The Harbinger Issue 15 2021

the harbinger.

SHAWNEE MISSION EAST 7500 MISSION ROAD PRAIRIE VILL AGE, KS 66208 M AY 1 0 , 2 0 2 1 VOLUME LXIII ISSUE 15

VISION OUT VIEW WITH

East alum Elsa Goodmon designs costumes and draws, despite the challenge of her visual impairment

A LOOK INSIDE SMSD advises teachers on engaging in discussions about police brutality

05 NEWS

18 FEATURES

Sophomore Charlie Kitten’s recent style change gives him a newfound sense of confidence, empowering him to ignore hate

“I really don’t take anything offensively.

Everyone has their own opinions and honestly, I just don’t care enough.

They take time out of their day to notice me, so in some ways I feel famous” charlie kitten | sophomore

29 SPORTS

Nicotine addictions can have a negative impact on student athletes

02 | INSIDE COVER

THE HARBINGER | MAY 10, 2021

ONLINE

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STORIE S Q&A WITH MR. PERES Scan to read Campbell Woods’ Q&A with the new East principal for the 2021-22 school yeas, Jason Peres

GARDENING 101 Scan to read Madeline Funkey’s guide to gardening as spring comes to an end

GA L L E R I E S VARSITY TENNIS MATCH Scan to view Jill Rice’s gallery of the boys varsity tennis match against Blue Valley High School

CA RTO O N

cover design by celia condon photo and art from elsa goodmon

VARSITY LACROSSE GAME Scan to view Charlotte Emley’s gallery of the Shawnee Mission Girls Varsity Lacrosse game against Blue Valley High School

PRINT EDITORS Catherine Erickson Rose Kanaley ONLINE EDITORS Riley Atkinson Lauren West ASST. PRINT EDITORS Celia Condon Annabelle Moore Sydney Newton ASST. ONLINE EDITORS Sophie Henschel Campbell Wood HEAD COPY EDITORS Phoebe Hendon Allison Wilcox PHOTO EDITORS Sarah Golder Trevor Paulus Julia Percy ASST. PHOTO EDITORS Noelle Griffin Elise Madden Megan Stopperan MOBILE MEDIA PHOTO EDITOR Megan Biles VIDEO EDITOR Lawder DeSantis Sydney Williams VIDEO TRAINING EDITOR Roberto Galicia BROADCAST EDITORS Megan Stopperan ASST. BROADCAST EDITOR Liv Olson Natalie Scholz PHOTO MENTORS Taylor Keal Megan Biles Annakate Dilks MJ Wolf Emma Kate Squires STAFF WRITERS Sophie Lindberg Madeline Funkey Elizabeth Mikkelson Lauren Dierks Cesca Stamati Lily Billingsley Caroline Gould Peyton Moore Mia Vogel Lyda Cosgrove Kelly Murphy Anna Mitchell Grace Allen Kate Heitmann Caroline Wood Ethan Enderle Ben Bradley Paige Zadoo Tommy Paulus Emma Brown Nora Lynn Greyson Imm August Hyde Christian Gooley Liv Olson Winnie Wolf

COPY EDITORS Catherine Erickson Rose Kanaley Lauren West Riley Atkinson Phoebe Hendon Allison Wilcox Celia Condon Annabelle Moore Sydney Newton Sophie Henschel Campbell Wood Winnie Wolf Kelly Murphy Caroline Wood Lyda Cosgrove Kate Heitmann Caroline Gould Lily Billingsley EDITORIAL BOARD Catherine Erickson Rose Kanaley Lauren West Riley Atkinson Phoebe Hendon Allison Wilcox Celia Condon Annabelle Moore Sydney Newton Sophie Henschel Campbell Wood Lily Billingsley Lauren Dierks SECTION EDITORS EDITORIAL PRINT Lauren Dierks NEWS PRINT Caroline Wood ONLINE Lyda Cosgrove OPINION PRINT Lily Billingsley ONLINE Grace Allen FEATURE PRINT Peyton Moore ONLINE Caroline Gould A&E PRINT Tommy Paulus ONLINE Kate Heitmann SPORTS PRINT Cesca Stamati ONLINE Anna Mitchell DESIGNER EDITORS Tommy Paulus Elizabeth Mikkelson PAGE DESIGNERS Annakate Dilks Maggie Merckens Cesca Stamati Lily Billingsley Caroline Gould Peyton Moore Mia Vogel Lyda Cosgrove

Anna Mitchell Madeline Funkey Grace Allen Kate Heitmann Caroline Wood Nora Lynn Sophie Lindberg August Hyde Christian Gooley ART EDITOR Celia Condon ASS. ART EDITOR Sophie Henschel Natalie Scholz STAFF ARTISTS Sophie Lindberg Lauren Dierks Nora Lynn Christian Gooley STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS Ella Hans Emily Pollock Hadley Chapman Jill Rice Lily Mantel Maggie Merckens Molly Schumm Rachel Bingham Sabrina Dean Tristen Porter Macy Crosser Maggie Klumpp Charlotte Emley Kate Beaulieu Amina Sankpill VIDEO STAFF Lawder DeSantis Sydney Williams Liv Olson Roberto Galicia Marin Bryant SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Annabelle Moore ASST. SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Sophie Henschel Celia Condon Liv Olson SOCIAL MEDIA STAFF Lauren Dierks Mia Vogel Kelly Murphy Grace Allen Ethan Enderle Paige Zadoo Lauren West Riley Atkinson Rose Kanaley Lyda Cosgrove Maggie Merckens Nora Lynn Sophie Lindberg Madeline Funkey ADS MANAGER Caroline Wood CIRCULATION MANAGER Lyda Cosgrove COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER Anna Mitchell CONTEST COORDINATOR Celia Condon

THE HARBINGER | MAY 10, 2021

design by lauren dierks illustration by natalie scholz

EDITORIAL | 03

D E T R I M E N TA L D R I N K I N G

The legal drinking age should be lowered to 18 because it could provide 18-20 year olds the chance to learn how to safely consume alcohol while avoiding situations detrimental to their health

T

F O R : 1 1 AGA I N ST: 2 The members of the editorial board who agree with the viewpoint of the editorial are represented by for, and those who disagree with the viewpoint are represented by against.

E DITOR IAL PO L ICY The Harbinger is a student run publication.

Published editorials express the views of the Harbinger staff. Signed columns published in the Harbinger express the writer’s personal opinion. The content and opinions of the Harbinger do not represent the student body, faculty, administration or Shawnee Mission School District. The Harbinger will not share any unpublished content, but quotes material may

be confirmed with the sources. The Harbinger encourages letters to the editors, but reserves the right to reject them for reasons including but not limited to lack of space, multiple letters of the same topic and personal attacks contained in the letter. The Harbinger will not edit content thought letters may be edited for clarity, length or mechanics. Letters should be sent to room 413B or emailed to smeharbinger@gmail.com.

urning 18 marks the milestone of becoming an adult — you have the right to vote, get a tattoo, enlist, sue someone, run for state office or adopt a child. But you can’t drink alcohol.

Eighteen-year-olds are told to act like adults, yet they aren’t treated like adults.

They face responsibilities such as applying for college and working a full-time job. At 18, they’re allowed to enlist in the military, but still resort to shot gunning beers and sharing sugary vodka in a friend of a friend’s basement, devouring as much alcohol as possible before the weekend is over — hoping to not get caught.

They can’t be expected to know how to be safe with alcohol when they’re spent our late teen years practicing unhealthy drinking habits. If young adults are taught earlier how to safely consume alcohol, they’ll be more likely to continue those healthier habits in adulthood.

According to PubMed Central (PMC), a growing amount of research concludes that the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) should remain 21. However, there are still many underaged drinkers engaging in unsafe alcohol consumption in the U.S. Lowering the MLDA from 21 to 18 could provide 18-20 year olds the chance to learn how to consume alcohol in a safe setting, while avoiding dangerous situations.

Most colleges are required to enforce the MLDA of 21, according to PMC. So, to avoid getting caught, college students end up drinking recklessly in unsupervised environments, only increasing the dangers of alcohol. Drinking in a bar is a lot safer than an abandoned parking lot.

It’s important to keep in mind that alcohol can be harmful to a teen’s health when consumed, especially irresponsibly. In retrospect, it’s more unhealthy for a teenager to develop a habit of binge drinking rather than be taught how to be responsible with alcohol, which could happen if they were exposed at an earlier age. The National Kidney Foundation states that binge drinking could cause acute or sudden kidney failure, and is overall more abrupt and harmful than the effects of regular responsible drinking habits.

Binge drinking — anytime a person’s blood alcohol concentration gets above 0.08 — shouldn’t be normalized, but it is still common because young adults in college were never taught or shown how to drink responsibly.

According to a study by the CDC from 2019, in the span of 30 days, 14% of high schoolers indulged in binge drinking and 5% drove after drinking. The study also found that 11% of people aged 12-20 binge drank as well.

A report called The True Effect of MLDA Reform by economist Dan Dirscherl concludes that lowering the MLDA to 18 would decrease the mortality rate of people aged 18-24 by 2.1%.

Allowing kids to drink at a younger age would not only prevent binge drinking habits, but also decrease the number of alcohol-related injuries.

Dirscherl’s research also argues that raising the MLDA to 21 only delayed the mortality rate of 18-20 year olds due to alcohol-related deaths to when they are 21-22 year olds. This supports the experienced drinker hypothesis — the idea that keeping the MLDA at 21 allows people to gain confidence in their driving abilities at 16 years old, leading them to misjudge their abilities while drinking, resulting in drunk driving accidents.

Because the MLDAs in European countries are under 21, people often turn to their statistics to figure out what having a lower MLDA in the U.S. would look like. The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addition recently released The European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs report from 2019 in which they discovered that there was a significant decrease in underaged alcohol consumption throughout European countries over the last 13 years.

There are many theories as to why the consumption percentage decreased such a considerable amount, one of which could be a cultural shift in the symbolic power of drinking for underaged drinkers. With this allure of illegal drinking gone, the “passage to adulthood” that drinking represents for underaged drinkers has lost meaning.

In these countries where the MLDA is 18, like Italy and France, this drop in underaged drinking suggests that our generation matured earlier, allowing those teens to be more responsible when it comes to drinking.

However, the same results cannot be said for the U.S. Chugging four Trulys in two hours because you “want to feel something” before your friend’s parents get home is not a safe drinking habit.

If the MLDA were lowered to 18, these age groups wouldn’t feel the pressure to participate in the same heavy rates of alcohol consumption that they do, and would treat it as a responsibility given to them.

Up until 18 years of age, teens are educated on many different aspects of adult life from our parents, school and life experiences. It’s no secret that teens are already consuming alcohol, so it’s time to promote a safe way to do so, through legal, supervised drinking starting at 18.

04 | NEWS

THE HARBINGER | MAY 10, 2021

NEWS

Catch up on school, local and national news

HIGHLIGHTS

by cesca sta mati

N AT I O N A L

Supreme Court holds case regarding whether schools should be able to regulate what students put on social media

IN THE SUPREME Court’s recent case, they’re deciding whether the off-campus activities of public school students are protected under the First Amendment, which claims free speech. The case involves Brandi Levy, who was suspended from her high school cheer team in Pennsylvania when she was 14, after posting a Snapchat story after not making the Varsity team, saying “F— school, f— softball, f— cheer, f— everything.”

Her parents sued with the claim that her First Amendment rights had been violated, but Levy’s cheer coaches claimed her Snapchat post went against the team rules prohibiting the use of slander she’d agreed to, and the case has now made it to the Supreme Court.

LOCAL

Should schools be able to regulate what students put on social media that goes against the school’s policies? *from Instagram poll of 362 students

NO | 92.8%

YES | 7.2%

School and personal life should be separate. Social media’s a really good way for people to express themselves and I don’t think that schools should be able to control something that we make our own decisions about.

I feel like they should be able to regulate them because you can’t just be saying negative things about school because it sends a bad picture out about your school, which you don’t want.

grace fields | sophomore

ike sheets | sophomore

EAST

design by caroline wood photos by molly schumm and julia percy

East seniors share their COVID experiences for the Shawnee Mission Education Foundation

THE SHAWNEE MISSION Education Foundation held their virtual event Distinguished Leaders Speakers Series: Senior Portraits on April 29, where seniors Reilly Kenney, Lee Marshall, Kathryn Ortiz, Sophie Rice, Luke Tsaur and Ava Yun spoke.

As a part of the annual event, the Senior Portrait segments included topics such as going to school during the pandemic and a senior’s experience in a learning program by SMEF, with a goal to “inspire [people] with their personal stories of strength, hope, resilience — and their best advice for younger students,” according to their website.

“I think that if I heard some of the advice I could give now to freshmen, it probably would’ve sent me on a path to be more productive and more proactive about finding weaknesses,” Rice said.

To be selected to speak, SMSD

teacher Russell Debey believes that encouraging homeowners to make eco-friendly improvements to their homes is progress for Prairie Village, the grant won’t cover much of the total cost.

“The problem with the geothermal and solar panel [home improvements] is expense,” Debey said. “$500 or $2,500, depending on what system you get, is...small. But you’ve got to start someplace, and I’m all for them starting somewhere and pushing it even more.”

The sustainability grant, like other city projects and improvements, is funded by money collected through property and sales taxes paid by Prairie Village residents. Councilmember Sheila Myers, one of two council members who voted against the grant, believes the funds should be used for property tax relief — an issue that has received more requests by residents — instead of

subsidizing and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

“I don’t think we should be subsidizing sustainability grants for people in $500,000 homes with money we’re collecting from elderly people who barely can afford to pay their property taxes,” Myers said.

While Myers still believes that reducing greenhouse gas emissions is important, she notes that the council is already working to create a program that will measure the baseline of greenhouse gas emissions in the city and inform residents of their individual carbon footprints and how to reduce them.

“I think that we’ve got our priorities in the wrong place right now,” Myers said. “While I see the importance of encouraging residents to look at these improvements in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, I don’t believe this is a time for the city to be subsidizing them for affluent households.”

SCAN ME | VIDEO Scan to watch the Distinguished Leaders Speaker Series put on by SMSD through this QR code

“A lot of times young kids are made out to be stupid or not fully aware of the world around them, but we’re humans too,” Kenney said. “The way we grow up in the world and experience it is unique and different and that perspective’s important to be seen.”

DISTINGUISHED LEADERS Quotes from the speeches of some of the East seniors

City of Prairie Village adopts new sustainability grant program

THE PRAIRIE VILLAGE City Council approved a new sustainability grant program to encourage homeowners to reduce their carbon footprint in a council vote on April 19.

