Hawkeye 2 2015

IT’S YOUR RIGHT TO NOT STAND FOR THE PLEDGE

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GAYNELLE DERR: A life of service to others

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THE BOXLEY Brothers RULE THE COURT 18

FEBRUARY 2015 | Volume 30 | Issue 4 Mountlake terrace high school | 21801 44th Ave. W Mountlake Terrace wA 98043

Hawkeye www.thehawkeye.org

The way we’ve long defined gender may be failing us today. 8

2 | February 2015

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Hawkeye

February 2015 | 3 hawkeye Leadership ‘14-’15

Hawkeye

Editor-in-Chief Nick Fiorillo

FEBRUARY 2015 | Volume 30 | Issue 4

4

12

Dear Editor

A life of service

Students sound-off on the benefits of STEM education.

A look at English teacher Gaynelle Derr’s roots and her amazing background and career in professional politics.

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16

All rise

Better energy

Making students stand for the Pledge of Allegiance violates students’ rights.

Students and health teachers share alternative and healthier beverages and snacks instead of energy drinks.

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Infographic Transgendered citizens face an alarming rate of discrimination.

THINKING BEYOND BINARY Students, alumni and staff share their experiences and views on gender stereotypes and roles.

8 “The jokes that are made about gender stereotypes might seem harmless to the people that they cleanly apply to, but for those who [the stereotypes] don’t, they are especially detrimental.”

18

Boxley brothers The Boxley family has built quite the basketball legacy at Terrace and beyond.

Ryan Karnoski Alumnus

Letter from the Editor

Coincidence comes as learning opportunity M

embers of the 2014-2015 Hawkeye leadership team were on our annual retreat and sitting by a lake late last June when we discussed possible feature topics for the coming year.

One of the topics we wanted to discuss was Nick Fiorillo gender roles, steEditor-in-chief reotypes and the evolving attitudes toward gender identity.

Our feature story on page 8 has been in the works for months. However, controversy broke out last week regarding a proposed spirit week that raised many of the same issues we wanted to discuss.

ASB planned a “Battle of the Sexes” spirit

week, which resulted in backlash from students and staff, with many saying the week perpetuated sexism, gender stereotypes and exclusion of those who identify as something other than male or female.

We were concerned that the article we had long been planning would be seen as fanning the flames to an already tense situation.

However, we decided that a thoughtful discussion of these issues, which are personal to so many, is exactly what was needed.

We are in the midst of a monumental time of social change and acceptance in our society. In order to further the debate and continue to work toward tolerance and inclusiveness, we need to have serious conversations about these issues.

These are complex topics that can be difficult to understand. During the controversy last week, many of the comments in support of the “Battle of the Sexes” had a similar sentiment: What’s the big deal?

But when you talk to students facing these issues, as reporter Stephi Smith did for this article, it becomes clear that these issues are incredibly important.

ASB made the right call in changing the week’s theme to “The Power of Love.”

The events that have unfolded should not be seen as a disaster, but a powerfully positive demonstration of students’ voices.

Student opinion drove this decision, and helped the student body understand perspectives that may have not been considered otherwise. We have a great opportunity to learn from this. Let’s use it. H

2014-2015 Hawkeye Staff Alex Croce, Anna Vu, Clohey Horton, Edwin Olivera, Emily Anderson, Hannah Schuster, Ian Moffet, Irvin Zhang, Jack Fiorillo, Joshua Morrison, Katryna Garza, Kiah Helms, Lilly Stelmack, Luke Smith, Max Tracy, Sarah Schank, Stephanie Garcia, Tessa King and Vivian Nowka-Keane, Zach Hoernlein.

Name in bold indicates the staff member of the month as selected by the Editorial Board.

Editorial Board Nick Fiorillo, Paxtyn Merten, Isaac Otis, Erika Fisher, Anthony Markert, Stephi Smith Editorial News Editor Paxtyn Merten Sports Editors Austin McDermott & Luke Thurber Feature Editor Daniil Oliferovskiy Co-Op/Ed Editors Isaac Otis & Beza Ayele Lifestyle Editor Maxine Taylor Copy Editor Stephi Smith Business General Manager Anthony Markert Advertising Manager Robin Choi Distribution Manager Brian Tran Visual Graphics Editor Erika Fisher Photo Editor Serafina Urrutia Design Editor Arsha Kiani Online Online Manager Jaira Arcilla Social Media Manager Maria Balcita ........................................................

Adviser Vince DeMiero FANs Coordinators Sandra Merten & Cathy Fiorillo Printing Pacific Publishing Member MTHS ASB, JEA/WJEA, NSPA, Student Press Law Center, Tao of Journalism

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Mission

Mission Statement The Hawkeye’s mission is to provide the MTHS community with quality, thought-provoking student produced publications. In policy and in practice since 1960, the Hawkeye is a designated open forum publication.

Policies

The Hawkeye has established several open public forums for the exchange of information, opinions and artistic expression dedicated to those in the MTHS community. Since 1960, we have faithfully served our audience and community as an open, public forum where student editors make all decisions.

Editorials The editorial section of the Hawkeye serves as a forum for well-written, thoughtful, longer forms of expression. Signed editorials represent the opinions of the author. Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Hawkeye Editorial Board. Views printed herein are meant to be opinionated and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Hawkeye staff, student body, faculty, administration or school board. The Hawkeye will print submitted guest editorials as space allows and requests that all contributors include their name, signature and position relative to the editorial. The Hawkeye will edit all submissions for accuracy, spelling and grammar. We reserve the right to refuse to print any submission.

Letters to the Editor Readers are encouraged to voice their opinions in the Opinion section, a public forum for the expression of varying viewpoints on relevant topics. The Hawkeye will print as many letters as space allows. Letters must include the author’s name, signature and class or position relative to the letter. Typed or legible, hand written letters are acceptable, but should not exceed 200 words. The Hawkeye will edit all letters for accuracy, spelling and grammar. We reserve the right to refuse to print any letter.

Editorial Cartoons Submissions represent the view of the artist.

Editorial cartoons accompanying editorials and editorial columns represent the view of the author. Cartoons are selected based on appropriateness and clarity of message.

Advertising The Hawkeye will not accept any advertising that the Editorial Board deems to be: factually inaccurate; designed to mislead, deceive or defraud; containing malicious, vindictive or unsubstantiated attacks; offering goods and/or services illegal for teens to possess, buy or use; libelous; obscene; creating imminent danger or disruption to school. The Hawkeye reserves the right to refuse any advertising, solicited or unsolicited. Advertisements do not necessarily reflect the views or endorsements of the Hawkeye staff, student body, faculty, administration or school board.

Revised 9/2013

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Cover Photo/illustration

by Erika Fisher

Contact Us Email editor@thehawkeye.org Phone 425.431.7770 Mail Hawkeye | Room 130 c/o Mountlake Terrace High School 21801 44th Avenue West Mountlake Terrace, WA 98043 © 2015 Hawkeye | All rights reserved.

reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

4 | February 2015

Hawkeye Letters to the Editor

STEM classes lead the way to a brighter future T

echnology has been evolving ever since tools were used. Today, we are at the point where we have discovered many things, but the knowledge we have today is just the tip of the iceberg when dealing with the hundreds of thousands of secrets waiting to be discovered.

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) classes are trying to teach and prepare students for careers in these fields of study.

Not only do these classes teach about technology, but they also teach about leadership. Leadership is another important part to this career path and many others. This can help with jobs, community work, team or group work, projects and even families. You could think of it as teaching all of life’s requirements in just a few classes.

I began the STEM program in middle school and I’ve loved it ever since. Continuing the program into high school was no mistake. The bigger and bet-

ter tools available gave me and many others a greater opportunity to design and create cooler and complex products.

I do not regret joining and sticking to the STEM program. This program has definitely helped me in pursuing my dreams to become an aerospace engineer. I have been introduced into a designing program where you could make almost anything. Because this class provides “hands on” experiences, I believe this is a great and forever memorable class.

This generation is stepping towards a more advanced and technical future, alongside with a better community relationship. STEM classes are beginning to be integrated into school systems across the United States. If you have any interest in building and designing things to your wildest imagination, try out the STEM program for yourself.

Josh Ignacio Freshman

more perspectives should be represented

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irst off, I would like to thank you for a newspaper that is very well done. I appreciate the different viewpoints, especially on topics and sides that the media, in general, doesn’t really display. I also really enjoy how it seems that your writers are not afraid to express their opinions, no matter how different or controversial they may be.

The liberalness of this paper is inspiring and eye-opening.

