Gotcha

The totally and completely true story about the origin of April Fool’s Day

By Rachel Shultz, Print Editor

The year was 1506. King Alfonso IV of Spain died suddenly and unexpectedly due to an unexplained illness. The royal advisors were at a loss of what to do. King Alfonso IV had died before getting married or producing heirs. The throne would have gone to his younger brother, José. However, just two weeks earlier, José along with much of the royal family had died in a tragic church fire at the wedding of their cousin, Juana of Trastamára. The only surviving member of the royal family was the son of King Alfonso’s third cousin, Carlos. Carlos worked as a court jester for King Alfonso, a notably odd profession for a man of his standing. Carlos was crowned king just three weeks after the death of King Alfonso, on April 1, 1506. The newly crowned King Carlos made some unorthodox decisions. One of these was the implementation of a new celebration, known as the Festival of Fools. Carlos chose the day April 1, as a reminder of the profession he left behind when he took on the role of king. The celebration included several parades throughout the Spanish empire. Court jesters were held in the highest regard on this day, carried around on thrones with feasts thrown in their honor. On this day, members of the empire tried to make the jesters laugh by playing pranks and jokes on one another. Eventually, the presence of jesters in the court diminished, but the tradition of making others laugh through pranks and jokes continued and spread as the Spanish empire grew. Gotcha! None of that is even the slightest bit true. Historians aren’t certain of the real start of April Fool’s Day, but there are several theories as to the origin of this day of pranks. According to Dictionary.com, one theory is that April Fool’s Day began in 1594 with the Edict of Roussillon in France, which shifted the New Year from Easter to Jan 1. Those who continued to celebrate the new year on Easter rather than Jan. 1 were known as April fools. Another theory is that the origin lies in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer referenced a made up March 32 in one of his stories. The story was “The Nun’s Priest Tale,” and was meant to be hilarious and foolish. This may have been his attempt at the first April Fools prank, but some historians believe it was a simple misprint. Regardless of the origin, April Fool’s Day is a time for good fun and laughter. A good prank doesn’t harm others, but rather makes them laugh. Remember the phrase “confuse don’t abuse.” Now get out and start planning ways to prank your friends!

Successful Student Pranks

“My friend and I did a prank where we convinced our friends that my friend had a boyfriend. We had photos and came up with like small details and told them all of it and they believed it. After a while we told them it was a prank.” - Kendyl Eber, 10

“In December of 2019 during finals week, me and my friend decided to prank our forensics teacher Mrs. Harrison by going into her classroom earlier in the morning before she got there, and [we] hung up around 200 photos of Steve Buscemi. We got entrance through Cooley leaving her room unlocked for us and went through the door that connected the classrooms. We as well gave every student a photo to turn in with their test, so as she graded each test she had to take out and throw away another photo of Steve Buscemi. The reason for it being Steve Buscemi was we were talking about “Spy Kids 2” earlier in the year and she said he creeped her out. Our masterpiece of it was when we went outside and taped one on the outside looking in that stayed up all the way until the end of summer 2020.” - Griffin Burke, 12

Illustration by Rachel Shultz

Plan Your Own Successful Prank!

Bake oatmeal raisin cookies and tell everyone they’re chocolate chip cookies. This one will only work if your friends hate raisins as much as I do! Sign your friends up for daily email or text lists. There are a variety of daily newsletters that range from animal facts to useless trivia. Sign them up for as many as you can find and watch as their inbox overflows. Pick two of your friend’s things and hide them. Then tell them you hid three. Watch the chaos ensue when they only find two.

Women’s work

By Kailey Wallenius, News and Sports Editor

Women in Business and Technology Club brings new STEM opportunities to female students

Only 28% of computer-related jobs are held by women, and 40% of U.S businesses are owned by women, according to builtin.com. Motivated to change these statistics, Business and Computer Science teacher Taundra Miles-Cranor created the Women in Business and Technology club. “In my classes, I noticed that I had almost no girls. It is not just an issue in computer science, but also in the business world,” Miles-Cranor said. “I was in the business world before I went into the classroom, and you rarely saw a lot of women as you went up the ladder. I felt like this was something that needed to be addressed, and that women needed to be empowered to learn about these types of careers and possibly pursue them in the future.” The Women in Business and Technology Club is all about encouraging women to enter in the STEM fields. While learning about business and technology is the main goal, empowering women is another goal of the club according to Miles-Cranor. “I liked how this club empowers girls to pursue careers and change the gender stereotype about women in business and technology,” senior Marissa Roundtree said. Miles-Cranor encourages the young women in the club to start believing that they are powerful and to gain the confidence to go against societal norms. “I always address my young ladies as young women of power because it is important to me that they understand that they hold power and one way to do that is to call it out. I’ve seen some of my girls do that as well, when they address the membership they also say young women of power as well,” Miles-Cranor said. The club has many plans for the new year, working around the guidelines for Covid through the school. Club activities are still able to happen on Zoom. “We coded a program to play tic-tac-toe, and I really enjoyed doing that,” senior Lilia Arrizabalaga said. The Women in Business and Technology club also received a special grant that will allow them to do a project around the school to promote the club.

