Winter/Christmas Pilot 2019

Pilot Volume 25 Issue 2 December 2018

Collage drawn by Samantha Xu

WL HS Da Vet y 2 era 01 ns 8

Veterans

Live Well for the Fallen Guest Speaker: Retired Staff Sergeant John Wayne Walding

• Iraq and Afghanistan Veteran • Lost his leg in battle and went on to fight for four more hours with his lower leg tied to his thigh • Became first ever amputee Green Beret Sniper • Using a hand crank, he placed 4th in the 2009 Boston Marathon

“Stop being good. Start being great.”

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Communication

Social Media: The Wrong Way to Socialize

By Paublova Cassis

Teens today can’t go a day without social media. For some teens, checking Snapchat and Instagram is turning into their biggest priority in life. Social media is not only useful for knowing what is going on with friends or famous people but also for developing businesses and making artists become more well-known. Social media has many benefits, but we should limit our time on it for several reasons.

One drawback of social media is it can cause intense jealousy over lifestyles that seem to be illusions. Most of the pictures that people take online about their experiences are staged. Many teens are envious of these relationships and lifestyles that don’t even exist. They may compare their lives that are “boring” to other people’s pictures that are “not boring.” This generates unrealistic expectations which can lead to depression and other mental health issues.

It is true that people’s lives have become much more public since social media was created. Each

person who uses a social media account is able to control whether information is public to others or private. Unfortunately, anyone who owns an account is prone to the inside danger of being hacked and can have their information leaked to the rest of the world. According to the New York Post, approximately 160,000 Facebook pages are hacked per day. The importance of not giving personal information out and having a good password cannot be stressed enough.

When people cannot find their place in real life, social media becomes a way to escape from their problems. Through platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat, kids try to act like adults even though they aren’t. These kids are ultimately seeking acceptance, identity, and security for themselves through the use of social media. It is very sad that just a few years ago, childhood was all about who could get the most bruises on the playground. Now, the only concern for many teens is with how many likes they can get on their next picture.

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The worst part about social media is how much time people are spending on it each day. According to an article by Social Media Today, teens spend up to an average of 9 hours a day on social media. Including teens, the average person spends about 2 hours per day on social media platforms which translates to an astounding 5 years and four months over a lifetime! This means there is not enough face-to-face communication between people, because they are disconnecting from one another more than they even realize.

Many people in our society will judge a person by their profile before actually talking to them.

Getting to know an individual in real life matters so much more than knowing that person over social media. So, get out there and talk to people rather than sitting behind your screen! Make arrangements to meet people and do things with them! Remember that it is better to be social in person rather than to do social media. You will surely not regret it.

By Isabella Delwiche

MKE WINTER

Holiday

Slice of Ice

C

Ice skating anyone? Red Arrow Park has an outdoor rink complete with a view of the holiday lights and a Starbucks to keep you warm. A visit to the rink costs $7 for 17 and under and $9 for those 18 and older, which includes the skate rental. The rink opens at 11am on most days and closes at 9 or 11pm.

For a full schedule, visit https:// county.milwaukee.gov/EN/ Parks/Explore/Slice-of-Ice.

Holiday Lights Festival For the 20th year in a row, holiday lights have lit up downtown Milwaukee. This breathtaking display of lights can be seen from a car but looks even better up close on a walk through Pere Marquette Park. The park is free and closes at 10pm.

If yo stre disc This Nov Mon the d MAC visit com

Milwauk

Milwaukee Ballet is back wit Nutcracker. This enchanting her nutcracker on a jour also features the Milwaukee

Milwaukee Repertory Theat

The Milwaukee Repertory Theater (The Rep) is showing three sho All Night Strut takes you on a journey through music in the 193 Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley is a funny, heart-warming the characters from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. A clas tale, A Christmas Carol, involves Scrooge and his story of learni more details and to purchase tickets go to www.milwaukeerep.co

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Holiday

Candy Cane Lane

ou drive along the right eets in West Allis, you will cover a Candy Cane Lane. s cheerful event lasts from vember 23 to December 26. ney that is donated while on drive will be donated to the CC fund. For more details t: http://candycanelanewi. m/.

kee Ballet

th its annual production of The g adventure follows Clara and rney through toyland. This show e Ballet Orchestra which plays Tchavlovsky’s original score. Production is running from December 8th-26th.

Tickets can be purchased from https:// www.milwaukeeballet.org/performance/ nutcracker-2018/.

