because taxes are high. So it’s not just that the parents are spending a lot on college, they’re also spending a lot on housing. And that makes a lot of difference over years and years. College is, after all, only four years.” Pollak also touched on more nontraditional families and how their lifestyle affects their wealth and stature. A large portion of the families in Clayton have two parents in theirhousehold, so these statistics don’t often apply to Clayton families. “I think most of your classmates are going to come from nuclear families. Their mom and dad are both going to be there,” said Pollak. “Most of the parents are going to be college graduates, and they’re going to have high incomes. And what we don’t really understand is the relative importance of those factors. And there’s no easy way to find out because you can’t do experiments. Those three factors tend to go together.” In the 2017 Census, it was recorded that Clayton features a 42 percent marriage rate, 48 percent of residents have never been married, and 6 percent of residents are divorced. Additionally, only 5 percent had a female householder with no husband present and only 2 percent had only a male householder with no wife present. “In the jargon of demography, this would be called non-marital, for there are women who are having children when they’re not married before their marriage,” said Pollak. “That is relatively uncommon among college graduates, but not unheard of. But the probability that a woman who’s a college graduate will have a child without getting married is 20 percentage points lower than a woman who is
not college a graduate. Just very large differences.” This pattern is not common in Clayton, due to a majority of parents being college graduates. The nuclear family settings are just one of the many aspects that allow for Clayton families to find themselves in the upper 9.9 percent. “So you have these big differences in family structure. The women who are college graduates are likely to marry before they get pregnant. And they’re likely to stay married. Which is interesting, because there’s a sense in which that means the women who are best able to raise children on their own are getting married and staying married,” said Pollak. Many who have lived in Clayton for elongated periods of time find themselves in a “Clayton bubble”. Having grown up in a rural community of Long Island before moving to St. Louis and sending his kids to Clayton schools, parent Brian Walsh has a unique outsider perspective on the “Clayton bubble” and how academics operate within it.
Additionally, not growing up in Clayton allows for Walsh to view Clayton’s community and families with a different perspective. “I did not grow up here, so I sort of look at [Clayton] slightly differently,” said Walsh. “But I think there is a little bit of this Clayton bubble mentality here. There’s this parochial view of what’s right and wrong. And I would say 90 percent of the time I agree with it. But sometimes I think it does look too much at itself. One would like to think that Clayton is reflective of everybody else, but I don’t know that we are.” Walsh views families in Clayton as very different from other St. Louis families. Having worked as a lawyer in different locations across St. Louis and having lived in Webster, he has seen the differences that these communities have with Clayton firsthand. “There is this idea that we are the best of the best, and on occasion, there is a little bit of looking down the nose at certain other neighborhoods. But I also think that there’s almost an ingrown sense of being more willing to go to other places. We know that Clayton doesn’t have everything, so we frequent the Central West End and we’re not afraid to go downtown to the theater or the ball game. I can tell you from working in West County that it’s a whole other world. You step outside [highway] 270 and it’s its own entity.” Another member of the Clayton community is Jennifer McKeown, CHS alum, Clayton tennis coach and daughter of longtime Clayton resident Susie Luten. She and both of her siblings attended CHS. Although McKeown now lives in University City, she has very fond memories of growing up in Clayton with her family. “It was very comfortable,” said McKeown. “It was easy and I loved having my friends very close that I could hang out with and walk to. The friends that I made in elementary school and in high school are still some of my friends today. It’s definitely very sheltered, which I can see now after growing up, and definitely its own little bubble.” McKeown believes that people are pulled to Clayton because of it’s top-ranked public schools system, as well as the tolerant mindset that Claytonians take up. “Some of the families that are drawn here
There is this idea that we are the best of the best, and on occasion, there is a little bit of looking down the nose at other neighborhoods. Walsh was the only one of six siblings to attend college. Parental interaction and money were treated very differently within his family than they are at Clayton. “It’s funny to go to all the parent interaction events and everything else because that just didn’t happen [where I grew up],” Walsh said. “But I mean, my graduating class had 732 kids. So the level of parental involvement in that day and age was less than the expectation is now. But I think it’s great. I enjoy it; I want to be part of it. I want to know what’s going on.” Walsh had to save money and pay his own way through college, and then law school. Now, with his daughters who have gone through and are going through the Clayton school system, Walsh has noticed many palpable differences between resources available to him and resources that are currently available to his daughters.
are––I don’t want to say middle but upper class––and want a good education. And they also want, I wouldn’t call it diversity, but I would call it more open-mindedness for and respect for lots of different lifestyles,” said McKeown. While McKeown enjoyed being raised in the Clayton community, she now realizes that the wealthy suburb lacks some much needed racial diversity. “Living in U-City now, versus being raised in Clayton, I think in U-City there’s definitely more diversity and openness for not being as showy with your wealth. I feel like there are more different cultures that you can learn from, and festivals and things. Clayton doesn’t necessarily have those opportunities because they don’t have the people in the population to grow those,” said McKeown. McKeown’s mother, Susie Luten, met her husband Sam Luten when they were attending sixth grade camp in the year 1969. Both of McKeown’s parents graduated from CHS, as well as Susie’s mother and Sam’s father. This third generation Clayton family is deeply rooted in the community. “It seemed like it was just the perfect place to grow up. The school was wonderful and we had great friends. I went to Meramec, which I could walk to from my house. I went to Wydown and went to sixth grade camp. I then went to the high school, which was a fabulous high school. Everyone there was going to college. It was a small high school where everyone knew each other. It was a great way to grow up,” said Luten. After Susie and Sam were married, the two moved back to St. Louis but took up residence in Brentwood. They found the community to be similar to that of Clayton, moving back to the suburb from which they came for merely school district related reasons. “I wouldn’t say they were different in any way, shape, or form. We still are friends with many of those families. The older kids in the neighborhood babysat for us and the adults were some of our friends. It was very similar. They only reason why we moved from that neighborhood was because most of those parents were sending those kids to parochial school,” said Luten. Many of the Luten’s peers also decided to build their families where they were raised: within 63105. “When I look at my particular graduating class, my husband’s graduating class, class of 76, how many of our really close friends how many of our really close friends moved back to Clayton,” said Luten. “That is pretty unique, as far as I’m concerned.”
