Globe Newsmagazine, March 2020, Issue 6, Vol. 91

G T he Globe

GIFTED . VOLUME 91 . ISSUE 6 .

CLAYTON HIGH SCHOOL. CLAYTON, MO. MARCH 2020.

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

GOLDEN GREYHOUND SPONSORS ($200+ Level) DTLS Landscape Architecture Dale Avenue Pediatrics Windsor Madonna O Cotlar Dave Stine Woodworking Yeung Realtors Melissa Clark Clayton Pilates Studio

The Thompson Richardson Team St. Louis Suit Company Clayton All in Coalition Van’t Hof Family Cobblestone Quality Shoe Repair The Retina Institute

WORLD TRAVELER SPONSORS ($100+ Level) The Sturmoski Family The Abburi Family Jane Cross Eugene Cross Bob and Betsy Cuneo The Stemmler Family Charlotte de Sauvage Nolting Sangeeta Khanna and Aseem Sharma The Chung Family Washington University Physicians Allergy & Immunology Clinics Mary and Dick Anthony Robin and Neil Snelling Maya Jerath and Sanjoy Baruah Venkatesh Narayan and Gita Krishnaswamy Christy Hager DDS Ann Sachar Angela and Troy Quinn

Chandrakant and Aruna Tailor Protzel’s Delicatessen Celsius Cryo-Therapy The Erlin Family Debbie and Andy Schwartz Chandrakant Tailor The Choo-Kang Family The Family of Lary Baker Go Inc. Kay Quinn Malone Geoffrey Espe David LaGesse and Laura Stanton Mindy Keller Jill Moran The Chatterjee Family The Palamand Family The Fisher Family Sharon and Riley Gordon Christine Auston

The Melinger Family Maya Jerath and Sanjoy Baruah Antonie and Makedonka Mitrev The Kerr Family Mindy Knows Katy Morris and How Sweet Is This Marisa and Josip Kos David Anston Kim and Tom Coorigan Karen Prechtt

March 2020

Joe Biden sit solemnly as Rep. Abby Finkenauer discusses the early death of Biden’s wife and daughter during a campaign stop at Simpson College in Indianola, IA on Jan. 18, 2020. Read more about the Iowa Caucus on page 44-45.

Photo by Michael Melinger.

12 Candid Candidates The Globe takes a closer look at the Board of Education candidates.

20 Gifted

The Globe explores the changes to the way Clayton continues to identify Gifted students and the changing culture around Gifted education inside the school.

30 Spring Sports Preview The Globe looks at the upcoming spring sports season and highlights each team’s top players and goals for the season.

globe.

STAFF

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Grace Snelling and Lila Taylor

CHIEF MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Michael Melinger

CHIEF DIGITAL EDITOR Richard Cheng

SENIOR MANAGING EDITORS Ashley Chung Katie He Noor Jerath Sara Stemmler

SECTION EDITORS Cece Cohen, BREAKING NEWS/ DIGITAL Shane LaGesse & Kaitlyn Tran, NEWS Disha Chatterjee & Sofia Erlin, FEATURE Jimmy Malone, SPORTS Eliot Blackmoore & Danny Choo-Kang, OPINION

REPORTERS Owen Auston-Babcock Isabella Bamnolker Luka Bassnett Emma Baum Sophia Boyd Danny Bui Jenna Bush Seraphina Corbo Chloe Creighton Isabelle Cross Sonali Dayal Hannah Do Paige Espe Tiancheng Fan Thomas Gustafson Alexandra Hagemeister Max Hagemeister Abigail Hoelscher Sasha Keller Ryan Kerr Daphne Kraushaar

Rachel Liang Moriah Lotsoff Isaac Millians Ana Mitreva Sofia Mutis Ruby Nadin Sofia Puerto Reese Quinn Emma Raine Ivy Reed Helena Reuter Maya Richter Ananya Shah Kathryn Smith Samuel Smith Sophie Srenco Abigail Sucher Sava Tamanaha Carola Vaqueiro Elaine Yoo Sophie Yoshino

Siddhi Narayan & Bridget Walsh, REVIEW

COPY EDITOR Yiyun Xu

PHOTO EDITOR Ella Cuneo

PAGE EDITORS Sarah Baker Vivian Chen Josephine Cross Kate Freedman Sahithya Gokaraju Tallulah Hawley Maxwell Keller Kaia Mills-Lee Margy Mooney

Neema Naemi Naveed Naemi Ruth Pierson Dheera Rathikindi William Redington Junyi Su Sophia Thompson Angela Xiao

PHOTOGRAPHERS Natalie Ashrafzadeh Celia Baer Natalie Bone Lillan Brown Jelani Christmas Isabella Clark Abigail Cooper Audrey Deutsch Gwen Duplain Ellayna French Sophie Furdek Davia Goette Lucia Johnson Kate Lay Whitney Le

Haley Lewis Naomi Merrihue-Irving Eli Millner Mallory Palmer Deborah Park Elise Restemayer Elia Rios Ryan Rosenthal Katherine Rother Annika Sandquist Emma Siegel Emma Stipanovich Katherine Walsh Olivia Williams Lauren Wolff

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

from the editor I, like 214 of my closest peers who walk these halls, am currently going through the dreaded college process. For the last question of my last college interview, I was asked if I had any regrets from high school -- if there was anything I would change. I quickly tried to conjure up an answer that conveyed the sense that I had left nothing on the table and took advantage of every opportunity that was offered to me but, at the same time, I wanted to make sure it was an accurate representation of myself and reflected deep thought. It had me puzzled.

For me, school has (almost) never been a drag. Since I was a small child, I always enjoyed going to school, getting to see my friends, and learning about everything from the minute details of non-euclidean geometry to the abstract concepts of early American literature. But, there were times when I questioned what I was learning and why I was learning it. I would find myself in class beginning to think about all the more “practical” things I could be doing with the 45 minutes I would spend in sometimes windowless rooms looking at whiteboards. I would see TikToks or Instagram memes about how students knew the pythagorean theorem but couldn’t name a tax form and it made me wonder.

At Stanford University, they group classes into two categories. 1) Ways of thinking and 2) Ways of doing. For us, we could say the ways of doing are embodied in classes in the practical arts or in skills that include learning how to write with ethos. But where do we find the ways of thinking? Everywhere.

In my opinion, it is clear to see the ways of doing, but seeing the ways of thinking can be more obscure. We, as students, become hyper-focused on what is happening right here and now, what can we do immediately, but I think the real value, especially at the high school level, is in finding the merit in learning the ways of thinking.

As The Globe explores the changes behind the gifted program this month, I challenge all

students to reconsider the gift of learning. To my peers: you may never need to optimize the area of a picket fence using calculus or recall the hidden meaning behind the cover art of “The Scarlet Letter”, but think twice the next time the thought “When will I ever use this?” crosses your mind.

That said, here is what I landed on when I was on the phone with this college interviewer: I wish I had known the intrinsic value behind learning for more of my high school career. I went on to

tell my interviewer that, if I had to do anything over again, I would have tried to prevent myself from writing off aspects that I found less appealing and extracted the value of learning a new way of thinking from as many opportunities as I could. As my high school career winds down and I move on to my next educational journey, I look to the innate value behind education, using that to unravel the gift of learning and it is my hope that you do the same.

MICHAEL MELINGER | CHIEF MULTIMEDIA EDITOR

FOLLOW THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD From Jan. 30 to Feb. 1, the Clayton High School theatre department ran “The Wizard of Oz,” starring sophomore Willa Stine (left) as Dorothy, Mitchell Schall as the Lion, Jaxon Beeler as the Scarecrow, Karyn Lisker as Glinda and Mason Sharon as the Witch.

Thomas Karandjeff and Neema Naemi were doubledcast as Tin Man.

Photographer ELI MILLNER

8

news & notes SHANE LAGESSE | KAITLYN TRAN NEWS SECTION EDITORS

coronavirus outbreak

dance marathon

On Dec. 31 2019, several cases of pneumonia were diagnosed in Wuhan. The virus was unidentified. On Jan. 7, it was identified as a member of the coronavrius family, which includes SARS and the common cold. As of Feb. 11, deaths in China surpassed 1,000 and over 40,000 infected; the US reported 13 confirmed infections.

On Feb. 28, 2020 the long-planned fourhour dance marathon will take place.

The event, where participants dance and stay on their feet for four hours is run to raise money for the Miracle Network, a non-profit organization which works to raise funds and awareness for Children’s hospitals across North America. The event is 100 percent student-volunteer run, and will take place on Friday, Feb. 28.

oscars triumph football league The new football league, XFL, kicked off its first game on Feb. 8. St. Louis’ own team, the Battlehawks, won their first game against the Dallas Renegades on Feb. 9, losing their second against the Houston Roughnecks by only four points.

deca dominates

candidate update Candidates for the democratic nomination in the national election are rapidly dropping out of the race. Senator Michael Bennet and Congressman Joe Walsh both dropped out in Early February, and entrepreneur Andrew Yang announced the end of his campaign on Feb. 11.

The 92nd Academy Awards was held on Feb. 9. Thriller film “Parasite” won four titles: Best Picture, Directing, International Feature Film, and Writing (Original Screenplay). The film also made Oscars history by being the first non-English film to win Best Picture [see review on page 37]. Other wins included Toy Story 4 for Best Animated Feature, Joaquin Phoenix for Best Actor and Renee Zellweger for Best Actress.

On Feb. 4, CHS DECA members represented Clayton at the District 8 DECA competition. 32 competitors received awards, while 26 competitors qualified for the State Career Development Conference.

an end to impeachment In two historic votes on Feb. 5, the Senate acquitted President Trump of two charges: Article I: Abuse of Power and Article II: Obstruction of Congress. The Senate voted 48-52 and 47-53, both in favor of not guilty, with the threshold being 67 guilty votes needed to convict. The vote was cast strictly on party lines, with only Mitt Romney, Republican Senator of Utah, breaking party lines to vote guilty on Article I. Since then, however, the Senate approved a bipartisan resolution intended to limit President Trump’s war powers concerning Iran on Feb. 13, with a 55-45 vote in favor of passing.

team makes history Clayton’s History Bowl team finished in first place at the Regionals/State History Bowl Tournament on Feb. 8. Although the team competed in the Junior Varsity division, the team competed and won against four varsity teams.

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is iran nearing a revolution?

Recent political and social turmoil has led to debate over whether Iran is closing in on a revolution.

NAVEED NAEMI | PAGE EDITOR

Iranian students demonstrate in Tehran following a tribute for the victims of the UIA Boeing 737 incident. Iranian police dispersed students chanting “radical” slogans, Fars news agency reported. (Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images/TNS) Thousands of Iranians gather on the streets.

Fuel prices have been raised. The government is corrupt. The people are angry. What began as a peaceful gathering has evolved into a violent riot.

Emergency services shoots streams of pressurized water into the crowd. Shots are fired at protesters from a suspended helicopter. Trucks roll in to transport bodies.

Within the last few months, Iran has been experiencing continuous chaos. There have been riots, a plane crash, protests, and most of all, death.

The deadliest riots in America to date are the Draft Riots of 1863, which resulted in a death toll of 120. Although exact numbers are unknown, it is estimated that between 180-450 Iranians were killed during recent protests, which marks the most brutal unrest in Iran in over 40 years.

Throughout the past month, as Iranians mourned the loss of General Soleimani as a result of a U.S. drone strike, 50 people were killed at a stampede that occurred at the General’s funeral procession. When a plane was shot down by an Iranian missile after mistaken as a threat, 82 Iranians were killed.

As a result of such death and destruction, the anger of the Iranian people continues to rise. It appears that the Iranian government continues to

ignore their pleas.

With the aging Ayatollah Khamenei’s eventual vacated position, Iran will soon become a battleground over who will assume the most powerful role in Iran. However, since Khamenei must self-appoint his successor, it is unlikely that there will be a drastic change in political ideology.

Although change is not probable directly through the appointment of a new leader, it is certain that the next leader will have significantly less power than Khameini, despite operating within the same position. Whoever succeeds Khameini will be met with the anger of the Iranian people over decades of corruption.

Is revolution on the horizon?

One of the main forces preventing revolution is the indifference the current leaders have to war. They have witnessed blood and death and have no fear of repeating war. However, as these leaders continue to age, the public will see much greater resistance by Iranians. It is likely that although the government will be put under pressure in upcoming protests, they will remain stagnant in their refusal to surrender power.

Through examination of recent events, one can presume that these protests will continue until there is change. Many Iranians are eager to rid themselves of the corruption that has been

plaguing their government.

The U.S. has, through a series of attacks against Iran’s military and political leaders, recently become involved in Iran’s shifting of power.

The Trump Administration is holding fast to a system of “maximum pressure” in the hopes of re-opening dialogue over the Iran nuclear deal.

Iran has reacted to this system of pressure with their own militaristic measures against U.S. bases in Iraq.

Presumed Iranian attacks on lucrative oil rigs prompted the U.S. to prohibit the five largest buyers of Iranian oil from future exports, also creating economic distress for both parties.

Both internal and external distress in Iran is causing some U.S. officials to call for an entire exchange of power. Former national security advisor John Bolton believed that “Nothing short of a ‘regime change’ in Iran was an adequate outcome for security in the region,’” according to New York Times reporter Mark Mazzetti. This belief echoes those of many Iranian citizens today.

Iran is currently controlled by an older generation of men, but opposes are led by the youth, predominantly female graduates. As the older generation retires and the government transitions to new leaders, an uprising is likely, and when it occurs, it is likely that Iran’s new generation will lead the way.

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418 PARKS. STL resident accomplishes goal of visitng every national park in the United States.

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11 ANGELA XIAO AND KAIA MILLS-LEE | PAGE EDITORS “I think a lot of people probably thought it was a little crazy,” said St. Louis resident and nature enthusiast Andy Magee.

