Issue 6 22-23

P ROSPECTOR THE

VAPING EPIDEMIC

favors like Apple, Mint and Menthol that cater to teens — no matter how much he wants to quit.

As he took a breath into his vape, senior James Johnson* came to a startling realization: vaping felt like “nothing.”

After nearly three years of constantly feeding his habit of taking out his vape when bored or stressed, he had lost all pleasure from it.

This shocked Johnson; he has gone through six attempts to quit his vape addiction since then. Each attempt has proved unsuccessful as the constant withdrawals, combined with his friends’ vape use, pulled him back into the cycle.

Consequently, he understands the addictive allure of his vapes — especially with the various

“[Vaping] was like a burst of healing,” Johnson said. “Over time it became a habit. Whenever you’re bored, it’s just kind of like, ‘Oh it’s there.’ It’s always in your hand, and it’s really a tough habit to break.”

Johnson is not alone in his vaping addiction. In 2022, about 14.1% percent of high school students reported using electronic cigarettes in the last month, according to the CDC.

With the number of e-cigarettes used by teenagers growing by 1800 percent from 2011-19, it is clear that vape companies have established their throne over the cigarette industry by catering to teenagers; in fact, the CDC also found that only 5 percent of high schoolers in 2020 had smoked a cigarette in the past 30 days.

More locally, at Prospect, a bathroom on the frst foor had to close down due to large groups of students congregating in the stalls.

School Resource Offcer Lisa Schaps explained that vaping is one of the purposes of these bathroom meetups. According to a Knightmedia survey of 195 students, 12 percent of students admitted to using a vape in the past.

“I think it’s a problem at every single high school in the country,” Schaps said. “The vaping issue is everywhere.”

According to health

teacher Aaron Marnstein, much of vaping’s popularity can be accredited to the “stealth” aspect of e-cigarettes, which makes it easier for students to vape in school undetected.

The smoke dissipates faster, and the smell is much easier to cover up as well.

The smaller sizes and different shapes of each product may also help students hide their vapes from school staff.

These factors, combined with vape companies’ money-making strategies, contribute to the chokehold e-cigarettes have on many high schoolers.

In fact, Marnstein compares marketing tactics for modern vapes to a basic imitation of cigarette companies back in their heyday.

Much like the Joe Camel cigarette advertisements in the ’90s — which led to a lawsuit for the utilization of Joe’s “cool” persona with sunglasses and a tuxedo to exude themes of happiness, friendship and sexiness to lure in teens. Vape companies employ similar tactics, according to the The Addiction Prevention Coalition.

Though these ads are “completely different” from e-cigarette businesses’ “intention” of providing a safer alternative to smoking cigarettes, the results are largely the same.

In fact, the Addiction Prevention Coalition found that 50 percent of advertisements for vaping displayed animations, and 32 percent had actors who were under the age of 21.

SEE

PJ O’GRADY Copy Editor

Vape companies exploit teens with targeted marketing, results in addiction, health issues

One student shares her family’s experience with nicotine addiction

*According to a KnightMedia survey of 195 students

12% OF PHS STUDENTS have vaped AT LEAST ONCE BEFORE*

photo illustration by Bella Brouillette

*name changed for confdentiality

WEST KENSINGTON ROAD, MOUNT PROSPECT, ILLINOIS THE VOICE OF PROSPECT HIGH SCHOOL SINCE 1959

VAPING: Teens get smoked by nicotine industry

“Tobacco companies advertise to kids,” Marnstein said. “They couldn’t publicly say they’re advertising to kids, but in the courts [what] they fgured out it was, ‘Hey, you’re drawing cartoons and things that kids like.’ The companies lose money if they don’t replace those [older] customers on the back end, which is kids.”

Johnson has seen this “replacement factor” frsthand: he watches his mother smoke cigarettes on a constant basis. He works tirelessly, through constant reminders of the damage of smoking, to talk his mom out of her tobacco addiction. However, Johnson can’t help but feel like a hypocrite considering that he himself vapes; while the vehicle in which the nicotine transmission occurs is diferent, the threads of addiction remain the same. Even still, Marnstein says that it’s much easier to get teenagers addicted than adults.

According to an article by surgeongeneral.gov, synapses, which form when memories or skills are learned, develop in kids at a much faster rate than adults. So, since “addiction is a form of learning,” teenagers develop addictions faster than adults do.

Since most e-cigarettes contain nicotine, it means another, stronger, wave of addictions for Gen Z: one JUUL pod (a popular vape brand) has an equivalent of about 20 cigarettes’ worth of nicotine. According to a statistic by MPOWER, an organization committed to reducing the spread of tobacco use, 66 percent of users who vape don’t know that e-cigarettes contain nicotine in their cartridges.

Even for those who do know the risks associated with vaping, like Johnson, the strong cravings of nicotine cause trouble for even the most aware of vape users.

“Yeah, I do know [it’s bad to vape],” Johnson said. “You always know it’s bad for you, but you never think that you would actually become addicted to it.”

The vape addiction became alarmingly clear for sophomore Rachel Gleason*, too. After being peer-pressured by her friends into trying it, she began purchasing

disposable vapes at a shop to fuel her habit. Initially, she was worried about getting caught, but she said the seller gave her the vapes right away without checking her age.

About a month later, Gleason realized the depth of her addiction when she found out how many times she hit her vape in a day. After her friends expressed their concern — it seemed like she was “vaping a little too much”

— Gleason did the math and tallied up a whopping 200 hits on her vape on that day.

A huge part of vaping that hooks younger populations to use vape companies’ products is the surplus of favors that e-cigarette companies provide. Flavors such as bubblegum, citrus, cherry and even creative ones like graham cracker or energy drink, all appeal to a younger demographic.

In fact, a study conducted by Truth Initiative, a nonproft organization committed to preventing addictions to vape and smoke products, found that 43 percent of middle school and high school students started vaping because of all the attractive favors.

Other than the good taste of va -

pes, the buzz associated with their chemicals and a relative cure for boredom, there are no other positives to vaping according to Gleason. Both Gleason and Johnson said they were introduced to vaping by their friends, and Gleason said she vaped to also ft in since “everybody did it.”

(E-cigarette or Vaping Product-Use Associated Lung Injury), has resulted in 68 confrmed deaths in 29 diferent states and the District of Columbia.

As a person who sufers from asthma, Gleason says she noticed her own respiratory sys-

CAPITALISM AT ITS WORST,”

- Lisa Schaps, School Resource Offcer.

All this vaping, however, leads to unintended consequences.

“Nic-sick,” a term used by vapers to describe a short-term illness caused by too much vaping, is one such negative efect, according to Johnson. It usually lasts from around two to 24 hours and comes with nausea and an increased heart rate. It’s not just a rare condition either; Johnson says he’s gotten nicsick plenty of times throughout his years of vaping.

Another negative of e-cigarettes is how taxing they are on the immune system. Common efects of vaping include headaches, coughing, a dry throat, shortness of breath and mouth or throat irritation.

In the long term, Marnstein says that there have been a number of respiratory issues linked to vaping, some of which have resulted in hospitalizations.

According to the CDC, as of Feb. 18, 2020, there have been 2,807 hospital visits for vaping-related lung injuries. This phenomenon, known as EVALI

Sophomore takes frst in photo contest

EMMA LETZIG

Online Editor-in-Chief

For 46 years, District 214 has showcased the artwork, talent and creativity of students in the District 214 Arts Unlimited Celebration.

A tradition started by Richard Calisch in 1976 has stuck around, proving the impact of the fne arts programs in District 214. The celebration had many categories and showed a variety of arts ranging from paintings, drawings, photos and dance.

Prospect sophomore Kate Kremer was the 2023 Photo Show Champion in the darkroom category. Her black and white photo of her stepsister was submitted, and was named the district’s best (see photo at right).

Unfortunately, due to a broken email at the time, Kremer wasn’t even aware that she had

KATE KREMER

won the award. When the news fnally broke to her unexpectedly in her math class, she was quite excited (and a little embarrassed).

“All of a sudden, my math teacher during class … was like, ‘Hey, Kate. Congratulations!’ and I’m like, ‘Congratulations, for what?’” Kremer said. “[She] made everybody clap for me.”

Her teacher then informed her that she had won. Many of her friends and teachers continued to congratulate her in the days following the announcement.

“It was nice because then it made me feel cared about, honestly,” Kremer said. “[It was] heartwarming.”

tem rapidly deteriorating as she started getting out of breath more quickly in her daily routine when she vaped.

Marnstein is also uneasy about the unknown health efects that will come after years of vaping.

“The main negative efect [of vaping] is [that] they don’t know what the main negative efect is right now,” Marnstein said. “… There’s not enough longitudinal research to determine what the efects are. If you look at smoking there’s 30, 40, 50, 60 years of research to show what the negative efects of smoking are.”

With all the repercussions of vaping, Marnstein suggests that vaping is just another substance for students to experiment with, especially for students looking to cope with issues such as stress, anxiety or depression.

“A lot of times it could be curiosity, a lot of times it could be that students are social with other students that do it, and they just want to know,” Marnstein said. “There will always be curiosity, there will always be experimentation with alcohol and tobacco, drugs and all that stuf. I think the hard part is that the real problem doesn’t start until the student fgures out what it can do to them.”

Though vaping is costly from a health standpoint, it’s also expensive to the pocketbook, especially for teenagers. While it’s not nearly as costly as smoking cigarettes — which the government intentionally implemented a high sales tax on so that it would make them harder to buy for young populations — the average cost of JUUL pods is $20 per week or $1,008 in a year, according to the EX Program, which is a part of Truth Initiative’s organization.

Johnson estimated that he would spend about $20-22 on disposable vapes on a monthly or bi-weekly basis depending on the brand that he’d get. He explained that he would usually buy Mr. Fog or Breeze depending on his mood.

For vaping to get eliminated in high schools, a favor ban must happen, according to Schaps. Flavors are a big draw to teenagers, and she thinks a ban would result in much less interest.

In order to eliminate the spread of vaping in high schools and middle schools, Schaps explained that police departments are cracking down on e-cigarette sellers that distribute to younger kids; by issuing multiple citations, the government pushes lengthy fnes on businesses, which can eventually lead to the closure of vape companies.

While vapes may seem like they are here to stay in high school, Schaps said if students and staf work together to oppose vaping, then it can decrease in popularity.

“I just think everybody needs to get involved,” Schaps said. “It can’t just be one [part of the system]. The school and athletes and police and teachers and parents, everybody needs to come at this … it can be done, we all just have to start doing the work.”

While it’s been a rocky road for Johnson and Gleason in regards to quitting their addiction, Gleason has been sober from vaping for about two months, while Johnson has been trying to quit for a while now with several unsuccessful eforts.

They both know all too well how addicted they were; Gleason suggests to ease the transition of quitting by switching to nicotine-free vapes in order to eliminate its addictive effects,while still having a less potent vape in case students need to fulfll that urge to breathe into one. Furthermore, Gleason joined an Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) in a family recovery center to end her substance abuse problem. Meeting twice a week in a therapy group with other recovering vapers, she found strength within their shared joy of being sober.

“Whenever I have the urge [to vape] I just distract myself with other fun things, and I just always remind myself how much better life is sober,” Gleason said.

With all the difcult information, or lack thereof, to navigate, Johnson and Gleason say that students should simply stay away from vapes.

