THE GLOBEIssue 8, Volume 86

CLAYTON HIGH SCHOOL, CLAYTON, MO. MAY 2015

BYTHENUMBERS

A statistical comparison of

greater St. Louis area schools. Page 24

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3

CONTENTS

Year of the Sequelp. 38

Lunar Levitationp. 12

“Wheat”-ing Out the Problemp. 16

MAY

A Shooting Starp. 32

Stages of Changep. 18

contents(Photo by Eric Woolsey)

4 UPFRONT

editors sophie allen

grace harrison

sierra hieronymus

audrey holds

camille respess

zachary sorensen

ellie tomasson

albert wang

reporters sophia barnes

nicole beliz

sophie berstein

bridget boeger

gabrielle boeger

charles brennan

noah brown

daniel cho

lucy cohen

emma ebeling

brian gatter

peter indovino

joan kim

nisha klein

nicholas lee

benjamin litteken

natalie miller

elizabeth ngyen

olivia reuter

harry rubin

nikki seraji

mitali sharma

micaela stoner

amy tishler

karena tse

neel vallurupalli

ashleigh williams

tara williams

editors-in-chief peter baugh

senior managing editors

zach bayly

jeffrey friedman

peter schmidt

section editors alex bernard

marina henke

rebecca polinsky

kevin rosenthal

max steinbaum

copy editor rachel bluestonejeffrey cheng

webmaster lemuel lan

distribution editor lawrence hu

business manager richard simon

photo editor noah engel

gwyneth henkephotographers emily braverman

lily brown

patrick butler

ashley chung

matthew coco

alaina curran

neil docherty

beatrice engel

noah engel

andrew erblich

felix evans

anna pakrasi

alexis schwartz

leah shaffer

katherine sleckman

katharina spear

benjamin tamsky

cosima thomas

katie warnusz-steckel

graphics editor audrey palmer

graphic artists cherry tomatsu

victoria yi

adviser erin castellano

foreign correspondent peter shumway

THE

GLOBEphoebe yao

elise yang

THE GLOBEIssue 8, Volume 86

CLAYTON HIGH SCHOOL, CLAYTON, MO. MAY 2015

BYTHENUMBERS

A statistical comparison of

greater St. Louis area schools. Page 24

FROM

THE

EDIT

OR It is a pretty crazy feeling knowing that this is my last issue as a member of the Globe newspaper staff. Thinking of my world without Globe stories to write and pages to design is nearly incomprehensible, and yet it is all coming to an end.

The Globe office is packed with memories. The walls are covered with magazines, pictures and art. At any point, I can look up and see reminders of people who have touched me in some way.

The people make the Globe special. Going into my freshman year, I could never have imagined the bonds a 48 page magazine would give me with my peers and teach-ers.

At school, the Globe office is my home. I eat there. I do homework there. Some-times, I even take naps there. In my life, there have only been a few places to which I have felt such a strong connection.

The Globe has made me a better person. It has made me more considerate. It has made me think about how I treat everyone around me and how I act at all times. I felt an obligation to uphold the paper’s legacy. I was treated kindly when I was a young staff member, and I owed it to the Globe to treat everyone on staff with the same kindness.

Over the past four years, I have felt a wide range of emotions doing Globe related things. Happiness. Stress. Excitement. Anger. I have felt the relief of sending in a fin-ished paper and the sadness of seeing seniors graduate.

At the root of all these emotions is love. I love all of the people that have helped me grow. I love the office. I love the paper.

Saying goodbye to the Globe was not something that I had really thought about. In many ways, it snuck up on me.

I could not possibly pack all my emotions and memories into one letter, but I can attempt to convey how much this newspaper has meant to me. To everyone that has made the Globe what it is: thank you for making me a better person, for inspiring me, for showing me love.

