The Panther 2018-2019 Issue 6: On the Right Track

PANTHER

the

V 61|N6

Miami Palmetto Senior High School

7460 SW 118 Street, Miami, FL 33156

Tuesday 28 May 2019

On the Right Track

M a y contents Life

5

College Prep in Summer

7

Feature

Seniors on the Right Track

News

Presidential Frontrunners

4

Behind the

COVER Gemma Torras (11) took the feature photos at railroads tracks at which have been abandoned for the past 6 years. The symbolism of the tracks refelct the promising futures of our departing senior members of The Panther staff.

NewsBRIEFS Local

Every May, thousands of South Floridians watch some of the world’s most popular rappers take the stage at the Rolling Loud festival. There were multiple instances of false reports of an active shooter, which led to several minor injuries due to fans rushing towards the exits. Meanwhile, Kodak Black was arrested on several federal weapons charges before he could take the stage and Lil’ Wayne chose to not perform after refusing to comply with a mandatory search by the festival police.

National

Letter to the

EDITOR

Dear Editor, I liked your story “Behind the Broom” because it gives recognition to our underappreciated staff. Janitors often don’t get the respect they deserve. You included numerous quotes from students that appreciate janitors and it’s a feel good story.

Deneb Arias (11) *Submit letters to thepanthermpsh@gmail.com. or Room 911B. Letters may be edited for length, grammar and clairty.

On May 15, Alabama governor Kay Ivey officially signed a new abortion bill, establishing it as one of the most restrictive states in the nation regarding abortion. If the bill takes effect, women would not be allowed to get abortions unless the mother would suffer from a serious health risk or if the fetus suffers from a birth defect that would result in a miscarriage. Other states have passed controversial abortion bills as well, most of which outlaw abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected.

International

An envoy for Libya at the United Nations warned on May 21 that the country may be headed toward war. One side, led by General Khalifa Haftar, plans to take control of the capital, which is under the rule of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj. Al-Sarraj has received backing from the United Nations.

Over 460 people have been killed, thousands have been injured and nearly 75,000 residents in Tripoli — the capital city — have been forcibly displaced.

By Jack Meyer

4 NEWS

Presidential Bernie sanders

Frontrunners

Bernie Sanders ran as a Democrat in 2016, but did not secure the Democratic nomination. Early polling in the 2020 elections, however, shows him as a frontrunner for the nomination. If elected, Sanders would become the first Jewish U.S. president. According to Britannica, Sanders began his political career in 1991 as a member of the House of Representatives. He also served as one of Vermont’s senators beginning in 2006.

Key issues Sanders stands for include free higher education, universal health care and combating climate change at a national level. As a presidential candidate, Sanders remains known for his widespread youth support and his presidential campaign slogan #FeelTheBern.

“Most of my family deals with student loans,” sophomore Daemian Koolman said. “So the fact that he was supporting free university for students was something that I feel like would take a lot of burden away and help them focus more on school rather than their debts, and what they are going to have to owe when they graduate.”

donald trump

Current president Donald Trump remains highly likely to win the Republican nomination for president in 2020. Born in New York in 1946, he went to the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and later began his career as a businessman. According to International Business Guide, during his career, he owned multiple hotels, products and even appeared as the host of the popular television show “The Apprentice.”

“I support some of Donald Trump’s policies that he has put forth,” senior Ryan Child said. “I agree with his tax cuts, his Supreme Court nominations and his foreign policy with regards to Iran and support of Israel.”

Trump, elected in 2016, promised to build a wall on the southern border dividing the U.S. and Mexico, bring back as many jobs possible for U.S. citizens and repeal the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. He plans to adapt his famous 2016 election slogan “Make America Great Again” to “Keep America Great” in 2020 race.

joe biden

Joe Biden previously ran for president twice but never gained traction. This time may play out differently, though, as Biden remains a frontrunner in the Democratic primaries. He began his political career in 1970, when he served on the New Castle County Council. According to Britannica, Biden became a U.S. senator in 1973 and served six consecutive terms after that. After former president Barack Obama won the Democratic primaries in 2008, Biden became his running mate. Biden served as vice president of the U.S. from 20092017, whish is part of the reason why he remains such a well-known and liked candidate. Biden’s key concerns in the 2020 elections are expanding ObamaCare, foreign policy and gun reform.

“I support Joe Biden because I feel like since he was vice president and served with Obama, he has the experience necessary to do a good job in office,” freshman Katriona Page said. “When people don’t have experience, there’s a lot of learning that they have to do on the job.”

Nicole Markus

Print Editor-in-Chief

n.markus.thepanther@gmail.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF JULIA DAMSKI

PHOTO COURTESY OF ADYANT KHANNA

Studious summers HOW TO SPEND YOUR SUMMER PLANNING FOR THE SCHOOL YEAR AHEAD When school is out for summer, many students take time to relax, sleep or hang out with friends. However, these two months provide a perfect opportunity for students to add to their academic resumes and get ahead on responsibility for the next school year.

While enjoying time off from homework proves necessary for regrouping between school years, taking advantage of this time to volunteer, enrolling in extra classes or working on college applications allows students to take control of their time and help themselves in the long run.

Junior Benjamin Goldstein never lets a summer go to waste. For the past two summers, he volunteered as a camp counselor at the Coral Reef Park Tennis Camp along with taking linear algebra last summer. He also plans on participating in a paid research internship at University of Miami this upcoming summer.

“I suggest that underclassmen do

PHOTO COURTESY OF LOGAN SPIEGELMAN

something that shows a dedication to subjects that interest them. I play tennis, so my volunteering at the tennis camp shows my dedication to that part of me.

Similar connection with the linear algebra course,” Goldstein said.

While most internships have already closed their applications for the summer, there are plenty of places that always have an door open for volunteers.

“If you’re interested in a certain field, go volunteer at their office. Most volunteer...hospitals are already taken and closed for applications but they are always looking for volunteers at nursing homes, and you can just go talk to the people there,” college counselor Harry Nerenberg said.

For underclassmen, the summer offers an opportunity to raise their GPA by taking a dual enrollment class at MiamiDade College or an online Florida Virtual School class.

For juniors, this summer serves as

a last chance before senior year to get everything in order and make some serious decisions.

“This is your last chance to impress colleges with what you are doing. You should be looking and staying on top of applications because University of North Florida opens up their applications June 1,” Nerenberg said.

The summer provides time to visit colleges, study for the SAT or ACT, volunteer, start college applications and plan ahead for the incoming school year.

“Do things around your community, anything not to sleep ‘til one and play video games all day,” Nerenberg said.

“Don’t watch too much Netflix — even though we know you will — but just know that there are certain things you can put on a resume and things you can’t.”

