Talisman vol 51 issue 1 october 16, 2015

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TALISMAN

teen entrepreneurs page 2 Sheldon High School

a student-edited newspaper

Nike deal controversy page 5 vol. 51│iss. 1│Oct. 16, 2015

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Oct. 16, 2015

Teen Highlights

the Talisman

Teen entrepreneurs: new minds, new ideas Maya Dickinson staff writer One notorious example includes J.K. Rowling, who is most recognized for her success with the Harry Potter series she wrote. While Rowling may be recognized most often as an author, people from a business standpoint can often recognize her entrepreneurship as well. Rowling’s entrepreneurial success is obvious through the 400 million copies she has sold worldwide.

Entrepreneurship is often a career path dominated by money, innovative ideas, and adults. However, teenagers who pursue entrepreneurship are being displayed in the media, now more than ever.

Some of the most successful entrepreneurs include Oprah Winfrey, Walt Disney, J.K. Rowling, Steve Jobs, Benjamin Franklin, Hans Christian Anderson, and Bill Gates.

Now a new and younger generation of entrepreneurs has stepped up to the plate like Nick D’Aloisio, Brian Wong, Mark Bao, Juliette Brindak, Sean Belnick, and Ashley Qualls.

Junior Taylor Moore shares her opinon on entrepreneurship saying, “[Entrepreneurship would be easier to be successful at] as an adult, because as a teenager you already have so much stuff going on.”

However, with the rise of social media from the past decade, many teens in the United States have grown success in entrepreneurship through the use of social media. Founder and CEO of Wild Daisy (an online clothing site targeted towards teens), is a sixteen-yearold California native who is known online by the name Joyce. She has accumulated 124,000 followers on her company’s Instagram. This success continues on her YouTube channel, which has over 26,000 subscribers.

One of the most successful teen entrepreneurs is Nick D’Aloisio, a British teenager who at just nineteen years old, who already has an estimated net worth of 30 million dollars. This success stemmed from D’Aloisio’s app Summly, which was purchased by Yahoo, Inc. and has now evolved to be Yahoo’s Digest.

Entrepreneurship is a career field that continues to grow with the technological advancements in our country. Entrepreneurship is also a career that can be pursued by teenagers and can help young adults and teenagers get a good income post high school.

When asked if entrepreneurship is something she would consider pursuing, junior Rachel Schnapper said, “Yes, I would [consider it].” Schnapper’s plans for the future include attending the University of Washington to study law to become a lawyer. However, entrepreneurship is a field that can be entwined with other careers (like law), as well.

Illustration by Maddie Honey

It is a small world after all Melissa Berry staff writer

Sheldon High School is the temporary home of many foreign exchange students who come from all over the world to learn, be entertained, and see all the wonders that the U.S. can bring. Even though being an exchange student can be fun and a good experience, it’s not always easy. It demands a lot of you as a person and you have to be aware of that when applying.

Exchange students who currently attend Sheldon High School say their journey to the U.S. has been a thrill. Junior Astrid Lyng, an exchange student from Denmark, has loved her experience: “Sheldon has been wonderful and I love how nice everyone is.” She wanted to become an exchange student because it sounded like fun to take a year off, and her family was very supportive of her decision.

The Sheldon High School atmosphere has been very different than that of the schools’ in the exchange students’ countries. Senior Francesco Dadone, from Italy, said everyone is positive and supportive, but the school system is far different. “In Italy, the teachers come to the students, and the school days are much longer.” He said that if one is to adjust sufficiently to the drastic differences, he or she must be open-minded and easygoing.Dadone said,“You get what you get.” Dadone later added, “You can work to make your situation better.” Dadone’s positive attitude towards his new experience has made it easier for him to enjoy his journey.

Illustration by Maddie Honey

Another exchange student at Sheldon has her opinions as well. Junior Birk Poena from Germany came to America to broaden her horizons. Poena said, “I came here because I wanted to see what American high school was like.” Watching movies back in Germany made her eager to see what American high school is truly about.

