200922 Vol. 108 Edition 1

THE MENTOR

‘Striking the balance’ Despite parent opposition, school sticks with hybrid

Kris Long Sports Editor

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he Board of Education meeting last Wednesday was inconclusive as to when, how or why school will change back to five days a week.

The general consensus seems to be that school will remain in the hybrid schedule for the foreseeable future -- especially with the current infection rate at Kansas State University -although there might be some changes made to the hybrid model.

Most people agree that hybrid learning isn’t ideal, and that parental instruction cannot live up to a trained teacher.

The contention lies in whether it is safe to allow school back five days a week. No other towns with Big 12 schools have five day a week school, and even hybrid appears to be pushing it in Manhattan with current numbers. “[Hybrid is] what our clinical taskforce would advocate for,” Dr. Ryan Knopp, a family GP in Manhattan, said. “It’s the right middle ground to hopefully achieve both of those goals. You know, to have kids in in-person learning to some degree, but still do well to follow [guidelines and] to limit the spread.”

Mental health impacts are another major concern of the parents, teachers and students wanting to get back to school. Numerous accounts of mental health issues related to limited school

time, especially for children with difficult home lives, were brought up in the meeting.

“I’m extremely [worried about mental health],” Knopp said. “My volume of visits to treat mental health care in children, teenagers, adults has skyrocketed over the last few months.

So we fully recognize that’s a major issue… But we do have some solutions to help with mental health concerns, whether that’s great therapists in town, people in our health care field that focus on mental health

at a rate faster than they are at the moment, and hiring teachers is not an easy task in the current situation.

Some of the ideas offered to change the secondary hybrid model were having seven-period days and staggering the days students were in school to a Monday-Thursday and Tuesday-Friday schedule. However, both of these increase risk. Moving to seven-period days approximately doubles the number of different people students are in contact with in a school day. Staggering schedules removes the deep cleaning days in between groups. Knopp did not support the move.

“No,” Knopp said.

“Everything you could ask me about that answer is always the same. You must employ all the [guidelines] if you want to pull this off successfully.”

The most probable scenario appears to be that the school will start by phasing in early learning (before third grade) to five-day if the numbers go down or, if they stay steady, at semester. This, however, is mostly speculation. But high school students shouldn’t expect hybrid to go away anytime soon.

“Sometimes there’s just no easy alternative,” Knopp said. “My feeling is this is where we are for the year, school year 2020-2021. This is going to be a year-long journey ahead. I’m hopeful the next school year we can get away from some of these things.”

“[Hybrid is] what our clinical taskforce would advocate for.

It’s the right middle ground to hopefully achieve both of those goals” -- Dr. Ryan Knopp medications, there are treatments. I do not have a solution for COVID.” In a presentation at the meeting, a survey of secondary and elementary students showed that the majority of teachers did not think hybrid provided an excellent education (rating their success at a 4 or 5) but a majority did think they were doing okay (rated a 3 or above). A majority also did not support returning to five days a week before Manhattan’s positivity rate falls below 10%. There is a concern that bringing school back five days a week would cause teachers to resign

Students get portrait pictures taken while in pandemic LifeTouch.

“It’s spectacular [working with Manhattan High],” Shanks said.

“Everyone is wonderful and friendly.”

With the new hybrid and remote The company was changed from learning, picture day looked a lot Lifetouch to Strawbridge due to different last week than in prior years. multiple complaints from students, Presented with the new normal parents and faculty about slow and following the pandemic, the low quality service. conditions of taking “With LifeTouch we school photos changed had a lot of issues,” Clark drastically. said. “With cameras “For the sophomores failing and iPads failing [the process], it was and so it took a lot of very chaotic,” principal’s time and it was very secretary Barbara frustrating.”

Clark said. “The names Those difficulties weren’t alphabetized, didn’t show up with the and so … it took us a lot new company, though of time...but as soon as social distanced and done the company reprinted with new guidelines, the their list alphabetically… work they did impressed and then it went real the people at MHS. well. And I thought the “Everything went photographers did a nice smoothly, they were job.” ready, they got us in, got This year, the on-site us out and took care of it,” students’ pictures were Clark said.

Junior Julianna Poe gets her picture taken on picture day. Due taken while students The company itself were socially distanced to social distancing guidelines, students were divided up on according to safety different days to get their picture taken. Photo by Melissa Telenko is very local and not a corporation, which makes guidelines. The amount the work quality a lot better. of people in line was also cut short to “I’ve done this for 35 years and I’m “[Strawbridge Studios is] about the prevent overcrowding. Though there used to interacting with the children people,” Shanks said. “When you stop is still a pandemic, the photos were and having some fun with them, and and think about it, a school picture is taken with masks off. it’s harder to do that with the social a school picture. It’s about the people Besides the rules for social distancing.” we employ, nice people, [people that] distancing and sanitation, everything Strawbridge Studios, a family really care about the students.” else remained the same for picture owned studio going back 95 years, is day. Students got a packet in Advisory, new to USD 383 this year, replacing

Katya Tarabrina Blue M Editor-in-Chief

and they had the choice to pay online or pay via the order form.

Remote students came to the East Campus gymnasium to have their pictures taken last Wednesday.

“It brings on a set of unique challenges,” local Strawbridge Studios representative Scott Shanks said.

Debate starts online season McKayla Clarksnodgrass Photo Editor

Debate opened its season with an online tournament at the Washburn Rural Invitational this weekend.

“It was a good learning experience,” freshman Anvesha Sharda said. “We had never competed against other schools before so it was good to see everyone has a different debating style so that was also fun to see.”

The Varsity team, made up of junior Sam DeLong and sophomore Annabelle Jung, ended with a 3-3 record. DeLong was “a bit disappointed” due to not making it to the elimination rounds.

“It gave me a lot of material to... start learning through, going through

and preparing for the rest of the season,” Jung said.

This year has proven difficult due to COVID-19. The students are used to being able to see the reaction of the judge to effect their arguments.

Students now do not have that, limiting their personalities and how they interact with the judge.

“You can modify what your arguments are, how fast you’re going, what you’re saying, how you’re saying it based on what the judge is like communicating to you based on body language or facial expressions and you don’t have that when it’s online,” DeLong said.

