TABLEOFCONTENTS THE HISTORY OF RED .
How the scarlet and white evolved from 1960 to today.
PA G E 4
THE RED PEN
Two grading systems live within our school. Here are the views of the opposing sides.
PA G E 6
SHE KILLS MONSTERS
A look into the Dungeons and Dragons world of the play where the blood of monsters runs cold.
PA G E 8
TURNING THE MAP RED
How gerrymandering predetermines election results and obstructs Americans’ right to vote.
PA G E 1 0
LOVE IS RED
Hopefully with these tips from Fairview students we may have a chance at a second date.
PA G E 1 2
SPOT THE DIFFERENCE
Can you spot the 10 differences of this red scene of a basketball game?
PA G E 1 3
NO STRANGER TO DANGER
Red, the color of passion, danger, and adventure, epitomizes the thrill that many students find on the slopes.
PA G E 1 4
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RED.
Red. Look up from the field and it occupies the stands. Watch the sun descend over Longs Peak and the sky is soaked in it. It is the color of the anger that ignites passionate protests and the blood in rhetoric and the love of humanity. Red is the color of the Knight. Our school’s community is a vibrant one, flushed with innovation and perforFive hundred and sixty freshmen.mance and perspective. Five hundred and fifty three sophomores. Five hundred and sixty nine juniors. To illustrate this, we decided to focus on the Five hundred and forty six seniors. color red and all it represents. Red is the pen that One hundred forty seven staff members. grades our papers, determining our futures. Red
is the danger that we seek on the slopes and in the In a school of two thousand three hundred thrill. and seventy-five people, it’s easy to reduce the faces you pass by in the halls to only that:red and white, I must be a knight”-- the “I bleed faces. But what we forget to consider is that traversed generations of Fairview stuchant has just as our lives are full of exploration, sordents, each class declaring its pride. row, joy, bizarre experiences and extraordinary things, so are the lives of the other Red istwo our color. thousand three hundred and seventy-four. In this third installment of the annual Molly PeoBox and Noah Finer ple Issue, we sought to remove the veil and Co-Editors-in-Chief expose some untold stories of students and staff. Out of the two thousand, we present just a few of the innovators, the dreamers, the persistent and the bold. Here are your stories.
LETTER FROM THE EDITORS
-Molly Box and Noah Finer Royal Banner Co-Editors-In-Cheif
TRADITION OF SUPERSTITION SCHOOL OF CONSPIRACIES CLUB
SPOTLIGHT:
HVZ Junior HOMECO MAshton I N Nichols GS watches the Fairview-
PAST
Boulder basketball game.
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PHOTO BY JIVAN WEST
THE HISTORY OF RED How the scarlet and white evolved from 1960 to today. BY ELLA WAWRZYNEK Red, white and black--Fairview’s iconic colors. Right? “It’s actually scarlet and white,” said Principal Don Stensrud, “two colors.” That is what all the athletic directors have told him and what the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) handbook says.
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“It’s actually scarlet and white... two colors.”
The black is an accent color, which CHSAA began allowing in the 1980s after there was a big push by high schools to be allowed a highlight color. “Most schools went with black, and it slowly morphed. It went from piping can be accent color, to shorts can be the accent color, and then all of a sudden CHSAA just didn’t really care anymore,” said Stensrud. “So when you look at our football team and they’re Knights and they’re all black, except for the little red and white on the helmet, and red and white on the lettering, that’s actually, you go back 17-18 years ago, that would have been a violation of CHSAA.” But black has not always been the accent color. “In the 80s, early 90s the highlight color was blue,” said football coach Tom McCartney. “When I got here it was a blue trim, and then it switched to black.” The scarlet and white colors go back to the very beginning of Fairview High School. Fairview used to be an entire district out east of Boulder, and the original high school was built out on Baseline, the building where Platt Middle School resides now. An article in the fourth issue of the Royal Banner, published in 1961, writes, “When the administrations began planning for a
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new high school, they thought well into the future, and decided that, should there be reorganization, the name of Fairview High School would be a memory for all former members of Fairview district.” This was a good decision because in 1961 the board voted to redistribute the schools in the Fairview district into Boulder Valley and other surrounding districts so all the schools would have more tax revenue. According to Lynne Bixler, a former Fairview student and aunt of math teacher Amanda Bixler, the summer before the new high school opened the administration sent out a questionnaire to the incoming freshman (the class of 1964, one of whom was Bixler’s brother), asking them to pick the colors and school mascot. “It was a consolidation of the old Fairview district, they knew the kids,” Bixler said. That is how Fairview became the scarlet and white Knights, although from the beginning the scarlet was often mistakenly called red. Over the years, the memory of how the colors were picked has faded from all but a few minds, but the colors are as important to the students of today as they were 58 years ago. “Red represents pride and boldness,” said senior Didi Bulow, “It’s being proud and supportive of your peers.”
