The Eyrie - Volume 42, Issue 1 - September 2022

As a new school year begins, student mental health is a bigger focus than ever.

V O L U M E

I S S U E

The Start of Football Season

Football season started and players, fans, and the head coach elab orate on how the season is going for them so far. They share about their favorite parts of the season and what they’re looking forward to the most.

By: Abby Wallace

September is an important month for many students. It’s the beginning of the school year and it also is the start of football season. Players have been waiting all year to go out and play again. This sea son is different from last for a few reasons. A lot of the starters graduated last year, the team only plays one Olathe school, and there’s a new head coach.

Ronald Litchfield is the new football head coach. This is his third team he has been the head coach for. He has had a positive experience so far with his new team and everyone involved so far.

“It’s been very supportive from all people involved whether it’s the ad

ministrators, teachers, community, players. There’s been good involvement and very supportive,” Litchfield said.

Coaching for different teams means there’s a new experience and impres sion from each team. Litchfield has had a good first impression of this team.

“The kids have bought in pretty quick. Not that they haven’t in the past. I’d say these guys are committed to being really good and doing the things they need to do to improve,” Litchfield said.

Litchfield has been coaching for about 32 years. Doing anything for that amount of time takes serious dedication and passion for what he’s doing.

“I enjoy the practice and the games. That’s what I enjoy the most doing work with the players,” Litchfield said.

Some things, however, are the same as last year like the crowds, the energy, and the positive atmosphere the student section creates. The student section makes the games more entertaining and fun for the players and for flight crew. Tucker Armstrong has been on flight crew since his junior year. He is often seen at football games leading the crowd and getting every one loud in support of the team.

“[What is your favorite part of football games?] I’d say the large crowds and how loud we are,” Armstrong said.

Last season Cooper Whitley was the starting quarterback for the football team until he tore his ACL which led to him missing out on the rest of the season. Bryce Noernberg and Zane Hall switched

Dylan Talcott, Jordan Allen, and Owen Olson celebrate in end zone at the game against Olathe Northwest on September 16.

The student section cheers after the “I believe that we will win” chant at the first home game against Olathe Northwest on September 16. The team went on to win 35-7.

Photo by Coral Netten

Art by Sylvia Grimsley

Photo by Coral Netten

off playing quarterback as a backup for Whitley. This season Noernberg is the start ing quarterback for the football team as a junior.

“I feel like playing the last six games of the season last year helped me a lot coming into this season,” Noernberg said.

The game players and fans are

looking forward to most is Olathe North west. Playing only one school in the same district makes it an exciting game for those involved because they have more people familiar to the school.

“[What game are you most ex cited for?] Olathe Northwest because I have a lot of friends that go there and we need to beat them,” Armstrong said.

Not playing other Olathe schools is very different from previous seasons. The team usually plays Olathe East because they are rival schools. This season, however, they only play Olathe Northwest. Not playing Olathe East is a disappointment for players like junior Simon Groves.

“I’d want to play Olathe East because who doesn’t love playing their rival and winning every single year,” Groves said.

Coach Litchfield talks with players at the game against Shawnee Mission North on September 9. The team ended up losing 28-21.

Photo by Coral Netten

What To Know About The Upcoming Election

A dive into what to expect this November and how to prepare for the election resolution expressing displeasure with the rule or regulation,” Ballotpedia said.

By: Mya Roberts

The Kansas General election is right around the corner, taking place on November 8th, 2022; those over the age of 18 will be voting on two subjects for the state of Kansas.

“In November, voters will also decide on a constitutional amendment to allow the Legislature to pass laws to revoke or suspend executive agency rules and regu lations,” Website, Ballotpedia said. “And a constitutional amendment to require the election of county sheriffs in counties that had not abolished the office as of January 2022.”

Kansas Legislative Veto or Sus pension of Executive Agency Regulations Amendment would allow the Kansas state legislature to revoke or suspend any rule or regulation adopted by executive branch agencies or officers that have the force and effect of law.

“The amendment would require a simple majority vote of the members of the state legislature to revoke or suspend part or all of any rule or regulation,” Ballot pedia said.

A no vote would simply oppose this constitutional amendment.

“Thereby maintaining that the legislature can pass bills to change the law governing the executive agency or pass a

The second amendment being voted on in November is the Kansas Coun ty Sheriff Election and Recall Amendment.

If the vote results in a yes, this amendment would require counties to vote for county sheriffs and allow sheriffs to be recalled or removed from office.

“The amendment would amend the Kansas Constitution to require the elec

can register to vote. The first way you can register is by using the federal voter registra tion form. Those using this method don’t need to submit a birth certificate, passport, or any similar proof of citizenship.

“Register online at www.ksvotes. org or print and mail to the address listed on the form at www.eac.gov/voters/nation almail-voter-registration-form,” A.C.L.U. of Kansas said.

tion of county sheriffs in counties that had not abolished the office as of January 2022 and provide that sheriffs may be recalled from office or removed by a writ of quo warranto initiated by the attorney general,” Ballotpedia said.

If the majority vote no on this amendment, it would oppose requiring counties to elect sheriffs.

“Thereby maintaining that coun ties can elect to operate under a consoli dated law enforcement agency according to state law,” Ballotpedia said.

If planning to vote in the state of Kansas this November, there are require ments you must meet. A person must be a United States citizen, a resident of the state of Kansas, and at least 18 years old to be able to register to vote.

“Registra tion for the November 8 general election will open after the primary, and the dead line to register is October 18,” Website, A.C.L.U. of Kansas said. There are three ways that you

The second method for reg istering is at the DMV while ap plying for a new driver’s license or renewing an existing driver’s license.

“Citizens registering at the motor vehicle office do not need to submit a birth certificate, passport, or similar “proof of citizenship” document,” A.C.L.U. of Kan sas said.

The third and final way to regis ter to vote is using the state voter registra tion form or at an election authority.

“Use the state voter registration form, which can be filled out online at https://sos.kansas.gov/elections/registra tionvoting or in person at your local election authority,” A.C.L.U. of Kansas said.

You may get a notice in the mail confirming your registration, as well as other sources you can check, ensuring your registration.

“You may check online at ksvotes. org or contact your local election authority to confirm your registration,” A.C.L.U. of Kansas said.

Check your local election office or visit the Kansas Secretary of State’s website to find out where you can vote and make sure to check and follow CDC guide lines due to COVID-19.

“Polls open on Election Day in Kansas at 7:00 a.m. (but some counties may open earlier) and close at 7:00 p.m. (but some counties may close later),” Website, Rock the Vote said.

“Registration for the November 8 general election will open after the primary, and the deadline to register is October 18,” Website, A.C.L.U. of Kansas said.

Photo Courtesy of creative commons

Ehallpass On The Decline

An in-depth look into Ehallpass’s future at Olathe South

By: Mia Rollins

The system Ehallpass is on life support due to the numerous issues that occur when creating passes.

Many of the faculty members have difficulty using Ehallpass due to the various bugs and errors that come up when trying to create a pass. There are a lot of issues with making passes, so it makes it dif ficult to get students where they need to go.

Students and teachers alike have troubles using Ehallpass, especially in the last year.

“Some passes are active forever, others aren’t able to start in the first place,” assistant principal Gabe Mervosh said. “They updated their system over the sum mer and it hasn’t been working well.”

There are a lot of complaints that are brought up to the school, and many of them cannot be fully addressed because the issues are with the platform. The school cannot fix the issues because of this, so there has been a lot of demand

to change to a different system altogether.

There have been suggestions for the school to switch to paper or QR code passes like some of the other high schools.

“The QR passes do seem like a good option for the school,” Mervosh said. “We tried to shift to some other platform in March.”

Despite the problems and the complaints over the last couple years, South continues to use Ehallpass and is cracking down on using passes in the hallways this year. There is a lot of debate on whether the school should switch to a different sys tem or not this or next year.

“For now, we’re going to keep it, but it is going to be brought up in future meetings,” Mervosh said. “We want to give Ehallpass a chance to shift their platform.”

Ehallpass was introduced when Covid-19 started, and the school has kept it since. Ehallpass was first used for contract tracing in order to keep track of where a

student went if they contracted Covid. This was used to determine who else should be quarantined if others were near the infected student. But now that there is no need for contract tracing, both students and teachers question the continued use of Ehallpass.

“We want to give Ehallpass a chance, so we’ll see if we will keep it or not,” said Mervosh. “We shifted to Ehall pass during Covid-19, and so far we’ve kept it.”

