The Trinity Voice- October 2021

THE

TRINITY VOICE

October 2O21 Volume 24 Issue 1 Trinity Preparatory School 57OO Trinity Prep Lane Winter Park, FL 32792

TRINITY THROUGH THE AGES Trinity’s campus and curriculum have evolved greatly.

Pages 18-19

NEWS

Hurricane seasons increase in intensity due to ocean warming from climate change.

Page 4

LIFESTYLES

The new age space race is dominated by billionaires.

Page 13

FOCUS

According to faculty and parents, Trinity’s tuition affords many benefits.

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OPINIONS

Climate change is not only due to consumers, despite what many companies claim.

Page 22

SPORTS

Trinity faces a decrease in football players over the years.

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Table of Contents

October 2O21

TABLE OF CONTENTS News

Severe Hurricane Seasons O4 Afghanistan Withdrawal O5 Burned Out Doctors O6 College Teachers O7 New Head of Upper School O8 New Chaplain O9 New Librarian 1O Black Widow 11

Lifestyles

Procrastination 12 Space Tourism 13 Stan Culture 14

Focus

Introducing Focus Podcast 15

Global Education 16-17 Evolution of Trinity 18-19 Trinity Tuition 2O Students Post-Quarantine 21

Opinions

Anuha Tatineni

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Lead Ed 22 Politicization of Masks 23 Beauty Standards 24-25

Sports

COVID-19 Restrictions 28 New JV Volleyball Coach 29 Football Team Numbers 3O Athletes’ Mental Health 31

The Trinity Voice is a member of the Florida Scholastic Press Association and the National Scholastic Press Association.

The Trinity Voice is produced by the newspaper/journalism class at Trinity Preparatory School of Florida. Editorials represent the opinion of The Trinity Voice writer and are not necessarily the views of the administration, faculty, or Board of Trustees of Trinity. The Voice welcomes letters to the editor and freelance articles or photography. All submissions become the property of The Voice. Please send all correspondence to 5700 Trinity Prep Lane, FL 32792. The Voice may also be contacted via phone at 407-671-4140 and via e-mail at voice@trinityprep.org. For information regarding the purchase of advertising within The Voice contact us by one of the methods mentioned above. The Voice is a monthly publication during the school year (with the exceptions of November and January).

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“THE TRINITY VOICE” Emma Kim and Chi Rho

Cover Photo

Staff/News Bites

October 2O21

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NEWS SPOTLIGHT

STAFF

Editors-in-Chief: Emma Kim, Deniz Bölöni-Turgut Managing Editor: Jack Ververis Copy Editor: Cate Williams Layout Editors: Amy-Ruth Gyang, Jaidyn Holt Online Editor: Cate Williams News Department: Ava Savino (Editor), David Bryskin, Iris Lei, Victoria Berube, Julian Sealy Opinions Department: Jack Ververis (Editor), Maddie Peckham, Abby Hernan, Ella Norman Focus Department: Marcos Membreno (Editor), Aetant Prakash, Sreekar Nagulapalli, Angel Zheng, Peyton Alch, Alec Diaz Lifestyles Department: Sarah Zehnder (Editor), Kaylee Ortega, Taylor Riley, Amy-Ruth Gyang Sports Department: Boaz Kim (Editor), David Hull, Carol Marques, David Steinberg, Cate Williams Graphics Department: Jaidyn Holt (Editor), Sarah Lin Photo Department: Anuha Tatineni (Editor), Ella Craghill (Editor), Reese Taylor, Anna Miliotes Fact Checker: Julian Sealy Business Manager: Sarah Zehnder Adviser: Erin Miller

This Month: By the Numbers $456

25%

5.7

million — the Powerball Jackpot prize on Sept. 18

of US hospital ICUs that are over 95% full

million acres burned by wildfires this year

The Headlines First all-civilian crew launched to orbit aboard SpaceX rocket ship

Kabul government’s female workers told to stay at home by Taliban

Volcano erupts on La Palma in Spain’s Canary Islands

Quote of the Month We are right on the edge of entering crisis standards of care. I hope we don’t get to that point, but it could very easily happen.

Dr. Bruce Siegel, president of America’s Essential Hospitals, on the possibility of having to ration hospital care due to hospital overcrowding with COVID-19 patients

Local Spotlight Orlando opens interactive art exhibit “Joybox” as a space to be creative and leave your worries behind

Bubbalou’s Bodacious BarB-Que closes after 35 years due to labor shortages

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News

October 2O21

HURRICANE SEASON INCREASES IN SEVERITY Article by Ava Savino Graphic by Jaidyn Holt

Ma

Hu

Na

by altering how they form and take shape. mate change, including hurricanes and other On the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Ka- Science teacher Emily Massey-Burmeister ex- major storms. trina, one of the United States’ most costplains how hurricanes form and how cli“You’re having towns and cities and parts ly and deadly hurricanes ever, Hurmate change and global warming of the world that, potentially, are going ricane Ida battered the coast of plays a part in the process. to start losing a lot of citizens, and they’re torms Louisiana, becoming the “Due to the warming of going to start losing livelihoods,” MasseyS ed fifth strongest hurricane the oceans, the longer or the Burmeister said. m in the entire country’s greater the depth of warm On a more local level, the Trinity Prep camhistory. Over one 13-20 water that you have, the pus often feels the impact of the volatile enmillion people were more hurricane fuel you vironment. Maintenance Director Luis Garcia left without powhave,” she said. is in charge of leading the preparations that er, and many more She also said that this Trinity has set in place for hurricanes and oth14 suffered damage to warmer water could not er types of major storms. their homes and only be fueling hurricane for“Preparation is key, knowing who to call, personal health. mation off the coast of Africa and making sure that you have a good checkHurricanes are bebut also slowing down the cur- list,” Garcia said. coming both increasrents in the ocean. The longer these Some of these preparations included in his ingly deadly and frequent currents stall out in the ocean, the great- long checklist include securing all loose items with each coming hurricane er the amount of warm water that builds up, that could be moved by season. According to the National Oceanic which could potentially extend the time weather, taking in all and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), frame of hurricane season. outdoor sports equipes n the new statistical average Atlantic Hurricane The UF Thompson Earth Sysment and pumping a c rri Season used to compare each new season to tems Institute states research down the water in has risen from 12 to 14 named storms and 6 that supports the claim that the pool. to 7 hurricanes. ocean warming due to cliGarcia also said This trend can be measured using the Power mate change does more than that having a camDissipation Index, which measures the storm just harm people with deadpus surrounded by 7 intensity, frequency and duration, and pro- ly and more frequent hurlakes makes it more vides a measure of total hurricane power over ricanes. Ocean circulation susceptible to light6-10 a hurricane season. Using this factor, the U.S. is an important function ning and extreme rain, Global Change Research Program found that of the ocean that allows curwhich can cause extra the PDI of the North Atlantic Ocean had rents to flow both deep in inconveniences around the a general upward trend starting in the ocean and on the school campus. the year 1980 and continuing surface, affecting the

“The first thing that comes rricanes u to the present. movement of air and water to mind is flooding,” Garcia said. “As you H r o The cause of this rise has throughout the world.

When can tell, some areas on campus [like] the sidej largely been attributthe water temperatures are walks become flooded, and it’s difficult to walk ed to climate change, warmer, the currents and around them.”

3 and more people are ocean circulation becomes Massey-Burmeister suggests that changes to 3-5 weaker, which slows down the way we treat the environment could help starting to study its specific effects. hurricanes and allows them to alleviate the continuing danger of these nat“NOAA scientists spend more time gathering in- ural disasters, but more countries around the have evaluated the tensity out at sea before impact. world would have to join the cause to contribimpacts of climate As this large-scale impact con- ute to the shift. change on tropical cytinues as a revolving cycle, smaller “Change in terms of climate change is going clones and determined scale communities and economies are to have to be relatively swift, and I think it has that it can influence storm being damaged with the tolls of increasing to be overarching,” Massey-Burmeister said. intensity,” Matt Rosencrans, seasonal hurri- hurricanes. Massey-Burmeister explained the cane forecaster at NOAA’s Climate Prediction term “climate refugees” which refers to the Average Hurricane Season Center said in a NOAA article interview. people who have been forced to flee their comThis Hurricane Season Climate change impacts these storm systems munities as a result many different kinds of cli-

October 2O21

News

5

ALUM REFLECTS ON AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL Article by Julian Sealy Photo Courtesy of William Milsten

The recent withdrawal of U.S. troops and personnel from Afghanistan and the series of events that followed raises questions about how this could impact the U.S. in the future.

The war between the U.S. and the Taliban started over 20 years ago with the U.S. invading Afghanistan, following the attack on the World Trade Towers on Sept. 11, 2001.

Trinity Prep alum and U.S. Army Aviation Major “Chuck” Charles-Fiodor Nadd was deployed in Afghanistan once in 2013 and a second time in 2018. As he watched the withdrawal, Nadd noted mistakes he thought the military was making.

“The first major mistake was giving up Bagram Airbase on July 2,” Nadd said. “[The United States] should have waited until we had a better assessment of the overall situation to give away our biggest air base, and we should not have given away our biggest air base in the middle of the night without coordinating with the local Afghan national army commanders.”

According to Nadd, giving up the airbase gave the impression to the soldiers and people of Afghanistan that the U.S. no longer had their back. Then, when the city of Kabul fell, the U.S. did not have a way to rapidly evacuate people, which caused a great deal of chaos.

Assistant Head of School Dennis Herron, although not deployed in Afghanistan, served six years in the air force. He agreed with Nadd that the withdrawal did not go as smoothly as it could have.

“I feel horribly for the citizens of Afghanistan because now they are basically getting right back to what it was before we went in,” Herron said. “I wouldn’t say that it was a complete waste of time, or money, but I would say it was a failure.”

