2020 Winter Pilot

Pilot Volume 27 Issue 2 December 21, 2020

Cover artwork by Wenyuan Li

Welcome New Teachers!

Mr. Carlovsky

Mr. Carlovsky teaches two sophomore and junior religion classes, Living Christianity and Proclaiming Christianity, and he coaches soccer. He used to be the principal of Abiding Word Lutheran in Houston until he and his family moved to Milwaukee. He said it is the opportunity to teach high school students every day about God’s love that took him here to Wisco to work in the theology department. Mr. Carlovsky describes Wisco culture as “one of a kind” because of the diversity in the student body and the unity we have in Christ. What motivates him to be a theology teacher is that he wants to spread the knowledge of the Bible to his students as well as its importance in our daily lives. Mr. Carlovsky’s biggest interest is to be able to go on Wisco mission trips as a way to bond and connect with his students, to explore the world, and to share in God’s great commission.

Mr. Janke

By Hieu Than

After serving a few years as principal at St. Paul’s Grade School in Menomonie, Wisconsin and a four year stay at Manitowoc Lutheran High School, Mr. Janke accepted the call to WLHS to serve as an English teacher and a baseball coach. “Well, first of all, I am a graduate of Wisconsin Lutheran, and I was familiar with the school. I don’t think there is another school like Wisco that offers so many opportunities for ministry and to reach students from such diverse backgrounds,” said Mr. Janke. Growing up, teaching was always a great job option since his parents and several of his cousins had already become teachers. Mr. Janke’s favorite thing about WLHS so far is developing relationships with students. Mr. Janke also has a huge passion for baseball.

Along with coaching the baseball team at Wisco, he collects baseball hats, cards, and other souvenirs. 42, a movie about Jackie Robinson, is his favorite movie, and his favorite professional athlete is Ken Griffey, Jr. He currently worships at CTL (Christ the Lord) in Brookfield. When asked if he had any advice for teachers and students, he answered: “My biggest advice would be to do everything to the best of your abilities that God has given you, and trust that he will bless those efforts.”

By Mason Marrari

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Mrs. Schuessler is Wisco’s new ceramics teacher! Before she came to Wisco, she used to work at St. Marcus Lutheran School in Milwaukee. She came here because, in her own words, “This place is awesome!” She is also very impressed with the students and how they have handled the online schooling. Mrs. Schuessler graduated from WLHS in 1997 and was actually inspired by her high school ceramics teacher to pursue teaching ceramics and the arts. Some of her favorite things include being outside with her family and reading. Her favorite color is turquoise and her favorite food is fish tacos. Her piece of advice for the kids at Wisco comes from Vince Lombardi, “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can attain excellence.”

By Oliva Hermanson

Mrs. Koschnitzke

Mrs. Koschnitzke is Wisco’s newest physical education teacher. She came here because her husband, Pastor Koschnitzke, was called here to teach. Before coming here, she taught Health, Foods 1 and 2, and coached girls basketball at Lakeside Lutheran High School. She has six children; two of them currently attend Wisco.

She is a proud Minnesota Vikings fan here in Packer country. Her piece of advice for the student body is to “Live in such a way that those who know you, but don’t know Jesus, will come to know Jesus because they know you.”

By Oliva Hermanson

New Teachers

Mrs. Schuessler

Mrs. Hernandez

Joining our faculty this year is Mrs. Hernandez, who currently attends church at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Milwaukee where she and her family enjoy God’s Word in Spanish and in English. Mrs. Hernandez says that she came to Wisco when a part-time Spanish teacher position became available. She has been enjoying getting back into the classroom after being a stay at home mom and swim coach for 11 years. She previously taught at a school in the Dominican Republic. Mrs. Hernandez enjoys connecting with her students from all around the city and the suburbs while being able to share a common faith with them. She also enjoys summer time and being outdoors with her family.