Along with the struggle of changing from in person debating to online, some students faced technical difficulties due to the online format.

Sharda’s account had some issues from originally denying entry to saying the session had ended.

“I ended up competing under Connor’s name,” Sharda said. “So we were both Connor Buchanan.”

The technical difficulties didn’t get in the way of Sharda and freshman Connor Buchanan winning the Novice division. Buchanan was recognized as the sixth best individual competitor while Sharda was recognized as the seventh best overall competitor.

“Really proud of this bunch,” head coach Mac Phrommany said. “Getting out in the early season is always tough, to say the least. There’s a lot of unknowns to handle and to grapple with and everyone handled it quite well.”

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Volume 108 Issue 1 Tuesday, Sept. 22 Visit MHSMentor.com

Inside this Edition: Page 3: Sports Girls Tennis places first at home meet hosted last Tuesday

Photo by: Lasirra Hines

Sports plow ahead in the face of uncertainty Kris Long Sports Editor Two weeks into the fall athletics, all six sports seasons are progressing with no problems so far observing the relevant safety precautions. However, there are numerous unanswered questions regarding athletics in the face of school closure or possible team outbreaks.

The biggest of these uncertainties lies in what would happen if school goes fully remote.

“In the All Distance Learning model there is a greater likelihood that athletic and activity participation will be restricted,” page 50 of the reopening plan draft three states.

This vague guideline leaves much up to interpretation.

Administration appears to disagree about whether sports would be cancelled with full remote learning. Building Principal Micheal Dorst said that it is his understanding that sports and extracurriculars would be cancelled; however, Athletic Director Mike Marsh was more ambiguous.

“The only reason I can’t answer [whether or not sports would stop] is I don’t know,” Marsh said. “We would take directives from the Board of Education in the superintendent’s office, and I assume would follow some protocols from the health department at that time.”

There is also no word on whether a cancellation would include all sports or only ones in which it’s impossible to socially distance, such as soccer and football. Kansas High School Athletics Association has not put out a protocol for this either.

However, in it’s Activity Specific Consideration Report it does divide sports into high risk and low risk categories.

In the report, Scholastic High School Athletics association said: “Sports that involve close, sustained contact between participants, lack of significant protective barriers, and high probability that respiratory particles will be transmitted between participants,” are considered high risk. Sports like wrestling, cheer involving stunts with close contact and football are listed as examples of high risk sports.

Activities this year haven’t led to any outbreaks so far, leading some to be optimistic about their continuation.

“Right now, and I think [having sports] was a good move because the criteria that Mr. Marsh, the athletic programs… [set] during the summer workouts, we were in the middle of a pandemic and we did not have an outbreak in any of our athletic programs,” Dorst said. “I’m not saying that it’s impossible. It really only takes one person for that outbreak to potentially occur. But the more safety measures that we put in place, the greater that we can guarantee that we can remain in, season and in competition.”

OPINIONS

Tuesday, Sept. 22 Visit MHSMentor.com

Volume 108 Issue 1

Page 2

Removing daily logs proves good decision This editorial is a compilation from a discussion held by the editorial baord. To listen to the conversation that lead to this piece, visit mhsmentor.com Taryn Robinson Opinions Editor

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Manhattan High School was introduced to a new system of tracking attendance and engagement due to the world facing an unexpected outbreak from COVID-19.

After a few weeks of attempting to use daily learning logs to track engagement, the Kansas Department of Education has allowed MHS to drop the requirement for students to keep the logs.

It is the agreement of The Mentor editorial board that it was the right decision by the state to remove them.

Daily learning logs were made this year to record every students’ time on Remote Learning Days. This is because USD 383 is audited to verify that students have engaged in 1,116 hours in a school year, in order to receive funding from the state. This

time requirement means that on remote days, students are supposed to log 390 minutes, or 6.5 hours, of work. However, some teachers realized that students were struggling to find enough work to do in order to complete the required 390 minutes, and specifying how the time was used on a complicated form was a struggle for some students and their parents who had to validate the forms. Although students were encouraged to count a variety of learning activities, including mental breaks and transitional times, towards the log, and even the time spent writing in the log, that didn’t change how complicated the whole process was.

This was a huge problem for most families. Although the intent was not to have parents complete the logs, the reality was exactly that for some families. Parents were having a tough time tracking down the times for their students’ course work on top of working a full-time job and providing for their family. They desperately wanted that to change for parents because of the tremendous amount of pressure that was

put on them.

This was obviously more of a problem than a solution to this year, and some schools realized it. There is now a new waiver that now requires a parent/guardian signature in place of the logs. The waiver is a step in the right direction, and families should sign the logs as soon as they are available to meet the audit requirements.

Cartoon by Kellen Hight Graphic Artist

Clothing doesn’t speak for sexual assault survivors

Brianna Carmack Print Editor-in-Chief During those few years of being a teenager, it seems like there is a new struggle you have to face every second of the day. Because of that, a lot of teenagers have low self-confidence in themselves.

However, when a teenager finally begins to gain some of that selfconfidence back, it seems like they get ridiculed, not necessarily for having self-confidence but in the way

they display that confidence. When it comes to changing your style to something a little less modest, this tends to happen quite frequently.

Many teens go through a period of constantly changing their style. This is primarily because during your teenage years, you are going through a time of figuring out who you are as a person.

In some cases, teens will change their style in an effort to empower themselves and feel more attractive in their eyes, which may consist of wearing less. But, from an opposite perspective, this is disgusting and provocative, and may even be as “asking for it.”

Based on an article from theatlantic.com, this kind of victim-blaming is when someone defaults to question what a victim could have done differently to prevent a crime. Questioning someone’s outfit to say that they wanted the attention is victim-blaming that

happens quite often in sexual assault and rape cases. Other common ways people will victim-blame is through criticizing the victim for getting drunk or “overreacting.”

There will be moments when I walk out of my house with a pair of ripped jeans and the rips might be a little high up, and my parents will tell me to change my jeans because it’s too revealing. Why is it that I have to change my outfit because it’s “too revealing?”

Parents should teach children that people who wear something slightly revealing aren’t “asking for” anything.

In most cases, they want to wear whatever because they like it. Even during the Victorian era, people were still blamed, and they were fully clothed with suits and long skirts. Clothing does not equal consent in any case.