A picture of the cheerleaders in the 1961 yearbook.
Football players stand on the field at the Fairview-Boulder game sporting Fairview colors.
PHOTO BY NOAH FINER
The first mentions of the school colors in the Royal Banner and the Lance Yearbook. Both refer to cheerleaders’ uniforms. The Royal Banner in January of 1961 wrote, “The uniforms are white sweaters and white skirts with red pleat insets.” FHSROYALBANNER.COM
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THE RED PEN
Two grading systems live within our school. Here are the views of the opposing sides. BY SAKETRAM DURBHA
A number of teachers are breaking away from the traditional grading system and are exploring new methods of assessing the learning and progress of students in their classes. Paul Strode teaches PIB Biology, AP/IB Biology and Science Research Seminar. He doesn’t decide on a grade for his students at the end of the semester based on the value displayed by Infinite Campus but through a letter that students write addressing their progress on 10 “best practices” for learning. He collects data throughout the semester, including tests with corrections and journal entries, where students document the progress that they’re making. In Infinite Campus, Strode’s students see a “Complete,” “Partial,” “Rework” or “Missing” for assignments such as unit assessments and research papers. They receive two progress grades for tests: the first “solo-effort” and the “team-effort.” Strode is just a small part of a larger community within Fairview that has migrated to a point-less grading system. Some of the teachers that have similar implementations include Jay Stott in the Language Arts Department and Darrell Billington in Social Studies.
sion and improvement upon mistakes made, while encouraging taking risks. Students have the opportunity to do test corrections and rewrite papers. “It was being able to really fix your mistakes and not have a test where you understand most of the concepts but you forgot to study one thing and you messed up one thing and it ended up really destroying your grade,” said sophomore Alvin Zhang. Teachers that use point-less systems argue that their system encourages students to take risks and removes the focus from stressing over grades to learning and understanding the material. “The assigning of grades [...] in a high stakes environment, tends to increase people’s anxiety, tends to decrease the amount they’re actually learning and it really decreases the amount they’re willing to take a risk or experiment intellectually,” said Stott. Students say another important aspect of the non-traditional grading system is that it allows them to make their grade about more than just the tests. “I thinks it’s smart because you have more communication with your teacher and have more say in how you do in the class,” said senior Ines Marti.
“ “ “The assigning of grades [...] in a high stakes environment, tends to increase people’s anxiety...”
These teachers’ classes are based on student improvement rather than evaluations at certain points during the semester through tests. They allow for student revi-
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“You have more communication with your teacher and have more say in how you do in the class.”
Others argue that assigning points to assignments motivates students and provides them a clearer picture of how they’re doing
CORE TENETS OF THE NEW SYSTEM Emphasis on feedback Qualitative focus over quantitative Reflection/revision-based grading Encouraged risk-taking
in a class. “With the normal grading system you can see how you’re doing in the class overall so the grade kind of reflects how you’re understanding the material,” said sophomore Samuel Lee.
