February 2019 by The Mission Paper

THE Shawnee Mission North Volume 98 Issue 6 February 25, 2019

MISSION

Achievement Gap 8-9

Student Musicians 12-13

Grammyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 23

Taking the ‘boy’ out of Boy Scouts Opening up Boy Scouts to girls was not the right solution

n Oct. 11, 2017, the Boy Scouts of America made a pivotal decision: to allow girls to join the organization for the first time in its over 100-year-old history. Many supported the decision to make Boy Scouts coed, citing the fact that girls would now have the same opportunities as boys, putting them on an even playing field. However, some have taken it a step too far. In February, one group of girls formed the third ‘girls-only’ Boy Scout troop in the Shawnee Mission area alone. With new ‘girls-only’ Boy Scout troops forming every day, it begs the question: Isn’t this the same thing as Girl Scouts? Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts have the same core values and the same ultimate goal: to teach children and teens the leadership skills they need to become tomorrow’s leaders. However, where many people felt the two organizations differed was the kind of activities each participated in. Girl Scouts troops often put the focus on more artistic or creative activities, while Boy Scouts focused

on more hands-on, outdoorsy activities. The decision to integrate both genders into Boy Scouts was made to give kids equal opportunities, allowing girls to partake in the hands-on, practical activities Boy Scouts is known for. But now that ‘girls-only’ Boy Scout troops are forming, can Boy Scouts really be called gender-integrated at all? These girls are not working alongside boys; they are with the exact same girls they would be with if they were in a Girl Scout troop. The only difference, and most likely the only reason they wanted to join Boy Scouts, was to have the same opportunities as boys. This could have been better accomplished by simply altering the activities done in Girl Scouts. Each Girl Scout troop leader has flexibility in what they want their troop to do. Yes, stereotypical female activities, such as cooking or sewing, are among the options. However, so are activities that people usually associate with Boy Scouts, such as camping or knot-ty-

ing. These are, and have always been, options for Girl Scouts if they chose to do them. Though it seems easier to just place the girls into a Boy Scout troop, the same effect can be achieved by altering the Girl Scouts. If scout leaders led Girl Scout troops in more of these activities, Girl Scouts would be doing essentially the same thing Boy Scouts do. There would be no need to have ‘girls-only’ Boy Scout troops, because Girl Scouts would be providing girls with the same opportunities Boy Scouts would. Though the decision has already been made, it warrants a second look at whether Boy Scouts should have really opened up their doors to girls. Girls deserve every opportunity that boys do; and they could have all of those opportunities in a wellrun Girl Scout troop. The activities of Girl Scouts should be updated to reflect that girls are on an equal playing field as boys, without making Boy Scouts become coed as a solution.

Staff Cale Chapman

Grace Altenhofen

Kayla Warren

Mystika Allison-Barnes

Rilee Morrow

Stephanie Whisler

Zeva Rose Gebhard

Anna Miesner

Editor-in-Chief (Digital) News editor

Sports editor, Ads

Entertainment Editor

Editor-in-Chief (Print) Opinion editor

Website editor

Writer

Arthur Bagdasaryan Writer

March 2019

Man on the street

What is the best April Fool’s Day prank you’ve ever pulled?

“Once I grabbed my sister’s toothpaste and I take all of the toothpaste out and I put dog poop in there.” Cynsear DuBois, 11

Where to find us: Twitter @TheMissionPaper Instagram @themissionpaper Facebook @themissionpaper

On the cover:

“I put saran wrap on my mom’s toilet and it looks clear so she used the bathroom.” Jolina Justice, 12

“We never really did that but I guess it’s when we put thumb tacks on my teacher’s chair.” Gabe Garcia, 10

The Mission Newsmagazine is a student-run newspaper that publishes nine issues every year. The Mission is used by its staff as a platform for student expression. The views expressed by The Mission do not represent the views of the entire staff, the adviser or the administration. Some material used in accord with terms from the American Society of News Editors/Tribune News Service. Student submissions and letters to the editors are accepted at themission184@gmail.com

BIDING HIS TIME as Captain Hook tries to convince him to become a pirate, sophomore Ryan Russell, who players Peter Pan in the play “Peter and the Starcatcher”, waits for his co-star to complete her mission. “I’m trying to mess with Captain Hook,” Rusell said. “I have to stall him.” Read more about Peter and Starcatcher on pages 18-19. photo by Matthew Cunningham

facts about

SPRING

1) 1857 is the first known use for the word “spring cleaning” 2) The word “spring” has been used as far back as the 16th century 3) Late spring is the start of hurricane season 4) The sunrise and sunset are roughly 12 hours apart during the first day of spring everywhere on Earth 5) A few of the flowers that bloom in spring: Creeping Phlox, Creeping Myrtle, Winter Jasmine smnmission.com

Opinion

Urgent -Academic Warning- SMN211 District needs to change notification system for failing grades

e ng grade in th cause of a faili be e tic to no k is or th w ing at you You are receiv y important th make . It is extremel courage you to en e W following class l. ve le g in l and ss ve pa le a g to in e ss raise this grad ade up to a pa g grade your course gr in t ss ge pa to a e rt ur fo pt ef every nity to ca e best opportu ake a plan! give yourself th teacher and m ur yo ith w lk Ta r. te es m se e th for

uring your time in high school, at one point or another, you might’ve experienced that magical email in your inbox, letting you know that you have a failing grade. I’ve seen this lovely little reminder plenty of times. I just have one question: Why? I don’t mean, “why do we have it?” That reason is clear. However, most students don’t check their emails anyways. Sure, some students do, but if a student’s grades are slipping – that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be checking their email anytime soon. I’m pretty sure the alert goes to the parents too, but some still might not use their email very much. Sure, grades are important, but why not save these alerts for when they’re really necessary? For example, I received one on January 18 – a week after winter break. As you can imagine, I hadn’t been doing much in some of my classes by this point. Since there was only one assignment in the gradebook, and it was missing, it was counted as an F. After a break, it can take some students a little bit to get back into the rhythm of things, and I think something like this could’ve made some students freak out. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t blame the school or district. I imagine this grade alert is a thing across

