Volume 4, Issue 2 by The McHenry Messenger

Freshmen Campus 1012 North Green Street McHenry, IL 60050 (815) 385-1145

Upper Campus 4724 West Crystal Lake Road McHenry, IL 60050 (815) 385-7077

TheMcHenryMessenger.com

ON THE COVER

The search for a signal is something students at MCHS deal with on a daily basis. Trying to show what it’s like to not have access to the internet was a challenge that required a lot more creativity than expected. That being said, I think the dramatic pose and contrast in color help to convey what it’s like to not have access to the things you need.

This month’s cover photographer

InThisIssue

NEWS

Students prepare for first semester finals Midterms in McHenry County deemed free, fair and secure

OPINIONS

Full effort deserves full credit Twitter is a big mess now that Elon Musk is in charge

FEATURES

Volume Four | Issue Two | December 2022 TableofContents

5 7 11 13

No Service Full access SPORTS Hidden hockey The results ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT Is a legendary career better left untouched? Just keep it to yourself, darlin’

Kennedy Tetour Hayden Stone celebrates with teammates on Nov. 27 during a boys basketball game against Johnsburg at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee where the Bucks play. Photo By: Mackenzie Sroka

TheFirstLook

The McHenry Messenger McHenry High School

The McHenry Messenger

Mission Statement

Student journalists have the right to exercise freedom of speech and the press in high school 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 and provide a platform for them to speak their truth. We intend to provide access to objective, relevant information that they need to know during these unprecedented times.

The McHenry Messenger hopes to maintain editorial independence while continuing to nurture our connections to the community.

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.

McHenry High School in McHenry, IL

Kennedy Tetour, Managing Editor

Allie Everhart, Artistic Director

Vanessa Moreno, News Editor

Alayna Majkrzak, Features Editor

Freedom Tomasello, Opinions Editor

Mackenzie Sroka, Sports Editor

Gabe Santos, Arts and Entertainment Editor

Ella Trimingham, Freelance Editor

Brooke Danz, Copy Editor

Nikki Sisson, Marketing Director

Lydia Lawrence, Business Director

Hunter Blake, Preston Boysen, Savannah Drost, Eli Frommes, Claire Guzman, Tati Rubi, and Krystal Zamudio

Annapatricia Cruz and Rachel Kaminski

Settlinginforthewinter

McHenry High School is quickly approaching the end of its first semester of the 2022-23 school year. With the football season, Homecoming, and other events behind us, students are looking forward to winter break and preparing for finals.

The staff of the McHenry Messenger settled back into school life as well, getting into the swing of things when it comes to producing the newspaper. Additionally, the Messenger continues to put the students first, trying to keep them informed and their voices heard. Whether that means the news of the country, or the pressing issues that students face in the day to day school life, the McHenry Messenger remains dedicated to being a student newspaper first and foremost.

This is the second print issue of the semester, and does not lack its share of opinions. It covers numerous topics and issues impacting our school. Front and center is the school’s student wifi and the policies in place that limit student access. Additionally, the need to know information about midterm elections, the Kings Hockey organization, winter athletics, Twitter’s ever expanding list of scandals, grading policies like refusing to give 100s and how parent access to student grades can affect the student.

While MCHS students have begun to acclimate back into school life, issues and stresses remain. The goal of this issue is to reaffirm the importance of student quality of life and to bring the school together to celebrate the accomplishments we have made thus far in order to improve in the future.

Special Thanks to Advisor

Matt Connor, Betsy Goy, Kings Hockey Club, 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).

If you would like to get in contact with the McHenry Messenger, please email the advisor at erbachdane@dist156.org or call (815) 385-1145 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

That being said, we continue to put the utmost importance on keeping the students informed. The McHenry Messenger has put a lot of passion into this issue, and is excited to share the voices of its staff once again, with the hope that this issue will inspire the students of McHenry High School to continue to let their voices be heard as well.

