The BluePrint - Volume 15, Issue 4

the

blueprint Hagerty High School

Vol. 15, Issue 4

Feb. 11, 2020

Oviedo, Florida

STACK IT UP At the regional meet on Feb. 1, two robotics teams, Mechromancers and Metal Morphosis, qualified for the Feb. 29 state championship. All four school teams will be going to state.

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lots of paint M

Hagerty alumnus and graduate of the University of Florida, Xavier Moss created an Oviedo mural in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. which was revealed Jan. 20.

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Here’s the kicker On Feb. 5, boys varsity lost against Lake Nona 1-0 in the district semifinals, ending a season where they exceeded expectations after a lot of turnover from last season.

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BIG BRAIN

To finish a multiple-week unit on the brain, senior Julian Weremchuk dissects a sheep’s brain with his lab group in Brandi Malkovich’s Anatomy class. photo by Peyton Sutch

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News

School follows health mandate WATCH AND LEARN Students view the introductory module for the mental health course. The videos played during an extended midblock period. photo by Sarah Hinnant

Haley Hibdon and Lukas Goodwin Staff Reporter and Lifestyles Editor

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ollowing a surge of tragedies in high schools across the country, most notably with Stoneman Douglas two years ago, Florida state legislature created a new law requiring all public middle and high schools to watch a selection of mental health and substance abuse videos. These videos were presented in students’ midblock classes with an adjusted bell schedule, from Jan. 27 to 31.

The district chose Everfi as the video provider, as they meet the criteria required by the state.

Students went through several presentations addressing three common problems among teens. Monday focused on mental health basics, mental disorders and how to seek resources.

Tuesday discussed drug abuse and how to avoid it. Finally, a video on alcohol was split between Thursday and Friday for a total of three hours.

However, there was some confusion on the timing and when the specific modules were supposed to be completed. Most classes ran out of time on Monday and were unable to complete the assigned video, causing that specific module to cut into class time for teachers who chose to finish the segment that day.

In addition, the segment that was supposed to be split between Thursday and Friday was also confusing. Most teachers completed the two day section on Thursday, leaving students with 80 minutes of “free time” on Friday.

The information was presented because teenagers lack role models who can openly talk about these issues and consequently, teachers led the interactive modules, making sure students understood the material and the importance of knowing the information.

“I think high schoolers don’t necessarily have a mainstream voice,” guidance counselor Nick Maby said.

While the thought of six hours of training might have been daunting, many students were grateful for the platform schools provided them. This offered a new wave of information that could be critical to self awareness and the recognition of mental health issues in peers The goal of the videos was to open discussion

about serious topics like mental health that are often swept under the rug. Although they were meant to be purely educational and not a substitute for therapy, school counselors recognized that the videos had the potential to upset some people. The counselors were on standby to ensure that students had access to the support they needed during the presentations.

Students who were absent during the week had to access Everfi through the portal and complete the courses at home and were to contact assistant principal Angel Rocha. This opportunity was also offered to students who do not have a seventh period but some of these students found a temporary seventh period to watch the videos.

These videos were not meant to be a chore, but instead, act as an accessible view to topics heavily prevalent in most students’ lives today.

However, the biggest complaint about how the situation was handled is that it was too long and hard to maintain the student’s attention for such a long amount of time.

“Some of the modules were too long to really keep attention, and [students] really needed to be doing more on [their] part,” said Rocha This will be an annual state-mandated event and there is a possibility that from now on the courses will be completed by all students individually in hopes to keep students focused and interested in the content.

Robotics teams stack up spots for state Sharika Khondaker

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News Editor

n Saturday, Feb. 1, robotics hosted the annual FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Tech Challenge Space Coast League Championship. 23 teams from Seminole and Brevard counties, including school teams Metal Morphosis (4227) and Mechromancers (4717), competed to earn a berth in the February state championship.

Though the day was filled with highs and lows, both teams secured spots.

This year’s game is Skystone, where teams had to build a robot that could collect 4” by 8” yellow blocks, or stones, and stack them on top of a movable rectangular goal zone, the foundation. Teams earn an additional bonus if their robot places a team marker, or capstone, on the foundation or on top of a stack. However, robots are only allowed to carry one stone at a time, so the way that a robot can efficiently deliver and stack these stones on the foundation is a key element of the game.

Throughout the day, teams played six matches, adding onto their overall wins from the three meets prior. On Saturday, their performance over the last five months determined their League (region) ranking.

Metal Morphosis won four matches and placed fourth, while the Mechromancers won two matches and placed 11th.

One of the top four teams, 4227 had the opportunity to captain an alliance going into eliminations. Each of the top four teams chose two teams to compete with in the elimination rounds. As the third-seeded alliance, 4227 chose 4717 as their first pick. However, Metal Morphosis and Mechromancers’ alliance lost during the semifinals.

Despite not winning the tournament, both teams still advanced. Team advancement is not solely based on robot performance; teams can advance by winning awards for the documentation process in the engineering

DANCING THE MATCH AWAY Drive team members, junior Jolie Miller, senior Mason Dettman and junior Ben Steinebronn do the macarena before the start of a match. photo by Maggie Taylor

notebook and presentation. Teams had five minutes to give a presentation about everything that makes up their team: robot, outreach and team cohesion. Afterwards, judges ask questions to team members to expand more on a specific topic.

Eight teams advanced to states. Team 4227 won the Inspire Award, given to the team that best encompasses the FIRST values and the best overall team. 4717 won the second place Inspire Award. This qualified both teams for states, with the first and third qualification spots for the FTC State Championship on Saturday, Feb. 29 in Jacksonville.

This is the first year that 4227 won the Inspire Award, and the first year both teams have won the top two places for this award.

“The suspense of having our sister team qualify right before us definitely put some pressure on our team,” sophomore Nitin

Balasubramanian said. “It was a surprise, but probably one of the best experiences that I will take away from robotics.”

The two other teams from the robotics program qualified for state championships as well. VEX teams Cyber Shock (97052A) and Cataclysm (97052B) qualified for their state championship in January and February, respectively. In VEX, teams are limited to building their robots with VEX manufactured parts, a major difference from FTC. The game, Tower Takeover, also features robots that stack cubes into goal zones, and place them in towers. The VEX State Championship will be held on Saturday, Feb. 15 in Lakeland.

“I think it is a good indication of where our program is. Everybody worked really hard to earn those spots, and now we are trying to earn the next spots to world championships,” mentor Stefan Ibarguen said.

Oviedo Mall gets big makeover Charlotte Mansur

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Online Editor

fter a long day of work or school the last thing you want to do is head to your nearest department store in search of a last minute birthday present for a loved one. In an era of online shopping where everything is available through a “buy with one click” button, traditional retail stores have had to come up with creative solutions to attract customers. The Oviedo Mall, having felt the effects of online markets for some time, has had to take steps in order to create a space that people will get off their couch to come to.

Originally the Oviedo Marketplace, the Oviedo Mall was established in 1994. Since then Oviedo has seen many of its stores close; stores including Bed Bath and Beyond, Footlocker, Sears and Macy’s are no longer. Competition from online and other local retailers has made it challenging for the mall. Malls can not provide the convenience and selection that online sources can, and that is hurting them. People who don’t like interaction with others prefer resources like Amazon or Etsy to shop without having to talk to other people.

The mall hopes to improve through a new project run by a local developer Tricor.

Oviedo City council recently approved for development of 250 apartments, 175 rooms for senior citizens and 124 hotel rooms in the old Macy’s parcel of the mall. While the decision is controversial in the community, many see it as an opportunity for the mall to grow.

“Over the past few years, online shopping has definitely affected traditional shopping.

One thing Oviedo Mall has done to evolve in this new environment is to become more than just a shopping destination,” marketing and business development director for the mall Shelly Sloan said. “The addition will hopefully add traffic to the mall over time and may lead to additional mixed-use tenants coming to the property.”

The development is not the only thing the mall is doing to expand. Management has leased space to entertainment-based tenants to create a location where people can live, work, and play. District Eat and Play, Mad Science and Penguin Point Production were brought in to create a fun atmosphere that draws in customers for other restaurants and store fronts.

