The Lodge, Vol 5, Issue 3 (21-22)

St. George’s

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The Lodge and gryphonlodge.com are dedicated to serving as an impartial and authentic voice for the students of St. George’s Independent School. We at the Lodge strive to be an open forum for student expression, to act in the best interests of the student body and to embody the princi ples of journalistic excellence. The Lodge is affiliated with the Tennessee High School Press Association and the National Scholastic Press Association. The Lodge is funded by advertisers, donors and St. George’s Independent School and is published once every eight weeks during the school year by schoolprinting.com. The Lodge prints and distributes 250 copies of each issue to 600 students and faculty on the St. George’s Collierville campus. By lines indicate the primary writer(s) of each article, and additional contributors are indicated in the shirttail. All of our content is created by our staff unless otherwise clearly stated. The Lodge provides free advertising for student clubs, events and activities and paid advertisements for local businesses. The Lodge welcomes letters to the editor and article submissions. To submit a letter, article or request for advertising, email our staff at thelodge@sgis.org.

A New Medium A New Medium A New Medium

New art show highlights student artists

By: Peyton Monroe

Students are used to seeing their peers’ artwork in the halls, but the week of April 15-23 was something special. For the first time at St. George’s, an art show solely featur ing students was held. Mrs. Allison Webb, fine arts department chair and artist-in-residence, was really pleased with the results.

“It was a fantastic week,” she said. “It was really awesome.”

According to Mrs. Webb close to 400 pieces of artwork were displayed in total.

This was the first separate stu dent art show that the school has hosted. Usually students will have some art displayed alongside that of professionals during the SGIS Annual Art Show that takes place in the fall, but Mrs. Webb wanted to spotlight students separately.

Having an entire event dedicated to showcasing student artwork from various classes and clubs allowed students to stand out on their“Weown.have been thinking about and trying to incorporate a way to show student art and highlight our artists,” Mrs. Webb said, “because they’re amazing.”

The student art show allowed her to do just that.

Junior Kate Winstead, who had multiple pieces displayed during the show, said she “like[d] how you could just wander through the halls and see all of the work.”

Faculty seemed to share the same sentiments. While the art show was being set up through out the school, they frequently commented on work that they appreciated or admired, which gave Mrs. Webb and, fellow

artist in residence, Ms. Katy Sim mons-Carroll an idea.

“We thought to ourselves,” Mrs. Webb said, “all these people have commented about how much they love the work, let’s give them a platform to say it.”

Faculty had the opportunity to recognize art that they found particularly interesting by placing a sticker and leaving a note near some of their favorite art pieces explaining what they liked about them. When the art was taken down from the hallways at the conclusion of the art show, stu dents were able to keep any notes given to them by faculty. Mrs. Webb called this a “way to build community and connectedness through art.”

Winstead, who had multiple pieces commented on by St. George’s faculty, was a fan of the system.“It’snice to see that people like my work,” she said. Winstead even had an opportunity to sell her work but declined to do so, instead gifting it to Accordingothers.toMrs. Webb, receiving feedback is essential to learning and growing as an artist, so students welcomed the opportu nity to see what teachers thought of their work.

“I think [students] were really excited to have that feedback,” sheWinsteadsaid. agreed.

“It’s nice to have your work appreciated,” she said.

Photo: Jack Seigerman

Junior David.juniorworkaWinsteadKateshowspieceofherarttofellowAngelina

Disney Summer Movie GuideULTIMATE

By: Erin Johnson

B AThis top tier is for the summer Disney channel original movies (DCOMS) that defined a generation and are still just as iconic a decade later as they were when they were first released. These movies all have amazing soundtracks that stand the test of time. I mean who doesn’t remember the “Hoedown Throwdown” from “Hannah Montana The Movie,” “Bet On It” from “High School Musical 2,” and “Don’t Run Away” from “Let It Shine.” At the end of the day these movies are guaranteed to make your summer a fun one.

