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CITY HIGH - THELITTLEHAWK.COM - SEEKING TRUTH & REPORTING IT

LITTLE HAWK FEATURE MAGAZINE 2.11.22

BLURRING THE BINARIES HOW EXPLORING ANDROGYNY IS EXPANDING SELF EXPRESSION IN THE FASHION INDUSTRY The Little Hawk

www.thelittlehawk.com

City High School

Iowa City, Iowa

message from the editors Hey guys. So nice to see you here again. This has turned out to be one of my all time favorite mags and I’m excited for you guys to read. Greta and I have really enjoyed playing around with different ideas and concepts. As Valentine’s day approaches, you may notice that we have wholeheartedly welcomed the holiday into both our lives and the theme of this issue. I’ve taken quite a liking to word puzzles recently, and the lovely Mary Cate Pugh was kind enough to create a crossword puzzle for us. Thank you for taking the time to pick up the newspaper and have a wonderful month of February.

Xoxo, Aala Basheir and Greta Stanier

ART BY CHLOE FROESCHNER 2 The Little Hawk - FEATURES

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table of contents

4-5

French vs Spanish

6-7

Food: Strawberry Oat Bars A Push for Diversity in Music

8-9

TEACHERS GIVE

LOVE ADVICE

By Haileigh Steffen

Struggling to break the ice with that person? Trouble finding the perfect date location? Teachers give practical advice for teenage love life

10-13

Blurring the Binaries

14-15

Humans of City High

16

Crossword Puzzle

WHY DON’T MORE PE

Enrollment differences between French and Spanish have caus

By Matisse Arnone and Anastasia Laux Walking down the third floor language wing, Spanish words and phrases float out of almost every classroom. Continue down the hall and there are only two classrooms devoted to French. The ICCSD’s language program has changed a lot through the years, but one aspect has consistently remained the same: Spanish attracts the most students.

“I think that one of the biggest reasons [Spanish is chosen more than French] is that there’s a pervasive myth,” Jaclyn Ceurvorst, a Spanish and French teacher at City High, said. “[Many people] think that French is harder and Spanish is more useful and easier, but neither of those two things are necessarily true, especially about one language being easier than the other.”

Currently, approximately 720 students are enrolled in Spanish at City High compared to the 120 students enrolled in French. Similar to Ceurvorst, Jax Piker ‘23 also feels that French intimidates students away from being interested in learning the language. Having started learning Spanish in elementary school and beginning French during freshman year of high school, Piker has found unique challenges presented by both languages.

“The hardest thing about Spanish is understanding why [certain] things are the way they are. The actual rules might be simple, but there’s not always a real explanation for why some things are done a certain way,” Piker said.

“In French, a lot of times [things are done for a reason], like because of a pronunciation rule. The hardest thing about French is there are so many specific words [and] putting them in the right place can be hard,” Piker said.

According to the United States Department of State on foriegn language training, both French and Spanish are categorized as level one languages, meaning they take a similar number of hours to reach proficiency for a native English speaker. Tony Balcean, another French teacher at City High, agrees that French and

ART BY ROSANGAL FLORES RUBIO Spanish have similar levels of difficulty.

“Scientifically, [the languages] are in the same category, so [French] is not harder,” Balcean said. “Some aspects of each, for different parts of the [learning] process, will be slightly easier than the other, but essentially they’re the same.”

Another prevalent idea driving students away from French is that the language is less useful and practical. In 2011, the Pew Research center found that besides English, Spanish is the most spoken language in the United States, with 37.6 million people speaking Spanish at home. French is fourth with 2.1 million speakers in the United States.

Piker feels that the reasoning of Spanish-speaking countries being much nearer to the United States does not show the entire picture. Instead, it depends more on what a person’s intentions for the language are.

“I started taking Spanish because of how everyone says, ‘We share a border with Mexico’, ‘’ Piker said. “French can be useful if you want to travel to a French speaking country. Unless you’re going there, being able to speak Spanish doesn’t really make much of a difference.

I think that’s a way that people justify their choice, but it’s not very accurate,” Piker said.

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Ceurvorst further explained that aside from being a language teacher, she used a relatively equal amount of French and Spanish in her day-to-day life.

“People perceive learning Spanish as more useful in their daily interactions with others, which might be a possibility,” Ceurvorst said. “Frankly, I spoke French just as often as Spanish when I worked at the mall, or when I was in grad school.”