“With the normal grading system you can see how you’re doing in the class overall so the grade kind of reflects how you’re understanding the material.” Top: Teacher Jay Stott gives feedback on Extended Essay Proposals for juniors in Theory of Knowledge. Above: Teacher Darrel Bilington talks about his choice to make his social studies classes gradeless. Left: Teacher Paul Strode gives feedback on the latest IB Biology test.
trained in the classroom it’s hard to change a mentality for one class. [...] This is an entire country problem,” said senior Stephanie Zhang. Regardless of their grading system, teachers seem to have the same goal: to motivate and teach all of their students regardless of inherent ability or beginning interest in their class. “I want a system that encourages them all to engage as much as possible, even though they know they’re maybe not perfect or killing it,” said Stott.
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The question remains, however, if this new system of grading benefits students’ learning and improves their motivation. Does it increase their motivation or does it discourage it? Can you trust students to be honest when reporting their progress? “I think a lot of students wouldn’t be completely honest,” said junior Sara Bottome. This may also be a problem with the atmosphere of grades in the United States. “Given the way that we as students are
“Given the way that we as students are trained in the classroom it’s hard to change a mentality for one class.”
Ultimately, language arts teacher Emily Cosmos reminds us why students are in school anyway. “It’s more important for my job to teach students how to be good human beings,” said Cosmos.
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SHE KILLS MONSTERS A look into the Dungeons and Dragons world of the play where the blood of monsters runs cold. by Emma O’Leary BY EMMA O’LEARY AND IAN VASQUEZ Red is often a color associated with strength, determination, and being bold. This year’s Spring Play, “She Kills Monsters,” will feature all three, along with one-eyed monsters and five-headed beasts. “‘She Kills Monsters’ is an action-adventure set in the world of ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ with beasts, adventurers, and lesbians,” said Lanny Boyer, the director of the play. The play incorporates several different elements besides acting, including film segments, orchestra, band, and stage combat. A professional comes in to assist the actors with the stage combat choreography, and the actors use a variety of weapons.
tor, works on building the dragon and says that it is “the biggest challenge for the production.”
“‘She Kills Monsters’ is an action-adventure set in the world of ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ with beasts, adventurers, and lesbians.”
around and attack and we want to give the eyes lights and have fog machines in the mouths so it’s as realistic and scary as it can be,” Halstead said. According to Larsen, despite the fact that one of the worlds in the play consists of myths and monsters, the play is relatable to high school audiences. “The issues that people deal with in the show are much more relatable to the high school audiences [than previous productions],” Larsen said. “This is definitely something that I think all high schoolers should see at some point in their life.” “I think we need something that is going to be uplifting and challenge us to look at each other a little differently as it addresses different types of stereotypes within school,” Halstead said. “If we look at each other with a slightly different perspective, or a more open mind… we might connect with people that we didn’t realize we could and I think that’s one of the things I love about this show.” Larsen agrees that the play has a positive message. “The overall heart of the play is a really beautiful message, a beautiful story about accepting yourself and others and […] how anyone can be their own hero,” Larson said.
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Senior Clare Larsen, who is a cast captain and portrays demon queen Lilith Morningstar, is one of the cast members whose role involves stage combat. “It’s so much fun,” said Larsen. “I’m trying to get in shape for that purpose of wielding my ax, but I’ve started to do it in heels too, and it’s very hard.” In addition to realistic combat, “She Kills Monsters” will also incorporate “incredibly forward thinking technical aspects,” said Boyer. “We’re crashing dragons through walls, we’re going to be breathing fire [...] The costumes are going to be out of this world,” Boyer said. Sarah Halstead, the technical theater direc-
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For Boyer, the best part of putting on the play does not revolve around the dragons or swords, but something simpler. “Smiles,” Boyer said. “Smiles on faces where there previously were none.”
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“The costumes are going to be out of this “I think we need world.” something that is According to Halstead, an average of 30 tech students come after school to help build going to be uplifting the set for “She Kills Monsters” and conand challenge us to struct various components of the play, such as Tiamat, the dragon. look at each other a “Tiamat [...] is essentially a five-headed dragon [...] and the heads have to move little differently...”