In this tier we have the movies that aren’t the best but are still amaz ing. Both movies are a great representation of what we all wanted our summers to look like. “Camp Rock” and “The Cheetah Girls 2” had soundtracks and all-star casts that made these movies just as iconic as the movies in the first tier. When you can’t watch any of the movies in the first tier, watch one of these because they will give you that same classic feel -good summer DCOM feeling.

CThis tier is reserved for the most mid of all of the summer DCOMS. “Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie” and “The Suite Life Movie” were both extensions of two really popular shows at the time. The movies are great by association, but because they aren’t original ideas and are just building on old ideas that already work I don’t see them as deserving to be in the top tier. That doesn’t mean they’re bad. They’re awesome mov ies if you’re feeling nostalgic for the old days of Disney channel.

DThis bottom tier is for the bottom-of-the-barrel summer DCOMS. These movies aren’t necessarily bad, but they also aren’t good. “Camp Rock 2” is a huge disappointing step down from its predecessor “Camp Rock.” and “Teen Beach Movie” was a lazy remake of “West Side Story.” The only good parts of these movies were the Jonas Brothers and Ross Lynch. You can watch these movies a hundred times and still not know what they are

Breakout track stars set a new pace LEAPS AND BOUNDS

By: Natalie Howard

Kimbriel Winfield and Noah Mullenix: two names you’re likely to hear more in future. The two rising track stars are smashing school records and get ting recognized across the state.

According to MileSplitTN, Freshman Winfield has an average 100 hurdle performance of 15.32 seconds, which is better than 75% of Division I athletes when they were freshman in high school. She has participated in 10 meets and out of those 10, has come in first place five times.

With all her track accomplish ments, you wouldn’t think she got into it accidentally. Her first sport was“Mysoccer.mom just kind of put me in,” she said. “Because I used to play soccer, and then my coach called me a ball hog because, ap parently, I got to the balls quickly. And so then they suggested me for track, and I did that.”

The sport worked out. Now during her freshman year, she is a hurdler and a sprinter.

When asked what her favorite memory was during her track

Rising track star freshman Kimbriel Winfield runs hurdles in practice in preperation for her next

seasons, Winfeld said, “probably breaking the school record at state last year.” She beat the school’s 100m hurdle time of 16.52 sec onds with a time of 16.50 seconds.

This is the expectation she sets for herself and Mr. Andre Lott, varsity track assisant coach, has seen how intense the pressure can get.“She puts a lot of pressure on herself,” he said. “She expects to perform at a high level every race. When she loses, you know, she makes a couple of mistakes and gets very frustrated, but we’re talking about and figuring out a way to overcome those frustrating situations.”Thepressure can be a lot, but Winfeld is holding fast.

“I’ve wanted to like, I don’t want to say quit, but I have wanted to take like a few weeks off,” she said. “I don’t remember a time without track. It’s like the last thing I go to after a long day at Freshmanschool.”

Keegan Jackson works side by side with Winfeld and said she, “is always at the front of the line so she pushes us to do better.”While

Winfeld is breaking school records as a freshman, and seventh-grade distance runner Mullenix is the fastest middle schooler in St. George’s history, according MileSplitTN.

His interest in track stemmed from watching YouTube videos about famous track athletes and also the “overwhelming” encour agement from his dad.

His impressive skills mean he’s already practicing with the upper school track team, a decision that was made by both coaches and Mullenix’s father, Mr. Jason Mullenix.“Atthe beginning of the season, I had a meeting with coaches specific to his long-distance and they suggested that he run with varsity distance runners,” Mr. Mullenix said. “It was honestly a compliment to Noah and the right challenge but successful because he broke 5 minutes in a 1600 meter run by 13 seconds.”

Mr. Mullenix appreciates how welcoming the team has been.

“The high school students

are receptive and communicate with him when racing,” he said. “One of the runners, Thomas [Schmiedicke], communicates with Noah regularly, and the seniors are super kind. They never make him feel like he’s annoying.”

Fellow runner freshman Tyler Bergin is impressed with him. “He’s insanely good,” he said. “I don’t even know what to say be sides that he’s good at everything he Whendoes.”asked if track has helped him in any other areas of his life, Mullenix said that it helped with making more friends.