Olivia Solomon

Advertising Chair

o.solomon.thepanther@gmail.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANAÏS ROATTA

6 ADS

THANKS TO THE PALMETTO NEWSPAPER STAFF FOR BEING DEFENDERS OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

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FEATURE 07

Class of

2019

This edition of The Panther focuses on our departing senior staff members, soon to graduate. In their editorials they focus on both the obstacles and pinnacles of high school. Beyond high school, they describe the lessons learned at every twist and turn in these past four years. Our seniors pass these on through recalling memorable experiences that have shaped their character. Although our staff must remain objective at all times, these editorials are the exception; our seniors do not hold back. The theme of this issue revolves around their bright futures ahead.

These seniors are on the right track.

PHOTOS BY GEMMA TORRAS

08 FEATURE Aug. 23, 2015 was the night before my first day of high school. I sat cross-legged on my bed with only the sounds of my fan and my heart that beat fast enough to pop out of my chest. I took a deep breath as I wrote in the blue-spined journal that I found in the back of my closet.

“Tomorrow is my first day of high school and I’m really nervous. I’m not ready for the stress. I’m not ready for the work. I wish I could rewind time.”

I have always had trouble voicing my thoughts. Terrified of saying something wrong, for a long time I decided to avoid the risk of failure by never giving it the chance to take hold. In the process, I lost sense of who I was. I became known as the “shy” girl. Eventually, I identified as that girl even though I knew deep down that I had something to say. Every shy kid has a story; I just had not found a way to tell mine yet.

My first year as a Palmetto student, I did not feel like a Panther. I did not really feel like much of anything because of my endless attempts to suppress all of the qualities that make me who I am today. I took journalism one as an attempt to take a seemingly educational elective in order to create the perfect college resume that I thought I desperately needed. When the Journalism 1 teacher looked into my terrified ninth grade eyes and handed me a newspaper application, I instinctively decided I would not take that path. But deep down, a part of me knew that this was my ticket out of the quiet shield I put up for myself.

I applied. And one week later, I made the rash decision to apply for the Student Council Senate because I desperately wanted to find my place at Palmetto. In the following year, suddenly I became a copy editor for The Panther and a public relations chair for the respected student government at Palmetto. I quickly realized that I had to choose to either let these overwhelming responsibilities drown me, or to let go of the wall and swim. So, I swam. Now, when I look back as print editor-in-chief of the newspaper that I narrowly convinced myself to join and as the senior class treasurer of the student government that I turned the application

in for the day it was due, I think about how much I have grown.

I wrote on that night in August four years ago, “...I want to look back on this years from now and think, ‘Wow, look how far I’ve come.’ I keep telling myself that this is one step closer to all the amazing things that will happen in my life.”

I look back at my four years at Palmetto and realize that I was right. I was right to feel nervous, and full of dread at the stress that never really dissipated as the years went by. I was right in that becoming a Panther would bring such joy into my life. I found a passion for being the voice for other people and sharing the stories of others because I knew how difficult it could be to do it on one’s own.

I wish I could tell the girl writing in her journal that high school is only the beginning and it’s the place to find yourself and grow to impossible lengths.

But, I realize that pain is inevitable. We will all have those nights where we do not know who we are, where we are going or what the hell we are supposed to be doing. But that is high school. We have to learn to take that pain and confusion into our own hands and turn it into something good. There is something about pain that allows someone to grow into who they are supposed to become.

My time at Palmetto is ending and I feel the same crippling nerves about the new changes to come into my life. I feel tempted to write in a journal again. And just like then, I want to rewind time. But I realize now that change is inescapable.

The idea of entering high school terrified me, but if I never took the leap into the unknown, I would have never become the person I am today, and I would have never have found the parts of myself that I kept hidden for so long. So even though the idea of starting over somewhere new makes my heart beat a little too fast again, I realize that my time at Palmetto has prepared me for this moment. I look back now at the scared girl writing away her fears, and I really can say, “Wow, look how far I’ve come.”

Natalie Askowitz Print Editor-In-Chief

FEATURE 09 07 LIFE There is nothing I hate more than the clichés I heard as a child, said to improve my morals and make me a better person. Frankly, they became overused and lost meaning as the years progressed, and I felt as if every failure in life would be summed up with some ridiculous catchphrase that failed to actually teach me a lesson.

The last thing any person wants to hear after they have endured something demoralizing is a line that belongs in a movie. However, as I matured, I finally realized that not all cliches are worthless and annoying, and maybe there could be an exception to my self declared rule. The words “you must lose before you can win” destroyed me in the heat of the moment, but I have grown to appreciate this saying.

When I heard these words for the first time, it seemed like an absolutely pathetic way to justify a loss to me — a narrow minded teenager who could not believe that his friends had the audacity to categorize every loss in life as an opportunity to learn the lesson of losing before experiencing the rewards of winning. This was of course the last thing I wanted to hear as I found myself frazzled after a defeat in the National Honor Society vice president race. At the end of my junior year, I finally got over the loss and gathered my thoughts to steer my extracurriculars on a different path.

After I lost that election in NHS, I realized that my chance to get involved at Palmetto had been staring at me in the face for the longest time. Student Council, a part of the school I had involved myself with since freshman year, had elections coming up. I had always dreamed of becoming student council president. After winning the election and having some time to reflect, I thought back to my previous elections and the advice that my friends had given me, and of course, those clichés.

After each loss, I remember thinking that I would never find my place in Palmetto. But, I did not realize that these losses only prepared

me for what I was meant to do. If I had won that NHS election, it would have totally altered my plan in high school and running for student council president would not have been on my radar. That loss transformed my senior year and the memories that I made, further confirming the superstition that “everything happens for a reason”.

When an event unfolds in the heat of the moment, it may seem difficult to take a step back and realize that something is not meant to be.

However, not a single person in this world succeeds before some type of failure. Remaining sad for a short period of time provides an essential period of self reflection where people gain the opportunity to learn life’s most important lessons. Looking back, the only time I ever learned something actually meaningful about myself was after some kind of defeat.

Even the most ridiculous sounding and annoying clichés will hold some meaning and importance once applied to the correct situation.The next time it seems like “all hope is lost” and things just do not seem to ever go the right way, try to take the opportunity to learn and improve, instead of dwelling on the past. The greatest accomplishments in life sprout from some form of disappointment. In reality, sometimes we just need to “learn the hard way.”

Benjamin Spiegelman Online Editor-In-Chief

10 FEATURE

Mia Zaldivar Print Managing Editor

While some may despise coming to school everyday in this constructionridden campus, I cherish it. This school, although not the prettiest place, has brought something into my life that no other building has: a family.

With an area of less than two square miles, I grew up in the small town of Collingswood, New Jersey. Six of my cousins and two of my grandparents lived on one block and I lived about a five minute car ride away.

Eventually, my abuela and abuelo passed away within one year of each other.

I have no memory of any real pain or sadness until this point of my life. As an 11-year-old, I had difficulty processing the fact that the people who I saw everyday, who picked me up from school and never missed a soccer game, were gone and never coming back. Relationships with the adults in the family weakened throughout this time, causing dissonance amongst everyone. Within that same year, my parents decided to move back to Miami, where I had previously lived up until I was about five years old.

