Issue 5

T H e H A R B IN G E R Issue 5 October 27, 2014 Shawnee Mission East Prairie Village, KS smeharbinger.net

PULSE

220 70

OFFBEAT OFFBEAT OFBEAT

written by Sophie Tulp

art by Phoebe Aguiar

Heart conditions can be potentially fatal to high school athletes, sometimes undetectable unless a test called an Electrocardiogram (EKG) is preformed. East students will have the opportunity to be screened for heart irregularities using EKGs and other tests during a clinic in November.

continued on PAGE 27

INSIDE:

East Community Reacts to Attempted Abductions page 6

A Look at LGBT+ Students at East pages 16-17

Review of “The Judge” page 24

KC Royals Success Creates Larger Fan Base page 29

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2 editorial

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VOTES FOR - 9 AGAINST - 0 ABSENT - 2

editorial: EBOLA IS NOT A JOKE MAKING LIGHT OF SERIOUS VIRUS CASTS DARK SHADOW ON AMERICAN CITIZENS As Western Africa mourns the tormented ends of citizens from Liberia, Guinea and Sierre Leone, Americans are buying full-body protective gear to wear as Halloween costumes. As humans just across the Atlantic grapple with a full-scale epidemic, Western news media is dramatizing the impacts of singular cases. Our gross intolerance to the terrifying and dreadful deaths of many by Ebola just continents away exemplifies a flaw in the way this country views current events and popular culture.

Mass hysteria is bad. But mass paranoia is even worse. The media’s pop culturization of Ebola has not only taken focus away from pertinent issues, but has enflamed the people of America to a climatic dread.

The Harbinger believes that the focus on the few cases of Ebola in the US should shift toward the thousands of deaths in Western Africa. Not only is the public politicizing the issue, news networks everywhere have run amuck with misinformation and under-substantiated facts.

While this is the most serious outbreak of the virus, it has happened before. Since its first emergence in Zaire during the late 70’s, Ebola has been cropping across the globe in accidental laboratory contaminations, including places like the Philippines, Russia and

even the US. While no humans contracted the disease during the phases, it should be known that the virus isn’t a new issue just now being splashed across American television sets and Twitter feeds.

In fact the current outbreak began back in February. According to The Guardian, Sierre Leone has been reporting 20 deaths per day, making the current outbreak’s death rate at 4,500 total around the globe. These deaths should weigh heavily on the shoulders of every US citizen. It is easy to make Ebola a running joke, a current events punch-line, or political slander but Americans should realize that this is both not a joke nor a reason to panic.

Instead of letting the media run rampant with frenzied reports and extremist doctors and a villainization of the Center For Disease Control, there should be a general level of respect for the virus and understanding of its seriousness. It appears that attitudes are at two polarities: one of mockery and one of panic. A balance needs to be found to distinguish a healthier and less reactionary attitude as a matter of not only respect for those who have passed but also to keep extremism at bay.

The Harbinger is a student-run publication. The contents and views are produced solely by the staff and do not represent the Shawnee Mission School District, East faculty or school administration.

harbinger staff fall 2014 CO-EDITORS-INCHIEF Morgan Krakow Sophie Tulp ASSISTANT EDITORS Caroline Kohring Tommy Sherk HEAD COPY EDITOR Pauline Werner ASSISTANT HEAD COPY EDITOR Hannah Coleman ART & DESIGN EDITOR Phoebe Aguiar NEWS SECTION EDITOR Sophie Storbeck NEWS PAGE DESIGNERS Will Clough Will Brownlee

SPREAD EDITOR Aidan Epstein FEATURES SECTION EDITOR Hannah Coleman FEATURES PAGE DESIGNERS Anna Dierks Caroline Heitmann Claire Pottenger COPY EDITORS Pauline Werner Sophie Tulp Morgan Krakow Hannah Coleman Tommy Sherk Audrey Danciger Caroline Kohring Sophie Storbeck Maddie Hyatt Julia Poe Susannah Mitchell Phoebe Aguiar FREELANCE PAGE DESIGNERS John Foster Maxx Lamb

STAFF WRITERS Davis Finke Katharine Swindells Lauren Cole Teagan Noblit Jessica Parker Elaine Chamberlain Stella Braly Kylie Schultz Celia Hack Daniel Rinner STAFF ARTIST Yashi Wang PHOTO EDITOR Annie Savage ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR Hailey Hughes OPINION SECTION EDITOR Audrey Danciger OPINION PAGE WDESIGNERS Courtney McClelland Chloe Stanford Ellie Booton

A&E SECTION EDITOR Audrey Danciger A&E PAGE DESIGNERS Yashi Wang Maddie Hyatt SPORTS SECTION EDITOR Will Oakley SPORTS PAGE DESIGNERS Ellis Nepstad Michael Kraske Alex Masson STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS Annika Sink Abby Hans Abby Blake Kaitlyn Stratman Haley Bell Alison Stockwell Paloma Garcia Morgan Browning Kylie Rellihan James Wooldridge Joseph Cline

SMEPHOTOS Paloma Garcia EDITORIAL BOARD Sophie Tulp Morgan Krakow Pauline Werner Tommy Sherk Audrey Danciger Caroline Kohring Hannah Coleman Julia Poe Mike Thibodeau Susannah Mitchell Phoebe Aguiar Katharine Swindells ADS MANAGER Celia Hack ONLINE EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Susannah Mitchell Julia Poe ONLINE HEAD COPY EDITOR Maddie Hyatt

ONLINE PHOTO EDITORS Katie Lamar Callie McPhail

ONLINE A&E EDITOR Katharine Swindells Sean Overton

ONLINE CONVERGENCE EDITOR John Foster

ONLINE SPORTS SECTION EDITORS Michael Kraske Daniel Rinner

ONLINE INDEPTH NEWS SECTION EDITOR Mike Thibodeau

VIDEO EDITOR Matthew Bruyere

ONLINE NEWS BRIEFS SECTION EDITOR Will Clough ONLINE HOMEGROWN EDITOR Katharine Swindells Sean Overton ONLINE OPINION EDITOR Katharine Swindells Sean Overton

PODCAST & RADIO EDITOR Leah O’Connor EASTIPEDIA EDITOR Matthew Kaplan INTERACTIVE EDITOR Mike Thibodeau HEAD WEBMASTER Jacob Milgrim APPRENTICE WEBMASTERS Katie Lamar Katie Roe

LIVE BROADCAST EDITOR John Foster ASSISTANT LIVE BROADCAST EDITORS Ellis Nepstad Katie Roe MULTIMEDIA STAFF Tommy Sherk John Foster Gabe Snyder Katie Roe Sean Overton Leah O’Connor Matthew Kaplan SOCIAL MEDIA Katharine Swindells Tyler Keys ADVISER Dow Tate

editorial

Letters to the editor may be sent to room 521 or smeharbinger@gmail. com. Letters may be edited for clarity, length, libel and mechanics and accepted or rejected at the editors’ discretion.

FROM THE PRINCIPAL “The truth is that being an adult in high school is very different from being a teenager.”

To the Students of Shawnee Mission East High School,

“Thanks” is an interesting word. It can be used as a noun, an interjection, or a verb. The idiom “thank you” is, according to dictionary.com, used interjectionally to express gratitude, appreciation, or acknowledgement, as for a gift, favor, service, or courtesy. You probably hear the words “thank you” all the time without really even acknowledging them.

When a store clerk hands you your receipt and says “Thank you,” we rarely give his words a second thought. We definitely don’t think, “That person really appreciates me!” When someone holds the door open for us and in return we give them a quick “Thanks,” I doubt many people think “That person clearly feels gratitude!” The good news is that we, the students and staff of Shawnee Mission East, say “thank you” and “thanks” all the time. The bad news is that we rarely mean it in any deep, emotional sense. We’re simply acknowledging that person for their time or effort, and saying “thanks” provides a nice feeling of closure. I say all of this not only to establish a clear definition of the phrase, but also to differentiate between the often-overused versions of thank you from the one I am offering now.

In many ways high school is hard. Of course there is the academic component—the curriculum; the homework; the assignments; the quizzes and tests. And there is everything else—what we refer to as the “unwritten curriculum.” This is often the most challenging part. I often joke that being a high school teacher or administrator means that I never have to grow up—I get to go to pep assemblies and football games and plays and dances forever! But the truth is that being an adult in high school is

very different from being a teenager. I get all the perks—the sporting events, concerts, assemblies, etc., without having to deal with the other stuff: peer pressure, bullying, homework, tests, high emotions, and--of course--the hormones. I want you, the students of Shawnee Mission East, to know how proud I am to know you and to be a part of this school and this community. Of course there are occasional missteps and poor decisions—these are just as much a part of high school as homework, dances, and football games! But overall you, the students of SME, do an amazing job of overcoming adversity, focusing on the big picture, working together, supporting each other, putting forth your very best effort, and trudging through this fantastic, infuriating, silly, wonderful, frustrating, and crazy thing we call high school. And for that, I say thank you. Not the kind of thank you you get when someone hands you a receipt; not the kind of thank you you give when someone holds open a door; I offer you the kind of thank you you get when someone is proud of you and genuinely appreciates your efforts.

If I had the opportunity to go back in time and return to high school as a student, the first thing I would do would be to grow a mullet because my mom would never let me have one (and they’re awesome)-- but right after that I would enroll in Shawnee Mission East High School, because this is exactly the kind of high school of which I would want to be a part. Thank you freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors of Shawnee Mission East. I am, as always, proud to be a small part of your lives and proud to be your principal.

Watch out for each other, take care of each other, make good choices, and remember: It’s always great to be a Lancer.

-JM, Principal, SME

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news

4 School, Local and Worldwide News Broken Down photo by Joseph Cline

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written by Davis Finke

Drop in Prices

Six-Year-old Shot, Killed in KCMO Drive-by Shooting A six year-old girl named Angel Hooper was shot and killed in south Kansas City. According to a police report issued by the KCMO police department, the shooting happened on Oct. 17, and Hooper died later at the hospital. Hooper had just walked out of a 7-Eleven, when a stray bullet from a drive-by shooting hit her.

According to police, she was not the intended victim. They are urging suspects to turn themselves in. People in the local area showed their grievance and sorrow at a vigil that was held on Oct. 19. Likewise, East students also expressed sympathy about the shooting.

“You just don’t usually hear of a six year-old girl getting shot and killed,” junior Halle Connelly said. “So it’s pretty surprising when something like this happens.”

Kansas City, Mo. mayor Sly James admonished the shooting in a statement commenting that it was senseless.

“This is another reason why we must get strict about gun violence” James said.

He later stated that criminals are not just killing each other, but killing innocent children, and that it must come to an end.

Retail Price in KC Regular Gas Price for a Gallon 2.97 2.94 2.91

10/17

10/21

Gas Prices Per Gallon in KC $3.0 5 $ 2.92 as of Oct. 1

Cost of Gasoline in Kansas City Falls

10/19

Date

above Junior Liam Griffin tries to win possession of the ball from an Olate Northwest player in a Junior Varsity game.

as of Oct. 21

US Gas Consumption in Billions 134.5

134.2

In the last few weeks, gas prices all across the country have dropped. The current price for regular gas at a local Kansas City Quiktrip is $2.88. This is the lowest price since 2009, according to a gas price chart from the Kansas City Star. Business-Weekly energy and commodities reporter Isaac Arnsdorf believes this is because people have stopped buying gas; but with the increase in gas production in the U.S., this has caused a price drop.

According to East students, this is a good

thing.

“It’s pretty nice when the price to fill up your tank drops about 10 bucks,” junior Jack Tyler said.

Arnsdorf says people could expect to see the cost drop even further throughout the next few months.

“Prices could continue to fall due to so many different factors,” Arnsdorf said. “It is up to oil companies to cut back production if they want prices to go back up.”

above

photo by

A 16-year-old Johnson County teen admitted to killing his father, and has been sentenced to five years in jail, according to KCTV5 news. The teen, Dalton Gay, was switching custody from his mom to his father, when he shot in his car.

According to family members, Gay had endured abuse from his father, and they are requesting leniency with Gay’s trials.

According to NBC News, Gay’s brother

said that the dad was killed in cold blood, and Dalton wasn’t trying to defend himself. East students are surprised by this event, including junior Liam Griffin.

“You have to sympathize with the kid if he was abused, but that still doesn’t make it okay,” Griffin said.

According to NBC News, if Gay behaves well during his five years in jail, there is a possibility of early release.

Annie Savage

Junior Lancer Dancer Emily Meiring pumps up the crowd at the soccer senior night game against Leavenworth.

2011

Johnson County Teenager Shoots Abusive Father

photo by

133.5

2012

2013

Hailey Hughes

below

Freshman Natalie Cameron and her friend practice a song they learned in class while they wait for a ride home.

