McCallum HS Volume 72, ISSUU No 5 May 16, 2025

the shield

SPECIAL REPORT: Gov. Abbott signs voucher bill into law page 3

SPECIAL EDITION: Seniors dance away their “Last Knight” page 18

Dave Winter looks back on his time advising The Shield page 24

may 16, 2025

save the date may

news people pullout sports opinion

UIL State Academic Meet at UT senior finals week

Senior Breakfast in the library finals week

Senior Carnival, 1:30-4:30 p.m.

Last day of school

Senior Baccalaureate, 7-9 p.m.

Graduation at Burger Center, 10 a.m.

First proposed in the 1950s but rejected until this session, school voucher law passes in legislature, signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott.

Bonds Voucher bill becomes law in Texas

After receiving 10 nominations, cast, crew of ‘Tuck Everlasting’ win three Heller Awards for Young Artists at Long Center ceremony

Senior year wrapped

Class of 2025 year in review: senior’s post-graduation plans, the soundtrack of senior year, plus unique moments of their final year

The story of Marty, the family dog

This school year was the first one without visits from MacJ’s fluffy unofficial mascot. The Shield remembers its adviser’s beloved pet.

Rowing clubs have given many students at Mac and across Austin a vibrant, diverse community through shared passion of the sport

In the face of growing threats, Sanchez argues that consistent communication is an essential component to school safety

PAGEANT TOWARDS PROM: Sophomore Remy Lily passes out sashes and prizes to members of Mr. McCallum pageant, including winner Dylan Fissel on Saturday night. The pageant was brought back by the student council sophomores to raise money for the 2027 prom. “We wanted to start something that we could add onto and grow the next couple of years.” Lily said. To see our Mr. McCallum photos essay, visit macshieldonline.com. Photo by Lillian Gray.

SENIOR YEAR WRAPPED: Senior Austin Pain writes his name and university (Institute of the Arts Barcelona) on the Class of 25 singature wall during Senior Signing Day at lunch in the main hallway on May 1. Senior Signing Day was one of many activities to celebrate the class of 2025’s end of high school. To read more about this year’s senior class and their future plans, flip to page 11 and our special senior issue insert. Photo by Dave Winter.

may

16,

2025 news special report

Voucher bill becomes law

Governor signs SB2 after years of political drama, protests by public school advocates

Lillian Gray senior staff reporter

Senate Bill 2, which establishes an education savings account, or voucher, program, has now been signed by Gov. Greg Abbott.

The bill will create a $1 billion private school voucher program in Texas. Students who participate in the program may be able to receive over $10,000 from public taxpayer dollars to attend private schools. The current basic allotment for public school students is $6,160.

Vouchers were first proposed in Texas in 1957 as a response to the Brown v. Board of Education decision, which ruled that racial segregation in schools is unconstitutional. After this decision, vouchers were envisioned as a way to allow parents who were against integration to send their children to segregated private schools. The approval of SB2 marks the first time that both the Texas House and Senate have allowed public funds to be used towards private education.

Back in the ‘50s, according to University of Texas at San Antonio historian Gregg Michel, the state legislature was controlled by Democrats committed to preserving school segregation in the wake of the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision in 1954. In 1956, Gov. Allan Shivers appointed a committee to come up with ways to prevent desegregation; the voucher system was among those ideas included in the package of segregation bills passed by the Texas House in 1957.

small group of

state senators managed to stop the bill’s progress in the Senate. Among them was San Antonio’s Henry B. Gonzalez, Texas’s first Latino state senator, and Laredo’s Abraham “Chick” Kazen, the son of Lebanese immigrants. They led the group in a 36hour filibuster; Gonzalez spoke for more than 20 hours alone. The filibuster left the segregationist senators powerless to make vouchers happen.

Fast forward to November 2023, when bipartisan resistance to vouchers in the House led to the 84-63 defeat of vouchers when they were removed from an education spending bill. This was a big win for antivoucher advocates like Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin.

“If it wasn’t clear already, Texans don’t want voucher scams in this state,” he said. “We call on the governor to finally support a clean school finance bill that actually fully funds our schools.”

On the other side, Gov. Greg Abbott put out a statement in 2023 showing his continued support for vouchers.

“Today’s vote is just another step on the path to provide school choice for parents and students across Texas,” Abbott said. “I will continue advancing school choice in the Texas Legislature and at the ballot box... until

eventually paid off. A key component of Abbott’s strategy was to target Republicans who voted against vouchers by supporting pro-voucher candidates in the 2024 primaries. That strategy paid huge dividends when Abbott and his allies successfully replaced 11 of 15 anti-voucher Republicans with pro-voucher allies.

As the 2025 legislative session ramped back up earlier this year, one of the biggest issues has been vouchers. Anti-voucher groups began protesting early, and groups like the Texas American Federation of Teachers organized events that drew in educators and public education supporters from all over the state. David Clayton, a journalism teacher at Clements High School in Sugar Land, joined the rally on Feb. 28 to oppose the voucher bill.

“This is a very important issue,” he said. “Our education is at stake. We can’t afford to take a back seat right now. We can’t just wait to see how this turns out. We have to make our voices heard.”

Clayton has around 20 years of teaching experience and sees Senate Bill 2 as a threat to the public education system.

“Money is going to be going up to wealthier people from the poor people, and that doesn’t seem right to me,” he said. “It really makes

crowd in excess of 3,000 people, according to the event organizers, attended the Save Our Schools Rally at the south steps of the Texas State Capitol.

Donna Howard, who serves in the Texas House of Representatives representing District 48 in Austin, spoke against vouchers.

“The voucher scam is a calculated distraction, a proverbial wolf in sheep’s clothing, masquerading as parental choice, when the choice of the majority of parents, grandparents, and Texans is to fully fund our neighborhood schools,” she said.

Howard went on to underscore the larger risks of the voucher bill.

“I am not a conspiracy theorist,” she said, “but I have awakened—or dare I say I’m ‘woke’—to what can only be described as an attempt to dismantle our very foundation of democracy, and that is public education.”

Other anti-voucher events took place, including a PTA rally day which brought in students and educators from all over the state, and a committee hearing which drew in hundreds of people who wanted to testify, which didn’t end until 4 in the morning.

The bill eventually made it back to the House, where an almost day-long discussion took place. With a busy day in the House chamber, people flooded into the Capitol to support and reject proposals, particularly the voucher bill. The Texas Freedom Network organized hundreds of activists to gather in the Capitol’s rotunda to protest vouchers.

Emily Witt, who has been a part of the Texas Freedom Network for more than three years, said that it has been a priority of theirs to organize events like these in hopes of preventing proposals like vouchers, which she believes will hurt public schools.

“We’ve been fighting back against vouchers for about 30 years,” Witt said. “From our perspective, vouchers drain public funds from our public schools and give them to private and religious schools that can discriminate against Texas kids.”

continued on page 4

Opponents of SB2, the school vouchers bill, gathered at the Texas Capitol, April 5, to protest and hear from Texas representatives including Democratic state reprentative James Talarico.

Photos by Lillian Gray and Beatrix Lozach.

Abbott signs voucher bill

continued from page 3

Attendees ranged from elementary-aged kids to grandmothers like Rosalba Sotblo, a mother of two girls who attended public schools in the Austin Independent School District and who, just like Hungria, was amazed by the crowd.

“Seeing everyone here makes me want to cry,” Sotblo said. “I wish there were more people here, but people have to work. I have many things to do, but I feel that I have to at least scream for those who are coming behind me to have a chance.”

Sotblo believes that vouchers and a lack of school funding threaten the schools that allow anyone and everyone to attend.

“It’s so important for schools to be open and to give a chance to everyone,” she said. “If there are no public schools, they have nothing. It’s a chance for everyone to get an education. When you get an education, you can go places. You can go anywhere you want. They want us to be uneducated because it’s easier to control the masses when they are uneducated.”

Sotblo hoped that the House will decide to allow the public

special report

to vote on the voucher bill.

Unfortunately, for Sotblo and many others, that was not the case. The House rejected Rep. Talarico’s Amendment to allow a public vote, and later that night, the Texas House approved SB2 to be sent back to the Senate, where they later concurred with House amendments and then it was sent to the governor.

“For the first time in Texas history, our state has passed a universal school choice bill out of both chambers in the Texas Legislature,” Gov. Abbott said in a public statement. “This is an extraordinary victory for the thousands of parents who have advocated for more choices when it comes to the education of their children.”

Republican Rep. Ellen Troxclair, who represents four counties west of Austin and north of San Antonio, plus western Travis County, and who voted for SB2, spoke in the House chamber about the bill that she believes will be a “lifeline” for many students.

“Parents have been waiting for this day for decades in Texas,” she said. “Too many of our students, especially our lowincome students and minority students, are trapped in schools that are failing them, not because they lack potential but because they lack opportunity. The current system is designed to keep them there. But this bill will give them a lifeline. This bill will give them a chance.”

Since that statement, Troxclair has continued elaborated on why she believes SB2 is a necessary law to pass.

“We know that we are spending over $15,000 per child per

Mac’s budget cuts

but they had to cut something.”

Baxa described the efforts to decrease the district’s budget deficit as a balance in deciding what to cut and what to keep.

Austin Independent School District library clerk jobs are at risk of being cut starting in the upcoming 2025-26 school year. The district currently faces a $100 million-plus budget deficit that district leaders are working to close. The board will vote on a budget including these cuts on June 26, and if the budget is approved, it will take effect July 1.

The decision to include the termination of library clerk jobs district-wide would lead to McCallum losing its own library clerk, Lauren Alindogen. Alindogen started working at the school in November of 2021. The library clerk position at McCallum has been around for over 20 years.

Two other positions at Mac will be cut next year, including the Delta teachers’ aide, Will Dela Cruz, and Fine Arts Academy clerk, Tonya Moore. Principal Andy Baxa was able to reassign Moore to another position but was unfortunately not able to do that for Alindogen and Dela Cruz.

“They’re looking at trying to erase and get back on top of that budget deficit,” principal Andy Baxa said. “One way that they were trying to do that was by cutting positions. They’ve tried their best not to cut anything that will impact a campus, but unfortunately, they have to next year. They’ve stayed committed to maintaining things for teachers like two conference periods,

“We cut those positions, but we maintained that additional conference period for teachers, which is huge for our teacher morale and our district this year,” he said. “Teachers who teach seven out of eight feel more stressed and have less time.”

Although some positions were cut, Baxa is grateful that the librarian job is not at risk.

“I appreciate that they’re keeping a full-time librarian because Mr. Zuniga brings so much to our campus, not just with his knowledge of books and research but also with the way he approaches his students and maintains the vision of the library that was started by the librarian before him,” Baxa said. “He has embraced the community center approach and started to add his own spin to it as well.”

One of Baxa’s biggest concerns about losing the library clerk is that the current librarian, Matthew Zuniga, will not have extra help with device management and will have difficulty juggling the various aspects of the library.

“The technology department is working more proactively to provide support and change our procedures on device management to try and streamline it a little bit more,” he said. “We have to help support Mr. Z.”

Alindogen hoped that when they moved on from this position, they could have trained the next clerk on how to keep things running.

“I really wish that I could hand off my duties

year in our public schools, and yet almost 70% of our thirdgrade Texas children cannot read on grade level,” she said.” We cannot be doing the same thing and expect a different result. And finally, today we are doing something different, and I am so honored and thrilled to be a part of that opportunity for every child in Texas to finally have access to the excellent education that they deserve.”

Conversely, Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, shared his frustration with the passage of the bill and the lack of accountability he alleges Republicans have shown for the criticisms that they levy at public schools.

“And you know why academic performance is so low in Texas?” he said. “Could it have anything to do with the 30 years of Republican control, slowly and systematically defunding our public school system bit by bit? It should not be any surprise that the people who complain about the school system, complain about how bad things are, complain about all the problems, are also the people who have been in absolute control of this state for 30 years, complaining about a problem that you helped create.”

Wu then spoke to Texans, telling them that he believes the members who are passing this law “greatly endanger” public schools.

“Our schools are already hanging on by a thread,” he said. “The money that would go to this program would have gone to our public schools, would have given our teachers a bigger pay raise, would have kept more schools open, and would have made classrooms smaller. They don’t care. They’re scared of the governor.”

Deficit prompts district to eliminate positions for 2025-26 school year

to the next me instead of making Matt do all of the things for a campus that is over-enrolled and still has raccoons in the ceiling,” they said.

Alindogen began to notice that their job may no longer be funded when they observed that the staff’s monthly newsletter mentioned that staffing costs are the highest in the budget.

“To my current knowledge, it sounds like the district had no good cuts to make,” they said. “There was no way to make the math work other than to cut positions.”

Alindogen noted the large role that Texas’s low student allotment and recapture have on districts’ ability to fund schools without being in situations where they have to cut jobs like theirs.

Austin ISD’s estimated recapture payment is $821 million. This reflects a nearly 400 percent increase in recapture when compared to the payment made in 2014-15.

From 2000 to 2025, AISD will have paid the state of Texas approximately $8.3 billion.

In Alindogen’s opinion, having to cut jobs like the library clerk position will harm teachers’ well-being as well as librarians’.

“It’s going to put strain on teachers to do even more, and they already do a lot. [Not having a clerk] would impact our ability to take things off their plate and work together,” they said. “It’s hard to be a teacher, and it’s even harder when your campus support is being taken away.”

Alindogen also feels like students will be directly harmed by the removal of their position.

“I feel bad for students,” Alindogen said. “Next year, students will wonder why the library isn’t open or why we won’t have the cool programming stuff we had last year. It’s not fair to you guys either.”

Alindogen worries that the library will no longer be able to offer things like clubs, opening the prayer room after lunch for the Islamic Dhuhr prayer, the arts and crafts station, the gender-neutral bathrooms and research seminars.

“A lot of the things we have done together can not be feasibly maintained by one person,” Alindogen said. “It is making us make a lot of hard choices.”

Jain Orr, who served as McCallum’s librarian for multiple years before Zuniga took over this year, helped start some of the programs that may have to shut down next year. This frustrates Orr because she saw how much they increased student presence in the library.

“To see this happen anyway without any kind of regard to what’s going on in this space feels cruel.” Orr said. “Librarians help students who are the most vulnerable, and that’s what these cuts are gonna hurt the most.”

The print version of this article was shortened to fit the page. To read the complete story, scan the QR code or visit macshieldonline.com.

Lillian Gray & Elizabeth Nation senior staff reporters

Next year, new hall pass

Fine Arts Academy director Dr. Parrott implements new signout system, aimed at decreasing number of students in hallways during class

Sophia Manos staff reporter

McCallum students began using a new digital hall pass system in February, which will be in full effect this upcoming school year. Fine arts director Dr. Samuel Parrott suggested the new system, allowing students to sign into myHomework. com and check themselves in and out electronically. Students will then see if they are allowed to go out based on the number of students currently out of classrooms.

“We got a lot of feedback from the community, kids, teachers, wanting something in place that was structural to help organize the flow and make sure that it was a fair system that allowed kids to go when needed,” Parrott said. “Feedback from the teachers was really about making sure that students were not just hanging out in the hallway, walking around.”