Although the issues with Ehall pass are a problem in the school, the school board hopes that the platform will update the system and get rid of the bugs. Despite the problems, South will continue to use Ehallpass for the foreseeable future until it is determined if Ehallpass will change their platform.

“We are aware there are issues,” Mervosh said. “and we want to do what is best for the school.”

Photo courtesy of Creative Commons

You Define: Olathe South

Do you feel fulfilled as a teacher?

By: Hudson Marmon

Do you feel fulfilled as a teacher? For be ing a yes or no question, there’s quite a bit to unpack. But before one can even begin to fathom this question, they first must decide what it means to be fulfilled.

Teri Daugherty, history teacher of 20+ years, set out to answer this question by weighing the value of influences in her job.

“Fulfilled is a hard word. I would say I do love my job. I would say I love my stu dents. I would say the non-tangible rewards are absolutely awesome,” Daugherty said. “Currently, it is very hard to feel valued by society. It is hard to feel valued, sometimes, by even your own school board.”

Daugherty explained the frustration of teaching while constantly having to fight an “invisible war.”

“If you truly value your employees, then you pay them accordingly. And that’s not just Olathe school district, that’s teaching in general,” said Daugherty. “It’s frustrating to me that I have to get a license from the state of Kansas as a professional. And yet, the respect of a professional is not given.”

Despite the adverse challenges that accompany teaching, Daugherty’s passion brought her a final answer to this difficult question.

“Yes, I am fulfilled by the intangibles. But I don’t know how much longer I’m go ing to be able to say that,” Daugherty said. “I still dig my kids. They’re still pretty much the reason I do this.”

Marci Gibbens, English teacher, had no trouble coming up with an answer.

“I do, yes,” Gibbens said. “And to me there’s fulfilling things about being a teacher that are untouched by problems, if that makes sense. In education right now there’s a lot of teacher turnover and a lot of pressure put on teachers from parents, from administrators, from students themselves. You can focus on that and dwell on it, but as a teacher one of the things that gets me so excited, and gets me returning again and again is the growth that I see in students on a daily basis.”

Beyond seeing this growth in class, Gib bens the satisfaction of hearing from former students.

Gibbens said. “I really enjoy coming to the job because it’s not a job.”

Jeff Witters, science teacher of 20 years, was quick to answer this loaded question.

“I do mostly,” Witters said. “I suppose you’re looking for more than a yes or no on that huh?”

Despite feeling fulfilled Witters described what, for him, can make that hard at times.

“I have politicians who want to fight critical race theory being taught in our classrooms,” Daugherty said. “It makes parents [and] communities look at us in a different way, and yet, we’ve never taught CRT; we’re not trying to indoctrinate students. And so I’m having to fight back against a fight that doesn’t exist.”

This frustration is compounded by the lack of respect paid to qualified teachers.

“Every once in a while I’ll have a student that will write a nice note or send an email that says, ‘thank you for what you do. I’m using your material,’ or ‘what I learned in your class,’ or ‘what you talked to me about,’ in something else in life,” Gibbens said.

Gibbens’ unmatched enthusiasm towards her career may stem from the fact that she doesn’t necessarily think of teach ing as a job.

“I think another thing that brings [me] fulfillment is, more days than not, I don’t think of teaching as a job that I’m just getting money for. I’m doing what I love,”

“With students who you see can be so much more, and they’re just refusing all the tricks you have to get through to them, and inspire them and all that can be discourag ing,” Writers said. “I think really in the end, for a lot of them it’s that they don’t believe in themselves. Why? 1,000 reasons are the answer to that question.”

Aside from these outlying instances, Witters explained some of the reasons he appreciates his job on a day-to-day basis.

“I work with juniors and seniors in col lege credit classes, so I definitely have a not a fully representative sample of high school kids; but it’s such a fun age,” Writers said. “They’ve got questions, and they’re really thinking about it in ways that maybe they weren’t when they were in ninth and tenth grade. I enjoy that.”

Additionally, his love for the material he teaches makes everyday more enjoyable.

Photo by: Makinley Gilner

Marci Gibbens

Photo by: Hudson Marmon

Teri Daugherty

Jeff Witters

Photo by: Makinley Gilner

“I have a real passion for the stuff that I teach,” Writers said. “It’s fun to be able to share that excitement that I have over stuff, and help [students] have a chance to expand their appreciation of the world that we live in.”.

Lorissa Reeves has taught art for 20

years and says that her fulfillment comes from one place.

“I feel personally fulfilled by the stu dents,” Reeves said. All teachers say that they do it for the kids, but that’s literally the only reason that I’m here.”

Reeves reminisced on some of her fondest memories as a teacher.

“I had a student who was having some real difficulties at home, and I wanted to adopt her basically,” Reeves said. “We got her out of that situation, and she had a boyfriend for a really long time and I told them, ‘you know, you guys could get married and everything will be okay,’ and they did. That was one of my favorite moments; watching her grow up into a woman. From freshman year to married.”

Despite the more cherishable parts of her career, Reeves explained some of the troubles she still faces today.

“I don’t like fighting for what we have, and that happens a lot in art where you have to fight for every penny, every project and every personality,” Reeves said. “I think teachers really appreciate

teachers. But I’m not sure the powers that be necessarily appreciate you as much. A lot of them, I don’t think, have any idea what you’re against.”

Photo by: Hudson Marmon

Lorissa Reeves

Photo by Hudson Marmon English teacher Marci Gibbens explains a section of a rhetorical analysis assignment to junior Skylar Saragusa in her AP Language and Composition class on Sept. 23. Gibbens graduated from South and returned as a teacher.

Meet the newest Falcon Staff

New staff joined the Falcon family this year; get to know a few of them!

By: Riley Story

MR. WYNN

First Year Counseling

His Hobbies: Very competitive so he likes playing sports. He plays Pickleball in his free time along with playing the Harp at Weddings.

Why he likes South:

“So far I really like the students, the staff, the environment, this is my first time in a high school setting, there’s a good energy here, a lot of people who care.” Wynn said.

What Motivated him to become a High school Counselor:

“I never knew about a counselor, what they did, I used to recruit for K-State so I worked with counselors a lot, I liked the relationships and how they are able to work with students,” Wynn said.

MR. DEMAREE

13th year of teaching/administration, 4 of those years as an administrator. Before South, he taught music and social - emotional learning in Kansas City, KS. Most recently an Assistant Principal at a middle school in Kansas City, KS.

His Hobbies: He loves music, playing the ukulele, singing with his kids and cooking. Why he likes South:

“I really enjoy the students here. It’s really refreshing to be in a building where you can tell every student cares about the school, and there’s just that atmosphere that we are in a big falcon family; not just a bunch of people who don’t wanna be here.” DeMaree said. What motivated him to be a high school administrator: “To become a principal. It was actually my first few years of teaching, I didn’t really like how the building was led, and I didn’t like what I was seeing with students. There was a lot of inequity and stuff I wasn’t happy with, so that motivated me to become a principal.” DeMaree said.

Extra Information:

“When you spend a really long time in another school district they know what you’re about. And so I was used to students who want to talk to you and are really interested in what your doing, so I’m looking forward to getting to know more students and having students feel comfortable talking to me and joking around with me.” DeMaree said.

MRS. ROSEMAN

Was an intern for a teacher last year, as well as a long term counselor substitute.

Her Hobbies: Crafty things, and anything her kids do like Cheerleading, Softball and Golf. Why she likes South:

“I love the sense of community at South, I think it’s a really good sense of togetherness,” Roseman said.

“Almost feels like a family.”

What motivated her to become a high school counselor:

“I’ve seen how the school counselor field has evolved, and I love the way that they help students, I love working with young people and helping them achieve their goals and learn; I like to work one on one,” she said.

photo by Strawbridge

photo by Gracie Akers

photo by Gracie Akers

MR. NEUER

First year teaching

Teaches German 1, 2, 3, and 4

His Hobbies: He likes listening to music and watching movies and shows in English and German.

What motivated him to become a high school teacher: “One of the things that motivated me was other teachers. Both good teachers and bad teachers.” Neuer said.

“In high school, I struggled a lot, and I didn’t have the best grades. And I had a lot of teachers that just kind of ignored that and let that happen, and I had some good teachers that saw the spark, and saw my potential and they made me realize that and when I slowly became a better student, I realized it was those good teachers that motivated me, and I wanted to be one of those good teachers,” he said.

