The Harbinger issue 10 2025

ANONYMOUS

story by LUCIANA MENDY

story by LIBBY MARSH

by ADDY NEWMAN

THE HARBINGER

FEBRUARY 9, 2026

online preview

political cartoon

PRINT EDITORS

Sophia Brockmeier

Libby Marsh

ONLINE EDITORS

Luciana Mendy

Lucy Stephens

ASST. PRINT EDITORS

Avni Bansal

Michael Yi

ASST. ONLINE EDITOR

Christopher Long

Caroline Beal

HEAD COPY EDITORS

Libby Marsh

Luciana Mendy

ASST.

Grace Pei

Paige Bean

ASST.

Addie Clark

Ava Towner

Tyler Russell PHOTO MENTORS

Molly Scott

Katie Cook

Sylvie DeGalan

Zac Russell VIDEO EDITORS

Preston Hooker

Emma Weidman

Evelyn Bagley

Lucy Swope

Lyla Weeks

Miranda Liberda

Tillie Paisner

Ashtyn Ingram

Hannah Rosemann

Julia Campbell

Lorusso PAGE DESIGNERS

Madeline Glasier

Devon McFadden

Ella Slicker

Kennedy Moore

Eisley Foster

Elena Hull

Lainey Hunter

Claire Troutwine

Abigail Baltzell

Lucy Cattano

Emily Enger

Jack Fitzpatrick

Eisley Foster NEWS

Kennedy Moore OPINION

Henderson

DESIGN EDITORS

Bella Broce

Hooker

Cooper

Terreros

Foster

Fitzpatrick

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Evelyn Geheb

Emma Weidman

Molly McDermed

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Avra Welling

Liv Ruecker

Bella Thompson

Charlotte Walton

RJ Kordalski

Allie Beaulieu

Sadie Jolicoeur

Graham Geheb

Lexi Madden Evelyn Gehab

Alex Harden

Avra Welling

Aynslee Douglass Anasten Schaefer Graham Geheb ASST. DESIGN

Rosemann

Aynslee Douglass

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Elena Hull

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Meredith Wacha

Rowan McGill

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Bella Broce

Lucy Stephens

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Sydney Eck STAFF WRITERS

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Hannah Rosemann Effie Roper SECTION EDITORS EDITORIAL

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Bridget Dean ADS MANAGERS

Preston Hooker

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The Harbinger is a student run publication. Published editorials express the views of the Harbinger staff. Signed columns published in the Harbinger express the writer’s personal opinion. The content and opinions of the Harbinger do not represent the student body, faculty, administration or Shawnee Mission School District. The Harbinger will not share any unpublished content, but quotes material may be confirmed with the sources. The Harbinger encourages letters to the editors, but reserves the right to reject them for reasons including but not limited to lack of space, multiple letters of the same topic and personal attacks contained in the letter. The Harbinger will not edit content though letters may be edited for clarity, length or mechanics. Letters should be sent to room 400 or emailed to smeharbinger@gmail.com.

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Read about the results from the final debate tournament

Read about the robotics team’s generational run this year

story by GRACE PEI

cartoon by HUDSON TERREROS

story by MICHAEL YI

page design by MICHAEL YI

stories by HANNAH ROSEMANN

The new seminar pass system changes what seminar looks like for students

SM EAST STUDENTS started using the new SecurelyFlex system on Jan. 27. The system works by splitting seminar into two sessions that students can sign up to travel during. However,unlike the original seminar, students must say in their first session location until the second session begins.

Students already struggle to balance many activities, and often need to meet with more than just the two teachers the new system allows them to, according to sophomore Campbell McKee.

“During the first session, I went to the track spring sports meeting, and it was kind of hard to use the pass system because we had to stay in the gym even after the meeting was done, because we weren’t allowed to leave,” sophomore Leighton Fulghum said.

The new passes are a big change from the previous Securly passes, according to sophomore Darcy Kroening. Besides not being allowed to leave a class until after the session is up, Flex also doesn’t

PASSING THROUGH THE HALLS DANCING TOGETHER SHOW TIME

require approval from any teachers.

“All you have to do is sign up for a session, and it doesn’t need approval or anything,” Fulghum said. “You just get to go. It’s not where it’s either red or green. You just sign up, and you just go. You don’t have to wait or anything, which is really nice.”

Without the need for approval, traveling during seminar can be streamlined compared to the Securly system. Although it might be simpler in practice, the system is causing students confusion when attempting to use the new system, according to Kroening.

“There were three different places where you could put where you wanted to go,” Kroening said. “It was hard to figure out where I was supposed to put in where I was going to.”

Even without the system being determined as positive or negative, it is a big change that will take getting used to for students, according to McKee.

ZUM PARTNERSHIP

SMSD is partnering with Zum to improve student transportation for the 2026-27 school year

ZUM PROVIDES:

The Lancer Dancers perform their hip hop dance for the first time at the basketball game against Rockhurst High School

The varsity Lancer Dancers prepare to compete at the upcoming NDA High School Nationals competition

THE VARSITY LANCER Dancers will take the stage in Orlando, Florida, on Feb. 14, to compete at the National Dance Association High School Nationals competition.

putting into their routines at practice, and also because the team has had more time to practice with the responsibility of performing flags at football games going to JV, instead of varsity.

Real-time bus tracking Optimized bus routes

1. 2. 3. 4.

An app for parents Support for special needs kids

ZUM IS THE modern, safe and transparent experience our community deserves.

DAVID STUBBLEFIELD DEPUTY

LOOKING

“I am really excited to compete and show everyone the dances that we’ve been working really hard on,” freshman Lainey Ascencio said.

The dancers will perform three routines: gameday, hiphop and jazz. Each dance will be judged individually and then totaled to see which team makes it to finals on the last day of the competition.

COMING INTO HIGH

school with a group of friends was so great. We bonded so quick and I can’t wait to go to nationals with them.

The Lancer Dancers are expected to place well as the 2025 6A Kansas State Champions, according to sophomore Layla Wening. This anticipated high placement at Nationals is attributed to the hard work that the team has been

GRACE TAYLOR FRESHMAN

“I think that not doing flag has been helpful since we had more time to focus on our routines instead of focusing on flag,” Wening said. “Especially for state, we had a lot more time to practice, and also for coming up for nationals.”

No matter the outcome at nationals, the Lancer Dancers will remain a tight-knit group that supports each other, according to freshman Grace Taylor.

“Coming into high school with a group of friends was so great,” Taylor said. “We bonded so quick and I can’t wait to go to nationals with them.”

identification shifts identification shifts

story by LIBBY MARSH

SENATE BILL 244 was passed through the Kansas House and Senate on Jan. 28 and presented to Governor Laura Kelly last Tuesday. SB 244 would require any identification, including drivers licenses, to match the gender assigned at birth and people to use their birth-gender restrooms in government-owned buildings.

Public schools are included in the umbrella of government-owned buildings. According to SMSD Superintendent Michael Schumacher, the current discussion and interpretation within the district is that the gender-neutral bathrooms present at SM East and district-wide won’t be impacted.

However, according to SM East-area Representative Rui Xu, SM East’s genderneutral restrooms will no longer be legal and must be designated as male or female. It’s unclear if construction would be necessary to comply with the bill. The bill will be further interpreted, and implementation will be discussed by the school board if it’s put into law, according to Schumacher.

This bill was expedited through a “gut-and-go” procedure, meaning a preexisting bill that had already been passed through the House and Senate was amended to concern bathroom usage and identification.

Senate Bill 244, currently on Governor Laura Kelly’s desk, would require people to use the bathroom of their birth gender and have an ID that matches their birth gender

It was passed in the House with emergency final action, eliminating waiting periods and allowing little time for public comment. This procedure is in place for emergencies when legislation needs to be passed quickly.

Based on her past decisions, Kelly is likely to veto the bill. However, it has enough votes in both chambers to override the veto. If that happens, the bill will go to the courts.

This bill was proposed with the intent of protecting women in private spaces. During the judiciary meeting, Representative Charlotte Esau argued in support of the bill. She argued that women have faced sexual assault in public spaces, like restrooms, and this bill would offer protection from trauma.

Xu said. “But in judicial committee, last minute, without any warning, without any public hearing or public comment, they added in this bathroom amendment.”

IN JUDICIAL

committee, last minute, without any warning, without any public hearing or public comment, they added in this bathroom amendment.

The bill would impose a fine of $1,000 for any individual and $25,000 for any institution not in compliance on the first violation and $125,000 for subsequent violations. Further, it would allow any individual to sue someone who they believe uses the incorrect restroom. Anyone can be sued — not just transgender individuals.

RUI XU STATE REP.

“[Women] should not have to come here in mass numbers and tell you that they have been traumatized in order for us to do the right thing,” Esau said. “This bill doesn’t need to go back for us to hear that, for us to have women come in and tell us their concerns. We know.”

However, according to Xu, the process of this bill was quick and “shady.”

“Going to session, we knew we were going to talk about trans people a little bit, at least on the driver’s license part,”

through the legislation

According to Xu, this is a continuation of a series of anti-transgender legislations, beginning with banning transgender athletes in sports and the restriction of medical care for transgender kids.

The introduction of this amendment also follows the election of the second transgender state Representative in Kansas, Abi Boatman, on Jan. 8.

“It would be hard to believe someone who told me that it wasn’t at least, in part, due to my presence in the Capitol building,” Boatman said. “I would believe that there are people in this building who don’t want me using the restroom that I feel I should be in and this was a way of them making sure that I was only allowed

to use one restroom in the whole building.”

Boatman believes that current legislation in place protects women and children in public spaces, and that this proposed legislation is an attack on the rights of transgender people.

Indian Hills parent and advocate for transgender rights, Hazel Krebs, has urged transgender people to leave Kansas due to the “hostile” environment legislation is creating. Krebs is transgender and plans to move after her daughter graduates high school in four years.

Krebs works primarily in Missouri, which has more protections for transgender people, and is able to leave the more restrictive Kansas laws. However, she is concerned for students as they are required to go to school.

“Year after year, it gets worse and it’s becoming more and more dangerous,” Krebs said. “This country is becoming dangerous to our community.

Some states are passing protection, but Kansas is making it worse.”

As of last Thursday, Gov. Kelly has not confirmed or vetoed SB244.

design by ADYSON COOPER art by EISLEY FOSTER

POWERED DOWN

District administrators, teachers and students are conflicted on the statewide all-day phone ban expected to pass into law for the next school year

story by MICHAEL YI

AS THE KANSAS Senate discusses the statewide all-day phone ban, district administrators, educators and students are divided on whether the ban should pass. The bill — co-sponsored by 70% of the Senate and supported by governor Laura Kelly — has been in a hearing since Jan. 15.

Introduced on Jan. 6, Senate Bill 302 would require all Kansas schools to prohibit the use of phones from the first bell of school to the last, including passing period and lunch time. This is a greater restriction than the current district policy adopted last January during instructional time.

The bill is derived from a policy template provided by the National Distraction-Free Schools Policy Project, which provides policy templates for legislation in schools to “address the overuse of smartphones, social media, and School-Tech.”

