Graduation changes for 2026 seniors to Now Arena in Hoffman Estates NEWS
Managing Editor Jocelyn Farina advocates school accessibility awareness
Increasing use of generative AI spikes environmental concerns
Girls’ Flag Football team prevails another year
By SARAH GEORGE COPY EDITOR
As Molly Beyna, Neve Pomis and Lexi Kuzak stepped out of the Willis Tower doors on July 10, they took a deep breath. All weight had been lifted off of their shoulders. The pitch was over; they had won.
The girls now had to get back onto the train to leave the city and go home. Except it was raining, pouring actually.
The Shimmer Shield trio, all dressed in jeans and bright pink tops, tried to decide how they were going to get to the train station. Luckily, they had a makeshift umbrella with them that they could use to block the rain.
This substitute umbrella was a enormous $8,000 cardboard check: the prize for winning the National Entrepreneurship Summit (NES).
“[Running through the rain with the check] was euphoric,” said Kuzak, who is now majoring in Business at DePaul University. “Looking back, it was like a moment out of a movie.”
This past summer, the three students attended the NES at the Willis Tower in Chicago. High various states summit to pitch products to investor judges then decided deserved to win the help advance their With the combination of their public speaking skills and award-winning ideas, Beyna, Pomis and Kuzak took home the win this year, making school history.
“The drive and passion that all three of those girls have is like nothing I’ve every seen before,” Business teacher Chad Froeschle said.
a “step” to creating student businesses.
“Step one, which is coming up with a product idea, is the hardest part of the whole process,” Froeschle said.
Pomis and Kuzak were in the same business group during Froeschle’s class, while Beyna was in a different one. It wasn’t until a DECA competition in February that the girls decided to come together to create their own group with a whole new product.
“I always loved the idea of Shimmer Shield,” Pomis said. “I wasn’t passionate about the product in our other group, so the change was definitely good for me.”
Froeschle was surprised when the girls wanted to build a new business, which would mean starting from scratch with what they learned all the way back in August.
“I think their idea, though, was one of the most practical solutions I have seen to a problem,” Froeschle said.
The Shimmer Shield team worked hard the next couple of weeks, researching, creating and designing their product. Their goal was to fix the problem of tarnishing jewelry, something they were truly eager to work on. The main idea was to create an acrylic liquid that people could spray onto their jewelry to prevent rusting and tarnishing, an everyday problem that occurs for most jewelry wearers.
This achievement didn’t come easily to them, though. Their hard work and determination was what led them to create one of the most successful student businesses at Prospect, according to Froeschle. The girls took Business Entrepreneurship with Froeschle in the 24-25 school year, as well as participating in Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA). Business Entrepreneurship consists of eight units for the whole class. Each unit is
“We wanted to make sure that everything was legit,” Beyna said. “We even went to [chemistry teacher] Mrs. Bergquist for help with creating the solution.”
Still finalizing their the Shimmer Shield team their product to a panel that came to Prospect. this presentation, which them to move onto the pitch.
this point we had gone TikTok [gaining 26.8k followers], which really helped us,” Kuzak said. “[Shimmer Shield] wasn’t super developed yet, but the interest was there.”
The girls won the district pitch, which granted them a $3,000 prize to continue their
While Shimmer Shield experienced many ups and celebrations, being high schoolers with a business wasn’t always easy for them.
“I’m not going to lie, there were times when I felt like giving up,” Beyna said. “Doing everything by hand and balancing school is harder than people think.”
Beyna explained that one of the most rigorous tasks was fixing labels that hadn’t been put on correctly. Using Goo Gone to get the labels off of the bottles and then realigning
MOVIE SCENE: Shimmer Shield owners Molly Beyna, Lexi Kuzak and Neve Pomis (left to right) accept their $8,000 prize for winning the National Entrepreneurship Summit for their product. “Not only winning the [summit], but also being there in the first place will probably one of the top ten moments of my life,” Beyna said. (photo courtesy of Beyna)
them took hours on end and often left the girls feeling hopeless.
“All of the problems that we go through aren’t typical problems that a 17-year-old would have to face,” Beyna said.
Another challenging aspect in the business process is the legal portion. While growing Shimmer Shield, the girls had to learn about trademarks, property laws and what it takes to protect valuable ideas.
Froeschle teaches a unit about law in his entrepreneurship class to get students to understand that building business empires isn’t as easy as it may seem. There are behindthe-scenes operations that go into creating these businesses.
“Most of what I teach in class are things that these students will be using in their everyday lives for the rest of their lives,” Froeschle said.
While motivation was sometimes hard to find for the team, that didn’t stop the girls from pushing through. For Kuzak, it was always a dream to own a business and eventually get a product of hers onto the shelves of Target. Throughout her childhood, Kuzak would run her own small businesses that, to her, were somewhat successful.
“I’ve always been a business girl,” Kuzak said. “Froeschle’s class gave me the push I needed to actually create something big.”
With Kuzak and Pomis both being at college, Beyna was nervous at first to be on her own with the business. Kuzak explained that being at DePaul is actually a positive for the girls.
“I’m grateful to be in college because it is giving many opportunities to do things like pop-up events. I’ve also had the chance to branch out with networks more,” Kuzak said.
Pomis is majoring in Marketing at the University of Tennessee. Like Kuzak, the switch was hard.
“I wish I could be able to help more with the hands-on part of the process, but I am still doing all I can to help the business from a distance,” Pomis said.
Shimmer Shield has gathered much praise from not only social media, but also larger news platforms like CBS News and the Daily Herald. CBS News named the product a “winning formula.”
“Shimmer Shield is not only my job, but my livelihood,” Kuzak said. “I can’t wait to see where it takes us in the future.”
THE PRODUCT: The antirust spray protects jewelry from tarnishing. Shimmer Sheild is sold at $24.99. The website calls the product “Your Jewelry’s best friend.” (photo courtesy of Beyna)
By JOCELYN FARINA MANAGING EDITOR
On the icy slopes of Denali, oxygen thinned with every step that Jennifer Welter took. But this mountaineering trip was more than a testament to the nearly 11 trips Jen had taken before because this time she came fully equipped with an oxygen sensor. She wasn’t just climbing for herself — she was collecting data to bring back to an exercise physiology class at Prospect, which was a class she didn’t even teach.
These numbers quickly became more than just data points; they gave students a chance to hear and see how their class lessons could be applied to real life. Even with her own classes, Jen would reference her experiences to help her students apply what they had learned in the classroom.
“She was extremely kind and very knowledgeable,” said Mark Welter, Jen’s husband and physics teacher. “She put in a lot of behind-the-scenes effort to make her lessons really good, and she then just engaged with every student no matter what class she was teaching.”
In August, Jen lost her battle with cancer. Her impact on Prospect was anything but small — it was monumental.
One of the things that Mark said was that Jen had an extremely strong passion for mountaineering. It’s one of those activities that demands so much from a person, yet gives them so much in return.
Jen’s history with summiterring dates back to 2009 when she first summited Mt. Whitney. Then in 2010 she summited Mt. Rainier and Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2011. In 2012 she took an unpaid leave of absence during the second semester of the school year to take a global adventure starting in Anconcagua in Argentina, hiking through Patagonia, trekking to Everest base camp and then summiting Mt. Lobuche, continuing through the Alaskan wilderness, summiting Mt. Shuksan, Washington, and ending with several summits in Bolivia. She then proceeded to hit Mt. Whitney again in 2013 followed by Denali, and she had yet another summit of Mt. Whitney but this time up the notorious East Face Route.
lenge as much as she enjoyed meeting new people. While on a safari after climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, she accidentally ran into pa leontologist Donald Johanson, who played a tremendous role in the historic discovery of the famous homo sapien fos sil named “Lucy.”
“She told him, ‘Wait a second, I know you. You’re on one of my National Geographic movies that I show in my classes. You’re Don Johansson’ And suddenly here’s the scientist who had discovered one of the earliest fossils of people [right in front of her],” Mark said.
