The View Issue 1 Vol 24

Park Hill South High School Riverside, Mo.

VIEW

RAGE CAGE IS BACK pg. 8-9

the

Sept. 30, 2021

issue 1, vol. 24

CONTENTS

05 15 14 10

FEATURED

Take a look at all the changes STUCO had to work through while planning Homecoming this school year.

The Land Shark Learn about Senior Alec Enyeart and his many accomplishments. Could he be on his way to the Olympics?

She Means Business Graduate Katie Means started a successful business after high school selling hand-made jewelry.

Madam Chairwoman

Sally Green, an accomplished Senior, has only become more accomplished this past year and through the summer.

STAFF

05 10 14 15

From FOCO to HOCO

EDITORS: Katie Claunch Tyler Clippard Kara Hagen Alyssa Kobayashi Hadley Uribe

Kaitlyn Cain Sam Chase Megan DiBernardo Summer McAlister Sophia Nguyen Brooke Thompson Nev Ada Yildirim

The view is published six times during the regular school year as the student news publication of Park Hill South High School is Riverside, MO. Opinions expressed here are that of the student journalists and do not necessarily reflect te opinions of the Park Hill School District. To access the editorial policies or to submit a letter to the editor, visit our website at phsouthnews. com The View is a member of National Scholastic Press Association and the Mssouri Interscholastic Press Association and is printed by Osage Graphics in Olathe, KS.

A Year Away From Home

S c a n h e re fo r m o re in fo a b o u t F o re ig n E x c h a n g e

T w o fo re ig n e x c h a n g e s tu d e n ts s h a re th e ir a d v e n tu ro u s p a s t m o n th fa r a w a y fro m h o m e

by MEGAN DIBERNARDO

4,586 miles away from home. 1,550 new faces. A

whole new language. This has been the past month for foreign exchange student Rocio Gonzalez Saez.

Gonzalez Saez, 16, is an exchange student from Madrid, Germany who is here in Kansas City for a whole year. Being a foreign exchange student is a big decision that takes a lot of commitment. After all, it is a year in a whole different country with a new family they have never met before.

Besides it being intimidating and scary at first, there are many fun experiences and memories that will take place.

Along with Gonzalez Saez, there is another exchange student, Eva Skofterud, 17, from Fredricksted, Norway. She is staying with her aunt who lives in the school district.

One experience that Gonzalez Saez mentioned was the football games. Since football is mostly an American sport, she had never experienced Friday Night Lights. She said she was excited and participated in the theme of neon.

“I didn’t expect it to be that long and crazy as it was. I was kind of overwhelmed and trying to figure it all out at first,” Gonzalez Saez said.

Of course there are many differences between here and back home for the girls. They both mentioned waking up and eating dinner earlier here. They also don’t participate in any type of dances at home. Gonzalez Saez mentioned that kids seem to dress more comfortably here and since

she is from a big city, this life is very different for her.

Skofterud talked about how different the cultures were and how Americans were way more outgoing.

“Norwegians would look at an exchange student like they had four eyes,” Skofterud said.

Both girls mentioned that they have a lot more homework here than they are used to.

Meeting people while being an exchange student can be hard sometimes. To help get herself out there, Skofterud got a job at Rancho Grande. She said having a job helps her get out of the house and meet people. She also joined the softball team, even though she has never played but she said the girls on the team are super nice One thing that both girls mentioned was drama. They both had the expectation that there was going to be cliques and “popular” kids. Gonzalez Saez said that people back home think of American high schools as a lot of drama like in the movies.

“I just expected it to be like High School Musical,” said Skofterud.

Being 4,586 miles away from home can be intimidating and scary. It is a year full of new experiences and memories that will last a lifetime.

“I just expected it to be like High School Musical.”

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Another Year Full of Change Students share their opinions on all of the changes this new school year has brought them

by ALYSSA KOBAYASHI “I liked the tutorial better last year because it was more consistent. I am still getting used to this change, so it’s hard to know what work I will be able to work on at school.”

TUTORIAL

“I like having the longer tutorials because I am getting on lot more work done with the extra time and the days feel like they go by faster when we have tutorial.”

This year South switched up Tutorial from a thirty minute block every day to an hour and Ryan Kempton, Junior ten minutes three days a week.

Lauren Arensburg, Junior “I don’t like how much the schedule changes on days we have tutorial vs days we don’t have tutorial.”