Parrott had previously implemented Google Forms for hall passes at the beginning of the year but found it limiting because students could only sign out, and not in. He then began looking for new alternatives and found myHomework, which he had heard about from his former district. The app was appealing because it allows for both digital hall passes and digital enrollment for flexible instruction time or FIT.

then do what you’ve got to do, as long as everyone’s checking back in, there’s not an issue there.”

With the help of this new system, teachers are able to ensure students aren’t out of class for too long, and in the event of an emergency, they would be able to locate the student’s last known whereabouts.

“It gives our hall monitors a chance to look and see if someone’s been out for 40 minutes and help us find that person,”

Parrott said. “During a secure in place, if a kid is out during that time, I know exactly where they would be.”

In addition, teachers can now override anything in the system, so if a student has an emergency, they are able to let the student go.

“I can set it up so that students with different needs can get more time and more passes,” Parrott said. “That way, there’s no one who’s being restricted. It helps with giving kids a lot more access around the school.”

“ I can set it up so that students with different needs can get more time and more passes. That way, there’s no one who’s being restricted.

Dr. Samuel Parrott, Fine Arts Academy director

”

“[MyHomework] had all the features we were looking for,” Parrott said. “Then the company also threw in the conversation about a new FIT system and a way to schedule a flexible instructional time.”

One of the changes to the new system is the checkout and check-in rule for all students. For teachers, there is the new ability to ensure that not too many students are in the hallway at any given moment.

“It’s student-driven,” Parrott said. “They get to check themselves out of class.

We’re working towards an ultimate goal of being a physical passless system where if it’s available you can get checked out,

Parrott first started talking about this new system in September, but the rollout required months of development and staff training, which began after winter break.

“We’re just seeing what key features don’t work, what key features work,”

Parrott said. “Teachers and students are reporting back to me all the time. The second I get something, I turn around and try and fix it, and make sure that it can be catered to fit our school.”

With the new system implemented, some students expressing their concerns about it.

“Can we stop micromanaging students and treat high schoolers with respect?” junior Blaine Bounds said. “It’s disrespectful to think that we can’t handle ourselves in the hallway. Everybody is freaked out, and they need to stop making the teachers’ and our lives so difficult.”

According to Parrott, implementing new school systems is always difficult, but he praised students for responding to

the change well and pointed out that the system is not creating new rules but rather helping to enforce rules—such as students not being able to leave the classroom the first or last 15 minutes of class and a one pass per classroom—that have been in place for a long time. The new system automatically implements those rules, so the teacher doesn’t have to be directly responsible for enforcing them. Although he understands can why many students are uneasy about the new system, he says there are good intentions behind it.

“No one’s getting in trouble for anything—no referrals are going out, nothing is happening except looking at how the system functions,” Parrott said. “The goal with this is to refine it as much as humanly possible so that next year when we do this as a full rollout, everyone starts the year with it, [and] it’s much easier.”

According to Parrott, the new system has already produced a noticeable improved attendance during classtime.

“There is a huge decrease in the number of people in the hallway during the class day,” Parrott said. “I had a student who said that their brain breaks are a little less fun because there’s no one else out there.”

According to junior Liam Miller, most of his peers are against the change, himself included, as he thinks the new system is not beneficial and does not fix any issues.

“I don’t like it as much,” Miller said. “It’s too much work for one pass to open up my computer, log in, fill the form out, get approval, raising my hand. I’d rather not. This shouldn’t be something that a student must deal with. It doesn’t enhance our education; rather, it hinders it and takes away instruction time during class.”

In response to these complaints, Parrott said that the new system benefits students more than it harms them.

“I’m working with the developer to be hyper-specific so that students in different classes and certain class periods will get different amounts of time, which was one of our big feedbacks,” Parrott said. “One of the things I was concerned about was accessibility, making sure that students are not being restricted.”

Every couple of weeks, Parrott monitors data to evaluate peak usage times and adjust the system accordingly.

“We’re just looking at raw numbers of what’s happening in the school,” Parrott said. “We’re also looking at what is being utilized, and the overall effectiveness of the system.”

Screenshot of the myHomework app pass menu by Sophia Manos.

news briefs

District, campus leaders break ground on new building

Three years after McCallum received $66.5 million from the 2022 AISD Bond, the first phase of a three or four phase modernization plan has begun, starting with a groundbreaking ceremony on May 5 in the MAC. Student body president Kalliope Haltom spoke at the event, along with superintendent Matias Segura, principal Andy Baxa and District 5 Trustee Lynn Boswell. Junior Noble Pierce who recited a poem, “The Seedling” by Paul Laurence Dunbar. Sophomore Riley Pita sang the school song, accompanied by Jeff Rudy on the piano.

The original plan to have the actual groundbreaking on the site where the new three-story science and CTE building will be built was abandoned due to rain. Instead, CTE students posed on the MAC stage for a photo with the shovels intended for the groundbreaking.

Scheduled to open in January 2027, the new building is the centerpiece of Phase 1 of the modernization plan. Segura said that as soon as the design process ends construction will begin immediately, with many upgrades happening simultaneously.

“You will have the security in the front occurring; that’ll be

Band director Nelson wins first AISD Icon Award

Music department chair and head band director Carol Nelson has won the inaugural Austin ISD Icon Award, district officials announced in a surprise ceremony for Nelson in the band hall during sixth period on April 29.

One requirement for the new district award is that the winner has worked for 40-plus years with AISD. Nelson has worked at McCallum for 46 years.

“As soon as I heard about the award, I immediately thought of Nelson,” principal Andy Baxa said. “There is nobody else on this campus who would be more deserving than Nelson, so I decided to nominate her.” Over four and a half decades at Mac, Nelson has developed her winning ways of teaching.

“First and foremost, she puts her students first,” Baxa said. “That’s the No. 1 thing anyone wants to see out of any teacher. The way she interacts, the way she works with her students, she generally wants everybody to succeed and be the best versions of themselves.”

Baxa was there to present the award on April 29, so he got to witness everyone’s reaction.

“I can’t think of anyone more deserving to be

recognized for the work they’ve done,” Baxa said. “Ms. Nelson could have retired at any time, so the fact that she is still here doing an amazing job and is still passionate about what she does, I hope she never retires.”

For her part, Nelson was characteristically modest.

“[I am] excited and thrilled, but at the same time very humbled by the recognition,” Nelson said. “Quite an honor. I feel very fortunate to have taught at McCallum for the past 46 years.”

Former Mac principal Brandi Hosack and current chief of talent and strategy; Phillip Taylor, executive director for performing arts; Darla Caughey, director of recruitment and employee retention; Denisha Presley, associate superintendent for talent engagement; and Robert Chavez, retention and recruitment coordinator, represented the district at the celebratory announcement.

While the district brass gave the event a certain gravitas, Nelson said that the best part was that she got to share the honor with her students.

—Emerson Merritt

mostly done in the summertime to have that done before the school year starts,” he said. “You’ll see the track and the fields go under construction; that’s a bit of a longer time period, and the biggest project of all is the three-story academic wing.”

Fifteen out of 25 schools have begun their phased modernization. Segura explained the process the district used to identify the school that are being modernized.

“When you have larger projects it takes longer to design, longer to permit, longer to construct,” he said. “We want to make sure we prioritize the schools that serve historically under-served student groups, and we look at that point at the complexity of the project and that’s kind of how we got to the point where we are today with McCallum.”

Segura said that since students at McCallum have no alternative campus where they can go during construction, the project has to be split up into phases. To determine the order of the phases, Segura said that designers and overseers look at what parts of the buildings are in the worst shape and what programs need the most support and renovations in order to succeed. —Priya

Thoppil

Three Shield staffers headed to state after placing at UIL regional journalism meet

COLLEGE STATION — At the UIL Region

3-5A Academic Meet on April 26 at A&M Consolidated High School, in the final journalism event of the day—headline writing—two first-year Shield staff members, junior Beatrix Lozach and sophomore Delaney Lavelle, placed first and third.

As a result, both qualified for UIL State in headline writing, and the duo scored 25 points, which propelled MacJ to a second-place finish in a very competitive journalism contest.

The result capped off a good day for MacJ overall. Junior Julia Copas placed third in copy editing and sixth in news writing, and Lozach placed first in ready writing.

All three MacJ reporters competing at the regional meet qualified for the state meet, May 19 at UT. With only three people competing, the Shield nearly earned a threepeat as region journalism champs.

The news from College Station was not the only good news for the Shield that Saturday. The staff also learned that it had won the Blue and Gold Award after placing first in the sweepstakes competition of Quill and Scroll’s annual Writing, Visual and Multimedia Contest. The victory marked the seventh time in eight years that the Shield had placed first in the national individual entry competition.

Superintendent Matias Segura addresses the audience during the groundbreaking ceremony in the MAC on May 5. Photo by Maggie Mass.

—Dave Winter

Sophomore Delaney Lavelle and juniors Beatrix Lozach and Julia Copas pose with their UIL regional meet medals. All three have qualified for UIL State. Photo by Dave Winter.

Band director Carol Nelson reacts to the good news that she has been named the inaugural recipient of the Austin ISD Icon Award. Photo by Harriet Zettner.

a&e

‘Everlasting’ bonds

Fall show’s cast, crew receive 10 Heller Award nominations, capture three awards

Riley Pita staff reporter

Tuck Everlasting, MacTheatre’s fall-semester musical, received 10 Heller Award for Young Artists nominations. At the awards ceremony took place on April 16 at the Long Center, MacTheatre received three awards for Best Featured Performer, Select Ensemble Company Impact Award and Best Technical Execution. The April 16 ceremony also included multiple performances from nominated schools including McCallum. The cast and crew was elated at the number of nominations and awards they received, viewing them as a testament to the hard work they put into the show, their tight bond as a cast and their general love for their roles.

The cast crowded around the TV screen on the evening of March 2, anxious to find out if they had received any nominations for the show. Sophomore Elora Clarke, who was nominated and won the “Best Featured Performer” award, was surprised when her name popped up on the screen during the watch party.

“I was expecting probably anyone’s name but mine,” Clarke said. “Our whole cast was so deserving, our whole ensemble was so beautiful and talented; I am very excited.”

Sophomore Delilah Grad earned a nomination in the “Best Female Lead” category for her portrayal of main character Winnie Foster. Grad tried to keep her expectations low before the nominations were announced but was pleasantly surprised by the results.

“I was trying not to expect them,” Grad said. “I definitely wanted my expectations to be low to avoid any disappointment. I had no idea if I would be nominated or not, but I secretly was pretty hopeful for the show itself.”

Like Clarke, senior Aydan Courtney from the ensemble was nominated for in the“Best Featured Performer” category, which considers choreography.

Uehara also thought that the two student choreographers, seniors Zoe Maxwell and Zalie Mann, captured the essence of the show. Grad agrees that the choreography expressed the story powerfully and credited the team behind the production.

“We had an amazing team of directors, performers, technicians and musicians that all had such a contribution to the quality of our show,” Grad. “This show was also so so special to everyone involved in it, and I think that the audience could tell that.”

Ultimately, Clarke added, it was the theatre community at McCallum that fostered a positive environment in which the cast could thrive.

“The material is pretty beautiful,” Clarke said. “Tuck was really the best example ever of this community and how beautifully well everyone works together.”

Grad said that the closeness of that community enabled the cast to overcome some significant challenges during the production. One significant challenge came on the two performances where half the understudies played principal roles. The understudies performed well on both nights, but the shifting roles created holes in the ensemble.

“We had to totally rearrange the ensemble in two different ways from the original, which was a little bit complicated,” Grad said. “[Also,] due to some scheduling issues, we had to switch back and forth between performing with the orchestra and with tracks, so that was a little confusing from time to time.”

Clarke said the ensemble worked hard to make sure the production was beautiful.

“ Our whole cast was so deserving, our whole ensemble was so beautiful and talented; I am very excited.

—sophomore

Elora Clarke

According to choreographer Natalie Uehara, the show was a dream to choreograph.

“I was able to create a very unique vocabulary of movement that matched the time period and style,” Uehara said. “Another wonderful thing was the ballet at the end of the show that really helped to complete the story through movement.”

”

Additionally, Clarke believes that some worthy cast members deserved Heller nominations, among them sophomore Fiona Kirsch, who played the lead, Mae Tuck.

“Our ensemble was really beautiful, and we all worked really hard, and I think we were deserving of a Best Ensemble nomination,” Clarke said. “We [also] deserve the Best Production nomination, and I also think there are some other individuals, like Fiona [Kirsch], who maybe should have gotten nominated just because of how beautiful their work was, but it’s not in my hands.”

Overall, Grad and Clarke both feel like

the show was beautifully performed with plenty of love and care from the cast. Grad will keep the experience close to her heart for a very long time.

“This show and this role are so unbelievably special to me, and it was truly an experience that I will never get over,” Grad said. “I do think that my love for what I was doing showed in my performance and that the audience felt it as well.”

Uehara believes that the cast and crew were very special for this show, and that they created an unforgettable bond with one another. Clarke and Grad are both very thankful for the original opportunity of getting to perform back in September and also the chance to perform part of it again during the opening ceremony of the award show.

“I love everyone who worked on Tuck in any capacity, so much, and I think that we put together such a beautiful thing,” Clarke said. “I think that we should all be proud of the work and the fact that we got to share it

may 16, 2025 with everyone.”

If you want to relive the Tuck experience, you can by visiting macshieldonline.com and clicking on the Photo Galleries tab under Online Exclusives.

Infographic with photos from Tuck Everlasting performances at McCallum. Graphic by Riley Pita.

Reviews & recaps

Photoj contributors share their takes on recent movies, books, restaurants and more

Kids movie of the year

—sophomore, Nicolas Tansil

A Minecraft Movie, a movie highly anticipated on the internet, came out in early April. The movie is based on the kids’ video game of the same name, but it has brought people of all ages to the movie theatre in its opening weekend and beyond. A movie that was meant to fail has ended up succeeding famously.

After the trailer came out and was heavily criticized, A Minecraft Movie was expected to fail. I even thought it was going to be horrible. As someone who has played Minecraft my whole life, the movie looked like crap and not even close to the real game. Movie pundits doubted that that the movie would even make a profit, but weeks after its release, as of May 11, it has earned $909 million, making it the highest grossing movie of the year and likely the first to cross the $1 billion threshold. One factor helping promote the movie was the memes created by lead actor Jack Black, which boosted the movie’s popularity before its launch.

Now, getting into the actual film, it was something silly and fun to watch. I took my little brother, who is in second grade, and he had an absolute blast, but so did I. Many teenagers may see this movie and immediately think, “This is going to be a horrible watch,” but it’s fun and something to do. I’m a sophomore in high school, and despite the movie’s below-par acting and storyline, I had an incredible time. The CGI was a bit much at times, making the movie feel fake, but it’s a video game world, what do you expect? The movie was colorful, nostalgic to me, and just

a simple dose of fun. What made it even more shocking, despite the movie’s G rating, the audience was mostly made up of teenagers and young adults.

The movie was intended for young children, but it ended up bringing in many teenagers and young adults. The social media memes are a big reason why this movie blew up. I mean, look at me. I’m 16, my brother is 8, and we dragged my girlfriend to the movie too. Minecraft Movie and for your friends.

