STUDENT VOICES

hope it doesn’t have to impact students at Park.”

According to social studies teacher Emma Engebretson, the CROWN Act may have an impact on students at Park in the future, as students may feel more protected to speak up against discrimination they see or experience.

“The CROWN Act will for sure impact student experience,” Engebretson said. “We’ve got a law now that says that you can’t discriminate based on appearance in schools. That will create a more welcoming environment where students can express themself freely and ensure that there are consequences when discrimination occurs.”

“Hopefully, the CROWN Act gets away from the whole concept of ‘classy’versus-‘dirty’-versus-‘professional’ hair,” Polk said. “To me, that’s where the biggest issue lies — with people dictating what is and isn’t professional.”

Miles Johnson said that before the CROWN Act, he had worried about potential discrimination in the workplace, but he feels more protected after the bill was passed.

“When I started working in a workplace before the bill, there was a higher possibility that they would say, ‘Change your hair, it’s not professional,’” Johnson said. “Now that you legally can’t do that, I feel more safe in having my natural hair out in public.”

Future under the CROWN Act

According to Polk, hair texture can be an impactful part of a student’s life, and he hopes they are able to embrace and feel proud of it.

“Students’ natural hair definitely can, and does, affect their academic experiences,” Polk said. “My hope is that people continue to embrace their natural hair, not because they feel like they need to wear it a certain way, but just

Janet Kromah, sophomore because they like it and want to wear it that way.”

Ryan Johnson said that he hopes the CROWN Act allows people to embrace their natural hair more in the hair industry.

“In our industry, hopefully it affects things as far as people embracing their natural hair,” Johnson said. “In my workplace, the employees can embrace the artistry of different hair. We’ve got all kinds of hair going on. I hope people are accepting more of themselves, like, ‘This is what I have.’”

Leary said it’s especially important to have written policies in schools to support students and create a comfortable environment for them to learn.

“It’s very important to expand that into the schools because I hear stories of kids getting pressured into cutting off their dreads or cutting their hair short,” Leary said. “I think that’s important to focus on.”

According to Sallet-Smith, the Storiole could incorporate more curly hair products into its stock to make them more accessible for everyone.

“They have brushes, and if they want to give things to students, they should add more curly hair products,” Sallet-Smith said. “Like a Denman brush, moisturizer… Just more stuff to attract more people who have curly hair. If you just give the normal brush, it won’t really work with curly hair.”

Engebretson said she would like to see more legislation passed surrounding natural hair, both nationally and at Park.

“I hope more states continue to pass bills into laws similar to the CROWN Act. I would love to see us get a national law, too,” Engebretson said. “It’ll be interesting to see what policies, practices and professional development Park puts in place that will also align with the CROWN Act.”

CROWN Act: “Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair”

Fourteen states also passed laws against hair discrimination.

MHRA prohibits race discrimination in the workplace (and in schools).

Rep. Abaje said the bill “allows people to show up as their authentic selves.”

Infographic by Lilly Fandel Thompson

Source Kare 11

DESIGN BY Alicia Mainjeni

Henry Salita, junior

Modesty Manion

After getting fourth in the State meet last year, the girls’ Nordic team went into the sections meet determined to return to Giants Ridge for the state meet. This year, we were the Metro West Conference team champions, and we went into the sections meet with confidence and intent. Our chances of returning to state depended both on how our five pursuit skiers placed in relation to the other teams, as well as how the skate relay team performed in the semifinals and finals.

The way that the sections meet works is that a team of seven varsity skiers is chosen, with five of them doing the pursuit race and the other two working together in the sprint relay. The pursuit team does a 5K classic race and later a 5K skate race — their times are then combined to see their overall placing.

The season for boys’ swimming has come to a close after the team placed 30th overall March 3–4. After finishing in 15th place in the 100 freestyle and a school-record sixth place in the 200 freestyle, Nordling said he has a tendency to swim better when he is competing against swimmers with a higher skill level.