Kimberly Whitman is a co-leader of the project and a parent of two SM South students. She adamantly advocates for a full-day ban over a class time ban because of research from the Kansas Department of Education showing academic, social and mental benefits from complete restriction.

According to superintendent Michael Schumacher, all six county superintendents — including SMSD, Olathe and Blue Valley — were united against the bill at a delegation in Topeka in December, arguing that the policy would undermine local regulation.

“We really feel like we took the proper steps for our district, not only from a student health perspective, but also from [the perspective of] what we can actually manage, and put into practice,” Schumacher said.

Schumacher says that the current district policy is nearly as effective as a bellto-bell policy. Additionally, he worries that enforcement in 6A schools would be expensive and cumbersome without funding from the state.

THAT’S JUST part of the world we live in today, is being able to get a hold of people.

MICHELLE ABSHIRE ENGLISH TEACHER

“As my children got older, it was clear [that] the presence of phones in schools was disrupting their educational environment,” Whitman said.

— such as for use in journalism or marketing programs — aren’t present in the state bill. Student publications like the Harbinger and Hauberk rely on social media platforms like Instagram to post breaking news and multimedia content.

“I think it’s just difficult because so much of the software we need for journalism is blocked on our MacBooks,” head yearbook copy editor and junior Claire Rosen said. “It would be frustrating, and it would be something that we would have to adapt to, but ultimately, I feel like we would find solutions.”

WE REALLY feel like we took the proper steps for our district, not only from a student health perspective, but also from [the perspective of] what we can actually manage, and put into practice.

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER

SUPERINTENDENT

East, Yondr pouches are a potential storage device for a bell-to-bell policy. At $30 per unit, it would cost the school up to $50,000 to purchase and implement the pouches. Additionally, the time needed to drop off and pick up phones could expose hundreds of thousands of dollars of student devices to theft, as well as cutting into instructional time, according to Schumacher.

Broad education exemptions outlined in the district policy

BILL BREAKDOWN

A breakdown of the bill and how it effects the students

Students cannot use personal devices: phones, smartwatches, tablets or headphones. Students must store devices where they can’t access them. The bill starts from the beginning to the end of school including lunch, passing periods and class time.

While many teachers impose phone bans, educators at SM East are divided on the potential added restrictions. English teacher Michelle Abshire has long imposed cell phone bans in her classroom, but

people.”

On the contrary, an anonymous math teacher believes the district policy is not sufficient and statewide enforcement would be beneficial.

“I am 100% for the bill,” the teacher said. “And I think that cell phones are not only detrimental to academic progress, I think they are detrimental to the mental health of so many students.”

36 states have adopted a phone ban, with 19 of these states adopting bills similar to the one currently in the senate from the first bell to the last.

Governor Laura Kelly announced in her State of the State address on Jan. 13 that she intends to sign the bill if it gets to her desk, which received a standing ovation from both Democrats and Republicans. Whitman says she anticipates the bill will pass and be signed into law.

“It would allow all students to thrive in an educational environment where they can engage, focus and have more social connection,” Whitman said.

OPINION

Receiving paper mail is a feeling no digital mail can replace

story by BRIDGET DEAN

THERE’S SOMETHING about seeing a paper letter — complete with a colorful postage stamp — with my name addressed on it that just makes my day.

Since Valentine’s Day is coming up, I’m already looking forward to the cheesy Hallmark card I know my grandparents will be sending me in the mail. Despite the added expenses that digital mail doesn’t require, such as postage stamps, my grandparents are still among the few who always mail paper cards on holidays.

Technology has taken it’s swing at taking over the mail industry, yet receiving paper mail is something computers can never take the pleasure out of.

My email is constantly flooded with spams and unwanted messages from businesses that have my information on record.

I’m over it.

I move them to my trash as soon as possible. I don’t need businesses constantly sending emails that take up storage on my phone. While spam paper mail does exist, and sometimes I feel bad recycling it right away, it’s much rarer than the daily slew of emails I receive.

Another thing I hate even more than emails: eCards.

No, I don’t want to spend my time watching a leprechaun sing and dance on my phone for three minutes while I wait to see the short, one-sentence message someone has typed

up and tortured me with by putting it “in” an eCard.

Please don’t.

It’s not just that technology taking over mail is bad; however, there’s just more excitement in opening paper mail. The sender’s return address is almost always printed on the corner of the envelope, giving me a hint at what mail I could be getting. Though ripping the seals on envelopes can be annoying, it always hypes up the anticipation and makes me laugh as I struggle to open a simple seal.

When I’ve finally beaten the envelope in tug-of-war, I can see the colorful cards or pamphlets I have received.

Just. For. Me.

The older I get, the more I receive mail from unheard-of colleges in Indiana, and it can be quite annoying when they send you both emails and paper mail. But the idea that they printed out my name on the envelope to send to me is what makes paper mail all the more worth it.

When I have to write thank-you cards for people after the holidays or birthdays, I don’t send them a text or an email. I take a few minutes to write out a letter, address it, lick the citrus-tasting seal and send it in hopes that that person will feel the same joy I feel

And I can’t wait to receive mail from my

My love for paper mail, couldn’t be greater.

DON’T RISK IT

*Names are fictitious

FOUR DOLLARS gets you an energy drink at QuickTrip. It also gets you 15 nicotine pouches.

The caffeine boost from the Red Bull would last around four hours. But the pouches could last 15 days if you take one a day.

Many teenagers are choosing the pouches for their energy boost. In 2022, around 2% of teenagers said they’ve used nicotine pouches, according to the Keck School of Medicine. That 2% became 3% in 2023 and 5% in 2024. According to that trend, the number of users will increase in 2025 and 2026.

Teenagers aren’t at fault. And parents aren’t at fault. The marketing is.

The marketing strategy of Zyn, the most popular nicotine pouch brand, misleads teenagers, giving them a distorted understanding of the harmfulness of the product and contributing to rising teenage use.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration held a meeting on Jan. 22 to review whether Zyn pouches can be marketed as a “lowerrisk nicotine option,” according to Health Day.

Like all governmental agencies, the FDA has to complete assessments and rigorous reviews before approval — it’s slow. And according to Health Day, there’s no set deadline to make this decision, but it’ll happen “soon.” Regardless of whether “soon” means two weeks or two years, nothing good comes of this reclassification. It would supercharge marketing that’s already attracting teenagers.

Here’s a quick fact: it doesn’t matter if a product is 21-plus and illegal for teenagers; high schoolers have methods of acquiring practically any product.

Nearly half a million middle and high school students reported using nicotine pouches in 2024, according to the University of Colorado Anschutz.

And in 2023, 17% of SM East students used nicotine pouches, according to a 200-person poll. It’s difficult to imagine a 14-year-old popping a Zyn, but sadly, it’s a reality — at SM East, used Zyn pouches have been found under classroom desks and in bathroom urinals.

So age restrictions don’t matter. What matters is how teenagers view the product. And marketing Zyn as “lowerrisk” nicotine is going to make the pouches more appealing, expanding the current teenage usage problem.

Zyn has already been twisted into being teenager-friendly through marketing.

They come in 10 delicious flavors and colors, including Black Cherry, Violet Licorice and Cinnamon. They also come in different strengths — or “levels” — ranging from 1.5 mg to 16.5 mg. On top of that, there are different formats — Mini, Slim and Mini Dry — which differ in size, moisture level and nicotine experience.

Basically, they’re fully customizable — and teenagers love making their own choices.

Zyn was created in 2014 to help Swedish women quit cigarette smoking, according to The New Yorker. But now, adolescents who don’t even smoke cigarettes are using nicotine pouches.

It’s true that Zyn lowers the risk of smoking-related diseases when compared to other tobacco products, according to Health Day, which is intuitive, considering Zyn doesn’t emit smoke. Health Day also reported that “36 of 42 known cancercausing chemicals found in tobacco products were either not detected or present at extremely low levels in Zyn.”

Though Zyn may have a “lower-risk” of causing cancer than cigarettes, the health risks of nicotine pouches are still significant.

First of all, Zyn has only been available for 12 years, which isn’t enough time to

research long-term health effects. The product is just too new. Instead of rushing “lower-risk” approval now, the FDA should wait a decade for teen-specific long-term studies on developing brains and bodies.

Additionally, Zyn is accompanied by nausea, cardiovascular disease, cancer and cognitive development issues, according to Scientific American. These side effects sure don’t sound “lower-risk.”

Then there’s the affordability problem. Zyn pouches are cheap — especially in today’s market. They range from $4 to $6 per pack — cigarettes are around $10, and vaping devices are around $20 — and can be found at any nearby gas station or convenience store.

Every high school student has been told at some point in their schooling that nicotine prices are becoming increasingly high to decrease demand, whether that be in a health or social studies class. News flash: a $4 Zyn pack is cheaper than a McDonald’s Happy

FOR: 11 AGAINST: 1

Meal.

Ultimately, marketing Zyn as “lowerrisk” isn’t technically a lie, but it’s deceptive.

Saying Zyn is less harmful than cigarettes or other tobacco products is like saying getting hit by a Lamborghini is better than getting hit by an 18-wheeler at 60 mph. Probably true, but you end up in the hospital both ways.

So, dear teenagers, please get your smokeless buzz from something other than Zyn. Running and hanging out with friends are great alternatives.

And before you slip a Zyn under your lip in the middle of English class, think: Are you falling for the marketing trap Zyn has created?

And dear FDA, maybe don’t label the fastest-growing product of the tobacco market as “lower-risk” while teenagers are getting hooked on it. Try using your power to stop. Hurting. Teenagers.

Zyn

The brand is owned by a large global company, Phillip Morris International, which helps Zyn reach more stores.

When Zyn launched there was not much competition so they could build a strong presence first.

Reasons on why Zyns have dominated the nicotine pouch market in the U.S.

Zyn has lots of online ads and brand promotion than their competitors. The marketing has increased visibility to the public.

Give. Us. Messages.

we

QW E R T

can’t communicate Y

story by BRIDGET DEAN

IS MESSAGES LOADING on your MacBook?” My friend turned around to ask me during our second hour Algebra 2 class back in the fall.

“Let me check,” I said as I waited for the Messages application to open after clicking on the green and white icon at least a hundred times.

But it still didn’t open.

I force quit the app and restarted my MacBook. Then, I tried to open it again.

Still nothing.

schoolwork or play games during class periods, but blocking a way for students to communicate with each other, and their parents, is too far.

HOW ELSE

am I supposed to tell my mom a friend is taking me home from school? Or text my dad that I left my chemistry binder at home? My only option is to email them midday while they’re at work — they’d see it hours later.

The district had been continually blocking websites on our school-issued computers, but I never thought they’d block Messages.

But they did.

Months later, the app still doesn’t open on students’ computers all across the school district. The inability to access Messages on our MacBooks is highly frustrating as students’ phones were taken away by a ban passed Feb. 3 of last year, already limiting communication during the school day. And the district gave no explanation for its decision.

