WG ECHO November 2014 Issue

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STATE CHAMPS! November 2014 Volume 100 Issue 3 100 Selma Ave st. louis MO 63119 Photo by Alex Ring

Opinion

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Nobel winner brings attention to apathy towards women’s studies, feminism Irene Ryan Entertainment Editor

Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi won the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize “for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education.”

Malala, 17 years old, is the youngest Nobel Peace Prize recipient ever. This is perhaps best exemplified by The Guardian’s remark, “Malala is expected to make a statement at 4:30 p.m. after classes finish at Edgbaston High School for Girls in Birmingham [England].”

In 2012, Malala was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman but survived and con-

2014-15 ECHO STAFF EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Aerin Johnson JUNIOR EDITOR: Jack Killeen BUSINESS/ADS MANAGER: Alex Ring OPINION EDITOR: Andy Kimball NEWS EDITOR: Bennett Durando FEATURE EDITOR: Willie Zempel SPORTS EDITOR: Cal Lanouette ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR: Irene Ryan GRAPHICS/VIDEO EDITOR: Bret Waelterman WEB EDITOR: Phoebe Mussman PUBLIC RELATIONS: Brittany Patton CIRCULATION EDITOR: Andre Scott ADVISOR: Donald Johnson SOME MATERIAL COURTESY OF AMERICAN SOCIETY OF NEWSPAPER EDITORS/MCT CAMPUS HIGH SCHOOL NEWSPAPER SERVICE The ECHO is a monthly publication of the newspaper staff of Webster Groves High School, 100 Selma Avenue, Webster Groves, MO. To contact staff members, call 314-9636400 ex. 11157 or write wgecho@wgmail.org.

Unsigned editorials are the opinion of a majority of staff members; signed articles are the opinion of the writer.

Letters to the editor of 300 words or less are welcome; submit letters by the 10th of the month to wgecho@wgmail.org, or room 155. All letters must be signed, although the name may be withheld from publication if requested. The ECHO has the right to edit letters for publication as long as intent remains unchanged.

The ECHO is a member of SSP, Quill and Scroll, MJEA, JEA, MIPA and CSPA.

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tinues to fight for girls’ education. Why aren’t girls all over getting excited about activism? Malala is only a senior in high school, and students here have faced only a tiny amount of the adversity she has faced. There is so little emphasis on the potential power that all young girls could wield.

Webster had a women studies class, but it wasn’t offered this year. This is the first year that it hasn’t been offered in the 12 years Kristin Moore, who started the class, has been teaching it. It didn’t occur this year due to the dwindling number of students who have signed up.

Moore noticed a decline in members in the last five years. Before this, she would get 20 plus students per semester. This year, only 15 students signed up overall.

“I feel that in this generation, students are proving to be more apathetic. They recognize injustice, but there’s a fear of challenging and questioning the status quo,” Moore said. “It started with my

generation and extends on. We take it for granted: the sit ins, the hunger strikes. We take it for granted.”

In a survey conducted of 75 WGHS female students, 68 percent said they identify as feminist, which is refreshing.

However, the reasons as to why girls don’t identify as feminists were startling. The responses ranged anywhere from “There is no problem [with sexism] today” to “Because I love men.” A surprising number of people said the survey was sexist because it wasn’t distributed to male students too. Girls actually felt that something was sexist because their male counterparts didn’t receive it as well. Are girls really that accepting of their disadvantage in life that when they get any “special treatment,” like a small survey, they think it’s sexist?

Girls and women all over can take a very important message from Malala: that despite a society that is stacked against us, women can and should make a difference.

Willie’s Comic

Comic by Willie Zempel

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Statesmen should crack down on flu

Andy Kimball Opinion Columnist As the holiday season comes upon us, so does another less joyful time of year: flu season.

The influenza virus, or flu, is a contagious disease that has become less of an issue because of vaccinations.

In a school setting, someone who isn’t vaccinated could easily obtain the virus from other students doing simple things like playing tag or bumping shoulders in

the hallway.

It is in the school’s best interest to require flu vaccinations for all students to stop the spread of the disease and protect all students and faculty from the disease.

According to pediatrics.about.com, since the 2003-2004 flu season there have been a total of 1,239 deaths of children ranging from six months to eighteen years old from the flu virus. That’s an average of about 113 deaths, per year. Those numbers were raised significantly by the 282 child deaths from the swine flu epidemic in the 2009-2010 flu season.

One of the arguments from people who are against vaccinations is that the vaccination gives them the flu virus, but according to school nurse Rachel Huertas, “The flu virus is a dead virus, so it wouldn’t be possible for a vaccination to give someone the disease.”

An easy way to help prevent people at school from contracting the virus is to receive a yearly flu vaccination from your local doctor or pediatrician. In the 20122013 flu season 90 percent of flu related deaths came from children who weren’t fully vaccinated. That number was 80 percent in the 2013-2014 flu season.

