May 2023 Pepper Box

'23 SCHOOL YEAR REVIEW A look back at some of the students' favorite events from this school year.

CINDERELLA WOWS

SUCCESS AFTER ADVERSITY

The Spring musical was a major success.

Boys basketball coach George Lee won conference coach of the year, but almost didn't have the chance.

A&E Page 7

SPOTLIGHT Page 4-5

SPORTS Page 8

THE PEPPER BOX RITENOUR HIGH SCHOOL

ISSUE 4 VOLUME 100

9100 ST. CHARLES ROCK ROAD, ST. LOUIS, MO 63114

MAY 2023

A college shutdown leaves 2 RHS athletes stranded Seniors Eli Mitchell and Leon Mitchell-Williams restart their recruiting process after Iowa Wesleyan closes LAYLA FOUCHE Sports Editor When it was announced on Tuesday, March 28 that Iowa Wesleyan University, a school 169 miles away from St. Louis, would close its doors on May 31, 2023 due to budgetary issues, it set off a chain reaction that ultimately changed the future of seniors Eli Mitchell and Leon Mitchell-Williams.

Board of Trustees Chair Robert Miller and University President Christine Plunkett sent an email to current, incoming, and admitted students informing them of the closure of Iowa Wesleyan University. Their reasons for closing were listed as“increased operating costs due to inflationary pressures, changing enrollment trends, a significant drop in philanthropic giving, and the rejection of a proposal for federal Covid funding by Governor Reynolds”.

Joshua Miller is the Admissions Counselor of Iowa Wesleyan. After the email from the chair of the Board of Trustees and President of the university, Miller made sure to provide support to those affected through a follow up email.

“I will still be available to help. We have teach out agreements with CulverStockton College, Upper Iowa University, William Penn University, and University of Dubuque. If you wish to show one of those schools (or other schools) your academic award letter please feel free to do so,” Miller said.

In the midst of this tragedy they are experiencing, the university has failed to mention anything about incoming students who have already committed to the upcoming school year.

Mitchell and MitchellWilliams were both offered and had accepted full scholarships from Iowa Wesleyan to play football next year.

Since then, they’ve had their signing day at Ritenour High and publicity from all corners. Now that the university is permanently closing, they no longer have scholarships and need a place to go.

“I have to try and find somewhere else to go now.

I didn’t really apply to many schools after that, so it’s been a difficult challenge for me right now,” Mitchell said. “I feel overwhelmed.

I was kind of mad at first,

Photo by Danielle Haynes Senior Leon Mitchell-Williams exits the field in the Homecoming football game. He and senior Eli Mitchell both committed to play football at Iowa Wesleyan, but now have to find another school.

but then I realized that God has probably got something bigger for me.”

Head Varsity football coach Yarmon Kirksey said that this is not the first time that something like this has happened to his football players.

“This happened a few years ago; LindenwoodBelleville did the same thing.

They closed down at the end of the school year due to a lack of funds, so this is my

second go-around with this.

I had some players who were actually on the LindenwoodBelleville’s roster. They had to find other schools to go to when they closed down,” Kirksey said.

Being in the head coach position, Kirksey has not hesitated to come to the aid of the two seniors.

“So what I’ve been doing lately is I’ve been sending out their transcripts and senior highlight videos to

all of the schools who were interested in them before they decided to go to Iowa Wesleyan. Today, they’re on a visit at Lincoln University.

That’s one of the schools that showed interest in those guys before they decided on Iowa Wesleyan. We’re just going back and doing the same process we did before they committed to Iowa Wesleyan,” Kirksey said.

Safety remains at forefront with new speed bumps Speed bumps were installed after Spring Break to slow down cars in the parking lot and protect students JACK JAMISON Staff Reporter Students returned from their week of spring break to a shock to their shocks. The school installed a set of four speed bumps in front of the school while they were away.

Two speed bumps were

installed on the upper path of the drive and another two were installed on the lower path.

Speed bumps are a type of speed reduction device that can be installed in many situations like in a parking lot, for example. These are not to be confused with speed

humps which are usually much flatter and longer as compared to the steeper speed bumps.

The variety that was installed at Ritenour is the 2.5 inch speed bump model made by the company Plasticade.

The Des Plaines, Ill. based company produces all of their

Photo by Mya Cates After speed bumps were installed on the upper and lower drive in front of the school, drivers have had to be much more cautious while moving in the parking lot. The school resource officers had noticed an increase in speeding and erratic driving, and hope that this measure will end that.

