Issue 5 24-25

P ROSPECTOR THE

New orders impact schools

President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on immigration, transgender rights

AMANDA FEINBERG Editor-in-Chief

Sitting in a circle with his entire team at cheer practice, then 12-year-old Jude

Chris Ayala was dared to play the game kiss or slap, where someone either gets a kiss or a slap. Ayala felt uncomfortable playing the game, so he politely refused, which led to his teammates asking him if he was gay. When he responded that he was bisexual, he amassed confused and judgemental looks from his teammates who he once considered some of his closest friends.

“It was such an issue to feel so ostracized in a community where everyone is bonded over the fact that it’s a girls’ team, and I felt like either way I was going to feel ostracized [because of my identity],” said Ayala, now a senior.

Ayala identifes as non-binary and trans-masculine, which means he doesn’t consider himself female or male, but he presents as more mascu line and uses he/they pronouns. Since Ayala was involved in cheerleading for four years and gymnastics for eight, Pres ident Donald Trump’s new executive order in regards to transgender ath letes is especially personal for him.

On Feb. 5, the Trump Adminis tration signed an executive order ti tled “Keeping Men Out Of Women’s Sports,” which efectively bars peo ple assigned male at birth from com peting in women’s sports, regardless of their current gender identity. The administration has promised to “re scind all funds from educational pro grams that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities,” and that “It shall be the policy of the United States to oppose male com petitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dig nity, and truth,” according to The White House’s website.

The government plans to de fund any elementary, second ary and post-secondary ed ucation facility that does not follow the new guidelines regarding transgender athletes. According to Athletic Director Scott McDermott, Prospect is following the Illinois High School Asso ciation (IHSA) guidelines, which involve transgender students gaining “approval” from the IHSA to participate in their sport. The student and/or parents must contact the IHSA regarding a different gender identity than is listed on the student’s school registration or birth certifcate.

Afterward, the IHSA will take into account the gender identity used for school registration records, medical documentation — such as hormonal treatments, sexual reassignment surgery, counseling and more — and gender identity-related advantages for approved participation, according to the IHSA.

After this information is collected, the school must contact the IHSA and request a ruling, providing to the IHSA the student’s gender identity and the selected athletics/activities that the student wishes to participate in. If approved, the student does not have to renew the registration each year unless there is a change in their medical history.

In response to the “Keeping Men Out Of Women’s Sports” executive order, the IHSA ofered an ofcial statement from Assistant Executive Director Matt Troha. “The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) developed its Transgender Policy in 2011 and has continued to adapt its Policy based on guidance from medical experts, as well as state law. We will continue to monitor any state legislation or federal guidance that impacts our policy here in Illinois and work with our Board of Directors to make sure that the IHSA and our member high schools remain in compliance with state and federal law. We will await further guidance from government representatives as this fuid situation unfolds at the state and national level.”

As a former athlete, Ayala can see diferent perspectives on the issue. However, as he was entering high school, he decided to quit both cheerleading and gym-

“Through COVID is when I started to come to terms with my gender identity,” Ayala said. “That was really hard for me to come to terms with because I had denied it for so long, and for so long in my childhood I had made myself into this hyper-feminine person almost to counteract the feelings I had.”

Although the question of gender identity has amassed political attention, Ayala believes that this issue is more complex than the black and white portrayal by the media.

“This goes beyond politics in a lot of ways,” Ayala said. “This is healthcare and this is human rights, and that’s where I have a big issue. Not only is [this order] impeding on healthcare, but these are things that keep people alive.”

According to the Trevor Project, LGBTQ+ teens are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide as their peers, and at least one teen attempts suicide every 45 seconds. LGBTQ+ individuals are not inherently more prone to suicide because of their sexual orientation, but because of the social stigma and prejudice they face.

Ayala’s advice for the LGBTQ+ community during this time of uncertainty is to speak up and speak out. While he understands the fear associated with speaking up, he believes that now, more than ever, it is important to not let marginalized voices be dulled.

“Do not let yourself be invisible,” Ayala said. “Don’t be quiet. Speak out as loud as you can. Scream at the top of your lungs. If someone says something and they’re being homophobic, don’t take it.”

A second executive order was signed on Jan.

grants within places that were once deemed “safe zones,” such as schools, hospitals and places of worship, amongst others.

Roughly 3.2 million public school students are from families of illegal immigrants, according to the Center for Immigration Studies. However, District 214 (D214) Superintendent Scott Rowe says that the district does not inquire or collect the citizenship status of their students, nor is it important to their mission as educators.

“Every student who comes to our school … deserves to be educated,” Rowe said. “They deserve to be loved and cared for as if they were our own, and that’s how we’re going to keep doing business.”

When news of the new ICE order broke, Ayala felt a deep personal connection to the issue. Ayala’s grandfather legally immigrated to the United States from Cuba in 1954 after he was imprisoned for holding a sign in protest of Fidel Castro. His grandfather still recalls the generational trauma experienced from the immigration and racial profling due to his thick Cuban accent.

“When my dad was growing up in the 70s, they dealt with a lot of discrimination even though they were [passing as] white,” Ayala said. “[Bay of Pigs … go back home] — [a racist saying] that is meant [to discriminate] towards Cubans — [was] spray painted on my dad’s childhood home’s garage, and he had to scrub it of with his brothers.”

Not only fearful for his family, Ayala has many other Hispanic friends who feel impacted by the executive order. He recognizes that because he passes as white, he is not subject to the same prejudice that some of his other friends may be.

DIVISION: The Trump Administration has signed numerous executive orders since the inauguration, two of which concern Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and transgender rights within sports. “This is, in my opinion, kind of a national emergency,” said senior Jude Chris Ayala, who identifes as non-binary and whose grandpa immigrated to America from Cuba in 1954. (art by Siena Mirandola)

operation snowball hosts their annual prospect retreat (Page 3)

“I recognize my privilege to such an extent, and I put myself in front of my friends who are Hispanic,” Ayala said. “It’s a sort of solidarity

In response to concerns over the educational Rowe has reminded students of the 1982 United States Supreme Court Case Plyler v. Doe, which ruled that “illegal aliens and their children, though not citizens of the United States … are people ‘in any ordinary sense of the term’ and, therefore, are aforded Fourteenth Amendment protections,” according to Oyez. These Fourteenth Amendment protections include the right to a free public education.

However, if ICE agents were to show up at a D214 school, Rowe has outlined the procedure that would be followed. First, the agent would be greeted at an entrance where they would have to provide a signed judicial warrant before entering any non-public space, such as classrooms and ofces. Because schools and students are protected from unreasonable search and seizure, the warrant would have to outline the places to be searched.

SEE ‘RESPONSE’ ON PG. 2

girls’ basketball wins regionals for the first time in 10 years (Page 12) Sports honoring prospect alumna meghan geraghty’s legacy (Page 8) features IN-DEPTH celebrating women in history month through sports and STEM (Pages 6-7)

RESPONSE: administration informs staff, community

CONTINUED FROM PG. 1

If the warrant is valid, the ICE ofcer is allowed to enter the areas outlined in the warrant. With any potential ICE interaction, D214 staf is encouraged to contact the Director of Safety and Security, Scott Moreth, for further guidance.

Moreth will contact legal counsel to ensure ICE’s compliance with the law, including the Illinois Student Records Act (ISRA), the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and D214 policies, according to Scott Rowe.

In addition to the communication sent to staf, Rowe also sent out an email to D214 families, which included statements on the right to a public education, privacy protections and the need for a valid warrant.

dle a potential ICE interaction. Rowe believes that the student-teacher relationships will help ease some tension within this situation, citing the trusted adult survey taken by all D214 students at the beginning of the school year. The survey asked students to identify one adult in the building that they would feel comfortable visiting in times of distress.

“We push all of our teachers and counselors to be a safe space and a listening ear, and we rely heavily on relationships,” Rowe said. “We’ve leveraged the power of our relationships, and that’s what sets D214 apart: the genuine care that the adults in the district have for students.”

THAT’S WHAT SETS D214 APART: THE GENUINE CARE THAT THE ADULTS IN THE DISTRICT HAVE FOR STUDENTS.”

- Scott Rowe, D214 Superintendent

The email also included links to various websites for additional information and support, such as immigration lawyers and resources for undocumented students applying to college.

Although Ayala recognizes that the order may impact few D214 students, he feels grateful that Rowe has sent out ofcial communications to staf and families regarding the issue.

“This is, in my opinion, kind of a national emergency,” Ayala said. “The fact that many conservative-leaning states are not treating it as such is not only terrifying, but it is more so upsetting because I feel such a need to educate, tell people what’s going on and explain my side of things and why it matters.”

Having been instructed on the protocol for ICE ofcers, D214 schools are equipped to han-

While Rowe acknowledges that politics impact schools, this individualized support is a way to navigate through uncertainty. Each presidential administration brings a new set of issues that they plan to address, and Rowe does not want to get caught up in ones that don’t have any legal standing.

“As a school district, if we jump too quickly at the furry of executive orders — many of them that don’t have a legal basis yet — we’ve lost our focus that we’re here to teach and educate,” Rowe said. “A lot of work goes on in the background, and a lot of that I take on. [I] work with our attorneys to vet out how this impacts us.”

Rowe’s philosophy also incorporates the importance of thoughtful decision-making to evaluate what requires immediate action.

