Winter 2023 USJ

Journal The Union St.

The Rise of the Robot Writers

Teachers struggle to fight back against AI cheating Cherry Creek High School 9300 E. Union Ave. Greenwood Village, CO 80111

Vol. 8 Issue 3 March 2023

Table of Contents News

5

Sports

12

8

A&E

16

Opinions

20

5 - News Bites 6 - Shoppers Pay for Plastic Under New Bag Law 7 - Rethinking the Grade: Teachers Push For Equity

Features

8 - English Teacher Joel Morris Takes Love of Writing, Macbeth Into New Novel

In-Depth 10 - Essay-Writing AI Threatens Academic Integrity

10

12 - Regis Jesuit: The Rival Nextdoor 13 - Five Things You Didn’t Know About Baseball 14 - Bodies First, Swimming Second

16 - Student Band Purely Indigo Takes the Stage 17 - The Revival of LEGOs 18 - Editors’ Reading Recommendations

20 - Shakespeare: Bury His Work With Him 21 - Trans Kids Need Better Bathrooms 22 - Controversial Topics in Kids’ Movies 23 - Staff Editorial: AirPod Use in School

ALL RISE: Juniors Sofia Silva (right) and Anne Wang stand with Poms for the national anthem at the beginning of the Power Week Pep Assembly on Feb. 17. Creek raised over $51,000 during Power Week. The Poms team placed third in Poms and eighth in Jazz during the National Dance and Cheer Championships in Orlando, Florida from Feb. 2-4.

PHOTO BY CARLY PHILPOTT

2 | Table of Contents

March 2023

ON THE COVER

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hatGPT is the most advanced publicly available chatbot on the internet right now. Because of its human-like writing, it’s difficult for teachers to tell if it’s human or robot writing. “It’s kind of like with calculators in math,” said Dr. Rob Harper, a professor of history at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. “Even though it’s really handy to have a calculator to run equations, there is still value in figuring out how to do long division or all these other things ourselves.”

Find more perspectives from students and teachers in “Essay-Writing AI Threatens Academic Integrity” on page 10.

SOCIAL MEDIA: @creekusj

Staff: Editor-in-Chief Carly Philpott

Design Manager Nick Rui

Junior Editor-in-Chief Alex Gribb

Chief Photographer Wryn Duepre

Managing & Sports Editor Quinn Rudnick

Chief Sports Photographer Marie Webster

Web & Opinions Editor Izzy Krauss

Chief Artist Angela Xu

News Editor Amanda Castillo-Lopez

Copy Editor Aurora Miller

Features Editors Lily Deitch Emily Gleason

Asst. A&E Editor Gabby Schrock

Staff Writers Blayne Aina Isabel Alley Meron Banjaw Ephraim Bantshi Aram Bazarian Nick BeDan Maddie Hart Avery Hutchins Jonathan Lee Binderiya Lkhagvatseren Natalia Perusquia Ayushi Sah Jackson Sloan Sydney Smith Vee Williamson Georgia Yatrakis Owen Youngblood

Asst. Opinions Editor Jude Gorden

Advisor Seth Fine

A&E Editor Katya Roudakov Asst. News Editor Peter Philpott Asst. Features Editor Gillian Neale Asst. Sports Editor Cael Clancy

Video Editor Nour Kreishan

Purpose:

The Union Street Journal is the official online and print news source by and for the students of Cherry Creek High School. We are a student-run publication distributed to the students, faculty, and staff of Creek, and serve as an information source and twoway communication forum for both the school and community.

We welcome guest opinion writers. Content does not necessarily represent the views of Cherry Creek High School or the Cherry Creek School District. Opinion articles do not necessarily represent the overall views of the Union Street Journal, Cherry Creek High School, or CCSD. Letters to the editor are accepted and can be submitted via email to creekusj@cherrycreekschools.org

4 | Opener

Letter from the Editor

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appy springtime!

It seems that at every turn, there is new technology that threatens to destroy all that we know. This quarter, it was apparently Chinese spy balloons and essay-writing AI. One of the most prolific essay-writing AI programs, ChatGPT, has already reared its ugly head in our own school’s plagiarism cases. English teachers, mainly, have widely discussed what this software could mean for future assignments and learning. In higher education, too, ChatGPT has been a point of contention. How do we use it, and should we? This issue’s in-depth focuses on ChatGPT’s role in high school and college learning and how it could change the way we do school. It’s a very relevant thing for all of us to be thinking about, whether you’re going to be at Creek a while longer or are headed off to college next year,

and this article does a fantastic job of presenting it.

Elsewhere in the magazine, writers dug into school and community topics. You’ll find items on our longtime rivalry with Regis Jesuit High School, a new Colorado law that taxes plastic bags, whether or not we should be reading Shakespeare in 2023, one English teacher’s upcoming professional novel, our staff ’s LEGO sets, a student indie band, and so much more. While brainstorming stories for this magazine, writers and editors came up with countless ideas. Those that there was not room for in print, can be found on our website.

But aside from content, this magazine is momentous for our staff. With many shared bylines, multiple-part pages, and collaborative efforts, this magazine contains the work of more of our staff than perhaps ever before. Our ChatGPT cover article was written by two first-year journalists – an incredible accomplishment.

Several writers have also received their first byline in this magazine.

Additionally, this quarter saw the promotion of several new editors, all of whom contributed heavily to the design, development, and editing of this edition. I am very proud to present their work to you.

– Editor-in-Chief Carly Philpott

news bites

New Elective Emerges: CP Mythology & Folklore

BY MERON BANJAW

W

Staff Writer

hile most English classes read plenty of novels, plays, and classic literature, English teacher Jason Foster hopes to dive deeper into the origins of storytelling with his new class: CP Mythology and Folklore. In the class, Foster plans to explore mythology, fairy tales, and urban legends, as well as symbols which he believes will make this class of great value to students.

According to Foster, there’s a vacuum that could be filled when it comes to students knowing their mythology. “[Myths] contain in them a lot of the patterns and symbolism that we continue to build upon in our stories,” Foster said.

Junior Sydney Soderholm-Hudson hopes that this class offered to juniors and seniors will be a break from the standard English curriculum.

“I can put what I learn in [this class] into my D&D writing skills.

I think it would help make my writing … more story based,” Soderholm-Hudson said.

While this course may be unconventional, it will allow students to analyze and think about topics that normal English classes would just skim over.

“I would love to inspire people to learn versus [telling them]: ‘You better do this, because if you don’t, you won’t get your A,’” Foster said.

Honors Physics to Become AP Physics 1

BY JONATHAN LEE & EPHRAIM BANTSHI Staff Writers

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ue to the changes the College Board made to the AP Physics 1 curriculum, Creek is offering the AP course next year by renaming Honors Physics to AP Physics 1.

“It was just the sequence [of Honors Physics] that didn’t match and now it does,” current Honors Physics teacher Jessica Olsen said. “We’re not making too many

In January, Florida governor Ron DeSantis announced that he would ban AP African American Studies, citing the course’s inclusion of the study of Black Queer Theory as part of a “political agenda.”

“We believe in teaching kids facts and how to think, but we don’t believe they should have an agenda imposed on them,” DeSantis said at a press conference in Jacksonville. “When you try to use Black history to shoehorn in queer theory, you are clearly trying to use that for political purposes.”

Commons

wholesale changes. We’re going to cut a couple chapters that are not on the test in order to get review time.”

Students who have taken Honors Physics before the change do not get the AP credit for the class.

“I think that for juniors that are in the class, like me, it’s kind of screwing us over a little bit,” junior Taylor Haas said. “It just sucks that

it was this year when I took it.”

Although it may seem unfair, science teachers, including Science Department Coordinator Stephen Smith, feel that this change is for the good of students in the future who are taking AP Physics 1.

“Some kids will certainly pay a price for that, however, for the benefit of all it seemed like the right thing to do,” Smith said.

Ramsey Responds to AP Revisions

BY VEE WILLIAMSON

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Staff Writer

fter receiving politically heated backlash, the College Board released their changes to the curriculum of their developing course, AP African American Studies (APAAS), on Feb. 1.