Hop Streetcar

New this year to Milwaukee’s downtown area is the Hop! This streetcar runs in a 2 mile loop around downtown and is free for a year! Grab a friend to catch up with and hop on to explore downtown Milwaukee. Learn more about it at https:// thehopmke. com/.

Historic Third Ward

If you enjoy shopping, food, and the Christmas spirit then a stroll through the Historic Third Ward is for you! There is a wide variety of small shops and cozy restaurants to choose from.

A full list of shops and restaurants, as well as schedules and prices can be found at https:// historicthirdward.org/.

ter

The Pettit

ows this winter.

30s and 1940s. g tale involving ssic Christmas ing to love. For om.

The Pettit is an Olympic Training Center that also offers skating open to the public. Spend a couple hours enjoying the unique facility and maybe get the chance to meet an Olympian!

Rent skates or bring your own.

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Homecom New York,

Pictures taken by Akira Katherine, Megan Orozco, Cheyenne Jordan, Jayla Ross

ming 2018: , New York

School

Mission Trips

By Abigail Berg

Who:

Photos Used by Permission of WLHS Mission Advancement

Q - “How did your relationship with the other students on this trip change while you were there?”

Aaron Miller (Atlanta): “I had really only talked to half of the students on our trip Mission Trips---before we had gone, but once we got to Atlanta and had gotten over the initial awkwardness, we all started to get to know each other. I got a lot closer to my friends during the trip, but also I am very thankful that I got to know people that I wouldn’t have met otherwise.”

Claire Albrecht (Idaho): “Before I went on this trip, I was friends with a couple of the other students (the other two girls and I were all on the soccer team together), but I didn’t know the other students very well. We all became close on the trip and remain good friends. After experiencing cliff jumping and whitewater rafting together, and after some pretty intense card games, it was easy to get to know everyone and become good friends.”

Q - “Do you have any advice or encouragement for students who are interested in going on mission trips in the future?”

Becca Loper (Chicago): “I think everyone should go on, or try to go on a mission trip.

They’re really fun; you get to learn about another part of the world or another part of the United States.”

Megan Conte (Alaska): “Apply!! It’s an experience of a lifetime, especially when it’s somewhere you wouldn’t go normally.”

Dunovan Rodgers (China): 2. “If you are at all considering applying for a mission trip, you definitely should. You may regret it if you don’t.”

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What:

Q- “What was the most challen Megan Conte (Alaska): “The mos would be being so far from home

Jon Kannenberg (Chicago): “The difficult personally. I think that on ing to convince 5 year olds to pla piggy back rides. We tried really h soccer, but by the end of the week duck duck goose. But other than t about the trip.”

Natalie Tesch (Detroit): “It was ch to get into an unfamiliar routine w know how to adjust to a life whe never do 24/7.”

Q- “What was the most importa Claire Albrecht (Idaho): “The mos it combined some of my favorite God’s awesome creation, and (m Our mission trip definitely impact it was the kids who heard about G wife that spent a week with a grou experience a mission church for th favorite sport. Another awesome p in the conference room of a hotel. their process was like in order to as they transformed a conference r they used for worship could fit in a Sunday. This was an incredible ex

nging part of the mission for you? st challenging part of the mission trip e for almost two weeks.”

ere weren’t really any parts that were that ne of the hardest things was probably tryay soccer instead of having me give them hard for the first few days to get them into k we usually had to settle for freeze tag or that, there wasn’t really anything to tough

School Why: Q- “Why did you apply to go on a mission trip?”

Zoe Buske (Indiana): “I would say to sign up for a mission trip because you only get so many chances to be able to do something like this. It can be pricey but there is always a way that the money can be covered through fundraisers. I applied to go on a mission trip because I love to be able to share the wonderful gift of Jesus and so I can use the gifts God has given me.”

Candice Jackson (Atlanta): “I applied to go on it because I felt like it would be a great opportunity for me to share my faith with the kids, and also I thought it would be a lot of fun to go on.”

Natalie Tesch (Detroit): “I first wanted to apply for a mission trip because I heard that it was a good opportunity to do some hands-on work with kids and God’s word. I wanted to see how I could change kids’ lives just by speaking the gospel.”

