December Magazine by hilifenewsmagazine

Photo by Jackson Hocker

DECK THE HALLS WITH TRADITION

Run out for reindeer, and good old family fun.

The holiday season has just begun and is special in different ways for different people.

Family traditions are part of the foundation to make a great holiday season. For some families, the time they have together is what they look forward to the most. That is their true gift and they wouldn’t trade it for the world.

“I like family and I like getting to spend time with the people I love,” freshman Lilian Engle said.

To celebrate with loved ones brings a new type of joy to a lot of people around the holiday season, but the sharing of a family tradition really gives people something to look forward to.

“We do Christmas baking and we bake everything, we make these cranberry cookies,” freshman Kaelyn Mills said.

For some families, their traditions are baking sweet treats. For others, it’s snuggling up in their pajamas with hot chocolate while the television is playing a movie.

“A typical day… probably wake up around 11, make hot chocolate, watch TV, and then I probably will go outside if it snows, and sled or play in the snow with my dogs, and then go back inside for a bit, have some dinner, and then watch a bunch of Christmas movies,” Sophomore Elayna Katz said.

A typical Christmas day varies from person to person, but sometimes people look forward to the food the most.

“I’m gonna drink hot chocolate,” Ayslei Morris Jones said. Her favorite food is “probably the ham [her] uncle makes every year.”

Traditions can be in food for many different families. The holidays can help families have a real conversation, especially as kids grow older with every season.

“I think the older I get, the easier it is to hang out because I’m older now, and my parents actually can talk to me about things, instead of being like, ‘Aww, you’re so cute!’” Engle said.

Article and Photos by: Natalie Lona

Tis the Season :In downtown Lee Summit the Christmas tree is already up. If you take a walk through downtown you can see a lot more holiday decorations. There are some people who love the feeling of Christmas. “The festivities and just like the vibe it gives off,” sophomore Ayslei Morris-Jones said.

are some families that do traditions other than decorating. “Usually around the 20th of December. My grandparents usually spend the night until Christmas, and then my sister’s birthday is December 24 so we probably will have a big thing for her birthday, and then wake up on Christmas,” sophomore Elayna Katz said.

Of Winged Importance: The row of angels make themselves known in the room full of decorations. They used to live on the counter, but now they rest above the oven on a shelf. Christmas can be difficult for some families, so decorations could help. “If there’s a family member that you don’t get to see anymore, I know sometimes it’s really hard for families,” Sophomore Elayna Katz said.

big decorations everywhere. The train could symbolize families who travel to be together. “My family comes and hangs out, because they live far away, so they get to come in,” freshman Lilian Engle said.

The clock is ticking: There are a lot of places downtown that are covered in Christmas decorations. Christmas is close, and time is running out. Things have a chance to get better each season. “We make new things every year, like we keep adding on to our list,” freshman Kaelyn Mills said.

SHARED TRADITIONS

“At my dad’s house, I celebrate Hanukkah, and I get to see my grandma and uncles.

Then at my mom’s house, I get to watch Christmas movies, do gingerbread houses and just spend time with family.

I think it’s kind of fun having two different holidays and comparing and contrasting them,” sophomore Elayna Katz said.

Article and Photos by: Natalie Lona

HO HO HO: Christmas decorations for the holiday season. There

A House fit for an Elf: A line of tiny red houses, fit for the elf on the shelf. Tiny decor like this is part of the reason, some people like the holidays. “The bright lights and the coziness,” sophomore Ayslei Morris-Jones said.

All Aboard to the North Pole!: Downtown Lee’s Summit decorates for the holiday. There are

COLLABORATION AND COOPERATION

Keri Faulkner, SPED teacher, was well on her way to becoming a nurse, but she got an opportunity that changed her career path.

“I got an opportunity to work with the superintendent of the high school I went to. I got to see Special Needs classrooms, and I loved working with those kids. Very unique and sweet, and I wanted to be an advocate for them, so I kind of bridged the gap between medicine and education and got my degree,” Faulkner said.