Another time while hiking to the Everest Base Camp, her curiosity led her to having another one once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“She went over to this group and started talking, and we later learned that the guy she was talking to was one of South American’s biggest television show hosts,” Mark said.
With so much passion for learning and sharing, Jen’s teaching career started before her climbing days. While in high school at Rolling Meadows, she was a tri-sport athlete, competing in volleyball, basketball and soccer. During her sophomore year, she was all-conference in soccer, and during her senior year she was recognized for being a 12 season athlete. After graduating from high school in
student teaching days at Prospect began in 2001, in Mollie David’s honors biology class.
David remembers that Jen was an organized, smart and dedicated student teacher who wanted to share her love of biology with the students.
“She had a particularly good relationship with the girls in class,” David said. “They admired her and saw her as a map [for themselves] to be like her.”
It was during this time that Mark and Jen first met. After growing closer, the two found themselves sharing their lunches together and enjoying each other’s company.
She was then hired at Schaumburg, but an opening had appeared at Prospect. Jen had connections to some teachers and knew she wanted to come back. During the fall of 2003, Jen was officially a teacher at Prospect. Two years later, she and Mark got married.
When it came to being a teacher, both Mark and David agree that Jen went far beyond what the typical expectations would be. When she began to teach the zoology classes, she took classes at the Brookfield Zoo and would film the different animals while she was there, so her students could visually see what they were
She took online oceanography courses through Western Illinois University (traveling for exams) and an animal training course at the Shedd. She also took oceanography and marine mammal courses at College of the Atlantic in Maine.
The continued desire to expand her mind led Jen to create imaginative activities for her students. One example was a national park assignment, where her zoology students had to use actual maps from the parks and research the habitat requirements for certain animals to determine how many animals could be supported in a given environment.
“She did [this thing where] she would check out CDs, [and] maybe it would be bird calls, and then they would be quizzed on that,” David said. “It was the little things that made her class more engaging.”
A GoFundMe has been set up to help Mark and Jen’s son. To contribute scan this QR code:
But Jen’s presence at Prospect went far beyond teaching biology and zoology.
“We had a division head, who told her at an evaluation that, ‘You’re the kind of teacher that I wish my kids would have. I wish for my kids to have [someone like that] when they grow up,’” Mark said.
When the girls golf team had their historic state win in 2011, Jen made coach Jim Hamann, who was in the science and math department at the time, a homemade golf cake. She frosted the cake green, made golf flags of toothpicks and made look-a-like golf balls out of chocolate.
“She made this in one night, and she wasn’t a baker … I mean, she could do a lot of things, but that wasn’t her specialty,” Mark said. “And so she just decided, I’m going to do this and bring it in for the department, just to celebrate because it’s really that incredible [of an achievement].”
When David ran environmental club, the club was going to plant flowers in the memorial garden that’s out by circle drive. For some reason, the students that were going to help couldn’t come last minute.
“[It was] 4:35 p.m. and Mr. and Mrs. Welter came by, and what did they do? They stopped everything they were doing, got out of their car, and they started digging in the garden with me and making sure that I didn’t have to do it all by myself,” David said.
That’s what Mark and David hope will be the legacy of Jen. Though she lived a life that contained more adventure and wonder than most can ever hope to accomplish, she was an extremely humble person who dedicated her life to empowering others.
“She had a way of teaching that made the students feel that they were going to be able to understand whatever she taught,” Mark said. “[There were] many situations that just showed her humanity and [how she] really cared for everybody, every single person that came into her into her sphere.”
By JULIA MIODOWSKI EXECUTIVE NEWS EDITOR
Art is a form of self expression that takes the shape of anything, whether it be watercolors, sketching, woodcarving, sewing- you name it. For artist Brett Schwalb, that included vibrant paintings where he tried to capture sound. He also upcycles found objects, like metal, into useful around-the-house items. Schwalb recalled when he was first putting his work on display he was scared of the idea that people were going to dislike it.
He soon realized that people who liked his work gave him positive feedback, while the people who did not only briefly thought about it and moved on with their day. This change of mindset made him more comfortable with expressing himself through his work, and he now seeks inspiration from positivity and joy, as well as nature around him.
“Too many people think they’re not creative, or [are] afraid to express their art. I just want to encourage people to go out there and be weird or crazy,” Schwalb said.
CREATE: The Arlington Heights “A Walk in the Park” art fair gave several artists an opportunity for their work to get put on display and shown to the public. (photo collage by Julia Miodowski)
to be okay,’” Schwalb said.
One specific emotion that hung in the air towards the end of the art walk was tension.
This stemmed from the fact that many votes were being accumulated from the public on which artists’ stand was their favorite. Anyone could fill out a small slip of paper with the name of their favorite artist to determine which contestant would receive a monetary prize.
This year, an unusual thing happened: there was a tie.
The two stands selected were couple Dave and Linda Marion and Jake Donovan, with the fifty dollar prize divided equally both ways.
Donovan is a brand new artist who recently launched his website the day before the art walk. His inspirations were his favorite childrens’ books illustrators, such as Maurice Sendak, who is most commonly known for his book, “Where the Wild Things Are”.
“My goal is for the artwork to have a presence,” Donovan said. “It’s just the visual impact is what I mainly go for.”
His drawings typically portray a main element, such as a tree or an animal, that grabs the audience’s attention, with clean cut shapes and a blank background.
Schwalb displayed his work at the “A Walk in the Park” art walk, organized by the Arlington Heights Art Guild, at North School Park on Sunday, Aug. 24. Alongside food stands and live music from guitarist Jack Wilson, the public got to enjoy the work of 80 art vendors who displayed their projects for sale and admiration.
Much like Schwalb, as artists produce their personal work, they seek inspiration from everything around them.
“I like to do things from the past, but keep it in the future,” artist Jason Hedman said. “I like to make people smile or think in different ways.”
True to his inspiration, Hedman’s paintings encompass past and future elements,
with a 60’s comic style, modern video game elements and pop culture details. His work often showcases characters like Batman or Mario and Luigi. Additionally, it features unique backdrops such as the “Starry Night” painting by Vincent Van
In the same way that artists get inspired from all different types of elements, they often want the public to be inspired by their work or have some kind of take-
Ira Barsky, who’s well versed in hand crafting cutting boards and produces spices, loves what he does. He feels that arranging different kinds of food on a platter or board can bring a family together because of the
preparation it takes. He considers it an art of storytelling.
“So, now the family is getting together,” Barsky explained. “They’re enjoying the meal they made together. They had the drinks they made together. They had the cookies they made together. So it’s an all encompassing concept.”
He also wanted people who use his cutting boards to understand that meals can be prepared naturally and to be mindful of what they’re putting in their bodies. Barsky prided himself in using all-natural ingredients in his products, even a natural wood conditioner.
“It’s showing people that they can take care of themselves and not use plastic for a cutting board,” Barsky said. “They can use wood and keep the microplastics out of themselves, as well as save the sharpness of their knives.”
Though art can be interpreted in many different ways and leave different emotional connotations, Schwalb has one simple takeaway for the audience of his works.
“For the most part, I want people to look at it and just be like … ‘everything’s going
Donovan was an elementary school art teacher for 12 years, but he quit to pursue his artistic career and is unsure if he will return to teaching or not, depending on where his art career goes.
The other winners, the Marions, also used to have a different jobs besides making art. They used to own a shop with vintage items, which gave them the inspiration to fuse this with their passion for art. They now take upcycled items and make new projects out of them. For example, they carved jack-o-lantern skulls in old gas jugs or shaped old saws into Christmas trees.
“We had a lot of people who stopped in that were pleasantly surprised that we were here and liked our items. We feel good that they were willing to vote for us,” Dave Marion said.
From paintings, to cutting boards, to gasjug jack-o-lanterns, the Arlington Heights “A Walk in the Park” fine arts fair was deemed a success by the Arlington Heights Art Guild, and exposed the public to various forms of self expression.
