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Volume 59 Edition 16
Student wins trip to Washington, D.C. Seven students named finalists in constitution contest
Seven students were named as finalists in The Iowa State Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division “Know Your Constitution” Project. The students included Madeline Castings, Jacob Smothers, Olivia Smothers, Vedanti Sankpal and Emma Yarrow from Cedar Falls High School and Jillian Kellum and Param Sampat from Holmes Junior High. One hundred finalists were selected from the more than 1,000 students across the State of Iowa who participated in the “Know Your Constitution” Project. These finalists were honored at a luncheon held at the West Des Moines Marriott on Jan. 13. They had the opportunity to hear about the development of the republic from Justice Christopher McDonald of the Iowa Supreme Court. Sophomore Emma Yarrow said to ensure her spot as one of the 100, she used a lot of sources and picked a topic
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Student finalists with their certificates at the luncheon, from left to right: Jacob Smothers, Vedanti Sankpal, Madeline Castings, Jillian Kellum, and Param Sampat. Not pictured: Olivia Smothers and Emma Yarrow. that interested her. “I would say try to look at a variety of sites and a variety of sources. If you just stick with one you are not going to get the most you can out of it,” she said. “When you’re doing it, try to look at stories that interest you, like relating to the topic,
relating to the other cases. Because if you’re not really interested in it, you can’t give your full opinion.” Another reason Yarrow said she was successful is because she used her opinion to augment the evidence from the Constitution.
From the finalists, five students and their teachers were chosen by a random drawing to attend the all expense paid, Close-Up Foundation’s five-day long education work session in Washington, D.C., on Feb. The work sessions are organized to develop a deeper understanding of government and the political process. Yarrow and her teacher, Nina Grudt, were selected to attend the trip this year. “I was really excited. I couldn’t believe that I had actually gotten it. It didn’t cross my mind that I would probably win,” Yarrow said The “Know Your Constitution” Project is designed to enrich students’ understanding and appreciation of the Constitution. The students participating in the project were required to familiarize themselves with Constitutionrelated issues. A quiz was completed by each participating student. An essay question accompanied the quiz in case of a tie.
This year’s essay topic involved Constitutional questions centered on a restrictive student dress code at a public high school. Students were asked to consider the nature of the First Amendment as it relates to student conduct. Yarrow said so far this experience has taught her to acknowledge the work of lawyers. “I think I have a deeper understanding of it now. I almost appreciate people who are lawyers and the work that goes into it and all the time it takes them to figure out one case.” Yarrow said she recommends this project to people with varying interests. “I would probably recommend it to anyone who likes government in general, or who likes writing or opinion pieces. Also, there is a lot of research that can go into it, so if you like that type of thing, like determining what sources are the best,” she said. By Co-Editor in Chief Sophia
SCHILLINGER
Junior’s charity earns $10,000 grant Peet adds life skills to grade reports Bundling up and embracing the comfort of a blanket and stuffed animal is a feeling that most can relate to and most can reflect on if from their childhoods. Junior Aaliyah Tournier recognized that unforgettable feeling brought to children when her foster siblings found that same joy and comfort in her belongings. “I used to share my stuffed animals and blankets with foster kids in our home, and I just saw how much safer it made them feel. It’s important to me to make sure that foster kids feel safe in the situations that they are in,” Tournier said. “It is also important to me because I want these kids to know that no matter how much they’re going through that they know that someone cares.” Tournier has been running Furries 4 Fosters since she was in the sixth grade, and the organization has been growing over the course of the last five years. Tournier said she’s seeing the impact Furries 4 Fosters makes each day “just seeing it grow and me starting to part-
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Junior Aaliyah Tournier received a $10,000 check for her charity Furries 4 Fosters.
ner with more organizations like Kaden’s Kloset, Cedar Valley Angels, Allen Child Protection Center and AMP (Achieving Maximum Potential) and the DHS office.” Tournier said the process to even Story continued on Page 4/ JUNIOR’S CHARITY
This year Peet Junior High is starting something new by having their student fill out a Life Skills form every couple weeks. This form has three main ideas behind it which are organization, respect and work completion. Students put down a combination of pluses or minuses in each category for themselves and then teachers fill out the form for each of their students as well. Peet Junior High Principal Bill Boevers said that they made this change because “After we started with learning-based grading, one of the things we found is we don’t really have a good way to report to parents on things like work completion, organization and kids being respectful to adults. We know those things are important, and we want to be able to communicate with parents, ‘Hey, here’s how your students are doing with this,’ and that was a way to be able to communicate with parents as well as let kids know if they’re meeting expectations or not.”
While this change is very new to the school and students according to Boevers, “Holmes had done this for probably 10 years or something very similar to it, and we’ve talked about it with our leadership team at different times, and we just within the last year or two decided this is a direction we want to move.” Science Teacher Jennifer Schulz does have some concerns with this direction. “I think kids don’t appreciate the system and use the feedback as well-intended as it is. I don’t think parents take time to look at that feedback and really do much with it,” she said. “I don’t think the students take the time to reflect on the goals they’re written, and I think the students who do a good job with those goals are typically the kids who don’t need to.” Boevers does, in fact, admit that, “Now does it make a big difference for all students? No, there’s some that still struggle with these things, but I think for a lot of kids they’re inStory continued on Page 4/ LIFE SKILLS