According to CP African American Studies teacher Marc Ramsey, the changes to the AP course are a result of unnecessary political drama that has been detrimental to the curriculum.

“The whole objection to African American Studies has been politicized even though it’s not a political issue,”

Ramsey said.

The College Board removed topics some deemed controversial, such as Black feminism, queer identity, and Black Lives Matter. These are now listed as optional subjects.

According to Ramsey, it is not possible to teach African American History authentically when these subjects are excluded, and preventing students from taking the course as a whole can potentially damage future students’ perception of the past.

“The voice[s] that [are] the most... non-represented amongst African Americans in this country have a place in the curriculum,” Ramsey said.

March 2023

Shoppers Pay for Plastic Under New Bag Law

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BY PETER PHILPOTT & NATALIA PERUSQUIA

news

Asst. News Editor and Staff Writer

lastic bags are everywhere. In household broom closets, in grocery store checkout lines, and blowing in the wind on streets and sidewalks. Now, the Colorado legislature is mounting an attack to eliminate plastic bags and their environmental impact.

Colorado’s Congress passed a bill coming into effect at the beginning of 2023, that imposes a 10 cent fee on all plastic and paper carryout bags. In 2024, plastic bags are planned to be completely eliminated from stores and restaurants. Alongside plastic bags, expanded polystyrene, or Styrofoam, will also be prohibited.

Colorado Senator Lisa Cutter is a prime sponsor of the bill. She and representative Alex Valdez proposed the bill in 2021. It was signed in August 2021, but took two years to finally go into effect. Cutter and her colleagues are hoping that fewer plastic bags in landfills will have a positive impact on Colorado’s ecosystems.

“Plastic is really an egregious offender in climate change, both in the production and in disposal,” Cutter said.

“We can’t get rid of all plastic, there’s some good plastic that is suitable for, say, medical devices.”

Recently, other states have imple-

mented similar bans on carryout plastic bags, starting with California in 2014.

“That bill involved a lot of people [like] environmental activists and advocates,” Cutter said. “So we worked with them to develop legislation. We looked at model legislation and what other states and cities were doing that was effective.”

While it may have long lasting effects for the environment, Creek’s community has a different

perspective on the bill.

Many businesses in Belleview Square use plastic bags and Styrofoam containers for carryout.

Freshman Devin Reid is doubtful of the bill’s environmental impact. He believes that the bill won’t make a real difference until 2024, when plastic bags are completely banned. “I’m not entirely sure if it will help the environment EARTHDAY.ORG

as much as someone might think,” Reid said. “I am aware of a couple of studies that California has done about the impact after they banned plastic bags from stores and finding that it has little on waste output.”

Students now have two options: they can pay the tax every time they go to the store, or they can buy reusable grocery bags. King Soopers now sells canvas bags at less than a dollar each to encourage more people to buy them.

“I think this is definitely helping the environment because the number of bags used for packaging will decrease the longer this initiative is in effect,” senior Francesca Bolastig said. “While it can be slightly inconvenient for some people, they will eventually get used to bringing their own reusable bags, which will help reduce overall plastic use.

The bill’s sponsors hope that this law will help eliminate one of the largest forces of pollution and climate change, especially with the changes that will come into effect at the beginning of 2024.

“If stores actually stick to this and plastic bags are banned by 2024, I’m sure many of us will be used to bringing our [reusable] bags by then,” Bolastig said. “I see no problem with it continuing because this is a step forward in ensuring that our communities contribute to positive changes in our environment.”

Paying For Plasic: A new Colorado law puts a small fee on disposable plastic bags and will completely eliminate them in 2024.

“Plastic is really an egregious offender in climate change, both in the production and in disposal,” Colorado Senator Lisa Cutter said. The bill’s sponsors hope that their bill will positively affect Colorado’s environment and encourage more people to buy reusable bags.

PHOTO BY WRYN DUEPRE INFOGRAPHIC BY PETER PHILPOTT

6 | News

Rethinking the Grade: Teachers Push For More Equity no penalty for students who don’t know any- opment Day, teachers talked about the purthing coming in versus the kids who had a pose of grades, both through the lens of EBG News Editor tutor over the summer.” and as more of a general conversation about Another member of the group, science eliminating disparity in achievement. ith late assignments piling teacher Kenadi Dixon, implements EBG in “Everybody’s doing it,” Matuschek said, up in your PowerSchool, you her CP Biology class, where she gives stuciting another one of the EBG Group’s surdread the day the “missings” dents a 50% as opposed to a 0% for work vey results which revealed that every teachwill turn into “zeroes,” plummeting your they don’t hand in, and allows them multiple er surveyed had implemented one or more grade to an abysmal level. Then you reattempts on quizzes in order for their educaEBG strategies.

“Most teachers in the buildmember one critical detail: your teacher tional growth to reflect in their grade.

One of ing engage in [EBG] in one form or another always accepts late work for credit.

Dixon’s current CP Biology students, sophothe team is taking all these things and doing A lenient late work policy is one of many more Jazz English, feels the benefits of these it formally. ” Evidence Based Grading policies.

What makes the EBG Group unique is (EBG) strategies. Teach“It’s really helpful that it provides members with support and ers who employ EBG in “Students are all differfor me …

I learn betaccess to shared knowledge learned over coltheir classrooms, includter from my mistakes, ” lective years of being educators. ent, every single person ing Creek’s EBG Group English said.

“It’s real“I’m grateful to be a part of that team and members, intend for stuis approaching [school] ly based off of what to work with just amazing educators from all dent’s grades to directly from a different place.” you learn rather than backgrounds with various years of teaching reflect their knowledge of what you can just put experience, ” Dixon said. “I think we each the curriculum – not any on a piece of paper. ” bring something unique to the table, and other outside influences English Teacher What helps one because of that I think we’re better for our which might, for instance, Emily Cave student in one class, students and better for Creek. ” cause a student to turn in however, may not be an assignment a month as effective in anothlate. er.

For that reason, the EBG Group doesn’t The EBG Group, created in 2020, is comspecifically require teachers to implement posed of teachers who meet to discuss what anything in their classroom a certain way.

EBG strategies and other classroom practicIt’s the same reason EBG isn’t a es could be used to allow every student an school-wide policy. equal opportunity to get a good grade re“A grade book then is gardless of any advantages or disadvantages Percent Of Teachers an extension of the teachthey may face. ing that you do, ” AssisImplementing EBG Strategies English teacher Emily Cave is one of the teachers who first piloted the group in 2020. tant Principal Marcus “It was just a bunch of teachers who were McDavid said. “And 187 teachers responded to a survey where they were realizing that we needed to do something therefore, Mr. Silva asked if they’d ever utilized EBG grading strategies different because kids had skills that weren’t has said ‘I want to still embrace that reflected in grades,” Cave said. of A survey conducted by the EBG Group philosophy exempted a homework assignment being able to let revealed that African American/Black and Hispanic students were overrepresented the experts—the within the group of students who received a teachers—design allowed a student to make-up an exam D or F during the Fall Semester of the 2022- the instruction in a way that fits them. ’ ” 2023 school year.

Regardless of According to Rob Matuschek, math teachwhether or not they er and one of the EBG Group’s Facilitators, provided feedback on student work moving away from traditional grading and are in the EBG group, without counting the grade adopting more equitable grading techniques teachers are encouris a step toward closing the achievement gap aged to be conscious of how their grading at Creek.

Allowed a student to complete assessCave believes that EBG accounts for the practices may influment corrections for credit different levels of access to material and sup- ence their students.

For instance, on Feb. port students have outside of the classroom.