“Don’t do it,” Johnson said. “It’s going to lead down a bad path. Even if you say you’re not going to become addicted, the frst one you buy isn’t going to be your last. That is just simple; you’re going to buy another one and it’s going to be a cycle.”

REPLACED: Joe Camel (left), a cool character created by Camel Cigarettes, was illegally advertised to teenagers until the company’s collapse in 1997 after many activists publicly attacked it. Similarly, vape companies like JUUL (right) employ tactics like using younger actors or actresses to lure in high school students.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Drop o letters to the Prospector in the box in the library, in room 162 or email letters to prospectornow@gmail. com. All letters must be signed. Limit letters to 400 words. The Prospector reserves the right to edit for style and length.

staff

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

Kevin Lynch, Ella Mitchell

MANAGING EDITOR

Kaylie Pasternak

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Amanda Feinberg, PJ O’Grady, Zach Moreth

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Emma Letzig

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MISSION STATEMENT

The primary purpose of the Prospect High School Prospector is to report news and explain its meaning and signifcance to our readers and the community. We, The Prospector, hope to inform, entertain and provide an unrestricted exchange of ideas and opinions. The Prospector is published by students in Multimedia Communications courses. Some material is courtesy of MCT Campus High School Newspaper Service.

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Staff Editorial

As sophomore Em Pawlak read more and more stories — often visiting the public or Prospect library on a daily basis — a pattern seemed to emerge: romance, romance, everywhere. Every book they read across all age categories and genres seemed to force its male and female main characters into a romantic relationship, something that Pawlak says does not mirror real life — much less their own.

However, after reading Gabrielle Zevin’s “Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow,” Pawlak fnally found a book that featured the everlasting strands of platonic friendship. While this often-overlooked form of relationship might be underrepresented, Pawlak says that their ability to access a wide variety of media allowed them to discover these gratifying nuggets of their own life-truths.

“Once I started fnding books or characters with struggles I could relate to, who had relationships like I do, … it made me feel a lot more seen in what I’m reading,” Pawlak said. “[That] is something everyone should be aforded to feel.”

Across the United States, young people’s ability to access this afrming feeling of representation is being squashed in largely partisan battles over what books, themes and school curricula are suitable for school-aged kids such as the debate over the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law in Florida and the anti-Critical Race Theory House Bill 3979 in Texas.

According to PEN America, in the last school year alone, there has been a 40 percent increase in the banning of books from public schools and libraries, totaling 2,532 diferent books removed from shelves; the vast majority of these books feature BIPOC and LGBTQ+ characters or discuss topics such as racism in America or sex education. In fact, 41 percent of banned books explicitly address LGBTQ+ themes or contain queer protagonists, and another 40 percent contain protagonists of color.

This censorship of minorities’ voices extends beyond the bookshelf. According to Senior Legal Council for the Student Press Law Center Mike Hiestand, parts of schools’ curriculum — including history lessons about slavery or the civil rights movements — have been tiptoed around, or in some cases, outright removed.

One particularly egregious example can be seen in a newly-censored Studies Weekly textbook; published in Florida, the lesson now refers to activist Rosa Parks as merely “a nice lady” — not an outspoken leader in the battle against segregation and racism in America.

“In the last few years we’ve seen this explosion of book challenges and [various groups] going after curriculum,” Hiestand said. “Can we really not talk about Rosa Parks anymore in this country?”

One main argument made to support such censorship hinges on the standard set by the 1969 Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, which states that expression can only be limited in schools if it creates a material disruption to the classroom environment.

Examining the themes of the top 10 books banned during the 2021-22 school year high-

lights a pattern of what exactly constitutes a “disruption,” according to data compiled by CNN: “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe explores gender identity and sexuality and was removed from bookshelves on 41 separate instances; “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson is a compilation of essays describing the author’s experiences growing up as a queer, Black kid in New Jersey and was removed 29 times; and “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas follows a young adult navigating the loss of her friend due to police brutality and was removed on 17 occasions.

It is clear that the only “disruption” these books present to the classroom environment is the expression of ideas, identities and perspectives that concerned parents or targeted conservative groups — like Moms For Library and Power2Parent — disagree with.

“There is no First Amendment right to not be ofended,” Hiestand said. “ … Really, the only type of speech that needs defending in the frst place is speech that’s not particularly popular.”

We, KnightMedia, condemn book banning or reader censorship in any form, especially as it occurs across the country with increasing impunity and a blatant contempt for the basic principles of both education and democracy.

Whether through the vehicle of local, state or national groups, the very concept of banning books is inherently unjust as it attempts to restrict others based on the preferences of those calling for bans. Not only does this restrict access to a diverse range of stories and perspectives, but it also transmits messages of discomfort and intolerance to students of marginalized backgrounds and ultimately hampers schools’ ability to fulfll their primary goal: the pursuit of education.

It is imperative that students learn to be curious, expose themselves to a range of perspectives and maintain the freedom to read as they climb the educational ladder. Reading about hard subjects might not be the most comfortable of experiences, but through this discomfort — paired with classroom conversations and curriculum fexibility — students can truly learn to empathize and foster diverse connections.

While Pawlak understands the discomfort that concerned parents may feel, they saw frsthand the educational and moral value that reading can have while reading “The Hate U Give” in middle school.

As a white kid growing up in the suburbs, Pawlak says they felt an itching sensation of uneasiness as blatant acts of racism unfolded. After reading, however, Pawlak expounded on that uncertain feeling by conducting research, reading books with similar themes and confronting their own biases.

“I did feel, quite frankly, uncomfortable,” Pawlak said. “But from that discomfort, I was like, ‘Why? Why does this make me uncomfortable?’”

This is the key diference in attitude that proponents of book banning lack. Rather than crying wolf at the very notion of discomfort, Pawlak believes that critically looking at books and the world that surrounds them can build bridges of

empathy in readers.

This was the attitude of AP Language and Composition teacher Jill Corr, along with fellow AP Lang teachers Matt Love and Elizabeth Joiner, when they reworked their literature unit last school year to include more diverse voices. “Kindred” by Octavia Butler, “Homegoing” by Yaa Gyasi and “American Dirt” by Jeanine Cummins extend the classes’ curriculum beyond works written by “dead white guys,” according to Corr, opening up students to new perspectives.

“You might think you know a little something about a topic, but any good book is going to make you think a little diferently about something,” Corr said. “I won’t say it has to challenge all of your preconceived notions, but … hopefully you come away from it and be like, ‘Oh I hadn’t thought about that.’”

Whether you yourself must confront the reality presented in books like “The Hate U Give,” “Kindred” or “Homegoing” in your day-to-day life or not, it is an indisputable fact that many people in the United States face racism. Banning books doesn’t erase that reality; instead, it invalidates a very real experience while destroying a crucial learning opportunity.

There is even legal precedent that protects the right of schools to possess books that give voice to these “uncomfortable” viewpoints: Hiestand cites the 1982 Supreme Court case Island Trees School District v. Pico, which states that students’ right to read is implied by the First Amendment and that libraries — even ones in schools — are places for “voluntary inquiry,” meaning that school boards do not have the right to oversee their contents.

The promotion of this inquiry into unfamiliar and diverse topics is important, though further action is needed to address the censorship crisis currently at hand. Combating book banning starts at a local level, which is why in February of this year, Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias proposed House Bill 2789, the Right to Read Bill. The bill passed through committee on March 8 and will make its way to the full House for consideration.

If passed, it would go into efect on Jan. 1, 2024 and tie state funding of public schools and libraries to policies that explicitly prevent the banning or restricting of access to books and other educational materials.

Advocating at a grassroots level, reaching out to local representatives in support of legislation like the “Right to Read Act” and engaging in classroom conversations about diversity, however inconsequential as it may seem, are small, positive strides in the right direction.

“Having young people speak up and say, ‘This is not right; this is not something that I’m willing to just look the other way on,’ is very, very important,” Hiestand said. “ … I think that they don’t quite realize sometimes the impact that their voices truly can have.”

With the proper tools, the issue of book banning can remain where both Hiestand and Pawlak agree it belongs: the past.

“Looking at those historical examples where they not only banned books but straight burned them, it hasn’t ended well for them,” Pawlak said. “Censorship doesn’t end well for anyone involved: for those being censored or those doing the censoring.”

Swearing: $@!% yes #&$;@ no?

Profanity proves benefcial despite situational strife

Wading through the shallow end of the Pioneer Park pool on a beautiful summer afternoon, I felt content as I soaked in the sunshine and cool breeze while keeping tabs on the handful of elementary schoolers that I was supervising in my job as a park district camp counselor.

With only a few kids left in the pool, I used the break from the typical chaos to take a nice deep breath of fresh air, fnally having a moment to myself for the frst time in hours. Suddenly, without any warning whatsoever, I felt a cold, slimy sensation rub down the middle of my back, rudely disrupting any semblance of inner peace that I had cultivated. I jumped, undergoing a full-body finch as I whipped around while exclaiming the frst — and only — thing that jumped into my mind:

“What the ****??”

As it turns out, the six inches of water that I was standing in did not contain a touchy-feely sea beast, nor was I being attacked by any other type of overly moist assailant; when I turned around, all I saw was one solitary camper standing with a hurt expression on his face after having attempted to surprise me with a poorly-timed, wet back rub.

“You swore at me!” was all he said before running of, the betrayal in his voice wounding me more than any tentacled monster ever could. Afterwards, my supervisor was fortunately understanding of the incident, though no workplace punishment could be worse than the guilt I felt from making a fool of myself at the expense of a young campers’ feelings.

Sure, I may have fallen victim to the lamest sneak attack in history, but the fact of the matter is that everyone knows that you don’t swear around little kids — even little kids themselves. But then again, why not?

I mean, sure, there are some *cough* sex *cough, cough* topics that most kids shouldn’t be learning about at such a young age, but at the end of the day, what’s really separating one cluster of syllables from another?

In fact, while some of swearing’s current greatest hits might evoke the oft-shunned topics of fornication or human waste products, according to language service Phrasee, back in the Middle Ages, the topics of sex and what-goes-inthe-toilet weren’t nearly as taboo.

Back then, the worst things that you could blurt out after accidentally stubbing your toe in your suit of armor came in the form of religious blasphemy such as “by God’s bones,” and “by Christ’s fngernails,” phrases that, while pretty tame by today’s standards, would surely have you thrown into the nearest dungeon a couple centuries ago.

In contrast, words like “swive” — the medieval equivalent to the f-bomb — were tossed around on a practically casual level.

Around the 18th and 19th centuries, however, these ofhand references to deity’s vertebrae became replaced with the more familiar potty language we know and love today.

Those on the tamer end of the spectrum

FLIP-FLOP: While social stigmas surrounding swearing may be ingrained in society, research shows that the cathartic benefts of swearing can be equally important. Balancing both is key to a healthy lifestyle and can make you happier overall. Much ******* happier. (cartoon by Emily DePaz)

tempt at edginess. These weak excuses for a “disruption” do point towards a larger societal issue, however: simply put, kids these days just don’t know when to shut the (insert swear word of choice) up.