“I just [want] to inspire other people to find their creativity,” Schwalb said. “If somebody came in here and said ‘I can do that, too,’ yes, you can! Go do it!”
By ALYSSA KOWOLS MANAGING EDITOR
Hanging around the Prospect gyms, the Class of 2025 seniors were lined up in alphabetical order, waiting to graduate. In past years, graduation was outside in the George Gattas Memorial Stadium. But last year because of the weather, it was moved inside to the Jean Walker Fieldhouse, limiting families to only four tickets. Usually, families are given up to 10 tickets for the ceremony. Some families, like senior Aimee Ciupeiu’s, had up to 15 people that were hoping to attend her sister’s graduation.
“A lot of my family had to cancel their plan of coming to my sister’s graduation,” Ciupeiu said. “We were only allowed four tickets, but my immediate family is nine people.”
For the 2025-26 and 2026-27 school year, the graduating seniors will have their graduation at the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates. This was a decision made by the school board after graduation was moved inside, according to board
member Vicki Chung. While this is a change for the whole district, Prospect has never had their graduation anywhere besides on-campus in its 65 year history.
Over the summer, there were multiple board meetings to discuss where the D214 schools should host graduation. The idea of an arena hosting graduation has been an ongoing plan for years, but there was never a reason to, until last year. The board considered the Allstate Arena in Rosemont and NOW Arena.
According to Chung, when the board voted on the two-year contract with the NOW Arena, it was a 7-0 vote. Since graduation was held at the high schools, they had a larger budget. The budget to host graduation at NOW Arena in 2026 will be $228,000 and in 2027 it will be $240,000. When graduations were hosted at the high schools, the budget was $265,000 for the six separate graduations. While this isn’t exactly what they spent or will spend, it is how much the board anticipates they will need. The money goes toward the “Base License Fee” which includes: set
up/break down, security, ushers, cleaning and patron EMS. Some add ons that are included if necessary are event insurance and music royalty fees, according to Lindsey Dombrowski, the D214 Communications Coordinator.
They don’t know if they will renew the contract in 2028, so they will partially base that decision on community feedback.
One thing seniors like Ciupeiu will benefit from, is that there isn’t a limit on ticketing. While each family is given 10 tickets, they can ask for more if needed. There are about 8,000 seats at NOW Arena, which is more than enough for every student to bring their family.
One downside of graduation being hosted elsewhere is that students can’t graduate at the high school they attended for four years. For Ciupeiu, she thinks it is nostalgic to graduate at Prospect; although, she would rather be able to bring all of her family.
“You have to pick and choose if you want the nostalgia of graduating [at Prospect] or the people who come that are more important to you,” Ciupeiu said.
For the 2025-26 and 2026-27 school years, the graduation will be taking place at NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates. (photo by
Both Chung and Ciupeiu agree that while finishing high school in the building is sentimental, it is more significant to graduate with the people they’ve been with for four years. To compromise, Principal Greg Minter and Associate Principal Frank Mirandola are hosting a night where students can come take pictures at Prospect. While they don’t know ex-
actly when it will be, it can help students still have the feeling of getting graduation pictures at their high school.
“Graduating in your own high school building is special,” Chung said. “That’s a place that holds four years of memories for students so it’s very meaningful to walk those halls and see everyone gathered together.”
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Stella Palm
MANAGING EDITORS
Xander Adkins, Jocelyn Farina, Tessa Trylovich, Alyssa Kowols
ASSOCIATE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Meg Imherr
COPY EDITORS
Sarah George, Jaylene Odjimer
Sage Gilliland
ONLINE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Noah Jahn
KNIGHT TV EXEC PRODUCER
Konstanty Romanowski
KNIGHTVOICES EXEC PRODUCER
Ella Brown
KNIGHT TV LIVE EXEC PRODUCER
Ryan Podgorny
KNIGHT TV ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
Julia Hong
KNIGHT TV LIVE ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
Sammie Kowols
PROSPECTOR EDITORS
Julia Miodowski, Chiara Stathakis, Lucas DeLuca, Henry Buelow, Cora Richer
KNIGHT TV SPORTS DIRECTOR
Jack Cloney
SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR
Kaden Chung
ASSOCIATE SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR
Jocelyn Kirshner
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Siena Mirandola
REPORTERS
Dylan Maye, Violet Sporcich, Daniel Marron, Brecken Burns, Piper Stukenberg, Vincent Poulos, Parker Connelly-McKee
ADVISER
Jason Block
MISSION STATEMENT
The purpose of the Prospect High School Prospector is to report news and explain its meaning and significance 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.
Air quality worsens as we dump ozone into the sky; who would’ve thought?
By XANDER ADKINS COPY EDITOR
Ican pinpoint the exact moment I began to hate the song “Working for the Weekend” by Loverboy. It’s an ‘80s classic, don’t get me wrong, but when I decided to set it as the theme for my 6:00 a.m. alarm for summer cross country practice, it didn’t take more than two mornings for me to realize my mistake.
The song I once associated with neon lights, retro arcade games and that one episode of “Regular Show” now activated me like a sleeper agent who had repressed the memories of sore calves, shin splints and heavy breathing. Really heavy breathing. Maybe too heavy?
I mean, as an asthmatic my standards for breathing aren’t exactly high. I take my inhaler religiously and don’t smoke four packs of cigarettes a day (I had to draw the line at three), and the last time I checked, running is supposed to improve lung health, not the opposite. So what was the problem?
In short: the air quality. In “long”: well, that’s what the rest of the story is for, isn’t it?
Poor air quality can have much more of an impact on the body than just shortness of breath, as a lack of oxygen over an extended period of time can result in an increased
AIR POLLUTION KILLS MORE PEOPLE THAN TOBACCO
*According to State of Global Air
heart rate, dizziness and even discoloration in the fingernails and lips. According to State of Global Air, eventually this can lead to permanent lung damage and an increased risk of seizures, coma and, unfortunately but not unsurprisingly, death.
We’ve all heard of the horrors that await us in the future if we continue to release exhaust from our cars, but what is exhaust actually made of?
While the majority of these fumes are made up of things that are naturally found in our atmosphere, such as nitrogen, carbon dioxide and water vapor, the smaller amounts of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and particulate matter are what really leave a negative impact.
Particulate matter contains thousands of extremely small particles of dust, dirt and soot, as well as stuff that really shouldn’t be in our atmosphere, such as numerous combinations of oxide gases.
For those of you who were playing “Clash Royale” during chemistry class, oxide gases are chemical compounds that contain oxygen and one other element, many of which are actually relatively harmless when released in small quantities.
However, keep in mind that car exhaust contains a large amount of particulate matter, which in itself contains thousands of oxide gas particles.
While some of these oxygen go onto form oxide gas compounds that probably won’t kill you, the sheer number of these particles means that harmful compounds are guaranteed to happen.
Some of these combinations are harmful because, according to the California Air Resources Board, the most common and dangerous air pollutant, ozone, forms when nitrogen oxide gases react with sunlight.
Because exhaust fumes are released directly into the atmosphere and … y’know, that’s where the sun is, this process happens only mere seconds after the fumes are released.
The amount of oxide gas produced varies based on car model, amount of time driving and a whole bunch of other factors that make it impossible to accurately measure the exact amount of ozone being produced at one given time. These particles can range anywhere from 10 to merely 2.5 micrometers (or microns) in diameter. Want to know how big a micron is?
A single grain of sand is 90 microns in diameter. Needless to say, sizing makes this a little hard to measure.
While it’s difficult to accurately measure the output of ozone from vehicles, we can measure the amount of ozone in our atmosphere much better, which is kind of a good news/bad news thing.
ALERTED: Air quality warnings frequently plague phones across the world as ozone pollution increases and uncontrolled wildfires lead to traveling smoke storms. (art by
Siena Mirandola)
On one hand, our atmosphere is completely deteriorating. According to the World Health Organization, air quality is involved in 7 million premature deaths annually. Not good. But on the other hand … uh, at least we know we’re all probably going to die early? Sorry, it’s a little hard to stay optimistic when our oxygen is literally becoming less breathable by the second.
