Lakota East Spark 2015-6 Issue 4

Lakota East High School lakotaeastsparkonline.com Feb. 10, 2016 $5 Newsstand

Once thought to be only an inner-city problem, heroin use is now devastating rural and suburban communities across the nation as overdose deaths rise.

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CONTENTS issue #168

18 24 34 52 62 73

a need to be needed

red, white and blue

anxiety high

One-year resident at Barrington of West Chester Rita Johnson sits at her usual dinner table in the dining room.

East foreign exchange student Victoire Retornaz traveled from her home of France to Ohio for the 2015-16 school year.

The rigorous demands of high school and time-consuming extracurriculars have teens experiencing feelings of anxiety.

the book versus the nook

As the ebook industry picks up speed, the print corporations have made adjustments to their production.

unbridled passion

East junior Tatum Pencek has found a special bond with her horse, which inspires her to excel in equestrian competitions.

democratic debate 2016 Each issue, Spark publishes editorial cartoons about what’s happening in the local, national and international news.

Spark 2015-2016 STAFF

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Nina Brillhart

Brittany Meister

Christine Shi

Maddie Weikel

MANAGING EDITORS Design Christine Shi

News Nina Brillhart

Package Maddie Weikel

Co-Culture Katy Johnson

Broadcast Emma Stiefel Co-Culture Christine Shi

Feature Brittany Meister Sports Aly Thomas

Photography Sydney Rader Opinion Kelly Krajewski

Art Manjot Kalkat Infographics Manjot Kalkat

EDITORS News Vincent Galioto

News Emma Stiefel

Package Erinn Aulfinger Sports Allie Church

Package Michelle Chu Opinion Cara Satullo

Photography Cara Sieber

Feature Alyssa Hetterich

Package Cristina Francisco

Opinion Victoria Negron

Infographics Cassia Chryssovergis Co-Copy Maddie Weikel

Photography Richard Giang

Culture Lauren Wilson

Art Sarah Aftab

Art Julia Sanders

Infographics Sophia Chryssovergis Co-Copy Katy Johnson

BUSINESS TEAM Business Director Nina Brillhart

Co-Fundraising Manager Kaily Hauck Business Collaborator Emma Presar

Co-Fundraising Manager Madeline Alsip

Public Relations Dillon Horter

Business Collaborator Sarah Mullins

WEBMASTER Emma Presar

ADVISOR Dean Hume

CONTACT US c/o Lakota East High School 6840 Lakota Lane Liberty Township, OH 45044 (513) 759-8615 ext. 15118 www.lakotaeastspark.com lakotaeastspark16@gmail.com Spark is a publication that is produced at Lakota East High School. The magazine is completely non-profit and student-generated through the efforts of the Journalism I, Journalism II and Journalism III-Honors classes. The publication material may not always reflect the views of the Lakota Local School District or the publication as a whole. Content is controlled and edited by the staff editors. The staff will publish only legally protected speech adhering to the legal definitions of libel, obscenity and invasions of privacy. The publication is produced every five weeks on recycled paper. Production costs are recovered through advertising, subscription sales and fundraisers. The purpose of Spark is to inform the students, faculty, and community members of news, information and issues that may influence or affect them.

4 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

Spark ED BOARD It is not the story of dark alleyways and broken syringes that most picture when they think of heroin use. Heroin addiction has no specific face—it touches people from the inner city all the way out to farmland.

At East, 17 percent of 569 students surveyed know someone who has been or is addicted to heroin. Furthermore, according to Drugabuse.gov, in 2011, 4.2 million Americans aged 12 or older, or 1.6 percent, had done heroin. A heroin addict could show none of the stereotypical signs of the “heroin chic” look popularized in the ‘90s.

It’s an addiction no longer characterized by wispy figures, pale waxy skin and dark eye bags. In fact, between 1995 and 2002, the number of teenagers in America, aged 12 to 17, who used heroin at some point in their lives increased by 300 percent, according to the anti-drug organization, A Drug Free World.

Addiction can start innocently—many times it’s a matter of overprescription of pain medication after medical procedures. The trend of overprescribing has been noticed by officials on not only on a local but also a national level. According to The Washington Post, the 2015 Obama administration proposed $133 million in new spending to curb overprescribing, to increase the amount of overdose data collected, and to expand access to Naloxone, a drug that can reverse the effects of an opiate overdose.

The increase in heroin and opioid-related deaths has increased so sharply that they now kill more people than car accidents annually,

ON THE COVER Once seen as an issue penetrating only what people would think are run-down areas and struggling demographics, opiate drug abuse is among people of all socioeconomic classes and ages. Spark investigates the evolution of the heroin epidemic in Ohio suburbs and how school districts like Lakota are affected. concept nina brillhart photography christine shi

Spark Lakota East High School lakotaeastsparkonline.com Dec. 9, 2015 $5 Newstand

SECURING OUR SCHOOLS

In the midst of advanced technology, social media and an increased discussion of gun control, the safety and security of schools is in question.

correction: God’s Christian Paradigm Church has air conditioning, lighting and bathrooms. Spark takes responsibility for this error.

according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. But opioid abuse is close to home as well, with Ohio being the state with the fifth highest rate of overdose deaths nationwide, according to a Center for Disease Control report.

Heroin has some of the most aggressive withdrawal symptoms.

A director of a treatment center for healthcare professionals in Minnesota describes it as being in a state of constant depression that will never lift. “The anticipation of withdrawal,” he says, “is oftentimes worse than the actual thing.” The various symptoms including nausea, vomiting, cold sweats, muscle cramping, diarrhea and loss of appetite have led to the withdrawal period from heroin being referred to as the “super flu.”

Studies have shown that heroin addiction is best treated by a combination of pharmacological and behavioral approaches, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. However, according to the 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an estimated 22.7 million people 12 or older needed treatment for a substance abuse problem, but only 2.5 million received it at a specialized facility.

There is no one point in the timeline of heroin addiction that can stop abuse completely. While action to stop over prescription will help to lessen the flow of new heroin and opioid abusers, there still needs to be a general mindset to help those who are already addicted and to support to keep those who have gotten clean from relapsing.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR Dear Spark, For several years I have been a reader of the Spark magazine. I have personally recommended it to friends and family as a magazine worth reading over and over again. Whenever I show the magazine to my professional friends, the reactions, said with great envy, are always the same, “High School students produced this?!” To which I say a praiseworthy, “Yes.” From events and causes happening at Lakota East, to the achievements of our athletes, to issues of state or national importance; the stories are timely and thoroughly researched; and the various viewpoints of the contributing writers always give me a fresh glance into the world from the angle of young adults who don’t always see things the way I do.

From this perspective, reading the Spark is good for me. With every

to and from the editorial board | opinion

COMMUNITY

issue, I am learning things about people, the community I live in, and life, in general.

Reading the Spark always gets me out of my comfort zone and causes me to think more deeply about controversial issues such as marriage equality, gun control, or the recent state-wide referendum to legalize marijuana use. I am often drawn in by the many human interest stories that chronicle a particular challenge that a family or an individual might be facing due to a stigma or some kind of social bias.

The writers of the Spark dig deep into their work with fantastic statistics and catchy, easy-to-read informational graphics, reviews, opinion pages and photography. I am proud to be a subscriber of the Spark and I commend it to you as a top-notch publication well worth your time to read.

—Daniel Meister, East parent

Spark ONLINE

Follow more stories at www.lakotaeastsparkonline.com to keep up with the latest school, district and community news and learn more about in-depth topics covered by the Spark staff.

The Spark encourages letters to the editor, letters can be sent to the publication at lakotaeastspark16@gmail.com or delivered to room 118 at the Lakota East main campus. Letters must be signed, and the staff reserves the right to edit the letters for length, grammer, invasion of privacy, obscenity or potential libel. The opinion editors will contact writers for confirmation.

opinion || from from the the editor editor opinion

A BETTER WAY MADDIE WEIKEL photography christine shi

“[commercial for college] *person shoveling money into furnace* Narrator: Don’t you wish there was a better way?”

Buzzfeed compiled tweets from college students that sarcastically express their frustrations with and stress from rising college tuitions, which have increased 17-fold on average since the 1970s.

The above Twitter user, @oxygenplug, was not identified to have medically diagnosed anxiety related to financial and academic pressures, but 5 million college students are struggling with mental health, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and The U.S. census estimates that 17.1 million young people had a diagnosable psychiatric disorder in 2015.

Developmental psychologist Peter Gray wrote in a PsychologyToday blog that Millennials are growing up in a testobsessed educational environment that “is almost designed to produce anxiety and depression,” and more students are taking college preparatory courses because, according to the latest Census, annual college enrollment has doubled since 1971.

Because Millennials are perceived as receiving an inappropriate amount of praise, the overbearing pressure to perform in high school in order to earn scholarships and minimize the lingering cloud of student loan debt can be regarded as teens being sensitive and weak in the face of a challenge, but either way, a 2015 Matters of Mind survey found that 76 percent of school-aged millennials feel stressed primarily about school. Additionally, 90 percent of teens said that stress has prevented them from enjoying other activities, which reinforces the notion that academia is swallowing the Millennial generation.

When teens aren’t hunched over homework, they are browsing social media. More aware of their peers’ successes and assets that are displayed on the internet, Millennials have a greater opportunity to compare their whole selves to idealized versions of their classmates. Beyond that there are nearly 5 million posts with an anxiety-related hashtag circulating on Instagram. Turning to the sensationalized cases of anxiety that plaster the Instagram Explore page, teens with debilitating anxiety are taking general advice from faceless users instead of seeking personalized help from tangible physicians.

This issue, Spark investigates how anxiety has touched East and how the school is responding. A universal and timeless condition, anxiety of all degrees inhibits a student’s full potential, and East recognizes that students, like @oxygenplug, are searching for “a better way” to cope with social and emotional support.

6 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

2 | Spark | May 31, 2014

news | briefs

BRIEFS: NEWS

stories sophia spivey photography sophia spivey, christine shi

ZERO PERIOD STAYS Lakota East and West High Schools are continuing to give students a chance to take zero period next school year due to the success of the trial in the 2015-16 school year.

According to East Principal Suzanna Davis, zero period will have the same guidelines as the ones utilized in the pilot.

“We ran the pilot as an exploratory, and we began to analyze the effectiveness and appropriateness,” Davis said. “We believe that it is serving the need and the purpose that we would have hoped that it would, so we are continuing to offer students that as an option.”

According to East counselor Matt Rabold, 105 students out of the 150 who applied to were chosen through the lottery system to be involved in zero period.

The classes that were offered this year and will continued to be offered next year are AP U.S. History, CP U.S. History and Honors English 11. Although there weren’t enough students to fill the class this year, Davis said that they will offer CP English 11 next year.

The classes this year are taught

by AP U.S. History teacher Jennifer Reid, CP U.S. History teachers Clint Adkins and Sean Carnes, and Honors English 11 teacher Amy Naylor. Davis added that she is unsure who will be teaching for zero period next year.

According to East sophomore Julia Hartinger, who takes AP U.S. History, taking zero period has opened many doors, such as the ability to take more classes for college credit and to learn new skills like time management and writing.

“I would definitely take zero period again next year,” Hartinger said. “I love that it gives me the opportunity to take band since I would not be able to otherwise without dropping a core class.”

Other Greater Miami

Conference schools such as William Mason High School and Fairfield High School currently have seven and six periods respectively.

East sophomore Kaitlyn Herzog in CP. U.S. History said that zero period has taught her that it is time to stop procrastinating and buckle down with class work now that she has homework for seven classes.

“It has taught me to learn to not put things off for other classes,” Herzog said. “If you don’t do work in one class, you’ll eventually fall behind.”

According to East junior Brooke Lilly, who takes Honors English 11, beacause zero period classes do not have block days and there is no morning traffic entering the parking lot makes the early commute easier.

“I’m a fan of never having an English block day,” Lilly said.

“Although I enjoy school, having English for 90 minutes was quite exhausting last year. With zero period, we have guaranteed 45-minute classes all week.”

Brooke’s mother, Lynn Lilly, said the opportunity for Brooke to have an extra course in her schedule has helped reduce the financial burden of online classes.

“There is a financial issue because we already have to pay very high property taxes for living in Lakota, and then we have to spend more for classes because we only have six periods in the school day,” Lynn said. “A pro of this class is that she doesn’t have to pay more money for taking it.”

Lilly added that there are definitely some mornings when she wishes she never signed up, but knowing her summer won’t be “filled with hours of economics and government makes every sleepless morning worth it.”

Naylor said that she completely supports the decision to continue zero bell course next school year and would love the opportunity to teach a class during this bell again.

“I feel like zero period is a great opportunity for students to get in an extra class,” Naylor said. “Of course students have to be motivated and

8 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

“We didn’t have to take it, yet there are 28 of us who come an hour early [to school] every day.”

—Julia Hartinger, East sophomore

East students debate in AP U.S. History teacher, Jennifer Reid’s zero period. have a good work ethic because they will have one more class to be responsible for. As long as there are students who are willing to do that, I think zero period should continue to be offered.”

Zero bell has helped dedicated students gain more than just

academic benefits.

“Outside of being able to take band, my favorite part of zero period would probably be the people in the class,” Hartinger said.

“We didn’t have to take it, yet there are 28 of us who come an hour early [to school] every day.”

visit www.lakotaeastsparkonline.com for more coverage of local, district, and community news.

briefs | news

EAST JKBEEF HOSTS SOCCER TOURNAMENT The Lakota East High School J. Kyle Braid Experimental Education Foundation (JKBEEF) organized a soccer tournament and raised $360 to send sophomore members on an all-expense paid trip to Monmouth College in the summer for extensive leadership training.

According to East junior John Sherman, the soccer tournament was “such a blast” that he would do it again next year even though his team had “no game plan.”

“We just kicked the ball around with one person being an outside goalie,” Sherman said. “Basically everyone else is just running around trying to kick the ball to one of the soccer players on our team.”

JKBEEF was formed in 2014 from the original J. Kyle Braid Leadership Foundation (JKB), which was created 21 years ago.

JKB was created by both Ken and Colleen Malany Braid, and JKBEEF is run only by the latter. JKB sent

East students participate in JKBEEF soccer tournament.

students to a ranch in Villa Grove, Colorado instead of Monmouth College in Chicago.

The founders’ 16-year-old son, J. Kyle Braid, was a starter and captain of his high school football team.

His coach told him that he needed to get stronger and faster no matter the consequence, which led him to overdose on anabolic steroids.

“After he died, instead of asking why bad things happen to good people, you need to ask yourself the question what do good people do when bad things happen to them.”

Kyle’s dad, Ken Braid, said in a video on the JKB website.

After Kyle’s death, his parents created the organization that trains young athletes to become leaders to prevent this from happening.

They built a ranch in Colorado that teaches kids leadership through training in the classroom, a ropes course, whitewater rafting and horseback riding.

“His parents created an organization to recruit students to show those attributes,” Cory Jacobs, East athletic trainer and JKBEEF advisor, said. “You have to have a certain GPA, play an actual sport

deemed by the Braids, be drug-andalcohol-free, and give a lot of work and hours back to the community.”

Teachers nominate sophomores, and the 32 JKBEEF seniors and juniors govern the process deciding who will be a part of the group. Of those picked, a few are chosen for a one-week camp at Monmouth.

East junior Kaitlyn Rhodes, who was selected to experience the first-year program at Monmouth this summer, was able to utilize her skills she developed to organize the soccer tournament with East junior Sydney Pinder.

“I went with 19 other girls I barely knew, and it was all about how to be yourself and a better leader,” Rhodes said. “It was one of the best weeks of my life.”

Rhodes said she wants to fundraise enough money to see her underclassmen have the same opportunity that was presented to her. The tournament raised about one eighth of the goal with more than 50 participants. According to Rhodes, JKBEEF’s goal this year is to send two girls and two guys to Monmouth College, which will cost approximately $4000 total.

“They will have two sets of girls with 20 to 30 people and two sets of guys with 20 to 30 people from all high schools across the United States [at this camp],” Jacobs said. “Since they have started the original JKB foundation, there have been over 10,000 students that have gotten to experience this and are giving back to the community through different businesses and organizations.”

According to East senior and JKBEEF member Kevin Brady, all

that matters in the tournament is spending time with his friends while doing what he loves. He is grateful for the opportunity to bring the school community together and fundraise at the same time.

“I thought [the tournament] would be a good opportunity to get out with my friends and do something we love. I enjoy playing any sport,” Brady said. “[My favorite part has been] scoring some goals and celebrations after the goals with my friends and my team.”

According to East Principal Suzanna Davis, JKBEEF is another way for students to get involved and develop leadership skills in the school and on their sport teams.

“It is such a powerful program, and I have been most proud of the evaluation of it,” Davis said.

JKBEEF is always looking for ways to help out the community whether it is going to the Ronald McDonald House and playing with children or simply showing appreciation for teachers.

“One thing we did this week is on Jan. 4 when the teachers had an inservice, day all of the students came in and wrote a letter of appreciation for one of their favorite teachers and took them a bottle of water, a couple mints and a couple pieces of candy,” Jacobs said.

Although the organization emphasizes community service and projects, it is important for them to balance that with fundraising.

According to Rhodes, JKBEEF is looking to organize a dodgeball tournament and is thinking about holding the soccer tournament again next year because of its success.

“I thought [the tournament] would be a good opportunity to get out with my friends and do something we love. I enjoy playing any sport,” —Kevin Brady, East senior and JKBEEF member

THE NEWES

briefs | news

10 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

ST NORMAL

briefs | news

In recent years, opiate abuse has been increasing alarmingly, especially in Ohio, the state with the fifth highest rate of opiate overdose deaths.

story emma stiefel | art sarah aftab | infographic sophia chryssovergis * denotes name change

H

e heard his brother get in the shower and start singing loudly. While he was playing video games in his room, he listened as his brother slurred his words and stumbled around. At the time, he didn’t understand what was going on; he thought his brother was just being silly.

Now, however, East student Alex Wallace* knows that his brother Chris Wallace* was high on heroin. His addiction had “slowly evolved” from abusing opiate painkillers to help with chronic pain in his neck and jaw, a result of temporomandibular joint disorder and the lingering effects of a childhood injury. Before that, while he was still in high school, he had used “normal drugs, nothing too crazy, just like smoking weed and stuff.”

Though he is recovered now, Chris’s story is similar to those of the approximately 4.7 million people who currently abuse prescription pain relievers or heroin nationwide, according to the 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Report “Increases in Drug and Opioid Overdose Deaths—United States, 2000-2014,” opiates are the main contributors to overdose deaths in the nation and were involved in 28,647 deaths in 2014.

Recently, the issue of opiate addiction has been given renewed national attention as an issue in the 2016 presidential campaign. In New Hampshire, where the first primary elections will be held, a fall WMUR Granite State Poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire’s Survey Center found that 25 percent of residents named drug abuse as the most important problem facing the state.

This marks “the first time in nearly eight years a plurality of Granite Staters think that something other than jobs and the economy is the most important problem facing the state,” according to the University of New Hampshire’s report on the results.

The opioid epidemic is also a serious problem in Ohio, the state with the fifth highest rate of overdose deaths, according to the CDC report. Opioid overdose deaths in the state have increased from 429 in 2004 to 1,988 in 2014, accounting for 80.1 percent of all statewide overdose deaths, compared to 47.5 percent in 2004, according to the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) 2014 Preliminary Drug Overdose Report.

“There’s been a major increase over the last several years,” Butler County Mental Health & Addiction Recovery Services Board Senior Director of Addiction Services (BCMHARS) Julie Payton told Spark. “Over half of our population that we’re treating [in Butler County] are opiate-dependent in some fashion.”

At East, 17 percent of 569 students surveyed know someone who has been or is addicted to heroin, and 17 percent of 419 students surveyed know someone who has been or is addicted to prescription opioid medications. Two percent of 683 students surveyed reported they themselves have used heroin, and nine percent of 424 students surveyed reported that they have abused prescription opioid medications.

“We’re seeing a lot more students speaking about the use of heroin in their homes

news | heroin

with their parents,” East Principal Suzanna Davis said. “I’m not ignorant to believe that students aren’t engaging, but the biggest impact to our school has been on families. And of course by having an impact on the family, it has an impact on the student. In a very direct, although not a user way, they’re dealing with the effects of heroin use and heroin addictions in their homes and in their relationships.”

ORIGINS OF THE EPIDEMIC The current epidemic of heroin overdoses

can be traced back to when doctors began liberally prescribing opioid pain medications such as Vicodin, Percocet and Oxycontin in the 1990s. Between 1998 and 2011, opioid prescriptions per 100,000 people increased 643 percent, according to the ODH 2014

HEROIN’S EFFECT ON THE BODY

CONTRIBUTING FACTORS TO THE HEROIN EPIDEMIC increasing purity of heroin

THE BRAIN

Brain disintegration becomes apparent very soon after an onset of chronic heroin abuse

overprescribing medication

A study from the University of Edinburgh found the brains of opiate abusers showed brain damage similar to the early stages of Alzheimer’s

decreasing cost of heroin

increasing quantity of heroin

The average age of the opiate abusers was 26

mixing medication

THE KIDNEYS

shutdown of pillmills*

Heroin abuse may lead to high levels of protein in the urine which can lead to kidney failure

*a pillmill is a doctor or pharmacy that prescribes powerful narcotics inappropriately

Contaminants in heroin are thought to be the cause

Heroin and other opioids mimic the brain’s natural processes for seeking pleasure

Dopamine is a chemical in the brain that brings pleasure.

Heroin causes dopamine to flood the brain faster than any natural experience

Parts of the brain that take in dopamine can die after just one use

12 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

sources Center for Disease Control, mha.ohio.gov, www.drugabuse.gov

WHY HEROIN IS SO ADDICTIVE

Once heroin enters the brain, it’s converted to morphine and binds rapidly to opiod recptors, elevating mood by increasing levels of dopamine

Preliminary Drug Overdose Report.

According to West Chester Pain Center Physician Dr. Frank Lee, “in the past, a doctor would just give you a pain medication and then give you more and more pills.” Many patients become addicted to these pills after they are prescribed them to manage pain from a surgery or similar medical procedure.

“What we’ve seen is that most folks are

THE INTESTINES

Heroin reduces the action of muscles in the intestines, creating constipation.

Hemorrhoids, anal fissures, or damage to the rectum that requires surgery may occur

Rupturing can occur when bowel movement stops

heroin | news

initiating use with pills,” Ohio Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services Director of Media Relations & Outreach Eric Wandersleben told Spark. “Many of them legitimately, [like if] you get a back injury or a school football player gets an injury to the leg and is prescribed pain killers. But folks will get hooked on opiate painkillers.”

Though the problem is still serious, efforts to curb prescription medication misuse have been increasingly successful. Many people who were addicted to prescription medications have found themselves without access to the pills they had been abusing, causing them to seek out other opiates.

“What can replace the pill that’s most like the pill? What’s most like the pill is heroin,” Ohio Governor’s Cabinet Opiate Action Team (GCOAT) Deputy Director Andrea Boxill told Spark.

“About 2009-2010 is when [the heroin epidemic] started,” West Chester Police Department Special Investigations Unit Detective Jason Flick told Spark. “Targeting manufacturers through lawsuits, the [Food and Drug Administration] making them reformulate their products so that they’re more tamper-resistant, going after doctors that were over-prescribing and giving law enforcement more tools to target people who were diverting legitimate prescriptions created this big vacuum, and heroin stepped in to fill the void.”

The availability and cheapness of heroin has only exacerbated the issue. Beckett Springs Intensive Outpatient Therapist Will Beaver, who works with the addicted population, has had patients tell him that heroin is “easier to find than pot.”

While cities like Cincinnati and Dayton are, according to Flick, “the more major areas for drug distribution,” heroin is still easy to find for people living in suburban communities like West Chester.

“We have dealers that will come up to West Chester, and we know dealers that live in West Chester,” Flick told Spark. “People tell us all the time that if their dealer gets arrested or they lose the phone number or something else happens, they’ll just drive to one of these more notorious areas, let’s say in Cincinnati, until somebody flags them down the street, or they’ll just ask a couple of people on the street and within a few minutes they’re in the right spot.”

The fact that heroin is, according to Wandersleben, “readily available in virtually every community in the state” points to the demographic shift of drug users away from the urban low-income minority population associated with the 1980s crack epidemic and the heroin epidemic in the late 1960s and early 1970s. “[Heroin] used to be just a dirty drug,” Lakota School Board Member Ray Murray, who worked as a Drug Enforcement Agent in Atlanta and Chicago during the 1970s, told

Spark. “People in the shadows of abandoned homes and inner cities were doing it. I don’t think I ever worked a drug case with heroin that led to suburbia. A lot of drugs did, but [heroin] was always an inner-city kind of a drug.”

The modern opiate epidemic, in contrast, has increasingly been a white, suburban, middleclass problem. According to the CDC report “Vital Signs: Demographic and Substance Use Trends Among Heroin Users—United States, 2002–2013,” while rates of heroin use remain the highest among “males, persons aged 18-25 years, persons with annual household incomes <$20,000, persons living in urban areas, and persons with no health insurance or with Medicaid,” groups with historically low rates of use, such as women and non-Hispanic whites, have seen the largest increases.

Despite this trend, Lindner Center of HOPE Addiction Medicine Physician Dr. Clifford Cabansag told Spark that “there is this misconception of an ‘addict:’ forlorn, homeless, scruffy.”

“I think society expects opiate addicts to be like your average junkie,” Beckett Springs Licensed Social Worker and Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor III Faye Barron told Spark. “What I see is the exact opposite.

It’s mothers, fathers, nurses, therapists and teachers. There’s a misconception that you have to look a certain way or be a certain way, when really everyone probably knows someone who’s addicted to an opiate.”

OPIATES AND SCHOOLS To combat abuse before it starts drug

prevention education for K-12 students has been administered, as many people start abusing opiates at a young age. Beaver, for example, has had many clients tell him they first used heroin when they were 13.

“People would be shocked to hear the ages of some of the people that we see using,” Flick told Spark. “They assume that people who use

are always in their 20s or older, when in fact we’ve seen young teens who use it.”

In order to help prevent more minors from abusing opiates, House Bill 367, signed into law in December 2014, requires school districts to teach students about “prescription opioid abuse prevention, with an emphasis on the prescription drug epidemic and the connection between prescription opioid abuse and addiction to other drugs, such as heroin.”

As mandated by the law, GCOAT developed curriculum recommendations for all grades.

In Lakota, however, students only receive instruction on drug abuse in the classroom when they are required to take Personal Health and if they take a health elective in high school.

The Personal Health curriculum, which is taught over a semester, includes “health and wellness, stress, emotions and personality, nutrition, chemical substances, cancer awareness and community health,” according to the 2016-17 Lakota Junior Schools Program of Studies.

“I don’t get much time [to teach drugs],” Hopewell Junior Personal Health teacher Lori Jones said. “I’m pushing three weeks with it, but I could take probably a whole quarter to teach drugs. With the time that I have, I have to really narrow things down, but not lose what’s important.”

Lakota students could also receive drug prevention education from an out-of-school program. In recent years, however, few of programs exclusively focused on drugs have been offered, and Murray told Spark that “we do need to have more awareness programs and publicize them.”

“If [drug-prevention programs] are going to happen, you’ve got to have a champion,” Murray said, “somebody that’s going to step up, whether it’s me or somebody else, and say, ‘This needs to happen, and I’m going to follow it through.’ I think this needs to happen on a grand scale. If you just put it on and get out some flyers, would students show up for that?”

“[Opiate addicts are] mothers, fathers, nurses, therapists and teachers. There’s a misconception that you have to look a certain way or be a certain way, when really everyone probably knows someone who’s addicted to an opiate.”

—Faye Barron, Beckett Springs Licensed Social Worker and Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor III

news | heroin

a solid effort to support it.” She also noted that School Board President Lynda O’Connor and the Lakota Executive Director of Media and Community Relations attended on behalf of the Lakota School Board and administration.