New Jersey schools have already required flu vaccinations for all students.

Since it is hard for schools to force parents to give their children vaccinations, schools could add an extra day near the beginning of flu season to bring the students to school and give them the vaccinations and then make up the day at the end of the year.

Giving every student a vaccination would help stop the flu virus and protect students from the disease.

Letters to the Editor

Reader supports intramural sports

To Bennett Durando: I really enjoyed your article in the September Echo.

I just grabbed my yearbook and counted up the number of intramural basketball players who were part of the program when I was in high school, back in the dark ages. There were 180. For volleyball, there were 240. Twelve teams for each sport!

The Varsity players kind of ran the whole thing. They set

Reader accuses ECHO of censorship*

If you look on the bottom right of page two, you’ll notice something you probably never bothered to read. I’ll repeat it here for those who are too enthralled by my writing to avert their eyes. “The ECHO has the right to edit letters for publication as long as intent remains unchanged” Allow yourself a minute for that freedom-crushing phrase to sink in. The ECHO can literally do anything they want to anything you say. Even now, your gasps of shock may be warped by their machinations.

You may protest that the ECHO is unwilling to alter “intent”.

This may be true, but this is a slippery slope WGHS is descending. Today the ECHO removes typos and swear words, tomorrow Feature Editor Willy Zemple will be voted Dictator-for-Life of a totalitarian state encompassing the school and its environs.

Students of Webster, this is a clear violation of the 1st amendment. Or the fifth. I failed US gov. In any case, they might as well have walked up to the constitution and spit on it. Or is it spat?

Not great at English either.

up the schedule, served as refs, etc. We played games once a week. Amazing how something so big could completely vanish from the high school scene. I agree with all your points, particularly the wellness benefits of “less competitive sports” programs. Seems like it’s time for a resurrection.

Good luck getting access to the gym.

Jane Raimondo Special School District Teacher The ECHO will edit out any opposition to their new order, which kind of makes me wonder why I sent this to them. Come to think of it, by the time you read this, it may be a fascist essay praising the values of censorship.

Act fast, Webster. Express your American right to freedom and justice and liberty and equality and guns and a fair trial and soldier-free homes, all at the same time if necessary.

However, in light of the Ferguson crisis, I would discourage overturning desks and lobbing molotov cocktails into the journalism room. Respectfully worded letters may be address to wgecho@wgmail.org. Go quickly, before the ECHO’s plot descends like a miasma around our country.

It’s fate may rest in your hands.

(The writer of this piece would like his or her name to remain anonymous, lest the ECHO send a secret police squad to eliminate him or her.) *Editor’s Note: the ECHO has made no edits or changes to this letter.

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Opinion

Kimball Konception

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Japanese business people visit WGHS to learn about program Phoebe Mussman Web Editor

Business men and women from Suwa, Japan, travelled to St. Louis on Oct. 28, to tour WGHS, talk with students and learn about the high school’s Japanese program.

“The other language programs like the Spanish, German and French classes can travel and talk with native speakers. We don’t get to meet a lot of Japanese people, so this is a big deal,” senior Aerin Johnson said.

The visitors booked a hotel near the airport for a three-day visit and to see how high school language programs work in St. Louis, Suwa’s sister city. Japanese students prepared for the visit by practicing speaking Japanese in class and by creating posters proclaiming, “Welcome Suwa!” The visitors toured the school specifically to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the St. Louis-Suwa Sister City Program.

“There was a variety of people from Suwa.

There were some educators, people from the International Friendship Association, a lot of politicians, chairmen: mostly people involved in international relationships,” Japanese teacher Trish Powers explained.

“They wanted to see American schools and how their Japanese classes worked. Especially for the third and fourth year students, it was a good opportunity. It’s great to see how much they can really communicate and use their language skills,” Powers said.

During third hour, Dr. Jon Clark took the group on a tour of the school and in fourth hour both Photo by Stephen Knapp the visitors and students gathered in the Japanese Students converse with the Japanese visitors and snack from a classroom for a party with trivia games, speaking table of food during the festivities on Oct. 28, celebrating the 40activities and food. Powers explained the aspects year anniversary of the St. Louis-Suwa Sister City Program. of WGHS’s Japanese program to the visitors.

“It was a fun visit and a good experience for all involved,” Stephen Knapp, president of the St. Louis Suwa- partook in the festivities on Oct. 28, and said she really enjoyed it.

Sister City Committee said “America and Japan are quite different. Here there are a lot Half of the Suwa delegation visited Parkway South, because it’s the only other public school here currently teaching Japa- of people from other countries. In Japan, almost everybody is Asian!” she said. “There all the students stay in one class, and nese.