With a $20,000 budget, the program will reimburse the homeowners who improve the energy consumption of their homes to meet the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code requirements. Applications for the grant are open and will remain accessible until the funds have been used up.

Between $500 and $2,500 can be obtained in grants from the program at a 20% match of what the property owner paid. Eligible improvements include solar power, wind power, geothermal heating, cooling and other upgrades that meet the requirements of the 2021 IECC. While environmental education

seniors submitted a 60-second video of themselves sharing their inspiring stories from a list of prompts. Judges then selected the winners and their videos were featured in the presentation, and winners were each given a $100 Amazon gift card. The hour-long event was live and open to the public for free on SMEF’s website.

REILLY KENNEY

LEE MARSHALL

SOPHIE RICE

[Coming out of quarantine,] even when I would have rather watched Netflix or fallen asleep, I learned to put in the work now in order to reap the benefits later.

I was just a normal kid that thought I had really good leadership skills, but after [going to The Foundation program] I would say that piece of wrapping paper was torn off of me.

If I got the chance to go back and give my eighth grade self some advice, it would definitely be something along the lines that to truly improve, you have to work all of your weakest out first.

design by august hyde

THE HARBINGER | MAY 10, 2021

P R E PA R E D F O R PROTEST

NEWS | 05

SMSD advises teachers on engaging in discussions about police brutality following the highly-publicized trial of Derek Chauvin and other recent instances of police brutality

by eliza beth mi kkel son

I

n accordance with the court case, State of Minnesota v. Derek Chauvin, along with the recent deaths of Daunte Wright and Adam Toledo on April 20, the Shawnee Mission School District released a statement to district principals regarding how to respond to potential protests or student movements within the schools and greater communities.

The message was released by SMSD Chief Communications Officer David Smith, prior to the official ruling of the trial where Chauvin was convicted of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The intent of the document was to provide district schools with information on how to act in response to any decision-related discussions brought up amongst students.

I think for students to feel comfortable, [teachers] should start showing examples in the curriculum, giving students some chance to talk about it so that they can grow the confidence to talk about it and form their own opinions.

kayla andrews | senior The email, titled “Communication Tips to Prepare for Potential Protests,” discussed social justice issues and student political opinions, providing recommended steps the schools can take in order to uphold students’ rights of political speech and to facilitate potentially uncomfortable conversations within the classroom.

Because the document was shared before the court’s final ruling of guilty, it laid out

MAY 25, 2020 Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kills 46-year-old unarmed Black man George Floyd

*information from the Los Angeles Times

the preliminary community-spread effects of the court’s decision, whether or not Chauvin would be found guilty of George Floyd’s death.

“Depending on the decision that the jury makes in the Derek Chauvin trial, we may find ourselves challenged on the degree to which our broader society is committed to the same values and beliefs,” the document stated. “It will be important to think through in advance the potential decisions that might come down, and how our students might potentially respond.”

The document addressed recommendations for administrators and teachers to confer with community leaders who are knowledgeable on the topic, and to encourage students to express their beliefs in a safe and effective manner. It also provides an option to reach out to the District Communications office for more guidance if needed.

For East Assistant Principal Dr. Susan Leonard, this message was an important step in recognizing the bigger picture of social justice and judgement issues being discussed in an educational setting. In an email, Leonard acknowledged that she hopes the schools get more involved more with topics like this.

“I sometimes wish we would do more of this kind of thing to recognize the big events happening in the world around us, and to then help students process the news in healthy ways,” Leonard wrote in an email.

With the Chauvin trial and verdict now concluded, Smith hopes that the message’s intent will not be forgotten due to the guilty verdict and awaited sentencing, but instead serve as a reminder to continue effective and meaningful conversations in a secure environment that the district is open to offering.

“Part of our broader mission is to help raise kids to function in our democracy, and

MAY 27, 2020 Minneapolis mayor calls for criminal charges against Chauvin as protests spread across Minneapolis

being able to express yourself is a part of that [by] helping our students do it appropriately,” Smith said.

Smith went on to mention that, given the nation’s current events and possibilities to engage in protests or political demonstrations, administrators and teachers need to be aware of how this participation could impact their students and the role of timely education.

“It’s a reminder that conversation about this is appropriate when it connects to the curriculum,” Smith said. “For example, social studies, dealing with current events or as a writing prompt for an English Language Arts prompt. Maybe not so much in Physics and Math, because there’s not a direct curricular tie-in, but it is certainly appropriate in those other classes.”

Senior Kayla Andrews has noticed certain teachers encouraging social justice conversations, but feels the importance of conversations like this should be prioritized and strengthened at East, especially through discussion-based classes.

“I think for students to feel comfortable, [teachers] should start showing examples in the curriculum, giving students some chance to talk about it so that they can grow the confidence to talk about it and form their own opinions,” Andrews said. “It has to start with the teachers to get through to the students.”

Smith notices that actions such as administrator and teacher involvement are necessary for effective steps to be taken in bettering the district as a whole. This constitutes being aware of differing opinions and working towards community togetherness, a goal that the district carried out through the release of the trial communication.

“In the past, there’s been reactions in the communities, so we wanted to make sure that we were prepared for that,” Smith said.

“Thankfully, that wasn’t the case, and that’s a good thing.”

THE TIPS

A summary of the email sent to SMSD teachers

• Stay in line with our mission • Confer with your leaders • Learn from previous experiences • Don’t do it alone if you don’t have to

MAY 29, 2020 OCTOBER MARCH 23, 2021 APRIL 20, 2021 7, 2020

Chauvin is arrested and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter

Chauvin posts $1 million bond and is released from state prison

The jury selection is complete with 12 jurors total

MARCH 29, 2021 The trial’s opening statements are given

Chauvin is found guilty on all accused charges

06 | NEWS

THE HARBINGER | MAY 10, 2021

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design by kate heitmann photo by lily mantel

TRUSTING THE FUNDS

5/10/21

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THE Y-FOUR P AY T O T X I S D E

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The SMSD Elementary and Secondary Relief Fund plans are sorting out 202122 hires and building improvements for next school year

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where the money is going to be funded, per dollar

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by sophi e henschel

he SMSD Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund plans are sorting out new hires and building improvements throughout the district for the 2021-22 school year.

According to East principal Dr. Scott Sherman, there will be 11 new staff members hired in the building including new principal Jason Peres. Although the principal hire is solely due to Sherman’s new promotion to Director of Secondary Services, Peres will be overseeing all new hires in the fall.

The first wave of ESSER funding was issued by the federal government last spring dedicated for building upgrades to aid learning loss, preparing schools for full reopening, academic testing and repairing and renovating projects to improve air quality.

Another fund is currently in development — ESSER II — as funding allocations are being decided at the district level with $10,564,000 in federal funding overall.

While East has yet to learn of the exact amount in funds they’ll receive, Sherman plans to use the funding for the 11 new hires with the goal of reducing classroom sizes, lightening workloads for teachers, creating more personalized learning for students and creating new opportunities for student by matching them with a real world learning (RWL) counselor.

The RWL counselor, which will be available to all students who want it, will be

air

new TECH

other EXPENSES

20¢

elementary CLASS SIZE reduction

21¢

4¢

16¢

If you have a smaller class, it still may be hard, but you have a larger chance of being able to give some individual attention and everybody needs that some.

hannah pence | teacher In addition to the RWL counselor Jodee Merriman, the building is also hiring Tia Hurt and Trent Ditto in the special education department, Anna Thiele in the Spanish department, Emma Chalk in the art department, Mallory Dittemore in the business department, Craig Heeney in the science department, Doug Archer in the physical education department and Greg Welch in the math department.

QUALITY

26¢

SUBST. teachers

there to guide students and teach them how to work in the real world through instruction and hands-on opportunities. They’ll be hired through the Career Tech Ed program in collaboration with the Kauffman Foundation to gain real world experiences for students like internships.

There will be a total of $327,000 dedicated to four SMSD high schools for new, RWL counselors who give high schoolers more options to learn about jobs and to find opportunities for internships in fields they’re interested in.

9¢

C.A.R.E.S. teams

Along with the hires, there will be a shift in which classes current East teachers will be teaching.

“It’s kind of a shift, one of the new hires may be PE but it’s because we have PE teachers that are certified in social studies and they want to teach social studies,” Sherman said. “...We needed an additional social studies teacher for example, but we have two PE teachers that want to teach social studies so we may move them there, creating an open PE position. It’s kind of a domino effect in a way, and that’s good.”

By lightening the teachers’ workloads, Sherman’s goal is to reduce a majority of teachers’ schedules to five hours per day as opposed to the six that most currently teach.

Although this won’t be the case for every teacher this upcoming school year, the new hires will allow teachers to slowly move into the five-hour schedule, creating a new standard for effective teaching and reduced schedules in the future of East.

“Just to take the load off because we’re one of the few districts around that teachers are teaching six,” Sherman said. “Where at Olathe and Blue Valley, the teachers are teaching five per day. So to equalize that, and that plays into a lot of different things.”

For some teachers like East psychology teacher Brett Kramer, the extra planning period is appreciated, but seems unnecessary due to his passion for what he teaches.

“If I had the choice between teaching

counselors & SOCIAL WORKERS

7¢ math

TEACHERS

five [hours] and having the risk that may be something that’s not psychology, I would teach six absolutely,” Kramer said. “I’d teach seven as long as I get to continue to teach only psychology.”

For others such as East math teacher Hannah Pence, the extra planning period is deemed a life saver, taking significant stress off teachers and improving student to teacher relations, resulting in stronger understanding of content for students.

“It’s gonna take a load of stress off every teacher that is going down from six to five just because, not only are you teaching more, which exhausts you more, you have more students so you’re grading more papers,” Pence said. “The thinking is that if we have smaller classes, you can do more individual attention and help...if you have a smaller class, it still may be hard, but you have larger chances of being able to give some individual attention and everybody needs that some.”

Aside from the hires, there currently aren’t any improvements planned for East due to the lack of urgent needs in the school compared to other SMSD buildings. The ESSER II funding won’t be split equally among SMSD schools, but will be allocated based on the needs of individual SMSD buildings. Regardless of whether or not there will be structural building improvements, the funding for 11 new hires are set in stone for East.

setting a new

07 | NEWS

THE HARBINGER | MAY 10, 2021

The new East principal Jason Peres is looking forward to assuming his position and embracing the school’s community

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by rose ka nal ey

ew East Principal Jason Peres will assume the position for the 202122 school year after working in the Blue Valley school district for over 20 years, with six of those spent in administration, with hopes to recreate a close sense of community that was taken away during the unconventional school year.

“I’d always dreamed of running a school and creating an atmosphere where kids are always welcome and being responsible for that,” Peres said.

“That’s something that’s always been important to me, and it has always been a career goal of mine.

And when the Shawnee Mission East position opened up...I could see myself there.”

Peres found out about the position from his wife about three weeks ago, applied and was one of five candidates selected to proceed to the interview process.

He’s never worked in SMSD before, but he knew East’s strong reputation as a tightly-knit school built on community support was something he wanted to be a part of.

“I believe East is a true community-based school,” Peres said. “And from what I believe, there is a real turnout of community support for all the activities, athletics, academics — every piece of programming that goes on at Shawnee Mission East has some piece of community support backing it, and that’s incredible. You don’t find that everywhere, and I know that’s what Shawnee Mission East is about. And that really attracted me to East culture.”

Peres was able to experience

that community and meet the East staff at the faculty meeting on April 27th, reducing the nerves he initially felt when walking in.

“The second I got in the room and saw everybody, it just felt good to be back with the faculty and be all in one room,” Peres said. “We’ve essentially spent a whole year being apart or meeting via Zoom... So while I didn’t know most of the people there, it was just nice to be together as professionals.”

Peres plans to spend more time in the East building before August, but first has to finish up the school year as an Associate Principal at Blue Valley Southwest. After that, he plans to spend time preparing for the year by getting to know each staff member before the 2021-22 school year starts.

Until he is able to spend his days in the building, he is communicating with SMSD officials a few times a week on an as-needed basis, receiving updates on East and talking through his transition into the position — a process Principal Dr. Scott Sherman has assisted him with.

But Peres’ biggest goal is to bring back more normalcy to the school next year, and hopes the the pandemic will settle down enough to allow that to happen.

“Schools have typically been community centers and due to the pandemic, we just couldn’t have that,” Peres said. “I’m most excited to get back to that, because school is really a special place and I love being the center of a community.”

Beyond that, Peres said he

THROUGH THE YEARS substitute teacher

AP european history & gov teacher

design and photo by maggie merckens

PRINCIPAL

can’t share his exact goals until he builds a deeper relation to the community and works more with East’s leadership team to figure out what is most important.

Some students and faculty, according to students like senior Anabelle Merchant, were hesitant about the decision, and hoped for the new principal to be someone already in the district. Merchant reached out to many students before the decision was made and encouraged them to send in letters and advocate for Dr. Susan Leonard, a current Associate Principal, to be selected.

“She’s awesome for the community, and she is definitely the biggest advocate for students and wants to put us first,” Merchant said.

However, Merchant is trusting that the district selection process did its job in selecting the strongest candidate and, along with many other students, is looking forward to meeting Peres.

“I’m sure the district did what they thought was in the best interest of our community and I’m excited to see what [Peres] can do,” Merchant said.

According to SMSD’s Chief Communications Officer, David Smith, filling the principal position consists of putting out the job description, opening it for applicants and conducting paper screenings and an interview process.

“We do a paper screening of all the applicants,” Smith said.

“And for this one, that included the people who went through the paper screening, included our principal representatives along with representatives from human resources, our teaching

and learning department and the executive leadership team.”

After completing the paper screening process, they narrowed it to five candidates and had two rounds of interviews along with a performance component, according to Smith. The interviews included representatives from the teaching and learning department, human resources, DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion), special education, the executive leadership team and three representatives from teachers and staff at Shawnee Mission East.

After going through this process, Peres is looking forward to meeting and connecting with the students and staff — he knows that there’s often apprehension that comes with new faculty, but he is looking forward to building the new relationships.

“In public schools when there’s always change, there’s always a little apprehension,” Peres said.

“And my goal is to make that as comfortable as possible so that I can become part of that culture and they can accept me so we can move together as a team.”