SENIORSGIVE BACK

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First annual senior service day, sponsored by SHARE, was held Oct. 15 written by Caroline Kohring

for more photos of Senior Service Day, see a corresponding photo essay on page 12

STUDENT PROFILE DAN WALKER PROJECT PROFILE AFTER THE HARVEST

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enior Dan Walker got roped into Senior Service Day only 24 hours before the project. Despite the last minute plans, Walker is glad he was given the opportunity to spend the day volunteering.

Walker, along with over 100 other seniors, participated in the popular apple picking project, After the Harvest. Spending the day with people he doesn’t normally have classes with was his favorite part.

“I liked getting to hang out with my friends,” Walker Walker places edible apples into the collection bag said. “I sat with them on the photo by Mackenzie Hanna bus, picked apples with them and ate lunch with them.”

“The bad apples were gross,” Walker said.

The hardest part of the “I thought it was funny to put them in my project, according to Walker, was knowing friends’ faces.” which apples were acceptable to pick and which weren’t. Many seemed “good” at first glance, until he picked them up and saw they were covered in bruises or rotting.

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ith over 100 seniors participating, the most popular Senior Service Day project was After the Harvest. Students went to Cider Hill Orchard in Bonner Springs to pick apples that were Byers laughs with fellow seniors Max Sanborn and Brett Faulconer while later delivered to picking apples. photo by Annie Savage local food pantries.

After the Harvest is Wiggins said. “Kind of like going to the a nonprofit organization that provides fresh fruits and vegetables pumpkin patch when they were in kindergarten.” to people in need in Kansas and Missouri.

Senior Max Byers enjoyed the service day Initially, SHARE coordinator Krissie Wiggins struggled to find a service spot for 100 because he got to spend it with his friends.

“It was nice having a day off of school,” high schoolers with short notice, since Wiggins had started her position as coordinator Byers said. “But getting to hang out with evonly seven weeks prior. Wiggins was directed eryone and know I was helping other people to After the Harvest by Rockhurst’s service made me feel like I didn’t just waste my day day coordinator after reaching out to him for off.” help.

“We knew it would be fun for the class to participate in one large project together,”

EXEC PROFILE MACKENZIE SWEAT SPONSOR PROFILE KRISSIE WIGGINS

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lthough approximately 250 seniors participated in Senior Service Day, no one was more involved than the seven SHARE executives. Coordinator Krissie Wiggins said these seniors were more effective in planning than many adults she’s worked with.

“The executives were absolutely critical to the day’s success,” Wiggins said. “I knew they would have to carry the banner to inspire their fellow seniors. Their insight was critical in helping me understand the best way to organize and promote the day so the seniors would buy in.”

SHARE executive senior Mackenzie Sweat has been preparing for this day since Sweat signs thank-you notes during SHARE class the beginning of the year. She and the other photo by Annie Savage execs visited senior seminars to promote the event, and also contacted service sites.

Sweat, along with the other execs, is On the day of the event, Sweat worked at pleased with the way the day went. The turnHospice House with nine other seniors. There out of students exceeded their expectations. they received a two hour training session on “I think the service day benefitted those how to help individuals in hospice. who haven’t ever had the chance to serve in “Not many people signed up for that projthe community,” Sweat said. “It was great seeect, so as an exec Krissie asked if I would work ing the senior class all come together to do there,” Sweat said. “It wasn’t the most popular something for someone else.” project, but I’m so glad I went.”

SHARE coordinator Krissie Wiggins spent seven weeks preparing for Senior Service Day, and although she was overwhelmed at first, she said the day was a huge success.

“All credit to the senior class,” Wiggins said. “They weren’t required to be in school that morning and yet “The SHARE execs and I are just so impressed and so grateful,” more than 250 showed Wiggins said. photo by Annie Savage up. What a precedent they’ve set for future After this year’s success, Wiggins can’t classes.” wait for next year. She is glad to have more On the actual day of the event, Wiggins time to plan, and also intends to involve staff stayed behind at East to be the “hub”. Accord- members in the planning. ing the Wiggins, there were a few “hiccups” “I hope to create more opportunities for throughout the day, so she was glad to be the students to challenge themselves and there. move out of their comfort zone,” Wiggins “I was sad not to get to see the kids at work said. “I’d love to see the class of 2016 show up at the service sites,” Wiggins said, “But I’ve in even greater numbers, though I’ll always really enjoyed the pictures. When the kids have a special place in my heart for the class returned, I sought feedback from them and of 2015.” some of the adults who went along.”

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news

Almost Take

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A local attempted kidnapping reminds parents that they can never be too careful written by Claire Pottenger photos by Katie Lamar

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tanding between a rack of neon running skirts and sports bras, sophomore Mazie Brooke impatiently waited for her mom.

Finally, her mom seemed have made up her mind; she had found exactly the type of pepper spray she wanted her daughter to have. While walking to the Dick’s Sporting Good’s checkout, Brooke couldn’t help rolling her eyes thinking, I live in Johnson County- is this really necessary?

What prompted the new security measures was when Brooke’s mom heard about an attempted abduction. According to fox4kc an 18-year-old woman was almost abducted from a driveway in Overland Park She told the police she was grabbed from behind by a man. As soon as she screamed, the suspect ran.

“After my mom heard about the girl getting taken from the driveway she bought me pepper spray and started talking about signing me up for self-defense classes.” Brooke said.

When incidents like this occur parents are not the only ones who make changes, the school district will often take extra safety precautions as well.

“A lot of times when events like this happen, the district and principles will send information out warning people to be careful and giving kids tips on what to do in stranger danger situations,” SRO officer Eric Mieske said.

Earlier this school year a middle school student was approached by a man in a SUV at 87th St. and Glenwood. SMSD sent parents a report telling what had happened and advising them to be on the lookout. For the next few days, the Prairie Village Police also sent extra men out on patrol to show the community they were aware of the situation. Schools will give students reminders and tips on what to do if they see a suspicious vehicle or person approaching them.

In the weeks to follow, after hearing about the abduction, parents may stop letting their children run at night. They buy their daughters pepper spray; Kids that normally walk to school

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are driven.

But after a couple weeks Mieske says the “freak out” time passes and people relax; normal safety routines return.

Brooke admitted even after about a week her mom stopped reminding her to carry pepper spray and the self-defense classes were never brought up again.

However some parents take safety precautions all the time, despite living in a safe neighborhood.

Sophomore Libby LeGard has never been allowed to run at night. She admits it can be frustrating when she wants to exercise, but her parents won’t allow her because of stranger danger.

Sometimes she would argue with her parent that living in Mission Hills was safe and that nothing was going to happen to her. She claimed they were being unreasonable and overprotective. But once she heard about attempted abductions happening near her home, she began to understand her parents’ reasoning.

She now realizes that her parents have her best interest in mind and only want to keep her safe.

“Being abducted is one of the scariest things ever to think about,” LeGard said. “I would obviously prefer to miss a run to keep myself safe.

Sometimes it is easy to forget even though we live in a safe neighborhood, crime can still happen.

According to Mieske running alone isn’t completely unsafe but advises to run with a friend if possible. Other alternatives include carrying pepper spray, carrying your cell phone and always letting someone know how long you plan on being gone.

“I think it is wise to always be conscious and aware of your surroundings,” Mieske said. “People probably don’t pay as much attention to [abductions] as they should. There is kinda a false sense of security with all crimes in this area.”

Ways To Stay Safe

2.

Be aware of your surroundings.

Being alert and attentive can keep you safe

Say “no” to strangers.

Even people whom you think you know can pose a threat

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“no.”

Carry mace or a repellent spray.

Being prepared with the correct materials will help you in a dangerous situation

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5.

Learn self defense.

A class in your area can teach you protective moves

Share your concerns.

Letting someone know you feel unsafe can be very important

photos by Paloma Dickey

written by Celia Hack

“I think that it will really allow [students] to connect with us and also allow us to see their point of view with things, so that when we are planning events, for like Student Council or even just other clubs at East, I think we’ll be able to understand where they’re coming from and maybe they’ll also understand where we are coming from, so we can create events that will help each other.”

Kyle Baker

“I think it can help for the reason that we can provide a new perspective that might not originally be seen before and in addition to that, we’ll be doing a lot of community service, so of course that will help the community and people around.”

Max Keeter

“I’m honestly just hoping to accomplish helping the community and growing as a person myself.”

Denisa Butas “I want to help other people. I’m in other groups that do stuff, like a youth group, and it’s another way to give back to the community.”

Gabe Altenbernd “I think getting the perspective of politically active youth will bring fresh and innovative ideas that can help PV.”

Ali Dastjerti “It will be a youth’s point of view on topics, so it’s not all adults making decisions. I think [us being there] will make [council members] be more open to ideas and realize that kids have ideas too.”

Bailey Riecker

the

students’

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city council

East students get involved with the Prairie Village government Prairie Village is starting a new program: integrating teens into the political system through the Prairie Village Teen Council. Made up of six East students, the council will have the opportunity to participate in city government and to get involved in city council meetings and other city proceedings with the mayor and city council members.

Councilwoman Jori Nelson came up with the original idea for the council, bringing it up at a council meeting several months ago. However, the entire city council came together to create the Teen Council.

“It was created to expose students to the workings of municipal government and to promote mentoring relationships with the elected officials,” asst. City Administrator Kate Gunja said, “The city council persons.”

The six students selected for the program are senior Ali Dastjerdi, senior Max Keeter, senior Denisa Butas, junior Kyle Baker, junior Gabe Altenbernd and sophomore Bailey Riecker. Nine students applied for the six spots.

Each Teen Council member will be assigned to a ward, a subdivision of the city, and each ward has two city council members. That means that each member will have two city council “mentors” for them to learn from.

“As opposed to sitting in the audience and watching as an audience, they’ll be able to sit next to their council representative,” Gunja said.

This is where the teens can have the most impact on the city, according to mayor Ron Shaffer. He believes that there is a possibility for the teens to change their council member’s mind on issues that appear in meetings, because the teens sit right next to their two assigned council members.

The Teen Council will help the six students participating as well. The members will have an opportunity to experience real life workings of

the municipal government, skills that they can take back to Shawnee Mission East or to their own lives.

“I think that [Teen Council] will really allow them to connect with us,” Baker said, “And also allow us to see their point of view with things, so that we can create events that will help each other.”

The relationship between the Teen Council and the city council members will be symbiotic.

The program is meant to help the kids and the adults, so they can share ideas that normally wouldn’t be shared.

“I think it will make them be more open to ideas and realize that kids have ideas too,” Riecker said.

Baker agreed with this, saying that the City Council hears more from older citizens and adults, but it’s difficult for them to find out what problems kids are having.

Baker hopes to see the overall management of the city, as well as how the city solves everyday problems. In his experience with student council, learning how to solve small problems that arise at the worst times would help him a lot. When planning a tailgate, Baker had to call around at the last minute to find a caterer, after their initial one canceled.

“I would just like to see what [council members] would do in situations like that,” Baker said. “They’re not planning tailgates, but they are doing community events that need food. I’m excited to learn different ways to stretch time and make things fit together right.”

Besides sitting with their assigned council person in at least four Council Meetings, the Teen Council members are also required to attend three committee meetings, participate in a Prairie Village Police operations tour and ride along, and set up a Public Service Project, among other activities.

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council member memos

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5

Attend four Council meetings

PV Police operations tour and ride along

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6 7

Attend a Community Involvement meeting

Attend three Committee meetings

Meet with City Staff and the Mayor Association

Go to a Public Works operations tour

Do a Public Service Project

2,200 members of the community will see this ad.

Contact us for information on advertising with the Harbinger smeharbinger@gmail.com 913-993-6688

www.odelayoliveoil.com

* Discounts for High School Students!

BREAK-IN BAD written by Jessica Parker

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The Grays never lock their doors during the day, but always secure them at night.

School Resource Officer Chad Boling said that vehicle breakins have been common in the neighborhood. Many have been due to unlocked cars, few times it is a broken window.

“Most of the cars made now have electronic locks and are very difficult to pick unless specifically trained,” Boling said, “Even a locked car will urge intruders to bypass, because breaking a window creates a lot of noise.”

Officer Boling advised students to park in a well-lit and easily seen spot, due to the fact that most break-ins occur at night. He said that break-ins commonly take place when an item could be easily and quickly stolen.

“Lock your cars up,” Boling said. “Make sure all valuables are either hidden or, better, taken out of the car.”

TIPS ON HOW TO KEEP YOUR HOUSE SAFE FROM INTRUDERS

Deadbolt locks should be used on all exterior doors Be sure outdoor lighting illuminates all entrances to the home

news

photo illustration by Morgan Browning

n early October, the Prairie Village Police Department stopped a home invasion for the second time in a month. According to an online police report from the PVPD, the squad was able to stop a forced back-door entry after receiving a call mid-morning from a neighbor.