Annoyed, I started asking for any information about why the district decided to block Messages, yet found nothing but rumors.

Students would likely understand if there is a concern for their safety. The problem is that there is no information from the district. The app just blocked one random day.

The district has been, and is continually blocking and taking away resources for students on their devices. I understand blocking websites that allow students to use AI for their

When I was first issued a school computer in middle school, I was hesitant to sign into my home Apple account so I could send text from my MacBook. In high school, though, that completely changed — driving, managing my own schedule and being more involved in school made communicating during the school day very crucial. The best way to communicate quickly and effectively during the school day is by texting from MacBooks. I can quickly switch back and forth between my assignment opened on the Canvas website and the Messages app on my dock, without having to use my phone and risk distracting other students or getting in trouble.

school? Or text my dad that I left my chemistry binder at home? My only option is to email them midday while they’re at work — they’d see it hours later.

Another possible explanation for the blocking of Messages could be that the district saw students texting on their MacBooks as the use of a phone. If they’re trying to block the use of phone-like tools in the school environment, blocking a form of communication the majority of school activities have defaulted to isn’t the solution.

As a writer on the staff of the Harbinger, I used to be able to send a quick text from my MacBook to a copy editor asking for an edit on my story. It’s not possible anymore.

If I need to communicate with the peers I’m working with on a project, I’ll hop on my Macbook and send a reminder to do their part.

Not. Possible. Anymore.

THE DISTRICT

has been, and is continually blocking and taking away resources for students on their devices. I understand blocking websites that allow students to use AI for their schoolwork or play games during class periods, but blocking a way for students to communicate with each other, and their parents, is too far.

Since the phone ban issued earlier this school year, my phone now lives in a phone caddy in over half of my classes. Not being able to open Messages on my computer anymore makes it impossible to communicate with people outside my classroom. If I need to text one of my parents, I have to ask my teacher as politely as possible and hope they’ll trust me that I’m actually going to text my parents and not scroll on my phone.

How else am I supposed to tell my mom a friend is taking me home from

Messages being blocked on students’ MacBooks is highly frustrating and unfair to students

STUDENT views

Students share their opinions on the ban

“I PERSONALLY USE messages not just for texting my friends, but for educational things too. I’m a part of a club at East and for setting up some of our meetings we have to text at school. It’s way more efficient than checking your email.”

While I have managed without having access to Messages on my MacBook, it hasn’t been easy. I consistently miss messages from my parents about changes to after-school plans, and hear at least one complaint a day from a friend about how they couldn’t reach me during my sixth hour.

The district should hear the complaints about this issue and understand the annoyance this has caused students, not allowing them to text people about school activities and giving no reason for doing so. Until then, I’ll just have to continue listening to murmurs from those around me about why this unreasonable decision was made.

SOPHMORE HARLOW NEWBY

“IF WE’RE GONNA put our phones away, at least give us some way of communicating with family because that’s what I mostly used messages for. Like what if there’s an emergency and I need to be able to talk with my parents? I won’t have any way to reach out to them.”

SOPHMORE

“ I UNDERSTAND WHY

SMSD would want to do that because messages can be distracting. However, if my mom or dad have an emergency and I’m not able to see what they tell me because we’re not aloud to have phones either, then that’s just not a good situation to be in. We need messages just for safety purposes”

SOPHMORE

LUKE CURE

CHLOE CALDWELL

9, 2026

COURSES,

NOT

Students should take classes that explore various interests instead of only taking ones that align with their career path

story by ELENA HULL

ENGINEERING, AP CHEMISTRY 2 and physics,” one of my classmates rambled on about their classes for next year.

“I want to take ceramics, but I have to take AP biology and anatomy,” said another, who’s aiming for a medical career.

It had only been one hour since students had received their 202627 enrollment sheets, and it was all my lunch table could talk about.

Coming from every direction, I heard talk of doubling up on sciences, the various electives my friends thought necessary for their future careers and endless grumbling about the classes they wish they could take.

Every time a classmate mentioned taking two science classes, my friends praised them. When someone mentioned a prerequisite for the CAA, they received nods of understanding from the table.

areas of study is crucial for teenagers to develop interests and discover career paths that they’re genuinely passionate about. In an Instagram poll of 245 SM East students, 82% said they feel pressured to take classes that relate to their future plans — that’s problematic.

College is the goal for the majority of SM East students, and the pressure to get into a good school puts heightened pressure on students, not only to excel in their classes, but also to carefully select their classes around what degree they want to do and eventually, the career they want to pursue.

HIGH SCHOOL IS the perfect place to explore different fields. The majority of classes cost little to no money and taking them is risk free.

Yet, every time a class that the group deemed “unserious” was mentioned, such as an art, culinary or music class, it was quickly dismissed by the group as an “easy A” or a “throwaway” class.

According to Forbes, 80% of career employees aren’t passionate about their careers, and the average American works until they are 62 years old. Do you want to spend 40 hours a week, every week, until you’re 62 working in a field you aren’t passionate about, in a job you dislike, just because you didn’t explore enough in high school? I certainly don’t.

there is mounting pressure from counselors, parents and college admissions, for us to focus on a specific career path and take as many classes as possible that align with our ambitions.

It is understandable to desire a renowned job that pays well, but it’s important to take into account that achievement and fortune alone cannot give you fulfillment, especially if it means spending every day working a dreary 9-5 you care nothing about.

Genuine passion and interest are things that can only be found through experience and exploration. Take a drawing class, take a creative writing course, take a class you wouldn’t normally think twice about because you could discover a spark of interest that you might never find in a class like AP Microeconomics.

And if students think their calling is something like biotechnology, chase that interest, but remember that just because one might think it’s their vocation doesn’t mean they’re limited to taking STEM classes. High school is one of the only times in a person’s life where they can experience as many subjects as they want, take advantage of that opportunity.

students are planning on taking next year

MAGRUDER

FRESHMAN

Woodshop &

GRAYSON

BOWLEY

FRESHMAN

It’s ridiculous to expect a 15 or 16 year-old to have any idea of what they want to do with their lives and teenagers shouldn’t be restricting themselves to only taking classes

Experimenting with different

High school is the perfect place to explore different fields. The majority of classes cost little to no money and taking them is riskfree. While it is possible to switch degrees in college, it can cost thousands of dollars and years of your life.

This is why it’s so imperative that high schoolers should feel like they have space to explore different fields of study. Instead,

If you’re a student staring down at your enrollment sheet this enrollment season wishing you could take a class besides AP Psychology or investing, I promise it’s okay to go out on a limb and select an elective that you think you may have even the slightest interest in.

*Instagram poll of 132 votes UNDERCLASSMEN: ARE YOU ONLY TAKING CLASSES TO PREPARE FOR YOUR FUTURE?

“What I’ve done so far is focused on the stuff that I have fun doing or enjoy instead of trying to take the hardest classes.”

BUILD UP TO

BEAT ROCK

SM East students spent the week of the annual rivalry game against Rockhurst High School eating Chick-Fil-A, making T-shirts and practicing in the Municipal Auditorium

ABOVE Senior Ellie Moilanen cuts vinyls in the back of the journalism room. “We still had about 200 shirts to print at this point, we overnighted vinyls from a different company to complete the orders,” Moilanen said. “I was rapidly cutting the backs to have quicker pressing time in my fourth hour and we stayed after school too.”

Thurston poses for a photo during lunch on Jan. 29. “I was feeling very embarrassed because everyone was looking at me and how big the cow was,” Thurston said.

Scan this to view and purchase more photos from the week of the Rockhurst rivalry game.

background photo by WILL GRIFFITH

design by PAIGE BEAN

SCAN ME PHOTO

photo by RJ KORDALSKI

photo by PAIGE BEAN

RIGHT Seniors Chloe Harmon and Eva Lowry wait for each other to push down the heat presses in the Student Store.

photo by SYLVIE DEGALAN

LEFT Senior Quentin Ochs looks around to take in the Municipal Auditorium as the Lancers practice there for the first time before the game.

photo by WILL GRIFFITH

ABOVE Sophomore Kruger

FEATURE

this week in PHOTOS

A look inside student life during the past two weeks

RIGHT Senior Georgia Boyd holds up papers with QR codes for the 2026 Band at the girls swim and dive meeting. Band is an app the swim & dive teams use as a calendar, along with sending out meet results and practices. photo by ADDIE

CLARK

ABOVE Senior Keagin Moshier is working on a wooden house-like structure for his woodshop project.

NEW AT EAST

FELIPE PULGARIN SENIOR

I MOVED FROM Chicago, Illinois. More specifically, a little suburb about 40 minutes away from Chicago called Brickville. WHERE DID YOU MOVE FROM?

A CRUISE TO

Learn about sophomore Mae Mitch’s cruise to Antarctica

Junior Arlo Mai cuts prints for the “Beat Rock” t-shirts. He is hard at work because the student store had to get more shirts shipped in, as so many students ordered them.

SADIE JOLICOEUR

Meet Felipe Pulargrin, a senior who transferred in early January

HOW ARE YOU LIKING SM EAST?

EAST IS GOOD. It’s huge, comparatively. I came from a district that was one high school, but we had 2,200 students. Just having the five floors and a lot of opportunities here is super cool. And all the kids are nice.

WHAT ARE YOU INVOLVED IN AT SCHOOL?

I’M IN THE band, choir, and jazz band. I’m also in the pep rallies, so I play drum set for that. And I do love taking AP classes and all that.

WE HAD THIS goal of going to all 50 states in America and we successfully completed that. Then we were like, ‘let’s go for all seven continents.’ We started that by going to Europe and then we [wanted to] knock out literally the hardest continent to go to.

photos by CHARLOTTE WALTON

ABOVE

photo by

design by SLOANE HENDERSON

photo by MOLLY MCDERMED

& SOPHIA CICERO

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Ushuaia, Argentina

Puerto Madryn, Argentina

Montevideo, Uruguay

Punto Tombo, Argentina

Paradise Bay, Antarctica

Elephant Island, Antarctica

MAE MITCH SOPHOMORE

card hustle card hustle card hustle

Sophomore Max Atlas builds an online community through selling and buying sports cards

story by ALEX HARDEN

AS SOPHMORE MAX Atlas starts up his livestream, the customers begin to flow in.

Atlas digs his hand into a pale cardboard crate on the floor, packed full of valuable sports cards. Atlas grabs a soccer trading card of rookie Cole Palmer; he puts it on his messy desk, dirtied by a multicolored arrangement of sports cards.

He shows the card to his audience.

The bids come rolling in.

$5... $10... $20... $25, sold!

He reaches down and grabs another. The cycle repeats.

This is how Atlas makes his money. Unlike a traditional job, he profits off of what he loves — sports cards.

Before selling his own sports cards, Atlas discovered his love of collecting them after being gifted $10 worth of credit for the app Whatnot — a digital marketplace where vendors sell collectibles on a livestream.

That was in December 2024. Now, just two years later, Atlas has his own collection of about 750 sports cards, 500 for sale and 250 for himself.

The first card Atlas ever bought from the platform was a near-mint Lionel Messi card for around $24, $10 of it being paid for with the credit. After that, he began to cultivate his own sports card collection.