$

slowly grew (similarly to Christ’s fngernails, apparently) out of style, like the arguably less censorable “bloody” or “doggone it” while the more explicitly sexual ones remained. Thus, much of the nuance of cussing comes down to context; regardless of whether you think that uttering a profanity is going to end you up in h-e-doublehockey-sticks, it doesn’t take a lot of street smarts to realize that a business interview probably isn’t the best place to whip out the launch codes for an f-bomb.

AP Government and Politics teacher Tim Beishir agrees with this sentiment, and he often holds his own students to a higher standard in the classroom than he might elsewhere when it comes to language.

He says that a high school’s right to reprimand students for swearing stems from the desire to shield students — who are primarily minors — from obscene material, as well as to free classrooms from major disruptions, as established by the Supreme Court’s ruling in the case Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District.

“If one of my freshmen said some cuss word, some sexually ex plicit word, some anatomically descriptive word, it’s going to disrupt the classroom envi ronment; now I have to deal with that,” Beishir said.

“So I think you’re going to come into that [situation] where your speech is going to be cen sored, almost not for its content, but mostly because of the disruption it’s going to cause.”

With the advent of computers, smartphones and, the biggie, social me dia, youngsters nowadays can connect with millions of people at once from all corners of the globe, allowing them total anonymity in everything that they say (cue fashbacks to 10,000 different middle school anti-cyberbullying assemblies).

I’ve seen myself fall into this trap countless times. Sure, I may feel the urge to call someone on Twitter a string of obscenities (usually with a “clown” or “ignoramus” or two in there for good measure) for daring to argue that “The Lego Batman Movie” is anything besides a 10/10 masterpiece, but I would never say those things to them in person; I would simply avoid them at all costs.

ing guillotine of Society’s Wrath™ (which would make an excellent hot sauce favor name, by the way) can be a large determiner of whether your word choice is met with “hell yeah’s” or “to hell with you’s.”

Don’t let the latter option dissuade you, though; in fact, it’s been found that swearing in socially appropriate scenarios can have positive benefts, namely relieving stress and increasing one’s pain tolerance, according to Psychology Today.

53.3%

OF PHS STUDENTS* PICKED A FOUR-LETTER WORD FOR FORNICATION AS THEIR FAVORITE SWEAR

Because of the unspoken complexity between communication on/ofine, Beishir believes that schools’ and teachers’ eforts to maintain an environment that encourages professional social interaction are an invaluable tool in correcting misguided behaviors in students, even if for just eight hours per day.

25.1%

PICKED A FOURLETTER WORD FOR HUMAN EXCREMENT AS THEIR FAVORITE*

In my experience, that disruption is typically a minor one; worst-case scenario, everyone misses a few seconds of class time because they’re too busy rolling their eyes at some self-described bad boy’s at-

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“Any interpersonal skills that we can be helping is positive because … there’s actually just more to learn now,” Beishir said. “You have this whole other world where you have to learn those rules, [and] I think that’s come at the expense of some of the direct interpersonal skills.”

While it might not sound too important to the everyday fippant f-bomber, the ever-loom-

Beyond this, it can also help with emotional connection and bonding by allowing you to have the shared experience of saying a no-no word.

I’m not trying to be the fun police and rain on everyone’s profanity parade; if anything, my rain is more directed towards moistening up the dry, crusty vocabulary of people who don’t swear. After all, swearing is practically human nature. Even if you were the most sanctimonious and clean-mouthed individual on the planet and I asked you to swear on your mama’s life that you had never once sworn, then congrats: I just tricked you into doing it anyway.

At the same time, words, as silly as they may often seem, matter a great deal. While you might think your favorite cuss is the f-bomb-dot-com, others might not agree, and it’s never worth tossing away the chance to form a connection just so you can be the resident cool guy for a clause or two.

That kid I accidentally swore at during camp that day thankfully didn’t try to ambush me again, but he sure as *heck* didn’t go out of his way to interact with me again either. Getting your mouth washed out with soap might not be the de facto response for profane language anymore, but I’m hard-pressed to think of something that tasted worse than the feeling in my gut that day.

Swearing can be stress-relieving, cathartic and just plain fun. I’m not advocating for full-on potty-mouth anarchy, especially in specifc scenarios, but there’s no harm in living on the wild side of the dictionary, either.

Because god forbid we let the ******* clown-*** ignoramuses of the world go unpunished.

Wha t th e f o n t ?

Teeth gritted and nails imprinting mini crescent moons onto my palms, my rage was as swift as a coursing river. I was on the verge of tearing the head of of my weighted cheetah and letting his insides fy out in scattered tufts of beads and stufing. Picture the red I’m-alwaysangry-RAWR dude from “Inside Out” and his head exploding into smithereens. Now, put that level of anger on cocaine.

I was peeved. Enraged. Deeply, deeply, aggravated.

Dyslexia shifts learning, life

ELLA MITCHELL Editor-in-Chief

Sophomore Lily Cogan was nestled in the living room of her old house in 2012, watching TV when Bella Thorne’s voice rang through the speakers: “My name is Bella Thorne, and this the story of the time that I found out I had dyslexia.”

She wondered about having dyslexia as she listened to the story of the “Shake It Up!” star, but she didn’t think about the commercial much beyond that — that is, until the summer of ffth grade.

Around this time, Cogan began to notice that she was struggling to read at the same level as her peers. Though she didn’t completely understand what was happening at the time, Cogan was tested for dyslexia. In a span of four hours, she was assessed based on ease of sounding out common words and nonsensical phrases.

“I knew something wasn’t right because I was having a hard time,” Cogan said. “I [was] like, ‘I hope we fnd something so I can be normal; I want to be able to read like everyone else.’”

ELLA MITCHELL Editor-in-Chief

Why was my blood pressure skyrocketing so significantly, you might ask? No, Mars didn’t redesign the M&M’s again. And no, I did not lose the other mirror to my 2003 Honda Civic. The infraction at hand was somehow worse.

Glowing on the screen in my AP Spanish class was Comic Sans. In all of its round, Play-Doh-y nastiness. I have never wanted a rabid squirrel to gouge my eyeballs out more.

I know, I know: “Relax, it’s only Comic Sans.” But no, it’s not only Comic Sans. You’re telling me that when working on their project, some poor pupil opened their Google presentation, wrote out their talking points and then changed the default font from Arial (gag) to Comic Sans (a crime against humanity)? Be so for real.

But really, who the font actually cares about fonts?

Well, Steve Jobs thought fonts were cool, started Apple and got rich.

After all, inspiration gleaned from a calligraphy course is the rea son MacBook computers pro vide users with a wide variety of fonts to choose from. If the multibillion dollar legacy of The Font Man himself isn’t convincing enough, the U.S. government cares, too.

Beginning on Feb. 6, the U.S. State Department shifted their offcial font from Times New Roman to Calibri, citing accessibility. (SEE “Dyslexia shifts learning, life”). That’s right, the Times (New Roman) are a-changin’.

At frst glance, these two fonts appear to be somewhat similar: they are both body text-esque. Simply put, in the food chain of fonts, larger fonts and headlines (the lions of the font jungle) draw the eye frst, and the body text is the farm-fresh fodder that elaborates information-wise. Instead, the key diference between Times New Roman and Calibri fonts is, well, toes.

No, not your feshy phalanges, serifs: the lil feet situated at the edges of a chosen font. For example, when typing Ill. in Iowan Old

FONT FIT: Selecting the perfect font is like curating the ideal outft: based on vibes and, naturally, an ordeal. Each font — no matter the style — conveys a message and has its own personality. (cartoon by Emily DePaz)

Style (the font this is written in), you can see the points sticking out of the “I” and “L,” diferentiating the two from each other. However, with fonts like Arial (the basic b of fonts) or Calibri (which I always read as Kalahari in my head), no such feet exist. Essentially, they look like favorless sticks, devoid of a purpose or personality. While serifs often add clarity and pizazz, they prove to be problematic for those with visual impairments, dyslexia or users of Screen Reader or Optical Character Recognition technology. I’m a Times New Roman gworlie to my core, but I have to tip my hat to the State Department for this thoughtful move.

Believe it or not, thinking (in this case, font-centric thinking) isn’t limited to the government … we can all do it! That’s right, for the low, low price of your brain energy, you too can crack open that cerebral cortex (not literally) and be aware of your font-ish decisions.

Graphic Arts teacher Andre Poisson says that many students inside and out of his class choose fonts on a whim. In some cases, he says, kids fnagle the font of their essay to make its length expand from one and a half pages to a full two. While this method does follow Poisson’s golden font rule — spacing — the time used perusing the optimal space-wasting font could actually be used to help further the point being made.

While it might not largely apply to essay fonts, Poisson says the most important factors to consider when choosing a font are, “What are you using it for?” and “Does this font work with that message?”

“I think it’s a personal feeling,” Poisson said. “It’s a personal feel of what you want to portray and what you want it to look like.”

Think of choosing a font like scouring your closet for the perfect outft. In this case, the closet is font site DaFonts.com, and your outft is the font that will best ft the vibe you’re going for.

Walk to your closet, and open up the door. Springtime. What do you think of? April showers bring May fowers. Maybe some forals or rufes. Defnitely pastels.

Great. Now how does that translate to a font? Many font sites,

including DaFonts.com, allow for users to search through various categories that ft with certain themes, like calligraphy or retro. Using these headers as a jumping-of point, mix and match the diferent combinations until you fnd one that works.

Sometimes you’ll have to try on diferent fonts for size, checking them out in the mirror as you go. Some work, and others end up on the top of the Mount Everest-esque heap of clothing in the middle of your bedroom foor. It’s OK though; it’s all part of the process.

Utilizing color theory — like yellow evoking excitement or blue creating calm waves of serenity — can be the perfect accessory to your font ft, too. (SEE “Matching colors and emotions”)

Once the whole ensemble is assembled — main font, secondary fonts, embellishments and all — it’s time to strut your stuf. That’s right, proudly present your font creation with the same confdence of Gigi Hadid on the New York runway.

While it is very possible to go wrong (cough, cough, Comic Sans and Papyrus), as long as the fonts aren’t too distracting or atrociously bold and curvy, then the combina tions are widely fexible. A blend of serif and non-serif and some eyeballed nuggets of personal taste will do the trick; at the end of the day, the goal is for the fonts to share your story, and only you know if it’s time to say yes to the dress.

Once you put a droplet of thought into the font realm, you can’t help but see them every where: grocery stores, the internet or in-poor-taste Spanish presenta tions.

A few weeks ago, for exam ple, while visiting Tapa Tapa in Barcelona to eat, well, tapas, I couldn’t help but take notice of the menu: plates of papas bravas and pan con tomate were scripted in Bebas Neue That’s the font that Netfix uses (though they fnesse and customize it a skosh for their logo), and one of the many fonts that I recognized from our newspaper layouts.

Yes, I received some side eye for knowing that (note to self: recognizing diferent fonts is not a fun party trick), but it’s like looking at Colonel Sanders and wondering why his bowtie ac tually looks like a disproportionate stick fgure: once you see it, you

can’t unsee it.

“[Fonts] play [a role] in [our] everyday lives,” Poisson said. “I don’t think you realize how much you see them until you start to talk about them. The more people get exposed and realize they have diferent options, it becomes so much easier.”

Now, I’m not saying that the common person should be ready to play Name That Font! at a moment’s notice; however, it doesn’t mean that fonts shouldn’t at the very least cross your mind.

