Volume 3, Issue 2

McHenry High School | McHenry, Illinois | Volume Three | Issue Two | December 2021

IN THIS ISSUE After two unusual commencements, graduation returns to McCracken.

PAGE 4 Lockdown drills prepare students for the worst, but do they harm students too?

PAGE 5 Are uncomfortable state fitness tests really worth the extra work?

PAGE 13

Burnt Out Student misbehavior and stressful expectations — all in the wake of an unprecedented year — has caused staff to feel burnt out.

How are they handling the extra stress?

PAGE 7

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Table of Contents

The First Look

A student is sworn in on a text book during the mock trial held in Youth and Law on December 2 in room 320 at the Upper Campus.

Photo By: Allie Everhart

ON THE COVER The cover of this issue is an image meant to portray the feeling of burnout that teachers have been feeling. We used an image of a smoking match to show how the energy at the end of this semester is low, especially after teachers have had to deal with bad behavior and extra stress due to the effects of the current pandemic.

Kennedy Tetour This month’s cover photographer

Volume Three | Issue Two | December 2021

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In This Issue NEWS

MCHS implements remote learning plan for snow days Seniors to graduate at McCracken Field OPINIONS

Lockdown drills can be as harmful as they are helpful America’s justice system is flawed FEATURES

Spring break tired Offering change SPORTS

Striking success Is fitness testing worth it?

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

Big cat-astrophe

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The McHenry Messenger Mission Statement Student journalists have the right to exercise freedom of speech and the press in school-sponsored media. The McHenry Messenger is a byproduct of these rights. We hope to use this platform to inform and engage the students and staff of McHenry High School as well as its broader community.

As a student-driven publication, it is important to us that we represent every group within both campuses, provide a platform for them to speak their truth, and ensure access to objective, relevant information that they need to know.

As we strive to fulfill our journalistic mission, we recognize that learning and growing through our experiences as reporters, writers, and editors is a core aspect of what makes this a student publication. When we make mistakes, our organization is prepared to take responsibility for the stories we publish and hold ourselves accountable.

Finally, despite the difficulties presented by these unprecedented times — which includes a global pandemic — our student newspaper intends to meet the same high standard of journalism as any other school year.

Published by Editorial Staff

Staff Writers Contributing Illustrators and Photographers Special Thanks to Advisor

McHenry High School in McHenry, IL Kennedy Tetour, Managing Editor Kyla Henige, News Editor Alayna Majkrzak, Features Editor Josie Cable, Opinion Editor Mackenzie Sroka, Sports Editor Ella Trimingham, Copy Editor Brooke Danz, Assistant Copy Editor Nikki Sisson, Marketing Director Lainey Borchert, Kylie Chisamore, Lydia Lawrence, Vanessa Moreno, and Alexis Vazquez Beth Brackmann and Allie Everhart

Matt Connor, Betsy Goy, Amy Maciaszek, Gina Nomikoudis, Jeff Prickett, Mitch Stengel, and VIP Dane Erbach

Both the McHenry Messenger’s print and digital editions have been established as designated forums for student editors to inform and educate their readers as well as for the discussion of issues related to their audience. Though the student media advisor is responsible for teaching students sound journalism skills and judgment, this paper does not engage in prior review and, thus, all content published by both editions of the McHenry Messenger reflects only the views of the student staff and not school officials or the school itself (unless attributed accordingly).

Keeping MCHS informed during the chaos of finals

MCHS is easing into the end of the semester. Winter break is drawing closer and students are becoming more excited for the prospect of getting time off. This year has been unprecedented and very unpredictable for everyone within the community.

The Mchenry Messenger staff have been working hard to make sure that students leave the campus well-informed about our community before winter break. Even when the staff is smaller than ever before, we are able to put together another print edition for all students, staff, and many more within the community.

This second edition of the McHenry Messenger dives into school-wide topics as well as national stories. Whether it is our school’s new snow day policy or plans for graduation, that MCHS’s new fundraising ideas for activities or bowling success, the outcome of the Kyle Rittenhouse trial or the new season of “Tiger King,” we hope you get a sense of what’s going on in and around our buildings.

For this issue, we tackle a topic that has been difficult for schools across the country—teacher burnout. Even students at MCHS have had to wrestle with a difficult school year, including bad behavior and draining expectations. We hope that localizing this issue helps spotlight this story.