Owyn Noble ‘24 previously took Spanish before switching to learning French. He noticed students also tend to lean more toward taking Spanish because of how commonly it is chosen and how this influences peers to choose the same language as their friends.

“When you look at your class sheet, Spanish is the most obvious [choice] you’re going to pick. So if people are picking classes, your friends [will more likely] be picking Spanish,” Noble said. “For Spanish, I’m pretty sure the majority of people are just taking it to get it done.”

Moving forward, the foreign language program at ICCSD has several directions it could go. Generally though, students and teachers both agree that cutting back foriegn languages even further is not the way to go.

2.11.22

EOPLE TAKE FRENCH?

sed staff and students to ponder the future of foreign languages “If you choose to cut languages, that speaks to your values. That says that we are not interested in learning about and accepting other cultures and other languages,” Ceurvorst said. “I personally feel like that’s a really poor education to give to our youth.”

Although money is primarily the biggest barrier for expanding to more foriegn languages in the school district, Noble thinks that it is essential to give students a choice in their language options.

“There should always be two or more [languages offered] because if there’s just one then there’s no choice,” Noble said.

Casey Wilmesmeier is a Spanish teacher, but she used to be the sole German teacher at City High before the German program got cut. She believes that adding more languages isn’t necessarily the only way that the foriegn language program could be expanded.

“In the United States, we start language instruction really late,” Wilmesmeier said.“It’s something that would be much better to start much earlier.”

Wilmesmeier explained that starting younger could be another viable possibility in expanding the foriegn language program.

“I think it was in the 90s, students used to have exploratory French, Spanish and German in fifth and sixth grade. Then they would start seriously taking one of them in seventh grade,” Wilmesmeier said.

Ceurvorst agrees that an exploratory program would be beneficial to students in learning foriegn languages.

“At that developmental age, learning a new language is something that you have to develop study skills for, and you have to learn about dedication and putting yourself out there taking risks, things like that,” Ceurvorst said.

According to Noble, an exploratory program would also give students a better chance to try out a language and discover if it is something they actually would like to pursue.

“If they start earlier than they have a chance to figure out whether or not they like their language and be able to switch,” Noble said.

Expanding to teach children languages at a younger age would not only help improve fluency, but help them in other parts of their lives too. According to research at Northwestern College in Iowa, foreign languages taught at the elementary level help with English literacy, enhance problem solving and attentional control, and are more likely to help students become proficient speakers in the language because of earlier exposure.

Regardless of whether students actually start learning languages at a younger age, Ceurvorst thinks that Education about language options is essential to allow students to make more informed decisions.

“I think that we should be giving them more information so that they can make a conscientious choice that’s not based on myths or whatever random things they heard or their parents’ particular experience,” Ceurvorst said.

The lack of education when students are choosing languages is what often leads to the misinformation that makes people afraid to take languages other than Spanish.

“There’s a stigma around taking French classes,” Piker said. “It’s seen as more difficult, that the teachers are going to be less fun,

ART BY ROSANGAL FLORES RUBIO

that it’s not as useful of a language. There’s a million reasons that people come up with as to why it’s a worse language than Spanish.”

The biggest barrier that foriegn languages face has always been funding. Foriegn language programs constantly have to prove that they are important in students’ lives and worth keeping. According to Ceurvorst, that is something that school districts should be advocating for when their funding is being decided.

“If school districts are not also lobbying our state legislature for the funds for language, then we’re not going to get that either,” Ceurvorst said. “I don’t think anybody goes to the State House from the district and says, ‘our language program is going to get cut if you don’t increase our school budget.’

I don’t think anybody’s advocating for that.”

Both Ceurvorst and Piker agree that the district should not provide languages for the sake of meeting the language requirement, but for helping students become better global citizens.

“The point of school is to make you a better citizen. You can be a better citizen and a more caring person if you know more about different people.” Piker said.

STRAWBERRY OAT BARS OAT CRUST AND CRUMBLE: 2 cups old-fashioned oats 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup honey 1 egg, beaten 1 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 1/4 tsp salt STRAWBERRY FILLING: 2 cups strawberries, diced 1 tbsp all-purpose flour 1 tbsp sugar 1 tbsp lemon juice 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

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Directions: 1) Preheat oven to 350.

Mix together oats, flour, melted butter, sugar, honey eg, cinnamon, vinilla and salt. Press 3/4 of mixture into an 8x8 pan. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

2) In a seperate bowl, toss together strawberries, flour, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla. Pour into prepared crust and spread evenly.

3) Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture ontop of strawberries. Bake for 35 minutes, or untill strawberries are bubbling and crust is golden brown.

A PUSH FOR DIVERSITY IN MUSIC A lack of diversity within the City High Music Department makes staff and students question what can be done to increase representation ART BY ROSE FLORES RUBIO

By Rebecca Michaeli & Matisse Arnone

D

efined by Merriam-Webster, diversity is “the state of having people who are different races or who have different cultures in a group or organization”.

In 2014, the Iowa City Community School District’s Equity Department began developing the ICCSD’s Comprehensive Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Plan. The goals of this comprehensive equity plan were to identify inequities that occur within the school district and provide methods and strategies to address them along with creating equitable and inclusive environments.

The ICCSD has been working towards achieving the six goals set in 2014, yet still, diversity is not represented in many aspects.

“Diversity in music is important. It helps create a community [among] people who may not already be in the same groups; not only race wise, but also within a race. For example: upperclassmen and underclassmen, popular kids and not popular kids, and different ethnicities. It’s a thing that helps to bond people together,” Maddie Schuh ‘22 said. Schuh participates in 4th Avenue Jazz Co., Wind Ensemble, Concert Choir, and Full Orchestra.

Though City High is the tenth ranked high school based on ethnic, economic, and cultural diversity in the state of Iowa, that reality is not well reflected in the district’s music department.

“You go to City High and you see so much diversity everywhere. Everywhere you turn there’s [diversity, especially] racial and sexual orientation diversity. Then you get to band and it’s totally not an accurate representation at all,” Drum Major and saxophonist in Symphony Band, Combo, and Jazz Collective, Iya Alexander ‘22 said.

Similar feelings are shared by students and staff members alike. Tyler Hagy, director of Treble Choir, Select Treble Ensemble, Concert Choir, and Fourth Avenue Jazz Co. show choir agrees that the diversity within the music department is not representative of the rest of City High as a whole.

“I would not say that we are exactly representative of the population that we have at the school. Generally, people from certain races or ethnic backgrounds are less represented in terms of music in general, but also in the professional music career. I would say that we are similar to what is seen in professional music right now,” Hagy said.

In 2019, 61% of students enrolled in a junior high music program were white, 21% were Black, 10.5% were Hispanic, 5.8% were Asain, 37.6% were enrolled in

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Free and Reduced Lunch (FRL), 10.6% have an Individualized Education Program (IEP), and 8.8% are English Language Learners (ELL). When compared to the ICCSD’s high school music program statistics, it’s clear that the district is not retaining their students of color, FRL or IEP students in the music department.

“It did feel a little weird because I was surrounded by people who weren’t like me. I’ve learned to just not look at that, because we are all in band. It doesn’t really matter.” Alexander said. “There was a time where I was like, this doesn’t feel right because at the concerts you just see me and then everybody else and it did feel weird.”

The lack of diversity in the classical music field is not something that is unique to City High. Classical musicians in particular, are largely white; a disparity that extends to the professional level. According to data compiled by the League of American Orchestras, despite making up 32% of the American population, Black and LatinX musicians comprise only 4% of American orchestras.

“There is a large lack of diversity that I’ve seen in music programs at City. In all of the music that I am in, it is predominantly white students with only a few students who are of a different ethnicity. Whenever there is something that brings diversity (or lack thereof ) to attention, it always 2.11.22

surprises me, just how little representation there is in the Arts at City,” Schuh said.

Hagy believes in the United States, historically, there has been a gravitational pull of the classical genre towards white, upper-class individuals.

“If you look at a modern-day, professional symphony orchestra, a majority of players in that ensemble will be white, there will be several Asian people from various Asian backgrounds, but beyond that, there are generally not many others,” Hagy said.

Because music is often started at a young age, gaining access to musical instruments and music lessons is frequently the first challenge that students face. Some students of a lower socioeconomic status don’t necessarily have parents who can afford the extra costs that come with practicing music, or access to classical music at all.

“There are lots of different kinds of barriers and some people might [face] all of them, and some people might only [face] some of them, and probably no two people [face] exactly the same ones,” Hagy said. “The average price of a ticket to the symphony is probably over $100; for a single ticket, for one event. And if you think about taking a family to that or just hiring a babysitter and everything, that’s a huge economic investment just for access to see it live,” There are several reasons for the lack of racial diversity in the professional classical music career, but the issue is systemic; and due to decades of institutional racial bias.