Creating mixed-use malls is very trendy.

Across the nation malls are being turned into swanky office complexes, gardens, libraries, and even hockey rinks. For example a rundown mall in Cleveland, Ohio, the Galleria at Erieview, turned its walkways into a fully functioning greenhouse. The Mayfield Mall in Mountain View, California was turned into Google offices after it shut down in 2013.

Establishing alternative destinations within malls can liven up a neighborhood.

Neighborhood feedback is important in the growth of the mall as well. Earlier this year the mall replaced the veteran children’s play area in the food court with a sandbox. This sandbox was not only messy, but charged an entrance fee that the traditional play area did not. Locals took to social media to express their concerns over the issue. The mall listened, and replaced the sandbox with another free children’s play area. Mall representatives hope that the big changes coming will be well received.

“The Oviedo Mall has always been very invested in the local community, and our goal is to improve overall experience for our residents,” Sloan said.

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news New classes coming next year FEB

ATHLETIC BOOSTER CLUB GOLF

FEB

THESPIAN SHOWCASE

FEB

FAMILY MENTAL HEALTH NIGHT

MAR

SAT SCHOOL DAY

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TO THE BEAT Sophomore Julia Shepp helps sophomore Jack Kimball with the drums during band. PIT Crew will mentor students with disabilities during the day. photo by Faith Marino.

Sharika Khondaker

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Calculus Honors

News Editor

ith course registration deadlines approaching, students may not have heard about some of the new courses offered in the updated curriculum guide.

Students may find new offering in core classes, such as Calculus Honors or electives like Law Studies III. Below are several courses new to Hagerty in 2020-21.

Peer Inclusion Team

The PIT Crew will be a standard elective credit that will require an application, and is open to juniors and seniors. If accepted, students will have the opportunity to interact and help out peers with disabilities.

The idea for PIT Crew originated when ESE teacher Heather Ambrosi and her students took a trip to Timber Creek in February of last year and thought it would be a great opportunity to start a PIT crew here. Currently, there are six students in the program, but Ambrosi hopes to expand.

“The students that are helping love doing it,” Ambrosi said. “You have to have a special heart to be able to do it, but they are enjoying being able to help somebody.”

Ambrosi hopes to at least double the number of kids in PIT crew. Both Jackson Heights and Lawton Chiles have had PIT crew at their schools, so she hopes there will be a large pool of students interested in the program.

“It has been around for a while, so I hope the kids realize that we have it here and join,” Ambrosi said.

Law Studies III

Law Studies III will build upon concepts from Law Studies I and II as the program expands and it will be offered as a semesterlong course. Law Studies II will have more of a focus on civil law. Students will learn about different civil cases.

Through the course, Law Studies teacher Elaine Sayre pulls current events from the news and discusses them in her class, relating them to the topic of discussion. She tries to have them understand the law through current events.

“It is really nice to feed off of their energy.

It just makes me so excited because I can prepare them for the real world,” Sayre said.

“I let them be themselves, and we are able to have discussions on things that are important to them in their lives.”

As an alternative to AP Calculus, Calculus Honors will be added to the math department for juniors and seniors.

Though it follows the same standards as AP Calculus, it will not be as rigorous, due to the absence of an AP exam. There will be more of a review at the beginning of the course, covering limits in-depth, as limits are the foundations of Calculus.

In the past, every other high school in the county has offered an honors or standard level of Calculus for students to take, with Hagerty being the exception. Because of this, the county mandated that Calculus Honors be offered. However, the class will only be added if there are enough people to sign up for it.

“I don’t know how much of an interest there will be to be honest because Mrs. Guzman does such a bang-up job [with AP Calculus],” assistant principal Jesse Walker said.

Chinese II

Chinese II will be offered as an expansion from Chinese I, building the new foreign language program. While Chinese I teaches the basics of Mandarin, Chinese II will go more in-depth with not only the language and grammar, but the culture itself.

A unique feature of the Chinese program is that there are no final exams. Instead, Chinese teacher Zhenzhen Zhang has projects at the end of each quarter. From first to fourth quarter, her students will complete projects on chalk, food, movies and music.

Zhang believes that the upcoming year will be even better than this year, since 90% of her students want to continue with the course.

“I am happy and excited to see how this goes. We made mistakes and had achievements this year,” Zhang said. “I will know how to make Chinese I better than this year and Chinese II will follow a more solid routine with more interesting projects.”

Though there are many new additions, AP Comparative Government has been removed from the curriculum guide. There are not enough students who register for the class to allocate the resources to keep it.

Registration meetings took place through Thursday, Jan. 30. Curriculum night was held on Thursday, Jan. 30, and registration cards were collected on Wednesday, Feb. 5. Students have until April to change their selections.

Read the full story on hagertyjourn.com

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The booster club will host a golf tournament to raise money for the different sports teams starting at 8 a.m. at Twin Rivers Golf Club. It will cost $75 per player for 18 holes of golf with competitions like long drive and closest to the pin.

Troupe 6885 will be holding a showcase to present the performances and acts that received Superiors at districts. The group will perform these acts at the state festival in March. The show starts at 6 p.m., and tickets will be $5 at the door.

As a follow up to the school unit on mental health, the PTSA will be hosting a mental health night in the auditorium for families who are interested in learning more about mental health. The free event starts at 5 p.m. and will run through 8 p.m.

On Wednesday, March 4, juniors will take the SAT for free during the school day. The test will include Reading, Math and Essay sections. Testing locations will be posted outside of the media center doors. Other students will follow the normal schedule.

NEWS BRIEFS

SCHOOL HOSTS CURRICULUM NIGHT

Clubs and classes such as Debate, Robotics, and Early Childhood pitched their clubs and classes to new students and incoming freshman on Thursday, Jan. 30. For two hours in the practice gym, parents and incoming freshman had the opportunity to get student opinions and teacher recommendations for certain classes they had interest in. Many of the pitches included demonstrations, like Robotics. Showing off what they have been working on, freshman Zachary Boggs and senior Colin Voss prepared to demonstrate their robotics presentation. “We worked so hard this year, and it is nice to show other people. I hope this gets us some more members next year,” Boggs said.

SEMINOLE STATE HOSTS IMMERSION TRIP

Seminole State College (SSC) hosted its monthly SCPS & TRIO Career Immersion Trip on Friday, January 31, from 7 a.m. to noon. Class of 2020 seniors from any Seminole Country school were eligible to sign-up, and interest forms were available on SSC website. Students who registered explored future possible careers in Public Safety & Service, Business and Hospitality programs at Seminole State College.

The program allows seniors to explore a certain career path or specialty offered at SSC. Seminole and Lake Mary high schools hosted this event, but locations vary.

Seminole State offers these activities every month, and sometimes twice a month.

LEADERSHIP ATTENDS LOCAL CONFERENCE

Leadership students took a trip to Dr. Philips High School on Jan. 25 to meet with 20 different leadership committees from high schools across Seminole, Volusia and Orange counties. At the conference, they learned about leadership skills, how to communicate better and what kind of activities or events each group is implementing or thinking about implementing at their schools. Along with serious discussion and sharing of ideas, they also played team-building games, competed with old TV show trivia, had a dance party and were treated to Chick-fil-A for lunch. The event is an annual conference, however, the leadership group has not attended in several years.

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Opinions

OUR TAKE

New Year’s resolutions: One month later

by Alexis Madlang

Jan. 4

Florida Prepaid refund leads to more opportunities

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n an attempt to tackle the high tuition costs and expensive college resources such as books and online resources, parents can start early and gather money for their child’s college education. Through Florida Prepaid College Plan, families can pay in advance for college with a payment schedule that makes it more affordable.

This program affects and benefits many Florida families, even more now since the state announced on Jan. 13 that there will be refunds for Florida Prepaid customers. According to Tampa Bay Times, the price reduction and refunds will affect 224,000 accounts dating back to 2008. More than 108,000 plans are paid in full and can receive an average cash refund of $4,700, depending on how much was overpaid.

Along with the refunds, customers will soon have lower prices for their plans. Gov. Ron Desantis said that this was all due to “successive years of lower than anticipated tuition increases and fee inflation.”