Chris Todd, Senior

“I like the passing time provided to us this year. Both this years and last years passing times are not ideal without the two minute bell.”

Keegan Good, Senior

BELL SCHEDULE

Along with tutorial, South has a new bell schedule that students are adjusting to, featuring extra long blocks on Monday and Wednesday.

BELL SCHEDULE

There were also many changes to lunch this year, including the addition of eating in the gym and the loss of fifth lunch.

Monthly Early Release

New and important changes here at South

by SUMMER MCALISTER

This year at South things have started off normal for many “I really like the addition of the students... excluding the masks, of course. Some students, gym because it spreads everything “I spend about 10 minutes in out a lot more and you have more the lunch line waiting for my however, will notice changes that the new students will not. A options of where to sit. With less food, which is almost half of my new schedule and early release no longer every Wednesday; lunches, you have a better chance lunch time, So I think having now, only once a month. of getting to eat lunch with your the fifth lunch was necessary.”

Dr. Kerrie Herren, principal, explained exactly why these friends.” changes were made. Due to a district-wide decision, the Anna Armato, schools in the area had to come together to figure out how to Jack Franklin, senior senior keep an early release schedule consistent for the whole district.

In comparison, the past few years at South have been completely different. Every Wednesday early release at 2 p.m., tutorial was only 30 minutes after second block, and other schools didn’t even have early release at the same time.

Upperclassmen have had a lot to say about these changes, such as Maddox Fountain, senior.

“Even though we don’t have tutorial on Monday and Wednesday, we still get out at 2:58 p.m. It’s a lot of change all of a sudden; it’s not ideal,” said Fountain.

As the year goes on, these changes will become the new N EWS 04 normal for us here at South.

p h s o u th n e w s.c o m

FOCO

FROM

HOCO

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Scan here for more pictures from Homecomimg

T h is y e a r, h o m e c o m in g w a s a b le to c o m e b a c k to S o u th w ith a G re e k th e m e by NEVADA YILDIRIM

The STUCO float at the Homecoming Parade

Freshman Homecoming Candidates Trinaty Chen and Cooper Oathout

Color Guard and Band perform at the Homecoming Parade

Dresses were selected and dinner dates were decided; the news had spread that Homecoming was returning to South this year.

The dance, which was on Sept. 25 from 8-11 p.m., was held on the soccer field instead of the gym.

This year, the dance looked a little different as rules and regulations were put into place to ensure that this could be a COVIDfriendly dance that would get approved.

Alex Bozung, STUCO vice president, who was very involved in the planning of the dance, said, “Out on the soccer field is the safest way that we could get something approved, there is lots of heavy communication with Dr. Herren and STUCO. We type out every detail of the dance to be safe. This was a technical dance to plan to make sure it lines up well.“ This event was one step in the right direction, as students start to return to a more “normal” high school experience. Last year, many people did their own fake Homecoming after the dance was canceled, but this year the dance was back, along with spirit week matching the Greek theme and a modified parade on Sept. 18.

Sophomore Mia Zdvorak was excited to go because this would be her first high school dance.

She said, “It’s so nice to have an event like this after not being able to hang out for so long. I’m so excited to see all the pretty dresses and everyone out of a school environment.

I’m really happy that we can finally do this. I have high expectations.”

This dance had all four grades together again, which was an important message that STUCO wanted to give the school a sense of togetherness and connect.

Bozung also said, “The biggest reason we are allowed to have it is that we have been waiting for so long. This will keep school morale up as we set the precedent for this school year.

This is my favorite event, and I think people will be grateful that something is going on. This will be a great chance to connect new students to the upperclassmen.”

All of the little things that don’t seem so important like dresses or dinner dates can also be seen as something that will be remembered after high school ends, as the return of South’s Homecoming was one to never forget.

MAIN EVENTS: -Homecoming Parade: Sept.18 -Spirit Week Sept. 20-24 -Homecoming Football game: Sept. 24 -Homecoming Dance: Sept.25

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&COVID

Of Jaws

U s in g a H o lly w o o d c la s s ic to e x p la in th e m a s k c o n tro v e rs y My family is made up of what one might call “bad movie-goers.” You could point to my youngest sister’s hysterical hyena laugh at the most lackluster of jokes or my mom’s hissed mantra of “What’s going on?”

