North Star Issue 3

Performing Arts showcases Winterfest

The Student Voice of Lawrence North

Letter from the editors

Hello and welcome to another issue of North Star 2022-2023!

This is our third issue for this academic year. You can find issues 1 & 2 online on northstaronline.org

In news we featured some of the December graduates, as well as one of the art teachers, Ashly Buschatzke, who is highly appreciated among her students. You can also find information about new clubs at LN.

The entertainment section will definitely put you in a Christmas mood. You can read about different ways to have fun in winter and see the thoughts of LN students on what is the worst Christmas gift.

Our opinion section talks about serious issues, such as choosing a career, accepting differences, and the danger of drugs.

Sports features girls basketball and a hockey player from LN, and includes pictures from the successful boys basketball win over LC on Dec 7.

We wish you good luck on finals and to have an amazing winter break.

Allara Baker, Islan Harris, Kimaya Naidoo, Iryna Vynnyk

A Head Start on Life A Work of Heart

Best & Worst Christmas songs

Winter fun Winterfest

Senior Struggles

Senior focuses on Return to Hockey State

Staff members

Allara Baker

Aidan Boston

Azariah Gearlds

Neveah Haggins

Amahri Hall

Islan Harris

Sol Jimenez

Tyre McClain

Samantha Mitchell

Kimaya Naidoo

Sidney Patterson

Jemetrius Rosenthall

Desiree Stubbs

Iryna Vynnyk

Adviser

Healther Klopfenstein

The North Star is a member of the Quill and Scroll Society, the Indiana High School Press Association, the National Scholastic Press Association, and the Journalism Education Association. The North Star newspaper is an open forum for Lawrence North students, faculty, administration and its community.

The purpose of the newspaper is to effectively report and analyze newsworthy information that impacts the intended audience. North Star strives for excellence and past awards have proven its success.

Mailing address: 7802 Hague Road Phone: (317) 964-7700

Email: lnnorthstaronline@gmail.com

Adviser email: heatherklopfenstein@msdlt.k12.in.us For more information, please visit northstaronline.org

@ln_northstar @ln_northstar

New club provides creative outlet for aspiring writers

Allara Baker SENIOR EDITOR

With this being one of the most active school years since the pandemic, students can be found after school participating in clubs. Added to the roster are clubs such as Badminton, Entertainment Club and the Latin Queens Book Club.

Senior used writing to help get through some difficult times and now wants club to be a safe place for others to be able to express themselves through words

and develop as writers, so that one day they can share their larger works and see glimpses of what people are currently working on.

One of the latest additions is the Creative Writing: Poetry and Prose Club. The club is run by English Teacher Kristen Parks and student founder senior Noah Xique. They’re a club that meets on Tuesdays that works on developing the skills of aspiring writers through many different forms of writing such as poetry, screenwriting, and prompt writing.

Xique is an aspiring writer who is very passionate about the craft. With having so many people join creative writing, he has been enjoying seeing other students’ passion for the craft and admires how much they strive to improve themselves. It gives students the opportunity to turn their emotions and mental imagery they have in their mind into art on paper.

“I think it’s really great that people have the passion to try and turn their emotions into something more, something that they can share with others. I think that’s the true value of artistic expression,” Xique said.

He hopes to create a space for students to share their own works and hopefully improve upon them. It’s been nice for him when getting connected to the other members because he gets to see them express themselves through writing.

“I mainly want to create a space for people to share their works and get feedback to improve on them. It’s been really great getting connected to the other members. They’re mostly underclassmen, so I get to see how much farther they’ll be coming in the ranks later in life,” Xique said.

Xique is excited for the club to get the chance to grow

“I’m looking forward to the part where we get to share our own stories that are a part of larger works within our groups so I get to see glimpses of what people are currently making,” Xique said.

Writing poetry has helped Xique during a hard time in his life where he was losing connections with others, so he was able to find an outlet for his emotions through expressing himself.

“Writing poetry helped me through a difficult time where I was losing a lot of friendships, so poetry was a way for me to get my true feelings out,” Xique said.

