Following Trump’s second inaugural, president signs flurry of executive orders page 4
District leaders plan transition from BLEND to Google Classroom page 6
Meet students, teachers who have come to McCallum, central Texas from around the globe page 16-17
EDITORIAL: With campuses subject to ICE raids, AISD must keep students safe page 31
feb. 21, 2025
Feb. 24
March 3
March 4
March 14
March 17-21
March 29
March 31
April 7
Blue Brigade tryout parent meeting
CAC meeting, 5:30 p.m.
SAT testing day
Student Holiday
Spring Break
UIL District 24-5A Academic Meet
Staff and student Holiday PTSA meeting, 6:30 p.m.
news people center sports opinion
Natural disaster in California heightened by dry climate, extreme temperatures, inadequate fire safety practices, population density.
the first time anywhere in Texas and the U.S. color guard will be a fine arts major at McCallum, starting next school year.
Meet and get to know some of the many Knights who came to McCallum and central Austin from places all over the globe.
McCallum alum and former PAL utilizes skills learned from program as first-year teacher at Gullett Elementary School.
Thanks to his discipline and belief in himself, senior Mark Sanchez will continue football career at Washington University in St. Louis.
Democrats lost the election because they failed to reach immigrant voters; Austin ISD needs to do all it can to protect students from ICE.
A “MOVING” SHOWCASE: Junior dance major Analise Bady performs her solo in “Murder on the Dance Floor” during the opening night performance of the McCallum Youth Dance Company
winter showcase, “Movement 2025,” at the Austin ISD Performing Arts Center
the show. Photo by Katie Martin.
L.A. wildfires wreak havoc
Urban density, environmental factors, abandoned fire safety practices fuel devastation
As of Feb. 5, the Palisades and Eaton fires in Southern California have been fully contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Collectively, these fires burned over 37,000 acres, resulted in at least 28 fatalities, and destroyed more than 16,000 structures. Evacuation orders affected approximately 180,000 residents and the estimated economic impact exceeds $95 billion.
In the aftermath, Los Angeles remains under a blanket of smoke, posing escalating health risks to its residents. Efforts are underway to assess and remove hazardous materials from affected areas.
Beyond the immediate danger the flames present, lingering smoke has created hazardous air conditions. The crisis has drawn comparisons to wildfire-prone regions across the United States, such as Texas, where similar environmental factors set the stage for future disasters.
So how did it happen?
The intensifying wildfires in California are a result of factors that created the perfect storm: years of drought, increasingly extreme temperatures, heat waves, dry vegetation that acts as fuel and rapid winds that can reignite a contained fire.
Beyond the natural elements, human activity has pushed the environment past its breaking point. In “The Case for Letting Malibu Burn,” historian and urban theorist Mike Davis writes that “periodic firestorms of this magnitude are inevitable as long as residential development is tolerated.”
Increasing demand for housing over the past several decades has caused neighborhoods to encroach into fire-prone areas once naturally regenerated by practices such as controlled burns. According to research by the U.S. Department of Agriculture conducted by forest ecology professor Volker Radeloff, the number of homes in fire-prone areas of California grew by 40 percent between 1990 and 2020.
Another concern is the
reconsideration of the Indigenous practice of “cultural burning,” a practice that was abandoned in the 19th and 20th centuries in favor of other practices. According to the article “Indigenous Fire Practices Shape Our Land,” on the National Park Service website, employing the practice of “cultural burning,” the intentional and controlled use of fire to regenerate life, is being seen as a helpful step not only to promote ecological diversity but to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires. These smaller, low-intensity burns were used to replenish soil, aid native plants and restore land. Frank Kanawha Lake, a research ecologist with the USDA Forest Service, maintains that the practice draws on the view of fire as restorative and not destructive, a positive view of fire that is closely intertwined with Indigenous culture and its respect for the Earth and the ecosystem. The goal of cultural burning is to create fire-adapted ecosystems that leave the land less vulnerable to mass destruction.
According to Digital History, an online American history textbook supported by the University of Houston College of Education, when European colonizers spread across what is now North America, Indigenous people were viewed as primitive despite their complex, agriculturally-based cultures. Skewed by misconceptions about Indigenous peoples’ practices and
relationship to the land, California’s first legislative session in 1850 outlawed the use of cultural burns. This punitive law was part of a larger process that enabled white settlers to enslave Indigenous peoples in California, remove them from lands and separate families. It wasn’t until 172 years later, in 2022, when the right to cultural burns was affirmed and reestablished in California, but some experts say that the recognition of the value of the practice came far too late.
When the fires broke out, was Los Angeles prepared to fight them?
When the fires broke out two weeks ago, emergency respondents faced significant challenges in managing the rapidly escalating situation. The sheer scale of the wildfires overwhelmed infrastructure, leaving firefighters and emergency respondents struggling to keep pace with the rapidly spreading flames.
Key obstacles arose during original containment efforts, such as shortages of water, overwhelmed communication systems and limited access to remote areas.
Los Angeles’ annual Santa Ana winds exacerbated chaos, reigniting embers and spreading flames faster than firefighters could respond. The shortcomings during the fight to extinguish the fires have raised serious questions by citizens about the state’s readiness to face an increasingly unpredictable wildfire season.
The resulting smoke from the L.A. wildfires is an ever-present threat to human health, leaving unseen danger past the burn zones.
How much exposure to wildfire smoke is too much?
Research into the health impacts of wildfire smoke has evolved since the last fires in California, revealing the significant risks posed by prolonged exposure. Although the smoke
eventually subsides, the air continues to carry dangerous pollutants. While smoke is known to be an irritant to the eyes and throat, experts are discovering that it can infiltrate deep into the lungs and even enter the bloodstream, with long-lasting effects on health.
Dr. Chandana Banerjee is the dean, director and designated institutional official for graduate medical education at City of Hope Hospital in Los Angeles. With years of experience in addressing the convergence of health and environmental factors, Banerjee says that the impact of wildfire smoke on individuals can vary widely.
“The smoke will likely cause mild irritations like runny noses and scratchy throats to many, but to some, more severe conditions such as bronchitis or trigger asthma attacks,” Banerjee said.
She also emphasizes that the smoke could aggravate chronic heart and lung diseases, cancers, depression and anxiety.
“What people don’t always realize is that wildfire smoke isn’t just wood burning like in a campfire,” Banerjee said. “It’s everything in a house—plastic, metal and so many other materials—burning together. When you breathe that in, you’re inhaling a mix of harmful toxins.”
Wildfire smoke contains harmful particles, such as carbon, heavy metals and toxic chemicals. The most concerning being particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers and smaller, which is small enough to bypass the body’s natural defenses, deteriorating cardiovascular and respiratory systems.
“It’s the particulate matter that is the most dangerous,” Banerjee said. “It can deeply penetrate lungs and even cause long-term
Scan the QR code or visit macshieldonline. com to read our full story about the
Mira Patel designs & visuals editor
L.A. fires.
Graphic by Mira Patel.
Trump presidency returns
Travis County Democrats protest unprecedented flurry of executive actions
Priya Thoppil news editor
President Donald Trump was sworn into office on Jan. 20, for his second term as President of the United States. The previously planned outdoor inauguration was moved indoors due to temperatures in the 20s. Compared to previous inaugurations, Trump’s was scaled back with more limited attendance given the lack of space at the indoor event. President Ronald Reagan’s second inaugural was the last indoor ceremony in 1985.
After the traditional inaugural ceremony, Trump promised to sign hundreds of executive orders in front of a crowd as his first action as president. On the evening of Jan. 20, after a speech in which he referred to the insurrectionists of the Jan. 6 incident at the capitol as “J6 hostages,” he sat in a sports arena surrounded by thousands of fans, signing executive orders that ranged from extending the timeline of the TikTok ban, to eliminating birthright citizenship. An aide read out to him the subject of each order, which he then signed to put into action. Trump’s inaugural speech was almost twice as long as his first inaugural address back in 2017, when he spoke for approximately 30 minutes in the Capitol Rotunda. Of the many topics he covered in his Second Inaugural Address, were his stances on gender identity, diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, immigration and climate change. The overarching theme of his address was that the “golden age of America begins right now.”
As people around the country tuned in to watch the inauguration, many took the time to reflect on his proposed policies for the future. A significant number of them reflected on how Trump’s proposed policies represented a reversal of the political agenda championed by the Biden administration. Others focused on the coincidence that the inauguration was on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a day of remembrance for civil rights activist
several elected officials like U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, state Sen. Sara Eckhardt, D-Austin, and state representatives spoke to their constituents. Topics at the conference ranged from acknowledging King’s legacy, to future improvements to Texas infrastructure and finally to comments about the inauguration.
“ His decrees ought to be evaluated not in terms of what they do but also what they fail to address.
—U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett D-Austin ”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
To celebrate King’s accomplishments and his legacy, the Travis County Democratic Party hosted an “I have a dream” press conference on Monday morning, in which
Doggett expressed sharp criticism of Trump’s agenda and leadership style and predicted what the presidency of Trump will bring to the United States.
“As a self-styled dictator on Day 1, Trump will reportedly issue about 100 executive orders tomorrow, the largest number of such first-day orders in American history,” Doggett said. “His decrees ought to be evaluated not only in terms of what they do but also what they fail to address.”
Trump might have exceeded Doggett’s predictions by issuing more than 200 executive actions, orders and memoranda. On his first day as president alone, Trump issued sweeping pardons to nearly all of the 1,600 rioters charged with storming the capital. He also removed the United States from the Paris Climate Accord on Day 1, an exit that will take place one year after his order.
Travis County Commissioner Brigid Shea said she strongly objects to the U.S. withdrawal from the accord, noting that the lack of national policy on climate control puts the burden of fighting climate change on local communities.
“At the national level, the president is being sworn in today, calling climate change a hoax,” Shea said, “and [he] says he will absolutely withdraw from the international agreement to address climate change, so again the responsibility and the work falls to us in the local community, and we have all the tools and the technology. What we lack, generally speaking, is the political will to do it.”
Doggett highlighted a range of concerns, including Trump’s environmental policies, tariffs and immigration reforms.
“Ignoring the hottest year in recorded
history, Trump remains tied to fossil fuels and fossilized thinking,” he said. “By rejecting vital environmental protections, he endangers our families and our planet.”
He also criticized Trump’s immigration policies, citing the planned mass deportations and the separation of families at the border during his first term.
“Today, after a campaign of villainizing immigrants, he proposes actions that will tear families apart again,” Doggett said.
Sophomore Maureen Horwedel expressed mixed feelings about the inauguration.
“I think that we both have reason to be afraid but also reason to hope,” Horwedel said. “We are a country of the people and always will be. So no matter what happens, I believe we can and will get through it.”
Horwedel noted their struggles to engage with the inauguration itself
“I began to watch the inauguration, including the president’s speech,” Horwedel said, “but I couldn’t get through the whole thing as I found it tiring and difficult to watch.”
Horwedel also voiced skepticism about Trump’s rumored plans, including renaming the Gulf of Mexico, taking back the Panama Canal and purchasing Greenland.
“I feel really sickened by the fact that our president would rather waste time on such futile efforts instead of addressing issues like hunger, poverty and economic struggles,” Horwedel said.
Trump ended his speech with optimism about his new term and confidence in his capacity to deliver results in the next four years.
“I return to the presidency confident and optimistic that we are at the start of a thrilling new era of national success,” he said.
Doggett promised to fight Trump policies to which he objected.
“Even where we fail to win a vote in the House, we send a message to our colleagues in the Senate to hold firm if we cannot find common ground,” he said.
Texas senator Sara Eckhardt speaks at the MLK Day press conference hosted by the Travis County Democratic Party.
Photo by Thoppil.
Outside the Trump inauguration rally at the Capitol One Arena, a Trump supporter celebrates with flags surrounding her, the day before the Inauguration. This photo was taken three hours before the rally actually began, so this person had already been waiting a long time, much of it in the rain. Photo accessed on the Flickr account of Victoria Pickering. Reposted here under a creative commons license. Photo by Victoria Pickering.
Saved in the 12th hour
Less than a day after ban starts, Trump executive order
Daniela
Di-Capua & Carson Duncan staff reporters
An app used by over 170 million Americans was momentarily banned nationwide, on the evening of Jan. 18. After about 12 hours, the app was restored with a pop up stating “As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.” Trump’s executive order delays the ban of the social media app for 75 days and restored access to the app in the United States.
“
that we’re going to be a lot less connected I feel.”
Like many other TikTok users, McBride believes the ban limits people’s expression and won’t provide any positive results.
“I think it’s really tragic because I spend all my time on TikTok, and I guess I’ll have a better screen time, but I think it’s blocking a lot of people from their jobs, and also their creative expression,” McBride said.
It’s the amount of time that [kids] spend watching it that means that their brains aren’t doing something creative.
—yearbook adviser J. Frank Webster ”
The ban was passed in large part because many U.S. officials had voiced concerns about TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, and the security of U.S. citizens’ information.
In April last year, a law signed by President Joe Biden forced ByteDance to sell the app to a U.S. company by Jan. 19 or it would be banned. Nine days before, the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed the case and determined whether the law banning the app did not violate the First Amendment rights because of the potential national security issues that the app poses.
Users of the app have argued against the ban of the platform, saying it’s censorship and blocking creative expression. Among these users is sophomore Finley McBride, who has a following of 5,000 and has even gone viral with over 1.8 million likes.
“I like that you can really make anything and share it with whoever you want, and there’s no limits to what you can do,” McBride said.
Though the app provides the possibility of making money or becoming famous on the internet, most enjoy creating content to share with friends. Without the app, McBride believes there could be a decline in connection between students.
“I think we’ll definitely be communicating a lot less,” McBride said. “TikTok is where our common jokes come from and without
Popular users can make a full-time income based solely on their TikTok videos. Many Americans woke up, Jan. 18, to a pop-up message on the app saying in part, “A law banning TikTok has
restores TikTok for 75 days
something creative. It used to be that when people were bored, they would satisfy that boredom by creating or building, and now when people are bored they start consuming media. It is designed to be addictive.”
Webster said this new addiction that students have developed has seeped into classrooms too.
“When my students come into my classroom, they all sit down and have their phones out, and they’re not actually interacting with one another,” Webster said. “I believe that we have a generation of young people who don’t know how to have a face-to-face conversation with anybody.”
once he takes office.”
Sophomore Marlowe Walsh said that she spends time on the app whenever she has free time.
“I like that it gives me something to do when I am bored,” Walsh said. “If I want to take a break when I am doing homework or right before bed I automatically scroll on TikTok.”
“ I like that you can really make anything and share it with whoever you want, and there’s no limits to what you can do.