IN THIS ISSUE

WORD ON THE “R” PAGE 2

MENTAL HEALTH SCHOOL YEAR IN AND ADVANCED REVIEW CLASSES PAGE 3

PAGE 4-5

speed bumps out of recycled car tire rubber.

According to the Ritenour Director of Operations Michael Smith, the speed bumps that were installed in the front were just an initial test.

“We want to see how the current speed bumps work before installing more,” Smith said.

The decision was made after a recent uptick in the number of reports of speeding in the parking lot.

One of the school resource officers, Officer Elliot Miller said that he has observed this directly.

“This year I noticed there was a lot more speeding in our parking lots and on our driveway, there were a lot of complaints,” Miller said.

The school took these complaints seriously and installed the speed bumps to prevent this exact activity.

Miller posited that the installation was a good decision because of all of the

foot traffic in the area.

“It is a really good tool to slow cars down so that nobody gets hurt, this is a school parking lot with kids walking around,” Miller said.

According to Miller the solution has been incredibly effective.

“I sit in my office every day and watch cars speed up to speed bumps and then they’ll slow down. Nobody wants to mess up their car,” Miller said.

Student drivers also have their own perspective on the installation of the speed bumps. Junior Viktor Pingel, said that he is not a fan of the recent installation.

“I don’t like them, it’s hard to drive slow over them, I feel like my car bumps up really high,” Pingel said.

However, Pingel did say that they are an effective solution to speeding in the parking lot.

“Oh yeah, it slows people down, they barely even move their car,” Pingel said.

TERRENCE CLARK FEATURE

SPRING CANDY RANKING

COACH LEE'S JOURNEY

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Opinion

May 2023

PEPPER BOX STAFF Visual EIC: Danielle Haynes Content EIC: Chloe Sapp Online Editor: Leanna Duncan Opinion and A&E Editor: Tori Pratt News and Spotlight Editor: Caroline Groceman Special Edition and Sports Editor: Layla Fouche

Page 2

Production EIC: Jennifer Huerta Lopez Social Media Manager: Julia Lohnes Adviser: Ron Steinschriber

Staff Members: Evelyn Araiza Garcia, Mya Cates, Elizabeth Dobbs, Billie Ford, Caden Gaither, Jaden Gavin, Peyton House, Zoha Iqbal, Jack Jamison, Kaylee Jorke, Allison Madrid, Jordan Matthes, Kya Merriman, David Moore, Amareona Muhammad, Mariam Neeb, Skylar Powers, Amanda Salazar-DeLoyola, Margaret Susovica, Ashlin Thomas, Hallie Thornburgh, Klayton Wilkinson, Koby Wilkinson, Virginia Williams

Editorial Policy: The Pepper Box is designed and created by members of the newspaper staff of Ritenour High School. The purpose of the newspaper is to provide a forum for the students to focus on issues, give opinions, and share information with the Ritenour High School community. The opinions expressed in this paper do not reflect opinions of our faculty or administration.

Staff Editorial - Finding closure Editorial As the year comes to an end, seniors are moving on to the next chapters of their lives and are starting to come to the realization that this chapter must come to a close.

It is especially important for this group of seniors because they never actually got closure during their freshman year of high school.

COVID hit during March of 2020, right as the freshman

class was starting to feel comfortable with their classes, teachers, and friends. Then there was an announcement that Spring Break would last an extra week, and then it became an extra month, then it became the end of the school year. There were no finals, no EOCs, no spring sports, and no real summer break.

Closure is inevitable, but it can also be good. Closure can give people comfort, and allow them to heal and move on. We shouldn’t look

at closure as an ending, but rather an opening to something new.

Most students in this school had to grow up quickly after COVID hit. After a semester of living through a pandemic, then a virtual school year as treatments were figured out, the class of ‘23 were no longer second semester freshmen; they were juniors. As teachers tried to figure out how to move back from virtual classes to in-person, the students had to adjust along with them,

Word on the Shelby LaChance Freshman

and now those same students who didn’t get to finish their freshmen years are about to graduate.

According to goodtherapy. org, “The importance of closure, particularly after a traumatic event, is increasingly acknowledged in popular psychology.

The need for closure often centers around a need for a missing piece of information, particularly about why someone did or said something. What constitutes closure varies from person

"My goal is to get through the rest of my freshman year."

"My goal is to finish out the rest of the year with a 4.0 GPA." Yavonte Williams Sophomore

What are your goals for the end of the year?

"My goal is to have good grades, a good job, and good Max Beaird Junior insurance."

to person and is highly dependent upon the context surrounding a stressful event.”

The senior class should embrace the closure that is coming with graduation.