Health St. Louis’ “For the Sake of All” report--a project undertaken by Washington University in St. Louis to address health equity throughout our region - states, “While personal responsibility for making healthy lifestyle choices is important, the context in which choices are made matters a great deal.” In 63105, personal responsibility is the overarching factor impacting a healthy life. In 63106, a healthy life is a luxury that personal responsibility can barely begin to touch. While wealthier zip codes attract wealthier individuals, the congregation of wealthier individuals attract health resources. In neighborhoods like Clayton, residents have easy access to a myriad of grocery stores and supermarkets where they can purchase healthy foods without difficulty. There are safe parks where people can play and exercise, and gyms where people can get their daily workout. Within allotted hours, students at CHS are even allowed to use the Center of Clayton recreation center for free. People in Clayton are also never too far from a hospital or an urgent care clinic. Residents of lower socioeconomic regions have virtually none of these resources. “[A healthy lifestyle] definitely is impacted by the socioeconomic status of the population in those zip codes,” said Robert Poirier, emergency physician and clinical chief of emergency department at Barnes Jewish Hospital. Grocery stores, similarly to any other businesses, locate themselves in both areas of higher population and areas where people can afford to pay for their goods. Neighborhoods like Clayton make great candidates for markets to set up shop, creating convenience for residents and for store owners. However, when stores and supermarkets congregate in wealthier neighborhoods, peo-
ignore easily-treatable issues until their conditions become unbearable, or even neglect to seek medical treatment at all. While people who can access regular, affordable healthcare understand how to navigate the healthcare system, people of lower socioeconomic status also have lower healthcare ple in less wealthy areas are left with virtually literacy, and therefore cannot adequately treat nowhere to access healthy, substantial food, their medical issues. creating the effect known as “food desertifiA distrust in the system also contributes cation.” to poor health. For example, having paid These areas breed obesity and other ailfor a treatment that failed, people of lower ments simply because the people living there, socioeconomic status will frequently ignore given no healthy options, must default to unfollow-up care or decline to make a second healthy choices. doctor’s appointment. Food deserts leave people with two basic This results from the failed treatment creoptions: buy what food is provided, or travel ating a lack of trust in the health care system. long distances to just to have access to someAfter all, they just paid money for a treatment thing better. that did nothing to improve their condition. Because they have less healthcare literacy, they may not understand that there are alternate treatments for most issues. They may also understand that other treatments can be used, but again, cannot afford to pay for them. W h i l e wealthier individuals might drink or smoke Chronic disease outcomes among adults by race in 2011. for recreation, Chart from the For Sake of All project. wealthy people are less prone to Frequently, even if a person is willing to use substances to medicate a condition known go further for healthier food options, they as “toxic stress.” can’t afford enough of the quality food to feed Use of these substances in areas of poverty themselves and their family. This leaves peoresult from situations such as possible neighple to buy cheaper foods, which are typically borhood violence, or having to work multiple processed and less nutritious. jobs to make ends meet. As a result, many “It’s tough,” Poirier said. “If you don’t have people try to treat induced stress through a car and the supermarket’s ten miles away, drugs, alcohol, and smoking. This can lead to how do you get there? And often times you chronic diseases, such as addiction, lung cancan only buy what you can carry.” cer or cirrhosis. Again, these conditions will The distribution of urgent care centers and likely not be treated. health clinics follows a similar pattern to that To quote the For Sake of All Project, of grocery stores. Wealthier areas mean that “health is about more than what happens in more people in the area have health insurance, a doctor’s office or a hospital room. Health aland can therefore afford care. lows us to engage fully in the activities of our With medical care so far away from less daily lives and to make meaningful contribuwealthy neighborhoods, people have to not tions to our communities. It is fundamental to only traverse long distances to get access, but human well-being, but it is not equally distribalso pay for it, often out-of-pocket. As a result uted across our community.” of not having health insurance, people may
31 | SPORTS
dancing with the hounds The Globe introduces the revamped CHS dance team DANIEL COHEN | SPORTS SECTION EDITOR CECE COHEN | REPORTER
Y
es, CHS has a dance team. “The dance team is definitely a spirit team. We are there to pump up the crowd and to amp up the players. We definitely are focusing on school and community and being a part of that. The dance team is here to perform and entertain, whether that is doing quick dances while the basketball players are playing or during halftime at center court,” CHS dance team head coach Chloe Tennant said. CHS has had a dance team for several years. However, very few students, staff, and members of the Clayton community know about this winter sports team. In recent years, the dance team has been the smallest team at CHS, with only four to six dancers. This year, there are five dancers on the team. Of the five girls on the team, there is one freshman, two sophomores and two juniors. Although there are only females on the team currently, however, students of any gender are welcome to join. The team practices after school two to three days each week for about an hour and a half. “Practices here at the building typically include running, stretching and doing a lot of form and technique work. We also go over sideline dances to make sure they are clean,” Tennant said. In addition to these practices at CHS, the team goes to a local dance studio four times throughout the season. “Going to the studio is a really awesome experience for our girls. We go and work with an experienced dancer who has danced her entire life and even went to college as a dancer,” Tennant said. “She creates our choreography and teaches the girls a lot of skills and techniques. We do these clinics to help us get ready for our performance.” The dance team performs at every home varsity boys’ and girls’ basketball game. At the games, the dance team stands next to the winter cheer team. The dance and cheer team do not coordinate or collaborate with one another, but Tennant hopes that that will change in the future. “During each basketball game, we do short
Freshman Christa Resinger dances at a boys’ varsity basketball game on January 14, 2019. Photo by Whitney Le. dances called sideline dances. They are quick eight count dances, which are easily done with or without music. These occur throughout the game, such as during time outs or between quarters,” Tennant said. During halftime, the team performs and dances to Ariana Grande’s “No Tears Left to Cry.” This is Tennant’s first season as the head coach of the dance team. With high hopes for the team’s future, Tennant is eager to rebuild the dance program at CHS and hopes to double the size of the team next season from five to 10 dancers. “Every year the team will get better as we grow the program. The first stepping stone is establishing new traditions. We are going to revamp everything. This season there are new uniforms and new performances, and you see the dance team much more frequently,” Tennant said. “Every year having that presence will generate more interest in the team and grow the program.” Another goal Tennant has is to expand the length of the dance team’s season at CHS. Currently dance is a winter sport, and the
team does not start learning the dances until the season starts. As a result, it is difficult for the team to learn multiple dances. Tennant hopes to incorporate summer practices, which will help the dance team hit the ground running once the season begins. By having a longer season, the dance team will also be able to attend local competitions and increase their presence at other CHS sporting events, such as football games. The dancers on the team are excited to be part of the process of revamping the dance program at Clayton, and they share similar goals for the future of the program. “Hopefully we can make the CHS dance team year round. I also hope that in the future the team has more members than just four,” dancer Ariana Basey, junior, said. The dancers and Tennant have created this small community at CHS and cannot wait to see what the future holds. “My favorite part would have to be how much of a family we are,” sophomore Taylor Warren said. “Everyone on the team is so supportive of each other. We share so many laughs and fun memories.”