“I got onto [Whatnot] and found something cool,” Atlas said. “And I was like, ‘Oh, wait, these are kind of

awesome. Maybe I’ll keep buying them,’ and I kept buying and buying them. It’s kind of spiraled from there.”

But, Atlas faced the headache many collectors do; his collection was growing too quickly, and he began to lack the funds to support it.

He needed to find a way to make money.

“I realized that I needed to make this sustainable to let me keep buying [trading cards], and to do that, I had to start a business somehow, so I ended up going into buying and selling cards that people want to be able to afford [trading cards] for myself,” Atlas said.

With his new plan in mind, Atlas began to sell his own cards on Whatnot in June of 2025.

blessed him with a significant increase in sales.

“Something just clicked, I don’t know,” Atlas said. “I had like three backto-back [streams] that were just great.”

Atlas attributes much of his success to the community he’s built through livestreams, with customers from previous shows returning to buy from him.

I GOT ONTO

[Whatnot] and found something cool, and I was like, ‘Oh, wait, these are kind of awesome. Maybe I’ll keep buying them,’ and I kept buying and buying them. It’s kind of spiraled from there.

MAT ATLAS SOPHOMORE

Unfortunately for Atlas, business got off on a rough start.

“[The] first couple months, I had no idea how to get an audience for this kind of stuff,” Atlas said.

To find more customers, he had to change his approach, adapting the bulk of his collection from football to soccer cards.

“When I switched to soccer, I got a foothold because I have more knowledge of soccer than football,” Atlas said.

With soccer cards, Atlas has been able to find that audience he needed to keep his collection alive, and they’ve

OVERALL STATS: OVERALL STATS:

The statistics of Max’s collection and business

- TOTAL CARDS SOLD: 750-1000 cards sold

- TOTAL NUMBER OF CARDS IN MAX’S COLLECTION:

250 cards (estimate by max)

- TOTAL FOLLOWERS ON WHATNOT*: 941

*app Max sells through

recalls a time when a vendor that Atlas had bought a card from was working near Atlas’ house, so the seller decided to stop by his home and deliver the package to his front door.

“I started kind of being consistent with when I would do [streams], when I would get stuff, and I’d have people who would come back and buy for me over and over and over again,” Atlas said.

Atlas averages around 25 constant viewers per livestream.

Atlas’ has also been able to build personal connections with his community on Whatnot.

“There are a lot of people I’ve met, either through Whatnot, or in person, that I can go back to and talk [to],” Atlas said. “I’d say I’ve made friends through Whatnot, honestly. There are people I’ll talk to on a regular basis.”

The people in his community are of all ages and come from places across the country.

“I talk to people [on Whatnot] who are in their 80s, and I’ve talked to people who are like 6,” Atlas said.

Still, many people in his community are locals to the Kansas City area. Atlas

But not everyone who knows about Atlas’ collection is from Whatnot. Atlas’ friend freshman Landon Ferrel gifted Atlas a Duván Zapata autographed soccer card before Atlas began his collecting journey.

“I gave [Atlas] a card over a year ago, [and] we’ve been collecting our favorite players since then,” Ferrel said.

Similar to Atlas, Ferrel buys and sells cards on Whatnot. He has been able to build up a community online, just like Atlas has.

Although both Atlas and Ferrel buy and sell on Whatnot, Atlas will also go to in-person events in the area. The most recent event was a trading card show at the Pavilion at John Knox Village in Lee’s Summit. Atlas came back with a haul of 20 new cards.

Even though Atlas is planning to use the money from his business to buy his first car, the profits aren’t his favorite part about collecting. It’s when he gets his hands on something he’s been looking to obtain for a long time.

Atlas currently has his eyes on a new Messi autographed card that will run him around $600.

And to earn it he won’t begrudgingly

- TOTAL VALUE OF CARDS COLLECTION: $1500-$1750

- TOTAL SALES: 368 cards

- HIGHEST VALUED CARD (AS OF FEB. 2): $150

RUNNING ON

Gifted students struggle with burnout due to increased expectations

story by LUCIANA MENDY

YOU SHOULD HAVE an A in this class.”

“Shouldn’t you know how to solve that?”

While these comments seem insignificant with gifted kids being expected to “know everything,” they add up, creating a restrictive environment with no room for error.

Junior Mira McInnes was declared gifted in second grade. At the time, she blew through the Harry Potter series and tackled books like Malala Yousafzai’s memoir easily — her parents got a concerned call home for that one.

GIFT ED

Someone who demonstrates outstanding levels of aptitude or competence in one or more domains

But her reading in elementary school didn’t magically allow her to understand ionic compounds in Honors Chemistry or advanced trigonometry in precalculus. So, McInnes has gotten used to the typical comments from family and friends when she struggled as school progressed.

“I felt like I was doing great in everything,” McInnes said. “I think, throughout middle and high school, I started to feel the pressure of like, ‘oh, because you’re good at this one thing from a young age, then you shouldn’t struggle in anything academically, even as you get older.’”

SIGNS OF

The weight of people’s perceptions of giftedness led McInnes to experience burnout starting in middle school and intensifying as she progressed through high school.

Burnout is relatively common among gifted students, with at least one in six experiencing it, according to psychologist Matt Zakreski, leading to loss of motivation, underperformance and anxiety.

Gifted burnout differs from “regular” burnout because gifted students tend to believe their self-worth is tied to their achievements, according to gifted facilitators Lauren Campbell and Mary Holsworth. Both teachers provide specific counseling to gifted students and Holsworth also teaches the SM East gifted program: Student Exploring and Extending Knowledge.

“It’s not always based on ‘I’m just stressed,’” Campbell said. “I think parents, teachers and students themselves have this myth of what a ‘gifted’ student looks like, and everybody kind of is expected to hold up to that model. So if a student struggles with a course [...] it’s like you are failing your whole self.”

According to Campbell and Holsworth, gifted burnout typically stems from perfectionism. This perfectionism can manifest in different ways, whether it’s a student who can’t start projects because they won’t meet their own expectations, or a student taking on too many tasks.

“People will not recognize it, because burnout can look like a straight-A student

BURNOUT

Symptoms that gifted kids have when experiencing burnout lack of motivation towards activities

Obsessive thought patterns, such as extreme distress over low grades or incorrect answers

Increased irritability with schoolwork

EMPTY EMPTY

involved in three sports, the head of four clubs, and they work full-time on the side,” Campbell said. “They’re like, ‘Oh, they’re so good. This is a perfect student,’ but internally, [the student] is up against the wall.”

Senior Lila Rollins was also declared gifted at a young age and has struggled with perfectionist tendencies at times — never feeling that her work is enough.

“I tend to set really high expectations for myself,” Rollins said. “Because, yeah, the whole gifted thing is [that] I know that I’m capable of it, and I’m just not able to get to that point where you’re satisfied with what you’re making and what you’re doing.”

Holsworth and Campbell have noticed that most gifted students are good at hiding their burnout and avoiding admitting when they are overwhelmed, but sometimes it’s noticeable. Whether it’s consistent late assignments,

Holsworth seeing students looking exhausted at only noon or just a look on their face where it’s clear something is wrong.

Campbell says that once burnout is identified, the best way to address it is to address perfectionism.

“You really have to work with students to help them realize that it’s okay to make a mistake and reward their effort, rather than just the outcome of the thing,” Holsworth said.

Holsworth also advises that students who are experiencing burnout should find creative outlets and downtime to recharge. Rollins watches TV shows that she can “zone out” to and McInnes enjoys getting lost in baking when dealing with too many expectations.

They have also adapted their workload more this year, with McInnes using a tutor for her math classes and Rollins having limited the number of AP classes she’s taking.

Dealing with burnout isn’t a simple process. It doesn’t have steps to check off or a clear goal to meet, but it can be managed through strong support systems and taking a step back to see what really matters, according to McInnes.

“It’s okay to admit to yourself and your friends that you’re not going to be good at everything and not getting something right away doesn’t mean you’re not gifted, or you can’t ever be good at it, because no one is ever going to be perfect, no matter how gifted you are,” McInnes said.

KNOW THE

*information from WebMD

Signs that a drink has been spiked and physical signs that you have been roofied

Fextra fizziness or foam looks cloudy looks blue

Residue from undissolved drugs

STAY

nausea/vomiting extreme drowsiness headache dizziness loss of coordination panic/hallucinations

loss of muscle control impaired breathing/speech

How to proactively protect yourself from roofies and what to do if you believe you’ve been roofied

*information from Cleveland Clinic

*information from Confidential Recovery

salty or bitter taste take drink with you everywhere call emergency services

drink water seek medical attention

consider having a sexual assault forensic exam stay in the same location record evidence

RESH OUT OF sorority recruitment, University of Kansas freshman *Molly Smith was attending her first college party, a jersey-themed event hosted by the Delta Tau Delta fraternity.

As Smith’s first night out at KU, she made a point to follow all the safety precautions she had set for herself:

She would watch her drink being poured.

She would stay with her group of close friends.

She wouldn’t get blackout drunk.

*Names changed to protect identity keep phone fully charged pour and buy your own drinks stay with friends cover your drink

The next day, Smith woke up at 2 p.m. feeling hungover after only a seltzer and two glasses of wine. She doesn’t know how dozens of videos of her at the party seemingly appeared in her Snapchat memories. She doesn’t remember walking home with a group of friends, or even going to bed. Smith was perplexed by her extreme hangover despite feeling safe the night before.

The next day, unexplained synthetic drugs were found in her system.

Now-sophomore Smith warns that roofieing, or the act of drugging someone’s drink without their knowledge, is a common issue among college students that high schoolers should be cautious of at college bars and parties.

1/13 COLLEGE STUDENTS

Have been drugged without their knowledge

According to Florida House Experience, a mental health and substance abuse treatment center, one in 13 college students has been drugged without their knowledge. Additionally, Alcohol.org reports that 19% of roofies happen to high school students.

Roofies — also called date rape drugs — can also create a space for perpetrators to seek out vulnerable individuals, according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse. The altered mindset allows people who have been roofied to be more susceptible to sexual abuse.

The party Smith attended felt “classy” — they were serving wine. Sealed plastic containers were being poured into people’s mouths or cups, and as a self-proclaimed wine person, Smith couldn’t help but pour another.

The

“drunkness” she’d never been

“I just have never been Smith said.

19 % OF ROOFIES

Happen to high school students

Smith never drank much her high school health class her first night out as a college to convince herself that her to justify her memory loss and Still, her blackout seemed There was no way three drinks nearly everything from the She couldn’t have been

rest of Smith’s remembers almost nothing.

design by LIBBY MARSH

photos by PAIGE BEAN

story by LUCY STEPHENS

FROM AWARENESS

High school and college students should be aware of the harm caused by roofies, as this is a prevalent issue on college campuses

night is blank. She She entered a state of been in before.

been that out of it, ever ,”

much before college, and class didn’t prepare her for college student. She tried tolerance must be low and extreme hangover. seemed disproportionate. drinks made her forget night.

been drugged, right ? The

“I was too naive to think that people could syringe roofie into a college girl’s drink,” Smith said.

