The Bruin - March 2021

WADSWORTH HIGH SCHOOL

VOLUME XLVI, ISSUE 4 MARCH 2021

Interview with the Co-Producer of the Documentary The Social Dilemma PAGES 10-11

THE BRUIN CONTENTS

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BRUIN STAFF

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NEWS EDITOR Natalie Maher

625 Broad Street Wadsworth, OH 44281 ART & LAYOUT EDITOR

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Brianna Becerra Brian Coote

2 MARCH 2021

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER & VIDEOGRAPHER Micah Beck

Alex Miller

SOCIAL MEDIA ASSISTANT

BUSINESS, FEATURES & IN DEPTH EDITOR

ADVISOR

Emily Brandyberry

Grace Pantalone Eric Heffinger

STAFF WRITERS

Ashley Allwood Julia Blake Laney Corell Elisabeth Gromofsky Dylan Heppert Michael Jira Janae Joachim Haylee Joy Ari Kaser Jackson Kerley Kade Miros Chloe Porter Kayla Ross Hailey Smith Julia Swain

Editorial: Reflecting on female progress

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arch has been designated as Women’s History Month. During this month, it is important to pause for a moment to reflect on the progress of women in society, as they have continued to make strides toward equality with men.

A little over 100 years ago, universal suffrage was afforded to women in the United States. This was a major step for women, as this allowed them to be more involved in the political sphere than ever before.

144 of 539 seats in Congress are currently held by women, which is a record high number.

Not only have women been provided more opportunity in political matters, but they are also beginning to dominate the sphere of higher education. According to demographics provided by Statista, a higher percentage of American women have completed at least a four year college degree than men. This trend began in 2014 and has only continued since then, with the current percent of college educated women at 36.6% compared to the men’s 35.4%.

But this progress did not just appear out of thin air.

Women have been campaigning for equal rights for

centuries. Some notable women’s rights leaders over the years have been Mary Wollstonecraft, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and most recently Malala Yousafzi.

Our own community of Wadsworth is fortunate to have a strong female leader in Mayor Robin Laubaugh, as she demonstrates that sex does not matter when it comes to leadership. She has brought about changes in the community that cannot go unrecognized, and she is a role model that ambitious women can aspire to emulate.

It is important for young girls to have strong female role models. Whether it be their mother, teachers or even the Vice President of the United States, girls should be taught to use their voices in the same way that their male counterparts do.

The opportunities that women have fought for and have been able to seize are remarkable, as they pulled themselves out of their sphere of duties that were almost exclusively domestic. This progress should be celebrated, as there are fewer restrictions holding women back from pursuing whatever their goals may be.

EDITORIAL THE BRUIN

Feedback from the February issue @dominic_lobello

I liked seeing old pictures of my teachers.

-Dominic Lobello

@jjj.36 Don’t put politics in high school newspapers, it’s for high school news.

-Jazz Jackson

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It was nice to see Mr. Callaghan in his prime.

-Liam McAllister

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@ben_kiss Very great issue! Perhaps the greatest ever. Amazing.

Very nice job. -Benjamin Kissinger

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STUDENT OF THE MONTH

Alex Shepherd, 12

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Editorial Policy

The Bruin is a monthly publication produced by the Newspaper II and Newspaper III students at Wadsworth High School. The Newspaper I class produces the May issue. The staff will do its best to inform the student body and the community of intra-school, community or national events that affect the student body. This paper provides on-the-job training for the staff members. All decisions are made by the staff members with the advice and suggestions of the adviser. The school administration works closely with the staff to ensure accuracy. We, as the students of journalism, hold the same rights and the same responsibilities as professional journalists as we strive for professional standards. These rights include the right to print any material that is not libelous, obscene or excessively disruptive to the school process. The Bruin will not discriminate against anyone on the basis of religion, color, creed or sex. The staff members accept full responsibility for everything appearing in this publication. The staff strongly encourages students to express their opinions through the letters to the editor column, which is printed every month. The staff also encourages the members of the community to express their opinion as well. Space permitting, all letters will be printed. We reserve the right to edit or omit any portion of any letter because the staff accepts the responsibility for the contents of the paper. All letters must be signed, but the name will be withheld upon request.

WADSWORTHBRUIN.COM 3

THE BRUIN NEWS

WADSWORTH TO OPEN FIVE BELOW AND JIFFY LUBE

The city of Wadsworth continues to develop economically. A Five Below and a Jiffy Lube have both been confirmed to be coming to the Wadsworth Crossings shopping center, off of Williams Reserve Boulevard (OH-261).

Jim Gray, Director of Economic development for Wadsworth, confirmed the development for both of the businesses.

“There will be a Jiffy Lube oil change service located near Lowes’,” said Gray. “It is moving through the approval process with the city right now.”

The property for the Five Below was purchased by a property management company out of Cleveland.

“It is going to be managed by Anchor Cleveland, a real estate company,” said Gray. “And they also have a property management function.”

The store will be located between Target and Kohl’s. The date for start of construction and the opening of the store is unknown.

Five and

Below Kohl’s.

Will The

be coming to the vacant commercial start date for construction is unknown.

property between Target PHOTO BY KAYLA ROSS

LOCAL ICE CREAM SHOPS OPEN FOR SEASON BIDINGER’S: Bidinger’s: Located at 410 College Street in Wadsworth, the locally known ice cream stand will open on March 13, 2021.

This ice cream shop features BYOB (Bring Your Own Banana) on opening day, where customers can get a banana split made with the banana they bring for a discount.

PAGE BY LIZ GROMOFSKY AND KAYLA ROSS STAFF WRITERS

MR. JUREY EXPERIMENTS WITH NEW LEARNING STYLE

Jason Jurey, head of the Wadsworth High School science department, will be trying a new teaching method in the spring of the 2020-2021 school year.

Jurey was motivated to try something new, opposed to the typical lecture model of current in-person teaching.

“My hope is that this is going to be more of a self-paced chapter,” said Jurey.

“The students will end up learning through videos, interactive resources, websites and other media sources. The hope is that I will take the role of a guide, instead of someone up front that’s just directing the entire class.”

This new model of teaching will combine several elements already used in the classroom, such as educational videos and scientific resource websites, but combine them to create a new experience for students.

“My hope is to get greater achievement from my students,” said Jurey.

“There is research that suggests that students learn better in environments where they’re not being lectured to, and have opportunities to access the information by themselves, and then manipulate it on their own and then spend time working on it on their own, versus just passively listening to someone speak on a topic.”

In Jurey’s typical Biology and AP Environmental Science classes, the teaching method mostly consists of lectures. Students also watch educational videos, read articles from people in the field and complete labs that apply to the subject being learned.

“I think there will be a number of students who will find it challenging and like that challenge, as well as liking the ability to do things at their own pace,” said Jurey. “Those who are ahead of the curve are going to have time to spend on things they’re interested in.”

Because this decision may not be welcomed by all students, Jurey has taken steps to try and make the transition smooth, along with making this new style as effective as possible.

“We’ve actually hired a consultant to come in and assist me with how all of that would look,” said Jurey. “It’s different from a flipped classroom because while we are in class, there will still be a lot of learning going on, but I’m not going to be in front of you talking about it.”

Most teachers at WHS do prefer the lecture method, but Jurey hopes that this method may inspire educators to look at different methods of teaching that may be more beneficial for students.

“One of the reasons so many of us lecture is because it’s what is comfortable for us,” said Jurey. “ I think the value for the students is worth the time and effort spent.”

Jurey will be implementing his new style of teaching in his AP Environmental Science classes in the coming weeks.

DURBINS: Durbin Magic Freeze: Located at 1284 Wooster Road in Barberton, this ice cream and custard shop opened on February 20, 2021. Durbins offers everything from custard and ice cream to milkshakes and cyclones.

4 MARCH 2021

Mr. Jurey teaches his first period AP Environmental Science class a lesson about resource sustainability. The new method of teaching will begin in the next few weeks. PHOTO BY KAYLA ROSS

NEWS THE BRUIN

SPEECH AND DEBATE ADVANCES IN COMPETITION The Wadsworth High School Speech and Debate team wrapped up the season with a successful weekend at the state tournament.

Competitions this year have been drastically different because of COVID-19, but the team members made the best of their situation.

“Although it was different and we [Machar and his partner, Alex Miller] didn’t find out we were qualifiers until the month before the tournament, it was really motivational for our speech career and has really motivated us throughout the season to be better competitors and to be better performers overall,” said Varsity member and Team President, Isaac Machar.