Moving to a big new school in the middle of fifth grade where everybody had the same best friends since pre-K posed its challenges, especially since I came from a small little school, Mark Newbie, with the same 19 kids in my grade for six years. My naive self felt that nothing could replace my life in Collingswood; I made minimal effort to socialize with the kids at school.

I was no longer the happy little girl I was before. I was angry, lonely and unable to handle my emotions.

Life began to turn around in middle school because I accepted my new life and got a fresh start with new friends. While most kids had braces for their crooked teeth in middle school, my doctor gave me a plastic brace to wear on my back for twenty hours a day for my scoliosis.

The brace on my back really took a toll on my confidence. Today, people always comment on how I am not much of a hugging person. They do not realize that for three years of my life, I avoided hugs so people would not feel the hard shell on my back to evade the awkwardly sympathetic “I’m sorry” response.

Finally, high school came. I was getting to know that little girl from Mark Newbie again, the girl who was not afraid of what others thought. I tried out for the varsity

lacrosse team, ran for class secretary and applied for newspaper all before I became a sophomore. By sophomore year, Palmetto was a home of mine that I never seemed to be able to leave by 2:20 p.m.

Not many people can go to school and know at least 30 girls who have their back at all times. Being on a team with others fosters relationships that I cannot compare to anything else. We win together, we lose together and we protect each other, just like a family.

Everyday, I know that no matter how bad of a morning I have, it cannot get worse when I get to fourth period — unless of course there are senior event sales, then that is a different story. From being a cabinet member in freshman year to becoming senior class president this year, a big part of my high school experience involved Student Council. While this may not be everyone’s forte, planning class events, coordinating skits for Panther Prowl and updating the @mpsh2019 account brings me joy. It does not feel like a job. Luckily, I have gotten to do this alongside my best friends. Whether it’s lifting boxes, trying to sell 200 tickets for prom during second lunch, or organizing a flag football tournament without the help of administrators, we make sacrifices and work together, just like a family.

Room 911B will be the first and last room I enter at Palmetto. Having Journalism 1 as my first period in freshman year, I had no idea that by senior year I would become the print managing editor, who controls the design of the whole paper. Throughout my three years on newspaper, I have spent countless hours staying after school to send to print, design infographics, do off-campus photoshoots and gather interviews for stories. Through all of this, I have been surrounded by motivating people who always encourage me to push myself further and grow, just like a family.

While Noche Buena may not include 100 people at my house anymore, and I may not have countless family members trying to come to my graduation, I still consider myself to have a pretty big family.

We may not have the same blood or look the same, but I have a group of people who value, care and love me. So, thank you Palmetto. Thank you for giving me the extended support system I once knew.

Thank you for giving me a family.

Looking back on high school, many people would likely recall it as a time of self-discovery or a time that defines who they embody as a person.

While my high school experience has met that requirement in many aspects, my superlative for the next four years was pretty evident from day one. All my life, when people have defined my personality, I have repeatedly heard that I am friendly and outgoing. I feel confident that I always will be someone who likes to socialize: an extrovert, social butterfly, “chatty Cathy” — whatever you want to call it.

My past four years consisted of countless hours spent hanging out with friends, going to nearly every party — despite my mother’s pleas — and rarely ever spending a minute not making plans for the next outing. So naturally, I realized how and why my outgoing nature when making friends spread into every aspect of my life, and ended up defining me in my high school years.

My persona in school, and the type of girl I would be known as by my friends, was decided the day of my first pep rally freshman year. I was that girl.

I was that girl who went fully decked out in all the purple clothing I owned for class color day, even though I was only a freshman. I was that girl who bought out all of Party City every time we had a school event, just to make sure I did not look boring. I was that girl, the girl who shamelessly threw herself into every school event, holiday, themed party, or any time I could add another item to my ever growing party box.

With the inability to feel shy, I felt blessed and cursed in many ways. I decided from day one that I would go all out for all pep rallies, football games, basketball games, homecoming weeks, and every other school event I could, no matter how ridiculous and lame 75 percent of the school thought I looked.

Trust me, showing up to school with a painted face and a flashy headpiece gets you a lot of funny looks and stifled giggles. Despite my overwhelming extroversion, the snarky comments and the prolonged glares hurt me more than I ever liked to admit. As much as I loved being shameless, I could never fully avoid the moments of feeling discouraged, like thinking that maybe I

should wear something that draws less attention next time. I could never fully ignore the fact that so many people were not enjoying high school in the same way I was, but it never stopped me from picking myself up, shaking off the embarrassment and making sure I looked even more ridiculous at the next event.

No matter what event, theme, color or holiday it was, I had the accessories for it. Soon enough, they piled up high enough in my closet that I decided to put them in a box — which four years later has evolved into my highly-prided party box. The party box barely holds everything: my wigs, bandanas, colored tights and fishnet gloves. As high school went on, I became more enthusiastic for each event and I let more and more spirit show.

I know how it sounds, that my high school persona and experience is all tied up into a box filled with two-dollar plastic necklaces and Amazon-ordered wigs; the party box reflects just a part of it. My pride, my spirit and my personality has made my high school experience different than others, and unique to me in so many ways. I look at all the junk stuffed in my overflowing box and remember every chant I yelled at every pep rally, every song I screamed at every party and every memory I have with the people that made high school memorable.

When I think back on my high school journey of self-discovery, I think of the fact that I was that girl. I think of how being that girl brought me the most amazing friends and experiences that remain unique and indescribably special to me. My journey of self discovery ends soon, and with it, the realization that high school did not define me as the spirited girl I am today, but the other way around. My spirit defined my high school experience, and looking back, I cannot imagine it any other way.

FEATURE 11

Camila Myers

Online Managing Editor

I think I have always been a characteristically aggressive person. I basically exited the womb with radical opinions and a powerful urge to right the wrongs and expose the truths of this world. Only, I had no outlet and no one who shared this innate indignance I carried with me throughout my childhood, until I got to high school.

My very first protest took place on øur school grounds. A group of 20 or so fiery students — including me — came up with a plan to sit in the Pawvillion and protest the election of Donald Trump. In a time where I, an aggressive 15-year-old, felt I had no political voice, this protest felt like a step in the right direction. I had reached my limit with feeling helpless and decided to act.

I am not implying that the protest cracked a hole in the establishment or resulted in any wild consequences.

People may have even come to the conclusion that we were protesting the school itself, but that was not the goal. At least for me, it became a message to the potential bigots, fascists, homophobes and racists in our school who now felt the election of Trump validated their poisonous views.

I will not say it made a huge difference because, obviously, Trump was still the president-elect the next day.

But, it startled the campus. It made local news and enraged some conservatives all over the school. Other students screamed in our faces and threw open and full water bottles all over my bag and clothes. Coins hurled through the air in our direction. Our posters got ripped and we faced suspension. We broke rules, made our voices heard and did it all unapologetically. I felt exhilarated and loved it.