Families who started Florida Prepaid accounts after 2007 can receive an average refund of $4,700 if the account was already fully paid.

Families will now get money back that will help them avoid debt and give them the choice to reinvest that money because while their child’s tuition is paid for, dorms, meal plans and textbooks are not.

Not only is this beneficial to the parents who have invested a lot of their money for years, but this is also a huge step for Florida’s legacy as affordable post-secondary education.

Tuition prices in Florida have gone down, and that is great news as decision season comes around for seniors and college searching begins for others. According to College Board, Florida has seen a 7% decrease in tuition rates since 2014. The good news is that Florida already had relatively cheap tuition. We have the second cheapest tuition in the United States for both in-state and out-of-state, according to Fast Web. In-state the average is $6,360 per year, and out-ofstate tuition averages $21,570 per year. Plus, Florida offers Bright Future Scholarships for Florida residents who plan on attending a in-state college or university, These low costs are a big surprise – unheard of in a time of relative prosperity. Our economy is healthy, and wages are going up. Logic would say that since we are doing so well, tuition would go up too, but the opposite has been true.

However, we do not live in a country where secondary education is free. All students have opportunities, but they do not have an equal opportunity to succeed. But, decreased tuition is a step in the right direction.

The decrease might not seem significant enough, but it could be just enough to give a student a college education, or to allow a student to attend the college that they want.

The tuition costs are still intimidating, but a little less after the announcement, which makes parents who have invested – and the students who get to attend – happy.

the

blueprint Hagerty High School 3225 Lockwood Blvd.

Oviedo, FL 32765 hagertyjourn@blueprint.com Phone: (407) 871-0750 Fax: (407) 871-0817

Feb. 1

Table for one: Tackling the fear of being alone

after seeing you seated at a table for one. People stare, and it feels like you are the subject of every surrounding conversation.

Print Editor When in fact, no one canceled, because you never made t’s Friday night, and you are getting ready to go out with them, and you actually have an outing with a group of people friends for a couple hours of fun. You put on your best outfit next weekend.

Fortunately, there is a growing number of memes and tweets and pose in the mirror, when you realize you actually have no desire to carry through with your plans; staying home immersed on the internet shared amongst hundreds of social media users in a sea of junk food and blankets sounds much more appealing. who can relate. So, being sighted out in public with only yourself While friends and family can make great company, thoughts as a date seems a little less scary.

How does one go about hanging and maybe a good book or out with themselves? Spending time movie to keep you company by yourself without the distraction of can prove healthy for your soul. friends and family can be really easy.

Even going out alone sounds like a good idea; grabbing a of students prefer Check the schedule, make sure there is bite to eat on personal time, or to spend time with nothing else to do for a couple of hours, and then you do whatever activity you being able to eat as many snacks friends rather than be by want. as possible at the movie theater themselves There are no friend groups to go without looking like a glutton back and forth with about time or seems like a good time. of students make what place to meet at. The process of Even putting your phone plans that they making plans with yourself eliminates down can be therapeutic. all arguments about carpooling, the Responding to texts and come to regret at a later date hours spent choosing the perfect outfit, messages from friends can be or the headache that is induced when exhausting. of students admit brainstorming believable excuses to get Sometimes you need a break. to feeling awkward out of your engagement early.

It is okay to turn off notifications when being alone in public As teenagers with a lot going on in for a while. school and extracurriculars, along with TechCrunch in 2017 a fair share of drama, a stress reliever is reported that the time U.S. users of students put most welcome. Taking a step back from are spending in mobile apps down their phone the bustle of life is relaxing; solitude can is growing, and according to be extremely beneficial. Forbes in 2017 data released by analytics firm for around 1-2 hours every day reported that alone time can increase Flurry, mobile users spend up 114 students surveyed empathy, productivity and creativity. to five hours per day on mobile This is not to take away from devices.

Many of us enjoy spending time on our phones texting friends maintaining good relationships. Being in touch with friends and and family; we continue to keep contact even though we are family is important. However, you do not need to be around them technically “alone.” However, a phone detox can be rewarding; all the time. Being independent is not the same as dropping all your connections. keeping up with people is tiresome.

Not every Friday night has to be busy with the chatter of Yet, the fear of looking like a loner or a social pariah stops people from enjoying time alone, especially out in public. There friends. Put on that new pair of pants or favorite sweater for is a stigma behind these activities without the presence of others; yourself; not to impress anybody else. Prioritize yourself and people wonder if someone stood you up, or if you have no friends your wants first – you do you.

Zoey Young

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Alone together

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The BluePrint is a student-produced newspaper in which the student editors make all content decisions.

The newspaper belongs to the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, the National Scholastic Press Association and the Florida Scholastic Press Association.

Opinions expressed within the newspaper do not represent the staff’s views as a whole (except for Our Take), the views of Seminole County Public Schools or Hagerty High’s administration and staff.

For information about advertising in the paper, please contact us via e-mail or phone. We reserve the right to reject any advertisement.

Editor-in-Chief Jessica Maldonado Print Editor Zoey Young Online Editor Charlotte Mansur

News Editor Sharika Khondaker Lifestyles Editor Lukas Goodwin Opinions Editor Andrea Izaguirre

Staff Reporters Haley Hibdon Noah Kemper Chanson Cadet Leah Luedeman Sophie Woodburn Laura Shaw

Sports Editor Hayden Turner Graphic Designers Milea Dozier Parker North Business Manager Alexis Madlang Adviser Brit Taylor Principal Robert Frasca

opinions

CHAR-CASM

New year, same goals

Frozen yogurt is overated and should disappear

represent good opportunities. The ending of a sports season for instance is a great time to make a goal to keep working on your technique or fitness hen we hear someone say, “New during the off-season. If your grades are down in year, new me,” our common the dumps, the new semester makes sense, but act response is along the lines of, as soon as possible and start small.

“Ugh, you are not going to change.”

For example, start by turning in homework on Just because it is a new year does not time or studying the week of a test rather than the mean you are going to be a different person, night before. regardless of how many resolutions you An achievable goal is set when it has relevant make. There are memes created every year timing. A successful way to approach a goal will be to mock those who think they can change separating it into manageable pieces and spreading overnight. them throughout the year. Set a time frame for Creating New Year’s resolutions is not your long term to short term goals and limit your a bad thing; however. procrastination.

Such as, It shows character and People with goals starting to read more. Start by that you want to change a couple pages a week, are 10 times more reading yourself for the better, then transition into days, and but the repeated failure eventually you will have built successful to complete New Year up to reading entire books in a than those resolutions has added a month. negative connotation to Another tip for people tired without goals. the whole idea. of wrecking resolutions by - Harvard business study To reduce the negative mid-January, goals do not have feedback you may get from telling someone to spontaneously appear. Expanding on previous you want to go to the gym more, make a goals during the year, successful or unsuccessful, resolution to introduce this goal later in the is just as effective as creating new ones. Even year. Any moment is a good time to make reviving failed goals that you want to start back up a goal, but the best will be when other big again works. For instance, when you give up on a changes happen. diet due to the urge or cravings of your “No-No” A Harvard business study discovered foods, start back up and have more discipline. that the 14% of people who have goals are Do not be afraid to create goals over time to 10 times more successful than those without. break the cycle of New Year’s resolution failure.

Change throughout the year with regard Utilize the change through the year to be more to jobs, school, athletics and extracurriculars, successful in accomplishing your goals.

Alexis Madlang

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Staff Reporter

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Illustration by Alina Carillo

There is no “baby” in youngest child Jessica Maldonado

before anyone else had to.

I started using bleach to scrub the shower tiles ’m old enough to drive but it is never at 13, while my oldest sister was not allowed to going to happen. Because I can’t while get near bleach until age 16 because our parents I’m with my two older sisters, who both thought it could harm her. But, who cares about complain about driving, then stick me in the “baby” if she gets poisoned by the chemicals the back because that is where the youngest in bleach, right?

We are also forced to grow up early when our always belongs.