“We fully supported the idea and intent of Mrs. Tate’s program,” Mantia wrote. “Just as we’d do for any community event or program that might interest the Lakota community, we shared the information with students, parents and staff through every avenue we’d normally use to promote our own events, including districtand building-level email communications, social media, e-flyers, morning announcements, staff email, posters and our online calendar, for example.”

Of 385 East students surveyed, 76 percent said they would not attend a drug prevention education program or presentation; Mantia wrote that “unfortunately, unless someone has been personally touched by a case of addiction, a voluntary program such as this is not always a priority for others in the community to attend.”

“All of these deaths are absolutely preventable. Absolutely. There’s really no good reason for it to be the way it is now.”

—Dr. Clifford Cabansag, Lindner Center of HOPE Addiction Medicine Physician Students didn’t for a March 2015 presentation on prescription drug abuse given outside of school hours at East, which featured speakers such as a Director of Pain Medicine at Mercy Hospital, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent, an Assistant U.S. Attorney, and a man who used to be addicted to opiates.

Though, according to Davis, the program was publicized “quite openly,” attendance was so low that a subsequent program at West and a follow-up community conversation were canceled.

West parent Sandy Tate, who organized the March 2015 program after her son’s friend, who was a West alumni, died of an overdose and whose nephew is addicted to heroin, believes that the district didn’t do enough to help the event succeed.

She contrasted the Lakota program with an identical presentation given at Ursuline Academy, which, according to Tate, more than 200 people attended (662 girls attend the school), including administrators, teachers and principals, and which students earned service hours for attending.

“There were 10 people [at the East program],” Tate told Spark, “and everybody except for two were there because of me. There were two students there, my son, who’s a senior at West now, and a friend of his. There were no school administrators there, and none of the school board with the exception of Lynda O’Connor attended. That was it.”

She told Spark that though she emailed school board members, the superintendent and principals at the high school and junior school multiple times, she never got a reply until after the East program, and that her request that students be given community service hours for attending the program were denied.

Lakota Superintendent Karen Mantia, however, told Spark in a written statement on behalf of the school district and the Lakota Board of Education that, while attendance was lower than they had hoped, “everyone involved approached it professionally and with

BARRIERS TO RECOVERY Opiate abuse may not become

less widespread anytime soon because, according to Flick, “it is so outlandishly addictive, and once people get on it, the likelihood of them getting off it is very very low.”

There are several reasons why it is so hard for people to recover from heroin addiction, including commonly held misunderstandings of the disease and the stigma surrounding those who would seek treatment for it.

One such misconception is that people choose to become addicted; 61 percent of 408 East students surveyed said they believed opiate addiction is a choice, not a disease.

While, according to Beaver, people may choose to use heroin for the first time, “usually they realize the switch has been thrown too late.”

Addiction also has a strong genetic component; a person’s genes contribute 40-60 percent of their susceptibility to developing a heroin addiction, according to the 2008 study “Genetic susceptibility to heroin addiction; a candidate-gene association study.”

“Probably the biggest barrier is the idea that inability to discontinue use is a personal failure, a lack of will power, a lack of religious conviction,

14 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

all these things,” Cabansag told Spark. “In fact, it has nothing to do with that. People need to understand that the biggest risk factor for developing a substance use disorder is a family history. It can hit anybody. People do not wake up in the morning and say, ‘I would like to lose everything that is precious to me.’”

The extreme lengths to which people will go to get heroin also contributes to the stigma surrounding those who use it. Addictions are expensive; according to Flick, heroin typically costs $140-150 a gram, and people range from using a quarter of a gram a day to five grams in extreme cases. Someone addicted to heroin, therefore, could be spending $35-750 on drugs each day.

As a heroin addiction progresses, people typically develop a tolerance to the drug and start using more of it. Many lose their ability to work and thus their legitimate income as they have to spend increasing amounts of money on drugs to avoid withdrawal. Many will then start stealing from friends and family members in order to continue buying heroin, and often will end up alienating those who would have helped them.

At this point, according to Flick, many end up stealing, selling drugs or becoming prostitutes to support their addiction and “basically devote their lives to figuring out how to go out and get high every day.”

“I didn’t have a life,” recovering addict Mary Allen* said. “I didn’t pay bills; I didn’t do stuff normal people did. I used, that was all I did. I went to a restaurant, and I had just opened a bank account and I didn’t know how to pay the check. I was so embarrassed because I didn’t know how to pay the check, and I was 25 years old.”

One commonly held misconception, according to Beaver, is that the behaviors associated with heroin addiction existed before the person started abusing the drug, and “that somehow these people are just intrinsically not good.”

Those not familiar with addiction, however, often underestimate how distressing withdrawal is and why many are so desperate to avoid it. Alex, who has seen Chris go through withdrawal several times, said that people don’t understand “what the physical pain is like.”

“I remember one of the most vivid times,” Alex told Spark. “We had an inflatable bed laying out in front of our TV in our living room and he had like thirty blankets on. He was really pale and sweating and moaning and literally writhing in pain. It was one of the scariest things ever.” ...continued on page 17

Visit www.lakotaeastsparkonline.com to learn about how a new Ohio organization is helping babies born addicted to opiates.

East students and Dragonfly Foundation families wore orange to the East versus Mason basketball game.

Mason won 57-53.

ORANGE OUT AGAINST LEUKEMIA

Lakota East teams up with Liberty Junior School to fundraise by selling orange bandanas for the Dragonfly Foundation and for seventh grader Payton Childress, who is battling leukemia. story sarah mullins | photography colin melick

L

akota East High School teamed up with Liberty Junior School (LJS) to sell orange bandanas to raise awareness for pediatric cancer. All of the proceeds went to The Dragonfly Foundation.

The fundraiser originated at LJS for seventh grader Payton Childress. Childress was diagnosed with leukemia when she was a sixth grader at VanGordon Elementary School during the 2014-15 school year.

Originally, LJS sold bandanas to show Payton that the school was supporting her, the school’s intervention specialist Jodi Plymale says. In honor of her returning to school during her second semester, they had the students wear orange bandanas so she would feel less out of place when she wore a bandana on her head.

“Payton was really worried about her hair loss,” Plymale said. “She was really worried that she was going to stand out and that kids were going to take her bandana off being silly.

I thought it might make her feel better if a lot of kids were wearing things on their head [to show it] wasn’t such a big deal.”

Chemotherapy used to treat the cancer can lead to appearance changes like hair loss. The medications can also cause forgetfulness or confusion according to Dragonfly Co-founder and Vice President Ria Davidson.

“When you go through chemotherapy, your appearance changes,” Davidson told Spark.

“No matter what happens to you on the outside as a patient, you are still who you are on the inside. It’s easy to forget that when you’re on the outside looking in. I hope Dragonfly continues to inspire people to support pediatric cancer patients in ways that go beyond research.”

Plymale had the idea to take it from kids just wearing bandanas to becoming a fundraiser.

When she brought this up to LJS Principal Eric Bauman and the Childress family, and they were fully supportive. The Childresses did not hesitate to recommend the Dragonfly Foundation.

“It’s amazing that these high school students put it together on behalf of Payton,” Payton’s mother, Sheila Childress, said. “This was really special to me because it is giving to the organization that has done the most for us

as a family throughout this 15-month period.”

The fundraiser was then brought to main campus and orchestrated by East seniors Sydney Rader, Dalton Strunk and Nick Plymale.

The bandanas were sold in the East spirit shop and at lunch for five dollars each. The Childress family also donated orange t-shirts to sell. Sales at the time of press topped $3,000, according to Rader.

T

he Dragonfly Foundation provides comfort and activities to cancer patients up to age 30 along with their family and caregivers.

They organize events and drop off gifts for the people in the program, who are referred to as “Dragonflies.”

“It was inspiring to see the community come together as a family,” Rader said. “The amount of support that the students gave to the Dragonflies and their families by wearing orange truly made a difference in their lives.”

On Jan. 29, when the East mens’ basketball team played their conference rivals, the Mason Comets, it was Childress that encouraged everyone to attend the basketball game and

news | orange out

wear orange to support her. Mason ended up winning the game 57-53.

Eight Dragonflies along with their friends and families came to the basketball game to see the “orange out,” totaling around 60 people in addition to the East student section. East also made a $10,000 donation to Susan G. Komen at halftime, which was raised through other events hosted for cancer awareness and research.

E

ast Principal Suzanna Davis was a supporter of the fundraiser and believed that this was an “outstanding example of the commitment of our students to the betterment of their school and community.” Athletic Director Richard Bryant was also very supportive of the students’ efforts.

Last year during East’s annual Relay for Life event, Payton was planning to attend the survivor dinner and then to walk the survivor lap, but she had a fever and was unable to participate in either. Yet, Payton’s teachers, friends and family came and walked the lap to

“The amount of support that the students gave to the Dragonflies and their families by wearing orange truly made a difference in their lives.”

— Sydney Rader, East senior and Orange Out coordinator support her.

“Her friends and teachers from VanGorden all came in orange and had pins that said ‘Pray for Payton’ on them,” Rader said. “They walked the lap in her honor, which was really

East senior Sydney Rader plays tag with Dragonflies Riley Slattery (right) and Yosselin Vilatoro (left) in a classroom before the game in order to avoid germs.

16 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

amazing to see. Payton’s friends had their sixth grade pool party at the same time, and some of them still came to Relay for Life instead. We just want to show her that the community is fighting by her side.”

THE NEWEST NORMAL continued from page 14...

According to Lindner Center of HOPE Addiction Psychiatrist Dr. Jolomi Ikomi, symptoms of opiate withdrawal include nausea, vomiting, shaking, restlessness, irritability and feeling cold. Cabansag described it as “a very bad flu times 100.”

“The specter of opioid use is like being chased by a rabid dog,” Cabansag told Spark.

“You are running for your life. Every decision you make is under duress, either because of withdrawal or the fear of withdrawal. It’s really an acute panicked state of fight or flight. It’s not simple to just stop or whatever. No one can be expected to make a reasonable decision under duress like that.”

People recovering from heroin addiction also describe going through a psychological withdrawal as well as a physical one. One person recovering from opiate addiction told Spark that quitting opiates made him feel as though he was breaking up with his girlfriend; another told Spark that “it feels like you’ve lost your coping mechanism; you’ve lost your best friend that was killing you.”

Even if someone is able to get through withdrawal, opiate addiction is a chronic condition, like diabetes, as opposed to an acute one, such as a broken leg. People have to cope with it for their entire life, and relapse rates are high. As Payton told Spark, “you can recover but you’re not cured.”

“A lot of people think that if they send their family members to detox and get through withdrawal, they’re cured and everything’s going to be OK,” Barron told Spark. “A lot of people get really upset with us when we tell them that detox is the easy part, and actually living clean and sober is the hard part.”

LIMITED ACCESS TREATMENT There are recovery options,

TO

however, that can help people get and stay clean. Such treatments include Narcotics Anonymous meetings, medication-assisted treatment (which uses drugs like Suboxone and methadone to wean patients off abused opiates without making them high), and professional therapy.

Through programs like these, people can manage their addictions and regain control of their lives.

“This is far from scientific, but if you were to look at some of our patients when they first came in for treatment and then look at them now, in some cases the change is really quite dramatic,” Cabansag told Spark. “They look healthy, they’re well-dressed, they’re working and their families are engaged with them.”

According to Alex, Chris is currently taking Suboxone and went to a methadone clinic before that. Now, at 28 years old, he’s a manager at a freight company and making

$50,000 a year, despite the fact that he dropped out of high school during his late junior year.

“The vice president of the company told him that in a few years, he’s probably going to be making six figures, which is more than most people make at his age without a college degree,” Alex told Spark. “That he’s been able to overcome so many stereotypes and become a professional hardworking person is just really impressive.”

Often, however, treatments like methadone and Suboxone are not available to those who need them. According to the 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, about 22.7 million people 12 or older needed treatment for a substance abuse problem, but only 2.5 million received it at a specialized facility. “[Opiate addiction is] a real medical condition, and it is treatable,” Cabansag told Spark. “There is hope. That’s the most disturbing thing; the method, the medicine— everything’s there. All of these deaths are absolutely preventable. There’s really no good reason for it to be the way it is now.”

One reason so many people don’t receive treatment is because there aren’t enough existing facilities to meet demand.

“There’s enough of an epidemic in Ohio that the treatment system is not adequate to serve the number of people who have an addiction problem with heroin,” Ohio State University College of Social Work Associate Dean for Research Dr. John Clapp told Spark.

“Right now, there’s wait lists at places, and there’s not enough slots in treatment programs.

It’s becoming increasingly harder for people to get into treatment when they need it.”

Jolomi, who worked in Connecticut for four years before coming to Ohio in 2015, observed that there were more services and awareness of treatment options there.

“The prevalence of the disease here is pretty significant, and there’s just not enough services,” Jolomi told Spark. “People just aren’t really aware that this is a disease and that there’s really good treatment. Even with Suboxone, there were more options for treatment. People were more aware of Suboxone and it being a treatment of choice for opioid use. Here not as much. Some people say they’ve never heard of Suboxone before.”

Even if enough facilities did exist, addiction treatments are often very expensive. According to Barron, partial hospitalization programs can cost about $300-400 a day, inpatient treatment costs about $850-1,200 a day, and residential treatment can cost $4,000-60,000 a month.

Those addicted to opiates are often financially incapable of getting the care they need to become and stay sober.

“As a result of addiction, they can’t keep jobs,” Jolomi told Spark. “Some of these treatments are costly and sometimes require insurance, but you’re asking the very people who can’t keep jobs or don’t have insurance.”

ENDING THE EPIDEMIC? In order to prevent people from becoming

addicted to opiates and to help those who already are get treatment, Clapp told Spark that “there’s going to have to be a comprehensive approach across the state”.

“That might include programs that work with physicians and pharmacists on the prescription side of things,” Clapp continued, “or it might include some work with communities and schools to do some primary prevention around heroin use. And then there’s going to be a concerted law enforcement and public effort to get some additional funding for treatment and prevention services in this area.”

Recent years have brought more measures to help people already addicted to opiates by increasing availability and awareness of treatment services. For example, the expansion of Medicaid in Ohio, which was maintained in the fiscal years 2016-17 state budget Ohio Governor John Kasich signed in June, will make it easier for people to get treatment.

And, according to Payton, the BCMHARS is developing a plan for expanding treatment resources, such as increasing the availability of detox facilities, residential treatment and recovery housing.

“Obviously you have a fixed capacity to treat those who are addicted,” BCMHARS Executive Director Scott Rasmus told Spark.

“We want to expand that so that it’s more available and the waiting list times to get into treatment are less.”

Additionally, there have been more efforts to save lives with naloxone (also known as Narcan), a drug which reverses opioid overdoses. Multiple legislative measures have increased the availability of this medication in Ohio, and Payton told Spark that “it would be scary to think about what the overdose death data would be if first responders weren’t administering Narcan constantly.”

Yet not all people support the use of naloxone. Beaver told Spark that “a lot of people think, ‘Oh they can just overdose, and there’s Narcan around.’” Murray, who has observed similar attitudes, believes that people will have to change how they view people addicted to opiates in order for the situation to improve.

“We have to look at it, especially when it comes to young folks here, as my neighbor’s kids or my kids,” Murray said. “If my neighbor’s kids were struggling with addiction, would I let them go? If it were my kids, would I just turn the other way? No. If my neighbor or another school child is struggling with this, we’ve got to all get involved with it, and the community has to look at it like that, or it’s just not going to go away. I’m just afraid it may get worse before it gets better.”

A NEED TO BE NEEDED It is projected that by the year 2020, 25 percent of the workforce will be composed of people 55 years and older.

Called the Silver Tsunami, this expansion of the older population brings into focus issues of social isolation and age equality. story maddie weikel | infographics manjot kalkat | photography sophia spivey and used with permission from maple knoll montessori 18 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

social isolation | news

H

er voice gamboled through the lyrics of “Jingle Bell Rock” for the fourth time, but gleeful enthusiasm drizzled from each note as her audience danced along to the tune. A fifth wave of the classic carol filled the hall, leaving no room for distress from neither the performer nor the listeners. By the sixth time the “jingle hop had begun,” a fan had rolled herself up next to the source of the song, clapping in a rare burst of delight.

Lowering her lyrics sheet, East senior Sophia Todd marveled at the pure light in the eyes of the Heritagespring of Wester Chester assisted living residents.

“I love carolling,” Todd said. “[Heritagespring] might not get as many visitors as they would want, and a little bit of carolling would cheer them up, especially around the holidays. It’s always good to spend time with [residents] because it shows these people that you care about them.”

Sitting adjacent to Heritagespring, Barrington of West Chester Assisted Living is home to more than 300 residents, many of whom have shared stories of exclusion and generalization with Director of Sales and Marketing Lisa Fey. After seven years of tales of tweens subtly speeding up in the mall to pass anyone with wrinkles, men furrowing their brows at the gaudy illustrations of sagging breasts and exposed buttcracks on birthday cards, and cashiers asking how “we” are doing today, Fey is fed up.

“Everybody in our country discriminates against old people,” Fey told Spark. “That’s why it’s so depressing to get old—you get ignored.”

Ageism, a term encapsulating discriminatory behavior toward people of all ages, was coined in 1969 by Dr. Robert Butler specifically because of the dismissive treatment of older adults. Because of underlying negativities that lurk in the buzz of hearing aids and the creases of wrinkled skin, societal perceptions have prodded older adults into feelings of first loneliness and then social isolation.

Through surveying more than 3,000 adults aged 45 and older in “Loneliness Among Older Adults,” AARP concluded that 35 percent of older adults experience loneliness, and the University of California, San Francisco found that 43 percent of older adults feel lonely on a regular basis.

In preparation for the 2015-16 school year, current East National Honor Society (NHS) officers distributed surveys to incoming members to gauge which demographics this senior class is most compelled to help. NHS Secretary and East senior Manjot Kalkat told Spark that the “elderly community” was among the most popular responses, so as a part of the second-quarter project, she spearheaded a series of service opportunities for members to work toward alleviating some of the social isolation that the community’s older adults are experiencing.

“As teenagers, we can forget what it feels

like to be lonely, especially with our busy schedules,” Kalkat, who, along with the other four officers, helped organize a holiday cookie party, carolling visit, and Meals on Wheels valentine-making session, said. “Nobody likes being isolated, so younger generations should feel like they have an obligation to stay connected with older generations. We wanted NHS members to take a step back from the hustle and bustle of their daily lives to do something for people in retirement homes.”

With the intention of eradicating ageism at its roots, intergenerational programming unites a community’s oldest population with one of its youngest, gradually eroding feelings of futility and insignificance. Maple Knoll Village in Springdale, Ohio fosters dynamic relationships among residents of a retirement community and a Montessori early childhood school with a mission that includes the reduction of both social isolation and passiveness among older adults. Through regular intergenerational interactions, Maple Knoll Montessori Child Center Director Meri Fox primarily wants to relieve boredom and inactivity that is stereotypically associated with retirement homes.

1/4 million Americans turn 65 every month, and Ohio’s 85 and older population will triple by 2036 to reach 650,000.

A busy environment is different from a meaningful environment, Miami University Assistant Gerontology Professor Kate de Medeiros told Spark, and intergenerational programming not only gives older participants a “reason to get up in the morning” but also teaches children that older adults are not creatures from the depths of dilapidation.

Before the kids go “upstairs” to the retirement community, Maple Knoll combats any budding ageism through lessons about why residents, whom the students call their “grand-friends,” may be in wheelchairs, on oxygen tanks, or unable to use their hands like the children can.

Six-year resident John Anderson has spent 17 of his 85 years volunteering at Maple Knoll Montessori and has been able to genuinely connect with such young children because of their organic respect for their “grand-friends.”

“A lot of them in skilled care had walkers or canes, and it wasn’t observed by the children as a handicap,” Anderson said. “[The kids] see the changes in the body, the wrinkles in the face,

news | social isolation

Are you afraid of being socially isolated when you are an older adult?

the slowness of older people, and yet they still see the value in these people.”

This reverence and open-mindedness that is cultivated in this group allows social skills that, according to the Child Mind Institute, are deteriorating as the prevalence of recreational technology is flourishing. Fox said that parents express gratitude for Maple Knoll’s programming primarily because their children had grown receptive to and trusting of an older generation from skills as simple as practicing consistent eye contact and understanding the difference between an aid and a handicap. As these children matured, their perception of older adults was free of the stereotypes that today drive a portion of the community into social isolation.

W

hen Anderson was young, he said he never had a clear understanding of the “arch of life” that carries someone from complete malleability and innocence to eventually fading away, and his active involvement with young children propels life in a “normal” and revitalizing sense rather than in a direction of anxiety, depression and fear.

“There can be a feeling of hopelessness, and [residents] can easily get to a point where they’re not doing much,” Fox said, looking at a picture of a laughing resident hugging a Maple Knoll student. “Just looking at the smiles of the residents when the kids walk down the hall, you know that [the intergenerational interactions] are big. The kids give [the residents] a purpose, and we all have that need to be needed.”

Four days a week, the children read books, work with Play Doh, play with the beloved parachute tarp, and engage in various other programs with the older adults without any disciplinary pressure on the children from the residents. University of Akron Professor

out of 395 East students surveyed

62%

38%

yes no

of Psychology Philip Allen told Spark that, if intergenerational programming is not properly planned, older adults could be expected to act as babysitters and then miraculously feel more socially accepted. Because the teachers facilitate the activities “upstairs,” Maple Knoll programs in no way fall victim to Allen’s concern. “[A resident] is just someone who loves [the kids] for who they are,” Fox said. “They don’t love [the kids] because they’re their mom or their dad. They’re just a friendly person who is going to show [the kids] unconditional love and be happy to just play with them.”

Medeiros noted that some older adults need emotional and social support that a toddler can’t provide, and sometimes only a mature companion in whom an older adult can confide can relieve loneliness. Hal Hume works as a home healthcare aide for Home Instead in Naples, Fla., and being 82 years old himself, he recognizes the mutual respect and trust that cements a genuine relationship among older

adults, especially. “[Caregivers] are supposed to use a badge to identify us as a caregiver,” Hume told Spark. “If we go out to the grocery store, I take that badge off and go as a friend. I don’t want people to look at them like they need a caregiver, so that way they feel comfortable.

They keep their dignity.”

In response to ageist criticisms from younger adults, Hume said that they’ll reach the age of these condemned adults only “if they’re lucky.”

Because older adults have lived as long as they have, Miami University Gerontology graduate student and writer for AARP Laura Hahn sees older adults as the “happiest and healthiest” people on Earth, and the opportunity to be a part of an older adult’s full life is exhilarating.

Through the New York-based intergenerational program, Derot, Hahn spent an hour every week for four years with Arthur, an 80-year-old retired English professor who loved olives from the Union Square Farmer’s Market and Broadway shows. Arthur, who was a match for Derot because he was “home-bound,” found a relationship with an authenticity that is validated every day by the framed photograph of Hahn and himself that lived in his apartment years after the conclusion of their weekly adventures. Arthur passed away in November of 2015.

“Older people have fewer chances to make new friends,” Hahn told Spark. “It’s so important to be meeting new people all the time because they’re seeing you for who you are right there. They’re meeting you in the present tense, and there’s so much potential in that.”

U

nlike a grandfather trying to teach his grandchild all the most important lessons while he still can, Arthur, Hahn said, could impart on her whatever wisdom or memory

POPULATION BY GENERATION

After World War II, 76 million “baby boomers” were born and made up nearly 40 percent of the nation’s population. Today, the oldest baby boomers have reached retirement age.

BABY BOOMER GENERATION MILENNIAL GENERATION

52-70

36-51

SILENT GENERATION age today (yrs)

17-35

GENERATION X

71-88

GENERATION Z

0-16

% of today’s U.S. population

born

8.3 1928

47 million 1946

21.1

20.2

76 million

55 million

1965

23.2

25.4 1981

66 million

2000

61 million

sources spark survey, pew research center, whitehouse.gov, u.s. census bureau, money.cnn.com

20 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

social isolation | news

he wanted at that moment because neither of them had an agenda beyond pure friendship.

Because Manhattan is “age-friendly” by the standards of the World Health Organization (WHO), Arthur and Hahn were both able to take the train from his apartment off of Union Square to see a show on Broadway with ease. But only 37 other cities, not including Cincinnati, in the United States are a part of the WHO Global Network of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities.

According to the United States of Aging, 48 percent of socially-isolated seniors anticipated needing help with transportation in 2014, and 36 percent say their community met this need. The WHO Network establishes a city’s commitment to promote participation of older adults in community life through measures such as providing more benches on sidewalks or instituting more frequent bus stops, which, as Hahn said repeatedly, benefit people of all ages who want to wait fewer minutes for public transportation. “[Age-friendly practices] are like intergenerational programming without calling it that,” Hahn said. “These practices allow everyone to have the freedom that we come to expect from life, and it’s sad that at a certain age, you can’t do things like navigating a sidewalk or having a bench when you need it. It comes down to equality and social justice that every person should have the right to a healthy and happy life within their city or community.”

A

ccording to the U.S. Census Bureau, a little more than five percent of adults 65 and older live in nursing homes, congregate care, assisted living and board-and-care homes.

While this number increases with age, Medeiros emphasized the abundance of meaningful relationships embedded in many older adults’ lives. Social isolation is associated with old age, but aging is not an absolute prerequisite of social isolation.

Through years of studying and connecting with older adults from dependent living facilities, Medeiros repeatedly found concerns about social connectivity materializing in conversations with residents. Older adults whose health noticeably deteriorates while in a facility, Medeiros told Spark, experience unexpected ageism within the older community.

Saying that most people define “old” as ten years more than their own age, Medeiros has observed supposed social support systems crumble as residents inch away from being associated with diminishing functions that naturally result from aging.

“If you get ill and go to assisted living while your friends are still in independent living, they won’t come and visit you because there’s a big stigma about health,” Medeiros told Spark. “[Older adults] definitely want to disassociate themselves with appearing weak and appearing dependent, so people [with worsening health] become very lonely.”

SUPER-AGED NATIONS

The world is aging at a rapid rate, and by the year 2030 it is expected that 34 countries will be “super-aged.” This means that more than 20 percent of their population will be over the age of 65 years old.

2015 canada 16%

usa 15%

finland 21%

germany 21% india 6%

tunisia 8%

south africa 6%

uruguay 14%

chile 11%

australia 15%

2030 canada 23%

usa 20%

germany 28%

uruguay 17%

new zealand 15%

finland 25%

india 8%

tunisia 13%

chile 18%

japan 26%

china 10%

south africa 8%

china 16%

japan 31%

australia 19%

new zealand 20%

PERCENT OF POPULATION OVER 65 YEARS OLD not aging aging super-aged aged 0-7 percent

8-14 percent

The United States of Aging found in 2014 that 43 percent of socially-isolated seniors with chronic conditions report receiving little or no support from their friends, family or spouses, and AARP found in 2010 that 55 percent of older adults in poor health experienced loneliness, while 24 percent of people in “very good health” felt the same way.

Older adults who experience social isolation often are ostracized because of this stigma surrounding function, but weakening function can also be a result of social isolation.

After studying how stressors associated with socioeconomic status affect a person’s physical health, internationally acclaimed Rockefeller University neuroscientist Bruce McEwen connected how the sympathetic nervous system (which causes “fight or flight” responses to stressors) is activated by reactions to chronic stress like loneliness to emit negative

15-20 percent

20+ percent

physical health outcomes. Described as allostatic overload, this concept that people will become physically ill if they are unable to cope with loneliness heightens the danger of social isolation among older adults, whose immune systems are less resilient by nature.

Ten years after McEwen published his findings, John Cacioppo led a study at the University of Chicago that ultimately found that a chronic stressor like loneliness can genetically change a person’s response to their sympathetic nervous system from antiinflammatory to proinflammatory.

“A chronic proinflammatory response is associated with an increased risk for obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer,” Allen told Spark. “In a nutshell, if you cannot cope with your social isolation, it will literally make you sick.”