All these reactions screamed that we were making waves, tiny ones, yes, but it excited me nonetheless. I remember feeling so golden, soaking wet with cold water after some red-faced kid chucked an open water bottle at me. I remember trying to hold onto that invigorating feeling, or I felt I would chase it forever.

Journalism became the perfect pastime for me during sophomore year.

I joined newspaper on a whim, just to have something to do at the end of the day, and it encapsulated everything

I wanted to do with my life. I could never sit still when something did not make sense to me. I had to talk about it, research it and write about it; I had to find out everything about it and where it came from — and then I had to use my voice to question it.

I met people who genuinely cared about the work they produced, people who wanted to make quality issues with nothing but their 100 percent effort every time and it inspired me.

The newspaper room became my place to express that same desire to make something great that I had passion for. I immediately started writing feature stories, hard news articles and researched everything political.

I have written articles on the topics that mattered the most to me: equality, criminal justice, government injustice and politics, amongst others. It has become my passion and my preferred medium of advocacy.

Spreading knowledge empowers people. The more I learned about journalism, the more I studied it and got involved, the more I loved it. Good journalism always amplifies the voices of the suppressed and opens the public’s eyes. I want to share the stories of people who have been stifled.

It is not easy to speak up in a world where some would like nothing more than for others to remain silent. But I have felt, in my bones, the inspiration that comes from helping people — from speaking the truth, even if no one wants to hear it.

Allessandra Inzinna Senior Copy editor

In the moment my body hit the pavement and I landed in a dramatic position on my home street, a sigh of relief slipped out of my mouth without worry for whether or not I had just broken my arm. For lack of an explanation, I had just pulled a “Lady Bird” on my poor, unsuspecting mother and fell out of the moving car as we turned onto our street. For that moment, for just a second, I had experienced peace. For a good few minutes, I laid there, staring at the clouds above. One thing I enjoy about the clouds is that the longer I stare at them, the more they encompass my entire world. The more details I notice about them, the more they put me in a trance.

Sick of being held back by internal tensions, my skin feeling the hot ground fueled every bone in my body. My heart stopped racing. In that moment, I wanted to run and let my feet take the lead. Stretching out my injured arm, I walked away from the scene, leaving my phone behind so my location would be unknown. Freedom.

Losing grip of my morals, upon the age of seventeen, I found comfort in slipping into these intense emotions — despite how harmful they were. A freeing feeling comes along with acting on what you feel in the moment you feel it. A personal characteristic of mine is that I feel everything, absolutely everything, and I feel it so intensely sometimes I cannot take it. The day after an intense panic attack at my local Starbucks, I was so beyond happy that I could not stop dancing. When I am happy, I dance. When I am sad, I cry. When I am angry, I yell. These emotions for me are simple yet intense, and I enjoy experiencing them.

The bleach settled into my hair so rightfully. The burning sensation on my roots brought a cunning smile upon my face. I did it. I did it. I did it. I did it.

Looking at myself in the mirror with a lighter hair color instantly gave me that peace of mind that I needed. Burning my hair off felt like the equivalent of splashing my face with ice water. The equivalent to jumping out of my moms car. A rush of wonderful emotions.

It wasn’t always like this. Hours before the sun would rise, I awoke on

the first day of high school, feet on the floor ready to move at rapid speed.

Although I spent the previous night preparing myself for the day ahead by staying up and watching “The Breakfast Club,” not a single bone in my body felt tired. After allowing my mom to take multiple photos of me, my feet brought me to my first class, Journalism 1. A pure soul walked into room 911B that morning, current read in hand, angel wings struggling to make it through the door. Somewhere along the line throughout high school,this pure soul tripped and allowed her choices to beat her up until she felt numb and went to extremes just to feel.

Still unsure as to when I let go of that pure soul and watched her angel wings falter, I lay here today, upside down in the same bed I have had since I was eight, reaching out for her hand.

Feeling numb stopped feeling okay.

I am telling you, I would rather have broken my arm jumping out of that car than continue to feel the way I had felt.

I would rather bite my lip to witness myself bleed than feel as though I was watching a 2-D world through the eyes of someone else.

Along with being a high school student came stages of depersonalization and heavy confusion over identity causing the angel who walked into 911B to stumble. With a strong fight that pure soul will make a return and find herself somewhere in Tallahassee.

All I can say is I wish I jumped out of that car years ago. I always allowed fear to hold me back and boil my insides.

My message to the person reading this today is to jump out of that proverbial car, text your crush, speak up and shake your hips when you feel like it because remember: dancing is the best medicine and fear is the enemy. Shake off that numb feeling and watch it fall to the ground. It will be okay.

FEATURE 13

Alexandra Pedroso Senior Design editor

14 FEATURE

Sophia DeAlejo Life editor

Growing up, people always asked me about my future career goals. At the age of eight, my answer was something along the lines of a princess. At 11, I wanted to be a movie star and at 13, the first female president. Then, high school came and my aspirations changed.

At age 16, when asked again, I said something respectable like a doctor or lawyer. Now, I am in my senior year and people want a serious and realistic answer, but the truth remains — I have no clue what I want to be when I grow up. As my high school years come to an end, I take with me several lessons about myself, relationships, school and just life itself. Looking back, high school became a journey that had many twists and turns and did not end in any way that I expected it to.

When I first entered high school, everything seemed intense while trying to find different clubs, balancing school with outside activities, entering the challenging world of APs, meeting new people and just figuring out who I was.

For me, high school felt like a place where I needed to act a certain way and dress a certain way in order to fit in. I became too scared to express my true self.

Sophomore year rolled in, and my life took a turn. When I started to get the hang of this crazy world of high school, I lost several loved ones.

Although sophomore year became a challenging time emotionally, it taught me a very important life lesson: I cannot spend life worrying about what people think and it does not matter how many friends I have. It also showed me that having several good friends remains way better than having an abundance of fake friends. In 10th grade, I found my people, my best friends, my soul sisters: Lindsey, Gabi and Melody. We had known each other for many years, but sophomore year became the year where I built a special connection with each of them. Whether I took advice from Lindsey, had late night phone calls with Gabi or had laugh attacks with Melody, I knew I had people I could fall l back on and they are what made

being myself so much easier. I learned that falling apart is okay sometimes, I can make mistakes, forgive myself and most importantly, accept who I am.

Halfway through high school, junior year, the year every student dreads, rapidly approached. The stress of college became the source of daily meltdowns in my household. Looking back on junior year, I wish I could have told myself not to let the stress consume me because in the end, everyone ends up where they should.

Finally, I reached senior year, the year I looked forward to all of high school. It was the year that everything fell into place. I no longer feared the unknown because I lived life day by day instead. I started taking pride in my accomplishments instead of comparing myself to the people around me and thinking about all of the things I could have done. As senior year comes to a close, I have so many great memories I will cherish forever. Senior year not only became the best year of my high school journey, but as I enter the scary yet exciting chapters of adulthood, it also taught me several important lessons: to love myself, make mistakes, cry if I need to, appreciate the people around me and simply enjoy life.