The U.S. has given stability in Afghanistan for the past 20 years, but with that, the losses have been significant 2,448 American service members, 66,000 Afghan national military and police, and 47,245 Afghan civilians, according to the Associated Press. Along with so many lives lost, over $2 trillion were spent on the war in Afghanistan, according to Forbes.

“It’s a sad loss of human life, in terms of our own military and human life, and for the Afghan people,” Herron said.

The challenging end of the war raises the issue that it may impact the U.S. in the future.

“My concern is that in future wars, local nationals might not be as willing to support allied efforts because they’re unsure about how to stay to our commitments,” Nadd said. “I hope it creates a world in which Americans are more engaged with what we are doing militarily all over the world, because, ultimately, politicians will respond to the demands of the people.”

The decision as a country to go to war is a decision that is very difficult in many ways, especially considering the amount of lives that could be lost. Herron brought up how heavy of a decision it is on the president and his advisors to go to war.

“Anytime that we have to make a decision to forcefully go somewhere and we know when that happens it’s going to end up with people dying, injured and so on,” Herron said. “If you’re the mom or dad of the soldier that went in on that particular day and got killed, and then you see the withdrawal and you go, ‘boy, what was that all about.’”

The U.S. promised allied forces safe harbor if the Taliban were able to come back to power, and Nadd thinks the withdrawal will cause problems in the future.

“It doesn’t send a good message for the future if we’re unable to fulfill those promises,” Nadd said.

Trinity Alum Chuck Nadd served in Afghanistan in 2013 and 2018.

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News

October 2O21

BURNOUT: THE PANDEMIC PLAGUING MEDICINE Article by David Bryskin Graphic by Jaidyn Holt

In a 2020 survey from the American Medical Organization which was responded to by over 15,000 physicians, 42% said they were burned out. While burnout has always been a problem in medicine, COVID-19 has only made it worse.

Because of COVID-19, many doctors are doing more work for less pay. Along with this, the fear of getting COVID-19 creates added concern. This issue of burnout is especially problematic because it reduces the standard of care for patients.

“It’s terrible for the patients because they’re not getting somebody who’s invested in their care,” emergency room doctor and Trinity parent Latha Ganti said. “If a physician is burned out, then they’re just going to go through the motions. They can’t put in any more than just that.”

Being a physician is inherently stressful, as they have the lives of their patients in their hands. Mistakes can be deadly, and so doctors are under a lot of pressure to perform well.

“There is no profession that gives more of themselves physically, mentally [and] emotionally to others as does a physician,” Ganti said.

Right now, the major stressor for many physicians is overwork and underpay. This problem was exacerbated by COVID-19 because, according to Ganti, at the start of the pandemic most hospitals cut staffing and hourly rates.

This means that many doctors worked fewer hours and were paid less for the hours they did work, since fewer people were coming into the hospital for non-emergency issues.

However, Ganti explained that even as patient volumes return to normal, many hospitals have still not brought up the staffing or hourly rates. This leaves many physicians doing triple the work for half the pay.

So, many physicians are now overleveraged, burned out, and on top of that cannot afford to take time off.

“Many of my colleagues are heavily in debt, need the job and

are willing to work no matter what the pay or working conditions are, and that’s why they’re really burned out,” Ganti said.

COVID-19 has also affected the mental health of doctors by causing concern for not only their own health but also that of their families. Ganti lives with both her 6-year-old daughter and 83-year-old father, who are both considered to be at high-risk for COVID-19.

She explained that she knew that if her father got COVID-19, he could die. She also worried about lifelong complications that could arise if her daughter got sick.

“Now, you go to work and I’m just like ‘Oh God, I hope I don’t get COVID,’” Ganti said.

“I keep my N-95 mask on all the time, and I have my shield on, and I’m yelling at work because they can’t hear me through my mask.”

Another major cause of burnout is the increase of computerization and bureaucratic duties in medicine. According to Ganti, these duties degrade physicians’ mental health because they force doctors to focus on filling out forms and documentation rather than actually taking care of the patient. This takes away the passion and professionalism of being a doctor.

“One of the things I used to love doing as a physician [which] I know sounds really silly but is writing a prescription, because I used to feel like a doctor,” Ganti said. “Now everything is electronic. There is no joy left.”

A few other frustrations for physicians come with time metrics and patient satisfaction. Time metrics require physicians to discharge their patients within a certain amount

of time, and patient satisfaction refers to the ratings doctors get from their patients. Ganti explained that some hospitals will tie these scores to physicians, which can in some cases lead to reduced pay for those who are given poor scores. Ganti believes to be harmful because they take away doctors’ agency in how they handle their patients.

“We are not a store or a restaurant, we’re the emergency room,” Ganti said. “This is healthcare, and sometimes patients will not like what I tell them ... then they can just write me a bad review.”

Even though all of these issues are damaging to the mental health of physicians on their own, they are further exacerbated because of the culture of stoicism surrounding mental health in medicine.

“You’re not supposed to want or need mental health days,” Ganti said. “You’re supposed to be invincible and you’re never supposed to be tired.”

According to Ganti, coming forward about mental health issues for physicians can also cause other consequences. According to an article by the American Medical Association, many U.S. Medical Boards probe overly broadly regarding mental health history on relicensing forms, which can make it challenging for those with mental health problems to get relicensed. Also, coming forward with mental health issues can potentially increase employees’ premiums on their insurance. Both of these factors contribute heavily to the large percentage of physicians who are reluctant about seeking help.

However, even among all of these issues, Ganti is still hopeful for the future of how mental health is handled in this field.

“Unlike my generation that was very much like shut up and suck it up, the students of today are smarter,” Ganti said. “They will say this is not right, and they will speak up, and they will stand up.”

October 2O21

News

7

TEACHERS FIND A SECOND HOME AT COLLEGES

Article by Victoria Berube Photo by Reese Taylor

For years, Trinity Prep has been home to Working and planning for two different “It keeps me on my toes, doing diverse levels many teachers who also instruct students at courses and skill levels can be a lot of work, and getting to have fun with that,” Wood said. the college level. but Wood says it does not feel like work at all. “I think it keeps me fresh and excited about English Teacher Susan Lilley has been teach“It’s something that I’m really passionate what I do … I think I like doing both, versus ing college courses since the 80s and began about in both areas that planning and prepar- just one.” teaching here at Trinity in 1996. ing and getting ready to do things in either Since Trinity Prep is a college preparatory “When I came to Trinity and heard about classes doesn’t feel burdensome in any way.” school, many teachers say the campus is very AP classes, I had only kids who had already Wood said. “college-like.” had AP English, so I was seeing the other side,” Adjunct students usually are coming from “We’re kind of a non-traditional school here, Lilley said. everyday jobs in contrast to the high energy of where buildings are all separate,” Worcester Pre-Algebra teacher Stefani Wood began middle school students. said. “So I mean, it’s kind of very college-like.” working as an adjunct professor at Rollins College 14 years ago and started teaching at Trinity in 2015. Here, she teaches Pre-Algebra to sixth and seventh graders.

“I love the additional content and the ability to work at different and diverse levels with students,” Wood said.

Teaching middle school students is different from teaching college students in the different levels of information they have.

For instance, college students have gone through more experiences than middle school students.

“The longer you’ve been in school, the better you are at knowing yourself as a learner. Wood said. “You’ve had more experiences, made more mistakes and learned and grown from them.”

Similar to how students organize their schoolwork due to block scheduling, Mathematics Department Chair Donald Worcester organizes his preparations for his high school and college classes.

“I usually [prepare] over the weekend [for UCF].” Worcester said. “[For Trinity], I’m usually prepping in the morning and I’m a few days ahead.”

Most college courses meet for class only one time a week which could be beneficial for the student and professor in the sense of homework organization and lesson planning. Lilley compartmentalizes her work for college into a couple nights a week.

“There was class filling into my Trinity work because that’s my main gig and I wanted that to be the most important, but I didn’t want to cheat my Rollins students out of my attention” Lilley said.

Math teacher Donald Worcester helps senior Shraddha Bhatia with her linear algebra assignment at Trinity. Worcester also teaches statistics courses at UCF.

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News

October 2O21

BONDAY BRINGS A PASSION FOR EDUCATION Article by Ava Savino Photo Courtesy of Tracy Bonday

New Head of Upper School Tracy Bonday has always loved and been involved in education. From petitioning for and becoming one of the original members of the honor council at the University of Miami to changing career paths from law to education, Bonday hasn’t left school since she started as a child.

The journey began when she earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in economics from the University of Miami. From there she went directly into law school to receive her JD from the University of Miami. After teaching for some time, Bonday went back to school once more to earn her Masters of Science and Educational Leadership at Nova Southeastern University.

As an undergraduate student at the University of Miami, Bonday said that she was very involved in student leadership on campus as the vice president of the student council and an inaugural member of the honor council.

“One of the things that drew me to the honor council situation was a sense of making sure that there was equity and fairness in grades,” Bonday said. “There seemed to be an opportunity to not only educate students in patterns and changes of behavior...but also [give] the professors an opportunity to not have to engage directly with the students in making those final decisions.”

Bonday is often spotted around campus enforcing Trinity’s dress code, and this is no coincidence. She believes that a dress code is very important to prepare for success in the future in a business environment.

“It’s really here to learn and to support each other, and therefore I think it’s important to not have the distraction of what people are wearing,” Bonday said.

At Bonday’s previous job, she was the head of an all girls school with 300 students in New Orleans, but she decided to come to Trinity for a more dynamic environment.

“Trinity had a fabulous reputation,” Bonday said. “One of my math faculty members had several friends that live in the Orlando area and said ... this was the best place to land in Central Florida.”

Bonday said that her favorite part of her new position is getting the opportunity to be

in a school setting that never gets boring and allows her to engage and talk with lots of different types of people. As the head of upper school, she gets to do just that. Her responsibilities range across a wide variety of duties, with some of these jobs including assisting the dean with student discipline, discussing academic concerns with parents and students and working with the administrative team.