Senior Annika Stahli, who plays Agnes, rehearses a scene.
Mr. Boyer helps freshman Khloe Tucker with blocking.
Senior Kashmir Reed, who plays Vera, dances at play practice.
PHOTOS BY NOAH FINER
FUN FACTS ABOUT SHE KILLS MONSTERS 1. There are 12 total fight scenes. 2. This is the most expensive production produced under Mr. Boyer. 3. The performance dates are March 7th to March 10th. 4. The actors use weapons made of metal, latex, or wood. 5. Stage combat is one of the first things the actors started working on. 6. The tech crew constructed numerous complicated monsters. FHSROYALBANNER.COM
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TURNING THE MAP RED How gerrymandering predetermines election results and obstructs American’s right to vote. BY CARTER HANSON One of the most serious problems and obstructions of democracy in America today is partisan gerrymandering. This is the act of manipulating the boundaries of districts in order to pre determine the outcome of an election in that aforementioned district. By using gerrymandering, the minority can gain the majority of power and implement their platform against the wishes of the people. This is a problem now more than ever, and we must combat it in the short term and the long term. “When we manipulate the districts, I think it violates the very principle of participatory government,” said history teacher Daniel Niedringhaus. The entire purpose of a democracy is for the government to represent the will of the people, and gerrymandering takes that away. Gerrymandering district borders gives one party a huge advantage over the other in an election by allowing the politicians to choose their voters and not vice versa. There are three ways for a party to gerrymander: packing, cracking, or a mix of the two. Packing is where you pack as many opposition voters into one or a few districts so that the other districts will have a majority of the voters for the gerrymandering party. Cracking is where the gerrymandering party splits up the opposition voters and distributes them to districts that they have a majority in so that they win the most districts. In order to show the power of this system, we created some maps to demonstrate and ran a simulation to project how voting would turn out in each scenario. Map of Colorado with pro-Democrat gerrymandering.
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Map of Colorado without districting.
The first map shows the state of Colorado with each dot corresponding to 50,000 voters with the color representing their partisan affiliation: blue for Democrats and red for Republicans.
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Map of Colorado with current districting.
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The second map shows today’s congressional districts and their partisan affiliation. The third map is what Colorado could look like if gerrymandered in favor of the Democrats. Notice that the Republicans would only win one district while the Democrats would win six. Finally, the fourth map is what Colorado would look like if gerrymandered in favor of the Republicans. The Democrats would only win one district to the Republicans’ six. About 53% of the total population voted Democrat and 47% voted Republican in this simulation, but with gerrymandering, either the Democrats or Republicans can have as much as an 86% majority of the seats. This shows just how destructive gerrymandering can be to the will of the people. Gerrymandering is actively practiced in the US right now. An example of Democrats gerrymandering in order to assure their election victory is the Maryland 3rd district. The district was redrawn following the 2000 census and again following the 2010 census in order to “crack” the Republican opposition. However, currently most states that are gerrymandered are done so in favor of the Republicans, even though the Democrats gerrymander as much as they can as well. “Right now it’s favoring the Republicans,” Niedringhaus said, “but things could obviously sway differently, and Democrats would use the same advantage.” Two prime examples of pro-Republican gerrymandering are the Pennsylvania 7th district and the Texas 35th district. The 7th is an example of cracking while the 35th is an example of packing. Colorado used to be gerrymandered as well. “That almost happened here in Colorado in Polis’s 2nd district,” said history
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PENNSYLVANIADISTRICT7
Map of Colorado With Pro-Republican Gerrymandering.
