Issue 7

THE

PROSPECTOR

801 WEST KENSINGTON ROAD, MOUNT PROSPECT, ILLINOIS 60056

THE VOICE OF PROSPECT HIGH SCHOOL SINCE 1959

VOLUME 57, ISSUE 7

FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 2019

Goodbye seniors, hello class cuts Elective availability decreases due to low enrollment for 2019-2020 year GRACE GIVAN Copy Editor Scan this QR code to read an article mentioned by Principal Greg Minter that explains why a study hall could be beneficial to students.

*name changed confidentiality

R

oughly 45 sections of classes were cut from next year’s electives, compared to the usual fluctuation of 10 to 20, according to Principal Greg Minter.

Sections are the amount of class periods offered by a course.

This is due to the fact that the full-time equivalent (FTE) went down 4.5 points for Prospect, which is a drastic change from its usual annual shift of 1.0 to 2.0 points. FTE is the legal amount a teacher can work, and it is based on the number of students enrolled in the school; a full-time teacher would have 1.0, which is equivalent to 5 classes per semester.

Because of the decrease in FTE, sections of classes are to be cut next year, pushing some students into study halls or to switch electives.

This readjustment of students happens every year, just not to this extent, according to Minter.

Enrollment for the 2019-20 school year is down roughly 100 students, as the current graduating senior class started this year off with 615 students, but the incoming freshman class is starting with 500 students.

“We had one of the largest classes in my 15 years, and one of the smallest back to back. … So [Our FTE] went up a few years ago; we had to hire. Now that this class is graduating, there will be less sections of electives since cutting core classes would inhibit students from graduating.

CLASS CUT-DOWN: As the large senior class graduates, they take with them certain periods of electives. Due to the loss of the seniors and a small incoming freshman class, many electives are losing sections, causing students to be cut from these classes. (cartoon by Mara Nicolaie) Typically, classes have around 550 students, so this change doesn’t allow the school to offer as many classes. While all of the same classes will be available for students to take, elective sections will be cut down.

For example, AP U.S. Government and Politics will have one section next year, as opposed to its two sections currently. “[Of course] I’m disappointed; I think it’s a great class,” AP U.S. Government and Politics teacher Tim Beishir said. “I think it’s important information — we need an informed electorate for our country to function. … At the same time, it’s not like AP [Government is being targeted]. … It is what it is.”

Sophomore Gabby Lozano* was cut from Sociology, which she wanted to take because

she thought it would be beneficial for her future in the medical field.

“I was kind of disappointed at first, but at the same time, I understand that it goes to the seniors first so they … can get their requirements [to graduate, whereas] I have another year,” Lozano said.

According to counselor Lauren Collins, there are multiple factors that are considered when choosing which students are to be moved from a class.

Counselors take into account whether a student needs a certain class to fulfill a graduation requirement; they give first priority to students that signed up for that course during registration instead of if they signed up later; they consider the target age

group for certain courses — for example, AP Economics targets seniors, so sophomores would be cut first; and they keep in mind students’ career pathways.

Collins’ advice to these students is to advocate for themselves if there is a particular reason why they wanted to be in a class.

According to Minter, reconfiguring students’ placements in electives is a much bigger issue at Prospect as opposed to other D214 schools because more students would rather take an elective instead of a study hall. Yet, because there will be overall less electives for students next year, more students will be in study halls.

In fact, Minter sees some benefit in the fact that some students will be having less classes in their schedule. With the national increase of students experiencing mental health issues, Minter believes that having a study hall could minimize stress (see QR code).

“With [this] comes with a shift in the mindset that a study hall is bad. A study hall is actually good,” Collins said. “That’s not just an excuse for what … [we are] doing with

SEE FTE REDUCTION, page 3

Newspaper editor named the Illinois Journalist of the Year AMANDA STICKELS Editor-in-Chief One night after a football broadcast, I offered my co-editor-in-chief, Ayse Eldes, a ride home. She said her dad was picking her up, but it was cold and I had nowhere to be, so we waited in my car. As we waited, we talked a bit.

I had a question on my mind, something I’ve been wondering after working with Ayse for about three years. Watching her stay up for countless hours at night, sleeping the same duration as the football game and then coming to sixth period, giving her all to the staff through her editing, writing and conferencing, I wanted to know what motivated her to do all these things. I knew that it was more

than a grade or the opportunity to write down an activity on her college application. And so I asked.

Ayse shared with me a story about her father. It was shortly after 9/11 when he was on a flight in the U.S, and a lady sitting next to him got up and told a flight attendant that he was a terrorist simply because he was Muslim. They evacuated the plane and interrogated him for hours. Because of this and other events, he has been worried about how his children would be treated due to their religion.

Although she has never experienced any problems such as her father, Ayse has seen how this fear has made Muslim children across the nation insecure and afraid to stand out.

“They feel like they have the pressure of representing a whole religion, which is so unrealis-

tic for anyone to carry on their shoulders,” Ayse said. “My motivation stemming from that was that I want to be someone who overcomes that and someone that younger kids can look at to be like, ‘I can be totally confident in being a Muslim and accomplish things.

This was Ayse’s passion: journalism. She likes to talk numbers, she likes to talk economy and politics.

That was her passion. She was so confident in it, and being a Muslim didn’t stop her from pursuing those passions, so I can do it too.’”

I was not completely surprised to hear this because I knew Ayse, but hearing the force behind her work ethic explained how she stays up so late and does so much, which gave me even more respect for her than I already had. Therefore, knowing this and knowing part of the reason behind all her

‘IJOY’FUL: The Prospector staff surprises senior editor-in-chief Ayse Eldes with the announcement that she was named the Illinois Journalist of the Year (IJOY). The IJOY award is the highest statewide award given to an individual journalist from the Illinois Journalism Education Association. (photo by Jason Block) incredible hard work, I was also not completely surprised when I walked into Room 212 on Feb. 28.

The Prospector staff was lined up, holding up newspapers with the words “Ayse” and “IJOY” on them.

Confused, I asked what was going

WHAT’S INSIDE?

02 Three seniors became state champions in their respective activities. Flip to learn more about their careers.

05 As pornography viewership among teens sees higher ratings, students share their take on this silent, booming industry.

12 Boys’ track and field continues their success.

Senior Michael Shafis plans on competing at the University of Illinois.

See sports for more.

on and got the response of about a hundred “sh”s.

A little disoriented at first, I realized that this was a surprise celebration for Ayse being named

SEE IJOY, page 3

2 NEWS

APRIL 12, 2019

prospectornow.com

Dynamic duo dominates speech state Seniors Emmett Knee and Katherine Jordan claimed a first place title at speech state this year with their Dramatic Duet Acting piece Love, Will. Selected by volunteer speech coach Scott McDermott, the piece portrayed two friends who met in high school and were both struggling with mental health issues.

Knee uncovers deeper connection with performing ELIZABETH KEANE Features Editor

B

eing on speech for all four years and competing at state the past two, senior Emmett Knee is no stranger to performing in front of people. It wasn’t always like that, according to Knee and former speech coach Jonathon Kaminsky. Although Kaminsky says that Knee has displayed strong talent and consistently solid performances throughout his high school career, they both felt that there was something missing during Knee’s freshman and sophomore years on the team.

“He needed to be able to emotionally connect to each of his pieces rather than displaying the emotion that he thought should be happening,” Kaminsky said.

Knee noticed this as well, learning the importance of portraying emotions in the eyes of the judges.

“I used to have trouble making each piece mean something to me,” Knee said. “In order to get the audience to care about what you’re saying, you have to care about it yourself.”

Knee had no trouble finding this connection with Love, Will and believes that mental health is becoming an increasingly important topic to be discussed in schools. After they performed, Knee recalls that various audience members went up to the pair to tell them how impactful the message of their piece was and how much they enjoyed it.

“They announced that we won, and [Jordan] immediately started crying,” Knee said. “I was just in shock. We [then] had to go perform [our piece again] in front of the whole awards ceremony and I just blacked out; I don’t even remember it.”

Knee also competed in an event called Oratorical Declamation, where an individual junior or senior memorizes a section of a speech previously given by another person.

In this event, Knee placed third. The speech that he performed was by Nancy Lublin, a TED 2012 speaker who set up a text-only crisis hotline to help teenagers who are struggling with mental health issues.

According to head speech coach Adam Levinson, by working closely with Knee this season, he got to know his mature, focused, strong and kind nature. Levinson admires Knee’s ability to be open to change; Jordan and Knee’s prior script was replaced by Love, Will only a few weeks before state.

LOVE, WILL: Senior state champions Emmett Knee (left) and Katherine Jordan (right) pose in Peoria where the 2019 IHSA speech competition took place Feb. 14 to 16. The pair have been friends since sixth grade. (photo courtesy of Emmett Knee) “[Knee’s] ability to be flexible and take on new challenges is tremendous,” Levinson said. “Some kids work for four months on [their pieces] and [Knee and Jordan] had a matter of weeks.”

Through coaching Knee for two years, Kaminsky took note of his potential very quickly and assumed that Knee would win state eventually. According to Kaminsky, Knee’s biggest strength is his ability to work and improve each time he has a session.

“If you have somebody who has some natural talent, [has] the ability to work and [has] McDermott coaching them… those three things have led to tons of success for people who, freshman and sophomore year, didn’t seem like state winners,” Kaminsky said.

Knee displayed more of this work ethic by being one of two dance captains for Mixed Choir this year, acting as Oscar Madison in this year’s fall play, keeping up with speech and currently rehearsing the lead role as Billy Flynn in the upcoming spring musical: “Chicago.”

“I’m very grateful for [my involvement with speech],” Knee said. “[Speech is] one of the most helpful extracurriculars you can be involved in because being able to speak and communicate with people is an ability that everyone needs to have.”

Jordan’s acting background gives competitive edge ELIZABETH KEANE Features Editor Like many others may assume, as a freshman, senior Katherine Jordan thought that speech was only about debating and public speaking. Once she saw alumni Molly McDermott and Ben Marshall perform their partner piece at a pep assembly three years ago, Jordan discovered that speech had a large acting component, sparking her interest to join the club her sophomore year.

Jordan’s acting career began at age five, taking classes at the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre in Arlington Heights. Additionally, she attended the Merit School of Music in Chicago every Saturday from seventh grade to freshman year. This opened up many opportunities for Jordan to act in professional shows and commercials. “[Jordan] made her presence known from the beginning [of high school],” former speech coach Jonathon Kaminsky said. “She

spent a lot of time acting before high school, so she came in with a confidence to her… [having that confidence] is rare for younger people.”

According to Kaminsky, Jordan was one of the most talented underclassmen of her year. He believes that her biggest strengths are in finding her weaknesses and being able to accept and work on them— something that took Jordan’s talent to the next level going into her junior year.

Looking back on her speech career now as a senior, Jordan accomplished fourth place at state as a sophomore and second place as a junior— in addition to her big win alongside Knee this year.

According to Jordan, the duo met in sixth grade and have been best friends ever since.

She drives Knee home from school and is with him until nine p.m. most days. They often receive comments about their undeniable chemistry onstage. “[Knee and I] are able to critique each other to make each other better,” Jordan said. “It’s never an awkward working environment; I can honestly tell him when he’s doing a bad job and he can do the same for me.”

According to Jordan, being announced as the winners felt unreal and was complete with her crying and shaking as she received her medal. “[Knee and I] were holding hands and they announced the second place winner,” Jordan said. “I remember my hand almost breaking because he was squeezing it so hard.”

After the win, Knee and Jordan were greeted with hugs from their supportive teammates, as well as congratulating posts on Snapchat and Instagram coming from Prospect speech alumni. “[I have formed] very strong friendships [with my teammates],” Jordan said. “[My teammates] are people that I probably wouldn’t have met otherwise, but now I hang out with them constantly.”

Jordan balanced having speech practice after school everyday and on weekends with her involvement in Mixed Choir, Madrigals, Knight Voices and the musical. Jordan will perform as one of the lead roles Roxie Hart in the upcoming production of “Chicago.” In addition to these extra curriculars, Jordan was busy auditioning for colleges: New York University, Carnegie Mellon University, Pace University and Western Michigan University to name a few. “[Jordan is] hard-working, upbeat, kind and flexible: she’s really willing to embrace whatever you throw at her… and become one with her character,” head speech coach Adam Levinson said.

DECA champion discovers new passion for business RICK LYTLE Sports Editor “Up until last year, people would ask me what I wanted to study and I would say ‘anything but business,’” Prospect senior Grace Ryan said.

Her view of business has taken a 180 degree turn. In March, Ryan heard her name called as the Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) state champion in retail merchandising.

DECA prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe, according to its website. The program hosts business competitions, culminating in “internationals” which Ryan and three other Prospect students qualified for. To qualify, students must place in the top four in the state in their competition.