Officers arrived to find one intruder still in the home, while the other had escaped in a vehicle. However, the fleeting intruder did not make it far because of a collision with a passing motor vehicle; taken to the hospital with minor injuries. East students residing in Prairie Village have taken steps to make their home and vehicles more secure in light of recent break-ins.

Sophomore Porter Carroll explained that her family makes it routine to always lock their doors since the break-ins, especially at night. Although living about eight minutes away from the previous break-in, talk within the neighborhood informed the residents. Some took actions to more carefully safeguard their house, other’s took the information and continued life with open doors.

“We’ve had a closer look on things after we heard about the multiple break-ins; making sure we lock our doors, and keep our garage closed,” Carroll said.

Prior to knowledge of break-ins in the neighborhood, the Carrolls would leave their garage open and even the backdoor to their house. Carroll explains that with two brothers, and even more friends running in and out of the house all day, it was common to keep the house unlocked and at risk.

According to PVPD Chief Wes Jordan, his squad has arrested five people for committing two burglaries in the past month. Overall, burglaries in Prairie Village have been down within the last few months. However, in Mission Hills the numbers have recently been increasing. Chief Jordan reasoned that most burglaries occur during the evening and at night.

“Residents can help by keeping lights on when they are not at home,” Jordan said in an email statement. “Close blinds if televisions are visible from the street, lock vehicles and don’t leave valuables in plain view--really just common sense approaches.”

Sophomore Mallory Gray, who also lives in Prairie Village, expressed that the recurring break-ins have not drastically changed the way her family secures her house.

“My dad believes that our dog is our watchdog, and will keep us safe,” Gray said.

SAFE HOUSE

PRAIRIE VILLAGE HAS SEEN AN INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF ATTEMPTED BREAKINS

Keep windows and doors locked at all times

Never hide or store keys or tools outside photos couretsy of MCT Campus

Shawnee Mission Girls Lacrosse Fall Ball Lacrosse Conditioning and Skill Development

All high school females interested in playing lacrosse are invited to join our offseason fall workout program! Work on drills and skill development before the 2015 spring season with players and captains from the team.

Sunday Oct. 19 & 26 12pm-1:15pm Linwood Park (99th St. and Mission Rd.) $25 per player (cash or check made out to Shawnee Mission Girls Lacrosse Club)

Equipment Required: stick, mouth guard, eye protection For more information visit smgirlslacrosse.com

opinion

11

A Tackled Tradition

photo illustration by Kaitlyn Stratman photo illustration by Kaitlyn Stratman

opinion by Phoebe Aguiar

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rom, open lunch for seniors, three art classes and convenient parking are a few of the things that most of the upperclassmen here at East look forward to, aside from the guaranteed ability to call seniority over the lesser sophomores and freshman.

Of all of these perks we gain for surviving the first few years of East, the one I looked forward to the most-- yes even more than not having to park in the sophomore lot -- was Powderpuff.

For those who are unaware, Powderpuff is football for girls, and here at East it has historically been the junior girls versus the senior girls in a “touch,” which usually ends up being tackle, football game. This is not exclusive to East. Other Shawnee Mission Schools as well as out of district schools have a similar activity for their upperclassman girls.

Usually the requirements to participate are: you are female, junior or senior, you attend the practices and don’t hurt each other too badly. That was all you needed to be on a team and to play in the games. You don’t even need an extensive knowledge of the game of football.

Last year Powderpuff became exclusively for cheer and drill teams, for reasons that are still unclear to me.

To my dad, who is, in the best way possible, obsessed with football but left without a boy he can live vicariously through, I have always been the “one who should have played football.”

Ever since I learned what Powderpuff was from my babysitter in first grade, I wanted to play to prove that I too could play football.

I had more reasons for wanting to play besides proving

Despite years past, only Spirit Squads are allowed to participate in Powder Puff Football, leaving out a majority of girls in the junior and senior class

a point. High school is stressful and Powderpuff would be an outlet for some stress release. Very rarely are girls able to tackle each other to the ground without a trip to the SRO office. I’ve also been involved in sports and I’ve gone to State more times as a track athlete than our football team has, so I would think I’m fairly athletic and could be a star Powderpuff player, although my catching ability may be called into question.

Aside from my personal issues, I can’t seem to grasp why all of a sudden more than 90 percent of East upperclassman girls are no longer able to play Powderpuff. Maybe it’s organization, inability to plan. Or is it simply reinforcing the stereotype of football players teaching the cheerleaders and dancers how to do more than just wave pom poms.

Does East really want to be the school where if you want to be part of something you have to a cheerleader, dancer or football player? It seems unusual for a school so focused on being so open and friendly, unless maybe it was the case of egos and clichés.

Girls who can cheer and dance are far from unathletic but it doesn’t give them superiority, true. I can’t do back handspring or dance-- at all. Being able to coordinate the school

song with kicks and flips, while impressive, doesn’t mean they can throw a spiral any better than a softball pitcher. A basketball player might take a hit better than flyer. So many of the school’s best athletes who have school records, state titles and college careers ahead of them, as well as all the girls who just want to be active and have some fun are cut out of trying their hand at football, which they will most likely never play.

Maybe the changes last year are because of logistical issues of time, team size and t-shirt design. It only takes a few minutes and a series of mouse clicks to make a group on Facebook and one person to lay out the schedule and decide on a Comfort Colors t-shirt. It might take more work than just googling the cheer and drill team rosters, but it’s easier than most homework assignments.

As a senior, it’s too late now for me to get a chance to play football, and while I may hold a grudge for a while, maybe something will change. For now I can support the girls who are playing this year because along with tackling each other they are playing to collect cans for charity. Possibly next year there will be another change and more girls will have the chance to beat down on each other in the name of sports.

12

opinion

Making Best SicklySituation the

of a

Sophomore Ellie Booton deals with having Mononucleosis

“Do you want some?” I asked as I passed the chocolate ice cream to my best friend’s brother.

He nodded and took a bite. I dug the spoon back in the carton and swallowed a chunk for myself when he slowly looked up at me.

“Oh, and by the way, I have mono”. * * * There are three definitions of mono: The social definition: “The kissing disease.” Because Susie kissed Bobby and now her throat is sore! Ah! The medical definition: Mononucleosis. An abnormally high proportion of monocytes in the blood.

MY definition: A lymph-node swelling, spleen rupturing, boy-repellent where two golfballs block the path between my tongue and my trachea.

I’m cursed with a sub-par immune system, so I get sick as often as a “Friends” marathon runs on ABC Family.

So, sitting on the waxy paper in the doctors office didn’t phase me. What would it be this time? Bronchitis? Strep? Maybe just something viral.

But when a nurse jammed her elongated Q-tip down my throat to test for strep and the results came out negative, having mono became a more realistic fate. That’s when I started to worry.

Could I really have mono? I don’t even know how I would’ve gotten—oh my god. The ice cream.

I shared the spoon with an, at the time, unknowingly sick boy. After I swallowed the frozen chocolate, my paranoia kicked in. I convinced myself that running my tongue under a tap-waterfall would erase any bad bacteria from my system.

I was wrong.

Sure enough, the results of a blood test confirmed that I would feel mono’s wrath for the next 2-4 weeks.

Nice.

I knew it would suck, but I wasn’t prepared for my skin to freeze over in a perpetual state of goosebumps. I wasn’t prepared for glands I didn’t know existed to swell. And I especially wasn’t prepared to feel light-headed after a lap around the classroom.

Nor did I know I could hibernate. Seriously- I have never slept so much in my life. But even still, the three flights of stairs at school are my personal Mt. Everest. The only thing that sets them apart is that I don’t feel accomplished at the peak, I just want a chair and an inhaler.

Falling off the academic grid for two weeks hasn’t helped my grades much, either. My Skyward account’s missing assignments are racking up, and going to school just feels like I’m wandering through a maze. I don’t know what lessons I’ve missed, what quizzes I have tomorrow or how I should magically learn all the Algebra 2 I’ve been gone for.

So, instead of learning quadratics and reading Shakespeare, I’ve been familiarizing myself with the obscurities of the Scifi channel and rekindling my love for Agent Reid from Criminal Minds. I’ve made one too many Snapchat videos of myself trying to recreate the KitKat commercials and discovered what my cat really does all day--sleep. (Anti-climatic, I know).

And so do I. Averaging 13 hours a day now, my sleep count is at an all time high.

But, on the days that my throat doesn’t feel like a freshly-used punching bag, I emerge from my basement, splash my dry skin with water and make it to school. My day goes something like this: “Oh hey where’ve you been— wait do you have Ebola?!”

“Don’t breathe on me or touch my food.”

“You need to be at least five feet away from me at all times.”

A closer look at Mononucleosis 77%

77 percent of patients with Mono are between ages 15 and 50

38%

written by Ellie Booton photos illustration Abby Hans

38 percent of high school and college students take more than two months to recover

3 Steps

to Treating Mono

Even my teachers cower in my presence. A friendly “Hey Mrs. ____!” follows with a sidestep to the left and a look so harsh, you would think I ate God’s children.

But the worst is my own old man. Only the other night, I woke up from my nap to watch a recording of “The Voice” with my family. My dad held a fresh-popped bowl of Orville Redenbacher’s and I, naturally, swooped in and grabbed a handful.

Right as my fingers hit the butter-caked kernels, he cringed and hugged the bowl like a preschooler attached to his prized teddy-bear and shrank back to his bedroom to eat them in peace.

So, dear friends, family and administrators: unless you shove your tongue down my throat, are somehow at the other end of my spit-drop game or we exchange straws at lunch--I can’t get you sick.

Shocking, huh? A hug, handshake, heck--eye-contact is permissible, so don’t mistake me for the grim reaper.

And as if I didn’t already know how lifeless I look, I still get friendly reminders.

“Wow. Are you sick or something?”

“Aw Ellie, is everything okay?”

“You just look a little tired.”

Yes, I am sick “or something”. And if you disregard my inability to swallow anything, then yeah, I’m okay, thanks for asking. And yes, I am very, very tired.

For the time being, I can only wait for the day my tonsils shed their white patches and shrink back down to their normal state. It’s only a matter of time before I can climb a flight of stairs without my spleen exploding.

And if you can’t find me in a week from now, hold the Amber Alert--I’ve probably molded into one of my basement’s futons getting way too into “Wheel of Fortune”.

Avoid Exercise Drink plenty of fluids Get Lots of Rest

HEAPS of HELP

Photoessay

13

Seniors spent their day off on Oct. 15 volunteering at Cider Hill Apple Orchard to collect the windfalls for the less fortunate. The orchard is a you-pick orchard so the windfalls (apples that have fallen off of the trees) often go to waste. This is SHARE’s first year doing Senior Service day. The idea was an alternative to having seniors miss school due to sophomore and junior testing.

above Sophie Paulk is in awe at the size of the windfallen apples. “I personally had so much fun picking apples for Senior Service Day. It was a little dirty being on the ground finding apples that had fallen, but it was very rewarding and it was so much better than being in class all day,” Paulk said. “I think Senior Service Day is something that should be carried on for the next senior classes because it was a great way to give back to the community with our friends.”

photos by Annie Savage

above Max Sanborn and Garrett Bloom carry bags combined with everyone’s apples to be loaded into the trucks. “I think [apple picking] went great. We didn’t quite reach our goal of filling 8 bins, but I had a lot of fun doing it,” Sanborn said.

“It was a great experience for an even better cause. It should definitely be an annual event.”

left Evan Rose sits on the back of a car waiting anxiously to leave the orchard. “I like how this year’s SHARE is already doing new things,” Rose said. “It was awesome seeing how many people they got to sign up.”

left

Mary Locascio and Lauren Gibbs pack up the apples into boxes before sending them away in a truck. “I think that [apple picking] brought us closer together as a class,” Gibbs said.

above

Gracie Guignon takes a bite into an apple she picked while seniors gather around and watch. “It was a really fun event to do with the senior class and seeing everyone help out on their day off was really cool,” Guignon said. “I also ate some of the apples and they tasted better than I expected.”

GuidingGreatness

A Day in the Life

Wiseman drives her kids’ soccer carpools and attends her husband’s soccer games Wiseman meets with students every 30 minutes during the day Working out with her friends helps Wiseman to clear her head

“If they’re going to come in and say ‘I need help.’ I want to give it to them in any way that I can,” - Wiseman said. photos by Annika Sink

T

he young man towers over her. He is such a nice kid. He’s tall. Maybe 6-foot-4 inches. His father is dead and his mother is in jail — for murdering his father. He’s just been arrested for possession of marijuana. Guidance counselor Becky Wiseman has to tell him he is going straight to jail this time. He’s not mad that he got caught.

He’s ruined because he couldn’t imagine himself in jail. That place wasn’t supposed to be for him, the place where his mother is.