All tournaments for the 2020-2021 school year had to be done virtually out of concerns over COVID-19. Typically, the team would travel to several schools all over Ohio, and even to schools in other states.

“Instead of our usual getting on a bus early Saturday morning or late Friday night to get to another high school, all of our competition is done at our high school,” said Machar.

“All of our rounds for performance are run through a Zoom type setting. You perform for your allotted time with the camera.”

Isaac Machar and Alex Miller have participated in the speech and debate team all four years of high school. This will be their fourth time attending the state tournament as well.

“I’ll be going to states for my fourth year, I’ve done it all four years of high school,

since freshman year,” said Machar.

Hannah Ihrig is a senior member of the team. She has participated in speech all four years of high school.

“This is my third time qualifying for states,” said Ihrig. “I am a varsity member and treasurer on the Speech and Debate board.”

Ihrig did not qualify for the National Tournament, but she will still be competing at the event.

“With the NSDA [National Speech and Debate Association] this year, teams could take two supplementals,” said Ihrig. “I will Pictured are the students who qualified for the State Speech and Debate tournament. be competing as a supplemental competitor This tournament will take place on March 5th and 6th. PHOTO COURTESY OF ALEX MILLER at the National Tournament this year.

Five team members from WHS qualified Alex Miller, Isaac Machar, Jessica Reber, Maya Hodges and Zionna Redmon all qualified for the National Tournament. The five qualifiers smile for a picture after for competition at the National Tournament, the Big Districts tournament on February 20. PHOTO COURTESY OF ISAAC MACHAR and two additional members will be attending the tournament as supplemental competitors.

Isaac Machar, Alex Miller, Jessica Reber, Maya Young and Zionna Redman all qualified to the National Speech and Debate Tournament. Hannah Ihrig and Elaina McNeely will be competing at the National Speech and Debate Tournament as well. Congratulations to the team, and good luck to them as they will be competing at the State Tournament on March 5 and 6, and competing at the National Tournament in June.

TEACHERS BECOME FULLY VACCINATED Teachers in the Wadsworth School District are now fully vaccinated as of February 26. The staff had to travel to Medina High School to receive both of their doses. Teachers in Summit County and Medina County were eligible for this shot. In the coming weeks, teachers from the surrounding counties will be eligible.

Mrs. MacDowell receives her COVID-19 vaccine. Teachers have now received both of their COVID-19 vaccines. PHOTO COURTESY OF MRS. MACDOWELL

100 DAYS OF PRESIDENCY

Joe Biden has signed several executive orders as President. He has been in the Oval Office for almost two months now.

PHOTO COURTESY OF FACEBOOK

Joe Biden has been the President of the United States for about two months.

Here is a recap of some of the action he has taken while in the White House.

On January 20, President Biden reversed the transgender ban on the armed forces. This ban, put in place during Trump’s presidency, had previously limited transgender individuals from serving.

On January 20, President Biden placed a mask mandate on all federal property.

On January 26, President Biden signed the Advancement Initiative for Racial Equality, which strives to limit racism on a national scale.

NEW CENTRAL INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL SET TO BE BUILT BY 2025

The efforts to construct a new Central Intermediate School were granted approval in a vote from the Wadsworth City School Board of Education.

The school district is aiming for the fall of 2025 to open a new CIS. CIS has been around for over 100 years now.

The last time they renovated it was in 2000.

Those enhancements are supposed to be good for about 25 years, which means there should be some renovation done within the next few years.

This school will be put up for sale. There are plans to preserve O.J Work Auditorium. The sight for the new building is undecided. PHOTO BY HAYLEE JOY

There are still many unknowns, like the cost, the location of the new building and the timeline this all will happen on.

The Board of Education has been meeting with the architects every other Friday in effort to define a schedule and cost.

While the current CIS will no longer be needed for school once the new building is in use, the district decided they would plan to sell the current building in hopes to hold the value of O.J. Work Auditorium, perpetuating the structure.

Central Intermediate School houses the fifth and sixth graders. It has been around since 1915. PHOTO BY HAYLEE JOY

WADSWORTHBRUIN.COM 5

THE BRUIN AD

6 MARCH 2021

INTELLECTUAL CLUBS AT WHS

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BY KAYLA ROSS STAFF WRITER

adsworth High School has many clubs and activities for students to participate in. These two have unique academic opportunities for students: Academic Challenge and Philosophy Club.

Academic Challenge is a club that participates in tournaments and focuses on learning a variety of subjects, from complex sciences to pop culture. Kianna McEwen, a sophomore team member of Academic challenge, explains their tournament process.

“At Academic Challenge tournaments, we organize into teams and compete with other schools in categories of various trivia,” said McEwen. “You face off in usually four to five rounds and then place compared to the other teams based on your win-lose ratio. If you win you have a chance to advance against the other winners.”

The club typically meets from September to March.

McEwen recommends that students join the club to help them become more well-rounded.

“Everyone thinks you have to be super smart or something so they don’t join,” said McEwen. “It’s not all super difficult math questions or names of people you’ve never heard of, although sometimes it can be, a lot of times it can be geography or pop culture or about

books you’ve read. Even if you aren’t in the most challenging classes, any knowledge you have can always help out. I’ve noticed that it has helped me do better in school.

A lot of classes I take deal with content I’m familiar with because I learned it in academic challenge.”

Another club that focuses on academic subjects is Philosophy Club. This club focuses on insightful questions of life.

Dom Singleton is a senior at WHS and the president of the club.

“A typical philosophy club meeting begins by asking a question and gauging the opinions of the room on the question and coming to some sort of conclusion on an answer for the question,” said Singleton. “Some of the questions are

There are eight regular members of philosophy club. From left to right: Aidan Pappas, Josh Whapham, Ben Kissinger, Alex Majeski, Andrew Piepho, T.J. Blair, Dom Singleton, and Zach Adams stand for a group picture in Mr. Knapp’s room. PHOTO BY KAYLA ROSS

WADSWORTH COMMUNITY GARDEN CONTINUES TO GROW

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BY GRACE PANTALONE STAFF WRITER

ocated at the Bird Street Park is the Wadsworth Community Garden.

These gardens can be rented out by members of the community for any of their gardening needs. During the winter months, people of Wadsworth can apply for the plots of land by going to the Wadsworth Public Library’s website.

“About twenty seven people have applied so far,” said Daniel Slife, Director of the Wadsworth Public Library.

Slife works with the Garden Committee and has visited the gardens with his children. The Garden Committee would like the community to become more and more involved over time. “[The Community Garden Committee] is meeting to look into ways to incorporate students and children more into the program.” said Sondra Papp. “Some ideas are field trips, a science club or a gardening club.”

The Committee has been looking into getting a logo, so they created a contest for the fifth through eighth grade students to create one and the winner will receive a twenty five dollar gift card. The results from this contest should be released in the beginning of March.

Right now, Papp is willing to allow a small group of students to own a plot and take care of it with a teacher in charge.

very broad, like, what is music, or is there an absolute morality.”

The club is currently at a small size, with only about ten members. Students should join this club if they enjoy thinking about intrinsic theories and insights.

“We have about eight regular members,” said Singleton. “I would love if more people would show up, but I understand that it can be a very hard thing for people to talk about deeper questions.”

This club could help students with problem solving and their work at school.

“Philosophy is really important for people to develop their critical thinking and the way that philosophy can connect to so many things that we do in our lives

These students would be in charge of this plot during the summer and These plots are 10 ft x10 ft plots and cost $25 each, but they are fully maintained by their gardener. At the garden is a compost bin for all the gardeners to throw organic materials into.

“The compost bin was donated by a Barberton City Schools student last spring,” said Papp.

Gary Barnard, a member of the Garden Committee, oversees the composting and created four plots with flowers located at every corner. The flower plots encourage pollinators to come in and pollinate the produce and plants in the other plots.

The plots are 10x10 and have walkways through the middle for gardeners to walk through. In these plots, gardeners can plant produce or flowers.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY SONDRA P A P P

Peppers are one of the many plants in Papp’s garden plot. PHOTO PROVIDED BY SONDRA PAPP By having flowers in the garden, pollinators are more likely to come and pollinate all the plants.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY SONDRA PAPP

FEATURES THE BRUIN

Dom Singleton explains ideas of philosophy in Mr. Knapp’s room. The club often discusses many differing theories of morality. PHOTO BY KAYLA ROSS

everyday,” said Singleton. “The ability to think critically about the things that we do everyday in our lives, it really helps us to tackle any problem that we have.