After feeling nauseous and dizzy the day after the party, Smith called her mother, who took her to the Children’s Mercy emergency room, where the drugs were found in her system.

The wine served at the party was laced.

Smith said she doesn’t know exactly what drugs she ingested. She doesn’t smoke or vape or do “any of those things.”

If someone has been roofied, confirmation comes through blood tests, which is how Smith found out. But Youth Program Specialist at Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault Maddie Bell said people who know their bodies’ tolerance can confirm roofies based on how much they drank that night.

were also stationed along the freshman dorms because of the mass drugging.

Nearly a year and a half after filing the police report, Smith still hasn’t received any followup. According to Lawrence police records, from January to September 2025, the unresolved case rate was 53.6%.

When dealing with a roofie situation, the police will talk with the victim, the people they were with, bartenders or anyone who might have relevant information, according to SM East student resource officer Spencer Patrick.

arrests and eight sex offenses or rape arrests.

While sexual assault may be the intention behind some roofies, these drugs can also be slipped into the wrong person’s cup to take advantage of someone else. That’s why Patrick advises to never drink from an open can.

SM East senior *Tommy Dunn agrees. He wasn’t the intended target of a roofie. But when he was at a small house party with his girlfriend, senior *Abby Jones, Dunn set his beer down and mistakenly grabbed a different open beer can, downing the remaining alcohol.

In a situation like this the best thing someone can do is trust their own body to confirm if they’ve been

“It’s talked about in the sense of risk reduction, of placing more of the blame on the victim instead of the person who’s meaning to cause harm,” Bell said. “A lot of victim blaming comes from, ‘How much were you drinking?’”

[ROOFIES ARE] talked about in the sense of risk reduction, of placing more of the blame on the victim instead of the person who’s meaning to cause harm. A lot of victim blaming comes from, ‘How much were you drinking?’

MADDIE BELL MOCSA

SM East Alumni Connor Bykowski and Elise Madden work in Lawrence bars and say it’s hard to differentiate whether someone is really drunk

The line between being blackout drunk and actually roofied is something that can keep from speaking up, according to Bell.

Smith, however, filed a police report at the emergency room after a confirmed roofie. And she wasn’t the only one. Fifty other KU students had filed similar reports regarding the previous night by the time she called.

Smith’s friends told her there was police activity on her dorm floor for girls who attended the party. Multiple ambulances

But most of the time, if someone is roofied in a bar, bartenders and bouncers won’t have much information, according to Bykowski, who works as a bouncer. It’s nearly impossible for workers to watch every drink to prevent someone from spiking it while also checking IDs and controlling crowds.

To stay safe, Madden, a bartender, makes it a point to toss any drink that has been left out. If anyone is nervous about their drink being spiked at Bullwinkle’s bar in Lawrence, she would rather make them a new drink than risk it.

Despite these efforts to reduce harm, nothing can stop a person with malicious intentions from drugging someone, Bell said. The ultimate goal of these drugs is to incapacitate a person so someone can take advantage of their consent and their body.

Part of the bouncer training, Bykowski says, includes dealing with potential sexual harassment that can come after someone is roofied. In such a case, bouncers will respond to the situation immediately.

After blacking out and suspecting being roofied, sometimes victims will go through a Sexual Assault Nurse Exam to see if any DNA is left over from the assailant. These exams can yield few results because most date rape drugs leave the system within hours, according to Bell.

“We knew that some of the guys there were drug dealers,” Jones said. “But neither of us do any of that, so we weren’t concerned.”

Fifteen minutes later, Dunn started violently throwing up blood, and Jones knew it wasn’t an alcohol tolerance issue.

“I’ve seen him drink a full bottle of vodka and be fine,” Jones said. “So the fact he was even yakking was kind of confusing.”

After a frantic call, Dunn’s dad picked the two up and took them to urgent care. Dunn couldn’t even open his eyes.

When Jones opened Dunn’s eyes to see pinpoint pupils, a telltale sign of overdose, she decided to stop at her house to administer two doses of Narcan, which made him perk up.

Though Dunn was acting extremely loopy at the hospital, he was able to talk. After several hours and many tests, he was declared stable and went home.

A PART OF community is caring and looking out for each other, so watch out for your friends.

Watch out for people you don’t know, too. If there’s another girl or someone who looks like they might be in trouble, offer them a hand, but do it in a way that you can stay safe.

MADDIE BELL MOCSA

And the roofie problem isn’t limited to college campuses. Patrick has been on call for roofie investigations from the day after an incident occurs. In 2024, the Prairie Village police department had 188 drug and alcohol-related

Even with risk reducers, the predominant issue of roofieing lurks among college campuses, including KU. In a Harbinger Instagram poll of 188 people, 15% have been roofied before.

While Bell says the victim can’t truly prevent roofies, she recommends always watching drinks and never drinking from an open can. Additionally, she advises going out with a charged phone, setting firm boundaries and having a designated driver.

“A part of community is caring and looking out for each other, so watch out for your friends,” Bell said. “Watch out for people you don’t know, too. If there’s another girl or someone who looks like they might be in trouble, offer them a hand, but do it in a way that you can stay safe.”

Top Tricks

SHOULDER STAND

Z-SIT SPLIT

ELIZA Ritter ELIZA Ritter

KNEE HOOK LUNGE

“HOW DID YOU FIRST GET INTO AERIAL ARTS?”

I went to the circus performance at the Children’s Museum in St. Louis eight or nine years ago and I thought that it looked fun, so I asked my mom to sign me up. I also remember seeing Zendaya in “The Greatest Showman,” which I thought was cool and I just wanted to be like her. [In the beginning], it was chill, but also hard. I stuck with it because I wanted to move up and become a coach. It became more than a hobby when I made friends — I actually enjoyed being there [with them] and didn’t dread going.

“HOW HAS AERIAL ARTS SHAPED WHO YOU ARE TODAY?”

It’s made me more understanding of people with all of the relationships I’ve built there. It’s just changed me and made me a lot stronger. It’s taught me that even if you aren’t having fun, you shouldn’t quit. [Outside of the studio, aerial arts influenced me to be nicer and more outgoing. That’s how I made a lot of my friends, just being nice to people.

“WHAT DO YOU WISH MORE PEOPLE UNDERSTOOD ABOUT AERIAL ARTS?”

It’s not just flinging around on ribbons. There’s a lot of strength involved with lots of different apparatuses and things to do on [each one]. It’s not like Cirque du Soleil either, what we do at least. People don’t always realize that it’s very more strength-based. A lot goes into each performance every week, with multiple rehearsals. Once it gets closer to the week [of the performance], you’re there every day for like, five hours, and it’s very meticulous.

Freshman Eliza Ritter practices aerial arts in her free time

design by MADDIE GLASIER

Some of Eliza’s favorite aerial arts poses on silks

WFITZPATRICK

AN A T I O N A L SUC C E S S

Senior Eli Moon has been accepted to the Honor Band of America, a lifelong dream of his

ALKING INTO ROOM

214, senior Eli Moon was ready to ask his band director Alex Toepfer a question when he noticed an email on his phone.

He read the subject line and was immediately shocked.

He clicked with shaky hands and immediately started texting all his friends and family.

The email he had received was an acceptance email to the Honor Band of America, a national ensemble band.

The Honor Band of America is a nationwide band for students based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The program gives students the opportunity to work with distinguished conductors and world renowned guest artists.

“One of the nation’s finest student concert honor bands,” According to the Honor Band of America website.

Moon now not only holds the honor of accomplishing his dream, but also the feeling to uplift SM East’s reputation at the Honor Band of America; for the first time in 10 years, a student from SM East had the chance to play in the Honor Band of America.

“We had a student that made the national band about 10 years ago, and you know I’ve had a lot of really good students but I felt like Moon had the best chance to make it,” Toepfer says.

To audition for the band, Moon had to learn two pieces of music: one fast and technical and one slow and expressive. Toepfer gave Moon some of the music he had used while studying

at the University of Missouri–Kansas City for Moon to use in the audition.

Moon used the pieces Muczynski Sonata by Robers Muczynski for the slow, methodical music, and Brionce by Ida Gotkovsky for his faster piece.

Moon submitted the tape of him playing in late October and waited. After waiting for around 2 months to see if he had been accepted, in late December he received an email saying he had been waitlisted.

Moon had been let down and he was disappointed, Moon’s first thoughts were to share with his friends and family. He felt like this opportunity wouldn’t be fulfilled and for him to not be a part of something that he had strived for was disappointing for him.

But he had already felt this before.

Moon isn’t new to band auditions at all, as he has been on All-State, (an ensemble band students across the state) for the past three years. Moon’s first time auditioning to a competitive band was in his freshman year when he auditioned for District Band.

After Moon auditioned in freshman year, he was rejected from District Band. He auditioned for All-State the next year as a sophomore, and to his surprise, he was accepted.

Now, Moon doesn’t shy away from band opportunities and is always open to trying new band-related things. Moon is very interested in all things music such as learning a new instrument and teaching himself new skills and every one in a while a new instrument.

“He picks up any instrument he can get his hands on to play,” his mom, Shanda Moon says.

Moon has since continued to partake in the all-state band as an upperclassman. Both his junior and senior year Moon has been first chair in the saxophone section. This led Toepfer to encourage him to audition for the Honor Band of America.

“Since he was

coming up on his third year making it to All-State potentially and had made first chair the previous year I thought he had a good chance to make it to the Honor band of America,” Toepfer said.

Moon has support coming in from all around, like his mom who has always told him to play music, his brother who also excels in music and was previously a part of SM East’s band. 23 His instructors who have given him praise, such as calling him one of the greatest students they’ve ever taught.

“By far, he’s one of the best students that I have and he’s one of the most malleable students that I have

ELI’S INSTRUMENTS

Instruments Eli Moon can play

story by ROWAN MCGILL

design by JACK

photos by SYLVIE DEGALAN & DARCY KROENING

A&E

local spotlight

story by SOPHIA BROCKMEIER

IT’S A WEDNESDAY afternoon, and I inevitably find myself trekking to my 5th hour AP Statistics class with a seemingly 500-pound backpack and even more homework to complete that night. Things truly couldn’t get more bleak. That is, until I see the gleaming sign of Columbia Brew, and the irresistible promise of a new Valentine’s Day menu.

So to cure my 5th hour slump, I stopped by the coffee shop to try out three drinks: the Love Potion, Be My Honey and Cherry Crush. Each beverage brought a new take on traditional coffee shop offerings and motivated me through my mundane school day.

The first drink I tried was the Love Potion. The chalkboard menu described the drink as a lemonade base with mango and dragonfruit syrup and pink glitter sprinkled on top. I practically channeled my inner Glinda and glimmered with sparkles as I walked into my class with the drink in hand.

Columbia Brew’s Valentine’s day menu brings a new take on traditional coffee shop drinks

The lemonade base of the Love Potion made the drink a refreshing start to the day, and the syrups added a pleasant, sweet tinge that counterbalanced the lemon’s sourness. And, to top it off, each drink came with a plastic straw shaped like a heart. What’s more Valentine’s Day than that?