Seeing that the end could be near,

news | social isolation

Maple Knoll Village unites older adults and preschool students in weekly intergeneraltional programs.

older adults who do maintain strong social connections tend to eliminate relationships that are negative or inconvenient, according to Stanford psychologist Laura Carstensen’s socioemotional selectivity theory. Twentyfive percent of AARP’s oldest demographic surveyed (70 and older) felt lonely on a regular basis, while 43 percent of the youngest age demographic surveyed (45-49) experienced similar feelings of isolation. Some of the relationships that wouldn’t make the socioemotional cut are characterized by petty conversations. When Fey accompanied twelve Barrington residents to Petrelli’s restaurant on a weeknight a few weeks ago, the residents barely returned her “chatty Cathy” behavior yet raved the next day about how their silent dinner had been “so much fun.”

“Older adults don’t need to have small talk anymore,” Fey said. “[These residents] were thrilled to get dressed up, get in the van, and go have a nice dinner, and that is socialization enough for them. They might sit at the table and not have a conversation at all and think that is just the cat’s meow.”

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espite this minimalist satisfaction, Barrington facilitates countless activities that are determined based on direct input from the residents to keep them feeling engaged, happy and purposeful. Described as a “social model,” Barrington ensures accessibility and diversity in its programming, part of which is welcoming teenage volunteers and employing high school students, like East senior Madison Dodd, as meal servers.

One-year resident Rita Johnson said she enjoys both hearing students carol during the holidays and catching up with the servers while trying her best to answer any questions they have. Dodd has had both light-hearted and indepth conversations with residents, whether she’s serving a plate of lasagna, hanging out in the nail salon, or arriving early so she could spend some time sipping soft drinks with residents during “happy hour.”

“If I have problems with school, I’ll go and ask them for help,” Dodd said. “It benefits me because they know what they’re talking about.

They have different ways, they’re different people, and it’s just a different perspective.”

Both Johnson and four-year resident Marian

Beck find the social model valuable to their overall experience at Barrington, but Dodd has noticed the man that sits alone at dinner every day and considered the woman that just doesn’t get along with other residents. Medeiros said it is easy to feel “lonely in a crowded room” because, although there is routine in everyday activities, a resident’s longevity is less rigid.

Because older adults have already lost close friends or spouses, they are often hesitant to “get too close” to someone that doesn’t have the time to develop a meaningful relationship.

“I’m just getting into [activities] like [Marian] is doing,” Johnson said. “I’ve been here a year, and it takes adjusting, so I’m just trying to meet people. My problem is I can’t memorize people’s names. I’ve only learned about three or four names, and I talk to a lot of people. With activities, I try to get in and talk, but I still don’t know their names. That’s just a part of life and growing up, I guess.”

I “In a nutshell, if you cannot cope with your social isolation, it will literally make you sick.”

n addition to memory loss, old age is correlated with loss of hearing acuity, and, according to Brandeis University Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology Arthur

—Philip Allen, University of Akron psychology professor 22 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

Wingfield, hearing loss is a significant factor in social isolation among older adults. Despite hearing loss being the third most common agerelated chronic medical problem among older adults, Wingfield told Spark that the average time people discover they have hearing loss to the time they get hearing aids is 10 years, and 60 percent of older adults that should be wearing hearing aids are not, predominantly because of the subconscious stigma associated functional impairments.

“At the end of the day, they are physically and emotionally exhausted from struggling just to hear what people say; they withdraw from talking to people or putting themselves in social situations,” Wingfield told Spark.

“You have people who used to love to go to concerts, lectures, talks and parties, and they find themselves, because hearing acuity is such a trouble for them, not going out anymore.”

Whether through age-friendly practices that are no-brainers” to Hahn, meaningful interactions with children, or daily conversations with teens, older adults who experience social isolation can only benefit from an increased recognition and consideration from the community. Anderson wouldn’t dare choose a retirement home that didn’t offer the opportunity to learn and love with kids, and Hahn still talked with Arthur years after she parted with Derot.

“I realized that I might have been getting more out of the experience than my friend Arthur really was,” Hahn said. “That’s what’s wonderful about intergenerational relationships—there’s a reciprocity about it. I was technically the volunteer for this organization, but he was giving me just as much as I was giving him, or possibly even more, and it doesn’t get much better than that.”

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feature | student

RED, WHITE AND BLUE Broadening her horizons and traveling to the other side of the world, East foreign exchange student Victoire Retornaz has come to Ohio from France for the 20152016 school year to learn about a different culture. story karmi white | photo illustration sydney rader

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s she steps off the plane at CVG airport, her black hair blowing in the wind and her smile lighting up the terminal, East foreign exchange student Victoire Retornaz quickly realizes that she won’t be needing her ski gear in Ohio. She has left behind the Appalachian Mountains in France in exchange for highways and shopping centers, all for the sake of learning and traveling.

Retornaz is from Chambéry, France and had the opportunity to be a foreign exchange student for a school year, her first two choices being between Mexico and Brazil. However, when her parents told her that she would be going to America, she was disappointed she couldn’t travel to Mexico or Brazil, but now she couldn’t be happier because of relationships that have made Ohio better than she could have ever expected.

Due to budget cuts in the Lakota Local School District, East has not had a foreign exchange student for at least five years, according to East guidance counselor Matt Rabold. This year, East welcomed two foreign exchange students, Daniel Posmik from Munich, Germany and Retornaz. Whether it be because they want to receive a better education or simply want to experience a different culture,

every foreign exchange student has a different goal when they arrive in the new country.

“I chose to do the foreign exchange student program because I love traveling, and I thought it would be a life-changing experience to stay with a family and just see how they live,” says Retornaz.

Retornaz had the same daily schedule back in Chambéry. She would wake up around 7 a.m. and then go to have breakfast with her best friend, Caroline, at Café de Paris. School would then start at 10 a.m., and at noon, she would get out of school. Then Retornaz would go home to have lunch with her family for two hours and then go back to school until 6 p.m.

Her family remains close though her and her two younger brothers spend most of their days at school.

“It was really weird when I came here because you guys go to school so early and it’s so [fast,]” says Retornaz. “At home we can’t have a job until we are 18 because the whole day we are going to school. There’s really no time for work.”

Going from a small town in France founded in 1295 to a more recent and developing town was overwhelming for Retornaz. The distance between one landmark and another

24 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

was something else that shocked Retornaz because everything in her town is close together.

“Everything is just so big. The food, the distance between everything, just everything,” says Retornaz. “Your small drink is maybe a large for us, and your pizza slices. Your pizza slices are huge, but good.”

One thing Retornaz misses aside from her family and friends is the ability to walk wherever she wants. The idea of having to drive everywhere isn’t her favorite thing about America because it takes away some of the freedom she had back home.

“In my town, everyone walked everywhere. If we couldn’t walk, we would take the train or bike,” says Retornaz. “Here, you guys don’t have trains, and everything is

East foreign exchange student Victoire Retornaz shows her French nationality.

so far away that it would take forever to walk. I just miss the freedom of being able to just walk if I wanted to walk somewhere.”

Though it wasn’t her ideal place to stay for her studying abroad experience, Retornaz has gained much more from this experience than she could have ever imagined. Retornaz now believes that the place to which she was sent to doesn’t matter because it’s about the people she meets. Retornaz says that she has learned to open up to many people she never thought she would have and that her new friends have taught her to be a more tolerant person.

“I love everyone I’m with,” says Retornaz with a smile on her face. “It’s so great to be able to be here and meet such amazing people.”

This year Erin Metz, one of the two twins with whom Retornaz is living, will be traveling

to France to experience French culture and spend more time with Victoire in her country.

Metz and her twin sister, Emily, are only two of the many people with whom Retornaz has built everlasting friendships.

“Victoire has opened me up to an entirely new world past the United States,” says Erin.

“It always amazes me how this incredible French girl came to Liberty Township, Ohio and taught not only me, but my entire family, so much about French ideas and culture.”

Not only will Retornaz be taking back souvenirs and way too many bags but also all the experiences and relationships she has built in America. Retornaz can’t wait to show Erin her home and her historical hometown Erin can bring back a different culture to her own family.

“Victoire has been an incredible addition to our household,” says Roger Metz, Erin’s father. “We get to learn about her culture, we get to see the comparisons between the two countries, and she has taught us so much. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It’s incredible.”

Another adult who is a strong supporter of the foreign exchange program and has had the opportunity to know Victoire well is East French teacher, Madame Ashley. Ashley believes that foreign exchange students bring a new perspective into the classroom, ultimately teaching everyone something new.

“She brings real-life experience to the class, so the students can see that they are learning French for a real purpose,” says Ashley. “I know Victoire has made friends that have changed her life just as she had changed theirs.”

feature | dart

NO BUSINESS

LIKE SHOW BUSINESS

Breaking down the barriers between the academic and theatrical world, East junior Alex Szuch has brought these two passions together to create a future worth singing about. story alyssa hetterich | photography illustration maya wells

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doring fans line the aisles, chanting his name and repeating their favorite lines from the play. Their anticipation and enthusiasm peak as they see the character who has captured their hearts—The Bill. This idol of theirs stands a head or two taller than them, yet his endearing nickname, “Burrito,” is able to level this superstar’s persona down to their fourth-grade size.

East junior Alex Szuch is no stranger to the stage, or devoted fans, whether he is performing on stage or coaching them on the Upward league sidelines.

Starring in East’s production of “Cinderella” in last year’s musical as the role of “Prince Charming,” Szuch became enthralled in the theater world, dedicating himself to being in as many plays as possible this year, including the fall production of “Schoolhouse Rock!,” where he nabbed the role of The Bill.

On top of learning lines and memorizing music, the friendships he has made with his fellow cast members has been one of many gripping factors for Szuch. “[The theater family] is definitely a close group of people. People think we’re a little weird because we spend a lot of time together, on and off the stage,” says Szuch. “Besides working together two hours a day at rehearsal, it’s a lot of hanging out as friends as well.”

One such friendship has been with Brianna O’Neil, the stage manager

26 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

for the recent production of “The Night I Died at The Palace Theater,” who has participated in plays and choir with Szuch allowing her to see his singing and acting skills develop further.

“Alex is definitely a leader in choir and theater,” says O’Neil. “He spends a lot of his extra help periods in the choir room practicing his music for choir or a particular show.”

This sense of leadership and responsibility as well as a desire to learn are just a few things that set Szuch apart, not to mention his immense devotion to his passions.

Szuch’s love for singing began at an early age, says his mother, Donna Szuch, who explains that Alex was always singing for his family at reunions and for the holidays. Watching him in the choir and on stage have been proud moments for Donna, who gets to watch her little boy completely embrace one of his interests.

“He’s always been an entertainer, pretty much since he could talk,” says Donna. “He started singing really early on, and he was singing full songs by the age of two. He’s always loved to perform.”

However, the boy who has grown up to become a performer has not yet lost his childlike vitality. Whether he’s spending time with his fans after a performance or cheering for elementary school players and calling plays from the sidelines of his recreational basketball team and flag football team, Alex uses what he learns from them to understand

Lakota East junior Alex Szuch sitting where he feels at home within East—on the theater stage .

their ever changing complexities.

“Flag football really applies in working with personalities as you see a lot more differences in kids of a younger age,” says Alex. “Kids can be so impulsive. Some of them are really mature for their ages, but it’s just getting to know kids of different types and then getting to work with them.”

Working with kids is something Alex can see for himself in the future, potentially in pediatrics combined with entrepreneurship. Though he has found himself to be passionate about theater, he doesn’t let the longlasting rehearsals and late-night performances distract him from the quality of his studies.

While it may seem that the worlds of theater and academics don’t go hand-in-hand, it is a stereotype that Alex wishes to break. By participating and excelling in both, he hopes to open people’s eyes to the fact that a singer may also be an intellectual, and vice versa.

“I try to keep [theater and academics] separate because I feel like if you’re looked at as being a specific archetype, people start to expect things from you,” says Alex. “People tend to put you into one group, and I like to think of myself as being versatile and able to do many different and interesting things.”

Through taking classes like speech, Alex has been able to integrate the public speaking skills he learned with his onstage performances as

well. Speech class has helped him to connect to the audience. East choir teacher Becky Huddilston shares how Alex’s onstage persona mirrors his offstage charisma because both work in conjunction to create performances that continually engage theater patrons.

“He’s still learning a lot, and it’s fun to watch him grow. [In “The Night I Died at the Palace Theater”], Alex played Luther Wallace, who is not so sophisticated or intelligent, which is not [Alex] at all. It’s fun to watch him as the character because he brings a whole new spin to it,” Huddilston laughs. “He’s a brainy kid trying to play not-so-brainy, and it’s hysterical.”

Brain and wit aside, Alex does not let the differences affect how he portrays his characters—the mark of a true performer. And yet, it is his intellect that he hopes to use one day in pursuit of success and happiness in the medical field.

No matter where Alex’s heart or brain may lead him, it is clear to all, including his girlfriend Bryn Morgan, that the boy who has grown up to love the stage and his studies will be more than capable to do either in the future.

“He’s reliable in that he pretty much is always on top of his responsibilities,” says Morgan. “He has such a lasting impact on everyone who knows him and everyone who meets him, and I couldn’t imagine choir or theater without him.”

feature | district

BEST

DAY EVER

The life of Emma Turner has not been what she or her family could have imagined, but with a new service dog and school, she has learned to adjust and enjoy each day.

story michelle chu | photography sydney rader

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mma will never tell you that she is hurting. She doesn’t know any different. This is the only life that she knows. Her heart is so determined, and her will is so strong.

Hunched over, kindergartener Emma Turner is clutching a green marker and drawing.

Her skewed ponytail bounces as she sets the marker down, admiring her letters, before picking up a pair of scissors. After several cuts, she glues the strips of paper onto the fluorescent pink paper, intently smoothing out the edges. Finally satisfied with her masterpiece, she holds it out, ready to give it away.

“This is for you,” says Turner, handing it to Wyandot Early Childhood School reading specialist Joetta Rader. Her blue eyes smile when Rader takes the drawing and thanks Turner.

During this exchange, Turner’s golden lab Francesco, nicknamed Franco by his family, lies comfortably next to his six-year old owner.

Although he appears to be asleep, he’s prepared to spring up at any moment if Turner is in distress.

With only her leg braces peeking out from underneath the table, Turner’s animated grin could never give away the numerous appointments and struggles she’s endured in the past four-and-a-half years. She is diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome hypermobility type and hypotonic cerebral palsy. Ehlers, which affects about 1 in 10,000 to 15,000 people, according to Genetics Home Reference, a service of the US National Library Italicized text signifies a Facebook post from Jen and Jon Turner.

of Medicine, is a mutation in proteins that support tissues like skin called collagens.

This causes Emma’s skin to bruise easily and her ligaments to become similar to rubber bands, while the cerebral palsy makes it difficult for Emma to control her movements. And more recently, Emma’s team of doctors suspected additional metabolic issues, which drain her energy that may be a kind of Mitochondrial Syndrome or Metabolic Cytopathy.

“Emma fits these symptoms, but it’s not absolute,” says Emma’s father, Jon Turner. “It’s not like there’s a test yet. These are the genetic markers: she has an extra chromosome, she has Down’s Syndrome.”

Still, Jon and his wife, Jen Turner, are quick to point out the “rainbows” of the family’s lives. Last autumn, Emma was paired with her service dog, Franco, from 4 Paws for Ability in Xenia, Ohio, a service dog agency that pairs young dogs with children. And soon after that, the family moved from Xenia to Liberty Township to live closer to Cincinnati Children’s Medical Center for the appointments.

On her part, Emma is jealous of neither her little sister, Elle Turner, nor her classmates at school. She is used to the hospital appointments and resting her body to preserve energy. At school, when her aid Cathy Tonyan asks if she

28 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

would like to continue individualized speech class or go to the “resting room,” Emma happily obliges to the resting room.

Together, Emma, Franco and Tonyan listen to an audio book about a little boy who wishes for a snow day while Emma lays on a cot. The sound of Emma crunching on fruit slices accompanies the soft “ping” in the CD that signals a page turn. Even the small act of asking Emma to eat food or drink Gatorade periodically during the school day is closely observed by Tonyan, who knows that this is how they keep Emma alert for the next several hours.

“It’s hard for me because [Emma] can’t run,” says Jen, “but she stops and smells every single flower and wants to pick up every ladybug, wishes on every flower: all these kids zip around and miss all of that, and she appreciates every tiny, little thing. It doesn’t matter if it takes her ten minutes to get down the hall, she’s going to appreciate everything along the way.”

We refuse to let Emma’s medical challenges rob

district | feature

Left: Emma works at her class table with Franco by her side.

Top: Franco remains watchful for signs of Emma’s fatigue.

Bottom: Emma and Franco have an everlasting lasting friendship together.

her of any more time. She deserves to be able to play in the yard, instead of spending her life driving to appointments. She deserves to be like any other 6 year old.

Emma’s journey began when Jen took her daughter to a fitness therapy assessment.

Although Emma hadn’t begun walking, the doctor’s prognosis was shocking to the family.

Going in, Jen thought Emma just didn’t want to walk, but the doctor listed off other specialists and programs to call and told her there was something “very, very wrong.” When she later informed Jon, he was shocked too. “[It’s like] this morning you woke up with a normal kid,” says Jon, going back to when he Jen informed him of the appointment. “Then, all of a sudden you find out later on in the day, well, that may not be the case.”

Hospital visits and rounds of testing helped the family discover the root of the diagnosis and identify possible solutions. At times, the specialists would have a breakthrough and suggest just one more enzyme and help Emma preserve energy. But then other moments would

eclipse the victories, and she would experience what her team calls “the perfect storm,” which is when the symptoms of Ehlers, cerebral palsy and metabolic issues are at its highest level, often causing seizures.

Even now, much of Emma’s condition remains murky; the interventions the Turners have tried—extra electrolytes, sugars, rest and therapies—have yielded breakthroughs but not the cure.

“All [the doctors] know is that, unfortunately, Emma has the perfect combination of things that work together to work against her,” says Jen, “and that from this point forward we should stop trying to name it and start trying to better manage Emma’s symptoms.”

Now, emboldened with the hospital team, Wyandot staff and Franco, Emma and her parents look toward the day she will be able to run freely.

Our new journey starts today. The adventures of Emma and Franco!

Finding Emma having a seizure in her sleep was a blow to Jen, who then began to keep vigil

at night or had Emma sleep with herself and Jon. In 2013, a friend suggested a seizure-alert service dog for Emma to help alleviate Jen’s worries. Never having considered a service dog, Jen looked into 4 Paws. Jen became hopeful and announced the decision to Emma even before consulting Jon. Once the application for a service dog was approved, the family fundraised $13,000 for a dog’s basic care and training equipment in an astonishing six-to-eight weeks. But they had to wait a year and a half before taking the dog home.

Between the period of fundraising and meeting the dog, says 4 Paws trainer Brittany Leep, the dog passes through a series of trainings: prison inmates teach basic obedience called Mission Pawsible, dogs experience daily lifestyle with a foster dog family (Franco stayed with a college student to adapt to the academic environment), and finally dogs train to learn the specific needs of their the children. “[The training director] goes through and looks at all the reports on the dogs from when they are born about every outing it has ever been on and about the advanced training reports,” Leep says. “She goes through [to match a child with a dog] and the matches she makes are right on. Most often than not, it’s a match made in heaven, a Franco-and-Emma type of match.”

While Franco had experienced the school environment with the college student, different preparations were done for both him and Emma when they arrived at Wyandot.

“It’s the first time we’ve had a service dog ... continued on page 68

feature | cool place

The inside and outside of True West coffee shop located on 313 Main Street, Hamilton.

TRUE WEST

A unique little treasure of downtown Hamilton, True West coffee shop has had four successful years of giving its customers a cup of coffee and a sense of belonging. story peyton cox | photography cara sieber | infographic tyler bennett

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hining lanterns hang from the ceiling, a warm fireplace burns brightly, and the friendly faces of workers and regulars fill the coffee shop. These are just some of the things that make True West unique.

True West owners Vanessa, also an independent graphic designer, and Chris Cannon have had the dream of owning a coffee shop since they first met. But they never thought in their wildest dreams that 2,000 people a week would be hanging out at their coffee shop.

Seven years ago, Chris was laid off of from a company called Interstate Warehousing, where he did logistics. He had been working for the company for 10 years, but when the economy took a turn, Chris’s job took a hit. The news was hard to handle at first, but they both felt like they were being called to take a chance and do something that they’ve been wanting to do.

“Losing my job was stressful, but it really wasn’t. I kind of looked at it as a blessing,” says Chris. “I felt free to do what I wanted to do.”

With Chris out of a job, there was more time to put into a business. They began to look for a place where they could run True West and ended up finding the gray, brick,

Where True West’s coffee comes from and how it’s prepared for the coffee shop. source deeperrootscoffee.com CAFÉ

HOW IT’S MADE

two-story house located on Main Street, filled with character and a sense of hope. True West has been open for four years now. The Cannons got the idea for the coffee shop name from their children. Their daughter’s name is Penelope True, and their son’s name is West.

The Cannons also have another daughter named Clementine, but she was not born when they first opened the coffee shop.

“We felt crazy miracles. We ended up finding this place, which was completely gutted and had to start from scratch,” says Vanessa.

“We took a year to renovate it and drained our 401(k) savings plan and bank account. We made it a place and started our business.”

Things were finally starting to fall into place for the Cannons. They had friends who were able to help supply them with quality coffee while they were able to help others. They got the coffee from a company called Deeper Roots, where the coffee beans come directly from farmers. By doing this, the Cannons are able to impact whole villages by contributing to their community.

The Cannons’ mission from day one has been to treat their customers with respect and give them a sense of value and to also help

1.

CAFÉ

With the help of Deeper Roots Development, coffee beans are harvested by Guatemalan farmers.

2.

The coffee is sent directly to Deeper Roots Coffee in Cincinnati, where the coffee is roasted.

30 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

3.

TRUE WEST COFFEE

Lastly, the coffee is brewed and served by True West Coffee.

others to the best of their abilities.

“We really wanted to serve the city of Hamilton and make it a place where people could feel loved, respected and honored while having a place to do work and come, no matter what their age is,” says Vanessa. “I want someone to know that just because they’re 16 doesn’t mean that they don’t have value. I just want people to feel good.”

Hamilton County Vice Mayor Rob Wile has experienced the first hand impact that True West has had on the community and also how it has become a local favorite.

“True West has had an incredibly positive effect on the community, and it’s the meeting place for a lot of businesses in the city,” says Wile. “True West has had a positive ripple effect on other businesses located in Hamilton County.”

Along with bringing business to Hamilton, the True West also created job opportunities for those who had not had any. When hiring their baristas, they make sure that the baristas are always willing to put their customers first.

The Cannons’ passion for others is what drives them to make True West a place where people can feel like they are at home.

The Cannons are currently in the process of opening a True West in Hamilton High School.

Vanessa and Chris are both Young Life leaders at Hamilton. The two became very involved in Young Life when they met at Ohio University.

The two attended Young Life as high schoolers as well.

East senior Ariel Williams has been involved in Young Life since her freshman year of high school. One of her favorite things about True West is that when she goes there, she can always connect with other Young Life members and leaders.

“The people who work here are very kind,

student | feature

Julia Kuhr standing in front of her painting titled, “Double Vision.”

BEAUTY IN THE BRISTLES

Determined to spread her love for art to not only her peers but also to the community, East junior Julia Kuhr has dedicated her life to her award-winning creations.

story meredith walters | photography illustration maya wells

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he and her family were running late to Columbus where the Martin Luther King, Jr. Art, Writing and Multimedia Contest award ceremony had already begun. Just as she slipped in the back door with a sigh of relief, a certainly nerve-wracking thing happened: she had to give a surprise speech.

However, East junior Julia Kuhr’s free-spirited, bubbly personality got her through it just fine; she even managed to make the audience laugh by cracking a joke. Her fearless, confident personality shines everywhere she goes, whether it’s in the crowded halls of East or in the art studio.

Kuhr has been drawing and painting in her mother’s art studio since she was young with the influence of her creative family.

“Art and making art has always been a part of our household,” says Julia’s mother, Theresa, who has encouraged Julia’s interest in art from day one.

The Kuhr family is a long line of artists including an uncle who’s an architect and an aunt who pursues interior design. Even as a child, Julia showcased her creative mind by inventing imaginative games with her older sister, Ella.

Julia’s artistic talents lie on a broad spectrum ranging from metal pieces, sketching and painting to modeling, acting and singing. Julia won a silver key with one of her metal pieces in the Scholastic Art Awards that was created within the four walls of her art classroom.

“I’ve been [teaching art class] for ten years, and she is one of my best students I’ve had roll through with her skillset,” says East art teacher, Jesse Dornan.

Yet, Julia’s art is not confined to East because she uses social media to share her work with others. While scrolling aimlessly past the endless selfies and pictures of dogs on Instagram, one might pass a refreshing picture with a little more substance than the average post.

“When I’m in the mood to boost my confidence, I’ll draw something and post it [on social media] instead of just a picture of myself,” says Julia.

In addition to posting on social media, Julia continues to expand her portfolio in hopes of developing her skills for college by starting a blog dedicated to everything she does with art.

One of her most recent paintings, a selfportrait on a canvas taller than her, two-feet-

by-six-feet tall, is dear to her heart with it being her first professional painting. Theresa said Julia stepped outside her comfort zone without fear, effortlessly throwing paint down to create her own masterpiece. This painting, titled “Double Vision,” can be found amongst all of Julia’s other award-winning art projects hanging in the art wing.

Julia draws her inspiration from places she visits on her frequent adventures. Taking her friends on spontaneous trips to new places in downtown Cincinnati is one way Julia uses outside influences to energize her art and to grow her friendships. One friendship that has grown with each adventure is with East junior Gabbie Glossner.

“She is really upbeat and caring all of the time,” says Glossner.

Julia intends to stay with art for as long as she can. She is planning on developing her abilities by pursuing a career in film-making and acting.

“The dream would be to win an Oscar,” Julia shares. “Now, when I go to the movies, I listen and pay attention to music and stuff like that.

When I’m watching a movie, I get so mad because I’m not in the movie.”

Although winning an Oscar is the dream, reaching a place where she is truly content and satisfied is the ultimate goal toward which Julia is working. “[I want to] just get somewhere where I’m always happy,” says Julia with a smile, “and to bring a difference with some creativity in other people’s lives.”

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package | anxiety

Swelling expectations placed on teens have incited increased rates of anxiety among adolescents. With the help of medications, therapies and social support, students across the nation are working to graduate from

ANXIETY

HIGH G

story john ferguson | infographic sean mcgraw | art sarah aftab | *denotes name change

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he lies in bed, eyes squeezed shut, body shaking uncontrollably. She takes several deep breaths to try to calm down, but they do nothing. Her chest tightens into an intolerable pain as fragmented thoughts and emotions flash by in an instant.

This is East sophomore Lexi Johansen’s* daily experience with a panic attack, a sudden episode of fear that triggers severe physical reactions when there is no apparent danger.

“People think it’s just ‘anxiety’ like stress, but it’s much more than that,” Johansen says. “It took me two years just to finally have the nerve to see [a counselor].”

After moving to the Cincinnati area from Maine at the start of middle school, Johansen noticed that she began to have panic attacks regularly during eighth grade. The problem grew progressively worse until she lost more than ten pounds in one month, raising suspicions among her family members that something may be wrong.

Johansen is not alone. The number of American teenagers who suffer from some type of mental health disorder is at a record

high. According to the Child Mind Institute’s 2015 Mental Health Report, 17.1 million young people between 13-18 years old have a psychiatric disorder. Anxiety is the most common, affecting nearly 32 percent of this group.

Maryland Education Coordinator for the American Psychological Association Dr. Mary Alvord says that it’s a mixed matter.