To the underclassmen, enjoy high school as much as possible, because in one blink it will all be over. High school gives people opportunities to experience new things and make mistakes. As for figuring life out, I am still in the process of it, but I do know that in life there is always a plan.

Sometimes, it may not be what we expect but everything will work out in the end.

To the class of 2019, thank you for making high school the best years of my life.

FEATURE 15 Throughout my entire life, I always had a plan. I would map out the desired route to take in order to get exactly what I wanted.

I believed I knew exactly what way and how I would get to this next step and then once it was completed, I would do it all over again. It was almost a cycle, with me just merely glancing at my surroundings and then continuing what I had to do. Whether this was with sports or academics, it applied to my everyday life. I had a goal in mind and this recipe worked.

Set a plan, follow said plan, and then do it over. This led me to many successes and almost never any bumps on the road. I never wanted to experience impediments.

However, this routine, this cycle, meant that although I was goaldriven, I never enjoyed the minor moments and the people I met along the way. I believed these interactions were unnecessary for success, simply formalities and tedious encounters that I constantly avoided dealing with.

Thus, I put in the bare minimum of work into my activities. “Join a club or play a sport,” they said.

“Fill your resume up with as many activities as possible.” I just did as I was told. I went to meetings, wrote my ID number, signed my name and listed my email.

Then I sat through the meetings mindlessly, ate the cookies and went home. I never cared about the clubs or the sports teams I joined.

My mother constantly begged me to attend the dinners and go to practices; I thought once I made the team I could put it on my college application and I was done. This attitude was the obstacle to my enjoyment and participation at Palmetto. Pep rallies were boring, school events were unnecessary, and team dinners were repetitive. I wanted to just do my schoolwork, talk to my established friend group and then have my weekends to

myself, but I did not know what I was missing in my life.

Only at the beginning of my senior year did I finally understand what I lacked. Thanks to the varsity soccer team as well as other extracurriculars such as newspaper and student council, I learned to immerse myself within an environment that I previously viewed as tedious, unexciting and simply a formality to something I truly enjoyed. What I lacked in vision was the idea that these clubs, sports and extracurriculars are not simply things to put on a college resume but can be experiences and encounters where one truly connects with others, finds themselves a friend, a passion or just enjoys themselves.

In the midst of all the college applications, the SAT tutoring and the stressing, take a moment and realize that high school happens once and there exists many opportunities, friends and passions that can be discovered with an open mind. Thanks to senior year, I have learned new things about peers that I have known since sixth grade, taught myself how to appreciate the smaller moments and discovered that it is alright to stray away from “the plan.” Look around, enjoy this chapter in your life because it is only four years. It will be over soon and the next “plan” will formulate, so enjoy yourself, keep an open mind and do not stress too much.

Samuel Stone Opinion editor

From where I am sitting, I can see 12 other students in the same situation as me. Each one lays their hooded head in their arms as they try to force themselves asleep so as to make the next eight chilling hours we have each been condemned to pass a little faster.

I am in Room 301, more commonly known as Center for Special Instruction or CSI, as I have learned. My punishment fits the crime, of course. Having arrived at school at approximately 7:22 a.m., I am naturally no longer fit to sit in class with the punctual, well-adjusted students and must be locked up. Much like prison, when in CSI, one is given a lot of time to think. While I sit here quietly tapping my fingers and banging my head against my desk, I find my mind slowly wandering back to when I first came to Palmetto.

I can still taste the soft metallic flavor in my mouth that morning at 6:25 a.m. as I wait for the bus to take me to my first day of high school. I am small, anxious, unassuming and extremely paranoid. I somehow get the idea into my head that a taste like this on my first day surely means I am doomed to a horrible high school experience. I think about it the whole ride to school, and I continue to think about it throughout my first day. I do not stop thinking about it nearly every day for the next two years, because much to my freshman self’s chagrin, the prophecy foretold by my taste buds had a lot of truth to it.

The first half of my Palmetto life was spent in an unrelenting loop. Wake up at 6:50 a.m., brush my teeth and get dressed as quickly as I can, pray that I get to school on time, sit for seven hours and try to convince myself that what I am learning is important to me as I listen to the sound of metal scraping in my head. Then, go home, wallow in the face of my poor grades and poor prospects, not do my homework, listen to music and read all the books I can until I can no longer physically stay awake, fall asleep, repeat.

Stuck in this loop, I quickly realized that I was severely depressed, and that I hated my life. I sunk into a state of apathetic resignation, going to school everyday thinking of myself as a failure, thinking I had no chance of going to college, thinking myself to be pathetic for not wanting to go to college in the first place. I could not figure out

how everyone around me was able to maintain a good grade point average and not hate themselves.

Eventually, I understood my problem: I had no interest in living the life that high school was preparing me for. I did not want to go to university so I could spend four years of my life working toward a degree that would permit me to work in an office for the next fifty years of my life. In the face of this realization, the small, anxious, paranoid version of me needed to make drastic changes to his life. I decided that I did not want to work unless I was working towards a life that meant something to me.

Now, I find myself thinking about my junior year, I can see myself sitting on the bus waiting to get back home. I am large, relatively assuming, still paranoid, but driven. I am eager to get back home so I can begin working on the things I want to be working on. During this time, I would spend every moment at home making music, painting, trying to get myself in art shows, working on films, and studying any materials I could find that would improve my skills in any of these mediums. This obsession bled into my social life as the only thing my friends and I would want to do is make art and critique each other’s works.

I found myself no longer caring about the things that once kept me up at night. Grades, extracurriculars and college were all just pointless concepts that stood in the way of me doing the things I knew I needed to do. All that mattered to me was to create works that expressed how I felt.

As I am writing this and my time in indoor suspension slowly comes to an end, I no longer care to think of the past and begin to think of the present. I think about how happy I am with the life I have created for myself, how proud of myself I am for receiving the maximum scholarship from the art school I have always dreamed of attending and most of all, how relieved I am that the standard high school path was not for me. My thoughts have just been interrupted by the ringing of the bell, and I cannot help but think how thankful I am that I will never be in this room again.

Garrett Livingston Multimedia Editor

From that first gulp of air, from that first scream that rips through the fresh lungs and goes on until the exhaustion forcefully melts into unconsciousness, as you lie vulnerable in your mother’s arms, from the first fluttering of eyelashes and the first flare of the nostrils, there is an om that is incessantly chanted, molding the soft clay that makes our delicate brains.

Wake up, go to school, study, graduate, go to college, get a job, get married, have kids, send them to college, die. Repeat until the sun explodes and the Earth stops spinning and the moon drifts away and floats off into nothingness.

There is an imposed urgency to life.