That being said, I would like to request that when you do a story, especially one with more than one or two sides, that you expose the school to more than one side of the story. Maybe you put them side-by-side, or maybe you don’t, I don’t know. But I

would definitely be interested to see what more sides of the story thinks, instead of just one person or one side.

An example is when you covered “White Privilege in America.” I was excited to read how black people feel, from a black point of view, living in America, but I would have liked to see a white person’s point of view on the same topic.

If the paper is going to be liberal, and I’m glad it is, then please let us make our own decisions as far as sides and facts.

Keep up the good work!

Mindy Felber Sophomore

Stem in the new age Preparing you for the professional world

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cience, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) classes are very powerful and important for our future, and will produce tomorrow’s geniuses.

I think that STEM classes teach important skills that everyone should know.

The difference between advanced math classes, other advanced science classes and STEM, is that almost all of what we learn in STEM is applicable in daily life. This isn’t to say that advanced math and science aren’t important. We actually use some of the things we learned in those classes daily in our STEM classes.

STEM classes also teach us the things we need to

know for the changing world. Engineering jobs are in demand, and the demand is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years. The STEM field is bigger than a lot of people think it is, and is a lot more important to every human on earth than people realize. Look at anything man made, it was designed and built by engineers, this is why I said it can be applied often in every day life.

We use the laws of nature and the properties of certain materials along with a lot of creative thinking to improve and advance the human race.

Ryan Dunne Sophomore

You don’t need to be a genius to be in STEM

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Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) class offers something you can experience almost nowhere else. Students are offered a large number of new opportunities, this gives them a chance to break out of their comfort zone and try something new. It doesn’t matter if a student takes robotics, rocketry club, or TSA; any of these organizations gives students the chance to expand their knowledge and experiences.

It’s possible that a student might even find out what they want to do after graduating from MTHS by taking a STEM class. STEM allows students the freedom and independence to express their creativity through their own creations and their own products. Sadly, what I think people don’t realize is that they don’t need to

be a genius to join and enjoy the benefits of STEM. In fact, many people who work in STEM professions don’t have to have a Ph.D. “These STEM jobs are not just growing for those with higher educational degrees,” Jonathan Rothwell wrote in a report titled “The Hidden STEM Economy.”

“Half of all STEM jobs are available to workers without a four-year college degree, and these jobs pay…10 percent higher than jobs with similar educational requirements,” Rothwell wrote.

STEM is not only for engineers. It’s a safe path to a successful life.

Nicolas Wolff-Gee Freshman

We want to hear from you Have an opinion about something that appeared in the Hawkeye? Want to talk about an issue or topic important to you? We want to hear from you. Write a letter to the editor and you could be featured in the next edition of the Hawkeye. Bring your letter to Room 130 after school or email editor@thehawkeye.org.

Hawkeye

February 2015| 5

ASB changes spirit week theme to make Terrace inclusive for everyone W

hen the Executive ASB was thinking about creating a spirit week for Valentine’s Day, we wanted to try something new. We wanted a theme that was different from “The Week of Love,” which is a theme that we have had many of the previous years. We wanted a unique assembly that didn’t involve the classic “something’s stolen” theme or have the usual class vs. class games. We wanted something fresh. What we came up with was Alisha Clingan ASB Public Relations Officer “The Battle of the Sexes” where the whole week would be a competition between boys and girls.

Kim Stewart, our advisor, informed us about what had happened at other schools that have done a “Battle of the Sexes” week. He told us in the past, the boys and girls got too competitive and things got out of hand. Keeping this in mind, we made a proposal for “Battle of the Sexes” week.

Our objective for this week was to create a fun, healthy competition between the boys and girls at our school to increase our school’s spirit.

While planning out the spirit week, we were very mindful that things could go wrong. We wanted to make our objective very clear by setting the tone with our games and spirit

days. After creating our proposal we scheduled an appoint“Valentine’s Day Colors.” ment with Principal Greg Schwab to get it approved. With a ASB’s job is to serve others, to be servants to the student few concerns, he asked us to make some minor changes and body. We are constantly losing sleep and staying after hours we acted accordingly. to improve our school and make The following week we made a everyone feel like they belong. We “We don’t do it for the awards or poster, as we’ve done for every spirit don’t do it for the awards or recognirecognition, we do it because we week, to inform the student body tion, we do it because we genuinely genuinely care about each and of our theme and spirit days for the care about each and every person every person that walks through coming week. A couple days later that walks through the halls of our the halls of our school.” we received several unexpected comschool. plaints regarding the spirit week.

Like Principal Greg Schwab said at These letters, emails and tweets accused ASB of creating our Friday meeting, “Our school has worked very hard and a spirit week that was “extremely unnecessary” and didn’t done a great job of creating an inclusive atmosphere. We can’t “make this school feel like a safe, comfortable place for stube inclusive 90 percent of the time or even 99 percent of the dents of all genders or sexes.” They informed us that there time, we have to be inclusive 100 percent of the time.” are many students who “do not identify with a gender, or We didn’t make changes to the spirit week because we were identify with a third gender.” We took this issue very seriworried about losing people’s support, and we didn’t change ously and followed standard procedure. it because people were “disappointed with our judgment.”

During our ASB meeting on Feb. 6, we gave everyone We changed the spirit week because we believe everyone the opportunity to state his or her concern. Later that day, deserves to be accepted, respected, and most importantly, the executive ASB had a meeting to discuss this issue. Our loved. final decision was to change the theme of the week to “The We are looking forward to this new spirit week as we Power of Love.” We also changed Tuesday’s spirit day to believe it will bring everyone together and display “The “Royalty Day” from its original “Prince and Princess Day.” Power of Love.” H NOTE: Hawkeye provides the Associated Student Body space each issue in the Op/Ed We also changed Friday’s spirit day from “Blue vs. Pink” to

A better way to voice your opinion “N o good deed goes unpunished.” I heard this phrase roughly 10 years ago from a person I have come to trust and admire.

This comment was never as true as it was last week when opposition to the “Battle of Kim Stewart the Sexes” week athletic director/activities coordinator took on a life of its own.

One of the benefits of being in ASB is the opportunities you get to visit with student leaders from other schools. Our student leaders have had the chance to share ideas that have been successful at our school, and vice versa. One thing that always rings true is the fact that what works at one school may not work at ours.

For the past three to four years now, Big Six officers have pushed to have a “Battle of the Sexes.” To make a long story short, I felt they had a good plan and I spoke to two other advisors from others schools who said it worked great at their school.

So, we decided to give it a shot.

Now, I am not here to defend or apologize for the Big Six attempting, with my blessing, to make Battle of the Sexes come to pass. I am here to voice my contempt for how some students choose to use social media to express their opinions. I always tell my leadership students that I can’t

grade you down for your opinion when presented properly.

And those who choose to be in a position of leadership also learn the fine art of being “empathetic.” Simply put, “be a good listener.” You may not agree with what is said, but if you choose to be in your position, it’s part of the gig to listen.

The ASB students were elected by you, the students, to take on the tasks of keeping traditions alive, trying new activities and creating their own legacy. When they ran for office there was nothing warning them that it’s possible at times that they would get roasted, verbally abused, chastised and ridiculed via tweets, Facebook, texts, etc. And most of these comments are signed “anonymous.”

Every student in this school has a voice and a place where this voice will be heard and taken seriously. We have an ASB meeting every other Friday in which we welcome every student to attend. It’s a place where we want and welcome your feedback and yes, need your opinions.

When you send things through the void of social media that’s where they stay, in the void. And as another wise man always says, “be nice to everybody.” H NOTE: Hawkeye provides the MTHS Athletics and Activities office space each issue in the Op/Ed section as part of our mission as a designated open public forum.

section as part of our mission as a designated open public forum.

What does it really mean to be an inclusive school?

T

he days leading up to this spirit week were some of the most interesting in my years here at MTHS. Without really intending to create controversy, the planned “Battle of the Sexes” week created a real opportunity Greg Schwab Principal for us to learn and grow as a school.

Thanks to the willingness of a couple of brave students who chose to speak up, we learned about the unintended exclusion that this theme created for some students who felt discrimination because the theme forced them into assigning a gender role that may not fit their identity.

And thanks to the willingness of our ASB to listen and make adjustments to the week, we learned that our school can be sensitive and respond to all students who make up our school.

In the end, the theme of the week and the spirit days were modified to allow all students the opportunity to participate without feeling discriminated against or excluded for the way they see themselves.

We are not alone in dealing with this issue.

Other schools are likely addressing this as they plan for their school activities. I am

proud of how we responded as a school. It reminds me yet again how MTHS is a really special place. Yes, we have students who continue to struggle with this issue. I have seen the comments on social media- most of the comments were in the theme of “if the students felt discrimination, they should just not participate if they don’t like it.” So here’s the problem with that thinking; we claim to be a school that values inclusion. If we value inclusion, then we must be 100 percent inclusive.