When people think of the youngest of the parents expect us to act and speak the way our house, they stereotype us as a “baby” and the older siblings do. Like the time I got yelled at for one who gets whatever they want at the snap creating a spit ball and launching it at my sisters, of their fingers. Which is not true probably when every child, even my sisters, could do it as a about 95% of the time. What people don’t kid. In other words, our childhood and our time to know is that being the youngest child is a lot fool around is cut shorter at the expectation of us acting like our older siblings. harder than it looks.

Another downfall to being the youngest is The youngest will forever be the “baby” of the house because we are the parents’ that we get bossed around by our older siblings. little one. Although we are always called the Forever. It’s fine to do a favor for them or make a “baby,” we don’t feel like babies. We feel sacrifice once a while. But if it’s every single time more grown up than what we actually are, our mom asks one of us to take out the trash from which can be a problem too. It is our older all of the bathrooms and they both just look at me siblings who have too much influence on us without saying a word, then it has gone too far and or because we have to do jobs and chores the two other options should make a sacrifice and

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Editor-in-Chief

Barking Mad Barking Mad is a collection of short submissions about things that tick students off around school. If something at school makes you mad, e-mail us at hagertyjourn@gmail. com and it may be featured here.

do it once in a while.

I don’t get it. Sure, if they are significantly older than you, but how long is that supposed to work. When I’m 62 and my sister is 63, do I still have to sit in the back seat?

However, I would have to agree that there are some benefits of being the youngest. We do get privileges at a younger age, which, let’s be honest, feels amazing to rub in my sister’s face.

When my sister was 16, she asked to get her second hole pierced, and she got a hard no.

Where at the same age I asked to get a tragus piercing, where we had to go to a tattoo shop to get it done, and I got a yes. I also had the luxury to drive on the highway by myself earlier and my parents lowered the dating age just for me.

Being the youngest is not the worst, but it is definitely not a piece of cake. We have the high expectation of acting like our older siblings and we are bossed around by everyone. When people say the youngest is the “baby,” I don’t get it. If anything, we miss the baby part and skip straight to the joys and pain of adulthood.

“I would change the way admin handles disciplinary issues especially with the new ID policies. It varies with each teacher and administration.”

-Emily Taylor 11

“It would be nice if we could keep a head football coach for more than one season, this graduating class has had a different coach every year.”

-Tanner Glasco 12

“I think giving HERO passes for tardies and lanyards is redundant because kids have to miss even more class to go get them.”

-Anisa Mafarachisi 10

“Hagerty is painted a weird color especially the upperclassmen buildings, it would be nicer if they were painted blue because of the school colors.”

-Kailey Dodson 9

“There should be more announcements in the morning covering more than sports and students should be able to submit what they want to say.”

-Sana Yooseph 10

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“The boys bathrooms keep flooding because people are purposely clogging the toilets so admin should do something about that.”

-Michael Kaiser 12

Charlotte Mansur

f you travel deep enough into hell, all the way to Dante’s ninth layer, you might run into the devil’s home office. There is a lot in there; a couple souls in a jar, gel pens that dry out as soon as you open them, a pitchfork, wide-ruled paper and the scariest of them all: a never-ending frozen yogurt machine. Frozen yogurt is the worst. It tastes like you left ice cream out in the sun and a fly died in it. If Satan had a favorite dessert it would be frozen yogurt.

People mask its funk with an abundance of toppings that make no sense. Peanut butter yogurt covered with cookie dough, blueberry acai boba and sour gummy worms is not a combination that should ever be created, let alone enjoyed. People settle for a sub-par frozen dessert as an excuse to eat a bunch of junk food. You might as well just buy a bag of gummy worms and skip the yogurt.

No one knows how long those toppings sit out for. I have never once seen anyone put cantaloupe on their frozen yogurt, yet there is always a beaten up pile of them on the counter. If you are compromising on frozen yogurt instead of ice cream, there should be a good reason. Many people justify the decision because they believe it is healthier for them, but that is not the case.

One 16-ounce cup of original tart-flavored yogurt at Menchies, a popular frozen yogurt chain, is 480 calories without any toppings.

One regular serving of vanilla ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery is 540 calories. Sixty calories is not worth sacrificing a coveted dessert for one that could be mistaken for cold glue.

Quirky frozen yogurt flavors are a scam.

No one wakes up in the morning craving blue raspberry Sour Patch Kid or Peppa Pig cotton candy frozen yogurt. It is a ploy to make you forget about the dessert’s mediocrity.

If frozen yogurt was not bad enough, the storefronts they are sold in are even worse.

Cold and awkward, it is impossible to get comfortable in a yogurt shop. Somehow you are always the only one in there, give or take a dad or two trying to buy their daughters over with sprinkles. There is only ever one person working, and nine times out of 10 it is a random teenage girl who gives you a judgemental look any time you use more than three toppings. If I am already having frozen yogurt, at least let me have Oreos, Heath, chocolate, peanuts and a cherry on it in peace.

“There should be ATMs around the school maybe in the school store because a lot of students don’t carry cash or the school should accept different forms of payment like Apple Pay.”

-Izzy Pacheco 11

“I hope that they do a better job at selling the parking passes next year because I remember this year they over sold them and it caused a lot of problems for people.”

-Helena Celentano 10

“I wish we could paint our parking spots, I’m not sure why they stopped that this year.”

-Monica Molineros 12

“I would enjoy it if we had more landscaping around the school to make a better, brighter campus.”

-Jack Gonzales 11

“The bathrooms being locked before school and during break is inconvienent and annoying. I don’t know why admin started that policy.”

-Alex Downs 11

“I still really don’t like that we get HERO passes for forgetting IDs when it’s just as simple mistake.”

-Bradley Sheppard 11

MAKE IT OR BRE The amount of seniors who do not date increased from 15% to 49% from 1976-2017.

Strong foundation, good communication key to dating Lukas Goodwin

Lifestyles Editor

A

- childtrends.org

14% of teens are currently in a serious relationship with a boyfriend, girlfriend or significant other.

- pewresearch.org

fter enduring two weeks of not being able to see her boyfriend, junior Wyatt Wilson, while he stayed in Spain, junior Savannah Miller pulls her final all-nighter trying to find the time in the day to call him. Between time zones and busy schedules, their communication had been minimal his entire vacation.

For most teenagers, most couples do not make it past six months, so it is a feat for those like Miller and Wilson to last so long. Those with dating experience can agree on a few key strategies that have helped them maintain healthy relationships.

Finding the connection

Spending so much time with the same people day after day provides a platform to develop a well-kindled friendship into something more. Juniors Ethan Ruplinger and Georgia Campbell had been friends since freshman year through a mutual class, before they started dating in January of their sophomore year.

“We were super close friends,” said Campbell. “I always had a crush on him, but he always had a girlfriend.”

Miller and Wilson were friends for only a few months before becoming a couple in their freshman year. Regardless, both feel that their bond has flourished because of dating. “[This relationship] has given me one of my best friends. I can talk to him about anything and everything,” Miller said.

High school relationships are more often than not a logical progression between a pair’s friendship. A study at the University of Texas found that 40% of couples were friends for at least four months before dating. Most feel that a strong friendship is a big factor in maintaining a secure relationship.

“It’s nice, because it feels more stable. Like I’m not just going to be dropped at any second,” said junior Rae Overton, who has been dating junior Jayleen Moya for eight months after a friendship of several years.

Inner Growth

Perhaps even more significant than forming a deep bond with someone else is the positive change people find in themselves.

Having a partner can often balance a person out and give them new perspectives.

Just as Campbell claims that Ruplinger helps her calm down and learn to take a deep breath sometimes, he feels “basically the opposite.”

“She makes me crazy,” Ruplinger said. “She’s always making

24% of those with dating experience have dated someone they met Online.

1 / 28 /

- hhs.gov

20

me try new things.”

The elation that follows starting a new relationship is called the “honeymoon phase,” but this typically ends by three months according to Elite Daily. For stable relationships, that enthusiasm is continuous.

Junior Isabella Santilli started dating her boyfriend roughly eight months ago, and he has left a long-term impact.

“He’s really opened me up to… let go of negativity,” Santilli said. “He’s just such a positive person, and he doesn’t care what anyone thinks.”

Having a significant other in their lives can bring drastic change to their outlooks. They get to share a deeper part of themselves that they would not normally otherwise share, which in turn gives opportunity for a partner to leave an impression.