Celebrate with us as we release this latest print edition, as we enter the holiday season and as we approach the finish line to the end of first semester. We hope that these stories keep you informed as we ease into a new year.

Alayna Majkrzak Features Editor

If you would like to get in contact with the McHenry Messenger, please email the advisor at erbachdane@dist156.org or call (815) 385-7077 and leave a message on his voicemail.

Visit TheMcHenryMessenger.com for more news, features, and opinions Our issues are printed by the McHenry High School Graphics Program: Warriors INK www.mchswarriorsink.com

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News

Snow days are usually called when roads and parking lots are dangerous to drive on or when it is too cold for students to walk to school. This year, students will learn from home when inclement weather can be predicted.

Photo By: Adam Chandler / Flickr

MCHS implements remote learning plan for snow days Lydia Lawrence Staff Writer

On Nov. 23, MCHS implemented a new emergency closing plan to prevent pauses in learning due to inclement weather.

Because of COVID-19, schools discovered a new learning model; digital learning. This allows students and teachers to connect virtually through various platforms. Recently, MCHS made the decision to use this model in case of emergency closings.

Typically, schools consider closing for two reasons: excessive snowfall or extreme cold. In the case of heavy snowfall, the decision to close is often made early in the day in case snow was cleared overnight. They also consider closing when temperatures drop below -30 degrees as frostbite can occur within minutes of exposure.

Digital learning will only be held on days where inclement weather was predicted the day or night before.

If the school closes the morning of,

Volume Three | Issue Two | December 2021

When inclement weather can be predicted, students will learn from home, says updated learning plan digital learning will not take place and the day will be made up at the end of the school year. MCHS developed this snow day policy to keep learning from being paused

According to the MCHS Emergency Learning Plan, on e-learning days students will be expected to join all their classes, except study hall, through links provided by their teachers on Schoology. Study hall will be asynchronous and should be used to complete any academic work. Regarding blended courses, students should still virtually join, but their teachers might release them to work offline.

Additionally, AIM will remain on the bell schedule but will become “office hours” where students can meet with teachers through their office hours link.

This new policy received mixed reactions from students. Some enjoyed the traditional snow days

where they didn’t have to worry about school.

“Snow days are for playing in the snow and sleeping in,” said junior Julianna Ries. “If you have to do e-learning then you don’t get the traditional experience of a snow day.”

Others, however, see the benefits of avoiding learning disruptions because of inclement weather.

“It’s basically the same as a regular school day,” said sophomore Helaina Von Allmen, “and it’s nice to have no extra days.”

In case of a digital learning day, students and guardians will be notified via call or text to the phone number(s) they provided on Skyward.

MCHS stresses the importance of updating contact information in order to be notified. The district website will also be updated with information regarding closures and extracurricular activities.

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A member of the class of 2019 stands to be recognized during East Campus’s graduation ceremony at McCracken Field.

Photo By: VIP

Seniors to graduate at McCracken Field Graduation will take place outdoors to accommodate a combined senior classes for the first time since COVID

This year, MCHS will be holding graduation at McCracken Field with all seniors for the first time since 2019.

With the combining of both East and West campuses, this will be the first year that all seniors at MCHS will attend the same graduation ceremony. Previously, West and East campus held the ceremony in the main gyms, while East occasionally went to McCracken.

Last year was very different with both schools holding multiple ceremonies because of COVID guidelines. While both campuses have held outdoor graduations before, with a much larger class, the community has

decided to go outside.

“This year may be different because I felt it was important to survey all seniors, their parents, staff and faculty to decide where do you want to go?” said Jeff Prickett. “One of the options was McCracken Field. Another option was Willow Creek Church in Barrington.”

A vast majority of the voters wanted to stay in town and have graduation at McCracken. Because of the outdoor location, COVID restrictions will be almost nonexistent, however there will still be a concern for weather.

“If there is a concern for weather, we then would have to go

Josie Cable Opinions Editor into the gym here at the upper campus,” Prickett said. “Then there will be restrictions and we’ll have to have two separate graduations because we won’t be able to fit everybody in the main gym at one time.”

Seniors and their families are excited to have the ceremony at their hometown in one big ceremony to bring back some normalcy lost throughout past years.

“I feel like it’s a common place between the campuses,” says Aspen O’Brien. “It might seem weird for kids who have only been at the Upper Campus for one year to graduate in our gym, so McCracken is a perfect middle ground.”