While health concerns will always exist, most graduating seniors’ experiences with high school are synonymous with COVID. Instead of worrying about what was lost, embrace the closure that comes from the end of high school and the beginning of the rest of your lives.

"To try and get as many seniors to graduate as possible."

"Keep my grades up and make it to graduation."

Mikel FrenchSenior

Aaron Wynn Teacher

Comics Kitty that Draws - Mya Cates

The Kitchen - Klayton Wilkinson

Opinion

Page 3 May 2023

Advanced courses can cause mental drain While pushing yourself can be a positive thing, too many advanced courses can cause burnout BeReal With Tori

Tori Pratt While AP classes are an amazing way to academically challenge yourself, they can also be very stressful.

AP students are typically very high achieving students and they usually make their decision to enroll in these classes around practicing for college.

However, students in AP classes found that they are having a negative impact on their mental health. The pressure from these classes is intense and we all feel as if our mental health is put on a pedestal.

According to collegeboard. org, from 1980 to 2016, there was a 95 percent increase of student participation in an AP classrooms. Often,

students are pushed into multiple honors or AP classes from their freshman year forward.

As a freshman I was taking pre-advanced ELA, then as a sophomore I was taking AP world history as well as honors ELA II. By junior year I had dropped out of government and was still in AP ELA, but I was also put in honors chemistry. Now that I have hit senior year, I am burnt out.

I was taking all of these honors classes I had not signed up for. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed them.

However, I just wasn’t a kid who knew how to ask for help, nor was I informed I would be doing anything but honors ELA. Being in AP classes ripped some things away from me.

As much as they benefited me, they also made me feel overwhelmed, burnt out and were the root to most of my anxiety.

Most times if I felt like I didn’t understand something or if I needed help, I felt like I couldn’t ask for it. I felt that I would be presumed as stupid or incapable of being in a class if I was academically challenged, which led to deep

Illustration by Klayton Wilkinson feelings of inadequacy.

It’s important for students to prioritize self-care when they are in these classes, which is something I have struggled with. I know that the system was not built for students who struggled, but there should be some things in place for people like me who are capable of taking the advanced classes, but often get overwhelmed.

It is important for students to feel comfortable enough

to seek help and it would also be amazing for schools to provide resources for students to manage their workload while trying to prioritize their mental health.

My point in bringing this topic to attention is not to stray anybody away from taking AP classes. I think everyone should take them if they feel that they are able.

Especially if you are feeling like your regular classes are too easy for you.

My point in this is to tell you to only take classes that will not make you feel like you are a failure. If you feel like it is a struggle for you early in, get out. Don’t force yourself to stay because you feel you are going to be looked down upon. I promise you are not.

As much as a priority as AP classes can seem to be, just make sure that you are making yourself a priority first.

Apples to apples, dust to dust The lowly apple might just be the key to realizing what really matters most in life

Allison's A-List

Allison Madrid Where does your mind go when someone asks you, “what’s your favorite fruit?”

Does it go to mango, watermelon, kiwi, or something else more interesting and juicy? Those

fruits may seem fancy, but do you know who the true champion is? Apples, of course.

Just think about it for one second. What other fruit can you conceptualize that has even half of the diversity apples have? Apples can be green, pink, or red, they can be small or medium, or they can be genetically modified.

Apples can be bought in bags, individually, or in large crates.

Apples have all the range, and that’s the beauty of them.

They’re so round, luscious, and shiny and no one can even compete with them.

Apples are an allencompassing comfort food.

When your parents wanted

to “apologize,” they never did say it with words, right? No, of course not. Instead, they would bring evenly sliced guilt-ridden apple slices to your room to profess their apologies. What’s more comforting than that?

On top of that, I’m sure everyone and their dog can recall a time when they were bamboozled when trying to conjure up a light, yet hearty snack to munch on until they finally landed on the trusty apple and peanut butter combo. An absolute legend of a combo. Can you get that with a mango? Nope.

You wouldn't dare put peanut butter on that mango, so you’d have to make up the protein

elsewhere.

Apples should almost be classified as independent people. The apple, as a concept, is more sentimental and humane than most people these days. The apple feels and adapts depending on its environment. The apple is highly reactive, yet calm and sincere. The apple, for some, is even the ultimate backbone of society. Eve had to eat the apple to live in the society we do today, so the apple must have some sublime power.

All in all, you may want to dabble with a “more interesting” fruit to experiment and go out of your comfort zone, but at the end of the day, you’ll always

come back to the apple. It is like how a child might want to get a fancy new gadget for Christmas, but will ultimately end up going back to their old - but trusty - toy.

We value nostalgia. We are constantly looking for new experiences, but what ultimately makes us the most comfortable are the classics.