You can’t be inclusive when it suits you. We need to be all-in when it comes to inclusion.

This decision by our ASB to adjust the plans for the spirit week is a step in the direction of ensuring inclusion for everyone.

So, thank you to the students who raised this issue for us. We learned that we still have more work to do when it comes to being a school that supports all of the students who come here.

And thank you ASB for the action taken to address the concerns. It was not the easy course of action and it certainly opened the door to criticism. But in the end, adjusting the plans for the week was the right thing to do and for that I applaud everyone who was involved in this issue. H NOTE: Hawkeye provides the MTHS Administration space each issue in the Op/Ed section as part of our mission as a designated open public forum.

6 | February 2015

Hawkeye Hawkeye staff editorial

Requiring students to stand for Pledge of Allegiance violates students’ rights “I

pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Since it was last edited and approved by Congress in 1954, this phrase has been ingrained into students’ minds, as the Pledge of Allegiance is recited daily in most of the nation’s public schools.

However, Washington state law regarding the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance explicitly recognizes each student’s right to choose not to participate. The law says, “those pupils so desiring shall recite [the pledge of allegiance].” Students are not in any way required or expected to recite the pledge.

Simply put, reciting the pledge cannot be made compulsory for public school students in this state.

However, state law is also clear about the expectation for students who choose to opt out, saying “Students not reciting the pledge shall maintain a respectful silence.”

It is this provision that several MTHS teachers are misinterpreting or perhaps are unaware of. Based on input from numerous students and on Hawkeye staff members’ own experience, some teachers have been known to require students to stand while the pledge is being recited. Teachers who require their students to stand are acting inconsistently with Washington state law and may be violating students’ First Amendment rights.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington state (ACLU of Washington), “Remaining seated during the Pledge is a form of silent expression,” protected Public school educators who require their students to stand during the Pledge of Allegiance are clearly in direct violation of the First Amendment as well as federal and state law.

erika fisher | Hawkeye

by the First Amendment.

In the landmark 1969 case Tinker v. Des Moines, it was affirmed that the First Amendment applies to students in public schools and protects students’ rights to expressive speech while at school. Remaining silent and sitting during the Pledge of Allegiance is expressive speech and is should not be limited by teachers.

Legal rights experts also point to the 1970 case Banks v.

Board of Public Instruction in which the court ruled, “The right to differ and express one’s opinions, to fully vent his First Amendment rights, even to the extent of exhibiting disrespect for our flag and country by refusing to stand and participate in the pledge of allegiance, cannot be suppressed by the imposition of suspensions.”

And the basis of this ruling stems from the 1943 Supreme

Court decision, West Virginia v. Barnette, in which Justice Robert Jackson wrote: “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us.”

Public school educators who require their students to stand during the Pledge of Allegiance are clearly in direct violation of the First Amendment as well as federal and state law. As a school and community that has a long, storied tradition and powerful reputation for valuing and supporting students’ rights and responsibilities, this really shouldn’t be an issue at MTHS. H

ASB meeting time and structure needs serious rethinking

Spirit week theme change a great decision by ASB

The time and setting of ASB meetings restrict many students’ ability to attend.

Held every other Friday at 6:30 a.m., ASB meetings are inconvenient and inaccessible for many students. In order to attend meetings, students are required to arrive almost an hour before school begins. This prevents students who either cannot provide their own transportation or have a zero period class from attending.

Instead of the early morning meetings, ASB meetings could be held every other Friday during PASS period. If this were the case, students would not have to go out of their way to attend meetings.

Additionally, many students do not even know that ASB meetings occur regularly. There is seldom advertisement of these meetings. And when meetings are scheduled, agendas are not made available ahead of time for students to view. The lack of information about the meetings discourages students from participating.

In order to increase attendance and promote inclusivity, ASB needs to rethink when and how it conducts its meetings.

the idea, saying the week was based on gender stereotypes and excluded students who identify as something other than male or female.

In response to this criticism, ASB encouraged those who felt strongly about the subject to speak at the ASB meeting last Friday.

Taking the students’ input into account, ASB changed the week’s theme to “The Power of Love.”

As elected officers, it is ASB’s responsibility to listen to the opinions of the public and make decisions accordingly. ASB’s actions concerning “Battle of the Sexes” week exemplified how disagreements between students and their elected representatives can and should be handled.

he structure and scheduling of ASB meetings must be changed so that the ASB announced the spirit week theme ASB made the T right call in changing the spirt week theme after hearing students’ concerns meetings are more open, more accessible and more transparent.

After“Battle of the Sexes,” many students criticized

The staff editorial represents the views of the Hawkeye Editorial Board

Hawkeye

February 2015| 7

More women needed in positions of power Schools, businesses and governments need a more representative distribution of male and female leaders

P

icture a CEO and the secretary of a major company.

Our society’s standards and values have conformed us to picture a male CEO who is a dominant and powerful, and a female secretary who is weak and submissive.

There are 190 heads of state in the world, just nine of them are women. Out of 100 senators in Congress, 20 of them are women.

Out of 435 members of the House Stephanie Garcia of Representatives, 80 of them are Hawkeye staff women. At the CEO level, women make up 3 to 4 percent. Even in the non-profit world, which is primarily believed to be “women’s work,” they make up just 20 percent of the leadership.

The majority of minimum wage and tipped workers are women. This begs the question on why women can’t make it to the top. Is it because the United States ranks 23rd globally in gender equality? Is it the lack of representation of women in leadership positions? Or is it that, according to a poll done

by ABC News and the Washington Post, one in four women reported to have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace?

Women also face harder challenges between professional success and family life. When men plan for success at work, they don’t have to think about the possibility of getting behind or failing to get a promotion because they have to take time off to have a child. If you are a mother, the chances of you getting a job are reduced by 70 percent.

The reason the workplace and the policies that impact the workplace don’t accommodate mothers is because the value of a woman is still believed to be at home. Men are rarely asked to put aside or change their career path to care for their children because the patriarchal system we live in says that men are supposed to be the workers while women should stay at home and tend to household matters.

Today, women are now leading in higher education. Women are earning the majority of associate, bachelors, masters, and doctorate degrees. For every 100 degrees men got last year, women earned 140. It is clear that women are just as capable, if not more, than men in the workforce.

Yet, we are not seeing that represented.

Names like Mark Zuckerburg or Steve Jobs are regular household names while women who are equally as successful are not given the recognition they deserve. Indra Nooyi, current Chairperson and CEO of PepsiCo, is the second largest food and beverage business in the world. Ursula M. Burns also serves as Chairperson and CEO of Xerox, being the first African-American woman to head a Fortune 500 company. Neither of these women are widely known, however.

We cannot ignore the widely perceived notion that women as workers are valued less than men. Men’s authority is respected more than a woman’s. A commanding and authoritative man is seen as good leader while a woman who possesses these qualities is seen as bossy and rude. I have faced this problem myself in my leadership positions at MTHS. Men have been brought up to believe they can show initiative, while women have been acculturated not to ask for things themselves. We saw this idea being presented by the CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, when he said that women should not ask for raises, rather they should sit and wait to be recognized. As if Nadella became one of the top CEOs in the country, earning more than $18 million a year, by sitting around and hoping to be recognized.

The role of gender stereotypes reinforced by social and cultural norms highlight certain expectations about gender.

There exists an unconscious bias for what a woman’s work is and what a man’s work is. This idea is started as early as elementary school.

Math and science are often perceived as “masculine” subjects because they lead to jobs in medicine or engineering which are primarily male dominated fields. Women are not usually encouraged to join these fields and when they do join, they are generally less represented.

An example could even be made of MTHS. All of MTHS’s administrators are men. The main, attendance and counseling office secretaries are women. Our school leadership and staff needs to be an accurate representation of our school.

Girls need to see that there are higher positions than being a

secretary or a nurse so that they will feel empowered to aim higher.

When women are not being represented, young girls don’t see an opportunity for themselves. They don’t see someone doing something that they might want to do eventually. The more young girls see that they are not well represented in the world’s top positions, media, and other areas, the more they believe that they are not capable of being successful.

This perpetual cycle is reinforced by the social norm for girls to doubt themselves and question their worth.

According to the Dove Real Beauty Campaign, 42 percent of third grade girls want to be thinner, 80 percent of 10-yearolds say have been on a diet, 53 percent of 13-year-olds are unhappy with their bodies, which increases to 78 percent by the age of 17. Girls are so preoccupied with the idea that their self-worth is tied to their physical characteristics that they undermine their capabilities. This is why when you walk into a classroom in a high school, the majority of students participating and voicing their opinion are male.