Studentsprepareforfirst semesterfinalsnextweek

Ella Trimingham Freelance Editor

MCHS finals will take place on Wednesday, Dec. 21 and Thursday, Dec. 22 and lead into winter break.

The school is following the same schedule as previous years, putting lunch at the beginning and end of the day. This allows students to arrive late or leave early depending on their lunch period. Each period will be 79 minutes long and have a 10 minute passing period.

On Dec. 21, students will take finals for their first four periods. Periods go in order, similar to a typical school day but with a different bell schedule.

This semester, finals will take place on Dec. 21 and 22, with opportunities to study in the days leading up to exams

On Dec. 22, students will take finals for their last four periods. The day will start with 6th period followed by 5th, 7th, and 8th.

“Finals are the same this year as they have always been,” said MCHS Principal Jeff Prickett. “I am concerned that students have had a lackadaisical attitude, and I am hoping that does not carry through to finals”

Finals are known to bring stress to students, however, senior Ryan Johnson said, “I am not stressed for finals this year. I feel like we are still transitioning back from COVID and finals are much more relaxed.”

MCHS is also bringing back a finals study night for all grade levels called the Cocoa Cram. The idea behind this is for upperclassmen to help underclassmen study. It will be held in the cafeteria at the Upper Campus on Dec. 19 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Free hot chocolate will be provided and the concessions stand will be open, offering beverages and snacks.

“I am excited to go to finals study night,” added Johnson. “The past few years finals have been different with COVID and everything, and I am glad we are doing something like this since we haven’t had the opportunity.”

Volume Four | Issue Two | December 2022 News

A student works on a study guide while preparing for upcoming finals. This semester, finals will take place on Dec. 21 and 22. Photo By: Allie Everhart

MidtermsinMcHenryCounty free,fairandsecure

Discussions surrounding candidates, parties and polls continue after Nov. 8 midterms

The 2022 midterm elections took place on Nov. 8 across the United States and were one of the most crucial elections in history for both the Democratic and Republican parties.

Midterm elections this year marked the midpoint in President Joe Biden’s presidency and were filled with national and local elections. Races included the gubernatorial, mayoral, Senate and House of Representatives races, among other local offices.

Overall, the biggest question for many Americans this year was the idea of “election denial,” or the thought that the results of the election were incorrect or possibly manipulated by political parties.

On a local level, McHenry County Circuit Clerk and Recorder Joseph Tirio, a Republican, feels social media and the role of the media is a problem with election denial.

“As consumers, we often gladly trade confirmation of our bias for the truth,” he says. “This has created a market with an endless supply of ‘news’ sources … to my eye, the problem around ‘election denial’ isn’t so much an issue of … fraud or not, it’s a question of what people have been led to believe and how they came to these conclusions.”

Even though election denial was a concern in this year’s elections, Tirio

explained all polling sites in McHenry County and across the country were secured to allow the people to elect their leaders. 10 moving trucks with equipment and nearly 1,000 election judges were ready to set up polling stations in the county, he mentioned.

“In the weeks before the election, many in our office will go weeks without a day off and often work 12 or more hours a day,” Tirio says. “On election day, my staff was here at 4:30 a.m. and didn’t leave until well after 10:00 p.m. After the election, we have to basically undo all of it.”

The midterm elections also saw some changes in the way that people vote, as many candidates backed their campaigns as supporting or not supporting abortion rights and Roe v. Wade, along with other matters such as crime, gun control and the environment.

In Illinois, this was an important factor due to the two candidates running for governor, incumbent Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker and Republican Darren Bailey. The two candidates had different ideas on how they would run Illinois if elected.

Bailey planned to reopen the economy, schools and fuel job creation in Illinois. Meanwhile, Prtizker wanted to expand healthcare and protect women’s rights to abortion. Prtizker was re-elected for a second term after much controversy surrounding

Bailey.

“I’m grateful tonight that Illinois continues a long tradition of peaceful and fair elections,” Pritzker said in his victory speech. “I choose to fight to protect Illinois families. I choose to fight to protect our workers. I choose to fight for women’s rights, for civil rights, for voting rights … for the better world ...”