I absolutely think that this club could be helpful to people in their work [for school].”

Please consider joining these clubs for the 2021-2022 school year. To join Academic Challenge for the next school year, contact Mrs. Swanson with questions. Philosophy Club meets on Wednesdays at 2:30 in Mr. Knapp’s room.

Anyone is welcome to attend. Contact Mr. Knapp with any questions.

YEARBOOK ADAPTS TO COVID-19

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BY ASHLEY ALLWOOD STAFF WRITER

his year, due to COVID-19 regulations, the yearbook staff has come across some challenges about what to put in the yearbook. With COVID-19 canceling sports, dances, concerts and other school events, there are some empty spots in the yearbook. The yearbook staff has come up with ways to fill in those spots.

Mara Budd, senior on the yearbook staff, has been working on some new ideas with her fellow staff members to make the yearbook just as interesting as prior years.

“All of the staff works together to think of different ideas for pages to replace the ones that we had to take out,” said Mara Budd.

Emma Larj, senior on the yearbook staff, works on trying to find pictures to use for different clubs and sports. Since there were no spectators at these events, Larj and other staff members have been finding ways to show normalization at the high school. The staff is also trying to cover more students in the yearbook because of the things getting canceled.

“We did a group photo day to be able to get pictures of clubs that normally meet but can’t this year,” said Larj.

Budd also mentioned that the hardest part about the whole process was trying to find advertisements for the yearbook. In past years, the staff would go to different businesses asking if they would advertise

for the yearbook, but this year the staff is not allowed to go to the businesses and ask. The staff members are allowed to try and call businesses but cannot go in.

“We were assigned certain businesses to call but a lot of the times we were playing phone tag and couldn’t get a hold of people,” said Budd.

The yearbook has continued to work to create an issue for the 2020-2021 school year, despite the challenges COVID-19 has repeatedly presented.

Annie Black spends some time working on pages for the yearbook. The yearbook staff made a switch to working on chromebooks so they can do their work at home just in case the school gets sent home again. PHOTO BY EMMA LARJ

WADSWORTHBRUIN.COM 7

THE BRUIN FEATURES

ROBIN LAUBAUGH PROGRESSES THROUGH POLITICS

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BY JANAE JOACHIM STAFF WRITER

ondays are typically the busiest days for Mayor Robin Laubaugh.

These days start at 8 AM and end at 6 PM with various meetings, commissions and calls in between.

“I have night meetings, I have early morning meetings,” said Laubaugh. “But some days are busier than others.”

Laubaugh has been the mayor of Wadsworth since January 1, 2008 and is now serving her fourth four-year term.

She is the first female mayor of the city of Wadsworth.

“I remember wondering if that would be unusual or if that would make a difference,” said Laubaugh. “After I walked through that door I knew that it was going to be just fine.”

Laubaugh even went to high school at Wadsworth, having graduated in 1979.

She was a cheerleader for football and basketball, was on the swim team and even threw shot put for the track team her senior year. She was also a member of National Honor Society and the Pep Club in addition to being involved in her church.

“All of those things 100 percent helped to prepare me for my college experience,” said Laubaugh. “I went to school 1800 miles away and in those days we didn’t have cell phones, so there was no texting, there was no email- it was prior to email days. You grow up pretty fast when you are away from your family and away from all of the familiar things you knew at school and you are all of a sudden in a college setting and have the rigors of that.”

She went to Brigham Young University in Utah and majored in finance. Her dad was also a businessman, and was even on the building committee when they built Steiner Youth Center.

“When I was ready to go to college, I had no idea what I wanted to do,” said Laubaugh. “[My dad] said, ‘Robin, you

are really good at math, you seem to like numbers. Just go and major in something that is business oriented and you are going to be just fine.’”

She continued her finance career and founded her own consulting firm in Wadsworth. After having twins, she chose to step down from the financial planning firm to become a stay-at-home mom.

However, she said that she did not want this to stop her from making a difference in her community, church or her kids’ school.

“What really got me started [in city government] was my involvement in the community,” said Laubaugh.

Laubaugh and her friend, Pam Chester, coordinated to have Kaleidoscope Park built. They had to work with members of the community and local government to plan the building of the park.

“We had over 1,000 people that had some sort of involvement in building that structure,” said Laubaugh. “They donated their time, their tools, they donated money, materials.”

Before this, she had been asked to run for council multiple times. She finally agreed to run after Kaleidoscope Park was built.

She served six years as Council at Large and was Council President for four, totaling to ten years of council experience. Then Jim Renacci, the mayor at the time, informed Laubaugh that he was not going to run for mayor in the next election since he was moving on to becoming a Congressman, so Laubaugh decided to run.

“We needed somebody to run for mayor, and it was decided that I’d be that person,” said Laubaugh.

Being mayor entails not only working with a wide array of people on a daily basis during meetings, but also writing speeches and keeping up with emails and calls.

A typical weekday for Laubaugh would include all of these things. The weekends occasionally include ribbon cuttings.

As mayor, Laubaugh still attends City Council meetings. She has the power to sign or veto new legislation brought about in such meetings.

Laubaugh has the opportunity to influence the community in this way and many others, such as initiating projects.

“I hadn’t even been sworn into office and there were already discussions concerning Steiner Youth Center, and it just needed to be replaced,” said Laubaugh.

“Then the high school, of course, was in bad need of being replaced.

I was really, really proud of the community center/high school collaboration.”

Building this Mayor Robin Laubaugh smiles as her picture is taken for the City of complex was a major Wadsworth website. Laubaugh has been mayor of the city of Wadsworth accomplishment for for 13 years. PHOTO COURTESY OF ROBIN LAUBAUGH Laubaugh as mayor, especially considering the rough economic “Prior to getting into city government, situation at the time following the 2008 I didn’t realize how unique Wadsworth is recession. The school had to have levies, because other communities don’t have which were eventually passed, allowing their own electric division,” said Laubaugh. the complex to be built. The project took “We are unique in the number of services we provide and certainly the quality of multiple years.

“That was a big deal for the community,” services we provide.”

She feels privileged to work with the said Laubaugh. people that she does, both in the city and Laubaugh hopes to work on the city’s in the surrounding areas. infrastructure (water lines, sewer lines) “I love the city, I love what I do,” said in the near future. This project would be coupled with the beautification of Laubaugh. “I love making a difference in the community.” downtown Wadsworth.

Below: Mayor Robin Laubaugh gives her speech at the Wadsworth Community Center Dedication. This took multiple years to build and was finally finished in 2012. PHOTO COURTESY OF ROBIN LAUBAUGH

Mayor Robin Laubaugh speaks with Ohio Senator Rob Portman at his Washington, D.C. office. Portman has been a member of the U.S. Senate since January 2011 but recently announced that he will not be running for reelection in 2022. PHOTO COURTESY OF ROBIN LAUBAUGH

1979 Graduated high school

8 MARCH 2021

Mayor Robin Laubaugh holds a shovel alongside Superintendent Andy Hill, Wadsworth Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Janie Parish, Four Cities Compact Director Roger Wright and County Commissioner Bill Hudson. The groundbreaking for a new Habitat for Humanity house in Wadsworth was taking place. PHOTO COURTESY OF ROBIN LAUBAUGH

19791982 Attended BYU

1995 Kaleidoscope Park built

Mayor Robin Laubaugh poses with Kay Bowman at the Galaxy as she holds her award. Bowman was the recipient of the Key to the City award in 2019. PHOTO COURTESY OF ROBIN LAUBAUGH

19982004

Served as At-Large Councilwoman

20042007

Served as President of Council

2008 Became Mayor

FEATURES THE BRUIN

DAWN BLUE RUNS TO SPARK CHANGE awn Blue is a Wadsworth community member with an extraordinary story. She is an avid runner who uses her athletic ability to help the Wounded Warrior Project and the local businesses.

“I had just run 100 miles in July to raise $1,050 for Stop Soldier Suicide, and I couldn’t justify asking for donations on a mere 5k,” said Blue. “I remembered

Dawn’s biggest advice to anyone who wants to start getting active is to believe in yourself and never give up. She says that the hardest part is simply just getting started, but as long as you give it your all, that is all that matters. PHOTO COURTESY OF DAWN BLUE

David Goggin’s 4x4x48 Challenge Run, and I was like that’s it, that’s what I can do! I kept seeing posts about how local businesses were struggling from the pandemic. I didn’t just want to ask businesses for donations, I wanted to find a way to help them. The one thing they all had in common was their social media following and loyal customers. I devised a marketing plan to marry both the Wounded Warrior Project fundraiser, and helping out businesses.”