“We have to just be prudent in our actions and go slow and steady in how we respond to everything to vet out what really impacts us and what we must act on immediately versus what we have to wait and see,” Rowe said.

Teachers recognized for contributions

LUCY NEUMANN Staff Writer

As a national Blue Ribbon school, Prospect prides itself on the outstanding work the students have done, both for the community and for their peers. From National Merit winners to state champions, there is one common theme: the adviser, teacher or coach who stands behind the student knows they were there to help their student reach their success.

Two teachers at Prospect were recently recognized for their contributions and passion for their work. A College Speech and acting instructor, the fne arts coordinator at Prospect and for District 214, a speech team mentor and one of the musical directors, Jeremy Morton, was recognized for his astonishing commitment over the past 24 years. He was awarded the Illinois State Board of Education Those Who Excel award, at the excellence level.

Morton was unaware he was nominated for this award at frst as he was surprised that his coworker, Chris Barnum, decided to send in an application for Morton.

“That was very nice of him,” Morton said. “I feel very appreciated and supported by those who I work with, those who nominated me and those who also flled out a letter of recommendation for me.”

As a celebration of this accomplishment, Associate Principal for Activities and Operations Frank Mirandola and Athletic Director Scott McDermott surprised Morton with the loud noises of crashing cymbals and tambourine jingle that flled the choir room during the frst rehearsal of their upcoming musical, Disaster.

Additionally, many other fne arts teachers and Morton’s co-workers brought in cookies and a bouquet of balloons and cheered “Congratulations!”

rear view mirror. It was a pretty nice moment.”

On the other half of the spectrum, Mark Welter, a physics teacher at Prospect for the past 28 years, was elected for the PhysTech Teacher Award locally. The Physics Teacher Education Coalition, better known as PhysTech, is a national organization involved with the top physics organizations such as the American Physical Society and the American Association of Physics Teachers. Only being one of two teachers to achieve this award in the state, Welter is extremely proud of his work.

“It does feel rewarding to be recognized for this hard work, and also I feel like I am continuing the work that my mentor did,” Welter said. Welter describes the journey as an extremely long nomination process starting in the summer of 2024. His application for this award — that is given to a teacher who helps other teachers — was eventually viewed by the judges, met the criteria and won.

Welter owes this award to Jason Anglian, a division head at New Trier who voted for Welter. He recognized not only Welter’s teaching skills during school, but also his work outside of the classroom in the Physics Northwest Organization.

This mindset extends beyond the executive orders to his relationship with students. He refects on the importance of students seeing him as more than a fgurehead of the district, but as someone who is invested in the experience of each student.

“[I want students] to see me as a person and not just a title that sits over at the district ofce and [know] that I genuinely care about all of you,” Rowe said. “I want you to have the very best experience you can in our schools. We’re doing everything that we can to flter out the noise and focus on developing students and enriching your experience.”

“I think it was pretty cool that when they heard that I was being recognized for something they were really supportive. It was really beautiful,” Morton said.

Morton will be able to accept his award during a ceremony in May. He was extremely thankful for this award as it allowed him time to refect on his career thus far, but he is going to continue to make his classes and programs as prestigious and safe as possible.

“When I had to write about everything that I have done … it was a moment for me to settle and say ‘Holy cow, I have done a lot,’” Morton said. “It was a pretty cool moment for me to breathe and refect because I feel like I have been doing this for so long. I just keep focusing forward and never stopping and looking in the

“I always enjoy teaching. This award motivates me to make sure that Physics Northwest keeps going,” Welter said. To keep seeking the younger teachers and to get them to come to meetings and participate because it is important since I will eventually retire … and that’s my motivation to make sure I can pass it along.” Welter has been the President of the Physics Northwest Organization for the past 12 years. This organization brings physics teachers together to show demonstrations during meetings that take place six times a year. His leadership is shown through everything he does, but he doesn’t take credit for his teaching skills without reminding himself of his frst ever mentor, Bruce Illingworth.

“Working with Bruce Illingworth when I started, he was really involved with both the students, making sure they knew what they were learning physics, but also helping other teachers do the same thing. He was very generous with his knowledge,” Welter said. “Only later do I realize how lucky I was.”

MARK WELTER

Jeremy Morton

OSB program builds community

Retreat provides leadership roles, impacts student perspectives

MEG IMHERR

Executive In-Depth Editor

When Junior Juliana Zaremba frst walked into Prospect for a 15 hour retreat called Operation Snowball (OSB) on March 1, she never imagined the emotional roller coaster that the day would end up being for her. Sitting in the theater at Prospect while listening to speaker Michelle Tantillo share her life story, Zaremba broke down in tears.

“[Her story] touched my heart so much, and it made me realize a lot about what I need to think about, and what kind of person I want to be,” Zaremba said. “I feel like the overall [main] aspect of OSB is to show what kind of person you want to be and how you are going to get to that from who you are right now.”

OSB is a club and event at Prospect that is intended to strengthen the school community and help students learn more about each other’s unique experiences. Initially, the program began as a drug and alcohol prevention program in 1977, and although that is not its purpose at Prospect, it is a positive side efect.

OSB is international and has chapters in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, New York, Lithuania, Poland and Belarus. The program’s main event is a 15hour long school retreat where students are placed in small groups called “families” for the day with two leaders and around six other peers. Throughout the day, they participate in large group activities, have small group discussions and listen to guest speakers. This year’s guest speakers were science teacher Michelle Tantillo, math teacher Mike Riedy and M&P Presentations. According to mmpresentations.com, M&P Presentations is a presentation company designed to promote positivity and cultivate confdence in their audiences. OSB was introduced to Prospect for the frst time last school year when counselor and OSB

sponsor Timothy Franklin proposed the club to a couple of administrators. He had heard a lot of positive things about it during his previous experience as an intern in District 211 and wanted to bring the program to Prospect.

“It was during a time when we were just trying to fgure out something that would help our students to become a little bit more in tune with diferences and understanding other people a little bit better,” Franklin said.

According to Franklin, since it was brand new at Prospect last year, they had difculty getting students to sign up. Despite this, this year’s retreat has almost double the amount of participants compared to last year. According to Franklin, this is because OSB truly has a “snowball efect,” and the positive experiences of participants can help spread the word and boost up the program.

Zaremba joined OSB as a result of this “snowball efect” when other students spread the word to her.

“I decided to sign up because there [were] a lot of people I knew who were leaders, and some of my close friends were convincing me and encouraging me to do it,” Zaremba said.

According to Franklin, the intention of OSB is to embark on a journey of self-discovery and to learn about and bond with your peers in ways that you typically wouldn’t be able to at school or in an outside sport.

“The goal is defnitely to [help] people who don’t have a community at Prospect or don’t really have a space where they feel like they ft,” OSB director senior Paige Hall said. “It’s to give them that community and that safe space and friends, new people to connect with so that they can feel like they belong.”

Zaremba shares Hall’s belief that OSB can make participants feel more comfortable within their community and around their peers.

“I think that a lot of people went in there being insecure about a lot of things … and I think they left knowing that a lot of people think so well of them and [that] you’re the person who is the toughest on yourself,” Zaremba said.

DIRECTORS: Senior directors Amy Xu and Paige Hall, who ran OSB this year, present on the day of the retreat. (photo by Claire Wynkoop)

Franklin recalled how last year he opened up his email the day after the retreat and it had been fooded with messages from parents thanking him for hosting the event.

“I remember one parent just expressing how grateful she was for the opportunity that her student got to be involved in something that they felt really good about,” Franklin said. “It really

touched me in a big way. I’m getting chills just talking about it now.”

According to Zaremba, the experience opened up a whole new perspective for her as she learned things about her peers that she never would have expected.

“It actually touched my heart so severely,” Zaremba said. “There were parts where I was crying a lot, and there were times where I was laughing with people I never thought I would be able to talk to because they just didn’t seem like they would be my friends, but they were honestly such great people to talk to.”

This impact is all because of the student leaders and directors who work all year to prepare for the retreat. There are 30 student leaders and two student directors who apply in March and April. According to Franklin, the only re quirements to apply to be a leader are to be an upperclassman and to be excited about OSB.

was more organized and ran smoother.

Senior Amy Xu and Hall are co-directors, and their job involves more planning and decision-making, along with having meetings with adult leaders.

According to Franklin, all leaders and directors met every other week during the frst semester, and the directors lead icebreaker activities; now in the second semester, Franklin steps in to help train them for what they will be doing at the retreat. The group focuses a lot on bonding and community building through events hosted by leaders outside of school, such as brunches and gift exchanges.

68.6% of students know what Operation snowball is

*acording to a

KnightMedia survey of 239 students

“One of the things that’s key for selecting our leaders is getting [full] representation [from] all diferent types of student experiences and diferent types of students from across the building,” Franklin said. “We don’t necessarily want to just identify a certain type of group of students, so we have students who are involved with everything.”

There is a separate application process to be a director that includes interviews with the previous directors. Hall was a leader last year and decided to apply to be a director because she had a vision that built of of the foundation from last year to take OSB to an even better place so that it

REFELECTION: In their small groups, snowball participants and facilitators share about themselves and their life experiences. (photo by Claire Wynkoop)

“It’s given me a home here,” Hall said. “Snowball is a place [where] everyone’s coming together, and no matter what, you just always have these people [for support].”

After going through the retreat experience Zaremba wants to be a leader next year. Part of this is especially because she wants to help convince more people to join.