February 2019

the board, and some schools/grade levels might need these reminders to help kids. In general, I get it. These reminders may help some kids. However, it’s a bit annoying to me. I check my grades every now and then. I know when I’m failing. So, when I get that little email, a part of me feels like saying, “I already know.” I’ve also heard that some students receive these notifications even when there’s nothing in the gradebook yet. If this is true, that’s a real problem for athletes and people who get confronted by their parents whenever one of these alerts goes out. If a student hasn’t been given any assignments, why does this alert go out? There’s no grade to be for or against them, so it just doesn’t make any sense. Ideally, these alerts should be sent out when truly necessary, like if the grade has been that way for a while (or something along those lines). Although, if this is just a computer program (like I think it is) that just automatically spews out the alert, then I’m not sure how much you can manipulate that software – especially on an individual level. It’d probably take a while, so I get it. opinion by Stephanie Whisler

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More snow days

threaten

less summer

SMSD’s Twitter has been very active this semester with tweets that make some students cheer, but some students fear

s of Feb. 22, SMSD has cancelled school six times due to inclement weather since coming back from winter break on Jan. 7. For the past four weeks there has been at least one snow day each week. This totals to seven days, including one snow day after Thanksgiving break in November. Kids refreshing their Twitter, watching the small bar at the bottom of their T.V. screens or asking their parents to see if school is cancelled has been a very familiar sight this semester. SMSD has gone over the max number of alloted snow days, so SMSD is figuring out where to make up the lost days. SM North principal Dr. Jeremy Higgins said that although he doesn’t necessarily get input into the process of cancelling school, he somewhat knows what goes on. “The superintendents make the decision,’ Higgins said. “When I say superintendents, it’s the superintendents from many of the districts within the Kansas City area, so Blue Valley, Olathe, Shawnee Mission, De Soto. They all collaborate together on that decision.” SMSD Communications Director David Smith said that they consider the questions ‘Can we get students and staff to school safely?’ and ‘Can we get students and staff home safely?’. Smith said if the answer to either of those questions is no, then school will be cancelled.

“There are many, many things that go into that decision, and no two times are exactly alike,” Smith said. “Dr. Fulton looks at the weather forecast, amount of existing snow on the ground and on streets and sidewalks, the ability of our staff to get sidewalks and parking lots clear in time for the arrival of students and staff, the ability of the various municipalities to get and keep the streets drivable, etc.” Senior Michelle Zehr said that she usually finds out that school is cancelled from Twitter or from people posting it on their SnapChat stories. “During snow days I usually go to the gym, sleep and hang out with my friends,” Zehr said. “Sometimes I babysit if the kids I babysit have a snow day too. I do like having days off because I can use the time to get things done, where as if we had school I wouldn’t be able to do. I do feel like I have been spending more money though with all the snow days. I would be upset if we had to go to school in the summer because I am a senior and I am ready for this school year to be over.” Smith said that there are four set emergency days for the year and more than that have been used. “The Board of Education states ‘For pupils attending any of the grades one through 11, not less than 1,116 school hours in each school year,’” Smith said. “The district must comply with the required school hours.” story by Rilee Morrow

D tial SMS n e s s e y “Onl eport” r o t l a n perso

“Due to incleme nt weather ” THIS photo and these phrases to the left and right have become a familiar sight on the SMSD twitter. photo courtesy of SMSD

Twitter

Feburary 2019

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BETWEEN FUTURES

Student debated vastly different career choices before deciding

ome students know exactly what they’re going to do after high school down to the last detail. Others reach the near end of their time in high school, and are still a bit skeptical as to what the future holds and what path they want to follow. Senior Juan Ruiz has a bit of an nontraditional approach to his future, set on making his own online business. Ruiz has already started taking courses for this career path both online and at school. He wanted his website to be coursebased, with people paying a fee to watch instructional videos that he’d make. “I’m very set on this plan,” Ruiz said. “I was tired of being told what I should be, and chose a different path. Obviously, there’s a lot of years to come. So, it could change out of nowhere, but for now I’d say [it’s] final.” Ruiz’s interest in a variety of fields led to a bit of uncertainty as to what career path he wanted to pursue. “I would say I’m pretty talented in a lot of things,” Ruiz said. “Not trying to be cocky or anything you know, but I feel like I’m pretty talented in a couple things. That’s why I’m not really set on a certain thing. I want to make my own business, that’s a dream of