Parks is the teacher supervisor of The Creative Writing Club. She’s a freshman English teacher and she is also a writer herself on the side. She’s enjoyed working with the students so far and getting to see all the ideas they had. Her advice to them is to save their work and never throw it away because you could find value in it later by seeing how much you’ve improved.

“I’ve really enjoyed seeing how the members interact with each other and work to make their pieces the best they can be each session. My advice to them is to never throw away their work. Always save it because you never know if you want to expand more on it or just use it as a timepiece to see how far you’ve come,” Parks said.

Parks has enjoyed seeing the passion that the students have for writing in the club, and she’s glad that this opportunity is available for them to express themselves.

“It’s nice to have so many creative minds in one space, especially since we couldn’t do it all before,” Parks said.

A head start on life

Some LN students are graduating early for a variety of reasons, including working to save for college, taking a gap year, and beginning their careers

something she enjoys as a career.

Sidney Patterson STAFF MEMBER

Senior Jazmin Vega always enjoyed school up until Covid, when she felt like school became harder due to her not being in person and being forced to learn and do assignments online.

“School felt like more of an option because it was on the computer,” Vega said.

When Vega got back to school, she got in touch with her counselor to see if there was any way to get finished with school sooner than usual.

“School was really stressful, and I knew if I pushed myself to finish all my remaining credits in one semester I felt like it would be easier,” Vega said.

Her counselor recommended that she take classes through Plato. Since Vega is taking most of her classes online, she only has to come to LN for one class.

Vega is one of the class of 2023 graduating early. Lawrence North’s graduating class of 2023 has a total of 16 students that will be graduating at the end of the first semester this school year, also known as mid-year graduates.

Vega is planning to work during the second semester to save up money for college.

“I will be working and hopefully saving up money for college in August,” Vega said. Vega plans to work with her twin sister Maria until she heads to colleges at either Indiana University or Ivy Tech.

“But I don’t look at it as a job, since I like to do makeup, so it’s like a hobby I’m able to make money off of as well,” Brown said she’s not in cosmetology at McKenzie but says she realized in her senior year that she should have joined.

“I feel like I should’ve joined but I’ve heard they really just focus on hair so I plan to take a makeup class outside of school,’’ she said.

“ I get my license in real estate once I turn 18, and after that me and my friend are going to flip a house.

Senior R’Moni Brown is a mid-year graduate too. Brown plans to use her free time after December to get a head start and dive deeper into her career as a makeup artist.

“I’ve really been wanting to be a makeup artist since I was a kid, so I feel like this is definitely something I can pursue,” she said.

Doing makeup is something that Brown really enjoys doing, especially as she gets older. She’s excited to do

”

Another mid-year graduate Ronan Sweeney plans to head straight into his career in real estate after December. He hopes to use this opportunity to move out of his parents’ house, become more independent, and work to become financially free in the future.

“I get my license in real estate once I turn 18, and after that me and my friend are going to flip a house,” Sweeney said.

Graduating early means these students aren’t going to experience everything that happens throughout the second semester of the school year.

“I think the pros would be being able to have the whole day to myself, which I can use to maximize my income, but a con is missing out on some of the typical high school experience because you only get this opportunity once,” Sweeney said.

Brown believes the positives of graduating early outweigh the negatives.

“For the pros I would say they are just being done with school and you don’t have to wait to do things anymore, you get a head start,” Brown said

“I think there’s more pros than cons because you’re out of school and you’re free in the morning,” she said.

Vega will miss the people.

“I think a con is not being able to see my school friends anymore, since I’m not at school,” Vega said.

Although she’ll miss her friends, she looks forward to seeing them again when she walks with her class to the graduation ceremony in June.

“I think graduating early can benefit or hurt you. It just depends on what you do with the time,” Vega said.

A work of heART

DESIREE STUBBS STAFF MEMBER

Art teacher Ashly Buschatzke has been drawing ever since she was about three years old.