“It’s helped me be happier because I really enjoy it,” he said. “I’ve made a lot of friends, so it helps make new friend ships.”When asked how he prepared for his meets, Mullenix said, “before I always stretch and I do like a warm- up run. Like, just to get my muscles loose, so I don’t, you know like, get injured. But then I just stretch and try to stay as loose as possible.”Mr.Jason Mullenix credits Noah’s success to his ambition.

“He brings achievement onto himself and sticks with the pro gram. He’s taken upon himself to motivate himself.”

As much as Mr. Lott urges students to persevere through the pressure, he wants his athletes to remember to take it one day at a time.“Sometimes people make mis takes,” he said. “You can’t expect to win every meet you compete in.”

Winfield a recently qualified for state, and it’s safe to say that

St. George’s looks forward to seeing both her and Mullinex progress.

Seventh-grade track-star Noah Mullinex waits for the results of the region championship.

Seventh-grader Noah Mullinex kicks it into high gear at the end of the race.

senior wills ‘22

Morgan Schrum wills being the most school spirited to Abigail Finch and the black Lululemon tank top with the weird Lulu shorts to Mary Alice Murphy.

Nicolas Gutierrez wills his world-class goalkeeping skills to Jordan Giles and the title of “best Gutierrez at St. George’s” to Sebastian Gutierrez.

Mae Wilson wills her top-secret candy stash at Mrs. Simmons’s desk and her perfected skill of annoying Mrs. Metz daily to Bennett Wilson.

Emma Clayton wills the SGIS Cross Country Instagram account to next year’s girls team captains Megan Yost and Lauren Rutlin.

Thomas Miller wills Griffin Davis to be the next varsity lacrosse goalie so he can stuff Huffman’s crease cranks.

DeAndre Deener wills his discipline to not noodle during Mr. Link’s instruction to all AME underclassmen.

Eleanor Kuykendall wills the role of ‘team chaplain’ on the varsity soccer team to Mary Alice Murphy.

Will Franklin wills being the best golf/baseball dual-sport athlete in the school to Noah Land.

Ethan Bearman wills being the coolest Bearman at St. George’s to Emma Joy Bearman. Scottie Brown wills the yearbook TikTok to Mariah Nellessen and Elizabeth Kilmurray.

Maya Ibrahim wills being the shortest person on the volleyball team to Kiki Finneran.

Joe Walters wills his love of Ole Miss football to Jordan Thomas and Gavin Allen.

Caroline Higley wills her full-time residency in the art room to Kate Winstead. Ella Grace Cornpropst wills her parents and dogs to Delaney O’Connell.

Joseph Nabors wills driving people home from soccer to Mark Ibrahim.

Isabela Jimenez wills being Mrs. Metz’s favorite to David Jimenez.

McKinley Farese wills her car-parking skills to Elizabeth Kilmurray.

Maddox Davis wills being Mr. Cao’s favorite Davis to Griffin Davis.

William Finneran wills being the better Finneran to Kiki Finneran.

Tyler Rideout wills the underclassmen the snacks in the lounge.

Ashton Slemons wills her senior night tiara to Jayley Yelverton.

George Brandon wills the Ultimate Frisbee Club to Seth Taub.

Kyle Houston wills his basketball skills to Joshua Holloway. Hampton Bryan wills his soccer skills to Michael Davidson.

Hudson Williams wills “beep bop boop” to Huffman Smith.

Joshua Panetta wills his amazingness to Jordan Giles.

Harden Williams wills his soccer skills to Mark Ibrahim.

Luke Washington wills being RB1 to Drake Gonzalez.

Will Crosby wills his disco stick skills to Noah Land.

Chloe Lewis wills the weight room to Dalton Lewis.

Lincoln Johnson wills Dalton Lewis the frying pan. Mac Murphy wills Huffman Smith the right wing.

Ben Roan wills catching to Keifer Cox. Lucas Giolo wills SUI to Diego Guerra.

Ally Martin wills Mary Alice the Mindfulness Club.