"My business idea would be an online teaching course where people pay for my instructions, and I teach them. It’s just a video. So, I only have to do it one time, and I don’t have to keep on doing repetitive labor work." - Juan Ruiz (12)

mine, making a lot of money, and it’s not hard. It’s pretty easy to do, you just gotta put your work in for it.” Ruiz dabbled with the idea of being an astrologer, but decided against it due to the amount of time and money necessary for the career. “The studies of space are just so fascinating,” Ruiz said, “and there is so much out there that we don’t know. I mean, thinking about space, and the stars, and the planets out there, it’s fascinating. Right now, we’re on planet Earth, but sooner or later, we’re gonna be on another planet, and that’s just mind blowing to think about how far we’ve come. “ When Ruiz thought about a career, he even threw the idea of photography around. While this is his first year with a professional film camera, he’s confident in being able to take good pictures. “I really want to be a photographer,” Ruiz said. “Photography opens so many doors for you, and lets you be wild and free. You aren’t just stuck in a cubical or flipping patties. You can express in many different forms, and take pictures of stuff that maybe other people think ‘that’s kinda weird’, but you know the meaning of it. There’s something else to it, and that’s what I like about it.” Though Ruiz is starting to get his plans for the future sorted out, he said he’s still sad to leave high school. “High school brought so many good memories,” Ruiz said. “From just hanging out with friends, to make new friendships at school. There [are] a lot of really cool people at North, and I just wish I could redo it all again.” story by Stephanie Whisler

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BRIDGING THE

GAP A look inside SMSD’s plans to close the achievement gap between white and minority students

uring SMSD Board of Education meetings spanning the past several months, presentations have been made about the various measures of student success, from ACT scores to standardized test scores to attendance rates. In all of these, one pattern stood out: an apparent achievement gap between white and minority students. Though achievement gaps have been a topic of conversation nationwide, SMSD is looking at the magnitude of this problem in the district. According to Superintendent Michael Fulton, standardized tests are the main measures used to analyze the achievement gap. “We try to use objective measures, so whether that’s ACT, SAT or state tests,” Fulton said. “It’s not that they’re the absolute best measures, but they’re at least common to all students.” SM North English teacher Natalie Johnson-Berry, the only African-American teacher at SM North, believes the achievement gap in SMSD is merely reflective of a more global issue. “I think the achievement gap in SMSD is a symptom of the achievement gap probably in most places,” Johnson-Berry said. “We’re sort of like a microcosm of what’s

February 2019

going on in the world. So I don’t see this as an exclusive SMSD issue but just an issue in general.” According to Fulton, the cause of the achievement gap is not completely understood; however, he thinks multiple factors may contribute to it. “Is there test bias? That’s a question to put on the table,” Fulton said. “ACT would say no, but it seems odd that [white students scoring higher than minority students] would happen across income levels when other conditions remain the same. So when you get into the ‘why’ of the disparity, one of the things you have to ask is ‘Is there any kind of implicit test bias that goes with that measure?’ So that could be one cause.” However, Fulton believes test bias cannot be solely responsible for a student’s low test scores. “I’ve seen people get hung up on ‘The test is biased, it’s working against the students, therefore there’s nothing we can do,’” Fulton said. “Even if there is test bias, overtly, which is rarely the case, or subtly, in ways that are hard to measure, which is probably more likely, that to me is just an excuse for low performance. That’s an easy out.” Another factor Fulton thinks could contribute to the

Average ACT scores by race/ethnicity for SMSD class of 2018, according to SMSD 24.8 ACT Score

23.9

23.3 22.4 20.8

e Hi s La pa tin ni o c/ Bl -A ack m /A er fr ica ica n n

N re o sp o

Tw o or or e ra ce s

n ia As

19.2

achievement gap is differing expectations for white and minority students. “Do we have the same expectations of all students regardless of race, socioeconomic status, any categorical attribute that you want to give to somebody?” Fulton said. “Expectations of teachers, expectations within the family, expectations of self and school expectations. So my argument has always been that we cannot control family expectations, but we can work with students to help them reflect on and control their own expectations. And we can develop a system that says ‘Our expectation is that all of our kids get to high levels of performance on this important learning.’” SM North Principal Jeremy Higgins agrees that outside factors such as family life could influence the achievement gap. “I think there’s a lot of factors outside of the school that impact a lot of our kids and probably have some pretty significant impacts,” Higgins said. “We’ve got some kids walk in the building, I’m assuming, that they’re going through some things we can’t even imagine at home. And for them to even think about doing well on the state assessment is probably the last thing on their mind.” However, according to junior Glory Obi, school plays a large role in the success, or lack thereof, of minority students. “A huge problem I think at this school is colored students or minority students not being put in advanced classes and not being challenged by their teachers to

try something harder,” Obi said. “In probably three of my classes, I’m the only minority student in the class. I look around and I’m the only black person.” Johnson-Berry believes hiring more teachers of color would encourage more minority students to take advanced classes. “I think one thing we could probably do [is] put more teachers of color and professionals of color in our district, so we can see it all throughout, with not just teachers but with administrators,” Johnson-Berry said. “Let them see that there’s somebody in the building who looks like them who has achieved.” This sentiment was echoed by a group of concerned parents who spoke about diversity at the Feb. 11 board of education meeting. “To me, you can start by setting a goal in the district of ‘Okay, we plan to hire x amount of diverse teachers by 2020’ or whatever,” said Anisha Jackson, member of a diversity and inclusion group. “And then you actively seek out diverse folks who fit in those

categories.” However, Fulton believes this is difficult because of a lack of minority candidates. “There’s no question that the issue of hiring a diverse workforce, that we’re struggling in America with that,” Fulton said. Fulton is also unsure whether the district will meet the parent group’s request to hire a professional diversity officer. “We’re committed to addressing the issue of diversity in the school district,” Fulton said. “Whether that involves a dedicated officer in precisely the way it was described is something we’re going to have to decide.” However, he does agree that some form of diversity training is a necessity. “I think we all go through life with bias,” Fulton said. “Some of it, perhaps things that we’re aware of, other things that are more subtle, that perhaps we’re not even aware of. And that’s where things like diversity training can help, as you begin to just unpack your own kind of personal beliefs about other people.” Though questions remain about whether the achievement gap can ever truly be closed, Fulton emphasizes that there is no quick fix when it comes to problems of this magnitude. “That’s why when people say we should fix the achievement gap, like that, it’s like ‘Well, you actually have to do the root cause analysis and understand why and then build the solutions organically from the school level,’” Fulton said. story by Grace Altenhofen

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February 2019

Abbey Scott (11) and Logan Jiskra (12)

B E

“We’ll go out to dinner, then get dessert after that. We might go back to where we had our first date, which is Red Robbin. We usually do it every time we want to have a recurring date. It kind of depends on what we’re feeling that day.”