“I remember in elementary school always going to the media center and checking out drawing books, especially horse drawing books. I would study how to draw them and do the little step by step instructions. And I would constantly draw horses all the time and I remember giving them to my elementary art teacher,”

Buschatzke took art classes in elementary school, but when it came to middle school she had to switch to choir.

“I would go to the library and check out drawing books and I would take them home and draw in those books. Also, my dad had bought me drawing books from Borders, which was an old bookstore, it’s now closed but he bought me books from there that had to do with drawing and so I would use those and draw inside those as well,”

She took about two art classes each year in high school. Buschatzke’s high school art teacher inspired her to teach art because they acted as her parent at school, and because of this, she wanted to be that person for her own students.

“My high school art teacher had helped me go through things that my parents didn’t necessarily help me with. And they were kind of like my parents at school when I couldn’t really have much parenting at home, and so I kind of wanted to be that person for my students. I wanted to be that person that they could talk to and feel safe with,” Buschatzke said.

Buschatzke sometimes sees herself in her students in a mental aspect because she has shared some similar experiences with students when she was in school.

Junior Madison Gonzalez is in Buschatzke’s 3D art

course. This is her first year having Buschatzke as an art teacher. According to Gonzalez, Buschatzke is a nice teacher and she is very understanding of students.

“I enjoy having her as a teacher because I feel like she’s really good at communication and she really helps you understand what to do and what’s the next step in an art lesson,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez is discovering new things in art that she has never done before she thinks they are really cool and artistic. Gonzalez says that a good trait Buschatzke has is that she gives her students advice on how to structure things and how to make something their own from her perspective.

“She has inspired me to kind of think outside the box a little bit when it comes to building something that’s hands on and I think that’s really important,” Gonzalez said.

What Buschatzke loves most about art is that you can create whatever you want and you can say just about anything with your art.

“Each art piece has some sort of story to it and when other people look at it they can also come up with their interpretation or you can morph it to make people think a certain way,” Buschatzke said.

Outside of school Buschatzke makes and sells punch needle rugs, paints, and she also does printmaking.

Buschatzke’s advice to anyone who is learning art is to be determined.

“Keep trying. Keep trying, practice, practice, practice. When I first started drawing, I did a lot of tracing, but I traced the step-by-step parts, that way my body could memorize it. So even if you think that you’re doing a horrible job, just keep going,” she said.

Buschatzke teaches a student how to start a project in her 3D art class. Photo/Desiree Stubbs

Best & Worst Christmas Songs

Sol Jimene’z STAFF MEMBER

Senior Kai Norman say s the best Christmas is All I want for Christmas by Mariah Carey The worst Christmas is Rudolph the red nosed reindeer by The Crystals

Sophomore Mykell Davis says the best Christmas song is Santa Claus is a black man by Teddy Vann performed by his daughter Akin Vann The worst Christmas song is It s beginning to look a lot like Christmas by Meredith Willson

Junior Gabriel Stinson says the worst Christmas song is All I want for Christmas by Mariah Carey The best Christmas is Mary did you " by Michael English

Freshman Paul Moore says the worst Christmas song is Silent nights by Franz Xaver Gruber The best Christmas song is All I want for Christmas by Mariah Carey

English teacher Comstock says the best Christmas song is "All I want for Christmas is you by Mariah Carey and Hallelujah" sung by Pentatonix The worst Christmas is none In the words of Comstock "There aren t any bad Christmas songs

English teacher Drew Schroeder says the worst Christmas song and the worst song ever written is All want for Christmas by Mariah Carey Schroeder says the greatest of all time song is Silent Night by Franz Xaver Gruber

Comstock s R7 class voted the best Christmas song is All I want for Christmas by Mariah Carey, and the worst Christmas song is Wonderful Christmastime by Paul McCartney

25 Days of Holiday Movies

In Indiana

Christmas at the Zoo

Christmas at the Zoo is a family friendly event the Indianapolis Zoo held every year from Nov 19 to De 30 from 5 to 9 p m on weekdays and extends to 10 p m on Fridays and Saturdays. There are many events, like meeting Santa, adventuring through the snowflake maze decorating cookies with Mrs.Claus , seeing Santa's sleigh and reindeer and more