At the national level, the Republican Party were expecting a “red wave” in which they would control both the House and the Senate due to Biden’s unpopularity among many. The red wave most were expecting failed to happen as Republicans lost a seat in the Senate and barely regained the majority in the House.

There were many reasons why this red wave did not happen, but many blame former President Donald Trump’s insistence that the 2020 election was stolen. Republican candidates who were seen as “election deniers” did worse in the election that those who did not.

“I strongly believe he should no longer be the face of the Republican Party,” former Republican Representative Peter King said in The New York Times. “His self-promotion and his attacks on Republicans … were largely responsible for Republicans not having a red wave. We can’t allow blind fealty to Trump to determine the fate of our party.”

Fulleffortdeserves fullcredit

Kennedy Tetour Managing Editor

A student sits refreshing the grades tab on her Schoology page. She awaits the input of her latest assignment, hoping to receive a good score. She refreshes a final time and sees that her grade was input as a 95%, with no indication as to where she lost points.

Teachers throughout MCHS have all kinds of different grading methods, but one that particularly upsets students is when teachers refuse to give full credit on assignments. There are several different iterations of this grading technique, including iterations where teachers will give 100% on assignments, but only after students revise their work. That being said, some teachers outright refuse to give 100% full credit, even if the work is deserving of such a grade.

When teachers refuse to give students 100% on assignments regardless of the quality of work or the amount of effort put into the assignment, the effort feels futile. Oftentimes, students stop trying to get 100% on assignments that they know won’t receive the credit they deserve. Giving full credit on

assignments is a way of telling students that they’re doing a good job, thus encouraging them to keep up their efforts to receive good grades on their work. Revoking the possibility of receiving full credit on any assignment will discourage students from trying to achieve the best grade that they can.

Sometimes 100% on an assignment is the final push that a student needs to get their grade up. In many cases, a single assignment can make or break a grade, and when teachers don’t give full credit on those assignments it often leads towards the latter. It can be extremely difficult and frustrating to raise a grade from one letter up to the next, especially towards the end of the semester. Students need all the help they can get in order to keep their grades as high as possible. Not that teachers should intentionally boost students’ scores just to raise their grades, but giving full credit on assignments is a small step towards better overall grades amongst students.

Some teachers offer extra credit

only after revisions have been made on an assignment. The idea this instills is that nothing can be perfect the first time it’s done, which is a good argument that encourages students to work hard to evolve their work. The issue with this method of grading is that some students will never revise work that they aren’t required to look over just to get a slightly better grade. Teachers should not raise grades that don’t deserve that recognition, but they should recognize that even the best students don’t always have time to continue working on assignments that have already been turned in and graded.

Not allowing students to receive 100% is an all around discouraging tactic on the teachers part. Students work hard for their grades, and deserve to get the proper recognition for their efforts. If a teacher allows students to revise their work in order to get a higher grade, then the problem fixes itself, but teachers who outright refuse to give full credit for no reason are barring their students from giving their all in school.

Volume Four | Issue Two | December 2022 Opinions

When a the highest grade a student can receive is a 95%, ambitious students become unnecessarily discouraged

Opinion When the highest grade students can receive is a 95%, it discourages those students who are pushing their skills — the opposite effect of what most teachers want from their students. Photo By: Rachel Kaminski

Opinion

Twitterisinabigmessnow thatElonMuskisincharge

Selling off its check mark has does more harm than good for the social media company

Twitter has been one of the biggest social media platforms in the world for the past 15 years. Now that Elon Musk is taking control, a lot seems to be changing. Twitter used to be a platform on which every user could speak freely about anything they wanted; now it’s used for ad revenue and political conflict. Elon Musk’s censorship decisions, the verification check mark, and the way he runs it overall appears to be worse than how Twitter originally was.