—sophomore Finley McBride ”
In terms of the ban, Webster
Despite bringing communities together, Walsh admits she pushes away other priorities to scroll on TikTok.
“I think that it makes me less productive,” Walsh said. “During the time I could be doing homework, spending time with friends or working out, I end up scrolling on TikTok instead.”
During the ban on TikTok, users started to look for alternative apps to turn to. Popular apps such as Instagram’s Reels and YouTube’s Shorts have been mentioned as the new replacements for TikTok.
“I am not worried because I still have Instagram Reels,” Walsh said. “I think that they are funnier, but a downside is that I cannot follow my friends because they don’t post on Reels.”
Many use TikTok to make different kinds of content. From dances to “day in my life,” it has provided people with a place to express themselves.
“I have a small account with just my close friends,” Walsh said. “I will vlog my day sometimes, and I like that it is a way to communicate with my friends.”
While the app will be missed if the ban is eventually realized, Walsh thinks that the adjustment will help improve overall intelligence in the world.
“I think that it will raise productivity and people’s IQ and SAT scores,” Walsh said.
Despite saying that he would put the app out of business, Trump has restored the functionality of the app. However, there is still a possibility of ban if it is not bought within the 75-day extension. For now, kids who on average spend two hours a day active on the app will be left in the dark.
Graphic
by Nate Williams.
New software loading...
Amid budget challenges, district leaders plan transition from BLEND to Google Classroom
Mira Patel
design & visuals editor
Beginning in 2027, the Austin Independent School District will shift students and staff in grades 6-12 to a new platform to access their class resources: Google Classroom. While AISD will continue to provide and support the existing platform (BLEND) through the 2026-2027 school year, news about the shift is already creating a buzz among students and teachers.
According to a Dec. 19 internal communication, as a preliminary step to the eventual transition, the district has granted all district staff access to Google Classroom so that they have the opportunity to create sample classes and explore the features of the program. BLEND, also known as Canvas, has been in place for several years. High school students who have been in AISD since middle school have become accustomed to the platform, and rely on it to access class calendars, resources, assignments and due dates. Many students believe the shift will have negative effects. According to a recent Instagram poll on MacJournalism, all 21 respondents felt that the plan to transition to Google Classroom would not be beneficial to students.
Junior Isadora Lang feels that the transition could create challenges for both students and teachers.
“BLEND is an expensive platform, but we know how to use it, and switching to another platform would be difficult,” Lang said. “The transition wouldn’t just be a logistical challenge—it would also be hard on both students and teachers. Everyone is already familiar with BLEND, so introducing a new platform would mean retraining staff and reorienting students.”
“AISD
Austin ISD students and teachers will be switching to Google Classroom from Canvas (BLEND). The district said it will support BLEND in grades 3-5 through the end of this school year and in grades 6-12 through the 2026-2027 school year. Graphic by Patel.
$92 million to eliminate the budget deficit while keeping cuts farthest from the classroom and preserving the student experience.”
To balance the AISD budget, Superintendent Matias Segura presented a three-year proposal to the Board of Trustees on Nov. 22. Among several options outlined was the shift from BLEND to Google Classroom.
leaders must find $92 million to eliminate the budget deficit while keeping cuts farthest from the classroom and preserving the student experience
While limited information has been made publicly available, the AISD website offers some insights into the rationale for the shift. According to the website, “school funding hasn’t increased in five years and remains $4,000 behind the national average for per-student funding. District leaders, along with the Community Budget Committee, are thinking creatively to find ways to cut spending or bring in revenue. AISD leaders must find
—Austin ISD website ”
According to the AISD website, “Google Classroom is included in the cost of the Google Suite, so this could be a potential savings opportunity. However, it would require staff who rely on BLEND to rebuild their curriculum in Google Classroom.”
Teachers have already expressed concern about the shift. Amy Smith, who teaches advanced English and AP Literature and Composition at McCallum, feels that Google Classroom is not an adequate replacement for
BLEND for many reasons.
“While it may be a basic tool for sharing assignments and messages, it lacks the infrastructure to be a Learning Management System,” Smith said. “It does not allow for curriculum organization or consistent and organized feedback delivery that is vital for student growth.”
There is also concern about the substantial time investment for teachers, which may create unwanted ripple effects for already stressed teachers.
Smith acknowledges the teacher retention concern in AISD and feels that discontinuing BLEND could make that problem worse.
Having
FEATURES EXCLUSIVE TO CANVAS NOT FOUND IN GOOGLE CLASSROOM
1. ready to go content
2. blueprint courses and course copies
In Canvas, teachers can build one course and push updates to other courses. Canvas Commons offers a ton of existing courses, modules, activities.
3. rich content editor
4. add audio directly into questions
5. customizable notification settings
In Canvas, teachers can pick and choose email and push notifications. In Canvas, teachers can add embed audio into assignments and quizzes. In Canvas, teachers can make text stand out in pages, assignments, etc.
6. course statistics
In Canvas, teachers can view an overview of course analytics.
7. future relevance
Many colleges use Canvas. Most colleges do not use Google Classroom
Source: Megan Zara, Frisco ISD
“Many of our seniors will be attending college next year, where they will be using Canvas, and they will be expected to know how to navigate this type of program,” Smith said. “Other high school students will enter college with these skills, while AISD students will be behind.”
to completely rebuild courses from the ground up would make the
job even harder.
teacher Amy Smith
“Teachers are under significant pressure,” Smith said. “Having to completely rebuild courses from the ground up—especially without the tools you asked us to learn and which we now rely upon—would make the job even harder.”
Perhaps one of the most significant impacts, however, may be on students who could lose out on valuable college preparation.
The shift to Google Classroom was one of several proposed strategies to balance the AISD budget. McCallum Principal Andy Baxa recognizes the significant time commitment that teachers have invested into the current BLEND platform and intends to keep staff updated as details continue to take shape.
“This is definitely a hot topic among teachers,” Baxa said. Our teachers have invested a lot of time and energy into making BLEND work for their classes and will need time to transition to a new system.”
English
news briefs
Hundreds gather at Capitol to protest Trump’s initiatives
Protests against the Trump administration, Project 2025, Elon Musk and Trump’s recent executive orders took place throughout the country on Feb. 5 as part of an opposition movement that initially spread on social media. The movement known under hashtags like #50501 and #buildtheresistance encouraged protesters to gather at all 50 state capitol buildings around the nation to fight back against recent executive initiatives by President Trump. The turnout for the Austin demonstration was in the hundreds. DPS officials estimated that at its peak, the crowd size reached 500.
Protesters gathered on the steps of the Capitol
building to hear the leaders of the Austin #50501 movement shared stories of how President Trump’s legislation and executive orders negatively affected them. As the protest moved onto Congress Avenue, a sea of signs became visible with phrases that
gathered on the Texas State Capitol grounds on Feb. 5 to protest against the Trump administration and Project 2025. Photo by Arwen Pelletier.
included “Seeking safety is not a crime,” “Greg Abbott is a DEI hire,” “We the people reject Project 2025,” “Women’s rights are human rights,” and “No one is illegal on stolen land.”
—Arwen Pelletier
Students of Color Alliance hosts BHM assembly about HBCUs
During second and fourth periods on Feb. 10, the Students of Color Alliance hosted the first of two scheduled Black History Month assemblies in the MAC this month. The assembly featured dance performances from the McCallum Knight Steppers and the McCallum Youth Dance Company, a dramatic performance from freshman Laelani Croan and a singing performance from sophomore Paityn Jones.
Jones sang the Black National Anthem “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” and Croan performed a scene from “Lift Every Voice,” a 2021 one-act play by G. Riley Mills.
Written originally as poem in 1900 by James Weldon Johnson, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” became the official song of the NAACP in 1919. The song became even more prominent in American culture as a rallying cry during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Jones appreciates the song and its message of Black freedom, the struggle of overcoming inequality and the enduring, lasting hope of a better future.
“My favorite part of the song is the opening two lines, ‘Lift every voice and sing, til earth and heaven ring,” she said. “When I think of heaven, I think of this joyous [place], contrary to earth, which isn’t perfect. When the lyrics put them together it’s almost like they’re becoming equals, and I like that.”
Jones felt it was important to take the stage to sing the anthem and educate her peers about its significance.
“It’s a very powerful song that’s a big part of Black history,” she said. “I knew that “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was so important, and people need to hear it.”
Throughout February, McCallum is hosting various activities, both in school and outside of school, to help celebrate Black history and to encourage people to learn more about it.
“I think it’s important because when people think about Black history, they think of Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, and they don’t think about all of the other people and institutions that go into history,” she said. “For example, HBCUs. Nobody knew what those were, and it’s such a large part of Black history, and even applies to current-day schools. These assemblies tell people and get them to know about what has gone on in our world, and what is currently going on.”
The final event of the assembly was a panel of distinguished alumni from historically Black colleges and universities: Carlisha BrownRobinson and Darren and Stephanie Featherstone, graduates of Grambling State University, and Booker Eubacks and Mitchell and Ladeitra Lee, graduates of Jackson State University.
—Wren Vanderford
Maculty AISD Salute finalists
A long list of Maculty members have been nominated for Austin ISD Salute Awards and will be joining Teacher of the Year Carlin Shaw and Teacher of Promise Lia Ferrante as Salute finalists.
Finalists include Tonya Moore and Sara Zettner (Campus Clerical/Office Support Staff of the Year), Cristela Garcia and Camille Nix (Counselor of the Year) and Scott Doyle, Paula Hockaday and Roberta Reed (Teaching Assistant of the Year). There were several nominations for faculty members who were not eligible because they have not worked in their current position the required three years. For them, it is as the old adage says, an honor just to be nominated. They include Gabriel Adame and Samuel Parrott (Assistant Principal of the Year), Mathew Zuniga (Librarian of the Year) and Andy Baxa (Principal of the Year).
—Dave Winter
Protesters
Sophomore Paityn Jones sings the Black National Anthem at the Student of Color Alliance’s Black History Month assembly focusing on Historically Black Colleges and Universities on Feb. 10 in the McCallum Arts Center. Photo by Jasmine Aung.
Teaching assistant Paula Hockaday, front office clerk Sara Zettner, custodian Kenneth Sterling and college and career counselor Camille Nix are among the Maculty members who were announced on Feb. 17 as Austin ISD Salute Award finalists. All of us at MacJ would like to congratulate all the finalists. Photos by Josie Mullan, Edie Davidson, Larry Featherstone and Jolie Gabriel.
feb. 21, 2025
Concentrating on color guard a&e
Set for ‘25-’26 school year, Fine Arts Academy major first of its kind in state, nation
Josie Mullan
co-web managing editor
Starting next school year, for the first time
to McCallum because they wanted that opportunity, and they specifically wanted to do color guard,” Parrott said. “We also had some students on campus saying that they
community of the arts,” Toruno said. “We’re the first school that offers something like this for color guard in Texas, but actually [also for] the whole United States.”
worth it.”
Looking towards the future, Toruno hopes to create a friendly and diverse community and give students the opportunity to move
Senior Zephr Leblanc poses with a rifle during the band and color guard’s performance of all four movements of their show, Fury Road, before kickoff at the Homecoming game against John B. Connally on Oct. 18 at House Park. Photo by Julia Copas. illiams.
Hart hearts her music
Sophomore musician fosters passion by playing different instruments
Adele Seeboth staff reporter
McCallum sophomore, Vi Hart, has been playing musical instruments since she was in first grade, starting with the piano. Due to the Fine Arts Academy’s many music offerings, Hart was excited to attend McCallum for high school. She is in the Piano 1 class, steel drums, marching band and performance band.
Her passion for music started when she first heard the Lively Middle School band perform. When Hart was in elementary school, her older sister attended Lively and played for the band.
“Hearing them play, I just knew that that’s what I wanted to do,” Hart said.
Hart mainly plays the French horn, which she has been playing since sixth grade. The challenge of the French horn the drew Hart to the instrument from the start.
“I love the way it sounds, and it gives me something to work on, so I’m always busy,” Hart said.
Hart competed for a spot in the region orchestra competition on Nov. 16. There are limited spots available, and players who make it will accompany the orchestra at their regional concert, making this a very competitive competition. Hart
for her instrument, the French horn, out of 30 people in the 5A and 6A districts.
In the competition, all 30 participants are in the same room and called up individually to play a piece of three different etudes, which are short compositions of music. Hart was nervous to play but afterward was confident in her performance.
“I was really excited for the results,” Hart said. “I had put in a lot of effort so I was happy to see in that room, that it had paid off.”
Dillon Junkin, one of Hart’s band teachers, began teaching Hart in August of 2023 when summer marching band practices began. Junkin has seen Hart’s growth throughout this past year.
“I have not seen many students that practice or work as hard as Vi has and so as a musician she has grown exponentially, in all facets, in tone, confidence, articulation just everything,” Junkin said.
According to Junkin, Hart has always been an extremely hard and talented worker, but he has also seen her transform into who she is as a person, through her music.
“I’ve also seen her grow into a much more confident person and develop into a leader in the program,”
Junkin said. “Even though she might not have a leadership position, all of her peers look up to and respect her.”
Fellow band member, Thomas Capitan, also sees Hart as a hard worker and leader.
“She practices anytime she is given the opportunity,” Capitan said. “She really goes deep into the details of her music.”
He added that the effort and energy Hart puts into her instruments motivated him as a player as well. Similar to Hart, Capitan plays two instruments: the piano and the trombone.
“[Her work] shows me what the result of putting in effort every day is,” Capitan said. Capitan also attended the all-region orchestra competition alongside Hart. He observed that Hart was very calm and collected before her performance and had everything prepared well.
Junkin agrees, stating this is normal operating procedure for Hart.
“I kind of envy her,” Junkin said “Ms. Nelson and I describe her as having nerves of steel. I never really see her get rattled by anything. She is just an absolute machine in her playing and in her technical ability. She always has
such confidence in everything she does.”
Both Capitan and Junkin agree that there is no limit to where Hart’s focus and discipline can take her.
“Her work ethic has yielded great results and growth in her playing,” Junkin states. “It’s brought her fantastic musicianship, and she’s still getting better.”
Hart is going to continue with her music for as long as she can. Her sophomore year has been one success after another. After performing alongside the orchestra at the region orchestra concert, she proceeded to the band region competition where she qualified to move onto area and from there to All-State, which took place last week.
Junkin believes it won’t be her last trip to All-State. Hart credits her McCallum experience with fostering her success in the musical world.
“I’m very proud of what I’ve produced,” Hart said, “and I’m looking forward to continuing with my music.”
Junkin thinks Hart can continue to grow even more as a musician, and it will lead her to great things.
“The sky’s the limit for someone like her,” Junking states. “With how kind she is, with how smart she is, with how hard she works, anything and everything is available to her.”
Hart plays French horn during the band winter concert.