Victim-blaming is a reason why a lot of people, especially women, won’t

report their assaulter or rapist. Not only are other people victim-blaming, but a sense of doubt is created in the victim itself. They begin to think that it was their fault and they were the cause of what happened to them, which is completely and utterly wrong.

Victims -- and their choice in clothing -- should never be the reason why what happened to them happened.

People assault and rape others, not clothes.

Learning about how to ask someone if they’re ready or comfortable engaging in intimate activity will help teach kids that they don’t automatically get what they want based on someone’s clothes. No one should ever have to experience rape or sexual assault because they chose to wear something that empowers them. It is not a clothing issue, it is a people issue.

High school sports TikTok bad teacher essential to athletes

Cole Schmitt Online Editor-in-Chief The Coronavirus pandemic has surrounded our world over the last months. Many high schools are having all online, and others are having a form of in-person class whether that be fully back to school or a hybrid model.

In Kansas, they are mixed but a contentious topic is if sports should be played this fall. Sports should be played as they are essential to teenagers.

For athletes, this is what’s memorable looking back on high school. We don’t remember walking through the halls and taking tests, we remember the bonds we make with our teammates and our coaches. Our athletics are second families for many, including myself. We don’t just play on the field or the court together, but we work through life as one just like a normal family does and that is so valuable for our mental well Brianna Carmack -- Print Editorin-Chief Cole Schmitt -- Online Editor-inChief Katya Tarabrina -- Blue M Editorin-Chief Taryn Robinson -- Opinions Editor Kris Long -- Sports Editor Katya Tarabrina -- Features Editor Lasirra Hines -- Entertainment Editor

being.

Sports are critical for some students, as it is their way out of whatever their case may be. I know athletes that don’t have much in life, and I know athletes that have a lot. The coming together of the different backgrounds is a stepping stone for a lot of them.

Many people think sports are for athletic kids who just play the game because they’re good at it. That is wrong on so many levels. The lessons learned in sports will lead to 90 percent of what we do and achieve later in life. When we are struggling with a task in our future job, it may not seem like it, but that extra rep in the weight room that we did, even though it might’ve been tough,is what teaches us to keep pushing and never give up.

With that being said, sports are crucial for our age groups mental health and well being.

We need the social aspect of it, the bonds we make with our teams. We need it as a way out, a way to get past our struggles and get our minds off our regular lives because of stress and anxiety. We need them to be successful in our future, not just on but off the field. Many of us wouldn’t feel like we were in high school without sports.

Julianna Poe -- Trending Editor Makayla Clarksnodgrass -- Photo Editor Graphic Artist -- Kellen Hight Julianna Poe -- Social Media Manager Staff Writers and Photographers -Jacob Streeter Manhattan Mention Producer -Koston Peterson Video Production -- Izebell Becker, Beau Boyles, Reece Bunning,

Katya Tarabrina Blue M Editor-in-Chief Many social media platforms have content that is inappropriate for children.

It is nearly impossible to guard children from the dangers of the internet, and TikTok is one of the least moderated ones.

TikTok, previously known as Musical. ly, has had a rise in users the past few years. The platform itself consists of all kinds of videos which are filmed by users of various ages. Many videos are made catering specifically to younger age groups such as dancing videos, DIYs and other lighthearted content. The way the platform works is once you like a specific video and you interact with it in the comments, the algorithm will try to put similar videos on a page that the platform thinks you will enjoy, called the For You Page.

But with the TikTok algorithm, it is very easy to get off the fun and positive side of TikTok. As an obsessed user of TikTok, a wide variety of videos show up, but about five out of 10 videos show illegal activity.

These videos are undesidered and it is a mystery how they are showing up on my page.

The most notable videos include tutorials of how to shoplift products from big brands, how to sell your feet to old men online, videos showing drug use, but specifically marijuana and alcohol use.

Bryan Gross, James Harmer and Nancy Martinez Business Manager -- Sean Anderson 21st Century Journalism -- Emonie Christion, Alayna clark, Kaydence Patton, Ruth Perez, Rose Ried, Madilyn Sanchez, Natalie Sanko, Kate Ward and Jordyn West Distribution -- Nic Alderink, Haley Bailey, Christian Blissett, Logan Brooks, Rachel Efken, Nadia

Those activities are shown by the person making the videos, usually made in a way that suggests society needs to normalize it. These videos are portraying illegal activity and making it seem like something that is very normal and people shouldn’t be ashamed about. Why is it being normalized and encouraged?

The most common argument I’ve seen regarding shoplifting being okay is that big million-dollar corporations won’t suffer from this loss, and they underpay their workers so it makes it okay to, in the commenter’s words, ‘borrow’ from them.

Without proper research, children will see these videos and believe it to be the truth. TikTok is convincing kids to partake in illegal activity with the promise of short-lived happiness and freevitems.

I am a very open-minded person, and I don’t judge people easily. But seeing these videos makes me feel very concerned for the generations of kids who are growing up watching TikTok. Reading the comments on these videos is the worst though. They will have thousands of likes and comments from people saying they are following these steps or want to follow them.

It is surprising that people don’t talk about this part of the platform, well, ever.

It is a huge problem, there should not be any social media that shows how to commit crimes to not only kids but any age group. It’s not something that should be available to people.

It’s very uncertain how they can fix this issue though, because most of these videos are slipping through the moderation, which is clearly not doing enough to begin with. But the one thing that is certain is that if I ever have children and TikTok is still around, I will be doing everything in my power to stop them from using it.

Evangelidis, Isaiah Fox, Kimmie Genandt, Kaleb Gilbert, Terra Harvey, Allie Parker, Reagan Swisher and Austin Tomandl Kristy Nyp -- Advisor The Mentor is published each Tuesday that school is in session at Manhattan High School, 2100 Poyntz Ave. Manhattan, Kan. Telephone (785) 587-2114. More than 1,000 Mentors are printed each week

and distributed free of charge to faculty members and students.

MHS journalists are members of the Kansas Scholastic Press Association and National Scholastic Press Association and National Scholastic Press Association. The Mentor is a public forum. E-mail us at mhsmentor@gmail.com.