Recently, Twitter has undergone changes with the recent switch of ownership. The verification check mark, previously used to verify the authenticity of users with larger platforms, is now available for purchase.

Users used to have to meet a series of qualifications to even be considered for this check mark. Now, Elon Musk states that users can buy the check mark for $8 per month.

When this check mark became available for purchase, it immediately caused issues with random users creating fake accounts. Twitter users were impersonating companies and celebrities, trying to make them look bad or display other motives. A fake account of pharmaceutical company Ely Lilly tweeted out, “We are excited to announce insulin is free now,” which gained many people’s attention. The real Eli Lilly saw the many impersonators of their brand

growing and demanded Twitter delete all of the false accounts, saying how they don’t wish for false claims to ruin their reputation and customer loyalty. Twitter staff didn’t react for hours and caused the company to drop 4% in their share price and in health care stocks, causing them to lose a lot of money.

The slow reaction of the Twitter staff was caused by the actual lack of staff. Musk recently fired dozens of employees who criticized or mocked him in tweets and internal messages. He proceeded to set a deadline for the rest of the employees to fill out a Google form responding to a poll with “yes” if they wanted to stay for “Twitter 2.0,” otherwise it would be their last day with a job. About half of the staff left that day, and now the rest of the employees are struggling to keep up with the additional work put onto them. Not only did a large number of people lose their jobs, but the ones that stayed are under pressure with the new “Hardcore Twitter” and the fewer staff members. When almost half the staff left, Twitter spiraled into chaos for the offices. Musk was worried that disgruntled employees could wreak havoc while leaving, so he closed the offices. After hearing about this, Twitter users started to panic that Twitter might shut down for good. With the lack of workers, it wouldn’t be enough to support the

platform long, so hashtags started trending like #RIPTwitter and others. This made some Twitter users retreat to other platforms like Tumbler, Instagram, etc, or new apps like Hive or Mastodon. With less people using the app, companies would also lose ad revenue and publicity.

Luckily, there has been a relaunch program planned to help sort out all the mess that has happened over the past few days. It will be color coded for different users, like companies, the government, and individuals. The verification process would help take away false impersonators and suspend their account if they try to deceive others with fake tweets. Though they can’t for sure say it will work, with the fewer people working for Twitter, it might help solve the problems regarding the loss of money and fake accounts.

Many users who have been using Twitter for a long time, should know of all the drama that happens there. Each time, the problem is either resolved or forgotten and put aside. The future of this big social media platform is now in the hands of Musk, and people are on edge about it. Whether this new problem will be resolved or not is up to him, and all everyone can do for now is wait and see if this will be an improvement or a mistake.

NoService

Students at MCHS struggled with weak cell phone service, and some apps don’t work all while being connected to the school wifi

Volume Four | Issue Two | December 2022 Features

Photo By: Kennedy Tetour Freedom Tomasello Opinions Editor

Cell service and wifi at MCHS is unpredictable, with students being unable to send text messages to families along with relatively no applications working on their personal phones, and plenty of harmless websites blocked, suspicions rise. Reasons vary from the fact that the building just happens to be made of concrete and providing for hundreds of people at once, all the way to the possibility of a service blocker.

“I do not trust using the school wifi on my phone,” senior Peyton Shoevlin says. “It makes me feel uncomfortable that the school can see everything that I’m doing on my phone. It’s an invasion of privacy in my opinion.”

But that’s sometimes the only option if students want to use their phones to connect to the internet. Many students lack phone service and their phones are rendered basically useless seeing as they can’t serve their main function, this can cause issues with safety and even privacy among the student body.

Students have also realized that, when trying to use apps like Snapchat and Discord on their personal phone while connected to school wifi, the apps don’t work at all. After disconnecting from the network, they function just fine.

“It really depends on the app, like Snapchat,” says Hilary Agnello, a dean of students at the MCHS Upper Campus. “I can’t get Snapchat to work

in this building and I’m an administrator, so it really depends. I’d have to look at the apps specifically, but there are definitely apps that we control.”