There are natural causes to troubled breathing as well, such as seasonal allergies (which, if you’re like me, seem to occur every season). While these allergies are usually triggered by “natural” factors such as mold and mildew, and are often viewed as nothing more than an inconvenience, nurse Cheryl Novak stresses the importance of monitoring breathing during these periods, as not doing so often lands students in her office.
As senior Frank Cox walked into his first period closed study hall, he felt exhausted. He had just finished a grueling morning cross country practice and instead of going home, Cox had to attend his closed study hall due to his Physical Education (PE) waiver.
“I would rather go home after my morning practice, sleep and then go to school for my second period class,” Cox said.
Since Cox is a senior, he doesn’t have as much of a homework load and would rather spend his study hall resting than sitting in a classroom when he has practice again after school.
The decision to close PE waivers was made in January of this year and is a rever sion back to Prospect’s pre-COVID policies.
open study hall due to COVID-19 because the school wanted less students in the building.
The primary reason for PE waivers was to provide additional study time for athletes who are receiving their needed amount of exercise everyday before or after school, according to Illinois state guidelines.
“The main point of people having a waiver was to have additional study hall time, right?” Minter said. “So … if you want the additional study time, let’s be in a study hall and study or access the ARC.”
FOR INFORMATION REGARDING LETTERS TO THE EDITOR AND ADVERTISING INQUIRIES: 26 1 Against For
Principal Greg Minter, alongside all District 214 principals, made this decision due to the need for consistency across District 214.
PE waivers were originally closed because the waiver is a substitution for a class; therefore students need to be placed in a closed study hall. But during the 2021-22 school year, PE waivers were changed to an
Voting results of the KnightMedia staff in regards to this editorial.
What is the new policy?
more flexibility with waivers means more independence, shows responsibility and recognizes that athletes have different needs. Students should have a say in creating a schedule that assists their well-being and success.
2025 policy states that any student athlete who has their Physical Education period substituted must
We, KnightMedia believe although continuity across the district is important, closed PE waivers do not reflect students’ needs, especially for upperclassmen. The chance to go home or use that time more flexibly could really make a difference for some students. Many students don’t have a heavy work load, and oftentimes extra sleep or downtime is more valuable to the student than sitting in a study hall. Instead of reverting back to pre-COVID policies, the district should think about whether the same policy really works for everyone. Giving students
“Closed” study halls require students to stay in a classroom for the period, whereas “independent learning time” periods (open study halls) allow students to leave and enter the building as they please.
Because there are many additional closed study hall periods this year, staff and the space for classrooms are all needed. Some study halls have been moved to the cafeteria because of overcrowding.
“It’s not to make it easier for us,” Minter said. “Obviously, when we have closed study halls, now we have to have people supervising them and staffing them.”
As Prospect continues to adjust to pre-COVID routines, maybe it isn’t just about consistency across the district, but about listening to students and their needs. An open study hall should be about giving students the flexibility and independence they deserve, not just extra study time.
“I’m not entirely opposed to [opening the study halls back up,]” Minter said. “But again, that’s going to be a district decision. It’s not just going to be my decision.”
BARRIERS: Even the simplest of routes that claim to be accessible can prove to be difficult to navigate, with cracks in the sidewalk, litter cluttering the path, uneven footing that makes navigation ten times harder or narrow doors that deny access.
One too many times I, wheeling around my dad, have gone on vacation and had to play the “how do you define accessibility?” game.
Is it defined as a steep 45-degree angle ramp that gets you inside? Maybe it’s defined as an accessible hotel room that still feels eerily tight? Or maybe it’s a six-inch step that “shouldn’t be too hard to get onto.”
All of these things are so frustrating to consider. I shouldn’t have to wonder if I’ll be separated from my dad all because of a little step or a door frame that was just too tight for the wheelchair to squeeze by.
JOCELYN FARINA MANAGING EDITOR
These barriers affect more than just my family. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 12.2% of U.S. adults have a mobility disability, and 13% of public school students have disabilities (Pew Research Center).
Accessibility can look very different depending on who you talk to. It can include braille lettering and tactile pavement for the blind or it can be ramps into buildings for people with mobility disabilities.
For the purposes of this, though, I want to focus on people who have mobility issues that require them to use a wheelchair or any device similar to it.
The first time I brought my dad into Prospect was during my eighth grade graduation. The only problem we encountered that day was finding a place for everyone to sit because we forgot how competitive people are for good seats. Regardless, we didn’t have any trouble getting into the building itself.
Of course, it wasn’t always this easy. When Associate Principal Frank Mirandola first arrived at Prospect in the fall of 2002, the school’s accessible capacity was present but not stellar.
However, over the course of Mirandola’s time at Prospect new features were added. Automatic doors were installed by doors six and 30 in 2014, the pool elevator was built in 2016 with the construction of the Natatorium and the main elevator was upgraded in 2023.
“We want everyone to have the same experience at Prospect High School,” Mirandola said. “We don’t want it to be where [students with physical disabilities] always have to sit in a certain location because of limited mobility.”
When Prospect updates buildings, they
work with architects to follow the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) codes, ensuring equal access for people with disabilities since the law’s creation in 1990, according to the U.S. Department of Justice and Civil Rights Division.
If a place or city is looking to install parking lots with accessible parking, the ground has to be a certain level to ensure that someone getting out of their car can do so safely and easily. Hence why you wouldn’t normally find accessible parking on the side of a steep hill, because let me tell you, a wheelchair rolls away faster than you think.
While my dad has only had to navigate Prospect two or three times a year for the occasional sporting event, junior Kaily Duenez navigates her way around Prospect in a motorized wheelchair every day. Fortunately, getting around Prospect generally isn’t an issue for her. For one thing, having desks with removable chairs makes her feel more included in the classroom because the old-school chair-todesk situation would isolate her, as she would need her own area to work.
However, when it comes to other aspects of school life, Duenez still feels like more can be done. One of Duenez’s favorite activities is going to football games – I mean, who doesn’t love cheering on your school underneath Friday night lights? — but the accessibility there leaves something to be desired.
Given that most people don’t pay attention to the accessible seating in the stadium, let me paint you a picture. You go up the ramp on either side of the bleachers and wedge yourself past parents, kids and hyper students and situate yourself in the front row. This might sound good in theory, until you really think about how tight that area is. Blue leaders are cheering in front of you, while the full force of “The Underground” jumps and screams right behind you.
“I feel like there’s really nowhere for me to sit,” Duenez said. “There’s just no space. I kind of just sit off to the side at the bottom right in front of the stairs, which isn’t ideal.”
Unfortunately, there aren’t any other options, as bleachers have stairs and the view of the field would be obstructed and bustling with people in the area next to the bleachers.
“I’m not the only person in a wheelchair or any mobility device,” Duenez said. “I feel like it would just be nice to be able to have somewhere where you can sit, like a designated area. It would make it less stressful to have to figure out where to sit or [wonder if] I’m in the way of something.”
Despite the chaos of the scene, according to Mirandola, the bleachers in the Gattas Stadium have met ADA standards since 2008. During this time, the old bleachers were re-
placed with new ones that allowed for 27 wheelchair spaces on the home side.
“If anyone experiences difficulty navigating the student section, it is not due to structural limitations or the lack of ADA compliance, but rather when spectators fail to respect designated accessible locations by standing in aisles or blocking spaces,” Mirandola said.
This isn’t the only area either where students might face access difficulties. Another area is one that students have probably seen before; heck, most students pass by it every day. The tech booth in the theater is anything but accessible.
To get up there requires climbing up a ship’s ladder, which is a very steep set of stairs that tilts at the angle of a ladder. Long story short, you are not getting a mobility device up there. Additionally, a tech box isn’t very big because it has to fit inside a small enclosure, and when ours was installed in 2014, it faced a unique challenge compared to other schools’. According to architect and engineering teacher Thomas Ringrose, other schools in the district have second story access into their tech boxes, which helps alleviate challenges for their students.