But crazy greatly understates the magnitude of Magee’s recent year-long journey. He began 2019 with one goal: to visit all 418 national parks in the United States in one year. 418 national parks, 50 states and 365 days later, Magee concluded his journey with a visit to Gateway Arch National Park.

Magee spent nearly three months planning his trip: determining where to begin, mapping his route and packing. He decided he would start the trip on New Year’s Day in Southern Florida and would end on Dec. 31 back home in St. Louis. He bought a truck to store all of his clothes and equipment and to handle the treacherous terrain he would be facing. In addition to these preparations, Magee also had to make arrangements about how his store, Cioci’s Picture Mart in Kirkwood, would be managed.

By the first day of the new year, Magee was ready to take off.

Magee knew that the trip would likely entail adversity. However, his first major challenge came much sooner than anticipated. For almost the entire month of January, President Donald Trump issued a federal government shutdown.

Because national parks are federally run, many of them were closed without park rangers, meaning Magee was unable to visit any parks on the record during this time.

“That was very frustrating because I was spending a good amount of money to get to these places, and I had this goal. I visited about 30 closed parks in January,” Magee said.

Fortunately, the government shutdown ended about three weeks later, and Magee was back on track to complete his journey.

While Magee certainly faced many challenges, they never came close to outweighing the amazing things he experienced.

“We’d like to think of [national parks] as just sort of these big sweeping landscapes that are really pretty and where you can hike and you can camp and things like that. That’s a lot of it, too.

But every day was filled with interesting adventures,” Magee said.

From hiking on a glacier in Alaska to camping inside a volcano, Magee experienced it all.

His entire trip was packed full of incredible moments, but one memory sticks out to him in particular.

“Every year, in Katmai National Park, there’s this place in the river where the salmon run out to spawn. There’s a shallow waterfall and it’s probably only six or seven feet. The salmon can jump up the waterfall, but they get bottlenecked in this river until they can get up the waterfall.

Well, the bears know this. So, every year the bears just hang out. They literally just sit in the middle of the river, these gigantic bears, catching these 12 pound salmon out of the river. And they just do this all day long,” Magee said While witnessing these surreal moments is often the most significant part of a typical tourist’s visit to a national park, Magee emphasizes a lesser-known aspect of the parks: the history surrounding them. Many national parks aren’t necessarily landscapes with mountains and trees, but monuments and historical sites. These include Ford’s Theatre and even the White House.

“You can sit at home and you could read history books for the rest of your life, and you can get a sense of this country. Or, you could go out and actually see it, and touch it and walk those trails and those cemeteries where Civil War soldiers died and just all kinds of stuff. It’s amazing.

I think that experience is valuable for anybody,” Magee said.

At the beginning of his journey, Magee created a blog, 418 Parks and numerous social media accounts chronicling his daily experiences. With this, what began as an individual challenge for Magee transformed into a source of meaning for many others as well.

“The trip ended up kind of taking on a life of its own,” Magee said. “It became something bigger than what I set out to do just for myself. A lot of people kind of became invested in it over the year… and that makes me very proud because what was basically a self indulgent kind of a really long vacation that I took for myself became something meaningful to other people.”

As Magee’s journey became more well-known by people across the country, he found it necessary to emphasize both the value of the parks and the history they are able to share. For Magee and many others, the parks aren’t just about the scenery.

“It’s about our land. It’s about our people. It’s about our culture. It’s about our history. It’s about the challenges that we’ve faced and the successes that we’ve had. It’s about the diverse wildlife and flora. It’s about the people that were here long before the Europeans got here. It’s about the people who came as slaves. It’s about the people who came as immigrants to become Americans.

It’s about important people that helped shape the direction of the country… [The National Parks Service] is like a giant jigsaw puzzle with 418 pieces. And every time we put a new piece into place, it starts to reveal this larger portrait of the United States of America.”

all photos by Andy Magee

candid candidates

PHOTOS BY MICHAEL MELGINER

The Globe profiles the five candidates campaigning to fill three open seats on the Clayton Board of Education in the April election.

Board of Education candidate Nathaniel Millett has lots of experience to offer.

While fairly new to Clayton and a first time candidate for the Board, Millett has been a history professor at Saint Louis University (SLU) for 13 years. Accordingly, he hopes to share his skills and perspective to ensure that Clatyon schools and students continue to flourish.

Because Millett is both an active professor of history at SLU and a father of two daughters under the age of 8, he has experience with a wide variety of ages and the different types of learning that students need.

“My central campaign pledge is to make sure that we are providing the best type of education for every type of learner and every type of student,” Millett said.

To him, this means focusing on every student’s individual well-being,

especially thier mental health.

Mental health is a central focus of his campaign. Millett urges us to “pause and take a breath and say, ‘What’s more important? Our children’s health? Or these ephemeral goals?’” For Millett, this is a no-brainer: the answer is always to put mental health first.

One of Millett’s new interests is a Stanford University project called “Challenge Success,” which works to redefine America’s cultural definition of success to expand beyond mainstream intelligence with the ultimate goal of promoting students’ well-being and love of learning.

“These ideas of balancing fulfillment, educational expectations and mental, emotional and physical health are important,” Millett said.

While there are several platforms to his campaign, one of Millett’s main commitments is to students’ educational and social-emotional success at every grade level. Millett is a strong advocate for re-focusing on education to accommodate this new generation of students.

“One of the things that I think we need to do culturally is re-embrace critical, analytical and independent thinking skills,” Millett said.

Millett knows better than anyone the toll that stress can take on students -- he sees it every day.

“I think a lot of people fail to appreciate that this [wellness] has to begin in Pre-K, K-5 is simply about absorbing experiences, learning how to cope in groups, developing the most basic social skills,” Millett said.

At SLU, Millett sees the negative effect of high stress pre-college education every day. He also knows well what areas students tend to be prepared in and where they need to develop more advanced skills.

Not typically mentioned in campaigns, Millett wants to, “help students appreciate that there is more to life than just tests, and there’s multiple routes to having successful, happy, fulfilling lives.”

Several times, Millett mentioned this culture of obsessive test-taking that has not only pervaded Clayton, but high schools all around the country.

According to the Stanford University study, 73 percent of high school students reported being often or always stressed by schoolwork. To combat this issue, Millett advocates, “emphasizing that there are other ways to educate, other ways to assess… academic success should never and can never come at the expense of mental or physical health or well-being.”

Similar to the “Challenge Success” project, Millett looks around at his students and his children, and sees the changes that set this generation apart from the other generations. He is prepared to acknowledge these attributes and use them as a strength rather than a liability -- this is what he does every day at work.

“I know exactly what students are good at and what they lack,” Millett said. “I can see trends and also pick up on things which may not be readily evident in social scientific data.”

Millett’s word for his campaign: synergy. Millett wants to create synergy between policy, legal mandates and educational ideas by utilizing his unique perspective and skill set.

nat millett

BRIDGET WALSH REVIEW SECTION EDITOR

Gary Pierson was frustrated. Perhaps it was an angry parent. Perhaps it was a stagnant motion. In any case, he had hit an emotional rut. And former Board of Education President Kristin Redington noticed.

“She was like, ‘Yeah, I know that’s frustrating, but you’ll get through this because you’re doing it for the kids.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s right,’” Pierson said.

With two children at the middle and high school and one CHS graduate, Pierson truly is in it for the kids.

“Particularly back in 2016, I was motivated by the fact that our kids had all had a really good experience [in the district]. I just really wanted to be a part of the district and be supportive,” said Pierson.

Not particularly enticed by PTO organizations and field trip planning, Pierson instead drew his passion for administration from the plethora of Clayton residents involved in local government.

“They’re people that I respect and admire. They’re not politicians in terms of the negative connotation of the word,” Pierson said.

When Pierson was appointed by Redington in 2016 to fill a vacant seat, his expectations of the Board process closely mirrored his intellectual tendencies as an attorney. While serving, Peirson learned how to combine these skills with what he found were necessary partnerships with other Board members, as well as with the external community.

“I pride myself on being very efficient, analytical, to the point, ‘We should be done in ten minutes….’ I learned to be more collaborative. Everyone’s perspective matters. Even if we know ‘what we’re doing is this,’ it’s valuable to provide that space where people can have input, and not just people on the Board. To do that in a constructive way is sometimes challenging, but it’s worth the process.”

Although, Pierson admitted that he had to adjust to the level of deliberation that occurs throughout the Board process, one motivation for his original candidacy was to contribute to a process he believed was hyper focused on detail and not enough on further developing leadership.

“I thought that the district could be more highly functioning in terms of having a leadership role in the district. I thought it was a little bogged down at times, really focused on nitpicky decisions. All boards do that at times. Stability in leadership is so critical. I thought maybe another perspective could help with that.”

In order to maintain such leadership, Pierson closely followed what he viewed as the Board’s code of operation.

“Is there somebody employed by the district whose job it is to do the thing that we’re trying to do? If so, we’re not doing our job as Board members.

Instead ask those people what resources they need to complete what they need to complete,” Pierson said.

Pierson not only believes that leadership can be better facilitated between the Board and school faculty, but also between the Clayton School District and outside districts, specifically through the sharing of resources.

“We are very blessed here to have a lot of resources concentrated in a very small place,” Pierson said. “We can do things that other people can’t try.”

After rounding out his first term, Pierson wasn’t sure whether or not he was going to run again, primarily because of the massive time commitment.

New history teacher gary pierson Danielle DuHadway is SARA STEMMLER SENIOR MANAGING EDITOR

Furthermore, he felt that the Board had already made substantial progress throughout his last term with the passing of Proposition E and with the hiring of a successful superintendent. At the end of the day, however, he felt that with experience on the Board, he still had more work to do, especially when it came to accommodating a new generation of students. He believes this can be accomplished primarily with teachers being better adapted to technology, and with facilitating real life career experiences.

“We need to be thinking about how we can innovate our education services. It’s constantly looking at that big picture. How can we be constantly changing for the future? That gets me excited.”

Having worked not only on the Clayton School Board but also on other boards for nonprofits, Pierson believes his familiarity with the process more than qualifies him to fill one of the three vacant seats. Perhaps even more important is his passion for improvement, even within an already highly regarded school district.

“We have really good teachers in the district. We have really good administrators. They need oversight. They need resources. They need to know how they could be better. We have very high ranking schools. Great, but what could we be doing that we’re not already doing?”

david gulick SARAH BAKER PAGE EDITOR

“When I started to look at the composition of the board I realized that we don’t have a business backed person on the board,” Board of Education candidate and Clayton parent David Gulick said. “I think probably the big eye-opener for me was Proposition E. I’m die-hard supportive of schools, but I’m pretty focused on spending and I was a little frustrated that we came in late. We were at a point where we were going to lay off teachers.”

Gulick has had an unusual career history, shifting around to learn new skills. With jobs that range from Build-a-Bear Workshop to software com-

panies, he has a lot of experience with corporate leadership. He believes that his extensive business background would prove an asset to the Board.

“I’d like to make a difference on the board so that we can plan ahead and be more focused on fiscal accountability. It doesn’t create a good work environment for teachers if you’re not sure if your school is going to be able to fund your position next year,” said Gulick.

As a parent of two boys who attend Meramec Elementary School, Gulick understands the importance of a well-rounded education -- determining what each student needs to be successful.

“I like that we’re starting to [look at the portrait of a graduate] and go work backward to identify individual learning plans and figure out what it takes for each kid that has particular learning styles and particular learning needs and figure out how we can meet that,” Gulick said.

Although he understands the importance of standardized tests, Gulick knows that there are so many more components to education.

“I think, as a leader in the [education] industry, we could take some latitude with that and evolve our portrait of success to include things like social and emotional health. We can’t leave test scores behind but I think we need to add to them,” Gulick said.

This would be Gulick’s first time serving on the Board, allowing him to bring a fresh perspective.

One partnership Gulik finds essential that of the Board and the administration.

“The Board today is very in tune with the schools, and the interlock with the administration is really tight, and I think that’s fantastic, so it’s something we need to make sure we continue to grow and enhance,” Gulick said.

Gulick has three core principles that he emphasized.

“I push on fiscal accountability and responsibility with my corporate background, my desire to drive our footprint and our profile of success, and my last principle is blended delivery,” Gulick said.

Although he has key issues that define his vision, Gulick understands that every resident has different concerns.

“I may be meeting with somebody who doesn’t have kids in the school, so their focus really is around are the schools going to stay number one and is that gonna drive property value. When I meet with the older generation, fixed income is a big deal, so if your taxes jumped by three or four thousand dollars it can be devastating,” Gulick said.

What truly sets Gulick apart from the other candidates is his vast experience with business. He says that this is a gap on the Board, and he hopes to fill it.

“I’ve got two degrees. I have a bachelor’s in human resources and a bachelor’s in accounting I’ve put them to use,” Gulick said. “I’ve been successful for nearly 20 years in corporate America and I bring that to the table where my peers don’t.”

kimberly hurst SAHITHYA GOKARAJU PAGE EDITOR

Business owner and proud mother of three Kimberly Hurst is ready to push Clayton to reach its greatest potential. Bringing a background in finance, strategy and long-term planning, Hurst feels she is more than ready to fill a position on the Board of Education.

“I started attending school board meetings a couple of years ago after Katie [Hurst’s daughter] started middle school. I have been very involved with the elementary school. I was the treasurer of the Captain PTO and I have volunteered for every PTO event we have had. There are so many opportunities to get involved in the schools here, as a parent of a young child,” Hurst said.

Through the process of being an involved parent in the Clayton community, Hurst has been able to gain insight into the inner workings of the district.

One distinct realization for Hurst was around parental involvement after her child left elementary school.