The school administration does disable certain apps on students’ phones, however, which brings up a lot of questions and concerns from the student body.

“I feel like they shouldn’t be able to block access to things on our phone,” senior Megann Riley Rosales states. “Chromebooks are understandable, seeing as they’re the schools property. But our phones? I don’t think they should. It’s the students’ property, not the schools … so I feel like they shouldn’t be allowed to block apps or websites on our phones. That’s just wrong.”

Although service blockers exist, MCHS does not use one such a device to block student service. Blockers like that are illegal in most areas. This could just mean MCHS is either in a spot with limited service or the population of the school is interfering with the quality of service.

If MCHS was purposefully blocking students from sending text messages or making calls, this could be a huge safety hazard. In the event of a lockdown or emergency it is essential that students have the ability to contact family or authorities outside of the building.

Along with personal devices

being affected, at MCHS many sites such as Netflix, Quora, and some studyhelp websites are blocked on student chromebooks. Some of these sites can benefit students, and don’t make sense to block seeing as they cause relatively no harm and can allow students to access needed information.

“There can be specifications when we catch things,” Agnello adds. “There are some sites that actually aren’t bad but what ends up happening is we know that adults can get access to our students inappropriately through that. Once we catch that once it’s shut down. The other one can be, for example, Netflix. We know for a fact we can’t monitor that and there are things that are mature rated on that, which we are not allowed to show kids.”

Websites like GradeSaver, Shmoop, and Course Hero don’t completely adhere to these requirements, so it leaves MCHS students to question why they were blocked in the first place. These websites allow students to gain access to tutors and school help just like Paper, which could benefit their academics, but with these websites blocked these students cannot get this help.

The need to protect students is understandable, but the way the school goes about it can be considered wrong seeing as they’re interfering with personal devices and preventing students from accessing plenty of useful sources online.

Fullaccess

A student falls behind on their homework and they say, “I’ll do it later.” Then they start to say that on every assignment or they tell their parents that they finished it. When the parent checks in on their grades, the student gets in trouble for not doing their work, making them want to do it less, adding extra stress onto the students life, causing them to fall behind on work more.

Parents have access to students’ grades via Schoology, and some even get daily emails. When a student falls one grade letter down or has one missing assignment. A parent can see it right away and tell the student about every missing assignment and about every grade drop asking them why and telling them everyday about every missing assignment they have causing most students extra unnecessary stress on top of the students already stressful school life.

“My mom has the parents’ Schoology,” junior Paulina Borowski says. “She can go into your studio and avidly check my grades.”

Students may feel that extra stress, but the parents have a reason

why they check the grades of their students so often.

“I do like having access to my child’s grades,” say parent Erin Szczepanik, “just to make sure they are staying on track. With the daily grade update email from Schoology, I also get to see any missing assignments and it provides a talking point between parent and student to question why an assignment was missing and whether or not it will be turned in.”

Teachers also have their opinion on whether the grade matters or how much it matters in the grand scheme of things.

English teacher Belinda Flynn thinks that the grades do matter but not for the reason many students may think. “It’s a partnership between kids and parents and teachers to kind of help keep everybody accountable and know what’s going on in school,” she states.

Though this communication has its upsides, when parents get daily Schoology emails, it can cause stress in school to then follow the student home.

“[My mom] talks to me after

Eli Frommes Staff Writer

school,” sophomore Althea Polo says, “And she just says like, why is your why did you get this grade on your test or this grade on your quiz? And, why aren’t you studying?”

Although it adds the extra stress, some students also see how this is helping them and without it would get off track.

“It does keep me in check,” Borowski says, “because, sometimes, I won’t even see it from either my mom or my dad. They can catch something. Maybe I won’t. So they just really keep me in check. Like how well I’m doing or like if I’m missing something they can know and they can tell me.”