For tech productions, Ringrose has had to come up with some creative ideas for helping all students feel included. In the past, if students who couldn’t access the booth were interested in the sound and projection system, he would set it up to be remotely controlled with a laptop. If a student is interested in helping with the lighting side of things, it gets complicated because there is no feasible workaround.
“It’s a very double-edged sword,” Ringrose said. “I’m really proud that [the students with disabilities] feel welcomed. They knew that they were someone that we would want to have around [and] that they have a value to our program, but I’m scared that [they] might not be able to get the student experience that they hope for.”
In the case of the bleachers and theater, it’s safe to say that while Duenez and Ringrose would like to see change, budget is definitely a consideration. Changing something to meet ADA standards can vary greatly in cost, anywhere from $1,000 to $15,000 for the most basic amenities like ramps, according to ADA Inspection.
Not to say that Prospect is failing at providing for its students — because as my dad and Duenez have pointed out, that’s far from the case. It’s simply that not enough awareness goes into acknowledging what accessibility looks like.
In the case of senior Natalie Stonitsch, all it takes is a bit of practice to view your world in a different light. Over the summer, she partic-
ipated in an urban planning internship where one of the activities was running through her daily commutes and identifying things that might be problematic to someone with a disability.
“There were so many things I didn’t realize that were inaccessible,” Stonitsch said. “Everything from cracks on the sidewalks to different types of stairs. There was a part of my commute where I walked downtown and there was construction, and it was not very accessible for somebody in a wheelchair.”
This simple exercise took maybe 10 to 15 minutes, but it allowed her to understand what life is like for families that live in this reality. The thought of having to push my father across some of the bumpier sidewalks near my house makes me nauseous.
Stonitsch also was propelled to observe how Prospect functions as a school with accessibility when she sprained her leg and needed to use the elevator system.
“I really think a lot of us don’t do deeper thinking,” Stonitsch said. “It wouldn’t be my first thought to ask, ‘Where can somebody with a disability get up the stairs? Where’s the nearest elevator?’”
Furthermore, students like Duenez will not be the last ones to need accessible accommodations. Mirandola pointed out that in the next few years, Prospect will be getting more students with low vision, which means that planning starts now. According to Mirandola, the school needs to identify if they need to add more signage to the school to make locations easily identifiable or modify the layout of the staircases, so they are easy to navigate. Even now, the school is looking to update the furniture in the KLC to allow mobility devices to easily cross between aisles by changing the way the seats and tables are laid out. The upgrade will have the tables arranged with only two seats on each side, as opposed to one seat on all four.
“You’re always realizing that there’s something a little more you could always do that you don’t know about [to help other students],” Mirandola said.
Indeed, which is why I want to see more education and awareness put out there. I want people with disabilities and their families to feel welcomed wherever they go. I shouldn’t have to share a look of “that won’t work” after explaining to someone that my dad is in a wheelchair and needs to get in.
Duenez, too, feels this way, and with time, hopes others will become more aware and active in the discussions surrounding accessibility in school and in the community.
“Even if something doesn’t affect you,” Duenez said, “that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t affect anyone else.”
“Dance to the songs, do the cheers and be loud! What you put into it is what you get out of the games.”
- Marija Milosavljevic
“Be loud, dress the theme and have fun in the moment.”
- Ethan Maher
Photos by Jocelyn
“Go to everything you can, participate in everything and have fun because you will miss it once it’s over.”
- Ali Melachrinakis
Check out KnightVoices Executive Producer Ella Brown’s podcast featuring this year’s blue leaders
SMILES: Every year during 1Prospect the freshmen class takes a group picture on the football field outlining their graduating year. (photo by
Check out more photos from 1Prospect
LEADING: A freshman tries to lead a blindfolded partner through a maze.
3. What is Prospect’s mascot name?
4. One of Prospect’s rivals? This one is 2.8 miles away.
5. Who is the football stadium named after?
6. What is the name of Prospect’s light blue color?
8. What is the acronym for the Prospect library?
1. Who is Prospect’s principal?
2. What is the name of Prospect’s student section?
Check @_knightmedia on Instagram Monday night for the answers!
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By STELLA PALM EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
During the beginning of the school year while AP Environmental Science teacher Shelby Rosin was socializing with her students, one was struggling to remember the name of a movie they were discussing. Without hesitation, the student turned to ChatGPT, which delivered the answer in seconds.
While the student didn’t think twice about how they acquired the information, Rosin immediately recognized the environmental impacts of turning to ChatGPT for a simple question.
“They could have done the same [thing on a] Google search and used significantly less energy,” Rosin said. “But there’s no awareness of the differences, right?”
With ChatGPT exhibiting 800 million weekly users, according to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the energy demand for AI is immense — especially people like Rosin’s students don’t understand the environmental costs.
The environmental impact doesn’t stop at individual queries: training AI models like ChatGPT requires vast amounts of energy and resources. According to The Verge, training a large language model like GPT-3 (OpenAI) is estimated to use just under 1,300 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity, about as much power as consumed annually by 130 US homes. To put that in context, stream- ing an hour of Netflix requires around 0.0008 MWh of electricity. That means you’d have to watch 1,625,000 hours to consume the same amount of power it takes to train GPT-3.
Beyond the energy used to train AI models, the systems rely heavily on data centers — facilities designed to store and process an organization’s data. Many data centers are in industrial parks, like Elk Grove Village’s, the nation’s largest contiguous industrial park, located east of Busse Woods off of Higgins Road.
With almost 65 million square feet of inventory (including four million dedicated to data centers), 5,600 businesses and over 400 manufacturers, the village is considered a na
tional hub for data center operations.
Overseeing these industrial park operations is Elk Grove Village Manager Matthew J. Roan, who has spent the last 15 years building relationships with data center developers, operators and real estate brokers.
While the industrial park plays a significant role in the village, Roan notes that it does not generally disturb the residents, as they typically reside west of O’Hare Airport, while the park is located east of O’Hare.
However, when it comes to the environmental impacts of the centers, Roan acknowledges that the village doesn’t have much influence. Sustainability for data centers is driven by their shareholders, not the village.
“There’s not much that we can do in terms of restricting their use … as long as they meet all the required criteria within the zoning
code,” Roan
Despite this, the centers themselves provide immense benefits to the village, particularly financial stability. Data centers are unlikely to close due to the significant investment required to build them and the difficulty of moving their operations.
“A logistics center … is an industrial building … full of racking (metal shelves) where they store products,” Roan said. “Those [hubs] come and go; they move into the community and then they can move out of the community very easily because there’s not a big investment there.”
On the flip side, a new industrial property, on average, generates about $2.84 in property taxes per square foot, while the data centers generate, on average, $17.86 per square foot, which Roan mentions benefits the local school districts.
They also provide employment opportunities for the local workforce. These jobs range from HVAC technicians and electricians to carpenters and masons. Their paychecks stay within the town, something Roan says keeps the local economy strong.
All these benefits give villages like Elk Grove more reasons to put in the centers, especially with increased demand. However, this doesn’t mean that the future of data centers comes without potential challenges.
In Chicago, for instance, there is growing concern about the strain on water resources, particularly the Great Lakes. Data centers across the U.S. are projected to use more than 150 billion gallons of water over the next five years, according to the advocacy organization Alliance for the Great Lakes. This would be enough water to supply 4.6 millions homes, but instead, it may be used to fuel AI operations.
While the environmental impact is significant, efforts to minimize these challenges are emerging. Data center operator Digital Realty worked with global sustainability leader Ecolab in 2024 to pilot an AI-powered water conservation solution. This project aims to reduce water usage by up to 15%, potentially saving 126 million gallons of potable water annually, according to Ecolab.