Isaiah Lewis wills his tennis skill to Jack Whitaker. Charlie Horne wills the bullfrog to Brandon Hayden.

Jack Seigerman wills Seth Taub his average height.

Kanon Winfield wills his parking spot to Erin Johnson.

Grace Anne Barton wills her left kidney to Gavin Allen.

Wilson Whittemore wills the #3 to Andrew Whittemore.

John Miraglia wills his lacrosse stick to his favorite brother.

Craig Allen wills the best tilt on the team to Justin Bourdeau.

Dade Micheel wills his soccer drip and “42” to Logan Haddad.

Lauren Shang wills her love of Disney movies to Erin Johnson.

Madeline Sisk wills running the Lodge to Anna Schmiedicke.

Travis Lane wills the role of robotics team captain to Austin Lane.

Alanna Murphy wills Molly Gorham love of undercuts and softball.

McKenzie Knight wills the secret lemonade recipe to Rylee Knight.

Mehul Gupta wills his one good ACL to all upcoming soccer players.

Bess White wills being the coolest White in the school to Lauren White.

Luke Robbins wills the best car in the school parking lot to Hudson Downs.

James Reid Hamblen wills being the best James in the school to James Christie.

Ellie Christie wills the phantom of her charming presence to next year’s Lodge staff.

Thomas Schmiedicke wills being the best Schmiedicke on campus to Anna and Sarah.

Iris Delahoussaye wills the last shreds of her sanity to the next set of football managers.

Gianna Scola wills parking next to and talking to Mr. Gibson in the morning to Deja Harris.

Alyssa Aghabeg wills her setter skills and favorite Wacky Wednesday t-shirt to Reese Regner.

Jordan Firtik wills “this is true” back to Mary Caroline Collier. And all the sopapillas in Chattanooga.

Darby Beal wills her superstition of holding hands in “circle” before showtime to Madline Clarke and Wilson Young.

Parker Nannie wills #11 to Jordan Thomas and being the favorite Nannie at the Collierville campus to Caroline Nannie.

WHAT MAKES THE CLASS OF 2022 UNIQUE?

By: Seth Taub

“What’s special about our grade is that we are very competitive, but we all got really close to each other as time went on. My favorite mem ory was painting my parking spot with all of my classmates.”

“One of my favorite memories of the senior class is going to prom this year, and I got to spend a lot of time with my classmates.”

“This being one of the first years out of COVID, you know, I think this senior class stands out because you’re getting back into the routine of showing everybody how it is really supposed to be.”

“My favorite memory of the senior class is probably our wrestling Oklahoma drill [in the bathroom] and that just shows how creative and how fun we are”

“My favorite memory with the senior class at St. George’s would definitely be Six Flags in eigth grade. I think what makes us special would be how at the end of the day we always come together and we just have a lot of fun.”

“[The senior class] is special in its creativity for lowlevel mischief. Whether it’s Frisbee over here during lunch, although it had to stay away from the cars, or lining up out here and just chucking footballs at each other’s backs hoping to pain each other, but not give anyone a concussion.”

“My favorite memory would probably be the first day of school just because I remember everyone being very nice and welcoming. It’s not clique-y, you can talk to someone who you may not be best friends with.”

“I feel like there are so many students in this class that have talents in very different areas. There’s just a lot of diversity within this class that’s just really cool to see how they’ve still all sort of come together as a group.”

Ella Grace Cornpropst

Maya Ibrahim

Dr. Shelby Montague

Lincoln Johnson

Gianna Scola

Ms. Marilee Malott

Lauren Shang

Mr. Danny Broadway

senior day splash

Seniors continue the cool pool tradition

2. All students, inside and outside of the pool, celebrate with their hands in the air after Coach Nick Whicker completes an acrobatic front flip into the pool. the last day of classes, seniors took part in a tradition of jumping into the pool and urged the teach ers to jump in, too.

1. Senior Ally Martin backflips into the pool with a big smile on her face.

Photos: Seth Taub

3. Coach John Carter Hawkins gets ev eryone clapping before he cannonballs into the pool full of excited seniors. ol as the students cheer him on.

