February 2022 U-Times

U-TIMES U. City High School 7401 Balson Ave University City, MO 63130

U-Times February 2022 Volume 33 Issue 3

NEWSMAGAZINE

Robotics team prepares for competition thing called ‘Robot in 3 Days’ where it’s a bunch of college students who after the game is announced they try to build a robot in three days for the challenge. A lot of the time we use their robots for inspiration and we try to replicate some of their stuff.”

This year’s competition features a basketballlike obstacle that requires the robot to shoot balls into a funnel-shaped goal. After the time is up, the points are tallied and the robots move onto the next obstacle: a variation of monkey bars. By creating a hook or crane, the robot must be able to latch onto the elevated bars and can earn extra points by latching onto higher bars.

“We’re trying to modify our robot,” Carvajal said.

“We’re trying to get a better climbing system and a better shoot system. We’re possibly looking into working with pneumatics which utilize air pressure, but we’re not sure about that yet.”

With the competition coming up in March and April, the robotics team has been putting their practice time to use as they’re currently building their prototype.

“It’s been pretty challenging because most of our team consists of sophomores and freshmen and most of the seniors weren’t really able to pass down what they knew,” Holahan said.

Despite the challenges faced this year, the team will continue to dedicate themselves to building a robot that could potentially qualify them for the World Championship in Houston by exploring different ways to complete the obstacles.

“We typically compete at the St. Louis Regional, which is held at Chaifetz Arena, March 31- April 2 this year,” Dorsey said. “The three teams that win this competition qualify for the World Championship.”

Gavin O’Leary, Brittany Woods eighth grader, and Kadjo Kakre, freshman, work on building a prototype climber that took them a few weeks to complete. “The prototype climber will lift the robot onto a rung above the field in order to score points in the upcoming competition,” Declan O’Leary, sophomore, said.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MICHAEL DORSEY

Emmett Feld, Adam Holahan, Elena Kellogg, Emma Scharff and Gabriella Carvajal collaborate to attach new parts onto pre-built robots to prepare for competition. “I was putting a gear housing on to a robot which takes the rotation of a motor and speeds it up or gives it more tork,” Feld said. In the back, Scharff, Kellogg and Carvajal put gear boxes together allowing the wheels of the robot to move.

Struggling at first, Emma Scharff, senior, attempts to make the inside of the pole ridged so it can screw onto their prototype. “It was a little challenging to get the threading of the poll started, but then it was a piece of cake,” Scharff said.

by Alara Stewart | Co-Editor

Concentration and collaboration fill the room as students employ hand saws, drills and rivet guns to build and design a robot for the upcoming robotics competition.

“We meet almost every day after school and it takes a lot of work,” Gabriella Carvajal, sophomore, said. “The commitment is about the same as a sports team.”

A lot of time and practice is put into high school sports: two hour practices five days a week. Robotics is left out of this category; however, the robotics team is considered its own sport rather than a school club.

The work never stops as students apply their knowledge of coding, engineering, programming and problem solving year round. With the team consistently working, they utilize their “off time” in the fall to build skills, assign new roles and fundraise for competitions.

“The fall is also a time where we can work on fundraising and securing sponsorships for the team,” Michael Dorsey, sponsor, said. “This is an important part of the process because robotics is expensive. It costs $4000-$5000 just to enter a competition. If we travel out of town for a competition, we also need to figure out how to pay for transportation, meals and hotel rooms.”

During the normal season, robotics team members begin to design and assemble their robot that will match the requirements of that year’s competition.

“You generally start with a prototype and you have to make the base code for it so you can run it,” Andrew Holahan, sophomore, said. “There’s this

IN THIS ISSUE

2-3

Opinions/Features • Streaming Services • Bias Against U. City • College Preparedness

4-5

Black History Month • African American History • Black-Owned Businesses

Reviews

6-7

• West Side Story • Spider-Man: No Way Home

Sports

8

• Winter Sports Wrap Up

2

opinions

February 2022

STAFF EDITORIAL

If you love U. City, send your kids to the schools “Where did you go to high school?”