Overall, Sheldon High School has been a welcoming home to all exchange students from around the world. They all can agree that their experience at Sheldon has been positive and fulfilling. Though they all have struggles with the new surroundings, they are happy to be here and are looking forward to their journey ahead.

Highlights

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Oct. 16, 2015

Come Interact with us

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Breanna Lindsey and Kenadie Kucinski staff writers If you want to consider getting community service hours, then you should think about joining Interact Club. The club offers many opportunities to earn community service hours in fun ways and is open to all students.

In Interact Club, you can choose to attend community service events outside of school which help students complete community service hours while helping people in the community and around the world. Interact Club is student run, making meetings a free space to state ideas. The students who run Interact Club include sophomore Bailey Prusz, the president; sophomore Natalie White, the vice president; sophomore Corbin Krecklow, the RP Representative (Public Relations Representative); sophomore Brad Wilson, the secretary, and sophomore Conner Wilson, the treasurer.

You may be wondering what the benefits of joining Interact Club are. White said, “In Interact Club, members are offered many opportunities to complete community service for their volunteer hours. Members also are affiliated with a great club and directly connected to the larger, adult version of Interact, called Kiwanis.” Kiwanis Club is a North American organization that is put together to do professional charity events.

Some community service events the Interact Club participates in are Sheldon Oaks Retirement Center events as well as events that Rotary Club puts on. The events usually last around two to four hours. Prusz stated, “A bigger number of people in the club would be better because then more people would show up at the events which, in turn, would help the community out more.”

Interact Club meets every Wednesday during lunch in the lecture hall, room C9, and it does not cost anything to join.

Students should feel free to come and attend any meeting!

Interact Club provides the opportunity for anyone in the club to hold a board position. To be on the board, all you need to do is sign up at the end of the school year. Elections take place in May, a few weeks after you sign up for a specific board position.

Krecklow stated, “I enjoy being a part of the Interact Club because it gives me a chance to spend time with my friends and to get community service hours.” Interact Club is a great place for those who value community service and like to give back to their community.

photo by Tyler Coombs

Herbert returns to lead the Irish Solomon Faulkner and Grayson Mazziotti staff writers

photo by Tyler Coombs

Sheldon football has a reputation for being one of the best program in the state. This past year the varsity football team made it to the semi-finals against the Central Catholic Rams.

Leading the team at quarterback after a devastating injury to starter Justin Herbert’s leg was Kellen Strahm. This year, Herbert is back alongside some new talent to lead the team in another strong year. With Herbert back and new player senior Misikei Fuiava-Thomsen filling in positions on both the offensive and defensive sides, Sheldon’s future is bright.

Along with new and emerging talent, starting quarterback and diverse offensive threat Justin Herbert is back on the field. Recovering from an injury can be a difficult task, and one that some may not be up for. Herbert, on the other hand, has hit the ground running. Injury can affect how one plays.

Herbert, when asked how his injury affected his play simply replied, “It does not affect my play style. It feels like I never left.” Herbert said he feels better than ever. The future of the team is bright with this dynamic duo working side by side, and Herbert said, “We can compete with anyone in the state.”

This bold statement shows the confidence the senior quarterback has in the team and the success they hope to have the rest of this year.

Thomsen is a multidimensional player who is both offensively and defensively talented. He transferred to Sheldon this year, his senior year, from Mascoutah High School in Mascoutah, Illinois. This can be a giant transition to make for a student athlete of any kind. Thomsen said when asked how he felt being on a new team, “I feel good. It’s given me a new opportunity to come show what I got.”

Where some athletes would take the move as a negative, Thomsen sees this as his opportunity to show what he has to new eyes and continue to grow and show his talents in football.

Not only are the players happy for the health of leaders and emergence of a new player and the success they can bring, but coach Les Phillipo shares their excitement. Having Herbert back is huge for the team. As Phillipo said, “Having Herbert back gives us the opportunity to have a special player in the backfield leading the offense.” Herbert is a huge asset to have on this Irish football team, one that has helped lead to the success of the team.

Overall, the football program at Sheldon is on the road to success. The players and coaches are excited to see what is in store. With the return of Herbert and the emergence of Thomsen, the future is bright for this exceptionally talented football program.