Next, I proudly ordered the Be My Honey chai. The drink came with vanilla and honey syrup along with cold foam, making my Starbucks dreams come true. By far, my favorite part of indulging in the seasonal Starbucks chai is the pumpkin spice cold foam, and having an option similar to this right within the borders of 7500 Mission Road is perfect

Although the syrups collected at the bottom of the drink when I was only halfway done, that’s only to be expected of any beverage with syrup, and I didn’t let it ruin the carefully curated pumpkin spice flavor that I’ve come to love in chai.

Finally, I added the Cherry Crush lemonade to my order as the

strawberry popping boba caught my attention on the menu. The only way to describe this beverage is lemonade with an unexpected twist. I had too much fun eating the boba during class and savoring the cherry syrup in the drink that tasted like maraschino cherries.

And although I’m not a coffee person, if the coffee-based drinks were anything like these refreshers, I would easily recommend them. So, for a grand total of $9.50, or an average of $3.20 each, these Valentine’s Day beverages are a must-have for any Lancer.

photos by GRAHAM GEHEB

Luther Abracadabra Lady Gaga

BAILE INoLVIDABLE

KCOOKIES

immediately grabbed my attention — I had to try.

WHEN SOMEONE TELLS you about a cookie shop that sells cookies the size of your hand, it’s hard not to be curious.

Sitting in Algebra 1, struggling to stay awake through my teacher’s lecture on quadratic formulas, my friend slid her phone across the desk toward me. A massive cookie on the screen

The shop, KCookie, opened in Olathe in 2023 and has since expanded to another location in Overland Park. The store is known for its thick, homemadelike cookies — the kind you’d see in your grandma’s kitchen — but bigger and better.

Last weekend, I made the roughly 30-minute drive to see if these cookies

DOUBLE DOODLE SNICKERDOODLE

AS I CHOSE my final cookie, I couldn’t help but to choose The Double Doodle Snickerdoodle. Its name itself immediately hooked me due to its playful rhyme and interesting take on a snickerdoodle cookie.

The cookie had a generous coating of cinnamon and sugar. This added a delightful taste to the sweet, gooey center of the cookie, creating a soft, satisfying contrast in texture.

Usually, I’m not a huge fan of snickerdoodle — as I felt it’s always too sweet or not sweet enough. Instead, KCookies version of a snickerdoodle was outstanding. Flavorwise, the cinnamon was well-balanced without overpowering the sweetness of the cookie.

Of the three, the Double Doodle Snickerdoodle stood out as my favorite. It had the perfect balance of flavor and texture, with a soft cinnamonspiced center that made the entire cookie tasty.

OUTRO:

AS I PULLED out of the KCookie parking lot, I felt satisfied and happy with my visit. The cookies were easy to enjoy as well as a fun experience to get to have.

That being said, I thought $5.25 per

SCAN ME WEBSITE

Check out KCookies website to view their menu, catering options and online ordering.

KCookies delivers more than your average cookie, and knock other cookies stores out of the park

lived up to their reputation, eager to see what made KCookie different from any other cookie store.

Walking into KCookie, the shop’s simple yet playful atmosphere stood out. A long display case stretches along the wall with 8 rotating weekly cookie flavors, as well as a gluten-free chocolate chip cookie option, making the menu inclusive and enjoyable for all guests.

In the corner of the store, you could

see a bright pink photo backdrop that adds a fun element to the store — perfect for snapping pictures with your treats.

Out of their eight cookies listed, I decided to try three: Funfetti, Poppy Chow and Double Doodle Snickerdoodle.

With each one looking yummy and irresistible, I was looking forward to seeing how their flavors and textures would compare.

FUNFETTI POPPY CHOW

AS I WAS admiring all eight of the cookies in the display case, the Funfetti cookie quickly became the standout with its vibrant, rainbow sprinkles and fluffy, airy white icing.

AS I WAS looking at the name of this cookie I was a bit confused on why “Poppy” was spelled with an “O” instead of a “U”, since traditionally, it would be spelled puppy chow.

The cookie even had “Puppy Chow” bits on top, increasing my curiosity of its name even more. After looking on their website to see why they could’ve possibly named the cookie “Poppy Chow”, I was yet to find the answer.

Underneath the decorative toppings, the cookie itself was a nice tan color with golden brown edges. The cookie also stood at a roughly whopping two and a half inches tall which very much impressed me, as normal cookies usually lay flat or are less than a half of an inch tall.

Right as my teeth sunk into the cookie, I felt it was impressively thick and chewy, with the crisp edges giving it a satisfying texture.

That being said, I would have preferred a large, thinner cookie rather than a thick one. Although I understand some people might love a heavy cookie — for me personally, I found them to be extremely filling after only a few bites.

The vanilla flavor was sweet and simple — a little subtle. I would have preferred the flavor to be stronger, but the icing enhanced the cookie, making it even sweeter.

While the Funfetti wasn’t my favorite of the three — as I would have rather just ate a funfetti cake mix, it was still a solid, delicious cookie.

The Poppy Chow cookie itself was golden brown, like the others, and topped with a dusting of powdered sugar, a drizzle of hot fudge and crunchy pieces of puppy chow. I thought the presentation of this cookie was extremely impressive with the choice of toppings, as it made me even more excited to taste it.

The cookie had a noticeable peanut butter flavor — a little strong for my taste. I wished there was a bit more chocolate to balance it out, but it was still enjoyable. The cookie itself was the exact same as the Funfetti. It was thick, chewy and satisfying, making each bite indulgent.

cookie was a little much. I think they should bring their prices down, as it would make it more affordable and accessible for more customers.

The distance was also a bit of a

drawback. At roughly 25 minutes from SM East, it made me wish the store were closer, as it would make it more convenient and accessible for the SM East community.

That being said, I loved how the cookies tasted homemade and special, as if they were fresh out of the oven. Unlike any other grocery store cookie, KCookie stood out with its fun and delectable flavors.

design by KATIE COOK

photos by VIVIEN GLENSKI

story by SIENNA WILLIAMS

FEBRUARY 9, 2026

NEW SINGLES, SAME CHARM

story by SOPHIA BROCKMEIER

THERE ARE TWO songs you’re bound to find me listening to nonstop while studying, hanging out with friends or, really, any other occasion in which a JBL speaker or AirPods are present: “Aperture” by Harry Styles and “The Great Divide” by Noah Kahan.

Harry Styles’ and Noah Kahan’s recently released singles promise irresistible albums in the spring

Yes, I’m a folk music junkie who loves quiet — and sometimes sad — songs. Yet, anyone with an ear for music (or frankly, anyone with an ear at all) will be quick to add these two singles to their playlist.

Released on Jan. 23 and Jan. 30, Styles and Kahan’s new singles each bring refreshingly new tracks with a twinge of their usual charm. And, the best part? They both announced new album releases in the spring.

Harry Styles - “Aperture”

“Aperture” was a new twist on Styles’ traditional style of songwriting, including his introduction that continued throughout the single

LET’S JUST SAY that Styles is so back.

If you’ve been feeling like something is missing from your daily music rotation, it’s probably because the last Styles album dropped in 2022. It’s been four hard, long years without new music from Styles, but he graced us with his release of “Aperture.”

And it was so worth the wait. I was surprised by the beginning of the song when Styles chose to include a 45-second instrumental intro. Then, he chose to add the consistent, pounding rhythm of a

bass drum through the five-minute song. It reminded me of a house music beat — something that I hadn’t previously heard in his music.

In an interview with Capital Breakfast, Styles said that the feeling of “going out” was a major influence in the songwriting, nodding to the fact that he might be experimenting with his sound to avoid fading away from the music industry after his absence.

While I enjoyed the laid-back intro for

about the first 15 seconds, I soon started to get a slight headache from the backand-forth beat. However, Styles must have anticipated my complaints, because just as the headache began to form, he added three more instruments and counter melodies, which added more depth. As each new sound, like techno beats and soft bass drums, was added I started to enjoy “Aperture” even more.

After the intro had ended, Styles maintained the same rhythm to tie

Noah Kahan - “The Great Divide”

EVERYBODY HAS A go-to artist. One that, no matter what, you can click play on their Spotify and know you’re going to like their music. For me, it’s been Noah Kahan. Yes, I’ve been a fan for over five years, and also yes, I was in the top 1% of Kahan’s global listeners this year.

I knew that Kahan was planning on releasing a new single and album, because of his secret TikTok teases of his song and exclusive concert performances, but it didn’t stop me from incessantly talking to my family and friends about his latest single, “The Great Divide,” when he announced the release.

My worst fear for “The Great Divide” was that it would sound exactly like Kahan’s

other work, namely his popular “Stick Season” song and album. However, within the first 30 seconds of the single, I was no longer concerned about the similarity, because not only did the underlying beat of the song keep me grounded, but Kahan’s voice is more mature and has a different tone than in past songs.

Although Kahan’s tone was different, it didn’t diminish his classic scream-inyour-car euphoria I always experience when listening to his music.

And, Kahan didn’t come short when writing the chorus of “The Great Divide” — after all, it’s been echoing in my mind for the past two weeks since my first listen. Kahan belts from the bottom of his throat,

the song together. This formed a beat so clear that any amateur dancer, such as myself, could have had a kitchen dance party, spatula microphone in hand.

I expect nothing less than spectacular for Styles’s March 6 release of “Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally,” and I’ll be blasting the album on my JBL speaker, with “Aperture” on the top of my list.

Kahan delivers an original, narrative-like single coupled with a nostalgic lyric video

“I hope you settle down, I hope you marry rich / I hope you’re scared of only ordinary s***.” This lyric comes in the middle of Kahan’s narrative-like storytelling of an old friendship that he no longer holds.

Listeners have the opportunity to learn about Kahan’s friendship and how he wishes that his ex-friend only has to worry about things such as “ghosts” rather than deeper, more personal matters. I was able to pick up on these deeper matters and identify them as spiritual worries, as Kahan ends the song with “I hope you threw a brick right into that stained glass” — symbolic of fracturing the pressure of religion.

As if the powerful lyrics weren’t already

Styles and Kahan share about their inspiration for their

enough, Kahan graced us with “The Great Divide” lyric video. Released on Jan. 29, the video added a nostalgic sensation that only enhanced the already impeccable songwriting. I was entranced by the scrapbook style of different montages of Kahan, along with vintage footage that looked like it could have been taken by a 17-year-old Kahan in his Vermont hometown. The family video feeling added to Kahan’s narrative of losing an old, childhood friendship.

With just 74 days (who’s counting?) until the release of Kahan’s full album, I’ll be talking about “The Great Divide” right up until April 24. And there’s nothing else I’d rather be doing.