Extra Information: “If we wanna change the world we gotta be the ones to do it,” Neuer said.

MRS. CHALK

9th ELA, Reading

29th Year of teaching, 1st year at south. Her first 14 years, she taught at a junior high in Oklahoma, and spent 8 years at a high school called Midwest City High School. In 2008 she moved to Kansas and started out in KCK. She spent 13 years there and a year in Leav enworth.

Hobbies: She spends a lot of time at Worlds of Fun and mini golfing with her kids. Why she likes South:

“I like the connection with students, and I like seeing the light bulb moment and when students get excited about learning.” Chalk said.

What motivated her to become a high school teacher:

“I love my students and I can say that already, in a mere 4 weeks, I am very impressed with the student body overall, and I sincerely mean that. I Feel like the students have been really respectful, I feel like students understand the importance of education and I feel like they’re invested even though they’re young,” Chalk said.

“I like the connection.”.

MRS. BELL

8th year all together

Teaches Business Finance, Marketing Applications and Investing, guided study and she’s the Academy Facilitator. Before teaching she worked in the corporate world.

Her Hobbies: Owns her own apparel company, and has two kids she spends lots of time with who play baseball and do ballet.

Why she likes South:

“The people at South make it phenomenal. I really enjoy our business department. I really have enjoyed getting to know other teachers across the building,” Bell said.

“Everyone I have met so far that works at South is incredible,” she said. “South has been incredibly friendly and helpful in the onboarding process; something that’s very unique to South.”

What motivated her to become a high school teacher: “I knew when I was five that I wanted to be a storyteller,” she said. “And to become a teacher.”

photo by Gracie Akers

photo by Gracie Akers

photo by Gracie Akers

INTO THE UNKNOWN

By: Makenna Aiello

High school. For those who haven’t yet experienced those 4 years of school dances and football games, homework and high-priority tests, high school seems scary, sometimes even terrifying. Such a huge step up from the safe, little bubble provided by middle school, high school poses many dif ferent challenges. From test anxiety, to what we all know and fear as peer pressure, but behind the curtain of stress and deadlines lies the parts of high school that are unfor gettable. Football games spent cheering on the bleachers with your closest friends, pep rallies spent swaying and singing the alpha mater, school dances spent showing off dizzying, made-up dance moves in a circle surrounded by your peers.

When freshmen were asked about their least favorite things about the school, both the environment and the school alike, only a few negative perspectives were given - and even so, they only touched on general surface topics that most freshmen tend to dislike about our school. A resounding majority of students will vastly agree that the school’s lack of cell phone service is a downside.

A slight issue with senior superiority was also discussed with freshman Zion Allil.

“Some upperclassmen like to call us ‘freshies’,” Allil said. “They are, for the most part, nice, but some of them get senioritis and act superior to us.” Freshman Joseph Gillen shared a similar perspective on Allil’s viewpoint.

“Some of the upperclassmen are chill,” Gillen said. “But some are rude too.”

And of course, crowding. With such a high number of students at our school, the hallways and the commons tend to overflow with people trying to get to their next class.

“I like the people, but not the crowding,” said freshman Sydney Mwangi.

enjoyment of sports… mainly football.

“There isn’t much I don’t like here, and my favorite thing is playing football,” Whyte said.

Block days have lightened homework loads and give freshmen more time to focus on their schoolwork. Freshman MaKayla Edmondson appreciates the extra time provided for work by both block days and advisory. “The block days are so much easier than having every class and more homework,” Edmondson said. “I like how you have more chances to finish all your schoolwork in advisory since we are given homework time.”

Mitchell

“The only thing I dislike about this school is how we live in a block,” freshman Holden Schmitz said. “There is no cell phone service.”

Other students, such as freshman Chiron Crabb, found their difficulties were in the layout of the school, which any student can testify was confusing at first.

“The layout of the school is kind of weird,” Crabb said. “There’s a bunch of dead ends and I was really expecting more bypass hallways.”

Despite a few downsides to life here, the school definitely makes up with all its fun activites: sports games, pep rallies, and fun school events for everyone to enjoy. Though high school is difficult confusing and a bit overwhelming at times, relationships built with teachers and fellow peers are critical to those high school years. Fresh man Finley Schiessler explains that though the influx of students is a little overwhelm ing, time spent with peers and teachers make for days filled with a healthy balance of work and play.

“At lunch and between classes, it is slightly chaotic.” Schiessler said. “But the teachers and the students in each class are all really entertaining, so it’s bustling and enjoyable.”

Speaking of fun, another thing widely enjoyed by the freshmen are the sports, and the teams that they bring together. “I like the sports teams and how energetic everyone is,” freshman Wyatt Feikert said. Freshman Jacobi Whyte also relates to the

More important than the block days and the sports, is the school itself and the environment that is presented by the students.

“All the students are very supportive and the teachers are always helping when you need it. I like this place a lot,” said freshman Devyn Schoenhofer.

Also sharing his opinion on the envi ronment of the school and the people within, Joao Bontempo seems to have a positive outlook on the behavior of both his fellow freshmen and those in grades above him.

“A lot of the people here are very ma ture and nice,” said Bontempo.

And the final opinion, one I hope we can all agree on.

“My favorite thing is the people get ting together, making new friends,” said freshman Faaon Mitchell. “It’s huge, and there’s a lot of people who come together really fast.” With each new wave of new students, we try to make the best environment for them to experience, try to incorporate them quickly and seam lessly into our school. Here’s to the fresh man - enjoy high school. Enjoy South and everybody and everything that comes with it. Dance crazy at homecom ing. Sing loud at those rallies. Cheer even louder at the games. Welcome to South. It’s a wild ride, but it’s worth it.

“My favorite thing is the people getting together, making new friends.” - Faaon

Art by Sylvia Grimsley

STUDENT SLEEP SCHEDULES

By Mildred Garza

Imagine, it’s 1 a.m. you’re exhausted from a day filled with school, work, and the sport you play. You barely managed to turn in the 8 assignments that were due at 12 a.m. But they’re done, submitted. And finally your head hits your pillow but just like that, as if in just a blink, your alarm sounds and it’s time to get up. To repeat the same thing you do everyday school, work, play your sport, and do homework. Except you’re a little more tired each day. You leave home thinking of how to fix your sleeping schedule. Manda tory online school provided us with a bit more time to sleep in even if it was just minutes. Although it’s been about 2 years since then, students are still struggling to this day to compose a good sleeping sched ule now more than ever because for a lot of students the recent return to in-person school was just last year.

“When I did online school I usually slept in until three minutes before my first class started. I remember not really caring once I got the hang of it because we didn’t really do much during the day. Classes started at 8:00 a.m. and ended around 11:00 a.m., sometimes even 10:00 a.m.,” senior Juan Carraza said.

Even after a year some students are struggling to adjust to actually having to get up to go to school and managing their homework along with sports, events and their personal life. “I go to bed at 9:00 p.m. and wake up at 6:30 a.m. On the weekends and summers though, I go to sleep whenever I want, which is usually around 12:00 p.m.,” freshman Ben Burdick said.

Since most students are given the freedom of choosing when they go to sleep, they sometimes miscalculate the time they need, to get everything done for them to have a successful day the next day which leaves them sleeping at a later time each day. Many of the students here at Olathe South are incredibly involved in sports, have jobs and other activities that keep them busy throughout the day, this causes them to struggle to fit everything they need to do during the day. When the day ends they find themselves wanting the days to be longer or to be able to stay up later without feeling the many consequences that not

sleeping comes with the next day.

“During the day I go to school, do dance team, and play tennis. After school I sometimes have studio dance and of course homework to get done,” soph more Laura Umscheid said.

Not getting enough sleep affects more than just your mood. Lack of sleep af fects the way we react to things, our mental abilities and it puts our physical health at real risk. Everyone needs sleep to be able to perform well in daily activities.

“[When I don’t sleep] I feel ex hausted and I feel like I can’t do anything,” junior Emily Koeneke said.

keep my brain active,” Umschied said. Staying up late can be beneficial because sometimes all we need is a little more time. Finding time during the day is hard for a lot of people. But staying up late without a reason might not be the best option, sleep is necessary for our bodies to function correctly. Drinking a lot of caf feine, which is what a lot of people do to get through their day, can, in time, cause a lot of problems to our mental and physical health.

“I definitely have a caffeine ad diction. I drink coffee and an energy drink everyday,” Carraza said.