The rest of us have a different vice; we’re hardcore skeptics. (Let no plot hole be left unremarked on.) One unexplainable detail and a movie is ruined for me, and it’s partly for this reason that I’ve never watched the Hollywood classic “Jaws.” One central plot point has always struck me as intolerably unrealistic: the fact that the authorities would allow beach-goers to remain beach-goers knowing that a humongous, maneating shark from hell was prowling the waters.

You could say that the COVID pandemic has been an eye opener.

For those that are unfamiliar, the plot of Steven Spielberg’s cinema masterpiece “Jaws” centers on a great white shark which has been attacking visitors on the beaches of the small town of Amity. Despite the clear dangers, the mayor of Amity famously says, “Those beaches will be open for the weekend.”

He chooses temporary gain, in his case monetary, over not just public health, but the safety of those he loves. (After another boater is killed by the shark, the mayor weakly says, “My children were on that beach.”)

The parallels between “Jaws” and our current situation are glaringly obvious.Today, schools around the country face the same decision as the craven mayor of Amity. To mask or

11,768 COVID deaths in Missouri O P IN IO N p h s o u th n e w s.c o m

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not to mask, that is the question.

In the Northland region, this has been subject to huge debate, which, more often than not, turns ugly. Anyone present at the Park Hill School District board meeting about the mask mandate can testify that the mask debate often turns into a mask showdown. At Pleasant Hill High School, a squabble over masks resulted in a man being led

away in handcuffs. The Northland Parent Association recently sued several school districts over the mask mandate.

But here’s the simple truth: masks work, and research backs it up. A new study conducted in Bangladesh with a testing pool of more than 340,000 people found that where masks were worn, COVID transmission was down.

For some more proof that masking is effective: according to the CDC flu index, the social distancing and masking precautions we took last year helped bring the flu hospitalization rate down by 98 percent last winter.

The influenza rate in general was also down, along with the common cold and other respiratory illnesses.

Face masks are 79% effective at preventing transmission when worn correctly

b y S O P H IA N G U Y E N

In Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis has issued a statewide ban on the mask mandate, the state report for August of 2021 found that after school reopened, over 13,000 children under 12 and close to 14,000 children between 12 and 19 contracted COVID. This same report last year found that in each age group, there were less than 4,000 cases. In five Florida counties, weekly case counts are more than 10 times higher than last year. That’s an enormous difference and an entirely avoidable one.

At a Florida school board meeting reviewing the mask mandate, one anti-masker asked, “Have any kids died yet?” To which I would respond: Do we really want to wait and find out? Do we wait for someone we know to die before we become willing to do the bare minimum?

There are other prevention methods for COVID-19: social distancing, air filtration, and vaccinations being the most effective. But masking is a baseline precaution that’s cheap but useful. It’s uncomfortable, yes, but it provides a measure of protection while the highly contagious Delta variant spreads and vaccination rates remain low.

COVID may be our shark, but the good news is that we don’t need a grand hunt across deep waters to defeat it. It’s the small things, like masks, that will keep us safe. 40 years ago, “Jaws” told us that even in the face of great danger we wouldn’t close the beaches; thankfully, Spielberg wasn’t entirely correct on this one.

Let’s not backtrack.

The Delta variant is 4060% more transmissible Source: New York Times

parking lot

by KATIE CLAUNCH

T h e s tru g g le s S o u th s tu d e n ts a re fa c in g g e ttin g o u t o f th e p a rk in g lo t a re g e ttin g o u t o f h a n d

mishap

Imagine this. It’s been a long day at school and you’re ready to enjoy the comfort of your own home, your own bed, and your family.

You walk to your car, perfectly parked in the athletic parking lot, and get ready to go. Pulling the car into drive, you look at what’s ahead of you: a line. Somewhat long, but also somewhat normal.

But you end up waiting in the parking lot for 20 minutes.

Now when you get home, your time to relax has completely diminished.

Starting in the spring of 2021, South’s students started experiencing struggles getting to and from school and it’s only gotten worse. With roadwork and traffic at an all-time high, this was the worst possible time for South parking lots and parent pick-up to change its ways.

On a typical student’s drive to school there are 2-3 possibilities of roadwork to run into. The bridge behind Thousand Oaks on K highway is closed, resulting in no traffic being allowed through.

There are two spots on Highway 9 with road work, causing one way traffic which slows students down considerably.

Lastly, I-29 has a bridge replacement project going on that makes it impossible to head southbound.

In the years past, the athletic parking lot was full of students ready to get out of the school quickly. The academic lot was the slow traffic lot. Students coming from the athletic parking lot are now blocked in by double lanes of parent pick-up, making it impossible for anyone to leave school at a reasonable time.