Maintaining the bond

Between schoolwork, jobs, extracurriculars and simply needing some alone time every now and then, high school seems like the ultimate test for teenagers to overcome in a relationship.

Santilli’s boyfriend is a college freshman who currently lives in Tampa, and they have been together for eight months.

Long distance seems like it would be the breaking point for most couples, but up to 58% of them are successful, according to the New York Post.

“It can be hard to work around our schedules,” Santilli said.

“We FaceTime just about every night and text all the time… and it just makes it that much.”

No matter how perfect, all relationships struggle sometimes, but most couples agree that communication is key. “[When Wyatt] was in Spain, the time differences were way off. We had like two hours to talk to each other in a day,” Miller said.

Times like that require trust between both parties, when communication is strained. On a daily basis, students are bombarded with responsibilities, leaving little time for them to focus much time or energy on anybody else.

Campbell and Ruplinger both usually have conflicting schedules, but they find that a good way to stay in touch is to create traditions.

“He’s really close with my family too,” said Campbell. “So we started playing basketball on Sundays.”

Working around messy schedules is challenging, particularly at a time in teenagers’ lives when their focus is on creating an identity for themselves, but dating also helps with that. With communication, trust and a stable bond, couples can grow stronger together.

In 2017, more than 55% of sophomores never dated, as opposed to 49% of seniors.

- childtrends.org

10 / 5 / 19

EAK IT The amount of who date more seniors once a week d than 19% from 1976 eclined -2017.

- childtrends.org

Break-ups teach tough lessons about self-awareness Andrea Izaguirre

T

Opinions Editor

rying to fall and stay in love within a constantly changing, ruthless and public environment of break up texts, peer pressure and insecurity can be very stressful. With these added levels of complexity, it’s understandable that high school couples often struggle with maintaining a lasting relationship.

According to marriage and family therapist Daniel Dashnaw, only 2% of high school sweethearts actually end up tying the knot. Which leaves a lot of room for young heartbreak. And for some, failed expectations of a relationship can lead to dramatic, often detrimental repercussions, societally and mentally.

Rock bottom

“At our best, we saw each other as long term, like were going to go to college, maybe even marry, but toward the end, we both felt it go off the rails,” said junior Natsha Nilsen. “Like we were still good, just not the same as before, there was a distance.”

Nilsen and her ex-boyfriend, junior Porthos Sattler, put an end to their 22 month relationship in December 2019.

Their relationship first struck up in February of freshman year and like most high school relationships, they started as close friends and over time grew to see each other in a romantic manner.

“He picked me up from a bad place, and I’m not saying anyone needs a guy or boyfriend to secure themselves, but his presence was definitely helpful at the time,” said Nilsen.

Junior Jack Gonzalez also recently experienced a break up when his long distance girlfriend *Shelly of 12 months unexpectedly broke off all ties.

“We used to FaceTime every day to make it work communication-wise, and now we don’t talk at all,” said Gonzalez. “At first I was pretty unfazed, but it’s been like three months now and she’s still on my mind.”

Both ex-couples attributed previous friendship as part of their relationship sustainability. However, maintaining friendships and social circles after the break up can be particularly challenging.

“We quickly realized that we’d never be able to be truly platonic with each other again,” said Gonzalez. “She felt like she no longer had a say in any manner and everything was personal.

It was really hard to lose a best friend and girlfriend all in one shot.”

In the short term, the social aspect of having a public, inschool break up adds on to the stress and discomfort of breaking up.

Juniors Gavin Kerr and Cely Perez have dated on and off in extended periods since freshman year and while they are currently not officially together, they have mutually expressed their distaste for announcing break-ups while in school.

“I didn’t really want to talk about it,” said Perez. “It wasn’t anyone’s business but my own. Gavin and I have been through tough times and I’ve never seen how letting other people into the situation would better it.”

Often times, the intimacy and maturity of a healthy break up can be clouded by societal expectations and peer pressure.

“People really think they’re entitled to know everything,” said Nilsen. “ They really wanted a show from us. I wasn’t the victim people made me out to be; I didn’t want their pity. I was ready to move on.”

Shifting Mindsets

Making the public and personal choice to shift mindsets after a breakup, while it can take time, has long term benefits.

“When we initially broke up it was really emotional but he’s always had my best interests in mind,” said Nilsen. “Literally a day after our break up we just had to sit down and talk it out. That’s when I realized we had just outgrown our previous relationship.”

While acknowledging that a partnership has ended for whatever reason can be emotionally tiring and saddening for those involved, the alone time can offer space for self reflection.

“I’m still not happy with where we left off,” said Gonzalez.

“But taking these past few months to focus on me has really helped me become more self aware in regards to our situation. I just wish there was a way for me to tell her.”

Often, amidst the tears and loneliness, heightened senses of self appreciation and confidence help those experiencing a breakup to rise above the hurt.

“I knew I wasn’t going to be hurt about it forever,” said Nilsen. “And I can’t even say we ‘fell out of love’ because we’ll always have love for each other, all I can say is that I’m grateful for what we had.”

16% of teens are not currently dating, but have had a relationship in the past.

- pewresearch.org

8

Entertainment “Circles” Mac Miller

“Rare” Selena Gomez

R R E E V V II E E W W B O X

Selena Gomez has found herself again in her newest album “Rare,” which came out Jan 10.

While the message behind her music is great, it gets lost in repetitive melodies and overused tunes. The music itself is nothing I have not heard before. It’s filled with a lot of lazy vocals and machine-made tunes. One exception was the “Ring.” It brought a uniqueness to the album that was lacking, and I loved it. I’m glad she is finding the will inside her to get over Justin Bieber, but listeners will wish she shared it with us in a better way.

On Jan. 25, more than a year after the rapper’s death, Mac Miller released a new hit album. It shows more vulnerability and explores different forms of music. “Circles” is not an example of stereotypical rap and excellently takes risks that pay off. The album shows self-reflection such as in the song “Once a Day” with lyrics “Why aren’t we taking our time.” Aside from the vocals, the music keeps the song going when words are not enough. The album features thoughts that everyone can connect to with deeper meaning like people not understanding how other people think.

-Leah Luedeman

- Charlotte Mansur

“AJ and the Queen” (Netflix)

“Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” (Season 3) (Netflix)

Known as the host of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” RuPaul, prominent drag queen and television personality is the main star of the new Netflix series released on Jan. 10, “AJ and the Queen,” following the story of an ambitious drag queen who must put up with young stowaway AJ as they travel across the country. Under a less iconic name, RuPaul shines as Robert Lee, or Ruby Red, his drag alias. The first season of “AJ and the Queen,” is promising; as long as it continues to maintain the level of drama and feature entertaining characters.

- Zoey Young

“The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” released its third season on Jan. 24, bringing an abundance of new characters and new problems. Main character Sabrina has been given the title Queen of Hell. The plot is filled with twists and turns that keep you on your seat. There are more love triangles than you would find in an old soap opera, and it is hard not to love them all.

“Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak” (Season 1) (Netflix)

-Charlotte Mansur

“How to be Human” Chelsea Cutler

Out of 16 tracks, newcomer Chelsea Cutler has failed to set herself apart from the rest of the EDM community. With her first album of the new year, “How to be Human,” which came out Jan. 17, Cutler disappoints. Each song sounded similar, without anything memorable.

While Cutler intended the album to be unique, with happy beats, yet a more serious lyrical undertone, she failed to deliver. The lyrics were difficult to hear–mainly it sounded like she needed to sing louder. Overall, this album proves nothing other than Cutler needed to improve her range and versatility.

-Zoey Young

Netflix’s new documentary series was released on Jan. 24. This series thoroughly explains what should happen to stop a pandemic. It helps visualize the horrid effects of a pandemic by showing the mass graves of an influenza outbreak. Episodes feel choppy as there are a bunch of segments that do not flow well from one to another. So, if you are dying from a crazy disease, it is more efficient to visit the doctor or Google your symptoms as this show is no help.