So, next time you create another Google Slides presentation — whether it’s for a presentation night where you are ranking your friends’ chances of getting killed in the Hunger Games or simply conjugating verbs for a Spanish project — take a moment and think about the font choice.

Beyond the preset Arial (the font equivalent of eating a wet cracker), what is your presentation about? How could the title slides be embellished with a fun font or colors?

There’s a font and a vibe for all situations; or, in extreme situations, you can use Adobe Illustrator to create your own font. Each advertisement, presentation, hell, even essay, has a vibe that it’s going for: let it sparkle with your font choice.

When she fnally received a diagnosis of dyslexia, Cogan thought back to Thorne’s commercial as the pieces fell into place.

“It made me feel better that a celebrity was going through it,” Cogan said. “It’s always nice knowing like, ‘Oh, you’re not the only one going through this.’ I loved [Thorne]. It was nice seeing someone that you adore have something that you have also.”

Cogan believes that representation of dyslexic teenagers — like Thorne in her commercial — is vital to normalizing it. Dyslexia largely impacts a person’s ability to read, write and spell, and about 14 percent of the school-aged population nationwide are diagnosed with the learning disorder, according to the International Dyslexia Association.

In tandem with representation, accessibility for those with visual disabilities is imperative. This is why, starting on Feb. 6, the U.S. State Department’s domestic ofces, bureaus and posts overseas will change their typeface from Times New Roman to Calibri. The size of the font is yet to be determined, but it is likely to be between 14 and 16-point, according to David Berman, who privately advises on accessibility.

The State Department has used Times New Roman since February of 2004; however, the decorative, angular serifs (or the little feet on many of the letters) of the classic font impede accessibility for readers with visual impairments, dyslexia, learning diferences or those who use a Screen Reader or Optical Character Recognition technology.

Calibri, on the other hand, is Microsoft’s default font. This modern, sans serif font boasts subtle rounding on stems and corners, and it’s spacing lends itself for a less jumbled read.

Though Cogan doesn’t notice major problems with fonts — with the exception of calligraphy and cursives — she believes that these strides are important to help aford people equal access and opportunity for learning.

reducing, reusing,

sustainable choices prove easy, accessible

AMANDA FEINBERG

Copy Editor

In her high school Honors Biology class, Shelby Rosin remembers her teacher showing an image of a bird cut open with various pieces of plastic in its stomach ranging from bottle caps to miniature toys. Seeing the photo triggered a sense of responsibility in Rosin, and years later, as an honors and regular-level Biology and Oceanography teacher, she makes it a point to educate students about the dangers of single-use plastics and the harm that comes from polluting the environment.

“That’s all us … we’re littering, we’re putting things in the ocean,” Rosin said. “I want [to] make a diference because there are defenseless animals. They don’t know what they’re eating or what they’re doing.”

About 10 million metric tons of plastic waste enter the ocean each year and harm marine life, according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). These plastics break down into microplastics and toxic metals that are ingested by fsh and then passed onto seafood-consuming humans, according to NIEHS. Once in the body, these chemicals can potentially lead to cancer, chronic infammation or other unknown efects, according to WebMD.

Humans’ contributions to climate change, such as the burning of fossil fuels, accounts for over 75 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 90 percent of carbon dioxide emissions. These gasses trap the Earth’s outgoing energy, which increases the heat in the atmosphere, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

This process is commonly known as the greenhouse effect, and it is essential for keeping the planet warm enough for life to exist; however, when temperatures become too high, it can lead to intense heat waves. As a result, ice caps melt, which increases ocean acidity and creates a detrimental environment for marine life.

Another underlying cause of these is sues is more simple than most people might think: cows. AP Environ mental Science teacher Kurt

Trenkle began his career as an environmental consultant, often dealing with soil and groundwater pollution, and transitioned into teaching AP Environmental Science 21 years ago due to his background and interest in the topic.

Through his experiences combating pollution, Trenkle believes that one of the biggest contributors to climate change is methane emissions from meat consumption; a single cow pro duces 154 to 264 pounds of methane — a greenhouse gas — per year, accord ing to the EPA.

they can be easily purchased on Amazon or at Target.

“We don’t realize the small things that we can be doing,” Rosin said. “As a society we are so used to the way things are that we don’t make a change, even if it’s a simple one.”

Picking up trash in Busse Woods is one such thing that junior Freya Sirois often participates in to make a change. Sirois, who joined Environmental Club her freshman year and is now one of two leaders alongside senior Maggie McGarry, works to reduce her impact on the environment in her daily life.

Environmental Club works with Forest Preserves of Cook County to coordinate weekend dates in which students can sign up to clean the Busse Woods’ trails. The trips are usually two hours long, and Sirois says she often goes to these activities along with her friends to make a deeper impact.

“If we can empower other people in the community to work towards goals, then [our eforts] will make all the diference,” Sirois said.

Sirois’ passion for the environment came from those around her, especially her parents. By surrounding herself with people who enjoy spending time outside, Sirois began developing a greater awareness of environmental issues. Her parents’ emphasis on recycling in conjunction with reading news about the recently approved Willow Project worked to fuel her growing passion.

“The more that the public and civilians realize how serious of an issue [climate change] is, the more people are going to start protesting against things like the Willow Project,” Sirois said.

Steps to aid the climate crisis are being taken every day; however, there are signifcant setbacks appearing in politics: most recently, the Willow Project. The project contains plans by ConocoPhillips, a petroleum refnery company, to extract 600 million barrels of oil from Alaska’s North Slope and was approved on March 13 by the Biden administration after being previously approved by the Trump administration in 2020.

The Biden administration estimates that the project will produce enough oil to release 9.2 million metric tons of carbon pollution into the atmosphere, thus enhancing the greenhouse efect and warming of the planet, according to CNN.

PROBLEMS: Major environmental issues such as greenhouse gasses in the atmoshpere, plastic pollution and fast fashion are facing the new generation; however, accessible solutions are presenting themselves. “We don’t realize the small things we can be doing,” said biology teacher Shelby Rosin.

Conserving: the good, bad,

JUSTIN PEABODY Features Reporter

Junior Freya Sirois frequently notices large amounts of mixed garbage in the cafeteria, though she acknowledges that during lunch periods, recycling is diffcult to manage due to large numbers of students disposing waste in the same bins.

*according to a Knight Media survey of 209 students

Although becoming vegan or vegetarian would be a major lifestyle shift for most people, there are multiple ways to aid the environment that do not require a signifcant lifestyle change, such as recycling, reducing water use and educating oneself on environmental issues.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, every year in October, Trenkle and his AP Environmental Science class would take a trip to the Stillman Nature Center in South Barrington. During their visit, he and his students would walk through the prairie and collect seeds to study. Trenkle believes that these interactions — ones between humans and the Earth — are among the biggest catalysts for environmental appreciation.

“The connection to the land is important,” Trenkle said. “That’s the thing we’re missing … you have to fnd the connection to the land and … see your place in the grand scheme of things.”

Trenkle has confdence that the experiences on these trips will inspire his students to make eco-conscious decisions, ones that are both attainable and easy.

The most realistic way students can aid the crisis, according to both Trenkle and Rosin, is by reducing their use of single-use plastics such as straws or plastic bags.

Rosin implements these changes in her own life by bringing reusable bags to the grocery store instead of opting for a single-use plastic bag. The average cost of a reusable bag is $0.99 to $3, according to RediBagUSA, and

Due to the massive amounts of oil being extracted, the project will decrease American dependence on foreign energy supplies and deliver $8-17 billion in revenue for the federal government while also potentially creating 2,500 construction jobs and around 300 long-term jobs, according to ConocoPhillips.

While Rosin sees the benefts of creating jobs, she also expresses concern that these issues, such as the Willow Project, are often so wrapped up into politics to the point that society forgets about the environment itself.

“There’s never going to be all positives or all negatives,” Rosin said. “I feel like we’re so shortsighted in terms of what we’re doing to the planet and we’re so focused on the here and now and what afects us personally, … and I think that that’s where our downfall is going to be.”

An important part of making environmentally conscious decisions, according to Trenkle, is voting for political candidates who have a clear energy policy that the voter agrees with. Although enacting change on a larger scale takes time, Trenkle suggests writing letters and making phone calls to those in local ofces and urging them to take action on climate issues as another way to implement change.

“Once you get physically connected to the world … you hear about what’s changing,” Trenkle said. “That’s how you get to the big picture from the little picture.”

The little picture, Sirois believes, starts with advocating on social media platforms such as Instagram. Reposting factual information on social media accounts about issues pertaining to the environment, such as the Willow Project, can help spread awareness.

“It starts with the younger generation … taking a stand, putting our foot down and saying, ‘No this is not going to continue,’” Rosin said.

Assistant Principal for Student Activities Frank Mirandola agrees. As a result of students’ penchant for disposing of non-recyclable waste in recycling bins, very few materials from the cafeteria are ever recycled. Custodians make an effort to separate recycling from the garbage, but the presence of too much garbage forces them to discard all the waste as trash.

As a result, the waste generated from the cafeteria due to improper recycling can be a serious detriment to the environment. According to EarthShare.com, every year, US schools produce about 530,000 tons of food waste alone.

“[Recycling] seems like an issue that gets swept under the rug,” Sirois said.

Fortunately, some eco-friendly measures exist within the school. According to Mirandola, each classroom possesses a blue or green recycling bin covered in a clear bag and a yellow garbage bin covered in a black bag. These, as well as the blue bins in the commons, are the only bins from which recycling is actually collected because waste is easier to manage in these less crowded environments.

After school hours, the recyclables that can be salvaged from classrooms are collected by custodial staff and transferred to two dumpsters in the school’s loading dock, sepa- rate from a third dumpster that is reserved strictly for garbage.

According to Day Master Custodian Jerry Jorzak, the dumpsters’ contents are then collected by Waste Management Inc, a national recycling and garbage collection company. After that, the waste is transported to one of the company’s sorting facilities, where the recycling is meticulously organized and separated.

While these measures are helpful, Mirandola cautions that they are only impactful if all students and staff make a conscientious effort to properly utilize them.

“Recycling and conservation is a collective responsibility that requires all stakeholders to have the mutual interest at heart,” Mirandola said.

ating an average Dumpsters.com.

In addition Club, sponsored advocates for mental issues, Earlier this Busse Woods, “There’s a lot bit into the woods, blows in.”

As the club when recycling years, recycling forefront of the Sirois says most packing peanuts cannot ties and consequently contaminating

In light of this, lection drive last aging materials ported to specifc of recycling them. According success and stirred sponse. School parents and students azon delivery

81.3% of students* actively recycle *

On the whole, the majority’s current recycling behaviors are causing 139.6 million tons of waste to end up in U.S. landflls every year, with each American gener-

students

90% of students* believe that environmental issues are important

recycling

Greenwashing away youth consumers

Settling down on my couch after school, my friend and I were ready to shop online for spring break and summer clothes. It was March 20 — peak spring break season — and we were ready to piece together our wardrobes for the warm weather ahead. The two of us always make Pinterest boards to save cute, new items for each season, knowing we would most likely not fnd any products that are both affordable and of decent quality. #TheStruggleIsReal.

cartoon by Emily DePaz

bad, ugly and foreseeable future

average of 4.9 pounds of garbage per day, according to Dumpsters.com.

to custodial efforts, the school’s Environmental sponsored by physics teacher Michael Higdon, frequently change and works to raise awareness of environsuch as recycling, on a local scale.

this year, the club traveled to the forest preserves of clearing the natural areas of litter.

lot of trash out there,” Higdon said. “Walk a little woods, and you’d be surprised to fnd what the wind sees it, this sort of litter is exactly what happens recycling is neglected. Even in past recycling has always been at the the club’s efforts.

that despite common beliefs, materials such as packing cannot be recycled in local faciliconsequently end up in landflls, contaminating the rest of the recycling. this, the club organized a collast year in which used packmaterials were gathered and transspecifc facilities that are capable them.

to Higdon, the drive was a stirred a large community reSchool administration, teachers, students donated enough Ambags and boxes, plastic bags and packing peanuts to fll a large refrigerator.

are … we are a small subsection of very strong-biased people.”