“They said we had a really nice building and kept asking me, the teachers move to each class; I like that better. This school is ‘Are you sure this is a public high school?’” Powers said. “I very, very big and sometimes I get lost.”

Japanese students test right after middle school for entrance do think it was a success. They were very impressed with our into high schools geared towards specific careers, so in contrast school and especially surprised by the options that we have.”

Anna Horiai is a Japanese exchange student who stays in a WGHS offers a much more well-rounded education. home stay with freshmen Logan Havice and Jade Kreckler. She

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Second annual hip-hop showcase comes to Little Theater stage Brittany Patton Opinion/News Editor

Students rapped, rhymed, stomped and sang on the Little Theater stage for the Hip-Hop Showcase on Oct. 29.

There’s always a Talent Showcase, but as of last year there has also been a Hip-hop Showcase. The thing that sets these two apart is that the Hip-hop Showcase is all hip-hop and R&B, and the performance was in the Little Theater.

“The hip-hop club had rappers that needed to show off their work,” drama teacher Todd Schaefer said about why the Hip-hop Showcase was started.

Schaefer also said 45-50 people attended the Showcase, with the ticket price being $2. The money earned by the showcase goes to into the SAA budget to pay for the plays it does and the SAA Senior Scholarship at the end of the year.

The Hip-Hop Showcase roster included senior rappers Marquis Houston, Wes Ragland and Jalen Miles, sopho-

more rapper Che D’Skew, and junior rapper Dorian Palmer. Singers’ sophomore Lamaya McBride performed Sam Smith’s “Latch (Acoustic),” and Octavia Swapshire, junior, also sang. The step team performed as well.

Senior Jalen Miles preformed his original rap “Dream.”

Miles just transferred to WGHS this school year.

“I found out about hip-hop club and was excited to see there was people that had the same passion that I had and could collaborate with and that was willing to work hard,” Miles said.

Miles added the thing he enjoyed the most was getting on stage to rap, and hearing the applause at the end. He also enjoyed watching the others preform.

“It was great to see them performer because I knew they worked hard for it,” Miles said.

In addition, the Hip-Hop Showcase included one of the most prominent performances in hip-hop: the cypher. The cypher is when a group of rappers stand in a circle, and they pass the mic around rapping. Miles commented towards the end they had a lot of fun with it.

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Contestants strive to become next Mr. Webster Willie Zempel Feature Editor

DECA’s third annual Mr. Webster Pageant takes place on Dec. 4, at 7 p.m. and features seniors trying to impress judges and woo the audience. The price of the event will be $5 for pre-order and $7 at Photo from Nordmann Photography the door.

DECA chose 12 seniors. The contestants of Mr. Webster pose during one of their photo shoots.

“When choosing contestants, we tried to bring in a good diversity of talents and people.

“We’re trying to expand Mr. Webster. It is a well-known event We had over 25 people apply, and we had to make some tough now. We’re working to make the videos as professional as posdecisions. We based our decisions off of applications and inter- sible this year. We even have the mayor in one of our videos,” views and what groups of the school we would bring in. I think O’Loughlin said. we made good selections,” senior director Natalie O’Loughlin In past years, there was a beach theme for the modeling porsaid. tion, but it was changed this year to a superhero theme. The Contestants will compete for the honor of becoming Mr. Web- dance at the start will be a Justin Timberlake mix. ster and getting a free tuxedo for prom.

DECA runs the event to fund its New York trip in the spring.

The event is similar to recent years. Each contestant gets Mr. Webster is organized by seniors Sam Craig, O’Loughlin, Olhis own promotional video of whatever he feels will help him ivia Rosemann, Alexis Burke and Alex Martin. win. The videos are being shot and edited by sophomore Shane There will also be the calendars this year, featuring each conDioneda and can be seen on the YouTube channel, “MrWeb- testant on his own month. The calendars will cost $15. ster2014.”

We asked each contestant their talent and why they should become the next Mr. Webster.

Jordan Shumate

Luke Eberhard

Alex “Chicken” Ring

Wes Wride

Ben Hogg

Cam Hilton

Talent: Super ultimate advanced hand-eye coordination Why I should win: I can’t win anything else.

Talent: Step Club Routine Why I should win: I want the $1,000 cash prize. ***ECHO NOTE: There is no cash prize.

Talent: Playing theme songs on sax to skits Why I should win: I’m in it for the ladies.

Joge Shimotani

Talent: Kendo match with my father Why I should win: To help show Webster’s diversity.

Rob Thompson

Talent: Super long intricate handshake Why I should win: I’m the guy for the job.

Alex Floresca

Talent: Crazy painting Why I should win: Everybody loves AFlo.

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Talent: Shredding Why I should win: I rigged the voting system.

Talent: Singing and piano Why I should win: I not only look good in men’s clothes but women’s clothes as well.