Outside of school, Bonday enjoys spending time with her family which includes her two daughters, aged 28 and 26, and a petite golden doodle named Reagan. Her older daughter teaches high school math, and her younger daughter graduated from the Naval Academy where she currently works for the Department of Defense.

Bonday is also an avid traveler and has plans to both visit family and see many other places around the world, especially ones surrounded by nature. She currently has plans to visit her sister who lives in Okinawa, Japan, and also revisit Hawaii to see her daughter.

“I’ve been to Hawaii once, [but] I want to get back there because I had hoped to do more in the way of actual trail hiking,” Bonday said.

To keep busy over quarantine, Bonday engaged in one of her recently reclaimed hobbies: scrapbooking. She keeps a book for each of her daughters, but before the pandemic Bonday said that she hadn’t had the chance to work on their books in years.

“I went from second grade through college during the pandemic, so I felt like I had overcome a monumental task there and felt really good about what I had accomplished while I was in isolation,” Bonday said.

Other hobbies that she enjoys in her free time are cooking and baking. Bonday specifically mentioned her favorite dish for large parties as lasagna, and chocolate chip cookies for any occasion because of her love for chocolate.

She always keeps a jar full of chocolates in her room in the upper school office, and she hopes that everyone on campus will get the chance to greet her and enjoy some candy.

“I love having people stop in, and if that little enticement is the reason to get them to stop, I am all about keeping the candy jar full,” Bonday said.

Tracy Bonday (far right) attends her daughter’s Commissioning Ceremony at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD in May 2017.

October 2O21

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9

WOHLEVER BRINGS ADVENTUROUS PAST TO TRINITY Article by Julian Sealy Photo by Anna Miliotes

From the Defense Intelligence Agency, to a hospital chaplain, to a priest, and a flight instructor, new Trinity Prep chaplain Father Russell Wohlever has done it all.

Wohlever grew up in Brookfield, Connecticut where he attended elementary and high school. He attended college at the Pennsylvania State University and earned his masters degree in divinity at a college just outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Wohlever left All Saints Church to work at Trinity, as he sees the current time in high school students’ lives as very important.

“I wanted to be in a school environment because I value this time in people’s lives,” Wohlever said. “It was high school especially, where my life was basically set on a trajectory.”

After graduating college, Wohlever worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency in the Alert Center at the Pentagon.

“It was really cool, but it was also a little nerve wracking because you realize that what you were doing was going to impact the country,” Wohlever said.

Wohlever mentioned that he would see the reports of the government on the news and had already known what was going on before they reported it.

“The most frustrating thing that happened when I was working there was listening to the media, the news, and sometimes they were reporting things as facts, and I’d be sitting there like, that’s all wrong,” Wohlever said.

After working in the Defense Intelligence Agency, Wohlever came down to Florida and became a hospital chaplain at Arnold Palmer Children’s Hospital in Orlando.

If working in the Defense Intelligence Agency and in a children’s hospital is not interesting enough, Wohlever also has worked as a flight instructor and done many interested things in the air.

Wohlever worked at a place called Spruce Creek Aviation in Daytona Beach and worked with many foreign European pilots. One of the most exciting parts of his flying experience included a trip he called “$500 hamburgers.”

“Down in Miami, there was a Cuban restaurant, not far from the airport so we would [fly] there. Have dinner, and then refuel the plane and fly back,” Wohlever said.

Throughout his life Wohlever has had quite the experiences and is happy to start sharing them with his students at Trinity.

“I’ve been lucky to have experienced what a lot of people haven’t,” Wohlever said.

Chaplain Father Russel preaches to the seniors and sixth graders during Senior Investiture on Sept. 24. His theme in chapel this year is hope.

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News

October 2O21

TRINITY WELCOMES NEW LIBRARIAN Article by Angel Zheng Photo Courtesy of Lee De Groft

New Director of Library and Information Services Lee De Groft is excited to be part of the Trinity family. Originally from Williamsburg, Virginia, De Groft obtained degrees in Archives and Library Information at the University of South Carolina. She has a unique passion for helping people in a library environment, as evidenced by her 22 years working as a librarian.

“I think I was born a librarian,” De Groft said.

At a young age, she turned her walk-in closet into a library for color-coding all of her books.

Unfortunately, a major obstacle restrained her path to her desired career.

“I have what’s called dyscalculia,” De Groft said. “It’s a problem with numbers.”

In order to keep her job as a librarian, she needed to obtain a teaching license by taking the Florida Teacher Certification Exam. While one component of the test was specific to libraries, the rest tested general subjects such as math, which she struggled on. However, she was determined to overcome her challenge.

“I forced myself to do sudoku...on my phone, or on an iPad,” De Groft said. “I needed to do intense studying in small blocks [for the math portion].”

De Groft moved to Florida after her husband received a call offering him a position as the director of the Orlando Museum of Art.

He has worked at several Florida museums before, such as the Ringling Museum in Sarasota, the Cummer Museum in Jacksonville and the Muscarelle Museum in Virginia.

Along with her husband, De Groft is an avid tourist, visiting many different countries with her family. Her most recent travel was to Paris, France, but she has also been to Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Switzerland, and Florence, Italy.

“Some of the best experiences I’ve had [while] traveling were never mentioned in guidebooks but because locals told me about them,” De Groft said.

Despite having visited many places, she really hopes to travel to New Zealand.

“It just looks absolutely gorgeous,” De Groft said. “Sometimes...I would actually just kill time by daydreaming library jobs in New Zealand...how cool would that be?”

Working as the librarian at Trinity provides a wonderful experience for De Groft. Not only is Florida a comfort place for her, but she also loves the beautiful campus, small school size, and the feeling that everyone is engaged. She hopes to bring her experience and technique into the library, while also fostering connections with others.

“I’d like to get to know everybody, the kids... and the faculty and see what the library can offer them,” De Groft said. “I promise you it’s more than just books.”

Librarian Lee De Groft pets her black and tan coonhound Brodie.

Read our other new faculty and staff member articles on our website!

October 2O21

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BLACK WIDOW CREATES CONFLICT AMID THEATER DECLINE Article by Iris Lei Graphic by Sarah Lin Theaters and Marvel face a storm with Scarlett Johansson’s lawsuit against Disney, with the potential to change film releases in the future. The actress for Natasha Romanoff and star of the new movie Black Widow sued Disney on July 29th for allegedly breaking her movie contract.

The movie was released simultaneously in theaters and on Disney+, while Johansson’s contract stated there would be a theatrical release before it was placed on the streaming service. The actress’s salary was directly tied to box office profits, and not only did the dual release deter potential moviegoers, but according to The Wall Street Journal, it cost Johansson $50 million in bonuses.

According to Film Club President Isabel Tongson, this is not the first time film studios have broken contracts with actors.

Tongson has heard of other actresses facing the same situation as Johansson: Emma Stone with Cruella and Natalie Portman with Thor.

According to ScreenRant, Cruella premiered at theaters and on Disney+ on May 28, with low box office numbers. Stone was rumored to be weighing her options with Disney. Actress Emily Blunt is also looking into legal choices, according to InsideTheMagic.com, as The Jun-

Black Widow

Revenue

$125M Streaming

$80M Theaters

strongly prefer... stongly prefer... theater 2018 2020

28% 18%

gle Cruise had a hybrid release — something that happened with The Quiet Place Part II, for which she sought financial compensation for. According to Vanity Fair, Natalie Portman also had difficulties working with Disney on the Thor movies. Johansson isn’t alone, and her move has opened up a possibility for other actors facing the same issues.

English teacher Jeff Wilson, a long-time Marvel fan, is intrigued to see the results of these conflicts.

“I think if she has a contract and Disney played dirty that she deserves the money that she’s owed,” Wilson said. “I’d like to see how it plays out.”

He believes that actors should be paid for their work, especially if they have done what they have been contracted to do.

Johansson’s lawsuit and potential others from actors following suit may paint the future of movies and streaming services in a different light. Since the start of the pandemic, streaming services have taken the spotlight as many people feel uncomfortable and unsafe being in theaters. However, this leaves actors with contracts tied to the box office along with theaters to reconsider. Because of COVID-19, the amount of movie-goers over the years has decreased. According to CNBC, the ticket sales in 2020 fell 80%, and it was nearly the lowest

streaming 2018 2020

15% 27%

amount for national box offices in 40 years.

“Streaming services are trying — production companies, in general — are trying to come up with different revenue streams because people are just kind of afraid to go out,” Wilson said.

“So, as an added revenue stream, as a way to try to recoup some of their money, I think [streaming services are] probably a good idea.”

Tongson has also seen the decline of moviegoers since the pandemic.

“I know HBO was taking that huge job just releasing films on their streaming services which is crazy,” Tongson said. “And if the streaming services keep up with that, then the movie theaters are essentially dying out.”

Tongson herself believes films are meant to be experienced in theatres, and while streaming services are more convenient, they do not provide the same experience as movie theatres. She hopes movie theatres are not further negatively affected by the pandemic. Wilson agrees, choosing to attend theaters over watching streaming services like Disney+. He loves to show up early with popcorn to watch the trailers before the actual film.

“I would like to think that [theaters] will [survive],” Wilson said. “And I like to think that at some point we all get back to some semblance of normal and that we are unafraid to go be entertained.”

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Lifestyles

PR

October 2O21

CRASTINAT

ON:

The ultimate form of self-sabotage

Article by Sarah Zehnder Graphic by Sarah Lin

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Summer break is two and a half months crastination by completing different, although decision-making. long. Summer assignments, although they productive tasks. 9.3% of 216 upper schoolers “At the core of it, everybody procrastinates require work and diligence, are very achiev- reported that they complete productive tasks, for different reasons and if you can identify able to complete in that time frame. However, like cleaning their room or running errands, why you procrastinate, you can solve your prostudents still find themselves putting off the while they are procrastinating on school work. crastination problem,” Walker said. impending assignments as the new school While 22.2% say they procrastinate by purAn important differentiation to make is that year grows closer. Many students wait until suing a hobby like reading or art. there is a difference between occasionally proright before school to do their assignments.