“[We can eliminate gerrymandering] by teacher Scott Peoples. “At one point they had it running all the way down I-70, but just taking the human element out of it and havuntil you get to Grand Junction and Grand ing computers draw the maps just based on Junction was part of his district. There’s no raw numbers,” said Peoples. In order to stop partisan gerrymandering logic behind that except they were trying to the American people all going to have to put all the democrats in one district.” However, Americans have achieved some work together. “I think we’re going to have to get these progress in combating this travesty. In Colorado and seven other states, independent committees together and people are going commissions draw congressional district to have to start calling them out,” said Niedringhaus, “and I think it speaks for free lines. and independent Recently in Pennsylpress that we need vania, gerrymandered to basically start district borders were calling these people struck down by courts out by name that on grounds of giving are drawing these one party an advanmaps—hold them tage over another. In accountable.” North Carolina as However, there well, gerrymandered are other solutions districts were struck besides non pardown on grounds of tisan redistricting racial biases. committees. For “They’d really gotten example, one such out of control in both solution that Mr. those states. Especial- MARYLANDDISTRICT3 Peoples especially ly North Carolina, I prefers is increasmean Pennsylvania was doing bad too,” said Peoples. “I think it’s ing the amount of representatives in the really a good sign, especially given the tenor House past the current 435. “I think the larger problem is the artificial of the Supreme Court right now, as conservative as they are, and still are finding that cap on 435 representatives–we’ve had that the gerrymandering that was going on was since 1913 when our population was about ⅓ of what it is today,” said Peoples, “It’s riout of control.” However, this is a solvable problem: first diculous to take a growing number–we’re up by forcing more states to have nonpartisan to 330 million now–and continually divide commissions draw congressional districts it by 435. You’re going to end up with imbalor even by making computers draw the dis- ance among the states.” Although this would help represent the tricts fairly.
US population with greater accuracy, gerrymandering would still be able to happen. Another solution is allotting seats in the house through a system called Mixed Member Proportional or ‘MMP.’ This system distributes half of the congressional seats based on local elections. This system then allocates the remaining half of the seats proportionally according to the national vote. This makes it so that there are local representatives and Congress is proportional to the national will of the people, therein rendering gerrymandering useless because, in the end, congress is still going to be proportional. This system has already done wonders for countries such as Germany and New Zealand. “I think that’s an interesting solution,I’ve never heard that before.” said Niedringhaus. “To a certain extent even the British do it too.”
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LOVE IS RED
We’ve all heard dating horror stories, maybe even lived them. But, hopefully with these tips from students, we may have a chance at a second date. “Be ok with being single.” ERIN MEDLER, 11
“Don’t.”
BLAKE PRIEBE, 10
BY KINDRA RODEN
“Don’t go to the movies for a first date. Go to a coffee shop. Much better than a movie.” AIDAN RIEHM, 12
“Don’t think too hard about it”
“Guys suck.”
ZEN AUGUISTE, 12
TA R A ST E N G E L , 1 0
“Think a lot about it”
“Nerf guns are the way to a girl’s heart.”
S E A N N A L AT I F F, 1 2
WILL WOLLRAB, 10
“If he don’t love you anymore, walk your fineness out that door.” KENDALL SHEPHERD, 11
“Take it slow because timing is everything, and if you rush things, your timing gets off.” E M I LY F E R N A N D E Z , 1 0
“Don’t take yourself too seriously.”
GABRIELLA MARTINEZ, SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHER
“Don’t tolerate cheating. If they cheat once there’s nothing stopping them from doing it again” MEGAN HENDRICKS, 12
“Don’t follow Henry the VIII’s example and break up with people by beheading them.” DELIA MCKEE-GRESHAM, 10
“If they’re a cat person then they’re no good.” KENDALL BALDWIN, 10
PHOTO BY NOAH FINER
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SPOT THE DIFFERENCE BY NOAH FINER
Can you find the 10 differences in this red scene of a baskebtall game? See the answers at fhsroyalbanner.com
Sophomore Mark O’Neill runs onto the court before the Fairview-Boulder game at Coors Events Center. PHOTO BY JIVAN WEST
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NO STRANGER TO DANGER Red, the color of passion, danger, and adventure, epitomizes thrill-seeking.