“What I found when Katie started middle school, was that there is a drop-off in the amount of parent involvement,” Hurst said. “So I started attending board meetings because I thought that then, at least, I can have a mile-high view on what is happening in the district.”

As Hurst pushed herself to stay involved, her background in finance as a Senior Vice President at Post Holdings emerged as an asset to the district during the effort to pass Propositions E and C. “Last year I was asked to serve as co-chair for the committee tasked with getting Propositions E and C successfully passed,” Hurst said. “I knocked on countless doors and attended many community meetings throughout the campaign and one of the personal guarantees I made, especially to anyone skeptical of the need for additional school funding, was to hold the District accountable for the money entrusted to them.”

Hurst believes that she is a strong fit for the Board because of the background of members already present on the board.

“Every member of the board comes with their own individual strengths and weaknesses, I really think that I know what the board issues are and helping the board with major things such as Propositions E and C over the last year, as well as my business background are unique,” Hurst said.

“We have lawyers who play a very important role in reviewing policy and procedural issues. We have educators, but I don’t believe that there is anyone with my financial and long-term planning background.”

Hurst also feels strongly about the treatment of Clayton teachers. Hurst believes that educators in the district aren’t compensated and appreciated enough for the hard work that they do.

“One of the things that Sean and the principals need to be aware of is that when you ask teachers to do something, you also need to be considering what it is that you are going to ask teachers to not continue doing,” Hurst said. “Because a school environment is different from an office environment. In an office, if you had to put in a 100 hour week you put in a 100 hour week. But in a school, there are only so many hours in a school day where a teacher has direct interaction with students. I

believe that the challenge is when you ask a teacher to do more in the same amount of time it can become overwhelming.”

Hurst believes that teacher overload can affect and take away from students’ experience. Additionally, she believes that it is a necessity to pay teachers well and offer incentives for teachers to push and reach their own potential.

Ultimately, with her 15 years of working as a Senior Vice President of Post Holdings and founding her own business, Hurst believes she will bring a new perspective which will improve the Clayton School Board.

chris win

SARA STEMMLER SENIOR MANAGING EDITOR Everyone who meets Clayton parent Chris Win will notice the same thing about her: she listens. Really listens. They will also notice that she holds a certain curiosity about the teenaged mind. I, myself felt that I was as much the interviewee as the interviewer throughout our conversation. Such attention to childrens’ wellness serves as a pillar of her campaign.

For Win, the current state of the media is a constant concern, specifically as it becomes more difficult to find reliable information online.

“I stay up at night and think about it. This wasn’t an issue when I was a kid. You literally had A-Z encyclopedias in your house. You would get one out and say ‘here’s the answer.’ There weren’t hundreds of thousands of answers on a device you carry around with you,” Win said.

Teaching students how to effectively use the internet is just one of the many things Win believes the Board should be focusing on as the district ushers in a new generation of kids. The other is something many parents find essential, and that is teaching students how to effectively communicate.

“Communication needs to be something that is taught, not just something we assume everyone can do,” Win said.

“If we all could communicate in a way that was not fueled by emotion only, if we could all try to look at each other as equals, that would eventually lead us to making choices that benefit everyone.”

With two master’s degrees in public health and social work, Win aims to bring a greater ability to communicate, specifically about mental health, to Clayton students as a member of the Board. She hopes that an anonymous survey introduced last year, “Panorama,” allowing students and teachers to give feedback on how they feel at school, will help the Board make informed decisions about mental health resources going forward.

“What I think is phenomenal is the vision for the strategic plan. There are seven characteristics in the “Profile of a Clayton Graduate’ -- not one of them is a ‘straight A student’. Clearly Clayton has a very high standard in terms of academics, and I think that’s a bedrock of our district that should remain, but I think now we are focusing on more than just academics.”

Win’s devotion to mental health education and to the district in general stems from both values she inherited as a kid about the vitality of education, as well as her ability to experience today’s education through her sons.

“I was taught as a kid that education is of the highest priority. I remember my mom saying, ‘Education is something no one can ever take away from you. As much as your life will have challenges, that’s something you’ll always have.’ I’ve been really passionate about education ever since I saw my boys start preschool at the Family Center, and I saw how much impact those teachers had on them, and I saw how much impact the curriculum had on them. As I watched it through my son’s eyes for the first time, I realized that education couldn’t be more important, and I wanted to support that,” Win said.

Win has experienced the more organizational side of Clayton education through her volunteer collaborations with the administration, as well as through her unfaltering presence at every Board meeting. Soon to be former Board member Lily Raymond has been a friend to Win, and with similar professional experience in a mental health field encouraged Win to bring her perspective to the Board.

“I was taken aback by the big picture vision that [the Board] gets to be a part of. I think that all those

micro-systems within a classroom -- between the student and the teacher, between the principal and the teacher, between the administrators and the Board -- are all essential parts of a really well-run district. I was called to the idea of giving a voice to health and wellness especially.”

Although Win believes the district effectively teaches physical education, she believes that it lacks curriculum that informs students about what is going on in their brains, and what resources coping mechanisms can be used to deal with related problems.

“We need to destigmatize the need for help by talking about it all the time. It needs to be just as important as academics.”

With a background in public health that will allow her to form big picture goals in the area of students’ mental health, and experience in social work that equips her with concrete actions that will help accomplish such goals, Win believes she is more than prepared to serve on the Board.

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the hug doctor Live in the moment and feel more connected to the community with Hug Therapy.

ALEXANDRA HAGEMEISTER | REPORTER

CLAYTON PARENT DR. STONE KRAUSHARR. PHOTO FROM KRAUSHAAR It all started four years ago in a hot spring in Wyoming when therapist, author, life coach and Clayton parent Dr. Stone Kraushaar gave a stranger a hug. His new novel, “Hug Therapy,” is a new kind of ‘feel-good book’. It focuses on men-

tal wellness, appreciation, joyfulness, connection and forgiveness.

Hug Therapy follows the Hug Doctor through his 21 day journey, and how everyone can take 21 days to improve themselves with hugs of all

kinds.

“It is a transformative experience. It’s letting people know that they can be more open about what they are dealing with to be more connected to the people around them. As much as therapy and medication are working, there is more that we can do,” Kraushaar said.

Hug therapy is not just about the benefits of people physically embracing each other, but the benefits of you embracing yourself, your life, and other people around you in an emotional way.

“When I see somebody, even doing something that might seem small, like an act of kindness, I see that as a hug,” Kraushaar said. “The book is all about doing those types of hugs.”

Self-appreciation is very important to Kraushaar. The 21 day journey focuses on the improvement of your life through what you want to improve, or “self hugs”.

Kraushaar said, “As you are aware that you are hugging yourself, you are more open to hugging others.”

Self-improvement is the building block of the 21 day journey. To focus on, and improve, details in your life that you are not happy with, things you want to change, or even new things you want to become better at.

Hug Therapy is also about living in the moment. Often students find themselves overwhelmed, dreading stepping into the classroom, and counting down the days until the weekend or the next break. Although it is human to look towards the future, the book teaches us that “we only have this moment”.

Students also can bring the 21 day hugging journey to our school. A class or a group of people could decide what they all care about and want to make a difference on for 21 days.

Kraushaar explained that everyone would have their own individual goals, but the community would also grow stronger and more connected as a result.

“Longer hugs are good for us from a physiological standpoint. There is some research to suggest that after 20 seconds, oxytocin is released.

So, having a longer hug with your friends and family helps us to slow down and be present, but if you have a really long hug, you can start to feel the benefits of it,” Kraushaar said. “You can feel that physiological reaction. It’s good for your stress response, your immune system, your sleep patterns, and blood pressure. It really comes back to being present. It reminds you to slow down and to give the people you love hugs because there are no guarantees of your next hug. It’s the balance of really appreciating this moment and to express things that we don’t normally say or aren’t easy to say.”

To find out more about the 21 day journey and to read “Hug Therapy,” you can find it on Amazon and select book stores around the St. Louis area.

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taylor edlin

For some, TikTok is a just another social media platform. But for others, it is a portal.

SIDDHI NARAYAN | PAGE EDITOR RACHEL LIANG | PAGE EDITOR

Clayton graduate Taylor Edlin, Class of 2017, has emerged as a TikTok star.

PHOTO FROM EDLIN When Clayton graduate Taylor Edlin, ‘17, was first approached on Instagram about an upcoming app called TikTok, he thought nothing of it. Even with an offer of being promoted and placed on the front page, he was unsure about joining the new platform.

“My friend said that he downloaded TikTok and just started posting a few videos of him singing, and he got like 300 to 500 views,” Edlin said.

Impressed by his friend’s success, Edlin decided to obtain his own taste of TikTok stardom.

He began posting videos of himself singing, just for fun. However, his TikTok career changed dramatically with his fifth video.

In just two hours, it had recieved approximately 20,000 views.

Following that video, Edlin continued to post more clips on the app, amassing hundreds of views. About three months in, he posted a video of himself singing “Dark Horse” by Katy Perry.

The video became an overnight sensation.

“It started doing well-- it got like 100,000 views in two hours. Then, James Charles commented on that video. Because of that, everybody

in the comments section started going crazy. The video skyrocketed to 1.2 million views after a day,” Edlin said.

Popular beauty influencer James Charles’ support brought much more attention to Edlin’s page, and multiple doors opened up for him. He has been asked to audition for America’s Got Talent as well as The Voice. He has also collaborated with some big names in the internet music industry, such as James Charles himself and Mitch Grassi.

“Collaborating with Mitch [Grassi] was amazing. He was my vocal idol when I was in middle school. I would watch [his] channel, “Superfruit,” all the time and try to imitate his voice,” Edlin said.

Edlin did not become a remarkable singer without practice. Since his childhood, Edlin has exhibited a love for music and performing. As a toddler, he would play songs on a keyboard in his room and later, when he was six, he auditioned and got a role in the Muny Outdoor Music Theater.

In addition to taking both singing and piano

lessons, Edlin had leading roles in many of Clayton High School’s plays and musicals before graduating in 2017. In college, Edlin was able to identify singing as his true passion.

“It wasn’t until I got to college where I was like okay,” Edlin said. “I was kind of over musical theater singing, I want to be singing pop and R&B.” Now a junior at the University of Southern California, Edlin is actively participating in music-related extracurriculars, including singing with their prestigious acapella group: the SoCal VoCals.

“They are the number one most winning acapella group in the country for the ICC, which is the competition in Pitch Perfect-- it’s a real thing.

I worked really hard to try to get into that group and I auditioned three times over four semesters.

Getting in gave me the confidence to actually start posting videos of myself singing,” Edlin said.

In addition to being an amazing singer, Edlin is on the pre-med path. He is currently majoring in health and human science and is in the process of making the decision of what he wants to do next. Given his fame on TikTok, Edlin believes that there may be opportunities for him to pursue a music career if he stays in California.

“I could potentially see myself doing music for my career choice, so right now I’m in a really sticky situation. My plan is to not go to medical school right after college. I think I want to stay in LA and see if I can get into the music scene as best as I can. I’ve already met a lot of really cool people because of TikTok,” Edlin said.

Edlin’s future is undetermined right now.

However, whatever he ends up doing, it will be for himself, and not for other people.

“It’s really important to do what you love, no matter what other people may think.”

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE

BY IVY REED, SOFIA ERLIN, DISHA CHATTERJEE, RUTHIE PIERSON, SIDDHI NARAYAN AND GRACE SNELLING WITH REPORTING BY MARGY MOONEY AND ELLA CUNEO

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G

G I F T E D? Photos by Eli Millner

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BACKGROUND Although gifted services in the Clayton School District have seen numerous variations over the past 10 years, 2017 marked a new phase in the program. About 70 percent of total gifted-identified students were actively enrolled in gifted courses. That year, there were so few black students that Missouri’s annual Gifted Students Report replaced the percentage with an asterisk.

Clearly, there were some problems to be addressed.

Around this same time, the soonto-be founders of Clayton Parents for Gifted Learners Jessica Del Pilar and Chris Win started to notice that the gifted program wasn’t quite what it looked like from the outside.

Each had children at Glenridge who seemed to be lacking the support that they needed and, when the two dug deeper into research on the social-emotional wellness of gifted children and state requirements for programs, they identified some serious shortcomings. Del Pilar felt that these gaps needed to be better understood in order for the district to formulate its next steps.

“As I was really struggling to figure out what [my child] needed at that moment, I came to understand that the program had changed from what it was intended to be and what the state required it to be,” Del Pilar said. “We started asking some very pointed questions about what was actually being delivered [by the program] and what we were being told it was.”

The district wasn’t blind to these issues either. As part of a two year self-study, it hired outside consultant Dr. Kimberley Chandler, Curriculum Director at the Center for Gifted Education at the College of William and Mary, to examine Clayton’s gifted services.

Her conclusions served as a wake-up call.

Chandler, in her official report from April 2017, found that the district lacked a “cohesive,

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coherent document to guide the development and implementation of curriculum for gifted learners,” as well as professional development for gifted teachers, a system to analyze program effectiveness, or a requirement for gifted specialists to meet national standards established by the NAGC and Council for Exceptional Children.

The report highlighted a “lack of clarity

regarding the program emphases.” And, echoing Del Pilar and Win’s concerns, it stated that “there is little evidence of optimal match between a student’s academic profile and the program offered to meet his/her needs.” Just as they had initially sensed, it seemed that the program no longer aligned with state requirements. More important-

ly, however, it had lost a real connection with the needs of gifted students. Changes needed to be made.

The report was part of a two-year self-study conducted by the District Gifted Committee, led by Coordinator of Gifted Education Sharon Slodounik and Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Dr. Milena Garganigo.

Although Soldounik and Garganigo, as well as many other administrators and district gifted specialists, were engaged in improving gifted services prior to 2017, this study was the first step towards something much more comprehensive.

