The Baller Times

The Baller Times

Iowa City West High School l 2901 MELROSE AVE. l IOWA CITY, IA 52246 l INTRO.WSSPAPER.COM l APRIL 14,2017

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PROFILES GAO AND NYBERG (03) PEREZ (04-05)

OPINION NCAA(06-07)

FEATURE BEES(08-10)

SPORTS SOCCER(11-12)

NEWS KIRPES(13) BAND TRIP(14-15) NEXT YEAR(16-17)

Editor-in-chief: Hieu Nguyen

Letter from the editor Dear reader, I would like to give you a huge thank you for deciding to read our publication, especially since there’s like 20 others from the West Side Story introductory team. Here at Baller Times, we hope to give you readers crucial and relevant information while keeping you awake.

In order to do this, we worked super hard on each and every single page. This means that every single member of our team worked super hard in order to provide superb quality; so thank you, Walter, Kaushik, John, Sanjeev, and Thomas for your dedication and persistence.

Finally, I hope you enjoy each page as much as we enjoyed making them. If you don’t, any complaints can be sent to Walter Donich as by the time you are reading this I will currently be in Vietnam.

Kudos, Hieu Nguyen

T N O S C NT E

Friend Crush ...BROKEN!!

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MAY 24, 2017

Written by: Walter Donich

Childhood friends are the first chance of social interaction with the outside world. You meet a person and immediately know this person is someone you want to hang around with forever.

Dylan Gao and Nathaniel Nyberg are not those childhood friends and the first time they met each other they did not immediately become lifelong friends.

“Back in elementary school I did not like Dylan, and in middle school I didn’t even meet Dylan,” Nyberg said. Gao said his first impression of Nyberg was that he was “a weird kid who read books in elementary school”.

Although their relationship didn’t start off well it eventually developed in their sophomore years. “I had my own group of pals and all of a sudden he [Gao] comes out of nowhere and starts talking to us,” Nyberg said. “But then three weeks later we became great friends.”

After having known each other for awhile they have gotten used to each other’s personalities.

Designed by: Kaushik

“[Dylan is] just kind of out there.

Sometimes it just seems like he’s not up with the rest of us, but in a good way,” Nyberg said. “I would describe Nyberg as weird. He gets on the ground and just picks up weird stuff,” Gao said.

Since becoming friends they have had many memorable moments whether it be going downtown to Mesa or driving to school in the early morning. “I would pick up Dylan and we would go to school really early in the morning, like five a.m.”

Nyberg said. “One time, while going to pick up Dylan at 5:30 a.m., I slide down a hill getting to his house and I rammed my tire into a curb. After picking Dylan up I realize that I have a flat tire. After working for like an hour on my flat tire, on the coldest day of the year while Dylan is snoozing in the warm car, I had to enlist the help of a random guy.”

However, looking into the future they will be separated by the wall called college.

“I will be going to Northwestern University next year,” Nyberg said. “And I will be going to Iowa next year,” Gao added.

Although they haven’t planned on meeting up at a specific time or place next year they were both sure that they would be friends for life.

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P R O F I L E S MAY 24, 2017

The Fencer

Fo s i at h W

“En garde! Prêts? Allez!”, says the judge. The words signal the start of a duel not one of life or death, but one of skill and grace: Fencing.

Bernardo Augustin Perez ’20 is a fencer at the Iowa City Fencing Center and has been fencing for around six years. Perez said he was introduced to fencing from the movie “The Parent Trap” and was looking for sports to do when he was young. That was when he saw the fencing center and enrolled.

Perez has now improved to one of the best fencers in the state.

Perez has a lot of confidence in himself and assessed himself as, “the best fencer in Iowa, of all age groups”. He attributes his success to his parents, not because they are experienced in the sport of fencing, but because “they are my ride everywhere,” said Perez.