We all wish it was as simple as it sounds, to juggle everything during the day and set everything down at night to go to sleep at a reasonable time, but it really isn’t. The pressure of being a teen is strong and there’s so many things to get done to have a successful life. Adults and sometimes other teens do not hesitate to give us their opin ions on what we should do, what we should not do.

Although students have a lot of weight to carry, they still show up and manage to get through the days they have to be here. What are students doing to accomplish everything they need to get done with just a few hours of sleep?

“I try to fit in naps when I can outside of school but when I can’t I try to have a lot of snacks throughout the day to

Although sometimes giving up some sleep is the only way of getting things done, remember that your worth is so much more than a letter grade and that making sure your mental health and your body are do ing well is the most important thing you can care about.

“I feel exhausted and I feel like I can’t do anything,” junior Emily Koeneke said.

Student’s Thoughts on theStudent Deaths

By Sydney Slaton

After sophomores, Brian Amuzati and Jax Putthoff died late this summer, many students feel the school isn’t doing enough to acknowledge their friends.

“I feel very angered and disap pointed that they haven’t said anything,” sophomore, Summer Vargas said. “I get there’s reasons behind that because my par ents have contacted the school about it but I just feel like there are certain things that can be said without hurting families.”

Suicides and student deaths can be hard to navigate for everyone involved, and --just like Vargas said-- administration says there are reasons behind their silence.

“We’ve tried to stay in our lane on not memorializing those pieces because we’ve been guided over and over and over that it’s not a healthy part of any resolu tion,” principal Dale Longenecker said.

That is the main reason the school is so worried about mentioning Amuzati and Putthoff’s names, they are worried about hurting other students. The school is worried that making memorials for them could have negative effects.

“It makes them want to be like that person. And unfortunately they then decide to harm themselves as well,” school psychologist Jenny Spears said.

But students like Vargas feel that there could be another way that doesn’t harm students.

“I think to an extent [there is truth in the warnings], I mean there’s a way of honoring people who passed without making it like that,” Vargas said.

Vargas doesn’t want a large monument or something huge to remem ber her friends, she just wants to know that other people still know about them.

“Just mentioning their names, because I haven’t heard anyone other than students talk about it,” Vargas said.

Others, like sophomore Max Allen, want the school to at least take action regarding suicide to prevent it from happen ing in the future.

“Personally, I feel like they should

talk about mental health, but I feel like a lot of people just wouldn’t care,” Allen said.

That is something other students, like Var gas, agree on too. Vargas also feels that “maybe they can say something in advisory.”

“I would feel good that they took action because it shows that they care and aren’t just blocking it out,” Vargas said.

One of the reasons these students want the school to try a different tactic when it comes to suicide prevention is because they think the old methods, while good, aren’t having the same effect.

“I feel like what they have done in the past is still helpful and still meaningful,” Vargas said. “But I think kids are kids and if they don’t see a problem with how they’re acting to other people they’re just not going to change.”

One of the new things the school has set up for this year is holding support groups.

“We have some groups that are helping our students that have depression, and for some of the students that were di rectly involved with those that have passed, also some anxiety groups going on,” Spears said.

But students that have been involved with these groups feel there are still flaws.

“They’ve done the support groups for us, but I feel like they should do them for everyone,” Allen said.

Allen says the problem with the groups is with advertisement and communi cation though, not everyone knows they’re available.

“They just don’t talk about it, they need to be more open about it,” Allen said.

But keep in mind, as long as your parents give consent, you have access to those three support groups.

“They just need to fill out a form, your parents need to fill it out because we have to have parental consent,” Longeneck er said.

For those who aren’t able to at tend or get permission for the groups, Allen advises you to still reach out.

“It’s hard to talk to someone but if you can, I think you should do it,” Allen said. “It doesn’t even have to be a parent, it could just be a friend.”

Vargas too reminds struggling students of how asking those close to her helped her in dark times.

“I’ve struggled with those thoughts in the past and what really helped me was just reaching out to people who you really do trust and someone you know is going to stay by you every step of the way,” Vargas said.

Many students and staff are heart broken after Amuzati and Putthoff’s deaths, but their friends, like sophomore Jordan Gonzalez, urge people to remember them as the people they were. He wants people to remember Amuzati the football player and Putthoff the music lover, his friends.

“I don’t want their names to be publicized for how they left, I want [others] to be mindful of what they did while they were here,” Gonzalez said.

How Student’s Feel About How The School Has Handled Amuzatis and Puthoff’s Deaths

Courtesy of Creative Commons

New national suicide and Crisis lifeline

workforce in addition to existing public/ private sector funding streams.

Currently 988 is available to 95 percent of cellphone customers. As required in the National Hot line Designation Act, all 988 calls will flow through the Lifeline system.

Do not call to see if it works. Only call if you or someone you know needs support for a suicidal, mental health and/or substance use crisis. Calling this line to see if it works will back up the line and cause the people who are in need to lose time with these councilors.

In the past 2 decades the suicide rate has increased significantly. Recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) analysis highlights that, from 1999 through 2019, the suicide rate in the United States increased 33 percent.

By: Dalton Roberts

988 has been designated as the new three digit number for the national suicide and Crisis lifeline. This change hap pened July 16, and when people contact the number they will be connected to trained counselors that are part of the exist ing Lifeline network.

Phone service providers had until July 16th to get their systems in compliance with the 988 number. If the number does not work then you should still call the 10 digit number.

The lifeline is up 24/7 and re sponds to call, text, and chats from anyone who needs support: suicide, mental health and/or substance use crisis.

It connects those in need to a trained crisis counselor. These counsel ors are trained to listen, understand how their problems are affecting them, provide support, and connect them to resources if necessary.

You are able to call for someone else. For example, in 2020 the U.S. had a death every 11 days due to suicide alone. Suicide is also the leading cause of death of people from 10-34 years of age. Addition ally 100,000 individuals died from April 2020 to April 2021 due to drug overdoses.

So even if you don’t need to call 988 you can for someone else.

988 was established to help with the nation’s rising suicide rate. In the year 2020, 2.4 million people called the national suicide and Crisis lifeline.

Rerouting mental health and substance abuse calls from 911 to 988 has been another positive. It gives resources to people that 911 wasn’t able to give. It’s also directing more calls in a different direction as 911 has a distinct purpose (where the focus is on dispatching Emergency Medical Services, fire and police as needed).

Additionally, veterans can call 988 then press “1” to be directly connected to the veterans crisis hot line that serves our nation’s veter ans, service members, National Guard and Reserve members and those who support them.

The lifeline is also in progress of expanding to a video phone service for deaf or hard of hearing people seeking help with the lifeline to have better communication with the councilors.

Congress has provided Depart ment of Health and Human Services work force funding through the American Rescue Plan. Some of which will support the 988

In addition, according to recent SAMHSA data millions more individual attempt suicide each year. In 2019, 12 million adults reported that they seriously thought about suicide. Of these individuals 3.5 million people made a plan for suicide, 1.4 made a non fatal suicide attempt, and 217,000 reported that they attempted sui cide without a plan.

The planned funding for the 988 Lifeline in FY 2022 is $282 million and in cludes two primary sources. The first $102 million in the Continuing Resolution; and (2) $180 million in crisis workforce funding through the American Rescue Plan Act.

In 2020 there were 1,509,920 total answered Lifeline calls. This data was from 90 individual call centers. It is estimated that in 2020 there were 340,789 individuals who called for suicide ideation, 60,850 individual callers who were at immediate risk, and 13,589 individuals

Graph from: samhsa.gov

Sources: 988lifeline.org, samhsa.gov, kvc.org, fcc.gov

Mental Health Around Schools

By: Peyton Walls

Declining mental health has been a challenge that has slowly been creeping through the school’s doors; this summer when two students died, the whole school was hit hard. The mindset at school has shifted for the worse, and students don’t feel the staff is doing much to help with their mental health battles.

Having resources that are easy to access for students so they know how to get the help they need can be very useful. Students who know how to get that help for themselves will also be able to help their friends who are also in need of getting help.

“Help kids become aware of re sources for when they are struggling,” Sarah Peaterson said. “I think there’s more that could be done, but kids need to know that we care for them and are always here.”

The school has done things in the past for suicide awareness and is continuing to do those lessons during advisory. The lessons are called SOS lessons and their job is to share about how important it is to get help when you are struggling.

“I feel like they need to have a

mental health day,” Eva Kime says. “In stead of just a suicide day, because all they really do is show a video about suicide.”

Schools are starting to do more to help students cope with mental health and grief. Our school has increased the things it does for its students.