And it’s Wiseman’s job to give him advice, then send him off to the detention center. It breaks her.

She shuts the door and cries. But she doesn’t stay behind that door for long. She has to pull herself together. She has a job to do. * * * Over ten years later, her office has humble decorations. Family photos, colorful tiles. A lamp in the corner replaces the harsh, institutional lights in the ceiling, creating a warm glow within the room.

Centered at her desk, Wiseman leans forward onto her elbows. And smiles.

“We all have a story,” Wiseman said. “We all have things going on in our lives.”

She listens to young people’s stories, but she doesn’t internalize them.

“I’m there with them,” Wiseman said. “And I’m there beside them but I can’t absorb that because it’s not fair for them and it’s not fair for myself.”

She doesn’t take the stories to heart because they’re not hers to take. And she’s heard a lot of stories. Both good and bad.

Back in high school Wiseman was growing up in Andover, KS. Her graduating class of 125 was nothing but sameness. The students looked alike and talked alike. They were from suburban and farming communities, conservative and happy. Wiseman’s career in counseling started during those years, before she knew it’d be her life. It was her nature to care, to help. She began to notice that even in her happy town, there were still issues affecting her peers.

“That’s kind of where this whole thing started because I had some friends in high school with some severe family issues and I was their therapist at the time,” Wiseman said. “I didn’t know that. I was just a good listener.”

A few years later, Wiseman officially began her career in therapy.

She was 21 and studying human development and social work at the University of Kansas. The brown-haired girl from the sheltered small

feature

15

Inside the mind of Guidance Counselor, Becky Wiseman written by Morgan Krakow

town decided to work in a home for troubled youth called “The Shelter.” Wiseman had only known a world of respect. Respect for teachers and friends. No one cursed or yelled, everyone followed the rules.

When Wiseman first started at “The Shelter” she quickly learned how different her growing up was from these teens. Fourteen kids, co-ed. Boys on the top floor. Girls on the bottom. And here, rules seemed like they were meant to be broken. Some had been arrested, some had been removed from unsafe home environments.

“Walking in that first day,” Wiseman said. “It was sink or swim.”

There, Wiseman had the best and worst experiences of her career. It was there she realized that she loved working with teens.

She developed a heart for it. She marvelled at how much they had been through, the walk-out fathers, the violence, the drugs. It was foreign to her, but their stories didn’t just show their weaknesses, they showed their strength.

At “The Shelter,” she developed a thick skin against insults and curse words and learned that building a relationship with young people was easier than fighting them.

“A lot of times I look at their insults, their rudeness, their comments, that it wasn’t about me,” Wiseman said. “It was about what was going on in their world. They were unhappy with their life.”

She then went to work as a court mandated counselor and then transitioned to guidance counseling after having two children of her own.

For Wiseman, East is a stark contrast to her previous jobs. Students are dealing with a totally different set of issues. Instead of gang violence and drug problems, Wiseman now helps students who have experienced depression, anxiety or family issues. “[I see] a lot of kids going ‘I should be the happiest kid on the planet. I’ve got two parents. I’ve got a car. I’ve got food, clothes. but I’m not happy what’s wrong with me?” Wiseman said.

According to Wiseman, the kids in the “The Shelter” were forthright with their issues. They rarely hid their problems, and would discuss them openly. Among East students she perceives a different attitude.

“Kids feel they need to be high functioning at all times.” Wiseman said. “They feel a sense of ‘I need to look good, I need to sound good, I need to be good and that’s all there is to it.’ And I think that’s a lot of pressure.”

Wiseman thinks that secrecy hurts students. Sometimes it’s hard for them to overcome, but oftentimes students just need to speak with another human.

And being that other human isn’t easy. But that’s why she’s here.

Wiseman will have days when she can’t fix someone’s problem.

There will be times when she has no idea what to do. She’ll still feel that she’s doing it all wrong, that she should quit. But quitting isn’t her style. Instead of giving up, she checks in with herself, she goes to the gym. She plays with her kids, takes them to soccer practice.

“I try to keep myself very healthy,” Wiseman said. “I can’t come in being a mess.”

Because Wiseman is here, every day, in that corner office, smiling and ready to help the students who stream in and out by the half hour.

“If they’re going to come in and say ‘I need help,” Wiseman said.

“I want to give it to them in any way that I can.”

16

Spread

AView LGBT+ students share their coming out stories

from Inside the

..........

Spread

*Names changed to prtotect identity “Who’s the girl? Is she cute? Are you dating her?”

Senior Nick Grossenkemper’s just returned from a phone call, and his friend Cade Wright wants to know who with. Nick tries to get Cade to back off, to get back to the video game they’re in the middle of, but Cade keeps pushing. Nick realizes there’s no way he can get out of this.

He’ll have to tell Cade that there’s no girl, that there’s never going to be a girl. He’ll have to tell Cade he’s gay.

Trouble with class. Exams. Grades. The Human Rights Campaign has research that shows that non-LGBT+ teenagers list these things as their biggest problems. But when the HRC asked LGBT+ students the same question, the answers are dramatically different. Not feeling accepted by family. Bullying at school. A fear of coming out.

Coming out: revealing one’s sexuality or gender identity to family, friends or even total strangers. For many LGBT+ young people coming out for the first time is a crucial moment in their lives. Although many are supported by those who love them for who they are, some are met with disbelief, judgement or abuse.

Research from the CDC shows that six out of 10 LGBT+ young people have felt unsafe at school. LGBT+ young people are more than twice as likely to commit suicide than their straight peers. On the other hand, LGBT+ students whose homes and schools are safe and supportive environments report the lowest rates of depression and suicidal thoughts of any student group, including straight students.

Nick was one of these students affected by the worry of what people at school would think.

He was 12 when he knew, when he realized why he couldn’t join in with his friends when they

talked about girls. But it wasn’t until his junior year that Nick finally mustered up the courage to come out.

For a while he refused to acknowledge his sexuality, as though not thinking about it would make it not true. Throughout middle school he felt distant from everyone else, constantly in fear that someone would find out.

“I knew there was one person in our school who was out and nobody liked him,” Nick said.

“So I was just afraid that would happen to me.”

In high school, Nick discovered a forum for LGBT+ teenagers on Reddit, a social-network website. It was full of personal stories, advice and encouragement. Seeing positive stories of coming out gave Nick the resolve to do the same.

Even after he’d made the decision to come out, it took him three weeks to build up the nerve to tell his mother, and even longer to face the prospect of coming out to his friends.

Thinking back, it seems silly now. Cade never judged Nick, never questioned him.

“I was so worried,” Nick said. “I had no idea how they would react. But they were all so supportive.”

The fact that his family and friends were there for him helped Nick come to terms with being gay, but he can’t help but think that maybe if he’d grown up knowing that his sexuality was OK, finding acceptance wouldn’t have taken him so long. He wouldn’t have spent five long years afraid to tell anyone who he really was.

..........

“Hi, I’m Maria. Bisexual.” Senior Maria Lawson* introduces herself at East’s Gay Straight Alliance club at the beginning of junior year. Her voice is full of false confidence, trying to cover up her nerves. It was the first time she’d said her sexuality out loud. For her, this was a huge step in affirming her identity.

It hadn’t been until Maria was 15 that it began to dawn on her that when her friends talked about their ‘girl crushes,’ they didn’t mean it in the same way she did.

It took her some time, and a lot of Google searches, to decide that bisexual was definitely what she was, and towards the end of sophomore year she began to identify as such. She was never ashamed of her sexuality, but she was very aware that being bisexual could have a big impact on her life, and the way people saw her.

“I didn’t really realize until the day I introduced myself at GSA how much it killed me keeping such a huge part of myself secret,” Maria said. “I know it’s ridiculously cliche, but I felt really free. It was like a weight off my shoulders.”

She left school that day and considered the possibility of coming out to her parents.

Although Maria knew they would be supportive, she worried they wouldn’t take her seriously. She was worried they would consider it

a “phase,” and wanted to wait until she had a girlfriend to tell them.

“Thinking back, it was such a screwed up concept,” Maria said. “This idea that my words and feelings weren’t enough, that I had to somehow prove my sexuality.”

She had resolved not to tell them, but then that evening her dad made an offhand statement that changed her mind.

“He said something along the lines of ‘... someday when you have a husband,’” Maria said. “It just made me feel so weird. I hated the idea that only hours before I had felt so comfortable, and now I felt like I had to deny a part of myself to my family. So that night I just pulled myself together and told them.”

Maria hasn’t yet come out to her school friends, and a part of her really wishes that everyone knew, because she doesn’t like the idea of having to hide parts of herself.

Some days she really considers coming out to her school friends, and she’ll feel really ready to do it. But then something will happen and her resolve will be right back to square one. It’s little things, offhand statements about how bisexual girls are just going through a phase or can’t be trusted not to cheat on their partners.

“People don’t realize the effect of the things they say,” Maria said. “They don’t realize that I’m standing there feeling sick to my stomach.”

And for Maria that’s the real struggle, her fear of all the preconceptions and prejudices that come along with her sexuality. She says she wants to be seen as a person, with hobbies and opinions and ambitions, she’s terrified that she’ll be reduced to the bisexual label and nothing more. For the time being she’s just not ready to give up just being a normal kid. She’s not ready to live her life as somebody else’s stereotype.

..........

Freshman Aidan Alison can’t assign himself restrictive labels. In eighth grade Aidan realized that, despite being born a girl, he was not either male or female but both, at different times - an identity known as genderfluid.

Aidan asks people to call him by either male pronouns, he/him/his, or the gender neutral “they” pronoun. He leans more towards male than female, and can often go weeks as a guy only for something to shift. He then spends a few days in what he describes as a “random girly moment.”

Aidan says it’s really hard on days when he is male, because he feels as though this body doesn’t fit who he is. Aidan will wear baggy pants and sweatshirt, binds his chest and contour his face with make up to look more masculine, but it’s not enough.

“ I feel really self conscious,” Aidan said. “Like everyone’s going to look at me and say ‘aren’t you a girl?’ My body isn’t masculine at all, so I just feel like everything is wrong.”

Aidan has also known since 7th grade that he is pansexual, gender doesn’t affect who he

is attracted to. For him, pansexuality is about freedom, it’s about not limiting himself.

“I don’t care if you identify as male, female, agender, anything,” Aidan said. “If you like me and I like you, I’ll date you.”

Aidan has told his mom about being pansexual and genderfluid, but is unable to open up to her because he feels she doesn’t understand. When asked, Aidan’s mother is hesitant to comment.

“She is my child, and whatever decision she makes, those are her decisions,” Aidan’s mother said.

On days where Aidan is a male, he stays in his bedroom, he can’t face constantly being referred to as “she.”

“It’s disheartening, and it really knocks my self confidence,” Aidan said. “It makes me feel like my mom doesn’t know me.”

Aidan gets his support from close friends at school, who are very accepting of Aidan’s gender and sexuality. Many of them are also LGBT+, so understand what it’s like. At school Aidan is open about his gender identity, but other students struggle to understand.

“People will ignore it and call me a “she” when they know I want to be a he,” Aidan said.

“I always explain to them, and tell them what pronouns I like. They just don’t get it. But my fingers are crossed for the future.”

..........

Coming out can be a relief, can bring the sense of freedom that comes with not having to hide. But experts stress that there is no shame in staying in the closet. Lily Knepper is a volunteer at LikeMe Lighthouse, an LGBT+ organization and community center in KC, MO. “Don’t ever be ashamed of who you are, but consider your own safety,” Knepper said.

“Don’t feel like you have to come out into an environment that could threaten your physical or emotional safety. You can always just be out to yourself.”

For Nick, Maria and Aidan, and for the hundreds of thousands of LGBT+ high school students across the country, coming out is about more than just telling your family or friends.

It’s about self acceptance, about realizing that your sexuality and gender identity doesn’t define who you are, or limit who you can be.

..........

17

Terms Defined

Sex Refers to a person’s biological status and is typically categorized as male, female, or intersex.

Gender A person’s innate, deeply felt psychological identification as a man,

woman or some other gender, which may or may not correspond to the sex assigned to them at birth (e.g., the sex listed on their birth certificate)

Gay A person who is emotionally, romantically and sexually attracted to people of their same gender

Bisexual A person wwho is emotionally, romantically and sexually attracted to people of the same or othe genders, though not necessarily simultaneously in the same way to the same degree

Pansexual A person who experiences emotional, romantic and sexual attraction to people reguardless of their sex or gender, often characterized as “gender-blind”

Asexual A person who experiences emotional and romantic attrraction but little or no sexual attraction to people

Tansgender A person whose gender identity is different from the sex assigned

to them at birth (e.g., the sex listed on their birth certificate). Not all people who are transgender undergo a sex change

Straight A person who is emotionally, romantically and sexually attracted to people of a different gender, who supports the LGBT+ community Ally and chllenges discrimination against them

16

Spread

AView LGBT+ students share their coming out stories

from Inside the

..........