32 | SPORTS
magnificent mottl CHS swimmer Kellen Mottl has already broken a school record, and she is only a freshman DANIEL COHEN | SPORTS SECTION EDITOR with reporting by JIMMY MALONE and INGRID STAHL
Photos from Kellen Mottl
I
n just her second meet on the CHS girls’ varsity swim team, freshman Kellen Mottl broke the girls’ 100 yard breaststroke school record set by Lydia Welty, graduate of CHS in 2016. Welty swam at a national level throughout her childhood and went on to swim on the NCAA Division I swim team at Indiana University. Mottl started gymnastics at the age of 3 and expected to do the sport through high school. However, when she was 10-years-old, her mother encouraged her to start swimming. “I tried out for [Flyers Aquatic Swim Team (FAST), a local club team], and I made it into the lowest group possible for the entire team. I was not good,” Mottl said. Mottl did not let her initial struggle derail her from enjoying this new sport. She decided to give up gymnastics to pursue swimming. “I like how in swimming there are fewer ways to injure yourself,” Mottl said. “In gymnastics I would break and sprain my fingers a lot or would roll or twist my ankles. Also I enjoy how in swimming you’re only focusing on yourself and
your own races. Unlike gymnastics, swimming is more yourself and your own times that you are trying to beat.” As an inexperienced swimmer, Mottl looked up to her friends on the team who were much faster than her and had been swimming for several years. These role models inspired Mottl to improve, and they ultimately helped her rise from the lowest group on the team to highest group in only two years. “If you surround yourself with people faster than you, then you want to catch up to them,” Mottl said. Once she joined the highest group on the team, Mottl noticed significant improvement as a result of more frequent and challenging practices. This past summer, Mottl left FAST and joined the Clayton Shaw Park (CSP) Swimming Team. On CSP, Mottl swims in the Elite group, which is the most competitive group on the team and includes many of the top swimmers in the St. Louis area. In addition to switching swim teams over the
summer, Mottl moved schools. Throughout middle school, she attended Visitation Academy, but decided to transfer to Clayton for high school. “At first I was hesitant to join the swim team at CHS just because I did not know what to expect. But I realized it would be a good way to make friends and meet new people while also doing the sport I love,” Mottl said. Mottl has no regrets about joining the team. “I like how on the CHS team everyone is super supportive of each other. I enjoy how high school swimming is more close knit [than club swimming] and there is a tighter team bond,” Mottl said. While swimming on the CHS varsity girls’ team, Mottl continues to swim in the Elite group on CSP. Balancing CSP and CHS swimming along with a rigorous schedule at school is challenging and demanding. There are some days when Mottl attends three different swim practices. Mottl’s CSP group has practices before school two days during the week at 5:15 a.m. After at-
33 | SPORTS tending this practice, Mottl goes to school and then attends her CHS swim practice after school. Then she often goes to an evening CSP practice. “It’s sort of challenging during the day because you get really tired when you have multiple practices each day,” Mottl said. Mottl’s work ethic does not go unnoticed by her coaches at CHS. Katelyn Long, assistant coach of the CHS girls’ varsity swim team, said, “It’s really fun to watch Kellen swim because you can tell how competitive she is. Even though she is extremely tired, she still races hard, and I think that is very important for other swimmers to see.” Although Mottl is only a freshman, she is one of the most experienced and skilled swimmers on the CHS girls’ varsity team. “She definitely leads by example. She works hard. She tries hard. She does all the right things,” head coach David Kohmetscher said. The coaches hope that Mottl’s successes in the water will motivate other swimmers on the team. Mottl’s positive attitude also helps her lead by example as her positive energy spreads throughout the pool. “She just has a really positive spirit, and I think that has a great effect on the team. Because she’s so laid back and happy, other swimmers are always laughing and smiling,” Long said. Mottl has proved that she will be instrumen-
tal to the success of the CHS girls’ swim team. She already holds one school record and hopes to break many more records throughout her time at CHS. Mottl also holds records in club swimming. She recently broke the 50 yard breaststroke, 50 meter breaststroke, 200 yard medley relay and
on the pool deck on the first day of practice, you wouldn’t have known how fast she was. There was nothing she did to try to make it known that she is a good swimmer. She just showed up and was ready to go and got in the pool like everyone else.” Mottl hopes that her years on the CHS swim team will help her achieve her goals and improve as a swimmer. “I would like to attend Junior Nationals and meet college level swimmers and see how they reached that level,” Mottl said. “I would like to get better at all my strokes, especially butterfly, since I am not that good at it right now, so I can place in more events. I would also like to lower the 100 breaststroke record at Clayton and break other records too.” After high school, Mottl plans to swim in college, and she hopes to swim on a Division I team. Mottl’s coaches see a great amount of potential in her. “I imagine she will be top eight at state this year, if not top three. She has already set one school record and will definitely set more. She has a ton of potential,” Kohmetscher said. “Her times for being a freshman in high school are very respectable. If you project her times out four years from now, she is definitely a Division I caliber swimmer.”
TITLE OF STATISTIC
"If you surround yourself with people faster than you, then you want to catch up to them.” - Mottl 400 yard medley relay Ozark Region records for her age group. The Ozark Region is comprised of the club swim teams in eastern Missouri and southern Illinois. Being the fastest swimmer of all time in the Ozark region to swim those events is an incredible achievement. In addition to these records, she has recorded times that qualify her for national level meets. Despite these countless achievements, Mottl remains humble. “She has the right attitude. She is very humble about her abilities. She is a great member to have on your team,” Long said. “When she walked out
34 | REVIEW
entertainment guide The Globe takes a look at the movies trending now
ralph breaks the internet
spider-man: into the spider-verse
LANIE REUTER | REPORTER
ASHLEY CHUNG | OPINION SECTION EDITOR When I first heard of “Spider Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” I was completely uninterested. I had not heard much about the plot, and I was not too interested in an animated superhero film. In my head, I equated an animated superhero film to either a Disney movie or an old-fashioned Saturday morning cartoon. I thought this movie would be average at best. My friend kept begging me to watch it with her, so, being the great friend that I am, I found myself in the movie theater with her and another friend. I wondered if I had wasted six dollars. After watching, I knew that my money was well-spent. The plot was engaging. In the movie, Brooklyn teenager Miles Morales is bitten by a radioactive spider, and he struggles to adapt to his new life as Spider-Man. Along the way, he finds that there are different kinds of spider-men from different universes. Morales and his new gang of spider-people battle the evil Kingpin, who might inadvertently destroy the universe. Aesthetically, the animation was beautiful. The animators used a unique style that mixed traditional animation and animation that mir-
rored the style of comic books. This combination, along with a broad color palette, made a vivid movie that anyone would enjoy. Spider-Man fans could pause the movie almost anywhere, take a screenshot and use the picture as a background. Even if you removed the plot from the movie, I still probably would have enjoyed watching anyway, solely because of the aesthetics. Though all of these were parts that made the film great, my personal favorite aspect of the movie was the characters. Each different spider-person has their own distinct personality. Even the villain, Kingpin, has motives that make him more understandable. Also, Miles Morales is a character that many people could relate to. His reactions to becoming Spider-Man are realistic and not unreasonable. Despite his initial panic at becoming Spider-Man, he becomes more comfortable with himself by the end of the movie. I liked that his relationships with other characters are natural and not forced. If you have time and are looking for something to do, watch “Spider Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” You won’t regret it.
Sony Pictures
Official movie poster “Ralph Breaks The Internet” is the sequel to the 2012 Disney cartoon, “Wreck It Ralph.” With “Wreck It Ralph” being such a smashing hit, the producers of the movie decided to create a second installment of the story. In this movie, video game wannabe-hero villain Ralph and the “glitch,” Vanellope, are arcade game characters. When Vanellope’s game, Sugar Rush, shuts down because of a broken steering wheel, she and Ralph travel to the internet to find this one of a kind wheel. In order to do so, Ralph and Vanellope are forced to use the internet to make a profit. They do this by making videos of Ralph doing ridiculous activities and then posting them on a social media platform, in which the videos go viral. After accomplishing this goal with barely any time left, Ralph finds out that Vanellope really doesn’t want to go back to her game. Instead, she wants to join another game, Slaughter Race. Later, the virus, which first was put into Slaughter Race, duplicates Ralph, focusing on his jealousy and greed. Many replicas of Wreck it Ralph are created and began to break the internet, chasing Vanellope. The journey of Ralph and Vanellope not only creates a wild
ride for the viewers, but realistically shows what the internet is like today. As a virus is let loose in the movie, the whole internet begins to collapse and shut down. Ralph uses this virus to try to get Vanellope out of the game Slaughter Race. His fear and insecurity eventually cause a worldwide problem, affecting everyone on the internet. This may have occurred in a cartoon movie, but many virus problems like this take place on the internet everyday. Just like the virus, videos can rapidly spread throughout the internet as well. The minute Ralph’s videos are uploaded, the number of views and likes began to rise by hundreds, thousands and millions. As the videos go viral, social media’s powerful ability to spread information, videos and news is shown. The movie was very well made with many connections to the real world and built-in lessons. The characters were as developed as they were in the first movie and it was an effective continuation. Although there was a slight issue with the plot, the movie was still entertaining. As lovers of Wreck It Ralph and all the characters within the two movies, we definitely recommend this movie to people of all ages.