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Opinions

Cowering in a corner during a lockdown drill can feel like the end of the world, especially when students don’t know it’s a drill.

Illustration By: Beth Brackmann

Opinion

Lockdown drills can be as harmful as they are helpful Vanessa Moreno Staff Writer

Students silently sit in the corner of their classroom after a lockdown has been announced. The lockdown is a drill, but they don’t know that. Some students fear for their lives, wonder if they should write farewell messages to their families. While there are benefits to lockdown drills, they can be traumatizing if they are unannounced and they don’t provide solutions to the real issue.

In 1999, two seniors at Columbine High School in Colorado murdered 12 students and one teacher. The tragic event inspired schools in the United States to establish lockdown drills.

In these drills, teachers lock the classroom, turn off the lights, and close the blinds. Students and teachers then hide in a corner silently until the drill is over. According to research from the Washington Post, in the 2017-2018 school year, over four million students participated in lock downs.

Sometimes when lockdown drills are conducted, students are not told that it’s a drill and that there’s not a threat. This causes some students to panic, as they believe their life is in danger. As mentioned by Dr. David Schnfield, director of the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement, on CNN News, the use of deception during lockdown exercises is not just inappropriate, but also unethical. Many students have seen the news reports of school shootings and how tragic they are. By not informing students that the lockdowns are just drills, schools are putting unnecessary stress on students. Students should not be spending these drills thinking that they are going to die. Announcing that drills Volume Three | Issue Two | December 2021

Each year, millions of school-aged children participate in lockdown drills, which can have negative effects are just drills is crucial in order to keep students calm.

Aside from not announcing drills, schools should implement types of lockdowns that are not traumatizing to students and teachers. Though MCHS does not, some schools in the United States use the ALICE training method in place of traditional lockdown drills. According to ALICE Training, the acronym stands for alert, lockdown, inform, counter, and evacuate. The “counter” encourages individuals to, if necessary, do something to distract the shooter. Under ALICE training, some schools have a police officer role play as an armed intruder with a fake gun and pellets. As a way to train teachers, the fake intruder shoots them with the plastic pellets. These pellets leave teachers with welts, bruises, and abrasions, according to teachers in Monticello, Indiana. The point of this, according to Monticello teachers, is to show what happens when you cower and do nothing. Clearly this type of school shooting drill is not the most effective as some teachers are physically and mentally harmed. For students, witnessing could also be traumatic, especially for the younger children since ALICE Training is available for kindergarten to 12th grade.

A key flaw of lockdown drills is that they don’t help prevent school shootings, they just train every student for what to do in case of a threat. Professor of criminology and criminal justice Jillian Peterson notes that the majority of school shooters have a history of childhood trauma, abuse, neglect, or bullying. While these

situations don’t justify harming others, they help explain the motives behind school shootings.

Because of this, schools and communities should focus on providing mental health resources to students going through difficult times. If teachers were trained to recognize signs that a student might be struggling and those students could receive support, future school shootings could be prevented. With less frequent school shootings students and teachers wouldn’t have to go through potentially traumatic lockdown drills or ALICE Training as often.

Despite the potential effects of lockdown drills, they can be highly effective when done right. Training students on what to do if there was ever a school shooting can potentially save lives. Most school shootings are very quick events and no shooter is going to waste their time trying to open a locked door. They are looking for easy targets. Because of this, the traditional lockdown drills consisting of students hiding and locking the door can be extremely effective. For example, Ohio school safety consultant Ken Trump reported on IndyStar that there have been instances where shooters went past locked classrooms because they thought no one was there.

If every student and teacher is made aware of lockdown drills then everyone can be calm and prepare for these situations.

Lockdown drills can be intense and draining for teachers and students alike. Schools shouldn’t get rid of them, but they should rethink the way they are done while providing more mental health resources for students.

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Kyle Rittenhouse is sworn in to testify during his trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse on Nov. 10, 2021, in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Photo By: Mark Hertzberg / Getty Images / TNS

Opinion

America’s justice system is flawed After Kyle Rittenhouse was unfairly acquitted of all charges, he is now being considered a national hero

A teenage boy from Illinois goes to a Black Lives Matter protest in Wisconsin.

That night he shoots three people, killing two.

He walked home from that protest alive and free. This boy later faces the consequences of his actions in court. He again walked out of his trial alive and free.