“I think everybody should defnitely go if there is a spot open to go. You should go even if you know you’re not going to be in a group with your friend,” Zaremba said.

Both Franklin and Hall hope to see OSB fourish and grow in the future to where the whole student body is more aware of the program and everyone is racing to sign up for it. They both said that it can really be an impactful experience, so reaching more lives each year is the goal.

Franklin also has a goal of doing a combined OSB retreat with Elk Grove and Wheeling every four to fve years since they are the other District 214 schools who have OSB.

“I just really hope that people love it and continue to come back and continue to want to be leaders, because it really is one of the best things that I’ve done here at Prospect,” Hall said.

WELCOME: Students enter Prospect for Operation Snowball at 7:30 a.m. and are greeted by leaders and friends cheering them on. (photo by Claire Wynkoop)

PERFORMANCE: Each small group, ran by two leaders and one staff member, sports their unique introductions. (photo by Claire Wynkoop)

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

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Amanda Feinberg

MANAGING EDITORS

Ben Mitchell, Stella Palm, Tessa Trylovich

ASSOCIATE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Peter Radosh

COPY EDITORS

Xander Adkins, Jocelyn Farina, Sage Gilliland

ONLINE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Claire Wynkoop

ASSOCIATE ONLINE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Alyssa Kowols

KNIGHT TV EXEC PRODUCER

Kenny Munao

KNIGHTVOICES EXEC PRODUCER

Amelia Maslowski

KNIGHT TV LIVE EXEC PRODUCER

Ben Mitchell

PROSPECTOR EDITORS

Sienna Demonte, Sarah George, Meg Imherr, Alice Kelsey, Leanna Kewarkis, Matthew Pulver, Sydney Strimling

KNIGHT TV DIRECTORS

Johnny Klasen, Ryan Podgorny, Konstanty Romanowski

SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTORS

Kaden Chung, Abby Damasky

REPORTERS

Loren Bell, Lucas DeLuca, Gina Laslau, Kaia Mavradas, Dylan Maye, Molly Mundt, Jane Nash, Lucy Neumann, Luke Robinson, Kainaat Siddiqui

ADVISER Jason Block

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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Reining in research paper

Staff Editorial

“How do you eat an elephant?” It’s the question AP English Language and Composition (AP Lang) teacher Matt Love poses before his class each February as they begin the three-monthlong process of writing their research papers. No, his question isn’t an attempt at proposing an unconventional topic to his students. Instead, it’s how he settles any initial student qualms about the size of the assignment at hand.

“An elephant’s huge, so how do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time,” Love said. “So I tell them from the beginning, ‘Yes, this is a big project, but we are going to break it up into diferent stages. Each stage is going to have manageable tasks that I’m going to help you do, and I’m going to look to see how well you did it. … So if it seems to go of the rails, I’ll spot that, so you don’t have to worry about it.’”

In AP Lang, students frst choose a topic and submit their research proposal, a question-and-answer document about their chosen subject. They then complete multiple double-entry journals (DEJs), where they fnd evidence and refect on how the evidence supports their argument. DEJs, though tedious and lengthy, are the one step of the process that can be seen across all forms of junior year research.

This semester, 244 juniors spread across nine classes will be tasked with completing the AP Lang problem-solution research paper. An additional 281 enrolled in other courses will also be conducting some form of research, whether through the shorter literature-based AP English Literature (AP Lit) paper or the American Literature and Composition (ALC) research slideshow.

Although each of these assignments is diferent — regarding time frame, what students are researching and how students are graded — what they have in common is the research process that leads up to the fnished product.

Points are assigned to each step and deadline of the research process, and in AP Lang specifcally, Love emphasizes not just teaching research but also the process of approaching a long-term assignment.

“If we just said, ‘Hey, write an eight to 10-page paper on a topic of your choice with eight to 10 sources,’ most students just wouldn’t know what to do,” Love said. “The whole trick is to help them go through it little by little by little, [and] to help them think through the information along the way.”

English and Fine Arts Division Head Debra Laskonis highlights their importance, as DEJs help students expand on prior skills learned in freshman, sophomore and the frst semester of junior year.

More specifically, DEJs further develop students’ abilities to collect and analyze evidence to support an argument.

“So the idea is that you’re taking a piece of information but also analyzing why you’re choosing that piece of information as you collect it,” Laskonis said. “So the hope is that it makes the synthesis process, or the end product, easier, because you’re synthesizing and reasoning while you pull the evidence.”

Once the DEJs are complete, the actual writing begins, and students create a mini-outline, outline and multiple drafts of their paper. After each step of the research process, students submit their work to their instructor.

“We want to identify any potential problems really long before we get to that fnal draft,” Love said. “It doesn’t help a kid if I don’t really assist them in doing this and then I give them all kinds of constructive criticism on their fnal draft.”

actually able to space out their time across all three months, it shouldn’t be too bad. But I think with the stress of other junior year activities, people leave some of their work to the last minute, and that’s when it feels like a lot of work.”

Though he felt slightly rushed at the end, Zhang still recognizes that his research process went relatively smoothly. One reason he points to is that he chose a topic he was interested in: pharmaceutical drug prices in the United States. Selecting an issue you’re interested in is the frst piece of advice any junior year teacher will give if asked how to succeed when doing research. However, topic choice can be a double-edged sword. Zhang’s AP Lang tablemate, senior Luka Depalov, found his topic, school shootings in the United States, far more complicated than he initially expected, even though he was passionate about researching it. The broad nature and lack of readily available reliable sources compromised Depalov’s research.

“A lot of the time, I felt like I was choosing quantity over quality,” Depalov said. “I was using some of them heavily, some of them not at all, and just [in general] fnding sources was hard.”

Love has noted that there have been hiccups with topic choice in the past, such as students choosing problems whose solution’s scope is beyond what can be done in a 10-page paper or choosing generic topics plucked of the internet. So, when evaluating successes from last year and designing the curriculum for this year, AP Lang teachers added a requirement for student-teacher conversations about students’ personal connection and motivation to write about their topic.

“Either directly or indirectly, the issue that [students choose] has to affect either them personally or somebody that they know, and we can stretch that so that it might be extended family, [or] it might be people they’re aware of,” Love said. “We wanted to give them a little more skin in the game and encourage them to think not just about random headlines but things that hit a little closer to home.

25 0 Against Voting results of the KnightMedia staff in regards to this editorial. For

For senior Daniel Zhang, who was in Love’s class, keeping up with deadlines meant he never felt too overwhelmed. However, he still admits that he could have spaced out his work better throughout the process.

“I think me and a lot of people probably crammed a bit at the end, especially,” Zhang said. “If you’re one of the few people who are

BRAINSTORM: A storm of potential research paper topics rises from the ground. This year, AP English Language and Composition teachers have added a requirement for students to have some form of personal connection to their chosen topic. (art by Andrealou Lagueras)

We, KnightMedia, believe that junior year research projects, though not a graduation requirement, are an invaluable part of a student’s academic growth and that the decision to include the personal connection is a benefcial change refective of the teacher’s commitment to a hands-on approach for helping students throughout the process. Rather than approaching the assignment with hesitation or minimal efort, we believe students should try their best to follow each step carefully and reach out to teachers when needed.

Alongside writing, crafting a successful junior year research project requires source gathering and evidence analysis — skills necessary in post-secondary education. Beyond academic skills, students learn how to efectively organize a long-term project, an ability essential for ideal career outcomes. Junior year research is a chance for students frst to experience an extended, nuanced assignment. Although the process and project may seem excessive, especially for juniors with many commitments, it’s still for the best in the long run. In a KnightMedia survey of 70 seniors, regardless of grade or project, 61.4% felt that the process was benefcial overall. Completing one’s junior year research is an important milestone, and the process is an opportunity for students to use their foundation from past classes and apply it to real-world scenarios.

Laskonis oversees the curriculums of all English classes and sees how teachers implement the abilities needed to conduct research throughout each grade level. She emphasizes that students follow the process when approaching academic growth.

“If you think of the brain kind of like a muscle, you have to stretch it and strain it in order to grow it,” Laskonis said. “School isn’t just about getting it done for the grade; it’s the process of learning to think and think better.” Zhang, too, agrees that the research paper is a worthwhile endeavor.

“It was defnitely a lot of work,” Zhang said. “But, I think these are good skills to have in the future, just knowing that you can dive into a topic and really fgure out where you stand on it.”

Picking pages, boosting literacy

When my seventh grade class was assigned to read “The Hunger Games,” the book quickly became more than a class requirement to me. Katniss’ self-sacrifce hooked me immediately. I couldn’t put it down and quickly got ahead of our reading requirements. Later on, in eighth grade, I was completely captivated by another class read, “The Diary of Anne Frank,” as the narrator captivated me with her thoughts and perspectives on the horrors engulfng her world.

As a result, I became hooked on historical novels, immersing myself with diferent perspectives on global issues and making connections to the world as it is today.

I was reading purely for fun, but then something weird and unexpected happened, a bonus that I didn’t see coming: it came time to start standardized testing. I noticed that the reading and writing sections weren’t as difcult as I expected them to be as a result of my independent reading.

JOCELYN FARINA Copy Editor

Now, watching incoming freshmen and my middle school cousin, I realize they aren’t as invested in reading as I was. While I can understand that reading isn’t for everyone, the 2024 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) results show this issue goes beyond preference.