Photo by Maya Tackett.
Hart plays in the 2024 graduation entrance.
Photo by David Winter.
A ‘moving’ showcase
Eclectic show incorporates guest choreographers featuring range of styles
RIGHT: Juniors Jill Hoffman, Olivia Pittman and Emily Springer dance with the other pre-professional juniors. Pittman was pleased with the performance. “We started learning all of our dances early on in the school year so we had plenty of time to clean and perfect them,” Pittman said. “We got a lot of outside choreographers this year which was a lot of fun.” Photo by Emerson Merritt.
BELOW: Senior Julia Rasp performs said her favorite piece in the show was the Fosse-style piece choreographed by director Natalie Uehara. “Ms. Nat wanted to give us a special Fosse-style piece for the seniors because as a class we really hold a special place in her heart, and we want to leave our legacy on Mac Dance, which is kind of what the song is about.” Photo by Katie Martin.
RIGHT: Sophomores Fiona Kirsch and Pia Sosa perform a duet to “What You Don’t Know About Women” from the Musical City of Angels during the Jan. 24 encore show. The dance was originally choreographed by director Natalie Uehara; however, the two were able to add their own personal touches to it through the many rehearsals they attended. “Fiona is one of my best friends, so it was really getting to work together on this one,” Sosa said. “I think learning the dance together and getting to perform it many times has brought us closer because we’ve had to learn to be exactly in sync.” Photo by Sophia Manos.
BELOW: Sophomore Opal Rodgers dances in “Bohemian Rhapsody” a ballet piece. “Whenever I dance, I fully give myself to the dance and try to embody the emotion through both my movement and my face,” said Rodgers, who added that the enthusiastic audience response to the piece validated their hard work.
ABOVE: Senior Zalie Mann (second from right) joins her peers to take a bow after second and final performance of the McCallum Youth Dance Company show “Movement” on Jan. 24. Due to an injury, Mann was not featured in her last high school faculty-choreographed show, but still bowed because she made significant contributions to the show and program. “I was always really excited about directing,” Mann said. “Freshman and sophomore year you don’t get to choreograph or direct, junior year you can choreograph, and senior year you can direct. I get a lot of experience as a leader as a student rather than just the faculty [doing all the directing].” As a four-year dance major, Mann said she has become a leader for younger students. “As a freshman, I definitely looked up to the seniors,” Mann said. “The first semester, we don’t have any classes together. But in the second semester, we got to interact with the seniors and collaborate with all grade levels.” Photo by Adele Seeboth.
Photo by Katie Martin.
fine arts briefs
Orchestra, band members perform with ASO pros during MAC concert
Members of the orchestra and band played with the Austin Symphony Orchestra during fifth- and sixth-period performances on Jan. 30 in the MAC.
Senior Bea Saffer was one of the nine musicians from McCallum invited to perform with the orchestra. She said she would cherish the moments on stage for a long time.
“I loved playing with the musicians of ASO,” Saffer said. “It was a really cool opportunity to get to sit side by side with the [performers] and experience being a part of a professional ensemble.”
Saffer said the performance was both challenging and enlightening.
“We had a rehearsal [the] Saturday [before] where we practiced our piece with the orchestra,” Saffer said. “We joined them for the last song of the concert, a piece called ‘John Henry’ by Aaron Copland.”
There were other McCallum connections during the performance.
Percussion director Ryan Pride accompanied the orchestra on percussion instruments during the performance and former orchestra director Georgeann DuBell-Shockley, a longtime ASO performer, returned to campus and played the violin.
—Chloe Lewcock
Choir attends masterclass, Dallas Opera show
The McCallum choir embarked on its longawaited trip to Dallas, Jan 17. They first stopped at UT Austin for a masterclass and to observe a rehearsal. During the masterclass, the choir met with Dr. Burnett, the director of choral activities at UT.
The students learned about the functions of parts of the body while breathing and the most effective techniques to manage your breath while singing.
Sophomore Lucy McTeague said that the masterclass provided an opportunity to learn more about singing techniques.
“One of the things we really went over was how to breathe,” McTeague said. “That really helped me because that’s something that I struggle with. I think other people feel the same way.”
After the masterclass, the students ate lunch at Jester Dining Hall and sat in on a UT choir rehearsal.
“It was really cool because the UT choir is like, on a different level than what I’ve seen before,” McTeague said. “It was super cool to hear them, even just warming up, they were so skilled.”
Later that night, the choir saw “Come From Away” at the Dallas Opera.
“‘Come From Away’ was my favorite part,” McTeague said. “It was an incredible show, and it was really fun to see. I loved that even though it was about 9/11, it was still really funny and super engaging. Everyone had a really great time.”
On Saturday, the choir headed to Andretti Indoor Karting & Games for a day of go-karting and games before heading back home.
“[Andretti] was super fun,” McTeague said. “They had go-karts which were super fun to drive. Plus laser tag, which I never won, but it was still a really fun time.”
—Katie Martin
feb. 18
Choir Pre-UIL Concert @ MAC—7 p.m.
feb. 20-march 2
Spring Musical: Freaky Friday @ MAC
feb. 26
Jazz Band Performance @ MAC—1 p.m.
march 3-5
Piano spring recital @MAC—6:30-8:30 p.m.
The classical guitar program held its annual Battle of the Bands in the Fine Arts Building Theater on Thursday Feb. 6. Each band performed three original or cover songs, and audience members used their tickets to vote for their favorite musicians. On Friday morning, they counted up the votes, declaring the two winning band that will perform a show at The Hole in the Wall.
Malaysiabrunei got the most votes, and Nonsense placed second, thus earning the coveted Hole in the Wall gigs. Malaysiabrunei, made up of juniors Kingsley Taylor (vocals), Simon Welch (guitar), Wyatt Philpott (bass) and April Kjorness (drums), had a strong stage presence with lots of students congregating in the front of the stage and Philpott descending into the crowd.
Malaysiabrunei didn’t have much experience on stage before last year’s Battle of the Bands.
“In January of 2024 we did our first show in my backyard, and it was OK,” Taylor said. “After a week or two we did the 2024 Battle of the Bands, and it was a fun time. We came into our own then. That experience made us excited to play in this year’s 2025 competition because of how much we would improve. After those first few concerts, we would later become jammier and better songwriters, so it was nice to see all that hard work pay off.”
Despite some initial nerves, Philpott said he was able to get more comfortable onstage, although at times he said his mind just “shuts off” and “bass playing mode turns on.”
Philpott said he is stoked about playing at Hole in the Wall.
“I’ve driven past that place my whole life,” he said. “Getting to go inside is going to be so cool. I’m excited to just soak it all in, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to play there again so I’m super excited.”
Freshman Preston Cobb said he and the other members of Nonsense were happily surprised by their award.
“We’ve only performed at Battle of the Bands, so I’m still trying to figure out how we managed that because I didn’t expect to win, but we think it’s awesome,” Cobb said. “I think we played in time together, and everything went smoothly.”
Cobb said the band has been together for several years and has gravitated towards a pop-punk genre like Nirvana and Green Day.
“We went to middle school together and I played guitar for seven years and eventually I just decided to start playing bass and it stuck with me until now,” Cobb said. “I just liked music, liked performing and decided I wanted to do that.”
—Wren Vanderford, Lillian Gray and Josie Mullan
Senior Zane Wiggins and junior Hannah Schlesinger pose at the Andretti Indoor Karting & Games on their trip to Dallas. Photo by Katie Martin
Junior Kingsley Taylor jumps in the air during his performance in Battle of the Bands on Feb. 6. Photo by Lucas Walker.
Seniors Kate Talley and Daniel Rhodes stand for applause after they performed Copeland’s “John Henry” with the ASO in the MAC on Jan. 30. Photo by Dave Winter.
people
Following a family legacy
In her sisters’ footsteps, freshman Hendrickse balances music and sports
Priya Thoppil news editor
When freshman Shiloh Hendrickse watched her older sister, junior Imogen Hendrickse, pick up the violin, and later her other sister, Cosette, it was only natural to follow in the footsteps of her siblings. Shiloh Hendrickse, now in her first year at McCallum, is an orchestra major like her two older sisters. Hendrickse has played the violin since she was in kindergarten, and she has played soccer for the past eight years. She has continued the pursuit of her twin passions at McCallum as a soccer player on the girls varsity team and as a fine arts major in the orchestra program.
Hendrickse didn’t feel pressured to pick up the violin like her other sisters had but was instead inspired by them to begin playing. While at first, she didn’t enjoy practicing, she has grown to appreciate her skill and dedication to the instrument.
“I am really grateful that I stuck with it because it’s given me a lot of great opportunities,” Hendrickse said. “I get to play in All-Region, in UIL, All-City, and ACMC [Austin Chamber Music Center], which has been really incredible.”
Imogen feels that since she and Cosette began playing violin around a similar time, it became a part of Shiloh’s life before she even began to play it for herself.
“Being surrounded by that environment all the time, like coming home and hearing me and my sister practicing, I think it really instilled a value for music in her,” Imogen said.
Shiloh went to the Girls School of Austin where she attended kindergarten through eighth grade. It is a fairly small school, so there weren’t really school sports that would allow her to pursue soccer alongside her fine arts passion.
4 years old and said ever since then Shiloh has been a great friend to her and very determined.
“She’s very hard-working and cares a lot about her friends and the people around her,” Fincher-McConnell said. “As a soccer player, she tries her best all the time, and tries to help her teammates out, making sure everyone is doing the best they can.”
Also in orchestra, Fincher-McConnell has been able to observe Shiloh’s dedication to practicing and her willingness to learn.
“One of the things when choosing a high school was that my mom wanted to make sure that I chose it for myself, not just because of my sisters,” Shiloh said. “Definitely seeing Immie and Cosie go through was definitely a factor because, getting to come to their concerts and seeing everything, it seemed like a really good program.”
Imogen recalls their mother telling them how they should have three forms of education in their life—academic, musical and active.
altogether like maybe I would pursue soccer more,’” she said. “I’m really grateful that I can still play soccer now, but I am really glad that I stuck with violin.”
Shiloh is unaware currently if she will be able to continue playing soccer in the next couple of years, as her orchestra classes will ramp up, and she may not have time for it in the future.
“I’m not sure if I would have an elective in my schedule for soccer, but we’ll see,” she said. “They’re really sweet about things, and sometimes there’s a way you can figure it out.”
While she has no current plan of stopping soccer to play more violin, it is a possibility Shiloh sees coming, but she still believes that choosing either will be beneficial to her for the rest of her life.
“The beautiful thing about both of these things, like a sport like soccer and an instrument like violin, is that they are things you can keep with you throughout your life,” she said. “My stepfather, Richard, he’s 60 now, and he still plays soccer in his over-50s league. And some of the best violinists and musicians are in their 70s, so I’d really like to keep doing both, but as high school goes on, I think violin will probably be prioritized.”
Imogen, who was met with a similar issue her freshman year, believes that Shiloh will choose whichever extracurricular gives her more happiness.
[Shiloh] is very hard-working and cares a lot about her friends and family.
“I played club soccer outside of school since there was no team, and we also had a really small orchestra,” she said. “It was only about a maximum of 10 people at one time, but it was good because I got to be kind of a leader since I was one of few who took private violin lessons.”
Freshman Luella Fincher-McConnell attended the Girls School of Austin with Shiloh and played soccer with her. FincherMcConnell has known her since she was
—freshman
Luella Fincher-McConnell ” “
“We were in the same orchestra class from kindergarten through eighth grade, and she was so determined,”
Fincher-McConnell said. “She practices so much that when we go on trips with her family over the summer, she brings her violin and practices every day.”
FincherMcConnell stopped playing the violin last year, but she shares Shiloh’s involvement in the girls soccer program at McCallum and is excited to cheer her on in both violin and soccer. Shiloh’s two older sisters Cosette and Imogen, a past and a current McCallum orchestra major, influenced her decision to apply to the Fine Arts Academy, but, as her mom made sure, their influence was not the only factor in Shiloh’s decision.
“She really instilled this value of being active and doing music,” Imogen said. And so it was always expected of us to do soccer or to do some sort of physical activity. But Shiloh immediately showed a passion for it and it came really naturally to her.”
Imogen, who played soccer at McCallum her freshman year, chose to stop playing after the first year and focus on violin more extensively.
“I’ve always expressed more of an interest in violin than soccer, whereas Shiloh, it was kind of the other way around,” she said, “but now it’s a little more even for her.”
Throughout all the years she has been playing violin, Shiloh recalls a moment in eighth grade, which made her question the future of violin and soccer.
“I was like ‘Wait, what if I just stop violin
“I think at the end of the day, it’s going to come down to which ever one gives her the most liberty in her academics and the most time to focus on her academics,” Imogen said. “She’s so invested in both of them, so I think it just comes down to which passion she feels gives her the most.”
Shiloh Hendrickse performs at the orchestra fall recital. Photo courtesy of Hendrickse.
Hendrickse plays during the girls soccer game versus East View. Photo by Sofia Saucedo.
Thanks to shared
Barbells and Bisc its
commitment to community and resilience in face of COVID, co-habitation of comfort food and exercise thrives at 2701 Manor Road
RIGHT: Everyone remembers the days of COVID. But no one struggled as much as the local business and restaurants. And for the newly founded Bird Bird Biscuit, it was especially tough. “We adapted and we changed,” Bird Bird Biscuit founder Brian Batch said. “COVID changed our entire business model.” Instead of eating inside, Bird Bird Biscuit is now a walk-up window shop with picnic tables outside to eat. The former dining area (inside part of the building) is now a big kitchen.
View full photo essay online at macshieldonline.com or by scanning the QR code.
RIGHT: Who doesn’t love fried chicken and biscuits? That’s why Bird Bird Biscuit serves its delectable versions of them to all of the community. Brian Batch, the founder of Bird Bird, created this breakfast/lunch place in 2018, out of his “desire to grow with the people.” Batch also said, “I wanted to build a business that we had a vision for growing.” And that’s what he did. He now has two locations, one on Koenig Lane and another on Manor Road.
photos and captions by
Lucy Tepera
BELOW: “Hard. It was really hard.” Those are the words that Dane Krager used to describe his business’ COVID experience. Since they couldn’t teach in-person workout classes, they switched to online. Surprisingly that turned out well, with 70% of their membership base staying around. The community was very strong, sending Dane comments such as “We don’t want you to go under,” and “We want you to be here after the pandemic.” Dane’s Body Shop rented out its equipment and slowly started buying it back as customers started returning.
LEFT: Many local businesses such as Dane’s Body Shop do not have many staff members, but someone still has to do all the day-to-day tasks that come with the job. For Dane’s Body Shop, that person is Dane Krager. “The hardest thing about running your own business is the day-to-day tasks,” Krager said. “You have to continue every single day and wake up ready.”