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Sheldon Spotlight Features

Increased safety versus convenience Isaac Grossberg & Deavin Brownson politics editor & staff writer School safety has become a prominent concern for communities across America. School shootings, abductions, and bomb threats are just some of the many concerns that parents and teachers have nowadays. Many school districts have created a wide range of safety protocols to reassure worried members of the community. Some examples would be increased monitoring of school grounds, crisis plan awareness, anonymous reporting systems, and locking certain entrance points of the school.

Sheldon has taken many of these protocols into action. The one that has been most apparent to the students of Sheldon this year is that the doors to the back parking lot are locked. It has become a common topic of conversation for teachers and students of Sheldon and has brought up conflicting opinions. On one side, many find the locked doors to be a huge inconvenience.

Senior Austin Turvey pointed out, “What if someone is late to class? The doors force them to walk farther to get inside and make them later to class.”

Students in past years have enjoyed the privilege of having free passage in and out of the school through its many entrances at all times of the day. Now that this privilege has been revoked, there has been a lot of backlash, and while some teachers may agree with this sentiment, it’s mainly students who have voiced opposition.

to restrict access into school buildings to only one point. This way, visitors are more easily identified and forced to either sign in or leave.

Are locked doors really enough though? What else could be done to improve security around Sheldon? Sophomore Marie Kemple proposed, “We should have more armed guards around.” More personnel are a good idea, but require money that the district doesn’t have.

Another idea that has been circulating around Sheldon is that all student ID cards should have the same access capabilities as the teachers’ ID cards. Watson pointed out that this idea is impractical: “Staff members have access [to the building] anytime [which students should not]… and it would become a programming issue.”

The bottom line is that security could be improved around Sheldon, but it would require more time and money than is available.

For now, the staff are doing the best they can with the resources they have, and Sheldon High School is more secure this year than last year.

On the other side of the spectrum, people have brought up the point that the sacrifice is worth it for the extra safety. Parents would probably prefer to have peace of mind that their children are safer over giving them the convenience to leave and enter the school as they please. In fact, many students and teachers share the same point of view. When asked what the initial reason for the locked doors was, Vice Principal Mark Watson said, “They help us to control who enters the school.” He went on to explain that it has become standard for schools Illustration by Olivia Barnhart

ASB: appointed not elected Kalea Nyby & Jacob Williams staff writers This past year Sheldon student class officer and ASB elections have changed from the traditional campaigning to how well one can write an essay given a certain prompt, and an interview in front of a one person committee. The decision is based on what one person thinks how good of a candidate you are and not what the student body thinks of you.

Junior Makayla Pestrikoff gave some insight on the whole change. Pestrikoff has run multiple times, experiencing both election processes and said, “I think this process is unfair because its student government. With the interview and essay process, it’s not up to the student body, it’s faculty choosing who they think should represent our school.”

Senior Josiah Darland had a balanced way of thinking compared to others. Darland said, “I think that the traditional process is great in its purpose.

However, the new process is the more effective in electing proactive officers.” Darland is still leaning towards the committee decision option: “Voss making the final decision is for the better because it clears out the opportunity for inappropriate mess-ups.”

Mr. Michael Voss, the head coordinator of Sheldon’s class officers and ASB committee, gave great input to assure the new way of electing was beneficial and unbiased. Voss said that he got numerous phone calls after officers were appointed during the voting way of election, and that the same people were being elected; there wasn’t very much diversity amongst the elected officers. He has been a part of the program for fifteen years and he “went with the flow” with the way the program was working as an assistant advisor. Once he took over as the head of the program he thought, we need to start think- Illustration by Maddie Honey ing outside the box, and wanted to make changes to the election process to get a more diverse group of officers. He thought and thought and didn’t have the realization until January 2015 to make the change to an application, essay and interview. To make sure this new process was unbiased, he assured that he wasn’t the only one who made the decision and that teachers, staff, and classified personnel helped throughout the process.