The movie offers light-hearted fun that is great if you want to get out and go do something. I would highly recommend it for viewers of all ages. If you have a family with many children, it’s a great kids’ movie. If you’re a gamer who loves video games, it’s perfect for you. If you’re a young adult or teenager who wants to scream “CHICKEN JOCKEY” and throw popcorn everywhere, it’s also perfect for you. This movie is great if you simply want something to do, and I rate it a 7/10.

Graphic by Nate Williams.

A slice of pie

—sophomore,

As you walk around town, you will see that Austin is home to many unique local restaurants. A pizza parlor located in the center of one of the most historical neighborhoods in Austin, Hyde Park, is rarely empty. While not its first location, it may be the most popular among Mac students. Opened in 2005, the first location was on SoCo, but as the love for the delicious pies grew, so did the brand’s scope and influence. In 2018, they added a second location in Hyde Park.

Home Slice is a quintessential part of Austin and Hyde Park. Growing up nearby, I remember Friday nights and the walks to the nearby restaurant. Whether it was my friends and our parents, or my mom simply didn’t feel like cooking that night, Home Slice was always there. The restaurant, surrounded by large pecan trees and a warm ambiance, always welcomed you in and had you coming back again and again.

As for the pizza, Home Slice prides itself on its authentic New York style: A crisp, Napoleon crust and perfectly

huge slices, so big you are forced to fold them in half. Three people came together to make this dream possible: Jen and Joseph Strickland and partner Terri Hannifin Buis.

The trio created this magical place, with their passion for food and hospitality and realized their vision to create authentic New York-style pizza in the heart of the Texas capital.

Need a quick bite? Try their pepperoni pizza—a classic that always hits the spot. Whether you grew up going or weren’t so fortunate, you will immediately feel the warmth of childhood upon entering. Without doubt, every time I go back I see kids running around outside and laughter emanating from all corners of the restaurant, with parents chatting in the warm glow of the restaurant’s ambiance. I can always rely on Home Slice to supply the perfect pizza and the best environment. Each pizza is fairly priced at $20 for a large. With an endless supply of toppings, you can feed yourself and three other friends.

Home Slice brings the Austin community together, with great pizza and incredible vibes, we are reminded of this great addition to the community.

Isadora Truan

A literary masterpiece

Books aren’t for everyone. Especially in this generation, finding a reader is a rare occurrence. So, if you are one of those rare gems, this book is for you. Even if you don’t typically read, give it a shot. It will surprise you. It’s not for everyone, though. When you begin this book, you immediately have to give the book a chance. The introduction starts with two teens getting in a car accident on a rainy day. There are chaotic events, characters who are introduced as if you should know them already, and the ending is confusing because you don’t know the context. When I first recommended this book to my friends, they complained about how they were confused and that the beginning was boring. While this book isn’t for everyone, my friends who stuck through it were just as impacted as I was by reading through to the end. I promise you, it all makes sense as you read on.

One aspect of reading I don’t like is when authors make things almost too poetic and metaphorical, confusing me. This book is clear and straightforward, with no weird metaphors for you to figure out. It tells the story step-by-step, describing things so vividly that you can picture the setting in your head easily. The storyline is also easy to follow. It is mostly presented in chronological order, so you can watch the love story play out. I was able to finish this book within a day. The first book is only from one perspective, the main character, Autumn. The story feels accurate to the teen experience, at least to me. Other books that are supposed to be from a teenager’s perspective feel forced and like it’s someone who was never a teen trying to relate. In this book, however, the confusion on

feelings of love, family struggles and friendship troubles is all raw and real. There’s no “Mean Girl” and “Hot Jock” stereotypes like you often see in stories set in high school. Every character in this story has both good and bad qualities, including Autumn and her love interest, Finny.

There are definitely some dark topics in this book, such as selfharm, death and depression. These are not over the top, though, and none of those parts go into unmanageable detail.

I haven’t even gotten to my favorite part of this book. The slow-burning love story. It definitely uses tropes, but tastefully and without overdoing it. Best friends, to strangers, to friends again, and finally lovers, is what keeps a reader holding on during the book. You know that Finny and Autumn love each other, but neither dares to say anything. I grew to love everyone, especially Finneas. When I finished the book, I felt almost physical pain in my chest for the love and loss I had just experienced. When reading this book, definitely expect a change in your perspective on life, and expect to mourn. If you are a fan of happily never afters, such as Titanic, La La Land, and Me before You, I promise this will become your new favorite book. These films all have beautiful romances that in the end couldn’t be. I absolutely adore these movies, but none compared to the absolute devastation I felt when finishing this book.

In the end, this is a piece of literature that everyone should get to experience. It is beautiful, sad, and absolutely amazing. It will definitely go down in history as a classic, and is a special feeling unlike any other. 10 out of 10.

—sophomore Olive Glenn

Rink revival

Playland Skate Center has been a staple in the Austin area since 1973. It has been remodeled more recently, however, buying out the space next to them and adding a small arcade, bar and food stand. When you first walk into the building, you can see the skating rink right away.

The space is very open and most of the area is carpeted with colorful glow-in-the-dark floors. There are also many fun, colorful lights hanging in the middle of the skating rink; the largest of them is a big silver sparkly roller skating shoe. When you want to sit down, there are many tables near the rink where you can rest, and more in the arcade and bar area. There was also always music playing, which made it a much more fun experience because you could sing along to the songs.

To get into the skating rink, you have to pay $14, which includes your skates but not roller blades or a helper. If you would like one, you have to pay an additional $5. I think this price is somewhat reasonable because once you pay, you get to skate for however long you want to, but if you are not the biggest fan of skating, this might not be the activity for you. Also, the $14 you pay at the beginning does not include food or access to the arcade; for those amenities, you have to pay an additional fee. In total, I spent just over $25 for the skates and then for a pass to the arcade, but I think the price was worth it because I loved skating and then getting to play some arcade games as well. The staff were all very friendly and helpful, and overall the environment was very fun, and it felt like you were in a disco.

I remember going skating at Playland when I was younger. It was a lot smaller than it is now, and it didn’t offer a lot of the fun things it does now, but it still had a few arcade games and a little snack stand. To get inside the rink, there was a separate area to buy your ticket to get inside, and there was a little display of roller skates that I always enjoyed looking at. Back then, the rink felt very

—freshman Wynne Pirkey

afternoon or evening, Playland is the perfect place. Out of

Graphic by Nate Williams.

Graphic by Nate Williams.

Photo of a Home Slice Pizza location accessed on the Flickr account of Jim Nix. Published here with permission under a creative commons license. Photo by Jim Nix.

may 16, 2025

fine arts briefs calendar

Mac Dance’s spring dance show closed April 25 in the MAC. The show featured performances by group classes and individual solos, all directed by student choreographers. Senior Zoe Maxwell served as a co-artistic director alongside senior Zalie Mann and was also one of the student choreographers. Maxwell said that the student-directed show offers valuable opportunities to choreographers.

“One of the things I loved about the student-directed show is the creative freedom it gives to students, as well as the opportunities,” Maxwell said. “I loved being able to choreograph a tap piece and work with the new freshman class.”

Maxwell shared that her favorite moment in the show was during the senior piece, “Puppy Love,” when the audience held up signs in appreciation of the seniors’ last dance together.

“Seeing everyone hold up their signs for us really felt like a movie moment,” Maxwell said.

Throughout her four years in the program, Maxwell said Mac Dance has provided memories that will last a lifetime.

may 16 FAA Convocation @ MAC—6:30 p.m.

may 18

Emerging Filmmakers End of Year screening, 2 p.m.

may 19

Percussion Senior Recital @ FABT—6 p.m.

may 20

Piano Ensemble Recital @ MAC 6:30 p.m.

may 21

—Katie Martin

“This program has given me so much,” Maxwell said. “Lifelong memories, the confidence to pursue dance in college and, overall, just a place to grow and be myself. I really am going to miss Mac Dance next year, but I’m so excited for the future.”

Color guard opens Lamar dance show at AISD PAC

The Lamar Middle School dance department held the second night of its spring show “The Wizard of Oz” at the Austin ISD Performing Arts Center on April 29. Before the Lamar dancers took the stage, McCallum’s color guard performed an opening act to “Somewhere over the Rainbow” by Pentatonix. According to freshman guard member Ryan Latsha, the guard’s performance recycled elements from their winter guard choreography.

“We used the same costumes and dance moves but to a new song with new blocking,” Latsha said. “The dance director at Lamar wanted us to try to fit the theme of the show a bit better, which mainly just included changing the song, since our winter guard performance was already a more modern style of dance.”

Latsha has enjoyed her first year with the guard and is excited for the new developments to come with the introduction of color guard into the Fine Arts Academy.

“This has been my second stage performance,” she said. “The guards themselves are so supportive and inclusive. They became like a found family for me, and they’ve helped me to express myself in something that I love.”

In comparison to the marching season, winter guard and

the spring season allow for more creative freedom for the performers but still require hard work and dedication.

“When we transition to winter guard, that’s when we get to do our more fun things like throwing higher tosses, doing tricks, and we’re not outside, so the wind doesn’t matter,” Latsha said. “The winter guard season starts with a month of practicing the new show, then we have competitions almost weekly, where we get up early and head to wherever that day’s competition may be, and we perform in front of four judges.”

With a system similar to UIL, color guards get a final ranking at their last competition, where they see their hard work reflected in their score. Latsha looks back fondly on this time of competition and bonding.

“My favorite time of the season was our final competition,” she said. “We got fifth overall, and it was the most fun I ever had. During our final performance, I started to get a little emotional during our ending flag feature, and in my head I realized I was messing up because I was getting sad because of the season ending, and had to hold it in.”

Orchestra spring concert @ MAC, 7-9 p.m.

—Wren Vanderford

The choir program performed its annual Cabaret show with three performances May 3-4 in the MAC.

The cabaret tradition, existing for over 15 years, is an opportunity for choir students to have more of a creative outlet and choreograph and audition pieces of their choosing. Senior Fin Kirsch explained that choir students are expected to self-manage practices and rehearsals in order to be ready for performance nights. During the performance, choir students performed with various small groups, duets and solos as well as with their choir classes and the show featured two large group numbers that involved the entire program, “American Idiot” by Green Day and “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” from Monty Python, which were choreographed by senior Robin Kulhanek.

Choir director Nathan Thompson determines the theme for the year’s performance almost a year in advance. The 2025 theme, “A Knight in the Past,” featured throwback songs, all recorded and released before 2010.

Sophomore Lucinda McCollum said she enjoys the annual Cabaret show because it allows for more theatrics

than the traditional choir pieces.

“It was really cool to see the pieces come together, especially with dance and costume,” McCollum said. “Usually choir isn’t so theatrical.”

Kirsch said that final show on Sunday afternoon was a great closing performance, as all the performers were more comfortable after having two performances on Saturday.

“I think [the closing show] went really great,” Kirsch said. “It felt good, and we got to bring the big piano out on stage too, which we didn’t get to have for the other two [shows],” Kirsch said. “I had a great time out there.”

—Carlo Hinsdale and

Josie Mullan

Scan the QR code to see our Choir Cabaret Tuesday Top 10 photo essay or visit macshieldonline.com.

Freshman Susan Welsh is lifted by fellow dancers in “As Seasons Change,” a contemporary piece choreographed by freshman Alina Curtin. Photo by Sophia Manos.

The color guard performs its competition routine to ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ by Pentatonix at the Lamar Dance Show, “The Wizard of Oz.”. Photo by Wren Vanderford.

Senior Nathan Howard performs “Sing,” the Sesame Street standard. Director Nathan Thompson called it the “make them cry song” that set up the final number. Photo by Josie Mullan.

2 0 2 5 W r a p p e d

16, 2025

Soundtrack to senior year

Knights reflect on music that shaped their final year, high school experience

For Ritcherson, “Teenage Dream” is more than a pop hit, it’s more like a time machine.

“The song was really nostalgic for me, and it reminded me of when I was younger, so listening to it now makes me reminisce on my childhood,” Ritcherson said.

With its dreamy lyrics and glowing sound, it’s become

If you hear Mitchell coming down the hall, chances are “Tongue Tied” is blasting through her headphones.

“It’s just a very carefree song, and it’s very nostalgic for me,” she says. “I remember hearing it on the radio all the time when I was younger.”

For Mitchell, the song represents reconnection, something she sees as central to the senior experience.

a soundtrack for Ritcherson’s focus on the present.

“I think it sends a live-in-the-moment kind of vibe but also a message to enjoy everything that comes.”

For her, senior year is about appreciating where you’ve been, while still staying open to where you’re going.

“A lot of it talks about hanging out with friends, and I feel like a big part of senior year is reconnecting with friends before everyone splits up for college.”

With its upbeat rhythm and colorful chaos, “Tongue Tied” reminds her to take things lightly.

“It’s a reminder to not take things too seriously and to have fun in high school because it ends up going by pretty fast.”

Bradsby’s pick, “Clueless” by Beach Bunny, hits a more emotional note.

“It talks about thinking you’d be someone else than who you are, and having friends move away and have their own lives,” Bradsby said. The song captures the inner whirlwind of growing up and letting go.

“It represents the uncertainty of senior year, thinking about how much people have changed and how much your life has changed.”

What resonates most is the idea of being suddenly thrust into adulthood. “There’s a part where she talks about crying at various locations that she now has to be independent at, and that really relates to me, because my mom is now expecting me to take care of those things myself.”

For Bradsby, “Clueless” is the sound of figuring it all out.

Trinity Ritcherson and senior WinstonWynterare all smiles (we think) for Pink Week 2021.

SeniorRichersonTrinity and co-pep rally MC Julia Rasp pose during the 2025 Pink Week pep rally.

George McCoy on the freshman boys basketball team during the 20212022 season.

Senior George McCoy earned the title of District 24-5A Offensive Player of the Year for the 2024-25 district basketball season.

SophomoreIvy Speightposes understudyastheleadinthe 2022McCallum productionof Pippin

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SeniorIvy Speightplays MilesTuck inthe2025 McCallum production ofTuck Everlasting.

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DavesSeniorLogan modelsfashionforthe2025 Wilderness”“Celestialshow, freshmanMaskedLoganposeDavesstrikesa duringthe2022McCallum fashionshow, “Albums.”

Photo by Julia Copas

Photo by David Winter

Photo by Kennedy Weatherby

Photo by Lucas Walker

Graphics by Tallulah McAuliffe

may 16, 2025

Arwen Pelletier staff reporter

Over the past four years playing baseball for McCallum, senior CJ Willie has gained essential experience and lessons that will allow him to work towards leading a business that he plans to excel in. Willie intends to enter a profession of HVAC repair, installation and maintenance. HVAC, which stands for heating, ventilation and air conditioning, is a blanket term that encompasses all elements of the heating and ventilation systems in buildings.

The career takes less schooling than others, and is very lucrative, which attracted Willie to the profession.

“I want to go into HVAC because it makes a lot of money, and the schooling is pretty simple compared to other things,” Willie said. “I’ll have to go to trade school, and then after [that], I’ll earn certifications before I can officially start working for a company.”

Essential certifications for the career include the EPA Section 608 for handling refrigerants, which confirms that a technician is qualified to handle the chemicals used in HVAC. Other certifications include the North American Technician Excellence and HVAC Excellence, which demonstrate competency and safety in the field.