Perez not only competes within state competition, but also competes in regional and national fencing tournaments. In fact, a year ago there was a national qualifier that Perez placed first in. Perez was also impressed by the competition. “Outside of Iowa there are pretty good fencers,” Perez said. Perez also aspires to do more in the future with fencing.

“I hope to be able to travel more and practice with different clubs, in places like Wisconsin or Chicago,” Perez said. He believes they would be good opportunities and wants to just to do more events involving fencing whether they be fencing clinics or events.

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MAY 24, 2017

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To progress his involvement with fencing Perez says, “I got an opportunity to coach over at the University of Iowa this summer”. Also Perez is considering to enter the international stage of fencing, but says that he is currently doing a lot at the moment.

Fencing has also taught Perez many core values he uses in his day to day life. “Overcoming adversity, especially when you’re starting young, you’re going to be fencing people way older than you all the time,” said Perez.

Perez also commented on people who are at a disadvantage genetically. “You might not be the tallest, the fastest, the most experienced, but getting around that is a big part of the sport,” Perez said.

Perez also said he learns a lot through interactions with teammates and coaches. “You learn to be respectful, but also competitive at times,” Perez said.

Another thing Perez participates in is crossfit. Crossfit is an up-and-coming strength and conditioning program that both casual and serious people participate in. “It helps with speed and at times strength for fencing, but it isn’t necessary to be successful in fencing”, Perez said.

Perez also talked of the prevalence of fencing in the United States. “I am kind of surprised, fencing hasn’t been popular in the United States … In places like Spain it is very common, they even do it in schools,” Perez said. “In the future I would like to see more fencers around in the United States and also the community grow here [Iowa],”

NCAA Amateurism

College athletics is a very popular source of entertainment for many Americans. From Big Ten bowl games to March Madness, National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) offers a wide variety of options to choose from. In fact, college athletics is so popular that in 2014, the University of Alabama made more money from athletics than all 30 NHL teams, and 25 of the 30 NBA teams. However, in this multi-billion dollar business, not a cent goes to any of the athletes.

The NCAA justifies all this by calling it amateurism, stating that the athletes are simply amateurs and therefore should not be paid.

athlete” to avoid having to pay workers’ compensation to C o n t r a r y injured athletes, and has since to what many may believe, exclusively used the phrase. college athletes are de facto The average Division I college football player spends on average 43.3 hours per week on his sport, which is 3.3 hours more than the typical American workweek.College The NCAA exploits its athletes are put under a very tough schedule for their sport, which in athletes and forces cases lead to long terms of them into unneccesary many absence from class, even though the NCAA claims that they are students regulations” before athletes.

-John Li’19 The NCAA asserts that athletes employees of their colleges. In 1953, aren’t paid so it doesn’t get in the way in a court ruling, the Colorado of their education, but the athletes Supreme Court upheld that Ernest miss classes for broadcasted games Nemeth, a football player at the and office hours with professors University of Denver, was in fact an for practice. In certain colleges, the employee. Shocked by the ruling, the road to the NCAA men’s basketball NCAA coined the term “student- championship may require student-

athletes to miss up to a quarter of all class days during their spring semester.

Additionally, exceptional performances by athletes directly benefit their respective colleges through tournament winnings and indirectly through higher applications to the school. For example, March Madness nets a school around $1.67 million for simply appearing in the tournament, regardless of whether they win.

When Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie won the Heisman Trophy as the nation’s outstanding college football player in 1984, Boston College’s undergraduate admissions increased by 25 points and its average SAT score of admitted freshmen skyrocketed by 110 points.

College athletes are also put under

a set of very strict regulations exceeding 400 pages. Should an athlete break a single one, they face potential prohibition from

CATHERINE JU ‘18

competing in the NCAA. Silas Nacita, a former Baylor running back, was banned from all NCAA events because he accepted food and shelter when he was homeless before attending Baylor. Coach Rick Majerus, a Utah basketball coach, was penalized for giving one of his players a meal and a flight home

when it was discovered that one of the parents of the athlete died.