35 | REVIEW
they shall not grow old LUKA BASSNETT | REPORTER 2018 was a year of anniversaries. The year marked the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War’s Tet Offensive, 50 years since the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr and 50 years since the crew of Apollo 8, circling the Moon, snapped their famous ‘Earthrise’ photo. However, while the events of 1968 figure prominently in many memories, it is also important to remember that last year marked the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War. While many ceremonies observed this important centennial, none were more thought-provoking than Peter Jackson’s latest film, the documentary “They Shall Not Grow Old.” In the century since 1918, many filmmakers have used historical footage to attempt to show the brutality of life in the trenches. However, even though the events of WWI took place within the modern era, films from that time give the impression that the war happened on another planet. The cratered, monochrome landscapes appear to be taken from the moon rather than France, and the soldiers that march silently down Belgian streets seem to be quiet robots rather than real people. “They Shall Not Grow Old’s” director, Peter Jackson, seems to have found the solution to these problems. By combining comput-
er technology with a painstaking attention to detail, the director’s New Zealand studio has restored the old film, improving quality while maintaining historical accuracy. In a short special after the film, Jackson described some of the methods used to improve the old footage. Using computer technology, his team adjusted the frame-rate of each clip while stabilizing jittery footage, resulting in a documentary that looks as if it has been taken with a modern camera. Additionally, Jackson’s team, working with an American company, digitally colorized the film, using modern photographs from old battlefields and samples of clothing to make scenes a bit closer to what the soldiers would have seen. The most important part of the restoration, however, was the introduction of sound. Up until the late 1920s, all movies and newsreels were silent. While silent films are sometimes as good as today’s equivalents, to modern viewers, clips of exploding shells and talking soldiers look strange without sound. To remedy this, Jackson’s studio recruited lip readers and historians to determine what the people in the film were actually saying, and then employed voice actors to add these lines to the film. In addition to this, the
Offical movie poster
team mimicked the sounds of equipment and horses, and even visited an artillery range to record the sounds of shells. The skill of Jackson’s crew in restoring the old footage has a transformative effect on the film, turning what would normally be a dry documentary into an engaging experience. “They Shall Not Grow Old”
was released in the United States in mid-December following a successful British première. Although the film is no longer in theaters, it is available in DVD form. A word to the wise, however — the DVD was manufactured with UK players in mind, and may not work on some American devices.
mary poppins returns JOSEPHINE CROSS | REPORTER
Walt Disney Pictures “Mary Poppins Returns,” brought to the big screen on Dec. 19th, is both a revival of an all-time favorite and something new. It is based on the other seven Mary Poppins books by P. L. Travers and is a sequel to the 1964 musical fantasy film “Mary Poppins”. Starring Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda, the film is perfect for both children and adults and has earned about $114.5 million in North America after only two weeks of release. Set in London about 25 years after the events of the original film, Mary Poppins returns to Cherry Tree Lane to take care of the three children of now grownup Michael Banks. Michael’s wife died recently and he is having trouble taking care and providing for the children on his own. His sister Jane comes over frequently to help, but the family still has barely any money to survive. This
sad tone changes when Mary Poppins comes flying in with the wind, determined to set everything right once again. From then on the movie is very comical and keeps the audience’s attention at all times. There are many great new songs, performed by an array of characters: Mary Poppins, Jack the lamplighter, Michael Banks and even the three children. The acting and singing is excellent, and the scenery is very beautiful. There are also special appearances of Dick Van Dyke and Meryl Streep. The 93 year-old Van Dyke had a very youthful spirit and did all of his own stunts, including jumping up and dancing on a desk. The movie has obviously been carefully thought out and wonderfully executed, and should be enjoyed by everyone, both old and young. “Mary Poppins Returns” is “practically perfect in every way”.
36 | REVIEW
coffee of clayton Rachel Liang and Siddhi Narayan subvert the norm by ignoring Starbucks and explore the best coffee shops St. Louis has to offer RACHEL LIANG | REPORTER SIDDHI NARAYAN | REPORTER
Pictures from respective establishments.
intro
Coffee is an essential part of the everyday American life. Coffee shops are places where all types of people can get together in a space that acts as a middle ground between a formal workplace and an area that is too casual. Coffee shops are one of the few things that are consistent across country. Many of these coffee shops are not only beneficial to those working in a community, but to those who are part of that community. Many coffee shops are local ones, giving job opportunities to those living in an area. Unfortunately, these local coffee shops are often neglected for chain coffee shops like Starbucks — coffee which you can get virtually anywhere. But, don’t fear trying new coffee shops because we have already tested the waters for you. We’ve compiled a ranking for four different coffee shops around the Clayton area where we rated each store on atmosphere, pastry, signature coffee and a simple mocha.
northwest coffee First, we headed over to Northwest Coffee, a cafe in downtown Clayton. On arriving, we were immediately greeted by the rich aroma of freshly ground coffee. The interior was bright and friendly, with a new-age/almost bohemian type feel. The counter was in the middle of the shop, and next to the counter, there was a glass display with an array of different pastries. We walked up to the counter and decided that a mocha would be the control — the same drink we order at every place. So, we ordered a mocha, priced at $3.80, along with a recommended pastry — an apple cinnamon muffin, and a specialty drink — a peppermint mocha. There was a discount for students as well. The muffin was handed to us at the
counter, so we went and found a place to eat it. It was delicious — not too sweet, the top was deliciously crunchy with cinnamon, the muffin embedded with apple bits. We savored every moment of it. Soon after, our mocha was ready, piled with whipped cream. The mocha was quite pleasant. Sweet, but not unbearably so, it packed a punch where it was needed. It was a classic mocha — nice and simple. Finally, we tried the specialty drink. The mint mocha was nuttier than the regular mocha — a confusing flavor profile, and the mint was overshadowed by the nutty taste. It tasted more like a hazelnut or almond coffee rather than a mocha, much less a mint mocha. Although the latte art was extremely pleasing to the eye, the mint mocha failed to meet expectations.
37 | REVIEW
kayak’s coffee Next, we headed over to Kayak’s, a coffee shop owned by chain store, Kaldi’s. The adorable cafe is located on Skinker Blvd., catty corner away from Washington University’s Danforth Campus. We instantly fell in love with the shop’s spacious atmosphere. There were plenty of simple wooden tables for studying or working and the many lights and window spaces dramatically brightened the interior. The brick walls also gave the store a rustic but cozy look. After ordering our default mocha, we decided to go for the Turkish latte, which was a Kayak’s holiday specialty. The presentation of the coffee was very enticing; the airiness of the whipped cream on the mocha and the simple latte art on
blueprint cafe After leaving Kayak’s, we drove to the Delmar Loop for our next destination, Blueprint Cafe. The coffee shop was a bit difficult to find because it sits snug between many stores. When we went inside, we admired the uniqueness of the interior. The pastries sat under a glass case, which was connected to the table where coffee was brewed. Seeing the dark coffee in drip-brewers gave us silent confirmation that we were in an authentic coffee shop. The cashier slid us an adorable mini clipboard with a menu. In addition to our mocha, we also ordered a cappuccino and a banana oatmeal cookie with cherries and chocolate. While we waited for drinks, we
coma coffee
Finally, we went to a location in Richmond Heights, near the Galleria, called Coma Coffee. We were awed by the spaciousness of the interior — although not a particularly large area, the high ceilings of the establishment gave it an airy feel. The venture itself was tucked away in an office building, giving the atmosphere a more serious feel amidst the chatter. Like most of the cafes, it had quick, casual service, we had to order at the counter. Next to the counter, a glass shelf displayed a variety of pastries . However, unlike any other location, the coffee was actually brought to us, and brought fairly quickly. In addition to
tried the oatmeal cookie. The light banana flavor paired very well with the tart cherries and rich chocolate. The treat was quite filling and took many hearty bites to finish. After around 10 minutes, our drinks were ready. We could barely taste the chocolate in the mocha, but the creaminess and soothing coffee flavor definitely satisfied our tastes. Next, we had a sip of the cappuccino. The cappuccino had a strong coffee flavor; it was by far the most potent drink we had. The coffee was very rich and strong, giving us a great punch of both flavor and intensity.