“Students come in with different support 21, in the last hour of systems from home,” Cave said. “So there’s Professional DevelBY AMANDA CASTILLO-LOPEZ

W

97%

87%

87%

73%

60% changed a student’s grade based on

their knowledge regardless of the percentage INFOGRAPHIC BY AMANDA CASTILLO-LOPEZ & NICK RUI March 2023

features

English Teacher Joel Morris Takes Love

BY CARLY PHILPOTT

C

Editor-in-Chief

reek English teacher Dr. Joel Morris teaches nearly 100 15-year-olds the story of Macbeth every year, leading spirited discussions, screening the 2010 film version, and grading many students’ hot takes in the form of essays. But for the past few years, Morris has been delving into Macbeth on his own time too – writing a novel from the perspective of Lady Macbeth, which serves as a prequel to the Shakespearean play.

The story is based on details found when closely examining Macbeth and what historians have been able to find on the actual Lady Macbeth, who the play is based off of, and the son and family she had before the play.

“She has that one kind of throwaway line about how she knows what it means to love the baby that she’s nursing” Morris said. “And so that just got me interested, because…there’s no other mention in the play of children.”

In his story, Morris focuses on Lady Macbeth’s own tragedy.

At age five, Morris dictates a story to his dad to go with his illustrations.

8 | Features

1979

“Her childhood is really kind of Morris said. “I would draw these based on what it’s like to be a woman books. My first character was called or girl growing into a woman in an age Hankie. He was a yellow dog, and he in a place that is dominated by men,” would get into all kinds of trouble and he said. “So she’s trying to navigate the stuff. And I would dictate to my dad misogyny…and the brutality of that and he would write the text of it.” world and raise her son in that world Morris’s history with Shakespeare as well.” is also extensive, but it wasn’t MacMorris worked with The Bent Agen- beth that caught his attention first. He cy, based in New recalls reading York and LonRomeo and Judon, to edit his liet, Othello, and “I kept telling myself for book and get it Hamlet as a high the longest time, all I into the hands schooler. But in of publishers. college, Morris wanted to do is be able to Eventually, he dug deeper into walk into a book store and got a deal with Macbeth. “I took see [my] book on a shelf.”

G.P. Putnam’s a class my freshSons, a prestiman year called gious imprint of Women in ShakeEnglish teacher & author Penguin Group. speare,” he said.

Dr. Joel Morris He expects the “That was where book to be reI first met Lady leased in 2024.

Macbeth.”

This may be the first book he’s pubMorris shares his office in East with lishing, but for Morris, it’s far from his two other Shakespeare aficionados, creative writing debut. In fact, he says, English teachers Mhari Doyle and Jahe’s been creating stories before he son Foster. According to Doyle, the could even write himself. three spend a lot of time discussing “Before I could write, I remember the Shakespeare they teach – all three sitting on the couch with my dad,” teach Macbeth in English 10 Honors –

A page from one of Morris’ stories, “How Super Pickle Saved Christmas,” shows his character, Super Pickle.

Morris’ first publication, a short story and poem, appears in the literary journal at Colorado College during the first semester of his freshman year.

1984

1993

of Writing, ‘Macbeth’ Into New Novel and how they can dig deeper into the characters so students understand them better.

One of these characters is Lady Macbeth.

“She’s not just a straight up villain, right?”

Doyle said. “There’s so much more that’s kind of motivating what she’s like, and why she does the things that she does. I think that there are tons of politicians who’ve been labeled as a Lady Macbeth, because they’re powerful women, or…because they are power hungry. So we talk about those types of issues.”

Morris was inspired to analyze Macbeth from Lady Macbeth’s perspective in part because he read a counterpart to Beowulf as a senior, written from monster Grendel’s perspective. He said it “blew my mind as a high school senior.”

“And so I’ve always kind of been fascinated by those alternate stories,” Morris said. “It just really opened things wide for me in terms of like, wow, how cool can you take the basic text or the core text, and then give it a different perspective?”

After finishing his manuscript this summer, Morris got in contact with The Bent Agency, which has sponsored bestsellers such as, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo and countless others. James Mustelier, a literary agent who has worked with Morris, said that the story immediately caught his attention.

“There’s a very clear voice right from the start there,” Mustelier said.

“You can feel a lot about the two protagonists just through the voice without being told a lot of specifics about their lives.”

Normally, Mustelier says, the editing process from when the agency first starts looking at a book to when it gets sent off to publishers can take months to over a year. For Morris, Mustelier says it took “maybe three weeks or so.”

“I think that really just has to do with how polished the book was from the start,” Mustelier said, “and how well conceived the project was.”

Mustelier says that he has enjoyed working with Morris directly. “Joel was really passionate about discussing his work and discussing Shakespeare,” he said. “I think that passion comes through and is inspiring to other people. It makes other people really want to work with him and believe in him

even more, just to feel that emotion connected with the creative work that he’s doing.”

Mustelier and The Bent Agency connected Morris with Putnam, which has published fiction authors such as Mike Lupica, Tom Clancy, W.E.B. Griffin, and Delia Owens.

With this publisher and the story he wrote, Mustelier believes Morris is well on his way to a successful book.

“It’s something that’s both well-written and has a lot of depth and nuance to it, but that is exploring a character that I think a lot of people are really interested in,” Mustelier said.

Morris hopes that the potential success of this book will lead him into more writing projects, maybe even more Shakespeare-inspired works, and other originals. With his current deal with Putnam, the publishing company will get first dibs on any of his future contracts, meaning he has a good shot of getting them published.

Morris has another novel close to final draft stage, which he wants to try to publish in the next three or four years.

But with his Lady Macbeth novel, Morris has likely already accomplished one of his long standing goals.

“I kept telling myself for the longest time, all I wanted to do is be able to walk into a book store and see [my] book on a shelf,” Morris said.

“That’s all I cared about. But I don’t know. I mean, I think time will tell.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF DR. JOEL MORRIS TIMELINE BY NICK RUI & EMILY GLEASON

Morris visits Athens, Greece around the time he publishes his short story, “Grizzly Bears,” in the American Literary Review.

Morris takes a “Women in Shakespeare” class in the spring semester of his freshman year of college.

1994

2003

Morris starts teaching Macbeth to his classes for the first time.

Morris expects his Lady Macbeth novel to be published.

2013

2024

March 2023

in-dep th

PHOTO & ART BY WRYN DUEPRE

Essay-Writing AI Threatens Academic Integrity

BY PETER PHILPOTT & AYUSHI SAH Asst. News Editor and Staff Writer

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evolutionary AI technol- ples the chatbot receives, the more ogy is sweeping through students down the road can use it, to schools across the nation, as manipulate or to cheat with their anmore and more students turn to es- swers.” say-writing bots to complete their Senior Nathan Kawamoto, who has assignments. But is this the future of taken computer science all four of his education or a dangerous trend that years at Creek, took particular interundermines the value of a college de- est in the AI when it was released. “A gree? bot like this could have existed for The previous paragraph was not probably close to the last 10 years, written by a human. and in truth, there probably was one It was written by the most ad- already created by some private comvanced publicly-available writing AI pany,” Kawamoto said. “But ChatGPT there is, ChatGPT. The bot was de- is open to the public and that is why signed by OpenAI, a tech company it’s revolutionary.” which has also Not only can made artificial inChatGPT pump “It collects data every telligences that are out word after capable of creattime you interact with it, word of qualing art and music. ity writing, it and it uses that data to Students are now learns from its better itself for your next mistakes and inusing these bots to write papers and teractions. This interaction.” essays for them. aspect of technolThe wave of robot ogy adapting and powered cheating Senior Nathan Kawamoto evolving has been started in colleges. a problem before.

Now, it’s spreading The Microto high schools. soft-made TayTweets bot was put Dr. Todd Laugen, a Professor of into action in March 2016, a revoluHistory at Metropolitan State Univer- tionary AI that could communicate sity of Denver, knows the advanced and chat with Twitter’s human users. intellectual power that the AI pos- Tay’s first tweet was a joyful hello to sesses. “I’m a little concerned about Twitter. By the end of the day, the AI the way that the software learns from was spewing Nazi propaganda and what we feed it,” Laugen said. “The radically racist comments. People more prompts and the more exam- around the world were confused by

10 | In-Depth

Tay’s offensive nosedive, but there was manipulation going on behind the scenes.