“Anxiety is a range of so many things—it’s a continuum,” Alvord tells Spark. “Everyone experiences some anxiety to a moderate level, and it can be helpful because it motivates us. When you get into an anxiety disorder, it’s where you’re worrying too many days of the week, and it starts interfering with your functioning.”

Anxiety is not new despite it being classified as a clinical disorder only in the past 30 years. Dr. Scott Woodruff, a licensed psychologist at the Behavior Therapy Center of Greater Washington, attributes the recent increased conversation to today’s college game.

“Certainly the path to college has gotten more competitive,” Woodruff says. “There’s greater pressure for extracurricular activities and academic achievement, [plus] relentless pressure

34 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

from parents, who often don’t understand how things have changed.”

For some, it may start as soon as kindergarten, says Alvord. Playtime becomes a competitive sport. The struggle to excel overshadows the joy of learning. Friends are reduced to a social connection.

“For high school students, I think it’s the sheer competitiveness that’s driving this vicious cycle,” Alvord says. “Instead of applying for three or four schools, now it’s 15.”

According to the National Association for College Admission Counseling, nine percent of teens applied to ten or more colleges in 1990. In its most recent survey in 2011, the number has risen to 29 percent.

Johansen’s father, Mike Johansen*, agrees that the societal perception of anxiety has continued to be a taboo topic of discussion.

“It still remains a problem because there are those that think it’s a weakness of character, you should just be able overcome things, or you should be able to just suck it up and deal with it,” Mike says. “I think that’s the approach that creates stigma itself.”

Alvord agrees but believes that society is doing much better. She says that she was pleased with the June 2015 Pixar release, “Inside Out.” The animated film was based on actual consultations with numerous psychologists on a young girl’s five personified emotions as she struggled to adapt to a new home.

“It not only portrayed five emotions, but so many more,” Alvord says. “It taught kids that it is okay to have all of these emotions and that they can be talked about openly.”

Along with the cutthroat competition of the Millennials, the power of social media is also taking its toll on teens. A clear generational divide, this generation is the first to have unlimited communication via technology. While it has the power to connect people, many question the potential consequences.

“In this age of social media, you’ve got all sorts of expectations,” Woodruff says. “People are putting their ‘best foot forward online,’ and

“We’re more aware of this generation’s ‘addiction with perfection,’ and people think that’s reality.

‘Perfect’ is starting to become normal,”

—Lexi Johansen,* East sophomore

you’re essentially comparing yourself to an idealized reality, so of course you’re going to fall short of that gap.”

With smartphones now practically an additional limb, experts question “technology addiction” as a leading cause of anxiety. In a 2015 report, the Pew Research Center revealed that 24 percent of teens go online “almost constantly,” and 92 percent of teens report going online daily, which opens doors for unrealistic expectations.

For Johansen, these are more than just statistics because the overwhelming presence of social media is a huge factor in her personal anxiety.

“People feel like they have so much power on social media and say things they would never say in real life,” Lexi says. “I think we’re so much more aware of this generation’s ‘addiction with perfection,’ and people think that’s reality.

‘Perfect’ is starting to become normal.”

Coupled with a rise in research-based cognitive therapy, methods of treating mental illnesses like anxiety have become controversial, especially the use of medication.

“Going back into the mid-1990s, the

20 18 percent of 404 East students surveyed have been diagnosed with one or more anxiety disorders, and and additional

predominant model for anxiety treatment was more behavioral intervention. Then in the 1970s, there was a greater increase in terms of the importance of thoughts, particularly the idea of cognitive distortion,” Woodruff says. “Now the treatment of choice is cognitive behavioral therapy, which means looking at the way your thoughts, feelings and behaviors interact.”

A former therapist himself, Mike says that medication was not the right approach in treating Lexi’s anxiety, despite suggestions by her therapist.

“Medication for anxiety has been around for a long time, and it was pretty common for physicians and psychiatrists to dole it out like candy,” Mike says. “I think with the prefrontal cortex being not fully developed until age 25, I’m not sure you want to mess with brain chemistry by throwing medication at the problem.”

Alvord also suggests that this is the first generation to have a substantial amount of choices and options that were never available to previous generations, leading to an extraordinary amount of stress and anxiety. After Baby Boomers were told by their parents, who grew up through the Great Depression and World Wars I and II, that a stable job was the key to success and happiness, Generation X parents then passed on the message that the “sky was the limit.”

The explosion of options in nearly everything have taken this generation by storm. From movies on Netflix, to college and career choices, to daily dinner menus, these choices give rise to anxiety. Priya Parker, the founder of Thrive Labs at the Harvard Kennedy School theorizes that unlike parents, this generation now has the unprecedented freedom to choose, which is the prime reason for an increase in anxiety.

Research shows that college students today

70%

of 424 East students surveyed have anxiety about coming to school every day.

anxiety | package

percent of 404 East students surveyed regularly experience feelings of anxiety.

will expectedly switch majors an average of three times before they graduate, and six-inten employed Millennials have already switched careers. All of these choices have culminated to embody the phrase, “FOBO,” (the fear of better options), coined by Parker. She explains in a talk at TEDxCambridge 2011 that what ultimately creates this anxiety is the subconscious solution of freezing up in the face of an overwhelming amount of choices.

“Choosing one door to walk through means other doors will close. Rather than go through any doorway, it’s better to stand in the atrium and gaze,” one of Parker’s “Millennial Leadership” study subjects says.

In parallel with the rising trend of teen anxiety, treatment has changed to address growing concerns. From advances in medication to new branches of therapy, the field of mental illness treatment is constantly evolving to address growing concerns. Alvord says the change needs to happen in school.

“I really advocate for more mental health services within schools because that’s where kids are six hours a day. That’s where you’re going to make the impact,” Alvord tells Spark. “Here we are as the premier country of the world, but we’re still sadly lagging.”

As Lexi still continues to struggle with anxiety, she has some simple advice for those that may be suffering from a similar mental illness. In the wake of increasing incidences of teen anxiety, worried thought and sporadic self doubt are not uncommon.

“Find people that make you feel wanted and loved,” Lexi says. “Talk to people, and try to be open. Let your true person come out. Be different.”

8%

80%

of teenagers in the United States have an anxiety disorder

of teenagers with anxiety are not being treated

sources nami.org, adaa.org, spark survey

package | anxiety

FROM AN EARLY AGE Anxiety affects people of all ages, and often feelings of anxiety can develop when children are still in elementary school. As they mature in other aspects of their lives, they also adapt their feelings of anxiety to changing environments that come with adolescence. story logan lockhart | art sarah aftab

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he room is small and cozy with just enough light to see. The walls are lined with books and two soft, creme-colored chairs are next to a deep brown table set in the back of the room. On the table is a small sandbox with tools for sculpting the sand. On the other side, a clean desk faces the table with various colorful posters surrounding it.

Many kids pass in and out of the door to this room; it is the room of the seven-year school counselor at Independence Elementary School Kelly Carstens. She’s responsible for as many as one out of every five students here who may suffer from a mental disorder, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Carstens started out teaching first grade for five years before earning a master’s degree in school counseling in 1996. That same year, she began counseling grades three through six in Cleveland City Schools for seven years. She later moved to Cincinnati and continued her counseling at Independence.

Carstens helps with the development of children and with the treatment of their anxiety. According to the Association of Young People’s Health, in 2013 more than half of the adults with mental health problems were diagnosed in their childhood.

In the course of 14 days in December, Carstens saw 93 children, had 35 teacher administrator meetings, and had lunch meetings with 104 children.

It’s fair to say Carstens has had an impact on many people in Independence and all of the people that enter into that cozy little room.

“I love when I see a child in a family resolve an issue, and solve a problem,” Carstens says.

“I love when someone has that ‘aha’ moment” Her job requires combating both the growing anxiety and seeing children struggle with emotions on a daily basis, but Carstens takes it all in stride.

“I get to live what I love,” Carstens says.

Some may see this as a challenge; however, Carstens sees it as an opportunity to be able to do something great in a child’s life. She tries to spread love and kindness to the children on a daily basis.

“I [enjoy] seeing people solve problems and feel good about themselves, and I also love the opportunity to lift others up,” Carstens, mother of two, says. “I feel a responsibility to spread

time to help one of her clients. Often she will take children to the hospital and stay with them while they are getting treatment until their family arrives.”

While an exact cause can not be identified in cases of generalized anxiety, Carstens believes that anxiety among children sometimes is due to change or a traumatic event, like moving to a new school or a divorce.

The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act known as FERPA restricts elementary student testimonies because of confidentiality, so the students that Carstens works with on a daily basis could not comment.

Although almost all students feel anxious at times, Carstens says that there is a clear difference between being anxious as a child and having a real case of anxiety. joy and give my love and support. I love the fact I can do that all the time in my job.”

Since the beginning of her counseling career, the field and diagnosis procedure for anxiety has changed significantly.

“When I began counseling back in 1996, I saw more test-taking anxiety in young children because they weren’t used to taking tests, so we focused a lot on just test-taking anxiety,” Carstens says. “Now we take so many tests, I don’t see our kids having as much test-taking anxiety as generalized anxiety disorder.”

N

ow, her presence is felt at Independence Elementary, and she is always seen with a smile on her face. Everyone in the front office seems to know each other well and be able to support and encourage one another no matter how stressful things get.

Four-year secretary at Independence Susan Fischer has known Carstens for almost 20 years and has nothing but high praise for the compassion and care that Carstens shows.

“She’s very compassionate and very thoughtful,” Fischer says. “[Carstens] really cares about the kids and adults as well. You couldn’t find a nicer human being.”

Scott Carstens, Kelly’s husband of 22 years, agrees with Fischer’s opinion of Carstens.

“She is selfless and works to support all her clients, which she considers friends,” Scott says.

“She will forget to eat or give up her personal

36 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

C

arstens feels that this is a problem that children from all walks of life are forced to battle on a daily basis, regardless of circumstances. According to a 2015 issue of the American Journal of Family Therapy, early elementary students receive about three times as much homework as what is recommended by educators.

“I wouldn’t say [anxiety] is more consistent in a particular grade,” Carstens says. “Boys and girls of all different homes and different circumstances experience it.”

This wide-reaching mental illness can range from symptoms including heavy breathing, sweating, irritability and muscle aches that can persist for more than six months on end.

Carstens has seen all types of anxiety and works daily to help children combat these effects of anxiety, creating a “toolbox” for children including techniques such as selftalk, visualization, journaling, music, talking to people and books.

These methods are used on a daily basis in many cases in coping with the stresses a child might face.

“Many of the things that were happening with [one child] were things he couldn’t change, and he was worrying about things he had no control over,” Carstens says. “This was causing him to have symptoms of physical illness, so he was actually feeling like he was going to throw up.”

Carstens was able to better address and

anxiety | package

“Now we take so many tests, I don’t see our kids having as much test- W taking anxiety.”

“I’m really afraid of being kidnapped,” Peterson says, “even though strangers don’t bother me.”

Despite this fear, Peterson enjoys skateboarding, running and playing Minecraft, and his primary form of creative release is dance. For more than three years, Peterson has been training, competing and finding solace at the Star Performance Centre. Looking down to the audience while dancing on stage, Peterson feels safe during each performance.

—Kelly Carstens, Independence Elementary counselor combat the situation through getting the anxiety and worry of the student to be more tangible, asking the student to draw what the feeling looked like and name it.

They progressed through the identification of how much of a presence that feeling had over the student, and continued to try to get the feeling to a manageable size creating a more healthy mix of emotions.

“A little bit of fear isn’t bad,” Carstens says, “but when it takes over your life and you can’t do things because you’re physically sick, that’s when we have to do something.”

YOUNG

LIFE

story garrison grasty | art sarah aftab

A

fter a long day of school at Independence Elementary, sixth grader Bennett Peterson approached an empty house. All he could think about was when his family would be home, and anxious thoughts raced through his head. He didn’t feel safe. He just wanted them to be home.

ith a fear of kidnapping, child psychologist Angela Burris says that a child hearing about a kidnapping or a car wreck on the news adds severity to the child’s anxiety.

“Some students are very creative,” Burris tells Spark. “This can cause them to worry about global issues.”

Bennett was hesitant to tell his parents about his feelings of anxiety because he was afraid they wouldn’t understand, but they noticed he wasn’t acting like he typically would.

A child not coming directly to their parents expressing issues they may have is common among children with anxiety. According to a research study conducted in 2010 by Anxiety and Depression Association of America, one in eight children are affected by anxiety. Many times, it’s a parent, teacher or coach who gives a recommendation for that particular child to seek more help. This was especially true for Peterson and his parents.

Peterson began to act strangely, and, according to his father, Jon Peterson, he stopped “running around the house” and became nervous at the thought of staying home alone, which was previously not an issue.

This abnormal behavior alerted his parents to seek help on a pediatric level. Bennett does not, however, see a therapist to help cope with his anxiety. He mainly turns to his mother for comfort.

“I talk through most of my problems,” Bennett says. “Sometimes I stay awake at night.”

B

ennett does not take medication for his anxiety. Children typically do not refuse to take medication out of defiance; anxiety is personal to each person, so it is difficult to diagnose, according to Burris.

An active kid who has had anxiety for more than two years, life can be difficult whether Bennett is learning new dance routines or new tricks on his skateboard. Regardless, he participates in extracurricular activities and hobbies every day.

“Bennett is energetic when he is comfortable around you,” Jon says. “He’s reserved when he is still getting to know you. It brings out two different personalities based off of how much or how little you know him.”

Social situations typically don’t inflame Bennett’s anxiety, but nervousness and discomfort around peers is not uncommon in

teens and children with anxiety. “[Anxiety] looks different among the ages, but you can definitely see the commonality without,” Burris, who has been working in the school system her entire professional career, tells Spark. “The core things of who we are as people [include] that everyone wants to feel like they belong.”

B

ennett works to overcome his anxiety, which is sometimes aggravated at dance because he worries about how people will perceive his facial expressions in his hip-hop routines, which holds him back from expressing who he really is as a Youth Large competitor and a male dancer.

Burris says that anxiety definitely affects a child’s life, but Bennett is doing his best to cope with his feelings. For now, he’s just a kid trying to master an “ollie” on his skateboard.

“The core things of who we are as people [include] that everyone wants to feel like they belong.”

—Angela Burris, Liberty Junior School counselor

package | anxiety

INCOMING ACCOMODATIONS While stress from school can cause an increase in anxiety, East administration is developing new methods to help students cope with it.

story noor ghuniem | infographic brandon nguyen | art sarah yanzsa

I

t’s plastered on faces of the hundreds of students who make their way down the fluorescently lit hallways. It’s the feeling she gets before presenting a project to a classroom of 30 pairs of eyes staring at her—anxiety.

But the school that holds those hallways, that classroom, and all those peers also does its very best to accommodate with the anxiety that attacks the students at East. One of these students is sophomore Maddy Granda. “[Although] I feel like my anxiety tones down a little bit during the summer and in breaks, I like being at school,” Granda says. “It allows me to get away sometimes and talk to people.”

According to the 2014 Stress in America Survey, 27 percent of students experienced extreme stress during the school year, compared to 13 percent in the summer.

General Practitioner at University of Cincinnati Health Center Seema Quadri says anxiety is fueled by a person’s reaction to environmental surroundings and one can become anxious when the “impact of the change is greater than the ability to cope with it.” To help combat this, East has added accommodations to assist students.

“First and foremost, we accommodate to strengthen the relationship of a school, teacher and classroom,” East Principal Suzanna Davis says. “We encourage all of our teachers to have relationships with their students.”

Dr. Ali Asghar, who specializes in psychiatry, says that anxiety is a normal response to stress and originates differently depending on the student. ”When unchecked and allowed to grow beyond normal ranges, an overly anxious person responds to simple stimuli in their environment with a sense of heightened danger,” Asghar tells Spark. “For [some students, anxiety] is related to grades and academic performance.

They can be struggling in a single or multiple courses or are unhappy unless they achieve at a superior level.“

According to Davis, the school converses with students on how to work through and make effective decisions with anxiety. Each student with anxiety requires varied options so teachers may be given information on coping methods from counselors for a specific student.

East guidance counselor Alicia Roberson says that teachers and staff are becoming “more permissive about it if someone needs to listen to music or go to a different area of the classroom.”

When she’s struggling to control her anxiety, Granda finds that she can rely on teachers to provide proper assistance in a student’s’ time of need.

“I have seen a situation where a teacher accidentally caused an anxiety attack for someone,” Granda says, “but when this person notified the teacher, the teacher allowed her to leave and fixed the situation for her, which was really satisfying that the teacher was willing to do that.”

In addition, the Lakota Local Schools’ calendar committee adjusted the semester schedule to move semester exams before winter break. “ T h e

administration thought it would be a good idea to give students as much of a break from schoolwork as possible so that they would be well-rested and ready to work diligently upon their return,” AP U.S. History teacher Jennifer Reid says.

The alignment of the school year was regulated to a more collegian level plan, reflecting the trends of uprising anxiety occurring throughout schools. After two years of consideration, the committee ended the first semester prior to winter break. However, this was not the primary reason for the change.

Mason, Fairfield and Sycamore follow this same calendar schedule, whereas Ursuline Academy does not. Seema’s daughter, Yasmeen Quadri, a student at Ursuline Academy, believes that exams beforehand may help to assuage anxiety during break.

“For me, it is a bit stressful [to have exams after break] because after I forget most of the information that we’ve learned previously,” ...continued on page 60

ANX·I·E·TY

[ang-zahy-i-tee]/noun

an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts; usually accompanied by recurring intrusive thoughts or concerns and physical changes.

sources nimh.nih.gov, apa.org, aapa.org

38 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

13-18 year olds experience a lifetime prevalence of anxiety disorders

13

equally common among men and women, anxiety typically begins around this age

anxiety | package

INSIDE

says. “They help restore normal functions to the pathways of the neurotransmitters.

Benzodiazepines affect GABA.” According to the ADAA, 80 percent of kids with a diagnosable anxiety disorder are not getting treatment.

“We know that medicine can help with brain chemistry to help regulate it and get it closer to a normal level of what it should be,” Gail Piispanen, private-practicing counselor, tells Spark. “We know now that there’s something that shifts in the brain chemistry.”

While scientists have not yet confirmed the medical cause of anxiety, medications and psychotherapy have indicated that the brain can learn how to process and respond to situations that cause anxiety. “[Anxiety] is definitely a hard thing to get through, and I recommend talking it out with a doctor or a close friend,” Cailyn says. “I would probably share my experiences with someone who has anxiety because they understand what it’s like, and I understand what it’s like, so we kind of connect.”

People need to be able to recognize the right time to get help, which is when anxiety begins to interfere with living a normal life, according to Harris.

Cailyn has had control of her anxious thoughts throughout high school, but the thought of taking her driver’s test and operating a motor vehicle has re-inflamed some anxiety. “[Through] maturity, medication and faith, [Cailyn] has been able to grow and work through many of her anxieties,” Christina says.

“She is not only able to focus on school work and her activities, but now she is able to make sense of her world as a young adult and calm her fears.”

THE BRAIN

Scientists have yet to figure out if variances in anxiety is due to the chemical imbalance in the brain or due to other factors.

story dani dudash | infographic josie brillhart | art sarah yanzsa

T

he sound of lightning gets closer. Suddenly, an enormous crack strikes only a few feet away from her house. Starting to wonder just how close it came, East sophomore Cailyn Curcio at only two-years old, found out as she smelled the smoke and saw the flames.

“Our house was hit by lightning,” says Curcio’s mom, Christina Curcio. “Due to a small fire in our house, the fire company coming, and being forced out of our home for a week, Cailyn had anxiety about fire drills at school when she was in elementary school because the alarms scared her.”

Cailyn was diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) in first grade.

“It basically made my life turn upside down,” Cailyn says. “I was constantly scared and I got to the point where my heart was racing all the time.”

Anxiety disorders affect one in eight children in America, and many who experience these emotions of anxiety don’t always think about what happens in their brains when it strikes, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA). They just try to deal with it as best they can, partly because, according to Dr. Elena Harris, a psychiatrist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, scientists are still working on finding out whether anxiety is a result of a chemical imbalance in the brain or if it is a result of another cause.

“The brain tells people lies,” Harris tells Spark. “Those anxious thoughts are usually false thoughts.”

Anxiety diagnoses are GAD, social phobia, separation anxiety disorder, specific phobia, obsessive compulsive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder.

The invalidity of these confusing thoughts can come in the form of neurologically exaggerated panic, and according to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Adolescent Psychiatrist Dr. Brian Kurtz, anxiety is a set of symptoms affecting the body and mind that causes fear responses at inappropriate times.

“Anxiety seems to affect how some areas of the brain communicate with other areas,” Cincinnati practicing psychiatrist Dr. Daniel

Medeiros Almeida tells Spark. “For example, anxious individuals may have difficulties to process and to integrate information that flows from and to different areas of the brain.”

The brain communicates through neurotransmitters, which Kurtz tells Spark are waves that have a nerve impulse traveling through the brain that signal different paths from one nerve to the next nerve.

There are many neurotransmitters involved in the brain, including glutamate, dopamine, serotonin and Gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA).

“Most medications for anxiety would target these neurotransmitters in order to fix any possible imbalances that could be responsible for anxiety symptoms,” Medeiros Almeida says.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and benzodiazepines are both types of medications that affect these neurotransmitters.

“SSRIs affect the serotonin system,” Kurtz

SYNAPTIC

TRANSMISSION

Anxiety medications alter the process in which neural impulses are sent and received within the brain by blocking or increasing the absorption of certain neurotransmitter molecules.

1

2

enzymes neurotransmitters

presynaptic neuron

3 action potential

postsynaptic neuron axon terminal neurotransmitters are synthesized by enzymes and stored into vesicles

4

an action potential moves along the presynaptic neuron toward the axon

5 synaptic space

6 enzyme degredation

protein receptors

vesicles release the neurotransmitters into the open synaptic space

membranous sacs move vesicles to the membrane of the axon terminal

neurotransmitters bind to protein receptors on the postsynaptic neuron

7 transporter proteins action potential

binding triggers an action potential in the postsynaptic neuron, then some return

vesicles

neurotransmitters that have returned go back into vesicles through transport proteins

sources nimh.nih.gov, dr. carlo carandang, dr. john kenworthy

package | anxiety

CALLING IN

BACK-UP

When students approach East psychologist Kristin McClung for help with their anxiety, she works to get them the best care possible by putting them in contact with outside support.

story alex meister | art sarah aftab

E

ast senior Claire Combs dashes across the soccer field, trying her hardest to keep her teammates motivated. She applies the techniques that she has learned in AP Psychology to cheer on her team. When she was young, Combs loved the sport, but as she got older it became more intense and competitive.

“I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Combs says, “but sometimes it can add extra stress.”

She explains that with her personal connections to psychology, she wants to pursue a minor in the field. Her dad took a psychology class in college, and this encouraged her to take the class as well.

“He’s always loved it,” Combs says. “I’ve always been interested in it, and he kind of sparked that in me.”

East psychologist Kristin McClung, who is currently in the field that interests Combs, helps students every day to receive the best education they can, without the distraction of anxiety.

According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, children with anxiety who perform day-to-day activities without seeking further help will most likely perform poorly in a school setting. With the help of many of the students’ outside psychologists or psychiatrists, McClung can be more advanced in the way she goes about finding methods to ease a student’s struggle.

Anjana Jagpal is a Clinical Research Coordinator for Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.

Jagpal’s research is focused on children from the ages of 9-14 who struggle with chronic pain due to anxiety.

“Often times, parents find that once a school is on board and understands where the student is coming from, it alleviates a lot of stress for the kids,” Jagpal tells Spark.

Jagpal explains that it is helpful to everyone

involved when the school counselors and a student’s psychiatrist or psychologist are in communication.

When McClung has conversations with students who have anxiety, she notes things such as body language and speaking habits to determine if it’s in their best interest to seek further care. She tries to establish an “interpersonal relationship” with the students in order to make them feel more secure and because each student reacts to anxiety differently. If McClung finds that a student is showing signs of anxiety, such as performing poorly in school, she will check back with the student throughout the week.

“We are lucky to be right next to Children’s [Hospital]. It’s convenient when there is a health emergency.”

—Claire Combs, East senior

40 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

“It depends on the situation, how they are feeling, and how much it affects their life,” McClung says.

Still, there are occasions when McClung asks to contact the parents if she finds it necessary.

She then discusses the problems their child is having and talks about ways to help, such as seeing an outside doctor.

McClung contacts doctors who she feels are best fit for the student’s specific condition.

In order for this to be possible, the school and the outside doctor must go through a series of confidentiality forms, which include signing a release for Lakota to have in file.

The student’s doctor and psychologist can openly communicate with each other. The communication between these two parties is nearly essential for the improvement of the student’s condition.

“We are lucky to be right next to Children’s,” Combs says. “It’s convenient when there is a health emergency.”

Jagpal explains that outside doctors can can help by organizing special arrangements for a student at school. These arrangements include taking extra water breaks, personal bathrooms or nurse breaks. Doctors will also try different hands-on tactics to improve a child’s health. One tactic psychologists at Cincinnati Children’s undertake is to present a situation to a child struggling with anxiety and teach them how to work through this situation without feeling anxious.

“We’re just prepping them for encountering times when that anxiety may affect them,” Jagpal says.

Combs continues to be excited to pursue her future by helping those to whom she can connect, especially athletes and children.

“Everyone needs a team leader,” Combs says. “It’s easy for me to motivate people.”

anxiety | package

#ANXIETYDISORDER The depiction of anxiety in the media is at risk of miscontreying the facts and negatively affecting users. story sarah yanzsa | infographic dustin horter | art julia sanders

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offee in hand, eyes on the screen, all she wants to do is make sense of what happened to her. She looks through dozens of posts, each getting progressively worse. They all look the same: an artsy background with words in fancy script. But what they say is not so pretty.

“When I’m dead, at least they will remember me for my smile.”

“Stay away from me, I’ll just ruin your life.”

Each post glamorizes the idea of having a mental illness and praises those who are “brave” enough to hide behind a smile and not let anyone in.

These were the types of romanticized images floating around Tumblr when East senior Sarah Noe first typed “anxiety” into the search bar in tenth grade. She turned to the site hoping for a large but unintimidating community for support. Two years later, Noe knows this could not be farther from the truth.

“It’s not something that can be romanticized,” Noe says. “I break down. I have to go into a quiet room and let myself cry until my body decides to stop. I shake until my body decides to stop.”

While anxiety is often depicted on multiple platforms, a survey by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) found that 82 percent of people surveyed disagreed or “strongly disagreed” that those with mental illness were portrayed fairly in media.

Media outlets such as television and movies tend to trivialize anxiety and portray it for laughs, according to co-director of the Center for Mental Health and Media at Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Psychiatry Dr. Cheryl Olson. An example is “The Big Bang Theory’s” Rajesh Koothrappali, whose anxiety is comic relief, says Professor at Cornell University Mike Shapiro. The character has selective mutism, a type of anxiety that hinders

Out of 458 East students surveyed...

28

28

9

percent most frequently use Snapchat

his ability to talk to women without the help of alcohol.

“One [misconception] is that anxiety is an emotion rather than a disorder,” Olson says.

“There’s a slight amount of awareness about a panic attack being a physiological thing because it is a full-body response. It’s hard for someone to [accurately] portray it.”

Because anxiety is an internal battle, actors may struggle expressing the physical panic attacks, says Olson. Noe has noticed this distorted representation in the media.

“When someone has an anxiety attack [on TV,] everyone is swooning over them and making sure they are okay,” Noe says. “In reality, it is the opposite of that because it’s an internal thing that your mind does, so people can’t really help.”

In addition to these inaccurate images, University of Michigan Professor of Telecommunications Scott Campbell says that social media can have an affect on the selfesteem of users due to the user interaction, which can be classified as either passive or active usage.

“Wellbeing and mood can go down depending on how you use social media. If you passively use a lot of social media [by liking and commenting], it can lower your self esteem and wellbeing because of social comparison,” Campbell says. “But then if you’re very actively using social media like posting things and contributing a lot, it usually doesn’t have those negative effects.”

