The Northmen's Log, Issue 1, Vol. 55

TNL The Northmen’s Log Kansas City, MO Issue 1, Volume 55 October 2019

For all your Homecoming coverage, read pages 6 to 9. cover.indd 3

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Publication Information “The Northmen’s Log” will publish four times during the school year. “Log” staff strongly supports the First Amendment and opposes censorship. Freedom of expression and press are fundamental values in a democratic society.

Therefore, “Log” encourages readers to participate in the discussion by submitting Letters to the Editor in Room E134 or by email to christina.

geabhart@nkcschools.org. Letters cannot exceed 350 words and must be signed. “Log” will not run letters that are libelous, obscene, or that may cause a verifiable disruption to the education process at Oak Park.

Advertisers may contact the adviser at christina. geabhart@nkcschools.org for more information.

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Opinions expressed in “Log” do not reflect student, staff, or district endorsements of that opinion, product or service.

“Log” is a member of MIPA, NSPA, and Quill and Scroll. “Log” is affiliated with JEA, MJEA, and JEMKC.

Staff

Lindsey Dunaway, Editor-in-Chief Ivonee Morales-Meija, Copy Editor Emily Byrum, Photo Editor Luka Ashton, Staffer Parker Bensyl, Staffer Haydenn Gallagher, Staffer Nathan Nance, Staffer Kayleonah Trumble, Staffer Christina Geabhart, Adviser

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Letter from the editors Hey Oak Park. I’m Lindsey Dunaway and I’m the Editor-in-Chief of “The Northmens Log” this school year. Over the summer, we as a staff, went to our own personal camp to improve on our skills and get closer as a staff.

This year, we have an editorial board that consists of an Editor-in-Chief, a Photo Editor, and a Copy Editor. Our Photo Editor is senior Emily Byrum and our Copy Editor is senior Ivonee Morales-Meija.

We chose our cover story because students knew this homecoming was going to be special for Grace.

We discovered the value of Gold Medallion and explored the many types of bullying and learned about Oak Park’s new club to combat bullying.

We chose to write about Anne, our one and only foreign exchange student.

We also have two different staffers’ personal columns, one about AP personal experiences and the other about living as a transgender male.

And lastly, on our back cover we have teasers and social medias. We hope you follow those to keep up on current events.

We are super excited to bring you our quarterly magazine this year. If there are any comments and/ or concerns please talk to us; visit room E134. Thank you.

Table of Contents

News 4-5

Becoming a home for the world:

Senior Anne-Kristin Behr’s host family goes in depth about what it takes to become a host family

Features 6-13

Welcome to the fabulous homecoming:

Coverage of the events leading up to the homecoming dance

Crowning the queen Homecoming queen senior Grace Melgarejo shares her thoughts on being crowned

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Go for gold: Going in

depth on what gold medallion does and what colleges recognize

Back cover Teasers: Follow and watch NorthmenNews online

Bullying without intention: Unintentional

microaggressions are bullying too

Opinion 1415 Happy to live my true life: staffer Luka Ashton goes in depth of his first year of being out as a transgender male

High expectations let me down: staffer Ivonee Morales-Meija talks about her experiece with AP classes

Cover Homecoming: Home-

coming King Mikhai Richardson shares a moment with Queen Grace Melgarejo Photo by Parker Bensyl 10/7/19 10:13 PM

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News // Bensyl

Becoming a home for

the world

Host family shares what it takes

by Editor-in-Chief Lindsey Dunnaway

In past years Oak Park consistently had six to eight families sign up to host foreign exchange students, this year however, the school only hosts one.

Instead of having a rich variety of cultures to learn from, only Germany is represented. There could be many reasons for this, but local sources say host parents are becoming scarcer each year for a variety of reasons, including financial and personal concerns.

There are multiple misconceptions about what it takes to become a host family for foreign exchange students that range anywhere from the cost to having a stranger living in the home.

“A lot of folks are like ‘I don’t think I’d want a stranger in my house’ but they stop being a stranger after about three days,” senior Anne Behr’s host mother Joyce Braddock said.

For some families though, welcoming a stranger into the household isn’t their main concern; money is. The cost of being a host family is often misconceived. Most families don’t recognize that the exchange student’s actual family is still supporting them.

“I think often [times] the parents are concerned about the financial burden on the family, although it’s not,” International Club sponsor Nicole Hastings said. “You don’t have to buy their clothes or new shoes. They’re supposed to be responsible for that themselves.”

For an exchange student to even be eligible to be a part of the

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foreign exchange program, they have to go through multiple tests beforehand.

“They have to go through an application process,” Hastings said.