“The songs are the words I would say if I could. They are the fears I dance with in the moments before I drift off to sleep. The music here is my best attempt to delve deeper into the people, places, and feelings that have made me who I am.”

design by MEREDITH WACHA art by MOLLY SCOTT

Asa

FEBRUARY 9, 2026

BEYOND violence

East Against Gun Violence and Art club collaborated with Grandparents for Gun Safety and Visioning Beyond Violence to make abstract art pieces to join into quilts to help promote gun violence

Ezra

and other

members work on their typography, painting and sketching. The final quilt will be finished on Feb. 19 when the group meets again to put all their pages together.

“We put our heads together as a group and get to impact our community and spread awareness,” Racine said.

the background for her quilt square. “This project has helped my application for sure, but I’m just glad we’ve been able to raise awareness for so many people,” King said.

RIGHT Senior Natalie Jones washes off her paint palette after the meeting, cleaning up for the art students the next day.

ABOVE In the art room, the cabinets are filled with all the colors of the rainbow to help club members translate their ideas to the art pieces.

RIGHT Junior

Racine, senior

Pastine

club

LEFT Grandparents for Gun Safety leader Judy Sherry talks with senior Eliza King about her college life while she paints

ABOVE Senior Charlie Hoskins paints a peace sign to represent his ideal version of life without gun aggression, fitting the Beyond Violence theme of “vision beyond violence.”

To view more photos of this quilt-making event, scan this QR code SCAN ME PHOTO

SPORTS

GIRLS

ATHLETE SHARES

Senior swimmer and diver Grant Kimmel reflects on his Jan. 20 meet against Blue Valley North

GAME RECAP

THE SM EAST Lancers won the opening tipoff versus the Rockhurst Hawklets, getting the ball to senior Stephen Hlobik, then finding senior Paxton Ochs who scored the game’s opening basket less than five seconds into the game. The Hawklets came from the opposite side of the court and missed their first shot, and on the Lancers’ next possession, found junior Brooks Dillion on the wing. Dillon scored his first three-point shot of the quarter, giving the Lancers a lead of 5-0. The game was played at Municipal Auditorium for the first time in the history of the State Line Showdown, marking the first time the matchup had been hosted at a venue other than SM East or Rockhurst High School, on Friday, Jan. 30. The teams continued to trade baskets in the first quarter, with Dillion connecting on another three-pointer from the corner

GRANT KIMMEL SENIOR

THIS

IS THE first time we beat Blue Valley North in like four years, so I was really proud of the team. We’ve been working really hard and we have a good shot at state, so we’re hoping for the best.

BOYS VARSITY BASKETBALL VS. ROCKHURST ON JAN. 30

towards the end of the quarter.

Both teams slowed down in the second quarter, with the Hawklets outscoring the Lancers 8-5 despite the scoring dip. The Lancers saw the end of senior starter Vince Kopp’s return off the bench after missing the last three games due to an ankle injury. The Lancers trailed leading into halftime 25-22.

At halftime, the Lancer Dancers debuted their hip-hop performance routine, and the cheer team also performed, with senior Jack Reeves Shrine Bowl nomination being recognized at center court at the end of the half.

Hlobik led the Lancers in the third quarter, scoring seven of his 12 points in the game. Hlobik’s scoring helped SM East score 17 points in the quarter, matching Rockhurst as the teams remained within three points of each other heading into the fourth quarter. Rockhurst held a 42–39 lead at the end of the third quarter.

Between the third and fourth quarters, SM East was announced as the winner of the Chick-fil-A Coaches vs. Cancer Challenge. Both schools raised money in honor of Lindsay Zubeck, the mother of sophomore varsity basketball player Canon Zubeck.

The fourth quarter remained close between the two teams, with the lead changing multiple times. Senior and forward Quentin Ochs gave the Lancers the lead in the late fourth quarter, driving to the basket, finishing through contact to tie the game and earning an opportunity at the free throw line to put the Lancers up one point with 3:40 left on the clock, but missed the free throw. The Hawklets responded by taking the ball back to the other end and regaining the lead, which they kept for the rest of the game.

The Lancers fell to the Hawklets, 56-51.

design by MADDIE GLASIER

ABOVE Senior Pep Execs shout after a foul is called on senior Quentin Ochs with less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter, and the Lancers trailing 54-51. photo by FRANCESCA LORUSSO

ABOVE Junior Aadi Malhotra swims the breaststroke portion of the Men’s 200-Yard Individual Medley. Malhotra placed fourth overall with a time of 2.26.76 and gained five points for SM East. photo by MOLLY SCOTT

ABOVE Freshman Cally Lynn attempts a shot on the low-block after catching the ball from a guard at the left-wing. photo by SOPHIA CICERO

BELOW Freshman Austin Durbin swims backstroke and places second in the 200-yard individual medley. photo by LIV RUECKER

BASKETBALL BOYS SWIM

BELOW Senior Grant Kimmel swims the 50-yard freestyle in the second leg of the 200-yard medley relay after junior Cole Person, and before seniors Sawyer Chapman and Barrett Tegtmeier. photo by CHAROLOTTE WALTON

story by WILL GRIFFITH

HISTORY

The original Olympics started in ancient Greece at Olympia. Pierrer de Coubertin revived the Olympics in Athens in 1896.

The Olympics now focus on international competition and sportsmanship.

SKI MOUNTAINEERING WHERE TO WATCH IN KC

Ski mountaineering, often called Skimo is the newest sport debuting at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Skimo athletes climb uphill using special skis, then boot-pack uphill with the skis on their backs and, finally, race down on skis.

1. No Other Pub by Sporting KC -Large video wall with many TVs

2. The Blue Line Hockey Bar -Hockey-centered bar and energetic crowd

3. The Quaff Sports Bar and Grill -Lively sports atmosphere

*Information according to olympics.com

DISSECTING WINTER OLYMPICS OLYMPICS

An overview of the 2026 Winter Olympics

design by EVELYN BAGLEY

photo by VIVIEN GLENSKI

SPOT THE FOUL

Assign the player a foul based on each photo

GAME

story by SLOANE HENDERSON

SOCIAL STUDIES

TEACHER Steve Klein was carefully studying his son, then-junior Jaxon’s, jumpshot at the local gym.

The jumpshot was always one of Jaxon’s weaknesses. But, after spending countless hours at the gym with Steve rebounding, offering tips and playing the occasional one-on-one, Jaxon was only getting better

When he was preparing to play for BV Northwest in the 2023 state championship, all those hours paid off.

The Huskies were officially the 2023 class 6A Kansas State Champions after winning 55-50 against the Wichita Heights Falcons. But, even though it was Jaxon’s win, it felt like they were both on the court, winning.

“He took [making me the best player possible] as a responsibility of him coaching me,” Jaxon said. “So when I was a part of a team that won a state championship, he really thought that was cool and that was a cool moment for not only me, but for him too.”

From playing as a little kid to coaching his son and refereeing, basketball has always been a part of Steve’s life, no matter the setback.

Senior year of high school, Steve was on the sidelines in a cast watching tryouts after breaking his ankle. So, he assistant-coached another high school team his senior year of high school.

After a period of not playing or coaching during college, he started refereeing again as a side job, until he stopped to spend more time with Jaxon. Wanting to get back into the sport he loved, he started coaching Jaxon’s secondgrade team and didn’t stop until

the summer of 2023.

Now, Steve spends up to three nights a week at various middle schools and high schools 45 minutes away, refereeing. Refereeing has always been Steve’s preference over coaching, and playing became out of the question after breaking his ankle two more times.

“I still love competing,” Steve said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s basketball or trivia. I just love to compete, always have, and I love [basketball].”

Even now, students in his sixth and seventh hours know he might leave class a few minutes early to make it to a certain school on time to referee.

With teaching freshmen in World Regional Studies and juniors in IB History of the Americas, many basketball players fill his desks, making it an easy way for Steve to connect with his students while teaching.

His classes are often accompanied by questions like “Oh, how’d you guys do against them,” or “When do you play them?” Especially after he refereed a team that SM East is scheduled to play soon.

Junior Coco Reiser, a girls varsity basketball player and student in Steve’s IB History of the Americas, is used to him leaving class early. Basketball has become a routine topic of conversation between them

Social studies teacher Steve Klein’s love for basketball has kept him involved in the game his whole life

after Coco and her friends first learned of Steve’s side hobby. When Steve asks Coco about her basketball season, she says it feels like he really cares.

“He’s always been good about asking me about my games, what my next game is, who we’re playing, how my game went,” Reiser said. “It definitely makes you have more connection. I feel like if I can talk to my teacher about my life outside of school, it’s so much easier to talk about stuff in the classroom and have that sense of communication.”

Though Steve will never be able to referee one of Coco’s games, or any basketball game, due to a conflict of interest, Reiser has still seen him watching from the stands. From playing to coaching, and now refereeing and connecting with students over the topic, basketball has always been Steve’s sport.

“When teachers can find common ground on interests that they have or that they’re familiar with [and] their students are also interested in, that builds trust, builds relationships,” Steve said. “That can flow into motivation or concentration in your class from that student.”

ABOVE Referee and social studies teacher Steve Klein blows his whistle to let the player know she can throw the ball back in the game.

photo by ADDIE CLARK

RIGHT Referee and social studies teacher Steve Klein signals the team with possession of the ball after it’s thrown out of bounds. photo by ADDIE CLARK

28 SPORTS

KEEPING GOLF SWIM

Upperclassmen have kept up with traditions on girls swim and soccer as well as boys golf for over 20 years

stories by CHRISTOPHER LONG

WHEN THEN-SENIOR Graham Mosher struck a tee shot, the last place he expected it to go was a nearby house’s window.

As a joke, he signed the ball and handed it to boys golf Head Coach Evan Scobie.

Since then, the varsity player with the best average score on the team has signed a different ball and given it to Scobie for safekeeping.

But, that’s not the most entertaining of their traditions, according to junior Tommy Curtis. The satirical “Dumba** Award” is a season highlight.

What started as a random, old bowling trophy founded in a storage room at SM East, the “Dumba** Award” goes to the underclassmen who are the most annoying on the team.

It’s been a tradition for the past five years, according to junior Tommy Curtis — last year’s winner.

“I always say this,” Curtis said. “If you live 10 minutes away, it’s like you could be going to a totally different school with not as good [of] traditions as [SM] East has, especially with [boys’ golf].”

Many other team traditions came from the upperclassmen in the 2020 season, according to senior and varsity captain Elliott Cowden.

Among them, is the access to the team’s satirical instagram account, HackPatrol.

From fails to memes and other funny moments from past seasons, HackPatrol is a database of comedy, according to Cowden.

“I always enjoy [SM East golf] more than playing individually, because of the companionship that you have,” Cowden said. “Of course, there’s still the aspect of you having to go out and play your own game. It’s just nice to know that there’s other guys who are doing it with you while you’re out there.”

Soccer preform their Biscuit Basket chant

SOCCER TRADITION

“BISCUIT!” “BASKET!”

“Biscuit!” “Basket!”

Once the cheers were loud enough, the girls soccer team was ready.

A returning varsity starter known for their enthusiasm and vocal leadership has been chosen by its previous owner to hold the biscuit basket since 2005. Now, the basket holder starts the biscuit basket chant before every game.