4. Senior Lincoln Johnson releases a water balloon with full force at a fellow classmate right outside the pool house.

5. Coach David Stooksbury belly flops into the pool as senior students cheer him on.

6. Senior Caroline Higley braces her self from the balloon thrown by Senior Ashton Slemons.

7. Morgan Schrum and Bess White hold Mrs. Emily Metz’s hand as all three of them prepare to jump in the pool while everyone watches with excitement.

Let’s Talk

Is the body positivity movement working?

By: Madeline Sisk and Bess White

In Aug. 2020, self-pro claimed body positive influencer Sienna Mae Gomez posted a video mocking fellow TikTok star Oliva Ponton for uploading a video where Ponton, who was wearing a cropped shirt, danced to a trend ing sound with the caption “sorry i justGomez’sate.” post was met with anger from viewers who responded that the video was counterproduc tive to the body positive movement and that Gomez was reacting hypocritically.ThoughGomez later apolo gized, saying she meant no harm, in the wake of the controversy, the damage to her brand was irreversible, and new headlines questioning the body positivity movement – like Stylecaster’s “The Body Positivity Movement Is Focused On All The Wrong Things” – began to appear across socialThingsmedia.didn’t

start out this way.

The body positivity movement began in 1969 with the fat accep tance movement, which sought to counter the stigma and unfair treatment faced by fat people and continued to gain supporters for decades.Itwasn’t until the 2000’s that the term “body positivity” was introduced into the movement.

Activists took to social media sites like Tumblr, Facebook and In stagram to show support for more body acceptance and diversity.

By some measures, the move

ment has accomplished its goals. Unilever’s Dove USA launched projects like the Real Beauty cam paign and the Self-Esteem Project, and magazines like Women’s Health have banned phrases like “drop two sizes” from their covers.

Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS, whose slogan is “solutions for everyone,” creates shapewear for women of all sizes.

“The inspiration for SKIMS started with finding solutions for dressing issues as opposed to ‘fixing’ or changing a woman’s natural shape and figure,” Kar dashian said. “Having a woman tell me that SKIMS is the first shapewear she has found that actually matches her skin tone, or comes in a size that fits and feels comfortable, is the entire reason I startedAccordingSKIMS.”tothe American Psychological Association, a meta-analysis published in 2016 showed a declining rate of body dissatisfaction in women over a 31year period from 1981-2012.

But Collier said this trend and others similar to it actually do more harm than good for her.

But are people, especially young people, actually feeling better about their bodies? Is body positiv ityJuniorworking?Mary Caroline Collier isn’t so sure.

In one recent trend from the body positivity movement, people have begun posting photos and videos on social media of their bodies taken at less flattering angles or without posing to show what their bodies look like in real life.

“They’re still super, super skinny. It’s not helpful that they’re putting it out there to try to be like, ‘this is me. Like, this is what I actually look like’, but I’m like, it’s not helping people that are bigger than you,” she said. “If I flexed I still wouldn’t look like your picture when you’re relaxed, so it’s just not helpful. It just makes me think ‘oh, you still look better, even when you’re not trying, than how I look when I am Instagramtrying.’”inparticular has come under fire for nurturing an environment where young people feel more Accordinginsecure.tothe Pew Research Center, 72% of teenagers 13-17 use Instagram, and more than 40% of the app’s users are young er than Meta,22.Instagram’s parent company, says that social media “can have positive mental-health benefits.” But in 2021, the Wall Street Journal reported that one in three teenage girls said that Instagram made them feel worse about their Sophomorebodies.Rosy Higareda said that social media, Instagram in particular, has had a negative effect on the way she views her body.“Iget insecure because I have to see Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, Kendall Jenner, like these women who look nothing like me, and then they’re the beauty standard, which made me delete Instagram for months because I just could not go on there and see everyone

looking gorgeous with no flaws,” she said. “It made me feel terrible about myself. It’s like, ‘well, I don’t look like that every day and even when I do try, I still don’t look like that’.”Senior Craig Allen agreed and pointed out that many of the photos that receive attention on Instagram are highly artificial.