“They’re supposed to be pretty good students academically, show some leadership qualities or certain level of maturity, and then pass their English test.”

Likewise, the family also has to go through an application process.

“So families that are interested in hosting have to put in an application [and] they have to be approved. They do a background check on any members that are living in the home,” Hastings said.

Alongside with background checks, there are also other small requirements.

“To be a host parent, you have to be able to understand that the child has to have their own bed.

They don’t have to have their own bedroom, they can share a bedroom but if they’re sharing a bedroom, it has to be with a student who is the same sex, obviously.

And also within about three to four years of the age of your student,” Braddock said.

There are other stipulations on the host family as well.

“You as a host family can’t be on any kind of social services,” Braddock said. “So if you are getting subsidies for your welfare, food stamps, or something, the assumption is that right now you can’t afford to take on the expense of another student.”

If you meet the criteria and are interested in hosting an exchange student there are multiple options.

“There are different agencies that go about connecting American families with the exchange students. And generally, each one has like a local coordinator,” Hastings said. “So somebody that lives in the Northland realm helps with the placement,” Hastings said.

No matter what area someone lives in, there are different organizations to choose from.

“There are about 30 different organizations working in the U.S. today, that place exchange students,” Braddock said. “So you start by either picking an organization that you’ve heard [about] from friends, or you do online research and find an organization, or someone reaches out to you that’s involved with an organization and says, ‘Hey, I got your name from so and so that you might be interested in hosting a foreign exchange student.’”

The organizations are very user-friendly.

“The organization that Anne is through is called Academic Year in America, or AYA. And that one is almost like a match.com thing where we as a host family can go online and look at little snippets of profiles of 200 kids and say, you know, we’d like to see a larger profile for students and kind of pick,” Braddock said.

Although the process to becoming a host family is a few weeks long, there aren’t many requirements after the student arrives.

“The basic requirements are that you need to provide food to the exchange student, and they need to have a bed,” Hastings said.

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News // Bensyl

5

with Anna Anna Q&A with

Q: What inspired you to be a foreign exchange student?

Q: What were you most nervous about?

A: “I wanted to really experience another culture and really get into the language. A: “Making friends.”

I wanted to do something completely new and something, I don’t know, maybe like Q: How is school here different from Germany? a challenge and to make new friends.”

A: “The classes are different because here I have every class with Q: What were you most excited about? different people. In Germany, I always stayed in the same class with the A: “To be able to have the full American high school experience.” same people for every class since fifth grade.” foreign exchange copy.indd 3

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Feature // Gallagher

Softball team float throws out candy to the elementary school students and others along the parade route. Photo by Haydenn Gallagher Soccer team float kicks out its goal of passing out candy. Photo

by Haydenn Gallagher

Welcome to the “I participated to be a part of the school spirit week for homecoming and to be apart of the school environment,” said sophomore Bryndee Ray on Jersey Day.

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Sophomores Elaina Burke and Adriano Garcia share their smiles. “We chose to twin because its homecoming week and it shows school spirit and you have to match your date,” said Garcia on Match Your Date Day.

“It’s my first spirit week of high school and I wanted to be a part of something like spirit week,” said freshman Nevaeh Gonzalez on VSCO Day.

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Feature // Gallagher

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The fan section goes wild at the Friday night homecoming game. Senior Phil Brennaman, Staley junior Kaitlin Bennit, senior Natalie Morrison, and senior John Berislavich joined in making noise. Photo by Kayleonah Trumble

fabulous Homecoming “Just to show school spirit. I mean, it’s an opportunity to look nice on just a basic day,” said senior Sammy Abu Namous on USA Day.

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Freshman Kristina Biggs, sophomore Laura Hoesly, junior Ethan Smith and senior Alyssa Green.

“It’s my senior year and I wanted to go all out since it’s the last homecoming i’m going to have,” said senior Alyssa Green on Class Wars Day.

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Feature //Trumble

Crowning the queen Senior Grace Melgarejo shares thoughts on being Homecoming queen by staffer Kayleonah Trumble

When senior Grace Melgarejo heard her name over the PA system as the 2019 Homecoming Queen, she was emotional.

“I was excited, and I started crying,” said Melgarejo.

This reaction was not new to Melgarejo, she had the same one when The Axe woke her up.

“She was a little overwhelmed throughout the day, like as it was happening, but like after it hits her, she was very excited, and she was excited, and she cried a little bit,” said special education teacher Emma Bastarache.

For Melgarejo, this was the culmination of weeks of anticipation.

“I was really, really excited to be nominated,” said Melgarejo.

She has been waiting for this moment for years.