“[Valentine’s Day] can be stressful, definitely. Half the time you want to do something, but if we make plans there’s no guarantee we’ll do them. There probably should be [pressure on guys to plan Valentine’s Day]. I don’t think there is.”

Mikey Cauthon (9) and Abby Schiller (9)

M I N E

SM North students celebrated Valentine’s Day

“It has to be perfect. It has to meet her standards. You have to make sure you have enough money, you have to make sure you have an open schedule and you have to make sure no one else is doing the same thing so it’s unique.”

“We’re doing the Valentine exchange with the yearbook staff, we’re going to do our presents to each other and then we’re going to go to the movies and see ‘Happy Death Day 2 U’.”

Connie Bobbitt (11) and Josh Donnelly (12) “I think we are going out to eat, probably Mexican food because Olive Garden’s going to be packed. And then I think ice cream afterwards. I come up with most of the plans. When

we go out to eat we kind of just change the place up every time. [Valentine’s Day] gives you time to show people that you love extra love and there’s a special day for that.”

Keleah Miles (9) and Jackson Henley (9) “We’re basically just planning to hang out at his house. Most of the time we just hang out at his house. It’s a fun day when you have someone, but if you don’t you can just hang out with friends. Either way it’s a normal day, sometimes you hang out with friends and other times you hang out with someone you love.”

“It can be [stressful]. If you’re going to go out and make dinner reservations, it can be stressful. But it’s a fun day.”

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Behind The Music

Q: How would you describe the kind of music you make? A: Mainly hip hop, but I also do other stuff as in rock, dubstep, but mainly hip hop. Q: When did you first fall in love with music?

A: Actually, when I was little, I remember I used to hate music. It was because my brother was super into music and me and my brother always used to clash heads. But it was really when my brother and I actually started to become brothers and he just showed me all this different music, all this Bob Marley stuff. I just fell in love with Bob Marley and it just kept going from there.

Brandon Ammons, 12

RAPPER

Q: Why do you make music? A: It’s a way to get people to know me without having to have a personal conversation with me. Like you can know what kind of person I am just by the music. Q: When did you first fall in love with music?

A: I used to be in choir, I’m not going to lie, in elementary school. I used to be a singer at first but then my friend started freestyling so I figured I might as well start freestyling too. And after that, it was like ‘bro, record your stuff’ so I started recording. I didn’t start rapping until freshmen year. Q: Where can we listen to your music? A: SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Music. This dude DM’d me and he was just like, ‘bro, I like your music and I want to put it on Spotify and Apple Music. I just get some copyright stuff done, send the music to him and he just puts it on there.

February 2019

cynsear Dubois, 11

PRODUCTION/BEAT-MAKING

Q: Why do you make music? A: I grew up listening to a lot of rap and seeing the lifestyle that rappers live. They don’t really have to work for anything. It’s usually easy. You just write music and if you’re good, you blow up. I want to be an engineer. That’s what I grew up wanting to be because of my parents. But my big, big dream for life is to become a rapper. Q: What is your long term goal for this? Is this what you want to do with your life? A: It’s something I really want to do but I also have to work, get money, grind and go to school too. I’m thinking I’m still going to go to college, KCKCC, and I’m still going to do it as a hobby and I’m still going to write and hopefully I can get more money for studio time so I can professionally record.

ALHAKAM THAMER, 11 RAPPER

Students pursue mixing, playing and recording music content by Mystika Allison-Barnes and Grace Altenhofen

Q: How long have you been playing drums? A: Almost a year. Q: What kind of music do you play? A: I very much enjoy progressive metal and just metal in general. A lot of what’s in there really gets me pumped up and gets me going.

Q: Are you in a band? A: I’ve been in a few bands with essentially the same people, but we’ve been doing on and off different projects. We’re starting a new one right now. Q: What’s the best part of being in a band? A: When you get the groove right and it just works, that’s the best part of being in a band.

Logan Zunic, 12 Ian Foster, 12

DRUMS

Q: How did you learn to play guitar? A: I’m self taught and I’ve learned a lot because I’ve listened to my music a lot. Q: Are you in a band?

A: I’m the lead guitarist in my band. We started a couple weeks ago but we’ve known each other for awhile. Q: What kind of music do you play?

A: We’ve been playing different things, but we finally decided to play black metal. It’s a very dark genre of metal. Q: Why did you want to be in a band? A: I’m not wanting to be some famous musician, all I want to do is make music for people so they can relate to how I feel about things.