Due to the substantial efforts of our past generations during the Women’s Rights Movement, we now have laws in place that protect women from being discriminated against in the workplace. However, we still need to address the psychological factors that prohibit or discourage women from wanting to lead and the social stigmas attached to women leaders.

Therefore the pre-established gender roles in our society must be completely eliminated in order for the advancement of women and the chance for true equal opportunity. H

Michaela chase | Hawkeye

8 | February 2015

Hawkeye Gender identity & social justice

it’s time to move beyond the boy-girl box

Society perpetuates traditional gender roles and norms. For students who dare to think and act differently, high school and beyond poses a great number of challenges.

contessa king | Hawkeye

Hawkeye

February 2015 | 9

Gender: not so easily defineD

Story by Stephi Smith main categories (male and female) into which humans and Graphics by Erika Fisher Hawkeye staff

It was in the shower when freshman Flynn Thomas thought, “What if I was a boy?” He described it as “ just another random thought among the millions of others.”

However, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that it would make him happy to be male rather than female.

“Then I just said, ‘Wait that would make me a much, much happier person.’ I could feel much more free and I just thought, ‘What if I could try it?’” he said.

And so he did.

Halfway through eighth grade, Thomas became one of the 1.5 million transgender people in the United States.

According to a 2014 New York Times article, about 0.5 percent of the U.S. population identifies as transgender.

Being transgender means that you do not identify as the sex you were born as.

When a person is born, there will be a letter, either ‘M’ or ‘F,’ written on the corresponding birth certificate. But, as a person grows older, some may feel themselves acting more like the opposite gender.

“Not everyone is a boy and masculine or a girl and feminine,” Thomas said. “It’s more about your feelings.”

The Oxford Dictionary defines sex as “either of the two

many other living things are divided on the basis of their reproductive functions,” and gender as “the state of being male or female (typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones).”

Still, MTHS Psychologist Julie Schwab defined sex as what a person is “born genetically predisposed as” and gender as how someone defines him or herself.

Making the transition

Unlike Thomas, 2012 MTHS alumnus Ryan Karnoski didn’t realize he was transgender until after high school.

He didn’t understand that the feelings of dissociation he had from his body were normal, or that to change gender was even possible.

He said that even if he did understand those feelings, it would have been difficult for him to balance his school life and all of the medical, governmental and social impacts that come with transitioning to another gender.

When a person transitions from one gender to another, it is recommended to visit transliterate health clinics, to use hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and to get consistent blood work done for years to check endocrinology levels.

If the person is younger than 18, parental consent is required for HRT.

Defining Gender Concepts Gender Expression (n): How a person expresses gender, often through behavior, emotional expression, mannerisms, dress, grooming, interests and activities.

Gender Identity (n): Refers to one’s deeply felt internal sense of being female, or male, or both, or neither, regardless of gender assigned at birth.

Gender Nonconforming (n): A person whose gender expression differs from stereotypical expectations about how they should look or act based on the gender they were assigned at birth. This includes people who identify outside traditional gender categories or identify as both genders, or as gender neutral.

Biological Sex/Sex (n): Refers to a person’s internal and external anatomy, chromosomes and hormones.

Transgender (adj.): A general term often used to describe a person whose gender identity and/or expression is different from that traditionally associated with the person’s gender assigned at birth.

Transitioning (v): Refers to the process in which a person goes from living and identifying as one gender to living and identifying as another.

NOTE: Definitions gathered from Edmonds School District #15 Policy 8201-R1 Procedures Relating to Transgender Students

Erika Fisher |Hawkeye

Along with this, many health clinics require an individual to see mental health professionals before prescribing HRT at all.

Karnoski said even if he had understood his feelings during high school, he would not have transitioned due to misogynistic experiences he endured from staff and fellow students.

He recalled several occasions of being verbally attacked, called a queer and even occasionally bullied by staff.

Karnoski called MTHS, It’s impossible to say that gender as it was when stereotypes are harmless. he attended, For every unexcused gender a “red dot in a stereotype that seems benign, blue state” comsuch as a girl wearing a dress pared to downor a boy liking sports, there is town Seattle, a child beaten, made homeless and said you or, in the case of Leelah Alcorn could not pay [a transgender female in Ohio], driven to suicide by her parents him to come for not conforming to gender role back to attend stereotypes.”

MTHS. Karnoski Ryan Karnoski Alumnus advises not to “out” somebody else as transgender as it could put their safety at risk due to the violent behavior some people may have toward transgender people.

He said he is not open about being transgender in everyday social situations because it would be difficult and “bizarre.”

When Thomas first began the transition, he said that most of his friends didn’t use the correct pronouns, often using the word she instead of he, and they assumed that his transitioning was just a “phase.”

Even now, after having identified as male for almost a year, Thomas is still occasionally called “she” by his peers.

When teachers use the wrong pronoun, Thomas will correct them, but he usually doesn’t like explaining why because he feels it can be too personal of a subject sometimes.

Thomas said when he first came out, people would confront his twin sister about it instead of him. “[My peers] all came up to [my sister] and they asked her ‘Why is Flynn doing this? Flynn is a girl,’” Thomas said.

“They just stared at me. They never came up to me.”

But now, Thomas said identifying as male makes him feel happy and normal.

ESD addresses the issue The Edmonds School District (ESD) adopted a new policy on Dec. 12, 2014 that addresses transgender students.

The policy states that it will recognize the importance of an “inclusive approach toward transgender students.”

It includes several requirements for faculty, such as using the correct pronoun and not disclosing a student’s gender to other students or parents without the student’s consent unless legally required. All district faculty will have to comply with all of the rules within the policy. ...continued on page 10

10 | February 2015

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the complexities of gender

Continued from page 9....

Gender and athletics

very good friends and they all treat each other equally.

Schwab said that the athletic culture at MTHS is becoming more accepting and tolerant, and the overall environment is becoming more welcoming to all students.

“We have more athletics that accept both genders. I would hope that we are creating a more gender neutral society in our school where it’s less sorting based on biological boys and biological girls,” Schwab said.

According to Education Portal, an online resource for improving your grades and expanding your knowledge, gender stereotypes are defined as over-generalizations about the characteristics of an entire group based on gender.

Schwab said the reason for gender stereotypes relates to quality or performance in certain activities, including athletics.

Junior Hailee Malins, a female wrestler, feels gender roles have negatively impacted her, mostly in her athletic activities.

“People say that [wrestling] is something Karnoski addressed jokes made towards I can’t do or people question my reasons for genders and their stereotypes. doing it when my main reason for doing it He said gender stereotypes stem from is because I enjoy doing it,” Malins said. what society dictates is “normal” or “corMalins said she has never been one to rect.” follow gender stereotypes because she has “The jokes that are made about gender always felt content with who she is. stereotypes might seem harmless to the Junior Joey Owens, a male cheerleader, people who they cleanly apply to, but for said it’s harder to do certain things due those who don’t, they are especially detrito the differences between the male and mental,” Karnoski said. female physique, but he’s trying to do “Even for people who generally fit into everything the other cheerleaders can. gender role stereotypes, it seems unfair For example, Owens said it’s harder for that people should be expected to perform him to do the splits, but after working on their gender in very limiting, arbitrary it, he’s able to do it just as well as many of ways, such as pink for girls or blue for the girls on the team. boys,” he continued.

“People just assume that cheerleading is He said most people will find gender stea girls’ sport or activreotypes harmless, but ity,” Owens said. “I that there’s a lot more “Not everyone is a boy think over the years to it. and masculine or a girl [cheerleading] has just “It’s impossible to and feminine. It’s more become a mainly female say that gender steabout your feelings.” activity.” reotypes are harmless.

Flynn Thomas Both Owens and For every unexcused Freshman Malins are the only gender stereotype that members of the their seems benign, such as a gender on their respective sports teams. girl wearing a dress or a boy liking sports, The history behind a sport also plays a there is a child beaten, made homeless or, large part in why people correlate certain in the case of Leelah Alcorn [a transgender sports to a specific gender, according to female in Ohio], driven to suicide by her Malins. parents for not conforming to gender role She said people won’t generally do activistereotypes,” Karnoski said. ties, such as sports, outside of their gender When it comes to how people treat othnorms because they think they will be perers, Malins said it directly relates to gender. ceived in a negative way.

For example, she said sometimes guys Malins said wrestling is easy for her will treat each other badly simply because because she knows what she wants to do males are usually not ones to show friendly and is confident in herself. emotions toward each other.