“She has been talking about this since she came here her sophomore year that she wanted to be Homecoming Queen, she had really been talking about it for the past month, so I think it meant everything to her,” said Bastarache.

A lot of students wanted Melgarejo to be homecoming queen.

“I just remember a lot of like all of the candidates were kind of behind her, even before we got nominated, a bunch of people were sharing like trying to get her to be nominated in the first place, and then we just kept pushing and she won,” said fellow homecoming queen candidate senior Skylar Small.

Melgarejo’s class was also behind her. From matching Tshirts for her banner holders to ensuring she had dresses ready to her hair and make up, Melgarejo’s friends were helping her every step of the way.

Feature // Trumble

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First row: Phoenix Smith, Morgan Kendall, Grace Melgarejo, Sierra Hermsen, Skylar Small. Last row: Jada Dean, Alex Braudrick, Phil Corbin, Jack Galetti, Jackson Satter, Bryce Buttler, Myles Poppe, Mikhai Richardson, Malisa Bartlow. photo courtesy of Reed Portrait Group

2018 Homecoming King Peyton Cassity crowns 2019 Homecoming King Mikhai Richardson at the Homecoming assembly. photo by Kayleonah Trumble

Seniors Arika Corn and Homecoming queen candidate Sierra Hermsen fly high at their last homecoming assembly. photo by Haydenn Gallagher

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Opinion // Morales-Mejia

Go for

GOLD

gram.�

Opinion // Morales-Mejia

50

43 36

33

30

26

24

24 24 18

20

19

Graduation Years

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

0

2012

10

2011

Number of Graduates

40

Number of Gold Medallion Graduates Per Year

information from Gold Medallion teacher Lori Dameron, designed by Ivonee Morales-Mejia

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Feature // Ashton

s: n o i s s e r g g a Micro? y e h t e r a t a Wh

Ar le e ga yo l? u

12

o

s s ’ t a ! h T gay

Bullying without intention Oak Park is a place where they can be themselves,” principal Chris Sartain, Ed.D, said.

Recently the faculty went to sensitivity training, the Bullying takes many different forms: classic physimain topic being micro-aggressions. cal attacks, direct verbal insults, plus cyberbullying hit “It [sensitivity training] went phenomenal, our staff the main stage in recent years. However, it’s possible has been so great about being open to trying to betto bully without intention. ter understand where different groups of students are “It’s always a learning experience… I would like coming from,” said Sartain. to think that I don’t use micro-aggressions, but I The district plans four equity think the end of the day, and inclusion training sesunfortunately, we’re all “I think the end of the day, sions each year, this first one guilty of saying something unfortunately, we’re all guilty was on the importance of that could be offensive to words and how they can be someone else,” psycholoof saying something that interpreted. gy teacher Kelsey Mayabb “Knowing some of the said. could be offensive to someuniversal micro-aggressions, Merriam-Webster dicone else,” things they [teachers] might tionary defined micro-aghave heard or said growing gressions as “a comment said psychology teacher Kelsey Mayabb up, but knowing the impact it or action that subtly and can have on students,” Saroften unconsciously or untain said. “We want students to feel that Oak Park is intentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude toward somewhere they’re not being judged.” a member of a marginalized group (such as a racial These sessions ensure teachers know the impact minority).” These can be commonplace and are often they can have on students and the impact students overlooked when talking about bullying. have on others to make sure classrooms remain safe “When a student comes to us... Listening to them spaces to learn. and hearing their story. We want students to feel that by staffer Luka Ashton

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Feature // Ashton

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Is t hat you nat ura r l ha ir?

ak e p s You h very is l g n E well!

Mayabb said, “We watched a video that was made within our district; I was surprised at some of the things that are said to students. There was one in the video where it was ‘you’re really pretty for a black girl,’ and I think I found that to be really surprising because if you think someone’s really pretty just say they’re really pretty” A big part of micro-aggressions lies in the intent behind them. Oftentimes there is no harm meant, but that doesn’t change the impact these actions can have.

“If it’s truly unintentional, talk to the person and just tell them what happened and how you felt about it,” junior Chandler Jezowski said.

These situations do take place, these hurtful comments are made, but there are ways to deal with them.

“First and foremost, it’s wanting students to feel comfortable enough to come to us with these concerns,” said Sartain.

There’s also peer support. A new club started this year, called Oak Park Buddies, where students can go during AR biweekly depending on travel priority days, in sponsor Katherine Kramer’s room S252 and discuss any bullying situation they’re experiencing.

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Opinion // Byrum

Happy to live my true life by staffer Luka Ashton

For a long time, I was confused.