To address Chandler’s concerns of insufficient training, unclear emphasis and variable curriculum, the district set out to make significant changes to the program, starting in 2018. In the spring of that year, a universal screener called the Naglieri Nonverbal Ability Test was implemented to prepare for identification in the fall.

Because this test is nonverbal, “it helps to eliminate any opportunities for language barriers, because it’s really looking at just mental processing skills,” said Meghan Margherio, the district’s gifted coordinator.

Whereas before, students were required to be recommended by a teacher or parent in order to take gifted testing, this new system allowed all students an equal opportunity to qualify. Thus, it was intended to help solve the issues of equity and subjectivity that had previously been subject of concern. The identification process was now focused on academic ability, MAP scores, grades and performance levels.

But the 2018-19 process backfired.

The process was “identifying kids who are high performers, but don’t necessarily have that brain that’s wired differently, and has those learning needs for gifted services,” according to Captain Elementary Gifted Specialist Laura Winkler.

It was also failing to meet the proposed goals of increasing diversity and making the identification process fairer.

“The intention was to be more inclusive, and it was more exclusive,” Del Pilar said.

111 students were identified as gifted that year. Three were African-American.

In July 2019, both Margherio and Assistant Superintendent of Student Services Robyn Wiens concluded in in a review that, “Students from underrepresented populations (racial/ethnic subgroups, students of low socioeconomic status, English learners, and twice exceptional students) did not have an equal opportunity for gifted identification. [And] there was a mismatch between the identification process and the services provided in the gifted classroom.”

Despite the universal screener and changes made to the identification process, the district was still under-identifying minorities. Wiens’ and Margherio’s review also found that the number of African-American students being identified for gifted services was below the Missouri Department for Elementary and Secondary Education’s encouraged 20% “equity index,” which means that the subgroup racial percentages of a district’s gifted program may show a +/- 20% discrepancy with overall district percentages.

The review found that only 4% of the gifted program is African American, compared to 15% of the district.

Confronted by this troubling outcome, Margherio, Wiens and the district decided to once again fine-tune the gifted curriculum and identification process, this time over the summer before the 2019-20 school year.

The universal screener is still used for every student in grades two and four, as well as any new students, but more students move on to further evaluation stages after the screener. This year, 30-40% of screened students were moved on to further evaluation, a much higher percentage compared to that of 2018.

“We widened the screener,” Margherio said.

“DESE (Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) [recommends] that we take the top 10-20% of students screened on for

further evaluation. We widened that a little bit more to take anywhere between 30 and 40%. Just so that we can make sure that we are looking at as many kids as possible and really trying to make sure that we catch anybody that might fall in the cracks.”

The identification process has also begun to exclude grades and standardized test scores, and focuses more on behavior, cognitive processing and creativity. The district has moved away from national norms to create local norms, comparing students with each other within the district instead of with their peers across the state.

Students from underrepresented subgroups are compared to each other, rather than their grades as a whole, to address the problems of inherent bias and inequity in the identification process. Identification no longer relies on students to advance past a number of gates (with one “failed” test meaning exclusion from consideration) and instead pools teacher feedback, assessments and a number of other considerations to come to an ultimate decision.

The district has worked to make the program more holistic. Margherio said that the gifted team is “making sure that we’re supporting kids on every level, not just academically or socially and emotionally, but really thinking about them from a holistic standpoint, all the way from how we identify to the services that we provide to their classroom experience.”

A shift in perspective to the idea of gifted

services as a learning need, a vertically aligned curriculum and a general recognition of implicit bias in the identification process have been among other reforms implemented.

This year, 125 students in grades two through eight were evaluated. Out of the 44 students who qualified, 12 were African-American.

Wiens is hopeful that the district will continue to see positive results as the gifted program

CHANDLER FOUND THAT THE DISTRICT LACKED A “COHESIVE, COHERENT DOCUMENT TO GUIDE THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF CURRICULUM FOR GIFTED LEARNERS.” evolves.

“When we talk about implicit bias, and when we think about systemic barriers that may be in place, either intentionally or unintentionally, it really makes you think critically about the process,” Wiens said. “And so that’s what our plan is this year [...] really rethinking where we’ve been and where we want to go.”

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Senior Abby Cooper grew up thinking that she would go to Metro High School in the St. Louis Public School District.

Cooper had attended a school for gifted students throughout elementary school. However, when her sister chose to attend CHS for more opportunities and better access to resources, she followed suit. On her first day, she walked into Wydown Middle School unsure of what to expect.

“I was really disappointed moving here,” Cooper said. “At my old school, I think we had a better curriculum. But the teachers weren’t as good. The content just pushed people to learn themselves.”

When Cooper got to Wydown, she was already more than a year ahead in math-- almost at a high school level. But communicating with the district was difficult at best, and Cooper ended up in the same math class as all of her peers. To compensate for the time she spent re-learning information in class, she was provided with extra sheets to do outside of schools. These were often finished within 10 minutes.

“They told me, ‘Sorry, we can give you extra worksheets each week to challenge you more. But if you want to join the gifted program, you have to drive to the high school every day.’ So I took two years of the same math classes that I already took. And then I just kind of kept on the same path [as everyone else],” Cooper said.

Without a direct opportunity to move ahead in math, Cooper was delayed on the same track as other honors middle school students. When she took honors geometry freshman year, friends from her old school were using the same textbook to furnish their eighth-grade math classes.

Transition to Clayton was hard, and because Cooper hadn’t tested into the gifted program as an elementary school student, she didn’t take Exploratorium in middle school. However, she still felt that there should’ve been more support for her as a gifted student in need of an accelerated curriculum.

I feel like a more solid gifted program would encourage students to take harder-level classes because I think a lot of people find that once they’re in them, it’s not that different from other classes. It’s just kind of faster-paced,” Cooper said.

Today, Cooper is a highly-driven student who has taken many honors and AP courses throughout high school. Although her middle school experience didn’t prevent her from excelling, she continues to feel that a greater infrastructure for

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gifted students at that age should be more accessible and apparent.

Senior Iman Jamison, however, was involved in the gifted program throughout elementary and middle school in the Clayton School District.

She initially tested into the program because she had been involved in the gifted program at her previous school.

“I was only thought of for the gifted program because of the school that I was at before Glenridge, Mark Twain Elementary,” Jamison said.

While she wasn’t especially impressed by the program at her elementary school, Glenridge, she enjoyed Exploratorium at Wydown.

“I loved Exploratorium way more than gifted. It was amazing because it was like a high school class, and it introduced me to that,” Jamison said.

While Jamison enjoyed the different aspects of the gifted program, one thing she noticed was the lack of diversity within her classes. Jamison was the only African American student in her gifted class at Glenridge, and only one more person joined her once she went to Wydown.

“It kind of frustrated me just a little because over time, I saw people that could’ve been in the gifted program. Especially because I didn’t see it as something measuring your academic level,” Jamison said.

Jamison believes that the lack of inclusivity and diversity in the gifted program correlates directly to the underrepresentation of those same groups in honors and AP classes at the high school.

“It’s hard to get on the path when you don’t start from the very beginning. You see that in classes here, if you’re on the honors track, you’re set, but if you’re not, it takes forever to get there,” Jamison said.

She believes that the lack of diversity within these programs stems from the system of gifted programs. If administrators address the root of the issue, she believes, the lack of inclusivity can be solved.

Junior Ella Ferguson tested into the gifted program on accident.

“They were supposed to have a different Ella take the test on that day, and they grabbed me instead… and then after that, every Monday, I went into the gifted teacher’s room, and we just

did projects and other things,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson enjoyed the unique learning opportunities the program provided her with. She was exposed to new concepts that pushed her out of her comfort zone. Because so much of the learning was independent, Ferguson remembers more of what she did in the gifted program than in her regular classes.

Although she did not enjoy the robotics units in the program, she felt there was enough flexibility that she was able to explore what she was interested in.

Once she moved up to Wydown, Ferguson continued in the gifted program by taking

“IT’S HARD TO GET ON THE PATH WHEN YOU DON’T START FROM THE VERY BEGINNING.” -IMAN JAMISON Exploratorium. She preferred Exploratorium’s heavier focus on problem-solving compared to the elementary school program. Additionally, she liked meeting every day instead of once a week.

Ferguson’s favorite parts of Exploratorium were the trips. Getting hands-on experience with her learning outside of the classroom helped her grow exponentially. “[The trips] were really fun because they were constant exposure to these concepts,” Ferguson said.

Although she loved the time she spent in the gifted program, Ferguson believes that the program should not continue into high school. She feels like honors and AP classes provide enough rigor to keep gifted students challenged.

VOICES “I don’t think it should continue into high school. You can get those same challenges from classes that we already offer… I think it would get too competitive for the same reason that we don’t have valedictorian or anything like that,” Ferguson said.

Eighth-grader Medha Narayan tested into the gifted program immediately after moving to Clayton in fourth grade. Her parents recommended her to take the test because they believed the program would help her to grow as a learner.

During the weekly pull-out sessions, Narayan and her gifted classmates would work on weekly projects separate from the materials they learned in their regular classes.

Narayan continued on the gifted path at Wydown by taking Exploratorium. Right away, she noticed the slower, more comprehensive pace of Exploratorium projects.

“The gifted program is definitely a building base and it went by a lot quicker. We didn’t spend as long on each project. Right now [Exploratorium is] more independent. And there’s a lot of research about topics that you’re interested,” Narayan said.

The extended time provided for Exploratorium work allows the students to study topics that interest them in-depth. Even more so than in elementary school, Exploratorium allows for choice, which Narayan appreciates.

Because students can study whatever they like, Narayan does not see why the program is not open to more students. She believes that if students are motivated to complete the projects, they can thrive in the class.

“Based on what I know about the students that I am around in my regular classes, all of them are very capable of exploring what they’re interested in. They’re just not given the opportunity to because of the way the test is strategized. There’s a feeling that if you’re not academically strong, then there’s no point to even try to do it,” Narayan said.

Narayan also feels as though the word ‘gifted’ misrepresents the program. It causes students to associate the program with academic success instead of extended learning. She believes that the name Exploratorium better describes the program since it is all about research and self-directed education.

Lucas Ruan, a current fourth-grader at Meramec Elementary School, transferred from the Rockwood School District last year. Ruan was involved in the gifted program there, so when

he came to Clayton his parents submitted his previous test scores to have him considered for Meramec’s gifted program.

After getting accepted into the program, Ruan began attending the weekly pull-out classes. He feels like the logic and reasoning skills they work on in the program help him find different ways to approach problems, which helps him in school.

Currently, in his gifted class, Ruan is working on two projects: a passion project, and a PBL, or Project Based Learning. Through these two projects, Ruan is able to explore his interests, as well as learn about issues in the world.

Being in the gifted program has helped Ruan find a community at his new school.

“I like the hands-on activities the teamwork activities… It creates a better bond with all the people in the class. So I can make friends and we can get to know each other better,” Ruan said.

However, while the gifted program is helpful for the people who are able to participate in it, it can create a divide between them and those who are barred from the program.

Junior Leo Thomas, who was not in the program, sometimes felt separated from his ‘gifted’ peers.

“The gifted kids would talk to each other about the gifted things. And, you know, I would think, ‘Oh wow, that’s really cool. I wish I was in that,” Thomas said.

Thomas was often envious of the content his peers were learning in the gifted program.

“They were being taught these kinds of things that were really interesting and creative, and unlike anything we were studying in regular school.

I was also jealous that I didn’t get to work with that stuff - to study these interesting problems, these current events that actually interested me,”

Thomas said.

In addition to missing out on content, Thomas thinks that the title - the ‘Gifted Program’- fueled his envy.

“In middle school, when my self-esteem was not great, it was a big factor in what I thought of myself. Honestly do not call it the gifted program-- that will go to kids heads,” Thomas said.

Thomas believes that the content being taught in the gifted program should not be exclusive to a certain group of students. He believes that the material could interest students who are otherwise

indifferent to regular school.

“They connected material to the real world a lot. And when you do connect, at least for me, I find it so much more interesting. I think those things, those studies, should be an option for every kid,” Thomas said.

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faces of G I F T E DG I F T E D 26

Top Row (Left to right): Alexander Pompian, Neleh Hopper, Adam Jaffe Bottom Row: Zoey Hall, Ella Ferguson, Iman Jamison

PSYCHOLOGY

Jaffe

Many have heard the term “gifted child.” Some may even have been labeled as one. But how many truly understand what it entails?

“It’s not necessarily about how smart a child is. It’s just about how their brain is wired,” gifted counselor Amanda Moeller said.

A gifted child is generally defined as anyone who has a naturally high level of mental ability or extraordinary ability in any specific area of activity or knowledge.

“Giftedness is a product of the interaction of native ability and life experiences. If a child has a native ability, his environment determines the use he makes of his gifts and special talents,” Ruth Strang, a previous psychologist at Columbia University, wrote in a 1954 journal article.

Most psychologists agree that there are differences beyond intelligence between gifted children and others. Lewis Terman observed 1,500 gifted children in a 1921 study, finding a greater drive to achieve, greater mental and social adjustment, and high sensitivity to issues such as boredom or rejection from peers. The exceptional abilities often possessed by gifted children can be associated with certain issues.

One idea sometimes believed to be a result of gifted programs is the idea of “gifted child burnout,” popularized through viral memes chronicling aspects of a gifted child burnout identity. However, previous gifted education teacher and current gifted counselor Emily Kircher-Morris believes that gifted programs are much more of a positive experience rather than a contributor to any symptoms of burnout.