A typical day in the life skills classes at LSHS is just like any other typical schedule; the students have electives and different subjects.

“There’s something new that happens almost every day. We cover a wide range of content and levels within those content areas,

so the kids get additional time with different electives. Some are sped, some are gen-ed, and then we have different math classes, reading classes, daily living skills classes, and pre-vocational work classes,” Faulkner said.

Some students spend time working with the life skills classes as part of the Pier Inclusive classes offered. They said they want to go into the field of working students in life skills classes.

“I think that it is so rewarding to see how much they are going to grow, and they are also so adorable such a relief to see them after a long day,” senior Marissa Shugrue said.

Just like any teaching job, the days can be stressful. Faulkner said there’s a variety of ways she stays connected to her classroom.

“I think as long as I can remember why I’m here and who I’m supporting, that helps me get through some of the tougher days where it feels overwhelming,” Faulkner said.

Faulkner said she also relies on the experience of others when the work days are stressful.

“My family and friends have specifically worked in a similar setting. We all use each other for that support because it’s very specific. So it’s nice to have someone else who’s done it too, to be able to let it out because they understand,” Faulkner said.

It’s always good to have support, but teachers also need to know what they can and can’t do.

“It is so important knowing my limits and setting those boundaries

for myself, but I think that’s kind of important to remember to do. But I’m sure everyone forgets to do that, but yeah, knowing your limits and being okay with having limits,” Faulkner said.

Working in the field of education, self-control and patience are important to have when the day is becoming stressful and there are a lot of interruptions.

“Interruptions. That happens a lot down here, and so we have to be flexible, adaptable, and patient. So I guess that would be how we also overcome it. Then we have to help the students, kind of learn that sort of thinking as well,” SPED teacher Amy Glover said.

Teachers work with colleagues and families to provide for their students.

“So with parents, we try to support in this school what they need at home as well, and we try to work with parents on sending those things home as well so that we all have the same expectations for the Kids. We coordinate after-school activities with parents, sports, and things like that, like a lot of kids in different kinds of sports, both sped and Gen Ed, and

then other professionals,” Glover said.

It’s also very important for cooperation with the world around them.

“We coordinate with the administration for any of our bigger concerns and issues that are kind of out of our hands. We collaborate with therapists, such as speech pathologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and Vision therapists, we coordinate with them to integrate their techniques into their daily learning so that they’re meeting those skills or getting those skills put into their routine so that they can develop there too,” Glover said.

The life skills classes provide an opportunity for students across the building to learn from each other, and to remove stereotypes about people with disabilities.

“I feel as if they don’t look at them as normal teenagers who like to participate in sports and watch all the sports events, they are just like the rest of us they just have a few different traits than you,” Glover said.

Article and Photos by: Korryn Davis

SQUEAKY CLEAN

The LSHS life skills class operates the Tiger tail detailing and they’re good at what they do.

“I love seeing them work on cleaning the cars, and they actually do a really good job at cleaning. They just love what they do,” SPED teacher Keri Faulkner said.

The students have very specific things they like to clean.

“One of my students, Julius Jones, loves to clean the floor mats- and he perfects it all the time,” SPED teacher Amy Glover said.

The point of the small

business was to teach the students some real-world skills that they will have to know how to do in the future.

“They always get so excited when it’s time to clean a car and they always know how to put smiles on everybody’s faces,” Sophomore Brooklyn Boucher said.

When watching the students clean, it brings a lot of joy to their very satisfied customers.

“I’ve gotten emails on how great they’ve cleaned up, and how it was a 10/10, how much it would brighten their day,” Faulkner said.

TIGER SPOTLIGHT:

ALEXA BRATON

Junior Alexa “the brat” Braton started wrestling in 7th grade. For four years, Alexa has worked hard to reach her goals.

Alexa is captain of the Girls Wrestling and the team’s 110 weight varsity girl wrestler.