SPORTS

Tuesday, Sept. 22 Visit MHSMentor.com

Volume 108 Issue 1

Page 3

Tennis takes first at home meet

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Ava Bahr

Junior; Girls Tennis • First year on Varsity • 2nd at JC League tournament Sophomore Jillian Harkin serves at the home tennis meet on Sept 15. She went 3-0.

Photo by Lasirra Hines

Loub, the No. 1 Lasirra Hines Entertainment Editor doubles, went 2-1, and juniors No. 2 he doubles Ava Bahr Manhattan and Cooper Lohman, High also went 2-1.

Varsity girls tennis With this early team placed first season meet being overall at their the only home only home meet meet the team has, at the City Park Ingram didn’t want courts last Tuesday, the girls to feel too playing a quad with much pressure for Marysville, Junction one game, especially City and Washburn with friends and Rural. Sophomore family being there Jillian Harkin, the to watch and to just No. 1 single, went enjoy it.

3-0, and senior “So just to Kayla Lei, the No. enjoy it because 2 single, also went it was their one 3-0. Sophomore opportunity to play Maura Wiens and on their home court, junior Hannah so they practice

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that,”Ingram said.

Bahr and Lohman went 2-1, losing their last match, however it was a close game.

“We’re just trying to make it as far as we can into the postseason.

A lot of our other teammates have been there before,” Lohman said.

Being more consistent is an improvement that the girls are working on.

“We had two matches already, they were pretty easy but it’s still mentally tough,”

Lohman said.

“Just being more consistent would definitely help.”

This was Lei’s last home meet, as she is a senior.

Ingram is proud of her.

“She played well going 8-0, 8-0, 8-0, she did a good job,” Ingram said, “And so I was proud of her to have that opportunity to play in front of friends and family there, it being her senior year.”

The main focus is getting a lot of practice to ensure they play their best

by October. The doubles are only two meets in, which means the more they practice, the more they get to learn about each other and play well on the courts.

“Right now is just kind of learning each other, our doubles are still only two tournaments in and playing with each other,” Ingram said, “And the more they get to play with each other and have those opportunities, the more cohesive they’ll be on the courts.”

Q: Why did you choose tennis?

A: “Well actually I hadn’t been playing tennis for very long. I started putting in a lot of time the summer before freshman year and I played a little bit when I was younger, but I just really got back into it because I wasn’t planning on playing a fall sport, but I thought I should try tennis and I ended up really liking it.”

Q: Favorite part about competing?

A: “I actually like playing with my doubles partner because it’s a really good team game. And I love competing against all the different teams because each game is never the same and you just have to adapt to the way the teams play and get a win.”

Q: What’s it like being on Varsity this year?

A: “It’s been a really good experience.

The competition is definitely a step up and I actually have a new doubles partner. We’ve never played together before this year so it’s been fun to get to play with her, and figure out each of our tendencies and weaknesses and play to the best of our abilities. ”

Golf loses by one stroke Football drops second straight game Julianna Poe Trending Editor Manhatttan High Varisty Girls Golf competed in the largest tournament of the season thus far in Salina yesterday.

Each team was only allowed five girls instead of six. Despite this, the team shaved off two strokes compared to Wednesday’s tournament with a score of 341. Unfortunately, MHS fell behind Hays by one stroke, taking second place overall.

“I feel like if we can start shooting about 20 strokes lower ... then we can be really competitive with some of the better teams, some of the best

teams,” head coach Paige McCarthy said. “They all could pick out several shots, puts, chips that were unnecessary, so I think that they see how close they are ... to being really, really competitive.”

Individually, each of the girls shot a 92 or lower, with an average of 81 strokes.

Senior Andi Siebert tied for fourth with a 79, senior Rhys Phipps scored sixth with an 80, senior Aben Ryan placed 18th with a 90 and freshman Rylee Wisdom and senior Emily Yerman tied for 21st, each with a 92.

This Friday, the team will hit the road to play in Buhler and on Monday to compete in the Centennial League.

Cole Schmitt Online Editor-in-Chief After falling last week in the Silver Trophy Game, the Indians dropped another game at Hayden Friday 28-42. The Tribe managed to salvage 28 points in the second half after going scoreless in the first.

“It was a tough game for starters,” senior Cade Wilson said. “Hayden is a good team and they played a good game. We couldn’t get a lot of things going and we couldn’t really ever get into a good rhythm. I didn’t think it was a bad game, we just had a lot of things working against us.”

The Indians had a lot of injuries from the week before. Many still played but senior running back Lorenzo Wilhoite was absent from the game. Senior Jeramiah Eustaquio said the injuries wasn’t the main reason for the loss.

“Every year there’s always a teammate or teammates that get injured or subbed out,”

Estaquio said. “It’s a part of the sports in my opinion. Our subs Friday night did their job, though.”

Hayden scored 21 unanswered points to start the game, two of their touchdowns coming on the first play of each drive, running right up the middle of the field for 50+ yard touchdowns.

“I feel like as a team we didn’t play to our full potential [versus Hayden] and that we weren’t as prepared as we should’ve been,” Estaquio said. “We were lazy during practice that week and it translated onto the field on Friday night.”

The Indians will play host to Topeka High this Friday. A game that always is intriguing in score line as the past three years it’s been a single digit win for each team. 21-14 in 2017, 21-20 in 2018, and 2722 last year. “[We have] to come back… focused and ready for a tough game Friday [versus Topeka High],” Wilson said.

Soccer takes the win against Trinity Kris Long Sports Editor Boys soccer took the win against Trinity Academy away on Thursday 2-0, making them 2-2 this season. The second time MHS has played Trinity, they won 3-2 last year and continued their streak.

“We expected for them to be pretty

good,” senior Colton Frieling said. “Just like every game, we go out and just play as hard as we can.

Expect every team to be hard.”

MHS came out strong from the beginning, scoring both their goals in the first half. Senior Cole Schmitt had the opener with the assist from senior Connor Turner.

Senior Micheal Ohler put them up 2-0 later in the half, dribbling through the Trinity defense and shooting for the corner.

“We came out there with the mindset to dominate the field right away,” senior Lucas Smith-Caldas said. “And I think it took us a little bit, maybe around

like 15, 20, minutes, but as soon as that happened we kicked into gear and then from that on it was our game.”