Spread

*Names changed to prtotect identity “Who’s the girl? Is she cute? Are you dating her?”

Senior Nick Grossenkemper’s just returned from a phone call, and his friend Cade Wright wants to know who with. Nick tries to get Cade to back off, to get back to the video game they’re in the middle of, but Cade keeps pushing. Nick realizes there’s no way he can get out of this.

He’ll have to tell Cade that there’s no girl, that there’s never going to be a girl. He’ll have to tell Cade he’s gay.

Trouble with class. Exams. Grades. The Human Rights Campaign has research that shows that non-LGBT+ teenagers list these things as their biggest problems. But when the HRC asked LGBT+ students the same question, the answers are dramatically different. Not feeling accepted by family. Bullying at school. A fear of coming out.

Coming out: revealing one’s sexuality or gender identity to family, friends or even total strangers. For many LGBT+ young people coming out for the first time is a crucial moment in their lives. Although many are supported by those who love them for who they are, some are met with disbelief, judgement or abuse.

Research from the CDC shows that six out of 10 LGBT+ young people have felt unsafe at school. LGBT+ young people are more than twice as likely to commit suicide than their straight peers. On the other hand, LGBT+ students whose homes and schools are safe and supportive environments report the lowest rates of depression and suicidal thoughts of any student group, including straight students.

Nick was one of these students affected by the worry of what people at school would think.

He was 12 when he knew, when he realized why he couldn’t join in with his friends when they

talked about girls. But it wasn’t until his junior year that Nick finally mustered up the courage to come out.

For a while he refused to acknowledge his sexuality, as though not thinking about it would make it not true. Throughout middle school he felt distant from everyone else, constantly in fear that someone would find out.

“I knew there was one person in our school who was out and nobody liked him,” Nick said.

“So I was just afraid that would happen to me.”

In high school, Nick discovered a forum for LGBT+ teenagers on Reddit, a social-network website. It was full of personal stories, advice and encouragement. Seeing positive stories of coming out gave Nick the resolve to do the same.

Even after he’d made the decision to come out, it took him three weeks to build up the nerve to tell his mother, and even longer to face the prospect of coming out to his friends.

Thinking back, it seems silly now. Cade never judged Nick, never questioned him.

“I was so worried,” Nick said. “I had no idea how they would react. But they were all so supportive.”

The fact that his family and friends were there for him helped Nick come to terms with being gay, but he can’t help but think that maybe if he’d grown up knowing that his sexuality was OK, finding acceptance wouldn’t have taken him so long. He wouldn’t have spent five long years afraid to tell anyone who he really was.

..........

“Hi, I’m Maria. Bisexual.” Senior Maria Lawson* introduces herself at East’s Gay Straight Alliance club at the beginning of junior year. Her voice is full of false confidence, trying to cover up her nerves. It was the first time she’d said her sexuality out loud. For her, this was a huge step in affirming her identity.

It hadn’t been until Maria was 15 that it began to dawn on her that when her friends talked about their ‘girl crushes,’ they didn’t mean it in the same way she did.

It took her some time, and a lot of Google searches, to decide that bisexual was definitely what she was, and towards the end of sophomore year she began to identify as such. She was never ashamed of her sexuality, but she was very aware that being bisexual could have a big impact on her life, and the way people saw her.

“I didn’t really realize until the day I introduced myself at GSA how much it killed me keeping such a huge part of myself secret,” Maria said. “I know it’s ridiculously cliche, but I felt really free. It was like a weight off my shoulders.”

She left school that day and considered the possibility of coming out to her parents.

Although Maria knew they would be supportive, she worried they wouldn’t take her seriously. She was worried they would consider it

a “phase,” and wanted to wait until she had a girlfriend to tell them.

“Thinking back, it was such a screwed up concept,” Maria said. “This idea that my words and feelings weren’t enough, that I had to somehow prove my sexuality.”

She had resolved not to tell them, but then that evening her dad made an offhand statement that changed her mind.

“He said something along the lines of ‘... someday when you have a husband,’” Maria said. “It just made me feel so weird. I hated the idea that only hours before I had felt so comfortable, and now I felt like I had to deny a part of myself to my family. So that night I just pulled myself together and told them.”

Maria hasn’t yet come out to her school friends, and a part of her really wishes that everyone knew, because she doesn’t like the idea of having to hide parts of herself.

Some days she really considers coming out to her school friends, and she’ll feel really ready to do it. But then something will happen and her resolve will be right back to square one. It’s little things, offhand statements about how bisexual girls are just going through a phase or can’t be trusted not to cheat on their partners.

“People don’t realize the effect of the things they say,” Maria said. “They don’t realize that I’m standing there feeling sick to my stomach.”

And for Maria that’s the real struggle, her fear of all the preconceptions and prejudices that come along with her sexuality. She says she wants to be seen as a person, with hobbies and opinions and ambitions, she’s terrified that she’ll be reduced to the bisexual label and nothing more. For the time being she’s just not ready to give up just being a normal kid. She’s not ready to live her life as somebody else’s stereotype.

..........

Freshman Aidan Alison can’t assign himself restrictive labels. In eighth grade Aidan realized that, despite being born a girl, he was not either male or female but both, at different times - an identity known as genderfluid.

Aidan asks people to call him by either male pronouns, he/him/his, or the gender neutral “they” pronoun. He leans more towards male than female, and can often go weeks as a guy only for something to shift. He then spends a few days in what he describes as a “random girly moment.”

Aidan says it’s really hard on days when he is male, because he feels as though this body doesn’t fit who he is. Aidan will wear baggy pants and sweatshirt, binds his chest and contour his face with make up to look more masculine, but it’s not enough.

“ I feel really self conscious,” Aidan said. “Like everyone’s going to look at me and say ‘aren’t you a girl?’ My body isn’t masculine at all, so I just feel like everything is wrong.”

Aidan has also known since 7th grade that he is pansexual, gender doesn’t affect who he

is attracted to. For him, pansexuality is about freedom, it’s about not limiting himself.

“I don’t care if you identify as male, female, agender, anything,” Aidan said. “If you like me and I like you, I’ll date you.”

Aidan has told his mom about being pansexual and genderfluid, but is unable to open up to her because he feels she doesn’t understand. When asked, Aidan’s mother is hesitant to comment.

“She is my child, and whatever decision she makes, those are her decisions,” Aidan’s mother said.

On days where Aidan is a male, he stays in his bedroom, he can’t face constantly being referred to as “she.”

“It’s disheartening, and it really knocks my self confidence,” Aidan said. “It makes me feel like my mom doesn’t know me.”

Aidan gets his support from close friends at school, who are very accepting of Aidan’s gender and sexuality. Many of them are also LGBT+, so understand what it’s like. At school Aidan is open about his gender identity, but other students struggle to understand.

“People will ignore it and call me a “she” when they know I want to be a he,” Aidan said.

“I always explain to them, and tell them what pronouns I like. They just don’t get it. But my fingers are crossed for the future.”

..........

Coming out can be a relief, can bring the sense of freedom that comes with not having to hide. But experts stress that there is no shame in staying in the closet. Lily Knepper is a volunteer at LikeMe Lighthouse, an LGBT+ organization and community center in KC, MO. “Don’t ever be ashamed of who you are, but consider your own safety,” Knepper said.

“Don’t feel like you have to come out into an environment that could threaten your physical or emotional safety. You can always just be out to yourself.”

For Nick, Maria and Aidan, and for the hundreds of thousands of LGBT+ high school students across the country, coming out is about more than just telling your family or friends.

It’s about self acceptance, about realizing that your sexuality and gender identity doesn’t define who you are, or limit who you can be.

..........

17

Terms Defined

Sex Refers to a person’s biological status and is typically categorized as male, female, or intersex.

Gender A person’s innate, deeply felt psychological identification as a man,

woman or some other gender, which may or may not correspond to the sex assigned to them at birth (e.g., the sex listed on their birth certificate)

Gay A person who is emotionally, romantically and sexually attracted to people of their same gender

Bisexual A person wwho is emotionally, romantically and sexually attracted to people of the same or othe genders, though not necessarily simultaneously in the same way to the same degree

Pansexual A person who experiences emotional, romantic and sexual attraction to people reguardless of their sex or gender, often characterized as “gender-blind”

Asexual A person who experiences emotional and romantic attrraction but little or no sexual attraction to people

Tansgender A person whose gender identity is different from the sex assigned

to them at birth (e.g., the sex listed on their birth certificate). Not all people who are transgender undergo a sex change

Straight A person who is emotionally, romantically and sexually attracted to people of a different gender, who supports the LGBT+ community Ally and chllenges discrimination against them

From the Court

18 feature

To the Classroom

Girl’s basketball coach Austin Klumpe finds fulfillment in coaching girl’s basketball while accomplishing his desire to be a business teacher written by Alex Masson photos by Joseph Cline

O

n a football field in Madison, Kansas, Austin Klumpe was told he’d be great.

He wasn’t told he’d be great as a professional football player or a state champion sprinter. But he’d be a great teacher.

He wasn’t told that by one of his fellow teammates, or a friendly teacher after a Friday night game. He was told by Fred McClain, the 2011 all-state football coach, school counselor and Austin Klumpe’s mentor.

After a difficult practice with his eight-man football team, the team huddled and the coaches spoke to the players about the things they did right and wrong and what to do for the upcoming game.

That’s when Fred McClain told Austin he’d be a great teacher.

“Being a teenager at the time, I kind of let the words go through one ear and out the other,” said Klumpe, “I didn’t really give it any extra thought, but that was one of the first times somebody told me I should be a teacher.”

Klumpe was more worried about his college career as a point guard for McPherson University, and the track and field season where he would compete and win his second state championship.

Little did Klumpe know that he would carry that sentence with him throughout his college career.

Klumpe as a child lived for basketball. He worshiped Michael Jordan. Klumpe wore Jordan’s shoes as more than a fashion statement.

He had been playing basketball since he was a third grader. His mom and dad played varsity basketball for their high schools. So it was natural that Klumpe wanted to spend the rest of his life on the court.

When Klumpe finished his four years at McPherson University, he left with a business degree. He then applied to be an assistant coach for Emporia State’s women’s basketball team, where he ignited his love for coaching and teaching.

It was there, when he was a part of the team, working with them for no pay, that he realized how he was destined to be a teacher. It was when he worked every day as a practice player for the team, when he saw them go all the way to Sweet 16, that he knew that teaching was his future. He witnessed what went into a successful team, and what the players liked and didn’t like about their coaches.

Teaching was a way for Klumpe to get the best of both worlds for him. His love of business and helping children to expand their knowledge made teaching seem so inviting for Klumpe.

In 2013, Klumpe applied for a job as an Economics teacher at Shawnee Mission East. He would then apply shortly after for head women’s basketball coach.

After the Lady Lancers’ 2012 season, Coach Scott Stein left the basketball program after a 6-15 season. Klumpe applied for the job immediately, knowing his lifelong passion for the game and his love of helping people would make him perfect for the position. Klumpe knew what goes into a championship team, and that he could transform the Lady Lancers into one.

The team went 7-14 on the season, losing to Blue Valley by three points in the first game of the playoffs. Klumpe saw the ups and downs of the team, analyzing important points in the season. He learned from every little mistake the team had or mistakes he had as a coach.

“Klumpe is very dedicated to the team,” sophomore varsity point guard Kyle Haverty said, “He puts all of his time and energy into the program. It really benefits all of the players because it’s nice to have a coach that cares.”

With his second season as head coach looming, Klumpe made basketball his business instead of a hobby. He has set up camps for up-and-coming East basketball players, workout sessions for the fall and organized teams for third through seventh grades. He also teaches two classes now, Intro to Business and Economics.

Klumpe by day gets to teach students about economics, business and computers while at night he gets to teach basketball players new moves and new plays, and watches them grow into mature adults.

No matter where he is, whether in the classroom, on the court or in the weight room, Klumpe gets to help students of Shawnee Mission East improve.

The season will start in November, where the Lady Lancers will be going for their first winning season since 2007.

“I just love teaching, getting to see people expand their knowledge and watching them grow as an adult,” said Klumpe. “With coaching, I get to combine both of my hobbies.”

left Klumpe speaking in his economics class. right Klumpe assists economics stuent during class.

Break Down

of Klumpe’s Career Klumpe’s football coach and mentor Fred Mclain told him that he would make a great teacher.

Klumpe graduated college with a business degree. He then applied to be an assistant coach for Emporia State’s women’s basketball team.

After coaching the women’s team, he found his love for coaching and helping people and combined it with his love for business by becoming a business teacher.