If you’re from St. Louis, you’ve probably been asked this more times than you can count. It’s how people gauge what your socioeconomic status may be, the type of community you grew up in, and who you may know. Each school, private or public, has its own set of stereotypes for people to use for judgment purposes.

U. City is not exempt from these stereotypes. In the 1950s and 1960s, it was known for its large Jewish demographic, and as that has shifted, so have the ideas people hold about the school. Often, when white people ask a white U. City student where they go to high school, it is met with looks of concern and the same not-so-subtle racist and classist remarks.

“Do you feel safe?”

“Are there other people like you?”

“What about the test scores?”

These examples barely even scratch the surface. The judgment becomes apparent as soon as a white student says they go to U. City. White people are full of concern and negative ideas of the school we love. They don’t know about the fiercely devoted community of advocates, the talented artists and the endlessly supportive staff. They also don’t know about the plethora of opportunities available to students like the Early College program, the EMT program or the robot-

ics team. The reason they don’t know this is simple: they don’t care to try.

These relatives, family friends and strangers are not the only ones who think like this. Oftentimes, it’s the same community members who claim they love University City so much who refuse to send their kids to our schools.

It’s no secret that the demographics of our schools don’t align with those of our community. In fact, University City as a whole is 55.03% white and 35.72% Black as of 2021, according to World Population Review. However, according to U.S. News, our school itself is 11% white and 81.4% Black.

So what about all these other white people in University City who claim they love our Delmar Loop, parks and rich culture?

Many people in University City benefit from the community, but aren’t invested in it. They enjoy Blackowned businesses like De Palm Tree and EyeSeeMe, spend hours at city council meetings, and boast about how diverse their neighborhoods are, yet they refuse to send their children to University City schools. In order to thrive and grow as a community, people need to let go of racism and stereotypes to truly invest in it.

One of the main arguments against U. City is our test scores. It’s no secret that they’re lower than where they “should” be. Every year when EOC

(end-of-course) testing rolls around, students are flooded with reminders about it. But it’s 2022, and if you haven’t heard, there are countless points about how standardized testing is not only a poor way of measuring intelligence, but racially biased. The most common arguments about it are simple: placing too much pressure on students causes issues with stress and anxiety, testing poorly accommodates different learning styles and disabilities and it allows testing corporations to monetize learning.

However, the racial bias in standardized testing is an even bigger issue, especially at U. City. Not only were Advanced Placement (AP) tests and the SAT pioneered by a eugenicist, but a lot of questions have a cultural barrier.

To better understand a cultural barrier, a former Black English teacher at U. City explained a testing experience from her childhood. The question was about sledding (which is learned predominantly as a part of white culture) and she was so caught up in trying to understand what sledding was that she lost valuable time. This might seem inconsequential to someone who’s never experienced it, but imagine every single non-white student struggling on several questions like this, it really starts to make a noticeable difference.

Standardized test scores is generally the “safer” argument people make

against U. City, but oftentimes the more taboo topics like drugs are what people are actually alluding to. It’s no secret that this is an with teenagers. We’re dealing with new stress and anxieties, experimenting as we discover new things about ourselves and navigating new levels of freedom.

But that’s not unique to U. City. Yes, sometimes students are caught in the bathroom with marijuana. However, students using a relatively safe drug that’s rapidly expanding in it’s scope of legality should not make U. City a “bad” or “dangerous” school when students at wealthier, whiter schools are doing drugs like cocaine and heroin in their bathrooms.

These are just a couple of the arguments and stereotypes one is bound to hear about U. City, but they don’t hold up. We’re not a bad school because our test scores aren’t as high as neighboring districts like Clayton and Ladue. We’re not a bad school because not all of our students go to college.

And we’re not a bad school because we’re predominantly Black. We’re a school full of future artists, athletes, activists, musicians, entrepreneurs, doctors and endless other possibilities.

Just because you live in U. City doesn’t mean you have to send your kids to the schools, but it does mean you need to examine the stereotypes you have about it.