The Globe Newsmagazine exists to inform, entertain, persuade and represent the student voice at CHS. All content decisions are made by the student editorial staff and the Globe is an entirely self-funded publication. Not every story that our reporters write is published in the print newsmagazine. Visit www.chsglobe.com for additional stories and photos and for more

information about the Globe itself. We reserve the right to refuse any advertisement - for more information about advertising and subscriptions, please contact our office:

Clayton High School Globe1 Mark Twain CircleClayton, MO 63105(314) 854-6668Fax: 854-6734

globe@claytonschools.net

Professional Affiliations: Sponsors of School Publications . Missouri Interscholastic Press Association . Missouri Journalism Education Association . National Scholastic Press Association . Columbia Scholastic Press Association

Peter Baugh, Editor-in-chief

GLOBE

20 review

21commentary

The cast of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,”

CHS’s student-run musical, serenades male lead senior

Andrew Erblich.Photo by Eric Woolsey

by NOAH BROWN

8 news

NEWS WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED Baltimore Police attempt to keep the peace and prevent the further destruc-tion of property following the original riots erupting downtown on April 25. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun/TNS)

newsand

notesby MAX STEINBAUM and

PETER BAUGH

On April 25, a devastating earthquake struck in central Ne-pal, prompting the Nepali govern-ment to declare a state of emer-gency in the areas affected by the tremors. The earthquake registered a 7.8 on the Richter scale -- nearly a full point more severe than the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in Northern California. According to the BBC, at least 5,000 people are known to have been killed by the quake, while many more are feared to be trapped beneath rubble. In addition to sending a disaster re-sponse team to aid those affected by the earthquake, the United States has pledged $1 million “to address immediate needs,” according the American aid agency USAID.

Earthquake Strikes Nepal

Rioting broke out in Baltimore, Maryland on April 25 in response to the death of an African American man named Freddie Gray. Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby has brought charges against six po-lice officers involved in Gray’s death. The mass rioting, which involved the looting of businesses and burning of cars, prompted Governor Larry Ho-gan to declare a state of emergency in Maryland and activate the state’s National Guard to confront the growing violence.

CHS Junior Madeleine Goede-gebuure earned the Gold Award, the Girl Scouts’ highest honor. Her project was named “Making Connec-tions Through Music.”

Blues BamboozledThe St. Louis Blues were eliminated

from the Stanley Cup playoffs follow-ing their April 26 loss to the Minnesota Wild, losing the series four games to two. Despite earning the Central Divi-sion crown, the loss marks the third season in a row in which the Note has been knocked out of Cup contention in the first round of the playoffs.

DECA FinalistsCHS junior Victoria Yi placed in the top 20 in principles

of marketing at an international DECA competition held in Orlando, Florida earlier this month. At the same competi-tion, junior Peter Kim placed 2nd overall in an entrepre-neurship challenge, winning $1,000 to help fund his busi-ness proposal, a website consolidating Korean comic books called webtuneshub.com.

Riots andChaos inBaltimore

District GolfThe Clayton boys’ golf team finished

second at the District tournament, qualifying for Sectionals. The team was led by juniors Robert Hogan and Elliot Ambort and senior Isaac Fish, who all finished in the top 15. Hogan took first overall. The team was led by coach Chris Moody. This is the first time since 1999 that the entire team qualified for the Sectionals tournament.

Girl Scout Honored

9news

amie Jordan will again be working alongside former colleague and current CHS principal Dr. Dan Gutchewsky. Instead of working together in the Lindbergh School District, as they previously had, the duo will now be joining forces in the Clay-ton School District.

With current Wydown Middle School Principal Mary Ann Goldberg looking ahead to retirement, Jordan has been named Wydown’s new principal.

Jordan, currently the principal at the University City middle school, Brittany Woods, fits the bill as someone who could fill the shoes of Gold-berg, who has retired after 16 years on the job at Wydown.

Jordan, a St. Louis native, graduated from Lindbergh High School-where she landed her first teaching job, working alongside Gutchewsky.

“When I first started teaching, I was teaching alongside my former teachers, which was kind of crazy and funny at the same time,” Jordan said.

Gutchewsky is looking forward to working with Jordan in the coming years.

“She is intelligent, enthusiastic and truly cares about her students,” Gutchewsky said. “I know that she has done great things at University City and I look forward to her leadership at Wydown.”

Jordan’s dive into the field of education was not quite a direct one. “I went to Mizzou to be in broadcast journalism, but when I was in

high school, I used to coach a middle school dance team and that’s when I became interested in middle school education, and education in general,” Jordan said.