The UK-based Donne Foundation, an organization who works to address inequalities in the music industry, whose mission statement claims that to achieve equality and diversity, “it is important that we move beyond tokenism for political correctness and aim for comprehensive and genuine inclusivity to permeate through the layers”.

Aaron Ottmar directs the Symphony Band along with the Jazz Ensemble, Jazz Collective, and Jazz Lab at City High. He emphasizes the importance of representation at all levels, not just when it comes to music.

“You [students] are looking up to people who are in the field or in the career that you want to be in. Even if it’s just an interest, that interest can be furthered by seeing people who have a similar background to you and are really excelling and thriving,” Ottmar said.

The music staff at City High is eager to increase the diversity within their ensembles, however one of the problems that they run into is that a big part of the mu-

sic education process begins at a young age. Stucky-Sawnson thinks that the most successful solutions to this issue have to be implemented when students are beginning band and orchestra in elementary school.

“The band and orchestra at the elementary level; it’s well represented. We have to figure out the adversity there and what is preventing all of those children from moving forward, because there’s a huge drop in that population between elementary school and junior high,” Stucky-Swanson explained.

Over the past year, the ICCSD’s Performance Music department has begun making changes in the music programs at both the elementary and junior high levels to increase access to music lessons and musical instruments for students who have previously faced barriers to participation.

Eastside elementary bands in the ICCSD recently changed their ensemble rehearsals to take place before school, and at the elementary school itself. The goal of these changes was to retain more students by making time and transportation less of a problem.

Previously, students in the elementary band would have to provide their own transportation to either City High or South East Junior High to rehearse after school. Stucky-Swanson likes this solution that the band program has implemented, but says that it can not be done sustainably by the orchestra program because their staff is already stretched thin.

“The orchestra on the east side doesn’t have more than three people, so there’s no way that we can do that. [Students] still have to get over to South East Junior High every Tuesday at 4:30 and then [get] picked up at 5:20. For a lot of students that’s really difficult to make work,” Stucky-Swanson said.

Another change to music education took place at South East Junior High this year in the form of a new class. According to Stucky-Swanson, the class was created with the intention of expanding students’ access to music for both band and orchestra. This addition helps to address the learning curve issue that students face who may want to join a music ensemble later than their peers.

“There’s a beginning option this year. It was only one trimester because they needed to see the interest, but they did have some beginners that joined this year,” Stucky-Swanson said.

City High has begun offering two new exploratory music classes which are aimed at giving more students a chance to explore joining music groups once they

reach high school. Hear My Voice and Exploratory Music are both trimester classes that are less traditional than band, orchestra, or choir. They both give students an opportunity to learn about and explore styles of music that are of interest to them.

Although transportation continues to be one of the biggests barriers students face, the ICCSD has been trying to lessen the financial barriers that students face in order to participate in music.

“One thing the district has done a really nice job with, especially this year and last year, is getting instruments into the hands of those students that can’t afford to rent or purchase. I am proud of our district for that,” Stucky-Swanson said.

All of the music directors at City High believe that programming repertoire from a wide range of composers is one of the most impactful things that they can do at the highschool level.

“I think it’s upon us as teachers that we have to really do some digging because there are a lot of composers out there,” Ottmar said. “But at this point, unfortunately, they’re not receiving the recognition or the attention that they deserve.”

Because the diversification of music programs across the country has been an ongoing issue for so many years, change can often be a long process.

“How do we inspire students to want to be a part of this? Not just here, because we certainly can do more in this building, but also with younger age students. How can we connect with them?” Hagy questioned. “It’s not going to change tomorrow. It’s not going to change even in a year from now, but we can put the mechanisms in place so three years down the road, ten years down the road, there is a drastic change in the culture of this place, so it feels more inclusive and more representative of the entire student body.”

Stucky-Swanson also feels optimistic about the future of increased diversity within the City High music department.

“I think directors are starting to do a better job of trying to learn the right way; attending conferences, learning about the appropriate way to diversify a music program, and slowly incorporating different cultures of music by bringing in people that know about those cultures of music and not pretending to know themselves,” Stucky-Swanson said. I think that we’re slowly moving in the right direction. Definitely not there yet, but we’re getting closer. And we’re trying.”