Talent: Napoleon Dynamite Dance Why I should win: I represent Webster as a leader, student and athlete. I’m a good role model for younger students.

Oliver Osburn

Talent: Bass duet with senior Tilton Yokley Why I should win: If you ain’t first, you’re last.

Garret Doria

Talent: Duet with senior Sophie Sears Why I should win: I need a new last name.

Austin Freeman

Talent: Miming Why I should win: I have a nice smile.

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Students enjoy Thanksgiving holiday Andy Kimball Opinion Editor

Photo from www.kirkwoodmo.org The Kirkwood-Webster Turkey Day Run is a Thanksgiving tradition for the students of Webster Groves and Kirkwood High Schools. The Turkey Day Run begins at 7:30 a.m. for the three-mile run and 8:10 a.m. for the six-mile run at the Kirkwood Farmer’s Market.

Thanksgiving is a time where families come together, spend time and feast.

Webster Groves has a lot of Thanksgiving traditions.

There is the early Morning Turkey Day run for people of all ages with three and six mile early morning runs.

Also there is the all-important Kirkwood Webster football game that has been around for over 100 years.

Sophomore Kurt Krautman talked about his Turkey Day traditions which included the “Turkey Day run with my siblings, Turkey Day (game).”

Krautman also “goes to a movie every night after dinner with my family.”

His favorite part of Thanksgiving is “Turkey Day, and the stuff leading up to Turkey Day (Spirit Week, bonfire and the pep rally/ChiliFest).”

Krautman also joins the family of sophomore Michael Greaves after the Turkey Day run with other runners from the morning.

Greaves said the waffle breakfast is a gathering of friends, family. “Before Turkey Day Run, we set up and play football in backyard, we eat pancakes and waffles after (the run), and sometimes we go to the Turkey Day game after.”

Greaves’ favorite part of the pancake breakfast is “Seeing people we haven’t seen in a while, friends and family.”

Your Times.

Go Statesmen!

facebook.com/WebsterKirkwoodTimes twitter.com/WKTimes websterkirkwoodtimes.com

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WGHS celebrates Veterans’ Day Aerin Johnson Editor-In-Chief

Veterans and current U.S. Military personnel came to share their stories from war time, active duty and training on Nov. 7.

“I started this in honor of our veterans because I have always felt the need to thank the Veterans and show my appreciation to them,” said Terry Verstraete, social studies teacher.

November 11, the day Americans know as Veterans’ Day, came about from World War I, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs. At the time, WWI was known as “the war to end all wars.” Though the Treaty of Versaillles was signed on June 29, 1919, the fighting officially ended on Nov. 11, 1918.

In 1926, the U.S. government made a proposal to make Nov. 11 an official holiday. The act was approved in 1938 and the holiday was called “Armistice Day.” Later in 1954, after World War II, the word “Armistice” was replaced with “Veterans” in order to honor the people in all wars, not just WWI. “We were originally going to just build it [Veteran’s Day Celebration] around D-Day, the during the summer via the TV or the radio heard about the other two anniversaries, World War I and

Bret Waelterman Video/Graphics Editor the Gulf of Tonkin,” said Pat Voss, Alumni Relations coordinator, about the planning the week for Veterans’ Day. During the week of Veterans’ Day, students participated in several different activities. Voss said they planned activities around thing that students in the 21st century would not understand such as drafting, rationing and drawings of Kilroy.

Kilroy was originally created by James Kilroy, a ship inspector to show that he had inspected the ships. The soldiers in boats did not know this, but liked the symbol so much that they used to it to mark where they had been in Europe and the Pacific.

On Friday Nov. 7, Veterans came to the school and went to all the Social Studies classes and told stories of their time in the armed forces. There also was an Assembly at 8 am honoring the fallen, POW and MIA. During the ceremony, there was a table set up for the MIA soldiers of Vietnam due to there being a large amount on MIAs during that particular war. The table had a glass, a red rose, a lemon slice and salt on it in order to remember the missing soldiers.

Photo by Aerin Johnson Latin Teacher Jeff Smith shows two visitors the social studies hallways bulletin board honoring WGHS staff members who have been involved with the military.

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Fun Facts -There are 23.2 million Veterans in the US -9.2 million Veterans are over the age of 65 -7.8 million Veterans served during the Vietnam War -1.8 million Veterans are women Photos by Bret Waelterman and Aerin Johnson Veterans gathered in the social studies department on Nov. 7, to meet and talk with students about their military experiences.

Facts from History.com

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Photo by Scott Kinworthy Chamber Choir will perform at this year’s MMEA Conference which goes from Jan. 28-31, this school year. The chamber choir consists of both men and women from every level of high school and the choir is made up of 39 students. (Two were absent from the photo).