After gaining skills and knowledge in the field, Willie

Senior center fielder plans to take center stage again with his own HVAC business CJ Willie Speight Twohey

plans to start his own HVAC business where he would lead a team of technicians. Classes at McCallum that Willie has taken over his four years will help with the opening of his own business.

“I think economics will definitely help with opening my own business,” Willie said. “I learned a lot of valuable lessons on money management and overall business in that class that should benefit me in the long run.”

Over his time on the McCallum baseball team, Willie has learned valuable lessons that will influence the way he approaches the rest of his career from work ethic to the merit of being humble to those around you.

“Sometimes you don’t have to be the star of the show,” Willie said. “You just have to know your role. I feel like work ethic is another important thing I’ve learned too. They really beat that into my mind. Always, no matter what you do, always do it 100% percent.”

Being a part of the baseball and the larger Mac community have not only influenced Willie’s decision to go into HVAC but also profoundly affected his time and experience in high school.

“I’ve had friends who liked HVAC,” Willie said. “They said that they enjoyed it, and I thought I’d try it out. Community overall at Mac, and making friends and playing the game that I love and competing at one of the highest levels has been a highlight of my time here. I’ll take important lessons from it for the rest of my life.”

Soccer star will pursue his sport across the pond

Fletcher Vandergrift staff reporter

Since he was 3 years old, senior Speight Twohey has spent countless hours playing soccer. His passion developed through the multitudes of soccer leagues he was involved in as a child, continuing throughout his elementary, middle and high school years. Because of this sustained commitment, Twohey decided to continue playing in college. As a senior, he had to decide if he wanted to commit his time and energy to playing soccer in college. After going through the commitment process, Twohey decided to attend Sheffield Hallam University in England, because of their soccer program but also because of the photography classes they offer.

Twohey said being able to play overseas was always a dream of his, but his decision to go to college was one he debated for a while.

“I was confused my junior year, whether I would go to college or not,” he said. “I went to a couple of ID [soccer] camps in California and didn’t

really like any of the campuses or the vibes of the schools. Realizing that made me focus more on the school in England and put all my attention and efforts into that.”

With four years of varsity experience, Twohey said high school soccer was essential to his development and that he enjoyed his time as a player and a captain on the varsity team.

“It’s been the biggest impact on my game throughout my whole career,” he said. “High school is where I learned to slide tackle, head the ball and be a physical player. I’ve developed so much as a player, and McCallum has been an important part of that.”

Twohey credits his teammates and coaches for his success and amazing experience, and believes that he truly loves his sport because of the teammates with whom he got to play.

“I’ve been a part of four different varsity squads in my time at McCallum, and each one has been amazing in its own way,” he said. “I believe teammates are the biggest key to becoming a better player and having a successful season.”

While Twohey’s high school career is over, he said it is an experience he will always cherish.

“I’ve loved every season, and I think the biggest reason why is because of who was around me,” he said. “Playing soccer at McCallum has had the biggest impact on who I’ve become. I’ve made so many great memories on this team that I will never forget.”

Photo provided by CJ Willie.

Photo provided by Speight Twohey.

Dance major to continue

pursuit of dance career at Montclair State University Julia Rasp

Harper Maxwell staff reporter

Senior dance major Julia Rasp will attend Montclair State University to continue her dance career with their dance BFA program. With hopes to become a professional dancer, Rasp feels that Montclair has the right curriculum for her.

“The dance BFA program at Montclair is great, and I absolutely love all the choreography opportunities we get,” Rasp said. “Choreography is something that I really want to pursue, but I’d also love to join a professional company, and at some point teach.”

Rasp chose Montclair for many reasons, however the traditional setting of the college in New Jersey combined with the urban environment of New York was especially appealing to her as a dancer with hopes of being a professional.

“I knew I wanted to continue dancing, but I wanted to go to a more traditional college environment where I

Lark Adrian

Film major to take her talents to the Big Apple

Josie Linton staff reporter

Senior Lark Adrian is attending NYU this fall for film and television. Adrian grew up with journalist parents and was always around the media, inspiring her to continue a future in the industry. Adrian was accepted into the fine arts program at McCallum as a film major her freshman year, and has continued to produce films through her senior year. She has always loved acting before she realized she would rather write and create the stories than act.

“The part of film class that most made me want to continue my journey in film was the work of many of the other students,” Adrian said. “Whenever I wasn’t confident in my work or failed, I would see the work of tons of creative and smart kids, and it always strengthened my work ethic.”

Adrian hopes to learn more about the craft and meet people at NYU with similar interests to hers. She is excited to make new connections and continue her journey in film.

“My goals for NYU are to keep creating films and to hopefully make connections to be able to work on or produce my own feature eventually,” Adrian said.

Adrian credited her language arts teachers, Mr. Wydeven and Ms. Smith, for having a huge impact on her high school experience.

“They were both really amazing English teachers, and I think anybody who puts in enough work would love their classes,” Adrian said. “Their advanced English classes were often difficult, and a somewhat heavy workload, but coming out of the experience, I’m really glad I did it.” Wydeven specifically, Adrian said, influenced her goals.

“I took his AP English class in junior year and film analysis in senior year,” Adrian said. “Mr. Wydeven helped me improve my writing, get assignments in on time, and even wrote a letter of recommendation for my application to NYU.”

Her advice to incoming McCallum students is to build important, meaningful connections with your teachers.

“If you’re struggling with work, or having some off days, it’s easier to communicate that and save your grade if you’ve built a relationship with your mentors,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be all of them, but I’ve met some really amazing teachers, especially in junior and senior year.”

Adrian is excited for her journey at NYU and to continue doing what she loves.

While the Austin’s skyline is Adrian’s background in this photo, she will soon be surrounded by the skyscrapers of the Big Apple. Photo courtesy of Adrian.

would be on a pretty campus with more opportunities to have minors in other studies like nutrition or communications,” Rasp said. “The campus is also a 45minute train ride to New York City, which is wonderful because I have easy access to the city while not living in it full time.”

Rasp feels that the McCallum dance program has prepared her well for the college dance curriculum and has served as a bridge between dancing for fun and dancing as a career.

“Mac Dance and my outside of school studio, Rise, have both prepared me more than I can put into words,” Rasp said. “Being in both the companies has pushed me so much as a dancer to take risks, generally expand my technique, and push myself with choreography.” Rasp has enjoyed her time in the Mac dance program, as both a student and a leader.

“Mac Dance more than anything has given me a place with people that I love so much, who make me feel important and welcome,” she said. “Ms. Nat and Coach T are so supportive, and do everything they can to help me and push me to be a better dancer.”

Although she will always have a special place for Mac Dance and Rise, Rasp can’t wait to have the new personal freedoms that come with going to college.

“Even though I love Austin, McCallum and Rise, my outside-of-school dance studio, and will miss it dearly, it will be so fun to have a change of scenery,” Rasp said. “I am most excited for the new opportunities and

Rasp dances in a studio. She will soon pursue her passion in New Jersey at Montclair State University. Photo courtesy of Rasp.

here is what’s next for the class of

ARIZONA

University of Arizona

Analise Bady

Zachary Siegel

Perla Vela

ARKANSAS

University of Arkansas

Kiki Baker

Miles Chilton

Miranda DiGiovanni

Marymae Forsyth

Piper Hicks

Tate Jones

Jack Racine

Devon Robinson

Wren Sager

Chander Tripathi

Camden Willis

Hendrix College

Nathan Johnson

Fort Lewis College

Luke Gronquist

Brendan Savedra

University of Colorado Boulder

KANSAS

University of Kansas

Townes Hamre

LOUISIANA

NEW HAMPSHIRE

University of New Hampshire

Piper De Pujadas

NEW JERSEY

PENNSYLVANIA

Bryn Mawr College

Ella Piston

Carnegie Mellon University

Emy Chen

Sam Zettner

CALIFORNIA

Chapman University

Gaby Alvarado

John Paul the Great Catholic

University

Manuel Sanchez

San Diego State University

Sabina Grace

Nate Miller

Satya Russ

Santa Clara University

Tatum Cummings

The Colburn School

Aidan MacDonald

University of California Davis

Jane Ahlquist

University of California Santa

Barbara

Sovie Nance

Kai Talebi

COLORADO

Colorado School of Mines

Caleb Gonzalez

Greta Wayman

Colorado State University

Mallory Beckham

Diego Custard

Sydney Devereaux

Kyle Lowther

John Scott Mabry

Griffin Powell

Ava Weingard

Harper Freach

Liliana Hollinger

Maya Julien

CONNECTICUT

University of New Haven

Atlas Prevatt

Wesleyan University

Martha Pruitt

DELAWARE

University of Delaware

Olivia Pallante

D.C.