AJ Middleton, 11

GUITAR

Q: Why did you learn to play guitar? A: My dad’s friend came over one day with a guitar and was like ‘you should learn to play guitar.’ Q: Why did you form a band? A: I feel like there’s more creative potential with a band. There’s more people to bounce ideas off of, so there’s more room to form coherent ideas. Q: How often does the band practice? A: The band practices once a week. By myself, it’s just whenever I have time really. I try to do an hour a day, that’s my goal. Q: What’s the best part of being in a band? A: You actually can make things. It’s nice to have an actual rhythm you can play on top of versus playing by yourself. Q: Are you planning on playing any gigs? A: That’s the plan. smnmission.com

Picking a profession

Career Seminar allows students to explore potential career options

s a new addition to the school year, Instructional Coach Katherine Miner has set up a career exploration opportunity for students. “The speaker[s] get up and talk to the students about their career and how they got there, what was their path,” Miner said. “Maybe some of their successes and failures and talk about their job and what it entails, what kids could expect if they wanted to have a career similar to the speaker.” The speakers come during Thursday seminars and usually speak in the library. “Most of them I know personally,” Miner said. “This week’s [speaker] is my former neighbor and former student. Next week is officer Covington’s husband, and next week is my sister.” Miner is still searching for future speakers. “I’ve put the request out to faculty and asked them if they know somebody who might be willing to and I’ve gotten a couple leads,” Miner said. “I’m hoping to fill up about 10 [seminars].” Matthew Downing, a certified trainer, and husband of North teacher Kayte Cormack presented his job during seminar Jan. 31. “[I was] a little nervous [to present],” Downing said. “My wife teaches there, but I’ve not used it.” However, that didn’t stop Downing from sharing details about his career. “I love talking about my job,” Downing said. “It’s something I feel very passionate about.”

According to a survey of 80 SM North students...

Februrary 2019

PRESENTING to students, Michael Covington talks about his job. Covington, the owner of Bristol Plumbing, spoke about the opportunities and benefits that come with jobs such as plumbing, carpentry, construction, electrical and HVAC. Covington said he believes if you’re trainable and dependable you’ll find a job. photo by Jessica Lopez

Downing had a message for the students during his presentation on what’s most important in any career. “Determination and consistency,” Downing said. “Doing what you need to do even if you don’t want to do it, that going to get you where you want to go.” However, Miner believes that students worrying about their future career effects them more personally as well. “I think that it affects the way kids feel about their high school experience and sometimes their college experience if they go onto that,” Miner said. “I feel like they [students] think they have to have it all figured out and that puts extra stress on them.” story by Anna Miesner

43.6% of students struggle to determine what career they will pursue after high school.

and

90% of students know someone who struggles to determine what career they will pursue.

Getting ready to test

ACT Bootcamp allows students to prepare for ACT testing

eginning this year, SM North Associate Principal Dustin Jamison has created an ACT Bootcamp for students. The camp is held in the Learning Commons, Aux Gym, and Field House during the seminar each week. The camp was founded a month ago in an effort to improve SM North ACT scores. Jamison believes that the camp will make an impact on students’ test scores. “I think it’s been effective,” Jamison said. “If nothing else, it’s pulled resources together. Mrs. Miner has a good classroom with 100 different resources [students] can use of their choice.” However, Jamison would still like to improve the camp and make it more effective for students. “It’s just about getting the word out,” Jamison said. “We contemplated doing it before or after school but we thought initially ‘lets do it within the school to kind of meet students on their time to get it going.’ Maybe in the future, it will be after school sessions.” English teacher Caedran Sullivan taught the English portion of the boot camp and felt confident in her presentation. “I felt pretty prepared, but I always think there is room for improvement with any presentation,” Sullivan said. “The problem is that there is a ton of information that needs to be given... We were able to touch on the basics and provide links to sites that could help them prepare. If the attending students would access those additional study materials, they would reap the best

EXPLAINING test taking stategies, psychology teacher Stephanie Gagnebin teaches a portion of the ACT Bootcamp during seminar Feb. 11. “I like to help students,” Gagnebin said. “The ACT is important and it can be a high-stress, highstakes test for a lot of kids, so any preparation for that can be helpful.” photo by Matthew Cunningham

results.” Sullivan believes that the right strategies can also help with testing. “I hope our students found the camp helpful,” Sullivan said. “I have learned over the years that students who have an internal drive to improve and learn to do best. An intrinsic desire to do well on the test helps students organize their time to practice and study.” Junior Adison Basey attended the english portion of the program. “The program itself is a good idea, although it was not as helpful as I imagined it would be,” Basey said. However, Basey did take something useful from the bootcamp. “Although, becoming a little more familiar with the types of questions that are on the test helped ease some of the nerves I had,” Basey said. story by Anna Miesner

Studying Materials for the ACT Go to www.act.org for specialized ACT study guides

Use educational webistes such as EBSCO for additional help with standardized tests

Take your time to answer all the questions on the test

Join the SMN ACT Prep Class for extra resources and advice: t74n70

Take free prep tests on the offical ACT website: www.act.org

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Left to right: Harden Boldt, Ryan Mcmillin, Cameron Lee, Trey Smith, Caleb Sostarich and Luke Cramer. SMILING for the camera, sophomore, Caleb Sostarich recounts the 200 Freestyle

Relay in which he medaled. “We ended up breakig the school record,” Sostarich said. “It was pretty good, we placed at the same place we did last year.” Photo by Jaclyn Honn

State swim squad takes steps toward success

his year SM North’s Boys Swim and Dive Team will be heading to State once again. The State swim meet will be taking place on Feb. 1416 and will be held in the Topeka-Capitol Federal Natatorium. Head Coach Cody Fothergill and the swimmers have high aspirations for a high scoring State meet this season. “To medal in a relay or two would be outstanding but I think will be difficult and I really hope that Trey can finish top five in both of his events and maybe top three in at least one if not both of them,” Fothergill said. Coach Fothergill has put together a full roster of North’s fastest qualifiers for State, this year not only will North have four relays, but also swimmers in multiple individual events. “We will be taking either 5 or 6 swimmers to state, one of them might be an alternate, but we obviously have all four relays going,” Coach Fothergill said. “Trey Smith has two events, the 200 freestyle and the 100 butterfly. Caleb Sostarich has also qualified in the 100 Breaststroke, also Cameron Lee and Harden Boldt are still trying to qualify for state as they will swim in the last chance meet.” The swimmers are taking this meet seriously and are making sure to take every precaution before swimming in Topeka. “We are advised to stay out of the weights room because we don’t want to get any injuries, we don’t want to hurt ourselves before the big race,” junior, swimmer Luke Cramer said. “We want to taper as long as we can while still getting faster.”