High school relationships forge path for future

by Albert Smith | Staff Writer

Valentine’s Day has always been one of the most intriguing days of the year. The school splits between those in committed relationships and singles who are either bitter—or comfortable without a relationship.

As my senior year comes to a close, it has become a reality that separation is inevitable. Relationships are tested more than ever. At the end of your high school career, you realize that romantic experiences may sometimes seem like unfortunate, lackluster experiences but are actually learning opportunities meant to prepare you for future relationships.

For instance, freshman year is usually a dry battlefield when it comes to dating. Many are too focused on adjusting to high school and romantic interests take a backseat. Sophomore year, however, is when a lot of my friends began getting in committed

relationships. With access to money through newly acquired jobs and fresh licenses printed and given to 16- year olds, dates became not only more common, but more frequent. .

After seeing this a few times, you start to haunt yourself with one question: “When is it going to happen to me?” This question personally took me on a bumpy road. While trying to find the answer, I had many false alarms and found myself in many awkward situations. Those experiences put a bad taste in my mouth and turned me off to the idea of even thinking about pursuing a relationship. I viewed high school relationships as a temporary experience meant to satisfy the needs of the alone and the bored. Justifiably so, if you had asked me about relationships while ago, I’d probably give you a bitter response about how we’re all going to graduate, and we’re wasting our time dating someone who we aren’t

2021-2022 U-Times Staff Philosophy Co-Editor: Alara Stewart Co-Editor: Sasha Albright Staff Writers/Photographers: Marley Gardner Albert Smith Dani Wasserman Xavier Thomas Eliana Wade Adviser: Mrs. Mary Williams Adviser: Ms. Olivia Steely

The newspaper’s primary obligation is to inform its readers about events in the school and community and of the issues of national or international importance which directly or indirectly affect the school population. The newspaper, while serving as a training ground for future journalists as part of the school curriculum, recognizes all rights and responsibilities under the First Amendment. While establishing U-Times as a public forum, student editors will apply professional

going to remember in a few years.

That all changed, of course, the second I became romantically invested in someone for the first time in a while, and suddenly that idea became much more complicated. We had a vulnerable conversation about our plans after high school and what happens to our connection when our diplomas touch our fingertips. It was then that she had said something that stumped me.

“Love is deeper than time.”

Originally, that statement didn’t make any sense to me until I realized that it wasn’t supposed to. When I think of love, I think of it as something that’s supposed to be unconditional.

We as people tend to overlook flaws in people and potential conflicts in relationships to protect our emotions.

But the truth is that the reason that we do that is because we’re avoiding the negative. The phrase “love is deeper than time” had me in my room staring

standards and ethics for decisionmaking as they take on the respon sibility for content and production of the newspaper. Inasmuch as the student staff encourages constructive criticism of any part of the newspaper, authority for content rests in the hands of the student members of the newspaper staff. Students will not publish material considered to be legally unprotected speech, or libel, obscenity, material disruption of the educational process, copyright in-

at my phone in utter disbelief that every question I’ve had about love could be answered.

The truth is that those early high school relationships are meant to be awkward, predictable and transparent.

They teach you how to treat those who you are romantically invested in and you’re able to identify why things didn’t work out. Looking back on my early high school relationships, I’ve been able to take lessons from each one and apply them to my current one.

Those experiences created a sense of maturity to make me a better companion. I am in no way an expert in relationships, but I can see a clear difference in my romantic behavior and outlook on these young relationships.

It is important that we appreciate those experiences for teaching us.

Without learning from those experiences, we’d be more prone to making the same mistakes.

fringement, or unwarranted invasion of privacy.

Policies

Opinions expressed on the editorial page do not reflect the viewpoints of the school administration. All editorials (unsigned) represent a majority opinion of the Editorial Board. Signed editorials, columns, editorial cartoons, and reviews reflect the views of the author and not necessarily those of the U-Times

Editorial Board. The U-Times reserves the right to reject, edit, or shorten letters. Submit letters to Mrs. Mary Williams in Room L306, or to any UTimes staff member, or to marywilliams@ucityschools.org.