College athletes are essentially employees of their schools. They work as much as an average employee, and give their colleges many benefits through tournament winnings and high application rates.

The NCAA exploits its athletes and forces them into unnecessary regulations to help further take advantage of the athletes which is completely unethical. As Michael Wilbon, an ESPN commentator stated, “The players have become employees of the universities and conferences as much as students -employees with no compensation, which not only violates common decency but perhaps even the law.”

In order to guarantee that college athletes are treated fairly, the NCAA must concede that athletes are employees.

BY THE NUMBERS

53.4M

800M

11B

The amount of money that the top 15 highest paid college football coaches made in 2011.

The amount of money that Mach Madness brings in each year

The amount that a deal NCAA struck with CS

TO BEE

OR NOT

TO BE

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F E AT U R E

MAY 24, 2017

by: Thomas Peters Bees are dying at a very fast pace, this is very dangerous because without bees and other pollinators we wouldn’t be able to grow food as abundantly as we can. Society as a whole needs to shape up and deal with this problem before it gets to the point that we can’t function as we have been. According to Nathan Tansey ’18, a beekeeper of six years, “I don’t think the world would function at all, as we know it [without bees]. Plants would have a lot harder time growing… as well it would just completely disrupt the ecosystem.” Bees are the keystone to our food system, we need bees to be able to continue living the same way. We know that without bees, we wouldn’t have honey, but did you know that around 250,000 species of flowering plants depend upon bees for pollination. The cost of pollinating our food supply by hand would be astronomical. Wild flowers and berries depend upon bees to cross pollinate and reproduce. Birds, insects and other small animals depend upon these plants and larger carnivores depend on the smaller prey. The entire ecosystem is not just disrupted - it is being annihilated. If this is so important, why don’t people care more about this? Why aren’t people more aware of this crisis?

The average person is so removed from their source of food that they lack a basic understanding of where it comes from and how it is produced. I have seen a kid follow flying insects around the yard with a can of insecticide, obviously thinking that all insects are bad. That can of insecticide is not only bad for the bugs, it’s bad for people too. Watching him really revealed to me that there is a lack of respect for the natural world on a cultural level in the United States. Most people are so removed from nature that they have no connection to it, no understanding for how it works, and that they are a part of it. With that in mind, we have to start

somewhere to tackle the problem of a bee apocalypse.

There are three key areas of human activity that have negatively affected the bee population: pesticides, loss of habitat, and climate change. Bee populations have been declining. The main cause of the decline is pesticides, most people would agree that pesticides help keep the bugs off corn and soybeans that are produced here in Iowa. They do, but the pesticides can also go places they aren’t supposed to be. Like on the bee’s food, which is ending in a lot of

bees being killed by the pesticides.

People need to scale back the amount of pesticides being used.

Bees need to eat. According to Tansey, when the bees are just starting to come out in the early spring, they need a good start to be able to thrive for the year.

Wild flowers are perfect for this good start. But with urbanization occurring around towns, like in Coralville and

Iowa City. With more land being used for farming, wild flowers have less space to grow in. There isn’t much land for bees to make a hive and have flowers to feed that hive.

The fluctuating weather has posed many challenges to bees. “Spring is one of the most important [times of the year], because if they don’t get off to a good start [the rest of the year won’t be good]… it’s kind of a make or break moment,” Tansey said. It is very hard for the bees to get started because as soon as it starts to warm up the temperature drops again.

Before colonization, the United States was about 40% prairie. It was a bee paradise. Iowa had the largest percentage of tallgrass prairie, about 30 million acres, which is 85% of Iowa.

There must have been many bees. Even with settlers plowing the land and planting crops, bees still didn’t have many problems. It was around the time of World War Two that pesticides and herbicides were developed. This was the beginning of the chemical age in agriculture and the effects on human health and dangers to the environment were unknown. Well, now it is known how dangerous chemicals are, so why is there still such widespread use?

For one, old habits are hard to break.