To sum it all up, the ASB election process has been changed to create a more diverse group of officers so the same people (such as honors kids or only female students) don’t continue to dominate the positions. An application, essay, and interview will continue to be the way of electing to ensure diversity.

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Community Spotlight Features

Athletic apparel deal: Nike asks 4J to “Just Do It”

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Ayla Bussel, Bretton Lloyd, & Kaii’li Matiaco staff writers

Just over a month ago the Eugene School Board met to discuss a deal that would require athletes on all 4J high school varsity sports teams to wear Nike products during games and other team activities, such as exhibitions and photo sessions. Specifically, the deal would give 4J $300,000 over the span of five years, $15,000 a year, to each of the four high schools in the district.

On September 28, the Bethel School District voted to accept a similar deal that will require varsity athletes to wear Nike in exchange for $15,000 in rebates over the next five years. “Bethel district spokesman Pat McGillivray said the district did what was best for students, not Nike,” the Washington Times online reported.

Regarding the 4J deal, assistant football coach Mr. Phillipo said, “To me it’s more of a financial problem. This deal won’t help the [Sheldon] football team at all. It’s actually going to hurt Sheldon football... A football uniform top is $200-250 depending on what style you get; pants are approximately $100. That’s roughly $300 per athlete, multiplied by 50 players; that’s $15,000 for one set of uniforms… Now they’re going to give the whole school $15,000 and there’s around 15 programs… that’s $1,000 per program. Now all of a sudden all the fundraising costs have just gone up and we have no negotiating power… If they want to mandate what Sheldon football has to do for uniforms it would be nice if the district helped pay for [them]. We get new uniforms probably every two years; we currently have a deal with Adidas where we buy a couple sets of uniforms and they give us a few sets over several years for free. That saved us $45,000 right there that we didn’t have to pay for and when they do this new deal, there is no incentive, in my opinion. By taking away our bargaining power as a team that has had success, it’s actually a detriment to Sheldon football.”

Girls varsity basketball coach Mr. Brancato said, “From a smaller sport perspective it costs me $4,500 dollars for one set of uniforms, but now with this Nike deal I’ll get another 10 percent discount than I was already getting so it works in my benefit.”

Several school board members raised concern about the deal, citing its over commercialism of students. By requiring that all varsity athletes in a district have the Nike swoosh cover their uniforms, students turn into walking commercials for that brand. If the deal passes, these student athletes would be promoting this major company, signing themselves over as lifelong consumers of Nike. Phillipo disagreed, noting that the commercialism of the deal isn’t a concern: “We’re going to wear Nike jerseys and Adidas jerseys… every one of our players is going to have a top and bottom whether it’s Adidas or Nike or whatever it is. We just have an issue that they’re telling us what we have to do and not allowing us to go out there and market ourselves and find the best deal for us.”

In the 4J school district’s guidelines regarding distribution of materials in schools it is clearly stated that “promoting commercial activities or advertising is not permitted” and “other organizations› fundraising efforts are their own responsibility; they should not be distributed through schools.” On one hand, the 4J school district does not allow for any promotion or advertising for major brands but on the other, by taking this Nike deal, 4J would be doing just that.“All we’re doing is using our students for Nike’s advertising,” Sheldon secretary Sonja Casarez said.

Phillipo added, “I believe we should be asking the other uniform manufacturers what they are willing to do for us. $15,000 is not enough for an elite school like Sheldon that is consistently on the front page of the sports section. If we’re taking a bid from Nike we should get a bid from Adidas and a bid from Under Armour.” Head baseball coach Mr. Martell added, “Start the bidding war.”

This proposed deal has been a source of controversy and questions among students, parents, teachers, business owners, and community members. How will the money be divided up? How much will each team be allotted? Matt Binkerd, Sheldon High School athletic director added, “It [the deal] will benefit the school greatly with less financial burden on buying uniforms and other equipment for athletic teams… the AD and head coaches will be in charge of the allocation of the funds. No real requirements [exist] except that a majority of our sports teams need to wear Nike uniforms on game day.” However, this is not the reality. According to the specifics of the deal, all 4j high school varsity sports teams will be required to wear Nike products during games, exhibitions, photo sessions, and other activities. According to Brancato, the uniform and other gear the teams would wear are required to be Nike. Under the agreement, the products would include sporting equipment, uniforms, socks, shoes, gloves, headbands, wristbands, sweat suits, and other types of clothing. The 4j athletics director, Kelly Bokn, could not be reached for comment on the deal.