American University

Alma Curry - spending fall semester abroad

George Washington University

Hazel Johnson

FLORIDA

University of Miami

Miles Baade

GEORGIA

Emory University

Shila Gill

Savannah College of Art & Design

Kaitlyn Gerrie

IDAHO

Brigham Young University-Idaho

Viviana Rubio Suazo

ILLINOIS

Louisiana State University

Conrad Bohls

Leo Castleberry

University of Louisiana at

Lafayette

Brayden Olivier

MARYLAND

University of Maryland

Lillian Gray

MASSACHUSETTS

Boston University

Nate Williams

Brandeis University

Avi Zeifman

Emerson College

Max Davis

Massachusetts College of Art & Design

Ricky Austin

Mount Holyoke College

Kiran Ireland

Montclair State University

Julia Rasp

NEW MEXICO

Graham Randle

Haverford College

Stella Proctor

Muhlenberg College

University of New Mexico

Alastair Dorsett

NEW YORK

Tufts University

Lucy Zanker

University of Massachusetts

Amherst

Avery Altuna

Grace Schlegel

MINNESOTA

Macalester College

Layla Alhallaq

St. Olaf College

Culinary Institute of America

Maya Starkloff

Fordham University

Rita Hagerty

Kate Talley

New York University

Lark Adrian

Parsons School of Design

London Holtz

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Felix Murdock

Vassar College

Sadie Swinney

NORTH CAROLINA

Appalachian State University

Hank Holland

Elon University

Scarlett Gronquist

OHIO

Otterbein University

Sasha Grapko

The Ohio State University

Ivy Christie

University of Cinncinati

Zoe Maxwell

Lehigh University

Lucy Cottrill

RHODE ISLAND

Rhode Island School of Design

Ahmory Hodgson

Ruija Xiong

TENNESSEE

Rhodes College

Owen Miller

University of the South

Fox Redmond

TEXAS

Austin College

Garrison Camp

Austin Community College

Kyan Adams

Valeria Alcauter Robles

Cole Anderson

Dean Anderson

Norah Arias

Michael Arriaga

Terra Balentine

La’Nicia Barrios

Emily Batson

Ashlyn Beairsto

Hunter Bills

Tallulah Bingham

Rose Blum

School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Fiona Thompson

INDIANA

Ball State University

Tessa Pillette

Purdue University

Grace Valdez

Everest West

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Greta Carlson

Saint Mary’s College

University of Denver

Austin Gourrier

Nathan Howard

University of St. Thomas

William Saucedo

MISSISSIPPI

University of Mississippi-Ole Miss

Abbey Saray

MISSOURI

Washington University in St. Louis

Mark Sanchez

MONTANA

University of Montana

Fin Kirsch

Catherine Haikola

Connor Coco-Gray

Wright State University

Ivy Speight

OKLAHOMA

Oklahoma City University

Robin Kulhanek

OREGON

Oregon State University

Alexis Morrison

Audrey Powers

University of Oregon

Sam Kruck

Lani Blaboe

Ryan Bookout

Bridget Brady

Arlo Brandt

Micah Brinton

Oliviana Brown

Leo Bueche

Mitchell Butler

Joshua Byars

Camden Capochiano

Arnoldo Castillo-Nieto

Luis Castro-Ramirez

Parker Chauvin

Emily Chavez

Javier Cisneros

Lila Cisneros Wise

Nora Cobb

Justice Collier

Tyler Collins

Rogelio Del Toro Cruz

Alloy Detrick

Savannah Doerr

Ava Doga

Sophia Doga

Henry Douglass

Milo Embry-Janes

Gus Ehlers

Ella Fleming

Benjamin Ford

Joe Angel Fuentes-Sanchez

Maizie George

Jada Gonzalez

Yoseph Gonzalez

Melanie Gonzalez Cruz

Melyna Greer

Emerie Helgeson

King Henry

Francisco Hernandez

Christopher HernandezPozas

Dylan Hopkins

Alby Hoyas

Basil Jacobs

Ke’Shon Jasper

Sawyer Jonrowe

Ben Kentros

Anthony Kerby

Joaquin Kinard

Zephyr Kirby

Joshua Leblanc

Sophia Lerman

Reyn Linder

Isa Lopez Reed

Lucca Lewis

Savannah Lozano

Kirani Martin

John Martinez

Myles McCarver

Riley McGarity

Marcos Medina Rivera

Mohammad Mirzakhel

Callie Mistrot

Yara Giselle Morales

Camila Morales Del Rio

Satya Morgan

Olivia Moore

Gabe Morris

Jonah Morris

Willow Mueller

Austin Munoz

Amareyh Munoz-Tavera

Karla Ortega-Garcia

Matthew Proctor

Owen Putnam

Uzma Rahim

Joaquin Reynolds

Liam Rodriguez

Marciella Rodriguez

Lily Ryall

Muhammad Sabir Nizami

Roen Salinas

Micah Salter

Miguel Santana

Sadie Schuwerk

Alistair Sharp

Greyson Shirey-Woods

Will Sims

Matthew Soriano

Cole Spytek

Kaylee Sterneman

Tyler Stockton

Cole Tomfohr

Liv Tornbjerg

Jimena Torres Aguilar

Valeria Torres Aguilar

Kris Torres

Ella Tweedie

Julia Villaneuva

Henry Voorhees

Lenia Warrenfells

Augustina Weber

Jaxon Williams

CJ Willie

Maryan Yaqubi

Hamedullah Zadran

Baylor University

Sophie Koch

Nahomy Rivera-Cruz

Bevelle Barber School

Avion Alvarez

Huston-Tillotson University

Dennis Farley

Kilgore College

Jaiden Booe

Prairie View A&M University

Zo’Riyah Clay

St. Edward’s University

Daira Benitez

Elenamaria Gomez-Delgado

Molly Martinez

Texas A&M University

Landen Fazio

Kai Gregg

Duncan Ivan-Glass

Ethan Malmstrom

Eric Wetherold

Texas A&M University-San Antonio

Ozan Kleiman

Texas Lutheran University

Vincent Carney

America Franken

Fatimah Hamzah

Yaraitzel Hernandez

Deba Iqbali

Gabrielle Krebs

Brianna Miller

Sophia Ramsey

Wylie Reat

Daniel Rhodes

Trinity Ritcherson

Helen Rogers

Zanna Owens-Ramirez

Isaiah Paniagua

Elise Peart

Jordy Pena-Granados

Isa Perez-Marty

Manu Perez-Marty

Cilley Phan

Ben Polega

Yesenia Sajuan Garcia

Analicia Sanchez

Amalia Scatton

Mariana Silva

Rosalia Sustaita

Estefani Televan

Texas Tech University

Tommy Ammerman

Hollis Holleman

Graham Mabry

Hazel Trominski

Trinity University

Shira Bracha

Lily Greendyk

Maverick Palacios

Tegan Rutherford

University of Houston

Liberty Mitchell

University of the Incarnate Word

Ajay Woolf

University of North Texas

Elyza Bradsby

Tabitha Briceño

Olivia Carrales

Smith Humphrey

Isabella Lorenzini

Bea Saffer

Connor Seale

University of Texas at Arlington

Brooklin Fisher

Scarlett Logue

Zane Wiggins

The University of Texas at Austin

Galileo Ambrosetti

Evan Bausman

Braxton Bishop

Smith Bohls

Ella Brotman

Jacqueline Olivier

Ayden Courtney

Logan Daves

Luke Dunham

Alexandra Elizondo

Owen Gerstner

Poppy Harris

Joaquin Hinojosa

Nathan Johnson

Felix Kahlor

Alexandra Kimball

Brandon Sharp

Sofia Thatcher

Camilla Vandegrift

University of Texas at Dallas

Evan Burnside

Mathis Goertz

University of Texas at San Antonio

Jorge Aldape

Ava Escamilla

Andres Gonzalez

Theo Northcutt

Christina Petropoulos

Marciella Rodriquez

Yesenia Sajuan Garcia

VERMONT

University of Vermont

Finley Dixon

Larsen Krell

Ben Martinez

Josie Molnar

Sylvie Powell

Gabie Rodriguez

WASHINGTON

University of Puget Sound

Helena Loomis

University of Washington

George Brode

Ben Reiff

SPAIN

Institute of the Arts Barcelona

Austin Pain

GAP YEAR

Peter Bello - Italy

Joe Colaleo - Italy

Mya Gonzales

Miles Longbine

Henry Plum

OTHER

Eden Acosta - esthetician school

Hale Bills

Judith Abigail Centeno

Canada - working

Iris Delgado

Rio Garcia-Sotelo - working on a

super yacht

Miranda Koenig - TLC at Rosedale,

vibrant member of the community

Jay Malkawi - moving to Ohio

Maxwell Nagy

- Project GO at St. Edward’s University

Western Washington University

Audrey Eberly

WISCONSIN

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Theo Fulton

ABROAD

CANADA

McGill University

Corbin Clarke

Ontario College of Art & Design

Simon Beaton

University of British Columbia

James Nesbitt

Jaden Tao

ENGLAND

Leeds Conservatoire

Sofia Rayas

Sheffield Hallam University

Texas State University

Isley Cameron

Perrin Coons

Jon Crist

Asa Dean

Frei Elzner

Antonio Garza

Chloe Lewcock

Elizabeth Lopez

Ashley Mankinen

Crystal Patterson

Sonya Petersen

Brooklyn Rice

Callen Romell

Speight Twohey

University of Warwick

Kalliope Haltom

University of York

Gus Harvey

River Plemons

FRANCE

Chambre de Métiers et de ľ

Arisanat Normandie

Natacha Perez

PHILIPPINES

Ateneo de Manila University

Derek Bongato

SCOTLAND

St. Andrews University

Mac Lopez

Josie Mullan

Diego Olivares - moving to NYC

UNKNOWN

Euell Arnold

Marelyn Ayala Bonilla

Daeshawn Blaylock

Luke Bockholt

Catherine Carreon-Chavez

Zita-Louise Conradie

Nathan Cox

Gabriel Delzell

Tristan Dickey

Lindsay Elzner

June Fucik

Adam Gonzalez

Uriah Gonzalez

Robert Green

Sara Hauke

Logan Hoyt

Jordan Jaimez-Villanueva

Harper Jennings

Theodore Kentrup

Auguste Knauth

Jack Land

Jazlyn LaRosa

Efrain Leon

Victoria Lopez Lopez

Dominic Mercado

Cristal Mercado-Jaimes

Alfredo Pacheco Castillo

Elise Pfeiffer

Bennett Post

Afshin Qais

Abudul Waqib Rahim

Fernanda Resende-Alvarez

Karimullah Sherzad

Samuel Spencer

Jake Stagg-Ricketts

Link Stovall

Jimena Torres Aguilar

Mia Trevino

Mateo Vazquez

Quinn Wiseman

Isabel Ximenez

Darius Zappone

may 16, 2025

Dancing the Knight away

Prom provides seniors a moment to savor, celebrate

RIGHT: Senior Logan Daves poses with friends on prom night at Brazos Hall. Daves said she had a great time spending time with all her friends before they go their separate ways for college. “I went with my friends who are actually all in this picture, so I had a lot of fun,” Daves said. “I love our little dresses, we all had a blue color vibe going on that was actually not planned.” Caption by Josie Mullan.

BELOW: Seniors Miranda DiGiovanni and Felix Kahlor enjoyed a slow dance at prom. “Felix and I have been together for a while, and we were excited to get all fancy and go to a dance together,” DiGiovanni said. “We got close because of basketball, and now we know everything about each other. Prom was definitely a highlight of my year.”

Caption by Beatrix Lozach.

RIGHT: Natacha Perez, Sylvie Powell, and Satya Russ pose for the camera at Saturday’s prom. “I loved seeing all of my friends and classmates,” Russ said. While she anticipated the event for a long time, Russ said it was worth the wait and lived up to expectations. “It was very high energy and a fun night with lots of music and dancing,” she said. Russ loved taking photos before prom and all the social events before and after. “My favorite part was dancing and hanging out with everyone,” Russ said. For Russ, prom felt like a full circle moment, ending her years at Mac. Caption by Josie Linton.

BELOW: Senior Sawyer Jonrowe surfs the dance floor crowd during prom. Jonrowe believes that prom was the best night of his life because of the positive vibes surrounding the dance. “I was dancing and the crowd formed around me and was cheering me on,” Jonrowe said. “Then, once I finished my breakdancing I got lifted up,” Caption by Riley Pita.

ABOVE: Seniors Tegan Rutherford and Ajay Woolf pose for the camera after being announced as prom royalty. Rutherford said running for prom queen was a spur-of-the-moment decision. “Once I got the idea, I wanted to see it through, and winning is gonna be something awesome I can tell my kids about later in life,” she said. Rutherford was excited after she realized she had won; she had been nervous leading up to prom. “The feeling of standing up there with Ajay and holding the tiara was so surreal, and it totally made my whole year,” Rutherford said. She said that the moments leading up to prom were her favorite. “Prom totally surpassed my expectations,” she said. “Honestly, my favorite thing was the whole day leading up to it.” Rutherford got ready with her friends; they did each other’s hair and makeup and made bouquets. “As a senior, prom kind of felt like the biggest thing of the year,” Rutherford said, “It was such a fun experience.” Caption by Josie Linton.

Photo by Sophia Manos

Photo by Sophia Manos

Photo by Sophia Manos

Photo by Fletcher Vandegrift

Photo by Sophia Manos

The magnificent seven

Seven senior athletic trainers learn, grow through hard work,

friendship

To the seven senior athletic trainers at McCallum, being an athletic trainer means learning how to prevent injuries, help athletes recover, experience new challenges, be successful under pressure, and be there for athletes in any way that they need. Throughout their time as McCallum athletic trainers, the trainers learn about various parts of the body and body systems, which helps them in aiding the various athletes.

According to one of the head athletic trainers, Annmarie Reynolds, all of the trainers are proficient in providing first aid and basic taping techniques such as ankles and wrists. They are also all certified in CPR.

“They get along well with all the athletes, which is great for when they travel to away games and get to help the teams with taping and first aid,” Reynolds said. “They are all such a joy to be around and are all interested in different avenues of health professions, which is really cool to discuss with them. They are all very creative students and they’re just such great people.”

Senior Estefani Tevalan has always had an interest in the medical field, but didn’t know anything about it, so she decided to join.

“Everything was a surprise to me, but if I could go back in time, I wouldn’t think twice about joining again,” Tevalan said. “I’ve always been fascinated by the human body and how it works. However, my main goal in life is to travel the world, offer my skills to those in need, and ensure people know that someone cares.”

Tevalan has been in sports medicine for two years now and has come to appreciate how strong the community is.

“My favorite part about being an athletic trainer is the teamwork,” she said. “We never do anything alone, and it’s just fun vibes.”

Ramsay, early morning football practice requires her to be at school at 7 a.m., so she gets up around 6:15. Despite this early wakeup time, Ramsay will greatly miss the experiences and getting to be on the sidelines with the players.

Ramsay’s favorite part of being an athletic trainer is the connection that she’s made with the other athletic trainers and some of the athletes.

First-year athletic trainer and senior Mariana Silva also acknowledges the bonds that have been created between the trainers throughout the year.

“[Being a trainer] has taught me lots of new skills I never knew I had, and has helped me learn teamwork alongside the best teammates,” Silva said.

Silva saw sports medicine as a way to become more involved at school and make new friends.

“I wanted to become an athletic trainer because I saw it as an opportunity to participate in school activities, and I saw it as something that could be fun,” she said, “but I also wanted the experience and chance of learning something medical to see if I was potentially into it.”

Senior Analicia Sanchez is also a first-year athletic trainer who joined because she was interested in going into the medical field after high school.

“I wanted to become an athletic trainer to also want to go into the healthcare field, so it’s

Sanchez said. “I wanted to become an RN at the beginning of the year, but after some consideration, I decided I wanted to

trainer is being able to have a team of my own and have everyone support each other,” Sanchez said. “It’s nice to know you can have a group of people you can rely on.”

Miller appreciates the help that the trainers are able to provide to players but also the ability to see and learn about the behind-the-scenes processes.

Being an athletic trainer, however, also comes with late nights and early mornings. Depending on which sport an athletic trainer is assigned to, they can get home as late as 10-11 p.m. For first-year athletic trainer senior Sophia

To Sanchez, being an athletic trainer means being ready to help whenever help is

“Being an athletic trainer means to want to make a difference in every athlete’s life,” she said. “As soon as you get on that field you’re up and ready to help.”

While athletic trainers are attending to a team consisting of athletes, they are also a team that needs to work together to get a certain task done.

“My favorite part about being an athletic

To fellow first-year trainer senior Gabie Rodriguez, being an athletic trainer means helping athletes perform at their best while staying healthy and safe.

“It’s about combining knowledge of the human body with a passion for sports to prevent injuries, treat them effectively, and support recovering in a way that gets people back to doing what they love,” Rodriguez said. Rodriguez’s passion for sports and health led her to join sports medicine this year.

“I wanted a career that allowed me to stay involved in athletics while helping others,” she said. “I’m driven by the opportunity to support athletes through injury prevention, treatment, and recovery.

Being part of their journey back to peak performance is incredibly rewarding.”

Seniors Trinity Ritcherson and Brianna Miller are both athletic trainers who have been a part of the sports medicine program since their junior year.

My favorite part of being an athletic trainer is the teamwork. We never do anything alone.

“To me, [being an athletic trainer] means having the chance to help out athletes, whether it’s as little as giving a Band-Aid or providing water,” Miller said. “It’s also a good learning experience, we get to see behind the scenes and learn about certain health aspects as well.”

Estefani,

—senior

Tevalan “ “

Because there are seven senior trainers leaving this year, and there are only a total of 10 trainers in the program this year, only three will return next season. “Moving forward without them will be difficult at first because they’re all great people,” Reynolds said. “But thankfully, we have three great students returning next year and we are in the process of interviewing new students to be a part of the program for next year as well.”

Some advice that the head athletic trainers have for the seven graduating trainers is to not worry about getting into a prestigious university and to enjoy their time in college.

Analicia Sanchez, Gabie Rodriguez and Sophia Ramsey pose in their Halloween costumes dressed as football players. Photo provided by Sanchez.

For Ritcherson, keeping athletes at ease and comfortable is what being an athletic trainer is all about.

“Being an athletic trainer to me means helping others and making the McCallum athletes feel supported and secure,” Ritcherson said. “You have to be easily accessible, if there’s any needs or concerns regarding injuries or physical problems, or just being directly on the field or at games and practices.”

“Be open to learning about anything and everything you’re interested in because you never get to try all these new things again,” Reynolds said. “Don’t overload yourself the first semester, just learn how to be an adult by yourself and in college.” Have the best time and be safe!”

To read the full story scan the QR code or visit macshieldonline.com.

Maya Tackett people editor

Seniors Trinity Ritcherson, Brianna Miller, Estefani Tevalan and Mariana Silva pose on Halloween as the Princess and the Frogs. Photo provided by Tevalan.

Hangin’ with the seniors

English teacher Amy Smith shares insights, hot takes on her year teaching the class of

Beatrix Lozach staff reporter

AP Literature and English 2 teacher

Amy Smith taught the graduating senior class both this year and when they were sophomores. Smith reflected on the mountains and valleys experienced by the class of ‘25, everything from the epic highs of high school basketball to inculcating a love of literature and poetry despite classic senioritis. Smith expressed her pride in the senior class, noting their resilience in the face of adversity and the honor she feels seeing them venture off into the world. Smith characterized her relationship with students as mutually affectionate. Smith emphasizes celebrating birthdays, and this year, a group of students returned the favor.

“Every student gets a Tootsie Pop and a squishy on their birthday, and they get to wear the crown or tiara”, Smith said. “I also have a birthday board—and I don’t miss summer birthdays—I do half birthdays for our summer babies. I also have a brag-board where I keep up with all of my

students’ accomplishments. This year, a group of sweet girls made me a lovely birthday basket filled with chocolates, flowers, books, balloons and gift cards. And they wrote me a lovely birthday message.”

Smith described graduation as the highlight of her year, and extolled the numerous talents present in the senior class. Smith was astounded by the grit and integrity of the senior class, and in particular, described them as funny, kind and passionate.

“I’m always impressed by the outside talent—the artists, singers, dancers, actors, athletes, musicians, filmmakers, photographers—I’m none of those things, so that always impresses me,” Smith said.

One highlight of Smith’s school year, was getting to watch the boys varsity basketball playoff game against Pflugerville, noting that the senior boys showed great leadership and fought hard to prevail in their opening playoff game.

“The ref was doing everything he could to give the game to Pflugerville, and our boys, led by the senior leaders, fought back hard and would not let terrible calls hold them back,” she said. “It was a great

presented it to me at the end of class. It was very genuine. I knew they felt bad. Many of these kids I knew because I had them in 10th grade, and I was sure they did not want to disappoint me. Their apology was genuine.”

Currently, some of Smith’s students are dealing with mild to acute cases of senioritis, which she finds wearisome; nevertheless, Smith has faith that this too shall pass. She’s in the midst of teaching a book she considers of utmost importance to developing critical thinking and historical context for contemporary issues.

“We are in the middle of a very challenging but important novel, Beloved, and it takes a lot of my energy to get them through the book—even if they didn’t have senioritis,” Smith said. “It is a hard novel, but the payoff is worth it. I get more positive feedback from students on this novel than any other novel I teach. But, teaching such a difficult book at the end of the year is not an easy task, but I’m relentless.”

Smith remains optimistic about next year’s senior class. She was impressed by the class of ‘25, and with the class of ‘26’s

‘25

them to have a glorious senior year, but I’ve been doing this for a long time, so I know that this will be a stressful year,” she said. “The college application process is hard and stressful. My hope is that they begin the process in the summer, so it is not so overwhelming once school starts.”