BLURRING THE BINARIES How exploring androgyny is expanding self expression in the fashion industry

By mary cate pugh and araminta seigling

RIGHT: Mae Barron ‘22 poses in an argyle sweater vest and a contrasting red top. PHOTO BY MARY CATE PUGH

ABOVE: Mary Cate Pugh ‘23 styles a vintage suit and pearls. PHOTO BY ARAMINTA SEIGLING

As Mae Barron ‘22 walks onto the stage of Opstad Auditorium for the first choir concert of the year, their heart is beating fast. Under the bright lights, they can’t help but feel like all eyes in the audience are staring straight at them. Mae is standing in the front row of the alto section surrounded by students wearing dresses, but this year Mae is performing in a tuxedo. Dressing androgynously in front of an audience feels scary to them, specifically because their outfit sticks out amongst their peers. Yet this is exactly why Mae feels that this choice is important. Taking a “risk” of self-expression was not only for Mae but for everyone who feels that they can’t be themselves, restricted by the harsh gender norms so present in society.

Walking through the hallways, you’ll notice androgynous fashion no matter where you look. From masculine students sporting a skirt and jewelry to feminine students styling a dress shirt, City High is blurring the binaries. Mae Barron ‘22 uses androgyny to express how they are feeling each day, whether that is a more masculine or feminine look.

“I would say that I use androgyny to express my mood and where I’m at with my gender that specific day,” Barron said. “If I want to be perceived as more feminine, I’ll wear more stereotypically feminine clothing, and vice versa.”

The contemporary androgynous fashion movement was kickstarted by pop culture icons like Prince, David Bowie, and Jimi Hendrix during the 60s and 70s. These effeminate men were some of the first to break down the gender boundaries ingrained in society by wearing eye makeup and feminine silhouettes. Modern celebrities like Harry Styles continue to pave the way with sexual ambiguity by styling frilly blouses and designer dresses.

“I think it’s a very free, and freeing, time.

I think people are asking, ‘Why not?’ a lot more, which excites me,” Styles said in an interview with The Guardian. “ It’s not just clothes where lines have been blurred, it’s going across so many things.”

Today, designers are looking to make gender non-conforming clothing a staple in the fashion industry. Androgyny now has a bold prominence in pop culture media where students gather confidence to express their identity through their own personal style.

“I see posts on Instagram from queer content creators that give me inspiration,” Barron said.

Although modern society has made measurable progress in terms of normalizing androgyny, students still experience fear when it comes to exploring new styles. Many avoid crossing the binaries out of fear of being judged or bullied.

“I think I see the most fear in men wanting to wear more feminine clothing because it’s so much more stigmatized,” Barron said.

“And what’s seen as neutral is masculine clothing.”

Women’s clothing started to become more masculine in the 1940s when they had to enter the workforce because of World War II. Skirts got narrow, shoulders became broad, and women started to wear trousers more frequently. While at the time, this was a liberating change for fashion, many women dress androgynously out of necessity today.

With masculinity being seen as “neutral”, feminine people have to comply with this at work to be respected or taken seriously, this can be observed by looking at female politicians or businesswomen. While they should be respected just for the quality of work they do, women have to worry about their appearance and how they will come off to men. If someone is too feminine at work, they might be considered “weak” or “uppity”, and dressing in a more masculine or androgynous way can help them gain respect or be considered less of a threat to male coworkers.

On the other hand, if women are seen as too masculine or “strong”, they will be called “butch” or ridiculed for not caring enough about their appearance.

Story continued on next page

A good example of this is on SNL’s skit about ‘Pat”, an offensive depiction of an androgynous person at a barbershop, with a cheery jingle “It’s time for androgyny!”.

The audience laughs as “Pat” rejects magazines such as Sports Illustrated, or Glamour, and asks for People. The barber tries to find out Pat’s gender, as Pat pleads, “I just want a haircut!” It is a thin line that women have to walk every day, to be respected by men and to not offend them with the way they look and act.

While masculine people are ridiculed for dressing femininely in the workplace, there is a history of men doing this for entertainment. In the past, this could be seen as men

dressed as women on the stage, or in drag, an outlet for usually gay men to express themselves. But when some men dress femininely, it is for a quick laugh, either making fun of women, or gay men. A common film trope in some older movies is men pretending to be women in order to live in a women-only boarding house, where these male characters make fun of stereotypically feminine behaviors. This is seen in “Bosom Buddies”, starring Tom Hanks, or “Some Like It Hot”, with Marilyn Monroe as the female lead. The stigmatized ideas surrounding men in feminine clothing actively prohibit the growth of self-expression in fashion culture.