Kyle Rittenhouse is a 17 year old from Antioch, Illinois who killed two and injured one during a BLM protest in August 2020, surrounding the shooting of Jacob Blake by a police officer. Rittenhouse was taken into custody the next day and a year later, faced the court and was acquitted of all charges.

Rittenhouse appeared to be a part of a “militia” that was involved in these protests, but as peacekeepers. They were trying to protect the businesses nearby with shotguns and rifles. This doesn’t seem right; if they were really trying to keep peace, wouldn’t they discourage the shooting and violence of others?

Not only did Rittenhouse shoot three people, but he was also in possession

of an automatic rifle at 17 years old. In both Illinois and Wisconsin, the legal age to own a firearm is 18. Some exceptions are teenagers using parents’ rifles for hunting, or at a shooting range. Rittenhouse says this gun wasn’t his, it was a friend’s. This shouldn’t fall under the “hunting exception”, as hunting is meant in terms of animals, not people.

Rittenhouse, who killed two men with a weapon illegal for him to have had, is considered a national hero to some. The Congressional Medal of Honor is the legislative branch’s highest honor, presented to those who fight against United States enemies and threats. This is the same award Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) wants to present to Rittenhouse. She is attempting to get a bill passed through congress in favor of the Medal going to Rittenhouse. However this representative voted against awarding the Medal of Honor to the officers that protected the Capitol Building on January 6. To some United States Congress members, a teenage boy who killed two people and injured one amid a protest for the BLM movement is

Nikki Sisson Marking Manager more respectable and more of a hero than those who stood outside the nations’ Capitol building to protect those same senators and representatives from a violent mob.

Many, including Rittenhouse and the judge of his case, argue it was self defense.

That Rittenhouse was truly threatened and felt resorting to murder was necessary.

However, Anthony Huber, one of the men he killed, came at him with a skateboard. Not a gun, or a weapon, but a skateboard. Something that could have been taken, or wrestled away from Huber. But Rittenhouse fatally shot him. Joseph Rosenbaum, the other man who died due to Rittenhouse’s aggression, didn’t have anything that could have been considered a weapon. The man who was just injured had a gun, but there was no mention of him trying to use it against Rittenhouse.

America needs to rethink some of its morals and values if these are the people we praise and let off easy. Men like Rittenhouse need to pay the consequences, and the only way that will happen is if the U.S., as a country, changes.

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Features

Spring break tired After a less than a semester back in the building, staff members at MCHS feel burnt out during yet another unprecedented year

Teachers go home, bag slung over a shoulder and head pounding with everything that went on through the day. Kids misbehaving, school work not being turned in, essays that need to be graded — all of it piles up, leaving a mountain of work yet to be done and problems that still need solving. Even at home teachers can’t leave behind their school day. All of these factors leave teachers feeling burnt out more-so than ever before.

Last year, everything was very unprecedented, whether that be worrying about COVID-19 or having to make many changes to the daily school life of young teenagers. Last year left many students floundering, due to many changes happening all too fast. This leads to students not wanting to do work and trudging through the school year. Many students left the 2020-2021 school year feeling burnt out due to all the stress and changes happening to a seemingly normal institution like school. This is the same process that is happening to teachers, not just within MCHS but country wide.

Alayna Majkrzak Features Editor

Though students have been through a lot during the pandemic, staff members at MCHS and throughout the country have also felt burned out by the sudden changes to the field of education.

All Photos By: Kennedy Tetour Unless otherwise credited

Volume Three | Issue Two | December 2021

8 Photo By: Mackenzie Sroka

Jeffery Pricket

Curtis Menke

Otto Corzo

Dr. Jeff Prickett sits in a dark office, computer screen on, and an inbox is flooded with emails from students, teaching staff, security and more. All of the work piles up, feeling almost insurmountable. Stress builds up and leads to many staff members feeling burnt out just from a few months back in school at MCHS.

Coming back from summer break after a year of online learning, hybrid learning and some in-person learning has taken its toll on not just teachers, but administration as well, including MCHS’s principal. “I think people came back knowing that it would be different but not quite how it would be different,” says Prickett.

This change paired with the combining of campuses and many more blended classes has led to a lot of stress being placed onto his shoulders. “Trying to figure out how I can meet people’s needs is just very tough,” Prickett states. “I don’t have all the answers.”

Nonetheless he finds ways to support the many members of the teaching staff that are feeling burnt out from this school year. Encouraging staff to take mental health days and days for themselves. Prickett adds, “Because if you’re not good, you’re not going to be good for anybody else.”