Twitter users found that if they simply messaged Tay and told the bot to repeat after them, they could make the account post whatever they wanted. “[ChatGPT] collects data from all across the web anywhere that it can legally, or sometimes not legally, retrieve it,” Kawamoto said. “It collects data every time you interact with it, and it uses that data to better itself for your next interaction.”

Take-home assignments are the easiest to cheat on because students have no supervision. An easy way to stop ChatGPT, Laugen has found, is to make students write more essays where he can watch over them. “I’m planning to do more in-class writing.

Sometimes that’s just pen and paper, just because I want to be able to see what they can do on their own,” Laugen said.

Many professors are trying to learn more about how the bot thinks. By doing that, they can change the way they assign essay prompts, in hopes of fooling ChatGPT and giving it no way to answer the questions logically.

Robot Writers: Students write essays in Michael Mazenko’s eighth period Composition class. ChatGPT’s writing is difficult for teachers to discern from human work.

Is ChatGPT ethical to use?

“No. It’s high-key plagiarism. And it’s going to get you nowhere in life.”

-Freshman Hailey Shim

“It’s not ethical, but it won’t affect people like regular cheating.”

-Sophomore Lucas Barun

“I think it’s wrong because intellectual property is important.”

-Sophomore Jayna Baker Dr. Rob Harper, a Professor of History at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, spends a lot of his time inspecting the bot, trying to find a way to stop it.

“It’s really kind of a challenge to think about what it is that I want my students to do that is distinctively human, that’s not just about processing information,” Harper said. “At the end of the day, I don’t want my students to be writing like a computer.

If I’m asking them to do tasks that a computer can do, then those may not really be very useful assignments in the first place.”

And while colleges have been swept off their feet by this sudden wave, ChatGPT is slowly trickling into Creek. English teacher Brandon Raycraft believes the biggest threat of ChatGPT isn’t just kids cheating on high school essays. It’s the future of education and how students are being

taught. out how to extinguish it. English teacher “You get people to pass tests and ex- Mhari Doyle is dedicated to find a way to ams, but…they won’t be able to perform keep it from festering out of control. “It’s the surgery, or fix the car,” Raycraft said. not just going to affect English,” Doyle “Their qualifications will say they can, but said. “Anytime a teacher asks for a written the practical nature of their job will not be response, it’s going to be affected by AI.” possible.”

Raycraft is worried about ChatGPT’s There’s more repercussions to this type ability to take on world-class exams. “It of cheating than a zero as a consequence. already passed Wharton’s business school’s Students might not be absorbing all the MBA exam. It passed the BAR in Massacontent in their classes, and those little chusetts to practice law,” Raycraft said. “It mistakes can add up and affect a student’s passed the SAT at a level of the average permanent record. Because, when they student from a high achieving school.” don’t have ChatGPT One way to easito help them out, they ly cut off usage from “I wanted to think of are more likely to ChatGPT is by banning ways to make it a tool, flounder and fail. it from school Wi-Fi, English classes ofbut students can find rather than a crutch.” ten require students ways around this, by to think critically downloading VPNs or English Teacher about the content using hotspots to byrather than getting pass the firewall. Doyle Joel Morris answers off of the inworries that banning ternet. “My main conthe software will just cern is that ChatGPT egg students on. New and other AI softwares will allow us to York Public schools banned it from school outsource our thinking,” English teacher Wi-Fi, and Doyle disagrees with that deDr. Joel Morris said. Morris requires his cision. students to write their essays by hand to “That’s the wrong response,” Doyle said. counteract possible cheating.

“Kids will still find a way to use AI whethBecause the bot is so new, universities er they can access it on our Wi-Fi or not. are still scrambling to create official rules Banning it and ignoring it will just make it and regulations to help stop it. ChatGPT is more alluring.” evolving, but plagiarism and AI detectors But while ChatGPT spreads like fire are struggling to keep up. through schools across the nation, Morris While universities have more plagiarism isn’t trying to fight back against the arsonrules than high schools like Creek, the leg- ist. “I wanted to think of ways to make it a islative process at the university level is not tool, rather than a crutch or a quick and acfit to handle emergency measures.“It’s too ademically dishonest way to churn out asnew, people are still figuring out what to signments,” Morris said. “We have used it do about it,” Harper said. “The process of in class to provide feedback on paragraphs actually making rules is so long and clum- that we had already written. It often came sy that by the time we actually had a policy, up with some helpful suggestions, and its the technology would have moved on.” feedback was almost instantaneous.”

Creek invests a lot into Turnitin and According to Morris, ChatGPT isn’t goother anti-cheating policies, but because ing anywhere anytime soon, so it needs to AI has the capability to be able to replicate be used in a positive way and adapted into human writing and get past those soft- a learning tool before it completely changwares, leaving some students to question es the way the future generations learn. written assignments for their worth.

“My hope is that by training students “I’ve written a lot of essays in my time in the ways that this software can be in high school where they seem pretty use- used as a tool for reflection, and less...It makes me think, ‘Is this task really not as a way to cheat the sysmeaningful to me?’” junior Isabella Sand- tem, it could be a powerful vall said. “If a computer can just do that way to help our work,” easily for whatever essay you’re writing, it Morris said. “But we makes me question if the assignments are would never want menial or not.”

AI to replace ChatGPT’s ambush on the American our thinkschool system still has teachers figuring ing.”

March 2023

Regis Jesuit: The Rival Next Door

BY MARIE WEBSTER Chief Sports Photographer

sports

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reek and Regis do not have a normal rivalry.

CONSTANT RIVALS: Junior right-winger and center Drew Capra defends the puck during a varsity game against Regis on Jan. 27. Regis tied Creek 3-3.

DNICK

12 | Sports

ing here,” Olmsted said.

Similar to Olmsted, Creek Athletic Director Jason Wilkins agrees students in the two schools having a prior friendship or relationship adds to the rivalry.

“When the kids already know each other, sometimes that increases the rivalry component,” Wilkins said.

Not only existing relationships, but the frequency of playing Regis can feed the rivalry, both between players and coaches. “[Regis plays well] in a lot of games, so we see them in the playoffs. No matter who you play in the playoffs, it makes the rivalry component increase even more,” Wilkins said.

Despite the rivalry, most coaches believe that the rivalry can be a healthy advantage, if players use it as a way to improve their gameplay.

“We just have to focus on the things that we do, and focus on what makes our team good,” Olmsted said. “Not worry so much about what [Regis is] doing or what they’re not doing.”

RU PHOTO BY QUINN

The two high schools, both powerhouses in Colorado, have a rivalry that runs deep. Both are ranked in the top five sports programs by CHSAA and at only seven miles apart, the two schools play one another frequently and share friendships and history, all of which only add to the school’s fierce rivalry.

Despite the respect between the two schools, Regis varsity baseball head coach Matt Darr believes that a rival is a rival, and playing against each other isn’t just another game.

“It’s always very special playing against our rival teams,” Darr said. “It means a little bit more, especially the lead and build up to the game.”

Cregis, the combined Creek and Regis baseball team in the fall, offers an opportunity for both Regis and Creek baseball players. Training together adds another level of competition, but also respect, between the two schools.

“If anything, [competing] means that much more to the players because they have [already] played together,” Darr said. “I do think, however, that there is a very high level of respect between the teams, coaches, and players alike.”

Sam Morton, a Regis junior that is playing varsity baseball this spring, knows multiple Creek athletes, some he considers very close friends. “Many of us play together, train together, and play against each other year round,” Morton said. “The rivalry between Creek and Regis means extra this year because off the field so many of us are friends and the side that loses will hear it for the rest of the year.”

Similarly, Carlson “Bubba” Tann, a varsity football player at Creek, says, “There was extra

energy, especially in practice, because we knew that their team was stronger than most teams we would play.”

Creek girls’ swim and dive head coach Karin Olmsted makes sure her swimmers have good sportsmanship, despite the strong competition against Regis.

“I told the team, we’re gonna respect them by giving them our best,” Olmsted said.

Olmsted also attributes the clash between Regis and Creek to the success of the two schools, which are both recognized as having some of the best athletic programs in the division.