What started as former goalkeeper Libby Dix’s reminder to the forwards to “Put the biscuit in the basket” — or scoring a goal — turned into a tan woven basket with every past owner’s name and year written on the bottom.

You’re mentally and physically feeling and seeing the team together in sync as they sway back and forth.”

The last basketholder was alumna Sophia Beedle, who passed it down to senior Louisa Holzbeierlein at the 2025 banquet.

IF THEY’RE not together, they run into each other. So they have to be in sync as they sway back and forth. You’re mentally and physically feeling and seeing the team together in sync as they sway back and forth.

JAMIE KELLY HEAD COACH

The tradition helps build team chemistry by literally and figuratively linking them before a game, according to varsity soccer Head Coach Jamie Kelly.

“If they’re not together, they run into each other,” Kelly said. “So they have to be in sync as they sway back and forth.

After this year, Holzbeierlein will write her name three spots under her sister Kate, who had the biscuit basket before she graduated in 2023.

Beedle said that the basket serves as reassurance from the upperclassmen that the team is in good hands.

“[The tradition] encourages girls to want to support one another and even if you have the basket or not, you’re gonna be encouraging and uplifting on and off the field, and just bringing the team together,” Beedle said. “I just think it’s always fun to have your little traditions, and it’s just another thing to be excited about for when you get onto varsity that you can be a part of.”

EVERY TIME JUNIOR Vada Walsh walks by her bedroom, a bright object propped up on her dresser catches her eye. The matte red Swedish fish box may seem like a random object to display so proudly.

But to Walsh it’s the captain’s box, a representation of her leadership on the team.

Since 1983, the team’s junior captain has been responsible for holding onto the box and keeping its contents secret from everyone except past junior captains.

“It makes the captain role so much more special,” Walsh said. “It’s like such a big deal to be voted a captain, and then on top of that I get to be a part of this giant secret that has been passed down for many, many years, and I get to leave my mark on the [SM] East girls swim team.”

Walsh said that at the end of each season, every varsity swimmer texts the current junior captain their vote for next year’s junior captain.

Then, at the banquet, the current junior captain bestows the Swedish Fish box and a classic beige captain’s hat to the swimmer with the most votes.

Last year’s junior captain walked away with a different assignment. Taking care of a life-size aluminum Lancer and displaying it at every team dinner.

Senior captain Georgia Boyd said that her parents were surprised when a six-foot statue showed up at their front door, but also excited to add it to their front hallway.

“I think the main difference is senior year, you’ve already done it once,” Boyd said. “You’ve worked with a different captain, and you just kind of know the expectations. But you also have to guide the junior captain to help them know what to do, because they’re kind of going in blind.”

photos by ANASTASIA FLOWER & SOPHIA CICERO

Elliott Cowden

Veda Walsh

graham mosher

SIMULATING SIMULATING

SM EAST PARENTS and friends

Joe Speicher and Justin Hillard were disappointed as they looked around at the “crappy” golf course they were playing at. Every time they checked, all the tee time spots were taken at their go-to course. Every. Single. Time. They decided that they were tired of putting so much effort into a hobby that they couldn’t even depend on. It just wasn’t fun anymore.

So, their solution was virtual reality golf simulators. The pair decided to install a golf simulator in Joe’s garage so they could practice anytime. After using and enjoying it, they decided to expand and give other golfers a place to practice without having to fight for a tee time. Joe was a self-proclaimed “serial entrepreneur” and already had one business completely on his own, Easton Roofing.

“I’ve never found a business that didn’t interest me,” Joe said.

Whether it’s time commitments, course availability, or weather, many golfers need an alternative to playing on a typical course due to the obstacles, according to Joe.

After looking into the technology, the duo decided it would be a better investment of time and money to pursue franchises. The franchise they chose to invest in was Back 9, and the franchise already had a developed business model and access to the technology. They also added another partner—John Woods. Back 9 is a virtual reality golf business with simulators inside. Patrons can buy a membership and schedule a tee time with a code to get into the building ,which is open 24/7. Joe bought into Back 9 when there were only 16 locations nationally. Now, just seven years later, Back 9 has

been named one of the fastest growing franchises, according to Joe. His favorite parts of owning Back 9 are working from home whenever he wants, making his own decisions and working for himself

“I like empowering other people to succeed, like being able to control my own destiny,” Joe said.

Back 9 uses the same technology and simulator that both Tiger Woods and Patrick M in their houses. The Full Swing simulator utilizes ceiling sensors to create a laser mesh. This creates an instant video replay and gives you data such as clubhead speed, spin rate, ball speed and swing path. Not only do customers avoid getting sunburnt, dealing with uneven ground or being tired from walking around, they also get more accurate data about their game

“I like to get instruction indoors even more than outdoors,” Joe said. “Outdoors, instructors just tell you to do this or do that, and then you hit one, and you might hit it good, but you might just get lucky.”

When Joe’s daughter, freshman Lyla Speicher, was younger, she would tour the business while Joe pointed out everything he wanted to change and renovate. On the car ride home, Lyla was confused.

“Why do you get to choose everything, Dad? ” Lyla said. Joe turned around to look her in the eye.

“Well, Lyla, I’m kinda the boss,” said.

Eight years later, Lyla works for him during the summer at both Back 9 and Easton Roofing. She worked on the marketing side of Back 9, learning how to use Excel and using spreadsheets

The speed of the golf club at the exact moment it strikes the ball

When you hit the ball from inside the target line on the downsizing

ball speed

How fast the ball launches off the club face right after impact

The amount of spin the ball has after being hit, measured in revolutions per minute

and

story by EVIE LEWIS

design by MICHAEL YI

photos by EVELYN GEHEB

art by HUDSON TERREROS

SM East parent Joe Speicher manages Back 9, a local virtual reality golf business

INTO THE

OF HALL HALL FAME FAME

SM East alumni and SM East Hall of Fame inductees Stacy Campion and Carrie Robinson’s impact is deeper than statistics

THEN-HIGH SCHOOLER

Stacy Leeper was the only player on the SM East girls basketball team without matching shoes.

Her mother worked multiple jobs to make ends meet while also covering her daughter’s sports expenses. When the head basketball coach, who was also the athletic director at the time, asked where her matching shoes were, she told him she couldn’t afford them.

Oh, yeah. You’re from the other side of Mission.

“I could play regardless of what my shoes were,” Leeper said. “I just used that [comment] to work harder. And I eventually got a full scholarship.”

On Jan.16, Leeper was inducted into SM East’s Athletic Hall of Fame, alongside former club teammate and fellow 2001 SM East graduate Carrie (Fry) Robinson.

There are currently 17 members of the SM East Hall of Fame — Robinson and Leeper were the first two soccer players to be inducted.

especially in the years after they left, set up precedence and a tradition for those players that followed to try to live up to those standards of not only their accomplishments on the field, but how they led and what they did and the people that they were,” head soccer coach Jamie Kelly said.

Robinson holds the girls’ soccer scoring record to this day, with 36 goals in one season — the boys’ soccer scoring record is 23 goals.

But this statistic isn’t the only way Robinson is remembered at SM East. According to Kelly, the head soccer coach at the time, Jamie Ricker, had restrictions for how many goals she could score.

BEING IN

the SM East Hall of Fame is an exclusive honor.

It’s recognizing the very best of the best, people who represent competitive excellence.

RYAN JOHNSON ATHLETIC DIRECTOR

“Being in the SM East Hall of Fame is an exclusive honor,” athletic director Ryan Johnson said. “It’s recognizing the very best of the best, people who represent competitive excellence, but also have outstanding character, leadership and citizenship.”

Induction into the Hall of Fame is a vetting process that includes a small committee of former coaches, current coaches and community members evaluating nominations and then sending a congratulations letter to those whom they have selected.

Most importantly, inductees to the Hall of Fame must continue to represent Lancer values in their lives beyond high school, according to Johnson.

“What [Leeper and Robinson] did,

“She could have just gone [and scored],” Kelly said. “She could’ve probably scored five or six goals a game, easily. But she also understood the team aspect of [the sport], and let some other girls get in there and get some touches.”

Beyond her high school and collegiate soccer career at Indiana University, Robinson continues to put effort into the community, going beyond just being a memorable soccer player with awards and highlights.

Robinson started Finesse Soccer, an all-female training academy, in Kansas City in 2010.

“That’s huge for the community, and that’s something that the girls can look up to,” Kelly said. “Besides the accomplishments that [Robinson] had, being able to recognize that is almost maybe more important [for the younger players], because that’s the real world, and they’re like, ‘Hey, you guys can grow up and run your own business one day and have success doing it.’”

Robinson and Leeper’s 1999 girls soccer team led an undefeated season then to a first-place state

championship.

But without looking into the stories behind the players, this statistic becomes all that represents the team, rather than the hard work and the moments that led them there, according to Kelly.

Without context, it would never be known that the 1999 team almost lost its undefeated record.

The Lancers were taking on Olathe East. The score was tied 0-0. Olathe East made a shot. Leeper headed the ball out. The referee’s whistle blew — for a handball on Leeper.

A handball in the box against SM East would result in a penalty kick for Olathe East.

This almost-given goal against East could’ve ended the 1999 team’s undefeated run; a rare occurrence of the referees overturning the call saved the team.

“It was one of those individual moments that sticks with me as part of the season that we had; it was just one of those things,” Leeper said. “Our team that year just had so many amazing moments, and then to end up undefeated and bulldozing Olathe East later in the year was just like icing on the cake.”

Leeper earned a full-ride athletic and academic scholarship to the University of Kansas, and behind this were her job working as a referee from age 11 and throughout high school, her mom balancing jobs to afford for her to play and her versatility as a player on the field and as a person outside of soccer, according to Kelly.

Leeper hopes current athletes remember her hard work, both as an individual and as a teammate.

“No individual can do it on their own,” Leeper said. “It takes the whole team out there and I just hope people remember to be a good teammate. [The Hall of Fame] is recognition for the team, not just myself, but for our team as a whole, what we were able to accomplish in the time there. It’s just a representation of how we all came together and made things happen.”

story by ADDY NEWMAN

SM East alum Stacy Campion jumps up to reach the ball during home game.

Girls varsity soccer celebrates a team win.

Varsity girls soccer shakes hands with opposing team after game.

coach set a restriction for Robinson: she was only allowed to score three goals per game.

BELOW Campion earned the State Player title in 1999, 2000 and 2001.

SCAN ME WEBSITE

Access additional information about both players.

STACY (LEEPER) CAMPION

The new inductee of SM East’s hall of fame

Graduated in 2001

Was the Gatorade and Adidas Player of the Year

Also played cross country and track

Named state player of the year for her final three seasons at SM East

CARRIE (FRY) ROBINSON

Who is the new inductee of SM East’s hall of fame

Graduated in 2001

Won the All-metro Player of the Year Varsity for all four years

RIGHT Robinson’s

ABOVE Robinson passes to a teammate in an away game in 2001.

ABOVE Campion dribbles from her opponent while playing on the University of Kansas soccer team.

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FRESHMAN THOMAS HENSON

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