By Sidney Patterson

A mini-roadtrip away

Christmas Around the World - Chicago

Take a tour exploring Christmas around the world at the Museum of Science + Industry in Chicago, open through Jan 8 Tickets cost $21.95. This exhibit has 50 decorated trees from around the world to show how different regions celebrate the Christmas season

Lights Under Louisville

Downtown Indianapolis is a great place to visit more than once during the winter season. There are many things you could do, such as take a carriage ride, watch the circle of lights with friends, and even get some winter shopping done at the Circle Centre mall.

Downtown Indianapolis Christkindlmarkt

The Christkindlmarkt in Carmel, Indiana is a great way to celebrate the winter season. Christkindlmarkt has a variety of things to see and experience, based off Christmas in Germany. The outside market offers an ice skating rink, German made holiday essentials -- hats, nutcrackers, ornaments, German hot chocolate, and more.

Lights under Louisville is a 30 minute drivable underground light show, found in an underground bunker With more than six million lights, Louisville has one of the biggest light shows out with 900 light characters, and 40 themed displays Prices vary based on vehicle

Castle NoelMedina

Castle Noel in Medina, Ohio is a Christmas-like museum with characters that dress up like famous Christmas movies, a giant slide that will lead into Christmas land like attractions, and as well as a gift shop where you can purchase souvenirs The castle is open year round and tickets cost $27 50 with access to the whole castle

Worst Christmas gift ever?

Jametrius Rosenthall STAFF MEMBER

What is the worst gift you ever gotten. Can you think of one? Here are some of the presents Wildcats received that they thought were less than ideal.

“The worst thing I ever gotten was a Polaroid camera.”

Alondra Gonzalez Freshman

“ I had got a deflated basketball.”

Andre Miller Junior

“Some books and lotion.”

Destiny Boyd Junior

“One time my parents gave me socks.”

Sage Rios Sophomore

“Dude, they gave me a pair of underwear.”

Trenton Allen Senior

“The worst thing I ever got was a picture frame.”

Brad Cangany Counselor

Performing Arts showcases Winterfest

1. One of the dance classes performs hip hop to a holiday song. Photo/Iryna Vynnyk

2. Advanced dance rehearses for the annual Winterfest. Photo/Iryna Vynnyk

3. Orchestra teacher Corey Burrows directs during rehearsal for Winterfest. The annual program allows students from all the performing art classes to showcase their talents for one last time during first semester. Photo/Jordan Olarewaju

4. Band, Orchestra, Choirs and Dance all participated in the holiday program. Photo/Jordan Olarewaju

5. All choirs combined to sing "Most Wonderful Time of the Year." Photo/ Iryna Vynnyk

Opinion The stigma with neurodivergency

Being neurodivergent should not exempt others from having equal school environments. The stereotypes have to end.

When I was officially diagnosed with ADHD, everything started clicking into place.

But it also felt like a burden. It wasn’t as common among females as it was among males, and I didn’t have all the hyperactive outbursts or outward symptoms stigmatized in the media. So I asked myself, "Since I’m the minority, how do I want to be treated?"

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, about 13% of undergraduate students have an IEP and around 20% are classified as neurodivergent.

Teachers deal with students with disabilities all the time. I had to be assisted in more ways than one, both with making sure that I understood the assignments given, and that I could access everything with my hands. While I have lists of accommodations for myself and what is needed, I feel like teachers never fully understood these. Having a mental disability heavily affects your focus on the task at hand and also how I handled it.

My frustration with the subject at hand was only seen as a burden to others, and not as a chance to assist. In high school, while these issues are raised with more awareness, we haven't been provided with the resources we need now. Not all of us have the opportunities of getting extra assistance on practice or extra time on a test. There isn't much done to make sure that we fully understand the information weŕe given.

So what needs to change? What can we do to make others feel included in the classroom?