“The saying is, ‘we ‘always have a target on our back,’ we’re Cherry Creek High School, people love to hate us,” Olmsted said. “We have to carry ourselves with more respect.”

Even between coaches, a sense of competition between the two schools is easily recognizable, and can be based on the proximity between the two schools.

“I think what’s hard is as coaches, [is that the rivalry] runs deep with all sports, not just swimming. We have people who live in our district that go to Regis, it’s a bitter taste when you know they live down the street from one of your other kids on the team and they could’ve been go-

Five Things You Didn’t Know About Creek Baseball

1

Games are Showcases for Scouts

The fall baseball season differs from other seasons throughout the year. Instead of playing tournaments against other teams with the aim to win and retain more experience playing at a higher level, athletes compete in showcases. Showcases help the most skilled players stand out from the crowd and possibly get an offer to continue competing at a higher level. “In showcases you just show off your skills and get colleges to look at you,” sophomore shortstop Sean Klaess said.

3

2

The Booster Club Finances the Team

The team’s booster club is responsible for taking care of most maintenance, equipment, and events within the program by providing opportunities to fundraise money throughout the year. “The booster club pays for all maintenance and improvements to the field, Snack Shack, uniforms, Spirit Day breakfast, program, videographer, Game Changer [and] Hall of Fame [events], senior banquet, website, and scholarships used to help players that don’t have the means [to play],” Booster Club member Luis Esquivel said.

Extreme Long-term Success

The Creek baseball program has experienced immense success throughout the last 60 years.

Coach Marc Johnson led the Varsity Baseball team to 32 league championships and 22 final playoffs, and they have remained steadily in the top five teams in the Class 5A Centennial League for over the last ten years.

Aside from championships, the team’s players have also gone on to achieve great success, with 52 players being drafted into the MLB, the most in the state of Colorado.

XU E LA PR GE UE AN N D

BY Y T WR AR BY O OT PH

BY ISABEL ALLEY & AVERY HUTCHINS Staff Writers

4

Creek Only Pays for Some Coaches

CCSD only pays for a certain amount of coaches for each program. Each school is allowed one paid coach per team, as well as an extra coach who helps out with everything under the district’s control. The rest of the coaches, including baseball’s, are paid for by parent booster clubs or fundraisers. “Baseball historically has had four [teams], so they would have five paid coaches those years,” Athletics Director Jason Wilkins said. The booster club would pay for four out of the five.

Trying Out: Senior Rhodes Hickey tries out for the varsity baseball team on Feb. 27. Tryouts lasted for three days before the spring season began.

5

Training-Heavy Pre-season

During a seven-week pre-season, the Creek baseball team trains three days a week and has optional weight-lifting days. The program also rents out the entire Slammers baseball facility on Saturday mornings, and reserves 4 cages for an hour on Wednesday and Friday for players to practice in before the season starts. “During the preseason, we go to Slammers to do winter training 3 times a week. We’ll hit against our own pitchers and practice our field positions all indoors,” junior catcher Brayden Yasuzawa said.

March 2023

Bodies First, Swimming Second Some Athletes Say CHSAA Swim Rule is Too Strict on Girl Swimmers’ Bodies

BY ALEX GRIBB

T

Junior Editor-in-Chief

o say senior Teagan Steinmetz is fast is an understatement. At her last meet, the state championships, she swam an impressive 51.5 seconds anchoring the winning 400 free relay.

But the referees may not only have been watching the championship-winning swim. Instead, they may have been looking at her body, or more accurately, the way her suit looked.

The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), which rules over swim meets alongside Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA), renewed a rule that swimmers on the girls’ and boys’ teams must wear swimsuits that provide certain amounts of coverage.

“Females shall wear suits which cover the buttocks and breasts and shall not extend beyond the shoulders or below the top of the kneecap, nor cover the neck,” says Article 2 of the Uniform Rules in the NFHS swimming bulletin for the 2022-23 season.

Creek’s head girls’ swim and dive coach Karin Olmsted is strongly opposed to the guidelines. “We’re here to swim, we shouldn’t be telling the girls if a suit fits, or that it should fit a certain way based on who they are, and how they’re made,” she said.

Suits are often made in selective sizing, or with one-size-only options.

This makes suit wearers not only starved for larger selections but often very uncomfortable.

“If you’re sitting around at a meet for multiple hours, those suits are meant to be compressive. And it’s very uncomfortable,” Steinmetz said.

“There are just so many rules to make you more uncomfortable.”

This policing of swimmers’ bodies

has become a central point in recent years. One case, mentioned several times by Olmsted, occurred in 2019 when a female Alaskan high school swimmer was disqualified over a swimsuit violation. This ruling was widely debated, and the Anchorage School District, under which the swimmer competed, released a statement saying, “The disqualification appears to stem from a difference of opinion in the interpretation of the rules governing high school swim uniforms.”

This mirrors Olmsted’s arguments against the opinion-based standard that referees who employ the ruling use. “I just think it becomes very sub-

“Why aren’t you looking at the dive? Why are you worried about the suit coverage?”

Senior Teagan Steinmetz jective, from one person’s subjectivity to another as to what is approved or not approved,” Olmsted said. “Young females under the age of 18 should not be subjected to that.” “[Swimmers] have multiple old men staring at girls from ages mostly 14 to 18 years old,” junior Charlotte Wilson said. Wilson is one of the foremost swimmers in the state, as well as a member of a different champion winning free relay, which broke the state record.

The Union St. Journal reached out to CHSAA’s Rules Interpreter Bill Christie, who declined to comment on the rule.

For Steinmetz, it was very odd to have coaches and referees comment on her body. “As a freshman, my male coach was telling me, ‘Hey, just make sure all of you guys are covering enough because you don’t want to get disqualified for that,’” she said. “Why aren’t you looking at the dive? Why are you worried about the suit coverage? ” Wilson feels the same. “It’s really uncomfortable for me to know that these people have been told by CHSAA to watch our bodies and how our suits look on them,” she said.

Another issue this rule creates is the lack of body positivity involved in enforcing the rule. “I think a really tall [athlete] with a really long torso is going to wear the suit very differently than somebody who’s 5’2,” Olmsted said. “You can’t fit that person in the same suit.”

“Everyone’s bodies are different. It’s not fair to expect that the same suit fits everyone the same,” Steinmetz said.

Their other main issue is that the rule assumes that a swimmer looks to be provocative when wearing a suit. “I don’t think anyone on a high school team is there to show things off,” Steinmetz said. “I don’t think anyone’s purposely trying to pull their suit up and have their entire butt hanging out.”

“If their suit rides up a little bit or their suit moves a little bit that could be considered disqualification just because their suit moved because they’re being athletic.” Wilson said.

The current CHSAA rules meddle with and confuse swimmers as to what the goal of their meets is.

“Aren’t you supposed to be judging the swim?” Steinmetz said. “It shouldn’t be judging the body of the swimmer. That’s not the sport.”

PHOTO BY QUINN RUDNICK

14 | Sports

SWIMMING TO VICTORY: Senior varsity swimmer Lily Esmas competes against Cherokee Trail on Jan. 26 during the 100 yard backstroke event.

March 2023 2023 March

Student Band Purely Indigo Takes the Stage

a&e

BY CARLY PHILPOTT

O

Editor-in-Chief

n a sunny September Saturday, a brand-new student band took the stage at Willowstock, an annual music festival hosted by the Willow Creek neighborhood. They were an instant hit.

“We were all told we were gonna play this gig and open for a bunch of dad bands, and we kinda just crushed it and everyone was wanting more,” 2022 Creek graduate Sam Hilvitz said. “It was really awesome to see and just know that we have something pretty cool going on.”

For Purely Indigo, founded by four current Creek students and Hilvitz, it was their public introduction to the world – but in reality, they’d spent months preparing for the day.

“The guy who runs [Willowstock] was like, ‘Alright, we need a high school band to play,’” sophomore Jacob Krause said.

“And then my dad was like, ‘Okay, you gotta get a band together.’ So then, I did.”