Said urgency refuses to be forgotten because it rattles us to our core and makes us realize that there is no om loud enough to shield us from failure. We are born thinking that it is our inalienable right to succeed and we are wrong. Such an om molded my brain, creating a little girl who was smart because everyone told her she was, but lazy because she never had to try.

I was born fortunate, the daughter of an educated Cuban woman who sang me Russian lullabies and fed me literature before I even had the teeth to chew it on my own. My mother’s om was simple, the secret to conquering that inalienable purpose was through education, friendliness, and self-respect — all of the redeemable qualities of a “good” person.

My brain was then molded into whatever the good people told me it should be, because it made feel good to excel, and I enjoyed that feeling. I did not know then but I do now, a life lived for someone or something else is a life unlived. Childhood intelligence will never amount to success without first shedding oneself of the arrogance embedded into one’s being.

Walking into my freshman year, I never thought I would ever discover the unimaginable horror of inadequacy.

I had heard about inadequacy before through family gossip and whispered conversations between teachers.

And yet it found me, in the form of a D on a report card right next an AP class that I had so much pride in taking. I remember staring at it, confused because I could not imagine it being anything other than an A. I never learned academic endurance because I never needed to before and I did not know it was just the beginning of a great failure because I did not know what failure was. When my counselor told me, “You know it is really not necessary to take

APs to succeed,” I was insulted because in my mind, success was perfection.

Failure sneakily seeped into my pores while I slept and every morning I woke up feeling more exhausted than the day before. Since I was “smart” I did not think I needed to learn the meaning of the word effort. Like clockwork, the failure notices came in one by one. I did not notice that I lacked in direction because I was too busy being embarrassed about being anything other than the person I thought I was.

Whether due to a bad hand of genetic poker, or simple inadequacy, I fell into a depression that wiped my brain clean of all coherent, functional thought. I abandoned academia because it failed to make me feel good like it used to, and when I realized that my mental health was not going to magically fix itself, I desperately tried to convince myself that I could still be good, despite my inadequacy. By junior year all I remembered how to do was read, write and surround myself with friends.

The great thing about interacting with people is that you realize how much there is to learn about every single human around us. Mid-junior year, I began to write down notes about my experiences with other people, which later evolved into entries, which evolved into a book that was completed in April. There is no existing task as grand as being granted the privilege to listen to and share someone’s story. There is an innate urge within me that possesses my right hand and allows me to empty my mind out on paper. All I can do, without fail, is listen and feel and write and live. I cannot be someone who does not exist and I cannot excel through means of domination because we are all the same flesh and blood, just brains molded differently.

We all move at our own pace and define human existence differently. There is no rush in life; the way to enlightenment is not through ruthless competition to see who can be more arrogant or who is more academically decorated, but a quest for empathy and an understanding of oneself so that one may live happily. I cannot choose the brain I am born with, but I can choose to be hopeful despite it all. I am a member of the human experience and I am grateful to be alive to continue to live.

All I can do is be me — whoever that is.

FEATURE 17

Annette Gonzalez Multimedia Editor

18 FEATURE

Lindsey Solomon Copy editor

I have always hoped that some adult figure in my life would answer these burning questions I have about this crazy adventure called adulthood. Over the years I have learned that no one has the answers to any of my questions.

Throughout my high school journey, experience has answered all my questions.

Freshman year, at the age of 14, I started a new four-year journey called high school.

I had many goals that I was so excited to conquer such as joining a sport — even though I have no athleticism whatsoever, — or joining something fun like the cheer team, even though I have never held a pom-pom before. Sometimes not everything works out the way we want it to. Instead, at the age of 15, I encountered a different challenge: coping with the death of a parent.

A typical after-school conversation took a turn when my mom said the words, “I have cancer.” I froze. At that moment, the saying “everything will be okay” had no truth to it. And just like that, her chemotherapy started, her hair started falling off bit by bit, her weight started dropping, her skin color changed from a glowing light brown to a grayish tone with a tint of yellow and her strength disappeared within months. Some days were great, some days good, and some days were downright heart wrenching. My mom passed away on Feb. 13, 2017 from a grueling and torturous disease called pancreatic cancer. Every year, I absolutely dread the month of February. The 13th remains a yearly reminder that I lost my mom, the 14th brings me no love or joy because the one person who taught me how to care for others is gone.

My last day with my mom was the hardest. The last words that I whispered to her were “I love you.” I was not in the hospital room when my mom passed, but when my relatives brought me back to see her one last time, I felt overwhelmed by the image that still occupy my memory today: my mother, still as a rock, lying in a white body bag. After the funeral, I thought that it would get easier, but nothing could ever be farther from the truth. Within a matter of months, my world collapsed. I

felt anxious about starting a new school year without my mom, who would take me to school and make sure that I did my homework on time. Although I still have my father and my sisters, they could not replace my mom who was my foundation.

Each day after that, I questioned my future, my purpose and my belonging in this grand world. And even today, I still question my future and what it holds for me. Sometimes when I replay my mother’s last days in my mind, I hear those voices of those that said, “everything will be okay.” At that time, I knew in my heart that they were lying — just trying to say the right thing — but now, their words ring true: I am okay, actually better than okay. Everyday since my mother’s death, I make sure to carry three things with me no matter where I go: love, strength and understanding. Through the good times, this is what kept me laughing and through the hard times, this is what kept my head held up high.

Even today, as I close one chapter and begin to start another, I will use those three words everyday to remind myself to be true to who I am. At significant moments in life such as my high school prom, graduation and now starting college, I clenched onto my mother’s memory even tighter than normal. Reflecting back on my high school journey, it is so hard to let go of the most special moments in my life and the most amazing people that I have met. Day by day, I grew mentally and emotionally stronger with the support of my friends and even becoming more involved in my community. I will forever be grateful for the experiences and friendships that I have made at Palmetto.

Even though this might seem like the end of something, with the flip of this last page and the ending of this last chapter, it is just the beginning.

FEATURE 19 Prom is over, APs are around the corner and my mom is already nagging me about shopping for a graduation dress — high school is ending. Using my newly-discovered second semester senior time, I have started reflecting on all the lessons I have learned throughout the past four years of my life. A time that, in the grand scheme of things, may seem small and insignificant but, as I write my senior editorial — my final editorial — I cannot help but feel like my entire life has consisted of these last four years.

I have learned many things at Palmetto, some I am more fond of than others. I have learned what hallways to avoid when wearing shorts, the best route during a rainstorm and to always keep spare change for a bagel. There are also lessons I hope will stick with me as I start the next four years. I was always taught to be friendly and open-minded with everyone I encountered. A year into high school, I used these tools to make friends with both my classmates and my basketball teammates. This put me in a place where I had many friends; however, they were all in different friend groups.

Something I am sure many high schoolers can relate to is shifting between different friend groups: second period friends, lunch friends, the friends one shares Ubers to parties with and real friends. All of the different groups have served different purposes in teaching me lessons and helping me mature.