Whichever way procrastination presents it- crastinating and being a procrastinator.

But why? Why not finish the assignments at self, researchers agree that the majority of pro“It really has nothing to do with time-manthe beginning of summer and have the rest of crastinators do so as a form of self-sabotage. If agement,” Ferrari said. “As I tell people, to tell summer to relax and not think about school a student wastes their time procrastinating and the chronic procrastinator to just do it would work? The answer is procrastination. the assignment grade or comprehension of the be like saying to a clinically depressed person, Especially at Trinity, assignments can pile material is poor, they have an excuse. The stu- cheer up.” up quickly, and brushing aside or putting off dents can claim that they ran out of time and On the surface, the practice of procrastinawork can be damaging considering Trinity’s that they are actually capable of much more. tion and time management is something that academic vigor.

“The chronic procrastinator, the person who can be taught and be approved upon. How“A lot of them are over-scheduled, over- does this as a lifestyle, would rather have other ever, procrastination can also be a symptom booked, they are not getting home until late, people think that they lack effort than lacking of larger emotional issues and may require a they are exhausted, and it creates this apathetic ability,” Joseph Ferrari, a professor of psychol- deeper-dive to solve other problems. approach because you are tired,” Fine Arts and ogy at Depaul University said in an article by Chronic procrastination has been linked Psychology teacher Donna Walker said. the Association for Psychological Science. “It’s to conditions such as depression, ADHD(AtIn a 2000 study by Pychyl, Lee, Thibodeau a maladaptive lifestyle.” tention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder), OCD( and Blunt, students reported that they “spend Other perspectives claim that procrastina- Obsessive compulsive disorder), and others. In about one-third of their daily activities pro- tion is due to the mismanagement of emo- a depressed state, it can be challenging to be crastinating.” Typical activities, and those re- tions. Working on a stressful assignment productive, and putting off tasks is common. ported in the study, included going on social yields an emotional response which could take Those who suffer from depression might feel media, watching TV, napping. the form of sadness, anger, anxiety etc. These like they are frozen or unable to complete necTrinity students share a similar statistic. In emotions can cloud practical judgment and essary tasks. a poll of 216 upper schoolers, 63.4% reportFor students with underlying or undiaged that they go on social media or watch TV nosed learning disabilities, a majority of the while procrastinating. time, Walker says, it is difficult for teachers to Reasons for and types of procrastination can identify actual issues with the students’ study take many forms. behaviors.

“Some people procrastinate because they “To a teacher, the end result is the same: have magical thinking that the task will just did not complete the assignment, or it’s clear eventually go away,” Walker said. that it was done in a hurry.”

Although this fantasized reWalker said. “Did the student T ality is an adequate, temporary put in enough effort? Or is this TES D N 3 E distraction, it is exactly that: because they actually struggle PRE IO 2 SSIO ESS 0 1 3 T R ir N temporary. The workload bewith staying focused or on task e 2 P d?

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October 2O21

Lifestyles

13

BILLIONAIRE SPACE RACE TAKES OFF

Their competition exposes the ethical dilemmas of space tourism

Article by Taylor Riley Graphic by Jaidyn Holt

It’s been over 50 years since humans first stepped foot on the moon, but the space race is far from over. Only this time, instead of the United States competing against the Soviet Union, it’s billionaires competing over the space tourism market.

On Wednesday, Sept. 15, SpaceX, the space exploration company founded by Elon Musk, launched the first ever all-civilian crew into orbit on the rocket Inspiration4. The successful launch followed a summer filled with billionaires in space. On July 20, space tourism company Blue Origin launched its first human test flight, with its founder Jeff Bezos on board.

Nine days prior, Richard Branson, fellow billionaire and founder of the space tourism company Virgin Galactic, visited space on his own test flight.

The competition between Musk, Bezos and Branson to commercialize space travel has been dubbed by many on the internet as the “billionaire space race,” and it looks like Branson is winning. Virgin Galactic announced plans to begin commercial flights to space as soon as 2022, with an expensive ticket price of $450,000 per seat. Although the ticket price is expected to drop in the future, currently, space is primarily available to the top 1%.

The space tourism industry itself is projected to be worth $8 billion by 2030, but not all are in favor of the space race or the billionaires behind it. Those opposing the race argue that the money would be better spent elsewhere.

David Beasley, Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Program, spoke about this in a tweet directed towards billionaires Branson, Bezos and Musk.

“Excited to see you compete on who gets to space first!” Beasley said. “But I would love to see you team up together to save the 41 mil-

lion people who are about to starve this year on Earth! It only takes $6 Billion. We can solve this quickly!”

Many share Beasley’s sentiment, including science teacher Anthony Palumbo, who teaches Earth and Space Science.

“I think it’s a great idea to have the technology available for privatized space travel,” Palumbo said. “But I’m also on the side of the fence of let’s take care of everyone here on Earth, and then we’ll get to space.”

Around the time of Bezos’s flight, a petition was created calling for Jeff Bezos to not be allowed to return to Earth. The petition, created by change.org user Ric G, has amassed over 197,000 signatures. The description of the petition reads “Billionaires should not exist... on earth, or in space, but should they decide the latter, they should stay there.”

On the other hand, supporters of space tourism bring up all the possible technological advancements that could come from it. Just as the first space caused significant progress in many fields of science, the billionaire space race could possibly bring many more. Social science teacher Benjamin Gaddis, who teaches ethics, talks about the benefit the space race brings to society.

“I firmly believe that going to space and the space race is what expands our technology as we know it,” Gaddis said. “And so I think it’s ethical in terms of what we learn from the process of going to space is so important.”

Private space exploration companies are motivated by scientific gain, whereas space tourism companies focus on giving recreational experiences in space to those tourists who pay for them. The difference is crucial in determining whether or not space tourism will actually bring any scientific advancements.

“Some perceive Elon Musk as doing good,” Gaddis said. “He’s working with NASA and trying to expand the private sector there. On the other hand, you have Jeff Bezos, who left his divorce and started spending millions of dollars to go to space when his workers complained about back troubles, labor, things like that… That’s where there are some ethical concerns to letting the rich do this. Does it really advance the space program?”

It’s unclear whether or not the commercialization of space travel is ethical and even more unclear whether or not billionaires should be the ones controlling it.

As former president Lyndon B. Johnson said in 1958, “Control of space means control of the world.”

14

Lifestyles

October 2O21

THE POWER OF STAN CULTURE Article by Amy-Ruth Gyang Graphic by Sarah Lin

Maybe you like this BEAM ME UP SCOTTY

Follow

@NickisBarbz

Periodt, flop, outsold and spilled: words that stop on websites and social media databases. dominate the reply section of Twitter’s feeds During the 2020 Presidential Election, Presiand are used by millions of users known as dent Trump planned to hold a rally in Tulsa, stans. The term stan was first used by Eminem, Oklahoma that had many, including the foron his third studio album, to blend the words mer president, in high anticipation for what “stalker” and “fan” but now has often been would be his “biggest rally ever” with over used to describe overzealous and committed millions of people in attendance. However on fans of a celebrity. the day of the rally, only 6,200 people were in The bulk of “stans” are members of BTS attendance. It was later found that stans had Army, Barbz, Swifties, and BeyHives, and they registered under pseudonyms and encouraged gather under thousands of pseudonyms, utiliz- others to do the same and not attend, leaving a ing Twitter to share their views. They’re known visibly disappointed Trump. for releasing leaked music, highlight reels, and Stan Twitter, despite it giving many the fan cams in support of their favorite celebrity, platform to share their adoration for a celebas well as defending them at any costs. rity, has also been home to bullying and haThis past year supplied stans with not only rassment. Stans have also been known to dox, an increase in engagement, due to COVID-19, the act of publicly revealing previously private but an increase in power. In light of the George personal information about an individual or Floyd protests and BLM Movements, many organization, to other social media users who police departments such as the Dallas Police speak out against their stanned celebrity.

Department, asked civilians to send videos of “If someone claimed they didn’t like a ceillegal activilebrity or individty during the who is popular “I think it’s very good that stans are us- ual protest.

The among stans, stans result: stans ing their influence for good, not only to would likely look up flooding the support their group but also in political [their] previous conwebsites with troversial statements videos of their movements to bring more awareness.” and even addresses to stanned artists threaten the person, causing the site - Danielle Owusu, Senior at All Saint Academy which can be really to crash. Lattoxic,” Owusu said. er they barraged #whitelivesmatter Instagram Stans who partake in things such as doxposts with fancams. BTS Army’s #MatchA- ing and harassment are often never told by Million campaign raised one million dollars their favored celebrities that this is necessarily for Black Lives Matter a few weeks later. right or wrong. Ariana Grande expressed her Danielle Owusu, a senior at All Saint Acad- thoughts on “bloggers” on Twitter as recently emy in Winter Haven, Florida, has been on as last year. A journalist, Roslyn Talusan, called “stan twitter” for over three years and has Grande out, saying that her remarks were taramassed hundreds of likes and followers as a geting an at-risk industry. As a result, Talusan result of her engagement. received threats from Grande fans, who bom“I think it’s very good that stans are using barded her mentions and tracked down her their influence for good, not only to support Instagram account. their group but also in political movements to “When celebrities don’t stop their fans, it’s bring more awareness,” Owusu said. not a disadvantage to them because when However, their involvement doesn’t just things like this happen it’s rarely talked about

Maybe you like this STAN BTS BIGGEST

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@BTS.ARMY BEAM ME UP SCOTTY @NickisBarbz BeyHiveNewz

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@BeyonceBees BTS BIGGEST STAN @BTS.ARMY

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BeyHiveNewz @BeyonceBees

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News Show more

What is a Stan?

Stan Culture’s Beginnings

Stans Shut Down Rally News

How Toxic is Stan Twitter?

What is a Stan?