“I have talked to a couple of men in the past that have almost come to the point of

tears because of how judged or scared they felt to express themselves for fear of being made fun of,” Barron said.

Normalizing androgyny in the fashion industry is important for achieving the goal of fluid self-expression. By pushing the boundaries of gender binaries and creating an inclusive community, the oppurtunities are endless.

“I wanted to take a risk for everyone who feels like they can’t,” Barron explained. “I wanted to show that it’s okay to be yourself, even if that means standing out and feeling uncomfortable for a little bit. It sets a good example for everyone else who’s scared and shows them that they can do whatever they want if it makes them happy.”

ABOVE: Truman Bright ‘21 pairs corduroy flares with a floral button up top. PHOTO BY MARY CATE PUGH

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BELOW: Araminta Seigling ‘23 layring a blazer with contrasting plaid patterns. PHOTO BY MARY CATE PUGH

HUMANS OF CITY HIGH

The nature fix

BY LULU ROARICK

In this Humans of City High issue, we interview two juniors at The School that Leads about their experiences with nature, and the impacts that it has had on their lives and communities Can you say your grade and your name?

I’m Sophie Stumbo. I am in 11th grade. I’m Ella Sherlock. I’m also in 11th grade.

Sophie, Any activities you participate in?

Skiing, two times a year since I was three. We go up to Colorado, and we have a rental house out there. We just ski and it’s a lot of fun. I love it. Probably my favorite thing in the world is skiing.

Are there any memories that you can think of that sparked skiing?

[Sophie] I always go with my cousins. My cousin and I always get away from the pack and go down some harder runs. There’s a lot of memories of him, he’s a speed demon. So he likes to go down really fast, and then falls a lot.

I have to pick up his skis and poles that he left behind him and bring them down to them. So that’s always funny.

You go with your family?

[Sophie] Yes. They live in Texas, so we meet there.

What’s it like having a family that lives away?

[Sophie] It’s nice to go visit them. They live on a lake. So we get to go out there and be with them, which is fun. Then also just getting to meet in Colorado a couple of times here was always really fun and a highlight for sure.

Would you say family is an important part of your life?

[Sophie] Family is definitely a big aspect of my life. Just like my close family, my parents and my brother, and then all my cousins. We’re all super close.

Would you say there is a time when your family supported you getting through someABOVE: Ella Sherlock ‘23 and Sophie Stumbo ‘23 are both passionate about nature.

PHOTO BY LULU ROARICK

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thing, etc?

[Sophie] My family supports me through every aspect of my life. I had a pretty bad injury last year. I couldn’t run, my main sport here is cross country and track, which was really difficult. My family’s always there for me. I remember my cousins, aunt, and uncle sent me a little care package, which was just really thoughtful. Just being always able to talk to them and reach out is great.

Could you tell us about your injury?

Last summer, I was biking in Colorado, downhill mountain biking, and I flipped over my bike and landed on a rock, like, hit my hip bone right on a rock and bruised my bone really badly. I couldn’t bike or hike or do anything for the rest of the trip, which really sucked. I had to take a couple of weeks off of running when I got back, which was a bummer. My cousins were there at the time, and they did their best to include me in everything that they did.

Do you describe yourself as an athletic or outdoorsy person?

[Sophie] Yes, for sure.

Do you think the outdoors mean a lot to you?

[Sophie] Definitely. I love the outdoors and just being outside is definitely my happy place.

Do you want to talk about yourself Ella?

[Ella] Sure.

Can you think of a little thing or big thing you would like to talk about?

[Ella] Since I was super little, I’ve been in a program called Campfire, which started as an alternative to Boy Scouts but for girls, and then it became Co-Ed. Nobody else really does it here. I go to a camp every single summer for a couple of weeks, and I’ll do programs with it throughout the year. I’ve learned a lot of outdoor skills and leadership stuff from it. I’m a person that’s been in Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts before, and Campfire has been my favorite one to be in.

What us Campfire like?

[Ella] In Campfire, there are different honors that you can get, similar to in Boy Scouts, how there’s like the Eagle Scout, in Campfire, there’s different ties. They resemble different honors. So one of the higher ones is Voyager.

You have to go on an outpost trip, it is a weeklong trip, where you cook all your food, and you don’t use motorized transportation. You have to cover a certain amount of miles, I’m

not sure, it’s over 15 or something like that.