She started off showing her potential and skill at an 8th grade tournament, where head wrestling coach and LSHS teacher Cameron Pack first spotted Braton.

“I was watching the girls wrestle, and I saw one of the girls wearing a USA Wrestling singlet, and she was doing really well. And I was like, ‘Who is that girl?’ And I ended up asking around, and I found out she was gonna be going to Lee’s Summit High School,” Pack said. “So I went and talked to her mom to make sure that she was, in fact, coming to Lee’s Summit High School. So that’s when I first saw her. I kind of introduced myself, but we didn’t talk very long, and then I really met her freshman year, the first year she came out for wrestling.”

Braton started wrestling young and has continued to build on her passion as she’s gotten older.

“She’s been working for it for a really long time. Whenever she was little, her dad got her into working out, and then she started wrestling, and ever since then, it’s been one of her passions,” senior and fellow wrestler Zyla Harper said.

far and she’s determined to go to state this year,” junior and teammate Keely Kovaleski said.

Braton’s teammates said they are sure that she will get to state.

“She’s strong, mentally and physically, and determined. She’s going to state this year. She knows she is. That’s one of her big goals. And I feel the way she goes through practice and how I know she’s always asking coaches for questions, she’s definitely gonna make it,” junior and Girls Wrestling manager Kerri Winzer said.

Braton said her main goal is going to state, where she will compete in Class 2 District 4 against 22 other schools.

“I expect to come out of the season with a really good record of wins and of course going to state, initially qualifying for state and then eventually wrestling at state, placing hopefully,” Braton said. “My main goal for the season is to really work on just setting a really good example of just putting all this hard work into something that I truly love.”

While state is an important goal for her, Braton said it’s not the only goal she has for herself. It’s important for Braton to contribute as a team member too.

When Braton arrived at Lee’s Summit High School, friends and teammates said they could tell how much wrestling meant to her and what her goals were.

“Wrestling is her entire life. She’s been doing it since she was in seventh grade, and she’s worked so hard and gotten so

around her and encourages others to step up.

“She works so hard, she honestly pushes herself a little too much, and it worries me sometimes, but she never gives up on something which is an amazing personality trait to have,”

Kovaleski said. “She’s like, if you give 10%, she’s giving 25, she’s always one step ahead of you, trying to push herself and trying to push others. So she’s not only pushing herself, but she’s pushing you to be a better person. And it’s amazing.”

Kovaleski and Braton have known each other since the first week of eighth grade.

While Braton “lowkey hated” Kovaleski at first, they became fast friends and stayed friends from then on.

“We have grown so close. She’s like a sister to me, and she’s just amazing. I look up to her so much. She’s definitely my biggest role model and inspiration,” Kovaleski said. “She’s so strong mentally and physically, and that’s what I want to be as a person. So she’s just somebody that I never would want to lose that’s in my life, and just an amazing person in general.”

“She contributes stamina. She’s always consistent. She’s always at practice. She knows what she’s doing. She’s willing to help,” Winzer said. “She’s just, she’s very smart when it comes to what she’s doing. She likes her technique, and she’s always willing to grow and help other people.”

Teammates said her ability to go above and beyond inspires those

Braton’s teammates said she’s always the one making sure that wrestling practice is a good place to be.

“No matter how hard practice can be or how tough a tournament is, if you have the right people by your side, it’s never gonna be bad.” Braton said.

Braton said she isn’t finished with her goals yet, she’s also after much tougher things: changing the way people think about her sport.

“When you think of women’s wrestling, you don’t really think big on it. When you think of men’s you think of like top tier, like colleges and everything, and I want to change that,” Braton said.

If Braton achieves her goal of going to state, that will make her the first girl in Lee’s Summit High School history to go to state for wrestling.

She’s already started off this 20242025 season strong at the first meet of the season.

On November 30, she placed first by winning both of her matches against Suzette Mendez and Abbigayle Betterton at the Oak Park Girls Invite.