Supporting small businesses has now become a large part of Blue’s fundraising efforts. The agreement that she has with small businesses is that if they post about her upcoming 4x4x48 challenge and donate any amount of money, she will feature them on social media multiple times and will wear their business shirt during one of her runs.

The 4x4x48 challenge consists of running 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours. This year, she will be running 4 miles every 4 hours for 80 hours.

“By the time I finish my last run on October 3, 2021, I will have ran a total of 84 miles,” Blue said.

As of February 11, Blue’s fundraiser for the Wounded Warrior Project is the number one fundraiser in the country.

This means that she has raised the most money for Wounded Warriors out of all other fundraisers that are being held.

Blue currently has 19 local businesses donating money towards her fundraiser,

and she hopes to partner with as many businesses as she can before her next run on September 30, 2021.

The last time Blue ran, she did not run the same route. This year, she will not follow the same plan.

“Last year I had several different routes, which wasn’t the greatest idea,” Blue said. “This year it’s being simplified from Advanced Performance CrossFit to Leatherman Road & back, which is two miles. I will be doing that route for each run two times to equal four miles.”

As successful of an athlete Blue has become, she has not always been so passionate about fitness. She used to hate the idea of running and working out all the time, but thanks to Seth and Carmen Hill, owners of Advanced Performance CrossFit, her life has been completely changed for the better.

“While working with Carmen at the gym’s Boot Camps I got to know many amazing people going through their own struggles,” Blue said. “That lit my fire to realize the only thing holding me back, was myself. I wanted to show people no matter what age or sex that you can do anything you put your mind to. I owe a huge gratitude to the Hills, the staff at APC and all those who have supported me along my journey. They are my second home.”

When she started CrossFit in 2014, she enjoyed the structure of the program that constantly pushed her out of her comfort

Dawn received a lot of support from her Crossfit teammates during her last 4x4x48 challenge. They took turns running with her and cheered her on along the route. PHOTO COURTESY OF DAWN BLUE

zone. She quickly joined the APC staff and got involved in every way she could. Blue has not always enjoyed running either.

“One day I woke up and realized I had to make a choice about my life,” Blue said. “I was just getting by, day by day, but I realized that I had the gift to wake up that morning and do something. I want to leave this world a better place then what I came into. So I use my body as a vessel to raise money for worthy causes to help make a difference and in return it keeps me going & level headed.”

She uses running as a way to lift up and support her community while giving to the Wounded Warrior Project.

Blue will continue to raise money for her next 4x4x80 run. Donations can be made on her “4x4x48 Wounded Warrior Challenge” Facebook page.

CLARE NICHOLAS THRIVES ON AND OFF THE FIELD

W

BY JULIA SWAIN STAFF WRITER

hat does it really mean to be a high-level athlete? To Clare Nicholas, junior at Wadsworth High School, being a highlevel athlete in both cross country and soccer means having to persevere through the struggles that are associated with playing these sports in order to experience the triumphs.

Nicholas is a member of the Wadsworth High School girls cross country team as well as Internationals Soccer Club and has made a verbal commitment to play soccer at Saint Louis University.

Nicholas began playing soccer at a very young age, starting out with Wadsworth Amateur Soccer Association (WASA) before joining Akron Metro Futbol Club (AMFC). She then joined Internationals Soccer Club (ISC), stating that it felt like a good fit for her to further her playing career.

“I don’t know, we were just looking for a change I guess and Internationals was a close place and they challenged their players so we thought it would be a good opportunity,” said Nicholas.

She also explained her practice schedule and the diet she tries to maintain.

“We practice twice a week for an hour

and a half and we’ll have games on Saturday and Sunday,” said Nicholas.

“I train on my own on the other days and I try to eat as healthy as I can.”

The farthest team in their conference is in New York, but they also travel for showcases a couple of times a year.

Nicholas began running cross country in seventh grade and has qualified for the state championships all three years of her high school career.

“I like cross country because I like hanging out with my school friends and running is just such a big stress reliever,” said Nicholas.

Along with playing two sports, Nicholas is also taking multiple AP and honors classes. While she shared that it can be hard to balance everything at times, she still finds time to hang out with her friends and has found that making a soccer schedule at the beginning of each week has been helpful.

Clare Nicholas, junior at Wadsworth, stays focused on the race ahead.

Nicholas has qualified for the cross country state championships all three years of her high school career. PHOTO

BY KRISTEN OBHERHAS

Wadsworth

Nicholas also admitted that she has had to make some sacrifices in order to fit everything into her schedule.

“I think sometimes I have to sacrifice social events, but you just have to keep in mind what your goals are,” said Nicholas.

She emphasized her love for soccer and explained that it helps keep her going when she feels stressed or overwhelmed.

“I’ve definitely felt overwhelmed at times but I’ve got to remember why I’m doing it. I love the sport, so that is just something I have to keep in mind when I’m stressed,” said Nicholas.

She added that she is passionate about soccer and loves the traveling aspect as well.

“I just have a passion for soccer so I just love playing the game and I love traveling too,” said Nicholas. “It’s super fun.”

Nicholas also talked a little about her recruiting experience.

She explained that Saint Louis University was able to begin talking to her June 15 after her sophomore year.

“I started talking to them and I just really liked the coaches, I liked the program and their style of play was just a really good fit,” said Nicholas. “Another thing I liked was their culture was pretty strong and they emphasize being a good person too, not just a good player.”

She has had to make a lot of sacrifices in order to continue to play her sports at as high of a level as she has. However, her passion drives her to persevere through even the toughest of situations.

Nicholas gets ready to make a play on the ball. Nicholas joined Internationals Soccer Club in order to advance her soccer career. PHOTO BY KRISTIE VALORE

Grizzlies

Internationals Soccer Club

D

BY JULIA BLAKE STAFF WRITER

WADSWORTHBRUIN.COM 9

THE BRUIN IN-DEPTH

SOCIAL MEDIA: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE CO-PRODUCER OF THE DOCUMENTARY THE SOCIAL DILEMMA STORY BY BRIANNA BECERRA EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

T

here are only two industries that call their customers ‘users’: illegal drugs and software,” said Edward Tufte, Professor Emeritus in Political Science, “ Computer Science and Statistics at Yale University, in the new Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma.

Because of the increased popularity of social media in the past 10 years, people all over the world have been connected like never before. Though this may seem like a purely positive thing, there are also dangers that come with using these platforms. It is no longer just a worry about cyberbullying and internet trolling, but rather social media addiction and underlying manipulation of users by the platform creators.

The film company Exposure Labs decided to attack this issue, hoping to expose the larger implications that social media companies have for society as a whole. This documentary was released on Netflix in September 2020, featuring some of the people who are responsible for the creation and growth of these now massive social media platforms.

One of the main voices of this documentary is that of Tristan Harris, a former Design Ethicist for Google. Since his resignation from Google, he has co-founded the Center for Humane Technology and was named as a 2021 TIME100 Next Most Influential Person.

Harris works to warn the world about the dangers of social media, stating that it manipulates human behavior and holds the power to effectively undermine democracy.

“If something is a tool, it genuinely is just sitting there, waiting patiently,” said Harris in The Social Dilemma. “If something is not a tool, it’s demanding things from you. It’s seducing you, it’s manipulating you, it wants things from you. We’ve moved away from a tools based technology environment to an addiction and manipulation used technology environment. Social media isn’t a tool waiting

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MOST USED APPS AT WHS

DATA FROM THE BRUIN SURVEY OF 163 WHS STUDENTS

10 MARCH 2021

RESEARCH BY JACKSON KERLEY & HAILEY SMITH STAFF WRITERS

INFOGRAPHICS AND LAYOUT BY EMILY BRANDYBERRY, ARI KASER & ALEX MILLER

to be used. It has its own goals, and it has its own means of pursuing them by using your psychology against you.”

A co-producer of The Social Dilemma, Daniel Wright, discussed his experiences creating the film with several members of The Bruin staff. He stated that it took a large amount of planning and coordination in order to ensure that the documentary was depicting the effects of social media in a truthful yet impactful way.

“I knew it was probably an issue for me to lose some time, break my attention, or distract me, but I didn’t really think of it as an existential threat causing issues on a global scale,” said Wright on realizing that social media had a powerful hold on people around the world. “But then after I started working on the film, I did begin realizing that the same issues I’m experiencing, whether it’s distraction, or FOMO [fear of missing out], or building a little filter bubble that only I am living in and I am getting information from, all of those things that are happening to me as an individual are happening on a global scale to billions of others.”