Ryan didn’t have the high school profile of a typical DECA state champion. The first business related class she took was junior year when she took AP Economics.

“I had never experienced a business class before, so I didn’t know what it was like.

Once I did, I realized it was something I was

interested in and wanted to pursue,” Ryan said.

Prompted by her friend who was already on the team Serena Zhang, she joined DECA during the fall of that year. All first year DECA students participate in what is called a “principles” event, hers being principles of marketing. She finished second in the Economics test, and top ten overall in her category. One thing stands out when she thinks about what has allowed her to do even better in competitions this year.

“I have become a lot more confident in my abilities. Last year going into role-plays, the biggest thing holding me back was all of the nerves and doubts running through my mind. This year, going in with a much clearer head helped me,” Ryan said.

Ryan chose to stay in marketing, and more specifically retail merchandising, this year because of the variety it offered. She felt she had the most room for creativity in this category.

Zhang also sees certain characteristics that allow her to compete at a high level.

“Her dedication and determination to push herself to deliver a good role-play sets her apart,” said Zhang.

Ryan has used this dedication to build up the DECA program as a whole. This year

LET’S GET DOWN TO BUSINESS: Senior DECA state champion Grace Ryan poses with her medals. “[Ryan] is always willing to share her ideas and help others,” DECA Advisor Andrea Izestark said. (photo courtesy of Grace Ryan) was the first year with a student board for Prospect, and Ryan was the president. The program had biweekly meetings, also a first, that the board planned. DECA advisor Andrea Izenstark credits Ryan’s leadership to a lot of progress being made at the meetings.

“She’s definitely an exceptional leader.

She is always willing to share her ideas and help others. If younger students would come up to her, she would be willing to give them advice,” said Izenstark.

In addition to DECA, Ryan played ten-

nis all four years, and was on varsity this past season. She has run track and field and played badminton at various points in her four years at Prospect. She does a variety of clubs and activities at Prospect, like Knights Way, KLC tutoring and LINK leaders. And this year, she is doing the musical for the first time at Prospect.

Ryan will be studying business at Notre Dame for the next four years, as she looks to continue to pursue her newly discovered interest in business.

prospectornow.com

APRIL 12, 2019

IJOY: Celebrating Eldes’ success CONTINUED from front page the Illinois Journalist of the Year (IJOY), the Illinois Journalism Education Association’s (IJEA) top award. This also means that Ayse will be moving on to the national Journalist of the Year competition, competing on behalf of Illinois.

However, like I said before, surprise is not the word for it.

“I was so incredibly proud of the journalist that she has become. It confirmed what I always knew, that she is unique, she’s special,” adviser Jason Block said.

According to Block, Ayse showed her specialness during her junior year when she began taking on “bigger stories.”

“A lot of high school journalists have big ideas,” Block said. “Ayse is the rare one that turns the ideas into a finished product that is every bit as much as what the idea was, whereas with most kids the idea is huge and the final product is something less than that. With her, that’s never the case, if anything it’s bigger than the original idea. A lot of kids have vision, Ayse has the ability to make that vision a reality.”

Block notes one story that really stood out on a student who immigrated from Turkey. The depth and emotion that she went into was incredible, but the one thing I remember is Ayse sifting through an hour and a half interview she did with the student, all in Turkish. Afterward, she transcribed the whole thing and then translated it into English.

Another day, I remember she was working on a story about a referendum in Mt. Prospect that would heavily affect the middle schools in District 57, specifically Lincoln Middle School. She asked everyone on staff if they had a tape measure. Confused, I asked what for, and Ayse responded that she needed to measure a classroom at Lincoln for her story.

Being a journalist that likes working with numbers and statistics, Ayse attributes her ability to collect data such as this and formulate it into a story to her four years on the debate team. She says many of the skills

NEWS 3

FTE Reduction: Study hall increase CONTINUED from front page

EN‘JOY’ING LIFE: Seniors Ayse Eldes (left) and Connor Graver (right) work on the live broadcast of a basketball game. Working on the broadcasts is one of many jobs Eldes has as an editor-in-chief of the Prospector. (photo by Erik Velazquez) she uses doing research on debate translates to journalism very well.

From debate, she found a different understanding of journalism.

“After a certain point, my reason for doing journalism became more than I like writing or that I’m good at writing,” Ayse said.

“It became more about how I saw how people could spread information so eloquently, and I thought that it was so vital. … It’s a way of democratizing information. I like the idea of being a part of democracy like that.”

However, being an important member of both the debate team and the newspaper staff has not taken away from her time helping other people.

“I’ve rarely seen a student who got less of their work done in class because she was busy working with everybody else,” Block said.

This is true, but Ayse’s helping hand isn’t limited to the classroom. Being an extremely compassionate leader, she makes it a point to sit down and talk to people when she notices something might be off.

“Obviously [personal issues are] not something I can fix for the Prospector, but that’s something that I can sit down and talk with [staff members] regardless of deadlines,” Ayse said. “Be like, ‘Hey let’s forget that you and I are on a staff. Let’s just remember that you and I are students at the same school and friends.’ I obviously can’t fix what’s happening, but I want to hear what’s going on.”

Despite being named the IJOY among other statewide and nationwide awards, Ayse says she isn’t done. Being named the IJOY is a milestone for her, a reassurance that hard work and taking risks can pay off.

“You know that saying, ‘It’s about the journey.’ I feel like gosh I’ve grasped the journey. I get it now. I get that the hard work that I’m putting in I’m putting in the right way.”

I, and probably everyone else around her, know that there is definitely more to come, so Mr. and Mrs. Eldes, make more room on the shelf because you’re going to need it.

these students that are being pulled out of these electives; study halls help students be involved in our communities, be involved in ... extracurriculars, [and] have that balance.

“As we see more and more students being stressed, overwhelmed, hospitalized, having anxiety issues [and] taking more AP classes … we want to make sure that they are finding balance. And the way to find balance is to have time in your day to get some stuff done. So it’s a shift, and it’s a shift to having more study halls which is actually going to lead to an overall healthier student.”

Lozano can see the benefit of having a study hall, as she is on the tennis team and often finds it hard to get her homework done afterwards.

“Usually on game days I get home really late, so I don’t have a lot of time to do homework, so if I had a study hall, that would help [me] get it done before I even get out of school,” Lozano said.

While more students being put into study halls is a side effect of this issue, Collins believes that there are positive and negative impacts of this situation.

“People are definitely upset because they signed up for classes,” Collins said. “But it really is normal that you don’t always get the things you’re requesting every single year. This year is not that much different [in that sense], it’s just impacting more students. And we’re always advocating for students to find that balance and really create opportunities where they are taking classes they truly want to and have a way to reduce that stress and anxiety.

“So looking at it as a negative thing is going to feel negative, but if you look positively at it, you’ll realize that maybe there are some benefits to it too.”

4 OPINION

staff EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Ayse Eldes, Amanda Stickels

COPY EDITORS Grace Givan, Ryan Kupperman Danny Ryerson ONLINE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Kate Hyland ASSOCIATE ONLINE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Wyatt Dojutrek NEWS EDITORS Blanca Estrada, Grace Baldino OPINION EDITOR Anthony Romanelli ENTERTAINMENT EDITORS Jenna Koch FEATURES EDITORS Mackenzie Noelle, Elizabeth Keane Manisha Panthee SPORTS EDITORS Anthony Santangelo, Rick Lytle VISUALS EDITORS Erik Velazquez, Mara Nicolaie Maddy Lee STAFF WRITERS Olivia Kim, Cameron Sullivan Jake Terpins, Abby McKenna Madison Manczko, Adriana Briscoe Joey Delahunty, Brendan Burke Marissa Provenzale, Ryan Barich Rachel Zurbuch, Tommy Carrico Genevieve Karutz, Alyssa Schulz Shannon McGovern, Drew Babin-Moreno

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

ADVERTISING For ad rates, call (847) 718 5376 (ask for Ayse Eldes or Amanda Stickels), fax (847) 718 5306, email or write the Prospector, 801 West Kensington Rd., Mount Prospect, IL, 60056, prospectornow@gmail.com.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Drop off letters to the Prospector in the box in the library, in room 216 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.

Campus threats demand introspection On Tuesday, April 2, a message on the ening behavior would manifest in a place wall found in the women’s bathroom was like PHS where staff and students seem reported to campus security. The message so aware of current events. Correspondthreatened a school shooting that was to ingly, we feel that it is inferred that peotake place on Friday, April 5. Immediateple exposed to such events would have a ly after the threat on April 2 was reported, clearer image of the line between approcampus security reviewed video of everypriate and inappropriate. Therefore, they body who had entered and left the bathshould be held responsible for censoring room and quickly identified and searched themselves when needed. Despite the imthe student responsible, portance of this, a sewhere they found a marklect few have violated er of the same type and this unspoken rule. color in their backpack.

This is more unJust over two weeks settling considering prior, on March 15, a the recent push to instudent on bus route 7 crease and develop seclaimed to have a weapcurity in the past year on. After other students or two. As active and on the bus reported the attentive members threat to the bus driver, within the school, we the bus driver pulled over have witnessed PHS Voting results of the and called the police. The demonstrate time and Prospector staff in police then searched the time again that they student, as well as the regards to this editorial. have nothing but sturest of the bus, and condents’ safety in mind. firmed that there was no weapon.

Furthermore, while many of the peoAfter a thorough investigation by the ple responsible for the violent, nationschool and the police, it was concluded wide tragedies can be linked to mental that in both scenarios there was no credhealth issues, it is our belief, as well as ible threat. Although having multiple the belief of Principal Greg Minter, that threats so close to each other, in a place the incidents at Prospect were a result of so crucial to our lives, is frightening, the very poor-tasted jokes or a desire for atmost disturbing thing is that they took tention. To clarify, this is not to demean place just a few months after 2018 ended, any sort of mental or personal problem which was deemed “the worst year for US the students responsible may have, but school shootings” by BBC News. only to express our concern with the inHaving watched the events and afterformation accessible to us. math of the Parkland and Santa Fe High We, the Prospector, feel that our adSchool shootings (unfortunately, only ministration has proven that they are two of many incidents that occurred that doing everything they can to maintain year), it is truly alarming that this threata safe environment. However, the only

1

Against

17

For

way we can sustain an atmosphere that supports comfort and success is if the responsibility falls on both the school and the students alike. As we would relate the actions of an administrator to that of the whole administration, we relate the actions of those few students to the student body.

With the incident on April 2, we applaud the students who immediately reported the threat to security. However, the incident on March 15 portrayed clear ignorance in the way we as a student body joke with each other, as well as our failure to censor those around us. We feel that the student body has not done their part in upholding our values. We strongly believe every person has the responsibility to act accordingly for the common good.

While these threats are both horrible and frightening, the past is the past and we can only hope to learn from it. Despite the fear and disappointment, we remain hopeful for the future, as both incidents were immediately reported to the proper authorities by other students. We hope that more and more students will recognize and step-up if they come across something out of the ordinary or concerning. “[Administration] definitely want[s] kids to ... make sure that things are known. Don’t assume that somebody already knows. Make sure that if you see something or know something, make sure you tell an adult about it,” Minter said.

“I think it’s also important for people to be kind to one another — to make sure that everyone is feeling welcome and accepted at school and to look out for one another.”

Staff Editorial

ASSOCIATE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Connor Graver

prospectornow.com

APRIL12, 2019

Making the case for teen love I

t was Jan. 5 when I first our significant other and hardsaw his picture. His name ly staying awake in class the on Tinder appeared as next day, watching a movie in Bobby, and he attended Central theaters with their arm slowCollege in Iowa. His first mesly creeping onto our shoulder, sage to me wasn’t like others on and doodling their name on our Tinder. While other guys sent school notebook.

Nonetheless, I consider it an inappropriate message, his message made my heart to be more than flutter. He complimentthat. To me, love is ed my smile, and no one when you can sit in silence without had ever done that. it being awkward, I decided to give him a chance. My only when you’re able intent with him was to talk to someone about deep things, to talk and become seek reassurance, friends, but that started to change. and when no matAs we continued to ter how many talk, I soon found out times you fight, BLANCA that “Bobby’s” actual you still are by ESTRADA name was Romeo. He each other’s side. attended Naperville Sociology Executive North High School; he teacher Kristen News Editor wants to pursue a caRay, she believes that teenagers are reer in film directing, capable of falling in love. Howand his favorite singer is Logic.

Although it had been only a ever, she mentions that it’s a few days, I fell in love with this different love they feel to the one boy. adults feel.

I know what you’re thinking.

“For teenagers, they probably Blanca, you’re only 18. You’ve don’t want to take the time for known him for a few days. You’re the relationship to develop,” said too young to fall in love. How do Ray. “For adults, they are investyou know it isn’t infatuation that ing more time because when you you are feeling? Do you know get to a certain age, people are what love is? looking for their life partner.”