Some of the previous positions Jason Peres has held over the course of his career until becoming the principal at East

socialist department chair member

administrator at blue valley north

associate principal at blue valley southwest

principal at shawnee mission east

THE HARBINGER | MAY 10, 2021

08 | OPINION

OPINION

HIGHLIGHTS

design by lily billingsley photos by taylor keal

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A look into student opinions and the opinion section

MR. CANSAS

Student predictions for the winner of Mr. CANsas

ST U D E N T TA K E S SHOULD TEENS DRIVE USED OR PRACTICAL CARS COMPARED TO A LUXURY NEW CAR? Instagram poll of 318 votes

93% YES

M R . SW I M “I think I’m going to do a dance to “Get Busy” with Houston Kimball. I’m not sure if I’ll win, but hopefully swim guys [will] bring a lot of cans for the fundraiser.”

alex schoofs | senior

M R . S O CC E R “You know I think that I’m going to win. For my talent, I’m getting my baseball friends to write jokes and then I’m going to cold read them when I’m on stage.”

sam fountain | senior

7% NO DO YOU THINK THAT WORKING OUT HELPS YOUR MENTAL HEALTH? Instagram poll of 341 votes

91% YES 9% NO

THIS WEEK IN TWEETS “ O U R G OA L BY J U LY 4 T H I S TO H AV E 7 0 % O F

“ COV I D -1 9 I N F EC T I O N S A N D D E AT H S A R E

“ B R E AT H E E A SY. T H E C D C

A D U LT A M E R I C A N S W I T H AT L E A ST O N E S H OT —

INCREASING ALARMING IN INDIA WITH

R EC O M M E N DAT I O N S M A K E S E N S E .

A N D 1 6 0 M I L L I O N A M E R I C A N S F U L LY VAC C I N AT E D. .

N O E N D I N S I G H T . T H E O F F I C I A L CO U N T

A N D N OW, I F YO U S O C H O OS E , YO U

I T ’S A N OT H E R H U G E G OA L , A N D A S E R I O U S ST E P

O F CO RO N AV I R U S C A S E S H A S S U R PA S S E D

C A N B R E AT H E E A SY W I T H O U T A M A S K

TOWA R D S A R E T U R N TO N O R M A L . G E T VAC C I N AT E D,

20 MILLION, BUT THE TRUE FIGURES ARE

O U TS I D E . B U T P L E A S E , P L E A S E , G E T

K E E P F O L LOW C D C G U I DA N C E . W E C A N D O T H I S . ”

B E L I E V E D TO B E FA R H I G H E R . ”

YO U R VAC C I N E S H OT ” .

P OT U S | 5 / 4 / 2 1

T H E AS S O C I AT E D P R E S S | 5 / 4 / 2 1

CNN OPINION| 5/3/21

HOT TOPICS AP TESTING I took AP tests online last year, and this year taking them is so different. The tests are so much longer and it’s hard to focus when you’re taking it in the gym with a bunch of other people.

lauren sawalich | senior

D C ’S STAT E H O O D

I support Washington DC being added as a new state. I just think that a lot of people mistake it for a state anyway, so it would be easier and make more sense for it to be one.

katie baska | senior

FINALS SCHEDULE

The order of the finals schedule this year doesn’t really make sense. I don’t like that we have our fourth hour final first because it messes up the order of the classes.

piper benjamin | sophomore

THE HARBINGER | MAY 10, 2021

design by madeline funkey photos by annakate dilks

OPINION | 09

C(R)ASHING OUT 25%

Parents should not give their teens brand new luxury cars as their first vehicle

OF TEENS WRECK THEIR FIRST CARS

37%

W

of 16-20-year-old drivers were involved in a fatal crash for every 100,000 licensed driver Information from bmwlawgroup.com

by pai ge za doo

hipping around in a clunky, beat-up car at the age of 16 is a fortunate right of passage for most high school students.

But for some, being gifted with a brand new BMW or Range Rover for their 16th birthday is their right of passage — one that doesn’t really make sense.

Purchasing your teenager a luxury vehicle is an all too common occurrence at East, but that doesn’t mean it’s okay.

As a newly-licensed driver, your chances of crashing are much higher than experienced drivers. According to a study conducted by the Texas-based PM Law Firm, new teen drivers are eight times more likely to crash in their first three months of driving compared to experienced drivers on the road.

Not to mention certain luxury cars, like Jeep Wranglers, aren’t even that safe to drive.

According to a test done by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a new 2021 Jeep Wrangler received only a “Marginal” rating when it came to safety for drivers. These new drivers are already more likely to crash, gifting them with unsafe cars only increase their chances of crashing.

With that statistic being acknowledged the obvious question is presented: Would you rather pay the repairs on a 2021 Audi SUV or a pre-owned 2002 Ford SUV? Let me rephrase that — Parents, do you really want to pay the repairs on a 2021 Audi SUV? Some parents and families answer this question simply; “because I can afford it,” but that answer isn’t plausible nor logical in the slightest.

The logical answer is “Those cars are ridiculously expensive especially for a teenager. The repairs will be costly, insurance for a teen driver is already expensive and even more when you purchase a luxury car.

My child won’t learn the value of working for their own possessions, so I won’t.”

When I turned 15 and had my restricted license, the conversation of what car I would be driving was a constant discussion among my family. I had two options: take one of my parents’ cars or purchase whatever car I wanted with my own money.

At first, I was skeptical to buy my own car — I thought there was no way my 15-yearold self could afford a decent car with low mileage, little repairs and the obvious must: seat warmers. However, I was proven very wrong. Working for my own money and purchasing something myself taught me lessons I think are vital to myself and my life. I learned the basis of gratefulness for money and shopping and gained more insight into building a work ethic.

I had a decent amount of money in my savings, and then I spent one weekend scouring my house and room for “emergency” money I had shoved into random crevices of rooms and came up with an extra $400.

I brainstormed random ways to make money from walkings dogs, babysitting, garage sales to selling old clothes.

So by the time I had found myself an old Infiniti FX35, I had accumulated enough money to pay in cash for it.

I could’ve taken the easier route and accepted a perfectly capable and paid-for car from my parents but by purchasing my

first car, I learned about the true value of a dollar and had a practical car all for myself — something teenagers who are handed expensive cars would never be able to grasp.

Sure, you could state the argument “once they go to college they’ll be on their own with their own expenses and money,” but the issue is at what point do the handouts stop? Certain teens may not have a concept of valuing money if the beginning of their concept of working for money is a Ford F-150 truck or Audi Q5 before becoming even a legal adult.

So then what? You’re 18 and off to college and upset because your graduation gift didn’t top the Range Rover you got your sophomore year. Correct. You expected a college apartment or credit card because that’s what “tops” the luxury car you only got as a 16-year-old.

Don’t get me wrong — you can be gifted an

expensive car as a high-schooler and have a concept of money and a work ethic, but the excessiveness still applies. Setting your child up with their first car that many adults spend a lifetime working to afford sets them up for failure.

When these kids suddenly can’t afford their rent, clothes or new car they’ll fall back on their parents for help with conditioned expectation that they’ll be “saved.” After all, their parents helped them with their Range Rover at the mere age of 16.

Although I understand wanting simple luxuries like a sunroof and seat warmers in your first car, those can easily be found in a car under the $40,000 price mark. Teenagers should be driving used, practical cars not because they’re less than a nicer car but because they’re privileged to even be driving a car.

REPAIR PRICES Comparing the average repair and maintence prices to a nicer vs used car

TOYOTA COROLLA

RANGE ROVER

MAINTENCE:

$362

$5,000

REPAIRS:

$441

$4,500

10 | OPINION

B

THE HARBINGER | MAY 10, 2021

I N H G C N E

design and photo by | megan biles

the B R A I N

People should change their mindset around working out to help their mental health and not to try to look a certain way or hit a specific number on the scale

W

by grace al l en

eekend trips to the lake, days of relaxing at the pool and endless hours of tanning — summer is right around the corner, and it’s easy for the anxiety of achieving the perfect “swimsuit bod” to form.

However, it’s important to remember that working out and eating healthy should be for your mental health and well-being, rather than just physical appearance reasons.

Yes, it’s easy to get caught up in wanting the unattainable body you see on Kendall Jenner’s seeminglyperfect Instagram feed. However, healthy doesn’t have a certain look. The ultimate goal of exercise should be to feel better, not look better.

When I initially started my most recent health kick, all my intentions were set in the wrong direction. I was constantly trying to burn as many calories as possible and moderate what I was eating all with the sole goal of changing my appearance, and obtaining what I thought was the desirable look. Exercising quickly turned into what felt like a chore. Working out with only my body in mind caused me to be unhappy with my workouts, and I ended up feeling worse then when I started.

It was only when I stopped working out to look a certain way, and began doing it for myself, that my workouts began to be effective. I felt better about myself, and even saw more results — both mentally and physically.

According to helpguide.com, exercising releases endorphins in the brain that help with focus, motivation and stress reduction and can often lead to increased energy. While working out, people should be keeping those benefits in mind to have a positive mindset.

A study in the US found that 1.2 million people who exercise report having 1.5 fewer days of poor mental health per month, compared to people who do not exercise. Staying regularly active has been shown to help with mental health issues by reducing anxiety, depression and improving cognitive function.

There are countless negative things around us in our everyday lives that play a large role in why people workout for all of the wrong reasons, one of them being social media. From the constant workout videos titled “workouts to burn calories fast” to seeing extremely fit people on my feed, it’s hard to keep a healthy mindset

in the gym.

But in my experience, if you are only exercising with a goal of looking good, you become more frustrated when you don’t get the immediate results you wanted, making it more difficult to stay motivated the next time you workout.

Many social media influencers advertise harsh workouts and unrealistic diets and that may work for some people, but it doesn’t always need to be as intense as they often suggest. According to studies done by apa. com, as little as 10 minutes of physical activity a day has been shown to improve mental alertness and a positive mood. Even a short workout at the beginning of each day has allows anyone to experience the benefits.

It was only when I stopped working out to look a certain way, and began doing it for myself, that my workouts began to be effective.

Not only did changing my mindset help me mentally, but it’s lead me to exercise more — it’s even become a part of my daily routine. The shift in goals also caused a shift in motivation, making each workout more effective.

When I can start my mornings with a workout class or even a quick 15 minute walk, I’m more productive throughout the day and have a better time focusing at school. And even if I can’t pull myself out of bed to exercise in the morning, it helps to have a workout to look forward to in my free time after school.

Exercising can look different for everyone, from going on a short jog to lifting heavy weights — but the mental benefit stays the same. It’s difficult to fully gain the benefits of daily exercise when you’re viewing it with negative outlooks and only participating to change your physical appearance.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be in shape and feel strong from working out as long as you’re doing it to feel that way, not look that way.

So go for a run, bike ride or walk and come back not anticipating a lower number on the scale, but feeling stronger and having a better mindset.

THE POLLS Do you think social media influences the way people view themselves?

0.00

YES NO

32%

68% Instagram poll of 258 votes

Do you workout in order to reach a certain number on the scale?

95% YES

YES 5% NO

Instagram poll of 345 votes

ABOVE | Senior Grace Allen grabs a dumbbell off her dresser while looking at herself in the mirror. Allen put up inspirational sticky notes around her mirror to motivate herself to workout.

GRACE’S (STICKY) NOTES Tips to start to changing your mindset

a t a ke f r o m k b re ao c i a l s ia med

1. set screen time limits remember social 2. media isn’t reality turn off social media

3. notifications

c re a te a w o r ko u t ro u t i n e

low and progress 1. start slowly put pressure on 2. don’t yourself to meet goals it into your daily 3. fit schedule

on a cute/ 1. put comfortable outfit 2. go to a dance class 3. cue up a good playlist

e m a k u ts ko wo r n fu

THE HARBINGER | MAY 10, 2021

design by lily billingsley photos by lily mantel

SOPHIE

the

THE FIRST-BORN

Although having a family of ten can be difficult at times, it provides constant entertainment and people to be around

Lindberg bunch

EMERSON THE SURFER DUDE

STELLA THE DRILL SERGEANT

T

BULLDOG

THE FEISTY ONE

THE FAMILY MASCOT

apping the sticks on my drum pad, which was sashed across my body with two belts strung together, I waited for the commanding officer to yell out his commands.

“Step up! Halt! Scramble!” All four of the kids ran every which way.

“Wait, why are we scrambling?” I asked.

“Because the redcoats are coming!” Beck yelled back at me.

“Third position! Aim! Fire!”

After everyone failed to hit the Nerfbrand target, our commanding officer, my oldest younger brother Emerson, ordered his basement-based army to collect their bullets and head out.

The Lindberg Army was created out of boredom because in my family, there is never an excuse to be bored. There’s always something to do, someone to talk to or something out of the ordinary happening to be entertained by.

With eight kids — consisting of myself (16), 13-year-old twins Stella and Emerson, Ruby (11), ten-year-old triplets Beck, Ellphie and Foster and Phoebe (five) — two parents and a year-old puppy, the stories I have banked in my memory are endless.

Though we are a chaotic bunch, and I don’t always like having them around, I’m so grateful that I’m growing up with them.

Having them with me through quarantine has only made it more valuable and made us closer.

Our family dynamic has shifted a lot during quarantine. Being trapped in a house with eight other people for 13 months

BECK THE

FOSTER

PHOEBE by sop hi e lind be rg

OPINION | 11

really made them grow on me. Little things like playing Just Dance is a trademark of the Lindberg children and has only made us a more tightly knit bunch than ever before, at least from my perspective.

In a game that we created during quarantine called “banana,” we all get under a blanket except for one person who tries to pull everyone out. Holding down the corners of a blanket barely keeping five people underneath, the lights would be out and the banana would strike, grabbing my ankle from through the blanket and dragging me out. Despite our large age gap, games like this are what keep us close.

The Lindberg Army was created out of boredom because in my family, there is never an excuse to be bored.

Stella is my second in command and is ruthless when it comes to keeping order in our family. She’s a drill sergeant in the mornings before school, making sure everyone wakes up on time — sometimes with the use of instruments at a very loud volume — and sings the song “Rise and Shine” that our dad, Derek, used to sing to us to wake us up before school when we were younger.

Stella is someone who if you look at her the wrong way, you’re in for a beating.

So at meals, if someone does this, it could

potentially start a full table fight. Though, just about anything goes when it comes to starting a fight at meals. The one person that never gets in a fight during a meal is Emerson, who is the most relaxed person I’ve ever met — he’ll even tell you he rarely gets stressed.

During quarantine, most of these fights would die out, but then after dinner, eventually become pillow fights that we call the “All Out Brawl.” My parents and Phoebe, who is possibly the slowest eater in existence next to my brother Foster, finish easting. As they do, you can hear songs like “Jump” by Van Halen and “We’re Not Going To Take It” by Twisted Sister playing while six kids have a massive pillow fight.