With this inconvenience, it tends to block up all surrounding roads as well.

So if it isn’t broken, why fix it? Going back to the way it used to be would cut the amount of travel time in half for most of South’s students and get rid of (or at least lessen) the frustration surrounding parking.

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return O F T h e R a g e C a g e is b a c k a n d a t fu ll c a p a c ity

by TYLER CLIPPARD

With new leaders, the same chants, and crowds bigger than ever, the Rage Cage is back and better than ever.

After a year-long break, the crowd turnout was crazy with 200-300 people showing out in the student section for the first game on August 27 against Platte County. In this game, South played their best and won 42-14 beating the Class 4 runner-up from 2020.

“It makes a huge difference. It makes the whole game feel different, with home games it puts a lot of pressure on the away team because they can’t hear anything. It helps us play because we have got to show out for our fans,” said senior and starting quarterback Nathan Ricco.

There have been no regulations due to COVID and the Rage Cage has been bumpin’ at all the games. There are five new Rage Cage leaders: Jacob Steiz, Trey Weith, Aj Rodriguez, Austin Anthony and Kara Hagen.

So far, the game themes the leaders have chosen were neon, purple-out, USA, jersey and color by grade (for Homecoming).

“It feels so good to be back and be a Rage Cage leader as well. I have always wanted to be a Rage Cage leader ever since I knew it existed,” said Weith.

Due to the one year gap in the Rage Cage being at all sporting events besides spring sports, these first few football games were a first experience for all the freshman and sophmores.

“It’s really great being in the Rage Cage after last year because it feels like a taste of normality. Seeing the school unite over something and get super hyped really makes me feel happy to be going to Park Hill South,” said sophomore Aidan Seymour.

Some people may question the Rage Cage’s effectiveness with how loud they are and if it affects the communication between South and the coaches. However, the chants, the yelling and the overall excitement help the team draw on that energy and make a big difference at the games.

“I know having Rage Cage at all sporting events helps our teams tremendously due to the intensity and energy we bring,” said Steiz.

Students hope nothing changes in terms of restrictions and the Rage Cage can continue to show up to games and make the difference they can in who wins and who loses.

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photos used with permission from M4 Photography

rage cage S-O-U-T-H

GO PARK HILL SOUTH! SPO RTS

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the land

SHARK...

S o u th s w im m e r A le c E n y e a r t c o m p e te s a t th e h ig h e s t le v e l

by SAM CHASE

Swimmers take your mark…. SPLASH! Alec Enyeart, senior, has been working relentlessly at swimming from the age of 6. That work has paid off, as he qualified for the Olympic time trials.

His events will be at the 2024 Paris Olympics in the 800-meter freestyle and the 1500-meter freestyle.

He is hoping to add more events to the list like 400 Individual Medley: 100 meters of freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly.

Enyeart’s coach of four years, Tom Klilboeker, said, “His best days are ahead of him in all his events but I think the distance freestyle events (400/500, 800/1000, 1500/1650) will continue to get even better.”

Enyeart competed at the highest level this summer traveling to Irvine, Calif. for the Summer National Championships which was the second most prestigious meet this summer behind the Olympic Trials. He placed second in the 1500-meter and 800-meter freestyle and also raced in the 400-meter Individual Medley.

“My 18U ranking for the 1500 and 800 freestyle are 2nd in the nation. With my overall nationwide ranking for the 1500 is 11th,” said Enyeart.

He also went and competed in Huntsville, Ala. at

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Scan here for all articles with Enyeart featured in them

Junior Nationals, just two days after getting home from Irvine. While in Huntsville, Enyeart set three meet records in the 800-, 400-, and 1500-meter freestyle. He also placed first in all those races at this meet. Over the course of 11 days of competing, he set 16 best times.

“He is a dog, works really hard and is a good leader.

He gives 110 percent all day every day whether he’s at practice or not,” said high school and club swim teammate Luke Brown, senior.

Enyeart is currently competing for South for his senior year. He is swimming 200-meter and 500-meter freestyle individually. He also competes in the 200-meter freestyle relay and then 400-meter freestyle relay.

“I want to break the state record in the 500 free,” he said. “I am one second off the class State record and three away from the All-State record.”