Despite originally planning to major in broadcast journalism, Jordan quickly changed her major to middle school education, after realizing her true passion.

Clayton’s Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Sean Doherty played a large role in the decision to hire Jordan. However, the process to reach the decision was lengthy and involved many stakehold-ers.

“As part of the process, she had to go through a number of steps. She had to go through a screening with Central Office people, she had to take a writing assessment and she also had to take a set of data and analyze and interpret that data,” Doherty said.

Doherty explained that Jordan also had to do interviews with parents, members of the staff and multiple sets of students. In addition, she was required to lead a professional development session among staff mem-bers.

“We feel like our principals need to be instructional leaders and be the teachers of the teachers, and so she had an opportunity to come in and we could see how she interacted with the teachers as well,” Doherty said.

Throughout the process, Jordan’s potential to be a successful instruc-tional leader at WMS was recognized.

“Jamie Jordan was someone who emerged as someone who could build relationships with people, someone who had extreme student focus and someone who connected well during the student interviews with the students,” Doherty said.

Aside from being able to complete the tasks that were assigned to her as part of the hiring process, Jordan’s unique background was also an important factor.

Jordan believes that her experiences working at University City have shaped the way she views her role in education.

New Principal at Wydownby NOAH BROWN

“One of the things that being a principal at U-City has taught me is that all students come with all different types of gifts and talents, and one of the goals we should have as educators is to be able to work with each individual kid to get them to be able to do whatever they need to do to pursue those gifts and talents,” she said.

Despite the different environments at University City and Clayton, Jordan and the Clayton administration both believe the transition will be a smooth one.

“They are very different and they have different systems in place. They’re different neighborhoods,” Doherty said. “I think one of the things that I always think about as a leader, is someone who can adjust to novel situations based off the information they are collecting. I think Jamie’s going to be one of these people that’s going to take time to get to know the community.”

Jordan believes that there may not be much difference between the two schools.

“Truthfully, I bet when I get there, it may not be all that different. Kids are kids, no matter where you go,” she said.

Jordan also said that her vision for WMS is similar to the one she had at Brittany Woods.

“My goal is to make sure every single kid at Wydown feels the same equal opportunity to do whatever they need to do,” she said.

Jordan is particularly focused on relationships with the students and faculty.

“I’m really honestly looking forward to just getting to know every-body. So far, everyone has been so welcoming and nice, so I think it’s just going to be a positive and fun opportunity,” Jordan said.

Jordan takes over at WMS during a time of debate and transition over the school’s curriculum. Jordan plans to invest time in listening and learning from the people around her, both students and staff, to come up with a common approach to solving these issues.

“When you think of schools in general, you tend to think of them as isolated little classes, but really when you think about learning overall, they’re a lot more integrated, so I’d love to see a movement towards that and I think this would be a great time to do that at Wydown,” Jordan said.

Doherty strongly believes that Jordan will keep Wydown moving in the right direction.

“I think that one of the things that she’ll do is build a collective effi-cacy across the school, and bring the whole group together,” Doherty said. “Wydown is experiencing a lot of change right now, and I think she will be one of those people that will help lead the change, but she will also be one of those people that helps others through the change.”

Jamie Jordan, new principal of Wydown Middle School (Robin Fultz).

J

10 feature

tep one: Step back and breathe. “It was total chaos. We had trees everywhere, blocking

all these streets and everything was in total disarray. [The Clayton Public Works Department] had to run an emer-gency generator for 48 hours straight [in our facilities] to make sure we maintained power. I didn’t know which way

to turn,” Gary Scheipeter said.When severe windstorms swept through the St. Louis area in the sum-

mer of 2006, leaving thousands without power amidst a shocking heat wave, Scheipeter, superintendent of Clayton’s Public Works Department, had to take a step back and take a deep breath to tackle the life threaten-ing situation with baby steps.

“My crews and I worked around the clock for eight days -- eight days continuously. We set priorities: clear the streets first, just get the streets open so fire and police can get through to respond,” Scheipeter said.

Classified as first responders, the Clayton Public Works personnel are used to crisis situations. In charge of the department’s six divisions, which together manage everything from street-lighting and snow remov-al to forestry and parking, and responsible for up to 28 crew members, Scheipeter has learned to utilize all of his resources.