This burn out that Prickett says is making the staff feel “spring break tired” in October and November is making waves in many other areas of MCHS, not just Prickett.

An influx of people have flowed into the College and Career Center in the past weeks. This time, it is not students seeking advice. It is the teaching staff of MCHS that needs someone to talk to. Not only is the College and Career Counselor Curtis Menke helping students plan their futures, he is helping teachers process the present.

The feeling of being burnt out is becoming more of a commonplace for MCHS staff members. Even a counselor like Menke who doesn’t have multiple classes and isn’t seeing over 100 kids in a day is feeling worn down and burnt out.

“This has been a tough school year.” Menke states. “It’s kind of a perfect storm of several things happening at once and any one of these would be difficult to manage.” Things like the shift in school, a global pandemic, and the current political climate only seek to exacerbate the stress of the situation many teachers and counselors are placed in.

“I could not imagine being a classroom teacher trying to manage the new, the change, the struggles of everything that goes along with what classroom teachers have to do.”

Menke states. Though he is also able to note that no matter how much his colleagues struggle they will always do their job to the best of their ability even if they are feeling burnt out.

As soon as students leave the room, Spanish teacher Otto Corzo sits down at his desk. Students’ assignments are piling up and it suddenly feels like there aren’t enough hours in a day for him to possibly do everything he needs to. Though, once more students walk in he is back on his feet with a smile on his face. His passion for teaching winning out over the tired haze over him.

Corzo has been teaching for 14 year. Even over the six years he has been at MCHS he has noticed that this year he and his colleagues are feeling far more burnt out.

“We are not given the opportunity to have essential conversations about what is happening in the classroom or best practices,” Corzo states, “but we are assigned tasks tied to curriculum.”

He may be burnt out from this year, but he stresses that it is not from teaching itself. Corzo has a passion for teaching and has never let feeling tired, stressed, and burnt out affect the way he teaches.

“I am not burnt out from teaching,” he clarifies. “I love what I do. I am burnt out by the expectations and additional work that teachers are asked to complete on top of teaching.”

Corzo finds that one of the best ways he has to cope with these excessive expectations and burn out is talking to his colleagues both within MCHS and outside it. “We are not alone. It feels like we are but we are not. We are a community of educators working to best serve our students and the community.”

Remembering this fact as well as always helping students pushes Corzo through his burnout and allows him to continue through his school year.

Principal

College and Career Counselor

Spanish Teacher

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Features

Mitch Stengel

Kelleen Santoianni

Kaley Freund Science Teacher

Whether behind a camera for broadcast journalism, or behind a desk for English, Mitch Stengel feels the amount of stress affecting him in more ways than one. The amount of mental health days that need to be taken is more than before, and being tired for more days than ever. All of these are the effects of the burnout that is affecting many teachers at MCHS and other schools throughout the country.

With all of the changes that have been happening within MCHS, teachers like Stengel are becoming increasingly burnt out — not due to teaching itself but due to all the stress that comes along with it. “These changes breed unpredictability.” Stengel states.

Teaching is a demanding job.

With making sure students get assignments done, ensuring their health (mental and physical) is alright as well as dealing with more misbehavior than ever, it’s no surprise that many teachers are combating burnout by taking mental health days.

“When your job is school, and your home is school, that’s what leads to burnout,” Stengel states.

Some people take longer to process events that have all happened within a day, leading to more and more time being used up on that one event.

“I take time to process the day that went on at night,” he adds, “and that takes time out of personal time I would normally take.”

Processing the day, and making sure that they are okay enough to go to school the next day and help students can take a huge toll of teachers.

Especially ones that have to see a lot of kids within a day.

The bright papers that decorate r the room of Kelleen Santoianni are a stark contrast to how she is feeling this year at MCHS. This Spanish teacher, though known for her love for teaching and her use of music in the classroom has been hit hard by the effects of burnout.

Last year at MCHS was hectic to say the least. With all the different modes of learning that students had to go through that just left teachers having to adjust as they went. This took a toll on all the teachers at MCHS. This year, teachers were hoping to get closer to normal, and yet they were met with very unexpected challenges.

“It’s just mental exhaustion,” Santoianni states. Even with these new sets of obstacles, teachers like Santoianni are dealing with a burn out of unprecedented proportion within this school year alone.