Personal Records 1500 Freestyle: 15:22 800 Freestyle: 8:02 400 Freestyle: 3:54

Can’t Take The Heat Softball Morning practice Hitting inside

Cross Country Morning practice

Volleyball Morning practice

Cheer Sweat towels Inside practice

Boys Swim Morning practice

S c a n t o le a r n a b o u t w a y s y o u c a n s t a y h y d r a t e d w h ile p la y in g t h e s p o r t y o u lo v e .

by KAITLYN CAIN

S h in in g lig h t o n h o w h e a t a ff e c t s S o u t h a t h le t e s

T

oday you get to practice with the football team. Three hours in, your energy’s melting away, every breath you take shortens, beads of sweat fall off your body like drops of rain, it feels like every other day. Except, today, you didn’t expect to see red and blue lights flashing before your eyes. It happened in an instant, so fast you don’t even feel your heart drop.

Wednesday, August 25, around 8:00 p.m. football coach Kirk Henry suffered from a heat stroke, something we don’t expect to happen, but know does, bringing light to a topic we are constantly reminded of but sometimes forget is important. As an athlete you have no choice but to hydrate, and adjust to the extremities.

The excruciating heat is always a factor in the mind of the coaches, and they do whatever they can to prevent incidents from happening.

Head Football coach Coach Alan Willmes, explained.

“We adjust time, we go later, late as we can.

There’s more hydration breaks, our trainer checks for humidity and heat and gives us the ok if we are able to practice, and whether we have to adjust the equipment we wear or not,” he said.

Not every practice has to be adjusted because of the heat, freshman Drew Kobayashi, the defensive end and receiver of the freshman team, walks us through a basic practice.

“Sometimes we’ll practice no pants, I think this week we have only had one practice with pants, or we are running with just helmets and pads. We start off with hookups which is quarterbacks throwing to the receivers over the warm up for about 10-15 minutes, and we do regular warm ups which everyone lines up, and everybody stretches together. We split up in offense

and defense, after about an hour and a half on a normal practice we would switch, and then freshman would be on offense, and then Varsity/JV would be on defense. Then at the very end of practice we run,” he said.

Practices aren’t called practice for no reason. You can’t say our team isn’t prepared, and though the heat has a lot of negative effects, one could say it makes our team even better.

Senior Chase Fitch, an outside linebacker and wide receiver, could be said to be one perfect example for the occasion. Taking a trip back to our very first game against Platte City, when a pick six was the start to a new South.

“The heat definitely helped our team. It will definitely help our team in the future. It made the game a lot slower, especially, because we were conditioned, they were not, we were hydrated they weren’t, they were cramping, as you can see I’m not,” he said.

Henry’s incident, while in the moment was terrifying for many, has made an impact in helping us realize that we have to prepare for the unexpected life events, to expect the unexpected. Thankfully Coach Henry is doing exceptionally better, and hopefully drinking more water than he does coffee.

Henry wanted to stress thanks to our school, “Thanks to a lot of people, coaches, teachers, and parents, for taking care of me, the kids were great too. Felt a lot of love.”

Coach Henry should feel the love, he has his entire team behind him, and everyone is grateful for his contribution.

Chase said, “I personally prayed for him, he’s been here a long time he is definitely the heart and soul of this football team for sure. He loves this SPO RTS 11 football team, he p h s o u th n e w s.c o m loves this school.”

MARVEL ADDICT In March of 2021, I spent around 40 hours-over the course of four days-- watching all 20 Marvel movies that were on Disney+ at the time. Then I spent around 11 hours watching the two new Marvel shows. I became a Marvel fanatic. Which isn’t very hard to do when you have phase four and the multiverse waiting for you at the end of the tunnel.

YEAR OF

NOTHING NEW 2020 left us with no new Marvel content, which hits deeper when you remember we were left with the effects of “Endgame” and the end of phase three.

E N T E R TA IN M E N T 1 2 p h s o u th n e w s.c o m

REDEMPTION Marvel did not disappoint with four films set to release and six series debuts in 2021. Lucky for us some of those projects have already been released: “Black Widow,” “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” “WandaVision,” “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” “Loki,” and “What If…?”

MARVEL

POPPING UP

STILL A FANATIC

Nothing in the MCU is by accident.

Which may explain why Valentina Allegra de Fontaine was seen in “The Falcon” and the “Winter Soldier” in aid of John Walker, U.S. Agent, and showed up again in the “Black Widow” end credit scenes.

Valentina is no doubt here to create trouble in the MCU and progress phase four even more.