Strategies for State and Sections

The sprint relay consists of four laps around a one-kilometer course, where the first racer (me) does the first and third laps, and the second racer, Addison Chenvert, does the second and final laps. There are two heats of the semifinal race, and the top seven teams from both heats participate in the finals. Based on the placing of the top three pursuit skiers, as well as the placement of the relay team in the semifinals or finals, each team acquires a certain number of points that are combined and compared to find the winning team. The top two ranking teams send all seven of their skiers to the state tournament, and the next top four individuals from the pursuit and the next best relay team (not from the top two teams) are also invited to state.

One of the biggest aspects of our preparation is our ski wax. The nordic team’s main coach, Doug Peterson, is a wizard when it comes to waxing skis. He is a master at determining the best wax to use based on the weather. Three days before the sections and state meets (respectively), Doug took our skis to work his magic. Usually, after Doug waxes our skis, each individual racer would scrape and brush the wax off of their own skis. However, for meets as important as these, the coaches did this for us.

Technical changes are another crucial part of meet prep. There was about a week and a half in between Conference Champs and sections and a week between sections and state, so we had a longer period to work out logistics. At this point in the season, our physical conditioning is at a good point where we’re in good shape and need to focus more on race strategy and technique. The pursuit skiers mainly worked as a group on their classic uphill form and skate weight transfers. For the sprint, Addison and I worked with the coaches on skate-tucking, finding the right line to take on sharp turns, positioning our skis to use the most power and uphill climbing technique.

The relay had significantly less time in between the semifinals and finals, so Addison and I were told to eat something small, but to focus on drinking water. The biggest food-related instruction our coaches gave us was to not try something new or stray from our normal diets too much. The last thing you want to do is try a new food the day before the biggest race of the season, just to realize that it makes you sick.

Aidan Shafton DESIGN BY

“The meet was highly competitive, which is where I do best personally,” Nordling said. “I really like those high-competition, high-stakes meets.”

Cameron said he enjoyed the experience of swimming alongside some of the fastest in the state.

“State was interesting,” Cameron said. “I added a little bit of time, but I was still really happy with how I did, though. There were some insanely fast kids there. I was really impressed by all the teams.”

Head coach Amanda Forsberg said there were a few highlights of the season that heavily contributed to the success of the team.

“The season went really well,” Forsberg said. “Miles Nordling broke two team records and he placed in the top eight at state, which was great. Everyone dropped time at sections, which is always the goal.”

According to Cameron, Park faced adversity throughout the season, but didn’t let it stop them from competing at the highest level.

“There were a lot of tough spots this year,” Cameron said. “With the weather and all the setbacks I think we really pushed through.”

According to Nordling, everyone on the team — including the underclassmen — were a useful part of the team’s journey to competing at state.

“This was a really great season for the team,” Nordling said. “It was really good to see people show up and do what they needed to do — even the younger kids on the team.”

Forsberg said next season, the younger swimmers need to carry on where the team left off this year, as Park will be missing their seniors next year.

“We’re losing some really great seniors,” Forsberg said. “I’m looking for the underclassmen to step up and help us fill that void.”

Nordling said he trusts next year’s captains to lead the team toward repeating the success of this season.

“I’m hoping these boys keep up with the great work,” Nordling said. “Next season there are going to be some great captains on the team. I’m looking forward to what they can do next season with the momentum from this season.”

Boys’ swimming finished 30th in the state and made multiple school records throughout the season.

Boys’ swimming state results

6th in state* for the 200 freestyle

Miles Nordling

15th in state for the 100 freestyle

Daniel Cameron 20th in prelims for 200 butterfly

Miles Rost, Magnus Smith, Henry Berg, Miles Nordling

*School record

17th in prelims for 200 freestyle relay

19th in prelims for 400 freestyle relay

Eliana Montero-Ward, junior