ABOVE: Dane’s Body Shop is completely run and supported by the community. Dane Krager believes that’s what makes his shop different. “You get to know the people around you,” Krager said, “and that is really important.” He thinks that part of the reason why people keep coming into the shop every day is to have fun and grow with the people they know.
21, 2025
Drew draws future path
McCallum alum moves to New York to pursue career in
Arwen Pelletier staff reporter
Ava Drew has always displayed her emotions, her beliefs and her interests on a canvas. Her art has shaped the way that she has approached her education and her self-expression. As a kid, Drew literally drew as much as she could, and she came to understand very early in life that she loved creating art. After attending Gullett Elementary School near her home and honing her skills as she grew up, Drew moved on to Lamar Middle School specifically for the opportunity to take advantage of the fine arts opportunities at the school.
At the Lamar Fine Arts Academy, Drew first entertained the idea of becoming a professional artist.
surrounds the visual arts strand.
“I liked having a space where there were other people who are into art, and there was some seriousness about it,” Drew said. “It helped me improve because I felt like I had somewhere to go. I’ve heard a lot of people going to other schools where the art isn’t really a focus, and they’re like the only person they know who does art. It doesn’t really feel important in the way that it did at McCallum. There was more of an identity around it, for better or for worse.”
“
I’ve heard a lot of people going to other [high] schools where they’re like the only person they know who does art. .
—Ava Drew Class of 2020 visual arts major ”
“I would say around middle school is when I first started thinking about pursuing art as a career,” Drew said. “When I went into Lamar because of the Lamar arts program I was like, ‘Oh, OK, I want to do this,’ and I realized that this is actually like a path that I can follow.”
Like many dedicated fine artists, Drew decided to continue her arts-focused education by applying to and enrolling in McCallum’s Fine Arts Academy as a visual arts major exploring multimedia art creation.
Drew joined the academy due to its culture of commitment and constructive competition that
art
At the Fine Arts Academy, artists are offered many media that allow them to explore different ways of expressing themselves and finding their niche. The mediums offered range from painting to ceramics and from printmaking to jewelry making. In her younger years, Drew mainly focused on drawing, but when she arrived at McCallum, she was introduced to many different media that she had not tried before high school.
One of Drew’s favorite new mediums was clay.
“I liked that they had a lot of different mediums that we could try out, and especially clay was really good,” Drew said. “Some of the projects Mr. Cauthern did, I really liked. He would have us sculpt clay heads. That was one of the better things we did while we were there because it really helped us understand anatomy and things like that—even if the heads were really ugly.”
Bill Cauthern, the printmaking and sculpture
accomplished, I guess.”
Although Drew said she felt pressure to do well in competitions during her time at McCallum, overall, the pure, genuine community of artists at McCallum made her want to pursue a career in the arts after high school. The flexibility of the different art forms and creative media convinced her to continue her art education at a higher level.
“I really like the sense of community in the art world, and most of my friendships were built around it,” Drew said. “I felt like I could experiment with some of the things I liked more within the art world. You can take the art in any direction you want to. There are tons of jobs that incorporate art, so I think I felt like at least if I go into art, it’s broad enough that I can find my
Arts Academy graduating class of 2020. During her senior year, Drew developed her set of requirements for the college she would attend. She decided she wanted a small, lower-pressure school close to home that wouldn’t cause fear of an immediate viral outbreak due to the pandemic.
“I think I would say that some of the competition at McCallum made me want to go to a place where I would have more of a small, non-pressure college,” Drew said. “Southwestern University was close enough that I could still come home if I needed to, especially if the pandemic got bad. I was thinking about Texas State, but I was worried that they would immediately be hit by the pandemic and then I would be sent right home.”
after an undergraduate education at Southwestern University with paint, clay and grit
Based on her criteria, Drew chose to attend Southwestern University, just north of Austin, for her undergraduate degree in art. Upon entering the campus and art department facilities, she was impressed with the opportunities for learning and ability to create intricate art.
“When I did a tour, they had a lot of space for art students, and they had a lot of really detailed projects,” Drew said. “When I walked in, one of the first things I saw was a full-scale drawing of a skeleton that a student had done. I was like, I want to be able to do that.”
One of the benefits, and original attractions, of attending the school for her was the size. Because Southwestern was small, Drew felt that she had a support system around her consisting of professors who cared about her improvement and were able to give her critical one-on-one instruction that may not have been available within a larger art department at a different university.
“I gained a sense of what I wanted to do and how I could accomplish that,” Drew said. “While I was there, the art teachers were very supportive, and they also were prepared to help me out. I got a lot of skills there that I had never been taught before because I had individual attention for them to say, ‘Here’s things you need to improve on.’ I think it’s just hard to come by.”
While the small size of Southwestern was a major plus, there were others. The connections between Southwestern and other art programs throughout the country also attracted Drew to the school. One of the programs that the school has a large connection with is NYAP (New York Arts Program).
As part of NYAP, Southwestern students are able to work, create and learn in New York City with two fulltime, professional artists for a semester. This program offers the chance to work as a full-time artist.
“
I wanted to fully go out of my comfort zone,” Drew said. “I wanted to really figure out what exactly I was gonna do in art because there’s so many paths that it becomes kind of scary because you can do a lot of things, but they’re all so specific. So I was like, ‘OK, I’ll go there, and afterward, I’m gonna know what my plan is.’ Luckily, that worked out.”
For the people closest to Drew, the change was unexpected but welcomed. Her own brother, Logan Drew, a sophomore currently at McCallum, felt a sense of pride when he heard of her decision to take a final semester in New York. Growing up around his sister’s work, he’s had a front row seat to her growth from the beginning, and seeing her transition into bigger opportunities away from home has been fulfilling.
“I think her art’s pretty cool, and I’ve seen her change the way she draws and how she creates her art,” Logan said. “It was pretty cool to watch her achieve things in her career. She stayed close to home for college, so I saw her all the time. Now, whenever she goes to New York, and she’s actually getting internships, it’s weird and cool.”
You have to believe in your own work. That’s the hardest part, is believing that your own work is worth it.
—Ava Drew Southwestern University graduate ”
Unfortunately, due to the pandemic and scheduling issues, there was no feasible way for Drew to attend the program during her official time at Southwestern and still complete her degree in four years. The dilemma caused her to take part in the NYAP semester opportunity the semester after her graduation in 2024. Drew felt that the chance to experience New York City and flesh out her career choices made the decision to join the program a no-brainer.
“Since I’d gone to a college so close to home,
Ava packed her bags for the city and embarked on her journey that she hoped would give her valuable insight into the art world. That hope was realized when she had the unique opportunity to learn from two women who were in vastly different parts of their careers.
“One of them was a university professor, and she’s going to retire soon,” Drew said, “so I saw the end kind of path, you know? I saw, like, how the end turnout was. Her life was settled, and she has everything she wants. Then I also was working with an artist who’s younger and a more recent graduate from her master’s program. She’s still in the game, building up her career. So it was nice to see both sides of it to get an idea of what to do.”
Over her time in the program, Drew gained valuable experience and learned successful ways to approach the art world. She learned for example that making connections and being patient are two of the most vital skills needed to advance in the art world.
“You have to wait for a lot of opportunities, but you also have to be prepared for them,”
Drew said “You know, opportunities will come around, but you also have to make yourself available to them. You have to network. You have to go out and go, just even just going to galleries, seeing people and then just keep working on your art the entire time.”
Another key to success, she learned, is to always believe in yourself. In the art world, the artist is their own promoter, CEO and personal assistant when they start their career.
“It’s essentially running your own business,” Drew said. “Especially if you don’t go into any sort of teaching, then it becomes your career. You’re running a small business, and that business is yourself. You have to market yourself, and you have to believe in your own work. That’s the hardest part, is believing that your own work is worth it.”
After her time during the semester with NYAP, Drew fine-tuned her career ambitions with a better understanding of the different occupations within the art world. Since then, Drew has decided to pursue a master’s degree in art before entering the world of teaching or committing to
an artist residency program up north.
“I realized while I was [in New York] that I would like to be a professor or at least stay in the academic space,” Drew said, “so my plan is to go to grad school I’m not sure where yet, but probably up north because I did love New York and hopefully from there I’ll go into teaching, or I will look into more residencies.”
Throughout her art career to this point, she’s received advice from peers and mentors, but one piece that has stuck with her is the need to put yourself out there. No matter what you do, you are the most valuable asset to yourself, and presenting your own self-determination to others is key to your success.
“The more that they see your face, the more that they’re going to trust you, and the more that they’re going to see that you are invested in this,” Drew said.
More art installed in Drew’s NYC art gallery. Photos courtesy of Drew.
Mexico
Senior Chris Hernandez decided he wanted to pursue higher education in the United States three years before he made the move. Hernandez was born in the U.S. but had lived in Villahermosa, a city in southern Mexico, his whole life.
So, in the summer of 2023, his dad and brother, who had been living in the U.S., came to Villahermosa. They flew with Hernandez to Monterrey and then grabbed a bus to Austin, arriving here in July.
“It was challenging mentally because you have to know you will use English for so many years,” Hernandez said. “It was hard because you have to … translate so many things. After the months you will learn, but it is progressive.”
Like Chris, senior Abdiel Hernandez, who was also born in the U.S., decided to move from Allende, Coahuila, to Austin in mid-August, with his sights set on college.
“It’s been a little difficult, but I got used to it and learned
A w rld within
Moving forward
A series of stories about students and
things in English that have helped me,” Abdiel Hernandez said. “I learned a little English in school and thanks to that I have communicated. I also use the translator and some friends who speak English and Spanish.”
Although both Chris and Abdiel left their homes when they were in the later years of high school, freshman Metzi Luna moved here when she was 12 for the “American Dream.”
“It was so different from my country,” she said. “English was so horrible for me. I used to know how to communicate with others because everyone in my old school spoke Spanish so it was more simple.”
As Luna continues to develop her English skills, she encourages her peers to meet students like her, Chris, and Abdiel halfway.
“Try to talk to us,” she said. “We don’t feel like we’re the others.”
A touch of Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Spanish teacher Janette Miranda-Santiago was born in New York, but her family moved back to Puerto Rico when she was 5. She spent her weekends and breaks at the beach, her favorite part about living on the island. She and her seven siblings celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas and her favorite, Three Kings Day. At school, lessons were taught in Spanish, but books and materials were all in English. Even though her family spoke Spanish at home, she and other students had to find a way to adapt to the bilingualism that the school system enforced.
“I’m from New York, but I feel Puerto Rican,” MirandaSantiago said. “I feel like I can bond with the Latino culture and the Hispanic culture, and it is a part of me. It’s like my soul.”
As a teacher, she has been struck at times by the lack of knowledge most students have surrounding Puerto Rico, which has been a territory of the United States since 1898.
“Living on the mainland, we realized the importance of being a part of something, but sometimes I feel a part of nothing,” she said. “I feel sad sometimes when I realize that the United States schools do not help U.S. citizens to learn about their territories. They don’t know anything about Puerto Rico. They did not consider us a part of this process.”
If students ever need help on a project or have questions about Puerto Rico, Miranda-Santiago tries to help them understand it as best she can, so that maybe more mainland citizens will know the significance of where she grew up, the place that she calls her soul.
Staying connected
Chile
Despite Santiago, Chile being almost 5,000 miles away from Austin, when freshman Pia Larenas cooks or eats Chilean foods, it makes her and her family feel more connected to the home they left when she was 11.
Foods like completos, asado and empanadas of all kinds (“de queso, de pino de camarón”) remind her of Santiago and Chile. Unfortunately, foods like completos are almost impossible to find in Austin.
“Every person in Chile knows how to make completos because it’s so good,” she said.
Completos are a variation of a hot dog, which is usually topped with ingredients like tomatoes, avocados, mayonnaise, sauerkraut and salsa Americana.
Prior to moving to Austin, Larenas had visited the United States a few times since family members like her cousins and grandparents live here. At the time, visiting America was daunting.
“The first time was really scary for me because [America] was a big country and I was not used to being in this place,” she said. “It’s a little bit different because America is way bigger, so it was scary, but, then I got used to it.”
Along with getting used to a new country, when Larenas started at Lamar Middle School, she had to adjust to a new school structure, without speaking much of the language that was being spoken to her.
“I was confused and nobody told me that I should have to get used to it,” she said. “I was just thinking it would be like that forever, and you just have to get used to that stuff.”
Three years after leaving Santiago, she’s realized that she did in fact eventually get used to the new country, new school, new friends and new life. Larenas believes she’ll be returning to Chile after high school, but for now, whether she does or not, Chile is found in Chilean food, her family and most importantly, completos.
Sophomore Rafael Kubala had never been to the United States before he landed here in August. But after stepping off the plane, and looking around, it wasn’t unfamiliar.
“I came here and I was like ‘Oh, it’s just like the movies,’” he said.
Kubala left Sao Paulo, Brazil with his mom who teaches violin at the University of Sao Paulo. This year, she is a visiting professor at the University of Texas. Although this is a planned year-long stay in the United States for Kubala, it still came with a lot of uncertainty.
teachers around the globe within our school
Ukraine
Living in Kyiv Ukraine, junior Anastasiia Musiiaka’s childhood dream was to attend college in the U.S. as an international student. At the age of 4, after some encouragement from her mom, Musiiaka started learning English, her third language after Ukrainian and Russian. What she didn’t know at the time was that her dream of studying in the U.S. would arrive unexpectedly during her first year of high school.
stories by Lillian Gray
the movies
“I was nervous at first, but then I got used to how things are here,” he said. “I made some good friends, so now it’s alright. Everything worked out.”
In getting to know more about the country he had only previously seen in movies, there is one thing that is beginning to stand out to him.
“Brazil is a diverse country,” he said. “There are a lot of nationalities in Brazil, and that’s a thing we are proud of. People in America should be proud of being a country with multiple nationalities. That makes the country rich.”
In early 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. Musiiaka’s hometown, Kyiv, was under attack. As the war escalated, more and more of her friends began to leave for safer living conditions. Eventually, so did Musiiaka. Her mom found a job in Austin and, after living in Ukraine for six months after the war started, she and her mom began the journey to Texas.
A week later, it was Musiiaka’s first day at McCallum.
“I didn’t have a lot of time to process everything,” she said. “First I had no friends and it was scary because everything was new. English is my third language, so I
was like ‘What is going on here?’”
Since moving here in 2022, she’s noticed a drastic change in how the media is covering the war that continues in Ukraine. It seems, to her, that it has been pushed aside.
“A lot of people just forgot about us, but it’s still going and people get killed,” she said. “Everyone talks about Israel and Gaza, but nobody talks about Ukraine anymore because it’s not like the hot topic you know.”