Braton’s advice to anyone looking up to her reflects her values.

“To not give up, and no matter if it’s hard or it gets really challenging, just keep pushing forward. That there’s always going to be light at the end of the tunnel. No matter how dark it is, how long the tunnel is, there will always be light at the end.” Braton said.

Written and photographed by: Addison Williams

TIME MANAGEMENT: FROM THE MAT TO WORK

Alexa Braton doesn’t just wrestle, she also has a job at Culver’s to keep her busy.

Her schedule is full: practice starts at around 2:45 and ends at about 5:15. After practice, she has to get to work. Managing her schedule sometimes means that she has to work after practice, which leads to late nights.

“Having to go to work right after is very exhausting, especially since sometimes I tend to close to 10–11. It just really depends on the day and you know I try not to rely on energy drinks but sometimes it was a really hard practice and you need a pick-me-up here and there.” Junior Alexa Braton said.

Powder Puff Game Keeps Tradition Alive

There are many traditions at LSHS, but a fan favorite tradition seemed to be the annual Powder Puff game.

The Powder Puff game consists of senior girls versus junior girls in a flag football game. Both teams are coached by a football player in their respective class.

Even though it’s a fun tradition, the teams take the work seriously. Both Powder Puff teams have practice.

“We made a group chat and got the dates and times of our practices so we could get our game plan down,” junior football player and junior coach Dayton Masters said.

Practice makes perfect, although that doesn’t mean practice always went perfect.

“It can be difficult because without a lot of practice it’s hard to be able to grab flags and

understand how to guard other people. So if one girl is really fast and elusive on the other team it’s pretty hard to stop. Even though it can be difficult, the main purpose is to have fun and I think everyone does a good job at keeping things that way,” senior coach Brayden Layman said.

Through trial and tribulation, both teams worked hard to be the best come game time.

“Practices were full of ups and downs, mostly because very few of us play flag football and even less play it as their main sport. Having to like learn the basics of the game with only having a handful of practices and then having to assign positions. We changed our quarterback during the last practice,” junior Ashlee Bake said.

So when the game started and the first

whistle blew, flags were ready and it was time to go.

“Going through the warm ups, energy was high and you could tell people were ready to have fun,”senior Brylee Johnson said.

The first half of the game was full of action, having both teams with at least double digits on the scoreboard and multiple big time plays.

“The first half was crazy. It was way different then a regular tackle football game—there were trick plays left and right and a lot more offensive plays then defensive. Both offenses were just genuinely on fire: the first half scoring on what felt like every possession,” senior fan and spectator Will Godfrey said.

Once the clock hit double zero in the second quarter it gave a second for the teams to come together and create a plan for the second half, but more people were focused on the Senior versus Junior halftime show, which had members of the football team competing in an obstacle course.

“The halftime show was a really cool experience to be a part of. At first I wasn’t

even supposed to be a part of it, but my offensive line coach made me, but I’m glad he did because it was fun, even though our senior squad lost to the juniors,” senior participant Kale Anthony VanPelt said.

When the game started back up it was no longer the seniors’ show. The juniors took full control of the game, not only on offense but on defense as well.

“If we’re being honest I personally wanted to play offense to start off, but once I got on defense I started playing really well and so did our whole team as a unit on defense,” junior Izzy Garozzo said.

At the end of the day, the juniors ended up taking the win home with them with a final score of 42-38.

“Everybody did their job. When it came to defense and offense. And everybody cared about the team more than themselves. Resulting in a win,” junior Coach Holden Waring said.

Written and photographed by Jackson Hocker

Why did you do Powder Puff?

“I did powder puff last year, and it was really fun just to experience actually playing a sport. Because I do dance, and I’ve never actually done a contact sport before. So it was fun doing that, so I decided to do it again for senior year, just to do something a little bit different than what I normally do.” Senior Ava Saylors said.

FEAR of SOCIETY

Larry Oates, a seventeen year old entrepreneur, has established a business for himself at a young age.