“The newest thing this year that we haven’t had in years past is small groups,” Dale Longenecker said. “We cur rently have three, one for anxiety, one for depression and one for grief, and those are all run by small group trained therapists.”

Going to teachers and counselors about your personal mental health can be scary. The fear of what they say and what they will think can get the better of you and make it so you can’t get the help you need.

“When I try to talk about my mental health at this school, they try to blame my grades and basically tell me how I’m feeling instead of helping me,” Kime said.

Mental Health is something adults and kids all over the world battle with. Learning how to handle it is an im

portant part of coping with mental health however it can also be the hardest part.

“Mental health is a real thing,” Longenecker said.

How students and staff feel about what the school is doing to help cope with mental health

Photo Courtesy of Creative Commons

Photo Courtesy of Creative Commons

Social Media’s Affects Teens

As teens get older the negative affect of social media be comes apparent

By: Serinity Bishop

Teenagers can use social media for entertainment and as a form of selfexpression.

Their mental health is often negatively affected by this use, for example, Instagram lets you like other people on that platform’s photos.

The need to gain “likes” on social media can cause teens to make choices they would otherwise not make, including alter ing their appearance and even engaging in negative behaviors.

“Everyone is so caught up about how many likes/followers they have, and it practically consumes them and becomes their whole life,” Junior Mikayla Arias said.

Because many teens feel the need to get likes this creates a need to be like everyone else and that need can cause many people to think negatively about themselves even though they are perfect just the way they are.

“I compare myself to others I see on the apps and it affects my mental health,” Arias said.

Everything from physical appear ance to life circumstances to successes and failures is strongly shared on social media.

Social media is created to be addict ing, This issue is a concern for many scientists.

“I can get carried away and waste time,” Junior Alex Wood said.

Using these platforms teens come across a variety of different things, and many of the stuff they come across can be upsetting and affect their mental health.

“Sometimes it makes me scared after seeing the news or sad when I see something sad.”With” It can just affect my emotions re ally easily,” senior Mallory Brooks said.

“The average teen is on social media for nine hours or even more,” the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry states.

Teens rely so much on social media that given the opportunity they might not choose to give up social media.

“Probably not, just because I’m too dependent on it,” Senior Brooks said.

In the end, social media has its ups and downs but no matter what the cause is, good or bad social media affects teens.

Courtesy of Creative Commons

Courtesy of Creative Commons

Courtesy of Creative Commons

Courtesy of Creative Commons

ABOVE RIGHT Wyatt Osborn, sophomore, defends the ball from his opponent at the Olathe District Athletic Complex on Sept. 22. “I’ve been playing soccer since I was 3, 13 years. Soccer helps to take my mind off things and I have the most fun”, Osborn said.

PHOTO BY ALLIE ELTON

ABOVE LEFT Maddie Bell, Senior, defends the ball at a Saturday tournament vs St. James. She says volleyball impacts her life by being “time consuming, but a lot of fun to play the sport I love in highschool and to play with some of my best friends.”

PHOTO BY SYDNEY PETERSON

RIGHT Assistant varsity football coach, Coach Bell, waits for the first practice game of the 2022 season, at Shawnee Mis sion North Stadium. Bell is there to help his players improve and see what they need to work on, specifically the cornerbacks and defense.

PHOTO BY AYLA ANDERSEN

ABOVE

After much anticipation for the first home football game of the season, the student section throws pow der before the game against ONW on Sept. 16. The Fal con Flight Crew led the students in chants throughout the game and the tradition of throwing powder during the “I Believe” chant is one that students looked forward to. “I was so excited to lead the student section, every one had a lot of energy — you could really feel it” senior Kacie Karsak said.

PHOTO BY CORAL NETTEN

LEFT

Seniors Madison Koerner and Rhiannon Hubbell sing a Britney Spears song into their ‘microphones’. The two girls danced while lip syncing the lyrics, the seniors were twirling around and laughing until the song ended. Rhiannon Hubbell said “The luau all together was pretty lame, but being there with friends made it a lot bet ter”. Madison Koerner said “I was pretty unimpressed by the luau but atleast Rhiannon was there.” The seniors agreed the luau was not the best but they still made the most of it and tried to have fun.

PHOTO BY DEVON SCHMIDT

Seniors Mallory Brooks, Lexi Shellhamer, and Macy Bush are getting their picture taken at the senior sunrise on Sept. 1. “That morning we ate doughnuts on the football field watching the sun, it made the clouds look like cotton candy” Bush said.

PHOTO BY GRACIE AKERS

ABOVE RIGHT Junior Kate Addelman PHOTO BY ABOVE LEFT Senior Skylar Gary PHOTO BY MAKINLEY GILNER

RIGHT

ABOVE

The boys varsity soccer seniors run through the banner at the end of the ceremony for senior night on Sept. 22. The seniors sprinted back to run through the banner together after they had just finished each of their walk outs to celebrate their time on the soccer team through the last four years. The varsity team went on and won their game 5-0, marking not only a win, but a win for all the 2023 boys for their senior night. Cole said that “Senior night was fun but also weird knowing it is my last season of highschool soccer.” After the senior night ceremony “I was excited knowing everyone’s friends and were out watching us all play and it was awesome to end senior night with a huge 5-0 win” Cole said.

PHOTO BY DANIELLE DESMARTEAU

LEFT Senior, Cyren Fausset-Anderson runs towards the stu dent section after scoring his first goal during senior night against Gardner Edgerton on September 20th. He said his very first goal of the season was “Magnificent and surreal,” Anderson described the moment to be “Very cool because there was a student crowd there and my girlfriend and my family were there supporting me.”

PHOTO BY DAKOTA COWLES

Emergency Alert System

Teachers and faculty explain the new security system put into South the beginning of this year.

Jaegers talks about the good and some of the downsides of the Centegix device.

“We had it used on the football field for band one morning. A kid had a seizure and a cross country coach did not see a band teacher out there and he pushed the button and it got him medical help,” Jaegers said. “I think there are some appli cations that it is good for. I think there are some applications that the old school using a phone or calling somebody is beneficial as well,” Jaegers said. “I wish there was a way to tell me the type of situation I will be going into so I am not going into maybe a school shooter blind.”.

Jaegers sums up his final thoughts on the Centegix device and how it will help the school moving forward

By: Timothy Wood

Teachers have had mixed opinions on the new Centegix device. There are some ben efits and some unfavorable opinions. Here are some of the teachers’ opinions.

“I think it is a great idea. I feel like it is something that I wish we would have had years ago. Whenever you have a student who either gets sick or has a seizure in class, to be able to get help immediately I think it is a great Idea,” teacher Jason Smith said.

Teacher Brian Atkien believes it will improve the students safety and the security of the school.

“I think it is really unfortunate the climate that we are in right now where it is a reality we have to have procedures in place to keep us safe: with the things hap pening all over the country, with violence in school. But I think it will be very effective and an awesome thing for sure,” Atkien said.

Teacher Jennifer Lenz explains the training that the teachers had to go through to use the button effectively.

“We went through training that went over the number of clicks that would result in the administrators showing up vs. locking down the school.”.

This Centegix device will cost $2.1 million over the span of five years for the district which is approximately $500,000 over a span of five years for South and $100,000 a year.

“What happened at Olathe East scares us all and I think that prompted a lot of it, but I have been a high school administrator for 23-24 years. The medical issues we are going to have day in and day out and being able to coordinate…and being able to have a safe environment day in and day out is really the big deal,” said Principal Dale Longenecker. “It also has a feature on there, that if you are Mr. Kieger, our district director, and you see a storm bearing down on Olathe… He could pull up his phone and with one button the entire district is sheltered, and is safe and ready for the storm.”.

School resources Officer Brian

“In the grand scheme of things I think it is comparable to other programs that the district is using per building, and what price would you put on the safety of you guys? If that is something else that would help, and every teacher has access to it, why not try it,” Jaegers said. “Is it a forever thing? I don’t know… I think overall it is helpful. I think some fine tuning could be done but I see it as a good thing.”.

Photo by: Megan Proberts

Photo by: Megan Proberts

Robotics Season Kickoff

By: Mj Garcia

Robotics season has started! Our very own robotics team, The BioMech Falcons, flew into their off season earlier this month, and team members both new and old are buzzing with excitement.

Returning team leader, senior Zach Richards, shared how he was feeling about this coming season.