“With the help of our engineering department, we sat down and got a strategy together,” Scheipeter said. “Asking for help is another challenge [of the job]: to put your ego aside and say, ‘Hey, I need help.’”

Collaboration not only saved Clayton in 2006, but also guided Schei-peter along his public works career, helping him work his way up the man-agement ladder through mentorship to education.

Beginning as a clerk for the City of Clayton when he was only 19-years- old, Scheipeter initially sought only a job out of high school with a decent salary and benefits. However, he would would end up receiving more than he ever have expected.

“I’ve worked in the city of Clayton public works for all of my life. It was a job, and I never figured I’d be here 41 years later,” Scheipeter said.

Scheipeter held seven consecutive positions in the Clayton Public

Works Department before finally becoming superintendent. His favorite part of the job stems from the gratification of the work.

“[It’s] the satisfaction that when we do a good job, we do it well and the residents, the elected officials and everybody do appreciate what we do,” Scheipeter said.

Though Scheipeter does not have any college degrees, what he lacks in a certificate, he makes up for in real-world experience. By attending night school, trade schools, technical sessions and other public works programs, Scheipeter rises above formal education.

Scheipeter’s greatest achievement reveals the extent of his abilities; in 2011, the American Public Works Association named Scheipeter one of the nation’s top ten public works officials. In his own words, Scheipeter attributes the reward to hard work, perseverance, learning and the great people with whom he works.

In one word, Scheipeter characterizes his journey as adventurous.“Because of the complexity of public works, I don’t feel like I’ve been

here 41 years,” Scheipeter said. “You always have something to learn;.You’re never too old to learn because technology changes all the time, and it is a challenge to make sure that we as the Public Works Department are doing the best most proficient, most economical levels of service.”

In addition to the challenge of taking care of 60,000 to 80,000 day-time residents, Scheipeter must balance work with family.

“My wife, from day one, has been very, very, very understanding. It’s difficult because you have priorities, but fortunately my family knew that and, to this day, still know that. [My sons] say, ‘Dad, you work too much,’ but if you enjoy your job, it’s easy,” Scheipeter said.

Thanks to the support of his family as well as that of his colleagues, Scheipeter now spends six days of the week immersed in public works, expanding his limits and working towards his goals.

“I enjoy the challenge. I’m always looking ahead and that’s what you need to do in any career path. You should never be complacent. You should always be motivated to do more and do better. That’s what keeps me going. It’s the daily challenge,” Scheipeter said.

CLAYTON WORKSby PHOEBE YAO

Exploring the hard-working behind-the-scenes crew in Clayton

S

11feature

Behind the scenes photos of the Clayton Public Works Department. Top, right Gary Scheipeter (photos by Katherine Sleckman).

LUNAR LEVITATION

When CHS freshman Dominic Anzalone attended Fazio’s Rock Camp the summer before sixth grade, little did he know that his life as a musi-cian would be changed drastically.

The students arrived on Monday and immediately began practicing with their pre-assigned groups. A week of rehearsals followed, and the camp culminated in a concert given to the families of the musicians on Friday afternoon.

Anzalone, a drummer, was placed in a group of four boys, a group that would later lead to the formation of their band, Lunar Levitation.

“We totally forgot that we had to come up with a band name so we went backstage and said, ‘Ok let’s think of a name,’” Anzalone said. “Someone said, ‘Lunar,’ and someone said, ‘Eclipse,’ and someone else said, ‘Levitation.’”

Three years later, Anzalone is the only member of the original group that is still a part of the band.

“It was different members at the beginning, but over time, as it went on, it was mutual friends where someone would know another person that played,” Anzalone said. “It just eventually became the band that it is now.”

Now, the band also consists of Thomas Meyer, who plays lead guitar and sings, James Whalen, who also sings and plays the bass and Riley Adkisson, who is the lead vocalist and also plays guitar.

“At the beginning it was just kind of for fun, but over time it’s become more mature and more serious,” Anzalone said.

Anzalone, the founder of the band, has been taking private drum les-sons since he was 5-years-old.