February 2019

This year the team has geared up with special equipment made to make them more hydrodynamic. The more friction and drag the swimmers can eliminate the faster they will be in the water. “During the race we’re going to use tech-suits and dome caps to allow us to propel through Trey Smith: 2nd in 100 Fly the water faster 3rd in 200 Freestyle than normal,”junior 4th in 200 Free Relay swimmer, Luke Caleb Sostarich: Cramer said, “A 12th in 100 Breaststroke tech-suit is a faster 4th in 200 Free Relay Speedo because Harden Boldt: it’s super tight 4th in 200 Free Relay and it allows you Cameron Lee: to go faster and 4th in 200 Free Relay a dome cap is a super slippery, less friction cap that you put over your normal cap and it just allows water to flow over your head.” There are many challenges the State Team will face, but Cramer thinks he has pinpointed their most difficult hurdle. “We have problems with getting negative about things and then we don’t do good,” Cramer said. “I think if we stay positive we’ll do amazing.” story by

Medal Winners

Cale Chapman

Valentine’s Day on the A review of this year’s cheesy rom-com

big screen

Isn’t It Romantic R

eleased Feb. 13, Isn’t It Romantic was the refreshing take on the classic rom-com that was needed this Valentine’s season. Isn’t It Romantic tells the story of Natalie (Rebel Wilson), a New York City-based architect with a ‘glass is half empty’ attitude toward life. This cynicism has remained a constant since she was a little girl, having been told by her mother that girls like her don’t get to have true love. As a result, she mocks the romantic comedies that her coworker watches, claiming that such movies spread lies and false hope. However, when Natalie is knocked unconscious as she is mugged in the subway, she wakes up in a completely changed world. Her apartment is completely remodeled, she has a new gay best friend and men now notice her; and she begins to realize that her life has taken on all the cheesy qualities of a romantic movie. As she tries to figure out how to get out of this alternate universe and back to her real life, a handsome and wealthy new architecture client begins to pursue her. She thinks she is supposed to get him to fall in love with her before she can go back to her old life, and they begin to date as life throws one corny rom-com scenario after another at her. However, she eventually realizes that it wasn’t someone else who was supposed to fall in love with her; the goal

all along was for her to love herself. For a movie that was supposedly mocking all the cliches of rom-coms, this heartfelt life lesson stood out, and not necessarily in a good way. The film’s strength was humor, which it achieved by poking fun at the stereotypes of romantic movies, but having a genuine moral lesson almost detracted from this. In the end, Natalie makes it back to her real life, and realizes that she loves her friend and coworker Josh; true love was right in front of her eyes the whole time. This was another rom-com cliche that the movie followed, rather than mocked–and like the ‘love yourself’ lesson, it nearly detracted from the humor of the rest of the movie. However, there’s much to be said for Wilson’s portrayal of Natalie. Wilson was perfect for the role, proving herself able to deliver one-liners and keep the humor alive throughout the film. It was refreshing to see someone in a starring role who broke the traditional mold of the rom-com queen, and instead showed the audience that you don’t need to be thin, rich and perfect to find love in the modern world. Overall, Isn’t It Romantic fell into the trap of the very cliches it was trying to mock, but well-timed wit and a winning performance by Rebel Wilson earned this movie 3/5 stars. review by Grace Altenhofen

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Taking a Break

SM North students, faculty make plans for Spring Break Sophomore competes in national volleyball qualifier While hanging with friends is always fun, oftentimes students are preoccupied with outside commitments. Students like sophomore Seville Gates are frequently engaged in highly competitive sports events. “I am going to Orlando for Volleyball national qualifier. I’ll be gone for about a week, and I’ll probably miss the first day of school,” Gates said. “I usually go

Seville Gates Senior plans vacation with friends People across the country spend almost $1 billion on trips, shopping and a host of other activities during spring break. SM North is no different. Students and teachers are eager to keep busy, have fun and try to enjoy some downtime from an often active time of the school year. One of those people is varsity baseball player, senior Lucas Wilson.

“I’m going to Arkansas with some friends,” Wilson said. “We’re going to rent a cabin and have a lot of fun.” Wilson feels there’s a lot of excitement for spring break for a couple of reasons. “[It’s] probably because there is no school, gives you time to get away from everything and have a good time with your friends,” Wilson said.

Lucas

February 2019

Wilson

out of town for volleyball tournaments around this time, or we go out of town for my brother’s baseball tournaments.” Although volleyball is a time consuming, Gates does find time to hang with classmates. “Most of my friends can drive now, so we just drive around,” said Gates. “We don’t have any money, so we don’t do much, honestly.”

Junior prefers relaxing, not planning for break Although planning for spring break is important, some students, like junior Mason Trout are more of an “in the moment” person. “I almost always do something all the time for spring break, or I do something with family,” Trout said. “It’s just never really planned ahead of time, usually just like a week in advance. I like to kind of just chill. I mean I don’t really do a lot, I mean, I don’t really do anything crazy. I kind of just hang

Mason

Trout

with my family and play video games.” Trout further believes that things like school work assigned over break, if reasonable, shouldn’t deter students from trying to have fun and enjoy their time on break. “It depends on the kind of work,” Trout said. “ For example, like read book, or something for an English to get ready for a project, I think that’s pretty reasonable.”