According to the 2024 NAEP report, 40% of fourth graders and 33% of eighth graders scored below the basic reading level, meaning they struggled with fundamental skills like identifying main ideas and sequencing events. The NAEP also found a link between reading for fun and literacy: 51% of 13-year-olds that scored at or above the basic reading level reported reading independently at least once a week, while only 28% of that age group that was below the basic reading level did the same.

A KnightMedia survey of 229 students found 56.8% read outside of class, while 43.2% didn’t. Furthermore, 58.1% of respondents said that they don’t enjoy the books they read in their English classes, which is a problem given that most English classes revolve around reading.

Head school librarian Christie Sylvester said the idea of students disliking assigned books isn’t anything new, but pointed out that compared

SCREENAGER: Too often students are blinded by screens and social media and are unable to fully enjoy books, which is causing new trends in reading defcits. (art by Andrealou Lagueras)

to elementary school and middle school, high school students are typically more occupied with responsibilities.

“Students can be distracted with [their] iPads, phones [and] gaming, but students also belong to a lot of diferent sports, after school activities [and] jobs,” Sylvester said. “[So] there’s a lot [that] competes [for time] in terms of reading.”

To make this situation worse, social media apps like TikTok are completely ruining the attention span of students. Middle school teacher Kerry Prosen has taught at Lincoln for 24 years, eight of which were spent in the Special Education Department and the other 16 with sixth, seventh and eighth grade English classes.

Students

*Name has been changed for confdentiality

High school can be scary, especially on the frst day. The nerves of being in a new building, with new classes and new people can defnitely add up.

For *William Johnson, who sufers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the frst day of high school meant leaving the comfort and safety of his middle school counselor and fnding a new support system at Prospect, a place where he didn’t know anyone.

“Talking about having PTSD … that was something that was so hard for me to open up to adults about,” Johnson said.

“[Students’] attention spans are not what they used to be, so to sit [in class] and not be on your electronics [is] hard for kids right now,” Prosen said. “They’re so used to that instant gratifcation of doing things and having information given to them right away. They lack perseverance, they just can’t stick with things long enough.”

Outside of having the stamina to read, senior Evelyn Tomlin also feels that once you enter high school, there’s less encouragement to read books of your choosing.

Tomlin reads about four to fve books a month, which places her ahead of the average American who only reads, disturbingly, one book a month, according to Above and Beyond Therapy.

“When teachers tell me, ‘Oh, you have to read this book for class,’ I’m not as motivated to read the book because it’s not something that I naturally would have picked up on my own,” Tomlin said. “I’m being forced to read it.”

Tomlin, like most students, enjoyed class readings that were in the genres she liked. For example, I liked reading books such as “Night” during my sophomore year because of my well-established love of historical literature. On the fip side, I hated reading “Macbeth” because of its elongated build up — plus the style of Shakespeare has never been my thing.

As Sylvester and Tomlin stated, things were diferent in elementary and middle school. When I was in middle school, class readings were not always feared. In fact, I was generally eager to read class novels because my whole grade never hinged on them and there was sometimes a choice of books.

But I do agree with Tomlin; the actual freedom to read from a selection of books has declined as we have entered high school.

“There’s no more, ‘Read 20 minutes of a book of your choosing every night,’” Tomlin said. “It’s either, ‘Read this book that’s your homework … or do this for a writing assignment.”

To combat this issue, Prosen’s big policy for making reading enjoyable is to give the students a choice.

Every quarter she gives them a genre that they get to choose from. She will then have the students do class and group discussions alongside projects to help them fully comprehend the themes that connect all of their books and make up the specifc genre.

Prosen says this is what can make the transition from elementary to middle school reading smoother for students without damaging the reputation of books.

“[In elementary school] it’s reading for fun because you’re doing it in class and the stories are silly and that goes along with the mentality of an elementary school kid, whereas in middle school it’s more independent,” Prosen said. “You’re reading to learn, so you think about the science textbook and the social studies textbook. You read [those] to learn.”

I recall one time freshman year where I saw actual excitement for reading — outside of independent reading books, which most people didn’t even complete. We had a unit where we could choose from a pool of books to read.

It’s the only time I saw several of my peers express a desire to willingly read a book for class since starting high school.

But why stop at just once a year? Allowing more choice would engage students like Tomlin — and me — leading to livelier class discussions. Ultimately, it’s what Prosen described as “a losing battle” with Artifcial Intelligence (AI) and technology as a whole.

Sylvester said that the English department does work every year to accommodate the change in student behavior, but that it’s hard to accommodate for every student while meeting class criteria.

Even though Prospect, and Illinois as a state, ranks higher in literacy compared to other schools and states, that does not mean this is still not a problem for future classes. According to Above and Beyond Therapy, 21% of adults in the U.S. read below a 5th-grade level.

Additionally, sources like Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy (BBFFL) state that raising literacy rates can have a tremendous impact on our society as a whole.

According to BBFFL, raising literacy rates can: “boost the economy, create healthier families, make safer communities, increase civic engagement and break poverty cycles.”

This isn’t just about numbers.

Reading ofers a unique experience. Watching the fve ‘The Hunger Games’ movies in 11 hours and 43 minutes isn’t the same as immersing yourself in the 1,672 pages of the books for weeks on end and diving into Katniss’ world and understanding her values in the novel.

If high schools don’t encourage students to read more by giving them freedom when it comes to class readings, students will lack the proper communication skills that a majority of the world still fnds essential to a productive society.

“Students assume that AI can do it [reading and writing] all for them … but all careers tend to value a person more if they have strong [literacy] skills,” Sylvester said. “Reading is a life skill no matter what job you plan to be in.”

In fact, Child Focus found that teens who are undiagnosed may stay undiagnosed for 11 years before seeking treatment. This begs the question: how is this possible?

Well, it’s like being injured and just enduring life with it because it feels like there’s nothing you can do, and you think that it’s not bad enough to seek help.

Now, these struggles with mental health aren’t reserved for just a few “unlucky” teens in the world. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness and Child Focus, out of approximately 25.8 million teens in the world, 7.7 million of them struggle with their mental health. And these are just the teens who don’t go undiagnosed!

SIENA MIRANDOLA Staff Writer

Unfortunately, poor mental health won’t improve on its own; in fact, it may actually get worse, according to the Mayo Clinic

This is not how anyone should live. People deserve the right to live a life that they want to without being weighed down by their mental health.

Fortunately, according to the National Alliance on Mental Health, 51% of minors ages 6 to 17 receive treatment in a year. I wish that this percentage was higher, but it should make us happy to know that some are getting support for their struggles.

At the same time, it is saddening, because what about everyone else?

At Prospect, everyone can get the support they need. In fact, Prospect supports its students from the very frst day of school.

“[The focus] is recognizing [student] needs, but then providing the skills and strategies to

students so that they can help manage their own needs and help support themselves to be independent,” Associate Principal of Students Services Mary Kate Smith said.

These skills and strategies are provided to students through a variety of programs such as Supporting U, which is a freshman service that promotes belonging and empowerment during freshman study halls.

Signs of Sucide is another in-class program that brings awareness to the warning signs of suicide. One of the most vital resources for mental health are the counselors, social workers and psychologists that can be found in the Student Services ofce.

Smith assures students that the counselors will try their very best to support them in any way possible. In fact, a simple conversation with a counselor can open opportunities for more indepth services.

Some of these resources include a Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) group that focuses on emotion regulation, stress management and mindfulness.

Other resources are Care Solace and Ascension, which are both outside organizations where counselors can refer students to and where they will be matched with a local therapist outside of school.

FEMALE ROLE MODELS

The women of KnightMedia love their female role models! Scan here to view who they are and why.

Honoring Women’s

Women in STEM defy expectations

STELLA PALM Managing Editor

On the frst day of school, science teacher Cheryl Bergquist knew the tone she wanted to set with one particular class.

“I said to my AP Chemistry class this year, ‘OK, we mostly have females here. You know what, females, I’m going to learn to empower you,’” Bergquist said. “‘And men, I’m teaching you how to work with empowered women, because men have just as much to offer as women, and if we can [work] together, it can be unbelievable.’”

From working in the STEM feld before becoming a teacher, Bergquist knows how crucial it is for females to feel represented in this space.

Bergquist never wanted to be a teacher, but, while attending Harper College, she realized she enjoyed math and science more than she initially thought. Bergquist went on to graduate from Elmhurst College with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and a minor in biology.

school was the hardest thing, and then believing in myself because I didn’t have any role models. All my teachers were male at the time.”

These challenges would continue throughout her career. During her frst job as a Quality Control Chemist at Regis Technologies, Bergquist made $10,000 less than her male co-worker, despite being hired at the same time, with the same credentials. The company’s reasoning for her lower pay was because she couldn’t work with one pharmaceutical drug; as a female, that drug could alter her fertility.

Bergquist wouldn’t gain much equality in pay until she decided to become a teacher.

WE NEED PEOPLE TO COME TOGETHER FROM ALL DIFFERENT VIEWPOINTS ... TO COME UP WITH THE BEST SOLUTIONS”

“This sounds so bad, but the reason why I went into teaching is so I could get paid fairly,” Bergquist said. “I didn’t have a desire to be a teacher. I didn’t ever want to be a teacher. I never wanted to be back in school. I just wanted to be paid as fair as the males.”