Oates has a fashion design business, and he described his journey and process of fashion design.

“I thought the design I used was perfect. I planned out what I wanted in my head and executed and it the design progressed to what it is today,” Oates said.

The design itself is a testament of the creative ability of the artist.

“I draw inspiration from many different sources and most of that is based off my heritage and my background” Oates said.

The journey into entering fashion design started at a young age for Oates.

“I’ve always been interested in clothing, from a young age I was obsessed with the way clothes looked from the color to the fabric worn,”Oates said.

In this competitive world of fashion, Oates said he is inspired by others in the industry.

“I look up to many icons in the fashion industry, but if I had to choose one it would have to be my big cousin. He’s the one who really got me into fashion and clothing design,” Oates said.

Oates said this inspiration is what keeps him motivated.

“What keeps me going is the joy behind creating

“His clothing brand reflects his vision and who Larry is as a person making each piece a STATEMENT OF HIMSELF,”

Senior Chandler Beals said.

clothes and the way people feel while wearing something I created. It’s the best feeling in the world,” Oates said.

Like any business there will always be ups and downs.

“Sales have been rough. But during that time I really take time to sit back and understand the trends going on so I can continue staying up to date with my clothing,” Oates said.

While it’s tough there are still ways to make a profit as a high school student.

“My monthly income varies, but I make enough to sustain and support myself and my business and be able to keep up with new projects,” Oates said.

Looking ahead, Oates said he has clear goals.

“My future includes building my brand more, expanding out to different areas and creating different things within my business,” Oates said.

When it comes to advice, Oates offered good advice for anyone who wanted to pursue a creative path.

“Believe in yourself, believe in your vision and don’t be afraid to take risks. A lot of people will doubt you and will say you can’t do something. Block out the noise and just stay the course,” Larry said.

Written and photographed by Lewis Hearn

“ I love how Larry pushes positivity and always encourages the next person to do better. It’s good that he helps people who have trouble starting their brands,” Senior Brock Gordey said

the purple hippo

The Purple Hippo is a store in downtown Lee’s Summit. It’s as sweet as sugar and a building block in the Lee’s Summit community.

The boutique is a family business that has a special connection to students.

Senior Derebe Carr’s mother, and junior Lizzie Cook’s aunt, runs the boutique.

Andrea Carr is the owner and operator of the business.

“It’s a children’s clothing boutique. We offer clothing, toys and books for ages newborn to 5t,” Andrea said.

While the store is a boutique, it has much more to offer than just clothing and toys.

“In our middle space, we offer classes to support new families in the community. We have anything from music classes to reading read-alouds. We have art classes, and then we’ll have some classes and opportunities for moms to have a mom’s night out. Then we also offer it to be rented for showers--for baby showers,” Andrea said.

The children’s boutique aims to bring the Lee’s Summit community together.

The boutique is truly a family business. Lizzie Cook said she loves working at the boutique because of her relationship with her aunt.

“It feels great because it’s not awkward. So I feel like if I were to take a different job, it would have been awkward with a manager that I don’t know. I feel like I’m really comfortable with my family,” Cook said. “She’s [Andrea] just really helpful and very patient and kind with me whenever I forget how to do things. I

love my family, so I’m so happy that I get to work with them.”

Derebe said the boutique is more than just a store for his mom.

“It’s kind of about my mom just really following her dreams. Ever since she was a little girl, she’s just like,‘Oh, I want to open up my own store, and have a children’s clothing store.’ She is planning on having a cooking class, and then there is going to be a reading class for kids,” Derebe said.

One of The Purple Hippopotamus’ goals is to change the boutique game and bring people together.

“My dream is that eventually I will be able to find some grants and be able to offer all abilities in here, not just to connect families that maybe their children have learning disabilities or something that challenges them,” Andrea said.

For Andrea, the reason to expand the boutique to serve families with children of all abilities is personal.