Teacher takes daughters to gymnastics competition Students aren’t the only ones trying to enjoy spring break; business teacher Cody Fothergill is enthusiastic about spending quality time during break. “I’ll be spending a lot of time with my daughters with state gymnastics, state tumbling,” Fothergill said. “And hopefully a lot of outdoors with some good

sunshine.” Although not travelling far for state competitions, the comfort of being close to home still brings a relaxing time. “State this year is in Kansas City, so we don’t have to travel for that,” Fothergill said. “We get to sleep in our own beds every night.”

Cody

Fothergill

Stuck in KC over Spring Break? Check out these fun local places!

Crown Center

Nelson-Atkins

Kansas City Zoo

Sea Life KC

Oak Park Mall smnmission.com

SP e ak i ng o ut W

hen most people hear the word forensics they think of CSIs and science, but for the Forensics class at SM North it’s something totally different. “The first thing I want people to know is that it’s not a science class, forensics is not CSI,” Forensics Sponsor, Meagan Deutch said. The Forensics class at North is actually about competeing in various kinds of argumentative and public speech contests. There are 23 different events for both high school and middle school according to the National Speech and Debate Association. Some

February 2019

An inside look at the SM North forensic speech team

examples of the events students can compete in are Comentary, Dramatic Interpretation, Informative Speaking, Original Oratory and Lincoln-Douglas Debate. North’s Forensicators are already off to a strong start. “We have had a really, really good first 3 weeks,” Deutch said. “Everytime we’ve taken people out to compete everybody has medaled.” Deutch singles out Forensics veterans, seniors, Tyler Ruzich, Calvin Tran, Arthur Bagdasarian, Cole Lueker and junior, Mason Trout as successful competitors. But North’s veterans are not the only forensicators to do well this season. “This past weekend (February 9) Josie Lenatti, it was her first time competeing, she ended up placing first in informatives so it was amazing,” Deutch said. The Forensics team looks to be headed into an action packed season. story by Cale Chapman

Taking home the win SM North ROTC takes first at Oklahoma competition

M North’s ROTC placed first overall at the drill meet in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on Jan. 26. The meet qualified the team for the national competition, which will be held in Pensacola, Florida in April. “Oklahoma’s the hardest competition we have,” sophomore Eleanor McCarthy said. “It’s harder than nationals because the judges are really really hard and they’re very very strict. It’s a tough competition in general.” McCarthy placed first in female sit ups, with a total of 211 in five minutes. Junior Perla Pena placed first in female push ups, a feat considering that was her first competition. “It felt good since it was my first actual competition,” Pena said. “Knowing that I pushed myself to get that place.” Despite being a junior, this is Pena’s first year in ROTC and she enjoys being able to challenge herself. “At first my parents kind of had to push me to do it because they said it would be good to be involved in something else at school,” Pena said. “I didn’t really want to do it, but now I’m glad I did.” However, McCarthy knew she wanted to join ROTC from a young age. “When I was in first grade they came and performed at my school and I was like ‘that’s really cool, I want to do that,’” McCarthy said. “I was thinking about it all the way through middle school. My parents are in the military, so we have that whole background and stuff.” According to Pena, the most difficult part about ROTC is the amount of work. “The hardest part is probably practicing,” Pena said.

SM NORTH’S ROTC undergoes inspection during the competition in Oklahoma on Jan. 26. “The reason they’ve been successful over all these years is the kids that have always bought it and believed it and worked hard to get to where they needed to,” Chief Warrant Officer Dennis Grayless said. “As long as that continues to happen, we’ll continue to be great.” photo courtesy

“When you have to wake up every morning and be here at like six while everyone else is sleeping [and] studying the questions we need to answer for inspection.” of Dennis Grayless Chief Warrant Officer Dennis Grayless said the team’s practice is what sets them apart from other ROTC programs. “There’s nothing magic about it,” Grayless said. “I’ve never been a part of a team that walked out of the tunnel or walked onto the stage and said ‘Man, I hope I get my butt kicked tonight’. Everyone wants to win, so what separates the person who wins and doesn’t win? It’s the preparation.” Grayless was excited to see the team place first in Oklahoma, but said winning is just an expectation they set for themselves. “When we compete, we don’t compete against other teams, we compete against ourselves, trying to do the best we can and be perfect in the things we do,” Grayless said. “So when you coach a kid to do something and they go out there and do what they’re coached to do, that’s a huge reward for me personally.” The team has the same expectation as they prepare for the national competition. “We’re going down there with the idea that we’re going to be the best team in the country and we’re going to do our best in all 11 events,” Grayless said. “We’re on a good path to peak when we need to be peaking when we get to Florida.” story by Grace Altenhofen

smnmission.com

dance it out When in doubt,

it out

Drill team places in more competitions than in recent years

PERFORMING at halftime of the boys basketball game against Blue Valley North on Dec. 7, the dance team does a hip-hop routine in front of the crowd. photo by Jessica Lopez