By Lucie Henning

Photos by Suzanne Welsh

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Editorial: The Effects of Social Media

By Lauren Clement

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I watched this movie recently about a society where each citizen’s entire life--decisions, interests, and beliefs--are unknowingly chosen for them. People are killed by something that disguises itself as beneficial. No one knows the truth or cares to find out. Manipulation, fake news, and exploitation for financial gain are all the result of a single controlling force: technology. Maybe the dystopian society concept seems overdone. The Terminator and West world have already done their part to scare us about artificial intelligence taking over. However, movies like The Terminator that depict technology growing too strong and ruining society are purely fictional. The movie I watched was a documentary about society today.

It’s true. The current world we live in may as well be a dystopia straight out of a fiction book such as The Hunger Games. The oppressor? Social media. Although this topic has been pounded into the minds of teenagers from parents and teachers alike, I implore you to examine this issue from another point of view.

The facts listed above are not contrived or exaggerated. Former design ethicist at Google, Tristan Harris, warns the world about a product he helped create, “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 to be used. It has its own goals, and it has its own means of pursuing them by using your psychology against you.” The social media we all know and love (and might admit are addicted to) is simply a facade. It doesn’t want to entertain you or inform you, but rather, use you.

We don’t choose what we watch on our feed; it is picked for us.

We can’t decipher the fake news from the real. We ignorantly listen to whatever presents itself on the screen. “As humans, we’ve almost lost control over these systems. Because they’re controlling the information that we see, they’re controlling us more than we’re controlling them,” states Sandy Parabolas former operations manager at Facebook.

Social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and even Google constantly track their users. Your search history, your liked photos and videos, which of your friends are close by, even how much time is spent viewing a certain post is all kept track of.

The information from data mining (or, virtually, you yourself) is sold to advertising companies. “We’re the product. Our attention is the product being sold to advertisers,” says Justin Rosenstein, former engineer for Facebook and Google. Jaron Lanier, founding father of Virtual Reality Computer Scientist, agrees with Rosenstein and adds how social media constantly controls what you see in an attempt to change the way you think. Lanier informs that these advertising companies are paying for “the gradual, slight, imperceptible change in your own behavior and perception.” Purposefully placed at the top of your feed, products and even ideas seem to be a must-have. If everyone has something, you’ll want it too. If everyone thinks a certain way, you’ll think it too. They do this, not because the product relates to who you are and what you like, but to convince you, by means of constant exposure, that you need it.

The worst part: the algorithm manipulates and leads you to believe these decisions were entirely yours.

Most people would choose not to believe in the horrifying effects and manipulation

on recommended videos, turn off unnecessary notifications on your phone, fact check information before sharing, and use a search engine that does not store personal data. Change the conversation about technology. In doing so, we can force social media platforms to improve themselves to better protect the identity, health, and data of all users.

For more information on the dangers of social media and what you can do to help, visit https://www.thesocialdilemma.com or watch The Social Dilemma on Netflix.

How to Stay Motivated In Virtual School

Internet

involved with social media. Nonetheless, I encourage you to take a stand. Reject what is dangerously normalized and choose for yourself.

“To free yourself, to be more authentic, to be less addicted, to be less manipulated, to be less paranoid … for all these marvelous reasons, delete your accounts,” petitions Jaron Lanier in his book Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now. Although, if deleting your social media seems too extreme, there are other options that undermine social media’s masked intent. Top experts give simple advice to protect oneself against social media: never click

By Jada Lawrence

Online learning is a new thing to many students that often comes with a lot of struggles.

Those struggles may be internet problems, camera problems, audio problems, and more. Students may even struggle with focusing, since they are at home with many distractions. Here are some tips to help you stay focused in virtual school.

1. Put yourself in a room with no distractions and have all your school materials laid out in front of you.

2. Put other devices, that aren’t school related, such as your phone, smart watch, tablet, etc. away.

3. Have a little snack to help you stay focused, but make sure it’s not a distraction.

4. Make sure your chromebook is fully charged.

When your chromebook is low on battery, it often works slower.