The hectic past year, combined with all the new details on this school year has led to teachers having more on their plate than ever before.

More than even last year when they had to learn a whole different style of teaching. This was due to the expectation that many teachers had coming back to school full time.

“We kind of came into this year with the expectation that even though there will be new challenges as a result of it, it will be better than last year.”

Santoianni states.

All of these factors seem to pile up on each other. Becoming so mountainous that many teachers are struggling with wading through all the stress.

Kaley Freund stares at her computer screen, the artificial light making her eyes burn from how long she has had to be staring. Assignment after assignment come flooding in, all while students come in asking for help. Chemistry and AP Environmental Science grades pile up and consuming all too much time.

Freund has been teaching for 7 years, and yet this is still one of the hardest years she has had to encounter yet.

“I think as teachers we expected it to be different, but I don’t think we expected it to be this different.” Freund states.

A certain level of unpredictability has been seen throughout this year at MCHS. “When you have one thing in your mind and it goes totally the opposite way I think that has a big impact on how one feels on a day-today basis.” Freund states.

Unpredictability is common every school year, but the amount of change that both students and teachers have had to go through this year has been impactful. More so on teachers than seen prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While some teachers are feeling the effects of burn out in full swing, others are not. Some teachers are not experiencing it themselves but they have to watch their colleagues come in tired and worn out even after a full nights rest.

English Teacher

Volume Three | Issue Two | December 2021

Spanish Teacher

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Stacy Rockweiler

Cara Vandermyde

In the past 24 years of teaching, English teacher Stacy Rockweiler has seen many stressful things happen within her classroom. But almost none could live up to the stress that is being placed on teachers right now. With the stress of the pandemic and having to be there for students more than ever Rockweiler notices her colleagues in more stressful positions than ever before.

Feeling burnt out has become the new normal, but it isn’t a new feeling. ”This is definitely one of the more stressful times.” Rockweiler states. “I think it’s less stressful this year than last year, because last year was very difficult…we felt like first year teachers again.”

Last year at MCHS has been sighted as one of the most stressful times in the school for all teachers.

Everything was foreign not just to students but to everyone. Everything was uncertain.

Now, things are still shaky for many teachers who are still trying to grab a tentative hand on getting back into the swing of things. “I feel this year is less stressful, but there’s the added stress of COVID and masking, and safety.” Rockweiler states.

Unprecedented issues that MCHS has never had to face before are coming fully at teachers and administration this year after COVID placed them on the back burner the last year. So, while not feeling the full effects of the burn out things are still stressful at MCHS.

Cara Vandermyde sits with her English colleagues discussing lesson plans during an early release PLC meeting. After they are done, they discuss life and how coming back to teaching this year has been harder than ever.

Vandermyde empathizes with them, her year having come along with a unique set of obstacles itself, but she also feels lucky for not experiencing the effects of burn out like many of her coworkers and friends at MCHS.

Being an English teacher and Activities Director is difficult in every way imaginable. Though it is stressful Vandermyde notes that she is not feeling burnt out because of her roles in the building. “I personally have not been feeling burnt out.” Vandermyde states. “However, that is not a common story.”

Many of her colleagues come to school feeling overwhelmed with the demands that they need to meet within the building that just seem to keep piling on their shoulders.

“What I think I’m seeing is that they seem very overwhelmed with the seemingly ever increasing demands of the job.” Vandermyde states.

COVID-19, and the almost year of learning that was stumbled through because of it, the pressure has now been placed on teachers to get students caught up.

English Teacher

English Teacher and Activities Director MCHS has had an eventful past two years. COVID hit MCHS hard and left everyone still feeling it this year.

This time it is not just students feeling harsh effects mentally from COVID-19.

It is also teachers’ own feelings being exacerbated by the year where everything was as far from normal as things could have been.

This year is not going to be challenge free as the MCHS staff feels the almost extreme effects of burning out like a match in the wind.

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Features

Offering change Ella Trimingham Copy Editor

MCHS National Honors Society members gather at the concession stands waiting for half time when all the people come to get snacks. Families all get in line to get snacks for the rest of the game. The volunteers are excited to make funds for their favorite club.

Students and volunteers at MCHS can now sign up to work at the concession stands, and use the money received towards the clubs and activities they are involved in.

Barry Burmiester, the Athletic Administrator came up with the idea to allow student activities to participate in concessions and use the funds towards the clubs and activities.