It’s a given reality that some Yes, most teenagers don’t individuals believe that teenagtake the time needed for the relaers are incapable of “falling in tionship to develop, but it doesn’t love.” They believe we’re mismean that every teenager does taking “love” for infatuation; this. Romeo and I took time and however, I’m not. Why? because we didn’t rush things. We knew I comprehend the difference bethat if it’s meant to happen, it tween love and infatuation. will happen when the time is right. When someone is conWhen you’re infatuated, you constantly find a reason to bestantly rushing things or trying lieve the person is the one for to force it to happen, it might end you. You believe they’re perup ruining things. fect, and when you find out they Romeo and I had an abunaren’t, you move on. However, dance of fights; however, we when you’re in love, you realize never stayed mad at each other that they aren’t perfect, but it because we recognized that we doesn’t matter. made each other better even I understood Romeo wasn’t through the darkest of times. perfect on the fourth day. His We realized that it’s not about living situation wasn’t ideal and finding someone that won’t fight his ex treated him poorly. He had with you. It’s about finding the problems like everyone else, but person that will be there wiping I didn’t give up on him just beyour tears away, and who will never leave no matter how hard cause the situation wasn’t ideal. things get. In reality, perfect love People consider “teenage does not exist. No relationship is love” to be staying up late for

YOUNG AND IN LOVE: Editor Blanca Estrada poses during her first date with her ex-boyfriend. Estrada shares her observations about teen love. (photo courtesy of Blanca Estrada) perfect. You just have to know in your heart that the person you are with is truly worth fighting for.

You can be in a relationship for two years and feel absolutely nothing, but you can be in a relationship for two months and feel everything.

There are some individuals that believe the first four months is just infatuation, but they’re mistaken. Romeo was the one person I could rely on to make my day better, and make me smile.

Time doesn’t define when you fall in love with someone, it’s your heart that does. Age doesn’t determine when you fall in love.

Everyone is capable of falling in love at a young age it’s just whether you find the right person to make you feel that way.

In the end, our relationship didn’t work out. I’m not mad nor upset. I’m just disappointed we couldn’t work out our differences. I really thought he was the one in which I was going to

spend the rest of my life with; however, I was wrong. During the two months we were together, I was the happiest I’ve ever been. Each day was like I was living in a fairytale, but our fairytale did not have a happy ending.

I still love him. Love doesn’t go away from day to night, in a couple of days, nor weeks. No matter how hard I try to push these feelings away, my heart will still flutter for him when I see him. Does he feel the same way?

I don’t know, but I want him to be happy in whatever direction he goes on with his life. He was my first everything, and I wouldn’t want it to be anyone else. So, Romeo, if by any chance you’re reading this, thank you.

Thank you for showing me what love is, that I’m capable of falling in love, and that teenage love exists.

Overall, thank you for our little infinity that you gave me within the number of days.

prospectornow.com

FEATURES 5

APRIL 12, 2019

Silent exposure

Teen viewership increases online porn ratings AYSE ELDES Editor-in-Chief *name changed for confidentiality

S

enior George Thomas was 11 years old when he encountered his first pop-up.

He was gaming online when, suddenly, the screen crowded with ads — an explicit photo of woman caught his attention. Startled by the image, Thomas went on to search about it.

“It was really weird because it was like something I hadn’t seen before in my life,” Thomas said. “So it was a pretty vivid experience for me.”

Nowadays, online advertisements to pornography websites don’t surprise Thomas.

Not only does he feel that his friends have a wide exposure to such material, but he also often encounters allusions to pornography on social media pages.

As media streaming platforms have become an inevitable milestone of the 21st century, access to explicit online material, pornography websites in particular, have assumed a bigger financial influence on the U.S. economy than platforms such as Netflix. According to Quartz Magazine, the online pornography industry is making as much as an estimated $97 billion each year compared to Netflix’s $11.7 billion.

Part of this booming industry’s growth is exposure to viewers at a young age, even if initially unintentional as in Thomas’ case.

In fact, Psychology Today reports 30 percent of online material as pornographic, a reality paired with 90 percent of males and 60 percent of females reporting encountering internet porn by the age of 18. While the American Psychology Association found that the average age of an internet user’s exposure to pornography fell around 13 years old in 2017, this number is disputed to be as low as 11. Regardless, the New York Times reports that American teenagers watch more pornography than adults suspect.

AP Psychology teacher Daria Schaffeld, who briefly covers the psychology of sexual motivation in her class, pointed to the cultural change around pornography that has increased viewership. First, pornography in general has adopted a vague definition; a definition previously limited to explicit photos and magazines has now expanded to a variety of online footage with the growth of technology and sophisticated media.

Schaffeld explained that the experience being sought through consuming this media is more intense through online videos, which is why these websites have grown as their magazine counterparts have diminished. The difference between having regulated print access and unlimited online access is specifically what marks the difference between the current youth’s experience with this material compared to previous generations. While stores selling adult content are legally required to check identification and age before transactions, internet access doesn’t contain such access barriers. Even a simple URL typo between whitehouse.gov and whitehouse.com means the difference between a government web-

site and pornographic videos. Health teacher Aaron Marnstein highlights how these similar website domains are intended to draw in users on accident.

Marnstein points out that during his teenage experience, getting ahold of magazines and video tapes, especially pornographic material, required more work than any student has to go through now.

“Nowadays, our school gives you a device to access that whenever you want,” Marnstein said. “Granted, you’re not going to access that at school … but unfettered access to wifi somewhere else gives it to you.”

The impact is hard to gauge. Schaffeld shared a study done by Indiana University which found that increasing individual pornography viewership may not necessarily change behavior to be aggressive, but instead attitude and expectations can be unrealistic and sexually inappropriate. Senior Nathan Kowalski observes that unique attitude of his peers through conversations.

“I think [pornography is] definitely prevalent in our culture,” Kowalski said. “Even like locker room talk, you can tell that people have become desensitized to that sort of explicit content.”

Kowalski feels casual student conversations can often be sexually insensitive.

Sometimes students around him try to assert knowledge dominance on the subject.

The problem with this, Kowalski feels, is the knowledge obtained through online pornography is not credible in the first place.

“I mean it’s a production; it’s fake, and so much is fake,” Kowalski said. “I would say that the knowledge they’re gaining is knowledge because it is a thing, but it’s … skewed, it’s completely fake.”

Marnstein often has students in his health classes who come in with this knowledge.

“I’m amazed at these [students] I’ve taught health, not how much more my students know about that, but how much they know about it and ask me things that I’m like, “Dude, I don’t even know what that is,’” Marnstein said.

In one instance, when a student asked him a question during their reproductive health unit, Marnstein responded he didn’t understand what the student was talking about. The student and his peers firmly warned Marnstein not to Google search it, fearing that the content would be too graphic for their teacher.

Marnstein’s biggest concern with this unfiltered knowledge is unrealistic expectations in relationships. Because online pornography is a production, he has to remind students that the acted scenarios portray social situations and responses that are not natural.

“I use this analogy in class all the time: a pizza delivery boy shows up to your house and delivers pizza and then goes. In pornography, a delivery boy shows up and has sex. That doesn’t happen,” Marnstein said. “That’s not the norm, but viewing this repeatedly makes them think that’s the norm.”

Kowalski can attest that some of his friends have approached situations with unreal expectations about themselves or partners from what they’ve watched online, specifically expectations of sexual experiences.

“Just unreal expectations about sex in general – going back to like the desensitizing, I think it makes them more likely to seek out

those things to satisfy that sort of need that they have,” Kowalski said.

Marnstein and Kowalski attribute pornography access to relieving curiosity.

Now whenever younger individuals have a question or are looking to know more about sexual activity, a phone screen allows more privacy than asking an adult does. Kowalski feels that viewing pornographic material online is a way for younger people to dodge social anxieties behind talking to adults.

“I don’t think they feel comfortable talking to their parents. I don’t think they feel comfortable talking to their teachers,” Marnstein said. “They feel very comfortable talking to their friends, and the anonymity of being able to access that information allows them to get the answers they need. But like anything on the internet, every source you go to is ‘the most reputable’ source.”

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Thomas noted that watching pornography can cause people to seek out relationships less. Deeming it “hermit culture,” Thomas stated this easy access to these false pornographic relationships reduces the push to leave one’s comfort zone and seek a real-life relationship.

“I think it’s also like an excuse for people to not go out there,” Thomas said. “It’s definitely created like this like hermit nature that some men just stay inside and watch porn an all day.”

The prevalence of watching pornography, however, is not often discussed in the classroom setting. According to Marnstein, although the Health curriculum doesn’t have a portion dedicated to pornography literacy, he tries to answer questions that come up about the topic.

If educating students on the topic was mandated by the state, Marnstein sees potential problems. For one thing, some may view teaching about pornography as acknowledging or endorsing this activity.

Similarly, Shaffeld shared that, although the unit is very brief, some teachers across the country skip the sexual motivation unit in the AP Psych curriculum.

“They just don’t do it, and I can understand that,” Shaffeld said. “Given the 23 years of doing this, I never had any fall out because I’m teaching ... research based knowledge, then they have to make a decision as to what they do in practice.”

Seeing the concerns around discussing this material in a classroom setting, Kowalski, who strongly objects to watching pornographic material, wishes the topic had been brought up when he was younger. “[Teens] get stuck in a loop, and they can’t get out of it because they don’t know how,” Kowalski said. “So I definitely think it’s something that should be addressed even from an early age. When we have the sex talk in like fifth grade, bring this up.”

When leavi n g

2012: 120,517 hours

2010: 22,882 hours

2008: 5,369 HouRS

out discussions about pornography and masturbation from the classroom, Senior *Gina Lewis points to an associated shame with these activities, especially among females.

In male friend groups, Lewis agrees with Thomas and Kowalski that pornography is talked about bluntly. Among female students, Lewis picks up on subtle allusions to her friends watching pornography but never feels that they are confident enough to talk about it or say they have watched explicit material.

“I feel like it’s more taboo for like girls to talk about it,” Lewis said. “I feel like guys assume, they’re like, ‘Oh girls don’t like pornography or like they don’t [watch it].’”

This reality may be an outcome of general culture around addressing female sexuality. Lewis compared it to exaggerated reactions to a short dress or exposed arms.

On a wider scale, Lewis is concerned that if students aren’t educated in depth about pornography, the silence can lead to unaddressed questions for teens. During her first experiences with pornography, Lewis assumed she had done “wrong” activities because these topics were not talked about during health presentations in elementary school or middle school.

“I was like, am I supposed to like say this in confession? Like I didn’t know. … Because it’s so taboo. No one ever talks about it. And so then if a few people are doing it, you’re like, is this wrong?” Lewis said. “No one should feel wrong about it. Like it’s human nature. … But if it’s never taught, or it’s never talked about, you do feel shameful.”

2016: 476,291 hours

2014: 196,351 hours

CLICKBAIT: A prominent pornography website, PornHub, recently released the hours of videos they’ve uploaded to their website in the last decade. Due to an increased demand of videos, the website has dramatically increased their content.

6 IN-DEPTH

prospectornow.com

APRIL 12, 2019

www.phs-traverse.com/

traverse

Dual citizenship allows cultural connections RACHEL ZURBUCH Staff Writer Junior Brianna Rider-Leiner spends her summer hanging out with friends. They go to each other’s houses and pools, eat out tat small restaurants, take walks and occasionally hit the mall, but Rider-Leiner’s friends are Spaniards, and she’s where she’s spent part of her summers since she was six months old — Córdoba, Spain.

Because Rider-Leiner’s dad was born in Spain, she has dual citizenship between the U.S. and Spain, meaning she has two passports. Although the U.S. technically does not recognize dual citizenship, most of the European Union does, according to Rider-Leiner.

Many U.S. citizens like Rider Leiner hold dual citizenship and have to balance their lives between their nationality there and nationality here in the U.S. While there, Rider-Leiner visits her dad’s family, which lives in Spain. It includes aunts, uncles and her five first cousins, along with 100 to 200 second cousins.

“It’s really a big emphasis on family values,” Rider-Leiner said.

She and her family do things such as mini-vacations to the beach and coastal cities, such as Barcelona, and to late-night festivals such as Feda, which is a celebration held every week, which is different in each town.

Sophomore Angela Vladimirova also has dual citizenship in the U.S. and Bulgaria, where she goes every summer for a month to visit all of her extended family. Her and her family do “normal family things” such as picnics, dinners, talking together and more.

She also gets to visit other neighboring countries like Romania, Serbia, Greece, Macedonia and Turkey since they’re all a part of the European Union, as well as travel around Bulgaria.