5. When you are not using it, make sure you sign out and shut down your chromebook.

6. To increase your internet speed, try powering on and off your WiFi box or move to a location in your house where the internet works successfully.

7. Clear your browser from time to time and close tabs that aren’t necessary.

8. Talk to tech support if you have any chromebook issues!

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Christmas Services: 2020 Style

By Julia Neuman, Oliva Hermanson, and Lucie Henning Artwork by Cindy Wang

Creativity in planning church services that also encourage social distancing and safety has certainly been more important than ever this year. Christmas time brings a higher level of challenge as those services are usually more highly attended than others. Thankfully churches and schools are thinking outside the box when preparing Christmas services this year.

Many churches have already made changes to accommodate people during this pandemic. For instance, masks are required, a smaller number of people are allowed in the building, and more services have been added.

Trinity Lutheran and Good Shepherd’s West Allis are just two of the churches/ schools that are having to plan these services differently this year. The principals and children’s choir coordinators from those churches said they will still be having a Christmas Service this year. The types of services they will be having are Children’s Ensemble service, church service and a Children’s Choir service.

Families always look forward to the annual Christmas children’s services. Unfortunate-

ly, most schools will not be able to hold a regular children’s service, but a good alternative that is widely being used is pre-recording the service or making a video of it to send out to the families. Star of Bethlehem and St. Paul’s Muskego are just two of the schools doing this. Additionally, St. Paul’s (as well as many other churches) has also increased the number of Christmas Eve services this year to accommodate those that would like to attend church in person. At the same time, most churches are offering a live-stream or recorded version of the service that is available online. It is great that various options are in place, so that everyone has the chance to worship and celebrate Christmas with a special service.

Even with all of the challenges, it is wonderful that schools and churches are getting creative and still providing Christmas services for us at this time. We hope everyone will be safe and enjoy hearing about the birth of Jesus!

Pilot Editors Co-editors in Chief Emma Kammholz Megan Orozco Reyes Layout Amber Palacios

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Artwork/Photography Anxuan Helen Liu

By Kirstin Neuwirth

Amidst all the insanity this year has brought, we can finally look forward to an exciting and joyful time of year, Christmas.

Although traditional plans may be canceled, there are many ways to make the best out of this year. One of the ways is to bring joy into others’ lives by giving Christmas gifts.

However, Christmas shopping is a little more difficult this year. Many of your favorite stores may be out of business or closed, but there are still many opportunities to go shopping. One great way is to shop online. You can get same day delivery or curb-side pick-up at many businesses, so you don’t have to even worry about going into stores.

Need some ideas of what to give people? Well, there are many great activities you could provide for all those who are bored at home. Board games, crafts, and puzzles are all amazing for those with a little extra time on their hands. Additionally, comfortable clothes are an especially great gift this year. Many people are able to wear whatever they want on the days they work or have school at home, so comfortable clothes would make their at-home days a little better. Another present idea is online classes. So many of us miss the activities we could not have this year, but we can replace them up with online classes. Why not take a class to learn a new skill such as cooking, sewing, art, or dance?

Artwork by Cindy Wang

Lastly, the best gift for this year is a gift that keeps on giving. We all could use a nice surprise in our day, so a subscription of some sort for things like magazines are a great way to make someone’s day a little better. Every month for a year they receive a little more of their gift.

Even though Christmas may look different this year, we all will have many unique memories from this new experience.

Go to this website for more inexpensive but great gift giving ideas:

Christmas

Spreading Christmas Cheer with Creative Gift Ideas

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/ holidays/gift-ideas/g29003353/ cheap-christmas-gifts/

Photo by Leah Johnson

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Winter Fun at Wisco

Photos by Mr. Wiechmann

The Seussification of Romeo and Juliet and Drop Dead, Juliet . . .2 one-act plays

Christmas Pajama Day

Dress-up Days

Ugly Christmas Sweater and Ugly Mask Day

Christmas in July/Beach Themed Christmas Day