Campbell also says that passive and active usage can be stressful if users feel like they have to be consistent with performing activities such as liking posts and recognizing posts from certain people in the their network with whom they want to keep active links.

On the other hand, Ph.D. Candidate at

percent most frequently use Instagram

percent most frequently use Facebook

27 9

percent most frequently use Twitter

percent most frequently use Tumblr

the University of Michigan Joseph Bayer says that social media can be a place of low stress because communication over social media is asynchronous, meaning it’s not happening on the spot. Instead, users have time to think about what they are going to say before they say it, and there are fewer social cues to pick up on online.

“Normally during face-to-face interactions, there is so much to interpret, [such as] body language,” Bayer tells Spark. “Some people get very stressed trying to interact face-to-face.”

In his recent study Ephemeral Social Media and Snapchat, Bayer and three of his colleagues deemed that if sharing photos, videos or texts were temporary, then people experience less stress than on Facebook or Twitter.

For Noe, who rarely experiences the stress of social media, Snapchat has always been a place of low stress for her because of her ability to control who views her stories and snapchats.

Even though Noe did not find the comfort for which she had originally searched, social media sites such as Tumblr can also alleviate stress in those with social anxiety. The anonymity aspect also appeals to users.

“Tumblr is the easiest way for people to stay anonymous behind a keyboard and say whatever they want,” Noe says. “I tried tumblr because it’s about community and coming together, but I’ve never found [that community,] so it’s just been a ‘me travel.’”

While Noe believes that people try to help her, she knows that her illness is mainly a battle she will have to face alone. The hardship that comes with having anxiety is something she is continuously combatting, and it’s not something found in movies.

“If I could live without [anxiety] I would,” Noe says. “It is a part of me, and it consumes me, and it ruins events, it ruins things. Nothing about it that is ‘cute.’”

package | anxiety

TAMING A BEAST

Although people diagnosed with anxiety may not seek treatment, there are a variety of options to help cope with it. story julianne ford | infographic katie haberthier | art sarah aftab

I

t’s 5:30 a.m. She jumps into freezing cold, chlorinated water, jumps out to head to a long day at school, then to another swim practice, and finally home to start hours of homework.

These busy days are nothing new to East senior varsity swimmer Jamie Losekamp. She has had many memorable moments during her years at East and is excited to continue those moments at the University of Cincinnati (UC) next fall.

But high school is not always such a blissful experience for Losekamp. She struggles with clinical anxiety, stemming from her parents’ rough divorce during elementary school and has since tried various methods for dealing with her disorder.

Losekamp has been in therapy for her condition for six years and has been on medication that helps control her anxiety for two years.

“It really hit its peak sophomore year,” Losekamp says. “I know everyone has anxiety, and so freshman year it was probably average for what freshmen experience with anxiety levels. Sophomore year it was way worse than I had ever experienced before.”

According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, there are many different options when it comes to treating anxiety. While only one third of those suffering receive treatment, the most successful two are medicine and therapy.

Those diagnosed with anxiety often choose

Selectibe Sertonin Reuptake Inhibitors • blocks the reabsorption of serotonin side effects: insomnia, sexual dysfunction, weight gain

not to seek help due to social judgments. In today’s society, a mental disorder could be classified as a shortcoming, says Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at UC Pierce Johnston.

He sees the stigma toward anxiety and how it affects those who seek treatment for it.

“It is a sad fact that mental illness is perceived as a weakness, whereas other forms of illness are not viewed as such,” Johnston says. “If we get pneumonia, we receive antibiotics, and we do not delay in seeking treatment. If we have anxiety, the average person worries about how he or she will be perceived and will wonder if this is somehow a flaw in his or her character.”

Those who seek help also don’t speak out about it because of the stigma around mental disorders and the portrayal of those who seek help in therapy. According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, 25 percent of adults with mental health symptoms believe that people are sympathetic to others who live with a mental illness.

Losekamp was nervous to start both therapy and medicine because she didn’t know how people, such as her friends, would react or how to tell them about with what she was dealing.

East senior Cassie Baisden, longtime friend of Losekamp and fellow swimmer, has always understood what Losekamp was going through. She never fell into the stigma of mental disorders and treatment and will always support her friend.

SerotoninNorepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors • increases serotonin and norepinephrine side effects: insomnia, headache, sexual dysfunction, increase in blood pressure

42 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

“You could always tell she was nervous about things,” Baisden says. “When she told me she was trying medicine, I was all for it.”

The two most common medicines prescribed are Zoloft and Paxil. They are the most popular in psychiatry because they are effective, have the most tolerable side effect profiles, and are strongly marketed to doctors, according to Assistant Professor of Clinical psychiatry at UC Peter Dillon.

These two medications are safe for users and proven to be very effective with proper dosage. Paxil and Zoloft are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which means they are safe and come with minimal side effects.

The most common side effects of those who take these medicines are nausea, sleepiness, nervousness, insomnia and dizziness.

“It has been proven that the right medication for the right patient can effectively treat anxiety,” Johnston tells Spark. “There are many facets of good treatment, and medication is just one of those.”

Medicine is a major factor in treating anxiety, and it is a cheaper and quicker alternative to therapy. While both medicine and ...continued on page. 60

Tricyclic Antidepressants • created after concerns about long-term usage of benzodiazepines aroused side effects: drop in blood pressure, constipation, urinary retention, dry mouth, blurry vision, nausea, nervousness, headaches, sleepiness, dizziness

Benzodiazepines • reduces muscular tension and other physical symptoms side effects: drowsiness, clumsiness, confusion, depression, dizziness, impaired thinking, memory loss, stomach upset

sources helpguide.org (anxiety-medication and therapy), healthyplace.com, adaa.org

anxiety | package

Academically, socially, physically and emotionally, today’s high school student is bending under the

PRESSURE TO BE PERFECT

story sidney li | infographic tyler bonawitz | art goldie bristow

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he biology teacher handed back the graded “History of Life” tests to his students. Some kids smiled joyfully at the circled ink. Others stared at the number in disbelief. Staring icily at the 86 percent marked conspicuously, both shoulders sulked in despair. 86. The number started drilling itself into East sophomore Sukhleen Kaur’s head. Recalling the last couple of nights of continuous studying—acing this test was the only practical answer.

“My parents are always saying that I better get an A on this and an A on that,” Kaur says, “which is hard at times, and sometimes I can’t.”

According to the American Psychological Association (APA), 44 percent of adolescents reported that doing well in school was a significant source of worry. Among them, Kaur always aimed for high grades because both her and her parents expected perfection on a daily basis.

East school psychologist Kristin McClung recognizes the correlation between cultures and the value of education. McClung says some Asian households, including Kaur’s family, which is Indian-American, sometimes do not promote mental health stability or talk about treatment services because families in these cultures traditionally keep to themselves.

Being in honors classes and extracurriculars, Kaur is constantly under a bombardment of pressure to do her absolute best across the board. Playing lacrosse for school, soccer for Warren County, and being in Science Olympiad and symphonic band, Kaur is bracing herself for the next two years of her high school career.

Growing up, Kaur was always raised being told that education was the top priority because it was a stepping stone into the adult world.

Having a well-paying job will mean she is be able to provide not only for herself but also for her loved ones, which is crucial in Kaur’s family.

Kaur always aspired to reach her dream medical job, but it required a great deal of hassle to create the perfect transcript for college

acceptance. Psychiatrist Dr. Paul Schwartz has been practicing psychoanalytic psychotherapy for 25 years at his private practice in West Chester. “[American] culture is very achievementoriented, as there is tremendous pressure to be perfect, especially when you’re in high school,” Schwartz tells Spark. “I think one of the big ones is parental pressures [alongside] educational and cultural pressures. Sometimes, parents can be demanding, critical and can have very high expectations.”

Because school is highly valuable to Kaur, she takes the optional zero period for AP U.S. History (APUSH) to get more classes into her schedule. Angela Burris, Liberty Junior School’s psychologist, is aware of many factors that could lead to stress in students.

The APA stated 83 percent of teens reported that the additional layers of college and high school can be “a drastic stress factor,” Burris says, who added that there can also be a strong pressure from parents to excel.

DO YOU FEEL PRESSURED TO BE PERFECT?

Out of 544 East students surveyed, a large majority feel pressured to be perfect in some aspect of their lives.

yes no 83%

source spark survey

31%

academically

“I know I’m not the smartest person [in APUSH], and everyone else usually just gets it right away,” Kaur says. “We have outlines to do almost every night, and it takes me around three hours to do mine, while for others, it takes about an hour. It’s definitely is a lot of pressure on me.”

Once Kaur gets home, she heads over to where she spends most of her time—at her desk. Doing her homework engulfs a majority of the time that Kaur has outside of school.

Kaur’s friends East sophomores Madison Lentz and Natasha Abro place high expectations on themselves because they are in honors classes, but it comes with an abundance of work.

“The most stressful aspect of school is the workload,” Lentz says. “It is a constant battle to find time to finish everything on time.

Sometimes I’ll have major tests and major projects that are both due on the same day.

Often because of lack of time, I usually end up staying up late and working or studying so I can ...continued on page 60

17%

physically

17%

athletically

21%

socially

14%

no pressure

package | anxiety

FROM GENERATION

TO GENERATION

As incidences of and relationships with anxiety adapt to the culture of Millennials, society’s perception of the condition moves in a new direction. story josie cappel | infographic faezah salihu | art julia sanders

O

n Jan. 21, 2015, East’s auditorium was packed. Current junior Nick Hamilton walked onto the stage. The house lights dimmed, and a spotlight shined on him. He unfolded his paper and began to read.

“When I was first diagnosed with depression, I didn’t cry,” Hamilton said, standing as he rocked back and forth on the stage. “The first thing I did was look in the mirror, and I hated myself.”

Nick’s father, Al Hamilton, says that when his son first brought up the idea of having depression and anxiety, he thought it was just “part of being a teenager” and that when he was growing up, anxiety wasn’t discussed.

Diana Hamilton, Nick’s mother, adds that “everyone thought it was normal.”

“I knew I was depressed two or so years before I was diagnosed,” Nick said in his poem, “but I kept it a secret because apparently in our society, men can’t be depressed.”

But, according to National Institute of Mental Health, more than six million men are diagnosed with depression every year in America alone. And in January of freshman year, Nick broke down in front of his family, and they had a talk in the living room. He describes in his poem that “their faces were frozen with fear,” and they said it was a good idea for him to get help. They decided to begin treatment for 11 months.

According to a Psychology Today survey of 1700 adults in the United Kingdom, the

most commonly held belief is that people with mental illnesses are dangerous. The second is that mental illnesses are self-inflicted. Schoolbased therapist and Psychiatrist Dr. Caitlin Litmer says there is a big stigma around anxiety.

Psychology Today also says that the mental health stigma can be divided into two groups: social stigma and self stigma. Social stigma is the behavior that discriminates against mental health patients because of the label they have been given as an anxiety disorder patient.

Self stigma is when patients worry about the judgement and discrimination that they may experience if people know about their disorder.

“It is very, very difficult for parents to understand what [anxiety] is because you have the stereotype that kids with anxiety don’t have any friends, don’t have any family support, or are in a low-income family, but that’s certainly not the case,” Litmer says.

There can be normal, healthy anxiety, Litmer says, and the degree of severity is determined by the student’s perspective. Little things that happen throughout the day can “snowball” into big problems that cause students to have anxiety attacks.

According to Nuffield Foundation, the percent of 15 and 16 year olds reporting that they frequently feel anxious or depressed has doubled in the last 30 years.

Cincinnati Children’s Psychiatrist Emily Harris says when the current parental generation

was growing up, their parents didn’t know what anxiety was or that kids could have it—they thought it was normal. In Al’s experience, people didn’t bring outside sources in to cope with anxiety because people just dealt with it on their own. Harris says that tough love was the solution instead of help because parents just didn’t know enough about the condition.

“When I first started going [to therapy,] it was a weekly thing,” Nick says, “but after awhile, it became monthly. The older generation has more access to learning about [anxiety and treatment], but [their] actual views [on anxiety] are less likely to change.”

Al says that it was his parents who unknowingly enforced this stigma when he was growing up. He says he doesn’t ever see his parents understand what Nick is experiencing, even though they want to understand it because it’s their family member, and “that comes above all else.”

Nick’s poem, “You Are What You Eat,” from Mr. Lakota East 2014 is now on YouTube.

But before deciding to upload it, Al says they had a family discussion, telling him that people may have a negative reaction to it, and initially decided to keep the video private. They later thought Nick’s words would help people, so they made it public.

“Nothing changed until I met with those doctors that were more than happy to help,” Nick says. “They met with me and medicated me and came to save me from myself.”

In four different ethnic groups in America, the anxiety levels are not the same.

The anxiety levels of the groups also differ with different types of anxiety.

GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER

SOCIAL ANXIETY DISORDER 13%

5%

8%

9%

9%

3%

6%

5%

White Amercians

Asian Amercians

Hispanic Amercians

African Amercians

White Amercians

Asian Amercians

Hispanic Amercians

African Amercians

sources www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, www.euro.who.int, www.nimh.nih.gov 44 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

anxiety | package

POST-SECONDARY

ANXIETY

While transitioning from high school to college, students can feel a rise in anxiety with a change in environment. story sonja hout | art tyler bonawitz

G

rowing up, East alum Jack McClary had always found his mind wandering, thinking up different possibilities of future events, and in the beginning of his sophomore year of high school, he was diagnosed with anxiety and induced Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).

When McClary was first diagnosed, he thought people would look at him differently, but he learned that he was still the same person.

Initially prescribed Adderall, a type of medicine that can treat ADD and forms of panic and irregular heartbeats, McClary changed to the antidepressant, Wellbutrin.

“Originally I tried Adderall, and it sent me ‘down a rabbit hole,’” McClary says. “[My doctor] asked me again if I would like to try any [other medicine], so he gave me Wellbutrin, and it worked well.”

Even with this prescription, he struggled

day-to-day basis are now his responsibility.

“I would definitely say environment-wise, high school is more stressful,” McClary says.

“Class-wise, college is more stressful, mostly because in high school, there’s a lot of gossip and drama, and now there’s none.”

Not only does McClary have added responsibility without his parents, Yau says that college is about the independence needed for success, while high school offers more resources.

“In college, professors don’t chase after students to hand in your homework,” Yau says, “but in high school, some of the teachers may prompt you, give you an extended deadline, or special projects to do for makeup.”

In addition to onerous assignments, McClary sees his peers struggle to balance grades and fun.

“Now that I have dealt with my anxiety, it has served me well to deal with different issues.”

—Jack McClary, East alum

with the new obstacles in his life, but he finished strong in his Advanced Placement classes.

Now, McClary attends the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology as a double major in computer science and software engineering while simultaneously handling his anxiety.

According to a 2012 American College Health Association survey, 11.9 percent of college students were diagnosed with or treated for anxiety or treated in the past year. While McClary is managing his anxiety, international University of Cincinnati Counseling and Psychological Services Dr. Tow Yee Yau says college students have anxiety levels because they weren’t independent in high school.

According to Yau, college students have an increase of anxiety due to new environmental situations. McClary says that without the guidance of teachers, tasks that were done on a

“It was much harder when I was younger, because I didn’t have much experience dealing with the problems [that came with a busy schedule],” McClary says, “ut now that I have dealt with my anxiety, it has served me well to deal with different types of issues.”

Adjunct Assistant Professor and Director of Miami University’s Counseling Service Kip Alishio notes that there is a speculation about whether Millennials are used to feeling any sense of defeat in their lives and that Millennials have been raised without developing any resiliency. “[Millennials] are shielded from experiencing normal disappointments and failures,” Alishio tells Spark. “This has led them to have stronger anxiety without actually experiencing a failure.”

From attending counseling his sophomore year, McClary learned coping skills like keeping his mind occupied. Jack’s older brother, Danny

McClary, who has ADD and depression, is one of the people with whom Jack spent time when he needed a distraction.

“Every day, [Jack] and I would play almost an hour of pingpong or pool basketball in the summer,” Danny says. “It was a good outlet.”

Yau says that students need coping skills to help them with anxiety because it prevents fatigue and panic attacks. These reactions can occur at any moment and may include trembling and hyperventilation.

Jack has found that creating and following an agenda helps with keeping a balance. “[College] was overwhelming because I didn’t know the workload that was coming, and managing new friendships was tough, but once I had a routine, it was nice,” Jack says.

“Independence has made me grow. I definitely think I’m handling it well because I have to deal with all the problems that came with anxiety.”

According to Miami University, the student body that attends on campus counseling in 1995 was 3.5 percent and in 2013 more than 9 percent of the Miami body was attending the on-campus counseling. According to Alishio, Miami’s Director of Counseling Services, they have “anticipated that there is 12-13 percent of Miami’s student body attends on campus counseling” for the year 2015.

Although East offers support from licensed psychologist Kristin McClung, many high schools do not provide on-campus treatment in addition to guidance counselors.

Jack had inconsistent emotions when was first diagnosed with anxiety. Being in college requires work and effort and doesn’t allow for Jack’s mind to race with hypotheticals, and he has worked through his first semester without formal support from a counselor. If a more severe situation were to occur, Jack would use all his coping skills “100 percent.”

“If I felt anxious, I would be able to recognize the start of ‘going down the rabbit hole,’” Jack says. “I can stop myself from thinking about [hypotheticals], but I can’t control it,. I’m not going to waste my time.”

package | anxiety

MIND

MATTER story jamie peterson | art goldie bristow

A

ball comes flying her way as the other team has a breakaway. Sprinting as fast as she can, she manages a save as the ball soars back up the field.

For East junior Sydney Pinder, freshman year brought situational anxiety, fighting to combat the panic in her everyday life.

Pinder has always put a tremendous weight on herself to bet the perfect athlete, the perfect student, the perfect daughter. Perfect.

Reading an article about having a child with anxiety, Sydney’s mother, Joanne Pinder, began to notice her daughter’s perfectionist behavior in second grade.

“Freshman year, I was just always freaking out about school and always exhausted,” Sydney says. “The reason I went to the doctor was because I was too tired to function, and it turned out that it was all stress-related.”

Sydney’s father, Ken Pinder, says that even when Sydney got enough sleep, she was tired.

JUST CHILLIN’

story lexy harrison | art sarah aftab

I

t’s happening again. Palms sweating, body burning, vision blurring. Focus is impossible.

East senior Joey Combs’ anxiety attacks. make schoolwork feel “irrelevant.”

“There are a lot of days at school where I have to leave because I just can’t do anything,” Combs says. “I used to do really well in school, but it got to the point where just going to school was a burden, and doing well was impossible.”

Combs says an anxiety attack is circular thoughts and an “overbearing feeling of dread and despair,” with hyperventilation.

After Joey experiences an attack, he stays in a solitary, cool place because “temperature feels really weird,” and he likes to take a break and watches TV to calm down.

Combs is part of the 20 percent of all teens in the U.S. who have a mental disorder, according to Live Science.

“Sometimes personal insecurity or low

“We checking to see if there was a physical reason,” Ken says. “When there wasn’t, the pediatrician had [our family] complete a checklist, and it came out that she was a child with anxiety.”

Beside constant fatigue, Sydney would feel episodes of panic when analyzing the “whole picture” of her schedule. If she had a lot of tests in the same week and other homework due, a feeling of panic would build up.

Although Sydney has been playing soccer for as long as she can remember, it has not always been a walk in the park. When her anxiety was at its peak, her playing would suffer.

“I thought that everything I did on the field had to be perfect,” Sydney says. “I would get caught up in perfection instead of having fun.”

In the past two years, she started enjoying school more and began to play soccer as a mental and physical player.

Sydney’s mind-over-matter attitude has kept her away from medicine, and her main coping mechanism is her therapist, Karen Cromwell, who has specialized training with athletes.

Cromwell utilizes a screening test to assess an athlete’s ability to deal with nine mental skills, including choosing a positive attitude, self-motivation and goal-setting.

“Sydney has learned to cope with [her anxiety] very well,” Cromwell says. “We develop a team of action. Every person is different.”

Sydney’s struggle with anxiety is more

manageable in the summer without school.

“Last year, my class and soccer schedule was really rough,” Sydney says. “This year, I’ve accepted that I can’t always get great grades.”

Sydney likes her classes this year, which makes school “easier.” Three Honors classes and AP Psychology is taxing, but it’s enjoyable because she is learning what interests her.

Sydney attributes her success in school and in soccer to her friends and family. Her soccer training gym, Balconi Top Training, has become a second home to her because of the people there. Because she felt like they believed in her, she began to believe in herself. Her friends and teammates have become a second family for her.

When Sydney’s friends discovered her anxiety, nothing changed negatively. For her birthday, one of her friends getting a her a stress ball. Instead of treating her differently, they just wanted to be able to help.

Sydney’s sister, Elizabeth Pinder, says the anxiety has not changed the duo’s relationship.

“Sydney is funny, and she’s a great sister,” Elizabeth says. “If I’m feeling down or sad, she checks on me to make sure I’m doing okay.”

As Sydney has moved from freshman to junior year, she has learned with the help of Cromwell, friends and family that overcoming anxiety is hard, and keeping a smile on her face has earned her the name “the happiest stressedout person” by those who know her.

esteem are primarily at work,” psychologist Carl Pickhardt says, “but sometimes young people feel the admission of anxiety is some kind of weakness, when it is not. It is part of the human condition.”

Combs first felt anxiety in fourth grade when he moved from Coshocton, Ohio to West Chester. The transition gave him anxiety, and it took Combs time to “get over it” and make new friends.

“My social anxiety has gotten significantly better. I wouldn’t be able to make friends very easily, and that’s changed now,” Combs says.

“The general anxiety’s just gotten worse.”

According to Psychology Today, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is extreme, unfounded worry while AttentionDeficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsivity.

Being professionally diagnosed with ADHD and self-diagnosed with GAD, Combs didn’t have his first attack until seventh grade when he realized exactly what his feelings were.

Combs was sitting alone in a lunchroom, confused about what was going on around him and feeling “so horrible” about himself.

“I just thought that it was normal, but it was more severe than most,” Combs says.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found about 6.4 million adolescents between the ages of four and 17 have been diagnosed with ADHD since 2011, boys

being 13.2 percent more prone to the disease than girls. Psychologist Dee Kluppel Vetter explains the usual process of helping a patient in therapy.

“The first steps with any patient is to listen to what he or she describes as a problem,” Vetter says. “Then develop a plan in conjunction with the patient that addresses the problematic symptoms that are described.”

Having two parents with GAD and a brother with anxiety, Combs wasn’t surprised when he realized he had a mental illness. However, he didn’t jump on the idea to inform his parents about his new discovery. Combs did not want to “make their anxiety worse,” so he kept his self diagnosis quiet up until last year when he finally decided to tell them as his anxiety and school performance got progressively worse.

“Students who are resistant to saying what they don’t like are anxious about putting their best effort on the line,” Dr. Pickhardt tells Spark. “Coping with anxiety takes courage.”

Having dealt with anxiety, Combs has learned some coping methods to help calm him down after an attack, like being alone in a calmed environment and trying to stay occupied when he feels anxious.

“If you feel like something is off, don’t pretend that it’s not,” Combs says. “Try to find some way to seek help for it or try to see if there’s anybody you know who’s having s similar experiences that you can talk to.”

46 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

MUSICAL

HEALING

Easy sophomore McHaley Kirchner uses music and the support of her friends and family to live a healthy lifestyle despite her anxiety. story gabbie behrmann | art julia sanders

S

he walks through the front door, heart racing, after a stressful day of pretending she’s okay. She kicks off her Chuck Taylors and sinks into bed, curling up under a mountain of plush blankets—it’s a forcefield protecting her from the everyday panic. She puts in earbuds, and her head rattles to the beat of 5 Seconds of Summer’s “Invisible,” shaking the unwelcome worries loose in her mind. She falls into a peaceful sleep, finally free, but for East sophomore McHaley Kirchner, living with anxiety isn’t just a dream—it’s her reality.

“I’m really insecure about my anxiety,” Kirchner, who was diagnosed with a General Anxiety Disorder in 2014, says. “I have to trust the people who I talk to about it. They are seeing me at my lowest point.”

A study conducted by The National Alliance of Mental Illness in 2015 says that approximately 21.4 percent of teens between the ages of 13 and 18 experience a severe mental disorder at some time in his or her life.

Although a healthy reaction to everyday stress, anxiety can become crippling, especially for teens, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

Kirchner, a hardworking student who loves to read, says that she’s always been a “really shy

and insecure person,” even before her anxiety started. When people walked behind her in the hallways in school, she would get nervous thinking, “Oh my god they are talking about me. What did I do? What did I say? Is there something on me?” After her anxiety worsened throughout freshman year, she started to have panic attacks.

McHaley was worried that her mom, Darla Kirchner, would be irritated by the panic attacks because Darla “didn’t really understand” why McHaley had these reactions. After a surprisingly calm conversation, however, Darla suggested they go to a doctor.

“McHaley is very sweet, and she has a good heart,” Darla says. “She did the right thing by telling me. The calmer I am, the calmer she is. [Combatting her anxiety] is much more mentally changing her thoughts and talking herself down.”

Darla now helps in any way possible when her daughter is experiencing anxiety. She lowers her voice into a soft whisper and takes McHaley into a gentle hug. They take deep breaths together—in through the nose, out through the mouth.

McHaley’s friend Dana Liva, a member of the swimming and diving team at the University

“It’s hard to tell people [about my anxiety] because they might think it’s fake. But you need to talk about it, so find someone you really trust, like a lifelong friend, and they will always be there for you.”

—McHaley Kirchner, East sophomore

anxiety | package

of Madison and is also one of the people that she looks to for comfort. Liva remembers all the good times she’s had with McHaley, like spending the Fourth of July together for the past 12 years and having sleepovers.

“We’ve been good friends since we were little. I call her ‘KK.’ She’s a sweetheart who cares about everybody,” Liva says. “When she calls me, I tell her to breathe. I remind her that she’s safe. I try to make her laugh because it forces her to breathe, and I try to get her out of the atmosphere that triggered her panic attack.”

McHaley has her own ways of coping with her anxiety when she’s not able to be with her mom or call Liva. She focuses on a nonmoving object, usually the “wall trimmings,” and studies them while telling herself to “relax and breathe.” But her main way of coping is through music. The beat of songs by artists like 5 Seconds of Summer, Luke Bryan and Carrie Underwood help her calm down and breathe so she can focus.

Other than music, McHaley turns to reading to escape her anxiety. “The 5th wave,” “An Ember in the Ashes,” and “The City of Bones” are all books that allow her to take a step into another world full of imagination and creativity and, most importantly, step away from her anxiety.

Although there are many ways through which McHaley helps herself deal with her anxiety, they don’t guarantee a life without the attacks.

“The main thing that triggers my anxiety is when I’m stressed out,” McHaley says. “My head gets really heavy, and everything around me starts moving really fast, swirling almost.

If someone touches me, I’ll jump out of my skin.”

East psychologist Kristin McClung says that some students just need to play with “fidgets” to keep their hands busy such as rubber bands, paper clips or shredding paper. Their goal is to help keep them calm and focused. If a student feels a severe panic attack coming on, then they can always come to the nurse before they reach what McClung refers to as a “point of no return.” “[Helping students with anxiety] is all about thinking outside the box, instead of a teacher [blatantly] pointing and saying ‘you can do this because you have anxiety,’” McClung says.

McHaley is not on an accommodation plan at East.

Darla is proud of McHaley for being brave and sharing her story with everyone. If McHaley’s experiences help others come to terms with their own insecurities and anxious experiences, “that’s all that matters” to her and her family.