Higdon realizes that, despite the various ways the club has promoted recycling, its impact is minuscule on the scale of the entire district’s waste production. However, Sirois says the club’s ultimate goal is not to change the policies of large entities but rather to inspire changes at the grassroots level, starting with the decisions that are within everyday citizens’ control.

A good way that students and staff can help continually improve the school’s recycling, Higdon believes, is by learning which types of materials are truly recyclable and which are not. Avoiding reliance on false information or common myths is key. For instance, Sirois says most people assume that any item with a recycling symbol on it is recyclable. In reality, the numbers inside the symbol are what should be considered.

Furthermore, many people instinctively believe that if they are unsure whether an item is recyclable, it should be recycled anyway. Higdon says that not only can recycling garbage contaminate the rest of the recycled material, it also forces workers at recycling plants to meticulously sort the garbage from the recycling, ultimately slowing down the process.

Thus, he strongly recommends discarding items in the trash if people are not entirely sure what is recyclable; if they are certain, they should take advantage of opportunities to recycle.

SCAN HERE TO READ ABOUT THE NEW HAND DRYERS

“One of the most important things that can be accomplished is … stressing the importance of little things and each person making small decisions to translate into a broader picture,” Sirois said.

To educate the school about ecological issues, the members of Environmental Club frequently research issues such as recycling and raise awareness about their fndings through informational posters to advise students and staff on personal decisions they can make to improve the environment.

Not only does the club work to inspire others to recycle, its members also strive to make eco-friendly choices themselves.

“The idea of recycling is an automatic thought that happens to us … if we’re about something away, we think: ‘OK, is it recyclable or is it recyclable?’” Higdon said. “That’s just the kind of people we

While Sirois agrees that plastics should be recycled as much as possible, she believes the greater focus should be on reducing plastic consumption to begin with. According to Recycle Track Systems, if current plastic consumption trends continue, the amount of plastic in the ocean will outweigh the biomass of fsh by the year 2050.

Fortunately, there are many easy ways to prevent this problem from worsening by replacing plastics with more eco-friendly options. Paper straws, reusable water bottles and reusable grocery bags are all practical alternatives to single-use plastics that would otherwise pollute the oceans, according to Princeton University.

In addition to people’s individual daily actions, Sirois believes Prospect can implement other small measures to increase recycling. She notes that soda bottles are recyclable, but only if they are rinsed out frst. She thinks it would be benefcial for the cafeteria to implement a cleaning station or faucet where bottles can be rinsed out to avoid contamination.

Mirandola emphasizes that the cleanliness of our community and planet must be seriously considered by all students, staff and administrators for there to be noticeable effects; a few people’s eco-friendly decisions are not enough to make a dent. While these small actions may not be signifcant on their own, however, they are still crucial because they add up to larger outcomes.

“Anyone in the building has the power to create change, has the power to be infuential,” Mirandola said.

port towards fast fashion companies and keep more clothes out of the dumpster. According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, only about 15% of used clothes in the U.S. get reused. I bet that at least half of all of the discarded clothes have potential, and I would love to go through all those mounds of trashed wardrobes and cut and sew my heart away.

Yeah. I kinda feel irresponsible with my fashion choices. I mean, that afternoon was a prime example. So, I started doing some research on the brands that I have ordered from in the past, including Shein, Zara, Urban Outftters, Garage and Amazon. It’s disappointing to say, but it turns out that Shein and Zara are two of the biggest contributors to global pollution in the fashion industry. I’ve watched the clothes I’ve seen on runways appear almost instantly in Zara’s front window, so I guess I can’t say I’m shocked by this news.

BROOKE MICHALCZYK Executive Opinion Editor

“Fast fashion” is a term used to describe the production of clothing and accessories that are designed and manufactured quickly and inexpensively to meet the ever-changing demands of consumers.

As most avid online shoppers know (myself included), the price and quality spectrums for new clothes is all over the place. A white tank top from Urban Outftters can be about $40, whereas a similar looking white tank top from Zara is less than $5.

Junior and shopping enthusiast Hannah Salzmann can attest to the diffculty of deciding which clothing companies are worth her money. Having purchased items from both high-end designers and cheaper, lower-quality websites like Shein, she still struggles to decide which is worth the investment.

“I’ve shopped from brands that are mindful of the environment, but it’s hard to spend so much money on something that you know you could be getting for half the price,” Salzmann said.

Fabletics and Patagonia are two environmentally-conscious brands Salzmann mentioned, with Patagonia being one of the best you can fnd. Although they are a great alternative to many damaging athletic brands, they do not offer a wide range of clothing (only ftness based products). Additionally, they do not offer affordable choices. Browsing through their website you will fnd that one of their cheapest pieces of clothing they sell is a hat… for $49.

Physics teacher and environmentalist Michelle Tantillo has noticed through her years of teaching that many clothing trends come and go, with some even reminding her of the clothes she used to wear in high school. Therefore, Tantillo believes that upcycling, thrifting and digging through your parents’ attic may be one of the best alternatives to purchasing fast fashion.

“There’s a lot of pieces of fashion that have looped back a few times in my lifetime; right now I see the ‘90s inspired look coming back,” Tantillo said. “… We don’t have to just go out and buy things.”

Some examples of this include fare-legged jeans, oversized band tees and fannels. If more people can start buying second-hand clothes, we can decrease the amount of sup-

It is possible to fnd the balance between convenience and care towards our environment, despite the technological advances that have made it possible to produce large quantities of products and distribute them globally over the past few decades.

These advances have allowed fashion to become more affordable: any item of clothing you see at main brand stores can be found as a replica on Shein’s website. All it takes is a couple of clicks to participate in the fast fashion cycle. So why would a broke high school student in search of a trendy wardrobe choose to buy from anywhere else?

According to Time Magazine, Zara — the world’s largest clothing retailer — produces around 500 new designs each week. This means that in total, they create 450 million garments a year. This cycle has an unintended consequence: the company leaves about 6.3 million tons of carbon dioxide in its trail per year.

In 2012, Zara promised their customers that they were going to take action towards creating a more sustainable system of production. They pledged not only to remove all “hazardous” materials from their production cycle by 2020 by incorporating eco-friendly collections.

Fast forward to present day: it is 2023 and Zara has not kept its word.

Sadly, this is not an uncommon occurrence. Brands all over the world twist the truth behind their production, and this deception was dubbed greenwashing (or green sheen). According to Earth.com, greenwashing occurs when a company or organization spends more time and money on marketing themselves as being sustainable than on actually minimizing their environmental impact.

Volkswagen, Nestlé, Coca-Cola, Starbucks, IKEA, H&M, Zara and many major banks are just a few examples of companies that have publically been accused of these actions.

Looking back to 2018, Starbucks released a “straw-less lid” with the target of sustainability. Yet, the new lid design required more manufacturing and plastic than the oldstraw-and-lid-combo did. In 2020, Coca Cola was ranked the world’s number one plastic polluter. This prompted the company to say they would switch many of their bottles to recycled materials by 2030. Soon after, environmental organization Earth Island Institute fled a lawsuit for falsely advertising that Coca-Cola is sustainable and eco-friendly.

We must hold the companies we know and love accountable. We must also stay educated on the processes and materials used to manufacture the items we buy. There are so many amazing companies out there working against fast fashion and alternatives to purchasing from untrustworthy brands; that is where our focus and support should be.

This summer I recommend going through old, worn out items. Cutting things up, sewing things together, getting crafty with your wardrobe and fnding thrift stores instead of constantly giving into fast fashion. This is just a wake up call: our habits are destructive.

Stressed about fnding ‘the dress’

Quest for perfect prom outft often misunderstood

SIENNA DEMONTE Exec. Features Editor

After an hour of waiting at the popular Gipper Prom store in Crystal Lake, junior Nina McGee was taken into a ftting room by one of the staf members. Once she got into the room, she noticed that the dresses hanging neatly on the black and gold hooks were not the dresses she selected on the foor. Confused, McGee looked at the staf member and asked “Are you sure this is the right room? I didn’t pick any of these dresses.”

The staf member told McGee that all the dresses she had chosen were already claimed by Prospect students; therefore, they could not sell the same dress to her to insure no repeats on prom night.

Before dress shopping herself, McGee thought that the rule made complete sense; But now, after waiting for an hour and being denied all the dresses she liked, the rule didn’t seem so great anymore.

“I personally won’t be upset if someone else at prom wears the same dress as me as long as I am not taking pictures with them, but I understand that some people may be upset,” McGee said. “It’s not a big deal because everyone deserves to feel pretty in a dress they love, and if someone else has the same love for the dress, then that’s that.”

To McGee, prom is a magical tradition, and with the dance quickly approaching on May 6, McGee and many of her friends are starting the scramble to fnd the perfect dress. It may seem like a simple task, but when trying to fnd a fattering style in the perfect color within a set budget, the search for a prom dress can be stressful for some. According to terrycosta. com, most girls take three to

LOCAL places to find ‘the dress’:

PRETTY IN PINK: When searching for the perfect prom dress, price, location and availability make the buying process diffcult for the average teen girl. “What people don’t see is the unspoken pressure for girls to have a perfect dress for prom night,” junior Nina McGee said. (photo by Alyssa Degan)

four months to search for their dress.

McGee and her mom drove about three hours in search of her dress and spent six hours in total looking for dresses in store and online. She fnally bought her dress from a shop in Worth called That Girl Boutique.

Although there may be a variety of prom dresses on the market, McGee believes fnding a specifc style of dress that is currently “in” for prom while also making sure it is in a material, color, length and pattern that is perfect for her was tricky. McGee went to That Girl Boutique hoping to fnd a unique dress that ft her needs after her Gipper experience. She was determined to “say yes to the dress,” and since she was not fnding it in the limited stores nearby, she was willing to drive a bit farther to fnd it.

“It may not seem like a big deal to a lot of people and I understand that, but what people don’t see is the unspoken pressure for girls to have a perfect dress for prom night,” McGee said. “I know girls who have been shopping since December to fnd a dress for prom, and although I didn’t go that full out, I still wanted to do the best I could to fnd my dress.”

Another factor used to combat the prom twin “issue” is PHS’ prom Facebook prom page used for girls to share their dresses. By posting their dress to the page for one to see, members ensure that no one has the same dress. This year’s Facebook page creator, senior Catherine Fogarty, started the page in early January with hopes of

ensuring unique dresses and bringing excitement for the girls attending this year’s prom; this year’s Facebook page has over 220 members.

