10 • FEATURES
SOCIAL EXPERIMENT
Life without my phone for 3 days
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by Isabelle Fetting
uice cleanses, fasting, and detoxes are all the rage, but what about a cleanse from cell phones? Phones have become an important part of everyday life. We get o work done on our phones, we socialize on our phones, and we convey important information through our phones. In an attempt to test how much phones really affect our lives, I went 3 days without mine. The first day without my phone was a Saturday. Usually I am able to procrastinate getting out of bed by either scrolling through my phone or setting a 10-minute timer. I didn’t have that option, so I woke up and started getting ready. I was able to do homework, clean my room, eat breakfast with my family, and take a run all before I went to work at 1 p.m. I’m not saying that the choice to go without my phone gave me motivation to get all of that done, but it showed me that I had the time to do it. One of the most upsetting things for me was the fact that I no longer had access to Spotify. I had to listen to the radio, which was not terrible, but because I am always listening to music, I couldn’t listen to it outside the car. While at work at Starbucks, I wanted to check my phone multiple times, but kept realizing I was unable to do so. That night, I had dinner and went to bed early instead of staying on my phone for another two hours. The second day without my phone, I woke up feeling refreshed. I was still getting urges to check my phone, but I was also glad that no one from my work was contacting me when I was not there. I had breakfast with my mom, then we hung out and talked for a while. I spent some time playing guitar and reading before I went to work again. A friend visited me at work, and we made plans to get coffee for the next day. It was nice to make plans in person and not over the phone. The third day was a Monday. I was able to grab coffee with a friend before school started. One difficult thing was waiting for my friend to show up when I had no way of knowing if she remembered our plan to meet or not. At school, the day went by relatively quickly, and I found it easier to concentrate on tasks. Overall, there are definitely pros and cons to not having a cell phone for a couple days. The negatives are that I felt left out, I didn’t have the same access to music, and I couldn’t tell people things the moment they came up. On the positive side though, I was able to connect more authentically with the people around me, I didn’t have to worry about always responding to everyone else, and I wasted less time on social media. A phone detox is something I would recommend for everyone to try at least once, especially if you are on your phone a lot. A phone cleanse can show you how much time you really have in a day.
THE TALON
During class reading time, Kathy Verhage, one of Nation Ford High School’s preschool teachers, reads “I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie” to her students on Nov. 17. Photo by Lilah Skovran
Beloved teacher retires
Nation Ford says goodbye to preschool teacher Kathy Verhage
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by Georgia Cox
lmost everybody has had a teacher that left a lasting impact on their life. For many students, that teacher is Kathy Verhage. Verhage has been teaching for almost 34 years. She currently teaches Pre-K at Nation Ford High School, working with both pre-schoolers and high-schoolers alike. She’s spent a lot of her life teaching in between kindergarten, first, and second grade. Now, Verhage plans to retire at the end of the ‘22-’23 school year. She started teaching in 1985, but even from a young age, she knew that she wanted to work with kids. “I had a job at the Warsaw Community Daycare Center,” she said, “and I always loved children. I started babysitting in fifth grade. I knew that when I started working at that daycare center that this is what I wanted to do.” For the vast majority of her teaching career, she taught elementary schoolers. In 2018, Verhage made the switch to start teaching in the Pre-K lab at NFHS. “This job always appealed to me because I can teach how I know kids learn best, which is through play,” she explained. “I can do that here because I don’t have a strict curriculum.” Her favorite part of the job is, of course, the children she works with. She really values the relationships that she builds between herself and her students. “I love the kids and the families,” Verhage said. “The relationships built over the years are so special.
It’s so fun to watch them get a concept and work together, to learn empathy and how to persevere. I have the freedom to sit and watch them learn, and I’ve gotten to work with so many wonderful people.” One of these people is her assistant, Michelle Gregg. She’s been working in the preschool program with Verhage for two years. She was excited at the idea of working with her after her son had Verhage when he was in first grade, and remembered what great of a teacher she was. “She is the most loving teacher I’ve ever met,” Gregg said. “She tells the parents that they’re her kids, and she means it. They’re a part of her. She is just so good at what she does, she really understands them.” Verhage is one of those teachers that has a lasting impact on her students, and they have an impact on her. For someone who’s been teaching since the ‘80s, she still remembers all of her previous students. “I’ve never seen so many students come back and visit a teacher more than they do for her, and she remembers all of them,” Gregg said. Her former students agree that she is a wonderful teacher, one with her student’s best interests in mind. “I love her positive energy and kindness,” Ella Borsm (‘23) said. “She really knows how to make a room of children feel safe and loved.” The students who have her as a teacher now as a part of the Child Development course at NFHS appreciate all she does. “She really cares for everyone,” Caroline Zban (‘25) said. “She’s so nice, and you can tell that she really loves everyone and wants to help them.”
December 2022