Stan Culture’s Beginnings Stan’s Impact is WorldWide Stan Twitter’s Impact: Changing Twitter and Politics, One Tweet at a Time Stans Shut Down Rally How Toxic is Stan Twitter?

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and celebrities still top the charts regardles,” Owusu said.

This leaves the blunt of the blame to be put on social media platforms themselves. In 2019, Twitter established rules against doxing by requiring users to delete the messages and temporarily locking their account and if it’s done again they permanently suspend the account.

Reports of harassment explicitly attached to “stan Twitter” date back to at least 2016, when Affinity Magazine reported on how stan Twitter had turned into a “playground for bullies”.

October 2O21

Focus

15

THIS MONTH’S FOCUS TOPIC:

EDUCATION Blurb by Marcos Membreno Graphics by Jaidyn Holt

As we head back to school, the Focus department aims to bring new views on the world of education. More than just formal schooling, education covers a wide variety of topics outside of the classroom. How did students deal with the transition back to school last year?

What do Trinity Alumni have to say about what the school has turned into today? How did our seniors’ college application process change and why is Trinity so expensive? This month, the Focus department explored these questions and dove into topics ranging from student mental health to the value of a tuition.

Tune in this month to hear how the COVID-19 Pandemic has impacted college admissions and affected the application process for students and college counselors.

T HE T RINIT Y V OICE P RESENTS

PODCAST

16

Focus

October 2O21

WORLD EDUCATION AT-A-GLANCE Brazil

urs in the o H f Sc o h # ay lD oo

United States

Ave rag e

Infographic by Jaidyn Holt

South Africa Finland China New Zealand Sources: UNESCO, Economist Pocket World in Figures (2020), UNICEF, The World Bank, WENR, InterNations GO!, Ministry of Education New Zealand, espoo.fi, usgovernmentspending.com

7.5 hrs 6.7 hrs

6.5 hrs

4.5 hrs 5 hrs 5.05 hrs

95.6% 97.6%

Net Enrollment Rate % of Primary School Children (2017)

October 2O21

Focus

Percent of GDP Spent on Education

6.3% 6.2% 6.5%

7.1%

6.3%

*

$ $ $ $

3.9%

*

$

$ Data in year 2020 except those with * in 2019

98.7%

92.5%

99.9% 99.2%

17

18

October 2O21

Focus

TRINITY’S TRANSFORMATIONS Article by Sreekar Nagulapalli Photos Courtesy of Chi Rho Graphic by Sarah Lin

Everyone knows the story. It’s Headmaster’s Day, the juniors swim across the canal and line up against the seniors for the annual rope pull.

On the blow of the whistle, the juniors climb on to the rope in desperation. While the seniors will almost certainly win, the juniors pull desperately in the hopes of flipping the script just this once.

Just like the Rope pull, Senior Rock, Homecoming, and hard AP classes, all Trinity alumni have shared similar experiences.

“Trinity has always been a place of great academic rigor and a place where students could have individualized help,” 1978 Alumna and current Director of Alumni Relations Elizabeth Mcintosh said. “The teachers have always cared so much about their students’ academic success and revolve everything around them.”

While many of these traditions have remained over the years, some aspects of Trinity have evolved. Whether it is physically, academically, or socially, the school has had to grow and adapt to the needs of their students as the years have gone by. One of the distinct ways it has changed is its diversity. English teacher and 2002 Alumna, Melanie Farmer, notes that the student body is significantly more diverse ethnicity-wise nowadays than it was in her time.

Academically speaking, Trinity has not stopped updating its curriculum, course offer-

ings, and extracurriculars. The school has expanded its various opportunities such as sports like bowling and lacrosse and clubs like quiz bowl and model UN, none of which were here when math teacher and alum Eric Schneider attended Trinity.

This has been due to the flexibility of the club system, with clubs with enough support being able to emerge and clubs left unattended to dissolve.

“Clubs have always been self contained and student driven and responsive to the needs of the kids,” English teacher Dean Rhoads, the longest tenured teacher in Trinity history, said.

The vast increase in extracurricular options at the school has increased its appeal, causing Trinity to rise to the number one school in Orlando as ranked by Niche, a popular school and college ranking website.

However, Schneider said the increased prestige has led to an unhealthy competitive environment.

“I feel like that pressure has only increased,” Schneider said. “There seems to be a sense of competition amongst the students that I don’t see as particularly healthy.”

However, history teacher William Milsten believes there has always been a competitive nature between students.

“I can think back to the old days, when I

2015

October 2O21

Focus

was in charge of Student council, how competitive the races were,” Milsten said. “People were losing their minds on Student Council.

We would count votes and you’d have a race where there’s 130 kids in the class, where only 50 of them voted and somebody would win 26 to 25. That’s something that has not changed at all, [the] competitiveness has just always been here. It’s just this kind of drive.

You know, the ‘we’re gonna compete and we’re going to fight’ mentality.”

Along with academic and social changes, Trinity’s campus has experienced physical changes. The school has been updated and renovated over the years to accommodate its needs.

“Brokaw Hall used to be an old, leaky building and the renovation to two stories was definitely needed,” Milsten said. “The Grille used to be an unenclosed area called the Pagoda which was extremely hot in the summers and freezing in the winter.”

The school’s effort to renovate the outdated parts of campus has come to the forefront.

Along with Brokaw Hall and the Grille, the Rich Library was also renovated after Trinity’s founding. The school has also added complete buildings like the Maughan Administration Center and the Race Athletic Center.

When Rhoads first arrived on campus, the library was an old, rectangle shaped building.

1970

The Rich Library has now become a spotlight for prospective students and parents on campus and has become a staple for its large glass roof and windows.

In addition, before the Maughan Administration Center and auditorium were built, theatrical performances and chapels were conducted in the Witmer Science Center.

All of these physical changes have benefited the students, as the new facilities have allowed for a better learning experience overall.

However, some controversial changes have also occurred.

Hannah Parker, a 2013 Alumna and English teacher, said that various school traditions have been stopped or cracked down upon.

“Things like senior pranks, mock assembly, powderpuff dances, and water day used to be school traditions, but certain classes who took things too far had ruined traditions for the classes after them,” Parker said.

Despite some of the restrictions and burdens that are put on students, Trinity’s history shows how it is a lot more modern today.

Reverend Canon A. Rees Hay, the first headmaster of Trinity Preparatory School, said it best in his book, “A Dream Realized: A History of Trinity Preparatory School.”

“The real history of Trinity cannot be recorded,” he wrote. “It’s locked in the hearts and in the minds of those who attended Trinity.”

2017

19

2O

Focus

October 2O21

THE COST OF AN EDUCATION Evaluating the Trinity price tag Article by Peyton Alch Graphic by Sarah Lin $23 per academic class. $142 per day. $25,000 per year. Over $175,000 for a full seven year Trinity education. Despite the cost, the families of some 850 students a year decide to send their children to Trinity, instead of going to a free public school down the road.

Florida is ranked 43rd in the country for public education spending and funds, spending only $9,645 for every public school student per year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Head of School Byron Lawson said that, on average, Trinity spends around $29,000 per student.

At Trinity, tuition money goes towards maintaining the campus, facilities, teacher’s salaries, and benefits and insurance. The annual fund also plays a role in contributing to students’ education.

“We have approximately a $23 million budget, [and] I think our annual fund on average has been about $500,000,” Lawson said. “Tuition is generating the overwhelming bulk of meeting all the costs of the school year.”

These funds give teachers a chance to help students grow and learn. Several different teachers said that going to Trinity gives students a dynamic learning experience that will help them get the most out of their education.

It gives more room for teachers to develop a stronger bond and understand the individual needs of their students.

Multiple teachers who came to Trinity after working at public schools said that the education style at public school is quite different

500k annual fund

$23M Budget

from what it is at a private institution, especially in terms of the environment and depth of learning.

“I think the approach [of a private school] is a lot more balanced,” social science teacher Robin Grenz said. “It’s a more holistic approach to a student’s life. It’s not just what you’re doing in the classroom, it’s what you’re doing out on the field. It’s your advisory, it’s people connecting with you.”

Trinity parent Anouska Morritt-Johnson, who has children at both public and private schools said the private school environment affords parents a much more personal approach to education.

“There is an emphasis on building character, learning public speaking and very importantly, learning manners,” Morritt-Johnson said.

“I chose to put [my kids] into a private school environment where classrooms offer a more creative learning structure, the teachers are not stressed out or overwhelmed by the fact that their classroom test scores will affect their salaries, and where the children can gain a strong educational foundation.”

Morritt-Johnson said it was also the development of her children outside of the classroom, like sports teams and clubs at the school that affected her choice to send her children to Trinity.

“I’ve experienced the most organized and highly efficient staff,” Morritt-Johnson said.

“The teachers whom I have had the pleasure of meeting or speaking with, show the utmost regard for not just my child, but all of their students. It’s an environment that feels strikingly thorough in every aspect.”

According to English teacher Hannah Parker, who used to teach at Lyman High School, public school teachers spend most of their time preparing their students for the Florida Standards Assessments. The FSA is a standardized test that measures Florida students’ progress with the curriculum set by the state. Instead of preparing students for the test, Parker said at Trinity she has the freedom to put energy into creating a more in depth, one on one a

$2

per

cla

3

ss

learning experience.

“I think here it’s more about the learning process, which is a skill in and of itself, rather than learning to take a test,” Parker said. “The learning that happens here is much more valuable, more deep, because we’re able to take it slow, do what we need to do specifically for the kids.”

Math teacher Shannon Bergman has experienced the contrast of public and private as both a teacher and a parent.

“I have two children that are both out of high school,” Bergman said. “One graduated from a public school, one from here. And the experiences were vastly different. Academically, I can say my son was much more prepared from the beginning of the college process here, through starting college.”

According to Lawson, the goal is to make sure that students are as prepared as possible for life outside of high school and beyond. He said that the students at Trinity have a lot more knowledge and skills built in place to thrive in a college setting.