A focus of the film is to show how social media users’ feeds are customized to fit who they are as a person; what they believe in, what they agree with and what products they would be most interested in. Wright continues to state that the users are a “product”, as these social media sites are making money off of the advertisements that are geared towards the interests of their users.

The Social Dilemma addresses how these platforms tap into the emotions of their users with the hope of making them feel one of two ways: angry or happy. The platforms use these emotions to keep users hooked, benefiting off of the strong emotions that certain posts or ads can invoke.

This creates the issue of polarization and an isolation of one’s mindset, especially when it comes to politics.

For example, if a user has liked posts on a social media site that agree with progressive beliefs, their feed will show

almost exclusively progressive media and viewpoints.

This then makes the user feel like their own thoughts and opinions are correct and undisputed, as it is rare for them to have a glimpse at the other side. The documentary claims that this is what can lead to extreme polarization, widening the divide between progressives and conservatives in America.

“These news feeds and platforms have been so personalized to each and every one of us that it’s keeping us engaged in the best way that the algorithm knows how to,” said Wright. “I think what happened at the capitol and the riots on January 6 were kind of the boiling point of all of these issues, where people haven’t been able to see another perspective for a long time, and we are at a point where we are starting to refuse to understand and listen to the other perspectives.”

Social media has big implications for more than just politics though, as there are also concerns about the correlation between teen suicide rates and the rise of social media. Some teens feel that they are addicted to social media, as they find themselves scrolling through their feed when they are bored or have free time.

A statistic from the CDC shows that the suicide rates of girls aged 15-19 have increased 62% since 2009. Even more staggering is that suicide rates of girls aged 10-14 have increased 189% over the same span of time.

The documentary points out that Gen Z is the first generation that has had access to social media since middle school, and this is what some experts believe has led to the rise of anxiety, depression and other communication issues in teenagers.

Social media addiction and reliance can lead to bigger issues. Jaimie McKinnon, RN, BSN, MBA at Summa Health for the Cleveland/Akron area shares his concerns about teenagers and their social media use.

Former Google Design Ethicist, Tristan Harris, testifies at a Senate hearing on persuasive technology in the Netflix documentary “The Social Dilemma”. He discusses how platforms are responsible for the mental health of those that use them and that these apps affect those that do not even use them. PHOTO COURTESY OF EXPOSURE LABS

Daniel Wright, co-producer of “The Social Dilemma”, sat down for an interview with The Bruin.

Wright previously worked on films about environmental issues, but began working on “The Social Dilemma” after realizing how serious of a problem it was PHOTO FROM INTERVIEW

TO LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH DANIEL WRIGHT, SCAN THE QR CODE OR GO TO WADSWORTHBRUIN.COM

42%

30%

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23%

THROUGH SEARCH RESULTS

ARTICLE 5% THROUGH SHARING

TIME SPENT ON PHONE

TIME SPENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA

DATA FROM THE BRUIN SURVEY OF 163 WHS STUDENTS AND 52 ADULTS

“There is a correlation with the explosion of social media and the rise in the rates of anxiety, depression, and suicides in teens,” said McKinnon. “Social media is addicting and has become a platform for teenagers to seek validation from others.”

McKinnon advises teens to be conscious about how much time they are spending on social media. He also states that they should be more careful about their actions, being especially aware of how their words can affect others on these platforms.

“You can control your devices,” said McKinnon. “Teens should monitor their screen time and remember there is an off button. Teens need to maintain healthy boundaries and refrain from participating in negative interactions and limit screen time.”

While The Social Dilemma does portray social media in a negative light, Wright states that their purpose was not to try to convince viewers to stop using social media, but rather to educate them on how the structure and algorithms of these platforms can lead to changes in thought or behavior.

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THROUGH NEWS SOURCES

STUDENTS

DISTRIBUTION OF FAKE NEWS

ADULTS

IN-DEPTH THE BRUIN

NEWS R O M SOCIAL MEDIA

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Wright goes on to explain that the creators of these platforms did not have malicious intentions when they were creating them, and that some of them even feel guilty about the effects that social media has had on society.

“They themselves were the ones who built it and now they were feeling some regret [about] what they unleashed into the world,” said Wright. “I think every one acknowledged that they didn’t mean harm when they were building these things. When they invented the ‘like’ button, they just wanted to add positivity into the world. They didn’t think that it would cause mental health crises for the younger generation or add to political polarization, they were just trying to add another thing to the platform that would make it more fun.”

Though it may appear that there is an overwhelming amount of issues that come with the popular use of social media, there are steps being taken in order to offer a solution. The creators of The Social Dilemma have designed an impact campaign in order to bring reform to the realm of social media platforms.

This plan has three prongs: tech use, tech design, and tech regulation. Tech use pertains to individual users, as they are responsible for educating themselves on the dangers of social media algorithms. Tech design relates to the actual creators of the platforms themselves, as The Social Dilemma producers believe that these platforms should not create algorithms that make their users a “product”. Tech regulation is the responsibility of lawmakers such as the United States Congress, as they are capable of placing limitations on social media platforms through the creation of policy.

Daniel Wright believes that the younger generations can create the momentum that is needed to bring reform to social media sites. He thinks that the power is in the hands of the young people.

“To go back into your world and the classrooms at Wadsworth High School, you guys are the future generation,” said Wright. “You are the ones who are going to really control how you use these platforms and how your friends use them.”

WADSWORTHBRUIN.COM 11

THE BRUIN SPORTS

WADSWORTH GYMNASTICS FINISHES SEASON WITH WINS AND RECORDS

LAYOUT BY ARI KASER

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he Wadsworth Gymnastics team concluded their regular competition season with an undefeated 7-0 record, along with a series of shattered school records for team scores.

The girls were able to compete in eight gymnastics meets, one of which was outside of the regular season and was an individual only competition, meaning that team scores did not count.

“We were really in tune to being a team and not just in tune with our individual selves,” said Allison Vaccaro, senior and team captain. “I believe that is what helped to make us very successful this year.”

The highlight of the season started with their senior night, when the team scored 139.45, breaking the previous school record. A week later at the NEGC Winter Classic, the team broke the record again, scoring 140.0.

“The coach before me didn’t see anything above a 138 and the coach before her did not keep any records, so as far as we know, we now hold the school record,” said Kelly Murphy, head coach.

At the beginning of the season, one of the goals that both the assistant coach and the head coach had was to upgrade at least one thing in each of the girls’ routines, but it was also necessary to them that the girls were able to be a true team this season.

“Our goals were to upgrade and make cleaner and better routines and we achieved that,” said Murphy. “The proof of that is our record and the scores the girls got.”

Members of the varsity team had the

luxury of growing up in competitive club gymnastics together, as well as practicing together during the off season.

“We are very close because we have all done club together, so this season was very good for us as a team,” said Vaccaro.

“I don’t think that we could have done any better.”

Another thing that was noted by both captains and coaches was the change in attitude from last season to this season.

“Just as a team there was a collective decision to push ourselves and work harder, get better,” said Murphy. “It created a better workout atmosphere.”

Despite an underwhelming performance at sectionals on February 15, the team was able to secure the fourth spot on the roster and is headed to districts for the first time in six years. Jensen Heppner, junior, and Alyssa Talabac, senior, also qualified on the individual roster. Heppner made it on vault, floor, uneven parallel bars, and all around.

Talabac made it on beam.

“I think we held our own at sectionals as a team,” said Vaccaro. “Although it did not go as perfect as we had hoped, we still pulled through and finally made it to districts after six years.”

Competing at districts will offer another opportunity for the girls to prove to themselves what they can do.

“Districts is a bonus this year as far as I am concerned,” said Murphy. “I expect for the team to go out, have fun and show what they have been doing the entire season.”

Districts will have taken place on February 27 at the time of publishing.

1. The varsity team stretches before they start their dual meet against Triway.

2.The team smiles after their senior night meet. Both varsity and junior varsity were able to compete that night against Cloverleaf High School.

3. Alyssa Talabac, senior, tips back into a clear hip on bars right before her fly away back tuck dismount.

4. Allison Vaccaro, senior, flips into her front layout tumbling pass. This is the first tumbling pass in Vaccaro’s routine.

5. Jensen Heppner, junior, stops at the top of her cast to handstand and holds it on bars.

Cast to handstands often lead into skills such as giants or clear hips to handstand.