Vladimirova feels that she is a citizen in Bulgaria, even though she doesn’t live there. She knows her way around and is a part of the culture, going as far as speaking Bulgarian. However, she isn’t considered a “local” because of her accent and time in America, which makes it noticeable to Bulgarian natives.

“I think I’m seen as an outsider,” Vladimirova said. “When people see me, they’re like, ‘Oh, the Americans are here.’’’

Rider-Leiner says that she is still working on perfecting her Spanish. She considers herself pretty much fluent, but sometimes she has natives repeat a conversation or two to her if they said it too fast.

Both Vladimirova and Rider-Leiner enjoy the fact that they can live in other countries because of their dual citizenship.

“It gives me the opportunity to live in Spain anytime I want,” Rider-Leiner said.

Prospect parent Irena Shahova, who moved to the U.S. from Bul-

garia in 2007, also likes that she has options of living in the U.S. or Bulgaria.

Shahova has enjoyed coming to the U.S. and experiencing a new culture in her life. When she arrived in the U.S., everything was different for her: the culture, way of living, people and even basic interactions.

“This has opened my mind,” Shahova said. “[It has changed] my way of view for a lot of things.”

Her family visits Bulgaria as often as they can over the summer, although sometimes only her daughters go for the summer. She wants her daughters to be able to experience Bulgaria’s culture — especially learning the Bulgarian language — and way of living.

For example, her daughters take public transportation by themselves and learn to rely on themselves, as they are more independent in Bulgaria than the U.S. Shahova also wants them to visit their grandparents and feel close to them.

Her daughter, freshman Denista Shahova, loves that she gets the opportunity to keep on visiting Bulgaria.

“I see myself as all Bulgarian,” Denista said. “That’s my nationality.”

She would definitely consider going back and living in Bulgaria one day when she’s an adult. Vladimirova, on the other hand, while she loves being able to visit Bulgaria, finds it nicer here to live since that’s where she grew up.

Both the Shahovas and Vladimirova try to keep their Bulgarian culture in the U.S. Irena and Denista go to Bulgarian churches, watch Bulgarian TV and celebrate Bulgarian holidays. They also try to follow some U.S. traditions, though not all of them. Vladimirova celebrates Bulgarian traditions as well.

Sophomore Max Zurniewicz has citizenship in the U.S., Poland and Germany. This is because his parents were born in Poland and lived in Germany during their life as well. He has grown up going to Polish school, speaking Polish and celebrating Polish traditions.

Vladimirova believes that having dual citizenship has made her understand that people are from many different places and how that changes them.

“I’ve [been] able to see that there are many differences and so many different cultures, and that can play a big role in how a person develops,” Vladimirova said.

Zurniewicz likes that he is able to see other places and experience other cultures.

“Not a lot of people travel to Europe and get that opportunity,” Zurniewicz said. “I’m really lucky.”

Similarly, Vladimirova is grateful that having dual citizenship allows her to have a relationship with her culture, traditions and family and know another type of people and culture.

“It’s a second home,” Vladimirova said. “It’s in my blood.”

Where would

Grads journey over borders MANISHA PANTHEE Features Editor

O

ut of an entire semester’s worth of memories and experiences, Spanish teacher Molly Klein’s favorite memory while studying abroad in Spain was time spent with her foster family.

“My favorite part was my foster mom,” Klein said.

“She was the best cook. Every student said that about their foster mom, but mine was the best.”

According to the Association of International Educators, the number of U.S. students studying abroad was 332,727 in the 2016-17 school year — a much greater proportion than the 45 thousand US students pursuing a degree abroad.

In fact, from Student Services surveys taken 201218, only five Prospect seniors indicated that they would be attending a university out of the U.S. Studying abroad, which is usually run through a university in one’s home country, allows a student to live in a foreign country and attend a foreign college.

According to Study.com, these programs range from one semester to up to a year.

Study abroad programs are usually structured with U.S. students in mind, while classes for an international degree may not adhere to U.S. standards, according to U.S. News.

Obtaining a degree abroad requires a student to actually apply to a particular university. Opening up

international choices adds hundreds of schools to the already large list of universities in the U.S. Having been inspired by her cousin, Helena Knight, junior Kaitlyn Knight hopes to study at Ryerson University in Canada, although nothing is set in stone. She wants to become a teacher, so she would like to see the educational systems of other countries.

After graduating from John Hersey High School in 2005, Helena went to University of San Diego and eventually studied medicine in Grenada in the Caribbean for one year.

A major reason she is glad to have studied abroad is learning about the types of medicine available in the country, which are very different than those in the U.S. Although studying abroad is a choice for some, it is necessary for others. Klein studied abroad in the city of Granada, Spain because at Illinois Wesleyan, Spanish majors like Klein were required to study abroad for one semester.

Fortunately, Klein saw it less as a requirement and more as an experience.

“If you have the opportunity to study abroad, you have to do it,” Klein said. “You grow as a person. You become independent and confident.”

With that said, she had many hesitations about leaving the country for the first time. At the time, it was difficult to miss a season of track, but ultimately, she believes that she made the right decision.

As her foster family did not speak any English, and all of her classes were in Spanish, Klein quickly

Top Four Countries U.S. Stu

United Kingdom

U.S. students: 39,851

Italy

U.S. students: 35,366

U.S. stu

prospectornow.com

IN-DEPTH 7

APRIL 12, 2019

/chooseyourdestination

traverse

Best of the best: top 5 US airports, ranked

d you like to go?

WYATT DOJUTREK Associate Online Editor-in-Chief

Whether you are visiting the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Christ Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro or taking in the bright lights of New York City, a stop at the airport is required before you do any of those things.

Look, I know you all want to just take off, land and be on your merry way, but an experience at an airport can make or break a trip.

It’s time to put these airports to the test. I will be ranking my top five airports in the U.S. I’m judging these facilities based on amenities, overall look, convenience for travelers and the amount and frequency of delays and cancellations.

So, let’s get ready for takeoff. Fasten your seatbelts, as here are my top five airports in the United States of America.

McCarran

5. International Airport

Photo courtesy of Kaitlyn Knight

s for opportunity abroad immersed herself into the language and the culture.

A big difference Klein noticed between Spain and the U.S. was siesta hour. From 12 to two p.m., and even later in some places, all businesses shut down and everyone took naps and relaxed.

“It’s not so much hustle and bustle,” Klein said. “[Overall], everyone is very relaxed and social.”

Similar to Klein, there were many other international students at her school. As English was not everyone’s first language, the one thing that all of those students had in common was Spanish.

She remembers that one student was also from Illinois Wesleyan.

An advantage for students studying abroad is that they can receive support and resources from their home university.

This is not true of obtaining a degree abroad, although there are benefits to either option.

One reason students go to college abroad is the availability of tuition-free colleges. In 2014, tuition fees in Germany were abolished for all public schools, so both domestic and international students only have to pay a small fee each semester.

This is in contrast to public schools in the U.S: the average total cost for in-state residents is $9,970 while out-of-state residents pay $25,620. In addition to U.S. schools such as the University of Wisconsin, senior Kelly Clesi has applied to the University of Berlin.

Additionally, while applying to college may not be as complex abroad, the process differs greatly in many countries, according to IvyWise. The U.S. is known for its holistic process: placing emphasis on an applicant as a whole, including academics, extracurriculars and learning environment.

In China, however, applicants take a test similar to the SAT, which serves as the only factor in admission to China’s best universities.

According to Study Domain, applicants must submit, in addition to the usual paperwork, a copy of their passports, so the school can issue a visa letter and a financial statement to show that they can pay for living expenses.

In Germany, international students must submit proof of proficiency in the German language, as most courses are taught in German. This is similar to the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) in the U.S. While tuition is certainly a factor in choosing to study abroad, Clesi has other reasons to apply.

Although her family is from Germany and she has heard much about the country, Clesi has never been.

If she chooses to go to Berlin, Clesi knows she will have difficulties, such as currency exchange and communication in general. Despite this, she is excited to meet different people and experience a different culture.

“I hope to gain a better knowledge of the world around me,” Clesi said. “I definitely believe [Germany] will be different than what I’m used to.”

udents Study Abroad In

Spain udents: 31,230

Photos courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

France U.S. students: 16,462

*information courtesy of Institute of International Learning

To start with, if you are 21 or older, you can gamble right outside of your gate. McCarran has numerous slot machines throughout the terminals.

Besides having the same amenities as a casino, McCarran is the third largest focus city for Southwest Airlines, meaning that you can fly to over 50

destinations on Southwest.

And for those who want to just head off to the casino floor at Caesar’s Palace, the airstrip is only five miles away from the Las Vegas Strip. Convenient.

Dallas-Fort Worth

4. International Airport Plopped in the middle between two large cities, DFW might be a bit of a drive away, but once you walk in, it makes that drive all worth it. For one thing, you can practically fly to most places in the U.S. and lots of countries all over the world, as DFW is the largest hub for American Airlines. And, if you’re hungry and have time on your

hands, DFW has a great food lineup including a California Pizza Kitchen and Chick-Fil-A. Also, it’s worth noting that Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport is larger than Manhattan.

San Diego International

3. Airport

When it comes to proximity, you cannot beat the single runway airport.

Literally, if you are on the left side of the airplane when flying there, keep your windows open when you are about to land. Anyways, downtown San Diego is only three miles away.

While the easy commute at Lindbergh Field (which is its nickname) is very nice, the interior of the airport is just as nice.

Portland International

2. Airport

One of the fastest growing airports in terms of destinations served, PDX has recently become an important hub for Alaska Airlines and now has flights to destinations across both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Located near both interstates and a light rail station, getting to downtown Portland should not be of any concern. The in-

1.

side of PDX is just as nice, with many fine dining options available. And for those over the age of 21, PDX has a distillery tasting room inside the airport.

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport

PHX is a base/focus city for two of the largest carriers America has to offer, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines. While it does not have the largest international route map, PHX flys to just about any major city in the U.S. What really stands out is that not only do they have a train that transfers you between terminals, it is also close to downtown Phoenix. The typical dry Phoenix climate usually means

that your flight will be on time. And that is the most important thing of all. Besides that, PHX has wonderful dining choices that include restaurants serving tacos and chicken and waffles. PHX might be the most underrated but the nicest airport the United States has to offer.

So there you have it, if you happen to be heading to any of these five truly fantastic airports, send me a picture to my email, wdojutrek9137@stu.d214.org.

8 FEATURES

APRIL 12, 2019

prospectornow.com

Alum turns to YouTube, not clickbait BRENDAN BURKE Staff Writer

I

n February 2007, a YouTube channel by the name of LiamKyleSullivan released two videos, called “Muffins” and “Shoes,” attracting 89 million views in total. These videos were of the creators doing silly skits that could be shared for the world to see. One of those millions of viewers was PHS alum Keaton Keller, aged nine.

Keller instantly became starstruck and inspired by these videos, leading him to begin his own YouTube channel. Today, he is one of most widely-known tech YouTubers with over 3.3 million subscribers to his channel, TechSmartt.

Keller started TechSmartt in December 2010 at 13 years old and has loved every moment of creating his own unique content.

However, having a growing YouTube channel in the middle of his high school career left Keller bullied by many of his peers and very self-conscious about his channel in general.

He learned to ignore the rude remarks and decided to put more time into creating intriguing content for his viewers. He had accumulated roughly 450,000 subscribers by the time he graduated from Prospect in 2015.

“Most people in the school watched my channel to make fun of it,” Keller said. “I never really gained respect until I was 17, and I was more or less [verbally] beat the s*** out of.”

THINK TECHSMARTT(ER) Prospect alum Keaton Keller talks about his YouTube success to the App Development class on March 11. Keaton’s channel, TechSmartt, has over 3.3 million subscribers on YouTube. (photo by Brendan Burke) Keller remembers hearing in his classes “turn on TechSmartt” at least three times a day because students would just laugh at his videos.

“Keaton didn’t care what other people thought,” Keller’s former WOC teacher Erik Hammerstrom said. “He stuck to his guns, stuck to his passion and followed what he loved.”

On one of Keller’s recent trips home to Chicago from Santa Barbara, he visited Prospect on March 11 to speak to students that are aspiring to be creators or involved in business. He is currently writing a book that is scheduled to release next year about how to start a YouTube channel.

Before Keller started his immensely success-

ful tech channel, he created the channel boyzinbluu0 in 2008. All of the videos he posted were gameplay of “Runescape,” an old online role-playing video game.

After about two years of uploading to boyzinbluu0, Runescape experienced a slow decline in popularity and caused Keller to create a channel that was based more around his huge interest in technology by reviewing apps and phones.

He used his fascinations to create a channel that had more video possibilities, and all of his equipment was purchased by working at the Mount Prospect UPS Store.

“It was always being a gear and tech aficionado [that inspired me],” Keller said.