Gregory Eiserman, assistant principal of student life said “I approached the student council first because they have some of the biggest bills,” he said. “Knowing that, this year, Homecoming was going to be more challenging, a lot of additional expenses came along with that. I offered them to take the football season and make the money.”

Basketball season has been considerably harder, considering less people are willing to volunteer at concessions now that people are getting busier with the holidays. “Right now we’ve been struggling to get organizations to commit to the basketball season,” Eiserman said. “I think people are tired, burnt out, and busy with the holidays.”

Volunteering at the concessions brings funds to the smaller

Working on behalf of National Honor Society, business teacher Erin Harris gives change while working the concession stand during the varsity girls basketball game on Dec. 3 outside the Upper Campus Main Gym. Photo By: Ella Trimingham

Volume Three | Issue Two | December 2021

MCHS administrators organize a new way for activities to raise money for their organizations at concession stands organizations that are less recognized than others. “I think sometimes it’s harder for our smaller organizations, who want to do an event, to have some money to do that.” Eiserman said, “ I think it’s going to be really beneficial for our students that are traditionally in activities that don’t necessarily get the publicity that some of our athletic teams do. This is an easy outlet for them to fundraise.”

Erin Harris, a business teacher and National Honors Society Co-advisor, volunteered to work at the concession stands on Dec. 3 for the varsity boys and girls basketball game on behalf of the National Honors Society. She hoped to raise money toward

a senior scholarship.

“I volunteered to work at the concession stand to raise money for the organization I co-advise.” said Harris, “It was nice to provide the fans of athletes, band members, cheerleaders, and dance team members with the opportunity to purchase refreshments.”

After handing out the last few snacks they had, the volunteers finally took a deep breath and closed the doors. The game is over. They collected over $450 tonight for the NHS organization. Volunteers walk out of the doors feeling accomplished and excited for what the team can do with this money.

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Sports

Varsity bowler Tyler Houston, posing with his bowling ball, hopes the boys bowling team can keep the momentum of their already successful season going.

Photo By: Mackenzie Sroka

Striking success The bowling team rolls into their season hopeful they will be able to finish successful

As the bowling team goes into the rest of their season, they are hopeful that they will be able to continue to have success.

For many varsity bowlers, this has been the beginning of one of their best seasons. As the players continue playing and collecting wins, their confidence and skill keeps improving.

At the start of December, both teams had a 3-1 record, and they have both placed high in all their matches. In one match against Rockford Christian and other schools, varsity placed 2 and JV placed 1 overall. Heading into the rest of the season, they have a winning record that they plan to keep.

In past seasons the team has not been able to keep a winning record, but this year the team is determined to continue to work together to keep the winning record.

“On the road ahead, we are looking like the best team we have had in my three years of being on the team,” explained junior bowler Joseph Thome. “There is no giving up and not being able to get destracted about the wins.”

The team is motivated and ready to continue to have a winning record, with the previous season’s mistakes and successes pushing them along.

“Knowing last year we didn’t have a winning record and this year we do,” described junior bowler Dominick Caurso.

“It helps to motivate the whole team. It has influenced me to do better as a player.”

As the players continue through the season, many of them want to improve themselves to beat past personal records.

“Having a winning record helps me keep going and to keep improving to get a higher average by the end of the season,” explained senior bowler Brody Hyatt.

During the season many players are hoping to improve themselves for the better of the team too.

“I think I’ve done pretty good this season,” described Hyatt. “I’ve had my ups and downs, but I had the team to help me out. My main goal is to keep going on winning and never give up.”

Many of the bowlers have high expectations for this season, hoping to improve

Mackenzie Sroka Sports Editor even more throughout the season.

“I am hoping to win an invitational tournament this season,” stated sophomore bowler River Glab.

Along with winning more tournaments, the team is hoping to come out of this season with a winning record.

“We have a pretty solid team. I think we will have a pretty good shot at ending with a positive record this season,” explained Glab.

This year many of the guys feel more confident in where they will go this season. For many players this is due to the team having more chemistry and confidence compared to previous years.

“Last year we weren’t too good and all our morale went down a lot,” described Tyler Houston, a junior bowler. “This year we have a lot of new guys on the team. So for us having new people it builds more chemistry with us and our confidence goes up also well.

The bowling team feels confident enough to make sure that they strike success this year.

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Sports

Though fitness testing encourages PE students to set goals and stay healthy, it sometimes seems to serves other purposes, including simply satisfying the state.