3

features

February 2022

Teachers share words of wisdom about college

by Dani Wasserman | Staff Writer

Imagine you are in a lecture hall in college with a class of 150 other students and when the first test was scored, you received the lowest grade. Dr. Samuel Martin, coordinator of student transitions, experienced this exact situation during his freshman year of college, which resulted in him changing his perspective and to work harder to improve his grades.

“I wish I had been more studious from the start,” Dr. Martin said. “The lesson I learned was that college moved at a much quicker pace with less room for error.”

College expectations reach a different caliber than that of high school. Students must learn and adjust to the new standards while maintaining strong grades and work ethic, which can be a struggle for many. However, there are many different tips and tricks for success in college. For instance, use proven time management skills or find mentors and like-minded peers.

“The key was learning how to manage my time,” Dr. Martin said.

“I scheduled everything-class time, study time, work time, time at the gym, social time, video game time.”

Balancing college with daily life can often be a struggle, and as a result, students may give up or fail.

Andrew Gallagher, English teacher, has two reasons for not giving up and pushing through the struggle.

“One is practical: Dropping out of college is expensive--you take on the debt but get none of the

benefits,” Gallagher said. “Over the course of your life, you’ll earn quite a bit more with a diploma than without it. The other reason is that pushing through challenges can help you discover who you are and what you genuinely care about.”

Many students who push through the struggles will often begin to question their major. Many will switch their major halfway through college and find something else they are passionate about, which often causes stress.

“I went into college focusing on a professional career-oriented track: journalism, but I was really drawn more to creative writing,” Gallagher said. “I could have been more honest with myself about what I cared about most and saved myself a change in my major.”

Not only is it important to be honest with yourself at the beginning, but also to not be obsessed with the name or reputation of the school.

“From my personal experience and that of many of my friends, we didn’t need to go to a private (more expensive) college, when we could have saved a lot of money by just going to a public university,” Samuel Llanos, math teacher, said.

“The name of the school attracted us there, but we would have done just as well in our careers had we gone somewhere else. What really matters is what you learn there and how you build your skillset to make yourself more marketable than the next person.”

College timeline for juniors •

Make sure you are on track to graduate. Most colleges

require four years of English, four years of math, threefour years of science, two years of a foreign language and two years of social studies.

•

Keep your grades up. Colleges use your cumulative GPA to determine admission. This means that they

take the average of your grades across all four years of high school.

•

Take standardized tests (ACT, SAT). U. City students

can take the ACT three times for free. And Mr. Dorsey provides ACT prep sessions.

•

Take challenging courses (AP, Honors, Advanced,

Dual Credit). Colleges like to see you challenge your-

self, particularly academically, so they can assess your college preparedness.

•

Begin researching schools and building a tentative list.

If possible, start visiting colleges to get a feel for what a college campus feels like.

•

Research and apply to summer enrichment programs

•

Start working on your personal statement (college

or pre-college programs.

essay for most college applications) that tells schools more about who you are.

Timeline courtesy of Janell Kim, College Counselor

Streaming services offer many choices, at a cost Streaming platforms have been taking over the television industry for some years now, replacing traditional TV in popularity. Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu and Disney Plus have been dominating the entertainment business, leaving people to pick which ones are their favorites depending how much they can afford to spend.

Some students choose a particular platform because of the shows that are offered.

“Right now my favorite is HBO Max because [it has] “Euphoria,” “Insecure,” “Broke Life of College Girls,” Natayvia Turks, sophomore, said.

HBO Max has partnered with WarnerMedia, and it now has some movies and TV shows from Warner

Bros. One of the movies from Warner Bros. is “Justice League: The Snyder Cut’’ which is James Wright’s, chemistry teacher, favorite movie on the platform. Wright is very fond of HBO Max as he’s been using it since it was first released. “[I watch] mostly movies but they have a lot of those movies that come out the same day in theaters so I like to watch those at home,’’ Wright said.