6. Sydney Goodson, junior, pops of the vault table with her front handspring vault.

7. Ari Kaser, junior, jumps into her dance in her floor routine.

8. Jensen Heppner, junior, holds a pose at the beginning of her floor routine.

9. Ari Kaser, junior, holds the finish on her full turn in her beam routine. Every beam routine requires a turn of some sort as well as other basic requirements that are specified in the rulebook.

10. Allison Vaccaro, senior, jumps back into her backhand spring for her last tumbling pass on floor.

11. Alyssa Talabac, senior, twists off the vault table while competing.

12. Jensen Heppner, junior, flips off of the high bar for her fly away back layout dismount.

13. Ari Kaser, junior, jumps into her leap on beam.

14. Allison Vaccaro, senior, twists off of the vault. She does a vault commonly known as a half-half.

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PHOTOS 1-2 COURTESY OF MIRANDA COTTRILL PHOTOS 3-14 COURTESY OF DAVID KASER

ENTERTAINMENT THE BRUIN PAGE BY K A

DE MIROS

AND LANE

Y CORELL

63RD AN

NUAL GRA

MMY AWA

RDS

RECORD OF THE YEAR

BEST NEW ARTIST

Although they look very different this year, the Grammys will be held on March 14, 2021. There has been a tremendous amount of music released over the quarantine and throughout the rest of 2020. Tune in to see who wins each of the 83 categories. The show will air on CBS at 9 p.m. EST.

2021 PREDICTIONS PHOEBE BRIDGERS

INGRID ANDRESS

NOAH CYRUS

KATYRANADA

The Grammys feature a category that awards one artist who is new and upcoming as the best new artist. This year the nominees include Ingrid Andress, Phoebe Bridgers, Chika, Noah Cyrus, D Smoke, Doja Cat, Kaytranada and Megan Thee Stallion. Last year in 2019, Billie Elish was the winner of the best new artist category.

These artists are featured in popular songs such as “Savage” (Megan Thee Stallion), “July” (Noah Cyrus), and “Say So” (Doja Cat).

MEGAN THEE STALLION

KADE MIROS

CHIKA

STAFF WRITER

With the two most significant categories in the Grammys, it is tough to decide who will take the title. As for the record of the year, I feel that Megan Thee Stallion will win the award with her record, “Savage”.

For the best new artist, I am positive that Doja Cat will win. Her songs have been repeatedly played on the radio and have become fans’ favorite songs.

LANEY CORELL STAFF WRITER

D SMOKE I believe the record of the year will come down to Post Malone’s song “Circles” and Megan Thee Stallion’s song “Savage.”

Overall, I believe that Post Malone will receive the award because he has a large following. The best new artists, however, I believe, will be a closer competition. I think it will come down to Noah Cyrus, Megan Thee Stallion, and Doja Cat, but I believe that Doja Cat will take the top spot.

DOJA CAT

WADSWORTHBRUIN.COM 13

THE BRUIN ENTERTAINMENT

I SCREWED UP SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO Dear Grace, How do I stop myself from spending all of my money on Squishmallows?

- Broke Boy You do not. Life is short, and if you are not buying all of them, then what is the point? You cannot buy one and not have all 500+ of the others. I currently ADVICE FROM GRACE PANTALONE have $10 and I intend to spend it on STAFF WRITER more Squishmallows because I want Hi, I am Grace and this is the Bruin’s advice to drown in them. Why have a boyfriend column based on the mistakes I have already when you can have stuffed animals made. I am hoping that somehow what I who can’t break your heart? have to say will help you. But if I screw up the advice I give, well… just add it to the list!

Dear Grace, Should I want the COVID Vaccine?

- Big Needle Boy I really do not know how to answer this question because it is so controversial, but personally, I want to get it. Even though my fear of shots and needles makes me hesitate, I just feel like I need to get the vaccine so my mom lets me out of the house. I have also heard that the shot has a really long needle, so I am debating on just wearing a blindfold so I do not have to see it go in my arm. When I had to get my Kindergarten shots, I was not a happy kid and I ran from them, because who would not? I probably will not be able to graduate because the thought of getting the Meningitis ALONG with the vaccine and a flu shot in the same year seems like a lot for me.

WADSWORTH STUDENTS TAKE ON SKIING AND SNOWBOARDING

BY ASHLEY ALLWOOD STAFF WRITER

Wyatt Greenlees and Austin Valentine spent a long weekend at Keystone Resort in Colorado. The boys went skiing at the resort for four days. PHOTO BY WYATT GREENLEES

There are many different types of squishmallows and they all come with names and little personality descriptions from the company.

PHOTO BY KARLIE MCGRATH

Leah Tefteller, Makenna Jackson, and friend Maggie Kamenar went snowboarding and skiing at Boston Mills. The girls spent their time with some friends.

PHOTO BY LEAH TEFTELLER

Haley Bush and friend Maggie Kamenar, took on some skiing at Boston Mills. Bush and Kamenar spent about the whole day snowboarding and taking pictures.

PHOTO BY HALEY BUSH

Dylan Weinreich and Annie Black went skiing and snowboarding at Boston Mills. Weinreich and Black met up with some friends to spend some time with. PHOTO BY DYLAN WEINREICH

I WAS TODAY YEARS OLD WHEN I FOUND OUT...

BY ASHLEY ALLWOOD STAFF WRITER

Tate McNeill, junior, shares that he was today years old when he found out that the McDonalds flurry cup fits perfectly on the lid of their drink cups.

“I saw a video on TikTok of someone putting the flurry cup on top of the drink cup and I didn’t know you could do that. I don’t see why someone could use this but it’s still interesting,” said McNeill.

Karlee Adams, junior, shares that she was today years old when she found out that the Apple logo on the back of her phone has a real purpose.

“Your phone can [be programmed] through settings to make it take a screenshot when you double tap. It can also turn down your music if you triple tap” said Karlee Adams.

The feature is called Back Tap, and can be enabled through the Accessibility page in the Settings app on your phone.

14 MARCH 2020

Katie Farnsworth, sophomore, shares that she was today years old when she found out that screwdriver handles are designed to be able to put a wrench on the end of it to get a better grip when tightening or loosening a screw. You can just place the screwdriver handle in the wrench and it will give you a better grip.

“We do a lot of work around our house, so I wish I knew about this before I looked it up,” said Farnsworth.

Zach Swinehart, senior, shares that he was today years old when he found out that the Krusty Krab from SpongeBob SquarePants is actually a crab trap.

“I didn’t realize this one until I saw a picture of it, but it is pretty funny to think about because Mr. Krabs owns the Krusty Krab,” said Swinehart.

Ryan Zrelak, freshman, shares that he was today years old when he found out that the planets, when they are all lined up side by side, can fit perfectly between the Earth and the moon.

“I think my brother told me this and I think it isn’t very useful, just kinda cool,” said Zrelak.

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WADSWORTHBRUIN.COM 15

THE BRUIN OPINION

Who has the best pizza in Wadsworth?

OPINION BY BRIAN COOTE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Wadsworth is home to ten different pizza places.

Some places you can only find in Wadsworth, the others are franchises from around the world. With many options to choose from, what is the best pizza place in Wadsworth?

From the time, distance, price, size to even toppings there are many variables when selecting a pizza place. Many conditions can be used to find the best pizza place, so to be as fair as possible we will be looking at different categories to find the best pizza place in Wadsworth.

Wadsworth originals and nation wide franchises will first be ranked separately. Then we will look at a variety of categories to find the best pizzas in Wadsworth.

Local

Pizza Places In Wadsworth Domino’s Pizza Tavanello’s pizza Bosco’s Pizza kitchen Marie’s Gionino’s Romeo’s Pizza Hut Antonio’s Pizzazio’s pizza Papa John’s

Franchise

There are only three pizza shops that you can only find in Wadsworth: Marie’s Restaurant, Bosco’s Pizza Kitchen, and Tavanellos Pizza. Each is unique in its own

In a survey sent out to students, 162 responded to who they thought was the best franchise pizza in Wadsworth.

way but only one can be the best.

Here are the rankings from best to worst.

Tavanello’s Pizza

Bosco’s Pizza Kitchen Bosco’s pizza kitchen is home to both Wadsworth and Wooster. Located on 295 Weatherstone Drive Unit B this is the pizza place for those looking for a little extra. While they certainly have pizza they also have pasta, Mac n cheese, salads, subs, appetizers, and wings. While you can not go wrong with a slice of pizza, this is the place you would go to get a more diverse meal rather than just a pizza.