No matter how much we might try to experience new things or try something that sounds fancy, we always go back to the old reliable. The apple.

Or maybe I’m just hungry.

Editorial Cartoons

Illustration by Klayton Wilkinson

Illustration by Mya Cates

Spotlight

May 2023

Page 4

Hindsight is 20/23 2022 - 2023 SCHOOL YEAR IN REVIEW

September August Black and Orange Day

Homecoming

Aprilrose Lam “My favorite memory was probably walking around promoting the class of 2024’s table with Braden, while getting to see everyone joyful faces and all the other amazing tables working hard!”

Ulises Hernandez

“It felt monumental knowing I made history, being the the first year there were two Homecoming kings in an election.”

Halloween Football Game

October Peyton House “Being a part of the Homecoming float was a new and really fun experience that I enjoyed a lot more than I expected and it was fun throwing candy at my little sister.”

“Halloween was one of the best games of the season. Each stunt group came up with their own costume theme and it was super cute and really fun getting ready with my stunt group. All of our costumes slayed.”

December Winter 2022 Concert

Jayden Bock

November Blake Hernton Winter play - "Clue"

Sophia Weinberg “I loved being a part of "Clue" because I love my friends and the theater community that helped me shape the way I am today.”

RCO trip

“It was a good experience for the audience. A lot of the students and a lot of the kids in the audience got to take photos with the Grinch and they enjoyed the piece we played to accompany his presence at the concert.”

Mariah Thomas

"My favorite part was zip lining."

Spotlight

Page 5 May 2023

Jada Bradley

“I think my favorite swim memory would be at conferences and the practice after. I placed 1st in my main race and got to share my joy with my team as well as root for my other swimmers. We placed second in conferences which was pretty good, not what we were aiming for but we’ll do better next year. The practice we had after was the icing on the cake! We got to play water polo and do ladybugs off the pool deck as well as just mess around and have fun with each other.”

March Madness Spirit Week

March

February

Basketball and dance senior night

Girls Swim

January

Aundre’a Berry "I wasn’t as sad as I thought I’d be. I was more excited than anything. I had been helping to plan the routine since my freshman year, and I was excited that my family showed up and we showed out."

Senior Memories

Emely Ayala Brian Brown

Jennifer Wilson

“It’s too groovy man! I can wear it to school then to the next fondue party. Far out man!"

"My favorite memory was being able to meet new friends because I moved senior year and I’m glad I was able to meet new people and I felt more accepted."

"My favorite memory was the musical, being able to work with everyone and having fun on stage.

Working on my voice was great and the cast made me feel comfortable."

Jordyn Williams

Daniel Hendrix

Prom 2023 - Carnival

April

Elijah Fry "(Winning prom king) was unexpected because I didn’t promote myself.”

"My favorite memory of senior year was my volleyball senior night."

"My favorite memory was winning tennis senior night."

Amorah Washington

Damon Ross

"My favorite memory was art class."

"My favorite memory was when I was in the library and I took a really good nap."

Spotlight

May 2023

Page 6

Terrence Clark creates a path for his future Senior Terrence Clark has worked during high school with the goal of becoming a mortician KYA MERRIMAN Staff Reporter

into detail about some of the other tasks he may perform.

“I also assist in removing Senior Terrence Clark III deceased loved ones from has put himself on a career homes, hospitals, nursing trajectory that not many high homes, and the medical school students seek out, examiner's offices,” Clark said. as he is currently employed Clark showed interest in as a Funeral Attendant at being a funeral director from Baucom's Life Celebration a young age.

Center.

“I just thought it was an Clark became employed interesting job after attending at Baucom's Life Celebration several funeral services,” Center through an interaction Clark said. he had with a funeral director He recalls acting out at his father’s funeral service. funeral services with toys “The funeral director in his grandmother’s house. referred me to the owner of However, his interest in the funeral home and that’s mortuary work isn’t the only how I got a job,” Clark said. thing that led him to this Photo courtesy Terrence Clark One of the tasks Clark career path.

Senior Terrence Clark presides over a funeral at Baucom's Life Celebration Center. Clark is a funeral performs in his line of work “The funeral industry is attendant, and plans on earning his degree so that he can become a mortician. (Photo edited for includes attending funeral pretty rough to get into. It privacy of family at funeral). services and assisting really matters who you have Davis from social media sites.