The second half was scoreless, though MHS kept control of the match.

“We just dictated the tempo and just played between the two eighteens in the second half,” head coach Mike Sanchez

said. “2-0 lead is hard to keep..”

Twice this season, MHS has gone into the second half ahead only to lose the game, but they managed to keep a clean sheet.

“For the first two games that we lost, I think that we went into it thinking, ‘oh we can we can take care of it’, you know, ‘we don’t

have to rush it’,” Smith-Caldas said.

“But for this one... from the get go we wanted the victory and we want to go undefeated from this game. So we were just attacking them the whole half.”

Manhattan plays Seaman at home at 6:15 p.m. tonight.

They narrowly lost to them 1-0 last year and expect

a challenge. They also play Washburn Thursday “Really, we’re looking for a whole 80 minutes [against Seaman],” Sanchez said. “It’s a big week for us…. we [have] five games in two weeks, so it’s a lot of soccer in a short amount of time.”

Second and third volleyball meets learning experience Taryn Robinson Opinions Editor The Manhattan High Varsity volleyball team lost all of their games in the triangular in Highland Park that also included Washburn Rural on Sept. 8, and one of them in the next meet.

“We played good,” senior Ellie Hacker said. “Well, we played good individually, but we struggled playing together as a team. That’s why we didn’t pull off the wins.”

Even though the Varsity team’s second triangular of the season didn’t go exactly as hoped for, there’s still a bright future ahead for them despite

the many changes of COVID-19.

“It’s kind of hard to show our celebration because we’re not allowed to touch each other,” Hacker said. “It’s hard when someone scores a [good] point -- you can’t really huddle and give hugs and stuff like that.”

The volleyball team has certain things they look for when they are

getting ready to play.

“We find their strong hitters and just focus on them and shut them down,” Hacker said. “And then bounc[ing] off [of] that by using our strong hitters and just scoring points.”

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FEATURES

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Volume 108 Issue 1

Page 4

New teachers navigate hybrid Kris Long Sports Editor

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U.S. Government teacher, John Dotterweich teaches about the first 10 Amendments to his class. Dotterweich is one of the many new teachers to MHS. Photo by Brianna Carmack.

Problems arise for IEP students Katya Tarabrina Blue M Editor-in-Chief Being gifted means you have certain abilities that typical students don’t possess. Often, gifted students have a lot of resources available in order for them to be successful.

But this year has proved to be a difficulty for them.

“How school is run this year, we’re not really allowed to go outside of the classroom really,” senior Jackson Harvey, part of the gifted program, said. “So that makes it difficult for us to visit our gifted teacher.”

The point of students not being able to move around the building as much is supposed to limit the exposure to other people, but this limits the amount of contact a gifted student can have with their advisor. Each gifted student has an Individual Education Plan, which involves a gifted advisor helping each gifted student meet their needs for being successful in the program.

“A lot of my students are in advanced or AP classes,” gifted teacher Janet Stark said.

“That’s been very interesting in hybrid and remote because of what we can offer and what we can’t offer.”

Many AP classes are only being offered on-site, so if a remote learner really wanted to take that class they wouldn’t have the opportunity to.

“It’s kind of messed up their grand scheme, their big plan,” Stark said. “They’re having to find other ways to be

creative in getting the academics they really want when they can’t be offered.”

Typically, the gifted students work with their teacher and their peers to get all their questions answered. But this year with the limited time they have in class, it’s not possible for them to get the most amount of help from those resources like they would any regular year.

“The social aspect of not being able to engage with your peers on a regular basis is difficult,” gifted teacher Lisa Julian said.

The same as regular students, gifted students are struggling to meet their social and emotional needs during this time.

“Finding people that you connect with is hard in high school,” Julian said. “Finding the people you click with is tough and so when you are limited even more, I think that makes it that much more difficult.”

Though their communication is cut short, the advisors are still trying their hardest to be there for their students any way they can be. Whether that’s a phone call or a Zoom meeting, through the IEP teacher can plan to cater to each and every student to make sure they get the exact education and help they want.

“We’re doing a whole lot of problem solving in this special education world right now,” Stark said.

Football players shine in KC showcase Cole Schmitt Online Editor-in-Chief

Senior Ty Jackson and junior Joe Hall were invited to participate in the Kansas City Showcase earlier this summer. Both want to play in college, and saw this as a way to get noticed and start the recruiting process.

“It felt good,” Jackson said. “It just showed me that I could play with the high road competition, and when season time did come, I was a little more confident because I’ve seen players that were better, faster, stronger…

Knowing I had a teammate [Hall] there with me going along in the process it made me feel good.”

Jackson is a starting safety for the Indians. His motivation to work hard is

his opportunity to play at a high level in college.

“It makes me want to train that much harder, that much more often, and just do that much better every time I take the field,” Jackson said.

Many college recruiters were there, including Kansas State University, which has already offered a spot on the team to Hall.

“It’s definitely a dream come true,” Hall said. “That’s what I’ve been working for my whole life. It’s far from being complete, far from being done. I still have a lot of work to do. Even if I had Alabama, all these big time schools from all over the country, I’d still be working the same way so it’s a lot of work that needs to be done right now.”

See more on MHSMentor.com

very school year, Manhattan High has a number of teachers new to the building and the profession.

However, this year’s incoming teachers face a new set of challenges due to COVID-19. From new methods of delivery to lack of contact with students, new teachers are tackling problems college didn’t train them for.

“Oh my gosh.

It’s been crazy,” Deneyce Ackerman, a new special ed teacher, said.

“Everybody thinks I’m crazy for starting it this year.

But I have to think that if I can do it during this time, then if there’s ever a normal, it will be a piece of cake. So it’s been rough. It’s a big learning curve, but so far it’s going

good.”

Many of this year’s new teachers didn’t get the chance to complete their student teaching before school shut down in March of last year. New AP English Language teacher Sean Pennington was one of those, but he said it hasn’t been too much of an issue.

“It’s been pretty comfortable,” Pennington said.

“I met most of the English department last year and they’ve been super helpful, and so I think it’s been a pretty smooth transition… I do like students this year, everyone’s been great.”