“The main goal and overall value of a Trinity education is that it will develop students into the person that they want to be in the future,” Lawson said. “The overwhelming benefit of the Trinity education in objective terms is that it’s about tomorrow.”

$29000

$9600 per private per public sch. student sch. student

October 2O21

Focus

21

STUDENTS STRUGGLE WITH TRANSITION BACK TO SCHOOL Article by Aetant Prakash Graphic by Jaidyn Holt A student sits in their car, leg shaking nervously and heart beating out of their chest.

Anxiously, they open the door, put on a mask, and walk out; they are back at school for the first time in 17 months.

Whether a student attended school online or in person, the last 17 months have had a profound impact on every aspect of teenagers’ lives. The pandemic has taken a toll on the social and mental development of children, and caused many to fall behind in their studies.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, in May 2020, after the pandemic began, 29% of parents said their child’s mental or emotional health was already harmed, and

by October 2020, 31% of parents said their children’s mental or emotional health was worse than before the pandemic.

The loss of a routine - a central symptom of the pandemic was particularly disruptive to children’s mental health. For many, the loss of a routine also resulted in an increase in loneliness and isolation.

Junior Saad Saeed spent his 10th-grade year at home and felt these negative impacts. In the months spent in quarantine and going into school, he noticed a shift in his behavior.

“As time went on and the summer turned into the start of the school year, I found myself staying up later and later, seeing the sun less and less, and losing motivation by the day,” Saeed said.

As the days began to blend together, he was becoming, in his words, just so lazy. Without much of a routine, Saeed fell into an unhealthy lifestyle. But he wasn’t the only one with this experience - research shows that it was shared by many teens, both at home and in person in the last year.

Inside Higher Ed reported that lifestyle routines were taking a turn for the worse. Out of a group of 2,002 remote college students that were surveyed, 45% fell into less structured eating routines and 33% are getting less sleep.

Saeed said that recovering from these disruptions was just as challenging as students started school in-person. The return presented students a new set of problems, more stressful than the ones faced while quarantined, in the form of shifts in student behavior and interaction.

People also had lots of uncertainty about social situations: worrying about whether or not they would have friends and how they would interact after so much time apart.

Junior Paola Riestra, who attended school in-person last year, said her biggest struggles started after the first hiatus when school went completely online after spring break in 2020.

“During quarantine it felt like [9th grade] didn’t matter, it felt like it didn’t even matter if you got to class on time or showed up at all,” Riestra said.

Accustomed to this laid-back attitude coming into her sophomore year, she said she felt inadequately prepared Studen t REPOR Grade: to learn and adjust back into T CAR 11 Advise D r: none the school routine. These worAcadem ic Date: M Year: 2020-2 ries were later confirmed as ev021 ay 27, 2 021 erything from her learning to Course her sleep was aff ected. She also Mental Health saw her friends developing similar Happin ess Year G rade Calmne problems. ss F Relaxa “We had developed systems to tion D Confid ence keep going during the pandemic B Work B alance and when we returned to school, C Spiritu al Healt D h they just weren’t working,” Riestra Physica l Health B Self Est said. eem F Social It soon became obvious that the Life B habits developed during the pandemic F weren’t holding up at school. The daiC GRAD ING SC ALES ly routine just wasn’t the same. While POINT A S feeling the effects from the quarantine, 90-100 EVALU B ATION 80-89 a w students also had to juggle friends, a new e some C 70-79 better lu D c grade, and a new routine. The buildup k next tim 60-69 crying e F inside below 6 of these issues was too much for students d on’t co 0 me bac k failure to handle.

Since Saeed and Riestra have been back at school, they’ve been experiencing the slightest effects frvom the quarantine and 2020-21 On top of this, guidance school year. But even with all the stress and counselor, Christine Hempstead, said there problems, they are looking towards the poswas added stress when coming to school itive. Saeed said multiple times that staying in-person due to the fear of being contact home helped him realize he needed a better traced or contracting COVID-19. lifestyle and how he has been working on it.

“From a health perspective, [COVID-19] “It’s been nice to help us prioritize what’s really did make them anxious and afraid they really important in our lives and it’s highwere going to get it if they left their house,” lighted our stressors. If we acknowledge those Hempstead said. stressors, we have a better shot at dealing with them,” guidance counselor Rylan Smith said.

22

Opinions

Graphic by Sarah Lin

October 2O21

A DIFFERENT KIND OF CLIMATE DENIAL

Last year, Shell Global- a company that hid climate change for decades and is responsible for 2% of world emissions- asked Twitter users a simple question: what are you willing to change to help reduce emissions?

Gaslighting usually isn’t so literal.

Climate change is often framed as a battle we all play a part in. One of the most famous measures of climate change is a person’s carbon footprint, or the total greenhouse gas a person creates daily. Over the past 20 years, hundreds of quizzes, studies, and activist movements have made it their mission to help people reduce their individual footprints and be more environmentally conscious. If we all live green, we can save the planet.

It’s not enough.

Through a long campaign of deception and advertisements, the true culprits of climate change- the 100 companies responsible for 71% of all emissions, according to the Carbon Disclosure Project- have found a nifty loophole: companies don’t need to change when their consumers are convinced they themselves are the problem. And while living an environmentally conscious life is undoubtedly good, activism based on advertisement doesn’t work.

You aren’t causing climate change. You alone can’t stop it.

Carbon footprint first entered the general consciousness not through climate scientists, but an oil company. In 2004, BP (formerly British Petroleum) introduced a calculator to help individuals determine their respective carbon impacts. The campaign was hugely popular with over 278,000 people using it in 2004 alone, and it matched with BP’s rebranding to Beyond Petroleum. In reality, the company wasn’t changing anything. As Mashable reports, in 2018 BP spent just 2.3% of its

budget on renewable energy while still shipping almost 3.8 million barrels a day.

But the conversation wasn’t about BP anymore. Just like how Exxon emphasized “consumer demand” while internally driving up emissions, or how plastic companies have spent millions on anti-littering ads, companies want to turnwz a political issue into one of individual responsibility. It’s common sense that if you drive to school then you hate the planet, after all.

However, it’s almost impossible to fully disengage from climate change- a study by MIT researchers found that even a homeless person will contribute over 8.5 tonnes of carbon annually. Last year, when millions of people restricted their travel and greatly reduced their carbon footprints, Nature Magazine found that global emissions only fell about 6.4%.

There is no “green” life under fossil fuels, and our consumer choices are for moral complacency more than anything else.

Moral complacency is political complacency. It’s leads to half-measures like planting forests as the main method against climate change, a policy the Republican party- which watchdog group OpenSecrets reports received 96% of the 2020 political contributions from the coal mining industry- introduced in congress last year. If we restrict ourselves to individual action against

climate change, we miss the burning forest for the synthetic trees. It’s helpful, sure. But so is not destroying the planet.

If we truly want to take action against fossil fuels, it cannot be done within a system built on them. There’s only one thing that every single citizen can do that will actually lead to change: voting.

“My fear with the U.S.A. is the same as many topics that are based in science,” AP Enviro teacher Emily Massey-Burmesiter said.

“It is and will continue to be politicized to the point where our overarching governments governmental structure will be deadlocked and not be able to make any real change.”

The only way to skip this deadlock is to vote for and support policies which would promise radical change towards fossil fuels. Businesses have exploited the idea of American individualism, so the most important step is to work together.

Joining organizations like the Sunrise Movement and Just Transition, which campaign for policies like the $1 trillion infrastructure bill and Green New Deal, are real ways to actually gain power over climate change. Individual action can also have a real benefit if used with others. Numerous studies have shown that by installing solar panels and sharing their benefits, your neighbors are more likely to install them as well.

“Younger generations are going to be more impacted by large scale shifts in the environment,” Massey-Burmeister said. “It would be my hope that they would start almost a revolution in terms of change.

So remember: only you can save the planet.

You just can’t do it alone.

The lead editorial expresses the opinion of the Trinity Voice editorial staff. Please send comments to voice@ trinityprep.org.

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October 2O21

PUBLIC HEALTH OVER POLITICS Masks should be mandated in all schools Article by Ella Norman Photos by Anna Miliotes The decision of whether or not to wear masks has become a hot-button political issue when, in reality, it should be nothing more than a public health issue. With the polio vaccine, people didn’t bat an eye at getting vaccinated, so what’s the difference with COVID-19?

The problem is that it’s becoming politicized, as people fear that their freedoms are being taken away. Those that are making it political claim that it is a personal liberty, but our liberties only last until our choices put others at risk. Public health is the top priority and with countless evidence of masks effectiveness, it just makes sense to mandate them in schools.

We can see the effectiveness of masks by our own example; we mandate masks at Trinity Prep and our case numbers are significantly lower than those of public schools. Whether or not masks are mandated in public schools should still matter to us as students and as citizens of Florida. Our community is putting children and their families at risk by not mandating masks. There are many ways we can make a difference in the fight for mask mandates. We need to find ways to appeal to our local government, like through petitions, as well as to the people in our community through word of mouth and activism on social media. It’s important to stop the spread of mis-

information and emphasize just how unsafe it is to go without a mask.

Masks are still necessary in many situations.

As shown in studies done by the CDC, masks prevent your respiratory droplets from reaching others, which is one of the main ways that COVID-19 spreads. Mass outbreaks of COVID-19 are still occurring. Because of these reasons, we still need masks in school, as we spend a lot of time indoors and are less than six feet away from others.

“The new variants are far more infectious, particularly to young people, so masks are absolutely essential in a school setting,” science teacher Scottie Smith said. “The children are too close together to avoid mass outbreaks of COVID.” Despite the scientific evidence, this argument has become politicized because people want to argue that they have liberties that protect their choice to wear a mask. We have many other restrictions on our personal liberties for the sake of others. It’s the same reason that we can’t yell “fire” in a theatre; we would be putting others at risk. If we can do something to make others around us safer, why wouldn’t we?

The government is not trying to strip us of our freedoms, they are trying to protect us.