I didn’t know who I was, how I related to the world. Feeling disconnected from the body you’ve had your entire life is an experience I wouldn’t wish on anyone.

I’m a transgender male, and this is the first year I’ve been public with this part of my life.

It took me longer than I like to think about to accept this part of me, my journey in the trans community so far has been intense, emotional and also very, very healing.

Discovering yourself is a very powerful feeling and sharing yourself frees you.

For a few years, I only allowed a few close friends to know this part of me. They called me Luka, they used correct pronouns and supported me in any way they could. That support is what led to

me being able to share this with everyone and make my high school experience more authentic.

Introducing myself openly as Luka Ashton, the 15-yearold boy with a passion for writing and intense love for old sitcoms has allowed me to feel more comfortable in school than I had ever thought possible.

The open environment I have found at Oak Park has allowed me to feel safe, allowed me to be me and I’m incredibly grateful for the acceptance I’ve been given so far.

Teachers have assured me they’re there to support me, they have asked about my pronouns to ensure they don’t mess up. I was allowed to switch the name I go by without

I’m a transgender male, and this is the first year I’ve been public with this part of my life.

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a hitch, and in general, the staff here has made sure I’ve felt comfortable and safe in my skin if that be directly or indirectly. I’ve been helped by many people.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t struggles. Being open with an identity not everyone will understand opens you to judgment.

People who will refuse to correct themselves. People simply just disgusted with differences.

However, being open with who you are and being self-assured is the first step to getting accepted.

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Opinion // Byrum

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High expectations let me down by staffer Ivonee Morales-Meija

I entered high school with low hopes of achieving much after seeing my grades in elementary and middle school and knowing how much I struggled to barely get an average GPA at the time.

Now, after hard work and dedication to achieve my childhood dreams I had thought to be impossible, my GPA reflects my A-level efforts. However, my one regret would be taking advanced placement, AP, classes rather than college/ dual credit courses.

My first years of AP started my sophomore year, I had taken AP U.S. History and AP English Language and Composition. I was excited, after all, the teachers had made it sound so simple; as long as you pass the test, you don’t have to retake the class in college.

After my sophomore year, all the tear-filled restless nights were virtually useless as I looked at the 2018 APUSH exam and realized the test had not followed the curriculum we were taught. That is when I realized I had no hope of ever passing this test.

I didn’t; and my class didn’t with the exception of a handful of students out of all the students who took the 2018 APUSH exam.

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According to totalregistration.net, College Board profits from these hopeful students.

In 2017, it made about $1.1 billion in revenue. I’m not surprised considering that in most school districts they make the students pay for the exam; and they charge $94 per every individual exam.

However, in our school district, they pay for our AP exams. Even though this encourages more students to take more AP classes, this also forces the students to be in classes they don ’t want to be in. At the end, when AP testing comes around and students don’t show up for the exam, that’s money down the drain.

Only a small percentage of students will actually pass the exams with a score colleges will accept.

Selective colleges require a score of 4 or 5 on the exam to actually receive the credit, and less-selective colleges can require a 3, depending on the class.

As someone who took five AP classes: AP U.S., AP English Language and Composition, AP English Literature, AP U.S. Government and Politics, and AP Seminar.

I passed those classes but failed the exams. Even if it boosted up

my GPA as a pity prize, I feel like it was a complete waste of my time.

If I had known better, I would’ve replaced AP English Language and Composition for College English, replaced AP U.S. Government and Politics for College U.S. Government, replaced AP U.S. History for advanced Spanish classes, and replaced AP English Literature for College Biology.

That way I would’ve completed my required general education credits with 15 credit hours already done by the time I graduate. I could be walking out of OPHS with a semester of college credit in hand instead of looking at college debt.

Is the district paying for students’ education? Or is it paying to support the bourgeoisie, capitalist company that is the College Board?

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You can buy your yearbook in the main office or Balfour. com for

Looking for a father in the fall musical Oak Park theatre preps for “Mamma Mia,” the upcoming musical from 7-10 p.m. from Nov 7-9, in the main theatre.

You can read about them here: http://bit. ly/33gLZ6h

$70

You can ride bikes and more in the library

through the end of December.

The library has new desk bikes. Go try them out.

You can read about them here: http://bit.ly/2IvPHkq

Lucha Libre fights its way into OPHS

Oak Park has a new club “Lucha Libre,” they meet from 2:45-4 p.m.

Tuesdays in the wrestling room. You can read more about it here: http:// bit.ly/33gLZ6h

Watch The Axe on the NorthmenNews YouTube channel or NorthmenNews.com

Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Twitter Snapchat: @NorthmenNews cover.indd 2

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