LIVING WITH CROHN’S written by Maddie Hyatt

O

n a Monday morning in 2011, senior Mackenzie Hanna was awake at 5 a.m., unlike many of her classmates still comfortable in bed. Not because of unfinished homework or sports practice, but because she was suffering from extreme stomach pains and random urges to go to the bathroom.

Her symptoms began in the fall of her freshmen year and occurred throughout the day, every day. Until May of 2012, Hanna and her parents did not know what was wrong. And she never told anyone. Not even her closest friends knew. She was determined to continue to act like a “normal” high school student despite her medical issues.

“When I first started having symptoms I was just like, ‘I don’t want anyone to pity me or be like ‘oh poor you’,” Hanna said. “I just wanted to be normal. I would get up that early and go to school and act like I was totally fine.”

Laying on her bed in pain from her stomach, Hanna was unknowingly suffering from Crohn’s disease. Crohn’s Disease is a chronic disease that inflames bowels and causes the digestive system to reject food intake. According to the CCFA, it affects as many as 700,000 people in the United States but most commonly people between the ages of 15 and 35. The causes are not known, although diet and stress are

feature

19

Senior Mackenzie Hanna opens up about living with Crohn’s disease.

thought to aggravate Crohn’s.

By winter of her freshman year, Hanna and her parents realized that something was seriously wrong.

They went to Children’s Mercy Hospital to determine the cause of her recurring pains. After extensive testing she was diagnosed in May 2012. Treatment began immediately after her diagnosis but no medicine prescribed seemed to have any effect on her body.

“I was trying all these different pills,” Hanna said. “I went from this regiment to this regiment and tried them all. I would take pills three times a day, probably a total of 25 pills every day and nothing worked.”

Because the doctors’ prescriptions were not working, Hanna and her family turned to alternate means of treatment. On top of the pills Mackenzie started visiting a homeopathic doctor once a week and even tried an extreme diet. She went gluten, dairy, soy and corn free but it didn’t help. It seemed as though Hanna was almost out of options. One of the last things she had left to try was an infusion drug, Remicade.

“Sophomore year, before winter break, doctors at Children’s Mercy had been talking about Remicade, which is this infusion drug and its relatively new,” Hanna said. “But my mom was really scared of it because there are a lot of side effects.”

Remicade is a medicine often

used when other drugs have not been effective but has the potential of causing many side effects such as loss of vision, seizures, and muscle weakness .

“We were hesitant because Remicade is medicine that a person has high likelihood of building their own antibodies against,” Mackenzie’s mother Tanya said. “If you go off the medication you have a small chance it would or ever be effective again.”

With her mind set on Remicade, Mackenzie and Tanya went to the Mayo Clinic in Minneapolis, Minnesota to see specialists.

Mackenzie’s family wanted to make sure Remicade was the best option for her.

Still secretly suffering, Mackenzie lied and told her friends they were going to visit their family friends that lived in Minnesota.

“Mackenzie and I were studying one night at my house when she told me never actually gone to see her friends but actually the to Mayo Clinic for Crohn’s,” friend Molly Gasperi said. “I didn’t really know what to say but I was kind of mad that she didn’t tell me earlier. She’s one of my best friends so I would have wanted to be a kind of support system for her.”

Specialists at the Mayo Clinic confirmed that Hanna had Crohn’s disease and that Remicade was her only option.

“Remicade is an infusion which is

a scary thing, said Hanna. “That’s a lot of drugs, medicine and bad stuff going into your body. It was our last option. We had done all these things million Americans and nothing was working.”

Infusion treatments of Remicade are affected by inflamatory began right after they got back to b diseases Kansas City. Hanna and her family immediately saw the effects. After her first infusion her symptoms almost completely went away with no side effects.

Treatments occur every six weeks Established in and take at least four hours. Hanna CCFA is the largest voluntary is hooked up to IV through which the non-proft organization drugs drain into her body.

“It was a total miracle,” said dedicated to finding a cure Hanna. “I don’t say I never have symptoms because sometimes my stomach hurts and I’ll just have to lay down and stretch out but other than that I’m totally fine.”

As time passed since she was by age most people first diagnosed, Hanna has become suffering from Crohn’s have extremely open about the disease been diagnosed she suffers from.

“I just realized that God had put this struggle in my life for a reason,” Hanna said. “It was all in His plan so I might as well not hide it.”

She has no problem talking about discovered in it with her peers, in her KLife small by Dr. Burrill B. Crohn group or recently on social media in an Instagram post.

“Looking back I was suffering by myself,” Hanna said. “My mom knew. I should have just told people and they would have understood and would have wanted to help.”

1.4

1967

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aesophagus INSTAGRAM mackenzie.hanna

Crohns disease usually affects the small intenstine and colon.

It causes ulceration, swelling,and scarring of the affected area.

223 likes

left Hanna at a blood transfusion. She routinely gets them every six weeks.

liver gall bladder stomach

small intestine

rectum

large intestine

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HALLOWEEN OCT. 31, 2014

BY THE NUMBERS

“

“When I was ten, my father was [fed] up with trick-or-treaters. He’s not the biggest Halloween kinda guy. Anyway, we got this idea that he could stand outside on a wooden pole dressed like a scarecrow, and scare kids away.

We set it up on our front lawn and every time someone came by, my dad would jump out at them with a fake knife. He wasn’t going to do it to small children, but one time my dad misjudged the trick-or-treaters age and scared the hell out of a four-year-old in a Ninja Turtles suit. It would have been bad enough if the little kid’s dad wasn’t dressed as Babe Ruth, carrying a wooden bat. We don’t pull Halloween pranks anymore.”

931 million pounds of pumpkins by major pumpkin producing states this year

ng CA ini

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OH

IL

More than two-thirds of Americans will purchase Halloween costumes in 2014

“

A Hairy Situation

“

“When I was 11 or 12, I was a Roman general for Halloween and I had really long hair. At the very first house I went to, we all got candy from the lady — but when I went up, she said ‘and one for you, young lady’. It was so traumatic, and I thought to myself that I really needed to cut my hair.”

“

-Ben Robinson, 10

Doctor...Who?

“

“My friends and I went trick-or-treating, and one of them was [Doctor Who] and he had to wear glasses. So a little kid, about eight or nine, walked up to him and goes, ‘Can you show me your scar?

You’re Harry Potter, right?’”

“

-Jairyn Richards, 9

A Soggy Surprise

“

“I was a little child, probably about six or seven. We lived on 79th Street, and my brother and I were walking on either side of my mother. I think we must have been carrying paper bags for our treat sacks. It happened to rain, the street was wet and we were walking along the street, through the grass. My bag got wet and I didn’t realize it, but all my candy had been dropping in a trail behind me. I went home with almost nothing, and my younger brother had to share with me, but he gave me all those things I didn’t like — those peanut butter kisses that are awful. I don’t even know if they make those any more.”

-Brenda Fishman

Histie Holiday 11.5 million homes in the United States — all potential stops for trick-or-treaters

The next full moon on Halloween night will be Oct. 31, 2020

“

“Last Halloween, I was really stressed out. I was in AHAP, and we had a Histie due. That’s basically like a really long paper. So instead of doing anything for Halloween, my friend and I were just at her house, doing the Histie until midnight. We just gave out candy between breaks.”

“

Going batty

-Caleb Hanlon, 10

written by Yashi Wang

-Janet Fields, 12 600 million pounds of Halloween candy sold each year — that equals 2 billion dollars in sales

There were 36 million trick-or-treaters in the United States in 2013.

Scarecrow Smackdown

“

“One time, I was trick-or-treating. I was maybe seven. I walked up to this door, rang the doorbell, and this guy — well, it was a scarecrow, but it was an actual person.

He was laying on the haybales next to the door and he jumped up and scared us. My sister ran away but I smacked him in the face with my bag of candy.”

-Kimberly VanNice

“

STUDENTS AND TEACHERS SHARE STORIES OF THEIR MOST MEMORABLE HALLOWEEN MISHAPS AND MISCHIEF

TREATS

“

TRICKS

_ before _

a&e

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a&e

Mr.Gyros

Although all classified as ‘Greek’ these three KC restuarants provide unique atmospheres and menus

83rd and Metcalf Avenue

A

s I am driving down Metcalf, I notice the Parthenon-looking structure of the Greek restaurant Mr. Gyros. When I open the front door I immediately smell Greek food that draws me right in. The food is good and so is the price.

This chain restaurant has an awkward vibe. It always feel loud because no one else is talking. The only noise to be heard is the Greek music coming from the small TVs in the corners of the dining area.

These are showing “interesting” landscapes of different places in Greece. My little brother comments “why can’t they just play SportsCenter or something.”

The menu has a variety of standard Greek meals, ranging from a lot of meat to all greens. Being a meat-lover myself, I always order the classic gyro sandwich.

The gyro meat is wrapped tightly in a pita bread topped with tomatoes and onions.

To finish it off, there is a side of tzatziki, made of yogurt mixed with cucumbers,

salt, garlic and olive oil. Basically the gyro sandwich is a burrito filled with lamb meat and tzatziki sauce.

For the health nut, the Greek Salad is the perfect choice. Lettuce, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and olives are the featured vegetables with pita bread.

Feta cheese and house Greek dressing top it all off.

Pita bread and hummus are the classic greek side. Each order comes with four triangular slices of pita bread and bowl of hummus in the center. The only negative to the pita bread and hummus is that each individual slice of pita is 75 cents. In the end, the small portion is worth the $3.75 price.

Overall, the food makes up for the atmosphere. Even being awkward I still love it. The main reason I love Mr. Gyros the great food that makes you want to keep coming back. It feels like you are in Greece.

The grilled chicken and gyro sandwich are served on a fancy looking paper plate.

The atomosphere was not like a typical Greek restaurant but the food made up for it.

Papu’s Cafe P

Tasso’s

written by Teagan Nobilt

photos by Hayley Bell

84th and Wornall Road

The chicken kabob is served with hummus A disco ball hangs over a dance floor in and pita bread. the middle of the restaurant.

R

ight off Wornall Road a rowdy Greek restaurant can be found: Tasso’s. It is more likely known as being right by Trop Sno. The first thing I notice about Tasso’s is the huge disco ball in the center of the restaurant. Under the disco ball is a black and white checkered dance floor. The color scheme is blue and white,it covers the walls and ceilings just like the Greek flag.

When I go to Tasso’s on a weekend night, I feel like I am at a dance party. I feel like I am apart of a loud, big Greek family, just like the movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” Plates are being thrown on the floor, belly dancers are shaking around and people are yelling “Opa.” I ordered a side of hummus and pita bread. The seasoning was done in just the right amount. It was the perfect amount of taste but still not too much to overcome the hummus.

As another appetizer you get a small Greek salad that comes with your meal. I then ordered the chicken kabobs and gyro sandwich.

The chicken kabobs were very tender and fresh. The tzatziki sauce on the gyro sandwich was the best I have ever had.

For dessert, I ordered Baklava. However, I could barely get a bite unless I forcefully pushed down on my knife. I had to work way too hard to just cut it.

In the end, I love the vibe and the food at Tasso’s. A negative would be the price for sure. The total for both meals was around $45 which is way overpriced especially for a casual lunch or even a nice dinner. I would recommend a visit as soon as possible if you have $40 from your parents. Don’t forget to bring a few extra bucks for a plate to break.

75th and Pennsylvania Avenue

apu’s is located in a gas station right across the street from Chipotle on Wornall. This cafe is the epitome of the saying ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’. The cafe is in the back of a gas station. Thirty feet away from the entrance is a counter to order from, it looks just like Chipotle.

Behind the counter is a stovetop where they make the magic: the food.

To order, you walk up to the counter and choose your entree. The menu doesn’t have that many options but each option is different. You can also order a side, like hummus, which is what I always choose.

The almost burrito made of pita contained lamb meat and tzatziki sauce, it was a gyro sandwich. It was brought in a styrofoam box.

The falafel sandwich is the best falafel I have had in KC. It was the perfect texture because sometimes a falafel can be too moist. It wasn’t too soft or too crunchy.

The hummus had a different flavor because hot sauce was added. I surprisingly liked the hummus because it had a unique taste and wasn’t just like anything else.

One of the perks of Papu’s being in a gas station is that you don’t have to look nice and can eat a super quick meal. The atmosphere is very relaxed. The wooden tables, tile floor and all plastic silverware make you feel right at home. You can be as loud as you want and no one will care that is one of the main reasons I love the restaurant.

Papu’s is super cheap for some super great food. A gyro sandwich and salad is $7. At most other places it would be $7 for just a gyro sandwich alone.

My only complaint is that the location is not the best. Gas stations are very boring and people walk in whenever they want to buy snacks and you are trying to eat a meal, but I love the food so the location doesn’t matter in the end.

Papu’s Cafe is in the back of a Shell gas station.

Papu’s classic gyro sandwich is made right in front of customers with an open kitchen window.