Florida is a major hot spot for this debate because rising case numbers are being met

WORD ON CAMPUS “No, because personal liberty, as defined by our modern community standards, appears to accept masks as a social safeguard.”

- Kelly Aull, Teacher

with incompetence from our political representatives. Governor DeSantis issued an executive order in late July “ensuring parents’ freedom to choose” between whether or not their children wear a mask.

Liberties under the Constitution do not include the right of individuals to make decisions that can endanger others. Facilitating the transmission of a highly contagious and lethal virus is an act of harm we are consciously taking against others. For this reason, parents shouldn’t be deciding whether or not to have their children wear masks. Parents are required

by Florida to vaccinate their children against things such as Hepatitis B and tetanus. The choice of whether or not to mandate masks should be up to the federal government because it makes sense to mandate things for the greater good of the population.

“While many people refuse to wear masks on a basis of liberty, what they fail, I think, to conceptualize is that gratifying their own liberty in that regard is actually putting the freedoms of others at risk,” social science teacher Brandon Burmeister said. “When you refuse to wear a mask, you’re limiting the options of other people to do what they want to do, live how they want to live, and to have the types of freedoms that they want to have.”

Are mask mandates a violation of personal liberties?

“I don’t believe so.

It is really a matter of trying to protect yourself and other people.”

-Joey Toscano, Senior

“No, they are not because people should wear their masks to keep others around them safe.”

- Reyna Mapa, Junior

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October 2O21

SOCIAL MEDIA Article by Abby Hernan Graphic by Jaidyn Holt

In 2003, a Harvard sophomore used his proficient coding skills to create a new site called Facemash. The concept was simple; it took two pictures of girls’ student IDs and allowed the user to choose the prettier one.

That choice would then be put into an algorithm to produce a ranking of all the girls at the university. This was attractive to Harvard students, accumulating around 22,000 votes in two days. While FaceMash was short-lived, the creator’s 2004 invention, Facebook, would take off, gaining billions of curious users and forever changing the way people connect on the internet.

While viewing successful people on social media can be seen as motivating, it can also give viewers a false perception of identity. Social media is marketed as a way to connect people, but it isn’t what it is made out to be.

Many users, famous or not, manufacture perfection; they create a life of what people want even if it barely resembles their own.

It would be naive to think that beauty standards are a new thing. From organ-crunching corsets to mercury-filled cosmetics, there is no measure too extreme if it means achieving a perfect look. However, before the rise of social media, it took a lot more than a click for people to see a deceptive model of perfection.

“I know growing up, compared to now, it feels like I was only looking at people either that I saw day-to-day or in magazines,” guidance counselor and adminstrator Rylan Smith said. “Now I think you all have such immediate access to people from all over the world.

People that are photoshopped, or with certain lenses on, [give] this false image of what perfect is, and everybody feels like they have to fit that model.”

Overexposure to beauty standards and the rise of new insecurities is a direct response to the rise of social media. In 2018, a Pew Research Center survey of 750, 13 to 17-yearolds, found that 45% were online almost constantly and 97% used a social media platform such as Youtube or Facebook. However, social media is so intertwined with a person’s daily life, it can be hard to identify it as the root of the problem.

Despite it not being a recognizable cause, social media companies have attempted to try to hinder this toxic side of their platforms.

For example, Instagram has attempted to help the problem by giving users the option to hide the number of likes a post gets.

However, simply hiding the number of likes on a screen is an almost nonexistent step to solving the problem. They hide a number on the screen then sweep under the rug the photoshop, lies, self-doubt and overexposure their app provides. Instagram wants to appear like they care about the burden their site puts on users, but in reality, they don’t. Even when they seem like they are trying to promote inclusivity and acceptance, it is just a small band-aid on the cut of insecurity they have put on their users.

Part of the addictiveness of social media is how a user can build their own world in it. They can post what they want people to see, and they can view people they want to become.

Social media companies know the power these ideals have on their users.

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BEAUTY INTO THE UNATTAINABLE They use them to keep people addicted. The user is lost in a mental trap that proposes an escape from stress, but they are actually being pulled in deeper.

“I would love for the social media platforms to tackle [beauty standards], but I don’t think they’re going to because ultimately, they’re a business,” Smith said. “And while they do believe they care about their users, they have to look at it from a business perspective, not from the user perspective.”

It is not only the companies that reap the benefits of these beauty standards but the “perfect” users themselves. For example, the Kardashian family rose to fame through reality TV and have been dominating the public eye for the past decade.

The Kardashian sisters have become a caricature of a perfect-looking woman. The problem is their beauty, even when it is natural, cannot be attained by most people.

Their lifestyles and careers allow them access to the best personal trainers, nutritionists, dermatologists, photoshop editors and, when all else fails, plastic surgeons. When they attain this artificial beauty, they then use Instagram as a vehicle to share it. They repeat endlessly that their looks are achieveable with just some hard work. It isn’t a day in the doctor’s office that allows their lips to grow, but instead, it’s their new lip kit that you can buy right now.

These people need to preach the possibility of perfection, so eventually, their jealous viewers will purchase their goods to aspire to something that is not even real.

Users are lured into social media through the false promise of connecting with friends, but they are trapped by their desire to achieve what the “perfect” users achieve. Social media companies have no incentive to prevent this trap, so to hinder a rise in insecurities and malicious facades, it is important to spread awareness about the effects of social media.

Something as simple as unfollowing a toxic page on Instagram or taking a break from a certain application can lessen social media’s negative effects.

“What I try to stress to you all, and even to adults that struggle with this, is to remember that it is just a blip in somebody’s day; it’s not who they are,” Smith said.

“Even if they post 50,000 times a day, it is just looks. It’s not really who they are as an individual or who you are as an individual. It’s just what you are choosing to share, and so we have got to keep all that in perspective.”

As social media and social media companies grow in power, the users must start prioritizing their mental health first. It is important to stop letting some man in Silicon Valley, whose first taste of success was creating a website to rank girls, dictate what “perfect” is.

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Sports

October 2O21

FALL TEAMS SEE LOOSENED COVID RULES Article by Boaz Kim Photo by Anna Miliotes

An image of a girls varsity volleyball game last year would have shown the coaches and players with their masks on at all times on the sidelines. However, since then, the vaccine has come out and allowed for relaxed restrictions.

While there are still some limitations, the lessened regulations have made it easier for players and coaches to interact with each other.

“Ever since the regulations haven’t been as strict, we have been able to feel more connected and not have the distraction of masks on our faces,” junior Bianca Whatts said. “When you are on the bench, it’s easier to communicate with the team on the bench and with the players on the court.”

The new rules allow the team to go about its normal practice routine, and this includes the weight room where athletes no longer have to wear masks.

Fewer restrictions on the team have Freshman Victoria Hill spikes the ball at the opposing team during a game with many more fans due made life easier for the players. to the loosened rules. On Sept. 8. Trinity Prep beat the Masters Academy with a score of 3-0.

“One thing that’s different from last cross country head coach Sara Dowdy said. letic director and boys varsity football assistant year to this year is now we don’t have “Also, we could not coach David Langdon said. to wear a mask morning workouts With the removal of these masks, the playduring prac“Ever since the regulations haven’t do because we could not ers said they are more comfortable in their heltice,” Girls varsity volleyball been as strict, we have been able to shower. However, this mets when they are in games and practicing.

“The shields were uncomfortable and anhead coach feel more connected and not have year we are able to do morning workouts again noyed me during the season, so I am really Terri Kruczek glad that we do not have to wear those again said. “During the distraction of masks on our fac- so it is better.”

As of now, ther team this season,” junior Jordan Acker said. competition, as es.” will still be participatAnother change in regulation since last year soon as the girls - Bianca Whatts, Junior ing in the Citrus League is the attendance of fans. Langdon says that for came off the that was formed last year outdoor sports, there is really no limit, and for court they were supposed to put their mask on, but they were with six schools: Bishop Moore Catholic, Lake indoor sports, the capacity is at 75%.

“Our first home game this year felt a lot difallowed to be without it during competition.” Highland Prep, Montverde Academy, The First The team is hoping to be district champions Academy, Windermere Prep and Trinity Prep. ferent than last year because the stands were a The Citrus League championship will be lot more packed,” Acker said. “The fans give for the third year in a row, and the less strict regulations will only help them on their path held on Oct. 20, but Dowdy said that un- us motivation, so the fact that more fans are like last year, the team is allowed to compete allowed to come this year is really cool.” to districts.

Last year, the boys and girls cross country against other teams now.

Another outdoor sport, the boys varsity teams had to follow some rules and regulations to keep their runners safe from the ongoing football team, was also put under strict regulapandemic. These restrictions limited their abil- tions last year due to COVID-19.

“We had to wear a clear shield over our helity to train effectively and efficiently.

“So last year, I had the boys and girls teams mets that acted like a face mask, and this year split up for practices, pretty much,” varsity we do not have to wear those anymore,” ath-

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JV TEAM PLAYS A NEW GAME New JV coach brings a fresh mindset and experience to the court Article by Ana Carolina Marques Photo by Anna Miliotes It was the third set, and the JV volleyball team was fighting for the win. Playing against Windermere Prep on August 25, the score was 16-15, which put the Saints in the lead for the tie-break. One of the team captains, freshman Sarah Currie, served for the match point and Windermere missed the ball long. The JV players erupted in cheers, and Hannah Young secured her first win as the new JV head coach.

Previously a club assistant coach, Young is now joining the Trinity volleyball program for the first time in the head coach position.

“It’s very exciting to be in the position of having my own team and especially with the girls,” Young said. “I can tell that they’re having fun so far, and it’s just encouraging to see where the season goes.”