Navigating hybrid has required adaptation for all teachers, but new teachers have to design lessons without much experience for remote and onsite students.

“It’s been a little bit difficult just because

I’m used to a certain model, I’ve been going to school my whole life and so I’m used to it being one way,” new American Government and Psychology teacher Jack Dotterweich said. “Having a lot of contact with students definitely helps in the early parts of the year.”

More than just students and teachers not being able to use Canvas, not seeing students on a daily basis means teachers have to find different ways to teach content that would usually heavily rely on communication.

“It’s obviously challenging to learn and to teach a language when you only see the students once a week because it’s important with language to practice every day,” new German and French teacher Natacha Mally said.

“When we see each other only once a

week, sometimes it becomes a little difficult, but we find ways to continue to make it work.”

The one popular aspect of hybrid is the smaller class sizes, which allows teachers more time with individual students per class period. “[I like] the small classes,” Ackerman said. “I think that makes me feel more comfortable having smaller groups of kids.”

Despite the challenges, teachers are making do with what they have and moving forward.

“We’ve got a wonderful administration that’s doing everything that they can to help us teachers adjust and support the students as best we can,” Dotterweich said.

“For every student, hang in there. Sit tight and hopefully this will be over soon.”

New MHS principal city is something Myers enjoys.

“To have a place like this, and to have K-State here, and then have Manhattan with The class of 2022 has a new grade level a large school,” Myers said, “I mean you Assistant Principal, Larry Myers. Myers can’t ask for anything better. We are very replaced Trina Dibbini, the former grade happy.” level Assistant Principal. Myers is also the Myers has been in the education field Activity Director, taking over duties from going on 30 years. Myers taught at different sophomore grade level principal Janelle levels, starting as a third grade teacher, Walters. and then moved to Clay Center and taught Myers was born in Clay Center and middle school there for 11 years. Coming moved to Wakefield, returning to the district back to Manhattan, he taught at Anthony from being the middle school principal and Middle School for 13 years, between 2005 athletic director at Concordia. Starting high and 2018. Then moved to Concordia and school in Wakefield, he then went on to had the opportunity of being a principal and Kansas State University where he received athletic director there. both his bachelors and masters degrees.

Being in the education field for 30 years For a few years, Myers wasn’t sure of wasn’t something Myers had planned on what he wanted to do after school. He had doing as long as he did. been teaching Social Studies and P.E. in “I really hadn’t planned on this being the high school something I’d do setting when forever but it was eventually just, you know, the he went into time started building elementary up over time,” Myers education and got said. “It’s 20 years, his degree in that then it’s 25 years, area, finishing and now it’s 30 it quickly and years.” getting a job.

Myers enjoys However, getting the high school a master’s degree environment, as he was not in his mainly taught at plans. the elementary and “I really had no middle school level, plans to ever get a not doing much in master’s degree,” high school. The Myers said. “I setting of working was just going with a variety of Larry Myers is the new junior principal and athletic director for to keep working groups is something Manhattan High. Myers has been in the education field for about 30 years and has been apart of the USD 383 district for about 20 until I retire, as a that Myers likes years. Photo by Brianna Carmack. teacher.” within the school.

The process Interacting and to get it had been through a leadership working with a lot more people rather than program through the school district in being in a classroom most of the day has K-State. It was a simple semester class, been a positive in the time he has worked meaning a couple times a month. Myers here. had to take supplementary classes through “Here, you’re working with students, Fort Hays State, giving him the required adults, you’re working with the custodial 36 hours. He eventually got his Master’s of staff, you’re working with other schools,’ Science in Building Leadership.

Myers said. “It’s such a broader scope of “You have to renew [the license], but it’s what you do, rather than when you’re just in just a process that you have to go through, the classroom.” and there’s steps along the way,” Myers said, When Myers was teaching, he didn’t “You have to take tests and you have to do know what was going on in the school. assessments and things, and then also some However, now he has more ability to know internship type things.” what is happening in the school and getting Myers is married to Julie Myers, who to pop into classrooms to see how the is a special education teacher at Anthony students are doing.

Middle School. He has three children, Brett, “Here I can walk around and visit, see Kellen and Kara, who all graduated from what’s going on all around the school,” Manhattan High. The family has been very Myers said. “I think those two things are the happy in Manhattan, and the dynamic of the things I like most about this job.”

Lasirra Hines Entertainment Editor

Tune in on facebook.com/mhsmentor to watch live streams of MHS Sports

Tuesday, Sept. 22 Visit MHSMentor.com

ENTERTAINMENT

Volume 108 Issue 1

Page 5

Pandemic’s impact on music classes

ARTIST OF THE WEEK

Photo from Titus Neumann

Julius Neumann Sophomore; Chamber Orchestra • Began practicing the violin at six • Principle second chair Q: What position are you in chamber orchestra?

A: Principle Second

Seniors Stone Medaris and Gavin Erickson work together, along with the other members of Jazz Band to compose a new piece.

Photo by Brianna Carmack

McKayla Clarksnodgrass Photo Editor

E

very aspect of normal life has been affected

by COVID-19. One thing that has been greatly impacted is our music classes at MHS. “It’s completely different,” Nate McClendon, the orchestra director, said. “How do you take a class that’s built on social interaction and teach it via social distancing?”

Due to the hybrid schedule, it is more difficult now than ever to play music. With some students onsite one day and off-site another, the classes have had to adapt.

“It’s not just about like having to teach the same thing over and over again like you would say this, when the B group comes in you would think you do the same thing over and over,” McClendon said. “But

it’s not like that because every rehearsal is different based on who’s in it.”

Orchestra isn’t the only music class that has a difficult time with the hybrid schedule.

The MHS band also has been struggling with the new schedule.

“I see one-quarter of the band on Monday at the West Campus, another quarter on Thursday at the West Campus,” Joel Gittle, the head band director, said.

“And the next week I’m at the East Campus one-quarter of the band, one-quarter of the band.”

Due to the pandemic, the music classes are unable to operate as they usually do, which includes performances.

“With everything canceled performance-wise, not just for us, we’re trying to build performances,” Gittle said.

“But like the festival’s been

canceled, most of the parades have been canceled. The only thing going right now is football. So we’re putting together a pep band for that.