“It’s hard to tell people [about my anxiety] because they might think it’s fake,” McHaley says, “but you need to talk about it, so find someone you really trust, like a lifelong friend, and they will always be there for you.”

package | anxiety

CONFIDENTIAL Confidentiality laws, such as the Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act, protect undisclosed medical information.

story megan norcom | infographic daniel profitt | art julia sanders

T

he anxiety hit hard that night. She sat in her bedroom crying and stressing over her grades. She kept telling herself she had failed, that she couldn’t do any better. Her mom came in and went through her homework with her to try and calm her down.

After 20 minutes, she realized she was overreacting, but, in the moment, she could only think that she was a failure. East sophomore Julia Hartinger first began experiencing anxiety at the beginning of her freshman year.

“It was just all the stress over grades and the workload,” Hartinger says. “It was so different than middle school. It just surprised me.”

Hartinger can control her anxious feelings most of the time, but sometimes she can’t just push it aside, and she has to let it out.

At an appointment with her doctor, Hartinger’s mother was asked to leave the room so Hartinger could speak more personally. In situations like this, confidentiality laws comfort many patients.

The Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act (HIPAA), has protected patients’ medical information since 1996.

Psychiatrist in the division of child and adolescent psychiatry at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Dr. Brian Kurtz tells Spark that HIPAA is a federal law that governs all healthcare providers on privacy issues.

HIPAA states that healthcare providers cannot share any information with anyone other than the patient and the providers working with that patient. The patient may also allow information to be told to someone else.

Violating without knowledge of doing so, which is the most minor offense, can result in a $100 fee for each violation, with an annual maximum of $25,000 in fees for repeated

violations. Violation due to willful neglect that is not corrected, which is the the most severe violation, can result in a $50,000 fee per violation, with an annual maximum of $1.5 million in fees for repeated violations, according to the American Medical Association.

Even though these punishments are taken seriously, 123,065 HIPAA violations were reported between April 14, 2003 and Oct. 30, 2015.

Of these cases, 94.6 percent have been resolved. However, 29.9 percent of resolved cases were actually investigated. While someone might sue with the assumption that the defendant is under violation of HIPAA, 31.2 percent of the investigated cases held no provable HIPAA violations.

“Reported violations say that organizations are doing a good job self-reporting,” Assistant professor and Psychiatrist iof child and adolescent psychiatry at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Dr. Anthony Cavalieri tells Spark.

However, violations may occur this often because doctors don’t normally look at just the law when deciding with whom they share a patient’s information.

Doctors also factor in their own opinions of who deserves to know the information.

Doctors occasionally disobey the laws with the assumption that their own opinion is equal to the written law.

“I wouldn’t want [a doctor] to share anything I told them not to,” Hartinger says, “especially since I should be able to trust them.”

Doctors tell others if a patient is an immediate threat to themselves or others.

However, most patients don’t pose an immediate threat to anyone.

“Generally, the rule of thumb in [safe] situations would be to disclose as little [information] as possible necessary for treatment, unless the patient asks or agrees to [otherwise],” Cavalieri tells Spark.

A patient may ask to have information withheld from a parent, and a doctor would decide whether or not to tell the parent.

Lisa Hartinger, Julia’s mother, says that if Julia were to ask the doctor to withhold some information, she would have to respect that.

“I’m just glad she would be confiding in someone rather than no one,” Lisa says.

In many states across the United States, there is a law stating that a patient must be over the age of 18 to make their own medical decisions, but Ohio is not one of those states.

Ohio law states that patients between the ages of 15 and 18 are only allowed to make their own medical decisions if a doctor decides they are mature enough to make the decision.

They may factor in the patient’s experience with making decisions concerning their health.

“I would like to be able to decide for myself because [the medical treatments] don’t affect my parents,” Julia says. “I’m the one who has to live with it.”

However, Lisa politely thinks differently about the issue. While minors may thinks that they are making informed decisions, they could be creating dangerous situations.

“I don’t think they have the knowledge to see the long-term ramifications,” Lisa says. “I’d still keep it with the adult’s decision, but also take into consideration the input of the child.”

In many ways, the stigma around mental illnesses is being reduced, which is demonstrated by clothing company Wear Your Labels, which makes shirts expressing mental illness in a clever and creative way. It was designed so people would be able to start conversations about their illness without feeling embarrassed.

“I wouldn’t mind talking about my stress with someone if they were to ask,” Julia says, “especially if they are stressed out about the same thing, such as a test. Stress and anxiety aren’t just a daydream people are making up as an excuse—it’s a serious topic.”

What does HIPAA do?

Who does HIPAA apply to? protects files holds violators accountable

sets boundaries

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hospitals

outpatient facilities

pharmacies

music | culture

REVIEWS: MUSIC PANIC! REACHES NEW HEIGHTS

review katy johnson | photography fair use

K

eeping in tradition with their previous albums, Panic! At the Disco’s latest release, “Death of a Bachelor,” explores an entirely new style of music and executes this change brilliantly.

Opening with the poppy, upbeat “Victorious” and ending with the soulful “Impossible Year,” the tracks are diverse and encompass a wide range of sounds. From the bass sample from The B-52’s “Rock Lobster” in “Don’t Threaten Me with a Good Time” to heralding trumpets in “Hallelujah,” each song manages to distinguish itself. The hallmark of the album as a whole, however, is the classic jazz tracks. Titular “Death of a Bachelor” is heavily Sinatra-inspired and “Crazy=Genius” borrows from the swing of big band music.

Singer and only remaining original band member Brendon Urie experiments a lot more with his vocal range than in previous albums, further lending a more varied effect among songs. This is a refreshing change after the 2013 album “Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die” and speaks to the versatility of Urie’s voice.

Another way “Death of a Bachelor” sets itself apart from “Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die” is through overall tone. Although both approach themes of loneliness and loss, “Bachelor” does so in a much more upbeat manner, making it more fun to listen to as well. “Will you remember me in the same way as I remember you?” Urie asks in “House of Memories,” but not from a place of hurt, instead looking at it as the one who got away.

“Death of a Bachelor” takes all the best aspects of Panic! At the Disco—heart, a willingness to experiment, storytelling ability—and intertwines them in a new, fun way.

NOT TO DISAPPEAR DAUGHTER “Not to Disappear” by Daughter is an album to either love or hate.

Daughter consistently stays true to their sound with yet another emotional album; however, because the alternative band creates music for a specific audience, it’s not something that everyone can appreciate; this ten-track album’s melancholy tone can leave the listener bored.

“Doing the Right Thing” is a moving song, commenting on the physical and mental effects of old age. The instrumental background draws more attention to the rawness of lead singer Elena Torna’s vocals.

Following in the depressing footsteps of the other songs, “No Care” is sad, but not in a good way. Its repetitiveness seems like a lack of lyrics.

Torna sings at such a fast pace that it’s hard to comprehend the lyrics and the message. The ending was abrupt, which left it feeling unfinished.

A nice break from the dismal tone, the rhythm of “Fossa” picks up and slows back down, making it stand out. When the music becomes more upbeat, it sounds more hopeful, which contrasts from the painful lyrics of heartbreak. An almost acquired taste, Daughter’s “Not to Disappear” remains consistent, yet expected. — Maddie Alsip

DEATH OF BACHELOR ARTIST: PANIC! AT THE DISCO RELEASE DATE: JAN. 15, 2016 ALBUM PRICE: $9.99 (ITUNES)

LOVE DONT LIVE HERE LION HEART Back for their first full length album release in four years Lionheart continues to break the classic mold of hardcore rock. The title track as, a nod to classic R&B song by the same name, along with tracks like “Pain” and “Rewind” remind listeners of the quintet’s lyrical ability. Most of the lyrics come from frontman Rob Watson who claims to pull much of his inspiration for songwriting from his everyday life.

“I wrote this song at a low point when it felt like I was just in a downward spiral,” says Watson about “Pain,” one of the strongest tracks on the album. However there are some tracks on the album that seem superficial, lacking the spirit and passion that is present in other songs.

“Keep Talkin’” sounds ranty and shallow when compared lyrically to “New Enemies,” which opens with “Out the grave, no shovel. Raised by a single mother, so I know about the hustle,” giving the listener a peak into Watson’s childhood.

It may not fit the classic hardcore mold but this album is heavy, angry and honest without stepping too far outside the bounds of the genre.

— Kelly Krajewski

culture | movies

REVIEWS: MOVIES THE SAGA CONTINUES With a mixture of nostalgia and newer elements, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is a must-see film that can be enjoyed by all audiences. review cara satullo | photography fair use

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alking into the dimly lit theater room, I saw Storm Troopers taking their seats, Jedi masters ascending the stairs, and Padme lookalikes munching on buttery popcorn. The room was bursting with animated whispers, but as soon as the recognizable blue text appeared on the screen, all noise suddenly imploded and people stared in hushed silence to find out what would happen next “In a galaxy far, far away…”

My theater experience at “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” (TFA) was like no other. The audience remained completely captivated for the duration of the film, watching as a brilliant story unfolded. Lovable characters from the past worked with new additions to return balance to the force, just as director J.J. Abrams worked to find balance within this resurrected franchise. He taps into nostalgia, but also introduces original elements that allow the film to adopt a refreshing new storyline that still looks and feels like traditional Star Wars.

Abrams’ astute attention to detail while filming this movie is how it maintained this traditional feel. Rather than relying entirely on computer-generated imagery (CGI) and green screen effects, he chose to incorporate genuine costumes and sets. The cast was tossed into a variety of locations to produce this movie, including Iceland, Ireland, England and New Mexico, and this tangible quality of TFA creates an atmosphere of authenticity that is rare in the modern movie industry.

Even if these convincing and realistic visuals were stripped away, the script would be strong enough to stand alone. If anything detracted from the original films, it was the cliché conversations. TFA, however, manages to shed these hackneyed lines and adopts a humorous, heartwarming and powerful dialogue in its place. The audience laughed along with witty one-liners, gasped at shocking scenes, and cheered for renewed phrases, such as the famous “May the force be with you.”

This strengthened dialogue is brought to life through the talent of Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill, who effortlessly reclaim their roles of Princess Leia, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker, respectively.

On top of this, new faces, including John Boyega as Finn, and Daisy Ridley as Rey, demand recognition from the beginning, establishing a depth in character that already has audiences anticipating their returns to the big screen.

The only possible lapse in this otherwise powerful film is the occasionally repetitive plot. At times it felt as if I was rewatching “Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope,” as a new and improved Death Star was introduced. The main antagonist, Kylo Ren, bears a striking resemblance to Darth Vader, and the tyrannical First Order is reminiscent of the Galactic Empire that used to rule over the Star Wars universe. While this could be seen as monotonous, it stays true to the way George Lucas himself constructed the first six episodes. He describes it as an “echo of where all is gonna go. It’s like poetry—they rhyme.”

Abrams perfectly weaves all of these elements together, creating a

50 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS DIRECTOR: J.J. ABRAMS RELEASE DATE: DECEMBER 18, 2015 (USA) RUN TIME: 136 MINUTES film that earns its place in the renowned Star Wars franchise. TFA has raked in an astronomical amount of 1.871 billion dollars, while holding more records than any other film. It provides enough closure to create a satisfying end, but it leaves plenty up in the air to generate buzz. Fan theories are exploding on the internet, predictions are invading social media, and the excitement surrounding this movie is escalating into a roar that is difficult to ignore. Even with all of the unanswered questions and disputed ideas, one thing is for certain: people can’t wait to see what Abrams will do next.

movies | culture

DADDY’S HOME DIRECTOR: SEAN ANDERS “Daddy’s Home” brings laughter to the common household themes of divorces and stepparents. The movie centers around a happy family that consists of mother Sara (Linda Cardellini), stepfather Brad Whitaker (Will Ferrell), daughter Megan (Scarlett Estevez) and son Dylan (Owen Vaccaro). At the start of the movie, they are joined by biological father Dusty Mayron (Mark Wahlberg), and the household is thrust into chaos due to an underlying battle-of-the-dads that will answer one question: who gets to be the man of the house?

The movie’s plot, equipped with foil characters, successfully makes light of a homelife situation that’s not always easy. If Dusty isn’t busy slyly belittling the oh-so-kind Brad, then Brad is embarrassing himself by attempting a counterattack against Dusty. In addition, despite the fact that “Daddy’s Home” includes hilarious events and dialogue throughout the movie, it draws a meaningful conclusion that stepparents and biological parents can share the spotlight as long as any child involved is happy.

“Daddy’s Home” with its comedic and significant plotline is definitely worth spending money on the ticket to watch. — Aubree Dix

13 HOURS: THE SECRET SOLDIERS OF BENGHAZI DIRECTOR: MICHAEL BAY Michael Bay captures the personalities of the secret soldiers of Benghazi and their humanity, which is an aspect most reviews leave out.

“13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi” follows a group of ex-military security guards assigned to defend the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya from Islamic militants. The main character, Jack Silva (John Krasinski,) reunites with his ex-navy seal comrade Tyrone “Rone” Woods (James Badge Dale) in Benghazi. They, along with ex-marines Dave “Boon” Benton (David Denman), John “Tig” Tiegan (Dominic Fumusa) and Mark “Oz” Geist (Max Martini) as well as one witty army ranger, Kris “Tonto” Paronto (Pablo Schreiber), bond over blood, sweat, tears and bullets as they fight until the sun rises, defending the secret CIA Annex.

Despite Bay’s bad rap for only emphasizing the action and explosions in his computer-generated imagery (CGI) nightmares, he really brought it home with this one. The imperfectly perfect cinematography paired with the actors’ accurate portrayals of the real-life men who fought and died in this event really did move me. The fact that was a 2.5 hour long movie and still left me wanting more should be a good enough reason for anyone to go watch this dual-genre movie. — Richard Giang

NORM OF THE NORTH DIRECTOR: TREVOR WALL Trevor Wall’s “Norm of the North” fails to live up the movies it imitates.

Unable to hunt yet able to talk to humans, polar bear Norm (Rob Schneider) is an outcast in his community.

After his grandfather (Colm Meaney), the “King of the Arctic,” disappears and more humans visit the Arctic, a man named Mr. Greene (Ken Jeong) is discovered attempting to develop the Arctic into a tourist hotspot.

Norm decides to travel to New York to rescue both his grandfather and his home from Mr. Greene’s disastrous plan.

Trevor Wall fails to realize that a successful movie starts with charm and then adds story. This clear “Happy Feet” knock off appears to be an choppy movie with cuts to black in the middle of the film that make no sense and animation that seems more appropriate for Nickelodeon.

This film is also ripe with continuity errors, like failing to explain why Norm is unable to hunt, but showing it only once at the beginning of the film and never mentioning it again.

“Norm of the North” gets its point across that people should protect the Arctic but would be better suited as a children’s television film about protecting the Arctic rather than a feature length film.— Bailey Spaulding

RIDE ALONG 2 DIRECTOR: TIME STORY A Kevin Hart movie is like riding a roller coaster over again until eventually, the experience is overdone.

“Ride Along 2” is none other than a classic retread of “Ride Along.” In other words, the movie is no different from its buddy-cop, action-comedy predecessor.

The film is a follow-up on Ben Barber (Kevin Hart), who has now become an Atlanta rookie cop. Ben inspires to become like his future brother-in-law, detective James Payton (Ice Cube). Not easily persuaded, James allows Ben to “ride along” with him to Miami, where a drug lord, Antonio Pope (Benjamin Bratt), is up to bad business. The plot is exactly the same as the first movie despite minor differences like a new location and fresh additions to help Ben and James.

The two main characters spend their time in Miami bickering the whole time as homicide detective Maya Cruz (Olivia Munn) serves as a third wheel and a possible love interest to James, while A.J. (Ken Jeong) plays a nerdy hacker caught in some trouble. Together, the four characters party, fight crime and engage in a car chase.

The sequel is obvious and unnecessary. The plot should have been changed to make good use of actors Hart and Cube. The two have potential to make a movie a worthwhile project, but unfortunately, this was not one of them. — Jennave Traore

THE BOOK VERSUS THE NOOK

East junior Ava Pinales reads from a copy of her favorite book, “Jane Eyre,” at Half Price Books.

The book industry underwent rapid transformations following the introduction of the ebook, but print books are making an unexpected comeback. story and photography cara satullo

A

young and avid reader, Carrie Bebris sits in her fifth grade classroom creating stories out of her vocab words. Her teacher makes a comment that Bebris should be a writer, so she immediately tears a sheet of paper out of a spiral notebook and writes a fifteen-page novel in green marker. She then sends a query letter to a publisher in New York, and waits for a response.

“It was the first time I realized that writers were real people,” Bebris tells Spark. “That they weren’t just these figures on Mount Olympus that cast books down from New York.”

She didn’t end up publishing that first novel, but Bebris is now an award-winning author of nine books, including “Pride and Prescience.”

Since then, the publishing process has changed tremendously from the pre-digital age. The book industry was turned upside down in 2007 when Amazon released the Kindle, an electronic book reading device, for $399.

It sold out within five and a half hours, and ebook sales exploded.

This digital format threatened the traditional book, causing 11,420 bookstores to close since 2007, according to Statistica. The steepest decline occurred between 2007 and 2008 when there was a 9.6 percent decrease in print book sales, and a major bookstore chain, Borders, went out of business, closing 399 stores. Bookstores everywhere felt these

effects, including Joseph Beth’s booksellers cofounder, Neil Van Uum. “Like most book-selling companies, we had our troubles,” Uum tells Spark. “I was in a position where I needed to close some stores, and things kind of fell apart.”

Many believed the print book would disappear as people became captivated by the convenience that an electronic reader could offer. The trend grew as other reading devices popped up, including the Nook, released by Barnes and Noble in 2009, and the Kobo eReader, released by Kobo Inc. in 2010.

“I have a Kindle myself, and sometimes you want that portability,” says Bebris. “When I’m traveling, I’ll have multiple books with me because I don’t know what I’ll feel like reading, and it gets kind of heavy to carry those around.”

Despite these advantages, people continue to appreciate what print books have to offer. A study by the Pew Research Center reveals that 87 percent of ebook readers also read a print book in the 12 months prior, and only five percent of adults who read at least one book that year read an ebook without also reading a print book. Since the initial introduction of ebooks, the rate of decline has slowed to about 1000 bookstores closing per year, which had been the pattern prior to 2007 when 3,342 bookstores closed.

52 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

“There’s nothing better than the texture of a well-read novel—it brings the characters more alive,” says East junior Ava Pinales. “Every time I see a book, I think back to a moment where I first was introduced to a character, or laughed so hard I cried. My books are my memories, and I can’t throw them out.”

Predictions that the print book would die out are proving to be wrong. They have not only survived, but have made a comeback with the most popular format continuing to be the paperback, which had strong sales of $4.84 billion in 2014 compared to $4.42 billion in 2013, according to the Association of American Publishers.

“They’re having a resurgence because what we offer is not just a place to buy books,” Joseph Beth’s publisher relations and events manager, Michael Lank, tells Spark. “We offer our point of view, our customer service, and our knowledge of books. You can do it quicker and cheaper elsewhere, but those things, no matter how hard you try, will not be replaced by any online portal.”

The price of ebooks has been steadily climbing and grew 17 percent over the past 18 months, according to the Author Earnings Report. This price increase, along with loss of interest, may have contributed to the 8 percent drop in ebook revenue in January 2015, compared to early February 2014.

“Now that people have experienced what it’s like to buy books on amazon, they’re rediscovering the value in connecting with booksellers and people,” Joseph Beth’s marketing manager, Kelly Morton, tells Spark. “[The internet] is very convenient, but people are thirsty for something more than that, and are finding that in bookstores now.”

These trends indicate that ebooks, rather than destroying print books, will simply coexist with them. As of now, 22.5 percent of consumer book sales are made up of ebooks, and PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts that sales between the two will level off in the United States by 2018, but the print book will still reign supreme in other countries including Japan, Germany and China.

“The book has evolved over thousands of years into this rather perfect object that we take for granted,” Laurie Abkemeier, an accomplished literary agent who represented Marley and Me in 2005, tells Spark. “[Ebooks] are a valuable part of the publishing puzzle, but they’re not going to take over the way many of us, including me, thought they would.”

Uncertainty surrounding the book industry manifested in 2007, but the future has since become more clear. Bookstores are not doomed, and Amazon, notorious for causing the demise of bookstores, actually opened a brick and mortar store in November 2015.

“I think publishers have acknowledged that they need bookstores,” says Uum, who recently opened a store in Dayton called The Booksellers at Austin Landing. “Whether it’s a dusty, old book store or a giant superstore, they need these places where people can go and engage with books.”

Authors as well as booksellers have had to adjust to the digital age. Piracy is more prevalent than ever with the ease at which it can be done with technology, and the crime was estimated to cost publishers $2.8 billion dollars in lost sales as of 2010, according to an Attributor report.

“Within a week of my last book coming out, somebody had posted it online at a pirated site,” says Bebris. “What amazes me is the audacity of these people who will not only steal an author’s work, but then all the people who post comments saying ‘Thank you for posting this, I was looking for where I could find it for free.’”

82/414 In a Spark survey of 414 East students, 82 percent said they prefer print books.

Although technology poses these challenges, there is a 12 percent piracy rate in the United States, according to Global Black Market Information. Despite this, some action has been taken in shutting down larger piracy sites, including Library.nu and iFile.it.

“I think piracy is a thing that everybody worries about because it’s so easy to do now,” Author of nine novels Laura Bickle tells Spark.

“No matter how many copies you give away to people, there’s always going to be somebody who decides to take it, and there’s really not much that can be done about it.”

Technology has made it easier to pirate books, but it has also made self-publishing a more viable option for writers, opening doors for those who can’t break into the world of traditional publishing.

“There’s only a small handful of big publishers left,” Mystery novelist Dan Andriacco tells Spark. “Self-publication has become not only respectable, but there are people who have made nice amounts of money from self-publishing.”

In fact, 16 percent of ebooks on Amazon’s bestseller list come from the Big Five traditional publishers (Penguin Random House, Macmillan, HarperCollins, Hachette and Simon & Schuster), whereas selfpublished books make up 31 percent of sales on Amazon’s Kindle Store, according to the Author Earnings report.

“The problem isn’t getting your book into print or in digital form,” Author and journalist, Jim DeBrosse, Ph.D tells Spark. “The really tough part is letting people know it’s out there.

I don’t think anyone has quite figured out how to do that yet with self-publishing.”

On top of increased ease of writing from word-processing, authors find that technology

books | culture

allows them to establish a closer relationship with their readers. Conversations can occur more frequently over social media and email, whereas in the past, it was limited to written letters, which take more time and energy to deliver.

“One of the neat things about the digital age is that it has brought authors and readers in more communication,” says Bebris. “The emails that I get are just amazing sometimes with what people will tell me.”

The effects of technology are widespread, reaching far beyond the realms of bookselling and publication. English teachers have also been forced to adjust, with online summaries available for just about every book in the curriculum.

“Because students have more access to cheat materials like Sparknotes, the instances of students actually reading has definitely gone down,” says East English teacher Kathleen Foldy. “They can go through superficial discussion, [but] they’re not going as deep as they possibly could.”

While students may use these materials as a crutch, Foldy has found that in some cases these tools can be beneficial. If a student is struggling to grasp the message of a book, they can turn to the internet for help.

In order to help increase students’ comprehension, Foldy encourages annotating.

However, sometimes those who use ebooks opt out of doing this. The process of annotating on an electronic device tends to be more time consuming than in a print book.

“To annotate in a digital platform, it’s a little cumbersome,” says Bebris, “a nd you can’t really flip through it easily or have bookmarks in certain places. You can, but you’re always having to leave the place you were looking at to go to the other page.”

New technology has dramatically changed the book industry over the past few years and will continue to mold it in the future. However, even with all of these changes, some aspects of bookselling appear to be withstanding, despite what many previously believed.

“Don’t dismiss bookstores, don’t dismiss reading a book, don’t dismiss highlighting your favorite lines and annotating,” says Pinales.

“Don’t forget that society isn’t all technology, and sometimes we have roots that we should go back to every once in awhile.”

“The book has evolved over thousands of years into this rather perfect object that we take for granted.”

— Laurie Abkemeier, literary agent

culture | through the ages

NIFTY ‘5 S H

a series on the impact of fashion trends

THROUGH THE AGES

With the change in season, elements of ‘90s-style grunge are reappearing in layers of denim, flannels, jackets, beanies and boots. story and art lauren wilson photography maya wells models erika orr, libby reichley, ariel swain

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WKS A H DER

THU

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ow to be an appreciated housewife in the 1950s: Always have supper prepared when your husband returns home. Make sure the children look presentable and act polite when their father returns. Have etiquette and grace as you welcome him. Never look frivolous, hair makeup and attire must be tidy and something he can be proud of.

The nifty fifties were a time where the man was the breadwinner and the wife stayed at home and cared for the children. That being said, a wife was also expected to make sure she always looked put together. Just wearing a dress was not enough; she had to accessorize with purses, cat-eye sunglasses and ascots. “[A lady was] the guy’s arm-candy for her husband who the money,” says Nancy Marshall, owner of Talk of the Town. “If you went out in public, by gosh you better have your lipstick

through the ages | culture

on, your gloves on, and your hat on.”

Typical house wear attire consisted of high waist Capri-length pants and a blouse. The Capris were very structured, and some were even pleated down the front. As for the blouses it was all about the details. There were blouses with Peter Pan collars, ruffle collars or pleats down the front.

Current designers like Kate Spade and J. Crew look to the classic fashion staples of the 1950s to inspire their modern designs. On Kate Spade’s website, ‘50s style Capri pants called Margaux pants are sold for $248, and the Tie Front Pleated Top is $258.

“I think Kate Spade represents the ‘50s well,” says East sophomore Jordan Roberson. “The girly pastels and bright-colored clothing and the accessories decorated with polka-dots and stripes come together as a classic design.”

Though men valued a typical housewife, a phenomenon of the pin-up girl was built up after the war. Since pin-up girls like Bettie Page were featured on advertisements and propaganda overseas during WWII, returning soldiers glorified

women that embodied the pin-up style. With tight-fitted tops and pencil skirts these ladies framed their hourglass figure.

“The clothes they wore were very fitted and shaped for a woman’s body,” says Marshall.

“Today girls are doing a lot of throwback pinup style with the pin curled hair, short cropped bangs, and ruby red lips.”

Other fantasized women were those that came from old Hollywood glamour. Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland and Audrey Hepburn are just a few of the most recognizable leading ladies in showbiz. Whether it was the diamonds and pearls or their charming personalities, each woman in Hollywood had an aura of sophistication.

Marilyn’s white, pleated swing dress is an icon itself, as well as Audrey’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s attire. That being said, ball gowns with off-the-shoulder or sweetheart necklines stole the show at the Academy Awards. Long gloves were paired with the lavishing dresses defining the luxury bestowed by these enchanting ladies.

“Pearls have never gone away,” says Marshall, “a nd in the late 1950s stilettos came out, which was the first appearance of higher, skinnier heels. For woman in the 50’s, their job was to be pretty.”

Now before they were Hollywood starlets, pin-up girls or homemakers, they were teenagers that had fun, fun, fun till their daddies took their T-birds away. Malt shops and drivein theatres were the hot spots for kids back in the day. Johnny would pull up at 6:00 to pick Sandy up in his cherry red corvette, and then they’d speed off to the local dinner and grab milkshakes, burgers and fries.

Today, one of the closest things we have to the retro feel of a 1950s diner, is Steak ‘n Shake. The company was founded by Gus Belt in 1934. According to Bess Nicholson, manager of VOA Steak ‘n Shake, the classic chocolate shake has stayed the most popular drink since the company opened.

“The ‘50s were a simpler time,” says Nicholson. “When you walk through [Steak ‘n Shake’s] door, you go back to that time. Still to this day, customers come in on a regular basis, and they’re part of this family.”

This spunky culture called for more relaxed clothing, hence the circle skirt was born. These longer, flowy skirts are similar to the tea-length skirts that came back in style this year. Pairing the skirt with a vibrant cardigan and classic saddle shoes completed the classic look. Now if Sandy got cold, Johnny would surely let her borrow his leather varsity jacket for the night.