Jacob and his brother, senior Nathan Krause, both longtime musicians and active members of Creek’s marching, concert, and jazz bands, first reached out to senior Maggie Lee in June, hoping she would be the lead vocalist. They later recruited junior Drewes Emerson, a bassist, and Hilvitz, a pianist. Jacob played guitar, and Nathan took over the drumset.

“I was really happy to join when Na- ing skills that I’ve been working on by than reached out to me about a band he myself while I’m practicing it, just putwas putting together,” Emerson said. “I ting it into context with different styles love playing live music for people.” of music outside of jazz, outside of clasThe group quickly formed their identi- sical music and into a more pop, funky ty around indie music, though Lee joked setting,” Sandvall said. “We’re just kind that Hilvitz once described them as “jazz of screwing around and having a good punk.” And as for the name Purely Indi- time.” go?

The same creative liberty that attract“I think we did a name generator app,” ed Sandvall to the band is also what has Lee said. “We just proved so fruitful kept clicking through for other members.

“There are no limitait. And then we were “My favorite part tions for what we can like, ‘oh, Purely Indiabout playing in go, that’s kinda cool.’

Purely Indigo is that do.”

And then we kind of there are no limitajust stuck with it.” tions for what we Junior Drewes Emerson The end goal, Wilcan do,” Emerson lowstock, proved to said. “The song we be a major success. Nathan said part of played at the Talent Show is only supthe thrill was how real of a gig it was. posed to be about two minutes long, but “We had an actual soundcheck, like we have the creative freedom to say ‘why real dudes soundchecking us,” he said. “It not put a sax solo or do an extra chorus.’” was sick.”

Both Krauses want to take the band After Willowstock, the band set its to the next Willowstock, this time as a sights on the future. They’ve practiced lead act, not an opener. And many of the as regularly as possible since, and played members want to start making original in the Power Week Talent Show on Feb. music, too. But regardless, all six of them 14. They also recruited a new member — know they want to preserve the group for junior Isabella Sandvall, a saxophonist, as long as possible. joined after Willowstock. Sandvall, like “I just hope that in the future, even if the other members of the band, plays we stop performing for people, we can music in school, too. But Purely Indigo, still find some time for us all to jam and she says, has given her the freedom to go have a good time,” Hilvitz said. further with music.

“It’s been really good for me developSenior Maggie Lee (right) sings “Waste of Time“ by Early Eyes during Purely Indigo’s practice for the Talent Show on Feb. 14 in the Creek band room while junior Drewes Emerson (left) plays bass and senior Nathan Krause plays the drums.

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The Revival of LEGOs LEGOs, a staple of childhoods around the world, are rising in popularity among teenagers yet again. See some sets geared towards teens below.

Starry Night

LEGO PHOTO BY AMANDA CASTILLO-LOPEZ

For my 17th birthday, I got a LEGO set. I remember when my brother and I would sit on the floor and build Ninjago sets for hours and hours, and though it’s been years since I’ve even touched a LEGO, building the Starry Night LEGO was a welcome nostalgic experience.

The intricacy of this set makes it obvious that it was crafted by someone with genuine love for Starry Night and the tiny plastic blocks that make up beloved childhood memories. You don’t have to be an avid painter or Van Gogh fan to enjoy this set.

-News Editor Amanda Castillo-Lopez

2316 pieces | $169.99

Hogwarts Castle The LEGO Hogwarts set is a majestic masterpiece that holds dozens of references to the series and will appeal to every single Harry Potter fan. The minifigures’ scaled down size makes the castle as a whole look much bigger and better, and the Great Hall has colorful windows which shine brightly through light. When it’s complete, you get this immense satisfaction, seeing every single one of the 6,020 pieces in front of you, coming together to create one of LEGO’s greatest sets of all time.

-Asst. News Editor Peter Philpott

LEGO

PHOTO BY CARLY PHILPOTT

6020 pieces | $469.99

Fender Guitar As a LEGO enthusiast, l’ve spent hours working on countless sets, and by far my favorite has been the Fender Guitar. It has many intricate details that really brought the set to life. This set features small fender stickers designated for the amplifier and the strings connected to the guitar. I’m a big fan of music no matter the genre and have always wanted to learn guitar so having the opportunity to build one, even if it’s LEGO, was exceptionally fun.

-Opinions Editor Izzy Krauss LEGO PHOTO BY IZZY KRAUSS

1074 pieces | $119.99 March 2023

USJ Editors Recommend Their Top Reads Right Now ‘The Princess Diarist’ Reveals the Real Carrie Fisher

BY CARLY PHILPOTT

I

Editor-in-Chief

with Ford in metaphorical terms alongside the direct. She describes drug-addled visions in words that are far more advanced than a teen diary should have. And she couples all this with her present-day memories and accounts, recollections of the moments that led to these journal entries. It’s a side to Fisher that, unless you’ve been consuming her previous books, you won’t have seen. But it’s a side that feels essential to understanding

remember the strange grief I felt when Carrie Fisher died two days after Christmas in 2016. Probably a third of my presents that year were Star Warsthemed. On my wall was a Leia poster that proclaimed “Women Belong in the Resistance.”

All of this to say, I cared about Carrie Fisher a great deal as a child. And given that even after her death, we had two more Star Wars movies with her likeness in them, that didn’t go away. Not that I was alone: for generations, Fisher was the center of toys, fan fiction, merchandising, costumes, and lewd magazines — Star Wars and otherwise. Meanwhile, Fisher grappled with the effects of extreme fame: she battled drug and alcohol addictions for years, and publicly struggled with bipolar disorder.

Later in life, Fisher distilled some of these experiences into three memoirs (she also wrote several semi-autobiographical novels). In the final of these memoirs, The Princess Diarist, published just months before her death in 2016, Fisher offers sincere detail into her 1970s life on and off the set of Star Wars. And, for the first time, she published entries from her journal during that period.

1976 Carrie Fisher was just 19 and in love with costar Harrison Ford, as it turns out. She wasn’t expecting (or even wishing) to be big. She was constantly anxious and self-doubting, with body image issues and the beginnings of multiple addictions. She ART BY ANGELA XU was still reeling from an unstable childhood who she was. in the grips of her parents’ complicated fame, Fisher used her unique ability to express and she had almost zero idea of what she was her life in writing to voice her most unspeakdoing. The Princess Diarist reveals all of this. able feelings. This is deeply relatable for not But it also reveals Fisher for the core of who only writers (the majority of whom could she was: a writer. not even hope for a voice like Fisher’s), but Fisher’s journal entries are a mish-mash of for almost anyone else who wrote in diaries poems and prose. She writes about her affair as a child or an adult and finds themselves

The Princess Diarist

Carrie Fisher

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reaching for a laptop or a pen with even the slightest of thoughts. Or who imagines themselves one day writing a novel or memoir, only to sit down and have all the words disappear from their thoughts. Fisher has written the words we all hope to write.

For me, it just makes her more of a hero, because she has achieved what I aspire to be able to do: to transpose general thoughts into meaningful writing. She’s always been my hero for her pioneering and advocacy, but here she is someone I want to honor and idolize, and someone I so deeply wish I could have had a conversation with.

In this way, the book also gives a new generation of Carrie Fisher fans who will never see her in comic cons or on the street or even in tabloids a chance to get to know her somewhat personally anyways.

It’s not a full representation of Fisher’s life, because no book could ever tell the whole story. But perhaps the best part of it is that it shows a messy, dramatic, naïve-yet-experienced side of Carrie Fisher. She doesn’t take herself seriously much of the time, and yet she is compelled to write.

And that is summed up by these two paragraphs from her 1976 diary: “I would like to not be able to hear myself think. I constantly hear my mind chattering and jabbering away up there all by itself. I wish it would give me a f*cking break. Write, don’t think, write. You’re not thinking properly, Ms. Fisher, I suggest you write.

If anyone reads this when I have passed to the great beyond I shall be posthumously embarrassed. I shall spend my entire afterlife blushing.”