It may feel as though much of the world has forgotten about the war in Ukraine, but Musiiaka can’t, especially when her dad still lives there.
“When it’s war time, men are not allowed to leave Ukraine,” she said. “That’s like their role because a lot of them are taken to the front line.”
Along with her dad, other friends and family, including her grandmother, have stayed in Ukraine. Calling and Facetime help make the distance between them seem smaller, and Musiiaka has had the chance to go back to Ukraine to visit.
Left behind We are all humans
Afghanistan
Senior Uzma Rahim grew up in Laghman, an eastern province of Afghanistan.
“Life was good there,” Rahim said. “It was a beautiful city. We had a big house and we had a lot of friends.”
In 2021, as the Taliban took over the country’s government, her family made the difficult decision to leave. Her parents and three siblings traveled through several countries, including Germany, before making their way to Austin.
“We thought that the people would not be friendly… but it wasn’t like that,” she said.
Though finding kind people was a relief, coming to the U.S. was still an enormous change. The family
had to find a home, her parents had to find jobs and Rahim and her siblings had to get settled into school. And, they had to do that all in a place they had never been before.
“Everything is different here from our country like the language, people, culture, everything,” she said.
Times that Rahim has felt disconnected from others, she says, have nothing to do with where she came from or grew up, but stem from difficulties of navigating the place she is beginning a new life.
“If we are not feeling good that will be from the language, not that we have a different nationality,” she said. “Because we are all humans.”
American enough
Malaysia
Nine-year-old Jasmine Aung walked up to a large brick building with her family, all dressed in traditional Karen clothing. Her dad leaned down to her and whispered something in her ear.
“Remember the national anthem just in case anyone tests you,” he said.
Even though Aung has never been back to Malaysia and in her memory, she’s always lived in America, she didn’t become an American until that day.
After entering a large auditorium, she was separated from her mom and sister. Once she was called up, she sat beside her dad, and sang the national anthem.
“We just really wanted to prove that we deserved to be in America just as much as anyone who was born there,” she said.
For Aung and her family, it took years to get to that day.
After living in the United States for five years on a green card, her mom and dad studied for over a year for the test that gave them and their children citizenship, a test that seven-year-old Aung had to help them prepare for. She spent hours translating legal documents, American history textbooks and papers from English to Burmese.
“Getting that citizenship, I felt that I was worthy of being here and worthy of calling myself an Asian American,” she said.
As soon as the family received their citizenship certificates, her parents hung them on their living room wall.
Jasmine still sees the citizenship paper plastered in her living room every day, a reminder of the sacrifices her parents, and entire family, have gone through in order for her to have the opportunities she has today.
feb. 21, 2025
Once a PAL, always a pal
Wangrin uses skills gained as student in Mac peer program as first-year teacher
Evelyn Jenkins a&e editor, co-business manager
PALS, Peer Assistance Leadership and Service, is a program that is offered throughout Austin ISD schools in which high school students mentor younger students at elementary schools. The program is beneficial for both the PALS and PALees as one group learns how to serve as role models and leaders and the other learns from their older mentors. Over the years, many former PALS have gone on to work in schools and have continued their work as role models and leaders for children. Makala Wangrin is one of these former PALS and is now a first-grade teacher at Gullett Elementary School.
Wangrin attended McCallum from 2009 to 2013. At UT Austin, she majored in Applied Learning and Development. Wangrin credits the PALS program as one of her inspirations for wanting to become a teacher.
“The program definitely allowed me to envision myself as a teacher because we spent so much time at schools interacting with children from a mentor perspective, oftentimes, in a more formal and supportive way,” Wangrin said. “This allowed me to get a glimpse of what being a teacher could potentially look like.”
Wangrin knew she wanted to work with kids before joining the PALS program, but wasn’t sure about which direction to go.
“I thought about going into health care, being a pediatrician or a nurse,” Wangrin said.
“I also thought about being a psychologist; however, in my heart, I always felt drawn to teaching in a way that I didn’t quite feel towards other professions.”
“Some
I am, as well as creating a place where people can become a family from all different walks.”
Wangrin credits the program with teaching her valuable life lessons about children and those around her.
“PALS really emphasized how everyone you meet experiences life differently,” Wangrin said. “Everyone has their own perception of the world and understands things differently. Each of my PALees had their own special characteristics that made them the person they are. That is something that has really stuck with me going into teaching and throughout my time as an educator.”
“
in schools that will help him in the future.
“I’ve learned a lot about how kids of different ages think,” Howard said. “In PALS, we put a large emphasis on communication, which is really the foundation for making healthy relationships. I think I’ve gained
I think community is the key to success in our society. And so I try to create community as best that I can within McCallum
— Richard Cowles
Cowles believes that the PALS program can be very beneficial for students who may want to be teachers in the future.
of my best memories from McCallum were with PALS. There was so much great energy.
—teacher, former PAL Makala Wangrin
Richard Cowles has been the sponsor of the PALS program at McCallum for the last 13 years and was the sponsor while Wangrin was at McCallum. Cowles believes that volunteering has been a pivotal part of his life and that helping those around him has been very rewarding.
“As I like to say, my life’s best decisions have come through volunteering,” Cowles said.
“When I was lost in electrical engineering and uncertain what to do, I did some volunteer work, teaching a science lesson at an elementary school, and that made me realize that I was a teacher. And so service and volunteering has always been a big part of who
“I think that they [PALS] see the immediate impact that they can have on young lives and all that the good that can come of it,” Cowles said, “so I think having that, that realization, and as well as the fact that they see me create a positive environment as a teacher, they feel so a part of the community that therefore they want to reach out and then create those communities as well, and teaching is a great way to do that.”
”Nathan Howard is a senior at McCallum and a current PAL who is interested in becoming a teacher in the future. This is Howard’s first year as a member of the program, and he is looking forward to becoming a music teacher.
“I’ve always loved the feeling of being in rehearsal and working through the highs and lows of a piece with a group,” Howard said. “There’s a special energy there, picking through details and putting it all together that I thrive on. I also just have a passion for teaching and giving back what I’ve learned to other kids.”
Howard said that the PALS program has provided him with useful experience working
be an element of change in the greater society, and so you create more of those people, then hopefully we progress a little bit.”
The PALS program has been creating lasting memories for PALS and PALees across AISD for years, Wangrin’s experience is proof of that larger truth.
ESL aids English learning
Hutcheson, administration create classes to help students adapt to Mac, U.S.
Maya Tackett people editor
Three years ago, McCallum High School got an influx of refugee students from Afghanistan. There was no English as a second language, ESL, class to help them seamlessly integrate into high school in the United States. The administration noticed that these students were put into regular English classes and were struggling to keep up with the work that they were given. Some students couldn’t write or read in their home language so throwing them into a class where they didn’t know their new second language, English, made things even more difficult.
This led English teacher James Hutcheson, or Hutch as his peers and students call him, to work with the administration before the start of the ’23-’24 school year to create space for three ESL classes in the master schedule.
“Helping out these kids means the same as helping out all of the kids at our school,” Hutch said. “Each student has their own individual challenges and struggles. It’s our job as educators to meet each kid where they’re at.”
During the ESL class, Hutch focuses more on verbal communication in addition to reading and writing as opposed to English classes for native speakers.
“The texts are simpler, and we hit grammar more explicitly,” Hutch said. “We also do a lot of structured dialogue which looks a lot like a theater class.”
One difficulty that the ESL class is facing this year is the fact that there are five different languages being spoken, and Hutch is a native English speaker. This is why students like junior Sara Hamlet and senior America Franken have chosen to be teacher’s assistants in the class.
Hamlet is a native Spanish speaker and her mom taught ESL when she first moved to the United States from Mexico.
“I thought it would be a good opportunity to follow in her footsteps and practice my Spanish and people skills at the same time,” Hamlet said. “I like it because it feels like I’m helping them accomplish something and learn skills that they will use for the rest of their life.”
Translating instructions from Hutch’s English into Spanish is one way that Hamlet helps out. She also translates important information that they may need to know that isn’t given to them.
Hamlet does acknowledge that even though she knows Spanish, there are many different accents and mannerisms that make it difficult for her to fully understand what a student might be trying to convey.
Another struggle is students will also join the ESL class whenever they enroll at McCallum, which can lead to students being at different places in the class.
“Hutch just tries to fit them in because most of the work is independent learning,” Hamlet said. “They can use resources like IXL and Imagine Learning to help them get a good grasp of where they are.”
“Getting to talk to them about transitioning is also something I enjoy because many of them just moved here a few months ago,” she said. Franken is another student who has decided to spend a class period helping out students in the ESL class.
“
The opportunity to assist in the ESL classes allows me to not only improve my Spanish but also listen to the stories and lives of others.
—senior America Franken ”
“I wanted to make a difference for students who might feel like they’re struggling to find their voice in a new environment,” Franken said.
As someone who is bilingual, Franken understands and acknowledges the challenges of navigating two languages especially when one is brand new.
“I wanted to use my skills to support others in building their confidence and communication,” she said. “It’s incredible being able to see them grow, not just in language but in self-assurance.”
Seeing the students who she has grown to know improve and succeed has made Franken proud and also inspired.
up English. Watching their progress every day inspires me, especially with Mr. Hutcheson’s ability to find ways to make learning both engaging and effective.”
One memory that Franken has of Hutch making learning more engaging is him printing out a scene from a play for the students to act out in English. This gave the students a chance to practice speaking and interacting in real-life situations. Hutch has also had the students create their own everyday life scenarios and record them in English for homework.
“For fun, when everyone is finished with their work [Hutch] sometimes plays music in class and gets song requests from the students,” Franken said, “but he only allows English songs, and he displays the lyrics on the board so that the students can pick up words faster.”
Franken realizes that helping out students whose first language isn’t English makes them feel welcomed, but it also helps her. She realizes that listening to the stories and lives of others will help her in her dream of becoming an immigration lawyer.
One of Hamlet’s favorite parts of the class is getting to know the students and talking with them about how culture, school, and home life are different in United States than in their home country.
“Helping out in the ESL class means a great deal to me because I know I am contributing to something that will profoundly impact these students’ lives, both now and in the future,” Franken said. “They are all incredibly bright and motivated, and it is so exciting to witness how quickly they are picking
“Being given the opportunity to assist in the ESL classes allows me to not only improve my Spanish but also listen to the stories and lives of others,” Franken said. “It gives me a sense of what it will be like helping people in the future, which is a huge part of why I want to pursue this career. Helping them learn English and helping them translate words only makes me want to become a lawyer even more. I enjoy helping and being kind to everyone.” To meet some of the Knights who have come to the United States from all over the world, please see the feature, “A world within our school,” on pages 16-17 of this issue.
English as Second Language teacher James Hutcheson helps freshman Pia Larenas Vasquez during class on Jan 10.
Photo by Maggie Mass.
sports
Touching down for college
Senior Mark Sanchez commits to Washington University in St. Louis for D3 football
Fletcher Vandegrift staff reporter
Senior Mark Sanchez has always set his sights on playing college football. He’s spent countless hours in the weight room, training with coaches, at camps and, of course, on the field. Less than 7% of high school athletes play in college, but Sanchez will now be one of them. After years of hard work and dedication, Sanchez accomplished his dream and will start his college football career on a full scholarship in the fall at Washington University in St. Louis.
While Sanchez and the Knights may have fallen short of the playoffs, Sanchez finished his senior year with 80 catches for 1,285 yards and 16 touchdowns. He also had 47 carries for 301 yards, three touchdowns, 114 passing yards and a passing touchdown.
Sanchez said his coaches and teammates are a big part of his success.
“A big motivation is my teammates,” Sanchez said. “My quarterback for throwing me the ball, my line for blocking for me and all of my teammates doing their part. And also my coaches for training me and giving their all to me every week.”
Sanchez also credits his family for his accomplishments.
“The biggest motivation is the idea that I can provide for my family and give back what they gave to me—all the sacrifices made, for taking me to my training and paying for it,” Sanchez said. Sanchez said his recruiting process was very slow.
“I didn’t get my first offer until about halfway through the season, and it was just a small NAIA school,” Sanchez said.
Little did Sanchez know that WashU had prepared him a Christmas gift.
“It wasn’t until after the season that I met the coach,” he said. “I kept in touch with him, and he gave me an offer on Christmas Eve.”
Coach Tom Gammerdinger, athletic director and head football coach, has been part of Sanchez’s life since middle school. Sanchez’s older brother, Joseph, played football for McCallum when Mark was still at Kealing Middle School.
“He was a ball boy at Taco Shack in 2018, and that was the first time I met him,” Gammerdinger said. “I started to get to know him better when he came high school. I had him
had a historic season with 80 receptions for 1,285 yards with 16 touchdown catches. Photo by
they’re doing everything they can. Well, you’re not because Mark’s doing more.”
Like Gammerdinger, senior Braxton Bishop, Sanchez’s friend and teammate, believes that it is Sanchez’s dedication that sets him apart.
“He’s easily the hardest worker on the team,” Bishop said. “He doesn’t miss practices, he’s first one in last one out, he stays after school, goes to camps, doing whatever he can. He’s one of the most deserving people I know.”
Think again.”
Playing with Sanchez over the last four years, Bishop has watched Sanchez become a leader.
“He’s always there for you,” he said. “You can ask him a question, he’ll answer. He’s always helping out the freshmen receivers and holding everyone accountable. Whenever we’re doing sprints, he’s the guy that makes sure everybody steps up to the line and does their job.”
Standing at 5’7”, Sanchez admits to being at a size disadvantage, but Coach Gammerdinger believes that’s what makes him work as hard as he does.
“He’s not the biggest, the fastest or the strongest,” Coach Gammerdinger said. “I was concerned that he wouldn’t get the opportunities he deserved because coaches look for so many measurables, but he has worked tirelessly for all these things that have allowed him to get this opportunity to play in college. That’s 100% sweat equity, he’s worked for all of that and everybody thinks they work hard.
Coach Gammerdinger claims that Sanchez’s hard work beats talent.
“I knew he had what it took [for college football],” Gammerdinger said. “It was just a matter of finding the right fit and for somebody to see what he can do.”
Sanchez hopes to continue his football career beyond college.
“It’s a goal of mine, but if it doesn’t happen, I won’t be upset about it,” Sanchez said. “I’m using football as a way to better my education and get into a school I most likely wouldn’t have just through academics.”
Sanchez believes his time at WashU will help him grow.
“The maturity is different in college,” he said. “It’ll help me build more relationships with people from all over the country, not just Texas. It’s also a way to keep me disciplined and make sure I’m getting everything done.”
In 2024 the WashU Bears went 7-2 in College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin play, 8-2 overall. The Bears will remain a CCIW school in 2025 before moving to the North Coast Athletic Conference in 2026. Graphic by Chloe Lewcock.