- Tracy Van Hoy, science teacher

While issues such as unfair pay began to decline at school for Bergquist, sexist stereotypes continued to linger.

felds is not because they’re not smart or competent, but because they feel so lonely and they feel like they don’t have a strong community around them,” Babjak said. “I think building that community and fnding others like you who share similar challenges [is] really important.”

future stem majors

Lea Babjak University of illinois urbana-champaign physics

Babjak was luckily able to fnd this kind of community within her Honors Physics class her junior year. One role model that facilitated this was her teacher Tracy Van Hoy. Babjak believes that, alongside being a great teacher, Van Hoy made her feel comfortable in class partly because she was a woman.

“In STEM, especially physics and engineering, there’s just not that many girls or women who you can look up to,” Babjak said.

Amy xu northwestern university dual degree for biomedical engineering and Human Communication Sciences

Bergquist notes that being the only female chemistry major at her college presented itself with some challenges.

“It was difcult to fnd friends, but also to be taken seriously,” Bergquist said. “I think [my male classmates] always found me as comic relief and never took me seriously. So going through

“When someone will ask, ‘What do you teach in high school?’ And I’m like, ‘I teach chemistry,’ they go, ‘Oh my gosh, you must be so smart,’” Bergquist said. “I’ve asked male teachers and they don’t get that response. They get, ‘Oh, I hated chemistry,’ or ‘Oh, that was so hard.’ Why are [these people] questioning that I’m smart? It’s because I’m a female.”

scheRYl bergquist chemistry teacher

Similarly to Bergquist, senior AP Physics student and future STEM major Lea Babjak notices that women are undermined everywhere, but especially in the STEM community.

“One of the main reasons that women drop out of their STEM majors or STEM

tracy van hoy tphysics teacher

“Mrs. Van Hoy showing me that I’m very capable and that this is a place where I belong was very important to me.”

Van Hoy says people like Babjak are the reason she is a teacher.

After being a stay at home mom for 10 years, Van Hoy decided to go back to work, but not back to her traditional engineering job; instead, Van Hoy went into teaching.

“It’s always bothered me that I was the only woman in the room,” Van Hoy said.

“Not because I wasn’t comfortable with the men, but because I know plenty of really intelligent women. Why were they not sitting next to me?

One of the reasons I wanted teaching was to see if I could help change that dynamic.”

Now, in Babjak’s AP Physics class, using what she learned from Van Hoy, she can form a community, even when there are only six girls enrolled in her class compared to 23 boys. Babjak acknowledges that having such a close-knit and supportive group of girls makes it easier to push herself and excel in physics.

Senior AP Chemistry student and fellow future STEM major Amy Xu had an experience nearly identical to Babjak’s during her junior year AP Physics class. Having only fve girls in the class, Xu and the other girls quickly created a sense of community.

“We always sit together [in class]. It’s actually a common theme,” Xu said. “I didn’t actually even know [the girls] that well, but we all ended up in a clump in the middle.”

However, not all classes are male-dominated. Around two-thirds of Bergquist’s AP Chemistry class are women.

“I think [one of the reasons more girls] are in my class is because I’m a female standing up there teaching them,” Bergquist said. “They’re OK with making mistakes. They don’t feel stupid, they don’t feel judged. Every time [a female] makes a mistake it’s a little bit diferent than when a male makes a mistake. A male makes a mistake, it’s OK, but as a female, you look dumb, and you can’t do it.” Outside of the classroom, women are continuing to break through in the STEM world. According to vanderbilt.edu, Vanderbilt University’s School of Engineering hit a record enrollment of 1,473 undergraduates for fall 2022. Overall, 41.6% of the school’s undergraduates were female.

Growing numbers like those at Vanderbilt help prove Van Hoy’s belief that having diferent perspectives and people in a room is important for the evolution of science, and that having greater female representation benefts everyone. However, progress like this cannot be achieved without perseverance.

“The biggest thing is that no matter where you go, you’re going to face obstacles,” Van Hoy said. “Do not quit. You decide when you’re done. Don’t ever let anybody else decide when you’re done. You go around, you go through and you don’t stop.”

Photo courtesy of Tracy Van Hoy and Cheryl Bergquist

Women’s History Month

Staff role models inspire female athletes

SARAH GEORGE

Executive Arts & Entertainment Editor

Five-year-old Jenny Hufman sat at the edge of the pool, watching her older siblings swim. Feet dangling in the warm water, she dreamed about what she wanted to be when she grew up. As she pondered the thought, her dad, who coached swimming at Elk Grove High School, walked up and asked if she wanted to start swimming just like her siblings. Having been around the water so much, she jumped at the opportunity and has continued with it ever since, even going as far as swimming Division I at the University of Nebraska.

“I would say I feel more comfortable in the water than I do on land,” Hufman said.

Hufman is one of the many female staf members who have shared their experiences and journeys through sports. March is National Women’s History Month, a month dedicated to celebrating women’s accomplishments throughout time.

At Prospect, Hufman teaches Intro to Business and Finance. Although she has only been here for two years, she feels a strong connection to the school environment, especially when it comes to the sports.

“I think I defnitely want to help coach swimming soon,” Hufman said. “I’ve already been involved in it a little bit with timing meets, but I’m excited to see what I’m going to be doing later on.”

Before going to college, Hufman was unsure if she wanted to swim past high school. It wasn’t until November of her senior year, right after performing well in her state meet, that she decided swimming was something she wanted to continue.

“I got accepted into a lot of schools, but none of them really seemed to mesh with my ability to swim there,” Hufman said.

According to Hufman, Nebraska’s environment heavily infuenced her decision to go there. At Nebraska, she felt that all student athletes were treated the same, no matter their gender, talent or sport. She sensed disjointedness from the athletics at other schools she toured, which ultimately brought her back to Nebraska.

en in Sports Day, Prospect hosted their frst annual Women in Sports breakfast to honor and acknowledge all of the female student athletes. Jean Walker, whose impact on Prospect’s girls’ athletics infuenced the decision to name the feld house after her, spoke at the breakfast. She had all 200 attendees invested in her speech, and even brought photos from her time coaching at Prospect and playing her own sports in high school.

PE teacher and varsity softball coach Krystina Mackowiak was one of the many female coaches that attended the breakfast. She also played a role in planning it, and even spoke at the event.

“It was such a full circle moment [for Jean Walker],” Mackowiak said. “Going from being a [girls’] coach here a long time ago and not being allowed to use the feld house for practices to then having the feld house named after her is amazing.”

Mackowiak has played softball almost her whole life — from starting with T-ball around age four to playing collegiately at Carthage College. She expressed how fortunate she felt when it came to being a woman in sports, asserting that almost every part was fair to her, except for one component: money.

“I feel like I experienced a lot of struggles with the [fnancial] equity piece between men and women’s sports,” Mackowiak said.

For example, at Carthage, she and her team were promised a new softball feld because the old one hadn’t been redone in a while. During her time there, though, she watched the baseball feld get redone, but not the softball feld.

“That one thing kind of stuck with me,” Mackowiak said. “The softball feld [only] just recently got redone, which I feel isn’t very fair. [However,] I defnitely feel like in this day and age boys and girls are mostly represented the same for sports, and I want to continue seeing [fnancial] fairness.”

Scan here to read how athlete Erin Houpt, KnightMedia staff member Sarah George’s cousin, made her dreams comes true.

“I really just saw these open doors at Nebraska, and felt like no matter if you were a guy or girl [playing sports], you were always treated the same way,” Hufman said. “I really see that here at Prospect too.”

On Feb. 5, which is National Girls and Wom-

Aside from witnessing representation, Mackowiak gained multiple life lessons, experiences and connections from playing softball. She explained that in softball, players usually fail more than they succeed, but that shouldn’t stop students from playing the sport they love.

“I just hope that I can show [the softball team I coach now] that it doesn’t matter where you end up, you can still play and love your sport. I want to show them that women can have a family and still stay connected to the sport they love,” said Mackowiak, who has two children herself.

PITCHING: PE teacher and varsity softball coach Krystina Mackowiak learned a lot as a pitcher at Carthage College, solidifying her love and passion for all athletics. (photo courtesy of Mackowiak)

Junior Alli Linke, who also attended the Women in Sports breakfast, feels the same sense of love for her sport and hopes to go far with it. She is on the varsity girls’ basketball team, and has been playing almost her whole life.

Many would argue that Linke is the ultimate example of hard work paying of. She not only trains with the school basketball team, but also has four trainers outside of school who help her with areas like skills, speed, nutrition and strength.

“I feel like I’ve trained so hard and so much, but playing [for my high school] with my team has just shown that it was all worth it,” said Linke, who has scored 1326 points in her three years on varsity and was the MSL East Player of the Year this season.

Despite this, not everything fell perfectly into place for Linke, as she struggled a lot with her friendships when she realized that she could succeed in basketball. She discovered that very few of her friends had the same love for the sport as she did, so sometimes it was hard to stay motivated.

“Sometimes you have to make those sacrifces, though, and learn that it is okay to be diferent than your friends,” Linke said. “I had to step out of my comfort zone and meet new people.”

Linke feels that women’s sports are represented pretty well. However, there is always the element of fan support that throws Linke of.

“Sometimes I just wish that more of the student body would come to the girls’ games just like they do for the boys,” Linke said.

While basketball is a more popular sport for fans, a sport that can sometimes feel overlooked by athletes is cheer. According to science teacher and cheer coach Shelby Rosin, for instance, the

unique sport is such a huge part of her life. She hopes to hand down her knowledge of and love for the sport to the team.