the standard mocha, we got the spiced pear matcha tonic and a recommended cranberry muffin. The mocha itself was standard. It wasn’t very sweet, and the coffee itself was pretty weak. However, the taste of the coffee was rich and nutty, we just wish it had been a little stronger. We nibbled on the cranberry muffin. This, like the drinks, was also brought to our table. The muffin was a delicious balance of sweet and sour, the light icing atop the muffin contrasting with the sourness of the cranberry. It was delicious and refreshing, pairing delightfully with both the coffee and the tonic.
the Turkish latte beckoned a sip. After trying the drinks, we concluded that the mocha tasted very similar to the one we got from Northwest. The slightly sweet and chocolatey flavor was pleasant, but the drink did not pack a real punch. However, the Turkish latte surprised us with its intense cinnamon taste. The drink tasted like unsweetened chai tea, and we enjoyed how well the spices came through. Finally, for the pastry, we bought a signature peanut butter-and-chocolate energy bite. We definitely recommend the pastry to anyone who wants a healthier alternative for an onthe-go snack. However, the pastry was pretty basic and was something most people could make at home without difficulty — it wasn’t as unique as the other pastries we tasted.
38 | REVIEW
chocolate pig The Globe reviews St. Louis’ latest destination for chocolate and comfort food MORIAH LOTSOFF | REPORTER
with a metal straw, one example of the restaurant’s effort to help the environment. The shake was reminiscent of Thanksgiving. It was coated in spices and marshmallows, two things that one couldn’t not love. The shake was true to its name; it really tasted like pie. There wasn’t a strong flavor of sweet potato, which I did not expect. When I got to the end of my shake I was pleasantly surprised to find that some of the marshmallow had sunk down to the bottom.
T
he Chocolate Pig was opened on Nov. 8 in the Cortex innovation district of midtown St. Louis. “The chocolate part is the fact that we use Bissinger’s chocolate and most of our dishes that involve any of our chocolates, so we get the rich family history from Bissinger’s in that, and then the pig aspect is the fact that whenever we get in a hog, we get a whole hog in and we use everything from snout to tail in our cuisine,” said Howie, a server at Chocolate Pig. The setting was industrial chic with beams exposed on the ceiling. I was seated in one of the two big booths in the back looking over the tables in the middle of the restaurant. A neighboring wall featured a garden as art. This is only one example of the quirky aspects of The Chocolate Pig. Despite the “pig” in the title, the restaurant is fairly vegetable-forward, featuring several vegetarian-friendly options. The vegetarian options continue on the dessert menu with the Chocolate Pig Candy Bar ($8) which is a maple bacon ice cream candy bar with hazelnut and toffee topped with tonka bean caramel and milk chocolate. (The vegetarian option substitutes the bacon for a coconut bacon replacement).
For my main dishes, I ordered the chicken fried brussel sprouts ($9) and the roasted acorn squash ($11). Contrary to the name, the chicken fried brussel sprouts are actually vegetarian. They are brussel sprouts fried like chicken with buttermilk dressing on the side. When I heard “fried,” I thought that the dish would be greasy like any other fried food. Instead, the sprouts, their coating and the dressing were like nothing I had ever tasted before. The roasted acorn squash was also good, but could not match the brussel sprouts. Although the plating was both beautiful and colorful, the flavor was mild and the dish was in need of some seasoning. Because I loved the buttermilk sauce so much from the previous dish, I dipped the slices of squash into the dressing. The combo improved the roasted acorn squash, but I would probably not order it again. With a name like The Chocolate Pig, it is essential that your desserts shine — and, if anything, this is where the Chocolate Pig delivers. The sweet potato pie milkshake ($12) is a shake with housemade sweet potato pie ice cream and Sailor Jerry’s Rum, topped with toasted mallow fluff. I was eager to try it so I ordered it without alcohol. It was brought out
Photos from The Chocolate Pig The peanut butter bomb ($7), a dark chocolate, peanut butter and berry ball with peanut butter cookie crumble and warm mixed berry compote was the other standout dish of the meal. Part of the charm of the dish is the presentation — a shell bubble of chocolate melted by poured raspberry compote, flooding the peanut butter dessert under it. While I am not usually a fan of peanut butter, this dessert was unparalleled. The raspberry sauce was the star of the dish, and blended the flavors seamlessly. True to the name, a chocolate square accompanied the check. The Chocolate Pig is quirky, and for the most part, features delicious dishes, serving as a great addition to the Cortex district and the St. Louis dining scene.......
39 | REVIEW
vicia
The Globe reviews Vicia, a nationally recognized restaurant located on Forest Park Avenue SAHITHYA GOKARAJU | REPORTER
Photo by Photo by Sarah Vallo Sarah Vallo
A
clean vegetable-forward restaurant in Midtown by the name of Vicia is a family-owned establishment. Michael and Tara Gallina have channeled their skills and ideas into opening the highly anticipated Vicia. With the help of local farmers, artisans and fisherman from all over the Midwest, this restaurant creates a memorable and fresh experience for all who enter.
My friends and I went to this restaurant around lunch time, and the first thing that caught our eyes was the upscale rustic decor. It contained a very homey, earthy vibe that visibly put many customers at ease upon entering. At first glance, the menu seemed rather small, with just five or six options for the main course, but after looking closer, we realized each dish had various components. When encouraged to get a combo, mix and matching various dishes, we were delighted with the
DaleAvenuePediatrics.com �� ��������� sick walk-ins weekdays 8-9 am
���� �� �
results. For lunch, the restaurant as a whole functioned quite differently than my normalcy. First, we ordered at the counter, and then, due to the open sitting, customers had the choice to sit wherever they would like. Though no appetizers are available, the taste and presentation of the dishes more than makes up for it. I got the sweet potato soup with a chicken sandwich, while one of my friends got the beet salad with a turkey sandwich. Both the sandwiches had an acidity that complemented the coolness of the vegetables inside. Personally, I am not a big fan of sweet potato, but the soup was very rich and creamy and I couldn’t dislike it. The dessert, which was a lemon cake, was amazing. The cake was incredibly spongy, and the icing had a lemon compote which enhanced the flavor. The service was remarkable — each and every person on the staff made sure every customer was happy and comfortable. The seating itself was a little cramped due to the business of the restaurant at the time, but the patio was reformed for the weather and had heaters to keep everyone warm. Even though the dishes were pricey, the food and service were more than worth it. If you want upscale, healthy and tasty food, I would definitely recommend this restaurant. Also, if you have any dietary needs, vegan, vegetarian and gluten free options are available. I absolutely loved this restaurant and I will definitely go back to try even more dishes.