“I feel ex cited, but also kind of sad since I’m gonna be leaving next year,” Richards said, “But I’m excited to give it my all this season and build the best robot I can.”

Being on the team for the full four years of his high school career, Richards shared his favorite memories from his time here.

“My favorite memory was proba bly last year at both of the regionals, so at Lee’s Summit North and here at South, just hanging out with people. Watching our robot compete was probably the best part.” Richards said.

The Bio-Mech Falcons are all about competitiveness. In a regional competition different teams play a game designed by FIRST Robotics sometime before the build season. Every year the game is different and requires different functions from a team’s robot. This creates a fun and

challenging environment for aspiring engineers and students in the STEM field.

Out of his time on the team, Rich ards shared his favorite game “by far” was last year’s Rapid React.

So, how does one get into build ing robots and com peting in regionals? In the case of Zach Richards, it was his love of engineering and dream to pursue it as a career that inspired him to join the team. For others though, the answer is much more simple. Sophomore Ty Brizuela shares that it “just looked cool.” He saw it at the activity fair and de cided it was the club for him.

Brizuela was new to the team as a fresh man but was soon elected team leader after his predeces sor graduated last year. As the youngest leader on the team currently, Brizuela was aware of the chal lenges he would face.

“The experience that other teams have compared to the experience that I definitely don’t have,” Brizu ela said, “I think that’s going to be a challenge to overcome, but I mean, I think I can overcome that.”

However, with the nerves comes excitement too.

“I’m excited about learning new things, you know like, getting to be around a whole bunch of people, stuff like that.” Brizuela said.

Brizuela also shared some of his goals for this year as the leader, some of which included “getting people involved” and to spend more one-on-one time with new mem bers to teach them new skills.

People who were on the team previously are excited especially because they know what to expect, but what should the new members expect? New member, sophomore Hafsa Jalil shared her excitement about this coming year as well.

“I’m excited for this new experi ence,” Jalil said, “I’ve never done anything like this before. I’m excited to find out what I’m gonna like, whether that’s actually building or being on a management team.”

As for what inspired her to join the team, Jalil shared some of her future career plans and goals.

“I just thought it was really interest ing as a whole and like the concept of it. I feel like it ties in with what I want to become, which is a biomedical engineer, so that engineering aspect would really fall into robotics,” Jalil said, “It would help me not only get closer with my friends and have a good time, but also prepare me for the future in that way.”

“It would help me not only like get closer with my friends and have a good time but also prepare me for the future in that way,” Jalil said.

“But I’m excited to really, you know, give it my all this season and build the best robot I can,” Richards said.

Chiefs Season Preview

Will the Chiefs Continue Their Recent Success?

By: Quinton Coats

The 2022-23 Kansas City Chiefs Season is full of many questions from fans, analysts and even the players themselves. Many key departures and arrivals are sparking all of the uncertainty. With subtractions such as Tyreek Hill and Tyrann Mathieu and additions such as all of the new rookies and veterans Carlos Dunlap and JuJu Smith Schuster, the Chiefs squad will look a lot different this season, almost foreign.

The Excitement Around this Season

Many fans are anxious as the season comes to a start. “I want to see these young receivers with Mahomes… I think it’ll be fun to see other targets besides just Tyreek Hill…” said History Teacher Mr. Wheeler. With the departure of a genera tional talent such as Hill comes a huge hole to fill. Additions such as Marquez ValdesScantling, JuJu Smith-Schuster and rookie

Skyy Moore at the Wide Receiver position were all brought on to try and fill the void that Hill left behind in his tracks. Some people here in Kansas City aren’t as excited to watch the Chiefs this season, just ask junior Gavin Blachowicz. “I’m excited for prime time Week 6 to watch the Chiefs lose by at least two scores to the Buffalo Bills…” Blachowicz said.

The Rookies

The Chiefs draft this year was rated by many different analysts as an ARated draft. The real question on the table is whether or not they live up to the hype. The Chiefs had 12 total picks divided into two first round, one second round, one third round, one fourth round and four seventh round draft picks. A lot of hype is centered around one rookie, and that is Skyy Moore.

The Rookie out of Western Michigan racked up 2494 yards and 17 touchdowns during his time in College. Those numbers were good enough for the Chiefs to take

him with the 54th pick in the second round. “He has shown some potential in pre season and without Tyreek Hill and a clear number one, I think there is lots of room for receivers to really shine, and I think he’ll be one of them,” Wheeler said on Moore. Some of the other notable rookie players the Chiefs picked up are Trent McDuffie, George Karlaftis, and Isiah Pachecho.

Tougher Competition

The teams in the AFC West have gotten tremendously better. Additions such as Khalil Mack to the Chargers, Russell Wilson to the Broncos and Davante Adams to the Raiders have made the AFC West an arms race. With the Chiefs coming off another AFC West title, their sixth straight, the other teams in their division have come to take the throne. With more talent on opposing teams comes tougher competition.

“The Chargers are the only threat. Justin Herbert is a really good passer, so I think the Chargers will challenge them, but I still

Photo Courtesy of Creative Commons

think the Chiefs will win the division,” Wheeler said. The Los Angeles Chargers have a solid backbone in Quarterback Justin Herbert and Wide Receiver Keenan Allen along with additions such as Khalil Mack to the Chargers, Russell Wilson to the Broncos and Davante Adams to the Raiders have made the AFC West an arms race. With the Chiefs coming off another AFC West title, their sixth straight, the other teams in their division have come to take the throne. With more talent on opposing teams comes tougher competition. “The Chargers are the only threat. Justin Herbert is a really good passer, so I think the Chargers will challenge them, but I still think the Chiefs will win the division,” Wheeler said. The Los Angeles Chargers have a solid back bone in Quarterback Justin Herbert and Wide Receiver Keenan Allen along with new additions in Outside Linebacker/De fensive End Khalil Mack and Cornerback JC Jackson. They will surely be a team to watch this season.

Early Season Predictions

Last year the Chiefs got out to a cold start, starting out at 3-4 through seven games, later on finishing with a record of 12-5. This year the chiefs look to start out hot. With a fresh squad and new coaching

arrivals, the season will look different, but for the better or worse? “I’m thinking 13-4 or maybe 12-5…I think they’re going to lose in the AFC Divisional and they will lose to the Chargers,”Blachowicz said. Along with Blachowicz is Wheeler with a similar prediction. “Record wise lets go 13-4 and I think they’ll lose in the AFC Championship,” Wheeler said. A deep playoff run has been the result of the last four years, and the Chiefs have the roster to do it once again.

New Additions

The Chiefs were busy this off-season with picking and choosing who they wanted in the free agent and trade market. With the absence of Tyreek Hill, the Chiefs immediately knew they needed to go out and get a veteran Wide Receiver, and that’s exactly what they did. Big additions such as JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdez-Scantling have boosted the Wide Receiver room. “All around I think they’re better now…say you play a good team with a good defense and they have a good cornerback, they can put him on any of your dudes and you still have an extra weapon. It wasn’t really like that last year, they didn’t really

have a pure number two…now they have 3 receivers who are equally as good so they can throw to any of them at any time,” Blachowcz states. In the past they have been one dimensional with the deep ball as their threat. This year could be different with the new skill sets coming in and being utilized.

With the Chiefs Season underway, many questions are going to be answered here very soon. Will the offense be as pro ductive without Tyreek? Will the Rookies live up to hype? And can Mahomes utilize the receivers? So many questions are left unanswered for now but will be answered here shortly as the season kicks off.

Photo Courtesy of Creative Common

National Free Lunch Program Ends

about

By: Alexander Cha

The federal contract has finally ended bringing an end to the free lunch pro gram nationwide. This brings up several concerns with one of the most current and major concerns being; whether or not students who can’t afford lunch will get to eat.

Freshman Aidan Caldwell, thought that if students can’t afford lunch they simply won’t eat.

“Some people don’t have enough money to afford lunch at home let alone lunch at school, maybe students won’t eat as much,” Aidan Caldwell said.

Junior Isaac McReynolds thought that some students won’t be able to afford lunch but could be put on some sort of lunch plan.

“I think it’ll impact students in a lot of ways one of the ways being I think that unfortunately some of the students will not be able to afford lunches but I think some will, but the students that are unable to afford lunches can be put on some sort of lunch plan,” McReynolds said.

And yes, Principal Dale Longenecker confirmed that students can easily ap ply for a free or reduced lunch plan.

“[Students can] pick [applications] up at the front office, they can pick them up at the food service, they can contact any administrator, any counselor and we’ll work with them,” Longenecker said.