Generally this eventually cools down into a family hangout session or dance party that features songs like “Take On Me”

by Ah-Ha and “Learn To Fly” by the Foo Fighters.

Stella, Emerson and I — or as we are called by our mom, “the big three” — are the leaders of the pack. We used to be much more divided from “the little four” than we are now.

I used to have a hard time being present with my family, simply because I thought they were all annoying and too chaotic.

Because I am the oldest, I was revered by the kids and they wouldn’t dare pick a fight with me. Being with them a lot during quarantine made me realize how lacking I was being with my role as a big sister. I stepped up, and now I guide my troops into the face of fury.

That’s not to say there aren’t times where

ELLPHIE THE TALKATIVE BOOKWORM

it gets annoying. Situations like road trips can be some of the more stressful situations that my family comes across. All nine of us packed into a blue Ford Transit with so much stuff that some of us can’t move our feet is not the most fun thing to do.

Tensions can get high, and stuffed animals sometimes have to become weapons.

The triplets’ antics and mischief in particular are rough, and they started at the age of three when they somehow got through the fence in our backyard and found their way into the neighbor’s basement. They were found by my mom rummaging through the cabinets and hiding in them until she was able to lure them out of the house.

While the chaos no longer bothers me, one of the few things that I’ve always disliked about having a large family is that in public, people stare at us. A lot.

Our multitudinous blonde heads make us recognizable when sitting down at our favorite restaurants. Waiters practically have our orders memorized despite our complex celiac diet modifications. I still get called “Stella” by teachers that I have known since I was five.

Because we stand out like a sore thumb in public my mom, Katie, always gets the attention of some stranger who asks the same questions as everyone else: “Are they all yours? So who’s the oldest? Wow, twins AND triplets?”

But even though I’ve seen my fair share of weird glares or heard the “Props to you, Mom” line too many times, I love my huge family and all of the quirks that come with them.

12 | OPINION

THE HARBINGER | MAY 10, 2021

(THE STATE OF)

design by caroline wood

D.C. should become the 51st state in the United States so that citizens have a say in how their tax dollars are used

THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

TAX ATION

W I TH OU T R E P RE SE N TAT I O N Residents pay taxes without representation

AND

DO YOU THINK THAT WASHINGTON D.C. SHOULD BECOME THE 51ST STATE IN THE UNION?

YES 38%

Residents pay more in taxes per capita than the national average 12.8%

11.63%

national average

8.88%

5.04%

highest NY

D.C.

lowest AK

by etha n end erle

T

he House of Representatives voted on April 22 to make Washington D.C. the 51st state in the Union. Though it passed the House, it likely won’t pass the Senate.

Even though Democrats have a slim majority in the Senate with Kamala Harris as tie breaker, two Democratic Senators — Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema — will likely kill the bill. Both Senators have been holding back the Democratic party’s push for things like Healthcare, minimum wage and now D.C. statehood, which are all things I believe would benefit the nation.

Adding a new state to the Union requires heavy consideration, but there are a myriad of reasons why the District of Columbia should become the 51st state.

D.C. is the only territory in the country that pays federal taxes, but they can’t vote in Congress. This means citizens don’t have any

43.9%

BLACK RESIDENTS

D.C. population compared to the population of Wyoming according to 2010 U.S. Census

*from Instagram poll of 261 students

say on how their tax dollars are used. In fact, D.C. residents pay more federal taxes than 22 states — residents are paying more federal taxes per capita than any state in the Union.

As a country based on the idea of “no taxation without representation,” D.C. residents are quite literally being taxed without any representation. But this isn’t the only fundamental right that D.C. and other territories lack.

During the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, D.C. was unable to summon the National Guard because that power is only held by governors. They were also denied $750 million in much-needed COVID-19 aid because they aren’t a state.

The effort to admit D.C. as a state is mainly spearheaded by Democrats — in fact, no Republican has voted in favor of this bill.

The only argument that Republicans have against this bill is that it would add seats

D.C. has a plurality of Black residents, unlike any state in the U.S.

POPUL ATION

NO 62%

*info from The Washington Post

DIVERSITY

DC

601,723

to Congress that would most likely be held

by Democrats. This would give Democrats a stronger majority in Congress over Republicans.

Another reason Democrats are pushing for statehood, is D.C. is the only territory in the Union with a plurality of Black residents — meaning there are more Black residents than any other race. This has led to a racist undertone in Republicans push-back since these voters most likely wont vote for Republicans.

Yes, admitting D.C. to the Union would most likely add Democratic seats to Congress, but now more than ever, every individual deserves representation and a voice in the government. This wasn’t a partisan issue, but it’s being made into one.

I don’t see an issue with adding seats, let alone another state. Right now, voting power in the Senate is skewed. In Wyoming — the

WY

563,626

least populous state — each senator represents about 288,000 people. Whereas in California — the most populous state — each senator represents about 20 million people. One person’s vote in Wyoming means more in the Senate than one person’s vote in California.

And even then, the roughly 700,000 people in D.C. have no voting power in Congress.

Republicans are fighting hard against D.C. statehood because if passed, it will be difficult for them to regain a majority in Congress in the future. To some that may seem unfair, but they’re exercising their civil right to vote, even if it’s a vote for the Democrats.

Right now, Republicans have a difficult time getting people to vote for them. Their solution is to make it so those who wouldn’t vote for them can’t vote at all. By passing unconstitutional voter ID laws and holding back on D.C. statehood, that is what they are accomplishing.

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14 | FEATURES

THE HARBINGER | MAY 10, 2021

FEATURE

design by peyton moore

FEATURED ARTIST

HIGHLIGHTS

STUDENTS IN ACTION

EVYN roberts

Student participate in classes, labs and concerts at East

R I G H T | Senior Cameron Hughes and Lucy Jones work on a lab testing the pH of pain relievers and antacids during Forensic Science. photo by taylor keal

How would you describe your artistic style?

“I really like drawing faces, so like incorporating eyes or lips into my drawings. I would describe my art style as almost trippy and weird.

It is almost sporadic and always has a lot going on.”

BELOW | Freshman Lida Padgett plays the saxophone at the jazz concert. photo by taylor keal

How would you describe your creative process?

“Usually I pick my colors first based on whatever fits my mood and honestly I just wing it. I hate planning out art and I don’t stop until I am done. I just like seeing where it goes. Obviously I live on Pinterest and will see one little thing that will spark an idea but my sketches are usually random.”

How has art helped improved your mental health?

What materials do you use?

“It is a whole medley honestly of all random markers. My most recent addition is layering sharpies over the sketch markers because I love how it looks with the different lines and thicknesses.”

A B O V E | Sophomore Gabe Heman uses a drill to work on his final project for woodshop. photo by maggie merckens

MEET THE

op s h@EVYNSPRINTS

photos by maggie klump & tristan porter

NEW PEP

“I don’t know what it is about it but something about putting a color on a white canvas...It just mellows me out. I use art as a de-stressor because it is such a simple task and is so easy to draw colorful circles.”

Evyn sells her art on her art instagram @evynsprints

The pep club recently released the 2021-22 pep execs $

8

custom collages

15

$

BRIAN HENEGER

CELIA CONDON

SPENCER NEWTON

MAEVE MCGRATH

CHARLOTTE HAWES

KYLER HAUGHTON

painted

prints

30

$ phone cases

THE HARBINGER | MAY 10, 2021

design by catherine erickson photo by macy crosser by p ho eb e hend on

VIOLET

APODACA

RIGHT | T hese two ar t pieces appear in senior Violet Apodaca and senior Clara Hampton’s IB exhibits.

The full exhibits can be found at the bottom of the north ramp near the art hallway.

CLARA

HAMPTON

Two IB art students explain the process of creating and the meaning behind the exhibitions they have on display at the bottom of the north ramp

THE

ARTISTS

BEHIND THE

FEATURES | 15

SENIOR VIOLET APODACA has always been an artist — it’s something she’s done since she could hold a pencil. For most of her life, through every painting and every sketch, Apodaca played it safe — the same mediums, the same still lifes, the same charcoal smudges on her hands.

But from the start of her time in East’s IB Art program, IB Art teacher Adam Finkelston urged her to go beyond her comfort zones and venture into new mediums. Now as her two years in the program come to a close, Apodaca reflects on the shift in her artistry by shying away from conformity to making her identity the forefront of every piece.

To combat the discomfort of taking on a new challenge, Apodaca decided as a junior to put her passion for social awareness at the center of her artwork. She didn’t care about perfection, she just wanted to try.

“If I put something that I care about into my art, it’s still going to be my art, and I’m going to be happy with [it],” Apodaca said.

Apodaca’s work features a few recurring motifs — the use of recycled newspapers, depictions of whales, echoes of social awareness slogans and the center of it all, the effort of

sustainability. One piece uses plastic coffee cups in a hanging mobile, another uses a chunk of an old desk as a canvas.

The painting Apodaca utilized the old desk panel for, “Australia on Fire,” depicts a firefighter carrying a koala bear. After the Australian wildfires of 2019 and 2020, Apodaca was inspired to capture the event, hoping the imagery of the well-beloved koala bear would remind viewers the climate crisis is more than a faraway myth.

While the scene was created using acrylic paint, Finkleston pointed Apodaca in the direction of Chemistry teacher Jarrod Bardwell to evoke the destruction of the wildfires.

“I took [the piece] to the chem room ... and I asked [Bardwell] if I could borrow a torch,” Apodaca said. “He has a really big torch, so under the flame hood I literally just hit it with fire ... [the desk] did catch fire a couple times, but I just blew it out.”

If Apodaca is taking anything away from the IB Art curriculum, it’s the ability to be flexible. Between her junior year history teacher accidentally throwing away a nearly-finished project of hers, figuring out how to glue on hundreds of pieces of cut-up plastic bottles to a paper mache whale or literally playing with fire, Apodaca’s learned an open mind is crucial to success.

THEN-JUNIOR CLARA HAMPTON sat in her basement, hammering steak knives into the forehead of a self portrait she’d painted, she stopped. It was weird enough forcefully jamming knives into her own head, but at that moment, she asked herself, would she even be allowed to hang this piece in school?

Now a senior, the piece she completed over the summer is on display with the other pieces from her IB Art exhibition. “Knife Girl” stands alone in a locked glass case with fake blood dripping down the canvas from where the knifes are planted.

“It’s actually locked in the display case because there [were] concerns people would take a knife out of the head and go and stab someone,” Hampton said.

Hampton’s exhibition features a series of portraits depicting internal versus external feelings, and the struggle of concealing how you truly feel for the sake of the outside world.

“I want to go into social work, so learning more about what people are feeling and what people are presenting and the masks they put up in their day-today lives is kind of a really important part of that,” Hampton said.

Her work is composed with the same few mediums — oil paint, colored pencil and watercolor — and they’re mostly unified by similar color palettes.

T o appeal to the personal emotions

and experiences of others, Hampton uses herself as the model for her portraits.

She laughs at how many times she’s had to reassure her classmates and teachers that she doesn’t literally feel like she’s walking around with knives in her head, melting into the earth or screaming into a void as her portraits depict. But Hampton believed the only way she could depict each emotion was to reference herself.

“The process of painting these and making these pieces was very personal, but in the end, setting them out for other people to view and other people to interpret ... I feel that’s the best way people connect with art,” Hampton said.

Every day Hampton walked into the classroom meant another day she’d be encouraged to push the limits of her creativity further, and every “crazy” idea she had was only met with encouragement from Finkelston.

“Every time Fink saw a glimpse of [“Knife Girl”] he was like, ‘Ooh, I love it, it’s so gory,’” Hampton said. “I think that being in IB, AP, more of the advanced art programs allows you to do that. They’re more accepting of darker ideas or darker themes.”

Now, when Hampton walks past her work, she disconnects herself from the hours of detailed brushwork and dozens of rough drafts to see her art as a viewer, pulling out the emotion from each piece she’s made — and she hopes others do the same.

16/17 | FEATURES

C O N C E PT UA L

C R E AT I O N S

E

by riley a tkinson

ven from the front row seats of the Kansas City Ballet, she couldn’t see the dancers’ faces or any fine details of the set design.

Her visual impairment limited her view to the flowy figure of the cape that Dracula wore and the dark color of the dresses that moved like a wave. She could hear the haunting, church-liketoned choir from the balcony and felt chills creep up her legs.

She felt scared — but the edge-of-her-seat kind of scared. She loved it.

She needed to know what went on behind the scenes to evoke those emotions in an audience.

East alum Elsa Goodmon was diagnosed at birth with a rare condition that makes her legally blind — she says she even learned braille when she was younger. Now, she’s two years into a visual arts degree at Cornish College with a portfolio that shares more than 30 of her best art pieces, and she’s designed several performance productions both for class and as a hobby.

Her eyes fail to produce enough pigment, which restricts her from seeing perfectly clear up close or anything far away, but the zoom tool on her iPad and a support system at school have helped her create artwork despite her impairment.

Her younger sister, junior Abby Goodmon, constantly notices the wide eyes when people

hear she’s a legally blind visual arts student. But everyone is impressed — she just creates fantastic art, Abby says.

“It’s become one of those things where you have a disability for so long that you learn to function at a different level,” Elsa said.

Her art setup is a comfort spot. She knows other artists who prop their sketchbook up outside to draw, but she can’t do that. Outside doesn’t work — too much glare, too many shadows — so she loves her dorm room desk. Since she can control the lighting and have all sorts of technology available to her, she hunches over the iPad to work on “little” personal projects — a recent one was redesigning all of the costumes for The Nutcracker.

“Yeah, she’s the artistic one in the family,” Abby said. “She does that stuff in her free time, so to her sometimes it doesn’t even feel like work, it’s just like something she loves to do.”

She gets startled easily when she’s in the zone, according to her freshman-year roommate Bee Bolino — nothing Elsa ever does is half-hearted.

Bolino says it’s not long after they watch a show together that Elsa will sketch up a character inspired by the plotline. Art is Elsa’s thing, and she gets lost in her creations almost every day.

“Hours can go by, I’ll look up and it’s dark outside and I’m like, ‘Oh?’” Elsa said.

PATH TO SUCCESS ATTENDED BALLETS Elsa sat in preferred seating at several Kansas City Ballets as a kid, which sparked her love of production design

East alum Elsa Goodmon challeng herself through costume des drawing and hopes to someday w performance company, despite h impairment

At East, she was enrolled in four years of theater and practically every art class possible. Her drawing and photography teacher Adam Finkleston said it wasn’t the lack of eyesight that set her apart — it was her creativity. He noticed when she’d put her face right up next to the paper while working with fine lines, but that didn’t hinder her work — it was better than most students.