M

ost of us can admit that we spend way too much time checking how many Instagram likes we have on our latest post, or who liked our new profile picture on Facebook. But who can blame us? Anything you can imagine is on the Internet, from

Yo.

It’s that simple.

THUMB

a&e

Thumb is a relatively unknown app that is unlike any other concept of social media. Users can upload a photo of a topic they want the opinion of, and that picture is instantly blasted out to random users across the country who either give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down.

For example, I uploaded the suggested picture of waffles and within seconds I had 16 votes, 67 percent of which gave it a thumbs down and the rest gave it a thumbs up. I was a little insulted that two

thirds of people didn’t share my same love for waffles, but I got over it eventually.

On Thumb, everything from what shirt to wear to who to vote for can be found.

Users can also ask questions and people can comment back with their opinion.

Students even upload pictures of homework by adding a caption requesting help, a tool that I will definitely be using in the near future. Your imagination can run wild on Thumb, with endless possibilities of what to post.

YO

23

the Kim Kardashian game to the Sparknotes app. Most of us are familiar with the ever popular Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc. However, there are many other social media apps that have yet to be discovered. Each app has their own unique features that make the use of our phones endless.

The app Yo can be used to say just about anything to anyone. It could not be more simple, yet it is impossible not to smile at. Yo is similar to the concept of Snapchat, but instead of receiving a picture, users receive a recording of the sound “Yo.” Users can send each other “Yo’s” across the world. That’s all it is, but some people just can’t seem to get enough.

Though most would probably roll their eyes at the concept of Yo and ridi-

cule it for its stupidity, just like I did when I first heard about it, the app is proving to be successful. Many happy users are posting things about Yo across the Internet. One user wrote to the Washington Post saying, “Speaking is now unnecessary and obsolete — Yo is all I need.” Whether Yo is the most ingenious idea of the 21st Century, or just plain ridiculous is debatable, but millions of people across the world are hooked on it.

OUT WITH THE OLD IN WITH THE NEW

&

As social media apps such as Facebook lose popularity, new social media apps are gaining ground and providing new ways to connect photo by Ali Lee written by Courtney McClelland

Oovoo gives you the satisfaction of a social media platform, but combines it with face - to - face interaction. I always hear people age 40 and over whining on about how kids spend way too much time on the Internet. We’ve all heard the cliche statement, “no one ever makes face to face contact anymore blah blah blah.”

Oovoo has solved this problem. It allows users to create an “Oovie,” or movie, which they than can post on

OOVOO

their wall. The face - to - face interaction part allows people to make video calls one to one, or within a group message. Users can video chat in a group to work on a school project, or to discuss their plans for the night. Video calls in a group message setting are completely innovative, yet familiar to something we already know — group messages.

Oovoo also claims to have the highest quality video for a free download, and 100 million satisfied users.

PHEED

Think of the 3 social media outlets you use the most, then imagine them all rolled up into one. This is what Pheed has done, and it is proving to be a success. It is similar to Pinterest. You can explore a different “board” of topics, but the topics include things like art, nature, funny, and it is not restricted to just pictures. While scrolling through the music board I found pictures of album covers, music videos, and recordings of songs. People can like, dislike, remix, or give Pheedback to anything on Pheed. Rather than following users, people can subscribe to users in order to be notified when someone they have subscribed

to posts something.

The thing that stands out the most to me about Pheed is the “dislike” button. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen a selfie on Facebook and thought, “I wish I could dislike this”, but sadly have been unable to. Now that Pheed has granted me this wish, I can carry on surfing through Pheed in peace. Pheed is becoming a top competitor with social media sites such as Instagram and Twitter, purely because of its versatility, according to Huffington Post. If you ever find yourself at a loss of what else to look at on Instagram, Pheed is definitely a worthy download.

24

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W

written by Will Oakley

JUDGING the

JUDGE

alking into the theater at Cinemark Plaza to see “The Judge,” I had a couple questions: will the father and son get into a fight? Probably so. Will there be one over-thought, melodramatic court scene after another until a stunning result is revealed? Sure.

We’ll go with that.

Everything that’s going to happen in this drawn out, overemphatic movie can be seen coming from a mile away. There are so many clichés that it made me want to laugh.

Yet, perhaps I should have expected it. Director David Dobkin obviously doesn’t get how to portray a sentimental movie, as we’ve seen with his 2005 hit, “Wedding Crashers.”

Don’t get me wrong, it had its moments, just as any movie with Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall should.

But its cheap theatrics and sentimental rubbish outshine any brighter patches.

If you’ve glanced at the trailer, or watched it as you wait for the commercial break to end while watching baseball this playoff season (go ‘Yals), you’d recognize that Robert Downey Jr. plays a slick Chicago lawyer, Hank Palmer. He’s the typical Downey Jr. character: a snarky, yet highly intelligent man who, in this case, defends only those who are guilty because he brags that “innocent people can’t afford me.”

After the first 30 minutes, we learn that Hank Palmer’s mother has died, back in his small hometown in the middle of Illinois. So, Hank must return to the place he despises the most to visit his father (Robert Duvall), Judge Palmer. Hint hint, ring ring, bang bang, go scream and shout that there’s the title. Really clever stuff.

Eventually, after about 30 minutes or so of slop, Judge Palmer is accused of murdering a man. Then, to no one’s surprise, Judge Palmer’s snarky son must defend him in court. Didn’t see

that one coming.

The meat of the movie then goes on dozens of sidetracks such as Hank reuniting with his old girlfriend, Vera Farmiga, and apparently ending his brother’s would-be stellar baseball career with an awful car accident before getting to the part that I bought the ticket for: the trial.

I do have to admit, I was ecstatic to finally get to watch this last 30 minutes of the movie. I assumed it would be a showdown of great talent with Robert Downey Jr., Robert Duvall, and the prosecution’s talented lawyer and Palmer’s legal nemesis, Billy Bob Thornton. But, alas, this was the most disappointing of all. The sentimental silliness and painful clichés hit their breaking point, and the court case fails in the end to reach its objective of drawing out any emotional value.

With Robert Downey Jr. as a main character I expected a great movie with his normal snarky brilliance, to be utterly fantastic, especially when paired with Robert Duvall and Billy Bob Thornton. But the film falls short because of its director’s inability to display any kind of emotional sentiment. Wedding Crashers must have had him and his honeymoon convertible broken down back in comedyville. And that horrible analogy, dear readers, was nearly as disappointing as The Judge.

If you would like to watch The Judge on HBO, or On Demand when the movie comes out on DVD, it might be worth taking a peek, just to see Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall strut their stuff. But, other than that, the movie displays no real value, and simply falls short as another would-be dud.

Anticipated new movie, “The Judge,” is unimpressive — with a cliched, overdramatic plot despite polished lead actors

Robert Downey Jr. as Hank Palmer (left) and Robert Duvall as Joseph Palmer (right) photo courtesy of MCTCampus

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The Ultimate Rock ‘n’ Roll Party Band

26

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TEEN COLLAPSES AT LOCAL XC MEET

information courtesy of KCTV5news.com

atsheartcheck.com

CARDIOVASCULAR DEATHS PER YEAR AMONG ATHLETES

THE SECRET KILLER

Johnson County Community College

1. Unintentional Injury 2. Homicide 3. Suicide 4. Cancer

5.

Between 1980 and 2006, there were 1,886 sudden deaths from cardiac arrest among athletes eight to 39 in which 56 percent of them were due to cardiovascular disease = 10 people

OVERLAND PARK, KS 4:45 p.m.

Sept. 23, 2014

Congenital anomalies is the number 5 killer of those between the ages of 9 and 14

QUICK STATISTICS

Twenty years ago a region in Italy began mandatory EKG screenings in all athletes.

Since 1982, the region has seen a 90 percent drop in sudden cardiac deaths

CPR is successfully performed on eighth grader who was pronounced medically dead at the meet

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IN A written by Sophie Tulp

Undiagnosed heart conditions can be fatal to teenagers. Heart Check clinics will occur in SMSD high schools to spread awareness

photo illustration by Hailey Hughes and Maxx Lamb

I

t was supposed to be a routine procedure. Sophomore Allie Libeer went to East’s physical night in 2013 in perfect health. No shortness of breath, no exhaustion after athletic activity. Nothing. Two heart surgeries later, Allie would realize the results from her Electrocardiogram (EKG) heart test performed at the physical night saved her life.

That night, Allie was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson White Syndrome from the EKG — a test that records the heart’s electrical activity and can detect abnormalities. Cardiologists at Children’s Mercy say her condition would have been fatal if left unknown. They emphasized that the most concerning part about her issue was that she showed no symptoms.

“I didn’t believe them [at the physical night],” Allie said.

“Nothing ever happens to me, so I denied it. But when I went to Children’s Mercy, they told me my life expectancy was not high at all and that the EKG actually did save my life. I could have easily passed away in my sleep.”

Allie is just one example of an issue that continues to be an unseen danger for teenagers. According to Athletic Testing Solutions, a company that will be coming to East to run heart screenings in November, sudden cardiac arrest from heart conditions kills 130 youth a week. Heart conditions are the fifth greatest cause of death in teenagers in the U.S. ATS and the SMSD Athletic Director Matt Johnson agree that the main concern is not the heart issues themselves. It’s the lack of awareness and resources to manage these problems. Pre-participation physical evaluations are often not thorough enough to check for heart issues, and little emphasis is placed on heart health among teens. Starting this year, ATS is working with Johnson to bring resources to check heart health in the district.

“Being a teenager is the time in your life when you feel so invincible, it’s hard to convince teenagers to get their heart checked when they have always felt great,” Johnson said. “It’s frightening to hear that, but awareness is the message that’s got to be sent.”

On Nov. 22 East will be the fourth district high school Johnson has arranged to host heart screenings by ATS. These EKGs and sonograms, administered by specialized cardiologists, can help detect and diagnose heart issues in any student aged 10 to 18, athlete or non-athlete, in the East area who attends.

The clinic will test up to 60 students for $99 as opposed to rates that can be up to $1,000 at a physician’s office.

Johnson scheduled these clinics to make up for the tendency of students to overlook their heart health during routine physicals. The purpose of routine physicals is to medically clear athletes for participation, reduce risks and make sure there are no pre-existing conditions to be worried about. But these physicals don’t include cardiac screenings.

Kansas law does not require a medical doctor to sign off on pre-participation physicals. Anyone from a nurse practitioner to a chiropractor can sign off on the form, prompting ATS and district personnel to call into question how thorough these requirements really are.

“My opinion of Kansas sports physicals isn’t very high,” ATS Director of Clinical Operations Eric Schroeder said. “When you look at who can sign off on a sports physical, it’s not the best. But you have to have access for everyone, it’s got to be a broad rule. We need to take it out of their hands and bring it back to specialists.”

Allie’s mother Jennifer would never have thought to get Allie tested at their primary care physician for any kind of heart abnormality. The only reason Allie got her EKG was because East was offering an EKG screening option at the annual physical night two years ago. Now, EKG tests at physical

“Kids don’t die from bad knees or sprained ankles, but they certainly die from heart problems. Those are the things that get looked over the most in the physical.” - Eric Schroeder, Direrector of Clinical Operations — ATS night have been replaced by the ATS clinic, but the underlying message still stands: students need to take advantage of the resources provided, to check their heart health.

“Kids don’t die from bad knees or sprained ankles, but they certainly die from heart problems,” Schroeder said. “Those are the things that get looked over the most in the physical.

The question is not whether or not to make [heart testing] mandatory, but what is the most manageable way to test kids.

To at least provide kids with the resources and forum to get tested.”

In a single moment an athlete can pass away in their sleep, or go into sudden cardiac arrest during a game from conditions like Allie’s, that are asymptomatic. Making local headlines on Sept. 27, an Overland Trail middle schooler went into

sudden cardiac arrest at a cross country meet. He was medically pronounced dead on the scene, before being revived by medical personnel on the sidelines of the race, according to reports by KMBC 9 News.

Following this incident, Johnson and ATS staff members are trying to urge parents and students to take preventative measures. Johnson asks that parents and students be proactive instead of reactive, and take the steps to get checked, even if all seems normal.

The first ATS clinic at SM West took place a week after the middle schooler went into cardiac arrest. Just one day after it was scheduled, all spots were filled.

But while most members of the medical community agree that testing can save lives, EKGs are not yet endorsed by the American Heart Association, or National Athletic Trainers Association. They have not come to a consensus on whether or not EKGs should be mandatory prior to athletic participation, because there are arguments on both sides.

In an email statement, NATA declined to comment on the issue, citing it as a “controversial” topic that they were not comfortable making a judgement on.

While parents think making heart tests a mandatory part of the pre-participatory process seems like a good solution, Johnson and East Athletic director Kelli Kurle both agree it is not feasible at this time. Instead, they will focus on spreading awareness, and providing opportunities for people to get the checks if they are interested.