Cheer is coed and has two seasons: the sideline season, where the team cheers for sports like football and basketball, and the competitive season, where they compete against other teams within and out of the district. This year, the cheerleaders placed 15th at state.

Rosin cheered all four years of high school at Niles West, even when cheerleading was not yet an Illinois High School Association (IHSA) sport; they had their own competitions separate from the IHSA. Because of this, she felt that there was a struggle of not being respected enough.

“I was obviously super excited when cheer did become an IHSA sport [in 2003] because it is such an encouraging and important sport,” Rosin said. “You know, when you’re at all these competitions and even just on the sidelines, everyone is cheering for each other. Everyone wants to see each other succeed.”

Despite the pervasiveness of gender stereotypes, Rosin has seen so much growth in the cheerleading world. The typecasts of coed cheer have been demolished almost completely since she started cheering. It used to be that boys were expected to spot the fyers, meaning they were on the ground lifting up the female cheerleaders who few through the air. Now, even on collegiate teams like Illinois State University’s cheer team, males are becoming fyers and vice versa.

Just like cheerleading celebrates school sports, National Women’s History Month celebrates the accomplishments of women everywhere – the sporting community being an unmistakable example of this.

Photo courtesy of Lucy Neumann, Cora Richer, Elanie Taboada and Anne Lagowski

Alumna legacy sparks inspiration

In remembrance of three-sport athlete, her spirit and achievements

MOLLY MUNDT

Features Reporter

Prospect alumna Megan Geraghty-Kontos was described as a very happy, energetic and kind-hearted person by her family and coaches. She made a diference in everything she touched, excelling both in and out of the classroom, even winning an All-Star award for keeping good grades all four years while being a three- sport athlete.

“She would just give it her all,” Diane Geraghty, Geraghty-Kontos’ mother, said.

In 2018, Ger aghty-Kontos was di agnosed with her frst brain tumor and began her battle with cancer. After a long, grueling fght ,she died on Jan. 11 at 34 after living a life flled with accomplishments and laughter.

From Saint Raymond basketball, volleyball and cross country to Prospect basketball, golf, show choir and softball to Illinois Wes leyan golf — and back to Prospect to coach the Junior Knights girls feeder basket ball team — sports were en graved in Geraghty-Kontos’ soul.

“She loved being a part of a team,” Dan Geraghty, Geraghty-Kontos’ father, said. “She really loved her team mates.”

During her time at Prospect Geraghty-Kontos left her unique footprint on the girls’ golf team.

She was on the team from 2005-2008 and quickly became one of their top golfers.

“She was very special with her work ethic, her dedication to her teammates and just how happy she was,” James Hamann, girls’ golf coach, said. “She was such a positive person and that’s contagious and that rubs of on other people.”

In 2010, the year after she graduated, the girls’ team made it to state for the frst time and placed fourth. Hamann attributes a part of that success to the infuence that Geraghty-Kontos had on the younger members of the team.

“Her teams helped mold the [culture and the success] of the program into what it has accomplished in the past and what it is today,” Hamann said.

The team has since won state in 2011, and they continued to qualify for six of the next seven

Beyond sports, Prospect meant a lot to Geraghty-Kontos because it’s where she met some of

She had a group of fve tightknit friends who called themselves “The Lady Squad”. The girls became friends through sports and activities, and they stayed close throughout the rest of Geraghty-Kontos’ life. They were some of each other’s biggest cheerleaders throughout college despite going to diferent schools, and the group continued to support each other long after They said they’ll remember Geraghty-Kontos for her smile and laughter, as she constantly told jokes to pass the time. She was always there in times of need, and she supported them no matter

Because of her loyalty to those close to her, the success of those around her was something Geraghty-Kontos was continually rooted for. Just like Geraghty-Kontos, her sister Terese Geraghty played

TEAMMATES: Megan Geraghty-Kontos (middle of cart) and her Illinois Wesleyan teammates pile into a cart on the course. They celebrate another win as a team. (photo courtesy of Diane Geraghty)

golf, but she struggled with chipping and putting. Geraghty-Kontos never hesitated to go with her after school to play putting games, so she could practice and have fun. Another thing Geraghty-Kontos helped Terese with was cardio to help in basketball. She would run beside her and talk about her favorite reality TV shows to keep Terese distracted.

Though she didn’t make it to state in high school, she fnished third in the nation on her team with Illinois Wesleyan University.

Wesleyan was only a half hour away from Bradley University where Geraghty-Kontos’s oldest sister, Cathy Geraghty, attended. One December, Geraghty went to visit Cathy for her birthday, and that is where she met Cathy’s friend, George Kontos, who would later come Geraghty-Kontos’ hus band on Sept. 16, 2017.

“The rest is history, [as] I guess they say,” Diane said. “It all kind of just fell into place.”

They both were driven people with competitive spirits, who were de termined to succeed in both the big and little things in life.

“You never want to play those two at any board game,” Dan said. “They play to win.”

When it came to her career, Geraghty-Kontos started as a Human Resourc es Business Partner for AbbVie and Allstate. However, she also never wanted to stray far from her passion for athletics, so she became a girls feeder basketball coach for Prospect. During the last game of every season, she would bring a sweet treat like cookies or doughnuts. If they won, they got to celebrate and if they lost they could drown their sorrows in treats. A few years later, Kontos and Geraghty-Kontos had their son John. During the end of her preg nancy, she was hit with a second tumor in the same spot as where the frst was removed. Because of this, they had to take her in for a C-section at eight months pregnant. John was perfect; in fact, he didn’t even need to go to the NICU. Despite this victory, her cancer was not improving.

Geraghty-Kontos had a rough two years with infections and complications, however in that time she experienced her greatest accomplishment: motherhood.

outside,” Diane said. “She felt so blessed to have him.”

After trying countless options, there was nothing more that Geraghty-Kontos’s medical team could do, and the Geraghty family along with her husband made the decision to place her in hospice.

Even with all of the setbacks, Geraghty-Kontos stayed strong during this time and never complained.

“She was very devoted, loved him inside and

ference

aghty-Kontos through Knights’ Way, and Paul Hennig, who was another coach of hers, decided to start a GoFundMe for Geraghty-Kontos’ family. Hamann’s driving factor for starting the GoFundMe was the connection he formed with her family after coaching her and her

“The family is such a great family and for something like this to happen, especially to Geraghty … we just wanted to do something nice for her son,”

All the funds from the GoFundMe are going towards her son’s college education. So far they have raised $43,672, surpassing their goal of $25,000, with gifters donating as much as $1,500.

“It brings joy to your heart to see that so many people want to step up and help for their son,” Dan said. Illinois Wesleyan also dedicated a locker to her for her four years on the golf team there, and a scholarship is in the process of being set up in her name. Through everything that has occurred, faith, family and friends have been core values of the Geraghty-Kontos household and supported the family though the grieving processes, but what helped the most was knowing the impact Geraghty-Kontos had on others.

“I have never seen her angry; she’s always been so positive,” Hamann said. “She brought joy to others.”

Nursing pathway opens new doors

Future healthcare workers can begin training earlier

TESSA TRYLOVICH Managing Editor

The night before junior Bella Sebastian’s frst ever nursing clinical, she felt the nerves hit her. She was going to be at the Lutheran Home in Arlington Heights from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 25 helping assist residents throughout their day. Sebastian has been interested in going into the medical feld and decided to sign up for the Certifed Nursing Assistant (CNA) program at Prospect for hands-on experience.

“I was defnitely nervous before [my frst clinical] because … I feel like it’s scary to mess up,” Se bastian said. “But now with my third [clinical], it’s a lot easier.”

The CNA program at Prospect is a year-long dual credit course for juniors and seniors and has been in the district for over 10 years. The quick-paced class covers 21 basic nursing skills in the frst semester, followed by clinical practices in vari ous long-term care facilities during the second semester. Students typically take prerequisite classes, like human physiology and med terminology in the Health Sci ence Pathway to best prepare selves for the topics discussed CNA class. If they take CNA as a junior, they then have the opportunity to take AP math and science classes, participate in appren ticeships and take Med Academy at Harper their senior year. This gives students a chance to get hospital experience prior to college. After high school, Sebastian plans on attending Harper College for two years with a long term goal of applying to a Physicians Assistant (PA) school.

Once students enter the program, they engage in hands-on learning and preparation for various healthcare careers, primarily through clinicals. During clinical practices, students spend 40 hours paired up with another CNA and an instructor at the facility; they’re assigned to help assist them throughout their 11-hour day. At clinicals, students practice skills like taking vital signs, transferring residents and other skills related to the activities of daily living (ADL). Some examples of ADLs are bathing, dressing, feeding, shaving and oral and nail care.

CNA teacher Laura Tomeczko has been teaching for four years with her frst, second and fourth years at Prospect while simultaneously teaching at Bufalo Grove.

“I love the students. [Teaching this course is] so fun [and] I just have fun all the time,” Tomeczko said. “I really hope that I have good connections with [the students] and I hope they think of me as somebody that they want to speak to.”

Tomeczko really emphasizes the importance of skill check-offs in the frst semester to ensure that students are prepared for clinical practice. The students will practice skills with instructor feedback and sometimes Tomeczko will bring in experienced nurses to ensure that students are using the proper techniques and safety protocols. The program aims to build students’ confdence in performing healthcare tasks if they

HANDS-ON: Juniors Mona Ayrempour, Will Chapin, Lilly Georgieva and Amelia Berkhof (left to right) practicing transfers during their class. “My goal for clinical is for them to get involved in caring for individuals and doing these skills that we practice in lab,” Certifed Nursing Assitant (CNA) teacher Laura Tomezcko said. (photo by Sarah George)

are employed in the future.