He has no doubts she’ll be successful in her production design classes and career simply because she has the passion and skills for it.

I think that a costume is like a compliment to a dancer ’s body, it’s like a weapon in their arsenal for their art, and I love to give that image to them.

elsa goodmon | alum The college costume design coursework includes anything from carefully selecting lighting for a show to doing “grunt” work like sewing a lastminute patch onto a costume — but she actually enjoys how much it stimulates her brain, even if she gets frustrated at times.

She’s had to find her own way of doing

practically everything as a visual ar When she’s sewing a garment, she p pricks herself so she can tell wher with the needle. But because of her a she’s gotten so comfortable with sewi meditative now.

“I’m always learning new tech overcome things and to be able to fu level that is, I don’t want to say expe but at a level that other people would p Elsa said.

For a recent project, she sewed th seam four times before she was pleas Elsa finds herself repeating simple achieve perfection often — she wants to she can do it, and do it well.

Without depth perception, straigh difficult. Measurements don’t come e For a final last semester, she had to m core model box of the Seattle rep theate down to the sixteenths.

“Measuring? Working with a ruler? Y said.

Those are the moments where she ha help, which she really hates doing.

“I mean anybody with a disability w that they really don’t like to ask for said. “We want to believe that we can do

How Elsa decided to pursue a career in costume design

JOINED THEATER Elsa got involved with the Indian Hills theater program in seventh and eighth grade

ART CLASSES Once in high school, Elsa took every art and theater class she could

DIR

Elsa Dra of h

design by sydney newton illustrations by natalie scholtz and elsa goodman

THE TOOLS The different appliances that Elsa uses during her drawing process

WACAM TABLET A Watcam Tablet is a type of input device Elsa uses to create graphics and drawings

APPLE PENCIL An electric pencil Elsa uses to draw on her iPad, with different tips and pressures

IPAD Elsa’s main device, used to create her drawings and outlines of her costumes

ges sign and work for a her visual

rts student. purposefully re she’s at adaptations, ing that it’s

hniques to unction at a ected of me, perform at,”

he shoulder sed with it. stitches to o prove that

ht lines are easy either. make a foamer with sizes

Yikes,” Elsa

as to ask for

will tell you help,” Elsa o everything

SCAN ME | WEBSITE Scan to view Elsa’s portfolio and view more or her art.

that is set to us . . . It took me a really long time to be comfortable asking for help from people, I’m still getting used to it, especially in college.”

She says she’d rather give herself a headache than tell someone she can’t see something. Her professors understand if she can’t see a still life model from across the room or sew black thread on black fabric, so she’s grateful for their support.

“I feel like she’s come a long way in advocating for herself and saying like, ‘I need help with this assignment,’ or, ‘I can’t see what you’re doing, can you come closer and show me?’” Bolino said. “I think that’s what strikes me the most in her art and just our everyday life together that she’s really blossoming into not being afraid to ask for help, which I think is such a strength.”

Bolino and Finkelston are in agreement that she has the work ethic and creativity to achieve anything she wants — her visual impairment is just something she’s figured out how to cope with.

And with 15 years of dance experience, she understands the range of motion needed for a dance costume. She has the inside knowledge of what they’re thinking about during a costume fitting and knows the right terminology to talk to them like a fellow dancer, which makes them more comfortable and allows for easier communication.

RECTED 1ST PLAY

a directed a frequent friday, acula, during her senior year high school

“I think that a

costume is like a compliment to a dancer’s body, it’s like a weapon in their arsenal for their art, and I love to be a part of that, and I love to give that image to them,” Elsa said.

One day she hopes to design costumes that little girls like her younger self will be mesmerized by — even if that means pricking herself with needles or redesigning countless garments along the way.

COSTUME DESIGN MAJOR Now attending Cornish College of the Arts, Elsa is majoring in costume design with hopes to be a designer for a performance company

18 | FEATURES

THE HARBINGER | MAY 10, 2021

design by sydney newton photos by noelle griffin

STRENGTH IN

T O P | Sophomore Charlie Kitten looks into his future style as his past self.

by peyton moore

S

trutting through the East hallway like it’s the Hollywood strip with “In Between Days” by The Cure blaring in his AirPods, sophomore Charlie Kitten can faintly make out a group of kids laughing and staring at his four-inch platform leather boots and fishnet tights. Without a second thought, he keeps walking — unphased.

“They’re just fans,” Charlie thinks to himself.

With Charlie’s recent style revamp from East’s stereotypical Lululemon joggers and Nike shirts to black leather skirts and fingerless skeleton gloves, he’s used to the judgement from others. Instead of letting it drag him down, he uses it as a building block of confidence, reassuring himself of exactly who he wants to be.

“I really don’t take anything offensively,” Charlie said.

“Everyone has their own opinions and honestly, I just don’t care enough. They take time out of their day to notice me, so in some ways I feel famous.”

COVID-19 hitting last spring was Charlie’s saving grace.

Before school went virtual and quarantine began, he had little confidence dressing the way he wanted and just tried his best to fit in. But lockdown helped him experiment with his look like he’d always wanted to.

“I think if we never had quarantine this probably would never have happened,” Charlie said. “Surrounded by people at school everyday, I never had the chance to change my look. Since I was at home alone for three months, I just thought, ‘Hey no one is going to see me, so why not just play around with it?’”

At first his new style consisted of wearing black band t-shirts to bed, then slowly throwing in spiked necklaces, pleated skirts, knee-high pants and chains as his everyday quarantine-fit. Seeking inspiration specifically from the 1976 British rock band The Cure, he devoted quarantine to sampling this new style and it just stuck.

“At first I was like, ‘I wonder if he is ok. Is he depressed?’” Charlie’s friend and sophomore Vivian Riehl said. “And after some time I realized that he is expressing himself, and I am all for it.”

As virtual school came around in the fall, hiding behind the screen was easy. All anyone saw was Charlie’s freshly dyed black and purple hair, along with the occasional accessories.

But as hybrid school approached, Charlie was nervous to let the world see his newly found persona. Showing up on the first day wearing ripped jeans layered with black fishnets and green skeleton fingerless gloves, paired with a vampire-fang mask, he strutted into the building and

st y l e

Sophomore Charlie Kitten’s recent style change has given him a newfound sense of confidence, empowering him to ignore hate

immediately loved every second of it.

Charlie knew people would have a lot to say about his new look — “You’ve changed,” “What happened to you?”

“Are you okay?” Some of his peers even thought quarantine had turned him crazy.

Family dinners, shopping at the mall, going to restaurants — Charlie stands out everywhere according to his mom Deborah Kitten. Maybe it’s his jet black eyeliner or his ripped skeleton zip up. Regardless of who’s giving him the up-and-down looks, Charlie carries himself with such confidence that all the stares don’t make him slouch, but rather make his grocery store walk a little more powerful.

“I think [his new look] has definitely made him a little more bold,” Deborah said. “And maybe that is because it takes some courage to walk out the door. Sometimes wearing things that aren’t as accepted in every environment can be hard, but Charlie is empowered by his new style, and I admire him for that.”

Charlie has not only stood out at school and in the community, but he’s also started to get noticed online. With 18K followers on Tiktok and multiple viral videos reaching just under half a million views, Charlie knows that just because people in his community aren’t always accepting or appreciative of his newfound style, there is a community that is.

Deborah knows her son hopes to get out of the suburbs of Kansas and find a crowd that can fully appreciate and relate to him. Whether he ends up on the East or West coast, Charlie has always known that he’ll find his true community somewhere outside of the Midwest — where people aren’t so quick to criticize.

Although Charlie’s newfound style attracts more stares and whispers, he knows that his confidence is more important than any eye roll from a classmate. Through fashion, he’s found who he is and who he wants to be.

He has met new friends with similar fashion interests, dove deeper into the gothic music world and scored a job at Hot Topic in Oak Park Mall where he can be surrounded by people with common fashion taste everyday. Charlie no longer hides behind a stereotype he never associated with — his style has allowed him to express himself and find his community.

“He may look physically different, but at the end of the day Charlie is still his peppy, kind, funny self,” Vivian said.

Charlie didn’t just change his wardrobe. He changed his outlook on life and has learned to love him for him.

‘Freak,’ ‘weirdo,’ ‘loser’ comments push Charlie to walk out the door with more eyeliner and taller boots the next day, empowered by the haters.

THE LOOK BOOK

Charlie’s three favorite outfits

#1

THE ALL OUT LOOK i n s p i red by: fri en ds i n sta g ra m

THE SCHOOL LOOK i n s p i red by: 90 s g oth

#3

#2

THE CHILL LOOK i n s p i red by: th e c u re

SCAN ME | TIKTOK Scan to view Charlie’s TikTok @rottingbabydoll, with 18k followers

design by tommy paulus photo by trevor paulus

THE HARBINGER | MAY 10, 2021

FEATURES | 19

STRENGTH IN

SOBRIETY Senior Zak Beil finds strength and grounding through sobriety by annabelle moore

“GOD, GRANT ME the serenity to accept the

things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.”

The serenity prayer, by Alcoholics Anonymous. It’s the first thing read off at senior Zak Beil’s AA group meetings. After they pray, the 12 steps of recovery are recited — he’s currently on step six: allow God to remove all defects of character.

Attending the AA meetings on Mondays and Wednesdays, Zak calls them his “home group.” It’s a home — a community he feels close to, the place he goes to sit in a circle with other alcoholics or substance abusers fighting through the painful reality of sobriety — it’s his home.

Zak is 18 years old, and he is officially sober. With May 5 marking his one year of sobriety, Zak feels that his inner-strength and support systems have helped him remain strong and true to his sobriety.

After experiencing the trauma of his mother’s battle with breast cancer in seventh grade, Zak spent years struggling with mental health. He feels like being a boy makes it easier to bottle up your emotions opposed to expressing them to others. This philosophy caused him to look for other ways to channel his emotions, sparking his substance abuse and addictive personality.

“He was in seventh grade, [and he was] going through so much trying to hold it all together,” Zak’s mother Lindsey Beil said.

Using drugs and drinking socially began for Zak in eighth grade, but once sophomore year hit, his relationship with substances turned from recreational to reliant.

Zak was a pro at keeping his addiction from his parents. Whether it was changing clothes in his car after smoking weed, always having a pack of gum on hand to mask the stench of vodka or hiding his drug stash in an empty shoe box buried at the back of his closet, concealing his problem from his parents was always his primary concern.

However, Zak didn’t recognize the depth of his substance abuse problem until around the beginning of the pandemic. Zak almost wasn’t able to go a day without consuming a mix of prescription Vyvanse, alcohol and marijuana. His supply of drugs and alcohol quickly ran out, leaving him with no choice but to face his addiction. “[While using], I felt like I was invincible,” Zak said. “And I didn’t care about anybody else except myself. And I would basically do anything to make myself feel better, but the things I was doing were just making me worse.”

Zak often found himself lashing out at his family, slacking on his school work, struggling with honesty and even driving under the influence. Of the few times he got pulled over while using, not once was he caught for his substance abuse problem. He said the cops would always assume he was on the opposite substance than he was buzzed by: when he was high, they assumed he was

*names changed to protect identity drunk, so he would pass the DUI test. Zak said that instances like these made him think it was okay to continue smoking and driving, or using and spiraling.

But when the pandemic started and he was unable to obtain drugs and alcohol, Zak didn’t have to tell his parents something was wrong — they already knew.

“I had a problem,” Zak said. “It was really easy to tell. I couldn’t hide anymore because I had nothing left. I was out of marijuana, I was barely hanging on [through sips of] my parents liquor. I was out of Vyvanse. But I was also just empty because I didn’t have anything to fill the void I’d been filling for a while.”

After checking Zak’s Skyward one day in January to see 15 missing assignments and receiving numerous alerts of unexcused absences, Lindsey knew this wasn’t the son she had raised — the one who made her laugh, smile, beam.

Walking into his mother’s room months later in March, he sat down looking distraught. Lindsey asked him if he was smoking weed or doing something out of the ordinary — his simple response was yes, and that he needed help.

“That [was] such a hard thing to hear as a mom, that your kid that you think is so special, someone that lights up your life and your room, was unhappy,” Lindsey said.

After the conversation with his parents, Zak voluntarily went to an outpatient rehabilitation center here in Kansas City — The Crossroads Program — and got sober at the age of 17. “[The Crossroads and being sober] changed my life because me getting sober was the start of my journey that I still go through every day,” Zak said. “It was the start to me finding out more about myself. It was making me feel way better about myself. My self worth is so much more now. I have better friendships. I care for people more.”

At Crossroads, Zak was attending an intensive outpatient therapy program from 1-5 p.m., five days a week from May to September, which taught him how to integrate sobriety into everyday life.

“It’s obvious that the only way that I can stay sober is [by] finding out how I can stay sober for myself and work my own program,” Zak said. “I find out every day what’s triggering me, what might trigger me to a relapse. It’s an everyday thing. I learn more about how to live sober every day.”

After five months, Zak was out of the intense and timely phase of Crossroads, and now works with a support group, along with attending weekly AA meetings. Additionally, he has a sponsor who he can call and talk to when the inevitable hardships that come from being a teen in recovery arise, like seeing friends out at parties or even driving by a gas station and seeing a beer sign.

Since entering the program, Zak’s mom has seen his commitment to sobriety. Lindsey

is proud of her son for staying true to his sobriety and doing what he needs to stay clean, whether that be opting out of drinking environments or digging into his passions such as journaling, music and playing the drums.

“He makes me a better person,” Lindsey said. “He makes me a more aware person — and I’m pretty aware. He’s so able to articulate things that he needs, and I think through this program, he’s even more able to talk about things that are important to him and choose himself.”

As a parent, Lindsey feels Crossroads stands out with its supportive mentorship, the older members who show Zak different

me now because I don’t have that mask that was drugs and alcohol to hide behind with all my feelings. The hardest part about getting sober isn’t quitting. It’s facing your fears that you were hiding behind for so long.”

GET I N F O R MED stats on addiction

The hardest part about getting sober isn’t quitting. It’s facing your fears that you were hiding behind for so long.

10 M IL .

zak beil | senior ways to have fun in social and adrenalinerushing environments while staying sober.

“He’ll be like climbing bridges or going to jump off a quarry, or he’s driving to Arkansas in the middle of the night [with the older Crossroads kids],” Lindsey said. “And I have to say, I had to work really into that.