At the end of the day, people need to determine how much they are willing to spend on streaming platforms.

For example, Disney has just topped Netflix for subscribers, which explains the recent announcement from Netflix reporting increases of $1 or $2 per month that may force people to reconsider. However, for the third year in

a row, Netflix has led all other studios with 27 Oscar nominations. Overall, streaming services costs range from 5.99-19.99 per month and people seem willing to pay for quality content.

Conversely, raising the price on Netflix could cause families to cancel their subscription as some are already paying for other subscriptions. Wright, however, has no problem with the price increase.

“I would say the price increase is fair because they’re producing more and more original content that’s of high quality, they have streaming that’s in 4k ultra high def that requires more bandwidth,” Wright said. “They’re always making those upgrades so you’re paying for more quality.”

Even though Netflix doesn’t renew

many favorite shows, the service still has some binge-worthy shows. Shawn Coleman, sophomore, watches “Criminal Minds,” Raising Dion” and “Designated Survivor.”

Despite Netflix having some of his favorite shows, his go-to streaming service is Disney+, which began streaming in 2019 and has been successful ever since. It has content from Marvel, Star Wars and old Disney movies. Coleman favors Marvel the most on Disney+ because of the various movies and TV shows. “[I watch] all the Marvel content religiously, ‘Thor: The Dark World’ [is my favorite] which a lot of people don’t like, but I really liked that movie,” Coleman said.

$9.99-14.99 per month

$8 per month

$5.99 per month

$9.99-19.99 per month

by Xavier Thomas | Staff Writer

Contact Us

We are located in Room L 306 at University City High School, 7401 Balson Ave., University City, MO 63130. Our email address is marywilliams@ucityschools.org. Follow us on Instagram (@utimespublication) and subscribe to our YouTube channel (@U-Times

Disney+, Hulu and ESPN Plus can be bundled for $14/mo.

CELEBRATE BLACK HISTORY MONTH Loop flourishes with Black-owned businesses Sasha Albright | Co-Editor

The Delmar Loop is a University City cultural hotspot. From Fitz’s to the Pageant, one can find a store for most anything. Interestingly, one might not even know that more than a handful of these stores are Black-owned businesses.

Through the years, the Loop has become a more welcoming place for Blackowned businesses, or at least Jon “Fleet” Norfleet, co-owner of Wizards Wagon, believes so.

“I would say that I don’t really see it as a challenge, cause I feel there is a draw to [Black owned businesses],” Norfleet said.

“When I worked here before I purchased

it, people followed me from my old store to come here because you’re a Black person, you look like me, I want to support you. So I see just more positivity versus negativity, but it also helps that we were based in University City for a long time which is a pretty diverse area.”

Shop owners would agree that being in this diverse area has made it easier for them to be a Black-owned business. Many of these businesses have been contacted by the Buy Black Movement to help with advertising. Norfleet couldn’t tell what business was coming from Buy Black or from another source.

“It’s hard to gauge what we actually

see from [Buy Black Movement], but I do know people keep it in mind so when people know we are a Black-owned business we get the people,” said Norfleet.

“But it does help to know that the community running the store also looks like the community that it’s in.”

Xavier Blake, senior, appreciates Blackowned businesses and what they can do for our community.

“It’s not necessarily that the owner looks like me but that they are actually doing something for their family or community,” said Blake.

Michael Simmons, junior, finds many reasons to frequent Black-owned busi-

nesses.

“I shop at Black-owned businesses because I know that I’m uplifting and supporting businesses that are run by Black people,” said Simmons. “We have to promote each other so that it is possible for us to continue to reach those high level positions. It’s nice to see those who look like you in various specialties because it shows the diversity in thought and experience within the Black community. Seeing successful Black people who own and run businesses displays our creativity and exemplifies the fact that we cannot be boxed in.”

Which African American activist do you look up to ?

Xavia Wright-Jones, senior

“A Black activist I look up to is Harriet Tubman. She did a lot of powerful work for the Black community including helping with the Underground Railroad. I have always thought that that was super cool and very inspirational as a Black female. While I could never do something like what she did, I can still be a powerful influence for Black people.”