“I really love to watch the confdence growing,” Tomeczko said. “I want them to feel comfortable in this setting so that they feel prepared to go into the next level [of their healthcare journeys.]”

The goal of the program is to best prepare students for real-world scenarios and to build their confdence in performing healthcare tasks. Students are encouraged to explore diferent options within the medical feld and fnd what they are passionate about.

“When you go into healthcare, where you learn 90% of [the] information is on the job training,” Tomezcko said. “[It’s doing the] procedures, it’s interacting with people, and it’s actually performing the skill on somebody. So that’s the nice thing about [the program.]”

Tomezcko highlights the importance of self-refection and taking ownership of learning to ensure one’s success. If a student isn’t com-

HIRING HIRING

fortable with a certain subject she urges them to come into school early or during lunch for extra help. Additionally, she has her students play a sitstand review game. She starts with every student standing and then tests a student on a term. If they don’t get it right, they have to stay standing until they get a diferent question right. Even with all of that preparation, clinicals are a much larger commitment compared to simply performing in a classroom environment. Students spend 11 hours of their day at these facilities practicing these skills. However, it’s all worth it to Sebastian, as she has seen a lot of self-realization and academic growth within herself.

“[I have gotten] better with organizing my time, doing assignments and studying,” Sebastian said. “It [also] gives you more respect for what you have, and [it] makes you [a] more grateful person because you still have the ability to take care of yourself [and a lot of these residents don’t.]”

Tiktok ban bamboozles students

SYDNEY STRIMLING Executive Opinion Editor

It was Jan. 19, and senior Amanda Ontenada was in the car with her mom driving back home after prom dress shopping. Out of habit, Ontenada opened TikTok but found it down. A pop-up immediately appeared across her screen, stating that the social media platform was temporarily unavailable. Ontenada was shocked; she even cried. She’d had TikTok since sixth grade, even before it was ‘TikTok’ and went by the name ‘Musically,’ and never thought the platform would actually be banned.

“I was like ‘there’s no way,’” Ontenada said. “I was defnitely in denial because we’ve had it for so many years and now all of a sudden [it’s gone].”

According to the New York Times (NYT), the temporary ban frst stemmed from concerns about data privacy and misinformation linked to TikTok’s Chinese ownership by ByteDance.

The ban took efect after the Supreme Court ruled the law constitutional, according to the NYT. The actual ban only lasted for about 18 hours because TikTok was given an extra 75 days in the U.S. for it to sell to an American-based company to avoid being banned.

Psychology and law teacher Jay Heilman believes that the reason Americans were so alarmed by the TikTok ban was because of the freedom they regularly enjoy with social media platforms.

“The fact that we’re so used to our rights, and our freedom of speech … being banned is almost like [saying] we can’t be trusted to know what’s real and know what’s not real,” Heilman said.

That’s why to users like Ontenada, the ban was so appalling; she had never used TikTok for anything but silly fun with friends, so she felt she had no reason to be concerned about a potential Chinese data breach.

back,’” Ontenada said. “[But] it wouldn’t let me download it. I literally sat silent in the car. I was so pissed of; I was so mad.”

Heilman attested that the reason teenagers enjoy this short-form content so much is because we rely on it for fun and motivation.

“Dopamine operates on a pleasure principle of a reward loop that we receive,” Heilman said. “No matter what other platform we’re talking about, whether it be MySpace, Facebook, Instagram or YouTube, it gives us that reward.”

For senior David Szakacs, scrolling through social media has become a regular part of his routine for that exact reason. He often fnds himself scrolling for 20 minutes at a time, getting bored, putting his phone away, but ultimately picking it right back up because he feels as though he has nothing better to do. Hence, Szakacs fnds himself in a constant cycle of sitting on apps like Instagram Reels for hours.

“I turned of how many hours you have on certain things [screen time] because I spent so much time on [Instagram] Reels,” Szakacs said. “It’s just only during school … [because school is] very boring, and I’d like to get some dopamine.”

“I was posting fun videos … I have no information [for China] to take, so [a data breach] was just never a concern,” Ontenada said.

Upon the realization of the ban, Ontenada decided to delete the app because herself, among many others, couldn’t deal with the loss of scrolling. It had become a part of her everyday routine, and she often found herself subconsciously clicking on the app. Because she deleted the app, Ontenada wasn’t able to use it even after it came back as it was no longer on the App Store.

“Everyone else was getting TikTok [back when the ban was lifted], and they’re like, ‘It’s back, it’s

But this scrolling doesn’t just act as a time killer for students like Szakacs. Instead, it takes away from their academic and social life and is ultimately unproductive.

“Doom scrolling is like you [are in] semi-time travel,” Szakacs said. “You go two hours into the future because you gain nothing from it.”

Though it clearly isn’t hard for Prospect students to recognize that scrolling re ally serves no purpose, that doesn’t make it any easier to put the phone down. Teach ers are fnding that their stu dents struggle to pay atten tion for prolonged periods of learning, which makes their jobs a lot more difcult.

ple minutes, that’s a transition spot [to start something new],” Heilman said. “Just trying to keep things diferent and varied throughout an 85 minute block.”

Teachers like Heilman are doing their best to cater to their students’ needs, but it isn’t just a one-way street. They need the efort of students to couple alongside this accommodated learning. Ontenada’s experience with going TikTok free for about a month demonstrates that it is possible to put the scrolling aside for a bit and ultimately improve because of it.

“When I redownloaded it and got it back, it didn’t afect my life too much because I was just so used to not being on it anymore,” Ontenada said.

Even though TikTok is back for a few more weeks now — and many teenagers hope it will never be banned again — Ontenada isn’t worried. After losing the app once she was, to her surprise, able to reconnect with peers, teachers and friends.

“Ultimately, I feel like it was good for me,” Ontenada said. “I’m defnitely thankful that I had it [taken away].”

“[If] I just even asked students if they watched the Super Bowl, like [if] you watch a live broadcast … so many students are like, ‘No, we don’t watch live TV,’” Heilman said. “[This is be cause] you don’t have as much control over the pace and over what it is you’re looking at.”

This trend goes beyond just the observations. Primary school student’s attention spans are ap proximately 10 minutes, according to an article by The Independent. This bleeds in even more into the learning of high school aged students with constant phone access. Because of this, Hei lman has tried to implement diferent styles of learning to keep his students engaged.

“I change it up. I operate on a 20 minute kind of needing to transition and shift to something else … maybe I’ll direct-instruct for 20 [minutes] and then if I’ve got a video in there that’s a cou

SCROLLING: Teenager

up

for

routinely opens

TikTok, preparing herself

hours of doom scrolling. (art by Ella Kuhlman)

LIFTED: Freshman Sloan Figaro soars during “Sliding Down.” (photo by Violet Cantu)

BOWS: (left to right) Seniors Victoria Yancheva, Hayden Dieringer, Lucille Neumann, Kelly Ninness, and Emilia Spotak, doing bows at the end of the show. (photo by Daniel Marron)

POINTED: Junior Karly McGee does leg lift. (photo by Violet Cantu)

Wrapping up winter sports season

AMPED UP: Junior Johnny Nellis celebrates with junior teammate Luke Christopulos after making a layup and drawing a foul. (photo by Claire Wynkoop)

EXAMINING: Junior Colin Tucker looks down the court in order to fnd a open teammate for the point against Metea Valley High School. (photo by Peter Radosh)

FOCUSED: Senior Elena Katsogianos throws in the ball from the sideline to her teammate near the goal. (photo by Sarah George)

ICONIC: Junior Giada Walter strikes a pose during the cheer sectional routine in order to score big. (photo by Tessa Trylovich)

sBATTLING: Junior Brock Wrede (190 lbs.) pulls Palatine junior Michael Adeboye from the ground during the quarterfnal match at the MSL conference meet. (photo by Peter Radosh)

BREASTSTROKE: Senior Wally Kemp swims the breaststroke at the MSL Conference meet, gaining a second place title at the Buffalo Grove High School Natatorium. (photo by Henry Buelow)

SMOOTH MOVES: Senior guard Neve Pomis looks to dish out the ball against Fremd in the sectional championship. (photo by Claire Wynkoop)

Girls’ soccer looks forward to fresh start

KADEN CHUNG & LUKE ROBINSON

Sports Reporters

The girls’ soccer team is coming of a rough 2024 season, fnishing 3-122. The team’s defense played well throughout the season, but couldn’t get anything going on the ofensive side of the ball, only scoring 12 goals total. Going into this season, head coach Michael Andrews has emphasized improving the ofense.

“We need to balance things out and put more in the back of the net,” Andrews said. “I really want to cultivate that aggressive attacking mentality.”

Following a disappointing season, senior Elena Katsogianos believes the team will have a better time next go-season.

“My mindset going into the season is very positive and exciting,” Katsogianos said. “We had a rough season last year record-wise, and I think everyone is ready to bounce back and start winning games again.”

Andrews explained that he wants his seniors to take ownership of their team, since it’s their last season, and lead the team to victory.

“Not everyone knows how to lead, but again, they’re the ones whose experience is over in May,” Andrews said. “No matter what, whether you get knocked out immediately or go to the state championship, this is the end of the road for them, so if they buy in and bring the urgency,

it seems like the rest of the program will follow.”