Senior and varsity football linebacker Grant Schmaedick said, “I think the deal would be great for the entire district. It would help to increase enthusiasm in programs that are struggling financially and could increase participation in sports which I think is an extremely positive thing… It benefits Nike by asserting them into high school athletics in the town where the company was founded. Adidas has provided our football team with fantastic gear but I think Nike would like to take back some territory close to home.” When asked how he felt about major companies using high school athletes to promote their name, Schmaedick added, “I would argue that either way teams are endorsing the companies that make their uniforms and other gear. Unfortunately, I think it’s unavoidable. But if it is going to occur on a district-wide level I’m glad that it is with a company that has ties to the Eugene area.”

From 2012-2015 Sheldon has spent close to $190,000 on athletics. According to Coach Phillipo, Coach Brancato, and Coach Martell that number doesn’t come nearly close to the actual grand total. $190,000 is simply the amount that the 4j school district has record of. Brancato added, “That’s a misleading number.” That number does not include outside money that is donated and fundraised. Phillipo commented, “Our school district gives us little to no fundraising for our sports programs. Supplies and equipment are purchased via fundraising. We already overtax our own parents and our families so much for fundraising. If you figure all the sports together and how much money it costs our families to support our kids playing sports, its thousands and thousands of dollars every year.”

Phillipo concluded, “When it’s all said and done, choice would be nice to have. It would be nice for us to be able to determine what’s best for our programs. For other teams it may not be a big deal because they’re not buying uniforms on a regular basis - their uniforms don’t cost $300 each - and so it may not be affecting them quite as much as it does us.”

The 4J school board was scheduled to vote on the deal on October 7, but the decision was tabled due to legal concerns to see if the deal was following procedure. They will meet to discuss the contract again on November 4.

Foreign Elections

6 Oct. 16 2015

Politics The election of leaders around the world

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“I think corruption is on the rise here, but moving slowly.”

- Turkish resident, Kerem Seyran

Harrison Nabors and Ryan Fields staff writers Lawn signs are being erected, stickers are making their way to bumpers, polls are making midnight calls, and the news won’t stop talking about it.

That’s right! It is the season preluding to the season known as midterms! But what is going on in the rest of the world?

Starting with our neighbor to the north, Canada will be holding their federal elections, in which voters elect one individual candidate to represent their party (or beliefs) in the House of Commons. Popular polls point towards the Conservative and Liberal Parties in the lead with the New Democratic Party trailing not far behind. This is significant because the last election resulted in a landslide victory for the Conservatives.

Across the Atlantic, in Britain, the Conservative Party’s incumbent David Cameron got re-elected in the 2015 general election.

Similarly, in Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu of the Conservative Likud Party also got re-elected, and is now the longest serving prime minister of Israel.

On the other hand, Nigeria faced a drastic change in the political realm as the Conservative People’s Democratic Party, which supplied all presidents since democracy was introduced, was beaten by Muhammadu Buhari. He has been accused of rigging the election and advocates Sharia Law, which is very alien to Nigeria’s past secular federal establishment.

All these nations differ from the United States, as they don’t have Electoral College.

Sophomore Brevin Meyers said, “I would say that for our modern time, direct vote would be better over the Electoral College.”

While many nations are expressing their democratic ways, some are becoming more corrupt and could potentially lose their democratic form of government. In Burundi, a nation in East Africa and south of Rwanda, the president unconstitutionally declared his 3rd term run.

Likewise, in Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko has demanded that separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk stop holding elections, though this is out of his reach.