“What I see more often is kids who get to high school, for example, and they feel a lot of pressure to take a lot of AP classes or honors classes at the expense of self-care because they feel like they should do it or people say, ‘Oh, you’re so smart so you should do this.’ I see that causing a lot of stress and burnout at the high school level, but not necessarily associated with participation in a program when they were younger. Most often the kids, teens and adults who I work with have positive memories and experiences of being in those programs when they were kids, because it was kind of the one place that they could generally go and be challenged and work at a quicker pace, whereas in the general ed classroom, that wasn’t such a great fit,” Morris said.

Still, Moeller sees issues with anxiety and perfectionism in gifted children. In her experience,

study skills tend to be one lacking aspect in gifted children, as some of them were never challenged in their general classrooms and do not know how to truly study when faced with the obstacle later in life. She noted that college students often come to her for help with these problems, as they have not been truly challenged until college and now are beginning to struggle. Other issues she notices are cases of “impostor syndrome,” children in disbelief or confusion about their special talents.

Both counselors attend to “twice-exceptional” children, those who are gifted but have an additional diagnosis, such as ADHD, Asperger’s, dyslexia and others. Moeller explains that with

high IQ children, you’re more likely to see secondary diagnoses. This can lead to one aspect of the individual overpowering the other, such as the giftedness masking their struggles, or vice versa.

“So you might have a child who is gifted with ADHD, and they’re so bright they get by.

But then when their ADHD symptoms appear, people think that they’re just being lazy or they’re unmotivated when really they’re not. There’s another diagnosis there that needs to be supported.

The flipside of that is that you might have the ADHD symptoms that are more prevalent, so they mask the giftedness. Then the kids don’t get

27

the challenge and the strengths-based instruction that they need for their cognitive ability, because people only see the ADHD characteristics,” Kircher-Morris said.

Today, several schools have implemented some form of a gifted program to educate these children in ways that best serve their needs.

Implementing certain ideas, such as a social-emotional learning aspect to the program, proves beneficial. Psychologists generally agree that the environmental pressures gifted children face differ from their peers.

“Gifted kids have very intense emotions…

They need to have a place where they can talk through those emotions, especially when things get overwhelming,” Moeller said.

Kicher-Morris believes it’s important to educate gifted children on how to navigate friendships, perfectionism, handle the pressure of believing they have to “measure up” and manage the competitive nature of upper-level classes. Twice-exceptional kids also receive greater social and emotional benefits from these programs.

Both counselors have ideas on how gifted programs can improve to better serve their intended purpose. Moeller suggests a strong emphasis on encouraging students to focus on their interests and delve deeper, especially with project-based learning and components of group work.

She wants programs to shift away from an overview of generic concepts to a much more challenging curriculum that teaches gifted children the study skills they will need to utilize later in life. Kircher-Morris hopes gifted programs will also refine their programs based on their identification criteria.

“The bottom line is that schools are limited based on what the state regulations and recommendations are as well as what they’re able to do,” Morris said. “I would say a gifted program should match the identification process for how they’re identifying their gifted students. So if, for example, a student is going to be placed in a highly academic, rigorous, gifted program, meaning that there is a lot of researching and writing, perhaps higher level math types of things that they’re doing in the gifted program, then the identification process should include achievement measures that that look at those things. Some programs are more based on critical thinking and problem solving, and so those might be a little bit more related to some other types of measures that look at creativity, problem solving, perhaps IQ.”

LOOKING

2016

district gifted committee begins 2 year self-study self-study calls for focus groups and written surveys for those involved in the program

2017

outside consultant finds that the district lacks a cohesive gifted program district asks gifted teachers to modify curriculum

2018

district begins using a universal screener

2019

results show that screener limits diversity in program changes made to Fall 2019 screening process result in improvements in equity

28

FORWARD

You might remember the day you took the gifted test. You were probably pulled out of class for tests that measured your nonverbal, quantitative, and verbal ability, IQ, problem-solving skills, divergent thinking using verbal and non-verbal stimuli, cognitive processing-- or, like most Clayton students, you just remember there were blocks involved.

“It wasn’t even a math test or English test. It’s just a puzzle with these weird blocks,” Jamison said.

Mohr was similarly bewildered.

“They came in, and they’re like, build with blocks, and what are tires made out of?” Mohr said.

There is a general sense of confusion about how the gifted identification process works and how the district defines giftedness, even among students who were in the program and spent elementary school meeting with a gifted specialist twice a week. This was the experience of many current high schoolers and middle schoolers in the gifted program. However, according to Clayton Superintendent Sean Doherty, “students aren’t just gifted on Tuesdays and Thursdays when they go to the gifted classroom.” Going forward, the district is tackling a new challenge: supporting gifted students throughout the school day.

To begin with, recent changes to the gifted identification process and curriculum have brought with them a new understanding and dialogue around the variable idea of giftedness.

“It’s not about academic achievement, and it’s not about learning extra math,” Win said. “[...] We do think that there’s a reason for some students to be accelerated in certain areas, but the system is not set up to automatically do that.

Some kids will have a lot of challenges in their social emotional world, and will need to focus on that, whereas other students may not have as many of those challenges. I think the more individualized our program can be, to meet these individualized needs, because it’s not the same for every kid, the better off we’ll be.”

The idea that giftedness is synonymous with being conventionally “smart” is a misconception that has generated an attitude of exclusiveness and pressure to be high-performing around those who have tested into the program in the past.

“I think what happens sometimes for our

students in the gifted program is that we put unintentional pressure on some students,” Doherty said. “It becomes about the intelligence, and it’s like, ‘You’re smart, you’re in the gifted program, why aren’t you getting it?’ or, ‘You made a mistake at this? I thought you were gifted.’ There is so much pressure on a student when they have that, and they’re afraid to make a mistake. Or sometimes they feel like they have to be perfect. We are learning so much about that social-emotional aspect of being gifted, and we have to make sure the students know how to grapple with really difficult things and be vulnerable enough to say when they don’t know something. They’re not gifted in everything, some students are really gifted in certain areas.”

Both Win and Del Pilar agreed that pressures on gifted students to excel in all areas have caused the original meaning of giftedness to be lost.

Typically, the term “gifted” is used to describe a person who has an unusual ability in a certain area, such as athletics or music. But the expectation that a student should be unusually skilled in all areas can be damaging over time, especially considering that asynchronicity, or heightened performance in one area and deficiencies in others, is, according to Margherio, “a hallmark of giftedness.”

There is a high level of pressure put on gifted students to excel, but there are also students who go unnoticed because they don’t exhibit what are commonly recognized as gifted characteristics. Not all gifted students are academically successful.

“You can do really well academically and also be intellectually gifted, where your brain is just wired in this different way-- you feel things deeply, you think deeply. You just have this different way of experiencing the world. But you can also be that way without having academic success,” Winkler said.

This year, the district has tried to shift away from an academically-focused identification process and is stressing the the idea of gifted services as a learning need instead of a privilege for students with high IQs.

But some things still need to be fixed. The stress placed on gifted students remains very real, and these stressors are apt to compound over time.

When gifted students reach the high school level, a drive for overachievement can lead to enrollment in the maximum number of honors and AP classes available, regardless of whether or not those classes play to the individual’s strengths.

Going forward, the district hopes to continue restructuring the program in a way that best supports gifted students in all areas.

“With the realignment in the program, the

support for high school students. Additionally, Doherty has been working with other administrators to answer the core question, “How do we provide an equitable and personalized learning experience for students?” He feels that a more individualized style of teaching may help to address the problems that gifted students face as they advance through Clayton; namely the prevalence of unhealthy levels of stress and anxiety.

“What are the things that we have in place right now that are inadvertently causing students undue stress? Or not allowing them to have choice and voice in what they’re learning? We are looking at a schedule that might allow students time to take a breath. We added Greyhound Time, and I love that, but I also think, ‘What could we do more systematically?’ That’s really hard. One thing about our district is that we are very high-performing, so when we look at changes, people might ask why we would change if we’re doing so well.

But the underlying issue is that we have students who are extremely stressed or staying up all night. Those are the unseen consequences that we need to look at,” Doherty said.

Although the future of the program is not yet certain, the district has made an evident commitment to its improvement. It may take years for a large change to be seen in the attitudes and ideas centered around giftedness, which have become deeply ingrained in Clayton’s culture. But important steps have been taken this year, encouraging gifted specialists, administrative staff and classroom teachers alike to understand the importance and unique challenges of supporting gifted learners. Del Pilar sees these shifts as an important tool to empower students.

“I think it’s important to find the places where you feel growth and support,” Del Pilar said.“Where you soar.”

In the coming years, the district hopes to do just that-- help all gifted individuals find learning environments where they can soar.

“YOUR BRAIN IS JUST WIRED IN THIS DIFFERENT WAY--- YOU FEEL THINGS DEEPLY, YOU THINK DEEPLY. YOU JUST HAVE THIS DIFFERENT WAY OF EXPERIENCING THE WORLD.” -LAURA WINKLER team will be able to really focus on some of those skills [...] around the perfectionism, the fear of failure, a lot of these SEL (social emotional learning) skills that we know are really important for students who have gifted characteristics,” Wiens said.

Wiens and Margherio see a future in which further professional development and gifted counseling begin to provide more structured

29

30 GIRLS’ SOCCER Players to watch: Regan Wade Lauren Wolff Sara Litteken

2018-2019 Record: 11-8

BOYS’ TENNIS Players to watch:

COED WATER POLO Players to watch:

Leo Singer David Tishler Erik Tomasson

Blair McCoy Borna Dianati Pablo Buitrago

2018-2019 Record:

2018-2019 Record:

9-4

13-12

Goal:

Goal:

To win districts and beat Ladue again.

To make the state tournament.

Goal:

To set up underclassmen for success and rebuild the water polo legacy.

Photos from Globe Archive

SPRING SPORTS PREVIEW

JIMMY MALONE | SPORTS SECTION EDITOR CECE COHEN | BREAKING NEWS EDITOR

31 GIRLS’ TRACK & FIELD Players to watch: Khaylie Ross Sophie Thompson Kim Cheng

2018-2019 Record: N/A

Goal: To qualify more runners to state.

BOYS’ TRACK & FIELD Players to watch: Noah Boyeink Emilio Rosas-Linhard Liam Mitchell

2018-2019 Record: N/A

Goal: To qualify more runners to state.

BOYS’ BASEBALL Players to watch:

BOYS’ GOLF Players to watch:

Leo Goodfriend Ty Sucher Will Laakko

Nolan Waites Eitan Fredman Jeremy Schmidt

Rivalary Schedule

2018-2019 Record:

2018-2019 Record:

13-14

N/A

Girls’ Soccer: 4/21 4:15 vs. Ladue

Goal:

Goal:

To win the district and beat Westminster.

To improve on their record from last year and send players to the state tournament.

GIRLS’ LACROSSE Players to watch:

BOYS’ LACROSSE Players to watch:

Bridget Walsh Annika Sandquist Paige Rawitcher

Hutton Murdoch Nick Pompian Peter Humphreys

Girls’ Lacrosse: 4/8 7:00 @ Ladue Boys’ Baseball: 5/2 2:00 vs. Ladue Boys’ Tennis: 4/21 4:15 vs. Ladue Boys’ Lacrosse: 5/1 Time: TBD @ Ladue Coed Waterpolo: 5/5 5:30 vs. Ladue

2018-2019 Record:

2018-2019 Record:

10-3

6-8

Goal:

Goal:

To work together as a team and improve their record.

To win the state championship.

free tickets*

YO performs

symphonic

dances

march 15 Sunday at 3:00pm

Stéphane Denève, conductor Gemma New, conductor Anna Zhong, violin DUKAS The Sorcerer’s Apprentice SIBELIUS Violin Concerto in D minor RACHMANINOFF Symphonic Dances presented by Ameren and Kathleen Clucas; supported by ESCO Technologies Foundation and the G.A., Jr. and Kathryn M. Buder Charitable Foundation *free tickets available on the orchestra level; dress circle and grand circle seating is $10. a $1/ticket handling fee applies to all tickets.

20/21 audition applications accepted until march 27

slso.org/youthorchestra 314-534-1700

33

npr annual book concierge Don’t know what book to read next? Let NPR help you.

EMMA BAUM | REPORTER

NPR’s Book Concierge features 350+ new recommendations handpicked by staff and critics. NPR. There is a light sprinkling of snow outside your window. For the first time all week, you have a few hours to just relax. You can see it now: the two hour Yule Log on Youtube crackling away. A cocoon of blankets surrounding you. A warm mug of hot chocolate in hand. And a good book. Except, if you are like me, this is where the dream starts to falter. What this perfect picture assumes is that there is already a good book waiting for you. And while this might sometimes be the case, you don’t want to miss out on the perfect reading afternoon because you are scrambling to find something that deserves being included in your wintry paradise.

The sheer amount of books available can leave you searching endlessly for the perfect pick.

The time you have to sit back and enjoy a book is limited as it is, and usually, you end up spending most of that time trying to find a book that is worth your precious hours. The same six books (which you’ve already read) are featured on all of the ‘Best Books of the Year’ lists and library displays. You become convinced that you’ve finally done it. You’ve read all of the good books ever written. So what now?

This is where the NPR Book Concierge is a little different than most literary recommendations. It’s not a friend or well-meaning librarian

trying to vaguely guess what it is you really want in a book. It’s science, plain and simple. And you control it.

When it first launched in 2013, the NPR Book Concierge featured 205 of the year’s best books, as selected by NPR staff and book critic acquaintances. Staples of the year, such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “Americanah,” are, as in most lists from 2013, included.

What you might not find anywhere else, though, is everything from under-the-radar to bestseller, romance to thriller, picture book to biography.

An aspect of the Concierge almost entirely unique among other prestigious organizations is its inclusion of Young Adult (YA) literature in the recommendations. Technically first introduced in the 1960s with the publication of S.E. Hinton’s “The Outsiders,” the genre has spent the last five and a half decades struggling to gain recognition as a full-fleshed literary category.