While Smith said she wouldn’t make many major changes for this year, she would’ve made some minor adjustments.

“If I could change one thing about how this year went, my students would turn in all of their work, turn it in on time and pay attention to me without me having to remind them to pay attention,” Smith said. For senior Knights about to venture off into the world, Smith counseled them to stay true to themselves. After all, to quote Socrates, to know thyself is the beginning of wisdom.

“I’ve told my students to know who they are before they go off to college because if they don’t then the world will tell them who they are,” Smith said. “I read poems to them every week, and one poem I read recently was Mary Oliver’s poem ‘The Journey,’ which is about listening to your own voice. That is my advice to them— know who you are, listen to yourself.”

Senior editors share memories as writers, photographers for The Shield, final advice Lasting words for last paper

JoJo Barnard print managing editor

Priya Thoppil news editor

Sienna Martens staff reporter

As graduation approaches, the Shield staff will soon say farewell to seven senior editors: co-editor-in chiefs Chloe Lewcock and Nate Williams, co-web managing editors Noah Braun and Josie Mullan, social media managing editor Camilla Vandegrift, sports editor Callen Romell and opinion editor Shila Gill. Each senior has contributed to the program in a different way, and has learned a combination of different lessons.

Surprisingly, a few of the editors never even intended on joining the Shield. Braun saw “digital media” on his choice sheet and was under the impression it was a graphic design class.

“I decided to go with the program even though I wasn’t really sure of what I was getting into,” Braun said. “I ended up joining newspaper the following year and discovered that I really like opinion writing.”

Similarly to Braun, Romell found her love for journalism unexpectedly. She was accidentally placed into digital media, and though she had no original interest in the course, she soon developed a passion for sports coverage.

“I think it’s crazy that I went from

not knowing or having any interest in journalism to now majoring in it next year at UT,” Romell said. “It just really clicked with me.”

While the seven senior editors had different experiences being introduced to the MacJournalism program, all of them grew to love the class.

For Mullan, who transferred from Austin High her junior year, the program served as the perfect means to integrate into the school community.

“Joining the newspaper program really helped me learn the school and gave me a place to grow,” Mullan said.

Gill had a similar experience.

“Newspaper class has really helped me learn to communicate and find connections with people I wouldn’t normally talk to, which has helped me feel more a part of the McCallum community,” Gill said. “I love learning about all of the different groups at McCallum and feeling more connected with them.”

Vandegrift enjoys the connection the

Scan the QR code to read the full profiles or visit macshieldonline.com.

“Most of the people on staff are excited about what they do,” Braun said. “I think it would be easy for it to be the other way around, and have a lot of people that don’t really care, but at The Shield majority of the staff is actually enthusiastic about contributing to the program, which is

Front row: Callen Romell, Camilla Vandegrift, Shila Gill and Josie Mullan. Back row: Chloe Lewcock, Nate Williams and Noah Braun. Photo by Maggie Mass.

That’s a wrap.

people

may 16, 2025

The story of Marty Winter

Adopting a dog answered Henry and Annabel Winter’s prayers, but the lovable Bichon-poodle mix soon became their dad’s best friend and MacJ’s unofficial mascot

Lillian Gray and Wren Vanderford staff reporters

Annabel and Henry Winter had always wanted a dog, so much so that in elementary school, Henry wrote a persuasive essay for his fourth-grade class about why he thought his family should get a dog. A year later, at Henry’s fifth-grade graduation, the Winter family visited his kindergarten teacher, and they told her about Henry’s essay. She took his mom aside and told her that “Every family needs a dog.” That’s how Marty came along.

Their father, Dave Winter, a journalism teacher at McCallum, set up a plan to surprise Henry and Annabel. He told Annabel and Henry that they were going to one of Henry’s chess competitions. But instead, he took them to the dog shelter where he had already picked out Marty. His wife had discovered Marty online and had sent him to the shelter to see if he was the dog for them to adopt.

When Winter and his kids walked in to the shelter, the person behind the front desk greeted them asking “Are y’all here for Marty?”

At first, Marty was subject to a lot of rules. He couldn’t get onto the furniture or sleep in their beds, but according to Annabel, Marty quickly charmed his parents into letting him do whatever he wanted.

“Marty was pretty hesitant and reluctant to really interact with anyone at first, but he soon got a little more comfortable with our family,” Henry Winter said. “He was a little infamous for systematically breaking the rules we thought we were going to follow, such as no dogs on the beds/couch, etc. He really liked to sit on the floor vents to stay cool.”

Annabel Winter said. “Even my mom, who was unsure about getting a dog, fell in love with Marty because he brought so much joy to our house.”

Marty quickly became an integral part of the family. Wherever they went, so did he. On their trip to New Mexico one year, because he couldn’t really keep up on long hikes, the family bought Marty a doggie backpack to carry him around with them. Each family member took turns carrying him on their back while he peeked over their shoulders to see where they were going.

Long before that vacation, the Marty and his humans settled into a daily routine.

“Every day before school, my dad would wake me up before the sun came up so we could take Marty on a walk together,” Annabel Winter said. “I have really fond memories of spending the mornings with my dad and Marty and telling him what phase the moon was in every day.”

Marty’s adventures expanded beyond his humble home to the far boundaries of McCallum High School’s hallways, frequently accompanying Mr. Winter in the newspaper room. Sophie Ryland, who was co-editor-in-chief throughout the 2018-2019 school year, remembers her freshman year fondly. It was also Dave Winter’s first year, so they adapted to McCallum together. Ryland remembers spending many class periods and late nights in room 134 basking in Marty’s presence.

“I remember texting my best friend at the time, who wasn’t even in newspaper or yearbook, things like ‘Marty is here today!’ and she would try to find an excuse to come visit him,” Ryland said. “I hope he was happy, too, with us all cooing over him. I know he probably snuck some spilled pepperoni on the floor from our pizza orders as part of the deal.”

Ryland fondly remembers everybody being enamored with Marty, and that Dave Winter found joy in seeing their reactions to having a warm companion while they worked endlessly on articles and page designs during newspaper late nights.

“Marty was basically our unofficial mascot,” she said. “I could tell [Winter] was happy that we all adored Marty so much, just like he did.”

Marty quickly became a frequent visitor to Room 134.

“I’ll never forget chasing Marty down the school hallways at 6 p.m. on a random Wednesday, or the times when we would coax him with a treat to cooperate while taking staff photos, or us all competing for his affections on those lucky mornings when we were graced with Marty’s presence,” Ryland said.

Marty’s affection touched many hearts over the years including Alice Scott, a former staffer who made history under Winters’ teaching. She was named the 2022 NSPA Broadcast Journalist of the Year, the 2024 Texas and JEA National Journalist of the Year as well as being Shield co-editor-in-chief for two years. Since the beginning of Scott’s journalism career, Marty’s name has been synonymous with excitement.

“I remember my sophomore year coming to school,” Scott said. “I was the online co-editor-in-chief that year, so I was in the class with all the other editors, and I would always hear people talking about Marty. I was like ‘Marty? Who’s Marty?’ I very quickly came to learn that Marty was Mr. Winters’s dog.”

Walking into first-period newspaper class can be tiring, however, Marty always raised the staff’s energy levels

according to Scott.

“You always knew that Marty was at school if the door to the newspaper room was closed, because that door was never closed,” Scott said. “It was always one of those things that brightened your day a little bit.”

Marty was a prominent member of the newspaper family. Another former staffer, Elisha Scott, who met Marty during her freshman year in 2018, got to enjoy all four of her years alongside Marty and saw Winter’s love for Marty flourish as the kids got to know him.

“You could tell how much Mr. Winter loved Marty by the way that he would talk about him,” she said. “He would tell us stories of the things he did at home. He continues to do that and reflect on his time with Marty on his Instagram with his #MartyMonday posts. And, equally, you could tell how much Marty loved him. He was always by Mr. Winter’s side when he was visiting.”

Marty was Winter’s right-hand man, helping to cheer up the staff through every long night, and every early morning. Marty will live forever, deep in the hearts of every newspaper staff member who knew him, and every single heart he touched. “My dad has had a lot of awesome dogs in his life,” Annabel said. “Marty was his best friend.”

This Marticle was shortened to fit this page. To read the complete story, scan the QR code or visit macshieldonline.com.

Annabel Winter enjoys her turn with Marty in the backpack during the family’s trip to New Mexico. Photo courtesy of Annabel Winter.

Dave and Marty Winter strike a post during a family vacation in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Photo courtesy of Annabel Winter.

may 16, 2025

In Winter’s words

Newspaper adviser to exit at end of school year, leaves lasting impact on program, community

Dave Winter is always on the move. Situated in the center of the school, a location he adores, room 134 is often referred to as the most lively place on campus. You may find Winter editing newspaper pages, hanging an ILPC Gold Star award on the wall, or returning a bell to the main hall trophy case won by the varsity football team at the annual Battle of the Bell rivalry game or you might just hear his infectious laughter. Either way, Winter is known by everybody. And his presence on campus will be greatly missed by the McCallum community at the end of this school year when he exits his 10-year career as adviser of The Shield.

Winter’s career in journalism began at a young age, even before high school or college. His coverage included anything from the neighborhood lemonade stand to the “sandlot” games.

“I remember doing newspapers as a kid, although it wasn’t much of a newspaper,” Winter said. “I would write stories up and do a single sheet with stories on it and design all over it. It was terrible, I’m sure, but I always liked the idea of writing stories and trying to publish them.”

As a high school student, Winter said that’s when his interest in reporting and designing flourished. As the design editor for the school paper, he was able to contribute to all the fun parts of his class without having to be the stricter, “buck stops here” leader as an editor-in-chief.

Entering college at UT Austin, Winter decided to take a year off from newspaper and focus on his classes and joining other extracurriculars.

“I took a year to get acclimated to college at UT, and I just waited for [newspaper] to call back to me. If it did, then I’d know that I missed it and that I want to do it for sure,” Winter said. “I missed it.”

Winter applied to be a writer for The Daily Texan during his sophomore year, writing a tryout column on why Barbara Bush should vote for Michael Dukakis. That led to him becoming a sports writer, covering the lesser-known Longhorn sports.

Chloe Lewcock

Nate Williams co-editors-in-chief

Winter’s

After graduating, Winter had a big decision to make: begin a professional career in journalism or become a teacher to help create future reporters. Winter chose the latter and moved to California, teaching history and English. He followed the same guidance that led him to the Texan, to take a year off and wait for a calling.

“I didn’t even talk to anybody about my journalism experience during my first year in California,” Winter said.

Following his first year of teaching, Winter moved from the west coast to Georgia after a budget crisis in California public schools led to a statewide hiring freeze.

“I was what they called a ‘floating teacher,’ so I had a big metal cart with sharp edges and big rubber wheels,

“I did a story about the Texas Crew, a rowing feature, and a feature profile on a women’s track athlete,” Winter said. “I eventually worked my way up to being the sports editor at the Texan, and I was the general sports reporter who covered the baseball team.”

Winter participated heavily in every aspect of The Daily Texan, saying that journalism in college was his “jam.”

“I was working 60 hours a week on the newspaper, I was just fully entrenched in it and loved being a part of the team,” Winter said. “I just loved being a part of the community of talented individuals and covering stuff that would raise issues and make positive changes.”

Winter poses with ILPC director Alyssa Boehringer and his Max Haddick Texas Journalism Teacher of the Year Award at this year’s spring ILPC Convention. Photo by Nate Williams.

classrooms, and I was the new person,” Winter said. “At the end of that year, they said ‘Hey, Dave, you want a classroom?’ and I was like ‘yes, I do.’”

In order to get a classroom of his own, however, Winter would have to advise the school yearbook, a position he agreed to quickly. After a few years, the newspaper adviser at his school Wheeler High School in Marietta, Ga., approached him with the opportunity to help with the student paper. After nine years at Wheeler and 14 at Henry Grady High School in midtown Atlanta, Winter and his wife, along with their children Henry and Annabel, made the decision to move back to Texas.

“I initially wanted to be [at McCallum] because I wanted my kids to go here, and then I also wanted to be a teacher at the school where my kids attended,” Winter said. “This was the perfect place because Henry was in eighth grade and Annabel was in sixth grade when we moved so I could get acclimated and then the three of us would be here together.”

As the new adviser of the yearbook and newspaper on campus, Winter realized with the size of the school and multitude of activities to cover, he had a big transition ahead of him. That transition began with realizing the importance of the Peer Assistance and Leadership Service organization on campus.

“Two of my three main editors were in PALS and the schedule was such that PALS conflicted with the one newspaper class, so they made it very clear that PALS was No. 1 and that I had to adjust,” Winter said. “As the new guy, I tried my best to not ruffle everybody’s feathers.”

The next issue Winter faced was replacing the previous newspaper adviser Rhonda Moore, a beloved McCallum teacher of 16 years. Winter said his main goal throughout his first school year was to earn the trust of his new staff.

“The thing I remember most about my first year is that the yearbook and the newspaper staff gave me a chance and we had a good experience,” Winter said. “They had a really great paper before I got here, so when I looked at the program I felt that social media was the thing that we could really bulk up.”

Winter’s initial goal for his staff was to make social media a bigger deal and laid out his plan to post once a day, every school day on

Instagram. Since he made that declaration, @macjournalism has posted every school day for nearly 10 years.

At the ILPC Spring Convention, April 13, Winter received the Max Haddick Teacher of the Year Award. In his acceptance speech in the LBJ Auditorium, Winter said that the reason he is recognized for his work is because of his students. One of those students was Alice Scott, a former editor-in-chief and a 2024 graduate. Scott also received the JEA Journalist of the Year award that same year. Scott, playing such a large role on staff in her four-year tenure, felt like Winter was a guidepost when it came to newspaper, journalism and life in general. Her journey with Winter dates back to eighth grade when she met him at McCallum’s annual elective fair.

“I was going around to the different booths pretending to look at them,” Scott said. “But I really knew the booth I wanted to go to was the MacJ booth. I told [Winter] I had journalism experience and had been in broadcast in middle school, and that I wanted to join the newspaper staff as a freshman. He was like, ‘You can send me some of your work samples and we can see if this is possible.’”

Scott described the moment at the fair before even entering the school’s hallowed halls as the start to her journalism career, and the place where she knew she would build a connection with Winter over their shared love.

“He will always take a chance on someone,” Scott said. “He didn’t know who I was, he didn’t know if I really had journalism experience but he believed in me, and I sent

him work samples and he decided to let me join the paper early and that is something that changed the trajectory of my time in high school and changed the trajectory of what I’m doing in college now and that is all because of Mr. Winter.”

Scott’s description of Winter and his most notable aspects play a large role in his own teaching philosophy. One of the biggest lessons Winter has learned is the importance of taking a step back as the teacher and letting his students lead the way.

“What I really loved was that while this was a high school newspaper, he really did step back and let me and the other editors take charge of running the staff,” Scott said, “I think that’s really special. We would always run our ideas past him and get advice, but ultimately it was up to us, and I really appreciated that.”

This way of teaching and a teacher-student partnership grew over the years and wasn’t just something that Scott and the editors experienced for one year.