314.833.KIDS
DALE AVENUE � � � � �� � � � � � � PEDIATRICS ������ � � �� � � �� �
C
o
m
e g w o wi r t h us RichaRd J. NisseN, dds, Ms, Pc Thirty-One The Boulevard | saint Louis, Missouri 63117-1118 Phone (314) 727-6162 | Fax (314) 727-7259 info@orthostlouis.com | www.orthostlouis.com
Kristin Stahl, MD
Sarah O’Grady, MD
����� �� �� ������� �� �
Gretchen Sander, MD
� ����� �� ���� ������ �� �
Liling Lai, MD
� ���� ��� ����� �� � OCSL-Ad-8x10.5.indd 1
12/17/2015 11:00:18 AM
40 | OPINION
the death of silence A critique of constructivist teaching ELIOT BLACKMOORE | REPORTER
Photo from Wikimedia Commons
T
oday is a time of talking like no other. With 2.4 million emails sent every second, six billion calls made each day, and seven trillion text messages shared yearly, the modern breadth of worldwide communication is unparalleled in human history. Our languages gush from every crevice of society: forming communities, developing relationships, and ensuring that our increasingly interconnected world is one without silence. Virtually all American workers now spend time on teams and over 70 percent inhabit openplan offices, in which all space is communal. During the last decades, the average amount of space allotted to each employee shrank 300 square feet, from 500 feet in the 1970s to 200 feet in 2010. Education administration has evidently observed this trend, as tribes of desks have banded together in today’s classrooms, forcing the modern scholar to constantly collaborate with their peers. But the death of quiet is not a victimless tragedy. In education, they call it constructivism, collaborative learning, discovery-based inquiry, but each of these names hides the same principles. All describe teaching methods based on the
belief that learning occurs best when students are actively involved in a process of meaning and knowledge construction as opposed to passively receiving information. In Clayton, constructivist principles are clearly depicted in the Honors Freshman Physics Classroom. According to a former physics teacher, Rex Rice, “constructivism meant that students were to build their own understanding through the classroom and the laboratory while the teacher filled the role of a facilitator of growth instead of a disseminator of information.” Students in honors freshman physics write
“The monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind.” --Albert Einstein on whiteboards to demonstrate their knowledge of certain topics or problems. The class works together to perfect the whiteboards to the best of the class’s ability while the teacher guides the
class conversation. Clayton science classes are a microcosm of a larger social trend in education. Math classes across the country are becoming more centered on group thinking to come to solutions rather than solitary understanding. Social studies classes are starting to revolve around classroom discussion rather than solitary research and information gathering techniques. For the student, this means that the classroom experience is one of constant interaction with their peers. The environment of the constructivist classroom benefits students of a certain type, those with strong social skills and a desire to collaborate, but it can hurt students of another. Emory University neuroscientist Gregory Berns found that when we take a stance different from the group’s, we activate the amygdala, a small organ in the brain associated with the fear of rejection. Berns calls this “the pain of independence.” This pain can be a trigger for nearly seven percent of Americans suffering from social anxiety disorder (SAD). Specific common fears experienced in this syndrome include that of small group discussion and having to do something by being watched.
41 | OPINION
Constructivist teaching can create a potentially nightmarish classroom experience for people with SAD. Those suffering from this disorder may not appear anxious, and a teacher occasionally scanning a classroom is likely to fail to detect it or misinterpret it as a poor social skill. For that matter, individuals with subpar social skills, such as the more than fifty percent of the world which is introverted, may also struggle to become active in the learning process in the way that constructivist teaching attempts to accomplish. So the question arises, must a student embrace the constructivist teacher’s social vision to succeed in the class? Numerous studies have demonstrated the negative effect SAD and other types of anxiety disorders on individual student academic success. It is common for a constructivist teacher to assign grades based on how students work with their peers during group projects, even if such collaboration is not a specific term goal for the class. In Clayton, the answer to this question is maybe so. Core to the Clayton School District’s values is “independence, creativity, and critical thinking.” The District desires that all Clayton students demonstrate these characteristics once they complete their education. The district plans to accomplish this by “building individual motivation and social interaction for purposeful engagement in learning.” Constructivist thinking appears to be deeply woven in the District’s mentality, and this can lead to a problematic classroom experience. One in-class practice which demonstrates the negative effect of the constructivist model is small-group presentations. In my experience at the Clayton School District, I have been subjected to many of these classroom projects. Inevitably, the teacher brings the class together and explains that the next assignment is to create a PowerPoint presentation with a group of peers on one topic or another. The goal of this project is always to encourage students to take initiative for their own learning and to incorporate multimedia learning devices into the everyday classroom experience. However, this project falls short of these goals in a few important ways. According to Keith B. Hopper, professor of instructional technology at Kennesaw State University, in an attempt to encourage collaborative learning, the teacher, has inadvertently subjected “all students in the class… to many linear presentations, although these will be developed and delivered by students with neither content expertise nor teaching skill.” Hopper concludes that “there is no is no compelling instructional advantage in students developing PowerPoint presentations,” and that “it has been [Hopper’s] perception that this shallow use of technology usually fails as a cognitive tool,
62 percent of the best performers said their workspace was sufficiently private.
19 percent of the worst performers said their workplace was sufficiently private.
38 percent of the best programmers said that they were often interrupted needlessly.
76 percent of the worst programmers said that they were often interrupted needlessly.
From a study by consultants Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister, popularly referred to as the “Coding War Games”, the performance of a sample group of 600 coders at 92 different companies.
42 | OPINION and student focus is shifted away from concepts and toward trivial aesthetic and technical issues.” And yet, in the constructivist classroom, this type of project is frequently assigned. The justification for the project is often that collaboration makes students more active in the learning process, but not only do some types of constructivist assignments alienate the large population of individuals with poor social skills but also doesn’t produce valuable lessons for extroverted students. In the constructivist classroom, collaboration often comes at the cost of strong lessons. Even in a world flooded with constant communication, society still remembers the image of the hunched genius scribbling a masterpiece in the dead of night. Albert Einstein, practically the paradigm case of intelligence has been popularly attributed with saying “the monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulate the creative mind.” And, unsurprisingly, Einstein wasn’t wrong. Research strongly suggests that people are more creative when they enjoy privacy and freedom from interruption. In a study by consultants Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister, popularly referred to as the “Coding War Games”, the performance of a sample group of 600 coders at 92 different companies. They found that what set apart programmers at high-performing companies wasn’t greater experience or better pay. What distinguished the best programmers from the worst was how much privacy they enjoyed.
62 percent of the best performers said their workspace was sufficiently private compared with only 19 percent of the worst performers. 76 percent of the worst programmers but only 38 percent of the best said that they were often interrupted needlessly. Numerous other studies have demonstrated open-plan offices make workers hostile, insecure and distracted and that people whose work is interrupted make 50 percent more mistakes and take twice as long to finish it. In context to education, these findings are astounding. If students work better when they have some level of privacy, why is the norm to form “pods” of desks? Why is collaboration constantly a centerpiece of education? Often times, the justification is simply that students will have to work in open plan offices when they enter the workforce, so they might as well start learning how to handle this while they’re in school. Hopper says the fact “that a student constitutionally prefers, even needs isolation and silence to learn is not something the constructivist teacher should, or even could, correct ... requiring [collaboration and active engagement in a community of learners] as a condition of success in the course is at best injudicious. At worst, it is a heavy-handed abuse of power. It is a usurpation; it is to inflict a sociopolitical bias and agenda on a powerless audience.” While his words are strong, his criticisms remain valid. Because the process of learning in constructivist classrooms is grounded in the subjective understanding of the group, the idea of an ab-
solute truth is often undermined, leading to the dangerous conception that one truth is as good as any other (Hirsch, 1996; Phillips, 2000; McCarty and Schwandt, 2000; Loveless, 2001). This ensures that diversity of thought is encouraged in situations where conformity is necessary to bolster group understanding. Joint inquiry constitutionally values constructed understanding above a teachers’ ability to guide instruction, potentially resulting in an inability to correct student errors. The quality of constructivist education is thus highly contingent upon the quality of the student body; what questions are asked and what things are challenged are not universal between classes. For that matter, class dynamics themselves are often shaped by a minority of students. The collaborative aspects of constructivist classrooms tend to produce a tyranny of the minority, in which the voices of the few garrulous students overshadow those more quiet ones in dissent, leading to forced conformity in the emerging consensus. Students deserve a better education than the current constructivist model provides. Collaboration isn’t bad to encourage, but making a student’s understanding of material contingent upon their ability to communicate and interpersonally express themselves is unacceptable for the majority of students. The quiet pupil should never be forced to ideologically conform to the socio-pedagogical tendencies of a constructivist to succeed in education. In this age of hyperconnective communication, the death of silence must not be the cost of education.