“Just always wanting to be on the cutting edge of the latest and greatest [technology] out there.”

Keaton’s father, Matt Keller, remembers thinking that YouTube was just a way for Keaton to express himself online. He had no idea that Keaton would turn it into an entire career.

Matt remembers seeing Keaton’s passion for creating content because he would sometimes stay up until midnight on school nights just to finish editing and publishing his videos.

“My wife and I took [Keaton] to a tech conference in Chicago when he was 14,” Matt said. “He would talk with 30 year olds about business, and it made me realize that [YouTube] was so much more than a hobby for him.”

According to Keaton, his channel took off in 2013 when he was a sophomore at Prospect. Hammerstrom remembers Keaton going off to conferences in Las Vegas at 15 years old. “[I heard] all about his success with his videos when he was at Prospect,” Hammerstrom said. “I was proud to see him so passionate towards something.”

Today, Keaton is proud to see his content being taken seriously by the YouTube community. He only attended one semester of college because of his success. In 2018, the TechSmartt channel made $2.6 million.

“It’s weird being recognized,” Keaton said. “I get recognized once a day; I can’t go into an Apple store without getting [asked for] a picture, and it’s amazing that that’s what my channel became.”

TechSmartt has grown into an entire business that owns 50 other tech-based YouTube channels. Two of the most popular channels are PB Jams and EverythingApplePro. However, Keaton is involved in more than just YouTube. He has an online merchandise brand called “Strange” and business offices in California and Chicago.

Keaton’s fans love the humor and content in all of his videos because it keeps them intrigued.

“I like [Keaton’s] channel because it’s informative and funny at the same time,” freshman Jakub Nosal said. “It’s entertaining, but you’re still learning something.”

Keaton looks to motivate any aspiring YouTubers because he wants them to know that anybody can do it.

“I’m living proof that if you chase your dreams and work hard enough at anything, it will happen,” Keaton said.

Integrative medicine rises to fame among students OLIVIA KIM Staff Writer A debilitating pain in the head so immense that it causes nausea and throbbing pain throughout the body. This affliction is known as a migraine: something that Freshman Jayden Hubbe-Faso experienced every two weeks since before she was seven years old.

This painful routine continued until she started getting acupuncture.

Acupuncture is one of the most popular therapies under integrative medicine, a mix of alternative and Western medical practices. Other integrative medicine therapies include medicinal herbs, acupressure, cupping, aromatherapy, hypnotherapy and more.

Integrative medicine, which was formerly known as alternative medicine, is defined as any healing process that is not typically included in Western medical curricula.

According to a study done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 38.3 percent of adults and 11.8 percent of children have used complementary and/or alternative medicine in the U.S. Complementary medicine, such as chiropractic, are alternative treatments that are more common in Western medicine.

Acupuncturist Mary Pat Finley has run a practice in Chicago for almost two decades and has seen a dramatic increase in the de-

mand for acupuncture in that time.

“I used to know all of the acupuncturists in the Chicago area,” Finley said. “Not anymore!”

Finley deals with a variety of issues, including headaches, muscle pains and even fertility issues.

Unlike many Western procedures and medicines, according to Finley and Hubbe-Faso, alternative and integrative medicine generally have few or no negative side effects.

Basketball coach John Camardella has acupuncture, gua sha, cupping, herbal and more treatments done regularly. He prefers these methods for recoveries because they have longer lasting effects, as opposed to many western painkillers prescribed to him like opioids or steroids. His wife, Lindy Camardella, is an acupuncturist herself.

“Your body has an unbelievable ability to heal itself,” John Camardella said. “I have felt that acupuncture helps expedite this process.”

After a knee surgery, Camardella was offered steroids to provide immediate pain relief, but they were so powerful that they made him feel disoriented.

Camardella feels that integrative medicine is more natural, and many treatments give longer-lasting results without putting strong chemicals in the body.

“Patients realize that medication has its limits and often has side effects,” Finley said.

Hubbe-Faso continued to get acupuncture done for the past three years. Once she got used to the process, she found that no other treatment had the same immediate effect as acupuncture. Her insurance also covers the treatments from the acupuncturist she visits.

Integrative medicine is not classified as standard medicine by the National Institute of Health because of deficiency in evidence, fueling skepticism. Some accredit its success to the placebo effect. The placebo effect

STICK IT TO ‘EM: Lindy Camardella gives an acupuncture treatment to a patient.

Acupuncture is one of the many forms of integrative medicine that offer alternative routes to medical treatment. (photo courtesy of Lindy Camardella) is when a patient receives a treatment, their own thoughts and expectations surrounding it end up affecting the outcome.

For example, if someone drinks a tea that is supposed to make their back stop hurting, and they are convinced that the tea does work, then the patient no longer feels pain in their back, even if the tea might not have been a medical treatment.

Placebo won’t fix someone’s spinal cord or muscles, but it can affect the brain’s reaction to these conditions and change whether it’s acknowledging pain.

However, school psychologist Dr. Jay Kyp-Johnson emphasizes that the placebo effe should not be used to discredit treatments. He explained that the fact that the immune system is able to recover better when someone’s in a more relaxed, comfortable state is still very much

healing.

Even though integrative medicine is not effective for every illness, people should “... explore all routes of treatment,” according to Kyp-Johnson. While many integrative medicine practices should be examined and researched carefully before treatment, all remedies should be approached with this same mindset.

When deciding between treatment options, it’s natural to choose the most effective option. In this modern era with advancing technology, there are so many more therapies and medicines to be wary of, but at the same time more options that could yield more positive results.

“Natural healers over the centuries have passed on information that obviously works,” Kyp-Johnson said.

“They wouldn’t be able to get away with it if it didn’t work.”

prospectornow.com

FEATURES

APRIL 12, 2019

9

Transforming Instagram post by post MARISSA PROVENZALE Staff Writer

A

dog, a foot, a flip flop and a sidewalk. What do these things all have in common? They were characteristics of the first ever Instagram post uploaded by the company’s co-founder Kevin Systrom on July 16, 2010 in Todos Santos, Mexico.

On the popular social media platform, high schoolers have shied away from posting whatever they would like, and, instead, only post “cute” photos, according to senior Kelly Wyatt. Wyatt believes that Instagram is now more edited and planned than when she first created her account in middle school.

For example, in middle school, she would post a photo of her and her dog. However, last year, Wyatt was more strict with what she was posting, in the sense that all of her posts had to match with a color theme created by filters. With that said, today she still continues to edit and plan her photos so that everything looks appealing and together on her account and not just as an individual photo.

“I like expressing myself [through Instagram],’’ Wyatt said.

“It makes me feel good about myself when my pictures look nice.”

Wyatt uses an app called VSCO to edit her photos; her preferred filter is A6. VSCO is a photo sharing app specifically intended for creative photos that also offers a variety of filters.

According to school psychologist Dr. Jay Kyp-Johnson, students and other Instagram users feel the need to share online because humans are social beings that need interaction to remain healthy, something we now receive through social media.

Senior Reagan Felt finds Instagram to be “not life changing” and found herself losing a lot of time to the app. She decided to take action by deleting her account. The deletion of her account was inspired by a conversation she had with her friends one night a couple of months ago.

“It just bothered me how it’s a fake life,” Felt said. “[Instagram today is] kind of weird, so I decided to get rid of it.”

That night, Felt and her friends discussed how some individuals change their appearance for photos to a point where people start to focus their lives around social media posts. According to Felt, the amount of time spent on the platform is purposeless.

However, while she has deleted her real profile, Felt has decided to keep her finsta. A finsta is a “fake

Instagram” account where teens post photos and videos that they only want their friends to see. Felt recalls finstas becoming more popular during her sophomore year.

Therefore, unlike this year’s seniors, underclassmen entered highschool with a preexisting culture of finstas and new photo standards. According to Kyp-Johnson, the amount of younger Instagram users is alarming because they are exposed to things that are not always appropriate for them.

According to Felt, as freshmen figure out new ways to make pictures more appealing, pressure to edit photos becomes more prevalent. The editing of photos is not the only pressure underclassmen face, as sophomore Joanna Godlewska is more careful with her posts.

Her posts are mostly with friends, dance and herself.

However, she is careful not to post too many of certain types of photos.

“I wouldn’t post that many pic-

tures of myself,” Godlewska said. “[I feel] like I would be judged or it would be uncomfortable.”

Godlewska often sees her sophomore peers traveling to downtown Chicago or to painted public walls to take pictures for Instagram. Wyatt says that her and her friends similar- l y g o downtown to take photos with the additional plan to dress nice.

“If I’m going downtown or doing something fun, a lot of times it is for pictures,” Wyatt said. “It’s kind of stupid, but it’s … the cul-

ture we have now.”

When Wyatt picks out an outfit to take photos downtown, it will be more trendy than what she typically wears to school. For example, during school, she typically wears a sweatshirt and leggings. When she goes downtown, she wears a cute top, nice pants or jeans and a jacket if it is cold. “[Instagram] used to be positive because … you’d post funny stuff,” Felt said. “Now it’s more like, ‘look how good I look.’ … people focus on the likes and comments more than the actual content.”

POST IT: Sophomore Joanna Godlewska holds up the changing face of Instagram.Teenagers are more concerned with the quality of their posts. (photo illustration

by Blanca Estrada)

School dances no longer sacred, chaperoning a grind SHANNON MCGOVERN Staff Writer

K

Special Education Instructional Assistant Jim Adair volunteered for yet another year of chaperoning Prospect’s annual Homecoming dance. But this time, his experience wasn’t as pleasant as usual.

Unlike most teachers, Adair has volunteered to chaperone school dances every year. He liked to see his students get excited and dressed up with their friends.

However, he could not believe his eyes when at the 2011 Homecoming dance, former students of his were gathered around in a circle, dancing so inappropriately that he had to say something.

“There were times when I just got right in the circle and stood there,” Adair said. “I was just like: ‘Come on, what are you doing?’”

Over the years, Adair has chaperoned a total of 25 school dances, including Homecoming, Winter Ball, Turnabout and Prom. It was always easy for him to outright tell the dancers what they could and could not do, but he never thought dancing like this would be such a problem.

“Grinding just popped into the scene one year at Homecoming,

o Wh ws o n

DIRTY DANCING: Teachers try to avoid awkward encounters while chaperoning at school dances. Student forms of dancing often cause uncomfortable situations. (cartoon by Maddy Lee) and I was mortified because that was just not, in my mind, appropriate,” Adair said.

As prom season approaches, many teachers, like Adair, look forward to chaperoning a school dance without having to confront students. With dancing becoming inappropriate at Homecoming year after year, administration was forced to do something about it. Staff who encountered this misbehavior enforced school policy through signs that read: “Stop!” or “What you are doing is not allowed.”

However,

teachers were not keen on the idea of going around and tapping on students’ shoulders to hold up a sign in their face.

According to Adair, the start of “grinding” seemed to be common once rap music became more popular. Senior Mitchell Rutledge thinks that it is because of this type of music that the dancing has become suggestive. He notices the difference between the environment at Homecoming and the one at Prom. Prom has a live band that plays little to no rap music while Homecoming has a DJ that plays

Jaime Block The Wife

Jason Block The Subject

B

Y et to u er?

Naf Naf

P

Read or watch baseball

X

Preferred Favorite way of relunch spot? laxation?

Naf Naf Going for a run

10 1/2

P Shoe size?

10 1/2

always lurking, and some teachers try and avoid it completely. Social Science teacher Jonathan Kaminsky uses his own tactics when he gets stuck chaperoning Homecoming instead of Prom.

“I was more than okay to be in the field house foyer,” Kaminsky said. “In fact, I volunteered to be in the fieldhouse foyer so I could avoid awkward encounters.”

It is known that once a kid goes into his or her high school career, it consists of insecurities in everything they do. With these insecurities, come the need to feel that they must join in on something, even when they know it is inappropriate. Teachers chaperoning these school dances understand that this affects how the kids act on the dance floor, and try to nicely guide them in the right direction.

Every teacher that comes to watch a high school dance feels the same way as the teenager across from them –– trying to avoid the possibility of awkward encounters.

“Teachers chaperoning don’t want to walk up to students and tell them they are being inappropriate,” Amedeo said. “They want you guys to have fun and not feel like we are staring at you the whole time because that is awkward for both them and us.”

Newspaper students not meeting their Wrigley Field deadlines

X

P

W I N N E R

Preferred Biggest sports stastress indium? ducer?

Grading Wrigley Field essays Missing Wrigley Field deadlines

X X X X X P

Senior Chipotle Wyatt Dojutrek The Student

mostly rap.

“The word I use is trashy; [Homecoming] is just less formal and somewhat disgusting, and so I don’t go to it anymore,” Rutledge said. “Prom has upheld the sense of class, and, with that class, it is more common for people to go.”