veryone loves watching the dance team perform during halftime of boys basketball games, but one thing most people haven’t seen about the dance team is their competitions. The team practices early in the morning to perfect their dancing to place well in competitions. SM North dance team coach Sarah Juenemann loves her dancers and is proud of how well they placed at their competitions this year. They competed in three competitions, which Juenemann said is the most they have done in recent years. “Our first one was Miss Kansas at Olathe South, then we went to Lee’s Summit North, which is Missouri Regionals, and then we went to Innovative Competition at Blue Valley West,” Juenemann said. “We did really well at Lee’s Summit North Regionals. We got third in jazz and fourth place in lyrical. Other awards we won at competitions were a polish and precision award for our hip hop routine, meaning it was really clean and sharp. We earned showmanship awards for our performances and their energy and their facials. Then, we get divisional ratings, and one is the best, and in all of our routines we’ve placed division one or two. The divisions go from one to five so it’s good that we kept it high.” Senior and four-year dance team member Jada Johnson said that practices leading up to competitions are more strict than a practice leading up to a basketball halftime performance. Johnson added that the team ‘works their butts off’ for those practices. “Well with basketball halftimes we can do things within a matter of a week and it doesn’t matter as much,” Johnson said. “It doesn’t have to be as clean because honestly not everyone in the crowd knows what it’s supposed to look like versus being in front

February 2019

of judges who know technique and they can point out the little things. It’s a total different practice because it’s just so much harder for competitions.” Senior StuCo member Sebastian Garcia created a poster which hangs in the Fieldhouse right next to the dance team’s senior banners. The poster reads ‘SMN DRILL TEAM IS THE BEST CHANGE MY MIND,’ referencing a popular meme. “One day I went up to Mrs. Keith’s room and talked to her about making a surprise poster for the drill team,” Garcia said. “I thought of one of our spirit days, Meme Day, because a lot of our teachers did the ‘change my mind’ meme and I thought it would be really cool to make a poster. Every game when they would come out I would always go crazy and the drill team loved my support and one day my friend Jada told me to come out and bring that energy to one of their competitions. I couldn’t make it to the other two [competitions] but I went to the last dance competition and brought the sign with me.” Sophomore dance team member Meka Rynerson said she has been dancing for nine years before high school. She said she loved dancing competitively and she assumed that dancing for North would be just as fun, so she tried out. “I knew a couple people who were trying out and finally convinced me to do it after all,” Rynerson said. “My favorite part of being on dance team is the family like bond we all have and the memories we share. From the minute you make the team to the minute you leave, you learn so much about everyone and you gain closer bonds. Our team truly is a family, and it wouldn’t be the same without anyone.” story by Rilee Morrow

Inside the

GRAMMYs

An overview of notable wins and moments at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards content by Mystika Allison-Barnes

Lady Gaga

Already a six-time Grammy award winner, Lady Gaga added three more this year. Two of those Grammys came from Shallow, a duet with Bradley Cooper created for the Oscar-nominated “A Star is Born”. She also performed this song in true icon form, alongside DJ Mark Ronson.

Cardi B Wins: Best Rap Album

Cardi B made history with her first Grammy award, becoming the first solo woman to win a Grammy for Best Rap Album. Some Wins: Best Pop Solo Performance felt she wasn’t deserving of this award, prompting Cardi Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and other celebrities, such as Best Song Written For Visual Lady Gaga, to defend her accomMedia plishment. She also performed her single, Money, on the Grammy stage.

Childish Gambino

Along with Kendrick Lamar and Drake, Childish Gambino turned down all offers to perform at this years’ Grammy Awards, disgruntled about the academy’s constant mistreatment of hip hop (despite it now being the world’s most popular genre). Drake even took a stand by denouncing the validity of Grammys while accepting his own Grammy for Best Rap Song. Despite Gambino’s stand against the Grammys, he still tied Kacey Musgraves for the most wins this year, all for the political anthem, “This Is America”.

Wins: Song of The Year

Record of The Year Best Rap/Sung Performance Best Music Video

Breakout R&B star H.E.R. was nominated for five awards this year, taking home two. Many people, even a red carpet reporter, predicted that she would also win Best New Artist. This category was significantly larger this year, with seven nominees instead of the usual five. Dua Lipa ended up taking the honor, but H.E.R. was ecstatic to win for her selftitled E.P. and to share the win for Best R&B Performance with her fellow artist and friend Daniel Caesar for their duet Best Part.

H.E.R. Wins: Best R&B Album Best R&B Performance

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through the

viewfinder

[1]HOLDING intercampus mail envelopes in one hand, newspaper staff member, sophomore Rilee Morrow begins work on the next issue of the Mission. “I finished sending the paper to other schools and I was working on my pages for the next issue,” Morrow said. “Newspaper is fun becasue you get to meet a lot of new people.” photo by Emma Jones

[2] DANCING to the song Africa by Toto, sophomore Aubrey Bell has fun with her friends during the WPA dance Feb. 2. “I was just dancing with my friend Glory,” Bell said. “[My favorite part was] just being with my friends and getting to relax and not stress about anything.” photo by Evan Whitaker

[3] CLENCHING her fist, social studies teacher Kayte Cormack poses as the ‘Arthur’ meme on Meme Day during Spirit Week. “[I got the inspiration from] PBS kids. I have a two year old,” Cormack said. “I also liked being able to throw my fist up all day.” photo by Matthew Cunningham

[4] POSING for a group photo, senior Johnny Dinh Phan wraps up his dance performance during the North’s Got Talent event on Jan. 31. “I performed a dance routine to an Ariana Grande mashup and I was there as part of choir exec board to help run the show,” Dinh Phan said. photo by Matthew Cunningham

February 2019

[5] HOLDING a ring of streamers, Associate Principal David Ewers jokes with students during the WPA dance Feb. 2. “Cleanup started early and one of those things fell from the rafters,” Ewers said. “I saw a student playing with it and so I said, ‘Hey, can I grab that?’ and he handed it to me and I just had a little fun with it, acting silly.” photo by Evan Whitaker