But he’s had some of the best times of his life — sober.”

Zak’s current mentor, 26-year-old student at The University of Kansas, James Walton*, learns from Zak every day watching his commitment and empathy.

“Every time I meet with [Zak], and he talks to me about what’s going on, I might not be able to relate to the exact situation that he’s in, but I completely understand all the feelings that come with it,” James said.

James has also recognized the growth in Zak’s sobriety journey and character development through the past year.

“He’s grown a lot and matured a lot,” James said. “He is not the same person [as he was coming into Crossroads]. I can just tell he cares a lot more about [his sobriety] and about his relationships with his family and his friends then when he came, for sure.”

Even if Zak had the chance to go back and change something about his journey with sobriety, he wouldn’t because now he has found his authentic self. Sobriety freed him.

“I’m not perfect at all,” Zak said.“But now that I’m sober, I’m still finding ways that I need to be better. I think it’s a lot easier for

in need of treatment for substance abuse

2 OUT OF 5 highschoolers admitted to smoking weed at least once

72

%

of teenagers admit to drinking at least once in their lifetime

11

% DECREASE

In 12th graders use of alcohol form 2012 - 2017

% DECREASE

08

In 10th graders use of drugs form 2012 - 2017

*info courtesy of onhealth.com

SME Class of 2021 Senior After Grad Party For the past 10 years, the SME PTA and the parents at Shawnee Mission East have put on a safe, drug and alcohol free, graduation party for the outgoing senior class immediately following their graduation ceremony. It is intended to be a well deserved celebration of our seniors’ achievements and acknowledgement of the years of hard work they put in to completing their high school education.

To ensure that the After Grad Party is a success, as per tradition, we rely heavily on the generosity of our local community as well as the families of Shawnee Mission East. Below are the levels suggested per class, but any donation would be greatly appreciated. $20.00 $30.00 $40.00 $50.00

-

Freshmen Families Sophomore Families Junior Families Senior Families

Please considering supporting us by donating cash either through Venmo @SMEPTSA, by credit card at bit.ly/AfterGrad2021 or by sending a check payable to SME PTSA to Casey Cooley-Brock at 8503 Ensley Place, Leawood, Kansas 66206.

We are also looking for items to place in our Senior Raffle and would appreciate any donations. Gift Certificates, Gift Cards, Individual Gift Items or Gift Baskets are needed. All raffle donations may be sent and/or dropped off to Tracy Tetrick: 5810 Windsor Drive, Fairway, Kansas 66205.

THANK YOU for your generosity. The class of 2021 greatly appreciates your support!

Casey Cooley-Brock 816.210.3957

Tracy Tetrick 913.948.3677

design by julia percy

THE HARBINGER | MAY 10, 2021

RUNNING THE WASH

PHOTOSTORY | 21 LEFT | After her shift for the car wash, senior Macie Stump takes her car through to have her friends clean it. “Oh my gosh it was so fun,” Stump said. “It was cracking me up how my friends were washing my car.” photo by rachel bingham

The Track and Field team hosts their annual car wash to raise money for supplies and uniforms

A B O V E | Senior Luke Searles stands on the tire of a car washing the roof with a sponge. “It was kinda a team bonding activity, this year with covid it has split us up into groups like long distance, sprinters, jumpers,” Searles said. “So we don’t really get to see a lot of people and hang out with a lot of people that are from other pods you could say. So it was fun to get to be around the whole team and to get to and to get to do something fun like that with everyone.” photo by maggie merckens RIGHT | Sophomore Khloe Kowalik reacts to senior Price Terrill splashing a bucket of water on an underclassmen. photo by trevor paulus

T O P RIG HT | Senior Macie Stump stands on the side of Mission Road with a sign to try to bring in business. “I got to wash the cars after I held the signs,” Stump said. “My friend [Tyler Debay] was holding the hose and spraying everyone. It was such a fun time.” photo by elise madden ABOVE | A car wash volunteer wipes the bed of a truck with a sponge. “It’s kinda weird to to be a senior and to see all my friends and to look around and realize that we are the oldest ones,” Searless said. “Its been a lot of fun getting to know everyone and getting to run with everyone and getting to hang out with everyone every day at practice and its really been the most normal thing we’ve been doing in a while.” photo by trevor paulus

SCAN ME | HARBIE PHOTO Scan this QR code to purchase photos from the Track Car Wash Fundraiser

22 | A&E

THE HARBINGER | MAY 10, 2021

design by tommy paulus photos and information courtesy of spotif y, IMDb and apple

A&E

HIGHLIGHTS

Catch up on what’s trending in the arts and entertainment world

TO P O F T H E CH A RTS

RECENT RELEASES

MUSIC

PODCASTS

MOVIES

ALBUM | IF I COULD MAKE IT GO QUITE

P O D C A ST | M AY I E L A B O R AT E ?

A R T I ST | G I R L I N R E D

RUN TIME | ~15 MIN

MOVIE: LIMBO

GENRE: COMEDY/DRAMA

This podcast is the musings of comedic legend JB Smoove. This show is a jam-packed 15 minute experience full of philosophical discussions that will make you laugh.

R E L E A S E DAT E | A P R I L 3 0

Girl in Red makes a return with her sophomore album. This album is a mix of her signature bedroom pop style with upbeat notes.

S I N G L E | YO U R P OW E R

RUN TIME: 1 HR 44 MIN

SUMMARY: This movie follows a young Syrian musician trying to seek refuge on a Scottish Island.

P O D C A ST | I M P R OV E M E N T A SS O C I AT I O N

A R T I ST | B I L L I E E I L I S H

MOVIE:

R U N T I M E | ~ 41 M I N

R E L E A S E DAT E | A P R I L 2 9

EAT WHEATIES!

GENRE:

Improvement Association is a chapter-by-chapter investigation of the election integrity and suppression in Bladen County, North Carolina.

This new single from Eilish’s new album “Happier than Ever” has a classic Billie flow with soft tones and head tingling instrumentals.

COMEDY

RUN TIME: 1 HR 28 MIN

SUMMARY: This bizzare film is a comedic tale of celebrity infatuation and addiction. The title comes from a single line in the film.

CROSSWORD

1

2

This crossword is based on the stories of the A&E pages

3

DOWN 4

5

6

7 8

2. love-hate ice cream flavor 3. frigid over night coffee 4. one who sells 7. popular reselling app

ACROSS 1. blood organ: in spanish 3. sweet cow byproduct 5. en trende coffee mix-in 6. breakfast style cone 8. one mans trash *check your answers on pages 23, 24 and 25

design by annabelle moore photos by megan stopperan

THE HARBINGER | MAY 10, 2021

by lyda cosgrove W E’VE ALL MEMORIZED our Starbucks and Dunkin’ orders to perfection, but I

decided it was about time to expand my caffeine palate beyond the basic American chain menus. Luckily, downtown KC is scattered with locally-owned coffee shops inspired by different cultures around the globe. Instead of hopping into the drivethru Starbucks line for the hundredth time, I took a detour to a variety of authentic and ethnic coffee shops.

CAFE OLLAMA

“A safe space to reconnect con la cultura” BOTH L ATIN-INSPIRED AND

Latin-owned, Cafe Ollama was the perfect first stop for my adventure. The small coffeehouse shares its entrance with a tax company and was a little tricky to spot driving by. Once inside, the colorful Hispanic paintings, woven tapestries covering woodpaneled walls and furniture along with soft salsa music playing from a record player transported me straight to Mexico City.

The ambience didn’t stop at

• latin american inspired • drinks tried: cafe de olla cold brew

the decor. Several of the drinks are named after the owners and employees’ mothers and grandmothers, which made for a sweet, personal touch. There was such a variety of options, from the Abuelita Lupe to Mama Gloria, that I spent five minutes alone looking the menu up and down while the barista helped translate certain words and explaining the drinks in depth.

My everyday go-to is Starbucks’ sweet cream cold brew with cold foam, so

CAFÉ CORAZÓN

“A Café with heart”

ABOVE | Outside of Café Corazón stands a mural that pays tribute to their Latin American heritage.

CAFE CÀ PHÊ

cultural COF F E E

naturally my eyes went straight to the Cafe de Olla cold brew topped with a salted sweet foam.

Cafe de Olla is a Mexicanclassic — coffee brewed with cinnamon, cane sugar and a mix of other spices. The Cafe de Olla cold brew was beyond any other coffee franchise could dream of creating, giving me a flavor-packed experience every sip I took. It was spicy, tart and sweet all at the same time, contrasting more perfectly than you’d think with the salty foam on top.

A review of three coffee shops inspired by different cultures

A B O V E | The owner of Cafe Ollama stands at the counter waiting to take customer orders.

• latin american inspired • drinks tried: iced mint mojito latte and horchata latte CAFÉ CORAZÓN ON Westport Green Apple to Peanut Butter.

Rd. is marked by its beautiful Taking what seemed like the less and flower-filled mural of Frida adventurous route, I ordered the Khalo and vibrant turquoise Latin Specialty Horchata Latte door. The seating inside is and the Iced Mint Mojito Latte spaced out and limited, but from the seasonal menu.

Horchata is a traditional luckily a large patio full of wooden benches and colorful Mexican drink, made of white metal chairs made for the perfect rice soaked in water then usually flavored with cinnamon. The place to hang out.

While Corazón offers your Horchata Latte with sprinkled basic lattes, cappuccinos and cinnamon and added vanilla Americanos, there’s an entire syrup had a subtle, comforting section of the menu dedicated to sweetness that I could see myself Latin American Specialties like sipping on a cold afternoon to Spicy Mayan Mochas and Latin cozy up.

The Iced Mint Mojito Latte Sodas with flavors ranging from

• vietnamese inspired • drinks tried: hella good latte

“Culture in coffee culture” WALKING INTO THE

seemingly abandoned buildings in the depths of the West Bottoms, the bright red dragon mural indicated I was in the right place for my Vietnamese coffee experience. Owned by a first-generation Vietnamese American, Cafe Cà Phê is all about establishing culture in the coffee scene.

After a quick stalk of their Instagram, I came prepared — my order without a doubt would be the Hella Good Latte. The drink

is made with espresso straight from Vietnam, oatmilk, drizzled with condensed milk and ube — a bright purple yam with a sweet and slightly nutty taste used as a staple in all types of Asian recipes. Its vibrant purple ombre into dark tan coffee made for an aesthetic photo op surrounded by Asian artwork.

I’m not necessarily one to opt for sweet coffee, so the ube flavor and condensed milk required a pause for water in between every few sips.

Though some of the most flavorful

A&E | 23

coffee I’ve ever had, I’m not sure I could reach for this when in need of a caffeine boost — it’s definitely more of a dessert-type of drink.

Their specialty drinks are on the higher side of pricing at $6 each, but for the uniqueness of both the flavor and look, I’d say it’s worth it.

Though their location at 1101 Mulberry St. is only temporary for two more weeks, Cafe Cà Phê’s mobile truck will be doing pop-ups all over the city throughout the summer.

ABOVE | The front wall of Cafe Cà Phê features a mural of a dragon, inspired by the Vietnamese culture.

was a perfect contrast. Not only was the presentation beautiful — topped with housemade espresso whipped cream, mint leaves and lime shavings — it was bursting with flavor. Each sip was stronger than the last, in the best way, and I really appreciated having a natural mint flavor over the usual peppermint syrup taste I’m used to.

I could easily head back to Café Corazón for any of my daily caffeine cravings, and it’s the perfect for any caffeine-lover with some extra free time.

24 | A&E

THE HARBINGER | MAY 10, 2021

SUPER

design by riley atkinson photos by hadley chapman

SCOOPERS

A review of the new ice cream shop “Golden Scoop,” that helps adults with special needs find employment

T O P | Sophomores Peyton Moore and Ana Mitchell purchase ice cream from a super scooper at the Golden Scoop, chatting with him in the process

by anna mi tchel l

W

hen it comes to a normal ice cream treat or coffee pickup, I rely on the basics — Andy’s Frozen Custard and Starbucks.

But after one too many mistakes in my orders and long waits in drive thru lines, I decided to try the Golden Scoop, a coffee and ice cream shop that filled my social media feed.

The Golden Scoop is a non-profit business located at 9540 Nall Ave. that employs individuals with disabilities, providing them with not only a job but also a place to socialize. The owners’ mission is to provide guidance to the special needs community and set them up for success in the work world.

Walking into the store, I was curious as to how the business operated, the hiring process, volunteer information and of course, how the ice cream tasted.

Four women — Amber Schreiber, Lindsay Krumbholz, Michelle Reeves and Jill Webb — have been working on this project for three years.

They’ve officially been running since April 14, open Wednesday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., with open arms to anyone who wants to volunteer for the shop, doubling as a volunteering organization.

Since the middle of April, the shop has been swamped with customers, despite opening amidst a pandemic. After a year of negativity, I would guess that craze is because people want to experience something positive, and that’s exactly what The Golden Scoop is about. According to the store owners, some customers have even

been driving from as far as three hours away to support the business and the amazing work they are doing for the community.

Despite the long lines I usually see when driving by the store, I popped in for ice cream right before closing time and had my ice cream in minutes. But if you want to try The Golden Scoop, I’d say the wait is worth it, no matter how long the line is.

I was immediately greeted by a Super Scooper, one of the employees with a disability. The environment inside of the shop was something that stood out to me right away — every Super Scooper and volunteer spoke with an enthusiastic tone and seemed happy to be there while making conversation.

With the white, grey, black and yellowish-gold theme, the store itself is nice on the eyes, and watching Super Scoopers happily interact and help customers would make anyone’s day. The menu has a vintage-like design and the options are easy to understand.

The Golden Scoop offers seven different coffee choices and six ice cream flavors. When the shop first opened, Super Scoopers were scooping the ice cream themselves, but they recently began pre-scooping cups — an adjustment that made the process easier for me and the employees.

I tried three flavors: “My Father was a Jam Maker”, Mint Chocolate Chip and Jude’s Rum Cake, made with rum and nuts.

“My Father was a Jam Maker”, the strawberry ice cream flavor, was by far my favorite. As a diehard strawberry ice cream fan, I always struggle

to find a solid flavor. However, The Golden Scoop’s take on strawberry was delicious. The “homemade” feel truly shines through with the comfort of a light, soft strawberry flavor, and the frozen strawberry jam ribbon running through the ice cream itself made for a sweet kick.

The Mint Chocolate Chip didn’t disappoint either. Peaking over the white cardboard cup, I was expecting the usual mint green color, but it was actually white with chocolate chips, yet tasted refreshing and minty as ever.