English teacher Lori Amedeo also notices the seriousness of going to Homecoming decreasing.

She, like Adair, also volunteers to chaperone Homecoming because she enjoys seeing her students in a different environment outside of the classroom; however, she also notices the inappropriate dancing.

When it came to her experience as a student at Elk Grove High School, Amedeo and her fellow classmates looked forward to a night of fun, wearing classy clothes and dancing comfortably, without the unpleasantness of grinding. “[Dances] were a huge thing,” Amedeo said. “They felt more special. They were a really big deal, but now it seems that [dances] are way more casual.”

Both students and staff acknowledge that the environment at Homecoming is very different from Prom. It is because of these contrasting dances that many teachers prefer to chaperon Prom.

Having to confront a student is

Read

11

10 ENTERTAINMENT

APRIL 12, 2019

prospectornow.com

Genre: confusing, arbitrary, necessary The second-most popular tag on that gets slapped on after the art is Steam and the world’s largest digialready finished. tal storefront for PC games is “acSometimes, the difference in tion,”which contains 22,634 games such a label can be so small that, at time of writing this story. It’s a to an untrained viewer, there’s no diverse descriptor; according to difference at all.

Steam, anything from “PlayerUnMetal music is infamous for beknown’s Battlegrounds” (PUBG) to ing an umbrella term for dozens of “Rocket League” is an similar subgenres. Death action game. metal and black metal However, PUBG is are two of those subgea modern third-person nres. As an average lisbattle royale shooter; tener, both sound about Skyrim is a first-perthe same — heavy drums son fantasy role-playand guitar over some guy ing game; and Rocket screaming in the backLeague can best be ground. However, there described as soccer are a few key differences with cars. Where is the between the two. similarity between all Black metal usualDANNY of these games to earn ly incorporates highRYERSON er-pitched shrieking vothe genre-placement of “action”? Surely it Copy Editor cals, while death vocals isn’t useful to have a are often lower growls. description that tries to Death metal is also “chugcover all of these genres unsucgier,” meaning that it relies more cessfully, right? heavily on rhythmic drum, bass That isn’t exactly the case. and guitar lines, whereas black While genres are often arbitrary, metal might incorporate chords confusing and sometimes even unplayed on a keyboard to create a helpful, it’s a necessary part of any less harsh, slightly more atmomedia. spheric tone.

To start, what exactly is the Death and black metal fans point of genre in the first place? To have been beefing for decades put it simply, genre is a way to catover these differences. To them, egorize media, whether that’s for the genre split is as clear as day sale purposes or just to differenti— what is “real” death metal and ate it from its competition. Genre “real” black metal couldn’t be only becomes a problem when the more obvious. It’s absolutely neclabel it places on something starts essary to understand, though, that to restrict creativity. No artist the labels placed on the music — wants to be told, “That’s too out-ofthe genres — are completely arbithe-box.” trary and vary based on perspecHowever, genre isn’t sometive. thing that is set in stone, which is To some metalheads, black metsomething that can be easily seen al and death metal are usually the in musical genres, which have same thing. As one user on Quora changed drastically over time and put it, “They’re BOTH cupcakes. morphed into one another. AcThey BOTH have green icing. cording to “The Classic Rock and They’re made from the EXACT Roll Reader” by David Lonergan same ingredients. One has sprinand William Studwell, rock music kles. That’s IT.” is influenced by a number of othIs this an objectively correct er genres such as blues, R&B and claim as to what genre is? No, country. But how are each of those absolutely not. The difference begenres defined? tween one genre and another is Take country music as an exoftentimes fuzzy enough that the ample. Country is defined as opinions of the listener and viewer taking inspiration are really all that can be from American used to differentiate folk music in between them. the Appalachian Of course, commountains, as mon sense is imwell as blues. portant too. The difCool. What is ference between American folk hip-hop and dubmusic defined as? step music isn’t Well, it includes really something a whole bunch of that needs to be other genres inside of argued over. But what itself, and it developed out of about when something technitraditional music passed down by cally fits into a genre that it otherAppalachian natives over the genwise wouldn’t? erations.

Take Valve’s 2007 hit game It’s possible to get more and “Portal,” for example. It’s usually more obsessively specific with defined as a puzzle game, but the which genres influenced each othentirety of the title from start to er to the point that they all muddle finish is presented from the protogether into a big, tangled mess, tagonist’s viewpoint, and the main and we still wouldn’t have a clear tool used to solve puzzles is the definition as to what rock music is. portal gun, which, like the name Looking back at “The Classic implies, shoots portals.

Rock and Roll Reader,” rock music The question is: with all that takes inspiration from blues, R&B, said, is Portal a first-person shootcountry, folk, jazz, classical, Cather? What differentiates what peoolic liturgical music, traditional ple usually think of as a first-perAfrican-American spirituals, narson shooter, like “Call of Duty” rative ballads, gospel music, soul from something that technically music, ragtime and dozens of othfits the definition, like Portal? er hyper-specific places — not to Again, common sense is the mention the gray areas where all answer here. Portal might techniof these genres overlap and incescally be a first-person shooter, but tuously take inspiration from each anyone who’s played it will call it other. It’s musical turtles all the a puzzle game, and anyone who’s way down, and they keep on going played Call of Duty or any other for all of human history. traditional first-person shooter However, when an artist wants will know the difference. to write new music, they don’t At the end of the day, it’s a natthink, “What genre do I want to ural instinct for fans of media to make?” They think of bands or categorize and differentiate media artists that inspire them, take elfrom each other. Genre shouldn’t ements of their music — chord be a restriction on something — at progressions, lyrical content, what the end of the day, all that matters have you — and blend them togethis perspective and common sense. er into something unique. Genre isn’t a starting point, it’s a label

SKIP INTRO: A student watches Netflix and Hulu at the same time. Inspired by Netflix’s success, other services have begun to try their own spins on streaming. (photo illustration by Kate Hyland)

Streaming services seek Netflix’s crown JOEY DELAHUNTY Staff Writer

N

etflix’s “Umbrella Academy” was released on Feb. 19, and is already IMDB’s second most popular show, only behind “Game of Thrones.” With Netflix’s consistent stream of quality content, this is no surprise.

Streaming services dominate every article and conversation about TV shows, and it’s clear why. Most people get a majority of their content from services like Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Video according to a CNBC survey from last year.

These services quickly took over how we watch TV and film, and Netflix is often credited with putting Blockbuster out of business. Since then, hundreds of streaming services have jumped into the arena, trying to avoid becoming obsolete in a constantly evolving market.

Junior Madeleine Flanagan is a big fan of various streaming services. Flanagan and her family use YouTube TV, Netflix, Hulu and Google Play, and they don’t have any cable or satellite TV. According to Flanagan, streaming services have many advantages over more traditional TV. “You can get a lot more really quickly, you don’t have to pay for as much,” said Flanagan. “[You can] watch things in bulk or … still get the live stuff.”

In fact, many services, including YouTube TV and Hulu, offer live sports and news. YouTube TV even allows customers to DVR programs. Benefits like these have drawn the attention of many customers across the country. According to CNBC, 60% of people in the US use some kind of streaming service, and most major services have only grown since then.

Many companies are launching their own services soon, like

Popular streaming services by subscription price Hulu - $5.99/mo Prime TV - $8.25/mo Netflix - $8.99/mo Starz - $8.99/mo HBO Now - $14.99/mo

Disney’s “Disney+,” which is said to have the entirety of the Disney library according to an ABC report, and is set to launch later this year. DirecTV (owned by AT&T) and WarnerMedia also announced a yet to be named service that will be released in beta by the end of this year, according to CNN. Apple made a similar promise in a press release on March 25.

New services are getting fans of these brands excited, but not everyone is so thrilled.

“It’s a little unnecessary because a lot of them could partner with existing companies,” said Flanagan.

Disney is slowly pulling its movies from Netflix as the release of their own platform moves closer.

Oddly, this is not including the Marvel series they own, like “Iron Fist” or “The Punisher.” They’re even letting Hulu make more Marvel shows, like “Howard the Duck,” “M.O.D.O.K.” and “Hit-Monkey.”

A common problem with new services is that they can’t compete with more established ones. Many have failed in the past, beaten out by bigger brands.

Walmart announced and then cancelled it’s streaming service, saying that they wanted to focus on their existing service, “Vudu.”

NBC tried to launch “SeeSo,” a comedy-centric service, in 2016, but it shut down the next year, unable to compete with Netflix.

In 2011, Netflix launched “Qwikster,” a service that would continue the DVD rental half of Netflix that they left behind. It quickly failed and forced Netflix to raise prices, losing them 800,000 subscribers according to Quartz magazine.

The era of streaming has also come along with the era of reboots, and that’s no coincidence. The 1993 children’s show “Animaniacs” is getting a reboot after users enjoyed the original on Hulu.

“Friends” sparked a 90s cultural revival due to its availability on Netflix. A reboot of “The Office” is also rumored to be in progress

after it gained even more fans via Netflix.

Streaming services also naturally have more freedom to create reboots and adaptations due to not having to risk wasting limited airtime. Netflix is creating a live-action version of “Avatar: the Last Airbender,” Umbrella Academy is based on a comic from Dark Horse and Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” is based off of a popular novel of the same name.

Recently, original movies and TV have been big selling points for these services, with Netflix’s movie “Roma” winning three Academy Awards and two Golden Globes, “House of Cards” with two more, and “Orange is the New Black” winning two Emmys.

Other services also have highly acclaimed shows, Like Amazon -Madeleine Prime Video’s Flanagan, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” junior which won four Emmys and Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” with five Emmys and two Golden Globes.

Flanagan subscribed to Hulu just to watch the Handmaid’s Tale, but kept her subscription for other benefits. Most major services now make their own shows, partially in hopes of attracting new customers.

Though no one denies that there are quality series coming out of this, Flanagan believes that there are also plenty of bad ones.

“Netflix, they have some hits, but it seems like they’re kind of just throwing things out there ... to see what sticks,” Flanagan said.

“They should spend more time focusing on quality rather than quantity.”

There are hundreds of streaming services available, and the majority of the population use them.

Behind major services like Netflix, there are services for every small genre of television. Traditional services have been playing catch up for a while now, and everyone is trying to jump on the bandwagon with them. As streaming keeps getting better, it seems like companies that aren’t in on it will be left in the dust.

[Netflix] should spend more time focusing on quality rather than quantity.”

prospectornow.com

APRIL 12, 2019

ENTERTAINMENT 11

Growing out of the YouTube spotlight I

n fourth grade, I watched a 27-year-old sister asked me what a video that would change my Juul was. How are millenials suplife forever: How To Talk To posed to make jokes about vaping Animals by Jenna Marbles (real if they don’t know what it is? name: Jenna Mourey). Her weirdYouTuber Lele Pons seems to ly adorable dogs and unapologetic have fallen into this dilemma, alswearing captivated my nine-yearthough she’s not exactly a veteran old brain’s attention span, and YouTuber. She’s not quite my cup I’ve been hooked ever since. And of tea for multiple reasons, but the it also helped that we shared the main one is that she seems like same name. she’s never been to high school at Obviously, I’ve changed quite a all. bit since I was in grade school — so Take for example a skit from has Mourey since her rise to fame March 2018 titled “High School in the early 2010s. Consequently, Bully.” The skit starts with the her content has changed a lot since proclaimed “bully” yelling at evthen: she’s calmer, more mature eryone to give them their lunch and doesn’t limit herself to short money. Everyone obeys his comcomedy videos. Despite her peak mand because he’s the High School in the beginning of the decade, Bully, of course! she still amasses millions of views I swear, I’ve seen Disney Chaneach week and hosts an equally nel do better. successful podcast, Twitch chanEven if this is simply lazy writnel and radio show on SiriusXM. ing, I’m sure her disconnect from Mourey, like others, has stayed high school had something to do relevant to younger audiences with it. while other veteran YouTubers The simple way to combat this seem like they’ve fallen off the face is to make content that appeals to of the earth. anyone regardless of age. Youtube While some YouTubers have is different than TV, where changotten a head start by being on the nels know what age groups they’re platform since it was created in going to reach.

2005, they now face the Mourey has been struggle of maintaining pretty successful at marrelevance. For some, keting towards all ages. this can mean walkFor example, she recenting the tightrope bely put out a 20-minute tween making content long tour of her plants. they enjoy while also While not everyone will changing their content enjoy that, it’s not tarto today’s standards of geted towards any parmedia. ticular age group.