Sanchez
Frank Webster.
Mark chats about his college plans in the first episode of our new podcast, Next Up. Use QR code to listen now.
Coming off an injury, Haikola spreads her passion for cultivating community Return to the floor
Josie Mullan co-web managing editor
From taking modern dance classes in second grade to becoming the senior captain of a McCallum dance team with a proud history exceeding a half century, senior Catherine Haikola has grown to become a vibrant leader in the dance community.
While she was named captain of Blue Brigade at the end of her junior year, dance has always been an integral part of Hakoila’s life.
“Dance has just become a way for me to express myself,” Haikola said. “You can feel things when you’re dancing. You feel more connected to your body and your mind because you have to think about so many things while you’re doing it.”
Haikola was eager to apply for a junior officer position and then her current position as captain at the end of her junior year because it was a clear way to become more involved in the program.
“I feel like I’ve always been kind of a leader and like to not just be in charge but be able to make a difference, and have a more concrete way to do so,” Haikola said. “It’s nice to have a role where I can be helpful.”
Blue Brigade Director Nancy Searle explained those innate leadership skills that prompted her and the team to select Haikola as their captain.
“Specifically, she loves to dance and so she makes it a priority,” Searle said. “The girls feel that they can go and talk to her, and she’s very approachable. When we’re at football games, she has their respect enough to where they’re going to listen to her. She just kind of gravitates toward the leadership roles, so I think it’s more natural for some than others, and for her, she is one of those natural leaders.”
Haikola says that since joining Blue Brigade as a freshman, she has grown as a dancer and a person.
“I’ve definitely gained a lot of confidence from having to perform in front of so many people, and when I became an officer, I got a lot more comfortable being able to speak up in front of people,” she said. “I definitely think way more about dances as a whole—I had to shift from
my personal idea of what I’m doing versus thinking, ‘What’s everyone doing and how can we all be the same?’”
Now as the leader, Haikola has learned the challenge of giving constructive feedback to her teammates while still cultivating an encouraging and welcoming environment.
“ It would have been really easy for her to just have a pity party and not want to be here, but we never had to remind her that this was her job.
—Blue Brigade director Nancy Searle
”
“I would say balancing positive feedback and negative feedback is something that I’ve really tried to work on and make sure that I do because it’s hard when you’re telling people that they’re not perfect all the time and if that’s the only thing that you’re saying, it can be counterproductive,” Haikola said.
This year, as well, Haikola has had an extra challenge along with her regular duties as
a question. She was always here; she was always putting the team first even though she knew that she couldn’t be out there with them, so we’ve been super impressed with her.”
Fellow officer, senior Smith Bohls, said Haikola has always been a positive and encouraging voice on the team despite the obstacles she has had to overcome.
“She is a great motivation to the team, and everyone looks up to her as a great leader,” Bohls said. “She is well respected and makes a positive environment for the team.”
Haikola said one of the most important parts of Blue Brigade has been bonding with the team, which she encourages incoming freshmen to prioritize as well.
“I would say [to new members] to just really enjoy your time on Blue Brigade— just become one class as a whole and be friends because it goes by really fast,” Haikola said.
Although she will not be pursuing dance professionally, Haikola said she has treasured her time in Blue Brigade and the supportive community she has found within it.
“Every year, there’s just a new group of people, and it’s so fun to meet so many
Haikola performs at the Homecoming pep rally, Oct. 18. Photo by Julia Copas
Captain Catherine Haikola performs the team pom contest dance to a Pitbull remix at halftime the boys varsity basketball game on Jan. 28 in the large gym.
Photo by Julia Copas.
Serving into new season
Tennis team prepares for the upcoming individual season in the spring
Elizabeth Nation staff reporter
While most sports are only in season one time of the year, tennis is an exception, with both a fall and a spring season.
The two seasons, however, are structured very differently from each other. The main difference between the two is that the fall is team tennis while the spring is individual tennis. In the fall, each player’s win counts as a point to the team’s overall score, and the first team to reach 10 points wins. In the spring, athletes choose if they want to compete in singles or doubles, and play as an individual or duo in a bracket in tournaments that include multiple entrants from other schools.
Junior Nadia Tissembaum is currently line three on varsity, meaning she plays other tennis players who are also ranked third on their team, and enjoys the spring’s structure over the fall because there are more chances to play in tournaments.
“I prefer it because I feel like there is more opportunity to play, whereas in the fall season, it’s kind of one tournament, and you only get to play one or two matches in a tournament,” Tissembaum said. “In the spring season, it’s a bracket, so you win or you’re knocked out.”
Not only does the spring season allow tennis players to play more matches in a tournament, it also has far more tournaments than the fall team season. Although McCallum played a few tournaments against Anderson, Bastrop, LASA and other schools, they didn’t count to the team’s rank and tennis players only participated in one singles and doubles match per tournament.
“The district tournament is the whole shebang,” head tennis coach Michael McLaughlin said. “It’s what determines who comes in first and second, so the tournaments leading up to the district tournament don’t count as far as your placement. Everything’s riding on that district tournament.”
Another upside of the spring season according to McLaughlin is that tennis players get to compete against multiple schools, as opposed to the fall season’s one-on-one team play structure.
“Team tennis is always McCallum versus Crockett, for example, or McCallum versus LASA,” McLaughlin said. “The tournaments that we do in the individual season in spring have a whole bunch of teams. In fact, we’ve played in tournaments that have 30 teams at multiple different sites. They’re huge events.”
Co-captain and senior Ben Reiff feels that the added number of schools fosters an extra layer of competition to the spring tournaments.
“I like it more because there’s more of a chance to win,” Reiff said. “The tournaments are structured differently, and we’re playing more schools at every tournament. It makes it more fun and more competitive.”
Reiff, who plays singles, is looking forward to the spring individual season; however, the season holds mixed emotions for him because it will be his last season playing tennis at McCallum.
“I’m sad but I’m also excited because I’m ready to move on to college,” Reiff said. “[I’m] looking forward to all the tournaments and ready to finish out senior year with some wins.”
While the new season will give veteran players like Reiff another chance to show off their skills on the court, it will also give new players an opportunity to compete in individual tennis tournaments at the high school level for the first time. Despite it being his first year at McCallum, freshman Vincent Becker plays on the varsity team, after originally being on JV for a few weeks at the beginning of the school year.
“I think it’s really cool because I get to be part of the varsity team,” Becker said.
Becker is looking forward to the spring season, and hopes that it will give him a chance to play more and improve his game. To prepare for the upcoming season, Becker and his teammates have been practicing more.
“We’re starting up with afternoon practices now that the weather has changed,” McLaughlin said. “We’re trying to keep the momentum going until winter break and then we start up again with full practices in January.”
McLaughlin said he already sees progress from the beginning of the year.
“It’s super fun to see kids go from that beginner level to where you’re actually competing at a varsity level,”
McLaughlin said.
The spring season will begin in January and run until the end of March, when players compete to be ranked in district at the district tournament. Tissembaum has high hopes for the upcoming season.
“I would like to win a few tournaments in singles,”
Tissembaum said. “I would like to place in district and maybe go to regionals. As a team, I think that we have goals to go far, and I think that we can this year.”
Senior Vincent Carney serves in practice on Dec. 16. Photo by Elizabeth Nation.
Junior Nadia Tissembaum and senior captain Rose Blum play doubles together in a tennis tournament in a Taco Shack rematch against Anderson, Aug. 30. Photo by Elizabeth Nation.
McCallum hosts largest archery tournament ever in Austin, plans to keep growing sport the
feb. 21, 2025
SToRY BY camilla VAndegrift
Coach Nick Kalakanis
senior Sadie Swinney
senior Diego Custard
junior Melea Carman
senior Jada Gonzales
senior Maya Julien
sophomore Brooke “Io” Zarnikau
archery team runs, wins
The archery team hosted the biggest tournament ever held in Austin in the large gym Dec. 14-15, with schools from all educational levels, public and private, participating in the competition. In addition to this record, the Mac team also shot its highest score ever, 3309 points. Senior Theo Northcutt placed first in the male high school division with an individual score of 285, and sophomore Carley Lardizabal placed first for high school females, scoring 283.
Northcutt finished his first-place effort with a final round of 49 from 15 meters, meaning he shot four bullseyes and a nine with his five arrows. It is much harder to shoot that well from 15 meters than from 10. Each archer shoots 30 arrows in a competition, three sets of five from 10 meters and three sets of five from 15 meters, for a total of 300 possible points. Several archers at the tournament achieved perfect rounds of 50 from 10 meters. Both Northcutt and Lardizabal posted one 50-point round from 10 meters. Three other Mac archers also posted perfect 50 rounds: Althea Bradbury-Flores, Wren Griffis and Henry Peacock.
in which archers pair up and shoot one arrow. The closest to the center of the target advances to the next round until only one archer remains, which in flight 12—the flight filled mostly with McCallum archers—was Lardizabal. She shot her first-ever perfect 50 at a distance of 10 meters away from the target and achieved a personal best score. The shoot-off is meant to be fun and not competitive, but Lardizabal did win a Bullseye Bakery cookie and a oneof-a-kind pen made from a broken arrow by head coach Nick Kalakanis.
When she was in elementary school, Lardizabal heard that she could take archery as a PE credit at Lamar Middle School, but her plans to start archery in sixth grade were delayed by the COVID quarantine.
“than the high schoolers.
Lamar archer Sophia Pedregon-Harrington posted the highest individual score overall with a 292, a score that included 15 straight bullseyes from 10 meters (three perfect 50 rounds) and a 49 from 15 meters. Lamar archer Miles Windler had the highest individual score for male archers with a 286.
[Coach Nick] understands teenagers, so he knows how to make practices fun and keep people engaged.
“I joined archery in seventh grade, and I still had to do PE, but whatever,” Lardizabal said. “I joined, and I actually really enjoyed the community. Everyone is really nice.”
Following her time on the Lamar team, Lardizabal continued archery when she got to high school, now in her second year on the Mac squad.
“This year we have a lot more freshmen,” Lardizabal said. “A lot of people came from Lamar, and they’re all really good because they’ve been doing archery since fifth grade, some of them third grade if they came from Highland Park [Elementary].”
The archery pipeline of Austin has historically started at Highland Park for the youngest archers in the area, and those students feed into Lamar and then McCallum, gaining new members along the way. Both Highland Park and Lamar had archers present at the December tournament, with some scoring higher
—senior captain Maya Julien ”
According to senior Diego Custard, the scale of the tournament and the involvement of other schools including Lamar caused some extra stress and preparation on the McCallum side of operations.
“I think the size of it set it apart from previous tournaments,” Custard said. “And made it harder to do everything from inputting scores to managing and watching everyone during the times when there were archers there.”
Setup in the gym for the record-breaking tournament was extensive, lasting from the end of the school day until around 9:30 p.m. on Friday.
“We had to be extra careful when we were moving equipment, marking shooting lines and taking the tournament down afterwards,” Custard said.
Senior captain Sadie Swinney recorded scores for the large number of archers competing in the tournament. After she competed in the eighth flight of the tournament, Swinney received a Nobility Award for work outside of the range and being involved with the team.
“It was really a group effort,” Swinney said. “We spent four hours setting up the curtains, quivers, decorations, prepping all the scorecards and equipment for scoring, so it was a lot of work, but I think it looked really good.”
Swinney was not the only archer to receive a Nobility Award for her work behind the scenes to make the tournament happen. Kalakanis also gave Nobility Awards to senior captain Maya Julien and junior captain Melea Carman. Kalakanis got emotional in discussing Julien’s strength of character in sticking with archery and her leadership role despite battling a tendinitis injury that made it hard for her to compete.
Senior Sadie Swinney’s two archery coaches Highland Park Elementary and Lamar Middle School archery coach Jim DeLine and McCallum coach Nick Kalakanis flank her for a group photo after she received a Nobility Award for her work running the McCallum Inivitational Tournament. The McCallum archery team poses after their invitational tournament ended. Photos by Dave Winter.
invitational tournament
This year’s seniors were freshmen during Kalakanis’s first year of coaching Mac archery, so they will be his first class of graduates. Though Kalakanis stepped back from coaching during their sophomore year, seniors such as Julien have grown close to him during his time leading the team.
“We love him so much,” Julien said. “He just makes archery fun. He understands teenagers, so he knows how to make practices fun and keep people engaged.”
“
Lardizabal said Kalakanis is very close to the senior class, especially due to his young age and sarcastic humor.
“His voice cracked when he was giving a speech at the tournament about the seniors leaving,” Lardizabal said. “He almost cried, which is a big deal.”
The seniors have become close with each other over their four years on the team as well as the coach. Though archery has taken them as far as Utah for the national tournament, some of the biggest team bonding happens right in the McCallum gym, according to Julien.
Swinney said it is precisely that community which has made her stick with archery for so long.
“I really love shooting, but I also love being a part of such a unique community of people,” Swinney said, “and getting to experience things and meet people I never would have otherwise.”
Positive experiences with archery before high school have not just kept Swinney committed to archery but other team members as
I love the community Archery really helped me in middle school. It was my safe space.
—sophomore Carley Lardizabal
”“My favorite part of archery is practice because you just get to hang out with your buddies,” Julien said, “The environment is very chill.”
Julien said many of the seniors have not only been involved in archery at McCallum but also in middle school or even before then in elementary school.
“So the seniors specifically are really close,” she said. “But the rest of the team is, too. There’s freshmen and people who I would otherwise never talk to.”
Kalakanis said it’s heartbreaking for him to see his first round of seniors go.
“We’ve been through a lot of tournaments and a lot of practices,” Kalakanis said. “We are a lot closer than the new people that come in because our archer-coach relationship hasn’t really kicked in as much as it has with the graduating seniors, but after four years, it’s built up quite a bit.”
Kalakanis deserved a Nobility Award for running the tournament, but he was the one giving them out, so his captains recognized him between flights eight and nine with a surprise heartwarming speech and a gift basket of homemade treats and energy drinks.
Custard, who brought the gift basket to Kalakanis after the captains expressed their admiration for their coach, said the tournament demonstrated the progress of the archery program.
“I think it was an awesome way not only for the team to show the school that they are serious, but for McCallum to set an example for other schools around Austin,” he said.
Some McCallum archers have been shooting since they were in elementary school, including Swinney, who joined the Highland Park team as a fifth-grader in the program’s early years.
“My PE coach actually started it, and it was super tiny,” Swinney said. “That year we ended up winning the state tournament, and I decided I wanted to continue shooting for as long as I could stay in a program.”