Another reason is that companies make billions of dollars producing chemicals for agriculture. If you made that much money doing something, why would you want to change it? That’s why it is up to the average consumer to make that choice. We can do that by choosing organically produced food and household products. What is organic?

The USDA National Organic Program (NOP) defines organic as, “Organic food is produced by farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for future generations. Organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones.

Organic food is produced without

using most fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients, sewage sludge, bioengineering, or ionizing radiation.

Before a product can be labeled “organic,” a Government-approved certifier inspects the farm where the food is grown to make sure the farmer is following all the rules necessary to meet USDA organic standards. Companies that handle or process organic food before it gets to your local supermarket or restaurant must be certified, too.”

Wild flowers were here first, let’s honor them and help the bees by planting some in our yards. Backyard gardens are easy and fun and they help bees.

Goldenrod is one of my grandmother’s favorites. My mom loves coneflowers and sunflowers. My brother enjoys popping the “heads” off of dandelions and rubbing the yellow pollen onto his skin. How can we give bees a good start in the spring? It really helps bees to let the dandelions bloom in the spring - it is one of their first foods. Iowa needs help with water quality. Tallgrass prairie restoration and wetland restoration not only improves our water quality - it helps the bees by providing wildflowers.

This is a win/win situation because it provides habitat for a multitude of species and more natural areas for us to enjoy. Endless acres of commodity crops does not support much wildlife and is boring to me. I like taking walks in areas where you never know what bird or animal will pop up and surprise and delight me.

Climate change disrupts the weather patterns and makes it hard for bees because of the fluctuations in temperature. It is a tough challenge.

It feels so huge and I feel so small in the effort to do anything about it. Like chemical use in agriculture, much of the problem lies in our habits and the fact that we see changing them as an inconvenience and too challenging. I’m learning that little things add up. My mom encourages me to ride my bike to

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school rather than driving. I love to ride and it is healthier for me as well. Iowa is the national leader in wind energy and by 2015, 31.3% of our state’s electricity was generated from wind turbines! If we as consumers of electricity ask for 100% renewable energy in this state, we can get it because we are already ⅓ of the way there. This is huge in combating climate change.

It can be clearly identified how humans are making it hard for bee populations to survive. We also know that we really depend upon bees for the foods we eat. 30% of the world’s crops depend on bee pollination and 90% of wild plants! We need to call a bee emergency nationwide! There are things five areas where we can make a difference to help the bees bounce back: provide bees a good start in the spring, plant backyard gardens, restore prairieland, reduce pesticide and chemical use and leave as much of the wild flowers as possible.

SPORTS

Going Out Strong The other times they had failed, now they had only one chance left For three consecutive years, the City High boys’ soccer team has beaten West. This year, it seemed as if West would once again lose to their rival; Only having lost one game last year, City high was ranked first in the state with an undefeated record.. West High on the other hand had lost many talented seniors from last year and had already suffered two defeats.

the game. “To be honest, I was really nervous. They were ranked first in the state coming into the game, plus it was at the U of I field, which seats a lot of people,” said Sam Choi ’17, a three year

BY HIEU NGUYEN

teammates, so I felt all around pretty good”.

Then the day came when once again the two notorious rivals were to play each other.

Beforehand, the girl’s team had beaten City 2-0.

Now it was time for the boys.

“it was disappointing as a fan and a player losing to your cross town rivals for 3 years, so I was determined to change history”

As the big day was approaching, the West High boys’ team worked harder, but that did not change the apprehensive atmosphere surrounding

4 SECTION MONTH 2016 WSSPAPER.COM

-Sam Choi ‘17 Astoundingly, they won. member of the team. Connor Zielinski ’17, one of the numerous captains of the team, also shared similar emotions, “I was nervous like I usually am before big games, but I was pretty confident in my

The game was intensely close during the first half with City leading in passes, possession, and chances. Then, during the second half, a magnificent pass to

Nicolas Raley ’17 led to a fancy but deceitful goal. The crowd roared as the Trojans were about to end the drought against their rivals. But it wasn’t over, as the second half was nearing a close, many chances were created by City in a desperate attempt for an equalizer.