“We had a few years of just outstanding reporters like Grace Nugent, Anna McClellan and later Samantha Powers, Alyssa Spiro and Madeylnn Niles and Lucy Marco,” Winter said. “They were so talented, but I struggled with getting in the way of my students when they’re supposed to be doing the stuff that I teach them.”

Winter decided to put this challenge of his to the test by attending a football game versus Dripping Springs High School. Instead of taking pictures of the game, however,

Winter took a back seat to his first-year photographers on the sideline.

“We were playing this team that we were not supposed to win against, but in the fourth quarter we came roaring back and scored two or three touchdowns to get really close to winning the game,” Winter said. “I was looking around to see if any photographers were in the right place to get the picture that we need to show this moment of this huge touchdown that just happened and I was going crazy telling myself that I should have a camera so I could be sure we’d get the shot and asking myself ‘What was I thinking?’”

To his surprise, Nugent and McClellan were running full speed toward him, racing to be the first ones to show the pictures they took of the big touchdown.

“I realized that this is what it’s all about, the fact that they’re excited that they got the picture, and they’re so excited that they are sprinting to show it to me,” Winter said. “This is how it is supposed to work, and I did the right thing by taking myself out of the situation. I haven’t always been good and consistent at that, but it feels really good when I do.”

Winter believes that the newspaper’s role as a resource is not just covering the latest sports game or fine arts event, but also rallies and political coverage. The social media response tends to be lively and mixed. Winter also is proud of leading a high school journalism programs that focuses on a physical print paper along with a heavy online and social media presence.

Before becoming a teacher at McCallum in 2022, yearbook Webster noticed The Shield’s online posting and its impact on the school community.

“I think the student body who are not even involved in newspaper have a lot of respect for what the newspaper program does here,” Webster said. “One of the things that Mr. Winter has done better than any place in the country is the online stuff that MacJ does. It is a showstopper of success that nobody else is doing, and he has really leaned into listening to students on what works and what doesn’t.”

Scan the QR code to read the full profile or visit macshieldonline. com.

Winter with 2023-24 Shield staffers Francie Wilhelm, Alice Scott, Sophie Leung-Lieu, Lanie Sepehri and Naomi Di-Capua on Dress Like Your Favorite Teacher Day. Photo by Sofia Saucedo.

Josie Mullan co-web managing editor

Although rowing is not a sport at McCallum, for these Knights, rowing can be their most important commitment, with many practicing up to six times a week and racing all across the country. Through the two major rowing clubs in Austin, TRC (Texas Rowing Center) and ARC (Austin Rowing Club) on Town Lake, many students were introduced to the sport through summer programs and quickly fell in love. Pulling in teens from all across the Austin area, rowing has given these students a vibrant and diverse community, connecting them with different grades and students from different schools. Whether a sophomore or a senior, these students say rowing has been a critical part of their growth in high school as they have worked up the ranks from novice teams to varsity and prepare for recruitment to elite colleges.

sports Making waves

These Knights have found purpose and community in Austin’s rowing clubs

ELLA BROTMAN

Like many of her teammates, senior Ella Brotman was initially introduced to Texas Rowing Center through its two-week summer camp before her freshman year.

“I did the summer camp and decided I wanted to try it out in the fall, and I was going to do soccer in the spring, but I ended up loving [rowing] so much that I just stuck in it, and ended up continuing into the spring and all through high school,” Brotman said.

For all four years of high school, Brotman worked her way up the ranks from the novice team to the varsity team and is now a team captain, Brotman says rowing has been the most formative experience of high school.

“I would say it’s been the most defining factor of my high school experience just because of the profound impact it’s had on me as a person,” Brotman said. “Rowing has led me to grow probably the most out of anything because of what you have to do in your mind to succeed in the sport: you have to push yourself beyond what you’re capable of doing.”

Brotman explained that she’s grateful for the growth rowing has brought even outside of the sport.

“Over COVID, I really didn’t do very much, but rowing drove me to pursue more things and push myself to do better in everything,” Brotman said. “I’m not only pushing myself in my sport, but I’m pushing myself at school, in orchestra and just in everything that I do.”

Out of everything, however, Brotman said the thing that she has treasured the most throughout her years of rowing has been the bonds she’s been able to build with her fellow teammates.

“My favorite part about rowing is that I really love the community,” Brotman said. “I struggled a bit with finding friends freshman year at school, but rowing really helped me find a sense of community, and so that’s something that I’m really grateful for.”

Now fully committed to the University of Texas at Austin, Brotman said she’s hoping to continue her rowing career as a walk-on to the Longhorns team.

ABOVE: Sophomore Orlando Ames-Corral practicing in a single on Lady Bird Lake, Oct. 11.

“I intend to walk on to the rowing team at UT,” Brotman said. “They are three-time national champions in the past four years, so it’s going to be quite a challenge, but that’s hopefully my next step.”

ORLANDO AMES-CORRAL

Sophomore Orlando Ames-Corral has been rowing since seventh grade at Austin Rowing Club (ARC) after initially being introduced to it through the two-week summer camp program and falling in love with the sport.

Now racing in the highest-level eight boat and a leader on the varsity men’s team, Corral explains that the sport has taught him a lot about the role and importance of good leadership.

“Because we have new guys come in every year, there has to be someone to teach them what to do,” Corral said. “It’s also definitely taught me how to manage my work because I have 13 hours of practice, so I have to find time to do homework and all that.”

Although Corral says that being committed to a sport outside of McCallum can be a weird experience, it’s also allowed him to meet a lot of new people from different schools and even different countries.

“It’s interesting because I have a lot of friends from different schools,” Corral said. “When we travel to regattas, I get to meet a lot of new people. We went to the Head of the Charles [race] this year, and I met some people from Buffalo and some people from DC. I have some friends from Florida, Indiana, I get to meet tons of people from all over, even some people from outside the U.S., which is really interesting and cool.”

As a sophomore, Corral said he’s starting to gear up for the recruitment process, with one of his major goals being to be able to row in college.

“[One of my goals] is definitely recruitment to a college of some sort; one of my friends is going to the University of Connecticut for rowing,” Corral said. “I also might want to coach a team once I’m out of college.”

Overall, Corral says he urges more McCallum people to join rowing and continue to grow the program and the team. “If anyone is reading this, just join, we could use more manpower,” Corral said.

REMY LILY

Sophomore Remy Lily began rowing at Austin Rowing Club at the start of high school and has since become a varsity rower.

Lily said she was introduced to the sport by her older sister, who was the captain of the varsity team.

“My sister did it since she was in seventh grade, and she was the team captain for three years, so I always saw her doing it,” Lily said. “I also used to go to this really small school, and they didn’t really have sports there, so everybody got into rowing; it was kind of a big trend at that school. I got here last year, and I was like, I need something to do after school, so I joined rowing.”

Lily explained that it can be hard to do a sport outside of school because the district doesn’t recognize it, but it also allows her to take more electives as it doesn’t take up class periods like other athletics.

“It’s hard because it doesn’t count for AISD absences, but we go on a lot of trips, and we have notes, but they don’t accept them,” Lily said. “It’s nice though, because I also do basketball and it takes up so much of my class periods and it’s nice to have something that’s separate from that. I also get to meet people from a lot of different schools, which I really like.”

LEFT: Sophomore Aubrey Morgan carrying her boat as the team’s coxswain.

ABOVE: Sophomore Remy Lily in a two seat with teammate Olivia Pena.

LEFT: Senior Ella Brotman in her bow seat rowing at a nationals competition. All photos courtesy of the rowers in each photograph.

“When they were both happening, I was like, ‘Why did I sign up for both of those?’ I was going from basketball practice for two hours during the class period straight to rowing, so it was a lot,” Lily said. “I also liked it because I got to meet a lot of different people [through basketball] and have perspective, because rowing is a lot mentally and physically, so it was nice to have something a little bit more chill.”

Since joining the competitive team at ARC, Lily said she has grown a lot as a person and an athlete due to the intense mentality of the sport.

“I’ve only been rowing competitively for a year, and I feel I’ve grown a lot in that year, and we almost went to nationals last year, which was my first season rowing, so it’s cool to see how different people grow fast,” Lily said. “I feel like I’ve learned a lot about myself and my limits. Just because it is a very mental sport, and because we have to be there six days a week, I learned to know where my priorities are.”

“I came into the season telling my coaches that I need to take the season slow, and I’m also at the cut off, so I’m a sophomore, but I’m competing with juniors and seniors, so I thought this was a season I can just get faster, but then I made one of the better boats going to Ohio, and I was like, ‘OK maybe I can do this,’” Lily said. “I’m just taking it day by day, but I feel like the more I do it, the more that I enjoy it, and I’ve grown to like it a lot more.”

Looking ahead, Lily said she’s not aiming to row in college since the main attraction to her is the team camaraderie and social aspect rather than the technical precision of the sport.

“I feel like I want to enjoy my college experience, and I just don’t think I enjoy the training part enough to do that,” Lily said. “I more enjoy the team part of it, but I have so many friends going to Stanford and University of Pennsylvania for rowing, which I’m not at that point yet, but I could maybe try to get to that point.”

AUBREY MORGAN

Sophomore Aubrey Morgan began her rowing journey as a physical rower before switching to becoming a coxswain.

A coxswain steers the boat, calls commands and leads the team during practices. Now, as the head coxswain for the varsity men’s team at Texas Rowing Club, Morgan said she has grown immensely.

“I worked really hard to become the top coxswain on my team. I beat out a few people that were older than me and had more experience,” Morgan said. “I think the biggest thing was just showing up every day. I’ve only missed two practices since August, which is pretty big for me, so I’m really excited.”

Although fully committed now to rowing, Morgan says her initial introduction to the sport was simply due to not clicking with other sports.

“I was really bad at soccer and lacrosse, and my parents were looking for something different,” Morgan said. “I started off as a physical rower for about a year, and then they realized you’re not growing above five feet tall, so I switched to being a cox, and it worked out really well.”

Morgan said she is already starting the recruitment process, hoping to get recruited by the end of her junior year, but her commitment to rowing has not been easy, having to sacrifice theater in order to commit seriously to the sport.

“[I want to find] something with a good program, but also education-wise, I think education is the main thing and then rowing would be like a part of that, so I’m starting emails and everything now,” Morgan said. “I used to be a theater major but I had to drop that because I wasn’t able to go to the practices and performances, but it’s also helped because for college and recruitment, that’s a whole other situation that I wouldn’t have even thought of if I hadn’t been a part of [rowing].”

Since joining the basketball team this year, Lily said it has provided an extra challenge to balance both sports since both are so taxing. may

Despite taking this season slower due to balancing basketball and rowing, Lily still was earned a spot in one of the higher-level boats competing, an accomplishment of which she takes great pride.

Overall, Morgan encourages other people from McCallum to join rowing as she says it’s been an amazing way to make more friends and meet different types of people.

‘If anyone’s reading this, I’d say, please join, we’re always looking for new people and it’s a fun way to meet people from different schools,” Morgan said.

4:30 a.m. wake-up alarm

5:30—7 a.m. morning practice

7:30—8:30 a.m. get ready for school

9 a.m.—3 p.m. school

3:30—4:30 p.m. afternoon lift/training

5—7 p.m. evening practice

7:30—9:30 p.m. get ready for bed

10 p.m. bedtime

16, 2025

sports briefs

Softball team crushes Anderson to make state playoffs

The varsity softball team defeated the Anderson Trojans 9-1 on April 17 at Noack Fields in a tiebreaker game to secure the final playoff spot from District 24-5A.

The game was the third district meeting between the two teams. They had split their earlier meetings and finished tied at 7-7 in district play, prompting the neutral-site tiebreaker.

Junior Zara Cacci said the team had come in well-prepared.

“We’ve been doing a lot of hitting,” she said. “We know their pitcher is faster than a lot of pitchers we’ve faced this year, so we have been focusing on that a lot.”

In the win-or-go-home game, Mac scored one run in the top of the first inning and added three more in the second. On defense, pitcher Natalie Myrick struck out the side in the second inning, totaling five strikeouts in the first two innings.

“I’m really proud of the team—we did great—and I’m proud of my pitches tonight,” Myrick said. “I feel like I did well and could feel the love and support from the team and crowd.”

Junior Grace Yemington, who caught for Myrick, also went 3-for-3 at the plate, drew a walk and scored one run.

“Our pitcher killed it,” Yemington said. “She did awesome, and I’m really proud of her.”

The Knights extended their lead to 5-0 in the third inning. Yemington led off with

a single, advanced on a sacrifice bunt, and scored on a ground ball to short that was mishandled. The Trojans pushed a run across in the bottom of the third, the only run they would score during the game.

In the fourth, Tallulah McColgin led off with a double and scored on a two-out single by Jazzy Urdy. Urdy later scored on a Maggie Smith single after advancing on a Yemington double, pushing the lead to 7-1.

The Knights added two more runs in the fifth. Tiara Cooks tripled with one out and scored on an error. Myrick followed with a double, and McColgin, already on third, scored on a wild pitch.

“I felt like we were playing a really strong game and held them at one run the whole game, so I’m really proud of our defense,” Yemington said.

The defense kept the Trojans off the scoreboard in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to close out the game, 9-1. Myrick earned a complete game win, pitching all seven innings with 11 strikeouts, walking no one and allowing only five hits and one earned run.

The win advanced the Knights to the first round of the playoffs and ended the Trojans’ season. In the playoff game, the Knights lost to the Georgetown East View, 10-1, on April 24. Junior center fielder Lila Brotherton doubled and scored the Knights’ run.

—Tristen Diaz

Knights edge Bears to close district play

Thanks to a walkoff double by junior Gus Hernandez, the varsity baseball team walked off Bastrop 7-6 at Nelson Field to split their final series of the district season and clinch second place in District 24-5A.

Earlier that week, the Knights traveled to Bastrop and lost 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth on a walk-off sacrifice fly.

Going into the final inning of Game 2 of the series, the Knights were losing 6-4. Sophomore Tommy McIntyre and freshman Mason White both drew walks. Junior Jack Casey then came up to the plate and put the ball into play bringing McIntyre home to score. This brought up Hernandez, whose double brought in White with the tying run and Casey with the gamewinner.

“It was a big moment and it felt great to pull through and get the win,” Hernandez said. “I was just looking for a fastball early in the count and looking to put the ball in play.”

While Hernandez’s double was the deciding play in the game, he credits the team’s win to all the batters and pitchers.

“We did a good job putting the ball in play,” he said. “Our pitchers did a good job executing their pitches.”

With the win against Bastrop on Saturday, the Knights secured second place in their

The Knights storm the field after their walkoff win over Bastrop. Photo by Caryle Levine. district and locked in their playoff opponent, Hendrickson, whom the Knights had beaten 9-7 in a non-district game previously.

The Knights and Hawks eventually played after first battling the weather. The Knights drove to Vista Ridge High School on May 1 only to turn the bus around and head home after the game was postponed a day due to expected rain. On May 2, the Knights and Hawks played into the fourth inning of Game 1 before the game was postponed again. Eventually, the Hawks swept the series 6-3 and 3-2. —Maya Tackett

june 9-11

McCallum Knights Baseball Skills Camp, 9 a.m.-noon

june 23-26

Girls basketball summer camp, 9 a.m.-noon

july 31-aug. 1

Knight Volleyball Clinic

aug. 4-5

Mac volleyball tryouts

aug. 9

First football full contact

Varsity track teams advance to area

The track and field team competed in the finals for the district meet on April 3. Many of the athletes who competed in the finals had to first compete on April 1 in the preliminaries to determine who would move on. Only the top eight finishers in each preliminary heat advanced to finals.