According to Owens, there are apparent Karnoski agreed that gender impacts the differences in being the only male on an all- way people treat each other. female team, but on the MTHS cheerleadHe said that now, as a male, people are ing team, it usually goes unnoticed. less likely to question his intelligence and Continued on page 11....

He said he and the girls on the team are

Toward acceptance

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February 2015 | 11

Non-discrimination laws by gender identity and sexual orientation Washington

New Hampshire Minnesota

Oregon

Maine

Massachusetts

Wisconsin New York

Connecticut

Iowa

New Jersey

Nevada

Illinois Colorado

Maryland

California

New Mexico

Hawaii

Continued from page 10....

invade his personal space, but are more there is still more work to be done to make likely to be polite in retail environments the school community a more aware and and ask him for advice on subjects. accepting environment.

Overall, he believes he is treated much She said MTHS needs more education better by others. and more activities that don’t divide stu“This is because gender stereotypes are dents among gender identity. complex and intersectional, based off of To this, Thomas agreed. many different “If you’re going identities and to separate a “We have more athletics that accept presentations,” classroom or have both genders. I would hope that we Karnoski said. certain people do are creating a more gender neutral Schwab stressed certain things, do society in our school where it’s less the discomfort of not say ‘boys stand ‘sorting’ based on biological boys students who do up [or] girls stand biological girls.” not fit into either up,’” he said. “I’ve Julie Schwab traditional gender stood up when MTHS Psychologist sphere. boys have to stand “I think that [the up, and then everyfeeling of not fitone comes to me ting into a gender stereotype] begins well and asks ‘Why did you do that? You’re not before high school, but that at the high a boy, you’re a girl.’” school age feeling different can be pretty Thomas said he also feels MTHS stustifling and gender is one area that people dents take gender into high account when [can become] overwhelmed about,” she said. socializing with one another.

Malins said many high-school aged stuHe says since he’s transitioned, he has dents will feel the need to follow certain stopped looking at gender and instead at gender roles and won’t do certain activities personality. because of how it will be seen by others.

“Think of people as people [and] not Schwab calls MTHS a “fairly welcomwhether they have a boy body or a girl ing community comparatively,” but said body. That doesn’t matter,” Thomas said. H

States with employment non-discrimination laws covering sexual orientation and gender identity, and prohibit discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations States with employment non-discrimination laws covering sexual orientation only

The only male on the MTHS cheer squad, junior Joey Owens (center) performs during the fall sports assembly. One of the strongest members of the team, Owens is often a spotter or base and is responsible for keeping flyers safe while they are in the air or held up. Jack Fiorillo

12 | February 2015

Hawkeye

Dynamically contessa king | hawkeye

Hawkeye

February 2015 | 13

DRIVEN BY FAITH AND SOCIAL JUSTICE, ENGLISH TEACHER GAYNELLE DERR HAS DEDICATED HER LIFE TO SERVICE Story by Nick Fiorillo Graphics by Erika Fisher had nothing to do with piano.

Photos courtesy of Gaynelle Derr Derr took lessons from Barbara Gibson and when she

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s much as we’d like to think we’re in total control of our lives, often it’s only through reflection and retrospect that we can more fully appreciate the influence that serendipity has played in our life’s journey.

For English teacher Gaynelle Derr, providence and good fortune have been delivered via the pages of a philosophy book, the drudgery of piano lessons, and a timely phone call.

Now, from the vantage point of her impending retirement from teaching, it’s clear that these early experiences transformed her into a champion for social justice, a top political operative and a woman of faith.

It has been the little things, the unexpected conversations, the special moments, that have filled Derr’s life with wonder and opportunity. And it all began in what she describes as a “dumpy, tiny, little town” in Southern California.

[farmers] provided [farm workers] with housing, but it was very sub-standard. When we say they provided them houswould go to the Gibsons’ house to practice, it wasn’t the ing, they provided a room. They didn’t even have working piano that captured her interest – it was the high level of toilets in many cases. It was a form of servitude,” Derr said. political discourse happening in an adjacent room. Derr She began working in the summers alongside the farm soon learned that her instructor’s husband, Fred Gibson, workers, spending long days in the sweltering heat bending low to pick grapes. She recalled it as “hot, was a “huge mover and shaker in the torturous work.”

Democratic Party down in the desert.”

“Just as Civil Rights As she developed relationships with the Soon, it was politics, not piano, that needed Martin Luther workers, it was her job to ask them quesbecame her motivation for attending the King Jr., farmworkers tions that might lead them toward unionizalessons. had to have a Cesar tion.

“Frankly, I was never really very good Chavez who had a vision and people around The more she worked alongside the farm at piano. Looking back more I realize him to keep the vision workers, the more she realized how wrong now, it was not the piano that was drawstraight.” her previous notions were. ing me there. It was the different people Derr said she admired the farm workthat would be by,” Derr admitted with a Gaynelle Derr English Teacher ers’ incredible sense of hard work and their chuckle. “unbelievably strong” family unit. Together, Lesson after lesson, week after week, they worked the fields, began to organize and even shared Derr would come early and stay late, with the goal always tamales.

By the end of her senior year in high school, Derr to soak up as much of the day’s conversation as she could. It said the farm workers she knew were “finally comfortable was at those lessons where she met former U.S. Senator John enough” to begin to unionize.

Tunney from California, the son of a boxer and a friend of the Kennedys. It was also there where she met the revolutionary activist Cesar Chavez, who gave Derr her first job.

Organizing farm workers

H

B

orn Jan. 12, 1954, Derr started her life in Riverside, California, about an hour’s drive from Los Angeles.

She lived there until she was 2-years-old, when her family packed up and moved to Santa Ana, California, where her father became the preacher at Camile Street Baptist Church.

Then, as a 7-year-old, her family moved to Coachella, California. Now known for its enormous music festival, Derr said the desert-like town was not all that enjoyable for those who lived there.

Realizing she wanted more than her hometown had to offer, she says she quickly realized “education would be my out.”

Little did she know that there would be not one, but 88 keys to her success. With her father as the local Baptist preacher, the church played a central role in Derr’s upbringing. Sticking with a Baptist tradition, she began to learn the piano.

“It was very important if you were a young girl in the Baptist church to take piano lessons,” she said.

Taking these lessons changed the course of her life, but it

aving Chavez as a first boss was anything but ordinary.

Derr said her involvement in organizing the farm workers led to gaining valuable political experience early in her life.

But it wasn’t just the career advancement that made Derr’s experience working for Chavez so valuable. What she saw in Chavez and the farm workers led to what she describes as an epiphany.

Derr was in her late teens and had long believed the stereotypes about Mexican farm workers, namely the stereotype that the Mexicans were “a particularly lazy people.”

“I will admit by that age, I think I would call it a slight amount of racism. Because I tell you there was a dichotomy at that time in the desert,” she said.

Derr said meeting Chavez provided her with her first glance into the truth. Chavez, she realized, was nothing like the stereotypes she had heard all her life.

“It didn’t take a long time to realize [Chavez] was very, very organized. He had a really clear picture in his mind about boycotts, how to do them well and he always had his eye on what the outcome would be,” Derr recalled.

It was Chavez’s organization and clear vision, Derr noted, that ensured the success of the farm workers’ union movement.

“Just as Civil Rights needed Martin Luther King Jr., farmworkers had to have a Cesar Chavez who had a vision and people around him to keep the vision straight,” she said.

At that time, Chavez had organized several successful boycotts of produce in order to advocate for improved conditions for farm workers. Derr said the conditions for farmworkers at that time were inhumane and unjust. “[Farmers] could pay [workers] next to nothing, because

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fter becoming the youngest person to win the California state tournament for extemporaneous speech, and after working in the fields alongside Chavez and the farm workers, Derr graduated from high school in 1972.

She was admitted to California State University Northridge and worked toward obtaining a Bachelor of Music in conducting.

While a college student, Derr continued her involvement in politics. She worked on Sen. George McGovern’s presidential campaign and returned to the farms to work during the summer.

She had various conducting gigs on the side, mostly for churches, but she didn’t have anything permanent. Derr began working as a temp for Porterville County’s welfare department. …continued on page 14

14 | February 2015

…continued from page 13

Then, out of the blue, her phone rang.

She answered it. But this wasn’t just any phone call.

This phone call changed her life.

On the other end of the line

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he answered to the voice of a man named Hamilton Jordan. He told Derr they were looking for young, smart people who were interested in working for a candidate for the presidency.

Derr decided to give it a try.

“And what the hell, I didn’t have anything else to do,” she said.

So off she went. Derr traveled to Sanger, California, to meet with an ex-governor who she had been told was running for president.

The ex-governor turned out to be Jimmy Carter, who became the 39th president of the United States.