Photo from MCT Campus/ WTKR-TV
43 | OPINION
homework hassle
Sonia Palamand investigates the pros and cons of having less homework SONIA PALAMAND | REPORTER
Photo from Wikimedia Commons
H
omework is an agonizing task for most high school students. According to a September 2018 survey sent to all students at CHS, the 301 respondents self-reported that more than 60 percent of students take between three and four hours to complete their homework, with “more than four hours” being the second most popular option. Is this really necessary? Most studies on the correlation between homework and academic achievement are done on elementary school students, rather than middle and high school students — an interesting approach, considering the majority of homework stress comes from middle and high school. Heidi Maier, the superintendent of the Marion County public schools and an expert on the acquisition of reading, tells the Washington Post that “[there is] research showing that traditional homework in the early years does not boost academic performance but reading — and reading aloud — does.” The new homework policy for their elementary schools is to read for 20 minutes per night, giving the young students the freedom of selecting their own books. For young students, studies have shown that reading out loud for 20 minutes
every night improves their language and brain development, which in turn exponentially boosts their standardized test scores. This method is surprisingly uncommon in the U.S., but luckily, the Clayton School District caught onto this trend early. The results of spending just 20 minutes on one brain-exercising skill overpowered years of repetitive worksheets every night. Practice makes perfect, but this adage does not apply to our whole curriculum. The homework itself isn’t the only issue, though. Most students at CHS find time the biggest problem. In an anonymous survey, randomly selected students were asked to discuss their opinions on homework, in a casual, unstructured format. Two out of every three responses included something along the lines of “I don’t understand why we have so much homework,” and “I don’t have time for hobbies anymore.” Rather than a short recap, homework has slowly turned into the lesson’s replacement, or an extension of it, so it makes sense why the assignments take so much time to complete. Most students find it absurd that they have to spend seven hours of their weekdays at school, only to come home and spend their free time on
more schoolwork — a large portion of the content not being covered during class. In a public pre-K–5th grade school in Vermont, principal Mark Trifilio banned all homework except reading for his students. Instead, he told the elementary school students to go outside and play, and spend time with their family. The results were astounding. No one in the class fell back academically. In fact, they became more creative thinkers in just six months. Being able to explore their own passions and hobbies greatly improved their performance at school. The simple daily assignment of reading was all that was needed for the children to grow as students. At CHS, most students have replaced their personal hobbies with finishing assignments and projects until ungodly hours of the morning, which must work wonders for their mental health. The workload has been commonly described as “insane” and “unmanageable”, not only by freshman, but also juniors and seniors. Of course, reading for 20 minutes a night isn’t enough for an honors course at CHS, but the principle of fewer repetitive assignments would greatly improve the quality of life for high school students.
44 | OPINION
pro: optional finals Merits of allowing students above a certain grade point to opt out of finals KAIA MILLS-LEE | REPORTER
Photo by Gwen Duplain
F
inal exams: easily the most stressful part of the semester for both high school and college students. They cause unnecessary anxiety for most students, and this stress could be relieved if finals were made optional for those who strive for success throughout the semester. Many improvements could be made by making finals optional at CHS for those who already have an A in the class. More time could be designated for studying other subjects, and students would be more motivated throughout the semester. Additionally, finals seem unnecessary at the end of the semester because students have already demonstrated a significant understanding of the subject. Most finals are only worth a small percentage of your grade. Therefore, if a student already has an A in the class, it is nearly impossible for them to get to that next A+ level, but much more easy for them to lower to that A-, negatively affecting their GPA. This process and seemingly unfairness of finals are the main causes of students’ stress. “I kind of fall into a spiral when I start taking my finals,” senior Eliza Copilevitz said. “It’s like my grade depends on it, and it’s going to affect my GPA which will affect what college I get in to. It’s frustrating because then when I have the test in front of me, that’s what I’m thinking about.”
Despite the insignificant amount that finals can truly impact your grade, Clayton students continue to worry. “Clayton students especially put so much pressure on themselves to succeed and do well on finals. It drives us to the point of not sleeping and not eating, and we develop unhealthy habits. We are willing to sacrifice ourselves for our grades,” Copilevitz said. In addition to causing overwhelming amounts of stress, finals are unnecessary for students with a high grade in the class. This is because they have already demonstrated their knowledge of the subject. It wouldn’t be possible for students to achieve a good grade if they hadn’t worked tirelessly during the semester to make sure they succeeded on tests and other assignments. “If you have a good grade in the class, then you have proved that you already know the material, and it makes sense that those students should not have to take the exams,” freshman Kellen Mottl said. Making finals optional for students with a high grade in a class would also be beneficial because it would encourage students to work harder throughout the semester. “I think that people would work harder if they knew that if they had a good grade then they wouldn’t have to take the exams, because I don’t think many people enjoy taking the tests,” Mottl
said. “If there is an opportunity to not have to put themselves through all the stress, students would work harder.” Without needing to study for finals in classes that they already excel in, students could focus on preparing for classes that they do struggle with. “The benefit is that the kid can get prepared for another final more readily and they’ve already put in the work and they’ve earned it. They’ve earned the grade they’re supposed to get in that class,” Homer Turner, a counselor at CHS and someone who formerly worked at a school where finals were optional, said. The possibility of being exempt from finals, again, would not only encourage students to work harder throughout the year, but would relieve the massive amounts of stress forced onto them at the end of the semester, ultimately improving their mental health. “No, I’ve never seen it. I’ve never seen any drawbacks from [making finals optional],” Turner said. “It just gave students more time to get prepared for another class.” Due to the clear understanding of the subject and relief of stress, students at CHS would most definitely benefit from the possibility of being exempt from finals if they work hard throughout the semester to obtain a good grade.
45 | OPINION
con: optional finals Are there more benefits than downfalls to taking finals? NEEMA NAEMI | PAGE EDITOR
Photo by Gwen Duplain
F
inals are a burden that most students dread toward the end of the semester. They compile all the information that students have learned over the semester into one massive exam, which is not only unnecessary but stress-inducing. Finals also tend to do very little for a student’s overall grade in a class. In fact, most of the time a final will either hurt a student’s grade or keep it the same. In order for a student to raise their grade by one or two percent, they must get a 100 percent or higher which is daunting and often impossible for most students. Most believe finals should be optional. The structure would follow along these lines: If a student has a 90 percent or higher in a class they can choose whether or not to take the exam. If you have a 90 percent in class, taking a final can be risky, due to the significant possibility of your grade dropping to a B, which is why the idea of students choosing to the exam seems logical. But even though final exams may seem like a stress-inducing overflow of information, allow-
ing students the choice of taking the final exam might make Clayton’s educational environment more competitive and unfair. While final exams may seem like a burdensome waste of students’ time, there are a number of benefits to taking a final exam. One of the main reasons public school districts, such as Clayton, require students to take final exams is to assess their ability to study and retain information. A final exam teaches students to study for extended periods of time and apply or break study habits they have acquired over the course of their high school career. If a student does not take the final exam, they are missing out on a unique learning opportunity that will benefit them in the future. Final exams are also very good preparation for the rigorous AP courses that are offered at Clayton High School. An AP exam, unlike a regular final exam, contains all the information students have learned over the course of the year, as opposed to just a semester.