The last flavor I tried was the Judes Rum Cake, made with a rum base and vanilla ice cream, with nuts incorporated in, which I had never heard of before.

Usually, I stick with simple flavors to ensure I enjoy the ice cream, so I was skeptical to try this unique flavor out, yet I was highly satisfied with the perfect combo of sweet and slight saltiness.

According to one of the women who started the nonprofit, Michelle Reeves, The Golden Scoop cranks out this flavor because it’s a best-seller, but luckily I was able to try a scoop.

I was impressed with all three of my choices and desperately want to go back to try the coffee ice cream and the other remaining flavors. As I was checking out, the touch screen coffee machine caught my eye — I’ll definitely order a latte from here next time I’m going for a morning coffee run.

The Golden Scoop combined giving back to the community and delicious homemade ice cream and fresh coffee, which seems like a complete win-win to me.

S CO O P S E L E CT I O N The ice cream flavor options at The Golden Scoop LUCY’S 41: VEGAN VANILL A C H O C O L AT E M I N T C H O C O L AT E CHIP M Y FAT H E R WAS A JAM MAKER COFFEE

S CO O P E R S K I L LS The options for the course of the day as a “Super Scooper” at The Golden Scoop

GREETERS CASHIERS B A R ISTA BAKING MARKETING

design by elizabeth mikkelson

THE HARBINGER | MAY 10, 2021

A&E | 25

CASHING THE

CLEANOUT Three apps that will make reselling your old clothes easy just in time for spring cleaning

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DEPOP

POSHMARK

MERCARI

POSHMARK

PRICE: $18

PRICE: $23

PRICE: $13

PRICE: $18

by caroline gould

he school year is slowly coming to a close, with only AP Exams and a few assignments lingering. Summer is within reach, and my new summer wardrobe is all that’s been on my mind.

Now that it’s finally time to trade out my jeans and sweaters for shorts and swim wear, I find myself with two substantial problems — a lack of money and a mass of old winter clothes. To clear some space in my currently overcrowded closet, I decided to venture into the world of reselling apps.

Not only is reselling better for the environment because it limits the mass production of cheap clothing, but by reselling old clothing, you can earn back some of the money you initially spent on the clothes — all while cleaning out your closet and making room for new summer staples.

I started by piling up some of my old clothes from as far back as seventh grade and searched the App Store for different reselling site options. I landed on Poshmark, Depop and Mercari — three of the most popular reselling marketplaces.

When it comes to reselling, each app has the same gist: start by creating an account, snapping a few photos of your piece from different angles on an uncluttered surface, writing up a quick description and filling out some information about the product such as sizing and the condition of the item. From

there, all you have to do is wait for it to sell — my least favorite part.

Having gone through a reselling phase around this time last year, I know how the waiting game works. Usually it takes around two weeks for your page to gain traction, but if you have a high-demand product at a good price, some sellers can get lucky and sell quickly.

The easiest platform for garnering connections to your page is Poshmark. Other users can follow you, like your listings and share them to their own followers. Since last year, I’ve amassed almost 700 followers, all who help me out by liking and sharing my listings.

Another thing I like about Poshmark is their relisting feature, which allows you to relist your items so they can be refreshed in other people’s feeds. Along with this, Poshmark has my favorite pricing mark, as you can sell your closet for a reasonable price without too large of a commission percentage, with only 20% of your profit being taken by Poshmark itself.

Another feature that makes Poshmark stand out the most is the ability to send offers to people who’ve liked your listings. As soon as someone likes your listing, you can offer them a shipping and item discount, which is why I usually like to price my clothes a little higher than normal so I can send larger discounts.

In hopes of clearing out my winter wardrobe in time for summer, I listed the same items I listed on Poshmark to Depop for a higher chance of making a sale. Notoriously known for their Brandy Melville girl customers and overpriced y2k (the year 2000) fashion, I was skeptical that I’d ever be able to sell my old Nike shorts from seventh grade.

Depop would probably come in second place next to Poshmark for me, since it doesn’t really suit my motive for selling my clothes. Depop is home to people who run their own vintage shops — where they sell their thrifted clothes for a much higher price than what they bought them for — and those searching for clothing that’s more in style.

This being said, if you have clothes that you’ve bought more recently and no longer want, Depop would be the reselling app for you, since it’s more of a hub for the latest trends.

To increase my chances of making a sale even more, I downloaded my third and least favorite app, Mercari. It frustrated me because of how unfiltered and cluttered the home page was. You can pretty much sell anything, including toys, electronics and clothes, so that made it less geared toward my motive of reselling clothing specifically.

Another thing about this app is its reputation of being difficult to gain traction on, which I definitely experienced. Be prepared to buckle in, even for trendier

items, because it can take at least a few weeks to gain a single like.

However, something that’s unique about this platform is its ability to automatically change your listings’ prices overtime as the demand for that product increases and decreases. This leads to both positive and negative outcomes, as it can both increase

Be prepared to buckle in, even for trendier items, because it can take at least a few weeks to even gain a like on these. and decrease your listing’s price.

While I thought this feature was cool, it didn’t make up for the lower pricing scale and drought of buyers I had on my page. I think I’ll stick to Poshmark and Depop before resorting to Mercari when my next closet clean out rolls around.

I’m still waiting for my first sale of the season, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned from using these types of platforms for a year now, it’s that you won’t get far without patience. As long as you continue to update your page, list new items and offer reasonable prices, it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll make at least one sale.

26 | SPORTS

THE HARBINGER | MAY 10, 2021

design by cesca stamati photos by macy crosser

SPORTS

STA R AT H L E T E S

HIGHLIGHTS

AT H L E T E S T H AT S TO O D O U T T H I S SEASON IN THESE SPRING SPORTS

Updates, schedules and quotes about the sports season

M A R K YO U R C A L E N DA R

COAC H ’S CO M M E N T

Important sporting events this month

14 T R ACK | VARSI TY S U N F LOW E R L E AGUE @ O DAC

MAY

MAY

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17 GOLF | BOYS VARSI TY REGI O N ALS @ SUN FLOW ER H I L LS GO L F COURSE

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SOFTB AL L | VA RSITY REG IONA LS @ TBA

SOCCE R | G IRLS VA RSITY STATE CHA MP IONSHIP @ CFN

S E N I O R N I G H T: G I R LS S O C C E R

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Pretty much every race that he’s been thrown in, he’s excelled. One of the things I do is the performance pyramid and every single event that he’s competed in, he’s reached the gold level and has the potential of getting in multiple events at State.

emily fossoh | track coach

SOPHOMORE

COAC H ’S CO M M E N T

GO

R I GHT | Senior girls attend the girls varsity game to support their friends.

Organized by pep club, the theme was Pink Out for senior night.

LF

BOTTOM LE FT | Sophomore Cate Holzbeierlein heads the ball punted by the goalie.

BOTTOM RIGHT | Senior Maisie Sheets and sophomore Cate Holzbeierlein run to hug sophomore Ashley Koch after she scores a goal.

THOMAS GOGEL SOPHOMORE

Thomas Gogel has been our number one all year. They can do practice rounds before the tournament and he’s always first in line to call the guys and get them out on the course. When he finishes a golf tournament, he’s the first one out there cheering on his players.

evan scobie | golf coach

TEN

COAC H ’S CO M M E N T

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SE E MORE P H OTOS Scan the QR code to access the Harbinger website and view the girls varsity soccer game on April 29.

SAM FREUND SENIOR

Going into the season, I didn’t realize how important Sam was gonna be. He comes to work at practice every day, he wants to get better and he takes coaching very well. He’s matured a ton in the last two years in recognizing who he is as a player, what he can and can’t do on the court and playing to those things he’s done well. Not many teams have a Sam.

andrew gibbs | tennis coach

THE HARBINGER | MAY 10, 2021

design by celia condon photos from wcthunderbolts.com

W I N DY CITY East’s in-school substitute teacher is moving to Chicago, Illinois to play baseball for a minor league team

PAU LE Y ’S P O INTS Pauley’s stats from his most recent baseball season with the Bears at University of Northern Colorado in 2019

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WINNING CATCH IT

The Thunderbolt’s upcoming games being broad casted and their opponents

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HOME RUNS

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Scan here to visit the Windy City Thunderbolt’s website, and learn more about the team

aseball bats lined the wall as substitute teacher Jack Pauley took attendance for the class on Webex. Shortly after letting the kids go to get started on their classwork, Pauley headed across the hall to the indoor batting cages. Besides stealing the hearts of every female student at East, Pauley has been busy training to fulfill his dream of playing professional baseball.

After he graduated high school, Pauley went to the University of Northern Colorado on a D1 athletic scholarship in Greeley, CO. He trained year-round, and spend his college summers on travel teams that the university placed him on, traveling all around the region with the goal of playing professionally in the future.

“I wanted to play past college,” said Pauley. “I didn’t want college to be my last bet. I thought somehow, ‘I have to get there.

I have to make it happen.’”

After graduating college, Pauley planned to sign with a major league team, but his coaches wanted him to first join an major league baseball partner league — an independent league with its own teams not affiliated with MLB franchises.

However, the MLB and its partner leagues

SUN . M AY 3 0 @ JOLIE T WE D. JUN E 2 @ GAT E WAY T HURS. JUN E 3 @ GAT E WAY

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still work together even though their players aren’t interchangeable. The MLB use partner leagues as testing grounds for rule changes they are not ready to unleash on their affiliated leagues and teams. In exchange, the partner leagues get to incorporate MLB branding into their marketing.

“I just wanted him gain some experience outside, which I think will help him build on the tradition of success,” said Pauley’s

The area scouts around me and Colorado said that my best bet would be to play in this league and play for a team in this league based out of Chicago

jack pauley former coach at Northern Colorado, Carl Iwasaki.

Pauley’s plans to join the Frontier League — the oldest professional independent baseball league which became an official MLB partner league in 2020 — were cut short when the pandemic hit, which forced several minor league and lower level teams to get cut, leaving Pauley without a team to play for. He was forced to consider other

short-term options.

When Pauley’s teammates decided to become substitute teachers, Pauley decided to follow that route.

“I thought that [substitute teaching] would be a good fit,” said Pauley. “I wanted something that could be flexible, so that I could be able to work out after school and on weekends. And when I got to East, the setup that [administration] gave me was an even better fit.”

Pauley was given access to East’s indoor batting cages, allowing him to practice during class time when students had work time during remote school. And once students returned to in-person learning, it was warm enough outside for Pauley to use the outdoor batting cages.

“I’m definitely lucky because it wasn’t too tough finding a place to work out and hit and stuff, but there’s other guys that are in the same boat as me who [have] struggled to find places to train and work out,” said Pauley.

Now that COVID-19 restrictions are letting up, Pauley can finally pursue his dream career with the Windy City ThunderBolts, a professional baseball team based in the Chicago suburb of Crestwood, IL. in the Frontier League.

Pauley leaves for Chicago on May 10 and starts training on May 11, before playing a total of 96 games — 48 home and 48 away — from May 27 to September 12.

“The first couple of days [will be] physicals and stuff like that to make sure I’m good to go from a health standpoint,” said Pauley.

“And then there [will be] conditioning tests, which are pretty standard. Then from there, it’ll be spring training.”

After a summer season with the ThunderBolts, Pauley hopes to get picked up by an affiliate team of the MLB — which is a lower level team that feeds into a major league team. The Kansas City Royals’ affiliate team is the Omaha Storm Chasers.

With 38 players reaching the Major Leagues after playing in the Frontier league, Pauley is optimistic about his chances.

“Everybody [at East] has been nothing but great to me, so it’ll definitely be hard for me to leave,” said Pauley. “But there are not a lot of guys that get the chance to keep going after college, and I’m not ready to settle down and decide what I want to do with the rest of my life. So I’m really grateful for this opportunity to keep going with what I love doing and get out there and play.” .

28 | SPORTS

THE HARBINGER | MAY 10, 2021

design by rose kanaley photo by sarah golder LEFT | Williams sits on her bicycle at the front of the classroom before she teaches a Power class at Mojo Cycling.

4722 Broadway Blvd Unit 220 Kansas City, MO 64112

SCAN ME | SIGN UP Scan this code to sign up for a Mojo Cycling class taught by Lillian Williams.

UPCOMING CLASSES taught by lillian

O O

WEDNESDAY, MAY 12 4:45 pm power class

WEDNESDAY, MAY 19

4:45 pm power class

GETTING HER M OJ O Junior Lillian Williams is moving to New Jersey for a summer job working as a cycling instructor for Stride Sea Isle

by lauren di erks

“I’M FREAKING OUT.” A chain of messages lit up junior Lillian Williams’ phone in the middle of her fifth hour Environmental Education class. She got the job. She’d be moving to New Jersey for the summer at age 17 to be a cycling instructor at Stride Sea Isle.

A few months prior, Williams’ best friend junior Sam Stedry sent her an Instagram post announcing job opportunities at Stride Sea Isle, a cycling company in New Jersey opened

by YouTuber Tori DeSimone.

“I’ve been watching her [YouTube] videos since eighth grade,” Williams said. “She’s very popular with fitness and lifestyle and beauty. She started teaching at 17 and she’s 23 now. She opened her first studio when she was 21 and I’ve been following her studios ever since.”

The Instagram post announced Stride Sea Isle was hiring for the summer of 2021.

Figuring she had nothing to lose by applying, Williams interviewed for a cycling instructor position. Out of nearly 400 applicants, Williams was one of eight to be hired. Despite having three summer jobs already lined up, she accepted the position without hesitation.

“I chose to hire Lillian because truthfully I saw so much of myself in her,” DeSimone

said. “She’s young and ambitious, and that’s exactly the type of person I want on my team.”

Williams will wrap up her junior year one week early and head to New Jersey for around six weeks on May 21. There, she’ll be staying in a house with the seven other instructors who she’s met via Zoom, complete a one-week training course at Stride Sea Isle and begin teaching both rhythmic and power classes three to four times a week.

Lillian has this natural ability to entertain and has a stage presence that I think helped her tremendously. Being younger than the rest of our crew, I think she stood out because she has confidence

amanda rismiller | mojo owner But this won’t be her first experience as a cycling instructor. Williams has worked at Mojo Cycling Studio on the Plaza for the past two years. Originally working at the front desk for a year, Williams then decided to go through the four-week intensive training program required to become a certified

instructor at Mojo in December 2020. She was one of three people picked to join the Mojo staff by owner Amanda Rismiller.