It’s difficult in a performancebased class. This has been hard on the band.”

Performances are a big part of music classes. The classes require recordings being submitted online instead of the normal in person performances.

“So we’ll rehearse in class but ultimately every student has to go home and record themselves performing the music and then bring that back,” McClendon said. “And then using video and audio software we try to combine that to make it sound like one full recording.”

There are safety precautions in place to keep everyone safe.

Band, orchestra and choir are social distancing, with the use

of masks during their class periods.

“We could play for 30 minutes at a time in the auditorium and then we have to let the air recycle in the auditorium and then, and then we can play again,” Gittle said. “So with the longer classes, that kind of works okay because we can play for 30 minutes, maybe go outside and move around and come back in and play for another 30 minutes.”

Music classes have taken a big hit from not being able to perform to not being able to go on any trips they had planned. There is still much for the directors to figure out and they don’t know what will happen next.

“I think for teachers and students it’s just, it’s difficult because we have to be really patient with each other until things get more normalized,” McClendon said.

‘Mulan’ live-action fails to meet expectations

McKayla Clarksnodgrass Photo Editor

2020 has been an all-around bad year and the new “Mulan” movie hasn’t made it any better.

On Sept. 4, Disney released the 2020 version of “Mulan.”

The story is about Mulan (Liu Yife) who takes her father’s (Tzi Ma) place in the Imperial army when it is demanded each household sends one man.

Mulan, being a woman, pretends to be a man to ensure that her family is safe and no dishonor falls upon them. Eventually, her identity is found out and she’s forced out of the army. Later on, she ends up saving the Emperor and China while embracing who she truly is, bringing honor to her family.

The 2020 remake has several nods to the 1998 animated film, including speaking various lyrics, naming a character Cricket, and several other examples. When they speak different lyrics from the animated film, it seems very forced and strange compared to the animated film. I constantly tried to think of the

film as a completely separate film but the constant nods reminded me this was a remake of a story from my childhood.

Along with those strange nods, the film has several questionable editing choices. For one thing, slow-motion is overused throughout the movie. Slow-motion appears several times throughout fight scenes which gets annoying considering I believe slow-motion is associated with cool or important moments to put them apart from the rest of the film. It’s difficult to be impressed or anticipate what comes next if slowmotion is overused in every fight scene. They also added a blur effect that makes the movie more difficult to watch.

My overall enjoyment of the film was constantly brought down by these editing choices.

To top everything off, the character development was poor. Often in movies, you feel a bit of sympathy for the characters when things get rough, but in “Mulan”, every time something bad happened to her or another one of the characters, I didn’t feel sympathy.

In the entirety of the film, I learned nothing about Mulan besides her wanting to fight but not being allowed to. We don’t learn anything about what makes her happy or sad that is based around Photo from IMDB.com anything other than fighting and maybe her family, who we don’t see much in the movie.

See more on MHSMentor.com

Q: What’s an interesting lesson you took?

A: So, during the summer, I used to go to Germany, of course not this summer, with COVID. Yeah but I played with an orchestra in germany. It was a symphony orchestra, two years ago. Yeah, and I played in lots of different orchestras since elementary school.

Q: Which violin do you play, one or two?

A: Violin two Q: What drew you to doing orchestra?

A: So I started violin lessons when I was six at the Manhattan Art Center. And just kept doing it, and I really enjoy playing the violin.

Streaming services highlight black creators McKayla Clarksnodgrass Photo Editor After the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, many streaming services have added sections promoting black stories and artists. A few of these streaming services include Netflix, Disney+, Hulu and Spotify.

Netflix organizes its “Black Stories” section under genres, which includes over 100 movies and shows with section titles including “Black Lives Matter,” “Black Behind the Camera” and “Black History is American History.” This organization can help you choose what kind of black story you want to watch.

Compared to other streaming services, Disney+ promotes Black stories in a less organized manner. The service groups all of their movies with a largely Black cast and/ or directors together in their “Celebrate Black Stories” collection. The collection consists of 20 movies such as “Black Panther,” “Queen of Katwe,” “The Color of Friendship” and “Black is King.”

Hulu’s “Black Stories” genre has a more specific organization with sections such as “LGBTQ+ & Black,” “Reality TV,” “Black Leads,” “Comedy” and “Dramas.”

Spotify highlights playlists and podcasts under the category “Black History is Now.” The sections within the genre are “Phenomenal Black Music,” “Voices of the culture,” and “Popular playlists.” Many of the items under “Voices of the culture” are podcast playlist.

Though, one podcast under “Voices of the culture” is “In Remembrance of John Lewis.”

Streaming services have made it easier to find a Black story to watch or Black artists to support. The streaming services added these sections as a result of the nationwide protests that occurred this summer. Though the advertising for these sections have seemingly stopped, you can still find them on the streaming services.

Tuesday, Sept. 22 Visit MHSMentor.com

TRENDING

Volume 108 Issue 1

Academic advice Page 6

Julianna Poe Trending Editor

Staying optimistic during the school year can be difficult, especially during this unique time. Here are some words -- collected through Instagram and Google Forms -- from your peers and teachers to keep you on track when the going gets tough.

“Don’t panic about having work.

Instead, break it up into small sections and go one by one.” -- sophomore Soledad Rodriguez “Take advantage of easy classes while you still have them. The East campus is not as scary as everyone makes it out to be. Once you get a routine it’s really simple.” -sophomore Ashlyn Cassel “Explore a variety of classes, you never know where attending a new class will take you.” -- junior Maverick Aggson “Be decisive.” -- junior Tushar Lanka “I would say to not be afraid to take hard classes or to be an officer in a club.” -- senior Josie Summers “Turn in your work on time and do your best on every assignment no matter what.” -- senior Tamayia Washington “Take Consumer Math when you can. It’s not super hard and it teaches you skills you will need.” -- senior Kevin Breeden “Stay motivated and get your work done.” -- senior Sean Anderson “Prepare for college.” -- Manhatan High School Alumni Jonathan Hoepner

“My advice to seniors: use this year to experience as much as you can and savor the simple memories, whether it’s the winning football game, grabbing Chipotle at [a] club meeting, or the way your math teacher makes bad jokes every morning in first period. Take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves, reach out and do the thing you’ve been thinking about doing for the last four years, and give yourself time to enjoy the moment, because you never know when it will be over.” -- MHS alumni Meredith Comas “The best advice I can give in the moment is to not let online school fool you into thinking it’s easier. Things pile up and … getting behind happens faster than you realize. Try to stay on top of what you can while still maintaining a structure that works for you.” -- MHS alumni Sophia Comas “Always ask for help if you need it.