She was intrigued by the offer and by Carter’s strong Christian faith, so she decided to take a chance with the former governor from Plains, Georgia.

“I left it all and went to work for Jimmy Carter.”

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err soon assumed an important role in the campaign’s operation. She described herself as an “advance man.” She was Jimmy Carter’s “human Rolodex,” always knowing the important names and faces in professional politics and big money.

Derr said she was in charge of “big donor relations” for the campaign.

“Before major fundraisers, they would send me these huge files,” Derr said, grabbing a stack of papers on her desk three inches thick as an example.

“When you go to these political events, there are certain people [the candidate] has to talk to, and [the candidate] knows it,” she explained.

During the events, it was her job to make sure Carter spoke with each of these people and to make sure he was fully informed about who he was talking to. Using codes, signals and hints, Derr navigated Carter through countless events.

Derr said getting Carter elected was no easy feat. The former governor of Georgia, Carter had very little national name recognition, and Derr said this was one of the main challenges for the campaign staff.

“This was never easy. He was never a shoo-in. He was pretty much unknown,” she said.

But it helped greatly that Carter’s opponent, then-incumbent President Gerald Ford had a major political setback of his own.

On Sept. 8, 1974, Ford took to the airwaves to grant a “full,

Hawkeye free and absolute pardon” on to former president Richard Nixon.

The pardon came just one month after Nixon resigned after his involvement was revealed in the Watergate break-in of the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters. Ford’s decision to pardon Nixon was a political disaster and helped Carter defeat Ford in the 1976 election, Derr explained.

“It wasn’t that [Americans] were voting for Jimmy Carter, maybe that’s why I think he wasn’t as successful, they were voting against Gerald Ford,” she said.

On Nov. 2, 1976, Derr was part of the team that got the exgovernor from Georgia elected to the nation’s highest office.

“I would credit Jimmy Carter on that campaign with actually setting the trajectory of my faith for the rest of my life.”

Gaynelle Derr English teacher

Faith and the peanut farmer

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long the campaign trail, Derr got to know and admire Carter for his brilliance and his compassion, she said.

“He was always extraordinarily compassionate, kind and quite soft spoken,” she said.

Derr said Carter was not so much charismatic, but rather deeply thoughtful.

“Carter’s charisma did not come from his personality as it did from his truly brilliant thinking,” she said.

What ultimately impressed Derr the most was Carter’s strong faith and his ethical and moral base.

“I would credit Jimmy Carter on that campaign with actually setting the trajectory of my faith for the rest of my life,” she said.

Every morning on the campaign trail, the Carters would begin with a prayer.

“I remember one specific morning. We were actually sitting and having coffee in his house in Plains. [Carter] and I and Rosalynn [Carter] and two other people specifically started talking about our faith. [Carter] then got up, went into his really nice library in his office. He pulled out a book by Paul Tillich, who was really more of a philosopher than a theologian, but he was kind of both,” Derr recalled.

“Then [Carter] said, ‘I want you to read this and we’re going to talk about this maybe once a week,’” Derr said with a Southern drawl, imitating Carter’s voice.

“That totally changed my life. We probably had four or five conversations about that,” she said.

These conversations focused on faith, social justice and equality, among other things.

“If there was always a disparity, even worldwide, between the rich and the poor, we would never meet the standard of humanity that he would say God, through Christ, established. So the world would always be broken,” Derr said, recalling a common theme of the conversations she had with Carter.

In her eyes, Carter embodied what it means to be a servant leader.

“Carter was the only person I’ve ever known in politics who truly put the people above himself and I believe that’s why he was not successful as president,” she said.

“If he felt it was going to cross some line ethically or morally, he just said, ‘No,’ because it wouldn’t be right for the people, and he was their servant,” she explained.

Chapel before the White House

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ith the Carter camp taking over 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Derr was offered a position inside the White House. Given her music background, she was asked to coordinate all of the White House’s musical guests. This would mean bringing in the biggest names in the entertainment industry for special concerts.

She turned it down.

The spiritual realization she underwent during talks with Carter was so powerful, she wanted to develop her faith before continuing with politics.

“I had only known my faith as a kind of emotional thing, and then Jimmy Carter opened up this avenue that it could be an intellectual experience as well,” Derr said. “I really felt like I wanted to continue to pursue that avenue a little more.”

She had long thought about attending a seminary. And so she moved back to Southern California and enrolled at Biola University in Los Angeles.

With a renewed purpose and a new outlook on her faith, Derr wanted to explore the ideas of “intellectual Christianity” to which Carter had introduced her.

However, it wasn’t quite right for her. Derr felt it was “too conservative” for her taste, so she decided to leave after one year. And although she left early, she said her time at Biola “served its purpose.”

But Derr’s next move turned out to be far more lasting.

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s she was deciding what to do next, Derr visited the campus of the University of California at Berkeley.

She instantly fell in love.

“I don’t think I’ll ever forget my first visit to Cal. I had this overwhelming feeling that this is the home I have longed for all my life,” Derr recalled.

The legendary “Berkeley Free Speech Movement” protests and the riots of the early 1970s had put the school and city on the map. Derr flourished in the academic environment.

And while Berkeley helped Derr to solidify her political beliefs, she developed her faith as well.

“If you were going to find a bunch of intellectual Christians, Berkeley would be the place,” she said.

Studying English Literature with world-class writers, Derr loved her time at Berkeley and said, “Cal was so important to my development as an adult.”

Cal was also where Derr met her soulmate.

She met Jay Derr for the first time at the First Presbyterian Church in Berkeley during a lecture series. They began as friends and remained great friends long before they became a couple.

Derr graduated from Cal in 1980 and took a job in

Hawkeye

February 2015 | 15

“Cal was so important to my development as an adult.”

Gaynelle Derr English Teacher

Phoenix, Arizona, but she wasn’t happy with her new home and was anxious to leave.

After completing law school at Berkeley, Jay Derr joined a law firm in Seattle. He invited his college friend, Gaynelle, to come check out Seattle and use his apartment while he was on a three week vacation.

She moved out and decided to stay. Derr said it was just a matter of time before they realized they were meant to be.

“We were at one of his firm’s events. It was like a picnic in the summer and it was on the beach. I remember distinctly sitting on the porch of this really big house. I was on one end of the porch and he was on the other end, and I remember looking up from the distance and seeing him and I thought, ‘Wow, he is a great man,’” Derr noted.

“Three weeks later, we kissed for four hours and said, ‘When are we getting married,’” she recalled.

They wed in 1983, and had their daughter Kaitlyn in 1984 and their daughter Allison in 1988.

groups and got to know gang members,” Derr said.

When gang tensions would flare up in different communities, Derr was brought in to hold community forums and to meet with the various parties involved.

But the long hours and commutes to Olympia did not allow her to spend as much time with her young daughters as she had liked.

Derr was being pressured by the Democratic Party, members of her district and other elected officials to run for a seat in the state legislature. Derr said she did a great deal of thinking and praying, and reached her decision not to run.

“It was clear that my family was not going to do well if I made the choice to move further into the political arena,” Derr said. “That was the end of my political career.”

What’s next for Derr

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he big question Derr said she’s still trying to answer is when to step down from her teaching gig.

She describes herself as a “very fragile diabetic,” causing her to miss quite a bit of school to take care of her medical needs.

“I just am not sure it’s fair for the students for me to be missing two to three days a month, and sometimes more,” she acknowledged.

If she retires this year, Derr says she won’t be stepping away from education altogether. She’s strongly considering becoming a teacher-mentor or even substitute teaching.

She has a tough decision ahead, that’s for sure.

A champion for others

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ew students know her as anything other than “Mrs. Derr.”

Few know she was once a top political operative, a righthand woman to individuals like Cesar Chavez and Jimmy Carter and had turned down a job in the White House.

The fact that so few know these details speaks to Derr’s incredible humility. She never brags, boasts or gloats about the remarkable life she’s lived. But ask her, and she’ll tell you everything you want to know.

And maybe even a little more.

Whether she retires this year, she has already made her mark on MTHS and beyond.

From farmworkers, to aspiring public servants, to communities ravaged by gang violence, to students in her classroom and her family at home, Derr continues to serve others. H

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ith her extensive political experience and extensive studies in political science while at Berkeley, Derr became a political heavyweight in Washington state.

She became co-owner of a political consulting firm, working on issue advocacy and lobbying in Olympia for issues such as gun control and gay rights.

Derr was one of three people to run Patty Murray’s first campaign for the U.S. Senate. Derr and her team developed the iconic “Mom in tennis shoes” slogan that branded Murray as someone to whom voters could relate. That slogan helped propel Murray to victory. Derr said it was one of the “most fun” campaigns she ever worked.