The main takeaway I have gotten from endlessly roaming my sea of friends — sort of like how I endlessly roamed Palmetto’s hallways — is learning to be adaptable. For the past four years, I adapted my personality to my different friend groups, always selecting which one of my personality traits would define me for that group. With my teammates, I was the dedicated athlete, who also prided herself on being a fun teammate. I related to my classmates in the sense that, although I would not describe myself as a girl who poured herself into academics, we all still put forth our best effort in our honors and AP classes. Of course, with my close friends, I let all the different aspects

and sides of my personality show, never picking and choosing certain ones.

Yet, my social life was not the only factor that helped me to mature and grow throughout high school. The countless hours spent working on assignments taught me how to stay focused and dedicated on important projects. Not only did the nature of having assignments to do for school teach me to stay focused, but it also taught me how to commit to a deadline. Working with a due date in mind taught me how to schedule my time while also keeping myself accountable for my school priorities.

This skill majorly facilitated in knowing how to balance my schoolwork with my social life. I learned to adapt to my responsibility and work around them in order to also still be able to have a fulfilling high school experience.

Like I said, high school has taught me a lot. From my classes, to my teachers, to my friends. My experiences led me to not only learn new information about life, but to also discover myself in ways I had never done before. I have focused in on my strengths and weaknesses and realized that I will leave high school with my greatest strength coming from the lessons my friends have taught me. I now start this new chapter of my life knowing that with the whirlwind of change I will encounter this coming August, that I am adaptable enough to handle new experiences. I am adaptable in a way that will always help me hold my ground in a harsh world and accept the things about it that I cannot change. I am adaptable in a way that will never fail to remind me of the strong woman I am, one who will always remember that some of the best lessons learned come from your friends.

Jenna Bondy Design editor

No one would ever believe that I lived as an antisocial little girl, bullied out of existence. Verbal and mental degradation sticks with a lot of people, especially if it starts young and carries into their preteen years. Yet, here I am today, thankful for the people who cut me down, because without those people, I would not have grown into the outgoing and caring person I am today.

I like to think of myself as a snake, not because I see myself as sneaky and vindictive, but because I believe I shed skin. Throughout my experiences in life, I have looked back, reflected and evolved as a person. Please do not think of this as an act for pity or attention.

Think of it more as my sharing of the lessons of growth and self-forgiveness gained by someone who learned to love herself through times of hatred and negative energy.

Out of growth comes learning. You must learn about yourself in order to love yourself and what I learned at a very young age was that I wanted to get into the minds and stories of those around me. Everyone has a story that shaped them into the person they are today. Every event happens for a reason and I wanted to be the one to figure it out —which was something I learned through newspaper later on in my high school career. I started to study the people around me, including my teachers, peers, bullies and family. I realized that everyone around me was going through the same things I was — the same indecisive mindset always followed by self-hatred. I concluded that I needed to toughen up for my peers, so I could help them get into a mindset where the energy in our everyday lives became ours to make. It was hard, considering my self-confidence was deteriorating as words got sharper and school got harder.

As a freshman, I made a mental note for myself to keep moving. The bullying stopped, but my mind was still in a state where I could not stop overthinking the things I would do as a person. Throughout this time, I did not focus on myself and instead I focused on toxic friendships and the people around me.

Sophomore year marked the beginning of when I truly started to understand myself. I started to cut the

destructive people and thoughts out of my life and I let go of the idea that harmful words could pierce through my mind like a knife. I finally understood that the only thing that matters is how I look at myself and as long as I knew who I was as a person, the people around me would believe the same thing. If they did not, then I learned to accept it and keep moving forward.

Acceptance. The word I base my everyday life on. Life is not about forgiving and forgetting, it is about accepting and moving foward. As much as we would like to think it does, time does not stop ticking for anyone. There are so many lows in life, maybe more than highs. Yet what people do not understand is that there must be lows to see the true beauty in the high points of life’s timeline. At 17 years old, I would like to think I have the world figured out, but I know that I do not. I have accepted the fact that no true secret to life exists.

There is just living, and to those who do not believe in themselves and to those who do not know if they could ever love themselves: there is always room for self-appreciation. Just remember to accept that the only thing someone can change is themselves. The only thing that someone can evolve is their mind and all they can do is keep moving forward. The past journey will cripple the future without welcoming failures and successes with open and loving arms. Every part of oneself is worth loving. It may take forever to get there, but every second of life is worth it if they are able to get into a mindset where they are completely content with the person they evolve into.

My studying of people has not stopped and I plan to continue to get into the minds of others, no matter the age, sex, identity or past events in their lives. I believe all people can learn from each other and I want to express that throughout the course of my life.

Toughening up does not mean hiding or compressing the emotions and thoughts that pour out of me; it means to hold the hands of my peers and help guide them to a life where negativity does not impact their mental state.

Chloe Gallivan Design editor

I never knew what I wanted to do, but I had a vague idea of what my interests were. Throughout my childhood, I jumped around from desired career path to career path. Architecture enthralled me, then I leaned toward fashion, then toward real estate and I just kept switching. At the start of high school, I attempted to figure out what I wanted to do, but I needed to find myself first.

I spent each day in high school trying to be someone I was not. I longed to fit a mold and called that version “the real me” forgetting that, long ago, I found something that captivated me and made me feel safe: reading. In middle school, as an avid reader, I would challenge myself and set achievable goals. I even used apps to track my reading progress and these goals. Normally, I read at least one book a week, but I would often amp it up to two or three.

Looking back as a senior, I questioned why filling my bookshelf with pages no longer had a place on my list of priorities.

The answer hit me like a brick. The second I started to emulate other people, I abandoned reading. I shut out the only thing in my life with meaning. I always saw myself as a reader, but when people would approach me with the question of, “So is this what you want to do? Write books?” I would always reply with the same absent-minded response, “Oh no I just like reading books, but I could never write one.” The truth is, I never gave it much thought. I knew then that I wanted to be a writer. I realized how often I paid attention to the detail and writing styles of the books I read.

I knew that I would live a happy life if I did something I had passion for. So, I joined creative writing class again. I knew I needed a push. Having my grade in a class depending on me I got a lot of practice done. There was a definite noticeable difference in my writing as the year went on. Taking joy in the work I was doing was all I needed to succeed.

Even with my newfound creative writing class, I still felt I needed a bigger challenge. The urge to push myself out of my comfort zone was palpable. I needed to find something new to create something different from the other kinds of writing I had done in the past.

I quickly remembered the journalism class I took sophomore year. I did not take the class seriously to say the least,

but I knew writing journalistically was the challenge I needed.

I listened to my best friend and applied for a position on The Panther staff. Doing so, I knew I was challenging my writing even further than I previously had. Making sure I could excel in different styles of writing was important to me. Writing about factual information was the polar opposite to my heavily fantasy-based creative writing. I knew if I stayed in my comfort zone too long it would harm my writing.