The exams usually takes most students about two to three hours to complete and are extremely difficult due to their cumulative nature. However, taking final exams as a freshman or sophomore can prepare you for the intensity of an AP exam. Final exams prepare students for the difficult task of sitting still and testing for an extended period of time. They also help students with time management skills, which are essential in AP classes. Towards the weeks leading up to an AP exam, a student must begin to plan out the time they will spend studying for each individual class. This will allow students more time on subjects sections they struggle with while simply reviewing subjects they have a good grade in. Ultimately, students will need to be able to be skilled at high-stakes testing as they continue in their academic careers. From the ACT, to college finals, to maybe even someday having to sit for board or bar examinations, the future will be full of these decisive tests and we need to prepare Clayton students for them.
46 | OPINION
clayton’s closed minds Sean Kim points out the hypocrisy of Clayton liberals SEAN KIM | CHIEF VIDEO EDITOR
Since the election of President Trump, the Clayton liberal environment has become less open-minded. (Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/TNS)
I
f you asked me about my political beliefs in eighth grade, I would’ve responded with a sweeping left-leaning response, no questions asked. I stuck to the assumption that conservatives were only looking to prevent the country from moving forward, and that liberals or more appropriately, “progressives,” were the ones pushing for change. Bigoted, am I right? However, especially with today’s divisive climate, my four years in high school and how the Clayton community and much of the democratic party has reacted to the sudden transition from the Obama to Trump administration have caused me to get off my high horse and reflect: What does it mean to be liberal? Liberal, by definition as given by Merriam-Webster, is someone “who is open-minded or not strict in the observance of orthodox, traditional or established forms or ways.” Yes, the word has different meanings depending on the context, but I think we can all agree, if you think of yourself as a liberal, you think you’re accepting and willing to consider new ideas, cause that’s what we’re proud of being at Clayton, right? We proudly pump our chests to be this caring environment for everybody: all races, gender and opinions are welcome. With the most recent Globe cover story, however, this seems not to be the case. With 56.5 percent of Democrats at CHS claiming that if they found out a friend voted for Trump, it would worsen their friendship with that friend, it’s disappointing, but not surprising. On a daily basis, as seen in the cover
story, conservatives at CHS are mocked and belittled just for their differing beliefs to the point that many of the interviewees requested to remain anonymous in fear of retaliation from their peers. So much for Clayton’s “accepting” environment. Insults spread fast if anyone references MAGA or follows Donald Trump on Instagram. People are quick to claim their conservative peers are racist, homophobic or misogynists without concrete evidence. In general, if you identify as a republican or hold some conservative beliefs, expect to be attacked for your views. This is Clayton hypocrisy at it’s finest. We tend to be accepting of others as long you’re left-leaning. We tend to listen and promote discussion for other opinions as long as it isn’t a conservative stance. We flock to think that any Democratic opinion means “good” without any reason other than the fact that everybody else seems to agree with it. Whatever happened to civil discourse and being truly “liberal?” If Clayton were truly liberal, accepting environment, we would support discussion between conservatives and liberals. We would be open to new ideas, be respectful even if we disagree, but most importantly, we would try to understand the other side rather than outright reject them. Personally, I know this has worked for me. By looking at the other side and talking with other conservatives with an open mind, I’ve been able to form my own opinions over divisive topics and truly have a “liberal” approach when considering both sides of an argument. Four years ago, I would’ve blindly listed
out only democratic views. Now, I’m able to proudly say I can support my views with evidence rather than doing so just because it’s a democratic opinion. As a result, I support immigration, universal healthcare, racial diversity, LGBTQ rights, recognizing climate change, gun-control and capitalism. At the same time, I’m opposed to open borders, identity politics, banning of the second-amendment and socialism. In general, I’m more of a mixed bag now. Whereas I used to be a hardcore democrat, I’m very much a moderate now, but a more well-versed one. Sure, not everyone may have this “political awakening” like me, but by listening, forming individual opinions and being polite, I think most will see some validity to the other side and figure out that conservatives in general aren’t the racists and bigots everyone at CHS claims them to be. For a school that identifies primarily as liberals, let’s be true liberals. Let’s stop blindly following the beliefs of the group and the beliefs our parents forced on us, but form our own opinions. Let’s stop the ridiculous name-calling and rejection and be more open. Common decency can go a long way. In the end, regardless of your political stance, we have more in common with each other than we think. But rather than reject the differences that some of our peers may have over politics, let’s celebrate this diversity in thought. Just as we champion ourselves to be an accommodating environment for all races and genders, I think there’s plenty room for all ideologies. Let’s be the accepting Clayton environment we’re proud of.
47 | OPINION
staff ed: plastic predicament The Globe discusses the negative impacts of overuse of plastic
SASHA KELLER AND LOUIE VAN’T HOF | REPORTERS
Photo from Wikimedia Commons
P
lastic is a consumer epidemic. Each year in the U.S., about 100 billion plastic bags are used. That is almost 300 million bags each day. In 2016, California banned most stores from handing out single-use, thin plastic bags to its customers. Although buyers now had to pay an extra 10 cents for reusable plastic bags if they didn’t have their own, this saved some 13 billion single-use plastic bags each year. According to an article from the Los Angeles Times, statistics show that after the statewide ban, plastic bags went from being 7.4 percent of litter found on California beaches to only 3.1 percent. Earlier in 2015, Hawaii became the first U.S. state to fully ban the use of plastic bags at grocery stores, but unlike California, the ban was passed at the county level by four separate counties rather than under state legislation. In an attempt to join California in their efforts, Andrew Cuomo passed a bill earlier this year that will work to ban the vending of plastic bags in New York retailers by next year. Missouri should join these U.S. states and work to eliminate the use of plastic bags in grocery stores of our state. There are about 28 billion lbs of plastic in
our oceans, which is often ingested and fatal to marine animals. This occurs in other countries also, a whale died after consuming more than 80 plastic bags and an additional 17 lbs of other plastic materials earlier this year in Thailand. By banning the use of plastic bags, we can work to eliminate the amount of plastic littered in our environment and in the oceans surrounding the U.S. Missouri is one of the most river-ripe states in the U.S., creating an easy place to litter plastic and other non-biodegradable products. By banning the use of plastic bags, this could help decrease the trash found in Missouri’s rivers and encourage a cleaner environment. In 2015, House Bill 722 was passed that prevented local governments from banning or taxing paper and plastic products used in food services. This means that independent communities in Missouri cannot ban plastic products within that specific area. By passing House Bill 722, Missouri essentially shows we don’t care about the overuse of plastic bags in the state, and although it is not the government’s intention, it is contributing to the growing litter problem nationwide. Missouri should work to ban the vending
of single-use plastic bags in grocery stores statewide because it would help relinquish litter in the state, decrease the use of plastic nationwide, benefit the health of the overall environment within the state and promote the U.S. to escape the plastic-based society that is growing within the nation. In terms of the Clayton community, Clayton High School can also work to eliminate the use of plastic in our school. By eliminating plastic water bottles sold in the cafeteria, and promoting students to bring their own reusable water bottles to school could save hundreds of students from buying single-use water bottles each day. In order to further promote the use of reusable water bottles, CHS could install water bottle fillers in each of the water fountains throughout the school. Finally, to test the impact of limiting plastic bottles used in CHS, each student could receive a water bottle along with their chromebook at the start of each school year to open each individual to using reusable water bottles at school each day. Small attempts to limit the use of plastic within our school and the larger Clayton community could help contribute to decreasing plastic use statewide and nationwide.