Honestly, I symVeteran YouTubers pathize with veteran especially need to realJENNA KOCH ize that their audience YouTubers. These days Executive Entertain- is all over the place. it seems like memes ment Editor and slang are coming They’ve got fans that and going within days. have been on YouTube On top of humor, in general it’s since it was created alongside midmore difficult to make content for dle schoolers whose parents just young audiences while being so recently turned off YouTube’s kids disconnected from highschool and mode. teen culture. A few days ago my This disconnect from Genera-

NOT CLICKBAIT: A YouTuber posts a video “Checking myself into a nursing home” in the year 2047. As YouTube gets older, so do YouTubers, which poses a problem surrounding their populairty. (comic by Jenna Koch) tion Z culture feels similar to that of mainstream media. Whether it’s Wendy’s tweeting a meme that was popular a week ago or TV shows attempting to be “woke,” the mainstream media really just doesn’t get it.

I love YouTube because it’s not mainstream media. I know YouTubers are making videos because they genuinely love doing so, and they’re really just normal people.

Except when they’re not. In the early 2010s when YouTube was becoming more mainstream, I recall a new YouTuber book coming out every month. While I am criticising such a trend, I do own Ty-

ler Oakley’s “Binge.” It was eight bucks at Goodwill.

Putting out movies, books and even TV series is where veteran Youtubers seem to hit their peak.

Does anyone else remember Miranda Sings? Despite having 10 million subscribers, most of her recent videos get anywhere from 500 thousand to 2 million views, which means she’s only reaching about 10 percent of her subscribers with every video.

She put out a Netflix series in 2016 titled Haters, Back Off! How fitting, as I’m one of these “haters” she’s referencing. It got an audience score of 73 percent on Rotten

Tomatoes, but received a 47 percent critic score.

Youtubers are stuck in the middle of two worlds of media. They’re as popular as celebrities, but make such different content than traditional media.

I understand that Youtubers may feel that they want to do more with their fame, but this ultimately makes them hit a peak and slowly lose their “cool factor.”

Going back to Miranda, she recently had a baby. Similarly, YouTuber Shane Dawson just got engaged. And no, I didn’t cry about it. I don’t know what you’re talking about.

I’m incredibly happy for Dawson, but this reminds me that he’s getting older. He’s 30. That’s old — at least in internet terms.

While Dawson’s definitely on top of teen culture with his slang and conspiracy videos, I’m confronted by the idea that, at some point, he and other YouTubers might want to move on.

This was a geninue fear of mine in middle school when I realized Mourey was far older than I assumed. She’s 32 now and was 26 when I first started watching her.

Even though the stigma around age has been lifted somewhat, what happens when Dawson and Mourey are 40? 50? Will we all be sitting around our iPhone 43s laughing at 43-year-old Jenna Marbles vlog her dog Kermit’s funeral?

I simply wonder, at what age do Youtubers age out of the platform?

I’m hoping never. If Mourey and Dawson have stayed relevant for over ten years, I’m betting they’ll be around for ten more.

So, in between Netflix marathons and SAT prep, don’t forget to pay a visit to your old favorite YouTuber. We’re their audience, and we dictate whether they stay relevant or not.

12 SPORTS

APRIL 12, 2019

Shafis continues Illini tradition Senior joins the University of Illinois track and field team

Staff Writer

Sports Editor

B

JUMPMAN: Senior Michael Shafis jumps over a hurdle in a meet on April 5. Shafis committed to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to compete in the decathlon. The decathlon includes the 100m, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400m, 110m hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1500m race. (photo by Erik Velazquez) the guidance of head football coach Dan DeBoeuf, a large number of sophomore and junior football players have joined the track program to stay in shape and increase their speed.

“A lot of guys that needed to get faster from the football program have shown that they’re willing to work and do what they need to do to get faster,” Shafis said.

Renaud also enjoys the influx of new athletes.

“It’s been fun having a new group of kids who are very new to the sport, who don’t even know some of the fundamentals like getting out of blocks or handing off the baton and then teaching those kids,” Renaud said.

“I think it’s going to help them a lot in terms of their speed and athleticism on the football field.”

Part of the transition, according to Re-

naud, was “getting kids to buy in on a daily basis.”

According to Shafis, the training for track is more repetitive and technical than football, so getting the new athletes to buy in was an important step.

“They’re willing to work, and that is what we want to see. We expect as much from those guys as any other athletes on the team,” Shafis said.

With more athletes from other sports this year, Renaud believes they will have the largest team in the MSL East, at 122 boys. He says it will add depth to many events, something that the team is always looking to do.

With more athletes, Prospect will have more chances to fulfill one of Renaud’s goals for the season. Qualify as many kids as possible for state, and bring home as many allstate medals as they can.

‘All hands on deck’ approach key to baseball’s success CAMERON SULLIVAN Staff Writer On April 2, the score is 4-2, and Prospect Knights baseball was up against Lakes Community in the top of the seventh inning.

They just needed one out to win the game.

With a 2-1 count, sophomore pitcher Mitch Gates winded up and got ready to throw the ball. He threw an inside fastball, and the batter crushed the ball down the left field line.

The ball fell about a foot foul and the crowd sighed in relief — that play could have tied the game.

Lakes Community’s dugout was hoping for another hit. Gates winded up again, and the next pitch was an outside strike three; the batter went down looking. Everyone on Prospect was very energetic leaving the dugout to shake hands, but the other team wasn’t so happy as they walked back out on the field.

This was Prospect’s third win of the season, as they are currently 3-4. Last year, Prospect went 19-11, came in second in conference and lost in the regional round of the playoffs. The team hopes to improve on all three of those aspects this year.

It will be hard to replicate the success of winning 19 games after losing some of the athletes who played a pivotal role in the team’s success last year. One of these players is second baseman Ryan Howe, who is now playing division one baseball at Purdue University. Another player is third baseman Anthony Catalano, who is now playing at North Iowa Area Community College.

However, they still have some returning players who will be a huge help to the team this year, such as senior second baseman Eddie Brancato, senior left fielder Kevin Donohue and senior center fielder Dan Morgan.

They will use their experience in varsity baseball to help some of the younger guys.

Senior pitcher Bryce Jensen said it’s good for them because they will be ready to take

Seniors lead boys’ water polo team JAKE TERPINS

RICK LYTLE oys’ track is back to their winning ways to start the season. The team has been MSL East champions nine straight seasons, and already won the indoor conference championship this year.

Prospect scored 115 points, with the next closest team, Barrington, scoring 96 points.

Junior John Moellenkamp led the Knights by finishing first in the 55-meter dash, the triple jump and running a leg of the winning 4x200 relay team. Also on that relay was senior Michael Shafis, who recently committed to continue competing at the University of Illinois in the decathlon.

Prospect track and field has seen a recent pattern of sending students to compete for the Illini. There are currently four former Prospect students on the boys’ and girls’ track and field teams, along with a recent Illinois graduate, Dave Kendziera, who is now running professionally.

“We’ve had a string of kids that go there and like it,” said third year head coach Jay Renaud. “It seems like it’s a good place for our kids, and they always develop and do well there.”

Shafis currently competes in a variety of sprints and jumps for Prospect. His main events this season will be the high jump, long jump, 4x200 relay and the 4x100 relay. At Illinois, he will be competing in the decathlon.

The Olympic decathlon champion has been dubbed “the world’s greatest athlete,” showing the amount of skills an individual has to have to be able to compete in this event.

In college, it consists of a 100m, 400m, 110m hurdles, 1500m, long jump, high jump, pole vault, discus, javelin and shot put.

Shafis played linebacker and running back for football in the fall and is among many more football players on the track team this year than previous years. Under

prospectornow.com

over once the seniors leave.

One of the younger players who will give the team a big advantage this season is junior third baseman Matt McAleer and sophomore catcher Tyler Ciulla.

For head coach Ross Giusti and most of the players, their main goal is to make a good playoff run. Senior shortstop Ethan Burgh, senior pitcher and center fielder Tyler Preissing and Jensen all have the same goal of winning regionals.

Another thing that they would love to do is prove their skills to everyone who has doubted them.

“We’re the underdogs, [and] I think everyone just doesn’t see us as a team that is going to win compared to last year,” Burgh said. “But I think we have the right components to make a run.”

Prospect may not be projected to win the MSL, like Barrington or Buffalo Grove, but Jensen said to “watch out for us” and he thinks that Prospect will be more competitive than expected. According to Giusti, there are not any big egos on the team.

“I don’t look at this as having one superstar that has to carry the team,” Giusti said.

“We have 18 to 19 kids on our roster that all of them at some point will have to help pull the rope in the same direction.”

The players feel the same way about this.

Burgh, who will be playing baseball at Illinois Wesleyan University, says he is not going to feel entitled about playing in college and is going to continue playing for the team while giving it his all.

Preissing feels the exact same way, as he will be playing for Webster University next year. He is excited to help lead the team and for others to contribute.

“There [are] going to be guys who have good days and lead the team on separate days, and it’s not just going to be one person,” Preissing said.

In addition to that, Jensen is excited for the bond that this team has. He says that the team gets along much better than teams in

DINGER: Senior Anthony Santangelo watches a pitch during a game against Lakes on April 2. (photo by Erik Velazquez) previous years.

Preissing agreed with this because he said that this team has a great sense of humor, and they have a lot of fun at practice.

Burgh is also excited for this friendship, but one of the things he is most excited for is being a leader.

“Hopefully, I can lead the team at the core and try to push everyone to their best and try to make a run at the playoffs,” Burgh stated.

He will also try to help some of the younger players along the way by giving them advice on how to be a better player.

It’s not going to be easy to win after losing so much talent, and the team is going to need plenty of players to step up. They are definitely going to have lots to work on, but they are still going to strive for success.

“I think we are slept on, and we are going to surprise people,” Preissing said.

Hard work, determination and inexperience. According to senior Ethan Fransen, these are some of the main characteristics of the water polo team.

“We aren’t at the level of all-out competition, per se, but I feel like if these underclassmen keep it up, then we’ll be a very good team,” Fransen said.

Where the water polo team lacks in experience, they make up for it in hard work.

According to senior Edin Ramovic and head coach Steve Grzybek, the varsity team does a lot of conditioning in the pool by swimming laps after they lose. The bigger the loss, the more they swim.

“Usually we try to be the most conditioned team, because that is one of the most important parts of water polo,” Grzybek said.

For now, however, the varsity team is 2-6 as they struggle to reach a winning percentage of .500. Their goal, according to Fransen, is to get their winning percentage up and maybe make an impact in the conference.

“As a team, I just think it will be nice to have a winning record because we lost a lot of our star players last year,” Fransen said.

“I feel like it would prove to us that we could overcome some big challenges.”

Along with the team’s goals, Ramovic has his own goals for this season.

“My goals as a player are to be more active and move the ball a lot more, along with helping my team score more,” Ramovic said.

Fransen also has his own goal as a player.

“Me and all of the other captains want to push ourselves to help this team become MSL East champions,” Fransen said Ramovic and Fransen have built up from being those inexperienced players to now being team captains on varsity.

Looking forward the water polo team has Sections prelim on May 7, if they qualify from that they have sectional quarter finals on May 9, and if they go all the way to the championship they will have sectionals finals on May 11.

As there is no freshman team for water polo due to the lack of freshmen (4), there is just a JV team. The underclassmen have learned a lot from this varsity team.

Something that Grzybek notices is how much the JV team has evolved all around.

“I see potential in these sophomores; they have stepped up this year and can be very good in a few years,” Grzybek said.

The JV water polo players work as hard as the varsity team does, but are just very inexperienced. The JV team is 6-1 (not including tournaments) and are still improving, according to Ramovic.

“Our JV team is much improved from last year, and I feel like if they stay committed to the sport, they will be very dedicated,” Ramovic said.

This happens because of varsity’s influence on these younger players. They give the JV players direct feedback and tell them what they’re doing wrong and where to improve.

These varsity influences come from Grzybek who strongly believes in teamwork and who according to Ramovic and Fransen, is a great coach.

“Coach Steve has been my coach for the past four years; I would really say he brings us back down after every game and sometimes he’ll push us incredibly hard which makes us even more determined,” Ramovic said.

This team has a much smaller bench (2 people) compared to Hersey, Buffalo Grove and many other schools. A deeper bench could help them a lot by allowing the starters to get more time to rest.

“It’s hard to have a small bench because you’re depended on more to play, and it can get hard in tournaments when we don’t have many people for usually three games,” Ramovic said.

According to Fransen and Ramovic, if these underclassmen do these summer camps where you mainly scrimmage. But also learn the basics, and show that they are truly dedicated then they could be a very good team.

“I feel like if these underclassmen stay very committed, Prospect could be a very good team in the future,” Ramovic said.

prospectornow.com

APRIL 12, 2019

SPORTS 13

Seniors, coaches mentor underclassmen Freshman shortstop Kathreen Keehn says that although it’s weird for her to be on varsity, since she is so new to the school and Staff Writer program, she likes the challenge.

“I feel like l can show [people] what I’m or the third day in a row, senior pitcher Emalee Depa woke up for made of,” Keehn said.