- Leah Luedeman

Love goes both ways in “You” season 2 on Netflix Leah Luedeman

N

Staff Reporter ew York City and Los Angeles are places that have set stereotypes for those living. In season two of Netflix’s series of “You,” book enthusiast Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley), makes the move from New York to California following the events of last season’s finale. Goldberg takes on the new identity of Will Bettleheim in a new city full of new people, trying to learn from his mistakes.

Season two of the thriller series aired on Dec. 26 and includes 10 more episodes. The first introduced main characters of Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti), her brother, Forty (James Scully), and Joe’s neighbor, Ellie Alves (Jenna Ortega), who all have interesting character arcs.

SHOWING IN 2020

Fan favorite Joe Goldberg makes viewers empathize with him, even though they know his past mistakes from New York including stalking and murder. His sympathy and honesty seem to outshine his sociopathic tendencies.

Experiencing the story from his point of view makes it feel like he is not as haunting as he would be if you were any of the other characters.

Compared to last season, Joe is becoming more self-aware and less creepy, which adds to why he is a worthy character.

One of the best things about season two is that moments from season one don’t mysteriously disappear, which makes everything seem complete. The story builds in a way that makes viewers have to watch season one to understand Joe’s entire character. Without

Sonic the Hedgehog Feb. 14

Iconic children’s character Sonic comes to life in the live action movie.

Mulan Mar. 27

Adapting to include more Chinese culture, the warrior heroine fights off northern soldiers on screen.

season one, funny tidbits could be overlooked and deemed unimportant when they actually bring anticipated moments of familiarity.

Aside from the creativity, “You” earns points for its strong female characters going against sexism. Characters like Love and Ellie embrace being their own person with the help of their outgoing personalities.

Season one left viewers wondering more about Joe’s traumatic childhood and what actually happened with his lovers-to-enemies relationship with Candace (Ambyr Childers).

The story answers to all of these questions without getting cliche.

Although “You” is a thriller, each episode contains just the right amount of comedy.

Jokes are short and meaningful. The series

Black Widow May 7

Actress Scarlett Johansson plays an assassin who must come to terms with her violent upbringing.

doesn’t want viewers laughing every scene, but humor builds characters and shows some light-heartedness within such a dark story. In a wonderful way, these moments take a brief but necessary break that viewers did not know they even needed. Even just for a second, it is refreshing and restarts the cycle of wanting thrill and adventure.

“You” does not try to cram action into the last episode. Instead, every episode has the same thrill factors that make the series strong.

Episodes seem consistent, but unpredictable even for people re-watching.

All good things must come to an end with the season finale, but it does not disappoint.

Especially being left with a big cliffhanger that viewers didn’t even think was possible.

No Time to Die Apr. 10

James Bond goes on another high-action packed adventure to rescue a kidnapped scientist.

Godzilla v Kong Nov. 20

The epic battle between the lizard king and the famous gorilla ensues, risking humanity.

9

LIFESTYLES

Snow freaking way, this is cold Chanson Cadet

T

Staff Reporter

he last time, maybe the only time, it snowed in south Florida was 40 years ago. Since then, temperatures never drop below the 30s and lows generally stay around the 70s, even in winter, making t-shirts appropriate attire yearround. So to students coming from northern states or coldweather countries, Florida winters do not really count.

To those from out of state, wearing UGGs and large coats seems normal for the season, just not here.

Junior Charlotte Razzell used to live in Devon, England. In Devon it only gets cold enough for snow in late February.

“I was living in a cottage and I was on the second story when I looked out the window below me. It was completely covered in snow. It was so flat and beautiful like a blanket,” Razzell said.

One of the main differences between Central Florida winters and everywhere else is the lack of snow.

“It is 35 degrees right now (Jan.22) which is below freezing.

I don’t know why it isn’t snowing right now. Why do we have to suffer through cold with no snow?” junior Julia Geismar said.

Most states hit below the freezing temperature by December allowing residents of those states to have a very different childhood than natives who would spend their winters building sandcastles and playing outside in the Sunshine State.

Junior Mariam Abou El Maali grew up in Missouri, where the snowfall averages 18 inches a year.

“I just remember playing outside and making snowmen,” junior Mariam Abou El Maali said. “I miss trying to play outside

as early as my mom let me in the morning because that was the coldest time of the day. But snow is a big part of my memories as a kid.”

Floridians might have hurricane days, but no Floridian has ever had a snow day. A snow day is when the roads are blocked with snow, making it too dangerous for students to get to school.

It is often predicted on the news the night before and made official in the morning.

Junior Selin Islitifi grew up in Lubbock, Texas where snow days are a common occurrence.

“You wake up in the morning and look outside the window and there’s just white everywhere. And then you’ll go and look out at the driveway and there’s just no way you can get out and it’s just like, man, guess I’m not going to school today,” Islitifi said.

Although the coast occasionally gets off for “hurricane days,” snow days are different. Hurricane days mean that the streets flood, trees get knocked over, and the power is most likely going to go out. But snow days are more exciting, letting kids and teens play outside in the soft ice.

Freshman Mackenzie English visited Illinois and experienced lows of 20 degrees.

“I was hanging out with my brother and his friends in my backyard that had a swing set. I saw them swinging and then jumping off, landing in the snow, so I thought I should do that too. I jumped off and landed face first. It hurt a lot,” English said.

Florida will most likely never be a winter wonderland but it still gets cool enough where A/C is not required. But the lack of snow makes visiting other states all the more interesting.

Class temps turn extreme; never quite room temperature Sophie Woodburn

T

Staff Reporter

he one thing Floridians love more than Chick-fil-A is air conditioning, and when air conditioning is interrupted, people get heated. This is also true at school. Countless rooms across campus are either exceedingly hot or extremely frigid, especially in building 3 or 6, the climate is inconsistent.

“The lobby in front of the auditorium is ice cold. It drops when you go from the auditorium to the theater room by 30 degrees, and no one can tell you why,” sophomore Olivia Martin said.

Some take the bipolar air conditioning to heart, while others like Martin see it as trivial.

“Everyone in the school has noticed, but I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. There’s more important things,” Martin said.

Chances are, most hear someone complaining about the air conditioning and though the climate may not affect the day to

day of the majority, some are annoyed by this inconvenience. To solve the issue of cold or warm conditioning, it is best to come prepared. Most solve this by bringing a sweater, or venting about it to peers.

“It will be cold in my morning classes and then later in the day it gets super hot and I don’t know how to dress,” senior Melissa Neidhardt said.

Dressing for school in the morning is hard enough as it is, especially when dressing for strange temperature changes throughout the day.

“If you don’t really come prepared with the proper clothes, you’re likely going to be uncomfortable. Whenever I get out of class and go outside, I’m always sweating,” senior Logan Linares said.

Certain rooms are worse than others, like dance teacher Diane Hazenbank’s room, or even Louis Arp’s Geometry class in building 6. AP Art History teacher Maria Colville’s room is especially cold.

“Mrs. Colville’s room is always freezing. She even has blankets in her class because of how cold it is,” Neidhardt said.

Coville is not the only teacher who has blankets available for students. History teachers Zach Capparell and Dali Stires, Chemistry teacher Kim Danseraeu and many other teachers have them as well. Stires even has a heater in her class to help warm it up.

“If you think you’re cold, I teach in this every day,” Stires said.

Other than the fact that it is just “annoying,” Martin and many other students think that the cold can obstruct the ability to focus, and the “frequent complaining can be a distraction in class,” Martin said.

“It is important to understand that controlling an entire building’s temperature and making it the same all around is a lot harder than many may think,” Martin said.

But this air conditioning issue is not a recent debacle, it has been a concern of the student body for quite some time.

3/1/2020

10

lifestyles

10,000 HOURS AND A LOT OF PAINT Hayden Turner

O

Sports Editor

n Jan. 20, county road 419 was packed for miles, but not with typical traffic.

From Oviedo High School to Round Lake Park, thousands of people marched down the street for two miles to celebrate in the city’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade.

To conclude the parade, attendees celebrated the unveiling of a mural to celebrate African American history in Oviedo.

In December of 2018, the City of Oviedo put out a ‘call to artists’ for a mural at Round Lake Park to reflect African American history in Oviedo. Of nine designs submitted, the city chose Xavier Moss to paint the mural unveiled on Jan. 20, to conclude the city’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade.