Eventually the whistle blew and the West boy’s team had finally defeated City. “I kind of just went blank when Raley scored, and when it ended I just wanted to celebrate with my team,” Zielinski said.

One factor leading up towards the team’s victory was simply a strong desire. The last time that West boys has beaten City was in 2013. Sam Choi ’17, said that previous performance

Yet the victory over City is not where it ends. The team plans to continue their success and focus further on importance matches. “[Now] we are focusing on the MVC title, and getting home field advantage for the substate [game],” Choi said.

Sam Choi ‘17

was a reason why he was personally motivated, “Yeah, it was disappointing as a fan and a player losing to your cross town rivals for 3 years, so I was determined to change history”.

Prospectively, the team can now ease into focusing on future ambitions now that the big rivalry game is finished. “It was a big win for the West High soccer program. The last couple of years we had lost to city in close games. So finally getting the monkey off of our back was a good thing,” Zielinski said

WSSPAPER.COM MONTH 2016 SECTION 5

WSSPAPER.COM MONTH 2016 SECTION 5

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Hitting the Ground Running

BY WALTER DONICH

Crrrrrraccckckkkckk! The sound of a branch snapping puts the sense of fear into you as you fall and hit your head on the solid concrete. You’re slipping in and out of consciousness and you hear the sound of sirens in the distance. The paramedics rush up to you saying, “This doesn’t look good”.

James Kirpes, a math teacher at West High, had this experience just before the start of the second trimester. Kirpes fell twenty feet from a ladder while attempting to cut an oak tree branch. “Next thing I know I’m laying on the ground writhing in excruciating pain,” said Kirpes.

Kirpes was then rushed to Mercy Hospital and quickly thereafter sent to the University of Iowa Hospital.

“When they took me to Mercy Hospital in Cedar Rapids, after evaluating they said that they were taking me to Iowa City the University of Iowa Hospitals, and my brain thought: ‘Well why would that? That’s only for the serious cases,’ not realizing I was one of those serious cases.” said Kirpes.

What was revealed in his stay at the hospital was that Kirpes had broken his pelvis and shattered his sacrum(a triangular bone in the lower back) along with other minor internal injuries. As a result Kirpes was unable to walk for 14 weeks. “Being off my legs for 14 weeks, and my 26 days in

the hospital … was the toughest part for me.” said Kirpes.

Since the injury, Kirpes has been attending physical therapy every week to strengthen his leg muscles, improve his balance, and better his flexibility.

Although many people claim that physical therapy is the hardest part of recovery, this was not the case for Kirpes. In fact, Kirpes was warned that physical therapy would be torture to which he responded, “Bring it on”.

Through his recovery Kirpes had a lot of support from his family. “Everyday at least my wife would visit me and most days my ten year old son came to visit me and older children and other sibling and members of my church”, Kirpes said. “I felt like I had great family and friend support while at the hospital.

Upon his return, Kirpes describes himself as feeling, “Amazing. Awesome.

Fantastic” just to name a few. Kirpes also comments that Ms. Hill did a fantastic job of teaching his classes and described the transition back as seamless.

Evan Flitz ’18 agreed with Kirpe’s assessment. “She [Ms. Hill] took over the class when there was a lot of confusion and ensured we all received a quality year of calculus”, said Flitz.

As for the AP exam preperation for his students Kirpes credits Ms. Hill heavily for keeping the students on schedule and allowing the students to have three weeks of review before the test.

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The City of Mice

MAY 24, 2017

many problems other than people coming It was a bright, hot, and humid day as I late. went higher and higher into the air. At the peak I could see miles. I saw my friends on the ground smiling and waving up to me. There were many rides that all students As I fell my body froze in complete shock. rode, one of them being Space Mountain in Even so, I was safe, I was just on a roller Magic Kingdom. Space Mountain flaunts the title of being one of Disney World’s best coaster at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida rides. Space Mountain is basically a ride with 138 others on the West High Marching inside a planetarium, the entire ride is dark except the dome, which is a picture of the Band’s trip to Disney World.