That PE coach was Jim DeLine, who, according to Swinney, started an archery program at Lamar Middle, which then grew to McCallum and expanded to other schools in the Austin area. DeLine brought his teams of younger archers to the tournament and beamed from ear to ear because he could come to this tournament without having to run it himself as he has so often for the last decade. He thanked the McCallum coaches and archers for helping to sustain and grow the archery community in Austin.
Six years later, Custard is now a senior leader on the team. His role is to help with planning for events, teaching other archers and volunteering at tournaments such as the one from this weekend.
“I have always gone out of my way to volunteer and help the archery team,” Custard said. “But now, I can be more of a role model, and I can help implement ideas I have for the team.”
After years of being an underclassman, Custard said his experience allows him to help the team in ways he couldn’t before.
“It’s super cool being an older team member because people look up to you more,” Custard said. “And while you have more responsibilities, you also have more say in what happens with the team.”
Lardizabal said one thing many people don’t know about archery is the discipline required for the sport.
“We’re holding weapons,” Lardizabal said.
“If you turn the other way and hit someone, they’re dead. Not everyone can do that.”
The archery team is moving forward into the spring season with state and national tournaments coming up. Kalakanis said with these larger-scale competitions, he hopes his archers having lifechanging experiences.
“But in a close second is improving our placement and making sure as a team and as individuals we’re becoming better archers,” Kalakanis said. “That’s somewhat my main goal, closely behind making sure we have a close community and people there are welcome, and feeling like they’re part of an amazing team.”
The McCallum archery head coach Nick Kalakanis speaks at the Invitational Tournament.
Photo by Dave Winter.
Eat, sleep, ride, repeat
University of Texas grad bikes to Alaska to raise money and awareness for cancer
Chloe Lewcock co-editor-in-chief
After one year of training, 70 days of riding, two bikes and over 60 miles per day, University of Texas graduate Carolina Arellano was greeted with friends, family, and a finish line marking the end of her 4000-mile ride to Alaska. Over the course of the last two years, Arellano has
research finding new ones to continue the ride, Arellano’s ride mate Emma Stromberger connected with a journalist in Eugene, Ore., close to where the pair were camped trying to solve their equipment issue.
“Emma’s friend had a contact in Eugene,” Arellano said. “He worked for the news there, and so she did an interview with the local news station and appeared on the local news.”
According
accident.
“It’s just really nice to see someone who maybe shouldn’t have been there for us at that moment,” Arellano said.
Stromberger said that the setback revealed Arellano’s resilient personality.
“She is an awesome and kind and inspiring person and that is someone that I want to be friends with,” Stromberger said.
“I woke up really excited to get ready and ride, and my bike was missing from the shed,” Arellano said. “We were all really upset about that, neither of us could ride that day.”
For Arellano, the situation proved to be a test of her problem-solving abilities.
“At this point, I was thinking, I’m gonna have to pay at least $1,000 out of pocket for something that I already had but need to buy myself again, which was really annoying,” Arellano said. “I shouldn’t have to pay for another bike.”
Upon losing their bikes and beginning to
and was like, ‘Hey, I read this and that’s really unfortunate that that was your experience in Eugene. My friend owns a bike shop, and he could really use the sale; I really feel like doing this. How about y’all come down to Eugene, and I’ll buy the bikes for you guys?’” Arellano said. “He was really incredible.”
Uniquely the donor’s story was a large part of why he wanted to help Arellano and Stromberger in their mission to Alaska. The donor who chose to remain anonymous had battled brain cancer and a nearly fatal cycling
A large part of the Texas 4000 mission is to connect with people and share with them why they ride, and whom they ride for. Arellano expressed that Texas 4000 brought her closer to cancer-affected communities, as well as her teammates who joined her
One of the friendships that Arellano formed on the ride was with a University of Texas student Isam Ahmed. He noted they formed their friendship from day
“It was only 52 miles, but my body felt like giving up,” Ahmed said. “But Carolina never let that happen. Despite
always kept the energy up, putting on reggaeton loud on her speaker, trying to keep my mind off of the
of the group additionally had the opportunity to bond with cancer patients, and those affected by the disease through visiting research facilities and hospitals.
“Seeing something tangible or something that I could see firsthand was really, really good to see, good to visualize in person,”
Eventually the 70th day hit, Aug. 2. Arellano was met at the finish line 4,000 miles from her hometown, surrounded by friends and family.
The Texas 4000 ride started with a love of exploration, an interest in biking and a passion for advocating for those affected by cancer. It has inspired her to continue involving herself with riding and making an impact on the world around her.
“I love it more than I did before I left,” Arellano said. “It’s something that I’ll never forget and I’ll always carry with me.”
Arellano and her Texas 4000 team pose for a picture at the USA/Canada border. Photo courtesy of Arellano.
Arellano and her team take a pit stop in Vancouver, Wash., before continuing to Canada.
Photo courtesy of Arellano.
Arellano and her team take a picture at one of their stops in Alaska before reaching Anchorage. Photo courtesy of Arellano.
Arellano reaches the Historic Alaskan Highway, just miles away from her destination. Photo courtesy of Arellano.
sports briefs calendar
Bouncing back and playing as one
The girls varsity basketball team played its final district game against Bastrop on Feb. 4, losing 62-43. This put the Knights’ district record at 8-6, securing the fourth-place spot in the district behind Anderson, Bastrop and LASA; however, since they were able to be in the top four, they qualified for playoffs.
Looking back at their preseason and district season, second-year varsity player junior Mary Briceño acknowledges that this year was a learning and teaching year for the team.
“We lost a huge senior class last year, and we definitely relied on them a lot last year, so when they left, we were trying to figure out what we want for the season,” Briceño said. “Although we didn’t make some of our goals like being undefeated or ranking first in district, I think we still had somewhat of a good season. We finally figured out how to play as a team and as one unit.”
While the team didn’t reach some of its goals, Briceño thought the best thing that happened so far this season was at the end.
“We got to grow as one,” she said. “Also, I would say our Houston tournaments and the Wimberley tournament because we played against good competitive teams that made us better.”
The Bastrop game also was Senior Knight, a celebration honoring the seniors and their commitment to the program.
“They have impacted the team with their leadership and authority to make sure everyone’s going 100% in practice,” Briceño said.
This season was senior Sonya Petersen’s first season back after tearing her ACL last year.
“I would say the season is going well for me and I’ve been able to not let the fear of retearing my ACL get in the way of my game play,” Peterson said.
Playing LASA the first time around and beating them was Petersen’s favorite memory of the season.
“I think it was the first game we began to play cohesively, and it was only the start because we kept that same productive energy for the rest of the season,” she said.
The Knights ended their season with a 67-20 first-round playoff loss to Georgetown.
—Maya Tackett
TKnights undefeated halfway through district
To kick off 2025, the boys defeated Akins 2-1 six days into the new year. Later that week, on Jan. 10, the team took on Austin Achieve and won once again 2-1. This victory streak continued for their games against Austin High on Jan. 13 and Lehman on Jan. 17, with scores of 2-1 and 4-2 respectively. However, when the team played against Navarro in the district opening game on Jan. 25, the game ended 0-0, resulting in the team’s first match without a win. This trend continued on to the boys’ next game on Jan. 29 against LASA, resulting in a 0-0 draw once again. Regardless of the ties, senior and outside left defender Manu Perez believes the season to be going smoothly thus far.
“We did really well in preseason and we’re doing well in district,” Perez said. “Obviously there’s always room for improvement, so the training we’re doing outside of games is going to show as we move further down district.”
The games that followed proved Perez to be a profit. The Knights broke through 3-0 over
Crockett on Feb. 1 for the team’s first district win. Following a 1-1 tie against Anderson that featured a controversial disallowed McCallum goal on Feb. 5, the Knights traveled to Cedar Creek on Feb. 7 and put a 4-0 statement win on the Eagles to pull into a tie for first place in the district. After another scoreless tie against Bastrop on Feb. 15, the Knights ended the first half of the district season undefeated with two wins and four ties. The Raptors with four wins and the Bears with three are also undefeated.
“I think our district this year has some competitive teams such as Anderson, LASA and Bastrop,” Perez said. “But we have a very strong team this year, and I think we can make it far.”
As the team looks to play through the district again, Perez hopes the team can improve and reach its full potential.
“Something we can work on is doing a better job communicating through all three of our lines,” Perez said.
—JoJo Barnard
feb. 18
boys soccer vs Navarro @ Nelson Field—7:30 p.m.
feb. 19
girls soccer vs Navarro @ House Park—7:45 p.m.
feb. 20-22 tournaments
baseball @ Fredericksburg softball @ Cedar Ridge
Girls soccer ends first half of district play with 3 wins
he girls soccer team just began its 2025 district season with an 8-0 win over the Navarro Vikings on Jan. 24. Sophomore varsity player Magnolia Miesel said that the game was exhilarating.
“One of the biggest highlights so far this season was dominating Navarro in our first district game,” Miesel said. “Being able to come out and win like that was so fun and very cool.”
The team has been able to bond over such wins at team dinners that have helped the team build chemistry. According to Miesel, the energy of the team being together at the dinners has strengthening the team.
That same strength came through during
hard games as well. Against, LASA on Jan. 28, the Knights earned a 0-0 draw.
The Knights thrashed Crockett 7-0 on Jan. 31 before falling at Anderson 2-0 on Feb. 4. The Knights have reeled off three straight wins to close the first half of the district season with victories over Cedar Creek on Feb. 7 (6-1), Ann Richards on Feb. 10 (2-0) and Bastrop on Feb. 14 (5-0).
Miesel is looking forward to the second half of the district season.
“I’m just really looking forward to the rest of the season and the rest of the games,” Miesel said. “Game days are just so fun and are such an exciting thing.”
—Arwen Pelletier
Boys repeat as district champs
The varsity boys basketball team won its final district game against LASA, 75-54 on Feb. 11, officially clinching both a playoff berth and back-to-back district championships. The last time McCallum secured two district titles in a row was during the 1989-1990 and 1990-1991 seasons.
Senior Tommy Ammerman, who scored 18 points, said that keeping the district title at home was a goal the team has been working on since the end of last season.
“We knew we were going to have a chance,” Ammerman said. “We have the same core guys this year, so we knew we [could’ve] been undefeated.”
The Knights finished with a 11-1 district record, with their only loss being by one point, 49-48, against Cedar Creek on Jan. 28. The loss snapped a 28-game district win streak.
“I really wanted the undefeated district season,” junior Ethan Plummer said. “But me and the guys from last year have the district success. Our main goal coming into the season was a playoff win. We’re disappointed, but this game can actually help us when playoffs come around.”
For the nine seniors on the varsity roster, every playoff win extends their high school careers at least one more game. The Knights traveled to Austin High on Feb. 18 for the first round of playoffs against Pflugerville. The Knights previously faced the Panthers on Dec. 28, and lost 39-38. The results of the game were not available at press time.
—Julia Copas and Fletcher Vandegrift
Senior Manu Perez dribbles the ball down the field during the Knights’ scoreless draw against Navarro on Jan. 25. Photo by Fletcher Vandegrift.
Senior Sonya Petersen goes to the basket in a loss against Anderson. Photo by Lucas Walker.
Junior Ethan Plummer shoots a jumper against Cedar Creek. Photo by Fletcher Vandegrift.
opinion
Immigration matters
Failure to appeal to naturalized voters cost Dems the election
Beatrix Lozach staff reporter
The U.S. Immigration Policy Center found that 97% of naturalized citizens planned to vote in the 2024 presidential election, based on polling between Aug. 16 and Aug. 28. This marks an uptick from 2020 levels, where 86.8% of naturalized citizens voted, the highest level since 1900. Naturalized citizens make up 10% of eligible voters, so their voting power can be consequential and decisive in determining a winning candidate. President-elect Donald Trump earned landslide victories in Florida and Texas, states where the number of naturalized citizens far outstrips the rest of the nation— with the exception of California, which has the most naturalized citizens out of any state. It’s reasonable to ask what makes Trump so appealing to immigrant voters from these states, especially when so much of his rhetoric has focused on demonizing immigrants from “shithole countries,” as he reportedly said in 2018 during a meeting with a bipartisan group of senators.
To start off, for a party that claims to champion diversity, equity and inclusion, Democrats have a hard time figuring out that immigrants are not a united voting bloc. A Gen-Z, naturalized Mexican-American woman who lives in Austin will likely be immeasurably more liberal on issues like the economy, religious freedom and abortion
than a 60-year-old Cuban-American man living in Jacksonville who survived Castro’s regime. You cannot underestimate the loathing and distrust immigrants who have endured communist dictatorships have for socialism, but that is exactly what Democrats have done, time and time again. The refusal to empathize with those valid fears or counter them with effective campaigning is exactly why Democrats have been failing immigrant voters.
Furthermore, you can’t compare the perspectives of people who come from cultures steeped in Catholicism to any other religion. El Papa Francisco looms larger over the ballot box than Democrats will ever begin to comprehend. If they continue to ignore the anti-abortion sentiment that exists in most Latino communities across this country, they will lose the Latino vote. Historically, that has been the best route for assimilation. Yet, a video released a few weeks before Election Day by the political nonprofit Vote Common Good advocated that it was acceptable and normal for wives to vote differently than their (presumably conservative) husbands. I agree with this sentiment in spirit. Of course, women should be able to vote independently of anyone’s influence. But if you want to appeal to a group of people who have historically relied on presenting a united front, that is not the way to go. This wasn’t directly an issue of Kamala Harris’ campaign, but rather an issue with Democratic rhetoric.
But don’t worry, she didn’t need any help with losing the immigrant vote. Harris’ bizarrely mismanaged campaign did not make any attempt to appeal to naturalized voters. The entire “brat” aesthetic and overly worshipful posts from Kamala HQ only served to delegitimize her in the eyes of people who come from places where politics are deeply steeped in male chauvinism and dictatorial regimes. I’m the target demographic for Harris’ campaign—I’m Gen-Z, a proud leftist and female—but even I was left dissatisfied with “brat summer”. If that doesn’t signal what a profoundly bad idea this was, I don’t know what will.
It’s not as if Trump presents an especially compelling alternative on the front of immigration policy. Over the course of his first term, the Trump administration passed 472 initiatives to constrict legal immigration pathways. While he didn’t build the wall of his oratorical dreams or deport millions of undocumented immigrants, his administration lengthened the amount of time it takes for asylum seekers to receive work permits, increased the number of immigrants placed into removal proceedings by 52% from 2016 to 2019 and, in 2019, required immigrants to provide proof that they could obtain health insurance within 30 days of arrival on threat of deportation.