“Prom is a big event, so it is defnitely important for some people, and you never know who might really value having their own dress,” said Fogarty.

Fogarty explains that only having three dress shops in the area to choose from has made it difcult to ensure the dress is one no one else has seen. She belives that since most of the dresses are similar, people understand if someone shows up with the same dress; everyone is usually respectful, even if it may bother them.

blue foor-length sparkly dress at Gipper Prom, she knew she found her perfect match. When she arrived at Gipper, Lanza put her name, grade, school and size on the sheet of paper secured on the clipboard handed to her and started to jot down the numbers of the dresses hanging on the racks surrounding her that caught her eye. After about an hour she was taken into a ftting room with the dresses she selected.

*According to Amarra.com

Fogarty found her royal blue sparkle-adorned dress at Gipper Prom and spent around two hours in total shopping. The most important factor in her search was confdence and comfort.

Since there will be hours of dancing and eating, ensuring her dress is not uncomfortable was important for Fogarty.

When junior Maggie Lanza stepped into a

After Lanza found “the one,” she snapped a quick picture and sent it to the Prospect prom Facebook page. She proceeded to purchase the dress and was felt about her unique and beautiful dress.

“We do all these things such as giving the dress store the name of our school, posting on socials, and sending our dresses to the Facebook page to prevent twinning,” Lanza said. “If it wasn’t important, [then] no one would do it but we all do because no one wants to have their perfect dress be someone else’s perfect dress. You only get two proms, so of course you do what you do to make it the best it can be.”

On average, girls spend $900 - 1000 on prom*

Eras Tour achieves ‘Wildest Dreams’

MOLLIE KEARNS Executive News Editor

of watching the “You Belong With Me” and “Love Story” music videos religiously, which her parents broadcasted on the TV for her and her younger brother in their home.

Even though she enjoys listening to Swift while driving or doing homework, Reed has been counting down the days until she can hear her favorite songs live, especially those from her favorite album “folklore,” namely “August” and “The Last Great American Dynasty.” Reed has purchased tickets to attend Swift’s The Eras Tour, which is coming to Soldier Field on June 2-4.

“I’m known for liking two things: Dr. Pepper and Taylor Swift,” Reed said. “Her music means a lot to me and it’s gotten me through some hard times. You put it on and you have someone you feel like you can relate to, even though you don’t know Taylor Swift.”

The Eras Tour started on March 17 in Glendale, Arizona and will end on Aug. 9 in Los Angeles, spanning 52 days. At each performance, Swift performs a total of 44 songs for more than three hours, highlighting each “era” of her discography.

“Each of the eras are so defned in her growing up — her style, her music choice, her love life, her relationships with other people — it’s all encapsulating,” Reed said. “I think because we grew up with each of her eras … we grew up with her.”

Although the Eras Tour is a celebration for “Swifties,” or her fans of all ages, Swift has a deeper message behind the scenes: she hopes to journey through each of the eras displayed in her 10 albums, as stated on her Instagram.

Swift’s setlist consists of songs from each of her eras, each blocked into sections to spotlight music from her older albums like “Speak Now,” released in 2010, to her pandemic releases like “evermore” and “folklore.” Each section of the show also includes a costume change, featuring small details signifcant to each era, from her sig nature “1989” sparkles to the romantic aesthetic of “Lover.”

A Swiftie at heart, Reed is looking for ward to experi encing her frst concert with her mom, who has learned to love Swift due to Reed’s constant listening to the artist. With her mom’s favorite song being “Wil low,” Reed was thrilled to share with her mom that she would be able to hear her favorite song live once she knew that it was a part of the set list.

“I’m really excited to experience this with my mom because she knows how much I love Taylor Swift,” Reed said. “I’ve gotten her into Taylor as well by making her listen to her on car rides.”

While Swift has had the ability to form personal connections, like that between Reed and her mom, she has also proven time and time again that she is one of the most dominant forces in the music industry, often being referred to as “The Music Industry” by her fans. This can be seen following the release of her newest album, “Midnights,” this past October; according to Guinness World Records, “Midnights” was the most streamed album on Spotify within a 24hour span, reaching 184.6 million streams and

said, “Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’mma let you fnish. But Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!”

Other artists called out West for his behavior, but Swift also faced a handful of backlash. Yolanda Sangweni, a writer for Essence, claimed that Swift played the victim in the situation and contributed to racial stereotypes of “the innocent white girl” and contributed to making Kanye look like a “supposedly menacing black man.” The feud has been ongoing, and resurfaced in 2016 when West released his song Famous, asserting that he made Swift famous because of the VMAs incident, and included suggestive footage of her in the accompanying music video without her consent, according to Vox.

In her 2020 documentary “Miss Americana,” Swift further revealed her struggle with the media and how she disappeared from the spotlight in 2016 because of this intense public criticism. Despite the obstacles she faced, Swift pulled through this dark time and entered her infamous “Reputation” era, which addressed how she had been portrayed by the media.

Music teacher and fan of Swift since the pandemic Jennifer Troiano believes that Swift’s true strength was most evident in times of criticism; Swift had public fallouts with Katy Perry and Nicki Manaj, was involved in a court case against radio DJ David Mueller after he sexually assaulted her and condemned Donald Trump for his leadership while in ofce, according to The Guardian.

“She’s done a lot of things that people thought would ruin her career, but she [stayed true to herself] anyway, and it didn’t,” Troiano said. “That’s a tribute to the people who follow her.”

Additionally, in her “Miss Americana” documentary, Swift shared stories of times she has been torn down because of her body, like when being told she was not “skinny enough” on red carpets or on stage, forcing herself to not eat because of how she had been picked apart.

“I think [her eating disorder is] something that could be talked about more since so many young people, especially girls, struggle with that,” senior Hannah Lifton said.

More recently, Swift has begun re-recording her original albums, such as “Fearless” and “Red,” after her split from Scooter Braun and Big Machine Records. Swift is taking this spin on her old works so she can own her music, as Braun acquired Big Machine’s assets in 2019. According to Glamour, Big Machine Records sold the master recordings of her frst six albums to Braun, who sold them to an investment group after Swift began re-recording her old music. Swift was not made aware of the initial deal until the news broke to the public.

As Swift said in an interview with Jimmy Fallon in 2021, any song with “(Taylor’s Version)” attached to the title means she owns it. This not only gives her rights to each track, but allows her to regain all of the hard work she put into songwriting and performing early in her career.

“People don’t really understand,” Reed said. “They think it’s some cash crop, but … the whole point of it is getting the rights to her old songs

went through. The fans are an integral part of this success and celebration, backing and supporting Swift in her darkest tribula tions; many fans feel that Swift has been this person for them in return.

Lifton, who ini tially began lis tening to Swift because she felt left out by the people who knew all the lyrics to her songs, has quickly become obsessed with her mu sic, particular ly with albums such as “Lover” and “Reputation.” Lifton feels that Swift’s music can ft any occasion, and her stretch across multi ple genres is proof of her talent.

“I listen to Taylor Swift in the car on the way to [badminton] practice and games, and we listen to it at practice to get energy up since it’s feel-good music,” Lifton said. “If you’re just having a bad day and you’re not in the mood to listen to happy music, she has [sadder] songs; there’s always something of hers I can listen to for whatever mood I’m in.”

Both Lifton and Reed appreciate the way Swift has interacted with her fanbase over the course of her career, showing the extent to which she values the Swifties’ support. This can be seen in her music, where Swift continuously hides clues, or Easter eggs, for her fans to uncover. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Swift said that she has “trained” her fans to look for the hints she drops in regards to album releases or make theories about how her songs intertwine. Swift has connected with her fans in creative ways, but on numerous occasions she has also helped them out fnancially. According to Billboard, she donated $10,000 to an eight-year-old boy with autism to help pay for his service dog

in 2018 and $10,000 to a 16-year-old fan battling stage four osteosarcoma to help cover hefty medical bills in 2019. In 2020, Swift reached out to some of her fans via social media who were most

While Swift is an artist that many look up to, Troiano believes that there is often too much pressure on Swift to be a glorifed idol. As with many other Hollywood celebrities, Troiano feels that Swift is too often put under a microscope for her actions and is expected to be perfect, whereas Troiano simply enjoys her music in her Jeep.

“I don’t think it’s always good to look at people in the limelight because they’re not normal; they’re not like us,” Trioano said.

“… I don’t think it’s fair to put that much pressure on people; she’s just a recording artist who has a great talent, but she should be allowed to live her life and make mistakes for what they

Even with this pressure, Swift has expanded her platform beyond music to discuss political issues: she endorsed Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the 2020 presidential election, spoke out against Republican candidate Marsha Blackburn in the Tennessee midterm elections and has advocated for LGBTQ+ rights. According to NBC News, in 2019 she donated $113,000 to the Tennessee Equality Project to counter anti-LGBTQ bills within the state and to Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), an advocacy group.

As she continued to be a strong role model throughout the course of her career, the Eras Tour is a way for Swift and her fans to dance around stadiums nationwide in outfts nodding to points in her career while sharing in the vast impact she has had on the music industry.

“She does her own thing; you can tell she’s bothered by what people think of her, but she still does what she feels is right,” Troiano said. “She’s constantly creating and putting herself out there, and that’s a really vulnerable place to be. I think she’s writing the soundtrack for our generation, and that’s pretty amazing.”

Game over for your wallet

Microtransactions convince users to spend needlessly

Does anyone remember “Skylanders?”

It was a video game quite popular during the early to mid-2010s; popular enough to spark an entirely new, albeit shortlived, genre of games. The whole appeal of the concept was that each playable character in the game was a physical fgurine you had to buy from a store: in my case, the Target fve minutes from my house.

It has mostly been forgotten, remembered only as a distant memory of something to play with friends. But to me, it is a constant reminder just how much of a sucker I was as a pre-teen. I was the exact type of person Activision, the company behind “Skylanders,” was trying to reach.

Got my weekly allowance?

“Skylanders.”

Birthday money?

“Skylanders.”

Presents under the Christmas tree?

You will never believe it:

“Skylanders.”

My feral obsession with these overpriced plastic toys reached the point where I had a plastic bin large enough for my sister and I to sit in just to hold all the characters I collected. And even then, I barely managed to ft them all.

Granted, this was a long time ago. I no longer spend ludicrous amounts of my money on “Skylanders.” However, new forms of these predatory monetization practices have arisen since the early 2010s, the time when Skylanders dominated my bank account, that focus on the same goal: to take as much of your money as possible.

It’s a name I’m sure most have at the very least heard of: microtransactions. Simply put, microtransactions are video game items (such as upgrades and decorations) that require real-life money to obtain. And, given just how opulent the clothing industry is, it’s an easy assumption to make that these in-game purchases have the potential to single-handedly make a game a commercial success. And unfortunately, it didn’t take long for major gaming industries (shortened to AAA) to utilize this trend.

pull of the game’s shop. To spend just a little bit on a cosmetic or new weapon, whether that was the desire to get a cooler looking weapon or to make my character wear more stylish gear.

Granted this was years ago, I’ve felt the same pull from other games I play as well, “Darktide” and “Vermintide 2” being the most recent examples. So I asked myself: why did I almost immediately feel the urge to spend money on something that’s free?