Elk Grove has also shown sustainability progress. Their Administration & Public Safety Complex was the first constructed project for a Village Hall or Public Safety building in Illinois to receive the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification — an award given by the US Green Building Council in 2010. LEED is a pointbased system that rewards projects for meeting green building criteria, such as reducing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. While efforts to reduce the environmental impact of data centers and AI technologies are underway, the demand for these systems continues to increase. The push for more sustainable practices like water conservation systems and energy-efficient designs could ensure that the future of AI won’t come at the expense of the environment. While the challenges are significant, the potential for innovation offers hope for a more balanced future.
“I don’t think [AI is] going anywhere,” Rosin said. “I don’t think even if we said, ‘No, it’s not worth it,’ that you were going to be able to get rid of this system, especially now that people see how beneficial it can be.
By CHIARA STATHAKIS EXECUTIVE FEATURES EDITOR
Dean of Students Jesus Zamudio stood in Prospect’s choir room, giving a welcome presentation to freshmen at their orientation. However, this wasn’t just the first time many of these incoming freshmen were meeting their administrators — it was also Zamudio’s first time interacting with a Prospect freshmen class.
“It was really cool to be part of welcoming freshmen, and also telling them that I’m a freshman, too, and that we’re starting this journey together,” Zamudio said. “I think it’s going to be really cool when those freshmen graduate. It’s going to be the one class where we came in together and I literally saw them grow from freshman all the way through.”
Zamudio started this year as a dean at Prospect after being a math teacher and later a dean in the Round Lake School District for 11 years.
“[Leaving Round Lake] was very bittersweet,” Zamudio said. “I was blessed with having a wonderful staff and a wonderful team. The students I worked with were great. I lived very near the community, and it was my home away from home for 11 years … but I was at a place where I wanted to continue to develop my professional self.”
Because Prospect has different resources and challenges than Round Lake, Zamudio feels as though it will help him grow in new ways. He explained that the job, however, is still the same — he is again working with and supporting students.
to help students grow,” Zamudio said. “That’s really what we’re trying to do: hold kids accountable so they can grow to be the best version of themselves.”
As a dean, some of Zamudio’s tasks include checking in oneon-one with students, leading team meetings, doing cafeteria duty and facilitating events like Safety Week. However, he understands that his job can carry a negative connotation.
“I think students can get fixated a little bit on the discipline part of things, which 100% is a part of the job, but, ultimately, our job is
While helping students grow, Zamudio is always trying to connect with them in any way possible. Dean of Students Adam Levinson, who met Zamudio during his interview process in the spring, thinks this is one of Zamudio’s strengths. “Because he’s much younger than I am, he can relate really well to today’s generation of students, and I think that’s important,” Levinson said. “It’s nice to have a young, fresh approach to what kids are going through today.”
Both of Zamudio’s parents are from Mex-
ico, and he thinks his Mexican heritage is something that allows him to further connect with a specific portion of the student population.
“I think it’s very important for [students] to see someone that resembles themselves — that they see themselves in,” Zamudio said. “I think that Prospect has a really diverse set of staff that can help all the students here feel comfortable. Just seeing themselves in an adult is of high value.”
While Zamudio really enjoys being a dean, going into education was not something that he considered as a high school student. In fact, when he went to University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for college, he started out as an engineering student.
However, roughly a year into college, he realized that engineering was not the right fit for him. At the time, he was a peer tutor for college math students, and that was something that drew him towards education.
“What I really loved about [tutoring] was the relationships that you build with the stu-
dents or peers,” Zamudio said. “Ultimately, that’s what I think drives educators to do what they do: caring for the kids.”
Education also offered Zamudio the opportunity to engage with another passion of his, basketball, which he coached while at Round Lake. He played varsity basketball in high school and intramural basketball in college, which left a significant positive impact on him, helping him develop skills like responsibility, perseverance, collaboration, teamwork and leadership.
“My basketball coaches heavily influenced shaping who I became,” Zamudio said. “I think sports is an excellent way to develop great qualities and practice those skills that are going to help you to be successful in life, and it’s done in a way that’s fun and engaging.”
Zamudio is not currently involved in coaching basketball at Prospect or elsewhere, but it’s something that he would be interested in doing again in the future once he has adjusted to his new school.
In the few months that he has been at Prospect, Zamudio has already fostered relationships with other staff members. He has grown especially close to the other deans, specifically Levinson.
“Levinson is the best mentor I could have ever asked for,” Zamudio said. “He has been on point with guiding me as I’m transitioning to the new position. Any time I have questions, he’s always a guy I can go to.”
The two have established a sense of mutual appreciation and trust that has allowed them to work effectively together.
“He’s quickly becoming my brother, and he’s awesome to work with,” Levinson said. “I think that his energy is a good reminder for me to make sure that I bring my energy every day as well.”
As Zamudio continues his time at Prospect, he is looking forward to becoming more involved in the community and helping the school achieve even more success.
“Everyone was telling the truth — the kids, parents, families and community are fantastic,” Zamudio said. “We have a number of staff that are former graduates, and I think that speaks volumes on how much people love this place … and the past successes speak for themselves. That’s something I want to contribute to in the future.”
By BRECKEN BURNS FEATURES REPORTER
Just one car away from the Jewel Osco pharmacy window, after what felt like hours idling, Kristen Metzler’s phone glowed with a call that would determine her future.
Without any hesitation, she slid out of line and parked in the first empty spot, her mind clouded with doubts from past let downs.
As the news she’d been waiting for tumbled through the receiver, a sigh of relief dulled against her own excitement; she would be Prospect’s new dance coach.
“I felt like I was on top of the world,” Metzler said. “I was shocked, but in a really good way, just because I knew that I was going up against so much talent. I honestly felt like I was fulfilling a dream of mine because I’ve always wanted to be a coach and I couldn’t do it at my last school [Stevenson High School].”
Having grown up in Elk Grove Village, Metzler feels connected to the broader community and feels a sense of familiarity now that she coaches at Prospect.
Although she doesn’t teach any classes at Prospect, Metzler teaches family and consumer sciences at Holmes Junior High in Mount Prospect.
Outside of school, Metzler spends her free time attending jazz and contemporary classes at All That Jazz, a dance studio in Prospect Heights. She enjoys perfecting her skills while continuing to do what she loves throughout adulthood.
Metzler also formerly taught at Cimino Dance Studio in Elk Grove Village, the studio she attended in high school. Metzler grew up strongly bonded to her dance teachers at Cimino, whom she greatly admired.
“Dance teaches you discipline, morals and manners,” Metzler said. “You’re learning life skills besides dance at a dance studio, so it felt very nice being able to give back at a place that gave me so much.”
Former head coach Melanie Monnich spent the majority of her eight year career at Prospect coaching the dance team. Along with
coaching Orchesis and teaching student dance classes at school, Monnich spent what little free time she had dedicating herself to her dancers, hence why her recent decision to step down was not a simple one.
“Truly it had nothing to do with the dancers at all, “ Monnich said. “This is one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made. When I told them, I was crying. It’s still very sad and fresh for me, but, ultimately, I just felt like I was losing myself and not having a life outside of school.”
The dancers were very supportive of Monnich’s decision, but the goodbye was bittersweet. With Metzler stepping in, however, the gap of uncertainty has been filled by encouragement and warmth.
“It is hard to fill shoes like that, but, at the end of the day, you don’t have to fill shoes,” Metzler said. “You have to keep doing what’s best for the team, whether that’s making changes, keeping things the same or having a blend of both. I definitely feel a little pressure to do well, but I also feel confident, comfortable and excited because of how well organized Monnich left it for me.”
Metzler works alongside Elle Weber, the head coach of Poms and assistant coach of the winter dance team. In the short amount of time they’ve spent as partners, Weber has already helped Metzler have a smooth and welcoming transition into the new environment.
“We’re very yin and yang,” Metzler said. “I very much value warmth and openness, and she has that, too, but Weber is [also] very serious and
very stern in a way that I’m still trying to find within myself.”
Metzler and Weber both share a similar outlook for the future of the team. Together, they’ve enforced morning lifts and established more technique drills and conditioning. Additionally, they plan on imposing progress checks throughout the year and establishing goals so that the girls can remain motivated and make noticeable improvements.