Now what about the lines? If students can’t get to lunch in the first

place, how can they expect to eat? So far this year Senior Ana Dominguez thought there has been no change.

“No, the length of the lines hasn’t gotten any better,” Domin guez said. Some students such as Junior Zayne Van dawalker think just the opposite.

“I have but I think that’s because of the new line system,” Vandawalker said.

However no matter what you think, the cafeteria is very understaffed. As Dr. Longenecker explained there are entire sections of the cafeteria that he simply cannot use.

“[I have] a whole serving line… [I] would love to open up… that would be awesome, [they] just don’t have the manpower,” Dr. Longenecker said.

Speaking of labor shortages, many businesses have been crippled by this ongoing la bor shortage. Everywhere businesses and com panies alike have been strug gling includ ing the school lunch system.

As previously mentioned there is a second lunch line that is sitting unused in the Falcons Nest. Many students, such as Isaac McReynolds would ap preciate this area opening back up.

“I would like to see the Falcons caf eteria open back up, that’d be pretty dope,” McReynolds said.

Now a question may pop up into your mind, why can’t we just have students fill in the missing positions, it can’t be that hard?

Dr. Longenecker explained how it’s not that simple, cafeteria staff have to be well trained, and licensed to handle food and cooking equipment, making finding willing kitchen staff extremely difficult.

“... to handle food. You’ve got to be trained… you’ve got to have your food handlers license,” Longenecker said. There’s a lot of dangers in kitchens such as, “hot stoves and grease, you gotta have training so you don’t burn your hand on the 400 degree pan,” Dr. Longenecker said.

Following the topic of cooking, many students have food allergies and intoler ances. Kara Rippe senior, brought her concerns regarding lactose intolerance and other food allergies.

“different types of milk and then just more options besides things with dairy and cheese and all that stuff” Rippe said.

Dr. Longenecker explained that stu dents with food allergies or particular dietary needs just need to mention their allergies in advance.

“If anybody has a food allergy they just need to work with the cafeteria,” Longenecker said.

to

in gen

negatively perceived by most students. However as previously addressed if and when the labor

ends students can expect

massive speed up in the lines and a re-opening of the falcons nest lunch room. Additionally, if necessary, students who need any adjustments to their individual meal plans, should visit the front office or speak with the cafeteria staff.

Student Opinions onAdvisory Lessons

By: Mia Pham Advisory lessons, something all students have to partake in. These lessons are made to teach students social and behavioral skills by providing us with content from a collection of videos and slides. But these lessons have become somewhat controversial in the school com munity, there are a wide range of opinions from good to bad.

Noah Upjohn, a sophomore, be lieves these lessons are not doing any good to help students.

“It’s stuff we already learned in grade school,” Upjohn said. “They think certain lessons are going to change someone’s personality, but no, they’re not going to stop bullying that kid.”

Upjohn is also concerned about what the lessons don’t teach students, such as ways to deal and manage their issues.

“...I mean they might pick up better coping mechanisms, but we don’t really learn about those,” Upjohn said.

Another student, Jack Davis agrees with the nega tive effect of advisory lessons. He believes advisory is meant for studying.

“I don’t really see the point in it… I like to use my time wisely there,” Davis said. Davis further explains that the only thing advisory lessons do for students is take away valuable time.

“It takes away from my time that I can use to do my homework,” Davis said.

Sophomore, Olive Brooks, sees these lessons in a more positive light.

“Some A.I lessons are neces sary… it all depends on the person you are.” Brooks explained. Brooks then elabo rates on how she positively benefits from advisory lessons.

“It teaches me what I should work on doing better,” Said Brooks.

Brooks stated her opinions on if she thinks students enjoyed the advisory lessons, the response was negative.

“No, the way I’ve seen people act when advisory lessons are happening. They don’t listen, they do other things instead.” Brooks stated.

Students asked on the premise and content of advisory lessons share their opinions.

Empty class room with desks and a blackboard with some writing.

Photo courtesy of Creative Commons

Hand marking smiley face box on white board with green marker.

Photo courtesy of Creative Commons

Fall books to read

By: Maggie Flannery

Anne of Green Gables, although takes place all year long, has always given a fall view with the book starting in the season of falling leaves. The book is the oldest out of the other two dating back to the time of “simple life,” with corsets and working the land. Being the classic that it is, most people and their mothers have read or at least have heard of this book. This book was first published in 1908, giving us the story of little red haired Anne. An orphan from Nova Scotia that has been adopted by siblings Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, who live on Prince Edward Island-Avonlea. Little did the Cuthbert’s know instead of the boy they had planned on, waiting at the train sta tion is a small girl with two red braids and freckles. Anne wins Matthew over after their first meeting, but it is stone-faced Marilla that needs convincing. Not taking no for an answer, Anne being the free spirited, wild girl she is ends up also getting Marilla on team Anne.

This classic has been beloved for

many years, meaning show and movie remakes were going to be a given. One of the most popular shows is Anne with an E. This show does not follow the books exactly but has done a great job bringing more diversity to a book that was written when having diversity was not the popular thing to do. Overall Anne of Green Gables has been beloved by many, and always gives the fall vibes when I am reading this classic piece of work.

“I would never let anyone else borrow my heartif I know there’s a chance in hell you might want itback.”

- Ben Kessler

“Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It’s splen-did to find out there are so many of them in theworld.”

- Anne

“You can pretend you don’tcare. You can fool the whole world. But I know differently.”

-Stefan Salvatore

Fall is on the horizon, with the leaves changing and pumpkin spice everything. While the world around us changes, what books are the best to cozy up to with a pumpkin flavored drink?

“Carrots!

- Gilbert Blythe

What is fall without a book about monsters, even better one about Vampires. When almost anyone mentions the Vampire Diaries, first they think of the show then the amazement that there has been a book since 1991 and they have just heard about it now. This book follows Elena Gilbert, a blonde haired, popular girl in high school. The book takes place in the town of Fell’s Church, unlike the show where they live in Mystic Falls. Then enter Stefan, the “good” Vampire who can’t help but be enamored with how much Elana looks like his past love, Katherine. Some time after Stefan comes to the town of Fell’s Church, his brother arrives. The brother, Damon, is not as nice as Stefan after their immense falling out.

Just like any book, what is dif ferent from show to book, is how Elena and Katherine were completely different. Meaning that Elana was the mean-ish popular girl and Katherine was portrayed as a sweet innocent, even to Stefan and Damon. Speaking of the Salvatore’s, they were actually not born in the town in which the story takes place. They were born in the Renaissance making them at least a thousand years old, making Katherine one of the oldest Vampires. There are so many differences that it could make anyone’s head spin. Even with the different factors, it gives the horror fall feeling books this time of year should have.

Of course no book review is com plete without a heart breaking, soul crush ing Colleen Hoover novel. This particular one happens over many years, but only one day a year. Surprise, surprise, that date is November 9. Fallon used to be teen actress, but ever since that November 9 night, nothing has been the same. A fire happened when she was 16, changing the course of her life forever. Nothing with her dad is the same, her confidence is shattered. With half her body covered in burn scars, she feels the constant eyes everywhere she goes. Ben, on the other hand, is a struggling author, who has love at first sight vibes with Fallon. Ben and Fallon meet in a restaurant, the day before Fallon is about to move across the country. Before leaving, she takes a chance and spends her last day in LA with this random guy from a restaurant and surprisingly hits it off very well, after him pretending to be her boyfriend. Not want ing to make any stupid choices, but also being a little crazy. Ben and Fallon decided to meet up on this exact date every year for five years. Of course, new challenges and twists happen every year, making their already strange relationship even stranger and confusing. Making this fall a favorite, that one can not and will not be willing to put down.

“In grace and beauty and sheer fascination, they were alike. Butwhere Katherine had been a white kitten, Elena was a snow-white tigress.”

- Stefan Salvatore

“It took four years for me to fall in love with him. It only took four pages to stop.”

- Fallon

Courtesy of Creative Commons

Movie and Music Mashup

By: Christian Steger

By, Christian Steger

Every person in the 21st century enjoys and uses entertainment. Whether you are listening to a playlist with earbuds in, going to the movies on a Friday night with some close friends and seeing a block buster movie, or just streaming something from home, there are always things to keep you entertained and engaged. Here are some upcoming albums and films to look forward to.