One of the key issues of the time was youth gang violence.

Derr said gang violence had exploded in the 1990s and the issue was “super hot during that time.” With her political experience and her involvement in the state PTA’s committee to combat gang violence, she was called upon to help develop a solution to the crisis.

Former Washington Governor Mike Lowry appointed Derr to lead the state’s task force to combat gang violence.

It was her job to coordinate and organize with the various organizations and groups who were seeking to develop solutions to the problems.

“I went all around all over the state and met with different

lthough she put an end to her involvement in politics, Derr said she still wanted to make a difference and “do something for humanity.”

She was leaning toward becoming a high school teacher, but wasn’t sure until she bumped into a gang member she knew from her taskforce days. That interaction solidified her decision.

She began talking with “Michael” and she felt he was acting nervous. When she asked him if anything was wrong, Michael said no. But then Derr looked him right in the eye and said, “Ah, you have a weapon on you.”

He didn’t say anything, but rather just stared at Derr.

Instead of acting outraged, she praised him for his decision to stay in school and showed compassion rather than animosity.

She then said to him, “I’m going to choose to believe you, whichever answer you give me, I’m going to believe you, because I believe in you.”

Derr said Michael looked at her and replied, “You know, you really like to give people hope. You need to give people hope with your life.”

She left the conversation having made up her mind: she was going to be a high school teacher.

That was how she was going to help humanity.

She received her Master’s degree in education from Seattle University and soon began teaching.

Starting out in various Seattle schools, Derr has taught history, music, English and other classes during her teaching career.

Derr keeps her classes lively, with frequent discussion and debate, forceful speeches and tough questions for students to tackle.

She has what most teachers long for: the ability to inspire and energize a room full of young minds.

English Teacher Gaynelle pictured in 1976 at one of the numerous campaign fundraisers she attended while working for Jimmy Carter’s Presidential Campaign.

16 | February 2015

Hawkeye

Drinking up may just slow you down

When in need of a boost, both Hawks and experts alike advise people to stay away from energy drinks

By Stephi Smith Copy editor

Most high school students are familiar with the wake-up call in the shape of a skinny can. Many use it to stay up to study for a test, finish homework or to keep themselves awake during those inevitable early mornings. Whatever the reason, these caffeine-filled energy drinks have high popularity among 12- to 17-year-olds.

Health and physical education teacher Todd Weber said energy drinks are fine in moderation, but he said it depends on how much teens drink at one time.

“Anything in moderation is not going to have a really big positive or negative effect. Once in a while, I don’t see it having a really big effect,” he said. “But I think if someone is borderline addicted to it, then I think you’ve got some negative things that could happen in the end.”

According to Weber, most people who drink energy drinks regularly will end up being very tired by the end of the day.

He also said they tend to be upset and don’t do their work as well as those who drink things like water and Gatorade.

Health and physical education teacher Russ Vincent agrees and said that drinking an energy drink every once in a while will not have a very large effect, but if you have multiple at a time or if drink them frequently it can be dangerous.

He said that while energy drinks are different for every individual, they should not be consumed excessively and are to be taken with limits.

“I would not condone energy drinks for anything. I think there are better ways to get your energy in the morning,” Vincent said.

According to their website, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has set a maximum of 71 milligrams of caffeine that can be in a 12 oz. soda, but has not yet set a limit for energy drinks. The FDA has them labeled as “dietary supplements” and does not review them.

An average can of Red Bull contains 250 mil-

liliter of caffeine, 220 calories and 56 gram carbohydrates. tables and food with bread or dairy in them. Vincent sugRed bull also contains Taurine, an amino acid that naturally gested a healthy breakfast with milk and eggs in the morning occurs in the human body and regulates the amount of elecfor a healthy, energizing start to the day. trolytes in the body. A can of Red Bull contains 1 gram of “I don’t like people taking a specific thing to get ‘up.’ I’d Taurine. much rather see them do it a natural The ingredients in Red Bull have been way with the proper carbohydrates,” “I would not condone known to raise blood sugar levels, accordVincent said. energy drinks for ing to Live Strong (LS), a website for Senior Nicki Bouche, who plays on anything. I think there athletes that offers diet, nutrition and the varsity tennis and volleyball teams, are better ways to get workout tips. LS also said that Red Bull said that before a competition or your energy in the can cause insomnia, an upset stomach workout she likes to have protein and morning.” and irritability. carbohydrates.

Russ Vincent According to the New York Daily She said she also prefers water to P.e. teacher News, approximately 20,000 people have energy drinks because water is a natubeen sent to the emergency room with ral, healthy choice. energy drink related problems since 2007.

Bouche said that she once tried Red Bull before a workout, Weber said the varying and high levels of chemicals within but did not like the result because she felt too adrenalized energy drinks are too unknown for them to be safe. afterward.

“I think there are so many chemicals in those drinks. With “[Energy drinks] gave me too much energy and I had today’s allergies and today’s reactions, I think there are a lot trouble focusing. I wouldn’t recommend them, I feel like of things that could go wrong if you put that stuff in your you perform your best naturally without energy drinks and body,” Weber said. you [end up] depending on them if you [drink] them before However, LS also said that energy drinks have been known everything,” Bouche said. to effectively cure migraines and effectively allow people to Bouche said that amino acids and caffeine pills are healthy withstand fatigue and increase short-term energy levels. alternatives for quick energy, but advises anyone to use them LS called the energy that is supplied a “fight or flight” responsibility. She also suggested protein, such as turkey or method within the body. According to LS, the body chicken, for a longer-lasting energy source. will either crash immediately or release epinephrine or Senior Jacinta Garcia recommends ClifBars or bananas for adrenaline. Most people who consume energy drinks substantial energy. will have an increase of energy for a short amount of Both Weber and Vincent said that, while they cannot pretime. vent athletes from drinking energy drinks, they would not While many students go to energy drinks as a solution recommend athletes have energy drinks before sports comto their fatigue, there are multiple alternative energy petitions. drinks being sold at MTHS, both in the vending “I personally don’t think athletes should take [energy machines and the Hawk Shop. These drinks]... I think athletes need to go with the water and alternatives all under 200 calories.

Gatorade because [energy drinks have] such a quick burn... it Both Vincent and Weber just seems like athletes should stay away from them,” Weber said that good carbohydrates said. in the morning are also Vincent also said he doesn’t like seeing famous, profesgood alternatives and are sional athletes promoting and condoning energy drinks. He better for your health. described it as “being paid millions of dollars to tell kids They both suggested vegedrink dangerous chemicals.”

Weber doesn’t advise any athletes to drink energy drinks, but said he especially doesn’t think long distance runners should drink them.

“I’d say for distance runners I would advise against it...but as far as all athletes go, I couldn’t honestly say I would absolutely say no,” Weber said.

Bouche said that she does not know of any athletes that consume any form of energy drink before a competition. She advises athletes to drink either water or, for quick energy or electrolytes, Gatorade.

“I think [energy drinks are] adding to some attention deficit problems that could already exist. I definitely think it takes kids over the level of being a bit too high strung at times,” Weber said. “Probably the biggest dependency is how much they’re putting in Erika Fisher | Hawkeye their body.” H

Hawkeye

February 2015 | 17

YOUR SCHOOL YOUR TEAMS

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LIVE Your home for LIVE coverage of Edmonds School District sports!

The Sound Live Sports Network is brought to you in part by the Edmonds School District Career and Technical Education Department at Mountlake Terrace High School in cooperation with the My Neighborhood News Network. Students from the Broadcast Production Class and the Hawkeye apply their study of broadcast sports production, sports reporting and sports announcing by producing these broadcasts. Other high school students in the district may participate in the broadcasts through an intradistrict CTE Broadcast Field Production course.

Contact Angelo Comeaux at MTHS for more information.

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18 | February 2015

Hawkeye

The Boxley Legacy

The Boxley brothers have etched their name into Terrace hoops history Story by Irvin Zhang Hawkeye Staff

He was the captain of the only undefeated team in Terrace history, a two time Big Sky defensive player of the year, a Portland State University hall of fame inductee and a champion of leagues in Holland and Austria, but at the end of it all, Seamus Boxley is more than just a basketball player. He is a role model, an inspiration and a living embodiment of success.

Seamus grew up in a tight knit family in Mountlake Terrace. He was the second oldest in a large household that contained four boys and one girl.

“We grew up near 50th Avenue on Forest Crest in those block houses,” Dan Boxley, Seamus’ younger brother, said. “I shared 400 square feet with Seamus, who was huge, and Mike [Boxley]… and so it’s not like you can get away from anybody. For us, that was the norm. We were a close knit family and that’s what we thought was regular, so we did everything together.”