The members of the Women in Business Club pose together following their meeting. photo provided by Camille Sidebottom

“I am really looking forward to our mural members of the that is going to go up in the spring,” senior club is valuable, Emma Kremp said. “We were fortunate according to enough to receive a McDonald’s grant to Roundtree. fund this project and I can’t wait to see the “I learned a final product.” lot from their The club recently hosted a Zoom meeting experiences of for Women’s History Month, featuring strong being the only female figures in Zionsville, to give advice to woman in the young women of power looking for advice on room, and I entering the business and technology field. gained valuable “It was really challenging to have my voice advice on how be heard. I had to really dig deep into my to face chalconfidence, and I had to speak up,” guest lenges one may speaker Lynette McBride Hyde said during encounter when the panel. “If there’s not a seat at the table, working in a then I can bring my own chair.” male-dominated The women spoke of past experiences in environment,” their fields and described ways in which they Roundtree said. learned to flourish in those fields. To join the “If I’m underrepresented, then I’m going club, no experito strive to make it better for the women that come after me,” financial advisor Lee Irwin said. “I hope you know that you can make it better for the women after you.” The club also has plans for guest speakers on Zoom. “We did have a panel to start the year and we plan to have a speaker circuit next year. It will all be done via Zoom and we won’t be able to have the type of experience out in the industry that we thought we would have before,” Miles-Cranor said. While the panel was all virtual and being on Zoom makes it difficult to communicate, the information that the women give to the “I’ve done some research in the lack of females in STEM, and one of the reasons is they don’t really have female role models.” -Lilia Arrizabalaga, senior ence is needed, but an interest in one of the fields is a great way to make the club a fun place. “I really like technology and coding. I know there’s a lot of problems with the percentage of women in STEM fields especially in technology and coding. It seemed like a good way to meet with people who are also interested in coding,” Arrizabalaga said. Roundtree said she hopes the Women in Business and Technology Club will lead to other clubs that strive to encourage young women into doing more activities and events that are seen as male-dominated. “This club uplifts the message that women are just as capable as men. In the past, the medical field was male dominated, but since more women are now entering the medical field, the disparity is decreasing,” Roundtree said. “I hope to see the same in other fields as well.” The guidance of the club has begun leading the members to look into why there are such disparagements between men and women in the business and technology fields. “I’ve done some research in the lack of females in STEM, and one of the reasons is they don’t really have female role models, so they sort of get dejected or give up their STEM education,” Arrizabalaga said. The information taught from the Women in Business and Technology Club can also give the young women information about starting a career in either business or technology. “This club has definitely made me consider a career in business,” Kremp said. “We bring in guest speakers who are well accomplished in their own fields of work and this has been really inspiring and helped me narrow down my career path.” While it may seem unnecessary to some, simply creating a club empowering women is the first step to creating an environment where everyone feels welcome. “It is a small thing that is empowering,” Miles-Cranor said. “It just helps remind the young ladies of the power they hold.”

Business and Technology classes offered at Zionsville

Business Classes Engineering and Intro to Business, Intro to Technology Classes

Accounting, Personal Finance, Entrepreneurship, Principles of Business Management, Preparing for College and Careers, Sports and Entertainment Marketing AP Computer Science JAVA, AP Computer Science Principles, Principles of Engineering, Intro to Engineering and Design, Civil Engineering and Architecture

Under the Sam

By Mary Demarco, Opinion Editor

By high school most teens are ready for some time away from home to spend with friends. But what happens when your parent sticks with you all the way through school? Imagine mom or dad teaching two doors down, finding out about high school drama before you do. Here is how students and staff feel about their family members working

Lindsey and Tyler Alessandrini

at the same school. “It honestly has its pros and cons. Like if I’m ever in trouble, photos by Riya Patel she’s literally like less than a mile away. So that’s a con, but it’s great to have my mom there. I get a little bit of special privileges. I’ve been in the teacher work rooms and I’ve been in weird places that people haven’t been because my mom’s a teacher.” - Tyler Alessandrini, sophomore

Under the Same Roof

Matt and Maddy Mulholland Greg and Braden Hall

“Sophomore year I was supposed to take Physics and the first day of school I dropped his class and then never showed up to class and then I didn’t tell him that I’d dropped his class. And so, when I didn’t show up and I wasn’t there for attendance he was confused and like ‘where’s my daughter?’ He thought I was skipping his class. And I was sitting safe and sound in Study Hall because I dropped Physics.” - Maddy Mulholland, senior “It’s a unique experience to have the opportunity to connect with him, not only on a personal level but also on a professional level. That’s the fun part. As parents we all want to connect with your kids on a personal level and be involved with the things they’re involved with. To have the opportunity to connect with him on a professional level has been enjoyable so far this year.” - Greg Hall, Assistant Principal