Vaccinations | 2
What did you say? | 6-7
Starving for acceptance | 10
Should childhood vaccinations be required or is it a personal choice? Students sound off.
Are your earbuds doing permanent damage to your hearing? Find out.
A personal story of how disordered eating can become a danger.
Image from Creative Commons
Vanguard College Preparatory School, 2517 Mt. Carmel Dr., Waco, Texas 76710
November 2019, Volume 47, Issue 2
The Vanguard Review A VCPS Publication
A mentor to the mustangs
Emily Coleman ‘21 business manager
Student-led mentoring program enters ninth year of serving local kids
P
rystyn Covington, senior, said she will never forget the first time she made a genuine connection with the student she was mentoring at Mountainview Elementary School. “It was my third time going, and my mentee had finally warmed up to me,” she said. “She was super shy. She got really excited to see me and ran up and gave me a big hug.” A mentor serves as a trusted adviser for someone younger or less experienced, like elementary school students. Mentors need to be patient, approachable, understanding, supportive and honest. Those are just a few of the ways students described the traits of an ideal mentor, according to the November VR poll. Some of the mentees are little kids who need extra special care because of something going on in their home or school life. Mountainview Mentors, a nine-year tradition, is a student-led mentoring program. The idea for this program sparked back in 2012, with Clark Senter, a Vanguard alumnus from the class of 2014. Senter, a sophomore at the time, was inspired to create this club for fellow students to be able to fit in time to volunteer and help less fortunate children. The proximity of the Mountainview campus to school was a supporting factor in this cause. “With Vanguard being as close to Mountainview as it is, I couldn’t believe a partnership between the two didn’t already exist,” said Senter. “Recruiting was tough at first. Not many people wanted to give up that hour of their lunch when they could escape the stresses of school and go eat at Schmaltz’s or wherever else.” In order to start a club at Vanguard, there has to be a faculty sponsor. Senter immediately thought of
Not so fast and furious Studies show significant decrease in the number of teens on the road Brooke Jolliff ‘22 reporter
T
he year is 1996. Today is your sixteenth birthday, and you are so excited to take your driving test and get your license — your ticket to freedom. No teens would dream of missing out on getting their license on their sixteenth birthday and zooming out of the driveway, music blaring, to pick up their best friend. At least, that is how it used to be. “I believe teens today have lost interest in driving for many reasons,” said Kaylee Cooper, junior. “I find that there are less opportunities and less time to drive into town to hang out with friends.” In 1996, the percentage of teens that were also drivers was 85.3 percent, but by 2015, it had dropped to 71.2 percent, according to a survey at the University of Michigan called Monitoring The Future. VCPS students say that cars are not a student’s only form of freedom. “Teenagers have freedom in other ways [like]
Prystyn Covington, senior, gets to know her new mentee, Natalia, for the year over lunch at Mountainview Elementary School. Covington is a three-year mentor. Photo by Emily Coleman / VR staff
Shelley Johnson, Head of the Mathematics Department, to take on the role. “I think that [because she had] young children of her own, Mrs. Johnson saw the benefit of the Mountainview Mentor program,” said Senter. The importance of Mountainview Mentors was clear to Johnson. “Many of the students at Mountainview whom our students are paired with come from homes or situations where there hasn’t been much consistency in their lives,” said Johnson.
To garner more interest, Senter explained to his peers that “this is the most time-friendly volunteering opportunity you’ll be able to find, a worthy cause, right in our school’s backyard.” Senter said the introductory meeting went well, and the Mountainview students were excited to share all of their favorite hobbies and interests. “I remember that by the time we were getting ready to head back across the park, the kids were insisting that we stay and shoot hoops or watch them climb the monkey bars, and they were a tough
ten,” said Cooper. “On that note, other drivers who use their phone while driving are more common these days, leading to a lot of stress for timid teens trying to navigate the roadways. For these reasons, I believe teens tend to turn away from the idea of driving.” Almost 33 percent of VCPS students who are 16 years of age do not have a driver’s license yet, according to a Nov. VR student poll. With all the school work and activities students are involved in, finding time to meet the Empty spots in the student lot illustrate the fact that 33 percent of students requirements to get a license — especially taking a age 16 and up don’t have a driver’s license, according to a Nov. 2019 poll. Photo by Brooke Jolliff / VR staff driver’s education course — can be difficult. In fact, 19.2 our phones,” said Presley Smith, senior. percent of students said that they do not have time Teens may become less interested in having the to meet the requirements, according to the poll. privilege of driving to visit their friends because of all “I have a permit, and I am still obtaining my the new ways technology has created for them to comdriving hours,” said Cooper. “I have not started municate and even see their friends over the phone. driving yet because life can get very busy.” “With technology, friends can FaceTime and Others are not really motivated because they text as an alternative, so there is less incentive to do not have cars and therefore, will not be doing go out of the way to hang out in person more of-
group to turn down and so we stayed the rest of the lunch hour,” Senter said. “Originally, it was only going to be half an hour, so the Vanguard kids could still have half of their lunch.” After that initial meeting, it was decided that they would stay the full hour each time, and from there, the club grew rapidly. “So much so, that Mountainview asked us to spread out the mentors over various days throughout the week,” said Senter. “A few months after the club was officiated, the original six had doubled and then tripled in size.” This year, there are 12 Vanguard students serving as Mountainview Mentors. They bring their lunch every other Tuesday and walk across the park to spend time with their young friends. The goal is to focus on someone else for that one hour, forgetting about going to Chipotle, upcoming tests and relationship trouble. The program focuses on the Mountainview kids. “Honestly, these students just want your time,” Johnson said. “They want to feel important and cared about. They don’t care if you are outgoing or quiet, athletic or academic. The Mountainview students are overjoyed when our students show up just to hang out with them.” As much as the Mountainview students love it, the program is equally as rewarding for the mentors. “Mountainview Mentors is important for helping the kids who need more positive influence in their life,” said Dana Burton, junior. “As teenagers, I think it makes the relationship even more relatable and exciting, especially for them.”
much driving. Almost 29 percent of students who took the poll agreed. “The only reason I can’t legally drive is that I don’t have a car yet,” said Blake Carlisle, senior. “There’s no loss of interest in driving.” His younger brother is in a similar position. “I just don’t really have the time for it, and I don’t have a car,” said Luke Carlisle, sophomore. While some students do not have cars, others, like Smith, find driving to be scary. “I have a wicked fear of driving and bad anxiety, making it hard to step out of my comfort zone and drive,” said Smith. Combined with school, it is not surprising that students are losing interest in driving. “School is more challenging than in the past, and that can leave little time to meet up with friends daily besides during school hours,” Cooper said. On the weekends, teens may feel like a drivers education class would just be more work. They would rather be sleeping, playing video games, watching TV or seeing their friends. “Kids now think that it is such a drag, and they don’t have the time,” said Luke Carlisle. Junior Muiz Shah further said that laziness is another reason behind the decrease in driving. “I think there is a lack of interest because of how lazy people can be,” said Shah. “I too, account for this, as I may feel too lazy to drive to school sometimes, which results in my mother taking the wheel.”