An estimated 30,000 Young Adult books are published every year. Despite this, The New York Times did not list any Young Adult books in their 100 Notable Books of 2013, and they have yet to do so. The Book Concierge’s addition of Young Adult literature invites teenagers into the circle of those on a mission to find their next

great read.

On Dec. 3, 2019, NPR published the 7th annual edition of the Book Concierge. 369 books for all ages and interests were selected for this year’s list, and sorted by 33 different tags. These tags, which have been a part of the service since the beginning, are the piece of the Book Concierge that makes it so special. By clicking on the tags that interest you, the suggestions are filtered to meet your exact requests.

Say, for instance, you selected the tags Ladies First, Seriously Great Writing, and Young Adult.

For this particular combination of tags, your suggestions are then narrowed down to the three books that meet all three criteria. Upon receiving these hand-picked suggestions, you can click on the books for a summary written by a book critic or NPR staff member, specifically for the program.

The NPR Book Concierge is by no means the perfect fit for every reader, and there are plenty of other resources that offer excellent suggestions.

However, the next time you find yourself in need of a good book to accompany a snowy afternoon, consider checking out the NPR Book Concierge.

You never know what you might find.

34

a new union station Discover an variety of activities at the revitalized Union Station.

ELLA CUNEO | PHOTO EDITOR ALEXANDRA HAGEMEISTER, MAX HAGEMEISTER, MORIAH LOTSOFF | REPORTERS

BACKGROUND Imagine it is 1904, and you are exiting out of your train and walking into a gorgeous 65 foot tall cathedral-like station. Emerald tiles line the walls, and fabulous Tiffany chandeliers sparkle like the sun. This is the biggest building you have ever been in. The excitement and buzz from the World’s Fair surrounds you. There is energy and life all over. Then, it’s 1978. As you walk unto the last train to ever leave Union Station, you look behind yourself. The classic green tiles are worn and the chandlers are burnt out. By the 1980’s, the once-glamorous station had deteriorated significantly. It was turned into a mall and has not been revitalized since.

The St. Louis Union Station was built in the 1870s and was one of the busiest train terminals in the United States.

New renovations are revitalizing the station’s former glory. The Union Station renovation is a massive project- a 498,762 square foot one to be exact. The cost of the project comes to a whopping total of $160 million, of which $45 million will be spent on the new aquarium. But where did this huge sum of money come from? $26.5 million were funded by Enterprise Bank & Trust and Great Southern Bank, and the remainder of $18.5 million were raised by tax increment financing. In just the aquarium alone, one million visitors annually are expected to visit. According to the Lodging Hospitality Management, the owner of the St. Louis Union Station claims that the construction of the aquarium will create 500 jobs and 100 permanent jobs in the aquarium afterwards. The hotel in Union Station is being renovated as well. The Union Station Hotel is now a part of the Hilton’s Curio Collection; a unique series of hotels for travelers looking for a local experience wherever they are. With a cost of $50 million, inside the gorgeous 65 foot tall grand hall, there is going to be a laser light show every night, a fudgery, a 1950’s themed soda fountain, and an $8 million candy emporium replacing the old Hard Rock Cafe. The main question we

Union Station bustling with life in 1894, helping St. Louis residents reach their destinations. are asking is: is it worth it? So far, the answer is not easy to discern. The time that has passed proves that people are excited about the renovations, and are looking forward to the end of construction. But it is unknown if, or when, Union Station will start to make a profit after replenishing millions spent on the project. Money aside, the Union Station makes a terrific expansion to the St. Louis experience and skyline, and will prove to the world that St. Louis is a city like no other.

THE WHEEL This new addition to the St. Louis skyline has created a recreational hub for many St. Louis residents. The exquisite Ferris Wheel with 42-gondolas stands 200 ft tall in the heart of the city. While hitting the peak height of the ride, you can overlook the surrounding downtown buildings. The ride includes three rotations, which takes around 15 minutes. Since its lighting varies, it provides a perfect picture spot for all.

The sight is only $15 for adults and teenagers and $10 for children. It is operational every day of the year and each gondola, seating up to six adults, is climate controlled to 72 degrees. This feature makes the Wheel a top destination regardless of weather conditions. The Wheel also offers special bookings such as wedding parties, gender revels and much more. It pays homage to the original St. Louis Ferris Wheel in the 1904 World’s Fair.

The downside is the wait is around 45 minutes on a busy weekend. However, the view makes the wait more than worth it. The wheel boasts amazing light fixtures, which allows workers to change the color and design of the wheel into over 16 million different patterns. While in the air, you can see the stunning St. Louis skyline, boats floating along the Mississippi river, and the Arch. The Wheel provides a unique view of St. Louis that you can not get anywhere else.

Photos and art by Ella Cuneo

35 THE ROPES COURSE When you walk into the breathtakingly large main room of union station, you are overwhelmed with noise and excitement. Kids waiting in line for the aquarium, people waiting in lines, but, most shockingly, people soaring 50 feet over your heads. The St. Louis Union Station Ropes Course is a three story ropes course with a variety of obstacles similar to that of “American Ninja Warrior.”

As your heart is racing, you can attempt to balance across a beam, using ropes to guide your hands. With over 90,000 cubic-feet and 30

obstacles worth of climbing space, one truly gets their money’s worth when planning to go to the course. For $15, you get 30 minutes worth of climbing time.

There is also a mini course designed for young kids under 48 inches. The SkyTikes course is only $5 for 30 minutes and is a great way to entertain your kids on a rainy day. Mother Maggie Gentzen took her daughter, Reid Gentzen, to the SkyTikes course. “[Reid] had a blast! It was amazing because they were able to be independent and go their

own way,” Gentzen said.

The course is open from 10am-10pm with the last ticket being sold at 9 pm. If planning, be sure to get there soon after it opens or it could be up to a two hour wait. If you are feeling really brave you can attempt the SkyRailTM. The SkyRailTM is a 100 foot long zipline that soars 50 feet above the lobby of Union Station. To go on the course you are strapped into a harness that you pull along a track with you as you test your limits climbing.

THE AQUARIUM Located inside Union Station, the new Aquarium features an interactive and kid-friendly atmosphere, while still being interesting for older folks. Patrons walk into a large room located in the part of Union Station where shops used to be. There is a ropes course overhead and several other attractions. The lines are well organized so that the season ticket holders are separated from those who bought tickets for one-time admission.

The one-time admissions are also separated based on the time that you arrive.

Although at the time of my visit the lines were incredibly overcrowded, they moved surprisingly quickly and we were admitted before our time slot. As we walked in, employees handed us keycards which could be scanned throughout the Aquarium to learn interesting facts about the attractions and play fun mini-games including “what sea animal are you?”.

Once inside the Aquarium, it is clear how big of an addition this will be to the St. Louis tourism scene. All around us, vibrant marine life swam in the fish tanks across the walls. The blue and green lights which shone

above us and projected fish onto the ceiling gave the large entry room a very magical and “under the sea” vibe. Patrons are led into a room decorated to look like a train and equipped with wall to wall screens to see a brief movie of the history behind the aquarium. Next they are led out of the room and into the main section of the Aquarium.

There are actually six separate galleries. After guests travel through the first floor of mostly visual displays, they move upstairs to see several exhibits of marine life that they can touch. The tanks which spread across the second floor contain lobsters, stingrays, turtles, and several other aquarius life. There are also sharks visible from several angles in their tanks; however, visitors are not permitted to touch them. On a far wall, Lord Stanley, the rare, one in two mil-

lion blue lobster, which was donated to St. Louis after the Stanley Cup win last year is housed in his tank.

The new STL Aquarium is not your typical old fashioned aquarium, but a modern display of hands on exhibits and models. As guests leave the aquarium through the gift shop, they can put their key cards in a slot dedicated to an Eco-friendly statement such as “recycle” or “save the oceans.” They can also purchase t-shirts and adorable stuffed marine animals.

The cost is: $25, $18 for ages 3-12; annual passes available. For more information, people can call 314-923-3900. The aquarium is open 10 am-6 pm Sunday-Thursday and 10 am-9 pm Friday-Saturday.

After leaving the aquarium you can walk out and see fire flaming from the artificial lily pads in the pond outside. The fire corresponds with popular music including the song of the Blues,“Gloria.” Overall, the St. Louis Aquarium, and Union Station in general, are a great place for family fun, a friends’ night out, or date night.

From left to right; jellyfish swimming in an enclosure, two kids in a viewing hole looing into a tank at the aqaurium, a school of fish in an enclosure.

36

mike’s hot dogs Reviewing an unknown gem in St. Louis’ lunch scene.

MARGY MOONEY | PAGE EDITOR

Featured food at Mike’s Hot Dogs, Soups and Sandwiches PHOTO FROM MIKE’S HOT DOGS of the sport peppers, and the bacon and provel When you walk into Mike’s Hot Dogs Soups real specialty is their sandwiches. The Club add a salty touch, making it truly one the best & Sandwiches in University City, the first thing Sandwich is everything the perfect club sandwich hot dogs I have ever eaten. If you are feeling you notice is the bright red walls. Decorated with should be. Turkey, black forest ham, bacon, provel black and white photos and constantly playing more adventurous, you can try the Volcano hot and jack cheese, lettuce, tomato and jalapeño aioli a blues soundtrack, the place has an old-school dog, which features hot sauce, peppered bacon, are sandwiched between toasted sourdough. chopped onions, jalapeños, sport peppers and feel. With a name like Mike’s Hot Dogs Soups Not to be missed is the Cuban, which is argu& Sandwiches, one might ably the best Cuban sandwich expect to find a basic hot dog, in St. Louis. Juicy pulled pork, sandwiches, some sides and black forest ham, jack cheese, At Mike’s, nothing is overdone. While many maybe a burger. However, not barbecue sauce, spicy mustard, only does Mike’s sell gourmet and a dill pickle are stuffed flavor combinations are unique, they all hot dogs that are anything but a buttery brioche bun. highlight the taste of the hot dog. Everything inside simple, they also make some The sandwich is perfection. of the best sandwiches, soups is no-frills, quality food at reasonable prices. Nothing is overpowering, and and salads St. Louis has to offer. while the pickles and mustard Although they have only been are distinct, they still let the celery salt. It is topped with a slice of seared open for less than two years, Mike’s is sure to flavor of the pork shine. pineapple. The Volcano lives up to its name as it become a St. Louis classic.

At Mike’s, nothing is overdone. While many is quite spicy, but the sweet pineapple offsets the With 11 hot dogs to choose from, it can be flavor combinations are unique, they all highlight difficult to pick. However, the St. Louis hot dog heat. It is equally as good as the St. Louis hot dog, the taste of the hot dog. Everything is no-frills, seemed to be a good bet. Perhaps the foundation and I would recommend it to anyone looking for quality food at reasonable prices. The most something less traditional. Other highlights are of the menu, the St. Louis hotdog is the mission expensive hot dog is $7, and sandwiches typically the Polish Sausage, dressed with sauerkraut, hot statement of the restaurant in a bite. Loaded run from $7 to $9. If you want to find a delicious, brown mustard, sweet caramelized onions, and with bacon, caramelized onions, tomatoes, sport reasonably priced meal, Mike’s Hot Dogs Soups & crunchy russet potatoes, or a classic bratwurst peppers, provel and celery salt, it is the star of Sandwiches is your go-to spot. the menu. The caramelized onions provide a with mustard and sauerkraut. sweetness which is balanced by the spiciness While their hot dogs are incredible, Mike’s

37

parasite A review of the award-winning movie that has grabbed everyone’s attention.

ASHLEY CHUNG | SENIOR MANAGING EDITOR

Bong Joon Ho, winner of the director Oscar and international feature Oscar for “Parasite” at the Academy Awards Governors Ball on Sunday, February 9, 2020 at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, CA. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) In a few words, “Parasite” can be described as a wild ride. Quite possibly one of the best movies I have ever watched, “Parasite” left me thoroughly shocked and unsettled.

“Parasite” was directed by Bong Joon-ho and starred Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Woo-shik and Park So-dam.

Premiering at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, the film went on to win the Palme d’Or by unanimous vote, the first time in six years. It was also the first Korean film to win the award. Recently, the film also won four Academy Awards, making history as the first foreign language film ever to win Best Picture in the 92 years of Oscars.

Set in Korea, the movie follows a family living in poverty and their latching on to a wealthy family. Kim Ki-woo fakes his credentials as a college student and becomes an English tutor for the daughter of the Parks. Slowly, Ki-woo’s sister and parents begin to trick the Park family and

work for them as an art therapist tutor, driver and housekeeper.

The plot of “Parasite” was a literal jaw dropper.

Wikipedia categorized the film as both black comedy and thriller, and the film fully fulfills both genres at the same time. Although there are a number of twists and scares within the movie, the film’s biggest tension comes from wondering if the Kims will be caught in their trick.

Furthermore, the subtle details of “Parasite” expand the depth of the film. In the opening scene, the Kims, who reside in a shabby half-basement, keep their windows open while the streets are being fumigated in order to get “free extermination.” This strange but understandable action might be justified; however, the family is working to put together pizza boxes, which are distributed to others outside their family. The message is clear: small actions driven by your own desires can end up harming many others.

Though all these aspects added to the movie, the most awe-inspiring parts of “Parasite” were the themes that emerged. The film highlights the class divide in South Korea, which is a topic that societies all over the world can relate to.

The Kims, who are in the bottom percentage of society, figuratively and literally live beneath the Parks, who are a part of the wealthy upper class.

The Kim family, among others, spend the movie attempting to climb the stairs to riches and success. “Parasite” is a movie that you will ponder for days after. There are many parts of the film that I would like to discuss; however, they would provide spoilers to hopeful viewers.