BY EMI AMBORY AND AIDAN DOLBEARE Every weekend, November through April, students find escape from their routines in the snowy Rockies. With a city nestled in the shadow of the Rocky Mountain foothills, and the best of Colorado’s resorts located less than a threehour drive up I-70, it’s no wonder skiing comes naturally to many Boulderites. However, groomed and patrolled resort terrain has proved to not be challenging enough for some skiers. “Regular skiing, like on the slopes, it’s just not that much of a challenge. I find backcountry more challenging [...] and there’s
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better snow,” said junior and backcountry skier Lukas Mills. Hailed for its steep slopes, unpredictable conditions, and thousands of acres of expansive and unoccupied wilderness, the Colorado backcountry offers terrain challenging to the most seasoned and experienced of skiers who, on every backcountry trek, risk life and limb to seek out the ideal thrill. “I like the danger aspect… But honestly, the purpose of backcountry skiing is to let loose because you don’t have time to think about your problems,” said freshman Sierra Zeller. “You’re just trying to not die.”
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Despite the threat of death, skiers describe the liberation found when they face a challenge with such extreme potential consequences.
“You’re just trying to not die.”
“I can just go so fast. Sometimes I scream when I’m going down or going off jumps,” said junior Dora Ryan. “In those moments, it feels like nothing can bother me. I feel in-
vincible.” However, these experienced skiers understand that although they may feeling invincible, they face serious danger when they go beyond the borders of the resort. “There’s always a chance you could get hurt and no one would be there to help you,” said Mills.
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“In those moments, it feels like nothing can bother me. I feel invincible.”
“New backcountry skiers go out thinking they’ll be okay and end up having no clue what they’re doing,” said sophomore Aubrey Muller who works as a ski patroller. “I have [an] extensive education on avalanche safety and all of the other skills you need to be safe in the backcountry so I feel safe and equipped to be out there.” By distancing themselves from their busy lives and, simultaneously, throwing caution to the wind, backcountry skiers are able to find a happy medium between recreation and routine. As Ryan said: “It’s my happy place; I just feel free.”
STAFF
R O YA L B A N N E R 2 0 1 7 -1 8
EDITORS-IN-CHIEF
Molly Box
Noah Finer
SECTION EDITORS
Student News Emma O’Leary
Opinion & Politics Carter Hanson
Entertainment Eliana Valenzuela Cabriales Sports David Hirschhorn Humor Henry Larson
In order to feel confident and safe in variable and unpredictable backcountry conditions, these skiers are well-trained and rarely venture out on their own.
Social Media Emi Ambory
Photo Manager Cormac Dowling Copy Editor Ella Wawrzynek Audio Editor Henry Larson
STA F F R E P O RT E RS
Emi Ambory, Aidan Dolbeare, Saketram Durbha, Kindra Roden, Ian Vasquez
BUSINESS
Adviser Sarah M. Zerwin
For Subscriptions: Send $25 to Royal Banner, Fairview High School, Room 339, 1515 Greenbriar Blvd, Boulder, CO 80305, or contact us at noahfiner@gmail.com or mjbox01@bvsd.org.
ABOUT US
The Royal Banner is a 16-page news magazine. The Banner is written primarily for the over 2,400 students attending Fairview High School and is distributed free of charge to all members of the school community. Accurate reporting of fact is the goal of the staff. Commentaries, opinion columns and letters to the editor are the expressed opinion of the author and not of The Royal Banner and its Editorial Board or its adviser. *Disclaimer: Under Colorado law, no expression made by students in the exercise of free speech or freedom of the press shall be deemed to be an expression of school policy. No school district, employee, legal guardian or official of such a district shall be held liable in any criminal action for any expression made or published by a student. The Royal Banner sells advertisements for publicity and to pay for printing costs. We reserve the right to refuse to run any advertisement deemed inappropriate to the Fairview community.
A typical day at Eldora Ski Resort. PHOTO BY ARI SOTO
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