PHOTOS BY DANI WASSERMAN

Shawn Coleman, sophomore

“Even though it is very generic, a Black activist I look up to is Martin Luther King. He did a lot for us and I believe that without him, we, as a Black community, would not have made it as far as we did. I had not really learned about the impacts he made until sixth grade where my teacher, Ms. Grove, went in depth about all he had done for us and I believe that without her teachings, I would not have MLK as a mentor.”

Kamille Buck, junior

“One Black activist I look up to is Angela Davis. She’s a symbol of determination and powerfulness. Additionally, she played a prominent role in the civil rights movement by advocating for her people. She was a Black Panther and strived for a coaltion of Black power. She inspires me to advocate for the welfare of my community. I think that more people should learn about her life because she’s not really taught about.”

Jared Porter, freshman

“I look up to Oprah because she was the first Black woman to get her own talk show that was big and mainstream. I started looking up to her a few years ago because I realized that that could be me on TV one day and her acting is just amazing. She does a lot that people might just overlook. Being a Black woman and having her own show, has opened doors for other people.”

African American Studies shifts narrative

by Albert Smith | Staff Writer

February is Black History Month, a month dedicated to honoring the triumphs and struggles of African Americans throughout U.S. history. Social studies classes tend to stay surface level while describing the hardships and horrors Black people had to face, which causes division between those who think that the ugly facts should be taught and those who disagree.

For the first time in several years, U. City has offered African American Studies, a class dedicated to teaching African American history in its true authenticity. Teaching the class is Toi Drummer, who sees the importance in teaching the truth.

“My hope is that the students are truly learning the history of African Americans,” Drummer said. “African American history is not taught enough, typically glazed over or seen only through a small insignificant lens of history.”

Focusing on educating Black youth about Black history in an effective way has been a priority for Drummer.

“As a nation, most African Americans do not know the complete narrative of their history,” Drummer said. “For centuries, African American history has not been taught as a history, but viewed as pieces of events, and occurrences, while carved-into into a month of teaching African American history.”

With a concentration on real world situations, Drummer has advocated for teaching the truth when teaching history for the benefit of selfimprovement.

“Surrounding ourselves and learning about different cultures and people

During a debate in class, Toi Drummer, African American Studies teacher, Joy Gordon, senior, and Jordan Davis, sophomore, talk about W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington and their ideas regarding social progress. PHOTO BY ALBERT SMITH

class.

“I treat the class like a seminar course,” Drummer said. “ I want the students to really delve into the material, and have those ‘hard history’ discussions that are needed for each individual student to grow both academically and emotionally.”

One of the goals of this class is to avoid teaching through the gaze of traditional American history. As the need for Black history to be taught has created nationwide controversy,

In honor of Black History Month, the School District of University City partnered with the University City Public Library to host a month-long community book study program on “The 1619 Project” book by Nikole Hannah-Jones. This new book substantially expands on Hannah-Jones’ landmark “1619 Project” originally published in the New York Times

Magazine in 2019.

According to Sharonica HardinBartley, superintendent, over 270 people from across the U.S. volunteered to participate, including students, staff, parents, community members and interested knowledge seekers.

“Last week we had 179 participants,” Christina Sneed, English-Language Arts curriculum coordinator,

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At the head of the controversy for teaching Black history is “The 1619 Project.” Authored by Nikole HannahJones, the book is a collection of recalled events throughout history of the mistreatment and true realities of early Black encounters in the U.S. Drummer has integrated the book into her African American Studies curriculum. In addition, the district is partnering with the University City Library to host a book study on “The 1619 Project” during the month of

February.

“Our study is investigated in various ways, but all for the intent of students learning how to critically analyze both primary and secondary sources,” Drummer said. “We read a lot of materials, but all is for the students to be intellectually informed of their past. I know as we begin to culminate the course, the students will have more insight over the history of African Americans, and can identify the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of our present history today.”