Overall, “Parasite” was an exciting movie that kept me on the edge of my seat. While the movie is definitely not for everyone, I would recommend “Parasite” to those looking for a thought prevoking thriller.

38

OPINION

coronavirus controversy With a wave of panic incited upon the outbreak of coronavirus, stigma has swiftly surrounded the Asian community. Is the worry of coronavirus justified?

KAITLYN TRAN | NEWS SECTION EDITOR YIYUN XU | COPY EDITOR viral genetic information to swap and generate a new virus that could then make its transition into humans,” Bergeron said.

On Feb. 7, a report from Xinhua News Agency stated that researchers at South China Agricultural University discovered a strand of virus in pangolins that is 99% similar to COVID-19. While this finding is not definitive, it suggests that the virus was not transmitted from bats to humans by consumption.

Coronavirus remains most prominent in the nation where the virus was first identified, China, leading to the association of coronavirus as a ‘Chinese disease’ and widespread stigma surrounding the immigrant Asian community. Sucher-O’Grady accounted this to the defense system that some A controversial new virus is affecting people around the world. individuals immediately resort to.

ALFRED PASIEKA | SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY “They try to come up with reasons to psychologically protect themselves. In this case, I think “Unfortunately, anytime people are scared dying off, which Sucher-O’Grady says allows the they’re trying to blame the virus on China for for their health and the health of their families, virus to become more virulent and dangerous to Chinese people,” Sucher-O’Grady said. they try to find somebody to blame. They try to humans or some animals.

Through her career in the medical field, separate us versus them,” said Lauren SuchWhile COVID-19 is very infectious, it is she has been firsthand exposed to the mayhem er-O’Grady, an emergency physician at Mercy still a virus like the flu, which means that the prompted by the coronavirus scare.

Hospital. principal mode of transmission is by respiratory “You’ve got this subset of people who think if In three months, the coronavirus has incited droplets, which could be produced by sneezing they’ve interacted with what they presume to be a global chaos, with infections doubling every four and coughing. Similar to the SARS outbreak back Chinese person or any Asian person, that they are days and Wuhan left under government lockin 2003, bats have been commonly believed to at risk of contracting this virus. This virus is not down. Despite the World Health Organization be the original host for the virus. However, new in Asian people… and so it doesn’t make much (WHO) announcing sense. Being around Asian people is that a vaccine could obviously not going to give you this “They try to come up with reasons to protect be developed in 18 cold,” Sucher-O’Grady said. months, the mass Sucher-O’Grady also listed themselves pyschologically. In this case, I think commotion surinstances of patients visiting the they’re trying to blame the virus on China or rounding coronavirus hospital and requesting tests for has continued to coronavirus, despite not exhibiting Chinese people.” ensue in the present. symptoms, simply due to the worry - Dr. Lauren Sucher-O’Grady The 2019 Novel about contracting the virus.

Coronavirus, officially Unfortunately, the coronavirus titled COVID-19, is a newly mutated strain studies suspect pangolins to be the intermediate panic is not only prevalent in the form of unwarof coronavirus that has caused an outbreak of host between bats and humans. ranted fear of contraction, the Chinese commurespiratory illness.

AP Biology teacher Adam Bergeron weighed nity, and more broadly the Asian community, has “Coronavirus is an extremely common viral in on the biological aspect behind the transmisbeen painted as the link for this disease. illness that causes the common cold. There are sion.

“I think probably the silliest things we’ve heard several strains of it that circulate at all times, and “[A pangolin is] a mammal that, in my are people thinking if they go to a Chinese food if you’ve ever had a cold, which everyone has, understanding and what [expert researchers] restaurant, they will get coronavirus, which is you’ve had coronavirus,” said Sucher-O’Grady. think has happened, served as a host for both a obviously not true. I heard [a professor] talking “Every now and again, any of these strains of bat and maybe another bird. If you imagine that about being worried about Asian kids in her class virus can mutate… every time they divide and there was a bat virus and a bird virus, and this at a college or university. She was worried that the replicate, there is an opportunity for error.” pangolin somehow came in contact with both of Asian kids in her class were going to be spreading COVID-19 is a strain that has mutated with those types of viruses, those two types of viruses this virus and that they should be tested,” Suchan error, but survived rather than typically infected the pangolin…[and it] allowed for the er-O’Grady said

39 OPINION CHS Chinese language teacher Hongling Zhang feels dismayed by the xenophobia against those of Chinese descent since the outbreak of coronavirus.

“I don’t think it’s okay to do that, even though I understand that you feel afraid and you fear the unknown. Coronavirus is such a new virus and nobody knows [about it], so I think it’s the fear of the unknown. [But when] someone sees a face that looks Asian and you become afraid, I think that’s irrational,” Zhang said.

In the current climate of China, residents are learning to adapt to the strict regulations implemented by the government. Former CHS student Zilu Pang*, now living in Wuhan, China, has not left his apartment since the government closed down the city on January 23, 2020. The situation in Wuhan quickly escalated from regulation to strict lockdown. Initially, police officers tested residents’ temperatures at the border using thermometers, and only those with normal body temperatures were allowed to enter and exit the city. After a few days, however, Wuhan was completely locked. No one was allowed to cross the city border, healthy or sick.

“The panic quickly heightened in the early days of the lockdown,” Pang said. “Resources were scarce and supermarkets were robbed clear in hours.”

As February rolled forward, even stepping into the streets proved difficult. The only vehicles that still drive on the streets are ambulances and emergency vehicles. People who must be outside are fully protected by masks, and in some cases, goggles and protective suits. Health professionals designed and placed flyers in every corner educating residents on how coronavirus is spread

*translated interview

and how to properly wear protective gears.

Additionally, Wuhan implemented the practice to spray disinfection water twice daily city-wide since Feb. 9.

Pang suggested that the most effective way to prevent the virus from entering the body is to stay in the house and wash hands often, each time for at least 30 seconds.

“Right now, it’s not even a matter of whether we want to go outside,” Pang said. “In fact, every community assigns its residents a pass, which limits the amount of times one can leave apartment.”

To accommodate this issue, many stores offer grocery deliveries that can allow people to order groceries online and be sent in front of their steps.

“It’s still hard to buy anything, though,” Pang said. “It only takes 10 seconds for fresh groceries to sell out. Then we wait, again, for 10 pm tomorrow when the online stores restock.”

Fortunately, situations have grown more stable since January. Medical professionals from around the country volunteered to support Wuhan, and the Chinese government sent the People’s Liberation Army to help with the medical staff and construct new buildings. Every province contributed effort towards supporting Wuhan, including donating thousands of tons of basic and medical supplies. Two hospitals were assembled in record time in Wuhan to exclusively treat patients who were diagnosed with COVID-19.

One of them, named Huoshenshan Hospital, was constructed in about 10 days and provides 1,000 beds; the other one, Leishenshan Hospital, finished construction six days after Huoshenshan Hospital and provides 1,600 beds.

At home, residents are starting to accommodate their new lifestyle. Teachers now instruct their classes online in live classrooms, and schools designed strict daily schedules for students to follow at home. Parents, too, joined in the effort of keeping their children on task.

“Right now, most of us don’t feel panicked anymore. Instead, we feel that we are safe as long as we follow the government’s orders,” Pang said.

“Funnily enough, no one has ever dreamed that we would be one day looking forward to going to school. But after staying at home for so long, any fresh air is welcomed.”

The parallels between how citizens are handling the situation in Wuhan and the United States further show that much of the panic surrounding coronavirus in the United States is only driven by fear. Zhang expressed sentiments of disappointment over the way coronavirus has established Wuhan globally.

“Wuhan became well known to the world [because of the coronavirus outbreak]. I have heard [my friend in Wuhan] talk about being ashamed to be known to the world in this way.

People learned about Wuhan because of the coronavirus, and they really don’t want that. It’s a sad situation,” Zhang said.

As Zhang has multiple family members and friends in Wuhan, she feels disheartened at how the once vibrant city she visited last summer has rapidly turned into a lockdown zone.

“I’m very concerned. Even after months, I still can’t believe that it’s happening. It’s just very unbelievable. I still feel very sad.”

countries with confirmed cases of coronavirus *data from World Health Organization

40 OPINION

love, the globe

Reporter Isabella Bamnolker reflects on memories with her noni.

ISABELLA BAMNOLKER | REPORTER

Globe reporter Isabella Bamnolker has a deep connection with her grandmother. Photo from Bamnolker.

Triangular geometric earrings and colorful scarves. Walking at the Galleria, talking about politics and film. A plethora of black orthopedic shoes and Uniqlo vests. The furious scribbling of poetry etched into red leather notebooks. These are just a few things I think of when I think of my grandma. My noni. A humble person of 80 years.

But she doesn’t look a day over 40. A person who will constantly remind you to not look at yourself too much, for that mirror will make you brim with chutzpah.

In true Jewish grandma manner, she will feed you until you burst open from the seams.

She’s the CEO of “losing taste buds” from Del Pietros and making up short stories from random strangers on the street. The MVP of pilates and bread-sliced asiago bagels. An opera-loving, A24 film-watching Trader Joe’s addict. Teaching everyone to love. My noni.

The memories I remember early on with my grandma were the memories we shared with dogs. From the tender age of 6, I remember Zeus, a lowly German Shepard with a luscious sheen of black and piercing brown eyes.

I remember awaiting the bell to dismiss me from school, then running out to greet my mom.

We would get in her Prius and cruise to my Noni’s house. Turning into Parkview, we soon would arrive at her house. Eagerly hopping out of the car, I would race to the front door. Zeus would be wagging his tail, his nose pushing up the cloth that covered the door frame. My mom would

unlock the door, and my grandma ran towards us with a high-pitched squeal, offering a warm hug.

Zeus would start jumping on me, and I would be knocked to the ground. Soon covered in dog fur, my mom would haul me off the floor, and we would sit on her back porch.

After slurping tall glasses of orange juice and European cheese topped on ciabatta bread, I would scamper into the backyard. Amidst the poppies and big apple trees, this was the most joyful I ever was. My grandma would give me fish food, and I would run to go feed the fish. As the summer sun soaked us with euphoric memories, we were joined together in a bond of womanhood.

Saturday nights were dedicated to time with Noni. Sitting at the wooden dining table with weathered chairs, the house would fill up with the aroma of spices. We would sit back to enjoy eating pasta, carrot salad, roast potatoes and Edy’s ice cream. Then all of us would gather in the living room to watch movies. On Sundays, we would wake up and hop into my grandma’s Prius.

We would walk around the Galleria, peering through store windows and munching on Panera.

Life was good.

But not everything can be sunshine and rainbows-- at least for me it wasn’t. My mom soon got sick, and life took a turn for the unexpected.

We were caught in a hurricane of sickness and chemotherapy. Soon the things that I found enjoyable in my life were burned out of sight.

Hospitals, medicines and bottling emotions up became the norm. In times of distress, we turn to the people we can trust. My grandma was one of those people.

Through all the sickness, it seemed as though my family was like any other normal family. We ate dinner together, and we surprised my mom at the hospital. We bought a wig for her together.

We would spend nights at the hospital altogether.

But I was numb. I felt alone and desolate in a world where everyone was trying to make me feel happy. I wasn’t happy. After my mom’s death, my grandma became the one person I could confide in.

My grandma is a person of compassion. After losing so much in her life, she accepts that life will have twists and turns. At a young age, it can be hard to accept the problems we face. My noni always has motivated me to accept my feelings.

After my mom’s death, I held them in. I would ignore the grief instilled inside me, and it hurt so much. After the passing, my noni also suffered from the loss. Together, we confided in each other, and I could open up to her.

During that time, I never realized how much my grandmother has changed me. My grandmother has taught me to express my feelings. She has taught me that crying is not shameful. But the most important thing she taught me is how beautiful life can be when you accept the challenges that face you. For that, I thank her so much.

41 OPINION

clayton conversations After four sessions of CHS’ new program, reporter Luka Bassnett shares his opinion on the expectations vs. the reality of Clayton Conversations.

LUKA BASSNETT | REPORTER Started in late September of last year, CHS’ new “Clayton Conversations” was designed to provide Clayton students with a space where, for thirty minutes each month, they could discuss controversial and important issues outside the confines of the classroom. During the school day, (Clayton Conversations’ proponents argued) CHS students lack the time or the occasion to discuss important issues and learn the conversational skills necessary later in life. Because of this, Clayton Conversations was introduced as a type of advisory period where students might relax, speak their minds and break up the monotony of the school day.

However, four months since the beginning of the program, it seems evident that the Clayton Conversations program has not accomplished its laudable goals, creating an environment where students lack the opportunity to practice their conversational skills, just as they did before the program came into being. Topics for Clayton Conversations are decided by surveys and discussions with Clayton students, producing the first two conversational subjects: student stress and homework. While these topics might be

interesting to some, it is too easy for a high school student to discuss stress (where possible opinions range from A: stressed to B: not stressed) or homework, something disliked by probably every student at the school. This is by design. If Clayton students have the opportunity to choose their own conversation topics, they will choose the subjects they are most comfortable discussing, ignoring C^2’s goal of moving students out of their comfort zones.

Although the subjects of Clayton Conversations could be improved, a larger problem is the idea that school policies could be structured around the results of these discussions. In addition to providing students with an opportunity to “converse,” the family groups that make up the program submit student feedback to a central advisory committee -- first with an online survey during the conversation about stress and then with a teacher-operated form after the most recent discussion.

My fear is that these conversations, although designed with the best of intentions, might be inadvertently delivering predetermined results.