For starters, teachers need to provide accommodations for students with learning disabilities if they don't already have any set in place. They need to talk with them one on one about what is considered a comfortable learning environment for them and work to implement that.

Medication is also another factor when it comes to students with learning disabilities. Many, such as myself, have to take medication to help keep us focused and calm, but it's to be noted that this process isn't instant. If the student feels comfortable enough to bring it to their attention, then it needs to be respected. In

Allara Analyzes Allara Baker Senior Editor

some cases, teachers think they need to remove the student in order to get rid of the problem, but they don't consider how isolating that can be. Instead of being in a position where I can have guidance, I only end up feeling like there's no one to aid me.

Neurodivergency should not be completely alienating for those who have it. Both teachers and students should work towards making us feel included and a part of the school environment. Learning disabilities should not be considered bottom scale.

Students should not be in a position where they need to prove that they need guidance because they don't fit any broad stereotypes. That's why it's crucial for neurodivergent students to feel involved, and not stigmatized or brushed away because "it's a difficult thing to handle.” They need to feel included among others in the classroom and by creating that environment.

We can make the school more inclusive and welcoming for everyone.

Senior struggles

Being a senior means making a ot of important decisions. What is the best way to deal with pressure that comes wth it?

“Oh, you’re a senior?” someone would ask. “Lucky you! You’ll be done with school so soon!”

True. But being done with school is not just a relief. It’s a huge responsibility, and taking it under pressure makes it a hundred times harder.

Being a senior is fancy and difficult at the same time. We’ve got decisions to make: what do we want to major in? What college do we want to go to? Which state? Maybe a different country? (Hello to all unsettled students who have no idea what to do with their life and simply decide to go abroad and figure it out there. I feel y’all.)

On the top of the constant overthinking and decision-making process there’s pressure, a lot of pressure. “You should major in something that’ll help you make good money in the future!” “No, follow your heart!” “Actually, you can succeed in life even without a degree.” We hear these (sometimes completely unnecessary) advices all the time. Who should we listen to? Which advice seems the most legit?

Only you in your individual situation are able to answer these questions. You have an option to tell those advisers to go mind their own business as well. Or you can figure out if there’s someone you really trust and take their idea into consideration. It’s all individual, but there’s one universal thing: you already know what’s best for you. Somewhere on a mental level.

I’ve heard about this method on TikTok, but hang on, don’t be skeptical, try it out. The idea of it is that if you struggle choosing a major, think about what you used to be good at as a child. And I’m not talking

Iryna's Truth

Iryna Vynnyk Senior Editor

about the extracurricular activities that your parents could’ve made you take part in. I’m talking about something you chose to do and really enjoyed it. Not necessarily for a long time, because we, humans, tend to give up even on things we love. Maybe you’ve always been fascinated by video games and wanted to know how they’re being created? Or maybe you used to watch TV with your dad and hear him complaining about politics, so you unintentionally got into it and started understanding all of that complicated government stuff? No matter what it is, the teen and adult version of you is the reflection of the child version of you, and as a child, you weren’t pressured as much as you are right now, so it was easier to figure out what you are leaning towards.

Let’s add some rationality to this decision, because I’m sure that your doubts about whether it’s a good idea to listen to your heart only won’t let you sleep at night. Our next step would be to do market research, specifically - labor market research. Sounds like some scary adult stuff, but, first of all - it’s really not what you think it is, and secondly - hey, we’re actually becoming adults. So, labor market research would include figuring out what is an average salary for your dream job (consider entry-level and junior positions only!), how is the competition on the market, what’s the speed of the career growth, how successful are college grads of this particular major and whether you need to pursue a Master’s degree to move up the career ladder faster or is it enough to get your Bachelor’s diploma. I’ll tell you something pretty obvious: two additional years of

How do LN students deal with

studies will cost money, a lot of money.