The class mostly consists of seniors and has received high praise from the students.

“I really like the class and the content we learn in there,” Joy Gordon, senior, said. “It’s one of those classes where you actually want to learn and you always end up learning something new.”

In the class for over a semester now, Xavia Wright-Jones, senior, sees the difference between African American studies and other history classes.

“This class is a lot more focused than other history classes and is really honest,” Wright-Jones said. “A lot of history class curriculums don’t tell the full truth, so it’s refreshing for a class like this to be around.”

The foundation of the course is teaching the true past of history, and Drummer can only hope that teaching the past will help the present.

“My hope is that they will become even more curious in trying to learn.”

Drummer said. “I want them to want more and become agents of equitable change in America.”

said. “The session was well received and participants are eagerly anticipating future sessions. Mouhamed Ly, junior, joined the session and volunteered to facilitate a group.”

In addition, Sneed mentioned that Kimberly Austin, U. City associate principal, Nwannediya Ibe, social studies teacher, and George Lenard, board of education director, also facilitated group discussions.

Exclusive 2021 Black History Month Event for University City High School Students and Their Families Only

Fireside Chat

Elevating Black Voices Through Literature African American Read-In featuring guest readers from

Friday, February 26, 2021 5-7 p.m.

UCHS Lions’ Den Courtyard

Register now for this free outdoor event www.ucityschools.org/AAReadIn022621 (When maximum capacity is reached, new registrants will be put on a waitlist for any cancelations.)

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Due to COVID restrictions, registration required and seating limited.

EA ST

W E ST

by Alara Stewart | Co Editor

F EAT U R E D A RT I ST S

6178 Delmar Wizards Wagon

Drummer sees the need for Black history to be taught just as much as any other history.

“The aim is for students to learn directly about African American history, not covered up, not watered down, nor abbreviated” said Drummer. “History is history and African American history is no different than Asian, Native or European history, and will be taught no less.”

District leads community book study on ‘1619 Project’

Black History Month Playlist

Open the Spotify app and select the camera option at the top of the page to scan our Black History Month Playlist code.

that see and think differently than ourselves provokes fruitful insight that one cannot receive from repetitive information,” said Drummer. “In the discovery of learning thyself, and the history of thyself, one will reap self-knowledge, which will provoke self-improvement.”

While studying the history of African Americans, the learning style may differ from the average social studies

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reviews Spielberg helps revitalize ‘West Side Story’ remake

February 2022

by Eliana Wade | Staff Writer “West Side Story” is a tale of drama, violence and broken hearts. Based on one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, “Romeo and Juliet,” “West Side Story” takes on the same narrative as the playwright’s romance: star crossed lovers from opposing sides falling in love in the midst of conflict. However, instead of the Capulets and the Montagues at each other’s throat in a fictional city known as Verona, we see the Sharks and the Jets prowling around the streets of New York City in 1957. They are separate teenage gangs who are fighting over neighborhood control. Tony, the Romeo

of the story, is a Jet, while Maria, our Juliet, is a Shark. They meet at a high school dance, and instantly fall in love, causing discord to stir up between the groups. The result of their romance ends in fighting and tragedy, as a Shark and Jet could never be together.

Back in 2014, Steven Spielberg, 2021 film director, spoke about his interest in doing an adaptation of the 1961 film, directed by Jerome Robbins. In 2017, Tony Kushner announced he would write the script.

Audiences were on the edge of their seats waiting to see the cast as the infamous lovers. The musical drama stars Ansel Elgort as Tony with Arianna DeBose as Maria. Supporting

roles were played by Mike Faist as Riff and David Alvarez as Bernardo, the two leaders of the opposing gangs, as well as Rita Moreno, playing Valentina, a lovable grandmother figure to Tony.

Justin Peck, choreographer, created all the amazing dance scenes we get to see in the film. The dancing is very up-beat and brisk, and the characters almost seem as though they are gliding across the New York City setting.