“My daughter is a nanny for a family whose little guy is blind, and I would love to have a class that met ongoing for those kids, but I need to find, you know, teachers that have expertise in that area,” Andrea said.

The Children’s boutique is at work to make that dream a reality. The Purple Hippopotamus’ other goal is to have the people who shop support each other and all join together for the challenges they may face.

“I think connecting those parents so they can support each other and they can have empathy for one another on what their challenges might be and problems they all have together,” Andrea said.

Article and Photos by: Natalie Lona

Helping out family. Store owner Andrea Carr helps her niece Lizzie Cook with in store jobs. Lizzie is not the only family member who works at the purple hippo, Andrea’s daughter Lauren also works there most days. “Lauren is the manager, and so we work most of the time. She works 32 hours a week, and so we’re here most days together as well. I love it. I love working with my family. It’s really, it’s great, because I think it goes along with what we’re trying to do is support and connect families in the community,’ Carr said.

Tiny and Fabulous. The children’s boutique sells all sorts of clothes from the ages of newborn to toddler, and right now they have a Christmas themed style. “In December, we are going to have what’s called jingle jams on Saturday mornings. So we have a class at nine and at 10am and it’s for children through five and their families to do a holiday music class,” Andrea Carr said

Hanging together. Junior Lizzie cook is hard at work around the store. Cook works at the children’s boutique every Saturday. “I work Saturdays here, and I help around. I actually helped before that even opened this whole thing. I helped with tagging and wrapping up online like online things, but I also did social media a little bit, but I’ve moved away from that, and I mostly work up checking people out or tagging or seeing things,” Cook said

Worth the Rigor?

Select students survive the tumultuous course load of the IB Diploma program

LSHS offered college level courses to students who were willing to sacrifice a relaxing senior year. When students enroll in six IB courses, all test fees were waived, and graduates received a specialized diploma.

Each of the candidates had their own reasons for choosing the program.

“I've always loved going to school. It's always been one of my favorite things to do, and I love learning, and I've always had a dream of going to a prestigious college. So I thought that IB Diploma would be the step to get me there,” senior Jane Meyer said.

At more than one hundred dollars per IB exam in each class, diploma candidacy could be a necessity for students not wanting a big bill. If students enroll in the IB Diploma, all IB tests are paid for by the school.

“A test is 120 bucks or so, that is pricey, and I'm taking 5 classes., That's 600 dollars,” senior Jimmy Ngo said. “That is too much to pay and I just felt like it would be more worth it to struggle now. I might as well do a sixth class and then I get all of the classes for free basically.”

Diploma candidates have more IB classes, more work, and more difficulty in all of the above. With the increased work load, IB Diploma candidates must balance their schedule.

“There are times when I have to choose... do I want to hang out with people, or do I want to do my work? Then, I mean it affects my sleep schedule. Mentally, it's a lot,” senior Angela Kim said.

Of course, these exemplary students would also have extracurriculars to incorporate into their already impossibly busy lives, and they posed one more obstacle. …

“The best thing, the hardest thing, is prioritizing sleep,” Meyer said. “But I mean, it's difficult to balance on busy weeks where I have a lot of different tests happening or if there's a tournament that weekend or if I have

a piano recital. It's a lot to balance, to figure out how I'm gonna make all that time.”

Some say it's vicious at the top, but competition amongst the IB Diploma candidates isn’t as much cut-throat as it is supportive.

“It comes from a more collaborative standpoint than competition because it's never mal-intended, and no one's ever trying to overthrow anybody else,” Meyer said, “We're really just all trying to survive, so the competition aspect of it is, if we all succeed, or if one of us succeeds, we all celebrate that success with them.”

IB courses inherently have smaller class sizes. For some, this comes with both benefits and setbacks.

“The benefits are that I know everybody so well, which is really nice, because they're all my best friends.” Meyer said. “However, you know, sometimes you wish there was a little more variety, because you hear a lot of the same opinions every time so that can be a drawback because there’s less diversity of conversation.”