“At the beginning of each practice we’ll talk about what we want to get out of this practice,” Metzler said. “I think once you have a set thing in mind you’re able to achieve it. Seeing is believing, so if you know exactly what you’re trying to do,
you’ll be able to reach it.”
Looking ahead, Metzler wants to focus on building relationships as well as elevating their growth and strengthening the team overall. In her eyes, competition creates the most tense yet memorable moments.
“There’s nothing better than sitting in a circle during the awards and hearing that you placed,” Metzler said. “I’m very excited for that spirit and excitement, [and] even the competitiveness because being competitive isn’t always a bad thing. Just having that drive and that hunger to do well is something that I really want to see, and I know that I’ll see [it].”
By LUCAS DELUCA EXECUTIVE A&E EDITOR
Click! Click! Click! Click! One. Two. Three. Four. Five and six. Seven. Eight.
Hushed counting erupted from the field. The staccato of a booming metronome could be heard from blocks away. The meter of the Marching Knights wafted through a neighborhood seeking refuge from the 91-degree heat, but the PMK (Prospect Marching Knights) pressed on through their summer training in George Gattas Memorial Stadium.
“We have this goal we’re working towards and we’re going to do it, even if conditions aren’t ideal,” Director of Bands Chris Barnum said. “That’s part of building that grit as a performer.”
That “grit,” built up through eight-hour band camp rehearsals, helps to prepare the PMK’s newest show for the competition season in the fall. Hot off an award-filled season that culminated in a second-place finish at the Illinois State Marching Band Championships last October, the Knights have returned to the field — both turf and parking lot paint to imitate it — to workshop their next marching show, “The Wolf You Feed.”
And while the heat may have seemed unbearable, the band desires to reach its full potential and become truly great. Those lengthy summer rehears als are what make an award-winning marching band ready to win awards.
“There’s a certain joy in being truly ex cellent at something,” Barnum said.
However, Barnum was quick to note that the Marching Knights do, in fact, follow all of Pros pect’s weather pro tocols for outdoor activities, which state practices must be stopped if the tem perature reaches 100 degrees. There will be no passed-out march ers on his watch, espe cially when they have a symbolic wolf to feed.
MARCHING NIGHTS: The PMK runs through another rep of “The Wolf You Feed” on a late summer evening. As a sort of grand finale for each of their nine-hour camp rehearsals, the Knights perform the show in its entirety to an eager crowd of the band members’ parents. (photo by Lucas DeLuca)
“It’s a very ambitious show,” trumpet section leader Cristian Nava said. “We’re doing a lot of choreo and a lot of playing at the same time very early on … but it’s nothing we can’t handle, because that comes with time, and we’ll work on that.”
The show’s title and theme stem from an old Cherokee folktale about the “wolf you feed,” referring to the symbolic battle in all of us between good and bad forces — or wolves. According to Barnum, the wolf that wins is “the [one] you feed.”
“If you’re focused on [things that are] negative, then that’s what you’re going to put out into the world,” Barnum said. “But if we can focus ourselves on things that are good and light … then that’s what we’re going to put out into the world.”
In terms of music, movement and messages, “The Wolf You Feed” is something entirely new to the PMK. Over the summer alone, the band has spent over 150 hours rehearsing everything. But it’s not so much learning to flawlessly perform Alexandre Desplat’s “Firewall” (which can be both seen and heard in the show’s second movement) as it is learning to do so as a collective band body. Therefore, the members have also been learning to grow even closer among their ranks and have some fun do-
To be a Marching Knight is to work for excellence, but it’s the “balance between [the work] and fun” that really matters to Barnum, a curator of the band’s community.
Barnum works towards “building connections” in the band beyond just performing as one on the football field. He collaborates with the drum majors to implement fun spirit day themes into the band’s rigorous summer regimen, and the Knights take them in stride to form connections between marchers in every section of the band.
“I feel like everyone can feel like everyone’s friend if we’re all dressed similarly,” color guard captain Madeleine Gorby said, donning Western-themed garb on “Hoedown Throw down” Thursday. “It provides a sort of community.”
Sophomore Alarese Gaden, the leader of the new subsection within the drumline called the “cymbal line,” considers the spirit days instrumental (no pun intended) in helping her grow closer to the three freshmen she now performs with. She credits days like “On Wednesdays, We Wear Pink” and “Twin Day” with helping form her friendship with freshman cymbalist Sofi Schenkemeyer, as they both coordinated their themed outfits with each other – like dressing as Batman and Joker on “Movie Monday.”
“I think we’ve definitely gotten closer,” said Gaden, sporting a bright Hawaiian shirt like all her fellow drumline members that day. “[Spirit days] make us feel like one big uniform.”
The PMK has become something more than the plume-topped uniforms they wear in performance; they have become a singular body, just as committed to honing lifelong talent as they are to making lifelong friends.
the members of the drumline, who prevailed over the formidable trumpet section in a narrow final round. For their victory, they got their name inscribed in Sharpie on a trophy (“The most coveted thing in the band,” according to junior tubist Sam Wozniak), along with some free rubber ducks.
“I’m feeling very happy that we won,” junior bass drum player Felix Leuer said immediately after his section’s triumph. “By winning the Basics Bowl, we’re given something to bond over for the rest of the season.”
As for the “rest of the season,” the PMK has a lot to look forward to. After presenting portions of “The Wolf You Feed” at Scrimmage Knight and Prospect’s first home football game on Aug. 29, the band hunkered down for after-school rehearsals in Prospect’s parking lot to finetune the show before their first competition of the fall.
MAJOR MOMENTS: This year, junior Cole Licato (left) joins senior drum majors Bethany Chung and Olivia Tokimoto for his first season as a major. “They definitely treat me as if I’m one of them,” Licato said. “[Costumes are] a great way to bond, and it’s great to know that we can help build more connections [through them].”
(photo by @prospect.band on Instagram)
“You feel like you’re part of a community,” Barnum said. “You want to do right by one, so you’re going to perform your best.”
And to perform their best, the band must start at the beginning when it comes to these summer rehearsals: learning marching technique. As their title may suggest, the Marching Knights pride themselves on their meticulously coordinated marching. However, even Barnum admits that the band’s repetition of the most basic skills can become a bit tedious at times.
The Knights’ first stop this season was Roselle for the Lake Park Lancer Joust, a show they have gone to for “literally decades,” Lake Park alum Barnum excitedly mentioned. This year, the Joust commenced on Sept. 6, and the Knights triumphed with not only a slew of caption awards but as the tournament’s Grand Champions.
On Sept. 27, the band is hosting the Knight of Champions (KOC) on Prospect’s turf. Fifteen high school marching bands will be attending and competing in George Gattas Memorial Stadium, and the PMK will perform “The Wolf You Feed” in exhibition there. KOC tickets (and early access to merch) can be pre-ordered now on prospectband.com.
Years ago, to encourage more connections in the PMK, he and the band staff created the “Basics Bowl”: a marching competition in which each section is pitted against the others to see which one has the best drill technique –or, which one is best at the basics. To enforce section spirit, each team has its own costume theme: all-red outfits (trumpets), banana suits (euphoniums) and even “Angry Birds” cosplays (trombones).
The 2025 winners of the Basics Bowl were
One competition the Knights are buzzing about, though, is the Bands of America (BOA) Super Regional Championship in St. Louis in mid-October. The PMK last traveled to Missouri for this championship in 2022, and make their grand return to BOA with seniors among their ranks who were mere freshmen when the band first went.
“I was so nervous as a little freshman,” Gorby said. “And now I’m still nervous because I have … higher tosses. But it’s cool to go back to the beginning for my very last competition … and [have] that full-circle moment.”
Nava, speaking about his inevitable emotional full-circle moment when the Knights arrive in St. Louis, said, “I think it’s going to heal something inside of me.”
Scrimmage Night, which took place on Aug. 22, showcased all fall sports. Athletes got a chance to display their progress before heading into their seasons.