The conversations are structured in such a way

that students are not asked, “Do you think CHS’s homework load [for example] is too great?” but “What should be done about CHS’s excessive homework load?” Both are fair points, but the latter question assumes that the school’s homework load is really too great and will receive answers that would appear to verify that assumption, regardless of what the reality is. By setting up the conversations in this way, the school will receive solutions to a problem that might not really exist.

Although there are problems with the C^2 system, the idea of a school-wide conversation still has potential. And given that the program is still less than a year old, it would be easy to introduce a few changes to the system: choosing Clayton Conversation topics on the students’ behalf, for example, would result in deeper, more meaningful discourse, while changing the style of conversation questions would give the administration an accurate and representative idea of student opinion. These small adjustments would not only improve the resulting dialogue but also allow the C^2 program to reach its full potential as a means of gauging the views of students.

Students participate in Clayton Conversations.

ANNA WALSH | PHOTOGRAPHER

42 OPINION

peppers prom Dheera Rathikindi expresses her thoughts on the current state of peppers prom at CHS. DHEERA RATHIKINDI | PAGE EDITOR

Peppers Prom poster.

As winter comes to an end, many Clayton students have traditionally begun to get ready for Peppers Prom. But in recent years, the popularity of Peppers has begun to decrease and many students are not attending anymore. “In recent years, the connotation of Peppers hasn’t been particularly good... We want to make it more interesting and newer so people can get involved with it again,” says Kaitlyn Tran, sophomore class president.

But the dance has begun to change and the sophomore Student Council is working to make Peppers a night to remember. “What we are changing though is trying to get the school more involved. We added a spirit week. We felt that if we added a spirit week, more people would know about the dance. We also added more activities in the actual dance and are more invested in the theme this year,” said sophomore class Vice President Miguel Buitrago.

This year the theme is Starry Night. “First we

wanted to go with a glow theme but we didn’t want it to seem too much like Sky Zone. We didn’t know how the student body would react to the glow theme. We then asked sophomore group chats if they had any theme they particularly wanted, and they came up with stars and starry night. People in the group chats voted on different themes, and we ended up with Starry Night. We, as the sophomore student council, didn’t want to just exclusively decide what the theme was by ourselves since we do represent the sophomore class,” Tran said.

Students should come experience Peppers as it is being changed from previous years. “Peppers is an exciting event that the school holds because high school is supposed to be experience-based.

I’m excited to spend the day and evening with my friends and make life long memories,” said sophomore Izzy Ross.

One of the main reasons that Peppers has such low attendance is Prom. The juniors and

seniors have the opportunity to go to Prom in April and many would rather go to Prom instead of Peppers. ‘We do hope that some seniors and juniors show up, despite having Prom to attend as well,” Tran says. Peppers serves as the second dance of the year. It gives underclassmen the opportunity to go to another school dance as they cannot go to Prom. But because of this, Peppers has become more popular with underclassmen; upperclassmen often opting out of attending the dance. This is causing the Clayton tradition to slowly fade into history.

Peppers has always been an important part of Clayton tradition. In past years, there were big asks and everyone went. As years progress, students have begun to lose interest in the dance. But this needs to change. If Peppers wants to continue as a Clayton tradition, student involvement and interest has to go up, or Peppers will become a distant Clayton memory.

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44 OPINION

pro: iowa caucus

The Iowa Caucus is a fair and thourough system that allows the full opinion of the voter to be expressed.

SHANE LAGESSE | SECTION EDITOR

Pete Buttigieg shakes hands with supporters after delivering a speech at Pi Pizzeria in St. Louis, Missouri.

MICHAEL MELINGER | PHOTOGRAPHER Voting in elections, especially on the national level, is one of the most important rights for the American people. At some point, it becomes a citizen’s responsibility to vote for the candidate or option they support, on a national level just as much as locally. Often, people want to vote as quickly as possible and get it over with.

However, while a typical ballot box election is fast and non-confrontational, it lacks some of the positive things a Caucus provides, and a Caucus gives a voter more flexibility and insight into the decision they make.

The Caucus system does require a voter to make a physical appearance, which can be difficult. One of the biggest flaws in the system is that often, people who are out of state or unable to allocate enough time to attend the Caucus are not accounted for. However, after the 2016 election, Iowa began coming up with ideas to remediate this problem. Now, in the 2020 election, there will be close to 100 new “satellite” Caucus sites including ones outside of Iowa, and even a few international locations. Many of these sites are planned to stay open for extended hours, or at different times than a normal Caucus to help people who have a time restraint still get their chance to Caucus. Moreover, many of these satellite locations will be at factories and other workplaces which provide the workers who likely would not have been able to Caucus an

opportunity without even having to leave their shift. Though it is not perfect, the satellite Caucus sites will offer Iowans a greatly expanded ability to make the Caucus and cast their vote.

What the Iowa Caucus lacks for in speed and simplicity, it makes up for with its opportunities for people to vocalize their opinions. Normally, a voter simply fills out who they vote for without any discussion with others; their vote is made in complete solitude, the only input coming from what they pay attention to before the voting takes place. The Caucus system, on the other hand, provides people with a space to both cast their vote and attempt to influence others to join them. Two 30 minute debate periods give a short window of time in between rounds for voters to discuss and attempt to sway each other. This time gives people an opportunity to hear the perspectives of others, which they might not have previo usly, and give their own, effectively increasing the power of their voice past a single vote.

Many voters also have qualms with the 15% minimum, the “viability threshold” a candidate must reach in the first round for them to continue and still be available as an option. People say that this is non-representational of one’s actual vote, that they should be able to vote for the candidate they prefer regardless of what backing that candidate actually has. However, this viability threshold allows people voting for a less popular

candidate to strengthen the backing of their second choice. Should their first candidate not gain enough support for the viability threshold after the first round, they also have the chance to persuade enough other voters to join them, effectively bringing their candidate back into the running.

The Iowa Caucus has successfully predicted the democratic candidate in six out of the past eight elections. Two of those presidents proceeded to win the general election: Jimmy Carter in 1976 and Barack Obama in 2008. The Iowa Caucus has a high accuracy rate when it comes to predicting the democratic nominee, enforcing that it is a system that should continue.

The Iowa Caucuses may seem unusual and counterintuitive to someone who is unfamiliar with the process. There are certainly points on which the Caucus could improve, particularly in being open at more times and in more locations.

However, since the 2016 Caucuses, great steps have been taken with the introduction of the satellite Caucuses, and Iowa will continue to introduce more steps which make Caucusing more available to Iowans. Though the process is different from a typical vote, the Caucus system provides people with more of a voice in the voting process; an ability to not only cast their own vote but the power to directly influence the vote of others in the moment.

45 OPINION

con: iowa caucus

The ine icient and complicated Iowa Caucus only slows down the election process and should be removed or reformed.

MAX KELLER | PRO/CON EDITOR Imagine that someone hands you a piece of paper with two questions on it. The questions are, “Who is your preferred candidate for the Democratic nomination?”, and “If your previous candidate was not available, who would be your next choice?” How long do you think it would take for you to fill out this simple and short quiz?

It’d probably take me less than 30 seconds, maybe longer if I wasn’t sure about my options. Now, try taking this quiz at 7 o’clock at night, on a Monday, in a crowded room, for an hour. This is the Democratic Caucus system, and thousands of Iowans performed this task on Monday, February 3 in their local precincts. There was no paper ballot. Instead, people grouped up like they were forming teams for middle school ‘capture the flag’. While this process may seem complicated and unnecessary, it becomes even more ludicrous when you examine the system more closely.

The actual voting system for the caucuses is a little more complicated than the example given above. In fact, there is no real questionnaire at all. Instead, people are asked to form groups to indicate which candidate they prefer. Often this rallying happens around a chosen ‘captain’ from each political campaign who stand in a large room, like a gym or dining hall. After the groups form, a headcount is taken to see what percentage of the total voters each candidate received.

For the Democratic Caucus, there is a maximum boundary of 15% needed for a candidate to become “viable”. These viable groups are secured and now have another task at hand: convincing others to join their cause.

The voters whose candidates did not make the cut can now be convinced to join another candidate. Each group sends representatives to talk with the other representatives to talk about each candidate and why people should vote for them. After about a half-hour of conversation, the representatives return and the unviable groups break up and join other candidates. If there are multiple unviable candidates, they could theoretically combine forces to make one viable candidate. In the end, another headcount is taken and the final tally is recorded.

But it’s not over. Now this tally must be converted into a number of delegates that each candidate shall receive. These 11,065 total Iowa delegates are then whittled down over 5 months at the county, state and national Democratic conventions to 41 delegates.

That’s the Democratic Caucus in simple terms. Not exactly the same as a two-question quiz. By examining the whole process, some

obvious flaws become blatantly obvious. One of the biggest issues is the time restrictions. For the average person, going to a crowded room for an hour or more on a Monday night is the polar opposite of a good time. This can be an even larger problem if you have kids, as finding a babysitter or paying for one might be difficult. Even the most passionate Iowan voters often opt out of caucusing. In 2016, only 15.7% of eligible voters caucused, and that includes both the Republican and Democratic caucuses. This creates a gross misrepresentation of the voter base, as only the patient and available voters will show up and caucus.

This gets worse when you compare Iowan demographics to the national level. According to a 2017 US census, the United States’ population is around 73% White, 12.3% African American/ Black, and 5.4% Asian. Iowa, the state that most often decides the possible Democratic nominees, is 91.2% White, 3.2% African American/Black, and 2.0% Asian. Why does a disproportionate representation of America, a state that makes up only 2% of the delegates needed for a nomination, get to decide which campaign makes it to the final weeks of the primary? In the last 40 years, only one Democratic nominee did poorly at the caucuses, and that was Bill Clinton. And with the recent technical inability of the Iowa Democratic Party, it is reasonable to consider alternatives to letting Iowa vote first.

Even if you could get every single person to go out and vote, and did it quickly and easily, this system would still be broken.

This system benefits the candidates who have voters spread out through all districts in the state. This is, of course, never a problem for democrats

because districts don’t determine the overall success of an election. However, this problem becomes disastrous for the Democratic candidates in caucuses. Unlike the national elections, the total popular vote doesn’t matter, as you need the approval of the delegates to succeed. Having 35% of the vote spread out through all districts is much more effective than a 60% approval rating in half of the districts, even if it’s the same popular vote. The 2020 Iowa Caucus is a prime example of this. Bernie Sanders, who won 26.5% of the final alignment popular vote, lost to Pete Buttigieg who only won 25.1% of the popular vote.

The caucuses were implemented with good intentions in mind. There are several systems similar to this in practice throughout the world, such as France’s national elections. A ‘second’ vote allows voters to be more expressive with their voices. With a few steps in the right direction, the Iowa caucus could be an extremely fair election system. But for now, it’s just another confusing and ineffective part of the American political machine.

Final state delegate equivelants by county.

WIKIMEDIA

46

staff ed: our u.s. history textbooks are not good enough Across the nation, history textbooks lack representation of African American history.

Student reads a Clayton High School history textbook to prepare for an upcoming test.

LILA TAYLOR | PHOTOGRAPHER “It’s extremely hard,” said CHS history teacher Josh Meyers. “Picking a textbook has always been really, really hard.”

And why shouldn’t it be? With so many views on the controversial history of the US, it is no wonder that many teachers are unhappy with the way certain groups and topics are represented in textbooks. African American history and the history of slavery are among these topics.

The Clayton School District works hard to embed African American history into almost all students’ social studies curriculum. However, many of the things that we learn about African American history come directly from the teacher, not out of the textbook. Many perspectives of history are represented by using other resources.

Teachers like Shauna Aningo, who teaches African American history at CHS, understand the importance of representation in history. Clayton educators take it upon themselves to make sure students of all races, genders and nationalities are represented in the curriculum.

“While going more into depth about certain aspects of African American history in classes, students often say, ‘I’ve never learned this before,’ or ‘How come we never learn this in our regular history classes?’ Often, it’s just a matter of time or pacing that just doesn’t add up,” Aningo said.

Aningo finds that the problem in our country

today is ignorance, and if students are not taught well in their youth, they grow up with inaccurate views of history. While most CHS teachers embrace diversity in history, many teachers in other states and other districts do not. That comes down to a very simple issue: textbooks do not show enough representation.

Textbook content is a very controversial topic.

It becomes an issue when states have different ideals, and many states censor topics to fit their views. This censorship gives students a warped perspective. Sometimes a clear bias comes through the authors’ writing and significant events are often only briefly mentioned. Meyers noted that in Texas, some textbooks refer to slaves as ‘laborers,’ and describe the causes of the civil war as a conflict over state’s rights. Not only is slavery not taught as the main cause of the civil war, but it is also not given a central place in the narrative of US history. The development of America could not have been done without slaves, so why do they not have a main role in our textbooks?

Teachers at CHS make sure to fill in those inaccurate representations in textbooks by implementing other sources and readings. Meyers elaborates, “For example, when teaching the causes of the Civil War, I would bring in readings from sources like the 1619 Project, which talks about

how slavery has been excluded as a major cause of the beginning development of America.”

This strategy makes sure that there is not only diversity in the perspective of the writing, but also an elaboration on topics that the textbook fails to cover to their true importance.

“Some [textbooks] have tokenism, which means that you might read five sections of a traditional narrative, and through it are little facts about women or African-Americans. However, it comes across as artificial as if they check a list of what they need to include,” Meyers said. “For example, if they need to talk about a black person the textbook will insert a fact about someone like Frederick Douglas.”

Although there will never be a “perfect” textbook, there are many things that should be required in a US history textbook. Having proper national standards on the information shown in textbooks will give each student the opportunity to learn our history in an unbiased way.

Representation of all groups of people has to be ensured. Tokenism would no longer be necessary for textbooks because people from all groups would be included throughout the book. We must ensure better history textbooks for American kids because American history is the story of all the people, regardless of race.

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