To some, basketball may be just a sport that’s played to pass the time and nothing more. For the Boxley family, it was something completely different. It was much more.

“Basketball for a family, it was one of those things we always did,” Dan said. “My dad would wake us up early Saturday morning, rain or shine, ‘Let’s go play some ball,’ and it was just fun. Our whole family would be out there. Basketball directly linked to family for us.”

Many people grow up with a passion, and Seamus’, of course, was basketball. However, it became more than just a passion as time went on; it became a conduit for success.

“When I was in high school, the only thing I wanted was to get into college,” Seamus said. “Coming from the family that I did, my best chance was to get an athletic scholarship and my best chance was going to be through basketball. When I was really young, I knew I wanted to play basketball and I knew I wanted to play in the NBA as well.”

His determination was noticed early, especially by the ones closest to him.

“Seamus Boxley is extremely determined,” Dan said. “I remember when he was 14 or 15, he got into this big riff with my dad, and on his bedroom wall, he took a sharpie and wrote the date and wrote everything that he wanted to do and then play professional basketball. It was funny because he practically wrote his future at 14 or 15 and would put

Seamus Boxley (left) is the latest inductee into the Mountlake Terrace Sports Hall of Fame. Helping with the induction ceremonies on Dec. 29 in the Terraceum are Seamus’ former head coach, Roger Ottmar (right), and current head coach Nalin Sood (center). Jack Fiorillo | Hawkeye the work in.”

“A lot of people start their life’s work at age 18 or 20 when you realize what you want to do. Seamus realized at age 8 that he wanted to be a professional basketball player,” Mike Boxley, Seamus’ other youngest brother said.

“And from that point, he devoted half of his life to basketball.”

There are those who lead through verbal communication and then there are those who lead through example. For younger brothers Mike and Dan, Seamus became their inspiration and their motivating force.

“Without Seamus, I wouldn’t be standing in the place that I am today. I know that without a doubt,” Mike said. “I have a brother that’s older than Seamus who got in some serious legal trouble and he was one of my first role models. It was not until I saw my brother Seamus and the path that he had chosen as far as basketball and academics that [success] had become a reality. Until I saw him take that path and see the attention and praise that he got and how it all affected his life, I personally saw myself as a criminal.”

Seeing the difference between his older career at Portland State University, playing brothers’ lives also made a monumental difall four years of his college eligibility there. ference to Dan. He graduated in 2004, averaging 20.6 points “It was nice to see two clear paths: I could per game, 8.1 rebounds, 1.4 blocks all while make the wrong decision like my other older shooting just under 60 percent from the brother did and go to jail, or I could do what field. my brother Seamus did and have a successful After graduation, he would not be drafted basketball career,” he said. into the NBA, but that didn’t stop him. He Seamus graduated in 2000, Dan graduated kept persevering with his dream of playing in 2002 and Mike graduated in 2005, but professional basketball. not before all of them had decorated basketHe would go on to play a few tenures in the ball careers at MTHS NBA’s Developmental “They just had a for the Hawks.

League before finally tremendous will to “Seamus’ senior year, going overseas and playbe successful and it’s we had the only perfect ing in many different something you can’t coach.” record in the Edmonds countries, eventually Nalin Sood School District hisbecoming a multi-time Basketball Coach tory, Dan’s junior year, champion. we were 19-1 and Mike “I’ve hit my share of got third in state losing in the semifinals by game winners and things like that, but one a mere three points,” coach Nalin Sood said. amazing moment for me was when I was in “That shows what kind of basketball players Holland,” Seamus began. “We made it all they were. They just had a tremendous will the way to the finals; it was a seven-game to be successful and it’s something you can’t series, and game seven was at our house coach.” which ended in triple-overtime. I was my Seamus would go on to have an illustrious team’s best player, and in the first overtime,

Hawkeye

February 2015 | 19

think back to the relaI got my fifth foul and tionship that’s continued fouled out. My best since then.

You won’t friend came up to me meet anyone around this and told me that he was community or anyone going to win me the that comes in touch game, and in the next with Seamus Boxley two over-times, he carthat will say a bad word ried our team to the about him.” championship.”

This would become Seamus has played in the second Hall of Fame many countries, includinduction that Seamus ing Holland, Germany, has experienced in Austria, Japan and his athletic career, the Ukraine, and now plays first being at his alma in Belgium for the club mater, Portland State Limburg United.

University.

He has won awards Even though it was such as the 2012 Dutch his second induction, Basketball League Most to most of the people Valuable Player and he around him, it was more has led the leagues in special and more emopoints, rebounds and in tional than the first. other categories. Despite “I was at his inducall of the trophies and tion to Portland State accolades, what basketUniversity and it didn’t ball gave him the most really hit me as hard as of was simply a lesson this one,” Mike said. “[It about life. was] because of where “You learn a lot from ABOVE: This poster appeared in the March 2000 H awkeye to commemorate the men’s basketball team that finished the regular season we were and how much the game,” Seamus said. undefeated and went 23-2 with their only two losses coming in the state playoffs.

Seamus Boxley (42), Cameron Rowland (34) Josh Green of an impact that this “One of the things I (left of Seamus), Myke Hedgecock (right of Seamus), Roger Russaw (32) and Saqab Husain (12) were the starting five. community, that gymlearned was how you nasium and that orgarespond when things “I thought about how much work Seamus has put in, that nization has had on Seamus’ life, Dan’s life and my life. I’ve aren’t going well and things are down. It’s so easy when writing on his wall when he was 14 or 15,” Dan said.

“He’s always felt like Seamus is an NBA player, that he’s underratthings are going well to put a smile on your face and be posimy older brother, so even if he wasn’t in the Hall of Fame, ed and looked over.

He’s the best basketball player I’ve ever tive and float through, but when things get rough, you hit the even if he only played one year of varsity basketball, I still played against.

I’ve played against a lot of talent, you name a wall a bit and that’s when you have to respond. Basketball would’ve thought it was the coolest thing in the world.

He’s local player from around here, I’ve played against him.” has taught me how to trust yourself and keep believing and my older brother. I look up to him no matter what.”

That’s saying a lot, considering the number of talented athhow to respond to that wall.”

“It was an emotional moment,” said Sood. “I remember seeing Seamus gassed as a 10th grader doing suicides. Now, see“[It was] because of where we were “It’s so easy when things are going ing the man that he is getting that award, I can’t say how I’d and how much of an impact that this well to put a smile on your face and be feel if that was [my] own son, but I had that level of emotion. community, that gymnasium and that positive and float through, but when I think the world of Seamus Boxley and I’ll retire some day organization has had on Seamus’ life, things get rough, you hit the wall a bit and still think back to the days of coaching him. I’ll always Dan’s life and my life.” and that’s when you have to respond.”

Mike Boxley

Seamus Boxley

Behavior Coordinator

Alumnus & hall of fame inductee

Hawks Hall of Fame

On Monday, Dec. 29, the Hawks hosted the West Seattle Wildcats. This game was special, not only because of the nail biter that this game became, but also because Seamus was going to have his name etched into Terrace history. At halftime, Seamus Boxley was inducted into the Mountlake Terrace Sports Hall of Fame.

Seamus still remained humble during this celebratory evening and attributed all of his successes to the ones he holds dear to his heart. And, of course, he was surrounded by them as well.

“I just liked that at this point in his life, he’s finally getting some recognition,” Mike said. “In our family, it’s known the sacrifice and the things he’s given up to get to where he is. Outside of our family, I don’t think a lot of people realize what he’s done to get where he is. Nothing was given to Seamus. He’s one of those people who went out and took it.”

LEFT: Mike Boxley played for the Hawks then Seattle University.

He is pictured participating in the alumni scrimmage at Jam Session XX. RIGHT: Now a Seattle firefighter, Dan Boxley played in this year’s alumni game. all photos | Hawkeye

letes Seamus Boxley has played against in his life.

In his high school and college career, he played against up-and-coming basketball stars who would go on to become household names in the NBA such as three-time All Star Brandon Roy, reigning Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford, and electrifying point guard Isaiah Thomas.

Mike said, “My brother is better than those guys. He is the real deal.”

Seamus is now 32 years old, nearing the latter parts of his professional career overseas, especially now that he will soon be the father a baby girl.

Realizing that, Seamus said he is just trying to enjoy the process these last years of his career and just have fun.

Looking back on the illustrious and achievement-filled careers of the Boxley brothers, it can easily be argued that the late-1990s to the mid-2000s in Terrace basketball history will forever be cemented as the Boxley Dynasty. H

20 | February 2015

Hawkeye

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