Marie’s Restaurant

What started off as a little pizza place has grown into a full restaurant. Located on 130 E Smokerise Drive this is more of the establishment you want to sit down and eat rather than order pizza from. They still focus on making quality pizza but over time pizza has gotten sideline as they have grown their restaurant. If pizza is your favorite meal and you want to go out to eat , then this is your place.

16 MARCH 2021

B es

t Cheese Pizza za z i P o b m o Pizzazio’s combines C t s e tacos with pizza. The B

pizza contains ground beef, taco seasoning, onion, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato with sour cream and taco sauce on the side.

Most Dive rse With more than ten pizzas to choose from, oven-baked subs, pasta, appetizers, wings, and salads, Bosco’s Pizza Kitchen has anything one would like to go along with their pizza.

nu Me

A pizza place run by a family for more than 40 years, this is the embodiment of a business dedicated to pizza.

Tavanellos has pizza sizes ranging from small to a sheet, with all the toppings you would like and two crust options.

If looking for other options they also specialize in calzones.

Located on 2985 Greenwich Road, it is on the outside of Wadsworth and only does carry out. If looking for an original quality pizza Tavanellos is the place to go.

Papa John’s Cheese pizza is the Goldilocks pizza of Wadsworth. The crust is not too fluffy yet not too thin. The sauce complements the crust and cheese instead of drowning them out. The mozzarella is melted to a perfect consistency. Papa John’s cheese pizza is also adaptable as you can choose your crust.

Weirdest Pizza Romeo’s has the Great Ranch & Potato Specialty Pizza.

With Italian Sausage, Caramelized Onions, Red Potatoes, Wisconsin Cheese Blend & Ranch Flavored Almonds on our Ranch Bacon Sauce, it makes it quite the interesting pizza packed with varies toppings.

THE BRUIN OPINION

BY DYLAN HEPPERT STAFF WRITER

HEAD TO HEAD

BY MICHAEL JIRA STAFF WRITER

Who will win, Godzilla or King Kong?

Why be a king, when you could be a god?

Between a giant radioactive lizard and a glorified ape, it is crystal clear that Godzilla will stomp his opponent in more ways than one.

Godzilla has many combat advantages over his opponent. Godzilla is an absolute unit, packed with deadly radiation. His strongest ability is the beam of radiation that he can charge up and shoot out of his mouth.

“I think Godzilla is going to win because he breathes plasma and King Kong is literally a just big monkey,” said sophomore Andrew Novak.

The next thing Godzilla can utilize is his tail whip. In the previous film Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Godzilla managed to knock the wind out of King Ghidorah, a 500 foot tall, three headed dragon, by whipping it with his massive tail. So if he managed

to do this, then he should have no trouble whipping Kong with the same power.

Also, Kong has no reliable weapons besides an ax made from one of Godzilla’s plates. They even had to increase Kong’s size to make this movie a somewhat fair fight, but even still he is outclassed by a longshot.

“King Kong is just an oversized monkey and Godzilla is a radioactive lizard that can breath fire,” said junior Stephen Hines.

Experience is a weapon in itself and even still the monkey stands no chance.

Godzilla has had a rough and long history of crushing monsters, and in his free time he destroys cities to restore nature.

I personally do not see any way how Kong could defeat Godzilla. He is a lot more mobile than Godzilla but Godzilla is literally a walking mass of armor and radiation.

“How is King Kong going to beat Godzilla?,” “Kong is going to get destroyed!” These are just two of the many statements I have heard about Godzilla vs Kong. Kong is definitely the underdog going into this match up, but that does not mean he is not going to be any easy opponent.

Kong is a very skilled fighter, as we saw in Kong: Skull Island. Both fighters have their advantages and disadvantages.

Kong has more combat experience, but he is much weaker.

“Kong’s muscular systems are superior to Godzilla,” said Junior Blaine Sanders.

“Kong is also more resilient.”

Kong will also have the help of the United States military. This might seem like a small thing, but in the grand scheme of things they will help a good bit. They will be able to distract Godzilla and allow Kong

to deliver some strong hits that otherwise Godzilla would block or counter.

Another thing is that Kong is going to fight until the very end. In the trailer, Kong has a relationship with a young girl character. Kong is going to defend her until he can not. So while Godzilla is just fighting for fun and to destroy, Kong has a reason to fight.

Godzilla is at a significant advantage going into the fight. Godzilla has defeated other very strong titans, and made it look rather easy. Kong has shown his fighting skill, and that he will not go down without a fight. Kong will have to prove that he is a good fighter and defeat Godzilla.

Kong will have to use all the advantages that he has and make use of the disadvantages that Godzilla has. If Godzilla uses Kong’s disadvantages well, it is going to be very difficult for Kong to win.

LIFE-LIKE MACHINES WILL ONLY BIG MEDIA LEADS TO BIG BIAS CAUSE FUTURE CONFLICTS to replace jobs in offices, banks, museums and airports, and can even be customized to fit a certain appearance. dvancements in artificial “I don’t know that there would ever intelligence (AI) that act, think and be a reason that a robot would need look like humans will only cause citizenship,” said Rohrer. “Why do they disasters in the far future. Problems need to have the good things about such as human job loss, human emotion being a citizen when they are a robot toward artificial intelligence and even and meant to do robot things?” robotic rights could sink in in the near to However this could end badly. What if far future. one day we rely so heavily upon Humans have been losing these machines that when jobs to new technology over “Why do they they are destroyed or hacked, the past 50 years. Some need to have we cannot do anything about machines are beneficial it because we have forgotten because they are able to the good things how to do our own jobs? do tasks that people may about being a As AI becomes more and struggle with such as working citizen when more human like, we as a with very small parts. society will begin to empathize “I think that there will they are a robot with them. This has already definitely be places where and meant to do begun in 2017 when Sophia they can be used,“ said became the first robot on earth robot things?”

WHS science teacher Mrs. to receive citizenship from a Rohrer. “I think that they -Mrs. Rohrer country. If enough humanoid could definitely have some WHS Science Teacher machines are produced in important functions but I the far future, then they could feel like sometimes we go possibly become a sort of race too far.” of humans. With a long history But recently, humanoid robots (robots of racial tensions on this planet, this that look and function like humans) have could certainly build onto it. begun to take jobs that humans normally The robotic industry has been dark would do. since about the end of 2019 (likely due A Russian start-up company named to COVID-19), so I am sure that new Promobot revealed their latest innovation advancements will be revealed soon back in 2019 called Robo-C. The Robo-C and I am not looking forward to seeing is a humanoid robot that is designed them.

OPINION BY DYLAN HEPPERT STAFF WRITER

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OPINION BY BEN KISSINGER GUEST WRITER

n an Axios poll published on January 21, only 46 percent of surveyed Americans said that they trusted traditional media -- an all time low. But this is by no means unwarranted. The traditional, mainstream media sources in the United States are incredibly biased in many ways, and their biases prove time and time again to be a detriment to our democracy.

There is no such thing as a truly objective, or neutral, journalist or news outlet. It is impossible -- because we all have our own points of view, our own political, cultural and economic biases.

Problems arise when outlets are not upfront with their biases, hence the gripe that a majority of Americans have with the media that they consume. The problematic biases of the mainstream media do not usually fall along any sort of left-or-right spectrum, but instead, they find themselves beholden to the establishment, supporting anything that is beneficial to big corporations. After all, it is billionaires that own many of these outlets.

But how do their biases affect their reporting? In the 2020 presidential primaries, more ‘anti-establishment’

candidates were done a disservice by many media outlets. Many Americans did not even know Andrew Yang or Tulsi Gabbard were running until they bowed out, let alone any of the policies that they stood for.

Mainstream coverage of President Biden’s actions are brighter than what one would uncover by reading the fine print. Many Americans remember recently when Biden supposedly signed a bill ending the use of private prisons across the country. What we were never told were some pretty crucial details -- the bill only applies to around 14,000 prisoners, or around .6 percent of the total 2.2 million Americans behind bars.

The media is supposed to be our watchdog.

It is supposed to protect us, the people, from the government and powerful corporations by giving us the honest, objective information that we need to form our own opinions.

As Americans, we have to prefer the journalists that are upfront with what they tell us. A journalist only has to hide their bias if their obligations are to something that a reader would not want to hear.

For example, while I hardly consider what I do to be journalism, I am still responsible for the information that I put out. I do not hide my biases; anyone who reads my work knows that I have no obligations to anything besides what I believe to be the truth. Thus, I urge you to think about what you consume.