Clark chose this Director and plans and meeting the needs of connections to get a job at the Clark praises Damien for occupation because of on attending St Louis mourning families. Clark goes firm,” Clark said his “attention to detail and the opportunity to serve Community College at the Clark didn’t learn about class with setting up funeral families during their time of start of next term. He plans mortuary work through services.” bereavement. He is tasked to major in Funeral Service anyone specific, but he does Clark enjoys this with helping attendees Education, also known as, admire some men in his line profession and says that his celebrate their loved one’s in mortuary science. After of work. favorite part so far has been the best way possible. completing those college “I have 2 people I look up “the funeral procession of cars Throughout the duration courses, Clark will take the to in this business. The first going to the cemetery.” of his employment, Clark Missouri State Test to become person who inspires me is Mr. One of Clark’s teachers at reports the weirdest thing a licensed funeral director in Kelvin O. Baucom from St. Ritenour, Lisa Hampton, is that happened was when he the state of Missouri.

Louis,” says Clark. very proud of the path that he was removing a person from “We all have a calling Clark is currently has chosen, and knows that a nursing home. and being a funeral director employed at Baucom’s he will do well.

“I was removing a loved is one of those callings just firm and admires his “Terrence is very dignified one from a nursing home, like nursing and teaching. I exemplifications of elegance and has great people skills. and the loved one's arm slid have seen Terrence go from and professionalism.

He is a great speaker with a slightly out of position and answering the phones at the “Mr. Baucom is very soothing cadence to his voice I thought they were alive,” funeral parlor to driving and understanding and which is needed when dealing Clark said. picking up the cadavers from compassionate with families with families and the loss of Although it may not be the hospitals. He has a great work Photo courtesy Terrence Clark in their time of bereavement their loved ones. Terrence typical career path of every ethic and has the skills to and will do what it takes to takes pride in his job and high school student, Clark has handle one of life's hardest Clark has had ambitions of satisfy them,” Clark said. does not find it creepy even found his passion and plans jobs as he is working with becoming a mortician since he The other person Clark though most of the students to continue his journey in the people during a traumatic was a child, and got a head looks up to is Mr. Damien think it is a creepy job dealing mortuary field. event in the loss of loved start by working at Baucom's J. Davis from the state of with dead people,” Hampton Clark has had a lifelong ones,” Hampton said.

Life Celebration Center.

Florida. He learned about said. dream of being a Funeral

Seniors earn scholarships and HBCU trip photos History teacher Michael Floyd took a money to attend college group of students to tour historically A group of Ritenour seniors have been awarded major financial incentives to attend universities next year SKYLAR POWERS Staff Reporter Many Ritenour seniors have been awarded with very prestigious and impressive scholarships from around the country, recognizing the success that they have attained both inside and outside of the classroom.

Ritenour has students going as far as New York University, as close as Webster University, and many other places in between.

A huge part of many students’ senior years is preparing for college.

With this comes applying for and anticipating the announcement with hope of receiving scholarships and financial aid.

Scholarships are very competitive among every applicant. Senior Chloe Sapp received a full ride scholarship of $122,000.

“50 people were chosen as finalists and I’m not sure the exact answer, but I believe only five people got chosen for the full ride,” Sapp said.

Similar to Sapp, senior Andy Vo received a full ride of $325,000 to Washington University.

“To my knowledge around 4-5 people received the full ride to Washington University,” Vo explained.

Because of the high stake competition, the process of

applying and preparing for these can be very demanding and taxing for the students.

“I was preparing practice interview questions that I had found online every day after school and Ms. Beamer even practiced with me for about an hour one day. I wanted to make sure I was prepared for anything,” Sapp said.

Oftentimes students attempt to prepare by working extremely hard throughout their entire high school careers. For Vo, it did not come down to an interview, but was a culmination of four years of hard work.

“I made sure to have a perfect GPA, took lots of AP courses, volunteered a lot, and was active outside of school,” Vo shared.

In the case of senior Evelyn Araiza Garcia, she found out she received a scholarship for $80,000 from NYU and was in complete shock.

“I don’t know the exact requirements for it since I didn’t apply for it when I applied (to NYU), they just gave it to me when they accepted me. I think it has to do with my financial aid need,” Araiza Garcia said. “I was even watching “Regular Show” right before finding out, so it was pretty funny.”

Sapp also shared a very unique experience in discovering the results.

“The email saying that I

black colleges and universities

got chosen actually went to my spam email and I didn’t see it for two whole days.

Once I saw that email I didn’t really believe it, but instantly felt a lot of relief as what was keeping me from choosing schools was the cost,” Sapp said.

Families and parents of students are very supportive and they were very excited to learn about what their child has in store for them.

“My parents were right there when I found out and it felt really nice to make them as happy as they were in that moment,” Sapp said.