Moss is a Hagerty alumni and graduate of the University of Florida. After earning a degree in Biological Illustration, he returned to Oviedo to work for Seminole County Public Schools as an Exceptional Student Education (ESE) paraprofessional at Lawton Elementary, as well as being a freelance artist in the city.

Prior to his AP Studio 2D art class with Maria Coville and his classes at UF, his talent was self-taught.

“I have always been interested in art as a kid,” Moss said. “I wanted to do sports, but I always found a way of hurting myself, so painting and drawing seemed to be the only thing I could spend time doing.”

The Round Lake Park mural was halted due to construction, and the City of Oviedo put out another call to artists for a mural at Center Lake Park, and the city suggested that Moss should paint another piece representing the city of Oviedo in a post card. After 150 hours, he completed the mural in December.

While Moss waited for the all-clear to begin painting at Round Lake Park, he went to the Seminole County Library to find the most impactful people from Oviedo’s African American community, and he found six people.

Prince Butler Boston crafted a hardier citrus that could grow in Oviedo and withstand freezes. Harry Boston was the head coach for the Oviedo Blackhawks, an African American baseball team for youths, and Boston got his players to games on his “Big Newt Bus.” Hal King was a Major League Baseball player from 1947-1967 and played baseball at Oviedo High School. Marie-Francis Jones was a midwife and community caregiver in the city.

Gladys Holmes-Smith was a teacher at Oviedo Elementary prior to and after integration, and Henry Jackson was a former celery field worker

REVVING UP Former Hagerty student Xavier Moss works on his second mural in Oviedo at Round Lake Park. The mural shows African American history in Oviedo. Photo by Hayden Turner

and prominent member of the African American amount of paint was needed. Moss needed over community, for whom Jackson Heights Middle 13 gallons of paint to make the mural.

School was named.

Moss started with a base coating, and then Painting the mural was a challenge in itself another base coat on top of the first. After those because of the large 16 foot by 40 foot canvas. two, he started adding details and shading to In order to keep things consistent throughout, a each part of the mural. lot of prep work was required before starting the On top of the artwork and the massive size painting process. of the wall, Moss constructed his work schedule The piece initially began as a sketch, then around the daylight, giving him enough time to Moss laid in colors on the people and other work. parts of the mural to see how it would work.

“I just showed up and worked until it is Along with deciding colors to use, Moss also dark,” Moss said. “I was a little bit scared that I had to consider the cost of materials. might not make it, but we pressed on and used “I try to limit my color the daylight we had to “I try to limit my color palette, but I also wanted bust this thing out.” it to be a bright spot in the palette, but I also wanted Moss also discovered community,” Moss said. a deeper, more personal it to be a bright spot in the connection with the After he finalized his community.” design on paper, he put a mural and his hometown. grid on the paper and put - Xavier Moss, alumnus His two murals gave him the same sized-grid on the the opportunity to give wall with chalk, and slack lines for the upper back to his community through art. portion. After the grid was completed, Moss “I did all of my schooling from sixth sketched the mural in chalk on the wall, while to twelfth grade here in Oviedo, so to have using the grid to maintain proportions. the privilege to give back to the community “Some things change when you get to real artistically, it makes sense,” Moss said. life and you must shift some things, like the Although he has finished two big projects so orange,” Moss said. “The orange didn’t end up far, he is still finding his footing as an artist, and in the middle of the design so that drove me that will continue for a long time. crazy and we had to shift a couple of things.

“Something that they drove into us at UF is I made things larger and made things smaller.” that it takes 10,000 hours to become a master at Another aspect of the project was the amount anything,” Moss said. “I am still very early in of paint. Since the wall is very porous, a greater my 10,000 hours, and I am still figuring it out.”

CHAY’S CLOSET Putting the funk back in funky fashion

Y

ou are staring at your closet, trying to pick out an outfit for your best friend’s 17th birthday at the local skating rink. You want to look cute (quirky even), but all you can find are skinny jeans and joggers. Then you remember your college sister left some of her old clothes behind but, unfortunately, all you can raid is stuff from her hippie or BOHO chic phase. You settle with a pair of brown corduroy bell bottoms and surprisingly, everyone at the party loves them. You get compliments from strangers and even a cute worker’s number without trying any harder than you would if you put on your Hollister high rise jeans.

Considering we wake up around 5:30 a.m. each morning, it is not a surprise students lean towards leggings and comfortable jeans when it is time to choose their pants over something more unique or “funky.”

My main issue with basic bottoms is that it does not take any effort to produce an outfit.

If the pant is plain enough, it can go with any top and shoes, making it look like you lack a sense of style.

A funky pant is anything that produces a unique silhouette, has an abnormal material or a fun pattern. An outfit can be improved by simply buying a pair of jeans that varies from the normal blue or black skinny, while still maintaining the level of comfort as normal jeans.

Jeans are the most popular bottom in America due to their comfort and ease of wear. The pants are easy to customize with a little bit of paint or sewing machine. There are lots of options for more interesting jeans that will spice up any outfit in stores, but if you are looking for something more affordable, jeans are an easy material to modify.

An on and off trend Online is painting the back pocket of your jeans with acrylic paint.

If you like a challenge, you can build upon this trend to make it your own. For example, painting stripes, flames or anything else along the whole pant. Bleaching on different designs is another option if you are working with dark wash.

Pleated front pants are one of the trends for 2020. Although they look a bit like business attire, pleated pants can be made casual with a t-shirt or sneakers while still looking more put together than joggers or leggings. Since the trend is new, pleated-front pants will still be easy to find in thrift stores before they start popping up in fast-fashion chains like Forever 21.

The draw to patterned shirts or tops over funky pants is getting boring. If you are someone who likes a short get-ready time but still want to look nice, investing in more interesting pants is an easy way to make it look like you tried harder, because anything is better than leggings.

SCAN THIS CODE

• Located at Round Lake Park • 40 feet long by 16 feet tall • From left to right: Prince Butler Boston, Harry Boston, Hal King, Marie-Francis Jones, Gladys Holmes-Smith, Henry Jackson

• Located at Center Lake Park • 20 feet long and 12 feet tall • Took over 150 hours to paint • Each letter reflects either landmark or history in Oviedo

Chanson Cadet

View a Pinterest board with some examples of funky pants and unique outfits.

11

Sports

Wrestling ends dual meet season, wins SAC expected to contend for a state title this season, beat his opponent 5-1.

“I stuck with the game plan and wrestled fter getting knocked out in the smart through the whole match,” Kohn said.

Bo Perkins (170), who won third place in dual meet quarterfinals, the varsity wrestling team turned the page on the his weight class last year, won his match 8-3, dual meet season and started the individual Ethan Lopez (182) won 9-3. Fleming won the season with a bang. They won the Seminole final three matches, and pulled out a win that Athletic Championship title on Saturday, Feb. 8 was closer than the score indicated.

The dual meet tournament marked the as eight wrestlers won their divisions, cruising past rival Winter Springs, 223.5 to 210. Lake end to the first half of the season. Dual meet championships are new to Florida, only Mary was third with 142.5.

The SAC title, however, was just one step appearing in the last three years.

The biggest focus of on the path to the team’s “We’ve had a couple the season, where wrestlers successful season.

“We were all excited of injuries and lineup compete for individual that we won, but we knew changes, but it’s going titles and teams earn championships based on that there was still a lot of to come together.” individual points, starts work to do,” said Landon -Bo Perkins, 12 with district meets and ends Revis, who placed fourth as with the state meet March 6-7. Last season, the a freshman in the 220 lbs weight class.

When the varsity wrestling team traveled team took sixth place.

An injury kept Kohn from a title last year to Osceola High School for the FHSAA Dual State Wrestling Championships on Friday, Jan. but his performance in the dual meets gave 24 to face Fleming Island, they knew what him confidence.

“It feels good to beat someone like that,” to expect. The previous week, Hagerty had beaten Lake Brantley and Timber Creek in the Kohn said. “It means I am one step closer to first two rounds, but then lost to Fleming, 36- being state champion, which is my main goal.”

Head coach Scotty Diaz, was proud of his 28, in the quarterfinals.