Do your own fact-checking, and consider your sources.

FOLLOW @THEKISSINGERREPORT ON INSTAGRAM FOR MORE

WADSWORTHBRUIN.COM 17

THE BRUIN AD

Bidinger’s Ice Cream Opening day is March 13, 2021

Bring your own banana during opening weekend for discounted banana splits!

WE ARE HIRING! Applications can be found on our Facebook page Completed applications can be emailed to bidsicecream@gmail.com or dropped off at Bidinger’s

We congratulate our returning seniors for all of their hard work and wish them luck in their future endeavors!

18 MARCH 2021

FEATURE THE BRUIN

MEET OUR FOREIGN EXCHANGE STUDENTS D E N M Josephine A Sunesen, R 16 K ALBANIA PAGE BY NATALIE MAHER: NEWS EDITOR

What is the biggest difference between schooling in Denmark and schooling in the U.S.?

“I feel like it’s very individual. We watch the teacher and then do our own stuff. We don’t really talk to each other about the stuff we are learning. In Denmark I experienced it to be much more together.

We would work in groups all the time and it would be a very short period of time where the teachers would talk. ” What food do you miss the most?

“Most of the foods I actually found here. There is a special kind of bread [called] Rugbrød. We have a specific way of making it. It’s like a secret recipe or something.” (Rye bread) What did your average day look like in Denmark pre-COVID? “I played a sport at a pretty high level so I would wake up at seven.

We then start school at 8:05. The school ended at 2:45 or 3:00 depending on the days. The schedule would be different from day to day but it would be the same each week. So every Monday would be the same, every Tuesday would be the same but it wouldn’t be the same every day.”

What sport did you play and do you plan on playing any sports while at the high school?

“I played handball. I have played lacrosse since I got here.”

What has been the hardest adjustment you have had coming to the U.S. this year?

“It’s the school. The way you do homework. The way you organize the classes and stuff. [In Albania] you just have books for every class. You don’t do homework on computers.”

What is your favorite food that is local to Albania?

“Tave krapi. It’s like a fish soup.”

Have you tried any new food while in the US? Which did you like, what did you not like?

“Not much because we also have that kind of food in Albania but burgers are way better here.”

If you could teach Americans one word in Albanian what would it be?

“Përshëndetje.”

(Translates to “hello”) What made you want to be a foreign exchange student?

Why the U.S.?

“I started this program before COVID. I wanted to come here to see stuff. I wanted to learn new things [and] to improve my English skills. When I talk in English all day it improves.”

Matilde Riccardi, 17

I T A L Y

How do you play handball?

“It’s kind of like soccer and lacrosse together so you have the circle you can’t enter and then you have six players and one goalie. You try to get to the goal without crossing the line. It’s a bigger ball than lacrosse but a smaller ball than soccer.”

Have you tried any new food that you have not had the chance of trying in Denmark?

“I feel like the food is kind of different. I wouldn’t say it’s new food it’s just going out and stuff. We only have McDonald’s, Subway, Charles Jr, and Burger King. Like we have Starbucks but we don’t have frappuccinos and all that kind of stuff. Then we have restaurants of course. But like Wendy’s and all those kinds of things we don’t have and the sports bars, I’ve never tried that before. I feel like they serve more different stuff here.”

What has been the hardest thing to adjust to in the school?

“At first it was the time difference. I took the flight and I was awake in total for 24 hours. You went to bed early and woke up early and then you kind of got used to it. And the time difference, if I have to talk to people from my country it’s like right when I get off from school and it’s kind of hard. The biggest adjustment would be the school because it’s very different, not in a bad way, it’s just something you have to get used to.”

Do you play any sports?

“Soccer.”

Did you play at your high school?

“We don’t have much stuff there. We don’t have a regular team. [School sports] is not a big thing there. It depends on the school, how big it is and stuff.”

How big is your high school?

“Like 500 students.”

If you do not play soccer in high school, where do you play?

“Club. Clubs are regular back in Albania.”

What club do you play for?

“FC Scutari.”

How much time per week do you put into practicing soccer?

“We don’t have full week training but I practice at home or the gym [so] six days a week for an hour plus 15 hours for practicing.”

What are your plans after you graduate high school?

“Continue playing soccer.”

What grade would you be in back in Italy?

“The 12 grade but we have another grade next year. In the Italian school we don’t have it like the American high school. Every school has ten school subjects and you have to do everything of that. I am doing the same school subject for all five years of high school.”

Which style of high school do you like better?

“I prefer this. Because if you don’t like the school subject it’s like horrible. You have to do that for five years.”

How big is your high school back in Italy?

“It’s so small. We have like 500 maybe. It’s normal there. There are some big, huge high schools but it is extremely rare.”

Is there any major difference you have seen here compared to back in Italy?

“The teachers because they are so nice here. In Italy it’s different. The teachers are not nice with you. We have lunch after school and we don’t have seven or eight periods. We have six periods for one day.”

What has been the hardest transition?

“The time. I think it’s better. And the thing that you have to change your class every time. I don’t do that in Italy. You have the same class with the same people.”

Gerard Gojcaj, 16 Do you do any sports or extracurricular activities?

“I do. We don’t have sports in the high school so you have to do sports outside the high school, so I do kick-box. It’s like a membership with the gym. It depends.”

Have you tried any new food while you have been in the states?

“Yes, like pineapple pizza. I tried a lot of new stuff and I like everything so I’m so glad of that. The food it’s not bad. In Italy we have different kinds of food and it’s like so good but its not bad. I prefer the Italian food.”

What is one fun fact about you?

“In Italy, I am popular. I have a lot of friends. I am more [outgoing].”

Why did you want to be a foreign exchange student?

“Because it’s like my dream. I was dreaming about it when I was like ten years old. Its extremely sad because of COVID but I am so happy to be here.”

What are your plans after you graduate?

“I probably want to come back here in the USA in general. I’m not sure I have to go to the university in Italy maybe. But my huge dream is like live here.”

WADSWORTHBRUIN.COM 19

WHAT’S TRENDING

THE BRUIN WHAT’S TRENDING

BY ALEX MILLER ART & LAYOUT EDITOR & MICAH BECK PROMOTIONAL MARKETING EDITOR

Squishmallows

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adie Ellis, a senior at WHS, has recently started selling custom, handmade rings.

“I began making rings after I saw a few videos explaining how to make them,” said Ellis. “I posted a poll and I got an overwhelming amount of support. People seemed to love the idea of buying them.”

Ellis sells her rings for $5 apiece.

Customers can choose from a wide variety of stones, beads and wires.

To learn more about her business, follow @ringsbysadie on Instagram. Orders can be placed by sending a direct message.

PHOTO COURTESY OF KAITLYN DALLAS

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quishmallows are soft and squishy stuffed animals that have recently skyrocketed in popularity among all ages. Each Squishmallow has its own name and unique personality. They can be difficult to find but are sold at Five Below, CVS, Aldi, TJ Maxx, Target and more.

Junk of the Month

TikTok Pasta Recipes

SCAN TO WATCH VIDEO

E

maline Bing, a junior at WHS, drives a 1997 Oldsmobile. She received the car for her sixteenth birthday and has since hit four mailboxes.

“My parents picked the Oldsmobile for me,” said Bing.

“I’m glad to have a car, but I hate this one.”

SPEAK-OUT WHAT BUSINESS WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE COME TO WADSWORTH?

“In-N-Out Burger. That would be phenomenal.

Or a Winking Lizard if that doesn’t work out.”

-MYLES FORTNER, SOPHOMORE

20 MARCH 2021

@ringsbysadie

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wo pasta recipes have recently taken TikTok by storm. Baked feta pasta uses a block of feta cheese, tomatoes, and olive oil instead of a traditional sauce. Gigi Hadid’s spicy pasta is another popular recipe, using onion, garlic, tomato paste and cream. Scan the QR code to watch Bruin staffers Julia Blake and Kayla Ross compare the two dishes.

“I’d like to see a Raising Cane’s come to Wadsworth!”

“Chick-Fil-A would be a pretty good addition.”

-MORGAN KOVACH, SENIOR

-LEIA GONZALES, SOPHOMORE

“Swensons for sure.”

“Maybe a mini golf place.

That would be cool.”

-JOSH GRABOWSKI, SENIOR

-TYLER BING, FRESHMAN

“Olive Garden, and maybe some more activity centered things, like laser tag.”

-ELLA STARK, JUNIOR