The music is another amazing aspect that plays a big role in the story. David Newman, who took the job of composing, was able to recreate incredible original songs such as, “One Hand, One Heart,” “Somewhere” and of course, “Maria.”

One major difference from the original was that the Sharks, who are Puerto Rican, speak Spanish in some scenes without subtitles. Spielberg wanted to incorporate this aspect, out of respect for the language and culture, to exist equally with English.

The adaptation of the story is incredible, keeping the integrity of the original movie. Many scenes, sets, and costumes are based off of the first movie, just with some added modern day pizzazz. Overall, this is a really great film, and I definitely recommend it to anyone wanting something new to watch.

Now streaming on Disney+.

4.5/5 stars

New ‘Spiderman’ gives fans everything they want

by Xavier Thomas | Staff Writer “Spider-Man No Way Home” was truly the biggest movie of 2021 as it was the first movie to make one billion dollars at the box office during the pandemic. “Spider-Man No Way Home” had the returning villains from past movies reprise their roles to face off against Spider-Man (Tom Holland) after his identity was revealed by Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal).

This movie takes place right after “Spider-Man Far From Home” where Peter’s identity is revealed and Mysterio is believed to die. Peter now has to face real world problems as his friends MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob

Balton) are not getting accepted into any colleges. Peter feels responsible for his identity and problems affecting his friends and goes to Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to erase everyone’s memory that he is Spider-Man. But the spell goes wrong, leading to villains coming from different universes.

The big fight involves Green Goblin (William Defoe) who faces off with Spider-Man one on one. Dafoe’s acting skills are amazing as he acts like a normal and menacing person at the same time. He brought conflict and an unexpected death scene that left the fans shocked. Peter, mentally and physically

beat, gets help from Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Mans.

For a long time, fans have wanted to see all three Spider-Man characters come together. This was nostalgic, as the previous Spider-Mans have not returned to their roles in years. Both Peters prove how they’re Spider-Man, just from different universes. Watching the Spider-Mans work together and share wisdom was sad but powerful.

At this point Peter is filled with anger, sadness and revenge, and it continues to affect his friendships.

The audience hasn’t seen this side of Tom Holland as Spider-Man yet because normally he is a happy teen-

ager, and fans wanted to see a more complex portrayal. Peter suffers the consequences of his actions, which ends with a shocking twist.

This movie gave the fans everything they wanted. It had a great musical score, switching its tone throughout the movie. The actors did phenomenal as they brought comedy, sorrow and anger to the table. This movie also brought plenty of surprises and fans weren’t sure if they should love or hate Green Goblin. This was a dream come true for Spider-Man fans.

Now playing in area theatres.

5/5 stars

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February 2022

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PHOTO BY ANNALISE OVERLIN

Larry Abbey, senior, surveys the court in a home game. He and Carleton Thomas, senior, lead the boys basketball team in scoring with Abbey averaging 18.6 points per game and Thomas avergaging 21.9 points per game Jayden Creighton, freshman, leads the team with 37 blocks. The team was 13-7 in mid-February.

Winter Sports Highlights

sports

PHOTO BY MADELAINE PROVINCE

Elena Kellogg, junior, swims the100-meter breaststroke at the conference meet, placing fourth. Girls swim placed third overall in conference. PHOTO BY TIYAH JACKMAN

Cameron Martin, senior, and Khari Evan, junior, practice a hold at wrestling practice.Martin is 25-5 on the season and has qualified for the state wrestling tournament. . PHOTO BY ALBERT SMITH

Averaging 22.3 points per game, Nyla Brooks, junior, leads the Lady Lions in scoring with Ehress Cunningham-Peoples, sophomore, putting up 14.6 points per game. The team is 10-6 as of mid-February.

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At the annual club fair, Declan O’Leary, sophomore, runs code for the robotics team’s robot. “Along with a ton of other skills, being on the team has taught me how to stick to a problem and troubleshoot until you solve it,” O’Leary said. PHOTO BY MARLEY GARDNER

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University City High School 7401 Balson Ave University City, MO 63130

U-Times February 2022 Volume 33, Issue 3