“It’s unnatural, because like, [they’ll] sit there, and photoshoots last like three hours just trying to get the perfect angle and make them look the best they possibly can, to the point where it just sets such a high bar that people com pare themselves to that, and then they feel worse about themselves, when in reality, the models them selves don’t even really look like that because of Photoshop and stuff like that,” Allen said.

Even the social media stars themselves aren’t immune to neg ative comparisons. Recently Kim Kardashian wore Marilyn Mon roe’s iconic 1962 “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” dress to the Met Gala where she told Vogue that she had to lose 16 pounds in order to fit into the dress, and that night the zipper still wouldn’t close.

So, even influencers with entire teams can’t always live up to the body standards they promote on social

Themedia.bodytype

considered “ide al” changes over time, but junior Mariah Nellessen believes that society’s current standard is pretty specific.

“I feel … like society wants the ...

ideal body image to be someone who has a small waist and curvy [hips], no hip dips, thick thighs, but a big butt, [and] still a small waist, and strong but not big arms,” she said. “If you [have larger arms], you’re too big. But then if you’re trying to be skinny, then you’re too small.”

This particular body type would have been out of place just 25 years ago, when very slender bodies were in fashion.

In 1996, Abercrombie and Fitch, a traditional sporting goods store, rebranded as a preppy clothing store with a flair for the scandalous. From racy catalogs to shirtless male clerks, Abercrombie and Fitch stores became an “expe rience,” and in the ‘90s and early 2000s wearing anything from this store made you “cool.”

In a 2006 interview with Salon, Abercrombie and Fitch’s former CEO, Michael Jeffries stated his intentions for his brand.

“We hire good-looking people in our stores. Because good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to market to cool, good-looking people. We don’t market to anyone other than that,” Jeffries said. “Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary?

Absolutely.”Priorto2013, Abercrombie and

Fitch’s largest available sizes for women were size L or size 12. It was only after sustained pressure from body positive campaigns and boycotts that they changed their sizing to include up to size XXXL or size 24 (although many clothing items still stop at size XL).

into a particular size of clothing is damaging.“Ifsomeone’s [wearing a] large, you think ‘Oh, that’s rude,’ but it’s only rude because people have made that word sound bad,” she said. “Every decade there’s a new [standard]. Like one [generation] is supposed to be really skinny, the next needs to be curvy. You look back [and] it wasn’t always really curvy like it isHowever,now.” curves don’t always equal confidence either.

Higareda said that she has had people comment on her body for years, and as a young child and preteen, it was hurtful.

“When I was in, like, seventh grade, they were talking about me like, ‘oh, she’s so developed’, talking about my chest and stuff, and they’re like, ‘she’s the prettier one because she’s more devel oped’,” she said. “And then last year, I had gained weight, and they’re saying, ‘oh, well, you don’t want to be as skinny as this one [or] be be as fat as her but like, this [girl] is a good size, [and] that one isn’t,’ talking about me. And so it just hurt a lot whenever they’d say that about me.”

women exhibit body dissatisfac tion, but Dean of Students Ms. Leanne Ricketson said she hopes people will embrace their bodies just as they are.

“If you’ve got wide hips, you’ve got wide hips, whether or not the style becomes narrow, slim hips. If you’ve got big breasts, you’ve got big breasts, whether the style becomes flat-chested or doesn’t,” sheMs.said.Ricketson

pretty big,” he said. “I feel like being big is kind of frowned upon. I know growing up big and out of shape, it wasn’t really the best thing, because I was always made fun of for my weight.”

As a result, he now works out multiple times a week.

Nellessen said that trying to fit ...

Social pressures like these can take their toll, Nellessen said.

“When I was coming into high school, one big thing was girls that would get attention from guys. If they would be like, ‘Oh, she has such a great body.’ I would look at her body and be like, ‘What does she have that I don’t have?’ And start listening to those things in my brain and thinking like, ‘Oh, they like her flat stomach. I need a flat stomach or no one’s gonna want me’.”Astudy published by the National Library of Medicine approximates that up to 84% of

said she believes the body positivity movement has made a difference in the media, focusing largely on uplifting girls and“Thewomen.media has gotten better than it used to be in terms of in corporating more body types and celebrating them [for women],” Ricketson said. “But men aren’t talked about as much.”