“Cardigans are my favorite thing to wear,” says East junior Mollie Black. “I love how easily you can dress them up or down to fit any style.

It’s cool that they defined 1950s style.”

From Jukeboxes to a signature chocolate malt, the ‘50s were an era of nostalgia. Trends from this time period such as cardigans and tea-length skirts are still seen in the storefronts of clothing stores today, keeping ‘50s alive in all of us. Taking a step back and looking at how society has changed since the mid-nineteenth century is mirrored by how fashion trends have changed across the decades.

“Clothing is as much a part of our history as our buildings, our cars and our literature.” says Marshall. “It’s what we wore, and it tells a lot about [the history] of that time period.”

culture | photoshoot

STREET STYLE Also known as the simplistic style to wear out and about, street style began in the ‘70s and has since been revamped by social media sites like Tumblr and Pinterest, blossom on all the major city streets. story kaily hauck photography illustration cara satullo models omar khalfaoui, maddie scarbrough

Quarter Zips have been making an appearance in both men’s and women’s fashion; quarter zip available at The Gap for $39

Dark wash jeans are a winter essential for this look. Paired with contrasting colors makes the outfit simple yet chic; jeans available at Hollister for $62

56 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

Turtlenecks in fun colors are making their way back for this winter and into spring; turtleneck available at American Eagle for $42

photoshoot | culture

Many of these jackets imitated the style of the A-1 Bomber Jacket used by the Army Air Corp prior to WWII. Now the sleek black leather jacket has been introduced for men and women; leather jacket available at ASOS for $79

Asymmetrical patterns, cuts and designs are no new introduction. The geometry and symmetry involved in the design of these skirts and dresses break away from the rigid lines of symmetry; skirt available at Pacsun for $44

These fun night shoes can be dressed up for a night on the town or dressed down to add a little height to your everyday ensemble; booties available at Forever 21 for $32

LOCALMOTI Right: Brenda Jacobs started with a dog-tagengraving booth at a flea market. Now Jacobs engraves metal, glass, jewlery and wood.

She also specializes in designing vinyl and embroidary. Jacobs says she can doany kind of personalization.

“If you want your name on something we will find a way to put it on there,” says Jacobs

arlor

the village p

Above: Founded by the community in 1968, The Village Parlor is currently owned by Aaron Zwelling. Movies such as Harper Valley PTA and Milk Money were filmed at the shop. Hollywood star Woody Harrelson worked as a soda jerk at the parlor as a teen. Neil Armstrong also used to eat there every Friday. “We’re proud to say any of the chairs you sit in, the man in the moon most likely sat in,”: says Zwelling.

plum natura

Left: For store owner Mary Beal, it’s all in the details: signature touches like real seashells and rose petals complete the handmade soaps.

The man soap is her top seller. After struggling to find an allergy-friendy soap, Beal decided to make her own. “I try to make it as natural as i can,” says Beal.

l soap compa

ny

58 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

brickhouse engraving and design studio

wahoos Above: Out-of-state and local wellknown bands like the Buffalo Killers come to Wahoos to record their music.

Store clerk Wayne Johnson sys the rate is for the studio is “less than $35 an hour, which is cheaper than anywhere else you’ll go.”

IVE

localmotive | culture From ghosts , sundaes and man soap, historic downtown Lebanon is a real local gem that has something for everyone. For more photos and information on the shops, visit www.lakotaeastsparkonline.com story and art lauren wilson, morgan kile photography cara satullo

lebanon, ohio

Right: Cathy Leedy, also known as “Chatty Cathy,” is full of stories about the antiques. According to her, the craziest thing they’ve gotten was a Campbell’s-soup-canprint apron that Leedy bought for $2.00. Later, a customer informed Leedy that she should check the price of the apron on ebay. Much to her surprise, the apron ended up being an Andy Warhol paper dress and she was able to sell it for $1,775.

outique

broadway antique mal

mangolia’s b

l

Above: Barry Johnson and his wife, Peggy, opened the first Magnolia’s in Springboro. “Our motto is to find trendy, affordable clothing for ages 15-60,” says Johnson.

Right: After opening on Dec. 23, 1803, The Golden Lamb has remained the oldest continually operating business in Ohio. The Inn has 18 rooms to rent out, nine dining rooms, a tavern and a gift shop, which are available to tour.

Many believe the Golden Lamb is haunted.

Group Event Coordinator Dede Bailey says about the spirits, “If you believe, they’re here.

If you dont, they’re not.”

lot no. 1 the golden l

amb

Above: “The name comes from Lot No. 1 being the first building in Lebanon,” says barista Erin Pinchot.

According to her, the best seller is the vanilla latte.

INCOMING ACCOMADATIONS

continued from page 38...

Yasmeen says. “I don’t always utilize my winter break time to prepare since I’m either on vacation or too busy.”

After spending $26 million, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) test given to grades three through nine in the 2014-15 school year was abandoned. As one of the first states to try them, Ohio suffered a greater amount of technical issues than any other state. East psychologist Kristin McClung sees the consequence of a failing standardized test reflected in the school.

“For district-level processes, it takes a big push like PARCC testing to realize that implications of decisions they make,” McClung says. “It has to be something big and datadriven, for [school districts of Ohio] to realize.”

Along with the elimination of testing that can affect a student’s anxiety, other measures are taken such as the 504 plan being a guideline that allows students with disabilities to participate in the general education curriculum and outline the specific needs for a child to be met with accommodations. Typically when children need larger modifications outside of the general classroom, they would have an Individualized Education Program, which includes learning requirements and services for students, rather than a 504 plan.

Although East administrators watch the trends and plan accordingly, there is only so much that they can do for students, says East guidance counselor Michelle Kohler.

“There are certain school districts in this area that have more mental health services, [like a] therapist that would come in and meet with a student, [which is] something we don’t really have here,” Kohler says. “We collectively as counselors in Lakota have been asking for more things that [in order] to help students.”

East continues to meet the challenge of adding accommodations to help with anxiety whether it’s through methods such as the 504 plan or coping methods provided by East staff.

Granda hopes that schools listen to students’ needs more because “everyone struggles with a little anxiety over school,” but she is content with how far the school has come.

“I feel like how East works a lot to try and make others feel good, whether it’s about anxiety or any other mental illness,” Granda says. “I’m glad to be a part of East.”

PRESSURE TO BE PERFECT continued from page 43... complete all the work.”

Many students like Lentz and Kaur have started taking more honors classes because of increased competition in college and because they “wanted a challenge,” says Abro, who added that she also enjoys the challenge. Alicia Roberson, one of the guidance counselors at East, realizes that many Millennials are constantly competing with each other.

“In the American culture and some other cultures, a lot of people are driven, and that’s what is causing a lot of anxiety,” Roberson says.

“We are constantly competing with ourselves and other people. Many students have anxiety with the things that they are going through with school and life while trying to be perfect.”

Maintaining good grades is key as many high schoolers strive to excel more than their peers, even if it means sacrificing sleeping, eating and socializing. The National Sleep Foundation states that teens need eight to ten hours of sleep, which is a miracle for Kaur because she usually gets three to five hours.

“Almost all my time and life is focused toward school. It seems as though success is measured by test scores, grades, class rank, etc.,” Lentz says. “I feel that being perfect academically means success. School [is] an important part to having a [successful] life, so trying to have a ‘perfect transcript’ is my fleeting attempt to succeed in life.”

According to a combined analysis of the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS), Child and Adolescent Perfectionism Scale (CAPS) and Almost Perfect Scale-Revised (APS-R), there are five subgroups under which most or all students fall. The first subgroup strives for perfection themselves without being stressed, and the second experiences stress from external pressures, such as parents. The third subgroup is a mixture of the first two groups, and the last two are non-perfectionists.

Driven by high personal standards, concerns, doubts, discrepancy, externally motivated perfectionism and organization, FMPS, CAPS and APS-R found that 50 percent of adolescents can be classified as perfectionists rather than non-perfectionists.

“When you think of people who strive for perfection, they can do so because they don’t mind it, and they pursue it with vigor,” Schwartz says. “They can achieve great things, but if your high standards are imposed upon you from external forces, you [can] become resentful. Particularly if you don’t have the talent or skills to achieve high perfection, it is a risk factor for one becoming anxious or suicidal as they don’t feel like their own self.”

All in all, Kaur knows that she would still be satisfied with any grade as long as she knows that she did her best. Kaur knows it isn’t the end of the world. “[School] isn’t bad as long as you do your homework,” Kaur says. “Grades don’t define you as who you are.”

TAMING A BEAST continued from page 42... therapy help reduce anxiety, Johnston says a combination create a permanent solution.

“It depends on the person, on the medicine, and on the skills,” Dillon tells Spark. “In general, medicine tends to be more effective sooner, while coping skills tend to create longlasting changes after treatment is ended.”

60 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

People who experience anxiety receive different skills from their therapists to help them cope. Dillon explains one example, which is cognitive-behavioral therapy.

“The cognitive part involves understanding and changing how we talk to ourselves about our lives and anxiety symptoms while educating patients on biology to give them more control,” Dillon says. “The behavioral part teaches relaxation skills to reverse some of the physiological responses and again to give them more control.”

Seeing her therapist has helped, Losekamp has relieved the build-up of her anxiety. She trusts her therapist with the problems she’s facing because she knows it will be confidential between the two of them.

Dillon sees the supply and demand of therapists to be a major contributor to others’ the lack of treatment. He struggles with taking on new patients because he does not have the time for a follow-up session. Johnston says the shortage of therapists and psychiatrists can directly affect people finding help with anxiety.

“One study showed that if 40,000 newly trained psychiatrists appeared tomorrow, each one of them could have a job,” Johnston says.

Coping skills recommended by therapists can range from breathing exercises to focusing on an interest. For Losekamp, the main skill has been painting. Art therapy is a form of psychotherapy involving the encouragement of free self-expression through painting, drawing or modeling.

“I like to distract myself [when feeling anxious], and I like painting,” Losekamp says.

“I really started getting into it the last two years. It takes my mind off things, and I can calm down. I look at whatever situation I’m struggling with fresh eyes.”

TRUE WEST continued from page 30... involved in the same activities as me.”

Vanessa was nervous at first about starting True West, but her high school journalism teacher Dean Hume once told her that she could do anything. Hume taught her that she was capable of doing more than she ever thought. Without Hume, Vanessa might not be where she is now.

“Hume told me that I can do anything, and I believed him,” Vanessa says. “That’s one of the reasons why I started this place. His voice was in my head telling me I could do anything, and he was the first person who had ever told me that.”

Customer Delilah Jones has been coming to True West ever since its start. She also worked there when the business first opened. There are a lot of things that Jones likes about True West, but because she once worked there, she loves to see the progress that the business has made.

“One of my favorite things about True West is seeing how it is constantly getting better,” says Jones. “Coming back is fun. I know the heart behind Ness and Chris always trying to better serve the customer or make them comfortable.”

wrestling | sports

MANAGING THE MATS Senior wrestling manager Kendall Lehman has a passion for the sport and found her role through managing the East varsity team.

story kathryn creehan

I

t all started one fateful night at an East versus West wrestling match eight years ago. Kendall Lehman, just in fifth grade at the time, went to the match and instantly fell in love with the sport. Looking back now as a senior, Lehman points to this as the moment she knew she wanted to be involved with the wrestling team.

“The next day at school I had no voice. I was screaming,” Lehman says. “That was the first time I really saw [wrestling], and that’s when I knew I wanted to do it.”

Lehman never actually wrestled due to not wanting to ruin running cross country and track, but she has managed the team since she was a freshman. According to Lehman, she was at first “kind of forced to do it” because her dad, Jim Lehman, is the head coach of the team. She would stay after school every day until nine p.m. her freshman and sophomore years and do homework while the team practiced because at the time she lived in Amelia. However, Kendall has developed a love and passion for the sport, and she is still a manager because of that.

“Honestly I like the sport of wrestling more than any other sport,” Kendall says. “It requires so much physical strength and a lot of mental [strength] too. [It’s just yourself] and another person competing against each other.

You’re going to want to quit and give up. Six minutes seems really short, but during that time, it seems so much longer.”

As she has gotten older, it has been harder for Kendall to make the time for everything that managing the team demands from her. In the past, Kendall found it difficult to condition for the upcoming track season while managing wrestling. Now, despite not running track this year, Kendall has a new obstacle taking her time: working at Bibibop.

“I have to ask off a lot of days for work,” Kendall says. “I don’t really have a lot of weekends during the winter [because] I would be at wrestling matches and practices every single day and every weekend. I don’t have a lot of time.”

Time commitment is huge for any manager.

Wrestling matches can last two to four hours, tournaments last all day, and if it is an allweekend tournament, she would spend up to 12 hours each day helping the team.

As a manager, most of Kendall’s tasks include mopping mats, running scoreboards at

matches or tournaments, videotaping wrestlers, entering statistics into computers, and, at the beginning of the season, making bags for all the wrestlers that include warm-ups and multiple singlets, which are the wrestling uniforms, in their size.

Jim says his managers are a huge help to him during the winter season. East freshmen Grace Lunsford and Tyra Foster, junior Liz Spaulding and senior Maddi Miller are the other four other managers.

“A good manager is incredibly valuable,” he says. “Having somebody to not only mop the mats, which is incredibly important [due to skin diseases that could spread to wrestlers such as herpes and ringworm if they are not cleaned], but it gives us the time to do what we need to do and work with the kids and take care of administration stuff after practice.”

As a coach, Jim stresses that it is important for his managers to be in it for the right reason.

Kendall also mentioned that a girl who is not in it for the right reasons ends up with long days of just watching boys wrestle.

“I look for the girl who comes in and really enjoys the sport,” Jim says, “and somebody who loves wrestling and wants to help [the team and coaches] opposed to flirting with the boys.”

Part of the job requirements for a manager is that they have to know about wrestling so they can run the clocks and keep score for the team, which involves paying attention to the officials’ calls and knowing what each wrestling term means.

Senior wrestler Alec Meszaros says that Kendall has a vast knowledge of the sport, which helps the team.

“She is our longest serving manager,”

Meszaros says. “She has been around for a long time and knows what she is doing.”

In order for Kendall to run the clock and score, she has to understand the wrestling language that the referees are shouting during the match. Terms such as escape, takedown, nearfall, pin and reversal will pop up. Each term has a pointage associated with it, and Kendall pays close attention to the refs in order to know how many points to give to which wrestler. Once the ref has made a call, Kendall inputs the score into the clock and keeps track of who wins each match and how long the match lasts on a sheet of paper. If she is not running a table, she usually can be found videorecording with a Sony handycam.

It’s essential to pay attention, or else the camera will not be on the wrestlers and she could miss a major move.

For Kendall, wrestling has offered her new opportunities including a potential college one.

Kendall has been hoping to be a wrestling manager for the Ohio State University (OSU) next year. According to Kendall, OSU has a good wrestling program, and it has been her dream to go there. The OSU wrestling team has won the NCAA Championship once last year, runner-up twice, and has appeared in the championship for the past five years. Kendall said the manager she knows personally received a ring for being a manager when the team won the NCAA. Until college, Kendall is spending her final year as a manager videoing the wrestling matches or running clocks and scoreboards.

“Wrestlers are the weirdest people,” Kendall says. “[Wrestling] is such an awesome sport. It’s just really interesting, and it’s different from any other sport.”

“[It’s just yourself] and another person competing against each other. You’re going to want to quit and give up. Six minutes seems really short, but during that time, it seems so much longer.”

—Kendall Lehman, East senior and wrestling manager

sports | the alternative

UNBRIDLED PASSION East junior Tatum Pencek competes in equestrian competitions and finds the bond with a horse to be the most important aspect of the sport.

story victoria negron | photography cara satullo | infographic cassia chryssovergis

A

fter ten years of being involved in equestrianism, East junior Tatum Pencek formed her strongest friendship with her horse and teammate, 14-year-old thoroughbred Arrow. Although Pencek has only owned Arrow for 6 months, traveling out to Honey Tree Stables in Hamilton five days a week every week has given the two time to bond and build trust in one another. Whether they spent their time running through jumps or simply roaming freely within the gated section of the stable,

THE ALTERNATIVE their friendship has blossomed to the point that it is evident to all that witness them riding together, especially to Pencek’s mother, Robyn.

“She has really built a long-lasting friendship with [Arrow],” Robyn says. “I’ve watched her get closer to him every day, and I know nothing

HURDLE RACE Horse race that consists of hurdles at least three and a half feet high that horses have to jump over. Unlike the steeplechase race, in a hurdle 3 1/2 ft race horses only have to face one obstacle.

EQUIPMENT

Both horses and riders need specific equipment for hurdle and steeplechase races.

could get between her and her love for her horse.”

Tatum participates in Interscholastic Equestrian Association (IEA) competitions, for which names of horses are chosen at random and assigned to each rider. The rider has never met or ridden any of the horses and is expected to jump with the horse they were assigned while given only two practice jumps.

To practice this, the members of Tatum’s barn will use each other’s horses or school horses, learning how to handle horses that are not fully comfortable with them. She used to place regularly at these competitions when she first entered, and now that she has become more competitive she continues to place, just not always as high. Tatum also participates in five to eight regular season competitions a year, dependent on how expensive they are.

Although technique and appearance are huge parts of equestrianism, the bond between horse and rider is by far the most important aspect of the sport. Without that bond, a horse may still be rideable, but the element of trust is absent. After months or years of training with the same horse, a form of nonverbal communication is created. At the slightest movement she could tell if Arrow was uncomfortable and would give proper

bridle blinkers

harness that fits around horse’s head, holding the bit

flaps on bridle that stop horse from seeing backwards or sideways

bit metal mouthpiece where rein are attached

saddle seat for rider on the back of the horse

hunting stock broad band worn around rider’s neck

breeches trousers worn specifically for riding

whip long, thin device used to encourage horse

spur pointed device attached to rider’s boot used to encourgae horse

62 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

the alternative | sports

STEEPLECHASE

Horse race that consists of more difficult obstacles than hurdle races. They range from high verticle jumps to wide water jumps. The heights and widths of these jumps vary widely according to the level of difficulty of the course. water jump requires horse to jump over a wide expanse of water

gate verticle fence

that presents a solid obstacle

oxer creates a spread

fence verticle obsticle that involves substancial width

verticle up-and-down fence

jump for horses

that creates a relativiely difficult obstacle

sources www.olympic.org, www.ukracingguide.co.uk, www.inthehills.ca, www.visualdictionaryonline.com

instruction and encouragement just as one would with a fellow teammate.

“I think the bond between horse and rider is the most important thing for the entire riding experience,” says Katie Strong, Tatum’s trainer and the barn manager at Honey Tree Stables.

“You can ride a horse that you haven’t bonded with, but it really is a different experience when you’ve actually bonded with the horse because you can communicate almost on a nonverbal level. There’s a level of trust you have to build so that the horse knows that the things you’re about to do aren’t going to hurt them. Part of that bond is clear instruction from the rider.”

Not only can Tatum sense when her horse is not comfortable with a situation, but also half of horse graphic.indd 1 Arrow can pick up on how she is feeling. He shows that in his performance and in the way he carries out tasks such as jumping.

“I can’t be scared,” Tatum says. “I can never be scared or nervous. He will pick up on it and then everything will go downhill. He’s never nervous, but if I’m nervous, he’ll get scared and we won’t be able to compete at all.”

Along with the bond formed between a horse and its rider comes an element of teamwork. With most individual sports, it is solely the athletes and their abilities being put to the test. While equestrianism may be classified as an individual sport, the horse is more of a teammate than a tool, according to Strong.

“A horse and rider train together constantly and learn from each other’s mistakes in order to sharpen their skills and build a relationship together,” Strong says, “just as teammates on any team sport would.”

Tatum agrees with Strong, stating that riders are never worried about just themselves and that they are constantly taking the horses’ wellbeings into account with every major decision.

“It’s a team sport even if you’re riding on your ow n because you are always working with the animal and it just adds a different dimension to the sport,” Tatum says. “It’s not just me I’m ...continued on page 68

Tatum Pencek walks her horse out of the barn to practice jumping.

1/30/2016 12:45:52 PM

PRIVATE VERSUS PUBLIC The OHSAA is implementing a Competitive Balance Plan to go into effect during the 2017-18 school year in order to try and equalize public and private school athletics. story aly thomas | photography sydney rader

64 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

I

t was a part of the family tradition to go to Ursuline Academy. Her mother started coaching volleyball there, and three years later started teaching there as well. Her two older sisters are Ursuline graduates. When East junior Edie Brewer made the decision to begin her high school career there, she was following in her family’s footsteps. But before her junior year, she transferred to Lakota East because her younger sister wanted to go there.

“My little sister wanted to come to school [at East]. It was either pay another $24,000 or pay zero, so I went to East too,” Brewer says.

“I don’t really have a preference of schools. I am a laid-back person; I just go with the flow.

Both have differences and have good things and have their flaws.”

Brewer was a part of the Ursuline volleyball program her freshman and sophomore years.

The setter became Greater Miami Conference (GMC) Athlete of the Year in her first year with the Thunderhawks with 173 kills and 183 digs. Brewer helped East to a 22-4 record and a GMC championship. The Thunderhawks advanced to the Sweet 16, where they fell to private three-time consecutive state champion Mount Notre Dame private school.

After being a part of both a public school and a private school program, Brewer says that the dedication level is different between the two schools.

“That may be unfair to say for some people at East, but at the private schools, people wanted to go to practice and people wanted to train and wanted to push themselves and get better while people here, I heard people here saying sometimes they didn’t like volleyball,” Brewer says. “We would screw around a little

Though the Competitive Balance Plan does not address Division I schools like East, it could heavily impact smaller schools.

bit sometimes during practice, and if a private school came in and saw us, they would be like, ‘how the heck are you still in the tournament?’”

According to Brewer, a big difference between the private and public schools is the emphasis on varsity. Brewer says that East places a bigger focus on varsity sports while at Ursuline there was more emphasis on the other levels like Junior Varsity and Freshman teams because of there being only girls at the school.

U

rsuline head volleyball coach Jeni Case, who has experience coaching at both private and public schools, has been coaching at Ursuline for 10 years, and before that she coached at East for nine years. She says that the two types of schools differ because of boys’ sports gaining more popularity at a public school, which doesn’t occur at an all-girls school like Ursuline.

“When you go to an all-girls school, it is a big deal for you to play sports. It is a big deal within the school, and it is an exciting feeling,” Case says. “When you coach at a public school, because of the boys’ sports, I feel like the girls’ sports kind of get pushed aside a little bit.”

At Ursuline, Case has two state championships, and Ursuline was the runnerup in 2008. According to the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA), the top five record holders for state championships in girls’ volleyball are all private schools: Cincinnati St. Ursula Academy (eight), Newark Catholic (eight), St. Henry (seven), Cincinnati Seton (six) and Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame (six).

This disproportionate ratio has not gone unnoticed. According to OHSAA Associate Commissioner Bob Goldring, the OHSAA

private versus public | sports

Edie Brewer rests between plays at a home GMC match..

has had a Competitive Balance Committee meet for several years to look at the concern that was raised regarding non-public schools winning more state championships than public schools, noting how non-public schools make up only 16 percent of the OHSAA membership. The committee proposed to the OHSAA Board of Directors to add numbers to schools’ enrollments, and this was passed on to the member schools for approval. After failing three proposals in 2011, 2012 and 2013, a competitive balance plan was approved by the OHSAA member schools in 2014, which will aim to equalize private and public schools. The plan will be implemented beginning with the 2017-18 school year. The competitive balance plan states, “When a team’s roster is comprised of a number of students whose parents do not reside within the school’s district or attendance zone or the student did not come from the same system of education as that school, then there may be modifications in how that team is placed in its tournament division.”

T

he Competitive Balance Plan tries to make non-public schools that have many students who didn’t come from either the non-public school’s feeder school or the same educatio system move up to a higher division. It also helps public schools that have a large number of open-enrolled students who have not openenrolled continuously at that school since the seventh grade move up to a higher division.

For non-public schools, the basic theory is to look at the history of the student’s education.

If a student came to the high school from a non-public school’s “feeder school” in seventh or eighth grade, there are no factors added

to the school’s enrollment. The further the student is removed from that feeder school, the higher the factor that is added to the school’s enrollment. For example, if some Bishop Fenwick athletes do not live in the Middletown area, Fenwick could get bumped up to a higher division level.

“Again, we believe this system treats all schools similarly and fairly,” Goldring says.

“It looks at the theory of ‘has that student continuously been part of our program?’”

F

enwick’s Athletic Director Jon Payne voted against the plan and says he is not in favor of it regardless of whether he was at a public school or a private school. Fenwick is currently competing at the Division IV level and has 536 students enrolled at the school.

“If it goes into effect, it will most likely change the tournament divisions in which we are assigned,” Payne says. “We, like many other schools, will have multiplied enrollment counts due to where our students come from. This will inflate our enrollment numbers and probably push us into a larger division for tournament competition. It will then put our teams in contests with schools that have a much larger population of students to fill their teams with.”

Some Division I athletic directors are skeptical of the plan’s success as well. Upper Arlington Athletic Director Tony Pusateri says that the competitive balance plan will change a small percentage of the outcomes. According to Pusateri, with having 2000 students in the school, the plan won’t affect Upper Arlington at all. The Golden Bears have won 134 state championships in the history of the school. ... continued on page 68

MAKING WAVES

story adrienne stolitca photography sydney rader

W

hen East senior Alex Nucerino was 13 years old, he had two options: to participate in the band or to join a swim team. After not turning in a band form, his options were limited to one.

“I was forced into swimming as a punishment,” Nucerino says. “I didn’t show my mom an honor band form because I didn’t

want to be in it, and when she found out, she told me I was going to start swimming. At first, I completely hated it.”

After a few meets, his punishment turned to passion, and now, five years later, Nucerino is one of five seniors to lead East boys’ swimming team. Currently, Nucerino places fourth in the Greater Miami Conference 200-yard freestyle and fifth in the 500-yard freestyle with times of 1:51.09 and 5:07.27, respectively. According to teammate Brad Barren, Nucerino brings not only physical talent but also mental support and humor to the team.

“Alex is a hardworking athlete and always strives to be the best he can be,” Barren says.

“As a teammate, he is funny and easy to get along with.”

As for his future, Nucerino plans on competing at the college level for either John Carroll University, Ohio Northern University

66 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

or Allegheny College. According to East swim coach David Beck, Nucerino has a bright future ahead of him.

“Alex works very hard toward his goals as well as the goals of the team,” Beck says.

“There is a place for every athlete to continue in college. They just need to find the right school and program, and if Alex does that, I think he will be successful.”

While Nucerino is excited for his future of college level swimming ahead of him, he is focused on the present, trying to swim his best and enjoy spending time with his teammates.

This summer, he plans to compete in the YMCA Nationals in the hopes of leading his team in the 800-meter freestyle relay race for the second year in a row.

“Just to be a part of swimming at Nationals is really motivating,” Nucerino says. “I want to perform well and do the best I can.”

scouting report | sports

STAT FOCUS LAKOTA EAST ATHLETICS 1:42.71

As of Jan. 30, East junior Josh McDonald has the fastest GMC time in the 200-yard freestyle with 1:42.71 seconds.

“Alex is a very dedicated swimmer who has worked very hard to earn the success he has enjoyed.

He has a strong desire to improve and does all the necessary work in and out of the pool to allow himself to keep improving.”

— Brad Isham, Countryside YMCA Torpedoes Coach

Q&A

BOWLING MARIA BALLARD

interview kaily hauck

Kaily Hauck: How long have you been bowling?

Maria Ballard: I started my freshman year, and I’ve been bowling since. I bowled eighth grade year as well.

KH: Why did you start bowling?

MB: My dad is the coach, so that’s kind of how I got into it, and then I just found a passion for it. I just got into it. Bowling is a great way to make friends within the team.

KH: Do you plan on continuing to bowl in college?

MB: Not through my school, but more as an extracurricular and just to have fun and to go

out with friends but not to compete.