Besides the high level of competition, six a.m. softball practice.

Four long laps around the track followed Keehn also loves the connection that she has with her teammates. by stretching and warm ups.

The upperclassmen have been especially Hitting. Fielding. Pitching. welcoming, according to Keehn, and they All this before are all constantly cheering her on. most people have Mackowiak says that when gotten out of Keehn attended the first day of trybed. outs, the coaches noticed her skill Out of all and thought that she might be good the drills, enough to play on the varsity level. morning When conpitching is sidering movthe hardest ing players up for Depa, as to varsity, Macit requires kowiak looks precision for well-roundthat is hard athletes who for her to come by - Krystina Macowiak, ed she thinks can when she is still varsity head coach contribute to waking up. the team, and Despite this, she still puts forth her best effort, as she considers herself a leader Keehn was just what she was looking for, despite her age. wants to set a good example for her team.

Since joining the varsity team, MackowiBy now, these six a.m. practices are routine for Depa and so are the long tiring days ak says Keehn has continued to grow and fit in with the team dynamics. that follow, as this is her third year on the The upperclassmen have been very welsoftball team and her second year on varsity. coming to both Keehn and the three other Last year, Depa described herself as more underclassmen, and Mackowiak has high “behind the scenes” as far as leadership, but hopes for this season. with the loss of seven seniors, four of whom This environment and communication moved on to play in college, she has more of is what Mackowiak thinks makes the differa major role on the team. ence between Prospect and the other teams “It’s kind of weird because now, we have in the division. to step up and be leaders instead of just folShe believes that the girls recognize that lowing what they tell us to do,” Depa said. she is open and will come to her if they are So far this year, the softball team is 0-3.

Varsity softball coach Krystina Macko- unhappy or have any problems.

Mackowiak’s coaching style also adds to wiak, a former pitcher at Carthage College, this, as she loves connecting with her playsays that although they had to make adjustments, this year’s seniors are doing a great ers and having space outside of school to really get to know them. job so far.

“I really like … helping the girls find “Everyone is finding their role on the team, and it’s starting to mesh really well,” their passion and enjoy softball as much as I did,” Mackowiak said.

Mackowiak said.

And with the players on varsity this Along with new upperclassmen, two freshmen and two sophomores have been year, Mackowiak says they can do some big things. added to the mix, though by the way they “We have the potential to really surprise play, Mackowiak says that you can’t even some people,” Mackowiak said. tell that they’re underclassmen.

ALYSSA SCHULZ

F

I really like ... helping the girls find their passion and enjoy softball as much as I did.”

Livin’ the Dream Both the 2018 and 2019 softball teams have sent multiple athletes to play collegiate softball. Let’s see how they compare ...

2018 Alyssa Cacini: Dayton University Lauren Caldrone: Northwestern University Jackie Orel: Elmhurst College Colleen Palczynski: Illinois Wesleyan

CURRENTLY ON PROSPECTORNOW.COM

Online Editor-in-Chief Kate Hyland interviews senior Tia Sadlon, junior Jolene Neuhalfen and coach Lindsay Gibbel on the 2019 season as they try to reach the MSL Championship!

2019 Cassie Cuniff: Carleton College Emalee Depa: Marian University

LEADERSHIP: Senior Claire Doherty pitches during a game against Main West. The program has sent the most amount of athletes to play at the collegiate level in any program over the last two years with six. (photo by Erik Velazquez)

14

Disagree with Connor? Head over to prospectornow.com Yes, I made some pretty wild predictions, but they’re not just grasping at straws. On prospectornow.com , I give a more in-depth look at each season and how the teams got there. Plus check the story to see bonus predictions for 2024 and add your own predictions in the comment section!

SPORTS APRIL 12, 2019

BACK TO THE FUTURE: PRO SPORTS EDITION

A

s my time with the Prospector winds down, I’ve been given the opportunity to write about the thing I love the most: sports. Soon, I’ll be on to bigger things as a journalism major at the University of Missouri. For my last issue, I find it fitting to predict where the world of sports will be when our current class of freshman are deciding their college. I present the wild world of sports in 2023.

PSA… I look forward to looking CONNOR back on this and seeing how wildly GRAVER wrong I was, but Associate it’s always fun to Editor-in-Chief speculate right?

NHL

The NHL hits their prime in these last four years. The league is the second most popular sport behind the NFL. 2020 is a feel good year.

The San Jose Sharks finally reach hockey heaven winning their first Stanley Cup. Led behind the ferocious defense of Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson they defeat the Lightning in a fantastic series that goes to Game 7. Joe Thornton is the first to lift the cup and has a similar feel to when Ray Bourque lifted the cup for the Colorado Avalanche in 2001.

MLB

2020 is the year Bryce Harper is right about his signing with the Phillies. In his second year with the division foe-turnedfriend, Harper smashes his way through the NL where he helps defeat a Houston team with championship experience. 2020 is one long party in Philly.

In 2021, The Braves use their elite prospects to make their way to the top. They defeat the Red Sox

NFL

Yes, this comes off as being an incredibly biased Bears fan but the Bears will run through the NFC in 2019.

Finishing with a record of 13-3, they use their suffocating defense to end Drew Brees and the Saints’ magical season in the NFC championship. Brees retires after the game and begins his career in the broadcast booth.

For the Chiefs, their path through the AFC isn’t as easy finishing 11-5. Their defense is improved and they get revenge on the New England Patriots in the conference championship only because they get the ball first in overtime. Super Bowl LIV shapes up to be an incredible game but as the saying goes ‘Defense Wins Championships.’ The Bears pick off Mahomes twice on their way to their second Lombardi Trophy.

As we start the ‘20s, the Cleveland Browns have created a juggernaut with Baker Mayfield as Commander-in-Chief. He throws for 5000 yards and 40 touchdowns winning the MVP in his third year. The Browns run the table through the AFC where they’ll meet the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LV. The Rams have the single greatest offensive season in NFL history, creating the Greatest Show on Surf. Sean McVay cracks the code and the Rams get their Super Bowl redemption on a last second field goal.

Ever since their blowout loss in Super Bowl LIV, the Kansas City Chiefs have committed to revamping their defense even more. After trading for Aaron Donald, they show they’re all in come 2022. Mahomes and Tyreek Hill enter the prime of their careers and Kansas City rolls through the AFC. They meet Tom Brady and the Patriots for a final time in the playoffs, and this will be Tom Brady’s last game. During the 2022 NFL Awards, Roger Goodell announces he is stepping down and after a massive fan petition, Tony Romo becomes the next commissioner of the NFL. Aaron Donald meets his former team in Super Bowl LVI, but both offenses are just too powerful. The game becomes an all out shootout and the Chiefs lead a game winning drive to win their first Super Bowl since 1967.

2023 is an interesting year in the NFL as jersey advertisements are introduced. After drafting Drew Lock in the 2019 NFL Draft, the New York Giants mature into a strong offense with Lock and Barkley. With a revamped offensive line, Barkley sets the single season rushing record and wins the MVP. On the AFC side, Jon Gruden finally proves tanking is worth it. After tanking again in 2019 and 2020, he acquires seven additional first round picks. The best out of this group is Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence, who leads the Raiders to the Super Bowl in his second year. The combination of Lawrence and Antonio Brown proves too much for most teams to handle. Super Bowl LVII comes down to the wire, but with a minute to go the game is tied 24-24. Barkley breaks away for a 75 yard game winning touchdown.

CHAMPIONS: A graphic depicts the wild world of sports according to Connor. Highlights include the Chicago Bears winning the Super Bowl, and Kevin Durant winning his third and fourth championships with the Knicks. (photo illustration by Mara Nicoalie) After 23 seasons Joe Thornton calls it a career and the next year, the Sharks take a step back. The Winnipeg Jets move in as the best of the West. They sweep through the playoffs and face the aged but skilled Boston Bruins. Behind the core of Blake Wheeler and Kyle Connor, they fight in a hard series.

After 27 years, Winnipeg brings the Stanley Cup to its true home of Canada.

Similarly to the NBA, 2022 marks the first year that advertisements find their way onto jerseys. Except, Original 6 teams are exempt to preserve the sweaters. Teams in the ‘Next 6’ are outraged. Speaking of Original 6, after the Cubs won it all, the Maple Leafs moved into the spot of team most deserving a championship. Well, Toronto, you got it. Mike Babcock finally accomplishes his goal with his young team and after 27 years without it, Canada gets to keep the Stanley Cup two years in a row. O’ Canada!

Alas, we arrive in the year 2023. Since entering the league in 2017, the Vegas Golden Knights have made the playoffs every single year they’ve existed. However, they have one flaw. They don’t have that Stanley Cup Champions banner flying in T-Mobile Arena.

That changes this year. Vegas finally breaks through the glass ceiling. They reach the Finals for the second time and face another Canadian team: The Canadiens. It’s new vs old with the league’s second oldest and youngest teams, but Vegas is too much for Montreal to handle and they win the Stanley Cup in front of their home crowd. If you think that Vegas is already a party city, imagine adding Lord Stanley to the mix ...

in a great series.

2022, the Yankees return to glory. Stanton and Judge set the single season team HR record and are the new faces of New York.

Finally, Sox fans rejoice. Trusting the prospects works as Eloy Jiménez and Michael Kopech put the city on their backs and finally end the Cubs dominance in Chicago.

NBA

The process is finally complete. The Philadelphia 76ers prove that tanking can truly turn a team around. Their regular season is strong and Ben Simmons leads the push.

He puts up a career year averaging 30 pts. and 15 ast. The 76ers cruise through a weak Eastern Conference to advance to the finals.

In the West, James Harden and the Houston Rockets have another stellar regular season.

Harden shaves his beard at Christmas but the new beardless Harden averages 45 pts. a game after the new year. The 2020 NBA Finals is a back and forth match and Philadelphia is able to sneak past in Game 7 thanks to their home court advantage.

A year earlier, the Knicks had the biggest free agency splurge in NBA history signing Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to super-max contracts. Plus with the first overall pick they select Duke Forward Zion Williamson. Suddenly, the Knicks are terrifying. They win 70 games in their second season as the new ‘Big 3’ and go 16-1 in the playoffs bringing the Larry O’Brien trophy back to New York and ending the Golden State Warriors dynasty.

2022 is an interesting year in the NBA. Jersey sponsorships become the primary logo on jerseys with the teams logo in the top right corners. LeBron James retires in 2022 and commits his time to growing his school in Akron. The Knicks are coming off a dominant championship season in 2021 and 2022 isn’t much different. New York again storms through the Eastern Conference and the playoffs only losing three times. This time they face the Suns with their young core of MVP Booker and Ayton. The Suns don’t have enough heat and the Knicks become the first back-to-back champs since the ‘17-18 Warriors.

LeBron James retiring the previous year was a huge change in the league, however there still is a member of the James family in the NBA. LeBron James Jr. enters the draft this year being selected by the Atlanta Hawks. In his fifth year, Luka Doncic enters his prime taking the league by storm. He leads the Mavericks on an impressive run through the Western Conference where he meets the aging Detroit Pistons in the 2023 NBA Finals. The Pistons decided that 2023 was the year they’d go all in and paired veterans Blake Griffin and Andrew Drummond with Klay Thompson.

But it’s too little, too late. Doncic continues his magical season and caps it off with the Mavericks first championship since Dirk’s team in 2011.

HOW DID WE END UP HERE?!

HERE ARE THE RESULTS FOR THE NEXT FOUR YEARS

NFL

NHL

Super Bowl LIV: Chicago Bears 31, Kansas City Chiefs 7

2020 Stanley Cup Finals: San Jose Sharks 4, Tampa Bay Lightning 3

Super Bowl LV: Los Angeles Rams 24, Cleveland Browns 23

2021 Stanley Cup Finals: Winnipeg Jets 4, Boston Bruins 2

Super Bowl LVI: Kansas City Chiefs 56, Los Angeles Rams 49

2022 Stanley Cup Finals: Toronto Maple Leafs 4, Nashville Predators 1

Super Bowl LVII: New York Giants 31, Las Vegas Raiders 24

2023 Stanley Cup Finals: Vegas Golden Knights 4, Montreal Canadiens 0

MLB

NBA

2020 World Series: Philadelphia Phillies 4, Houston Astros 2

2020 NBA Finals: Philadelphia 76ers 4, Houston Rockets 3

2021 World Series: Atlanta Braves 4, Boston Red Sox 1

2021 NBA Finals: New York Knicks 4, Golden State Warriors 1

2022 World Series: New York Yankees 4, Philadelphia Phillies 2

2022 NBA Finals: New York Knicks 4, Phoenix Suns 1

2023 World Series: Chicago White Sox 4, San Diego Padres 1

2023 NBA Finals: Dallas Mavericks 4, Detroit Pistons 2