Chamber Choir to perform at state music convention Cal Lanouette Sports Editor Chamber Choir was selected to perform at the state music conference. The choir was one of two 5A schools selected to perform out of 169 applicants.

During the weekend, the conference has scheduled performances from choirs in the state.

“It is very exciting,” said senior Bobby Drexl. “It’s a great opportunity as well as a large responsibility to perform at this conference because we were one of many selected to perform.”

The conference is called the 2015 Missouri Music Educators Association (MMEA) Conference, and it is Jan. 2831. The MMEA is a federated association of The National Association for Music Education (NAFME) according to mmea. net.

The MMEA has held the state music conference each year since 2011 around the end of January. Music teachers from all around Missouri go to “listen to concerts, they’ll go to workshops, clinics and have guest people come in and do a professional development just for music teachers,” according to choir teacher Scott Kinworthy.

The process takes two years to apply and be accepted to perform at the conference.

“Last year’s choir was the recording I sent in to the state, and so last year’s choir did all the work as far as getting us in,” said Kinworthy. “You really have to be good two years in a row to be able to perform at the conference.”

“It’s the highest honor in the state, the highest honor you can achieve,” said Kinworthy. “After this, you’d go to a regional and then a national stage, so for the state of Missouri, there is no higher honor for a choir to get selected.”

News in brief...

Varsity to play T-Day

JV places in contest

Hall of Fame honors senior

CBC defeated the Kirkwood Pioneers 55-10 in the Nov. 14, playoff game.

This takes Kirkwood out of contention for State and assures a Varsity Turkey Day game with Webster Groves.

Participating in its first tournament, the JV Scholar Bowl Team placed third, missing second place by one question.

Team members are junior Nate Weiskopf, junior Dean Krueger, junior Alex McGinnis and freshman Ben Varghese.

Krueger also scored third place in overall individual points scored and won a Book Prize.

Senior Maddie Pokorny was given a Future Soccer Stars Award by St. Louis Soccer Hall of Fame Oct. 18.

Pokorny leads in these categories for Webster soccer: single season points (64 in 2014), single season goals (26 in 2013), and career goal scoring leader (61 goals).

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Deandre Scott Circulation Manager “Ten ways to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse” by Don Zolidis was performed in the Little Theater on Nov. 20, 21, and 22.

This is the drama department’s second time doing a play by Zolidis. The first was in the 2012-13 season when it produced “The Greek Mythology Olympiaganza.”

Having a cast of 15, there are five zombies and eight survivalists and two narrators recounting the scenarios from start to finish.

It was directed by drama/ tech. theater teacher Todd Schaefer, student director senior Jonah Schnell and stage manager sophomore Maggie Pool.

Characters were zombies one to five played by seniors Aerin Johnson and Allison O’Brien, and sophomores Loren Kahrhoff and Jake Shuett, and freshman Connor Hanneken.

The survivalists were played by seniors Thomas Maisel, Sarah Addison, Reilly Thompson, Court-

ney DeGroot, Jeremy Spriggs and Robert Drexl, junior Goldie Raznick, freshmen Marie Bordmeier, freshmen Thomas Putnam, and Elliot Williams, and Sophomores Emma Dowling, Miles Umbaugh and Ben Hardin.

The play goes through 10 ways of surviving the zombie apocalypse (if there ever was one) with each cast member playing a new person in every new way.

Senior Reilly Thompson said her favorite part is “ There’s this one scene where you have to romance the zombies.”

To produce the play Schaefer worked hard to make the cost was initially nothing bout overall spent $250. Rehearsals for “Zombies” began on Oct. 22 “Zombies” is not Photo by Bret Waelterman a part of the regular Seniors Allison O’Brien and Aerin Johnson, sophomores Jake Shuett show season, unlike and Loren Karhoff, and freshman Connor Hanneken attack each other the upcoming January after being “romanced” by sophomore Emma Dowling, who plays a play “Fences” by Ausurvivor in “10 Ways to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse.” gust Wilson.

Follow Bennett Durando’s live Turkey Day Game via Twitter @wgecho

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Play teaches zombie survival skills

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Bennett from the Bleachers

They’re history

Soccer team immortalizes itself in WGHS history

As junior Sheriden Smith broke down the field toward the sideline nearest Webster’s student section, all the years of “not enough,” of “nowhere close,” of “maybe next year” blew away into the cold air with the screams of the Webster faithful.

When Smith finally went down under a hard tackle that earned Glendale a yellow card, the clock stood still reading 10.3. At last everyone could rejoice.

The 2014 Statesmen are State champions.

This soccer team completed its championship journey with a 1-0 shutout of Glendale (Springfield) High School on Saturday Nov. 15, at Blue Springs South HS. The Statesmen did it after having won a District championship only once in the program’s history. That came 27 years ago.

They did it after never having won a State playoff game until this year’s round of 16, when Smith scored twice in the final 18 minutes to beat St. Mary’s 2-0.