Claire Albrecht (Idaho): “I applied to go on a mission trip because Wisco provides us with awesome opportunities to spread God’s Word while traveling, and I wanted to take full advantage of that.”

hallenging, at first, because it took a while with unfamiliar faces. It felt like I did not ere I would be doing something I would “Christ’s Love compels me,” The Wisco theme this year has many meanings and applications for Christ centered lives. Christ’s love can compel people to help others and to use their gifts to spread his word. That’s exactly what everyone involved in the mission trips last year got to do. These mission trips provide great opportunities for Wisco students to use their God given talents in many ways, make new friends, and step out of their comfort zones.

ant part of the trip to you?” st important part of the trip to me was that e things: soccer, good friends, cute kids, most importantly) spreading God’s Word. ted everyone that was involved, whether God for the first time, the pastor and his up of teenagers, or those of us who got to he first time while teaching kids about our part of the trip was that this church set up The pastor wanted our group to see what get ready for worship, so we helped out room into a worship area. Everything that a trailer that they drove to the hotel every xperience.”

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Holiday

Does Christmas Still Matter?

“Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” 2 Cor. 9:7

‘Tis the Season to Start Spending?

Over the years, countless timeless tales of Christmas have accumulated in the minds and hearts of children and adults all over the world. Stories like “The Gift of the Magi”, “A Christmas Carol”, and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” have associated themselves within the “Spirit of the Season” that seems to captivate people throughout time.

These stories have become classics, and for good reason too. Their plots are simple, but their one message is prolific: “It’s better to give than to receive. Appreciate what is given to you because someone cares about you enough to give it to you.” Unfortunately, this message has become muddled with loose interpretation and commercialism dressed with tinsel and candy canes. With the average adult estimating they will spend about $885 on gifts this year, and some years resulting in over half of these holiday gifts being returned or changed, it looks as if the idea of searching for meaningful gifts has been replaced with looking for the shiniest, most expensive thing within a certain price range. If you don’t like something, say a quick thank

By Blessed Ikuobolati

you and hope they kept the receipt.

Gift giving has become quick, simple, and thoughtless. Society has twisted the tender message of giving into its less-than-pleasant cousin: “ It’s better to give and hope you get more than what you paid for.”

The Greatest Gift

When confronted with the luxuries of ornaments, lights, and presents, it can be easy for many to forget the source of why this holiday exists. In the little town of Bethlehem, God gave humanity the greatest gift it would ever receive, a baby that would bring salvation for all.

He was perfect in every way, yet he was brought into a sinful world that would reject and eventually kill him.

Still, he accepted this and died so we could live. In this time of spending and getting, it remains imperative that we do not forget why we cele-

Picture drawn by Anxuan Liu

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brate this holiday at all. God’s mercy and grace is the true essence of what makes Christmas so special.

He gave us his one and only son to die when we did not deserve to be saved. God did not need anything from us, yet he gave it all, just so we could be with Him in Heaven.

Such a meaningful lesson on giving should never be overlooked.

Changing the Way We Give

Keeping this in mind, looking for that perfect gift or ripping open a new present should be a more sentimental affair, rather than a materialistic pastime. When searching for a gift, think about how the other person has impacted you and put some serious thought into what you want to give to the person you care about. It does not have to be expensive, but rather something that shows you care for and value the relationship formed between you.

Don’t try to buy their love, but rather show you love them. Furthermore, receiving a gift is not about the price tag. Keep in mind that the person giving you the gift spent time, effort, and in most cases money to try and make you happy. Be sincere.

Show your appreciation. Even if you don’t like it, don’t run straight to the store to return it for money. Keep it around to remind you that someone cared enough to give you something.

Holiday

‘Tis the Reason for the Season

School Supplies to Africa

There are many ways to serve God at Wisco. One way is through the different mission projects that we participate in.

From mid-November to mid-December, Wisco collected school supplies to send to Martin Luther in Zambia, Africa. This school was visited by one of Wisco’s mission trip teams in the summer of 2018, as well as a trip a few years ago for an OHFHS follow-up. In the past, Wisco has supported Martin Luther by building an aquaponics sys-

tem and helping to finish their kitchen. The students at Martin Luther do not have many of the basic school supplies that are necessary to learn.

The school supplies that are collected will be delivered to Martin Luther in January of 2019, the start of their new school year. These supplies are much needed and will be much appreciated. Thank you to everyone who donated to this project to help spread the Good News.

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By Emily Gorski

Word Bank: Angels Candy cane Chestnuts Children Cookies December Decorate Frosty Fruitcake Gifts Glitter Jesus Jingle Joseph Manger Mary Nativity Noel Ornaments Peppermint Reindeer Shepherds Sleigh Snow Snowman Star Stocking Tree Wiseman

Word Search found on akidsheart.com

Pilot Staff: Hannah Gorski: Editor-in-Chief Reece Elton: Editor Megan Orozco: Editor Blessed Ikuuobolati: Editor

Merry Christmas!