Young had connections with the current varsity coaches and the middle school coach. Young attended Lake Howell High School, where varsity head coach Terry Kruzcek was a coach and teacher there. She Head JV volleyball coach, Hannah Young, teaches her players the correct way to pass the ball. also knew varsity assistant coach Henry She- This is her first year coaching JV. hu who played volleyball with Young. They encouraged Young to apply for the coaching thing about it. I realized that I really wanted to losses. This only makes them more excited and position at Trinity, as well as her connection coach and then started coaching at the school.” ready to compete for the next games to come. with Jeffrey Wilson, the middle school volMany of the players on JV, especially Currie, Young is personally looking forward to some leyball head coach. Young coached alongside believe that Young is the perfect coach for the of the upcoming matches this month.

Wilson at his club team and after one season, JV team and has met all of their expectations.

“One of the most exciting games that I’m he was sure she would be a great asset to the “She brings a breath of fresh air,” Currie most excited about would be the Winter JV team. said. “Growth and development is our num- Springs game that we have at home on Sep“She is knowledgeable, she is smart,” Wil- ber one priority on JV, and I think bringing in tember 14, mainly just because when I was in son said. “She sees things on the court that I Coach Young was such an excellent decision high school, that was our biggest rival,” Young don’t. She is complimentary as a coach. She is on the athletic department’s part.” said. “So even though I’m at Trinity Prep, it’s really good at keeping track of rotations, and Young said her main focus this year is not the biggest rival per se, it’s still kind of enshe has a lot of experience as a player, and that growth and development. She plans on work- couraging for me to be coaching against one of translates well to being able to give advice and ing on consistency with the players. However, my biggest rivals.” coaching to new and younger players.”

Young mentions that this would be a successOverall the JV team is excited for this seaYoung has been playing volleyball 13 years ful season if the JV players just had fun. son and to face the challenges that it brings, herself and has three years of coaching experi“Yes, it’s cool for me to have a good win- and they are very thrilled that Young is leading ence, starting her last year of high school. ning streak, but knowing that the girls had a them through this season.

“My high school coach, my senior year, was good time and enjoyed playing during the sea“We couldn’t be happier that Coach Young coaching club, and he asked me to start coach- son, and also knowing that they feel growth is is our coach,” Currie said. “We know that she ing,” Young said. “I’ve always just loved the definitely going to be the best thing for me to will bring us to the next level, and make us informational side of the game, from when I feel,” Young said. better players and overall better people.” started playing. I was very quick to learn everyThe JV team now has three wins and five

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Sports

October 2O21

FOOTBALL TEAM COMPETES DESPITE SMALL NUMBERS Article by David Hull Photo by Ella Craghill

Senior football captain Brendan Abney runs over the defensive end trying to get to the quarterback. Abney comes off the field out of breath, needing a break but has to go right back into the game to play defense. Like Abney, many players have to play consecutive drives on both sides of the ball because of the small size of the team.

“Playing both ways definitely ups our endurance, and it allows us to get the utmost experience of playing football,” Abney said.

According to youth sports company LeagueSide, the average high school football team has 50 to 60 players. Trinity has yet to reach more than 30 players in the past four years. According to Forbes magazine, this problem is occurring all across the country. Since 2008, the number of kids 18 years old and younger playing football has decreased by over 600,000.

They also stated that there are many reasons for the declining numbers, one of which is parental concerns.

This year the team has 17 new players and Fear of injuries is not the only thing keeping 12 returning players on the roster. Despite students from playing football. Langdon menthe lack of experience on Trinity’s team, sec- tioned that football is a dynamic game and reond-year player, senior Jack Gregg said the quires strength and endurance. team can definitely accomplish its goals this “We live in a society where we do a lot of year as long as the players limit injuries. video games, and it’s easy to stay in,” Lang“The main thing is to stay healthy, stay don said. “We’re just trying to encourage and consistent, keep showing up to practice, do motivate that mental toughness and physical everything the coachtoughness of what it’s es ask of you and stay “Playing both ways definitely ups like to be in a locker well-rested,” he said. our endurance, and it allows us room with people that When head coach to work a little to get the utmost experience of want Mike Kruczek and harder.” assistant coach Da- playing football.”

The amount of playvid Langdon started ers on the team also - Brendan Abney, Senior means that giving it coaching the team nine years ago, they your all every practice had more than 50 players. Langdon attributes and game is a necessity. Langdon believes that some of the decrease in players to what he says every player should get at least one percent is poor information about the frequency of in- better every day. Gregg agrees with Langdon’s juries, which makes people conclude that foot- philosophy and tries to model the intensity a ball is more dangerous than it is. player should require in practice.

“Football is taught differently these days,” “Trying to lead by example... Full speed, Langdon said. “It’s safe, we have NFL-grade and try to impress the coaches, impress your helmets that we use.” teammates, trying to go harder than you did last time,” Gregg said. “And beyond just playing on the field, support your teammates.”

The team as a whole works to increase the numbers on the field by recruiting friends and other students throughout the school.

“We’re always looking for as many numbers as possible, no matter the sport, or no matter the scenario, we’re always looking for more because the more players the better,” Abney said.

Many of the 17 new players are brand new to football according to Langdon. He also said that many of these new players have potential to be very good once they further understand the game.

“One of the great things about playing any sport is when you fail sometimes and then you succeed later, it’s a great moment of growth for you as a person,” Langdon said.

Center Brendan Abney prepares to snap the ball to quarterback Chance Bennett in the game against Faith Christian Academy. Brendan has been on the team for the past four years and is one of many experienced players.

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MENTAL HEALTH IN STUDENT ATHLETES Students balance stress of reaching high expectations in school and athletics Article by David Steinberg Graphic by Jaidyn Holt Senior basketball player Javon Bennett gets who are dealing with stress. In order to help focused,” Smith said. “I encourage a lot of home from a hard day of practice feeling ex- the students, she mainly focuses on build- athletes, when they get home, to go shower, hausted. The only thing on his mind is getting ing a schedule, as it helps ensure that they are go do their thing, wake up a little bit, re-enas much sleep as he can before morning work- not procrastinating to the point where they get ergize a little bit, and then buckle down and outs the next day. Instead, he spends the rest overwhelmed with work late at night. do your work. But don’t put it off until 10 or of the night finishing his homework, studying “I am often approached by students who are 11 o’clock, because then you’re going to be up for his math quiz and completing his English trying to manage the stress in schoolwork and all night.” essay due the next day. athletics,” Smith said. “I typically work with In order to maintain focus and remain deThis situation is familiar to the many stu- them on some time management and getting termined in school, athletes need the most dent athletes on campus who often feel overthem to find some life sleep they can get. Bennett said that he only ts... whelmed by the stresses of school and athbalance, but gets five hours of sleep on a regular school n tu d e letics. Among those students is senior day, three hours less than the recommended s rini t y T weightlifting and track member amount for high schoolers. The lack of sleep y of e Hannah Yared. Yared said that affects his performance on the court and v waited to do summer work ur s she has a difficult time focusin the classroom. The feeling of restlessuntil the end of break a ing on athletics because of ness is not uncommon amongst high the work that she has to do school athletes.

According to NFHS watch TV or when she gets home at the According to a survey conbrowse social media end of the day. ducted on 156 Trinity Prep athto procrastinate “A lot of times, I’ll have letes, only 5.1% get the recfeel they have a procrastination so much homework that ommended amount of sleep. of high school athletes problem experience some form of I’ll be thinking about it Smith said that sleep is a key anxiety disorder during practice,” Yared component in performance, said. “If I’m overly stressed and when a student isn’t fulof non-athlete with the workload, it’ll ally rested, their production students get 7 hrs ways be on my mind. Somecould decrease. of sleep or less of student athletes work ahead get 7 hrs of sleep over the times even during games. I know it “Anytime you’re not getor less weekend isn’t a good thing, but sometimes I can’t get ting enough sleep, that defithe work out of my head.” nitely affects your performance Student athletes on campus often feel the also helping them to recognize that it is in school and athletics,” Smith pressure of living up to the high expectations impossible to do everything.” said. “Sleep is critical, especially for set for them on the field and in the classroom.

Even with the improvement of time man- students of this age group. I think that’s why The pressure and stress that build up lead to a agement, athletes can still fall behind on work. time management is so important; because much bigger issue in the world today: mental Bennett said that he sometimes lacks motiva- you have to be able to know your priorities.” health in athletics. tion to complete his assignments. He relies on All of the factors that tie into stress feed into Mental health issues are a rising trend in the his teachers, friends and parents to help him an increase in mental health cases amongst sports world today. Recent professional athlet- stay focused on school. student athletes. Yared said that mental health ic figures including women’s tennis star Naomi “When I get home from practice, I don’t re- in high school athletes is a topic that is very Osaka and Olympic gymnast Simone Biles ally feel like doing anything,” Bennett said. “A important, and that athletes should not let the have opened up about their recent struggles lot of times, I feel like I can put schoolwork to pressure involved in sports get to them. with living up to the high expectations set for the side, but my parents and teachers always “When it comes to mental health in high them in professional sports. The publicity of remind me to get my assignments done.”‘ school athletes, it is a topic that shouldn’t be what they are going through proved that menMany athletes on campus feel the same overlooked,” Yared said. “I can definitely feel tal health is an issue that can affect all people. struggle of a lack of motivation. Smith said the stress involved in balancing academics and Many students on campus need help dealing that the best way for athletes to remain focused athletics, but I believe that I am doing the best with the stress involved in school and sports. is to get into healthy routines.

I can to get the grades I want and perform well Guidance Counselor Rylan Smith said that she “I think the best thing you can do is to come in my sports.” is approached frequently by student athletes up with a schedule that encourages you to stay

In

56.5%

74.5%

31.9%

70.8%

63.4%

63.1%

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Photos

October 2O21

PHOTOGRAPHY EXPOSITION

Friday Night Football

Anuha Tatineni Trinity Prep defense lines up for the play against Seven Rivers Christian School during the first game of the season.

Anuha Tatineni Cheerleaders perform new routines each week to support the team from the sideline.

Anuha Tatineni Sophomore quarterback Chance Bennett scrambles out of the pocket.

Ella Craghill Senior Routledge Harris takes a hit from Faith Christian Academy.