Teachers are always there for you and want you to succeed, but if you do not ask they may not know.” -- art teacher Grant Byquist “Know what you want to do after graduation and align your education in high school with that path. Explore possibilities of career paths and don’t be afraid to talk to teachers and other adults who are trying to help you. We all have experiences to share. We all want the same thing, your success means success.” -- SPED teacher Tammy Crawford “To be successful during this time I think it is very important to set a schedule for your work, actually do the work during that time and ask questions. We can’t help as teachers if we don’t know what your concerns or questions are. You also may have a great idea on how to make the class procedures run more smoothly, you

New Norm

can’t make change if you don’t at least ask.” -- FACS teacher Alicia Pecenka

overwhelming. Prioritize it.” -- ELA teacher Haleigh Carlson

“Work hard and stay in school.

Have goals for yourself and be selfdirected.” -- nurse Robin Mall

“Try to do all the assignments for the learning involve and not to ‘just get it done.’” -- German teacher Elke Lorenz

“Communicate with your instructors. We do everything we can to help you, but unless you talk to us, we don’t know what you need. Take time for yourself. Unplug, go outside, play video games, etc. Do something to let your brain relax -- not during a Zoom class, obviously. The 45/15 rule is good. Work for 45 minutes, take a 15-minute break. Repeat. Drink plenty of water and get plenty of sleep. Remember that we love you.” -science teacher Clancey Livingston “Be proactive in becoming the kind of person you want to be. Life is 20% discovering yourself and 80% creating yourself.” -- Debate, Forensic and ELA teacher Mac Phrommany “The silver lining of hybrid and remote learning, if one is to be found, is the opportunity to learn skills that will benefit you the rest of your life -- communication and time management. Being willing to ask for help often makes us uncomfortable but once you realize that teachers genuinely wish you to succeed and will help you, then you realize that learning really is a team effort...” -math teacher Cindy Kraus “Get comfortable, being uncomfortable. Learn to take on these challenges and see them as opportunities to improve.” -- CTE teacher Daniel Grater “Instead of a huge to-do list, write a ‘must do’ list with tasks you need to get done today in order to be successful tomorrow. Writing everything down at once can be

“...Get out of your bedroom if you can and leave that as a safe space for rest ... Do one class assignment. Get up. Move again. Go check your phone -- successful people reward themselves -- and walk around the block just like you would if you were passing classes. Repeat ... There is power in movement and exercise even if it is short to engage your mind and relieve stress and anxiety. You probably miss P.E. more than you think ... Recognize and accept that things are different and difficult but avoid dwelling and BCDing. Blaming, complaining and defending yourself are not helpful and do not promote action. Keep your goals and desired outcomes in mind and continue to respond towards achieving those outcomes no matter the event in front of you. Outcomes = your Response + uncontrollable Events. You can’t control the events but you can control your Response (E + R = O). Believe in yourself and Respond.” -- social studies teacher Adam O’Neill “Load the Oak app from Manager onto your iPad home screen. It’s got easy-to-use mindfulness practices that you can use almost anywhere...” -reading interventions Stacy Tidmore “Get lots of sleep, eat well and do not put off till tomorrow what you can reasonably do today. Remember, 10 years from now, you will be going to your 10-year reunion and this will all be a memory.” -- Gifted facilitator Susan Copeland See more at MHSMentor.com

On Sept. 11, @MHSMentor put out the following poll on Instagram: Which face covering do you prefer? Out of a total of 144 responses, 73 percent chose a cloth mask, 21 percent picked a medical mask and three percent each chose a face shield or a scarf mask.

New year, new terms Julianna Poe Trending Editor As we begin the 2020-2021 school year, it is important to understand our day-to-day dialogue.

The following is a compiled list of must know vocabulary: On-site: One of the options for learning this school year is in-person instruction. In this model, students will attend school each day while following social distancing guidelines and wearing a mask.

Hybrid: This is a form of the on-site model, in which there are two groups of students. Group A attends school Monday and Tuesday and is off-site Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. On the other hand, Group B is off-site Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and attends school Thursday and Friday.

Remote: Students who are enrolled in remote learning will be taking classes entirely online. They are expected to Zoom in with their teachers on a daily basis and complete their school work during independent work time. Remote learners must keep

a log of each day of school.

Parents Assurance Form: In place of the daily logs, each parent or guardian must sign this form once for all their child(ren). More information about this form will be available soon.

Social Distancing: Everyone must stay six feet away from one another to be in compliance with pandemic guidelines.

Canvas: A Learning Management Program (LMS) teachers will utilize to send out information and assignments to their class. Students will upload their school work to Canvas as well as complete lessons, quizzes and exams.

Zoom: A program that allows students to connect face-to-face with peers and teachers through a website on various screen devices.

Teachers will schedule times for their classes to conduct lessons and answer questions.

Face Mask: A safety measure worn over your nose, mouth and chin and is required for all students, staff and faculty to wear. It must be washed with warm water before reuse or must be disposable after a single use.

Quarantine: A period of time, usually 14 days,

where a person or group isolates themselves in their place of residence.

Distance Learning Day: A day where learning for school is off-site. All students on a typical five-day week have a distance learning day on Wednesday. Other instances of off-site instruction are dependent on which group you are in or learning model you chose.

Meaningful Check-In: Every day that students are in Distance Learning, they are required to make contact with at least one teacher.

On Blue Days -- Mondays and Thursdays -- and Wednesdays, check-ins are with their Advisory teacher. On Red Days -- Tuesdays and Fridays -check-ins are with their fifth hour teacher.

Senior Student Entrance Lottery: This school year, all seniors can enter into a raffle for home football games. Only 100 students will be selected for each game.

Livestream: Coverage over the internet that is occurring in the moment. Our video production team, the Indian Insider, and the Board of Education will use livestreams this year to cover sports and meetings.