Araiza Garcia also was able to share the good news with her family.

“My jaw dropped and I turned to my parents and told them the news and they were shocked as well,“ Araiza Garcia explained.

Once the stressful part of applying and working so hard non-stop is over, they finally get to breathe and bask in their excitement for their futures. Senior Caroline Groceman, who will receive a full scholarship to attend Maryville University, says that this eases much of her worries about future finances.

“I was very grateful that I was able to reach my goals and not have to worry about doing so financially,” Senior Caroline Groceman said.

Photos courtesy Michael Floyd

A&E

Page 7 May 2023

Pepper Box ranks: Spring themed candy The Pepper Box editorial staff narrowed down the top six special treats that come out during the spring

6.6

5.5

4.6

10

10

10

out of

"The holiday Reese's are the best with the amount of peanut butter to the amount of chocolate."- Caroline Groceman

"It's the perfect peanut butter to chocolate ratio. The peanut butter is much thicker and more delectable." - Tori Pratt "There is not enough chocolate.

There’s never enough chocolate. #youknowyoulovethechocolate." - Billie Ford

out of

out of

"Just an unusually wide M&M." - Caden Gaither

"It is kind of like a bad version of a S'mores." Chloe Sapp

"It's way too chunky, too sugary, but it's just chocolate so it's not that bad." - Allison Madrid

"Good chocolate, nice chewy marshmallow." Julia Lohnes

"I mean, they taste exactly like regular M&Ms, except they have more chocolate.

Kind of worse than the regular ones." - Kya Merriman

"The chocolate is very sweet and not sour for American chocolate. I also don't like marshmallows, but the marshmallow in it was great!" - Layla Fouche

4.2

3.7

3.5

10

10

10

out of

"It’s pink sugar, so obviously its good." - Skylar Powers "It is pretty much just a marshmallow with sugar; nothing too special about them. They are highly, highly overrated." - Caroline Groceman "Ripping it in half was funny. I was expecting flavor, not just sugar and marshmallow." Amareona Muhammad

out of

"It is very sweet because of the filling, but it had a good taste and the creme was good. It was a bit too sweet for my liking." - Jennifer Huerta Lopez

"The chocolate is alright, the inside is strange.

Pretty mid." - Kya Merriman "I love the mini version, it's the perfect amount." - Liz Dobbs

out of

"It’s like eating the tonsil stones of Twizzlers."

- Caden Gaither "I think they're better than they look. I don't think they're that bad. The red one was the best of the group I had." - Kya Merriman "The soap you would find in your greatgrandmother's bathroom." - Danielle Haynes

Kanye West continues erratic behavior online The musician has come under fire for comments he made about Jewish people, and his odd apology LIZ DOBBS Staff Reporter For the past 27 years Kanye West has been one of, if not the most influential musical artists within the industry. Since then he has found new ways to capitalize on this success by creating his own clothing line and even marrying superstar Kim Kardashian.

Though the highly praised celebrity, Kanye West, has had controversy surrounding him in recent years. The scandals range from anti-semitic remarks against Jewish people where he claimed that

“Jews started a holocaust against Black Americans” to an interview with TMZ in 2018 where he suggested that “slavery was a choice.”

After digging deeper it was clear that West has always made some questionable remarks about things. While it may have seemed to pick up in the past few years this is nothing new for him.

Since West's claim to fame, controversy has seemed to follow him every step of the way. While West has always been open about his struggle with bipolar disorder it appeared to only get worse after he was hospitalized in 2016 for “temporary

psychosis”.

Not only has his erratic behavior affected his fans, a public on stage breakdown is worth mentioning, it has also greatly affected his family.

This behavior soon infested his marriage, on more than one occasion Kim said that she felt like Kanye's “doll” and felt as though she was only there to be Kanye's puppet.

In 2022 after having four kids together their marriage ended in a 2.1 billion dollar divorce.

Though in 2018 it was evident that West began using his music as a form of therapy even going as far as putting the quote “I hate being bipolar it’s awesome” on his

album cover. Although this may have created a safe space for others who might also be affected by the disorder in a way it may have glorified it in the process. It’s obvious that many of Kanye's fans put him on a pedestal even after excusing all of his erratic choices that have been said to be the result of his disorder.

Even so West has failed to acknowledge his influence on his fans and continues to act recklessly without any regard to whom it may affect.

Previously though West has been on a tangents within social media but especially on the popular socializing app, Instagram. Periodically

West will delete, post, then delete mass amounts of posts at a time. Recently Kanye posted on March 24, 2023 that “Watching Jonah Hill in 21 Jump Street made me like Jewish people again”. He then went on to say “Thank you Jonah Hill I love you”.

