THE
PROSPECTOR
801 WEST KENSINGTON ROAD, MOUNT PROSPECT, ILLINOIS 60056
THE VOICE OF PROSPECT HIGH SCHOOL SINCE 1959
VOLUME 56, ISSUE 5
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2016
Knights’ culture cuts through the haze BY DAVID FANG Executive News Editor
S
enior David Contreras was barely in eighth grade when both of his brothers and the rest of the Maine West varsity soccer team were sent to the police station. One of the players had accused the team of hazing. Although it was revealed later that his brothers were simply bystanders to the incident, six other students were charged with misdemeanor assault in juvenile court. Maine West is one of several local schools that have fallen victim to hazing. Lake Zurich High School had also been investigating an alleged hazing case before police stated that no charges were being filed. Despite these local incidents, Prospect has gone to great lengths to ensure that the staff creates a culture that reduces the risk of hazing incidents. School psychologist Dr. Jay Kyp-Johnson knows firsthand just how important efforts to stop hazing are. Kyp-Johnson has worked in four high schools and has seen how hazing can occur. As a staff member at one of these schools, he said that students would do “one of the worst things” he has ever seen. As a school tradition, upperclassmen would come the night before the first day of school to trash the campus and write messages such as “go home freshmen” and “f*** you freshmen” on the main path leading into the school. During his time there, Kyp-Johnson says that there were few efforts to stop this “tradition.” Kyp-Johnson says that in that specific case, the staff “inadvertently sanctioned” the acts. Although he believed that most of the staff was completely against the behavior, they often encouraged the event with how they spoke to their
A HAZE OF PROBLEMS: Despite several hazing incidents emerging from other local schools, Prospect has remained without a major hazing incident since 1997. Staff and administrators have cited the positive culture and vigilance of teachers as reasons for this environment. (photo illustration by Elisabeth Rohde) students. “[The staff] kind of supported it in the sense that you would occasionally hear them say, ‘Oh god, those stupid freshmen’ or ‘Those froshies,’” Kyp-Johnson said. “They would say that to students, and they would pick up on that and [think], ‘We have the right to treat [freshmen as] lesser than us.’” Unfortunately, the incidents at his previous school were only some of the several Kyp-Johnson has witnessed. During his time at Maine South High School, he witnessed upperclassmen pelting underclassmen with pennies during homecoming week. He said that he would end up walking down penny-covered hallways. At both of these high schools, these traditions came to a halt af-
ter staff began to “prowl the territory.” In the case of Maine South, this did not start to happen until the school needed to meet a behavioral standard to be accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, a regional accreditation group. Attaining this accreditation would have meant that the school complied with some standard of excellence and would have been more reputable. In many cases, hazing is perpetuated by a harmful or flawed culture. “Traditions” like this have also taken place at Prospect in past. The act of “froshing,” or drawing on underclassmen with markers, was commonplace during homecoming week. Assistant Principal of Student Activities Frank Mi-
D214 studio provides new career pathways in media BY GRACE BERRY Print Managing Editor Elk Grove social science teacher Bruce Janu was very excited to be involved in a creating new opportunity for broadcast journalism students throughout District 214. “[District 214] wanted to open up a new career pathway in a very unique way,” Janu said. “As far as we know, this is really one of the only programs like this around. It’s quite an opportunity for kids.” District 214 asked Janu and Hersey media teacher Todd Hatfield earlier this year to help create a new program starting next semester for media students called “D214 Studio.” Both were asked to run this program because of their knowledge of film and broadcast journalism. The students selected for the program will be filming and producing a TV show called “High School Flip”, a show about a house being flipped.
The high school students in the Practical Architecture Construction (PAC) course will be flipping the house. The architecture students from classes across the district are focusing on designing the remodeling of an older home. After the winning design is chosen by professional architects and district employees, the PAC students will build the renovations next fall. This is a change from previous years when the PAC students built an entire house designed by students in architecture classes. The media students were added to the program to involve as many students as possible. “We realized the biggest impact we could have would be involving these two programs,” Hatfield said. “Let’s start educating
A New Hope
Senior and marching band drum major Hannah Thornton won the Bob Hope Band Scholarship. She was the only band member in the parade to receive this award. To find out more, turn to ...
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randola says that froshing took several years to phase out and only stopped once teachers began to be more vigilant. He also said that coaches began a policy of making sure that those who partook in hazing would not be a part of their team. In addition to the staff’s neglect, Kyp-Johnson also says that a lack of a sense of community contributes greatly to a risk of hazing. “Hazing is a lot about [people being] insiders and outsiders, like, ‘Hey, you’re not one of us,’” Kyp-Johnson said. Contreras can confirm this with his experiences playing soccer at both Prospect and Maine West. Contreras has noticed vast differences in the cultures of each school. He says that at Maine West,
the soccer team would often divide itself into groups based on race, which caused a culture of insiders and outsiders. This, he says, would often foster a sense of hostility. “[The culture] is different because [the team is] more peaceful at Prospect,” Contreras said. “I know most of them at Maine West. They’re not violent, but they can be when they want to. Here at Prospect they are friendly, and they don’t separate you from the group.” Contreras also says that if the coaches at Maine West had been more strict and vigilant with the players, the incident could have been prevented. Other athletic teams also try to take extensive anti-hazing measures. Varsity football coach Mike Sebestyen says that he tries to prevent such incidents by continuously having conversations with his team on ethical behavior. “[We talk about] how to behave in general as a person, how you want to be looked at and remembered as teammate, what’s appropriate and not appropriate,” Sebestyen said. He says that all coaches create an environment of respect among teammates, an environment students like senior baseball player Colin King enjoy. King says he does not see any problems between older and younger players. He says that when younger members are pulled up to varsity, there is very positive attitude towards them. “All the older kids have a sense of respect for these younger kids that are playing up because they are there for a reason,” King said. “Everyone really knows their role on the team.” As a former track and field SEE HAZING, page 2
On prospectornow.com ...
Check out photo albums by visuals editor Elisabeth Rohde from the basketball game at Hersey on Dec. 2, as well as the win over Buffalo Grove on Dec. 9.
SEE STUDIO, page 2
Sneak Peek
Latulip blooms
Junior Elijah Mahan has been buying and selling sneakers for four years. He is heavily involved with sneaker culture, and his business has taken him across the country. To read more, flip to ...
2012 grad Mike LaTulip was the all time leading scorer at Prospect during his high school career. To see where his after high school basketball journey has taken him, turn to ...
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