“Lillian has this natural ability to entertain and has a stage presence that I think helped her tremendously,” Rismiller said. “Being younger than the rest of our crew, I think she stood out because she has confidence.”

Williams’ natural skill on the bike is apparent to both her riders and her coworkers. She’s been able to find her energetic teaching style and keep her cyclists coming back with upbeat music and positive affirmations throughout her classes.

“Lillian is full of talent and she’s only 17,” DeSimone said. “Imagine the woman she’ll be in her 30’s.”

Being the youngest instructor by two years at Stride Sea Isle and the only one hired from out-of-state, Williams is both eager and nervous to travel to a new place alone — with the nearby beach being an added bonus. She’s more than ready for the challenge having already integrated herself into the fitness world according to Williams.

“You get to connect with people you might not get to connect with in your daily

life because fitness brings people from all different backgrounds and races and sizes and genders [together],” Williams said.

“Everybody’s there for one common goal — just to move your body and feel good.”

With a goal of opening her own studio one day, this teaching opportunity in New Jersey will give Williams a fresh perspective and more drive to make that happen.

“I think what I’ve learned from watching Tori is that age really is just a number and whenever you feel like you’re ready to start working for your future, just start,” Williams said. “You don’t have to wait ‘til you’re like 30 or 20 plus, you can start it now.”

Williams hopes to continue making this job and experience a part of her summers going forward. Working for both Mojo and Stride Sea Isle will expose her to not only different cycling styles, but how a small business runs.

“The goal is to be as big as Peloton and SoulCycle one day, I mean, hopefully I can get there,” Williams said. “Tori is only 23 and already has two studios and is killing it, so nothing’s impossible.”

design by campbell wood photos by emily pollock by ben bra dl ey

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*names changed to protect identity

ollecting her practice gear before running into East for swim practice, sophomore Lisa Graham* takes one last hit of her Juul before dropping it into her glove compartment, anticipating her next hit after practice. Having first experimented with nicotine in seventh grade, she’s been addicted for three years — draining a Juul pod a day and almost two packs a week.

Not only has the addiction affected her dayto-day life by emptying her bank account, but she’s seen a noticeable decrease in how long she can hold her breath during swim — going from a breath every 10 strokes when she was younger to now barely making it to five. While the other girls on the team are able to glide down the lane effortlessly, Graham finds herself gasping for air every few strokes, feeling exhausted by the time she finishes warmups.

“There’s not a huge change in my times, but my lung capacity can’t handle holding my breath for that long, which is expected,” Graham said.

When a student admits to vaping, it makes me worry if this player cares more about nicotine or their role on the team. Whether you are a Varsity starter or on JV you still have a roll on the team, vaping shouldn’t get in the way of that.

jamie kelly | soccer coach She began to notice that when she carpooled with friends — ones who used to indulge as much as her — from swim or other sports, they would have their Juul with them less and less often, but she couldn’t kick the habit. Graham isn’t the only East athlete who struggles with a nicotine addiction.

In 2011, the SMSD sports policy adjusted the punishments for players who are caught with vapes and various drugs, leaving room to modify the severity of the punishment depending on the situation. Previously, if someone was caught with any drug, they would be kicked off the team. Now, there’s a suspension program that continues to suspend the player for each time they’re caught vaping.

Varsity soccer coach Jamie Kelly can usually tell when a player has been vaping by noticing a decrease in their stamina. Although several players have been suspended for games after being caught with nicotine, only one has ever been completely removed from the program.

If a player is caught once, they receive a twogame suspension. Getting caught twice results in a suspension for half the season, and three times means a full season suspension. Finally, four times means a removal from the high school program.

“I’m glad they changed the policy,” Kelly said. “It didn’t make sense that students would get the same punishment for vaping and selling

THE HARBINGER | MAY 10, 2021

SPORTING THE ADDICTION 15%

SPORTS | 29

Nicotine addictions can have a negative impact on student athletes

*Instagram poll of 220 votes

OF EAST STUDENTS SAY NICOTINE HAS AFFECTED THEIR ABILITY TO PLAY SPORTS

cocaine. One is a teenage mistake and the other is a federal crime.”

Freshman Samantha Ronalds* has been bouncing back and forth between addiction and subtle usage of vaping devices since she first experimented two years ago. She previously quit only for the lacrosse season and then got back on it, but this season she decided to throw her Juul away for good.

In the deepest moments of her addiction, Ronalds felt that nicotine was controlling all of her thoughts and actions. School and practice were solely filled with anticipation for the next time she’d get to use her Juul and feel the buzz.

“I always liked to have it on me, but when it was sitting in my bag I would just be thinking the whole time about running to the bathroom or practice finally ending so I could hit it,” Ronalds said.

When at practices, Ronalds began e x p e r i e n c i n g migraines from the withdrawals of not having nicotine on her.

Every time she’d run up and down the field, she felt as though her brain was hitting her skull and causing unbearable pain.

Although n e i t h e r Ronalds or G r a h a m have yet to experience s e v e r e h e a l t h hazards from the addiction, both had extreme shortness of breath when attempting to participate in their sports. Recent studies from the CDC determining nicotine use in adolescents may lead to future addiction to drugs and

N I C OT I N E L E A DS TO. . . *Information from addictioncenter.com INCREASED BLOOD PRESSURE

worsening h e a l t h problems, which is cause for worry.

“Right now I can easily go through a pod and feel completely fine the next morning, but I know that when I’m 60 or 70, it’s going to effect my lungs more,” Graham said.

Ronalds has always felt guilt when suffering a more dependent phase of her addiction, constantly waking up with an abundance of mucus in her throat and swollen tonsils from overuse.

Ronalds ultimately decided to quit when she started to notice a severe lack in her ability during lacrosse tryouts this year. She was running behind all of the other girls and her chest felt like it was on fire. She didn’t want to ruin her season just for one minute of happiness with her vape.

“When a student gets caught vaping, it makes me worry if this player cares more about nicotine or their role on the team,” Kelly said. “Whether you are a varsity starter or on JV you still have a roll on the team, vaping shouldn’t get in the way of that.”

LOSS OF ENERGY

SHORTNESS OF BREATH

30 | SPORTS

THE HARBINGER | MAY 10, 2021

RUNNING

S

enior Kate Kowalik exploded off of the starting block, racing toward her teammates junior Grace Meyer, freshman Lida Padgett and senior Grace Strongman. They were cheering her on while preparing to be thrusted the baton for their mile sprint. Before Kowalik finished the first mile, they’d already envisioned shattering the 4x1600M East record.

As the runners lapped around the track — precisely marked with lanes and distances — their coaches’ ebullient claps and their parents’ enthusiastic cheers filled the air as Padgett crossed the finish line completing the final leg of the race.

“Everyone was pumped of course, but we were all confident going in that we could do it,” Strongman said.

Kowalik, Meyer, Padgett and Strongman broke the record during the April 9 track meet at SM Northwest with a 22 minute and 22 second final time.

The runners broke the 24 minute and two second girls 4x1600M relay race record previously set in 2002 by a minute and 40 seconds.

“Our sport is a lot of work and basically every other sport’s punishment, but crossing the finish line and seeing the improvement in your final time makes all the time we s p e n d training worth it,” Meyer said.

Kowalik set

the tone for the relay by getting a headstart in the first mile and freshman Padgett finished up the race as the anchor.

The girls individually took part in a number of other events along with the 4x1600M such as the 400M, 4x400M, 800M, 4x800M, 1600M and 3200M runs after they’d finished their record-defining relay event.

However, the 4x1600M is unique in that the event is only held once every season since it requires such a large block of time out of the already six-hour-long meet.

Kowalik, Meyer, Padgett and Strongman were the only girls team to participate in 4x1600M out of all the Shawnee Mission schools present at the track meet, making themselves their only competition for the ‘02 record.

Their race was combined with the boys' 4x1600M race, since they were the only girls team competing in the event. However, they weren’t running against the boys, just alongside them on the track.

“Having other teams on the track can really boost your motivation, even if you aren’t necessarily running against them,” Kowalik said.

All four runners practice for two hours six days a week, did offseason training and ran cross country together i n the fall to stay in shape for track season, which is their main sport and priority.

The girls find the most

junior

“I like our team bond and how we get along.”

senior

3

difficult thing about track to be the races that don’t turn out as well as they’d anticipated, which can be detrimental to team morale.

“We only have so many opportunities in a season to do what we love and when that doesn’t work out a time or two, it can be really frustrating,” Strongman said.

The team and community mentality of the sport is what the girls consider to be the most motivating aspect of being a track runner.

According to Strongman, this particular track season the “distance squad” — the group of track runners who take part in races over a mile — has enjoyed running and being there to support one another because of last season’s abrupt end due to COVID-19.

“It’s so satisfying to cross the finish line even a second faster in each new race,” Strongman said.

Improvement is also a huge motivator that the girls’ training is geared toward in diligently studying their times and continuing to work hard during extra long practices.

“Once you finish a race you really just want to die, but once your time starts to improve and begin to break records, it starts to ease that feeling,” Padgett said.

Because of their extensive training and ability to work well together, the team went into the meet confident that they’d be able to set a

2 KATE KOWALIK

1 GRACE MEYER

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East’s 4 x 1600 meter record for track was broken for the first time since 2002

A NEW RECORD

by mia vogel

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design by christian gooley photos by amina sankpill

Our sport is a lot of work and basically every other sport’s punishment, but crossing the finish line and seeing the improvement in your final time makes all the time we spend training worth it.

grace meyer | junior “They all understand that whenever we point out areas to improve on it’s not personal, but ultimately to make them better runners,” Beaham said.

The girls’ parents and coaches take immense pride not only in that they’ve all made the Varsity track team every year they’ve run for East, but also that they’ve s e t the standard for future female track athletes.

3 GRACE STRONGMAN

4 LIDA PADGETT

TOP TRACK MOMENTS

“I like having supportive and fun teammates.”

senior

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new record time for the 4x1600M race.

According to distance coaches Tricia Beaham and Rikki Hacker, Kowalik, Meyer, Padgett and Strongman are all easy to coach and run well together because all four of them are equally passionate and driven when it comes to the sport.

“I love having a close team. I also love track meets and watching everyone’s races.” freshman

“I love hearing the workout or the distance we have to run, then dreading it, then being done with it and feeling accomplished.”

design by sarah golder

THE HARBINGER | MAY 10, 2021

PHOTOSTORY | 31

DODGEBALL DAZE

LEFT | Team “If You Can Dodge A Wrench,” consisting of seniors Brett Pendland, Wylie McCoy, Ella Smith, Claire Perkins Rock and Michael Eberhart, write their name on the bracket after winning their second match. “We lost the first game we played, but I won the second game we played. Me, specifically.

Everyone else got out and I got the two people on their team out and won,” Smith said. photo by annakate dilks

STUCO held a Dodgeball Tournament, their first collaborative event with Shawnee Mission North, to raise money for a charity of the winning team’s choice

BELOW | Junior Lilly Rodgers (right) along with the rest of the SME teams cheer from the sidelines after East wins the final dodgeball game against North. The final throw was then questioned by the STUCO referees and both student sections fell into an uproar. Hananeel Morninville and Campbell Wood, the STUCO referees from North and East, eventually upheld the call, causing East to win the tournament. photo by maggie merckens

R I G H T | Senior Sophie Rice makes eye contact with an opponent before throwing the ball.

“Hananeel Morninville takes one class at East ... and she told us that North had approved this dodgeball tournament and to increase turnout they really wanted to make it a competition between East and North,” Rice, one of the organizers of the tournament, said. photo by sarah golder

SCAN ME | HARBIEPHOTO Use this QR code to purchase photos from the tournament

RIGHT | Before the tournament begins, the brackets for North and East, as well as all the dodgeballs and the megaphone, sit on the side of the field. photo by maggie merckens

LEFT | Sophomore Ike Sheets runs to the middle of the field to pick up the dodgeballs at the beginning of the final game between North and East. Sheets’ team “Second Chance” reached the final round of the tournament and eventually won. photo by elise madden

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THE HARBINGER | MAY 10, 2021

copy by lauren west

F R OZ E N S C R A M B L E

3. 5 / 5

IF YOU’RE LOOKING for a protein-packed breakfast and have the time to sit down and eat, a frozen scramble is the ideal breakfast for you. Cutting up your veggies and freezing them at the beginning of the week allows for a cook time of 10 minutes on the stove and a nice warm meal. For extra protein, adding an egg on top enhances the flavor and gives a savory taste to the meal.

77% of young children eat breakfast

55%

36%

of high school students of middle school eat breakfast students eat breakfast *information courtesy of foodnavigator-usa.com

FUELING TO FOCUS A guide to nutritious and easy breakfast meals in preparation for finals

AS AP EXAMS AND FINALS arise, it’s crucial that students ditch the granola bar for a healthy and nutritious breakfast. When you skip out on breakfast, your body fails to produce glucose and provide the energy you need to make it through your third hour AP Biology test. Because your body has already broken down the glucose from last night’s dinner, skipping breakfast delays the energy-producing process until lunch — not to mention the awful side effects that leave your stomach grumbling through English and longing for the clock to hit 12 p.m.

OV E R N I G H T OATS

5/5

LOADED WITH NUTRITION, overnight oats are a fast, customizable and nutritious breakfast.

Easily prepared all in one jar, the oats only need a shake in the morning and they’re ready to go.

You’ll never get tired of overnight oats as the recipe flavors are endless. If you’re craving apple spice or a blueberry muffin, simply change the fruits or add spices to switch it up each day.

prep time of 5 minutes TO P P I N G O F C H O I C E blueberries raspberries apples cinnamon brown sugar nutmeg

MILK OF CHOICE whole almond oat c a s h ew soy

OATS hard steele oats chia seeds hemp seed

SMOOTHIE prep time of 3 minutes IF YOU’RE LOOKING to check off every food group for your breakfast, smoothies are delicious and naturally filled with antioxidants and hydration, giving your mind and body an energy boost in the morning. By slicing your fruit and veggies and measuring your nuts and protein powder the night before, you simply add liquid and spend only two minutes blending the ingredients together the next day. And if you struggle eating right when you wake up, you can take your smoothie to go and sip through first hour.

FRUIT Provides antioxidants which combat free radicals that c a n m a ke y o u a g e , d a m a g e cells and cause cancer

VEGGIES Ke e p s d i g est i ve syste m healthy and reduces bloating

N U TS Antioxidants in nuts can combat oxidative stress

P R OT E I N Is essential to improving muscle strength and helping repair damaged muscles *information courtesy of medicalnewstoday.com

4/5