While Kanye West has been, and forever will be a great musical artist, it is safe to say that his legacy will forever be tainted by his actions.

The shoe fits for Cinderella All elements of the musical came together for a great show PEYTON HOUSE Staff Reporter

Photo by Chloe Sapp Seniors Danielle Haynes and Ulises Hernandez perform as Cinderella and Prince Charming.

Ritenour’s production of “Cinderella” was an overall crowd pleasing performance with different emotions ranging from love and sadness to revolution and new beginnings.

This performance was a first for many of the actors “This is my first time being part of a musical and I’m pretty excited because I’ve always wanted to do something like this, but honestly, I’m not nervous because I know it’s going to come out the way we all want it to,” senior Ulises Hernandez said.

Many performers deal with stage fright during different parts of the production and have to deal with it to perform.

“I’m always nervous days before and right before but once I get on stage all of those feelings go away,” sophomore Audrey Buttry said.

Ritenour specifically did Cinderella’s Rogers and Hammerstein musical adaption and it was safe to say our students blew

the performance out of the water. Ritenour’s Cinderella, Danielle Haynes, did a phenomenal job shifting the typical look of Cinderella as a young black women “Most of the time when you think of Cinderella you don’t think of a black women, so being able to be a black women in Cinderella it feels like there’s a lot of pressure on the role especially with it being such a dream of mine,” Haynes said.

Adding a diversity factor to such a famous role really allowed far more connection to the audience especially in a younger crowd.

“I remember looking up to Brandy Norwood and to think that somebody in the audience could be looking up to me because I’m a Cinderella that looks just like them is really powerful and means a lot to me,” Haynes said.

There are so many parts the go into the production of a musical from the cast to the set crew to the musicians in the pit. Ritenour even decided to bring things up a level and bring in a scenic painter, Caroline Adcock.

“There are so many little and big details that go into stage set up with having to make sure props are easily movable while still being sturdy. I love painting the details on the props because while they don’t wildly stand out, they’re still a key part,” Adcock said.

The props had just the right amount of detail so the audience didn’t get lost in it, but it was far from bland.

Just like the props and sets are a key part, so is the pit.

Sometimes theater goers may forget it’s there, but it’s importance is just as high as the performers and the backgrounds. During the musical, the instruments were playing the feeling and emotion in each scene.

Ritenour’s musicals and plays are always a huge hit.

These productions give opportunities to friends and family to watch someone they care about perform or to even just have a free fun evening out of the house without having to go far. The musical was an overall magical experience.

Sports

May 2023

Page 8

A model mentor for overcoming odds

Basketball coach George Lee was named conference coach of the year in only his second season as the head coach, and just three years after a near fatal car crash MARIAM NEEB Staff Reporter When the Ritenour boys basketball team went undefeated in conference to win the conference championship, and he was named the conference coach of the year, it marked another high point of Coach Lee’s roller coaster of life.

As a graduate of the class of 1991, George Lee IV attended Ritenour as a student. Lee states that his time as a student was a great experience.

“My friends and I played

Photo courtesy RHS Yearbook George Lee graduated from Ritenour in 1991. He played on the last Ritenour team to win a conference championship before coaching this year's team to one.

multiple sports and had a tremendous amount of school pride,” Lee said. “We did experience moments of racial tension flaring at the time, but me and my friends stayed one big happy family.

Ritenour’s Athletic Director Drew Lohnes was the one who promoted Lee to the head coaching position before the 2021-2022 school year, and he went to school with Lee also. Lee and Lohnes both attended Hoech Middle and RHS, although he graduated two years after Lee did.

“We both knew a lot of the same people and had some classes together,” Lohnes said.

Lee began his coaching career long before coaching basketball at Ritenour, coaching youth football and AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) basketball. He became an assistant coach in 2012 after interviewing for the junior varsity position. He also filled out an application for the head coach position at the time, already thinking about his future.

“I never received a call back for that job,” Lee said.

Lee coached with Dave Watkins for three years and then continued to work with Mike Nelke for six more years before taking over as head coach in 2021.

While Lee’s path to success seems like a steady rise, it has had bumps along the way. On January 25, 2020, Lee, his wife, and his cousin were hit by a drunk driver as he was preparing to exit the interstate. Lee says that the truck flipped over several times before landing on its wheels. While his wife and cousin were able to walk away with minor injuries, Lee

was ejected from the vehicle and located underneath the car with a shattered pelvis, broken nose, broken fingers, and a lot of road rash. The injuries resulted in skin graft surgery in multiple places as well as surgery to repair the shattered pelvis.