ALEX BONNETTE Staff Writer

Take “Call of Duty: Mobile,” a “free” game on the Apple Store. It serves as a standalone title to the rest of the extremely successful “Call of Duty” (COD) franchise, but it still managed to earn $1.5 billion despite being free-to-play. When I saw it while browsing new apps to play during a road trip, I thought, “What’s to lose?” and downloaded it, despite never having owned a COD game in my life. But even then, I felt the

To break it down into smaller chunks, I feel it would be best to explain the goal of most video game developers. Since this medium is a form of entertainment, video games rely almost solely upon the consumers’ emotions to sell their product. How does it make you feel when you play? How do you like the setting? Do you feel connected with other players? Are the characters entertaining? And so forth.

Because of this, the commercial practice of microtransactions also pulls at the emotions of the consumer. What if you played a round and saw someone with a really appealing cosmetic? Or a colorful weapon design? These encounters are a part of the strategy. Consumers tend to feel left out, or in a way, inferior to those with nicer-looking items. And surprise, surprise, these nicer items all cost money.

I’ve even fallen for this in recent memory. I think I’ve spent a little under $100 on new characters and skins in a game called “Warframe,” and I haven’t played it in nearly a year at this point. Whenever I think back to that era of my

life, I can’t help but laugh at my past self who so willingly spent so much money on a free game. And thankfully for my ego, I’m not the only person to have delved into the world of microtransactions.

“I spent like $80 in Fortnite,” junior Jimmy Cammarata said. “It would’ve been better if I just burned the money.”

Cammarata later admitted that he didn’t even play the game that frequently.

Another strategy employed is the utilization of the fear of missing out (commonly referred to as FOMO).

A popularized method of utilizing FOMO has most likely manipulated their emotions to a degree, a combination of the meticulously-crafted trap of FOMO and players’ feeling of inferiority to others.

And, unfortunately, smaller children are afected the most by these strategies. According to the New York Post, in 2020, a six year old spent over $16,000 on the free mobile game “Sonic Forces: Speed Battle.” But that’s not to say adults aren’t also afected. According to the New York Post , in 2022, Youtuber jtisallbusiness spent over $100,000 dollars on loot boxes (randomly generated items of varying usefulness) in Diablo Immortal, another mobile game. So what’s the solution?

least, try to expand your scope of which games are available to you.

Independent game studios have steadily become a greater presence within the industry. And besides the more up-front benefts of a cheaper price (an average of $15 as opposed to a $60-70 price tag), these games allow players to support a small development team as well as strengthening those studios’ presence. And because most of these studios’ games — referred to as indie games — are a risk to make as they have much less of an established following than, say, Activision or Electronic Arts, implementing a model like microtransactions in their game is usually useless or downright harmful because of their smaller player count.

79%

of gaming apps include in app purchases according to businessofapps.com

Play less mass-market games. Or, at the very

My goal isn’t to antagonize the AAA market of games. That would be hypocritical, as well as an outright lie. If a game with microtransactions is fun, then more power to you. Enjoy the game.

But if you feel yourself being pulled towards spending just a little bit of money, remember that there are other games out there who don’t ask that much of you.

I can’t express how much I wish I knew about the treasure trove of cheaper games earlier on in life. I especially wish my 10-year-old self knew about that as he put his fourth Skylander in the shopping cart.

Big screen goes black for movie theaters; tradition gets lost

conducted by Gallup showed from the years 2001 to 2007, the average U.S. adult watched 4.8 movies in a theater per year, while in 2021, the average U.S. adult watched 1.4 and a 2022 Forbes survey showed 55 percent of people aren’t interested in going to theaters anymore, even post-COVID.

STONE Staff Writer

During a college visit in Carbondale last summer, my dad and I decided to take a detour to one of the local AMC theaters to watch Jordan Peele’s new movie, “Nope.” As we entered the theater, we were hit with a strong odor of adhesive glue stemming from decayed foors, the scent blown over to us by three whirring industrial fans. The theater was entirely empty, or so we thought. We took our seats near the front of the theater, and not long after, I heard a scufe from behind us. I turned my head back to the top row and caught a glimpse of a person, roughly my age of 17, his head peaked above a row of seats.

Frightened, he ducked down and out of sight. Minutes passed without sight of the teen, but as the opening trailers began he shufed down the stairs towards the exit… along with two girls.

Just like the theater in Carbondale, it’s been no secret that, for many years

now, movie theaters have been struggling with not only a decline in quality and the attention of people, but with a decrease in sales as well.

According to Variety, in 2021, 61 percent of US adults did not visit a movie theater, a historical high, and the North American box ofce made $4.5 billion, down from the 2019, preCOVID, total of $11.4 billion.

And with competition from large chains as well as streaming services, local theaters have been hit the hardest. As reported by Gallup, over a quarter of local theaters have remained closed since the COVID shutdown of

March 2020.

“When you watch it in a theater, you have more of a social aspect; especially with movies like ‘Avengers: Endgame, everyone’s experiencing it for the frst time together,’” flmmaker and movie buf Abby Wilson said. “It was an experience I will never forget.”

Even though theaters create a unique experience for moviegoers, I do not think owners should use COVID-19 as an excuse for poor attendance and continue to invest in theaters.

Even before the pandemic, theaters had been struggling. Surveys

Movie theaters typically only get 40 percent of the domestic box offce, with their secondary source of income being concessions; but, if nobody is going to theaters, neither are an efective source of income. Couple this with the cost of running a theater increasing due to infation and a shortage of wide releases, theaters have been forced to raise the price of tickets, and now movie theaters have become less economically viable for both the workers and the consumers involved, especially when there is a cheaper option.

According to Ad Week, at the end of 2022, Disney’s trifecta of Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ reached 235 million subscribers, 61 million more than the previous year’s total, and with other services like HBO Max and Netfix available, there is a catalog of thousands of movies that can be accessed at almost any time.

The prices of these service’s basic plans range from $10.99 (for Disney+) and $15.99 (for HBO Max) per month, while a single ticket to see James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” at the local AMC Randhurst location

costs $16.09, not including concessions, parking and travel costs.

Seeing a movie in theaters has become a luxury that less and less people can aford, but theaters have no choice but to raise the prices because there are so many other factors involved in running a brick and mortar business. Meanwhile, the extent of a streaming service’s responsibility is to make you sit down on your couch.

I, like many other self-proclaimed moviegoers, are guilty of sacrifcing the theater experience for the convenience and cost of streaming services, even when I know a particular movie is a “must see” in theaters like Joseph Kosinki’s most recent blockbuster, “Top Gun: Maverick”

I really hope movie theaters exist to some extent throughout the rest of my life.

As a person who wants to be a flmmaker, movies play a huge role in my life, and I will always cherish the memories I have of movie theaters, but nearly 200,000 theater owners and workers risking their livelihood by investing their time and money into a dying business so strangers like me could have their “experience” is not something I would ever want.

On Jan. 12, the Pickwick held a screening of Victor Fleming’s “Gone with the Wind” as a fnal farewell to the world. The title suggests a grim future for movie theaters, but it may be for the better.

ETHAN

MICROTRANSACTION ACTION: Games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 encourage players to purchase different in-game currencies and items, even after their full $60-$100 price tags (photo by Abby Damasky)

AMC-YA LATER: Schaumburg AMC Theater, among others, is facing declining business due to increased popularity of video streaming (photo by Alyssa Degan)

Teenage sports betting ‘hits the fan’

well as the size of the wager placed. Sports betting can be done in various forms, including online betting and in-person betting at a sportsbook building.

For teenagers like Jones and senior Ben Smith*, online betting is the easiest way to bet and the method that they use most commonly.

ELIJAH CLESEN Sports Reporter

he Sacramento Kings were at the Utah Jazz on Jan. 3. A teenage sports bettor, senior Jon Jones* watched anxiously for the outcome of his sixth leg of a parlay bet on Kings’ power forward Domantas Sabonis; he needed Sabonis to score over 20.5 points to win the parlay. Sabonise fnished the game with 21, winning Jones $545.19.

“My heart was pounding; it was my third sixleg I hit in a day,” Jones said. “I was astounded by the fact that I made over $500 without getting of my couch.”

Sports bettors can place wagers on a number of diferent sporting events such as football, basketball, horse racing, cricket, tennis and more. The two main kinds of bets placed online are parlays and moneyline, according to Jones.

A parlay is a cumulative series of bets in which winnings accruing from each transaction are used as a stake for a further bet. For example, by doing a three-leg parlay, a bettor gets better odds for winning more money, however, if they only hit two out of three legs, they won’t get any money. A moneyline bet, on the other hand, is a bet placed on the total outcome of a game.

The amount of money won depends on the odds ofered by the bookmaker or betting site, as

In June of 2019, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed Senate Bill 690 into law, legalizing sports betting in the state and allowed for both in-person and online sports betting. Licensed sportsbook buildings have now been operating in the state since 2020.

There are still certain restrictions and regulations that apply; for example, the minimum age for betting is 21, though this number can be lowered to 18 through betting with ofshore online sportsbooks. Under Illinois law, ofshore online sports betting is illegal.

Jones believes that he has been highly successful, with an over-100 percent increase in earnings from money placed on bets. Smith, on the other hand, “sucks at making picks” and has had losses greater than $200 for one day’s bets spread between many diferent money lines and parlays.

Jones gained an interest in sports betting when his cousin asked him some questions about what bets he should place. After that, Jones was given access to his cousin’s account and began betting over winter break.

Smith began betting in a similar fashion; he wasn’t going to be able to work over the holidays, so he tried sports betting to see if he could make some extra money. Both mainly bet small parlays

to see if my picks hit,” Jones said. “Sometimes when my picks are too close, I have to turn the TV of.”

Jones dedicates time to his sports betting by staying up through hours of the night looking at the likelihood a pick will hit.

“I kept looking at the likelihood that picks were going to hit and even branched out [from] the NBA,” Jones said. “I started placing bets on foreign leagues. I stayed up till 5 a.m. to watch my Australian basketball picks.”

break, Jones’ luck ran out, as he didn’t have as much free time to analyze his picks. Even when he did, he says he was still unlucky. After all his experience with betting, Jones has learned one main lesson.

“It’s all luck; no matter how much time I spent analyzing and choosing, it was luck,” Jones said. “You can’t predict the future, who is going to have a great game or who is going to have a bad one.”

Building key coach & athlete bonds

CLAIRE WYNKOOP Exec. Sports Editor

Freshman Sabrina Faraci knew her role on the freshmen girls’ basketball team: point guard. This position is the one who makes play calls, brings the ball up the court and leads the team on and of the court, which Faraci handled with ease on the B team.

However, midway through her season, Faraci was pulled to the side by coach Raymond Collins. He told her, rather unceremoniously, that she was going to be “playing up” on the A team that day.

Faraci excitedly got dressed in anticipation of the game. As she was preparing to step onto the court, freshman girls basketball coach Katherine Miles tapped her on the shoulder, ofering reassuring words.“[Coach Miles] was just like, ‘You deserved this,’” Faraci said. “She was very supportive of me and was very proud of me that I was fnally able to play on the higher level team … it felt really nice that she showed she cared about me.”

For many athletes, good coaches are the cornerstone of their love for the sport, and the support system that coaches are able to provide can be invaluable for individual success.