Katsogianos, believes to be a more successful group, the team needs to reinforce their chemistry.

“I am very close with my team, whether it is on the feld or not. Some of my best friends came from soccer, and I am so excited to have one fnal season with them,” Katsogianos said. “We do lots of team bonding outside of practice and games too.”

While still acknowledging that successful seasons require hard work, Andrews doesn’t forget that high school players play to create memories.

“I expect it to be a really fun season,” Andrews said. “The girls are a very close group, and they’re friends, and part of it is competing or trying to win games, and the other part is making sure you’re enjoying the experience.”

Senior Faye Zinzer has created a lot of relationships throughout her soccer career and feels lucky to have these people around her, not only being friends on the feld, but also of of it.

“We are all very close and I am very lucky to be on this team,” Zinzer said.

Katsogianos made it clear what their team has to do to have a better season than last year: holding themselves accountable.

“My team’s expectations for this season are that we win our games. In order to do that, we need to have energy, focus and determination at practice,” Katsogianos said. “I hope we are able to beat Hersey this year and hopefully win MSL East.”

Andrews highlights the fact the team needs to adjust their efort and attitude when practicing

because it’s very important that the team learns skills during practice so they can demonstrate them in the game.

“To have a successful season, you need to put forth a championship efort in training,” Andrews said. “That’s one of the expectations I’m going to set for the girls; you can’t just turn it on when it’s game day and expect to achieve good results.” Zinzer is hoping for a better fnal season and, overall, just looking to win more games after being disappointed by her junior season.

Katsogianos feels that every second of this season will matter because it may be her last time playing competitive soccer with her peers.

“I am most excited about making every moment count with all my friends and making memories with them,” Katsogianos said.

On prospectornow...

Learn about senior girls’ track sprinter Anna Niebrugge after breaking multiple school records.

SPORTS

Senior Viola Pianetto (135 Lbs.) takes second place at the girls' wrestling state meet

CAMARADERIE: The girls' basketball team celebrating with each other after winning their frst regional championship since 2015 against Palatine on Feb. 21 at Prospect. Senior and team captain Alli Linke credited the team's close bond as the reason for the success they had this year. (photo by Violet Cantu)

History books rewritten

MATTHEW PULVER Executive Sports Editor

Three. Two. One. The buzzer rang, and senior guard Gina Falls jumped from the bench with her hands in the air as she ran towards her team to join the celebratory huddle. The Knights’ 68-38 win over Palatine on Feb. 20 cemented Prospect's frst girls’ basketball regional title in a decade.

“It felt really good,” Falls said. “It felt like it was meant to be. It just gave us more fuel to keep on pushing [and to] keep on fghting.”

Junior forward Alli Linke shares the same excitement as Falls. For Linke, who scored 20 points and amassed nine rebounds in the regional championship, climbing the ladder toward the hoop was a moment of refection for the entire team.

“It felt really good being able to cut down the net with my team,” Linke said. “We’ve all worked so hard, but in doing that we know we had bigger goals.”

After this win, the Knights continued marching on as they defeated Hersey for the third time this season. In the sectional semifnal game on Feb. 25, the Knights won with a score of 59-33, setting them up to face of against Fremd in the sectional championship.

Although the Vikings defeated the Knights 54-44 and stopped them from winning their frst sectional in 36 years, Linke is still pleased with the team’s accomplishments this season, especially for their record of 27-8, which broke the single-season win record.

“I am so proud of them,” Linke said. “I mean, it’s the frst time we’ve made it to the sectional championship in a long time, so it’s very exciting to be in the history books and have the most wins in a season.”

However, history wasn’t always what the Knights were known for. Just last year on Feb. 15, they fell 35-32 in a close regional championship game against Schaumburg. The loss stuck with the team, and head coach Matt Weber emphasized using this game as a learning experience for the girls.

“The message always to the underclassmen [that year was to] remember this experience,” Weber said. “If you don’t want to have this experience happen again, then every time you step on the court, every time you’re working with your teammates, make sure the things that went

BEYOND THE ARC: Senior Alli Linke lauches up a deep three at buzzer in the regional championship against Palatine. Linke shot 36.8% from three this year and leads the team in that category. (photo by Violet Cantu)

wrong don’t happen again.”

Weber repeated this message throughout the season, as their schedule was not an easy one. Some teams the Knights faced were Benet Academy (29-3), who are the second-best team in Illinois according to MaxPreps as of March 5, and Loyola Academy (33-2), who are ranked ffth in the state and are the defending state champions. Weber says having a tough schedule early in the season makes for more success later on.

“There’s only so many things a team can do against you,” Weber said. “So the higher level [of] competition you see during the season, [the more] you get to see a lot of those diferent ways

Boys' swim dives sets records, places 16th at state

CLAIRE WYNKOOP Online Editor-in-Chief

As the sectional meet came to a close on Feb. 22, it fnally began to set in that the boys’ swim and dive team was going to state. What was even more exciting for the medley relay team of seniors Auggie Lapys (backstroke), Max Dembowski (butterfy), Alex Verdet (breaststroke) and James Moreth (freestyle) was that they had broken the school record, coming in at 1:35.46.

“At that moment we had broken our record… we all were just hugging each other and celebrating,” Lapys said. “It was a really big, fun moment for us.”

Just qualifying for state was exciting for the team of four, who have been swimming together since their freshman year. As both Lapys and Moreth expressed, the best part of going to state is the extra time spent with their teammates. However, in Moreth’s mind, swimming in fnals on day two of state was always the goal.

of teams trying to exploit your weakness. The earlier you see them, the more time you get to work on those weaknesses.”

Both of the games against Benet and Loyola ended in double-digit losses for the Knights, which turned into important learning experiences for the team. According to Linke, playing against talented opponents allowed the girls to see the best of the best, which means they can handle other teams that may not be as talented.

“When a tough team is pressing us obviously they're good, so their press is the best press you’re going to see,” Linke said. “Being able to play against the best and learning from [our] mistakes then … [has helped] us.”

Falls, who has played alongside Linke for three years, took away the same lesson.

“It was good to play really hard, tough teams, so that we know how to beat those teams and know how to play them,” Falls said. “We’ve seen every sort of defense and ofense that these really good teams do and run.”

Beyond the intial tough schedule, another key to the Knights’ success this year has been their chemistry both on and of the court. Both Linke and Weber said the close-knit culture of the team has been a big part of this season. In Linke’s case, as a junior, she has built a close bond with her senior teammates and considers all of them as her close friends. For Weber, the unifed nature of the team has helped push a common goal for the team all year, with some seniors on their seventh season together.

“I think everyone on the team is really sold on the idea that it takes a team to win,” Weber said. “Everyone is friends with each other. They care about each other, including the little things that may seem like they’re not going to make a big diference, but they make a huge diference.”

According to Weber, good relationships between players beneft the team as they can communicate openly and honestly with each other.

“You know what your teammates need, so if one of your teammates is going through a hard time or not shooting the ball well you know the right thing to say to them to pick them up,” Weber said. “Knowing that everyone has each other’s back I think ... ends up paying big dividends later in the season.”

Even of the court, they remain a team. After important wins, they go out to eat.

“I think I was with these people more than my family for this past season. We were always with each other [and] our bond was really good,” Falls said. “I know that I can talk to all of the girls on the team as friends outside of basketball, but then also talk to them at basketball for basketball.”

From last year’s regional loss to this year’s triumphs, the season made memories for Weber, despite its end. He has seen the team fnd their place in the history books.

“I’m super proud of the growth that all of the players have had,” Weber said. “The reason why I love coaching is because you go into it, you set goals and when you get to see your team accomplish those goals it makes it all worth it.”

“The biggest thing was if you make it to state, you get to extend your season another week, which is fun. But at the end of the day, it was really just half of the story. We just wanted to see if we could make state fnals,” Moreth said. At state on March 1, they broke their record again. Their preliminary medley swim came in at 1:35.40, placing them in the B fnal, which includes the teams who placed ninth to 16th.

“We didn’t even know if we made [fnals] at frst,” Lapys said. “We knew it would be close and we were one of the earlier heats, so we were just tracking everyone else's times. When we came on the board and realized we made fnals, we were just celebrating.”

Despite fnishing slightly slower than desired, they had a great experience together because they got the chance to swim one more time in their high school career and even take home a medal.

“It was just awesome because [making fnals] meant we got to come back and compete another day for state fnals,” Moreth said. “We were so excited to see our names on that board.”

Although there’s pressure to do well, the boys believe it's more about having fun swimming with friends.

“It makes it more fun to be in the relay with the people you care about,” Lapys said. “At the end of the day, it's not what you do, but the efort of the whole team that really matters.”

Together, they placed 16th and earned their spots on the natatorium record board. Lapys also fnished 12th in the state for 100 yard butterfy. However, it's not just about the records and the placing for these swimmers. Lapys explained that not only is the time spent together important, what he accomplished personally also matters a great deal to him.

“I defnitely exceeded my own expectations on how well I would do in my high school career,” Lapys said. “I can’t really ask for much more than that.”

Moreth agrees, but to him, it's about who he got to become in the program and what he's leaving behind.

“Yes, I did well, and yes, I never expected to get this far,” Moreth said. “But the legacy that I’m leaving behind, that’s the best part.”

BREATHE: Senior James Moreth comes up for air during boys' swim senior night (photo by Peter Radosh)