*Photos by Cora Richer and Alyssa Kowols
SWITCH: Sophomore Bella
and senior
September 12, 2025
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Prospect boys' soccer welcomes new Head Coach Nicholas Feeney
By MEG IMHERR ASSOCIATE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Sitting on the school bus, incoming freshman Mia Marling listened to the music blasting and excited chatter of the girls surrounding her. A vibrant energy filled the space as they rode to their flag football summer league game in July against Libertyville High School.
“If I didn't do the flag football summer camp, I wouldn't have realized how fun it was, just because [during] the summer league games, you get to feel the game atmosphere,” current freshman Marling said.
Marling participated in the flag football summer camp and later decided to try out for the team for the 2025 season. The 2024-25 school year was the first season of girls' flag football at Prospect and Marling decided to join the camp, even without any prior experience in the sport, besides the occasional game of catch with a football with her dad in her backyard.
Though Marling had also thought about joining the girls' cross country team because she had ran during middle school, she talked to friends who had played on the flag football team last year who made her consider joining it instead.
“They made it sound so fun. It sounded like a sport I would love and enjoy playing, and the way they explained the atmosphere, how good the girls are and how supportive they are, it just made me really want to join,” Marling said.
She was among the 78 girls who showed up for the two days of tryouts beginning on Aug. 11, a huge jump from the 44 girls that tried out last year. There are now 75 girls on the team, with 29 on varsity and 46 on junior varsity. According to head coach Michael Bosco, they didn't make any cuts because they wanted to make sure they took every girl that wanted to play.
Bosco mainly attributes the growth in the program to their successes last year. They went 13-5, getting through the first round of the playoffs, eventually losing to Glenbrook South in the regional championship.
32 out of the 78 girls at tryouts were freshmen, and Marling thinks the high freshmen turnout was probably because the girls heard what a fun experience the previous season was and were interested in the opportunity for them to try a new sport.
Flag football itself is also gaining popularity nationwide, which potentially played a role in the increased interest in the team.
According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, from 2019 to 2023 there was a 63% increase in the number of girls ages 6-17 that played flag football. Flag football will also be an Olympic sport for men and women for the first time ever at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
experience that they deserve,” Bosco said.
The current program staff includes Bosco, Seth Hettel, Michelle Tantillo, Jack Kociuba, Anthony Laudando and Brian Novak. Hettel is the varsity coach and offensive coordinator, Tantillo is varsity special teams coordinator and JV coach. Kociuba is a student teacher at Prospect and a JV coach. Laudando is an out-of-building volunteer for the program. A few weeks into the season they also hired Novak, who is an Instructional Aide, to coach because of the large number of players this year.
According to Bo sco, many schools in
43.6% of students say they would attend a flag football game in the future
*According to a KnightMedia survey of 335 students.
Such large numbers for a sport that has only seven girls from each team playing on the field at once can pose challenges for the coaches, especially when making sure everyone gets practice time. With the 46 girls on junior varsity, one way they give them more playing time is by splitting them into two groups, with each group being split into an offense and defense. This allows for 28 girls to be on the field at one time, with subs being switched in and out.
“My JV staff has been so flexible and willing to kind of figure this out on the fly … but also just making sure that the JV girls are having the
growth on their teams as well, so he has been able to set up some JV2 games for the season. He also thinks that within a year or two there could be 120 girls in the program. Bosco also mentions that it is likely that most schools will have an official JV2 lev el next year, which will make things a lot easier, especially if the growth continues.
“Winning is great, but at [the] JV [level], the girls developing their skills in preparation for varsity and having a great experience is the number one priority,” Bosco said.
This year there are five fresh men who made varsity: Tess Bren nan, Olivia George, Mia Marling, Annie Palm and Kaia Doyle. Marling and Bosco believe because they par ticipated in the summer camps, they got time to practice and adjust to playing a new sport.
“When it comes down to evalu ating, you only have two days of try outs, so having those girls have six
weeks of reps definitely helped. That was huge in terms of development,” Bosco said.
Bosco placed them on varsity because they stood out athletically among their peers and they made big gains in the weight room over the summer. He uses a full picture evaluation that includes their throwing, catching and agility work while also considering their data from strength and speed testing.
“I was really excited to make varsity because I’m an underclassman. It’s kind of a big accomplishment for me … I was excited
Not only is Marling now adjusting to being a freshman on a varsity sport, she also has to balance that with the changes of being a freshman in high school. She shares that her way of maintaining balance is by prioritizing flag football when she is at practice and using her study halls to her advantage in order to stay on top of her work. Despite these large adjustments, Marling says that she loves being on the team because of its culture and positive energy.
According to Bosco, the program is not only expanding in numbers, but also in culture.
“That feel of tradition, it’s ball. I think the girls are starting to find their place in that as well, which I
By HENRY BUELOW EXECUTIVE SPORTS EDITOR
Waking up at 6:00a.m. in the morning isn’t necessarily anyone’s ideal summer plans, but for Boys' cross country, that’s just what’s needed to start off the year strong.
In previous years of the boys’ cross country summer camp, the boys would take a trip to the Lerado Taft field, one of Northern Illinois University’s campuses. In early 2025, Taft shut down, leaving the boys out of a place to visit.
The team eventually made arrangements with Wisconsin White Water, being able to visit their campus and train as a group. In this new campus, ran for miles on end — sometimes multiple practices a day — and did it all together. Even though Taft was made to be quite the tradition, senior Collin Ryan deemed White Water to be a worthy replacement.
“We were pleasantly surprised … [it] was a lot of fun, it was good to be on a college campus with all the guys, good for us to all be together,” Ryan said.
Boys’ cross country last year qualified for state for the fourth year in a row, ending up placing 10 in the state. Three boys landed in the top 100 in the varsity three mile run, with Ryan placing 69 in the state. With the boys now returning to make it again this year, the team has their bar set high.
The team follows a strict motto: “Team, Teammate, Self,” making sure that their first order of priority is each other. Head Coach
Jay Renaud focuses on cross country being a team sport instead of an individual one. Being able to build team unity in a sport that displays individual success so often can help the boys push and encourage one another to run at their highest.
Outside of practice, the boys have played softball, kickball ping pong, bowling and had picnics as a team. Bonding together allows the team to grow as a group, something that can be accelerated through practice and hard work.
“The team's been working really hard and I want to reflect that in my performance,” Ryan said. “I want to put up some good times and be someone for the younger classmen to look up to.”
Starting at 7:30 every morning during the summer, the boys’ cross country camp ran for two hours, focusing on building up for the start of the school season. Doing this allows for the boys to enter the season at their peak form, not wasting any time trying to get back to where they were last year. But with every sport, being able to show up every day is half the battle.
"We've really hammered down on commitment, we have amazing attendance and all of our younger runners were there every day throughout the whole summer,” Ryan said. “We’ve really been nailing down the discipline part of the practice.”
Another piece that the team has started to
focus on is their running strategy, switching their focus from “miles to minutes.” This was done to allow individual runners to focus more on what they specifically need to work on, as each runner competes at a different level.
Even though each runner has specific needs they need to tend to, Renaud highly encourages each of the boys to take care of themselves both at practice, and at home. Renaud’s first focus is on sleep, suggesting eight to nine hours in bed every night, with a healthy, clean diet being second on his list. Burning hundreds of calories each run, the runners make sure to eat all the time, whether before, during or after running.
"Those are things that build the total athlete and make you feel better as a person,” Renaud said. “They make you feel energized while you're at school, more alert at school; so it’s not just for running, it's for life.”
With everything coming together for the start of the season, the team’s main focus is on the Saturday invitationals. While their Tuesday meets are competitive, the invites are where they best perform. These invites are direct examples of how a typical state meet would go, something that everyone on the team is pushing towards. The state meet is the final lap off the season and getting there is a goal that everyone has.
“We tell the kids you don’t have to do this, you get to do it,” Renaud said. “Those Saturday morning invites — you get to the meet, maybe it's fall, crisp air, you're out there on the grass — there’s nothing better.”