One more tip: write down pros and cons of each major and see which one overweights. You can do it when choosing a college as well. Make sure to consider all, even the smallest details. Sometimes I rate a major or a college based on many components, such as curriculum, campus, accommodation, affordability, reviews, internationalization, the city it’s located in etc. You can rate each one of them on the scale 1-5 and then combine all the points to see what major or college stands out. Believe me, it’s a great option for struggling decision-makers.

Choosing a major is hard, choosing a college is even more difficult. Maybe your parents want you to go to the same school they went to. Or the program you’re interested in is offered only in a college that’s out of state and is located on the other side of the country. Whatever your personal circumstances are,

make sure to evaluate all aspects. Again, lots of thinking. For those who are tired of it, I’ve heard a genius advice: “Go to that school that offers you more money”. Really, that makes the choice way more simple. In addition to that, it will likely help you get to a consensus with your parents, because they will unlikely say no to an opportunity to save money.

The last thing I want to point out is that you should feel and like the vibe of the school you’re going to. It’s your second home for the next four years, and you want to feel comfortable there. For example, if you’re an artistic person, you’ll feel much more comfortable in a school that has a lot of artistic and liberal arts majors. It’s about finding like-minded people, because college is not only about studies. College is about communication, establishing lifelong bonds and trying new things while pursuing a degree.

Relax. You’ve got this.

pressure of going to college?

Senior focuses on return to hockey state

Islan Harris SENIOR EDITOR

Senior Cam Burgess is going to play college hockey at Indiana Tech after playing for Westfield Hockey Club (WHC) through high school.

“Hockey feeds into Westfield because it used to be the Lawrence hockey club and Westfield feeds into us, then it changed to Westfield,” Burgess said.

Westfield is the main school for hockey players for LN’s students. Six years ago Lawrence used to have their own hockey club that eight different schools fed into.

“The way that we program is that we pull from eight different schools. Hockey is not a pure sport in Indiana so there is only one program. Lawrence used to be the home base for our program because the population moved north,” Coach Mike Farrier said.

Farrier is the coach for WHC and he has been teaching his team for two years. Farrier is also a family friend of Burgess who is helping with Burgess’ goals.

“I knew Cam’s family when I was in high school. I’ve been watching him for a long time. He had grown from a timid kid during his freshman year trying to learn his role. Now he understands all the process,” Farrier said.

Burgess played at Westfield for the past four years

and is working to improve playing hockey. Toward the end of his freshman year he was set back from not getting enough playing time because of Covid.

“My freshman year I thought I was going to play a lot more than I actually did and I never did play. It just defeated me. I just kept working at it, competing at that level, and as a sophomore I started for varsity,” Burgess said.

Even though Burgess was set back during his freshman and sophomore year, he made it his goal to make it to the state final. Burgess is hoping by the end of the season he would go to state and win.

“My main goal is to win the state. My freshman and junior year we made it to the state finals and lost, so I am really not trying not to do that for my senior year,” Burgess said.

Burgess helps his team by playing center and left wing, but mostly left wing.

“I think I helped our team quite a bit from a leadership standpoint,” Burgess said.

As a leader Burgess helps his team by being positive enough if they are playing a tough match and with determination.

“He can find the good in any situation and works his butt off to lift everybody else around even when

the time is bad,” Farrier said.

While Burgess is determined to help his team make it to state as a player, he also enjoys watching hockey too.

“It is just a fun sport to watch. Hockey is non-stop. It’s the only major North American sport where players switch during the play,” Burgess said.

After having so much fun playing club hockey, Burgess is going to play hockey in college. He is going to play at Indiana Tech while he is majoring in business.

“I am going to play for Indiana Tech. I am probably not going to do anything after, other than recreation,” Burgess said.

Lawrence North High School

Senior Cam Burgess plays hockey for the Ice Rocks, the Westfield Hockey Club. Courtesy Photo/Cam Burgess

Burgess has played for the Ice Rocks for four years as a center and left wing. Courtesy Photo/Cam Burgess

Winter Wonderland

Start here

If you are in need of some fun during finals, try this out! Have an a-maze-ing break, 'Cats!

by Amahri Hall