Races started at 2 p.m with the 4x1 relay. The JV teams both placed, with the boys finishing in first place and the girls in third place. The varsity teams both placed in the top four, which advanced them to area.

Freshman Bell Morton was the third leg for the relay team and felt good about her performance along with the teams.

“We all worked really hard, and I’m proud of our third place,“ Morton said.

Morton also competed individually in the 100-meter hurdles and said that the weather definitely impacted her performance.

“I was really struggling to keep pushing in the heat, but it’s better than the cold in my opinion,” Morton said.

Many other varsity athletes advanced to area as well including Julia Lentz in the 800-meter run, Kafia Jackson Woods in the 100-meter hurdles, Evans Thayer in both the 110- and 300-meter hurdles and Caroline Bell in the 100-dash. Ivy Stone, Tristen Wright and Cash Cuppett all advanced in the 400-meter dash.

Senior Gabriele Rodriguez placed first in the 300-meter hurdles, making her district champ along with advancing her to area. The girls 4x2 relay also advanced to area along with both girls and boys 4x4 relay teams.

Field events held their finals on April 1. Eight McCallum athletes advanced past the finals. Mark Sanchez competed in triple jump and placed fourth, which qualified him for area. Dylan Fissel joined him, advancing for shot put. Miguel Vasquez, Tate Jones and Grace Schlegel advanced in the pole vault. Finally, Luke Dunham, Piper Adair and Julia Van Houten earned spots in high jump.

As a team, the McCallum JV girls took sixth in the district with a total of 41 points. The JV boys meanwhile finished second with 156 points. The varsity girls finished fourth with 95 points, as did the varsity boys with 76.33 points. —Adele

Junior Ethan Plummer shoots in loss to Cedar Creek

Seeboth

Sophomore Natalie Myrick pitches in high stakes game against the Trojans.

Photo by Teddy Smith

Senior Gabriele Rodriguez runs in her relay race. She also won the 300-meter hurdles at district. Photo by Adele Seeboth

opinion

may 16, 2025

Prioritizing communication

After monthly drills, recent incidents, clear messaging is the key to handling threats

Eva Sanchez staff reporter

I do not have the answer to eliminating threats against our schools. But what I do know is the system to protect our staff and students during these threats is not working. This problem is not unique to McCallum, but rather a national epidemic. No school has proven immune to it, nor shown there is one right way to deal with it. Our political representatives have proposed a wide range of expensive and controversial strategies including investing in security protocol similar to how prisons operate. Other ideas have included equipping all of our teachers with loaded guns like many trained and professional officers/ security do. Having been through many drills and live threats myself (including many this school year), I think there is a much more basic issue at the core of our safety.

An answer: better communication. What I have observed in my experience is that the drills are not effectively getting through to the students. Teachers are not equipped with consistent training and, in some live situations, miscommunication has led to chaos and psychological harm. I am not trying to blame the schools— this is an extremely complicated matter—I am simply stating that a change is needed. Through my experiences with these threats, both drills and reality, I have found there is a lack of awareness that ultimately contributes to destructive outcomes. The safety and security drills have never been taken seriously by the student body. My own attention drifts to the laughter and frivolous behaviors of my peers while we engage in a variety of drills. I, too, am guilty of never actually considering the seriousness of these procedures. I usually entertain my friends and find holding our knees amusing during a tornado drill. Whether it’s being forced outside to escape imaginary flames, holding in a secure or having to face the lockers pretending there’s debris in the air, students find entertainment

in the drills rather than seriousness. I try not to worry that these scenarios would ever become real. The reality of that is too horrifying to face. Yet 83 shootings, 3,200 fires and 617 reported extreme weather events in the past year have proved my immature perspective of conflict wrong. Hopefully, someday, I would actually know what to do if a hazardous situation were to occur.

“ I have found there is a lack of awareness that ultimately contributes to destructive outcomes.

”

Communication is the most essential necessity to live in a society. From the first cry to our ability to justify our arguments, communicating is vital to be able to work together and coexist. Yet it hasn’t been mastered, not even by the scholars. Schools are no exception. Ineffective receiving and giving information, whether face-to-face or over technology, creates havoc within the lives of our students, faculty and our futures.

To my point, on Friday, Feb. 28, McCallum administration was informed of reports of an adult with a gun located blocks away from the campus. Though the gunman was reportedly seen in the nearby McDonald’s parking lot,

the school enforced a “secure.” A “secure” does not allow students in or out of the school buildings. This was likely the appropriate response to ensure this situation did not make its way to campus. Communication and additional information about the threat, however, was incomplete, which escalated the anxiety of the situation for many students on campus. Though the “secure” was set in place, some students and faculty were not aware of the procedure and ended up putting the students in an actual lockdown.

A lockdown, completely different from a “secure,” occurs when the threat is inside the campus. All classes and rooms must be closed off, doors locked and students/faculty find the safest spot within their current environment.

every student and friend who hid along the wall with me for what it felt like hours. Most kept their attention and eyes locked to the window facing the hall. Every ear of every student awaited any sort of noise, startling at a simple screech from a shoe. I found some of my classmates messaging loved ones trying to make sense of the chaos. While some simply turned their attention away from the noise, finding comfort by embracing their knees. Our teacher shivered, as did I, their eyes glued to the screen in front of them clearly anticipating some sort of reassurance. Then, as quickly as it began, we learned that the lockdown was not needed. The panic and emotional strain that the procedure caused is what brought me to this reflection and desire

I use this scenario as one example. Yet, in each of the active threats I have observed, a simple code word to assess the emergency and enforce the right procedure would have completely changed the narrative. I’m not talking about investing millions in additional training and programs for schools, I’m talking about consistent and understood codes or cues. With transparency of communication, we assure our faculty, students and parents that we are all on the same page and not subject to rumors and harmful disinformation.

“ A simple code word to assess the emergency and enforce the right procedure would have completely changed the narrative.

”

At the time of the threat, my class was put into lockdown by one of McCallum’s newest teachers. Of course, my first impression, as well of those of my classmates, was that the potential threat existed within the halls and classrooms of McCallum. I must have studied

I’m privileged to go to a school where I haven’t once been in an emergency to where my life has actually been in danger. I would like to keep it that way. Though, the answer to keeping us safe isn’t as simple as locking the doors. As a student who attends school five times a week in this social and political climate, I understand the tension and anxiety that haunts every teenager who sits in a classroom. This is not a productive learning environment. The purpose of this article is not to demand a system that’s not easily accessible, but one that is more to adapt off of these experiences. We need to prioritize keeping the students and staff safe—not through million dollar training programs or more guns to fight guns. The wellbeing of our students, faculty and administration rely on our most basic fundamental, strong communication.

16, 2025

Era of online convenience encourages one-hit wonders, short-lived trends

Camilla Vandegrift social media managing editor

These days, the only time most people will hear a record scratch is through a pair of headphones. The only singing voices most people are used to are auto-tuned and clear of any imperfections. In a digital time when mainstream music is highly computerized and structured specifically for fame and financial gain, physical, more authentic music is receiving less recognition. In a time of short attention spans and quick dopamine, music is following along with many other types of entertainment in becoming as tightly packaged as possible to appeal to an impatient audience. Though still present, hard-copy formats of music such as records and CDs are becoming obsolete due to this trend— and though Austin remains the live music capital of the world—it may be difficult to retain this title if these physical music mediums die out entirely.

The biggest issue I have with the modern music industry is how it essentially incentivizes artists to make quick cash-grab songs that will have their 15 minutes of fame on TikTok and never be seen or heard again. This business model has also led to the structure of having music always accompany a visual, with constant influx of music videos and social media trends flooding into the eyes of millions of viewers who have gotten used to music being presented in this way. Creativity in both music and these visuals has been limited even more by the constrained time that these viewers are willing to spend on any given video before they move onto the next. Every week there is a new top hit, each with a slowed-down version, a sped-up version and a remix.

“ Part of the reason I’ve come to love physical music is because my family has always lived a little bit analog, or at least a few years behind the technological curve.

”

modern era has linked pop culture, including music, with the approval and enjoyment of users on platforms that are known for toxicity and hatred. There are surely some advantages to digital music, especially surrounding its convenience and availability. I am not going to deny that I use my Spotify account religiously. In one second, I can pick any song from among over 100 million the service offers and stream it with perfectly clear audio immediately, which would be luxuries for a music lover 30 years ago. I definitely love being able to hear almost any song I want whenever I want, without having to get out a vinyl record, clean it and place the needle of the record player in the precise groove so the song doesn’t start too early. And where your typical new CD from Waterloo Records might cost you maybe $12 for one album, you can pay Spotify that $12 once a month to hear almost any album you’ve ever heard of. But streaming services have made pure music listening too individualized while one of the greatest aspects of music, and in fact possibly its purpose, is its ability to bring people together. I think part of the reason I’ve come to love physical music is because my family has always lived a little bit analog, or at least a few years behind the technological curve. The manual-transmission car I drive to school and to work every day has none of the music-playing capabilities of a modern car. Where in most new cars you can find all kinds of touchscreen iPhone-compatible entertainment systems, my Honda Accord has a humble radio and CD player. My sister had to buy a Bluetooth converter to play Spotify when she drove the Accord, and I inherited her not-so-high-tech sound setup

And to be fair, it’s mostly the Bluetooth that I use. But sometimes I’ll pop in a CD–whether it be Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins or the mixtape my friend burned for me on a floppy disk in freshman year, and I get a special sense of nostalgia for past years of my life as well as a connection to whoever gave me the CD or introduced me to the album that I wouldn’t have gotten from a twosecond, almost thoughtless tap of a phone. Past CDs, my dad has always been an influence on my listening habits, and this is no different for records. If anything, it’s compounded for records. My dad owns over 100 records as well as two record players, and I was inspired starting in sophomore year to purchase my own. The first album I ever bought on vinyl was To Pimp A Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar. It’s a special kind of feeling to have loved an album for a long time, and to be able not only to hear it but to hold it in your own hands, knowing that you bought it with your own money. Since then I have built up my collection. I now own 18 records. The biggest reason I love owning vinyl, besides the sound quality, is that it’s specifically meant to be played out loud—you wouldn’t play it unless you were hearing it with someone else, or unless you were home alone and belting out the lyrics of the song to an empty house. Another reason that records are such an interesting music medium is that they require a lot of interaction from the listener. If you were shuffling an Apple Music playlist through your AirPods, every song comes on randomly and can be skipped by just two taps on one of the earbuds, but when playing a record, the songs come in the same order every time, and if you want to skip a song, you have to take the time to carefully lift the needle, stop the record rotation, move the needle over, start the record again and lower

the needle once more. There is so much more thought and painstaking detail that goes into playing records: operating the needle with a gentle touch so as not to accidentally damage record or player, carefully cleaning the grooves of a record before playing it so it doesn’t skip and placing the vinyl slowly back into its sleeve. Records are almost like a sacred item in my household, as they have to be handled with extreme care, and they also become very personal to the individual user, as you become accustomed to the specific order of each song on an album, how many songs are on each side of the record and where the record is most likely to skip. All of the time and energy that it takes to even own and play records causes the user to slow down and really listen to the music being played. The convenience of modern streaming capabilities has diluted music’s meaning, as it has become background noise to every task that needs to be done because it’s so easy to just put on a song and forget about it, instead of the way music was intended to be heard, with full attention.

“

Time is relative, and before long, there will be something even more revolutionary that will change the way people listen to music.

All of this is not to say that I don’t myself utilize my own AirPods and Bluetooth and streaming services often, if not most of the time. And my bias also may be because I simply find most things old and obsolete to be charming. I still hold some sense of pride in my dad’s iPod Nano that our family took on road trips for years when I was a kid, as it seems like old and less convenient tech to me now, though I’m sure when the Nano was released that many people felt about it the way that I feel about streaming services now. Time is relative, and before long, there will be something even more revolutionary that will change the way people listen to music.

”

But while vinyl and CDs are still around, I would encourage everyone to explore these music mediums if they can. Sometimes these formats are harder to find or less affordable, but there are still many ways to obtain them, and as the live music capital of the world, Austin has several local stores to purchase them cheaply. We take music and the ability to play it in an instant too much for granted, and except for that one time last year where you forgot to bring your headphones to school, there’s not many times when we are forced to remember that. Listening to music in a physical format even every now and then will help you feel better connected to the music and to people around you, and will make the listening experience all the more unique.

Unfairly standardized

State exams aren’t

Shield staff

The first state-mandated test in Texas was the Texas Assessment of Basic Skills in 1980; since then, standardized testing has continued to evolve. We currently have the STAAR test (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness), which was first implemented in 2011. It’s these very tests that can determine the fate of schools throughout Texas. Dobie Middle School faces being shut down due to student scores for this very test. After receiving four F’s in a row and expecting a fifth, the school will be shutting down at the end of this school year. For a test that can make such a large impact on a community, it doesn’t really take the community itself into account at all. In Dobie, the minority student enrollment is 98%. And in 2023-2024, 70.8% of Dobie Middle School students were enrolled in bilingual and English language learning programs.

Past the fifth grade, students taking the STAAR are only allowed to do so in English, but for many at Dobie, English is not their first language. This means that many students are taking the STAAR tests for the first time in English once they enter middle school. While recently Trump has signed an

equitable if the language of the test is an unfair disadvantage

executive order stating that English is the official language of the United States, there were still years when this was not the case, and the U.S. had no official language, and yet, English was still the only language that the STAAR tests offered past fifth grade during that time.

If the majority of students are forced to take tests in a second language they have not had time to learn and be fully comfortable with, then how can these tests be used as a measure of standardization? When the playing fields are uneven, you cannot expect the result to accurately display the capabilities of this school and its students. The idea of solely English standardized tests does not promote a better education system, simply a less diverse one.

It’s understandable that there should be some measure of seeing how well schools are doing in terms of educating their students, but the current standardized testing system does not represent the growth of education, but instead the limitations of it. If we continue not to present students across the state with equal opportunities, then how can we tell them that

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they have failed? Being able to be tested in the language you feel most comfortable speaking should be the right of every student taking these tests.

Students, their teachers and their schools should not be judged on an uneven playing field, but that’s exactly what’s happening when students with different levels of English mastery are required to meet the same standard based on a test that assumes mastery of English.

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may 16, 2025

Issue 5 crossword

Across

3. Sanchez believes this needs to improve to make the school safer.

7. ________ v Board of Education. Landmark case that inspired Texas school vouchers

8. Pizza restaurant recommended by Truan

9. Unofficial mascot of The Shield

Down

1. Popular sport at McCallum, although the school doesn’t have a team

2. Song representing Bradsby’s senior year

4. Platform used to sign up for hall passes and FIT

5. Tuck Everlasting was nominated for 10 of these awards and brought home three of them.

6. Senior set to play soccer in college in England

Crossword and graphics by JoJo Barnard. Cover photo by Beatrix Lozach.