So I went on a backpacking trip last summer with this group of people. That was a really big thing for me, because I had never really had that much responsibility and stuff.

Can you talk about being a Boy Scout?

[Ella] I joined a club, because my friend suggested it. I thought it was fun, it was really small. I’m not in it currently, because it got too small. I can’t join the new one, because of timing issues. It’s the same thing that the boys

“oh, you know, now that I’m seeing all these animals, I’m thinking about picking up my trash instead of throwing it on the ground” Is there a career? Are you looking into being something like that for your future?

[Ella] I’m really interested in environmental science. So I think that’d be a fun career path. I’m also interested in other stuff. So my options are open.

[Sophie] Environmental science is definitely really interesting, so something along that career path would be really cool.

But for me, mostly I just need a job where I am not sitting down at a desk all day, just in some direction being up and moving. You could be outside all day for your job, that would be amazing.

[Ella] I know. I want to live in another country for my job. So I thought environmental science would be a really cool thing to go into, because that can be applied wherever you go.

Regarding global warming, do you want to expand what you’ve done? Is that a very important issue in your lives ?

[Ella] For me, I’m in a program called Future Problem Solving Program International. I first got introduced to the concept of Climate Change and human environmental impact when I was young, like fourth grade.

So it’s always been a part of me and my family has been really supportive with trying to make changes in our households, you know, little things, like we compost all of our food now. I’ve gotten a lot of us to start thrifting our clothes or making things instead of buying new, just little stuff like that On the bigger scheme of that, I’ve gone to protests for climate change, and helped different groups, you know, writing letters and sending that out. I don’t think that my impact is necessarily as big as I’d like it to be. But I’m working on my individual impact and my family’s impact right now.

[Sophie] I haven’t been in an organization like Ella, which I think it’d be really cool.

She [Ella] was talking about with your family individually, helping them. My family’s been trying to cut down on red meat consumption and when we got rid of our refrigerator, we made sure all those chemicals were disposed of properly. We do try to limit our waste as much as we can. Growing your own vegetables and stuff. This summer we planted a couple of different tomato and pepper plants.

“I’M NOT STRESSED WHEN I’M OUTDOORS... THERE ARE SO MANY BEAUTIFUL THINGS TO SEE THAT I DON’T FEEL LIKE I NEED TO BE DOING ANYTHING ELSE AT THE MOMENT.”

SOPHIE STUMBO CITY HIGH JUNIOR

do just with a club that’s not all boys, our club was not all girls, it was just open to anybody, regardless of your gender expression. So I felt really comfortable in that place. I learned while I refreshed my outdoor skills during the year when I was in that camp in summer. I got an opportunity to be a senior patrol leader and take on some responsibility there.

You both have outdoorsy personalities, why are you so interested in that sort of thing?

[Sophie] For me, I think it’s more of a thing where I’m not stressed when I’m outdoors.

I’m not on my phone, I don’t have to worry about things like homework. I can just walk.

And there’s, you know, sounds all around me. There’s so many beautiful things to see that I don’t feel like I need to be doing anything else at that moment. Also just fresh air.

I know it’s cliche, but fresh air is so nice, especially during COVID. [Ella] Yes, I totally agree. With COVID, I would find myself just going outside in between classes, and it just helps so much. Getting a breath of fresh air and not being inside the four walls of your house is really helpful.

Like I said, when you’re outside, you don’t have to worry about anything. It’s just calming, and it’s fun.

[Sophie] I also feel we don’t really appreciate nature that much. Obviously, there are so many buildings everywhere. You can’t really go anywhere without seeing one. So when you’re actually outdoors, you can be like,

THE LITTLE HAWK CROSSWORD The first person to bring a completed crossword to room 2109 will win a tshirt, and the following ten people will recieve stickers!

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football field president that lead the Public Works Projects, program that

built City High 5. former coach to lead Women’s XC to 2006 state championship 9. student-lead art/literature magazine 10. name of mascot 11. acronym for school district 13. main platform for online learning during pandemic 15. auditorium 16. former city high coach to win

ten state track titles 19. location of City High’s baseball

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mental health support center city high’s newspaper City High was founded in 193____ fashion club name of the 2021 fall play, ______ Off! school colors, white and ___ current principal new head football coach teacher that lead mock trial team to the national tournament in 2021 the school that _____

2 The Little Hawk - FEATURES

2.11.22