A student falls behind and their parents sit with them saying calm words trying to ensure that the student knows that they are just doing what is best for them. Their parent’s light words do contain gravity though, trying to ensure that they are doing what they need to not only succeed in school, but past high school and further into life — even if it leads the student to have slight anger and stress over school and their assignment completion.

Hiddenhockey

Tati Rubi Staff Writer

As the blades hit the ice, the team rushes past one another time and time again. Working together to reach success, after many practices preparing for the game. At practices the team works to get better and improve relationships. It is challenging at first, but as the season carries on it becomes easier for the team to become stronger and closer.

Kings High School Hockey was established in the 2010 -2011 season. They are a non-profit volunteer-based club and have student-athletes from 6 area high schools. The six school districts Huntley, Jacobs, McHenry, Dundee Crown, Burlington-Central, and Hampshire. The Kings High School Hockey Club is a travel team that is a part of the IHSHL North Central Division, and has a varsity, Jv1, and Jv2.

“My team is mostly freshmen and sophomores,” says Logan Holtz, a sophomore at MCHS and member of the JV team. “One senior and a couple of juniors, but we’re a pretty tight knit group. I think that there were a lot of different personalities coming in, but when you’re on a team, you kind of all gel together.”

The Kings fall season started September 9 and since then they have had many games.

“Our season is going pretty well,” says Matthew Rensberger, a MCHS player of the JV. “We are ranked at fourth place currently in the standings and our record on Nov. 27 is eight wins and six loses.”

The Kings play two seasons in the fall and spring. They hold tryouts for both seasons and have charts for the fall season.

“I became a part of Kings when I was a freshman,” Rensberger says. “I joined with some players from my old teams so I knew a lot of people. You have to try out to see what team you will be placed on and there are two sets of tryout groups so you go against people of similar age. Freshman and sophomores are in one group, and juniors and seniors are in the other. If you are in the younger group and the coaches think you can compete against the older kids—like me and some other people had to stay and do both groups of tryouts.”

The team has played 14 games in total. Games are pretty frequent and they have practice almost everyday that range from 1 to 2 hours.

“I’m on JV,” Holtz says “We’ve won eight games and lost six. I had the opportunity to play a varsity tournament and we won. But other than that, our teams in general all three teams from our club are really up and down. We go on hot streaks and then died down for a bit so consistency is one of our biggest problems right now, but we’re gonna fix it.”

While they are working on becoming more consistent as a hockey team, they have become connected and are getting to know each other well. This has helped them through tough games as a team and individually.

“You get moments where you face a really tough team,” Holtz says. “You don’t know how it’s gonna go and you just have to believe you can win a game that you deserve to win.”

Kings is not directly associated with any school district, including MCHS. Its their own team combined with six different schools, so they are not as advertised as if they were to be a school sport.

“I think the Kings should be considered a McHenry sport since there are a lot of players that go to McHenry,” Rensburger says, “I also think the games should be advertised through the school to get people to come watch. Other schools like Huntley advertise the games and students from other schools show up to the games. I think hockey would get a lot more support if it was advertised as if it were a McHenry sport.”

If MCHS were to recognize Hockey as a school sport, many of the players believe they would be able to receive more support from their peers.

“If the games are more known about in the school,” Rensburger concludes, “more people would go and meet up at games like how people do at the football games.”

Kings hockey is a team that brings people together to play hockey. Many schools participate, which brings our community closer together. While it is not recognized as a school sport, the team deserves the schools support as much as any other team.

Volume Four | Issue Two | December 2022 Sports

MCHS doesn’t have an official hockey team, but several students still commit their time and talent to the sport

MCHS sophomore Brady Anderson pushes past players from New Trier High School during a Kings hockey match. Though the Kings aren’t an official MCHS athletic team, many students from MCHS play for the team. Photo By: Chris Calato

Theresult

Senior Alsot wins the Heisman High School award due to her outstanding academic and athletic achievements

Since childhood, it’s always been school then sports for most student athletes. This rule has carried through to high school, where athletes may be offered leadership opportunities on their teams and extracurriculars. Some students who take advantage of these opportunities learn to balance it all — and some students for the Heisman High School Scholarship and Award.