Illustration By: Kylie Chisamore

Is fitness testing it worth it?

Opinion

Kylie Chisamore Staff Writer

Students run back and forth to the dings of the pacer testing. Chattering occurs amongst students expressing their feelings towards the schools fitness testing. The students conclude that fitness testing is a waste of time.

Every year in gym class students are forced to participate in state testing. State fitness testing includes the pacer, height, weight, vertical jump, push ups, sit and reach, and curl ups.

Scores get recorded and sent out to the state yearly.

According to the Illinois State Board of Education, fitness testing is used to teach students how to assess their fitness levels, set goals for improvement, monitor progress in reaching their goals and measure student growth and program effectiveness.

This helps programs fulfill State Goal 20, which is for students to achieve and maintain a health-enhancing level of physical fitness through continual

Volume Three | Issue Two | December 2021

From a young age, students are required to partake in a state mandatory fitness test that wastes class time self-assessment.

Fitness testing is very uncomfortable for some students. Discomfort stems from the weight section factoring into the state requirements.

Weight should not be included in a state testing. Weight can trigger eating disorders and many other negative feelings especially when others share this private information. How well a student does on a fitness test does not reflect the students accurately always since they are standardized. . Every student is a different fitness level and ability, so when it comes to fitness testing it does not always reflect the student properly. The amount of push ups students do or the flexibility they have does not define them as a person and should stop being viewed as so.

Fitness testing is also made into a competition to be the best in the class. Students will just make bets with

their friends about who can get the highest vertical or do the most push ups. None of which is ever taken seriously by the students. The only people that care are the state, which is only to ensure teachers are doing their job.

The one good thing fitness testing does is it shows a student’s improvement. In each year scores get recorded and saved for the next year’s testing, making it easy for students to have a goal to beat each test. It shows where there is room for improvement or where a student improved greatly.

Taking these test can help students see personal improvements, but become a waste of time when they are used for any other reason. Students should make personal goals regarding improving in their testing scores to benefit themselves rather than to compete against others. They should try to use fitness testing to improve themselves and see their progress.

14

Arts and Entertainment

Though “Tiger King” was an pandemic smash hit, its follow-up second season doesn’t have as much of a bite.

Photo Courtesy of: Netflix

Big cat-astrophe “Tiger King” season two amounts to little more than a poor ratings grab and a waste of viewers’ time

Kennedy Tetour Managing Editor

On Nov. 17, “Tiger King” season two dropped on Netflix. Though under the same title as the original series, the show hardly fits the “Tiger King” name.

The show loosely follows the same structure of the first season, which became popular around March of 2020. It uses a basic documentary style of storytelling, with narration, live footage, and interviews spliced in. Though both seasons technically follow the same structure, season two feels much less dramatic and provides a much stronger documentary feel than season one did. The show gained popularity because of how it told dramatic and wild stories about some of the world’s most famous “big cat” people. Season two hardly shows the same enthusiasm and drama.

Episode one of season two covers Joe Exotic, who was arrested as a result of the events covered by “Tiger

season two can be redundant at times and often repeatedly cover the same information, they easily could have been combined together.

The new season isn’t the worst thing to ever be released on Netflix, and I like the idea of creating an update to wrap up the loose ends from the end of season one, but releasing nearly five hours of new information that only covers Don Lewis and his disappearance seems uninteresting and unwanted. The show would have been better if Netflix had created one episode to update each person from season one, or make no update at all. But the current second season is redundant, boring and unrelated to the first.

If you’re a die hard fan of “Tiger King,” then season two might be an enjoyable experience, but for the more casual fans, I cannot recommend this show. It felt like a waste of time and a ratings grab on Netflix’s end.

King,” though in this episode, it follows his attorney and their journey to release Exotic from jail. This is the only episode in the new series that follows the original star.

The remaining episodes of the series dive into the mystery of what happened to Don Lewis. Lewis went missing in August 1997 and was legally pronounced dead in 2002. Lewis was allegedly involved in a lot of shady business including ties to gangs and running off to Costa Rica.

Season two covers many theories about what happened to Lewis and where he may have ended up on the day of his disappearance. Though this part of the show isn’t bad, it makes no sense being tied to the original “Tiger King” title. Season two would have been much better off as a spin off series covering Lewis’ disappearance, or a special that crammed all of the new information into an hour or two. The episodes of

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