“It would be hard to make [EKGs] mandatory because of the cost and resources to do it,” Johnson said. “Physicals weren’t always mandatory, and they cost money too, so I see more comprehensive physical testing of athletics in the future, even if they are never officially mandatory.”

But Jennifer Libeer knows first hand what an EKG test can mean to a family. Sometimes, she watches Allie playing tennis, or sits next to her at dinner and realizes that it is a serious possibility that Allie might not have been with them today. If she had not gotten the EKG that night, she might never have discovered her severe condition. She might have died.

Jennifer’s words to parents and students that are on the fence about getting the test is to just do it. To get the test even if they have never had a history of heart conditions before.

“It could save your life, even if you don’t believe it to be true,” Jennifer said. “Do it. Even if it is just for peace of mind.”

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SANITIZING SPORTS

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Football player experiences the effects of the contagious skin infection, Staphylococcus aureus or Staph Infection

written by Chloe Stanford

TREATMENT Daily cleansing of the infected area

Oral antibiotics

Rocephin (antibiotic injection)

PREVENTION Regular washing of hands

Showering immediately after practice with antibacterial soap

SOAP

“What’s that on your face?”

“It looks like something is eating a hole through your skin!”

“That looks terrible...”

As Junior Hayden Roste walked down the hallway, people stared. His friends jokingly made comments about his skin. Hayden had dealt with acne before, but something wasn’t right. After a few days of watching his red, infected skin grow worse and worse, Hayden knew it wasn’t acne. He texted his mom about his concern, and together they headed to the dermatologist.

Hayden’s dermatologist informed him that he had Staphylococcus aureus, or more commonly known as Staph infection,on his face. It most likely started from bacteria growing in his chin strap on his football helmet, Roste said.

“I was shocked when I found out I had gotten Staph,” Hayden said.

Tiffany Geiger, a disease investigator with Johnson County Department of Health and Environment, spends her day telling people how to prevent Staph and how to get rid of it in locker rooms and other likely places.

“We see it [Staph] a lot more in boys sports because boys are in the locker rooms a lot more. Most of Staph infection comes from the locker room,” Geiger said.

Staph infections are common among high school athletes, especially with team sports, such as baseball, football and wrestling.

These athletes spend a good amount of time in locker rooms and they share equipment regularly. Geiger believes that the time they spend in locker rooms makes them more susceptible to contract Staph.

“Athletes are at risk for skin infections because of the skin to skin contact. These diseases are spread person to person, but they can go away in a few days with the right treatment,” Clough said.

Dr. Lisa Clough, an infectious disease doctor at the University of Kansas (KU), deals with Staph infections frequently.

Staph is not usually serious. Most mild cases involve itchy rashes and boils. However, if left untreated, it can turn much worse according to Clough.

Hayden missed over a week of football practice because he didn’t want anyone else

to get infected.

“If any sweat from my face touched anyone else, they could have gotten it,” Roste said, “That’s how contagious this was. A week later, I had to miss a few more days to make sure it was completely gone.”

“If any sweat from my face touched anyone else, they could have gotten it,” Roste said, “That’s how contagious this was.

Hayden’s mom, Leslie Roste, is the National Director of Education for BlueCo Brands. Her job is to provide education across the country on the use of disinfectants in limiting the transmission of infectious diseases in certain industries. She speaks to national conventions, helps states write laws about how to use these products and writes textbooks. Because of Leslie’s job as a public speaker regarding infectious diseases, she worked together with the football team on the issue.

“Once I informed the football staff on what happened to Hayden, they addressed the problem immediately,” Leslie said. “We disinfected all of the helmets, chin straps and pads.The janitorial department is disinfecting the locker room as well.”

Head football coach, Dustin Delaney, and athletic trainer Megan Burki, declined to comment on the subject.

To treat Hayden’s infection, they started him on an oral antibiotic. In addition, doctors gave him a shot of Rocephin, an antibiotic that works by fighting bacteria in your body. This, however, did not cooperate with Hayden’s immune system, according to Mrs. Roste.

“After 3 days, the infection had not responded,” Leslie said, “They warned that he may have to be hospitalized next. However, his immune system responded to all the antibiotic help.”

Matt Johnson, the Shawnee Mission School District Director of Athletics and Stu-

dent Services and Facilities, has worked to keep all SMSD schools clean and free of bacterias.

Staph Infection is preventable, despite being so contagious. Johnson says the school district has done their best throughout the years to keep Staph from spreading. They spray down wrestling mats after every practice and buy air disinfectants for the locker rooms to keep the air almost completely free of germs. They encourage the prevention of disease between individuals and students with good hygiene habits, like regularly washing hands.

Despite his efforts, Johnson understands that not every individual will always wash their hands, or always keep their uniforms clean.

“We can’t always control what people are doing, so we do what we can with our processes to help eliminate or reduce that threat,” Johnson said.

Over the past year, air purifiers in the locker rooms were purchased that clean and disinfect the air in the locker room. Johnson says that this doesn’t get rid of 100 percent of bacteria and airborne viruses, but it does reduce them.

“When there is a concern, custodial teams clean surface immediately with high power disinfectants,” Johnson said. “The other thing we have to make sure that we are doing, as coaches, is cleaning the equipment every day.”

This includes the weight room equipment, the locker room equipment, locker doors and floors, sinks, showers, floors and sports equipment. The helmets, shoulder pads, chin straps and even the footballs themselves are all cleaned to help prevent the spread of any bacteria. Another prevention is to shower immediately after practices and games, using antibacterial soap.

In order to prevent cases of Staph, like Roste’s, the precautions cleaning have been enforced much more strongly. Though the disease is spread easily by skin-to-skin contact or surface-skin contact, efforts are being made to disinfect surfaces and equipment and stop the spreading.

N W O R C

S N FA e h t for

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The Kansas City Royal’s success in the post season as grown the fan base considerably, which creates many fair weather fans it has boosted the popularity and attention of the team written by Michael Kraske

A

photos courtesy of MCT Campus

s you’ve probably heard, the Kansas City Royals are in the World Series for the first time in 29 years. And we’re celebrating. Walking around the plaza, you’ll see the JC Nichols fountain completely colored royal blue. On cars driving down Mission, and all over the plaza, Royals flags wave in the October wind. Driving down Ward Parkway, you’ll notice yet another beautifully-colored Royal Blue fountain. The East hallways are filled with students and teachers wearing Royals gear.

After winning game four of the American League Championship Series, every social media site I checked was filled with fans rooting or the Royals. From Sportscenter to local celebrities to tons of East students, everybody seemed to be tweeting, instagramming and posting Facebook statuses.

A few minutes later, one of my friends said something that none of us expected to hear. He said that it was awesome that the Royals are in the World series, but that half of the people who were tweeting about it didn’t know anything about baseball.

He, along with many other KC sports fans, was annoyed at everyone’s newfound Royals obsession. They hadn’t paid attention for the whole season, until now that we were in the World Series. They were fair weather fans.

But he shouldn’t be annoyed at this. Sure, it’s easier for all of us to cheer on the Chiefs or the Royals when they’re winning. More importantly, the Royals need fair weather fans. They’re a part of the fan section, and they’re a part of the whole playoff atmosphere. Without fair weather fans, there wouldn’t be nearly as many people cheering on our home team. In a time like this, the more fans we have, the better.

The Royals haven’t been in the World Series in 29 years. Who cares if some of the fans are fair weather? The whole city is celebrating, as they

should. From a lifelong season ticket holder, to someone who doesn’t even know the words to “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” a fan is a fan regardless of weather. And sure, some of these people couldn’t name any other players on the team besides Eric Hosmer, but again, that doesn’t matter.

Although it seems like these fair-weather fans are just acting like they know what they’re talking about solely because the team’s popular, they’re really just rooting on their city. They’re the Kansas City Royals, after all.

Anybody who’s from here should have the right to cheer on their home team.

In 2008 when KU won the National Championship, every KU fan went nuts, and even if they were fair-weather, it didn’t matter. These teams love to get all the support they can. As a fan who has experienced their team win the championship game, I can say that the more people celebrating, the more fun it is to be a fan.

Kansas City has been waiting for this a very long time. Whether you’ve paid close attention and follow the Royals, or even if you don’t know why the crowd sometimes chants animal names (Moose), it’s okay to act like you know tons about the Royals. Go buy a “Party like it’s 1985” t-shirt.

Tweet something like, “#BlueOctober”, even if you aren’t quite sure what blue has anything to do with October. The more people we have cheering on the boys in blue, the better. Even if they are fair-weather fans.

Fans make a huge impact on players’ performance. It gives the players more motivation to win for the fans, and for the city. It makes them feel like they owe it to the city to win. After 29 long years, I’m sure the players would agree with this statement.

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D Team Soccer

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m a e C-T

The D-team soccer team’s season is slowly moving along due to rain outs and cancellations, but co-captain freshman, Quinn Griffin is still loving the team.

“The team atmosphere is great,” Griffin said. “We have a chant before every game that says ‘I am a champion’ and we replace ‘champion’ with ‘Andrew Grinstead, a sophomore on the team.”

The best memory Griffin has had so far was when freshman Matthew Hyatt scored the goal to mercy rule Blue Valley Northwest 10-0.

“The look on Matthew’s face was priceless, so was the reaction of the other team,” he said.

s

team n a m

h Fres Epstein d n an ge Da

, id id me C tten by A Wooldr o s s o i k int son wr by Jame o o l a s A e o phot fall s this

Freshman Football

The freshman football team started the season on a good note with three straight wins. But after losing their last three games, freshman player Grant Readle says their “mojo” has been killed.

“Some players are getting into skirmishes and shouting at each other,” Readle said. “A lot a blame is going around.”

With this up-and-down season, Readle says the players are lucky to have two great coaches.

“They know what they are doing and they have a great sense of humor which leads to some laughs during practice,” Readle said.

According to Readle, they have two easy games coming up, so he hopes the season will end on a high-note.

“Although there have been some arguments, the team is like a family and everything always blows over,” Readle says,” Football is an experience like no other, not always a good one, but you know your teammates will have your back.”

Y o u could’ve seen the C-team cross country girls hustling down Mission, pulling each other’s ponytails out after school this fall. These girls find a way to make running somewhat enjoyable.

The “stealing ponytail” joke was made famous by freshman Claire Long and continued up until the end of their season last week.

“Things like that are what make the

C Cross Team Country

C-team different and lighten the mood when we are running hard routes,” sophomore Ellie Mitchell said.

Both the boys and girls embrace their lower placement by realizing there is more to cross country than a fast mile.

They run for their own benefit, not for a medal.

“The C-team is very laid back, casual and not-pressuring,” Mitchell said.

“We are all running for fun and to get in shape, not to break a national record.”

RE

A SH

Class of 2015, Thank you for making the inaugural SME Senior Service Day a HUGE success!!

• 252 participants (on your morning off!)

• 9 angencies served • 1,700 pounds of apples for Harvesters, hundreds of meals for the hungry prepared, maintence work conducted, elder-friends entertined and volunteers traned to support the sick and dying

You did so much good and set the bar for years to come!

Thanks also to the following generous sponsors, who believe in service to our friends, community and world

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photoessay

the

art of dabbling Senior Carolyn Wassmer started her blog “The Art of Dabbling” to show others how easy healthy cooking can be. All of the food Wassmer posts on her blog is vegan, which is the diet she tries to maintain. “I’ve always baked and I’ve always made healthy food since seventh grade,” Wassmer said. “I always have to be doing something that has a purpose so why not take my hobby and make it something that is beneficial for everybody.”

Ingredients for Carolyn’s no-bake cookies

Wassmer shops at photo by Hailey Hughes Trader Joe’s for all of her special ingredients. “They have a wide variety of healthy vegan and vegetarian options but don’t charge as much as whole foods,” Wassmer said. She also enjoys how close it is to her house.

1 cup quinoa flakes 1/2 cup pitted dried dates 1/4 cup almonds 2 tbsp almond butter 1 tbsp pure maple syrup 1 tbsp cocoa 1 tbsp virgin coconut oil

photo by Callie McPhail

1 cup puffed millet photo by Annie Savage

raw chocolate

photo by Annie Savage

When Wassmer finishes her dessert, she admits that she ends up eating all of the food as she makes it. “A lot of the time I just make up the recipes because I’ll see ones that are really good but they are also really awful for you,” Wassmer said. “It‘s kind of like a little experiment because you never know how it’s going to turn out.”

“ photo by Katie Lamar

I just want to inspire people to be healthy

“

As Wassmer measures her ingredients, she talks about the utensils she uses. “[Senior] Emma Matthews got them for my birthday,” she said. “Honestly, they make me want to cook because they’re so cute.”

Check out the full recipe on Carolyn’s blog