KH: What is your favorite part about the sport?

MB: The competition. I don’t know, I just love like the pressure of bowling against another team. The competitiveness makes me bowl better in a way.

KH: What are your personal expectations for this season?

MB: I have goals of trying to go off to districts and possibly state. I probably won’t, but I’m going to try my best. I also I would like to try and help the team win as many matches as possible and to go out with a winning record.

visit www. lakotaeastsparkonline. com for more coverage of East athletics.

14.2

East junior Evan Kuhlman has an average of 14.2 points per game after 16 games.

6285

East senior Maria Ballard has knocked down 6285 pins in 35 games.

12-8

In the 113lb weight class, Christian Chavez has a win-loss record of 12-8.

173.60

Average receiving yards

by East senior Austin Hatfield (football)

173.60

In the one-meter dive, East junior Marissa Linder is fourth in the GMC with a score of 173.60.

3.2

East senior Sam Rodgers has an average of 3.2 assists per game after 20 games.

BEST DAY EVER continued from page 29... here at school,” says Wyandot principal Mary Brophy. “It really has been such an easy transition because the family helped us best learn about how to take care of Emma.

Everyone has been making it as smooth of a transition as possible.”

Along with alerting others if Emma has a seizure by barking, Franco’s specialized skills are in mobility, retrieval, balance and behavior disruption. For balance, he wears a special harness which has a handle for Emma to hold onto when she walks with him.

Emma routinely endures blood draws at the hospital, and her soft skin makes it especially painful. A difficult process for both her and Jen, Franco came to the rescue with the “lap” command, which is another special skill requiring him to lay over Emma’s legs to keep her calm.

We met with Emma’s new school this week. They have a huge therapy room that reminded me of The Dayton Children’s therapy gym. It brought tears to my eyes. And the best part...they welcomed Emma and Franco with open arms and open hearts.

Weeks after taking Franco home, Jen and Jon decided to move the family from Minster to West Chester, specifically buying a house near Emma’s future school, Wyandot, and hospital, the Liberty branch of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC). Before, they drove two hours to reach CCHMC, and now it takes ten minutes.

The family is settled into a routine. In the mornings, Jen takes Emma to school, where she is greeted by Tonyan. With Franco by her side, she participates in class activities early on. She works with specialists for physical, occupational and speech therapy and also an intervention specialist. Most of her learning is completed early in the school day to help her stay focused before the fatigue sets in.

Constantly juggling activities may be tiresome for some, but Tonyan understands that unwavering patience to adapt to Emma’s needs will prove to be fruitful in the long run.

“It’s been a lot of learning because we have Franco, so I have to be trained with him, and I had to have training with Emma to meet her needs because her needs are always changing,” says Tonyan, “but Emma’s really good at letting me know [if she needs help].”

Whether it be her school team or hospital team of specialists, Emma will continue to be surrounded by teams of people encouraging her. Her parents’ never ending joy in every small victory inspire a daughter who acknowledges her disabilities but refuses to be bogged down by them.

“It’s the best day ever,” Emma exclaims happily, as she grasps onto Franco’s harness, ready to walk out of her classroom. Best day ever, indeed.

UNBRIDLED PASSION continued from page 63... worried about. I can get injured, but that’s a lot more fixable than my horse getting injured.”

With having a teammate of such high importance comes high levels of maintenance.

Buying the actual horse happens to be the least expensive part of owning one. Board at Honey Tree Stables can cost anywhere from $450 to $1,300 a month depending on the barn in which the horse is placed. Entry prices for competitions can range anywhere from $500 to $3,000 a show. Along with these expenses comes filing teeth, replacing shoes, vaccinations, supplements to feed, any injuries and preventative maintenance.

“The prices seem daunting at times.”

Robyn says. “There’s so much to worry about with maintenance, but seeing how Tatum has formed such a close bond with Arrow really makes it all worthwhile.”

Despite the expenses involved in participating in equestrianism, money is no object when it comes to maintaining the strong friendships formed with countless hours of training and bonding, Tatum says. The financial obstacles may be difficult to overcome, but Tatum doesn’t let that get in the way of her love for Arrow. According to Strong, like any athlete, both the horse and rider need proper care to ensure that they have the best chances of succeeding in competition. “[Riders] are athletes,and you want to take care of them like athletes,” Strong says. “We want to make sure they have the best chances in their lives.”

PUBLIC VERSUS PRIVATE continued from page 64...

“It is like a circle,” Pusateri says. “The student athletes are the reason why we win, and they are here because their parents want the best environment and resources for them, which means we have very good coaches and facilities, and all three are needed.”

North Canton Hoover Athletic Director Don Shimek says he has his doubts regarding the plan’s success to equalize public and private schools competition level.

“There are a lot of different variables that go along with it,” Shimek says. “This will affect certain sports more than others but it is what is.”

Lakota East Athletic Director Rich Bryant says he doesn’t predict the plan affecting East in any way except the possibility of competing against Division II schools that get moved up to Division I. “The way that the plan is currently written does not address a multitude of problems that are occurring at the Division I level,” Bryant says. “[OHSAA Competitive Balance Committee] hasn’t dealt with it at all mostly

68 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

because the people behind the plan are all smaller-school administrators.”

According to Archbishop Moeller High School Athletic Director Mike Asbeck, the plan will not affect Moeller at all because they are already competing at the Division I level.

Asbeck says all the plan will do is shuffle schools into different places and could be potentially harmful to smaller schools that could no longer compete efficiently if they were bumped up a division higher. Asbeck also mentions that it will not only affect private schools, but also public schools that deal with open enrollment could face hefty changes due to the plan.

Asbeck says the reason that the plan split private and public schools in athletics was because there is an animosity between the two types of schools.

“We have got a great rapport with the Lakota schools and a lot of GMC schools, and we would like to continue that,” Asbeck says.

“I think that what builds community more is when our schools compete against each other.

It gives everybody an opportunity to see what each team is all about.”

The Moeller Crusaders have won 21 OHSAA state championships in school history in sports including football, baseball, basketball and golf. They also have two lacrosse championships, a rugby championship and 7 state volleyball championships, which are not OHSAA-affiliated sports.

Case says that the cause of the private schools winning more titles in volleyball is because back when she was still coaching at East, the only way public school athletes could get involved with volleyball was their junior high team, while private school athletes were able to start volleyball in the third grade with the Catholic Youth Organization.

Both Case and Brewer say that public schools are starting to even out more with the private schools.

“I feel like now it is starting to even out a lot more. I feel like people are finding opportunities a lot earlier now,” Case says.

“There are a lot more club teams, so there is a lot more opportunity. Back in the day, there was only a club or two that you could get into.”

On Brewer’s club team, Elevation, more than half the athletes go to public school.

Brewer says that there is a more even balance now.

“Private schools have good talent, but we have good talent here, too; the only difference being private schools can have people enroll from anywhere,” Brewer says. “We are doing fine playing in the same division. [East] went far in the tournament, Turpin made it far, and other public schools made it far.”

According to Case, many private and public schools have strong volleyball programs, and competing against each other in the state tournament makes it more competitive and have a larger effect on volleyball in Ohio. Though

Case says she enjoyed her time coaching at East, there is still a higher expectation for success she faces at Ursuline.

“At East, when I coached there was no expectation to win or to win state,” Case says.

“There is a certain background and tradition at Ursuline.”

Private school athletic traditions, like multiple state championships, is not limited to volleyball. St. Xavier swimming has won 35 Ohio State Championships, 20 of them under now assistant, but former head coach, Jim Brower in his 27 seasons.

Brower believes that the St. Xavier winning tradition is something that separates the program from other schools. According to Brower, the success built at St. Xavier is due to the school’s facilities. St. Xavier contains a natatorium on campus that has 16 lanes and was built in 1959 through private donations.

Brower says that it is not a coincidence that the first state championship came after the natatorium was finished.

“The fact that the swimmers can show up in the morning and swim, go to class, swim after school and don’t have to drive across town definitely contributes to our program’s success,” Brower says. “It is an inconvenience if you have to drive around, and some people just aren’t at that competitive of a level.”

Brower went to a public high school in Canton, Ohio (GlenOak) and says he knows the inconvenience of having to drive back and forth from school to practice. Mason head swim coach Mark Sullivan is one of few public schools that has a pool located right next to the high school, located at the Mason Recreational Center, and he considers it a huge tribute to the Comets’ success.

Eighteen-year head swimming coach of both East and West Dennis Beck says he also has seen the inconvenience of not having a pool on campus. Lakota swimming practices are held at the YMCA in Liberty Township, but in earlier years before, swimmers used to have to drive to the Norwood YMCA to practice.

“We would have an hour and half total of commute time plus three hours of practice time when we were at Norwood, and I think it made it hard to be the student part of a student athlete,” Beck says. “Just having the YMCA closer has helped, but obviously having it at the end of the hall would help even more.”

The main difference that Beck has noticed between the private and public schools is private schools having a larger area of kids from which to draw. The six-time GMC Coach of the Year says that it is public schools’ job to excel and compete with private schools, regardless of the boundary constraints.

“We have to promote the program, and whenever we have that opportunity, we need to do that,” Beck says. “We need to make sure people know we have a swim team because I think with not having a pool it is one of the

things we suffer from; I think a lot of it is promoting ourselves and letting people know we are out there and working hard.”

Sullivan has been coaching for the Comets for 10 years, and before he started coaching at Mason, he spent five years coaching at St. Xavier. Sullivan says that the main difference he has noticed between coaching at the two different schools is that the camaraderie at private schools is more apparent.

“I have always been slightly envious of how the administration at private schools are able to develop such a high team spirit,” Sullivan says. “Public schools can lose that sometimes, so private schools have a higher advantage in that aspect.”

Sullivan says that he doesn’t believe that private and public schools should compete in different divisions because it allows for his team to compete against the best in the state. Brower says that public and private schools competing together allows for a “true” state championship because it is more of an individual sport than a team sport.

“We qualify based on each individual’s ability to qualify, whether those individuals went to St. X or whether they went somewhere else. So you qualify individually regardless of your school,” Brower says. “It is a true state championship in that sense. You are competing with the best swimmers in the state, and personally I really like that.”

Brower also says that at St. Xavier, there is a more focused group of students than at a public school because St. Xavier is an all-boys school. St. Xavier has 1574 male students and has 90 swimmers on the swim team, according to Brower. East has 2547 students and around 20 male swimmers, according to Beck.

“I think we run a top-notch program,” Brower says. “When kids come in, there is a certain expectation and certain tradition that has come before them, and with 90 people on the team, they know they have to be pretty dedicated if they want to make it to the top tier of our team. It is a pretty intricate system. It is a much different culture than other schools.”

St. Xavier senior swimmer Jonathan Prangley grew up following the St. Xavier swimming traditions. His father was also a swimmer for the Bombers, so when Prangley reached his freshman year, he chose St. Xavier over attending public school at Wyoming.

“I believe St. Xavier is creating a competitive yet friendly learning environment,” Prangley says. “Regarding sports, one strength of St. Xavier is emphasizing tradition by including a lot of support from alumni.”

According to Goldring, private schools by their nature have to recruit students to attend their schools, but there are recruiting bylaws regarding how they secure a student. Schools may mass market their entire school but not specifically their athletic programs. Coaches cannot have contact with prospective students

until after that student has been accepted to the school, and no financial aid or scholarships can be provided for athletic ability.

“The major factors contributing to the success of our program would be No. 1 the facilities and and No. 2, perhaps tradition,” Brower says. “There are a lot of good and competent coaches around here for both public and private schools, so seeing a tradition that St. X has had is definitely a draw for swimmers to come here.”

For St. Xavier junior volleyball player Cole Bretl, the draw to attend St. Xavier for high school was the atmosphere.

“I like being at a Catholic school. The people are nice there, and the teachers care a lot,” Bretl says. “It is a lot different than Lakota because obviously I go to an all-boys school, but I think it is academically a little bit harder.”

Bretl went to school in the Lakota district his first eight years of school, attending Freedom Elementary and Ridge Junior High. Before his freshman year, Bretl was split between going to St. Xavier or going to West because of price reasons and the distance of driving to school.

“I chose for the atmosphere and the people.

Sports were last; sports were just for fun,” Bretl says. “The athletic differences I notice though are that there is more lifting for all sports. At St. X, every sport has to lift. We also have more open-gym time before the season starts.”

St. Xavier’s boy’s volleyball team was the runner up in the state tournament last spring.

The team rankings during the 2015 regular season, according to Ohio Boy’s Volleyball, had St. Xavier, Elder and Moeller as the top three teams in the state for Division I and Walsh Jesuit, Alter and St. Francis DeSales as the top three programs for Division II. The Bombers’ setter says that the reason for the private school’s success is because almost every Catholic elementary school has a boys’ volleyball team, while public schools do not.

Therefore, a lot of public school athletes don’t start playing volleyball until their freshman year.

Case noticed the same problem within girls’ volleyball while she was still coaching at East, but she has found the two schools evening out through more opportunities for girls’ volleyball players to get involved at a younger age.

According to Case, there are a lot of good volleyball programs in both public and private schools. Case says that the main reason that athletes choose to go to private schools, like Ursuline, is for the academics and because they want to be challenged not just for athletic reasons.

“Whether you play for a public or private school, the pre-game hype is still there,” Brewer says. “Like at private school, we would go into our locker room and warm up and listen to music, and we would still do that here.

Everyone is always excited for the games no matter what school you go to.”

opinion | head to head

AMERICA’S GAME T

here are few art forms that are truly American: jazz, the Broadway musical, comic books—but one art form dominates in America and controls the airwaves every Sunday from September to February. Football has captured the No. 1 spot in the hearts and heads of Americans as a game that unites fans no matter what team for which they root. While baseball long held the title of America’s game, 34 percent of Americans identify professional football as their favorite sport, this compared to only 16 percent for professional baseball, according to 2013’s Harris Interactive Poll.

“Growing up in the ‘90s, it’s easy for my generation to remember a time when the NFL wasn’t king,” said National Football League (NFL) National Lead Writer Michael Schottey.

“The NFL has a stranglehold on the American sports experience right now, but it wasn’t always that way.”

Part of football’s rise to the top can be attributed to the rise of television. Baseball is not suited for TV. Sports like hockey, soccer and basketball provide constant action, while the average Major

League Baseball (MLB) game lasts three hours and three minutes, but the ball is only in play for five minutes and 45 seconds, according to Stats LLC. Beyond this lack of action, baseball is missing a predictability that lends itself to TV. Baseball was not created for television; it was originally created by and for newspapers, and later fit well into a radio-dominated setting. But, the world is modernizing quickly, and baseball is being left behind. Football fits perfectly into a world where television, computers and mobile apps reign supreme.

The short bursts of action where every player on the field is involved capture the attention of the viewer, while the concentrated playing area makes the game easily followed by cameras.

W

hile football only recently took hold of the No. 1 spot, the preference is already reflected greatly in viewership. XLIX was viewed by 114.4 million television sets in the United States, according to CBS sports, making it the most-viewed television program in U.S. history. On the other hand, the fifth and final game of the 2015 World Series between The Kansas City Royals and the New York Mets pulled an audience of only 17.2 million, according to the New York Times. Even the average attendance of NFL games eclipses the average attendance of MLB games. According to ESPN, the LA Dodgers are the mostattended MLB team, but even then only 83 percent of the seats in the stadium are filled.

Compared to the Dallas Cowboys, whose average attendance of 91,459 is 114.3 percent of capacity. In fact, according to ESPN, 13 NFL teams averaged over capacity attendance during the 2015-16 regular season.

Not only is football the most-viewed sport in America, among boys it is also the mostplayed sport. Starting at the peewee level, more kids are opting for a pair of shoulder pads over a bat and glove. From 2000 to

2009, the number of kids aged seven to 17 playing baseball fell by 24 percent, according to the National Sporting Goods Association, whereas participation in youth tackle football has soared 21 percent in the same time span.

This early participation carries players into their teen years, making boys’ football the most largely participated-in sport, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.

I

n a world that is increasingly competitive, people identify with the battle that takes place on a football field every down. Watching a team face impossible odds and still manage to pull off the win doesn’t just excite the fans, but also it gives them hope to face and conquer adversity in their own lives. This was exemplified by the Michigan State football team on Oct. 17, 2015 when they pulled off what seemed like an impossible victory over the University of Michigan. With only 10 seconds remaining, Michigan, who looked to have secured the victory, tried to punt the ball away, but a botched snap gave Jalen WattsJackson the chance to cradle the ball against his body and run into the endzone, capturing victory for the Spartans. Before the failed punt, Michigan State had only a two percent chance of winning, according to ESPN. “That’s why football is loved so much in America,” Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio said. “It’s because things like this happen. Every now and then, they happen.”

Baseball is a leisurely sepia-tone memory of what America used to be. It is no longer fair to call a game that belongs to so many countries America’s game. No matter if it’s watching the local high school team under friday night lights, cheering on one’s alma mater as they take on their NCAA rival, or donning the colors of their preferred NFL team, football unites all Americans under a single game.

Football fits perfectly into a world where television, computers and mobile apps reign supreme.

—Kelly Krajewski 70 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

head to head | opinion

Two games are dominant in the world of sports.

Traditionalists maintain that baseball is America’s one true game, while modern fans rally behind football.

This debate for a unifying game divides the country. columns kelly krajewski, aly thomas art julia sanders

T

he aroma of hot dogs and fresh-cut grass surrounds me as I follow my father to our assigned red plastic chairs located out in left field of Great American Ballpark. I tug on my favorite Johnny Bench jersey and make sure my hair is pulled back so everyone could see the historic number five stitched across my back.

My anticipation grows as the national anthem plays, signaling that the game I get to watch firsthand is about to start.

Opening day is another year and another opportunity for baseball fans to watch their favorite team attempt to clinch the World Series. Opening day is marked as the rebirth of spring and the refilling of hope in not only baseball fans but also in the American people.

Baseball has been coined as “America’s pastime” since the 19th century. This still holds true, despite the growing television ratings football has received since the 1968 Super Bowl, which had 39 million viewers according to Forbes. The reason for this shift in viewership is that “baseball’s appeal is largely regional, while football’s is national. Baseball is followed locally, generally by fans who go to games. Football is followed on TV by fans who seldom, if ever, go to see the games in person,” as The Atlantic’s Allen Barra says.

According to a Major League Baseball (MLB) Blue Ribbon Panel, an estimated 96 percent of people who consider themselves football fans have never been to a professional game. In Cincinnati specifically, the Reds’ radio broadcasts are one of the top three radio shows in the area, according to Mike Ball of the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Baseball is still a sacred sport to the American people, so much so that debate over whether Opening Day should be recognized as a national holiday has struck up controversy for years. Opening Day is so iconic that every President of the United States has thrown out the first pitch or attended a game since 1910.

The leaders of our country making time to attend one of the first baseball games of the season every year proves that baseball still is and always will be America’s game.

Baseball’s roots began growing in 1823 when “base ball” was regularly played on Saturdays in the outskirts of New York City.

In 1869, professional play began with the forming of the first professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, now known today as the Cincinnati Reds. By the 1920s, radio coverage and the construction of large ballparks allowed for Americans to feel a sense of pride for their home teams. From that period on, baseball has experienced highs and the lows like the Black Sox Scandal, Babe Ruth’s called shot and the steroid era. A day at the ballpark has become a part of American culture, to the point that “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” is third most frequently sung tune

by Americans, only behind “Happy Birthday” and “Star Spangled Banner.”

T

he lack of a time limit in baseball may make the game seem boring, but in reality it is what sets baseball apart. Nothing is boring about a pure battle between the pitcher and the batter in the bottom of the ninth with the game is at stake. The pitcher has to throw the perfect pitch, know the batter’s weakness, and expose it. There is no such thing as a “victory formation” or dribbling until the shot clock winds down—the pitcher has no choice but to throw it and let the hitter swing.

Baseball will continue to triumph over football because of the ballpark atmosphere.

Every ballpark is different. People will put it on their bucket list to visit ballparks like Fenway Park in Boston and Wrigley Field in Chicago because each one brings something unique to the experience. ESPN has done several studies on the different environments and how difficult it is to hit a homerun over the green

Opening day is marked as the rebirth of spring and the refilling of hope in not only baseball fans but also the American people.

—Aly Thomas

monster at Fenway compared to the riverfront breeze in Cincinnati. Baseball ballparks are also known to be more family-friendly than football stadiums, which tend to bring in a more adult crowd because of the popularity of tailgating.

While most sports only have one level of professional teams, baseball not only has Major League, but they also have minor leagues scattered throughout the country that bring in thousands of fans each night. According to Forbes, baseball game attendance has increased in numbers every year. If someone isn’t located right next to a Major League ballpark, there is still an opportunity to watch a game live through a minor league organization. In any other sport, if you don’t live in a city, you will have to face travel and extra expenses to see a game live or depend on it being televised.

Baseball is America’s sport simply because it symbolizes on what the United States was founded: equal opportunity. If a player can’t field, he could be the designated hitter. If he can’t hit but can throw a 95 miles per hour fastball, he is a pitcher only. Baseball doesn’t discriminate.

Whether somebody is 70 years old and reminiscing or 10 years old and dreaming, the game holds the same opportunity for every person that recognizes the beauty of a hanging cur veball hitting the sweet spot of the bat. tommy

hilfiger

opinion | guest column

THE “MUSLIM PROBLEM” ISN’T A PROBLEM NICK HAMILTON T

he summer before fourth grade, I got a new neighbor. Our first conversation was about football and how he was planning on playing that year. We hung out a few times in his backyard, then I was invited into his house a week after he moved in. His mother said something in what sounded like a mumble. I thought I just didn’t hear what she said, until he responded in similar sounds. It went on for about 30 seconds, until she smiled and left. I asked my new friend what just happened, and he said, “It was Arabic.”

As children, we have next to no prejudice against a group of people for what they believe or how they talk. I was fascinated when I heard Arabic for the first time, and I actually wanted to learn some. For years after that, all I knew about Muslims was that they called their god Allah, they fasted during Ramadan, and they couldn’t eat bacon. That was all I really knew until recently, when Muslims in America became a huge topic of political conversation.

Donald Trump wants a database and special identification for Muslims, much like Jews in Nazi Germany, while Ben Carson has gone on record stating his belief that “different loyalties” disqualify Muslims from serving high offices.

These anti-Islamic thoughts began with leftover feelings after 9/11, when some blamed all Muslims for the actions of Al-Qaeda. These feelings were rekindled with the emergence of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a relatively new and radical group in the Middle East.

Most of the fear centers around radical Islamists killing innocent Americans. For some, this seems like a rational fear. However, FBI and Europol statistics show otherwise. In 2013, there were 152 terrorist attacks in Europe, only two of which were “religiously motivated.” In America, from 1980 to 2005, only 6 percent of all terrorist attacks were by Islamic extremists.

This is one percent more than communist terrorist attacks, and one percent less than Jewish terrorist attacks.

GUEST COLUMN

According to CNN, there were only three attacks the United States in 2015 that were directly linked to ISIS. And in 2015 alone, there were 372 mass shootings. Based on those statistics, you are 124 times more likely to be in a mass shooting situation than an ISIS-related terrorist attack. Since 1982, 64 percent of mass shooters were white and overwhelmingly male, making around 230 of the shooters white men.

S

omething that hasn’t received much attention is the amount of hate crimes against Muslims. According to the FBI, for the past several years, the amount of suspected hate crimes against U.S. Muslims was around 12.6 per month, or about 150 a year. Since the Paris attacks in mid-November, the number has jumped to 38 attacks that are “anti-Islamic” in nature per month. Recently, there are more terrorist attacks against Muslims per month than Muslim attacks against the U.S. per year. These include shootings, death threats, vandalism and arson against mosques.

The number isn’t as high as post-9/11 attacks, but certain trends are resurfacing, such as Sikh people being confused as Muslims and treated as such.

“We are seeing an unbelievably toxic, antiMuslim environment in our society,” said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesperson for Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

72 lakotaeastsparkonline.com February 2016

“[This environment] is being encouraged and exploited by public figures like Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Rick Santorum and others.”

Many people notice the toxic environment around Muslims, but few recognize the historically harmful effects of labeling a group of people with fear or of the infringement of freedoms it causes. Fewer than 80 years ago, the government decided to put JapaneseAmericans in internment camps. This was one of the darkest times in U.S. history, and a major infringement on the rights of those people. Back then, the Japanese-Americans were blamed for Pearl Harbor, a terrible incident for which those Americans were in no way responsible. Today, Muslim-Americans are being blamed for 9/11 and ISIS, two terrible things for which they are also in no way responsible. ISIS, along with those who committed 9/11, were extremists that were a terrible, if at all, representation of Islam. One must not look at the extremists and base their idea of the religion on them. The Klu Klux Klan (KKK) identifies as a Christian organization. The KKK to Christians is historically similar to ISIS and Muslims today.

Both groups are terrible representations of the religions with whom they affiliate, and many who follow the religions say the groups do not accurately portray their beliefs.

The “Muslim Problem” is about how they are terrorized far more than they terrorize, how they are misrepresented in the media, and how they are constantly blamed for ISIS, which is a terrorist group that doesn’t closely represent their religious views.

Recently, there are more terrorist attacks against Muslims per month than Muslim attacks against the U.S. per year.

editorial cartoons | opinion

EDITORIAL CARTOONS

“Climate Change” — Sarah Aftab

“The Third Wheel” — Julia Sanders

opinion | from the editor

TERROR FOR TUSKS BRITTANY MEISTER photography colin melick

S

unday morning, four-and-a-half-year-old Makayla slowly described in almost perfect detail her newest dress: an incredibly fluffy gown fit for the Disney ice queen, Elsa.

“It has a really, really good top and has a bunch of flowers and all these shiny sparkles and—” She continued until she was distracted by a few adults talking loudly outside of the nursery about how much they hated their jobs. “But I don’t have any other good dresses. I hate them all,” she finished, abruptly.

Surprised by her sudden mood change, I asked her why she stopped talking about her fabulous new dress that she had swooned over just seconds before. I asked her why her other dresses suddenly were not only inferior to the Elsa dress but also miserably unacceptable to a point that she would use the word, “hate.” In perfect toddler fashion, she quickly handed me a tea cup and plastic cookie and said, “I made this for you!”

As a young girl, Makayla shouldn’t be scolded for not knowing that she should be thankful for her other dresses and shouldn’t say she hates her other dresses just to sound like the “mature adults” outside the room. Makayla’s innocent impressionability is young girl, Makayla shouldn’t be scolded for not knowing that she should be thankful for her other for not knowing that she should be thankful for her other dresses and shouldn’t say she hates her other dresses just to sound like the “mature adults” outside the room. Makayla’s innocent impressionability is young girl, Makayla shouldn’t be scolded for not knowing that she should be thankful for her other dresses and shouldn’t say she hates her other dresses just to sound like the “mature adults” outside the room. Makayla’s innocent impressionability is expected and is often perceived as a trait adults and some teenagers outgrow, but that is not always the case.

After about three days into the mission trip to Thailand, I quickly realized the extent to which adults can also be influenced. At the beginning of the trip, I began making up new slang and accents that went with the excessive amount of puns I was spewing to entertain the team and myself on our long flights to Bangkok. First, no one on the team could hardly stand the lame accents and jokes, but after about three days, almost everyone on the team spoke and acted like I did when we had down time. By the end of the trip, every sentence came with a voice and every conversation was loaded with puns.

Our impressionability is evident in how easily susceptible we are to picking up odd habits or new favorites from friends and family. And although harmless when the habits or opinions we pick up are puns, impressionability should not always be brushed off as a show of friendship.

In 2003, the University of Chicago observed two-thirds of children carry into adulthood the religion with which they were raised. Too often do we assume opinions as our own whether it be political, cultural, religious or social, without having researched or thought about them independently. If this generation truly wants their own future, we first must make decisions based on our own honest beliefs and therefore must check our own impressionability before establishing our opinions.

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