Senior ofensive lineman Jack Berman, who has been able to create a strong relationship with his football and track and feld coach Jef Collier, has found that a good coach is not only there for athletes on the feld, but beyond as well. Faraci and Berman say that their coaches have fulflled this role — they’ve felt supported in every aspect of their life, not just the game.

While Berman recognizes that the support he’s received comes from his entire coaching staf, he says that Collier was a major reason that he was able to continue working and growing as a player after road bumps, injuries and challenges. Collier’s support has also shown him what a team environment is supposed to look like.

When he met with the football coaches from the U.S. Navy, Berman recalls taking note of the kind and respectful way they spoke to him and the other people around him; he says the way he was coached in high school has helped him recognize not only the traits that make good coaches, but good leaders as well.

“A big reason for moving on to this next step was the coaches and how they reacted towards me,” Berman said.

Faraci also knows that the leadership Miles took with the team from the very beginning was what allowed the pair to get along so well.

“I remember meeting her in summer camp

and thinking like, ‘[I] can click with her,’” Faraci said. “It’s just easier to relate to her.”

As this is only Miles’ frst year coaching for Prospect, she was initially worried about having the time to build meaningful relationships with her players; however, she found that by being herself and allowing her athletes to play and have fun created a great environment for team building.

Miles says that her players took it from there. Faraci found herself loving the team environment and, more importantly, building a relationship with Miles. Faraci feels that she and Miles are similar, both in terms of personality and the way they think about the game, and Miles couldn’t agree more.

“I see a lot of myself in Sabrina,” Miles said. “Her work ethic, the way she just gets along with everybody, she loves to push herself and her teammates … she made it easy to build a good relationship throughout the season.”

Having good relationships between coaches and athletes ultimately leads to strong team chemistry and future success. While many people believe that it is a coach’s direction or a player’s skill that makes a great team, Berman, Collier and Faraci all believe that a coach’s ability to form and maintain relationships builds the foundation for successful teams.

“When both a coach and athlete all have the same visions and goals, that’s what builds success,” Collier said. “You don’t always have to get along with every single person, but you do have to fnd a common goal and an efective way to cooperate to be very successful.”

Both Berman and Faraci believe that good coaches push players to be the best they can be and support them throughout the season. If the team can’t trust and understand the coach, there is little room for growth and enjoyment within the season.

“It’s vital to the team’s success and the team chemistry [to have a good relationship],” Berman said. “You have to trust your coaches at all times. It’s everything in football; it’s everything to the team.”

For Berman, however, the relationship extends beyond the feld of football. Berman and Collier have built their relationship since Berman’s older sisters were running track, and he knows that, no matter what the future holds, this relationship will continue to grow.

“It’s defnitely a bond that goes way beyond football and beyond this time of my life,” Berman said. “I will keep talking to [my high school coaches] for years to come.”

56% of adults say they have read or heard about the fact that sports bettingis legalin much of the country

19%ofU.S.adultssaytheyhavebetmoneyonsportsinsomewayinthelast

15%ofadultssaytheyhavebetmoneyonsports withfriendsorfamilyinthelast12months

Menaremorelikelythanwomen(24%vs.15%)tosay theyhavebetonsportsinsomeforminthepastyear

The boys' wrestling season came to a monumental close, where wrestlers in all 14 weight classes qualifed to the Sectional meet; the team placed seventh in State.

APRIL 19, 2023

Hurdling above leadership loss, injuries

After setting Prospect's indoor 400-meter dash record and placing fourth in state in the same event outdoors as a junior, senior Dominik Balenda was tested with a diferent task during his senior outdoor season: becoming a leader that the entire team can look up to.

Unfortunately, he has been in and out of competition due to a lingering hamstring injury; however, even when injured, Balenda has made sure his presence on the team is known by forming relationships with the underclassmen as often as he can and by sharing the knowledge he has gained through his experiences.

“Before relays, I would go up to [younger teammates], give them a pep talk and tell them to have fun with it,” Balenda said. “That’s the most important part, having fun.”

Heading into the outdoor season alongside Balenda, head coach Jay Renaud is quite optimistic about the team’s performance.

“There’s always something to get excited for,” Renaud said. “I feel like building something new with each team is super exciting. Focusing on our process and seeing it come to fruition is just a lot of fun.”

After losing last year's group of seniors, Renaud has been impressed with the new chemistry that this year's group has brought, which he claims started to form as early as the fall of this year.

“I think they’ve done a really, really good job [becoming a team],” Renaud said. “We had a lot of sprinters, jumpers and hurdlers who did our fall cross country season and that allowed them to take ownership of that. We’ve really seen their leadership and maturity grow a lot over the last year.”

In spite of these strides made, the team has adversity, both in terms of competition and oftrack injuries. When facing these new challenges, Balenda believes it is crucial to have a sharp mentality in order to push oneself towards being the best athlete possible in practice and meets.

“Even I struggle sometimes with a good mentality when it comes to meets and even … workouts,” Balenda said. “I really want to help improve the team's mentality to push through the pain and discomfort to reach the new level.”

SPRINT: Senior Erik Kremer takes off from the starting blocks. Head coach Jay Renaud is impressed by this year's seniors, especially their performance and leadership skills, like Kremer has exhibited. Senior pole vaulter Owen Guagliardo elaborated on the role seniors have taken on this season. "Our team is known for winning, so being able to infuence our teammates is special," Guagliardo said. (photo by Kevin Lynch)

Regardless of the success Balenda has enjoyed in the past, he continues to focus on bettering the entire team every single day, often referring to a phrase used by Renaud to fnd motivation.

“I live by [the idea of] team, teammate, self,” Balenda said. “You help the team, which helps your teammates get better, which helps you get better.”

Renaud strives to create the best opportunities he can for kids, and he believes that one of the best ways to do so is by forming the strongest relay teams he can.

Renaud says he prefers to send as many kids to state as possible, which is why he so commonly stacks several of the relay teams unless he has an athlete who is capable of succeeding in their individual event at state. Balenda will most likely be one such individual athlete this year in the 400-meter dash..

“If you have a kid who could win an individual state championship, it’s something you have

to go for,” Renaud said.

The team’s sustained success is built from the athletes, but Renaud gives a lot of credit to the coaches beside him who help operate such a large program.

“The one constant that we’ve had is our assistant coaches who have been around for a while,” Renaud said. “I have excellent assistant coaches who are just really good at what they do."

In total, there are 18 diferent track and feld events, and the Knights are fortunate enough to have six to seven diferent coaches who each specialize in a specifc event.

Not only do they make life easier for Renaud, but Balenda has also learned to trust every move they make because of their proven leadership and accomplishments.

“I follow what my coaches tell me to do," Balenda said. They have been doing this for years, and I trust them every step of the way."

running resume

Senior Dominik Balenda has left his mark on the Prospect boys' track program:

• Grand Valley State University Commit

• Fastest indoor 400-meter dash in Prospect history (2022)

• Took fourth in state in the 400-meter dash (2022)

• Took 19th in state in the 4x400-meter relay (2022)

• Competing in the 200 and 400 meter dashes and the 4x400 relay this season

Boys' and girls' lacrosse coaches create potential amid new sport

ished the interview process with Wildman, he was set on him being hired.

For most of Prospect's history, lacrosse didn't exist as a school sport. The popularity of lacrosse in the Midwest has been hindered for years on end due to the lack of teams and players in the area. In 2021, however, spring sports would forever change when Prospect and District 214 fnally adopted a boys’ and girls’ lacrosse program.

Fast forward to 2023, Prospect lacrosse is now approaching its third season of existence; although the boys and girls teams have had their struggles with winning games (with 11-10 and 4-13 records last season, respectively), both teams have progressively gotten better each year and have had several players obtain college commitments because of their performance.

Athletic Director Omar Alebiosu believes lacrosse is an essential spring sport to have available because it ofers athletes the ability to build on a wide variety of skills.

“I think … it provides opportunities and exposure to our athletes,” Alebiosu said. “That’s the one thing I really like about lacrosse because for me, I didn’t have the opportunity to play in high school.”

Since lacrosse had come to Prospect, it has presented new opportunities for student athletes looking to join a diferent spring sport. Senior Kenichi Nguyen, who was previously a baseball player, decided to join lacrosse his junior year.

Given the large amount of new players, Nguyen ft right in with all of the players who were still taking time to get used to both the sport and each other.

When transitioning from baseball to lacrosse, Nguyen had difculty in learning a new sport; however, he said it soon became much

easier due to the majority of lacrosse skills involving “muscle memory.” One of the most important muscle memory skills, hand-eye coordination, is one that all athletes typically learn very early in their career. According to Nguyen, this makes the sport become much simpler if the athlete practices frequently.

“Lacrosse, in my opinion, gives players the highest potential to be successful, even if you’re new to the sport," Nguyen said. "That’s why a lot of people join."

Although the sport is still fresh to Prospect students, Alebiosu said that the school is providing lacrosse players with all of the necessary tools to not only become a successful team, but a team with “culture.”

“It’s not like this sport where we aren’t taking it seriously, we aren’t training and we’re

doing things we shouldn’t be doing,” Alebiosu said. “I really want the respect of lacrosse to be at a high level and I think with our head coach, we are going to get there.”

Following the departure of former head coach Joe Battaglia, David Wildman, who coaches for the Second City Lacrosse club team, has taken over as the new boys’ head coach.

As a second-year player, Nguyen is looking forward to having a coach as experienced as Wildman.

“Coach Wildman is a chill person that is a full time lacrosse coach, so his mind is fully set on lacrosse, which is helpful for a program with a lot of new players,” Nguyen said.

Throughout the hiring process, Alebiosu says that he talked to several coaching candidates who didn’t quite sell him, but after he fn-

“When I met Wildman and talked to him, I knew he was a guy who was going to make our program better; he’s also highly knowledgeable on the sport. He’s going to create some sharp, great men with values at the end of the day,” Alebiosu said.

Similar to Wildman, head girls' coach Terra Ringo coaches at her own club program and has played lacrosse since she was in high school. Ringo played college lacrosse at Robert Morris University, was a three time All-American and also became an NCAA national champion.

Similar to the opportunity lacrosse presented Nguyen, Ringo says that most of her best players hadn’t touched a lacrosse stick until the sport came to Prospect.

“I have a lot of dual athletes, and they’re great at their other sport, but some of them really just found their home in lacrosse,” Ringo said.

Although boys’ and girls’ lacrosse presents an unique chance for student athletes to participate, it can make it more hectic in the springtime for athletics. Ringo says it can be difcult to manage feld time and get practice availability with other spring sports also in need of practice time, but she gives credit to Assistant Athletic Director Dan DeBeouf and the rest of the athletic staf for giving every spring sport a fair schedule.

Regardless of how complex it can be to fgure out, Ringo takes a lot of pride in how much lacrosse provides for the girls on her team; she wants to continue to make it better as she sustains her coaching career here at Prospect.

“It’s such a surreal thing to know that … they were able to pick up a sport they never have, and now they can see a future in that,” Ringo said. “It’s something that I’m very proud of. Winning is great, but being able to help these girls shape their future is what it’s all about for me.”

ZACH MORETH Copy Editor

ZACH MORETH Copy Editor

HIT THE TURF: Although the teams' frst seasons were rough, heading into year three, boys' and girls' lacrosse have gone from learning the ropes to being an experienced group. (photo by Abby Damasky)