He’s even tried to prevent immigrants from sponsoring family members, though his wife Melania Trump successfully sponsored
her parents after becoming a citizen in 2006. Indeed, Melania’s immigration history is questionable in its own right. he secured citizenship on the Einstein visa, or EB-1, which is granted to people who are internationally renowned for their intellectual, political or otherwise professional accomplishments… not to onetime Sports Illustrated models. The funny thing is, many naturalized citizens don’t seem to care. They are more than willing to shut the door on those who follow in their footsteps for what they perceive as their economic best interest. Yet when 42% of farmworkers in the US lack work visas and undocumented immigrants contributed $96.7 billion in federal, state and local taxes in 2022, it’s hard to imagine the American economy functioning without undocumented people. Perhaps those are the talking points the Democrats should’ve adopted this election cycle, rather than rhapsodizing about the merits of Bidenism.
Austin ISD should join other urban school districts in resisting ICE access
Zev Zent staff reporter
Imagine sitting in class, focused on your work when suddenly, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent enters your school. The presence of law enforcement in education is already a tender topic, but when it comes to ICE, the stakes are even higher. We can already feel the consequences of this federal decision right here in Austin: AISD, like most Texas school districts, would have to comply with ICE investigations. Schools should be safe places for students, not places of fear and intimidation. Allowing ICE into schools creates anxiety, disrupts learning and drastically affects immigrant students and their families.
A large number of AISD students have immigrant families, either personally undocumented or with family members who are undocumented. Allowing ICE into the schools simply sends a different message that students are not welcomed or safe in their place of learning.
AISD policy and public announcements have supported the idea that all students
deserve to feel welcome and protected regardless of their immigration status. That promise would be broken if access to school grounds were given to federal immigration enforcement. Some students would stop attending school due to the risk of coming into contact with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. If ICE were to enter the schools, it would not stop at a few families; it would affect the entire student body. Classrooms are built on trust, community and collaboration. When students are worried that they or their peers may be deported, they become distracted and anxious, making it difficult to focus on education.
“If ICE were to enter the schools, it would not stop at a few families; it would affect the entire student body.
”Teachers would be placed in an impossible situation too. Educators are not law enforcement officers, and they should never be burdened with the responsibility to behave like one.
Some would say that allowing ICE into the schools could be a means of enforcing immigration laws and taking care of concerns about undocumented individuals. However, this argument turns a blind eye to the damage targeting young students and their families in an educational environment would cause. This is not an immigrant problem; it’s a community one. Schools are supposed to bridge gaps, not build walls. The presence of ICE agents would create division and distrust among families, educators and school officials. Though it is true federal laws should be respected, in many cases those who enter our country illegally end up building lives and improving the economy of where they land. Why should contributing members of our society be stripped of their rights simply because of the generalization of all immigrants?
AISD needs to draw a line, no ICE on school property. Other districts, like the Los Angeles Unified School District and Chicago Public Schools, have enacted policies barring ICE from campuses without a warrant. AISD should follow suit and ensure that schools remain places of learning, not enforcement. Students and community members alike carry a burden in keeping the presence of our students safe from any threat due to ICE intervention. So what can you do? If you are concerned with the threat of immigration agents in schools, go to the school administration with messages to create change, attend school board meetings and be an advocate of policies for protection.
No child should face a decision between pursuing an education and their personal safety. Schools should be places of knowledge, not places of fear. Let’s keep ICE out of our classrooms.
To read the full stories scan the QR Code or visit macshieldonline.com.
Graphic by Beatrix Lozach.
Rise and fall of new artists
Fame is short-lived in the 21st century
In today’s world surrounded with social media and cancel culture, artists are coming and going very quickly. They come to fame incredibly fast, but they seem to slowly fade away into the background. This could be due to the nature of social media like TikTok, with many musicians promoting their new music and growing fame there; however, once the artists get big their sound clips get used more and more on social media and people get bored, it’s so much easier to be overplayed today and become a one hit wonder. We’ve seen this recently with artists Chappell Roan and Benson Boone but also in the past with artists such as Lizzo. Roan began making music in 2014 with her song “Die Young.” She reached peak popularity this year around April, however, when she released the song “Good Luck, Babe!.” TikTok blew this song up, and it now is her top streamed song with over a billion streams on Spotify alone as of Nov. 29. Roan grew in popularity with her other songs gathering millions of streams as well, her song “HOT TO GO!” close behind “Good Luck, Babe!.” “HOT TO GO!” grew popular through TikTok
“
People began complaining about Chappell Roan’s attitude after videos of her at a music festival shouting at a VIP section surfaced online.
”with a dance and lots of trends parodying the song as well. After a few months, however, TikTok moved on. People began complaining about Roan’s attitude after videos of her at a music festival shouting at the VIP section for not fully participating surfaced online. While she didn’t get canceled, her hype was gone. Of course, Roan has not completely disappeared, many still listen and enjoy her music. A larger example of this is music artist Lizzo. She began making music around 2012. In the summer of 2019, Lizzo grew popular with the release of her third album, “Cuz I Love You.” The music festival, Austin City Limits had already booked Lizzo to perform on a smaller stage. Since her popularity increased drastically after being assigned to the small stage, however, her performance was incredibly overcrowded, but it was a great example of her quick ascent. After that, Lizzo continued to stay popular until an incident on social media where she was accused of mistreating her backup dancers in 2023. The backup dancers filed a lawsuit, and word quickly
got out. After this Lizzo’s on-demand audio streams dropped 21.7%, according to Billboard, and she lost thousands of followers across all social media platforms. Similarly to Lizzo, musician, and now ex-husband of Kim Kardashian, Kanye West was also canceled and lost a multitude of his followers. West faced widespread cancellation in 2022 after releasing a series of anti-Semitic remarks in interviews and over his own social media. This caused him to be banned on social media platforms such as Instagram and X, and he lost many brand deals. Followers and collaborators distanced themselves from West and his downfall, allegedly, led to his divorce. West has been unable to regain this fame after his mistakes.
“155 million followers. She has not lost her following, but she has lost her traction since then. D’amelio has taken her fame to her advantage; however, and is now dancing and performing for Broadway.
The same online communities that propel them to fame can turn against them just as quickly, fueled by controversies, missteps or shifting public sentiments.
”It’s not just music artists either. Other performers whose entire platform is based on social media are taking the risk of losing their fame just as quickly. Charli D’amelio, for example, got famous for her dancing videos in 2020, particularly for a video of her doing the “renegade” dance. D’amelio had 41.4 million followers on TikTok in March of 2020. Her following has since grown to
In today’s social media-driven world, artists rise and fall at unprecedented speeds, their success often hinging on fleeting trends and viral moments. Platforms amplify their reach but also expose them to relentless scrutiny and cancel culture. The same online communities that propel them to fame can turn against them just as quickly, fueled by controversies, missteps or shifting public sentiments. So, I think that, because of how artists promote themselves, their music, their lives and how they establish platforms, that puts them at a greater risk of losing it all quickly. While this is simply becoming just a way of life, I think if we help encourage new artists to share their music in other ways, through live performances, radio and attempt to make things less overplayed, the effect of social media could be limited. Artists could make their work last, working on establishing authentic connections with fans and people who view their product, whether that be music or another form of art.
Adele Seeboth staff reporter
Lizzo and Chappell Roan album covers are included here under the doctrine of fair use. Graphic by Adele Seeboth.
Free speech or free-for-all?
Meta’s decision to get rid of fact checking amplifies misinformation
Maggie Mass co-business manager
Meta’s move to replace its third-party fact-checking program with Community Notes is a bold one, but that doesn’t make it right. At its core, the shift is about loosening the grip on content moderation in the name of free speech and returning to a “more open” platform. But in the process, Meta is simply opening the floodgates for misinformation, manipulation and confusion.
Fact-checking has been a Facebook practice since 2016, but it hasn’t been a perfect system. It’s filled with flaws and biases, but in comparison to the new direction, it’s still more reliable than leaving it up to the crowd.
If Meta’s Community Notes looks like an experiment in crowdsourced moderation, that is because it is. In this experiment, ordinary users, who may lack proper expertise, decide what content needs more context.
If we’re leaving it up to a random set of contributors, what guarantees that they’re providing the correct context, or even that they’re offering something useful?
“
In this experiment, ordinary users, who may lack proper expertise, decide what content needs more context.
”Meta claims that “the community” will keep the system unbiased by requiring agreement from people with “a range of perspectives.” It’s not a “range of perspectives” we’re getting; it’s a mix of competing echo chambers that will make any serious attempt at balanced factchecking implausible.
Meta will no longer be able to claim it’s doing anything to prevent the spread of misinformation because now, the problem will be everyone’s responsibility to fix, but no one’s job to solve.
Meta doesn’t exactly define what community they refer to when describing the Community Notes, but if the initiative’s demographic is anything like the user base on X (formerly known as Twitter) the crowd is most likely internet warriors with biases and ideologies to preach. This initiative gives them a perfect platform to do so, with no truth limits. For users in favor of acting like this won’t be weaponized, I believe that is naive. Right-wing and left-wing extremists alike will no doubt abuse this system to push their narratives.
The way I see it: this is no longer a battle of fact but of ideology. Politicians use platforms like Facebook to spin their webs, influencers push products and AIgenerated hoaxes are
becoming harder to detect. At a time like this, the idea that an uninformed and biased crowd will save us from harmful content is simply false. This isn’t about empowering users; it’s about Meta dodging the responsibility it once had.
“Meta’s proposal to “allow more speech” by lifting restrictions on “mainstream discourse” and “political content” can only be described as dangerous. Lifting the limits on harmful rhetoric while giving a free pass to partisan misinformation will only drive further polarization. But the biggest problem with Community Notes isn’t just that it opens the door for misinformation: —it’s that it completely
misunderstands what’s at stake in moderating content in the first place. The goal of content moderation isn’t just to “inform” users or let them make up their minds: it’s to protect the integrity of the conversation, to ensure that what’s being shared is true, and to minimize the spread of harmful, false information.
Community Notes might look like a victory for free speech, but in practice, it’s more likely to be a free-forall.
”Meta’s pivot to user-driven moderation is a risky experiment that undermines all of those goals. What happens if the system fails? We’re about to find out. But given the state of online discourse, it’s hard to believe this can end any way but badly. Community Notes might look like a victory for free speech, but in practice, it’s more likely to be a free-for-all.
The old system wasn’t flawless, but it worked within a defined structure that allowed for some degree of accountability. This shift to user-generated notes means that Meta will no longer take direct responsibility for the accuracy of its content. In a way, it’s a clean break from any accountability—and that’s the real problem here.
GraphicbyNateWilliams.
Prioritizing student safety
With its campuses now subject to ICE raids, Austin ISD must protect all students
Shield staff
During President Donald Trump’s campaign, he made a wide variety of promises to Americans, promised that earned him the votes to win the election, But since his victory, his actions in office reveal that he plans to escalate his policies beyond what he promised. Deportation is a case in point. During the campaign, Trump gave the impression that his administration would focus on deporting known criminals. Sadly, his executive actions show that he intends to cast a much wide deportation net.
According to the Houston Chronicle, Trump has ended a longstanding policy that there “sensitive zones,” like churches and schools, that should be immune from ICE raids. And he has established deportation quotas for ICE agents. The actions confirm that instead of the raids solely targeting criminals, they can include any undocumented person, even those who happen to be near those who
are the initial targets.
These executive actions have made the issue of ICE being permitted access to schools of paramount importance. Schools aren’t off limits from ICE; if given the correct paperwork, Austin ISD must allow ICE to enter its schools. These raids are a burden that no student should have to confront. While it may be difficult to stop these raids entirely, AISD has said it will take some protective action. AISD General Counsel Kenneth M. Walker II said, “We’re going to exhaust every effort that we can to identify the appropriate person designated by a parent or guardian to take custody of the child.”
AISD needs to provide its students, especially those at the most at-risk campuses, with information on how they can stay safe from these raids and how they can support others.
Even if AISD can’t keep its students wholly safe from ICE and Trump’s government, it should give students the resources and information they need to keep themselves safe.
the shield staff
print managing editor
JoJo Barnard
web managing editors
Noah Braun
Josie Mullan
social media managing editor
Camilla Vandegrift
social media specialist
Sofia Saucedo
design & visuals editor
Mira Patel
photo editor
Julia Copas
multimedia specialist
Tristen Diaz
business managers
Evelyn Jenkins
Maggie Mass
The Shield is published by journalism students in the newspaper production class. Although students work under the guidance of a professional faculty member, the student staff ultimately determines the content.
Students may not publish material that is obscene, libelous or that which will cause a “substantial disruption to the educational process.”
Content that may stimulate heated debate is not included in this definition.
news editor
Priya Thoppil
a&e editor
Evelyn Jenkins
people editor
Maya Tackett
sports editor
Callen Romell
opinion editor
Shila Gill
staff reporters
Kyan Adams
Shayla Allen
Daniela Di-Capua
Carson Duncan
August Gleason
Lillian Gray
Hudson Hensley
Carlo Hinsdale
Delaney Lavelle
Josie Linton
The Shield operates as an open forum for exchange of ideas. Opinions expressed in editorials are the ideas of the staff. Opinions expressed in the columns are that of the writer’s alone.
Letters to the editor are encouraged and must be signed. Positive identification may be required when a letter is submitted. Letters may be edited. Letters that are critical of the newspaper staff’s coverage of events or that present information that
Beatrix Lozach
Sophia Manos
Sienna Martens
Katie Martin
Harper Maxwell
Tallulah McAuliffe
Emerson Merritt
Elizabeth Nation
Piper Norfolk
V Overstreet
Sofie Parkman
Eva Sanchez
Chloe Seckar-Martinez
Adele Seeboth
Fletcher Vandegrift
Zev Zent
adviser
Dave Winter
may stimulate heated debate will be published. Letters that contain malicious attacks on individual reporters, the adviser or the principal will be rejected.
Anyone interested in purchasing an advertisement should contact Shield adviser Dave Winter by phone at (512) 906-5407.
Advertisements published in The Shield do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the staff.
Photo by Fletcher Vandegrift. Editorial cartoon by Nate Williams.
Interested in advertising in The Shield?
Advertising in The Shield—in our print edition or on this website—gives you a chance to give your business wide exposure while at the same time showing to your customers that you support McCallum High School and the community we serve with our publications. Analytics reveal that advertising in The Shield Online makes a big splash. Our lifeguarding ad on the website (a sidebar and in-story ad) received a total of 139,621 views and 105 clicks. Advertising in The Shield is affordable. It’s effective. It’altruistic. And it’s a good investment. Please consider advertising in the Shield now and during the 2024-2025 school year. If you are interested in advertising in The Shield or The Shield Online, please contact adviser David Winter at david.winter@austinisd.org.
To find more exclusive stories from MacJournalism, visit our website at macshieldonline.com
Subscribe to our reporters by installing the Student News Source App available in iOS and Android app stores.
Crossword by JoJo Barnard. Graphics by Hannah Crooks.