They did it after reaching the Final Four for the first time in program history, behind junior John Conley’s pair of goals at Selma Field against Poplar Bluff, another 2-0 winner.

They did it after seemingly being “Ladue-d” in the semifinal versus SmithCotton. Two goals in a five minute stretch tied it with 19 minutes to play for SC, but Smith came to the rescue again, striking the game-winner from the top of the box with 14:51 left, then sealing the 4-2 victory with another goal four minutes later.

“We didn’t get rattled,”Varsity head coach Tim Cashel said. “(Smith) responded to the situation. The third goal reestablished our control, and the fourth essentially ended it.”

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They did it in the State Final with a ninth-minute header goal from senior Willie Zempel, one of the ECHO’s own.

“After the (championship) game, I decided that I’d never play another high school soccer game again,” said Zempel jokingly, in the knowledge that he’ll graduate after this year.

Zempel, a center defender, had scored five goals on the season prior to the eventual State-winner. All of them were scored off set pieces.

“Once (Zempel) scored this season, he just… couldn’t stop scoring,” Cashel said.

“We really wanted that final game to be the product of our experience, and it was.”

Now there are big goals; and then there’s this goal. Junior Cam Oliver’s deep free kick from 34 yards out at the left wing sailed with a soft touch over the defense to the far post, where Zempel met it with his diving head, sending the ball rolling off the fingertips of the Glendale goalie and into the back of the net.

“So I was thinking, ‘Hey look, the ball’s coming; I guess I should head it,’ so I headed it,” Zempel simply said of his goal. It wouldn’t be the last time in the game Zempel’s head would come up big for the Statesmen.

Up 1-0, Zempel and the back line had to go into lockdown mode to keep senior goalie Sam Craig safe from a Glendale equalizer.

“Yes, the goal was great, but the shutout was just as great,” Cashel said. “Our goal coming in was to keep a clean sheet.”

It couldn’t have been easy for the Statesmen defense to hold up a one-goal lead for 70 minutes in the most important game in WGHS soccer history, but along the razor’s edge, the experienced back line passed its biggest test.

It’s a defense that consists of Zempel, the lone senior, and juniors John Conley, David Richards, Trey Paloucek and Caleb Kuhn.

“The kids did an awesome job in implementing our tactical approach,” Cashel remarked. Zempel continued to have the

game of his life after the goal, making several massive clearances to extinguish Glendale’s hopes.

A towering through ball about 20 minutes in left Zempel in a one-on-one chase with a defender toward Webster’s goal, but he wheeled around 180 degrees and got his foot to it to clear it back to midfield.

Soon after, Zempel cleared a similar through ball with a header, and on two crosses out of the corner in the second half his head continued to get in the way of Glendale’s strikers, clearing out both threats.

Then on yet another long send that got all the way into the box, Zempel beat the Glendale forward to the ball and booted it a mile over the goal to force a corner, which was harmlessly disposed of by Webster with about 25 minutes to play.

Thanks to the defense, few chances got all the way to Craig in the final, and when they did, he was willing to throw his body in the way to handle them. His most notable moment of the final came with the clock ticking under four minutes, when Glendale crowded the box for a wellplaced cross from the corner.

Craig dangerously leapt in front of Glendale’s forwards and somehow came down with the sensational flailing catch.

Craig was banged up and slow to get to his feet, but Cashel was confident his senior goalie could complete the shutout.

“He did take a knock. He’s had tightness in his lower back,” Cashel remarked.

“At that point we were trying to slow things down anyway, so we let him take his time to get up, but we wanted him to finish it out.”

Craig did just that, notching his third clean sheet in four games to help lead the Statesmen to the final celebration. They won’t stop celebrating this for a long time in Webster.

“Wow, you’re not gonna let me enjoy this at all, are you?” Cashel said about what’s next for the program.

You can go ahead and enjoy it.

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Photo by Bret Waelterman Senior Savion Logan takes the slow walk away from Moss Field after Webster’s season-ending 34-28 defeat against Ladue.

Bennett Durando Sports Columnist Senior quarterback Rob Thompson ducked out of a sack, stepped up in the pocket, pump faked and retreated, then finally went down under the pressure of the Ladue defensive line ... and its student section.

The Statesmen football team was not able to hold up a 22-point second-half lead in the Nov. 7 district championship game against the Ladue Rams, just as Thompson and the offensive line were not able to hold up long enough to get a throw off on the final play at Moss Field.

A halftime score of 28-6 all but convinced Webster fans that their team would move one step closer to a state title, but a jarring second half left the Statesmen with

a 34-28 loss to Ladue and an end to Webster’s season.

Missed chances: Webster had opportunities to put the game out of reach, especially on two occasions in the third quarter. After Ladue had scraped to within 15 on a 41-yard touchdown pass, Webster countered, driving within three yards of extending the lead back to 22 points.