On top of the lessons, lectures, homework, and hardships, each IB class requires both an internal and external assessment, so as to monitor student growth.

“IB diploma requires six classes, and they have external assessments. Obviously you're going out to study after school and outside of school for those, and then each class also requires an internal assessment. So that's six internal assessments that you do,” Meyer said, “Also, you don’t get any class time to prepare for those. You're

expected to do them on your own. We may have like 4 days across the whole semester. The whole year, really. But they're very long projects, and they're supposed to be your most intensive study in the field.”

The rigor of the diploma program comes not only from saturated class studies, but sheer quantity of work.,

“It's tons of hard classes back-to-back. Even in college, you only do like four classes or something versus having to do six plus a seventh class. There’s also the extra stuff that you have to do, like the CAS project,” Ngo said. “There's also the extended essay, which is just more work, really. So it really is just like additional content that you have to do.”

With a course load as rigorous as the IB Diploma Program, students often conspired for their sweet release.

“I consider dropping out of IB Diploma on, pretty much, a daily basis,” Meyer said. “But it's never actually serious. It's always a joke. I would never actually drop out because, at this point, I've put in too much time and commitment to consider dropping out, and I do really enjoy it at the end of the day.”

IB Diploma candidacy is intense. Candidates said they weren’t made aware of exactly how difficult some of the IB classes would be.

“I feel like the teachers downplay it a little bit,” Ngo said, “They didn't actually talk about how difficult it can actually be, especially IB Chemistry. I did not know that it was one of the hardest IB classes that we have.”

Article and Photos by: Luke Gallegos

RED RIBBON WEEK VS. HOMECOMING SPIRIT WEEK

HOMECOMING SPIRIT WEEK

M - PJ DAY

T - TWIN DAY

W - BLACKOUT DAY

T - WEAR WHITE

F - NEON DAY

RED RIBBON SPIRIT

WEEK

M - STAY DRUG FREE

T - CHOOSE YOUR SIDE

W - SAY NO TO DRINKING

T - EMOTIONAL AWARENESS

F - KEEP VAPING OUT OF THE PICTURE

Tiger Smart planned spirit week against drugs

Tiger Smart sponsored a Spirit Week to bring attention to Red Ribbon Week, which is the largest drug abuse prevention week in the US.

Tiger Smart tries to combat peer pressure to do drugs or drink.

“Sometimes we feel that since our friends do it, we should be able to do it, but we need to think for ourselves. My parents always told me that nobody can make me do anything I don’t wanna do,” junior Allie Gordon said.

Tiger Smart used Red Ribbon week to bring attention to the choices students make.

“We’ve had examples of people telling us their drinking experience, their drug experience, and we just feel impacted by that. And so we want to help kids be like, this is

what’s happened to people before, and we just want to make sure that it doesn’t happen to them,” junior Amber Dumler said.

Spirit Week included pajama day, surfer vs. bikers, the movie Inside Out, a few other fun theme days.

“We just want everyone to have fun with the spirit days, but also while learning that we’re saying no to drugs in all these different ways,” Gordon said.

Tiger Smart is focused on the students, with the hope that they empower their peers to avoid drinking and drugs.

“Always focus on our generation the most, since we’re the ones showing them, and we always focus on helping kids our age, saying no to drinking and drugs,” Dumler said.

The stories of what happened to

people who have suffered from drug abuse and alcohol abuse inspired the Tiger Smart members to fight against drugs and underage drinking.

“Kids have heard about that, and they’ve heard the stories of what can happen. If we keep enforcing it in high school, it can help the students to realize even more that when you’re an adult and you have the ability to buy drugs and alcohol that you will know ...this is what’s happened to other people.

I don’t want to end up like them,” sophomore Jessica Sands said.

The Tiger Smart club’s main idea is to prevent students from using drugs and for the students to help their peers also say no to drugs.

Article and Photos by: Korryn Davis