Students like senior Lynette Alsot. The Heisman celebrates and rewards outstanding males and female scholar-athletes. It honors the nation’s most accomplished, community-minded high school senior athletes. It allows students to share their stories of leadership across the country. The program aims to inspire students to harness their potential, push their limits, and use their talents to further their own futures, while improving the communities around them.

Alsot applied to the Heisman High School award along with many other students at MCHS. Alsot was our school’s winner. Though she did not advance to state competition, being the school’s winner is a big accomplishment within itself. Her character traits, academics, and athletic abilities qualified her to apply and receive the award.

“I was looking at Mr. [Curtis] Menke’s running list of all the scholarships and some of the requirements for these scholarships,” described Alsot. “I saw that it was a national scholarship and I was like, ‘What are the chances of me winning?’ So I decided to just apply because I never you never know. Then I found out I won the Heisman award.”

The Heisman consists of three pillars: leadership, athletics, and academics, which

students have to be involved and excelling in. Alost represents the leaderships aspects through National Honors Society and her roles in other organizations.

“I’m the president of our NHS chapter, a part of Warrior Buddies, which is leading the kids with cognitive and learning disabilities so we do fun events with them,” explained Alsot.

Chosen by her peers in NHS, she gained the role as president. This is due to her qualities that she represents on a regular basis, showing her ability to be a successful leader.

“Lynette does a great job leading NHS with her ability to lead by example,” described Jamie Rosinski, the NHS advisor, “encouraging others to share ideas, and always stepping in where help falls short. When concepts or ideas haven’t worked in the past she tries to find alternative ideas that may work instead. She’s definitely an asset to the NHS board and as the NHS President.,”

Another major aspect of the Heisman award is athletics, Alost fulfills this through the sports that she has played throughout her high school career.

“I play basketball and volleyball right now,” stated Alsot. “I used to play softball up until sophomore year. I am the basketball varsity captain and the volleyball girls varsity captain.”

Within the sports she plays, she is captain and an important asset to each team.

“Even as a junior, she was captain on the team,” explained Rob Niemic, former girls basketball head coach. “So that’s a pretty important role since a lot of times are sometimes they are just seniors, but she kind of exceeded those expectations as far as doing what we

Mackenzie Sroka Sports Editor

expected, but also relaying that leadership and to other people.”

Another reason Alost has been awarded captain of her teams many times is because of her personality and efforts towards bettering the team and her teammates.

“The biggest role she had on the team was being one of those positive environment people. She always lifted people as they played basketball,” described Niemic, “I’ve seen her in many different roles, but the one thing you get with her that all the time is she doesn’t really have a bad day ever. With her personality, she brings in the spirit every day. That positive spirit is really contagious and people like that are hard to find.”

The Heisman takes the academics of the applicants very seriously. Alsot fulfills this portion through her hard work and leadership in the classroom.

“She is a role model both in the classroom and outside of it,” explained John Lunkenhiemer, the head girls basketball coach and teacher of Alsot’s. “While maintaining a great GPA because she works very hard, always has things done on time, she participates, helps classmates out, and is always on task.”

The award was not always her goal to receive, but her goal has always been to be the best person possible.

“I’ve definitely tried to be the best person I can be,” described Alsot. “I don’t think the Heisman scholarship was in my clear vision when I started as a freshman, but just the idea of trying to be a person who has good character, tries to exceed in the classroom, and a leader on the basketball and volleyball court.” The other applicants were also very qualified for this award, so it means very much to Alsot that she was chosen.

“I’m very honored that I was chosen to be the school’s winner because I do know some of the other people who had applied for them, and they are phenomenal candidate,” stated Alsot. “I think it’s more of an honor to be chosen, and kind of be recognized for that. I’m very thankful and grateful that I was chosen.”

The pillars of the Heisman award and scholarship are something that every student should strive to excel in. They are the structures of forming a great school community and for success in future endeavors.