Allen said he believes that both girls and boys have body image issues, but the way that they deal with them is different.

“I feel like it’s more vocalized [for girls], but it’s the same thing on both sides,” he said. “[Howev er,] guys have a natural tendency to keep their insecurities to them selves.”Inastudy published by the National Library of Medicine in 2019, 90% of male US students in one survey described themselves as being dissatisfied with respect to muscularity, and 69% were dissatisfied with their weight.Senior Lincoln Johnson, who has struggled in the past with weight issues, said that being overweight weighed on him psychologically, too.

“When I was younger, I was

“I feel like I put the work in to not be where I was at back then,” he Ms.said.Ricketson, who taught both high school and middle school English before becoming dean of students, said she is familiar with the pressures on boys as well as girls.

“I’ve seen sort of firsthand where puberty and being too skin ny or not muscular enough can impact boys,” she said.“I think for boys we don’t talk about it much. But I know that it’s there and that they make similar comparisons, and that, you know, locker rooms are hard for boys, too.”

Johnson said that a supportive network helped him to maintain confidence in his body, and now he tries to instill that in others.

“I feel like my parents are really body positive, and they preach about loving yourself, loving how you look, and pretty much saying that as long as you’re healthy, and you feel healthy and you’re happy with the way you look then you’re fine,” he said. “I know how it feels to be big. And I know other people struggle with being bigger, so I always try to push them towards doing better things for them selves.”Ms.Ricketson hopes that stu dents feel like they are supported at “Yourschool.body is the body you’re born with, and it’s not going to be able to adjust just because fashion or style does,” Ms. Ricketson said.

“If you’ve got wide hips, you’ve got wide hips, whether or not the style becomes narrow, slim hips. If you’ve got big breasts, you’ve got big breasts, whether the style becomes flat-chested or doesn’t.”

Ms. Leanne Ricketson

“I feel like being big is kind of frowned upon. I know growing up big and out of shape, it wasn’t really the best thing, because I was always made fun of for my weight.”

Lincoln Johnson

Letter From the editor

Dear staff and readers,

In my time at the Lodge I’ve had the opportunity to do some incredible things and learn from a plethora of experiences both good and bad. I would like to believe that I have been able to grow, mature and find myself as a person largely due to this magazine. Many of the stories that I have been blessed enough to work on have taught me more than one might think. This year in particular I have learned three very valuable lessons that I would like to pass on: flexibility, accountabil ity and Whatforgiveness.I’vecometo realize is that these lessons have served to make me a better person and peer.

I’ll be the first person to admit that I prefer things to go my way. Turns out, the Lodge has taught me time and time again that, one the first idea isn’t often going to be the best, and two more often than not – I end up liking other people’s ideas better than mine anyway. It’s amazing what we can do with an extra voice.

Accountability has become more important to me than ever. The phrase “I messed up, I’m sorry,” is a tough one for me to say. However, in my position this year, I realize that I’ve messed up plenty of times. I found that simply acknowledging my own mistakes has helped me to build, maintain and even repair many of the relationships I have come to really value. Mistakes aren’t easy for any of us to own up to, but I truly believe that accountability is a huge step towards a positive future.Finally,

I wanted to share with you something I’ve come to realize the value of recently. Forgiveness.

And I know what you’re thinking — how cliché. But bear with me. I’ve realized that forgiveness doesn’t mean forgetting the past, but it does mean setting aside grudges and letting myself be happy.

I understand that not everyone is ready to forgive and that is totally valid. Sometimes things are too fresh or too painful, and it’s okay to accept that, too.

But forgiving past transgressions feels so much better to me than having the weight of the anger and the grudges on my shoulders.Thankyou for being my community these last four years. It’s been beautiful.

Signing off, Madeline Sisk