“I spent months recovering in a wheelchair and since COVID restrictions were beginning to be put in place, I had to do rehab on my own,” Lee said When the news got out that Lee had been in a major car accident, it was devastating for everyone at Ritenour.

“It was very shocking. I didn’t have a lot of details so I was very worried,” Nelke said.

“Our minds were on him and I remember visiting him at the hospital and thinking about what he went through.”

The coach and players were all very happy and excited when he came back, but since Lee was recovering from the crash, he says he felt challenged.

“I had never had a major surgery, nor had I ever been in a scenario where I could not walk on my own,“ Lee said.

Since COVID started and students were not in school, he was able to do Zoom workouts with the basketball team five days a week so that they could be on the same page while they were apart.

Lee states that navigating around in a wheelchair was his biggest struggle although he was able to attend a few games and practices before the end of the season. Lee completed his recovery in seven months. His doctors said it was a miracle that he recovered from his injuries in so little time.

Photo courtesy RHS Athletics Coach George Lee was named conference coach of the year after an undefeated conference record this season.

“The doctor said that most other people with similar injuries never recover as well as I did,” Lee said.

Lee officially came back in the 2021-2022 school year when the pandemic restrictions were lifted. He took the position of head coach in 2021 and led the boys to victory in conference in just his second season.

“We had not won a conference championship in over 30 years,” Lee said.

The last time Ritenour won conference in boys basketball was in 1991, Lee’s senior year.

Lee is very excited about

winning conference although that is not his ultimate goal.

“It is still rewarding knowing that I have been part of the last two conference championship teams as a player first and now a coach,” Lee said.

His future plans are to win state championships and build a program where students go to college to play basketball all while creating connections with elementary, middle, and high school students.

“I want to be building college-ready athletes on and off the court,” Lee said.

Photo courtesy George Lee Coach George Lee's was hit by a drunk driver on January 25, 2020. As a result of the accident he was ejected from the car and suffered major injuries. Instead of derailing him, Lee worked hard to rehab and get back to coaching, and was hired a year later as the head coach.

Inside the Huddle - Cruising through Spring Question: What has been the best part of your season so far?

Je'Riya Thomas Girls Track

Leilani Bazan Girls Soccer

Jackson Leong Boys Golf

"Meeting new people, building "Making new friends and "Getting out on the course, more trust for relays, and meeting new girls on the team, seeing the scenery, and giving it the best that I've got." beating my personal record." also just seeing the progress from last year to now."

Will Chosich Baseball "Winning games."

Boys tennis team starts from scratch With a new coach and new players, the team is hoping to build for the future ZOHA IQBAL Staff Reporter After only playing one season in the past three years, a new coach and new athletes have made an exciting comeback for the boys tennis team in 2023 at Ritenour High School.

Social studies teacher and girls tennis coach Katie Davis has taken over as the boys tennis coach. This is her first year coaching tennis, but she has played before in the past.

She wants to bring everyone together and grow the tennis community as a whole.

This is a great opportunity

for students to try out an underrated sport and get to know Coach Davis.

As of right now, there are two students participating in this athletic activity. They are both very thrilled for the games and the training.

Senior Daniel Hendrix decided to join the team in his final semester as a high school student, even though he had never played tennis outside of school.

“I wanted to experience at least one sport before I leave high school, and make up for lost time,” Hendrix said.

Hendrix is committed to the team, Coach Davis and

his health, and has enjoyed his time being with the team so far.

“I've been preparing by primarily focusing on technique and fundamentals.

I do conditioning as well, but one of the key things in tennis is being able to manipulate and hit the ball in the right direction. Conditioning doesn't really matter if you're blasting it out of play when you get to the ball,” Hendrix said.

Davis had some very specific goals when she took over each of the programs.

“The goal of our tennis program is to learn the rules,

techniques, and strategy of the game while also having fun. I think it's important for players to set their own goals whether that be individually or as a team. Once they decide on their goals, I will assist them the best that I can,” Davis said.

Freshman Ben Zgiet is the other member of the boys tennis team. He has more experience than Hendrix, but is still learning how to compete in high school.

“I had played a little with my dad and it was fun so I wanted to join a team. My goal is to win every match and altogether to become a

better tennis player,” Zgiet said. “I also really love the game and it's a great lifetime sport.”

Davis believes that the work she is putting in to growing both programs will pay off in the future.

“I have had some girls reach out to me since the girl's season! I hope the interest picks up for both the boys and the girl's teams so we have a wider selection of games we can play as a team during practice. Tennis is such a great sport, it would be a shame if it didn't,” Davis said.