It’s now almost October of 2021 and I recently spent four hours watching the two new Marvel movies and a little over eight hours on the two new Marvel shows. I am still a fanatic.

It’s still not hard to do.

A tim e lin e o f a M a r v e l Fa n a tic in 2 0 2 1

by HADLEY URIBE art by HAYDEN GLOVER

BLACK WIDOW Despite being the first film of phase four, “Black Widow” took place between “Captain America: Civil War” and “Black Panther.” I think what made this film so perfect (besides Yelena’s effortless humor) is it’s exactly what Marvel fans needed when they needed it. “Black Widow” also answered a longawaited question about Nat and Clint’s friendship; we finally figured out what happened in Budapest!

SHANG CHI “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” released Sept. 3. The ‘super powers’ present in Shang-Chi are ones we’ve never seen before. The control of the elements mixed with the powers of My only thought while reclined in my AMC Prime seat was Wow, these fight scenes are beautiful. Shang-Chi explored a new place in the MCU; just another loop in the Multiverse belt.

E N T E R TA IN M E N T 1 3 p h s o u th n e w s.c o m

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MEANS

Business

A fo r m e r s t u d e n t fi n d s s u c c e s s a f t e r s t a r t in g a b u s in e s s

by BROOKE THOMPSON Although Katie Means graduated with the class of 2021, she still remains throughout the halls of South.

Means started Means Beads as a place to make and sell jewelry to her friends and family. Her business rapidly grew into a company that many students at South would purchase from.

Means said she got inspiration originally from Pinterest for her “kitchen sink jewelry” but now finds inspiration from funky beads she is able to find.

Her favorite piece she has made is called Rainbow Jam. “How many times have you seen corn on a piece of jewelry?” Means asked when describing the necklace.

She also takes custom orders, making 5-10 custom necklaces a week.

“I just thought that some

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of my friends would ask me to make some and that would be it,” Means said.

With her new-found success, Means said she plans to start an Etsy or Shopify shop and continue to grow her business although you can purchase from her now through her instagram @meansbeads Annie Alford, senior, a customer and student, said,” (I’m) very excited to see her business grow.”

Alongside her trendy jewelry, Means’ business has become synonymous with hospitality.

Ally Lynch, senior, said, “She met up with me and was very nice and made conversation.”

Necklaces from Means Beads can be found throughout the halls of South, a symbol of one former student’s success after high school.

@meansbeads

Brody Washam

Ali Thatcher

S a lly G re e n , s e n io r, w a s s e le c te d to a tte n d G irls S ta te a n d G irls N a tio n , d o in g o u ts ta n d in g th in g s w h ile m a k in g life lo n g frie n d s

by KARA HAGEN

C H MA A RI DW AO M MA N

Did you know that a student at South is a Chairwoman in Washington DC? Sally Green, senior, was one of two girls selected to go to Girls State from South (the other was Catie Tejeda, senior). Girls State is a program where selected juniors get to learn about the political process. The girls elect officials and run a mock government.

“It was nice being around people who are also passionate about politics and current events,” said Green.

Green was elected by her peers to be a Chairwoman of the Nationalist party at State.

She spoke in front of hundreds of young women and worked to collaborate with others.

When she was able to step away from the political scene, she wrote her own stories for the newspaper.

Before Green attended Girls State, she applied for Girls Nation. She had to write a piece of legislation as part of the application process. The board chose the top 16 candidates, then they were evaluated by interview.

“My legislation was about creating a fruit and vegetable incentive within the food stamp program to allow lower-income people to have access to healthy foods,” said Green.

Green was one of two from Missouri that was accepted to attend Girls National State.

She traveled 1,000 miles to Washington DC to meet a whole new elite group of girls.

Again, Green was a chairwoman for the Nationalist Party there as well. She ran a campaign for a presidential election.

“I got to help come up with a theme, I designed our decorations, I wrote the skit, I chose the songs we played. It was so much fun, and I love doing that,” said Green.

Attending Girls State and Nation has helped Green prepare herself for future jobs.

One day, she said she would love to run her own campaign or even become a senator.

Attending these programs helped strengthen her need to get involved in politics.

“Girls State helped me become more confident in myself, become a better speaker, become better at articulating my thoughts, and it also prepared me for interviews,” said Green.

If you are a Junior interested in Girls State and Girls Nation next summer, talk to your counselor for more information.

F E AT U R E S

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