I’m a Leia fanatic. My ball python is named after her; throughout my childhood I’ve had posters and Funko POPs. But through her memoirs, I don’t just see Leia anymore – I see Carrie.

Dave Grohl’s ‘The Storyteller’ Chronicles Stardom

BY QUINN RUDNICK

D

Managing & Sports Editor

Dave Grohl THE STORYTELLER

ART BY ANGELA XU

ave Grohl is a legendary musician. Anyone with halfway decent taste in music will know the names of some of the bands he’s been in, Foo Fighters and Nirvana, and some might even know Scream, a local suburban teenage punk band. Being a music enthusiast myself, I decided to read Grohl’s autobiography, The Storyteller, and I instantly fell in love with the book and his story.

The Storyteller is different from any other autobiography I’ve read; rather than using the book to settle scores or reopen old wounds, Grohl spends his time telling smaller stories, like a series of vignettes inside a larger book. He tells stories about how his life changed when he had children, his dinners with Paul McCartney and AC/ DC, playing a show through a broken leg in Sweden, and a raging coffee addiction.

Through a series of different stories about Grohl’s past bands and the process of forming Foo Fighters, The Storyteller serves as a sort of description of how Grohl

‘made it’ into the musical world.

One of my favorite stories is about Grohl’s teenage years, which were spent grinding the drumbeat to various different rock songs on his teeth (where he introduced a very concerned dentist to the story), experiencing his ‘punk rock baptism’ at a Naked Raygun concert, and his infatuation with Scream.

After years of dreaming about being called up on stage to fill in for legendary Scream drummer Kent Stax, Grohl called the lead singer’s girlfriend and asked for an audition after Stax left the band – and it went well. But by the time he’d been asked to join the band full time, Grohl was at a crossroads. Joining Scream would mean leaving school and quitting his high school band, Drain Bramage. So he declined.

It was when he started discussing how he instantly regretted not joining Scream when attending one of their concerts that I realized why I loved the book so much — it spoke to anyone who thought of music as more than just sound, giving proof to the impact of live music.

‘The Stolen Heir’ is High Fantasy Done Right

BY GABBY SCHROCK

H

Assistant A&E Editor

olly Black is known for The Cruel Prince, the ensuing trilogy, and some stand-alone novels. She’s a very popular author, so her new duology has readers raving. The Stolen Heir, published Jan. 10, left readers so satisfied they can’t wait for the sequel, although there is no official release date yet.

The book has many themes that kept me wanting to read: romance, mysteries, and banter pulled me in and were beautifully executed.

Usually, a high fantasy novel like this I would put down because of bad writing.

But Holly Black has always been an amazing writer, and this book is over the top in captivating writing and vivid descriptions. Her trilogy, The Folk of the Air, was astounding and is rightfully a fan favorite among many, including me.

One of the main characters, Wren, tries to escape her fate and true self because she doesn’t want to be known as a monster in her community. She runs away from her family that doesn’t love

her or share her ideals. Her running away is making a point to her family that they cannot control her.

Black’s main characters, Wren and Oak, have a deep and complex history together that begins in childhood. This bond is what makes their love powerful enough to face a great evil. But of course, in order to succeed, Wren is shoved back into the world she despises, dragged along a brutal trip to stop the wrath of the very thing she ran away from.

In the midst of chaos, love flourishes, danger and tension build, and the stakes grow higher for Wren as her fate becomes clear in an endeavor that tests her powers.

As I read, countless twists and turns kept me on my toes and kept me turning the page. The romance is underlying but very enticing. Attention-grabbing descriptions and the journey and development of characters throughout the book make it nearly impossible to put down.

On top of that, the cliffhanger ending left me wanting more. Holly Black is one of the best fantasy writers there is, and coming from someone who doesn’t like fantasy, that’s saying something.

HOLLY BLACK

ART BY ANGELA XU

March 2023

opinions

R.I.P.

SHAKESPEARE: Bury His Books With Him

BY VEE WILLIAMSON

O

Staff Writer

utdated, overrated, and obnoxious. This is the only way to describe Shakespeare’s writing; yet, for centuries he’s been deemed as a classic. His reign has remained strong, but it’s time for Shakespeare’s influence to die like him.

Teachers can undoubtedly do amazing things with his work, but its not likely to have an impact on students. He’s regarded as boring for a reason and when students are forced to read his work, Shakespeare becomes less of a lesson and more of a task.

In addition to being boring, he’s also confusing. His ancient sentences are brutal to comprehend, and while challenging students can be beneficial, reading dialects from century-old pieces is the work of scholars, not high school kids.

Shakespeare’s work is an entirely different style of English and can only be taught effectively when it’s the primary focus of a class. The archaic and complicated language makes it more difficult for students to understand the storyline as well as the themes

20 | Opinions22 | Opinions

hidden within the writing. hate, betrayal and envy, is a standard Also hurting its comprehension, in English literature, but it is no lonis the ambiguity of Shakespeare’s lan- ger important enough to be taught. guage that cannot be explored in the “His characters speak, not [on] classroom as it is on stage. their own, but always one and the His plays are plays; they aren’t same [in] Shakespearian, pretentious, bound for lecture-based classrooms, and unnatural language,” Russian authey’re designed to be performed. thor Leo Tolstoy wrote.

“Actors and audiences are supTolstoy’s point is the epitome of posed to argue over meaning, finding why reading Shakespearian text is multiple ways of obnoxious. His delivering word complexity is on His plays are plays; and deed,” Guardanother level, but ian journalist seems to fall short they aren’t bound Mark Powell when it comes to for lecture based wrote. characterization. classrooms, they’re While dense As annoying as designed to be perand at times unShakespeare can bearable, there is seem, he isn’t the formed. a reason Shakeproblem. It’s our speare is still ability to interpret taught. His craft is one of a kind, and him, and taking Shakespeare out of his comedic plays are regarded much the main curriculum opens up new higher by students. Teachers such as doors for more recent works such as Erika DeShay-Lowencron and Mhari The Phantom of the Opera.

Doyle recognize this and have begun For the general sake of society, to implement comedies such as A Shakespeare should stop being reMidsummer Night’s Dream into the garded as the greatest playwright. We course. need room for new authors to blosBut some of Shakespeare’s most som within the intricate garden of famous works are tragedies, most of literature. which are far too tedious. Romeo and Juliet: A traditional story of love and ART BY ALEX GRIBB

Can They Hold It?

Trans Students’ Bathroom Options Are Lacking

BY JUDE GORDEN

I

Asst. Opinions Editor

magine walking into a restroom with four stalls, and one is handicap accessible. You wouldn’t use that stall if you didn’t have to.

So then why are so many cisgender students using the gender-neutral bathrooms?

Overcrowding of these restrooms causes trans students to make a choice: tarnish their record by waiting or induce dysphoria by using gendered spaces.

Creek converted some of its faculty restrooms to gender-neutral ones three years ago, which shouldn’t be ignored, as many other schools don’t have any. But with more gender non-conforming students, the need for these resourceshas increased. The few options that were once enough are now the bare minimum.

The only reason these bathrooms exist is thanks to Spectrum, Creek’s LGBTQIA+ club, who hounded the administration to force the change. If they had refused, their facade of inclusivity would have been at risk.

Converting faculty restrooms entailed changing a few signs – and faculty still used them. This ingenious cop-out allowed the

administration to dismiss the issue without Assistant Principal Kevin Uhlig claims making real change.

Creek’s campus landlocks them in terms Responding to Spectrum’s request as they of renovations involving bathrooms. Still, did helped Creek’s reputation for supporting the administration expanded the Innovadiverse students but failed to support the tion Center and school store, ripping out trans students in question. walls and rearranging rooms. True, money Even if the bathrooms are open, using a was earmarked for these projects, but they single-stalled restroom shoved in an awk- should seek out grants for bathroom renovaward corner of Creek does not comfort tions, not just cosmetic upgrades. trans students. Instead it Realistically, fundalienates them even furing isn’t always availther. While the gendered able for building new While some argue adbathrooms are located gender-neutral bathministration is doing all around high-traffic arrooms. A cheaper solueas, the gender-neutral tion is to convert all the they can for trans sturestrooms are a physical gendered restrooms in dents, with the campus afterthought, squeezed West and East into genand funding Creek has, into random spaces studer-neutral ones. It’s a dents wouldn’t expect to simple fix, and would it’s not enough. find a bathroom. only entail changing “The whole point of a signs and putting stalls gender-neutral restroom around urinals. is that they make you feel more comfortable Currently, the bathrooms available to and normal,” senior Adrian de Araujo said, trans and non-binary students fall signifi“but when you’re walking into a single room, cantly short of where they should be, and it just feels so strange,” students suffer because of it.