Fleming and Hagerty had seen each other team as well, despite the loss to Fleming.

“We aren’t going to see better competition in previous duals, and both teams were ranked in the top four in the state, with Fleming (#3 than this, but we need to train harder and prepare more for the next time,” Diaz said. according to MaxPreps) one spot ahead.

In addition to dual meet and SAC Hagerty wrestlers three of the first four.

Clayton Childers (106) won in a forfeit, Jason tournaments, the team has been busy with a full Shaw (120) scored a fall 2:35 into the match, slate of events around the state and country, highlighted by a third place at the Tri-County and Kamdon Harrison (126) won 8-0.

Fleming captured the next two weight Invitational and first place at the Michael P. classes, but then Hagerty reached the strength Hutchins tournament, both in January.

“We’ve had a couple of injuries and lineup of its lineup. Joe Gonzalez (138), who finished second in the state last year in his weight class, changes, but I really think it’s going to all beat his opponent 5-0. Dylan Kohn (152), come together,” Perkins said.

Jada Llamido and Karson Cuozzo Journalism I

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HANDS UP Sophomore Jason Shaw earns a victory over his Fleming Island opponent. Shaw, who wrestles at 120 pounds, was one of seven winners for the team, but they lost to Fleming, 3628 in the quarterfinal round on Friday, Jan. 24. photo by Jada Llamido

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ATHLETE OF THE ISSUE who

Park Wickizer

team

Boys varsity soccer

date

Nov. 20

what

Scored a hat trick

where

Master’s Academy On Wednesday, Jan. 15, the boys varsity soccer team dominated Master’s Academy after a three-goal performance from forward and team captain Park Wickizer. The team kept scoring and led big at the half 6-1.

“I stayed composed on the ball, and my shots were on target,” Wickizer said. After scoring two goals in the first half, Wickizer scored his third goal from just outside the box, earning his first hat trick of the season and leading his team to a 9-1 victory. The team finished a 104-4 after a district semifinal loss to Lake Nona.

sports

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All business: Cheer redemption at Nationals Varsity cheer defeats rival Bartram Trail for second national title Hayden Turner

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Sports Editor

n January, the cheerleading team felt they were robbed.

Beaten by rival Bartram Trail, the team finished second in the FHSAA 2A Large Varsity regional and state titles. But, after a “business trip” to the ESPN Wide World of Sports, redemption never tasted sweeter.

On Feb. 9, the varsity cheer team won the UCA National Championships for the second time in school history, the other back in 2014. They scored a 91.86 and edged Houston High School (TN) by .25 points to secure the title.

“We knew we were competing against the best and still came out on top,” junior Courtney Downing said.

Along with the national title, they finally defeated rival Bartram Trail, after losing to them in the two key matchups before.

“It felt so amazing to show everyone that we were the better team,” Downing said.

The Sunday win was import after the disappointment from the week before.

The only thing that kept the team from a three-peat was Bartram Trail High School.

Before this year, Hagerty had won five of the last six titles.

In 2017, Bartram Trails prevented Hagerty from a four-peat, and again this year prevented a second three-peat in the last seven years. Bartram Trail placed first the other two times.

“They stripped us of a three-peat,” senior Madi McGrath said. “It’s very disappointing as it is my senior year, but it only motivated us to do better at nationals.”

Prior to the regional and state championships, the team competed throughout the regular season. They have only lost to two teams throughout the year, Niceville, who finished seventh at nationals, and Bartram Trail. Hagerty was beaten 83.6 to 82.0 at regionals and 88.60 to 86.05 at states.

REDEMPTION Cheer wins the 2020 UCA National Title, the second in program history. photo by Universal Cheerleaders Association

As the season progressed, the team was always tweaking their routine to make it different, or even more difficult to impress judges for events.

The team thought that they had won the state championship, but judges favored the routine by Bartram.

“I believe we put out a better routine and that we hit and looked better than Bartram Trail [at states],” McGrath said. “But that comes with the territory of cheerleading, as it is dependent on opinion and spectators.”

Judging is scored by skills and execution. For example, a fall or a shaky stunt would deduct points from the total score, but the

SPORT SHORTS

FOOTBALL HIRES MIKLES AS HEAD COACH

The football program welcomed new head coach Steve Mikles to the staff for the 2020-21 season on Jan. 17.

Mikles, who took over the weightlifting classes after being hired, previously was the head coach for district champions Winter Springs team last year. Mikles was the defensive coordinator under Phil Ziglar during Ziglar’s final season but now returns to the program after the quick departure of Wes Allen, who took the head coaching job at Masters Academy. “He will work with our student athletes to and build a system around what will make them successful,” principal Robert Frasca said.

LIPARI, LAWRENSON ADVANCE TO STATES

On Jan. 22, Winter Springs hosted the girls weightlifting district championships. Junior Olivia Lipari and senior Jillian Lawrenson both placed first in the 129 lbs and 169 lbs weight class, respectively. After districts, Lawrenson won the regional championship with a 390 lbs total, and Lipari placed second with a 325 lbs total. Both lifters are taking that momentum to the state championships.

“I don’t know what I am going to lift at states, but I am going to attempt to lift whatever will help me place high,” Lipari said. The state championships will take place Feb. 15 at Arnold High School.

BOOSTERS START ATHLETIC HONOR SOCIETY

On Feb. 3, the Athletic Booster Club’s National Athletic Honors Society inaugurated its first class. The society requires that a student must have a 3.5 GPA and must be an athlete on a school team for at least two years.

Members also must have 100 spirit points on the Spirit app. Students earn these points by attending home games and checking in to the game on the app. Fifty-five athletes were inducted, including president Laila Viator.

“As president I will be making sure everything is running smoothly and making sure what needs to be done gets done,” Viator said.

final scoring is dependent on judges’ interpretation.

“We realized that the best we can do is a perfect routine and from there whatever happens we can’t control, so we worked on what we could control,” Roberts said.

A “perfect” routine consists of no falls or stumbles, and the team felt they did that in Gainesville.

“We do some of the most elite skills there are while still executing them to the best of our ability,” Downing said.

After the postseason struggles, it was all worth it in the end.

“A week ago we came up short,” senior Camilla Pagan said.

“It just made this win that much sweeter.”

Boys soccer loses district semis Leah Luedeman

A

Staff Reporter

season of heavy turnovers and unexpected success ended on Feb. 5 for the boys soccer team as they lost their district semifinal game to Lake Nona, 1-0.

Nine shots were attempted during the game with two each from forwards Parker Wickizer, Brandon Adams and Randy McClean. Despite keeper Ryan Schmitt’s 10 saves, Lake Nona scored its one goal with six minutes remaining.

“They’re a very good passing team who can work the ball around the field well,” Wickizer said.

At the start of the second half, the team started to come together and fight.

“It took us until the second half to really exhibit passion and emotion in our play. First half it was like we weren’t playing as if this could be our last game,” McClean said.

Change happened when the midfield and back line started working more cohesively to ensure everyone had a man to mark and keep the defenses organized, but it was not enough to advance.

“There’s no worse feeling than reaching the end of a season like this. You can see the disappointment in every player although we put forth a solid effort. It’s a hard pill to swallow,” McClean said.

The team had previously won against University 3-1 on Jan. 31 in the district quarterfinals scoring one goal in the first half and two goals in the second. Midfielder Brayden Seymour and McClean both scored one goal and assist, while defender Scott Beliech scored one goal, and midfielder Conor Mohre got one assist.

At the beginning of the season, the team was rated fifth out of six teams in the district. The team dealt with losing nine starters and starting the season with a difficult stretch of games after the holiday break.

“We were very young as far as varsity experience,” head coach Michael McAvoy said.

“So many players stepped up and as the season progressed each gained valuable minutes.”

They rallied and had a five-game winning streak heading into the district playoffs and worked their way up to third in the district before the game on Wednesday, ending their season at 10-4-4.

“I am so proud of the accomplishments of this year’s team. Every player brought their absolute best and as a coach that is all I can ask of them,” McAvoy said.

KEEP IT ROLLING On senior night, forward Park Wickizer defends the ball against an East River defender. The team won the match, 2-1. photo by Juliana Joyner