However, the first and goal at the three yard line resulted in a turnover on downs after three incompletions and a sack. A touchdown would’ve had the Statesmen up by three touchdowns with 6 ½ minutes to go in the third.

The Statesmen got it back and drove into the red zone again but came up empty, which would come back to haunt them.

On fourth and one at the 18-yard line, Webster tried a short lob pass along the left sideline, but it fell incomplete.

Injury woes: A 28-13 lead at that point in the game seemed safe, but Statesmen linebackers were dropping like flies.

“Where do I start?” said assistant coach Scott Stallcup about what went wrong in the second half. “(Sophomore) Marcel Jones left with a concussion, and we had some other guys on defense that had to leave also ...”

“That’s no excuse for the defense by any means. It’s just that we didn’t have all that much depth in that game,” said Stallcup. “By the end of the game, we were basically playing with our JV linebackers.”

On Ladue’s eventual game-winning drive, a defensive holding turned a potential third and long into an automatic first down.

Then on first and 20 (after an offensive holding), Ladue’s quarterback/kicker, Jack Fox, a self-proclaimed unsuccessful runner at QB, charged untouched up the middle for 37 yards and the gamewinning score with 36.4 seconds left. For good measure, Fox and the Rams added a two-point conversion, Webster’s last defensive play of the season … until Turkey Day. Outfoxed: Ladue’s Fox made his presence felt in several ways, ultimately leading the 72-yard winning drive in the final 2:19.

He passed for 151 yards, but his legs were a bigger factor in the Rams’ comeback, in more ways than one. In the first half, after Ladue had fallen behind 14-0 early, Fox kept the Rams in it with a 26yard field goal, then an eye-widening 43yard boot to pull within one possession.

Fox added an astronomical 71-yard punt. Only two punts in the NFL have surpassed that distance this year. In pro football, the average punt distance is in the mid-to-high 40s.

Then came his 37-yard scramble. Fox told stltoday.com, “I’m in shock right now. I don’t run the ball. That’s the first time I’ve ever done that.”

One more chance?: Now Webster’s seniors, who never made it to the Dome, have one final chance to play — in the great Webster-Kirkwood Thanksgiving tradition, the Turkey Day Game. That is thanks to Kirkwood’s 55-10 loss in the Class Six semi-final, when they were one win away from a State Final, and thus a JV Turkey Day matchup.

Still, it was a heartbreaking finish to the Statesmen’s’ season. This team, ranked second in Missouri Class Five and defending a trip to last year’s semifinals, went down with a bang to Ladue and its rowdy student section, which stormed the field in celebration as the final play was still concluding.

The fans, when permitted, are supposed to wait to rush the field until after the teams have shaken hands and cleared the turf. Instead, senior quarterback Rob Thompson appeared lucky to still have his head after being trampled following the game-icing sack.

It came one play after Thompson just overshot senior receiver Cam Hilton in the back of the end zone from 39 yards deep.

On the Webster side, fans quietly left the stands while the marching band halfheartedly tried to play the fight song one last time.

It fizzles out within seconds... As did the Statesmen’s’ hopes for a State championship.

November 2014

Sports

Down 22, Ladue storms back, ends Statesmen’s season

14 ECHO Where to go when you have to go

Feature

the

Alex Ring Business Manager

plained Chester Kennedy, who is the head custodian. Kennedy said, “Each year the bathrooms with the most problems are reIn the five minutes between classes, viewed and fixed.” students have time to visit another imporThe use of the bathroom has extended tant room in the high school, the restpast the traditional disposal of waste. Six room. Out of the 40 bathrooms available years ago Taylor Reynolds found that stuto students, where should you go? dents tend to tune out announcements so Whether students spend the time catchReynolds found that the captive audience ing up with an old friend, reading a flyer in the bathroom is a great place to spread about upcoming events or taking care of information. business, they spend considerable time in “Students are forced to read ‘Potty the bathroom.

Mouth’ because they can’t move when For senior Ian Fairley, the bathroom is they pee,” senior Cam Hilton said. “just a really cool place to hang out.” FairAccording to a report on eHow, most ley and a group of cross country runners germs on the toilet are found on the called “Dream Team” meet every day behandle, not the toilet seat. Another misfore practice in what they call “the waterconception is that the toilet has the most ing hole.” This is the bathroom behind the germs when in fact the average office desk cafeteria by the vending machines. They has more germs on it than a toilet seat. prefer this bathroom over others because According to Kennedy, the procedure “not a lot of people use it and the sink is for cleaning bathrooms is disinfect, mop a nice central meeting place for the bathand then restock.

They disinfect the toilet, room.” Fairley said he is more than satisthe sink, the handles and the stall doors. They then mop the floors to clean any surface filth, and they finish by restocking the towels and toilet paper.