“Midnights” from Taylor Swift: a brand new album for Taylor drops October 21 ex pected to be a slower look into Taylor’s life with a beautiful blue and gray album cover. Taylor considers Midnights to be a sister album to her previous album Red released all the way back in October of 2012, which sold 1.2 million copies within its first week.

“Don’t Worry Darling” is a psychologi cal thriller starring, Florence Pugh, Harry Style, Chris Pine, Gemma Chan, and Olivia Wilde, in a thriller set in a 50’s style paradise called the Victory Project. And a young woman named Alice trying to understand what the project is truly about. “Don’t Worry Darling” comes to theaters September 23

“The Car” by Arctic Monkeys: This new album also drops on October 21, 2022 with an indie rock style and nine new original songs. Creating a battle of success between Taylor Swift, Arctic monkeys, Megan Trainor, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Tegan and Sara. Creating one of the biggest album drop dates of the past decade. Creating a new album with a James Bond song style mood and swing.

“Black Adam”, releasing October 21 comes a superhero blockbuster starring Dwayne Johnson as an anti- hero with the powers of a god balancing between good and evil. Based on the D.C. comic the movie hopes to spawn a successful super

hero film premiering in premium formats such as Dolby Cinema and IMAX. Will you be tuning in to see The Rock on the big screen once more?

“Moss” by Maya Hawke, is the actress and singer’s second studio album releasing Sep tember 23, An exciting album after the suc cess and overwhelmingly positive response to her first album. Maya can be seen as Robyn in the insanely popular Netflix show Stranger Things.

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is a sequel to the beloved Marvel superhero film from 2018 that shook audiences and the box office. The film focuses on the death of T’challa after the passing of actor Chadwick Boesman, and how the land of Wakanda will recover from this loss and face new threats. And who will step into the shoes of Black Panther. The feature filmed for IMAX comes out November 11

We asked students: Q: What was your favorite movie you saw this year?

A: “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” - Holden Schmitz-Freshman

Q: On October 21st Taylor Swift, Arctic Monkeys, Megan Trainor,Carly Rae Jepsen, and Tegan and Sara are dropping albums. Who are you most excited for?

A: “Definitely Taylor Swift.” - Phoebe Wescott, Junior

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Don’t Worry Darling

Midnights by Taylor Swift

Lost But Not Forgotten

A look into the students and staff missing from the yearbook

By: Ty Van Buskirk

When students and staff got their hands on the yearbook, many noticed sev eral people were missing from the yearbook. Parents, staff, and students alike, under standably upset with this news, went online to ask how this happened in the first place, with some coming off ruder than others when asking. A good way to describe the re sponse of those affected by this, comes from Damon Bell, who gave his own interpreta tion of how many felt.

“When a student or staff member sees them self in the yearbook, they feel like they were a part of something. When absent it can feel disheartening or personal, bringing into question what the point was. A big part of a student keeping a yearbook is to remember what happened and what they did, but it’s going to be hard for a student to look back when they aren’t present,” Bell said.

If this is your first time hearing this, don’t go straight for those working on the yearbook, because this was something out of their control. Heather Springer, who’s been advising the yearbook, ex plained how this happened.

“After photos are taken, our portrait com pany, Strawbridge, uploads all of the photos with important information like name and grade. We download all of that in one big zip file and then re-upload it to our year book company’s software to create a por trait flow. The portrait flow automatically places student photos and names on pages using the information that was included in the file from Strawbridge. The students and staff that are missing in the yearbook were not included in the initial download from Strawbridge. Since they weren’t included, obviously they didn’t get uploaded to our yearbook software either,” Springer said.

Ultimately, what happened was a printing error on Strawbridge’s part. Those who worked on the yearbook, and staff are just as annoyed with people missing from the yearbook as everyone else. Creating the yearbook takes a lot of effort and organiza tion to do, and this printing error makes things even more difficult and complicated

than they already were for Springer and the yearbook staff.

“Given that this is my first year advising the yearbook at South, I’m embarrassed and frustrated. This isn’t how I’d hoped my first book would go.

Generally when people aren’t included in the information from the portrait company, it’s because they weren’t photographed. I’ve spent a lot of time rethinking processes in building the book so that we make sure it doesn’t happen again. Unfortunately, it adds another step in the yearbook workflow, which is already pretty packed,” Springer said.

Thankfully, many have been understanding of the issue, as everyone’s on the same side in terms of the overall situa tion.

“Mistakes happen, it’s kind of hypocritical to judge,” said Gabe Martin, a Sophomore.

Jo Ball, a teacher and staff member has also been understanding of all that’s happened.

“It definitely feels unfortunate for students and staff left out of the yearbook, but these things happen,” Ball said.

Macy Dye, a Sophomore who was absent from the yearbook for her freshman year, was also very understanding in terms of her overall thoughts on the issue.

“At first I didn’t think it was a big deal, even a little funny at first, and joked about not liking my freshman year photo.

Now when I think I might care later on when I look back on my freshman year and I’m not included with my class. Overall not mad considering it’s not the school’s fault,” Dye said.

So with all in agreement, there’s still one last question to answer. Can anything be done to correct this mistake?

Fortunately, there is somewhat of a solution for those missing from the yearbook, which Springer explained.

“Strawbridge has offered to print individual peel and stick photos for students who were left out, including enough stickers for those students to give to their friends. It’s not a perfect solution, but it allows the students who were left out to be included in their own yearbook and the yearbooks of their friends. As for the coming year, we’ve moved the portrait flow earlier in the year to allow time for us to verify students who weren’t photographed and locate any miss ing photos before we have to submit those pages to our printer,” Springer said.

So for readers who are concerned or were left out of the yearbook, no need to worry. This kind of issue won’t be happen ing again for next year, and hopefully not for any years after.

How Students Manage Schooland Work

By: Brooke Burbidge

The school year has started and many teenagers have after school jobs and sports to manage on top of all the upcom ing school work. With our 45 minutes of advisory many students can get all their work done or have an hour to an hour and a half. Senior Ashley Brownlee works at Scooters three days a week during the school week, mainly scheduled to close. Scooters closes at 8:15 allowing Brownlee to get home when plenty of time to get home and finish up any work she hasn’t finished yet.

ends only so she has time to attend golf practice after school.

“I work Saturday and Sunday usually because I have sports during the week, around ten hours a week,” Mead said.

Scooters is a coffee chain around the United States that makes, hot, iced and blended drinks from chocolate drinks to peanut butter drinks. Any job has things you don’t always like doing like cleaning etc.

“My least favorite is making pea nut butter drinks because I don’t like peanut butter. It’s ugly and it gets everywhere,” Brownlee said.

Art by: Sylvia Grimsley

“I work three days at least Monday, Tuesday and Thursdays. Usu ally, I have Advisory and AP studies so I don’t have to do things [homework] at my house,” Brownlee said.

Sophomore Ava Mead works at Tropical Smoothie Cafe and works week

Working at Tropical Smoothie Cafe allows mead to play sports and hang out with friends. The reason Mead has a job is to keep being able to pay for things when she needs and wants them.

“I needed gas money and money for when my friends wanna go out to eat or

Managing social lives and having school and jobs these teens share how they keep organized and stay ahead in school.

shop, or just when I find something I wanna buy in general,” Mead said

Brownlee makes eleven dollars an hour and works around fifteenth to twenty hours a week during the closing shift.

“So I wouldn’t be poor and I wanna buy stuff like clothes, or anything I find to buy,” Brownlee said.

Every job has its bad things about it. Mead doesn’t like the cleaning part; she enjoys talking and serving people.

“Cleaning in general, specifically cleaning the bathrooms because it’s not my kind of thing,” Mead said.

Unlike Mead who works on week ends, Brownlee enjoys having the weekdays when she works and having the weekend to do whatever she wants.

“I never work on weekends be cause those are my break days where I don’t have to do anything,” Brownlee said.

Working includes having cowork ers who can help get the job done easier.

Mead has lots of friends who happen to be her coworkers.

“I like the people I work with and the community and the job in itself,” Mead said.

Having a job takes away lots of time if you work multiple days a week. Students spend time having jobs going to after school sports and activities and most go to some sort of school event during the evening like soccer, football, or basketball games.

“Like maybe one hour of home work some nights, so I can’t go to some of the [football] games because I will be work ing,” Brownlee said.

Time management is a huge way to make sure everything gets done in a day. Good organization habits ensure that you don’t forget to do anything.

“It’s hard to keep up with my school work sometimes because of my so cial life and athletics. It just makes me busy but I get it all done,” Mead said.

Art by: Sylvia Grimsley