While some argue the administration is trans and non-binary students fall sigdoing all they can for trans students with nificantly short of where they should be, and the campus and funding Creek has, it’s not students suffer because of it. enough.

Tough Spot: Sophomore Jude Gorden constantly finds themself waiting for long amounts of time to get into the gender-neutral bathrooms. While these bathrooms were established for trans and nonbinary students, cis students and faculty still use them.

PHOTO BY WRYN DUPRE

March 2023

Real Issues Deserve A Place In Kids Movies

BY JACKSON SLOAN Staff Writer

and Stitch, child protective services are involved as Lilo’s older sister struggles to raise ver the past few decades, chil- her. dren’s movies have taken a difThis is real life. It is both complicated ferent approach to more sensi- and yet simple enough for a child to undertive topics. Serious issues such as puberty, stand. family dysfunction, and death have been Children’s movies of the past are responpreviously hidden from young moviegoers, sible for many dysfunctional stereotypes. but newer films from Pixar, Disney, Uni- The evil and wicked stepmother is a comversal, and Dreamworks have turned them mon trope. What message does this send into the main focus. to children whose parents remarry? Is their Conservative figures classify these new step-parent going to treat them badly? changes as “wokeness” and oppose the Historically in children’s movies, characters inclusion of serious themes in children’s are in desperate situations and must be resmovies. These developments, however, are cued, there is an expectation that someone a great thing because it acknowledges that else will save the day. Recently, films have these issues are prespulled away from ent in children’s lives this theme. Characand takes a pragmatic Movie heroes and herters save themselves. approach by integratThe outcome is not oines are no longer reing these issues into a always a happy endquired to be popular, medium that children ing, but a more realcan understand. beautiful, and fit. The istic one. There is no Previous children’s need for a hero. goal of perfection is being films have touched on There has also replaced with purpose and social issues such as been a move toward substance. feminism with Brave inclusivity, where and Mulan and envimain characters are ronmentalism vs conmore diverse. This sumerism in the Lobrings with it an exploration of culture, rax. Nonetheless, certain topics regarding tradition and family dynamics beyond the familial relationships have been avoided in whitewashed confines of movies past. the past. Newer films are meeting these isSoul and Coco gently address the insues head on. evitability of death, while illustrating the Disney stirred controversy with Turning richness of a life that may not look like Red, a coming of age story about puberty. the viewer’s. Onward and Turning Red In Big Hero 6, the main character loses his have LGBTQ characters. Movie heroes brother and falls into depression. In Lilo and heroines are no longer required to be

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22 | Opinions

popular, beautiful and fit. The goal of perfection is being replaced with purpose and substance.

Thankfully for now, art is beginning to imitate life. These small steps in a more unified direction is progress. Life is messy and chaotic. It is full of triumphs, epic fails and a healthy share of mediocrity.

Familial Trauma: Turning Red circles a young girl who struggles with her identity as she tries to fit into her family’s expectations.

It covers coming of age issues, while featuring strong people of color and dives deep into self- exploration.

DISNEY

How to Fix the AirPod Epidemic

STAFF-EDITORIAL

High Schoolers’ Use of AirPods in Class Disrespects Teachers

H

as the entire Creek student population gotten infected with tiny, white ear parasites? No, it’s just AirPods, the headphones single-handedly sabotaging learning.

Apple released the first AirPod model in 2016, allowing users to listen to anything at any time without the annoying cords of their previous headphones. But this ease of access has allowed students to abandon their learn-

ing, and instead focus their attention on useless stimulation as opposed to their futures.

ers’ lessons by listening to music, it sends the message that their presence isn’t appreciated.

Trying to listen to music while writing an essay adds a whole new level of difficulty especially when students should be focusing their energy on their writing. Instrumental music would probably be fine, but we’d guess most of those AirPods are playing Mitski, not Mozart.

If high school students continue to rely on AirPods to get through the school day, their learning will suffer.

A recent

study in the Journal of Student Research found that there was “a correlation between multi-tasking and impaired performance on the main task.” In other words, we might think we are successfully doing two things at once, but in reality, neither task is being done well.

This doesn’t seem like a big problem to the students now, but it will if they seek higher education, like college. As if college isn’t already an alien planet for freshmen, trying to sever an electronic dependency will make it much harder to navigate.

The Problem

W

alk into a Creek classroom and all you’ll see is a sea of distracted children prevented from learning by technology. Popping in AirPods is the perfect way for lazy students to keep themselves from actually learning anything while also metaphorically flipping their teachers off.

The whole idea of paying one adult to educate around 30 kids is that their knowledge and time have value, so it’s unfair to waste teachers’ time with students who would rather listen to music than learn from them.

When students effectively mute their teach-

The Solution

T

here’s no perfect vaccine to cure the AirPod epidemic.

Banning AirPods would be ineffective, and would just push students to find more creative and sneaky ways of using them, just like banning phones.

Some might say, “if teachers are already collecting phones, there’s no reason they can’t also collect AirPods.” The main problem with the phone pockets many teachers already use is that class periods are too short for teachers to check each one. Also, when they are used for phones, they can be quickly scanned, but it would take much longer to check for AirPods too.

A less drastic, and more effective first step would be to set aside one day a week for independent work and let students wear AirPods only on that day. Doing this could help students reduce their dependence on headphones without being too aggressive.

Ultimately, students bear the responsibility to fix this problem, because we were the ones to start the whole affair. Technology continues to hinder learning as it advances, and it’s up to students to realize its demonstrative effects, in order to prioritize their futures.

AirPod Epidemic: Students who use AirPods during teacher instruction have a responsibility to not only acknowledge their disrespect, but work to fix it.

March 2023

Creek Champions Creek’s athletics program is widely received as one of the best in the state, with sports teams placing highly in state and national championships every year.

During the 2022-23 winter season, Creek’s girls’ swim and dive team won their CHSAA Class 5A State Championships for the third time in a row, where the team placed 1st with 448 overall points, and 31 swimmers broke Creek pool records.

Creek’s girls’ climbing team also placed first in their state championship on Feb. 25, with a total of 20,993 points. The team competition was in addition to individual competitions, where multiple members of the team placed highly; varsity junior Michelle Markevych placed third with a score of 8,269, and junior Lianka Pechova placed fourth for junior varsity with a score of 4,957.

PHOTO BY QUINN RUDNICK

Above: Varsity senior Katie Cohen competes against Regis during an all levels meet on Jan. 21. Junior varsity swimmers beat Regis 188 to 117, and varsity swimmers won 187.5 to 127.5.

The meet came only a few weeks before state championships, serving as an opportunity for swimmers to qualify for events.

Left: Senior varsity swimmer Micaela Brown competes against Cherokee Trail during the 200 yard IM event, placing sixth in her heat. The girls’ swim and dive team went on to win the Class 5A Swim and Dive State Championships, bringing Creek to a record 29 state titles.

PHOTO BY QUINN RUDNICK

Below: Junior Michelle Markevych climbs boulder 18. Markevych took third place individually and was the top scorer of the girls’ varsity team. “Obtaining my goal after training for a full year was a surreal experience,” Markevych said.

PHOTO BY KATYA ROUDAKOV

Above: Junior Sophia Diaz-DaCruz leads route six at the end of the climbing State Championship on Feb 25. The Girls Varsity team won first place for the second year in a row after dominating most of the season. Girls’ junior varsity won second place.

PHOTO BY KATYA ROUDAKOV