Almost a year later, I know I am right where I am supposed to be. Newspaper gave me an outlet where I can write while discussing and informing others on issues that I am passionate about. If I would not have had this realization, I question if I would have even ended up on the newspaper staff. It gave me an outlet so similar to the one books gave me. I used the skills I learned through reading and incorporated them into my writing. It gives my writing a voice since I like to tell stories and it is evident in my articles.

Knowing what I know now, I am proud that I got the opportunity to learn about writing in a whole new way from newspaper. I know that the time I spent on staff — even if it was just a year — was beneficial to who I am as a writer.

When it comes to a career path, it is okay to not have everything figured out in high school; it is okay not to have everything figured out in college. Do not get thrown into a career that does not paint passion. Looking at my roots, I realized what has helped shape me into who I am on the inside.

FEATURE 21

Jayden Woodfall STAFf Writer

STAFf editorial

While it may seem easier to despise going to school, recognizing the true beauty of a public school education is unique. School prepares students for the real world, as it provides the essential foundation for future social interactions and career experiences. Homeschooled kids lack the same day-to-day interactions that kids in traditional school settings would, as they do not get to see or meet the hundreds of people in public schools.

Obtaining an education in this school is a two-way street. Skating by without producing much work is a possibility, but in order to truly flourish in high school, a student must actually put work into each class. Otherwise, each class just wastes time.Teachers will recognize who steps forward in their class, they will take notice and may offer positions in clubs or other opportunities.

Participation in school activities, such as clubs and sports builds character and gives people the background they need to deal with a stressful and competitive atmosphere. Experience is gained from applying for a position of a club or aiming for captain of a team, as it can resemble a job interview where people need to sell themselves to a potential employer.

School is what people make of it. If students do not take full advantage of the opportunities given to them, then the education could be a waste. There is more to school learning than just the content of the classes one takes.

Sincerely, The Panther Staff The friends Open Letter to: I am leaving behind The seniors I know and love plan to hit the ground running when they graduate. And they will do it far away from me. It is devastating, but I could not be happier for them.

A part of me wishes I would have thought of these last weeks with my friends at the beginning of freshman year, so I would know to keep an arms-length away from the friends I have made and avoid making the goodbye so hard. Another part of me, the smarter half, would not change a thing. Keep the hard goodbye, it’s reflective.

To my friends, the times spent sharing a building together seven hours a day have made my days exciting and worth it. I am in shock that I even found such people. Out of seven billion people on the planet, I thought

it would be much more difficult to sniff out the good ones, and them keep as my confidants.

We have supported each other, experienced some serious debacles, laughed, partied and everything in between, together.

The presence of the ones who have stayed, even through my embarrassing, blockhead moments have made all the difference. How lucky am I to have found friends like that?

Yes, I will leave and they will leave and it will be thrilling and terrifying and sad. But I do not need to reinforce the fact that we will see each other again (it is a given).

Not seeing my friends as often, however, will be a serious blow. Good friends are not a guarantee in high school, so if found, appreciate them.

MISSION STATEMENT The Panther staff aims to inform fellow students and parents about schoolwide, local, national, and international news. The Panther’s content aims to represent the student body. Editorials feature the opinions of staffers.

Features of other students, teachers and clubs further promote the spirit, culture and personality of Miami Palmetto Senior High School.

EDITORIAL POLICY The Panther is a monthly publication of Miami Palmetto Senior High located at 7460 S.W. 118th Street Miami, FL 33156, (305) 235-1360 ext. 2337. The views expressed are solely those of The Panther staff. Students who wish to respond to an article in this publication or discuss another issue may write letters to the editor and submit them to room 911B or e-mail us at thepanthermpsh@gmail.com. The Panther has professional membership in NSPA and CSPA. The Panther prints 3,000 copies per issue for distribution. The Panther is distributed for free to all students in school. Subscriptions (for cost) are also available. Please visit our paper online at thepalmettopanther.com.

STAFf Editor-In-Chief

Allison Strasius

Print Editor-In-Chief Nicole Markus

Online Editor-In-Chief Joanna Salvat

Managing Editor Jane Heise

Senior Copy Editor Isabel Wilder

Senior Design Editor Gemma Torras

BYLINE POLICY:

Advertising Chair

CORRECTION POLICY:

Natalie Askowitz

All creative work (such as illustrations, graphics, photos and writing) excluding staff editorials and staff member pictures will include byline credits.

Any errors in print will be acknowledged in the next print issue in a correction box. Any errors online will be acknowledged immediately. Errors include facts, figures, misquoting and name misspellings.

ADVERTISING POLICY:

Ads will be designed by the advertiser and include all information the advertiser wants included. If the advertiser asks the staff to design the ad, the individual who sold the ad will design the ad or the Ads Manager will.

Ads will be approved by EICs, the Advisor and the Ads Manager. If an ad produced is illegible, contains false information, or the advertiser does not like it, they will receive a free ad in the next issue. If you would like to advertise, please contact us.

ANTI-DISCRIMINATION POLICY The School Board shall comply with all Federal Laws and regulations prohibiting discrimination and all requirements and regulations of the U.S. Department of Education. The Board will enforce its prohibition against discrimination/harassment based on sex, race, color, ethnic, or national origin, religion, marital status, disability, age, political beliefs, sexual orientation, gender, gender identification, social and family background, linguistic preference, pregnancy and any other basis prohibited by law. The Board shall maintain an educational and work environment free from all forms of discrimination/harassment, which includes Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Title IX prohibits sexual harassment and other sexual misconduct such as unwelcome touching, graphic verbal comments, sexual jokes, slurs, gestures or pictures. All students, administrators, teachers, staff, and all other school personnel share responsibility for avoiding, discouraging, and reporting any form of prohibited discrimination or harassment against students by employees, other students and their parents or guardians, or third parties. This policy prohibits discrimination and harassment at all School District operations, programs, and activities on school property, or at another location if it occurs during an activity sponsored by the Board.

Olivia Solomon

Feature Editor News Editor

Benjamin Spiegelman

Life Editors

Sophia DeAlejo Camila Myers

Sports Editor Jack Meyer

Opinion Editor Samuel Stone

Multimedia Team Garrett Livingston Annette Gonzalez

Copy Team Lindsey Solomon Natalie Askowitz Allesandra Inzinna

Design Team Jenna Bondy Sydney Campbell Chloe Gallivan Mia Zaldivar Alexandra Pedroso

Staff Writers

Camila Bondy Jayden Woodfall

Adviser

Laura Aviles

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Miami and the World.

Harper Meyer is a full-service Miami law firm offering its clients highly personalized attention.

We represent significant international enterprises and family offices in the U.S., Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean and around the world.

Tax planning Trusts and Estates Immigration Intellectual Property Aviation & Maritime Real Estate Corporate Business Mergers & Acquisitions Franchising and Licensing Commercial Litigation & Arbitration

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HARPER | MEYER 201 S. Biscayne Blvd., Suite 800, Miami, FL 33131 www.harpermeyer.com