Senior Laura Workman said the girl’s bathrooms are “so awful because there is only one stall, and it is awkward having to wait and listen to a girl pee, as well as the atmosphere just feels dirty.”

After sorting through the bathrooms, we concluded that the nicest bathrooms are located in the basement of the new building.

The worst bathrooms, according the Echo staff, are the bathrooms in the

Photos by Alex Ring English hallway. This is beThe sinks in the basement bathrooms shown at the top of the page are kept very clean. cause they are too small and The toilet (shown here) in the Roberts Gym men’s bathroom has fecal remnants in it. have a bad smell.

November 2014

fied with this bathroom.

Not all of the people who “go” are completely satisfied with the bathrooms.

The main problems are the smells and inadequate drying options. The standard paper towel works well, but not all of the bathrooms are equipped with them. Instead bathrooms like the ones across from Roberts Gym are equipped with blow dryers that do not blow hot enough air and with enough force, leaving students no other option but to dry the water off on their clothes. If students have a problem with the bathrooms, they should contact a custodian, and the custodial staff will put in a report for maintenance.

Latin teacher, Jeff Smith said this year was the first out of his 11 at the high school that he has had hot water in the bathroom. The upgrade to the third floor bathroom “thrilled” Smith.

This was one of the renovations that happened at the beginning of the year ex-

the

ECHO

15

‘Big Hero 6’ brings laughs, awwwwws Aerin Johnson Editor in Chief

Entertainment

Let’s get super...

Every once in a while I and a few friends go and see a movie. During this month, we decided that we would go and see the movie “Big Hero 6.” We were not disappointed.

“Big Hero 6” is the latest movie from Walt Disney Animation Studios, which also created last year’s favorite movie of “Frozen.”

The story is that of Hiro Hamada (Ryan Potter) and his journey to find the person that caused his brother’s, Tadashi (Daniel Henney) death after Hiro presented a projPhoto from Movies.Disney.com ect to one of Tadashi’s professors. Hiro Since its premiere Nov. 7, “Big Hero 6” has made $110.3 million in theaters and looks for a man in a Kabuki mask who has an 89 percent fresh tomatoes score from Rottentomatoes.com. stole the project after they blew up the place the meeting had been held in. Luck- that we deal with everyday. We watch as simply amazing and are great during acily, he has on his side four college students this “classic” love story play out before tion sequences. Sometimes, you really and marshmallow-like robot named Bay- our eyes. It makes us want to laugh and feel like you are about to be swallowed up cry all at the same time. by them. The suits that are made as well, max (Scott Adsit).

Then, came on “Big Hero 6” and from are very impressive, and Baymax espeSitting in the theater, I was not sure what I was going to expect. I had seen the the very first few moments of the movie, cially has some pretty amazing sequences commercials, but I was unsure of what I was laughing. The comedy is absolutely in the suit, such as when he’s flying and would happen. As the movie began (as did hysterical. It seems to be the one-liners when he learns to fight.

Overall this is a great movie for people thievery of popcorn), I started to relax as in this movie that steal your laughs and the Disney short “Feast” came on, alerting the conversations between characters that of all ages. It is a very family orientated give you those “Awwwww” moments. It movie and is great to see over the holius that the movie would soon start.

“Feast” itself was very cute. It is about seemed like the voice actors were all per- days!

“Big Hero 6” is rated PG and runs 102 a dog, Winston, that is brought off the fect for their parts.

The action sequences are fantastic as minutes. streets into the home of a man who seems to have all the same troubles in romance well. The microbots created by Hiro are

Upcoming movies and concerts 11/26 Horrible Boss 2 (Rated R) 11/26 Penguins of Madagascar (PG) 11/26 Blood On The Dance Floor (At Fubar) 11/28 The Imitation Game (PG-13) 11/28 The Urge (At The Pageant) 12/2 Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker (At Peabody Opera House) 12/9 The Black Keys (At The Scotttrade Center) 12/9 Hot Topic Presents Black Veil Brides w/ Falling In Reverse (At The Pageant) 12/19 Annie (PG) 12/25 Into The Woods (PG)

November 2014

ECHO FAMILY

The ECHO Family are some of the most benevolent members of our community, who with their donations support high school journalism and help make publications such as the ECHO possible. To become a member of the ECHO Family, please contact Alex Ring at ring.alexlee@gmail.com Laurie Murphy Kathy Whaley Julie Harrelson Mary Ann & Don Schafer Dugan Family James Williams Dr. Sarah Riss Curtin Family Kevin Killeen

November 2014

Webster Groves Baptist Church Zychinski Family Cross Vitale The Jeffries Mickey Hayes Billy Johnson Jameson Howard Gavin Turner Isaiah Oesterlei