The 139 band students took place in stars.

Festival Disney. Festival DIsney is an event Another ride that most students rode was at Disney World that highlights several Hollywood Studios’ Twilight Zone Tower marching bands around the United States. of Terror. This is the most famous rides West High takes place in this festival every in Hollywood Studios. The ride is a drop tower, and riders feel zero gravity for a few two years.

There were many things that happened on seconds. the trip. The students marched in Universal Even though the band had fun, there were Studios and Epcot courtesy of Festival some complaints. “I felt like the trip was Disney. They also visited Magic Kingdom, a little short,” says Mady Nachtman ’18, a Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. drum major with the band. Even so she still The band departed school on April, Monday said she had fun and that the trip was well 17 before school ended. The students had to worth it. endure a long, strenuous 27 hour bus drive The band goes back to play in the Festival down to Orlando. They spent the next four Disney parades in two years. This has been days at the aforementioned Disney parks a band tradition for many years, and shows no sign of stopping. enjoying themselves.

The marching aspect of the trip was quite successful and attracted many spectators.

The marches went well and didn’t have

BY KAUSHIK RAGAHAVAN

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E N T E R TA I N M E N T

FEB. 17, 2017

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MAY 24, 2017

AP Death

By: Hieu Nguyen and John LI

Many see the month of May as a symbolical harbinger for summer. Flowers start to sprout, the bright green is rejuvenated into the bundles of grass, and the sun starts to dwindle down intense waves of heat. But this isn’t the case for everyone.

The first day of May is also the start to two weeks of continuous Advanced Placement (AP) exams. Since 1955, non-profit organization College Board has used these exams to designate class credit hours to students for college. Ranging from music theory, to calculus BC, there are 38 AP exams that are designed to test the knowledge of students who have been taking these college level courses.

Although College Board puts in their best efforts to prevent continuous testing, many students still feel the stress and pressure of these tests. “AP week is definitely the most stressing week of the year for me,” said Yangtian Shangguan ’19, who has tak-

en a total of 4 AP classes. “This year I took AP Bio[logy], Calc[ulus], and Euro[pean History],” said Shangguan. All three subjects are known to have rigorous curves, and are given during the same week. This means that Shangguan had one week to prepare for three different courses. “It’s even more stressful because AP exams cover the whole year, meaning we have to review the course as a whole,” Shangguan said.

But is all the stress and studying worth the effort?

There is a strong notion that students wanting to get into a good college should be able to juggle numerous ap classes, or they must do so in order to save a lot of money. According to a Business Insider article, a single college class can cost upwards of $4000 for one semester, meaning that the $93 it costs to take an ap exam can save you lots of

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money. The only problem is if your college will accept these credits.

Although technically students simply needs to score a 3 to pass, some schools require a 4 or even a 5 to receive credit depending on the subject.

There are a wide variety of AP students. Some students are willing to study under the rigorous circumstances, some are just taking the class for a challenge, and some might just take the course but not the exam. However, to the dismay of many AP students, even after taking these AP tests are done, some AP classes might still assign tests and projects.

“Projects and tests after AP tests are pointless because the test we have been studying for all year is over. Doing assignments worth a bunch of points is unnecessary. If

extra credit is needed, then someone could just ask the teacher for extra work and such,” said Shangguan. Moreover, Prateek Raikwar ’18, a junior, said, “They’re dumb”.

Ultimately, the question whether or not to take an AP course lies with the student.

Instagram or Snapchat?

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Go to the movies

Swimming

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What’s your favorite food?

Strawberry

Yes

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Ultimate Frisbee

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Sleep All Summer

Apple or Android

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Have you ever pulled an All-nighter?

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Batman

Do you even lift?

Mini Golf