Although tensions have loosened, Turkey, which used to be home of a quintessential example of a successful democracy, now has a very corrupt administration. In 2015, the current silent equilibrium will soon erupt and become loud. Polls are said to be rigged, parks are being renovated for military purposes, and alleged false flags attacks by the government are being performed, with these controversies traced to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Kerem Seyran, Turkish resident and former Oregonian, said, “I think corruption is on the rise here, but moving slowly. Things won’t instantly change here.” Seyran also said,“These incidents however, have not really affected the amount of votes he got because he [President Erdogan] was elected president the next year.”

If any of these nations were to descend into further chaos and violence, there would be no light at the end of that tunnel.

Revolting in arms without order, throughout history, has proven to be not beneficial, but just a repetition of history. We must learn from mistakes and accomplishments made around the world, so we may improve our United States of America.

Illustration by Olivia Barnhart

Variety

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Oct. 16 2015

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Snapchat’s New Features Brady Akins & Hope Bolivar Staff Writers This September marked the four year anniversary of the release of the social media juggernaut Snapchat. Snapchat is an app designed for viewing the pictures and videos of your friends, but the catch is that whatever you send is on a time limit of only ten seconds, after which time it disappears.

At least, that was the case with the Snapchat of four years ago. The titan of the app store is undergoing a seemingly major renovation that is intended to be a win/win for the hundreds of millions of Android and Apple users who have downloaded the photo sharing app and for the creators of the app itself. Snapchat is releasing an in app purchase that will allow people to go back and look at pictures that have been lost in the depths of pictures that had gone past the ten second time limit. Retrieving the viewing privileges of these pictures will come at the cost of 99 cents for looking at three old pictures, $2.99 for ten old pictures, and $4.99 for twenty old pictures. While the intention of the creators of the app was to help people who want to view a lost picture, some people consider the whole thing a waste of money for the consumer, and a waste of time for the producer.

Senior Hannah Vaughan, a frequent user of Snapchat, gave her opinion on the new update. She said, “People only want to view pictures briefly.” Vaughan later elaborated, “The point of Snapchat is to only be able to view the pictures temporarily.”

Having this new in app purchase does seem to take away from the original purpose and design of Snapchat, but some people hardly think that this new feature will stop people from using the app. Junior Chase Brickey said, “I won’t ever use any of the new features, but that doesn’t mean I won’t still use the app.” Adding on to that, freshman Ashley Younger said, “This update has not changed my opinion on Snapchat at all. If people don’t want to use the new features, they don’t have to.”

Snapchat currently ranks fourth on the Google Play store for Android devices, and has peaked a lot higher than that. Another feature of the update adds goofy effects to people’s faces when they are taking selfies. It is expected to boost the popularity of the app for a short time. Snapchat has been around for four years now and somehow only continues to grow in popularity. No matter what you think of the new in app purchases, the app should be expected to be around for years to come.

illustration by Olivia Barnhart

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Managing editor & coAyla Bussel editor-in-chief Features editor & coeditor-in-chief Sam Fox Teen Highlights editor Patricia Cagiao Rodriguez Sheldon Highlights editors Sam Lawson & Bailea Nance Politics editors Isaac Grossberg & Jonah Jellesed Variety editors Rachel Barnhart & Gracie Thompson Copy editor Ashley Younger Social media team Sam Lawson, Rachel Bang, & Maya Dickenson Artists Olivia Barnhart & Maddie Honey Photographers Kaylee Alexander, Martin Delgado Caballero, Tyler Coombs, Lindsay Kitzel, & Cassidy Logan Staff adviser Greg Cantwell Staff writers Brady Akins Melissa Berry Hope Bolivar Deavin Brownson Maya Dickenson Solomon Faulkner

Ryan Fields Kenadie Kucinski Breanna Lindsey Bretton Lloyd Kai’li Matiaco Grayson Mazziotti Harrison Nabors Kalea Nyby Alize Townsend Jacob Williams To the numerous students, teachers, and families affected by the recent events at UCC, The Talisman staff would like to express our utmost condolences to you during this unbearably difficult time. Our thoughts and hopes are with you always and we’d like you to know that you have the full support of the Sheldon staff and student body.

-The Talisman Staff

cover illustration: Light at the End of the Tunnel oil on canvas by freshman Danielle Renken

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