Isalegendarycareer betterleftuntouched?

Santos Arts and Entertainment Editor

Legendary New York rapper Nas, known for songs like “N.Y. State Of Mind,” and albums like “Illmatic” has recently made his mark on the rap scene with his “Kings Disease” series. Its most recent installment, “Kings Disease III” was released on Nov. 11. Nas remains a great technical lyricist, but this record poses the question– should his legacy just be left alone?

Lyrically Nas is and has always been phenomenal. This album tackles political and cultural topics with proficiency that only a well spoken and seasoned veteran of the game can employ. Particularly on “Reminisce,” I felt the lyrics shined, and this album is definitely at its strongest when Nas displays his wisdom in this way.

Nas is a great rapper, but this recent release raises the question: Is his legacy better left alone?

Vocals aren’t necessarily the focus here, but I have no quarrels with it. Nas has a delivery that is, at best, passable, and at worst, feels disinterested. But his style of rap that isn’t necessarily a detriment. On “Legit,” he feels the most impassioned. Production, manned by Hit Boy, also has occasional highlights. On “Recession Proof,” a funk-inspired bassline drives the main melody, which is not only a welcome change in the album, but works great for the dim and almost dreamlike tone. Other than that, I would say the production is more of the same. Nas has had the same production style since the ‘90s and while it isn’t bad, it doesn’t change, and at its worst, it’s under-

whelming.

With that being said, I recognize I may be outnumbered when it comes to my opinion of this record, and it could come down to personal taste. It may be too early to tell, but this album has received a 97/100 on Metacritic, and is shaping up to be a critically acclaimed highlight of the year.

On the contrary, I feel that this album is a lesson to artists coming up now that sometimes it’s better to leave well enough alone. This record is not bad but it’s a far cry from Nas’ earlier work, and I think if he continues on this track of doing the same old beats, topics, and delivery, he could tarnish it.

Volume Four | Issue Two | December 2022 ArtsandEntertainment

Gabe

Review

As part of the New York State of Mind Tour WuTang, Nas and Busta Rhymes all performed in front of a sold out audience at Jiffy Lube Live in Bristow, Virginia on September 16, 2022. Photo By: Joe Glorioso / All-Pro Reels / The Vinyl

Justkeepitto yourself,darlin’

Hamish Steele’s “Dead End: Paranormal Park” is a Netflix original about a theme park called Phoenix Park that’s infested with demons and angels, and the humans who run it. This show also features a diverse group of characters, giving representation to the kids who rarely ever see themselves in shows.

Barney, one of the main characters, is a transgender teen who struggles feeling completely accepted at home and seeks comfort at the park. The other main character Norma is autistic and represents what kind of challenges that presents in work, social and personal settings. She also struggles to accept her feelings for another girl in season two.

Other supporting characters in-

clude Badyah, a Muslim girl, and Logs, who’s Asian-American. Courtney and Puglsey are other major non-human characters.

Season two expands on the concepts set up in the first season, providing a variety of different kinds of episodes. One even centers completely around wrestling and sports. But all of them work together towards the main plot, where the angels come down to Earth, or the “Neutral Plane” after a demon invasion in season one. However, throughout the season, it seems the angels may not be the good guys. This show follows in the footsteps of other animated shows centering around the supernatural and mystery solving, such as “Gravity Falls” which aired in 2010. That show’s cre-

Director

ator Alex Hirsh faced a lot of censorship when it came to character development and plot lines, something “Dead End” was able to work around in 2022.

Thanks to the change in social views, Hamish Steele was able to create characters like Barney, who openly talks about the struggles of being transgender, and not feeling accepted at home or school. And Norma, who struggles accepting that she is bisexual and deals with the anxieties of working as an autistic person.

Overall, this show is not only entertaining and fun to watch, but is also important for kids who don’t see themselves represented in the media very often. “Dead End” can help kids accept themselves, or even just understand others better through a fun fictional show.