“I got my first drum set when I was seven, so I would always play around with that,” Anzalone said. “I wasn’t too serious when I was young-er, but I definitely played around a lot. I didn’t really get serious about it until sixth grade.”

Meyer, a senior at Westminster, has been playing electric guitar for six years. He joined the band in February of 2014. Before Lunar Levitation, Meyer played with Adkisson in the chapel band at Westminster, among other groups.

“[Adkisson] originally told me that they were looking for a guitar play-er, and I played with them one time,” Meyer said. “I just wanted to play music. I’ve played in different bands in the past, and I liked the guys and their style of music.”

Next year, Meyer will be attending the University of Alabama where he will be studying chemical engineering.

“I’ll definitely start a band in college. I’ll keep playing music for the rest of my life,” Meyer said.

However, music is more than just a hobby for Meyer.“Music is the universal language,” Meyer said. “I used to go to a lot of

open mic nights and you sing with three people you’ve never met before and it’s like, ‘Okay, we’re playing a blues in A,’ and everyone knows what to do without even knowing each other’s names.”

Riley Adkisson, a senior at Westminster, has been singing and playing guitar for five years. He joined Lunar Levitation in June of 2013 and also plays in his solo band, Riley Shane.

“Music is a huge deal to me,” Adkisson said. “I freaking breathe music.”Adkisson plans on attending community college next fall and hopes to

continue working in the music industry as a career.James Whalen, a sophomore at Vianney, joined Lunar Levitation in

January of 2013. “When I first joined the band, it was through my friend Henry who

was playing with them,” Whalen said. “He was like, ‘Hey, we need a bass player,’ and I was kind of playing at the time, but I got serious after learn-ing the songs. It really helped me grow into the musician I am now.”

by ALEX BERNARD and NIKKI SERAJI

12 feature

Photo by Kenny Williamson

Lunar Levitation performs around St. Louis one to three times per month. Some of their past venues have been the St. Louis Arch, the zoo, and Syberg’s.

“We love Syberg’s, even though we play there a lot,” Anzalone said. “We’ll hang out, get some food, just chill. We have to see each other before the gigs and after, but we’ll hang out before, just talk and maybe polish and make sure the set list is all good.”

Generally, weekly rehearsals take place at Whalen’s house and last about two hours.

“A lot of practice and planning goes into it,” Whalen said. “It definitely does take a lot of time, but it’s definitely worth it.”

“We practice when something comes up,” Meyer said. “It’s not a huge deal, but music is a huge part of my life.”

Lunar Levitation plays a wide variety of music, which contributes to their varied fanbase.

“We have a lot of teens and adults, and since a lot of the girls like good looking men, Riley and James are some of the favorites,” Anzalone said. “A lot of the adults like us, too, because we do newer stuff and we do older stuff and we mash it up. We like to be different.”

Lunar Levitation is managed by Anzalone’s mom, Dana Anzalone, known as the “momager” to the bandmates.

“As their manager, I am pretty much equivalent to their biggest fan,” Dana said. “My biggest responsibility would be in promoting the band and getting them shows. In the very beginning, the band would play just about anywhere, but now the boys pretty much decide what type of shows they want to play.”

One of the biggest motivators for Dana’s involvement is getting to see the band perform and interact.

“They have each other’s back and when they do get together, whether it’s jamming or performing, they clearly enjoy playing together,” Dana said. “All of the boys have an extreme passion for music. There’s nothing better than when [Lunar Levitation] takes the stage.”

Lunar Levitation has had a great influence on Dana.“I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” Dana said. “The boys are such great

people and have taught me a lot.”Since the founding of the band at an educational band camp, the focus

of the band has been on gaining experience as musicians, rather than on monetary goals.

“I think if we thought, ‘Oh, let’s make money, let’s get famous,’ it wouldn’t be as fun, but we’re doing this more as a fun learning experi-ence, and getting to know other musicians better and also improving our skills,” Anzalone said.

Lunar

Levitat

ion

May 24

May 30June

5

June 28,

30July

2

Helen Fit

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Sun Vall

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13feature

May 21

the

28. Columbia College Chicago (3)

24. Colgate University (1)23. Clark University (1)22. University of Chicago (2)21. College of Charleston (1)20. Chapman University (1)19. Centre College (2)

13. Brown University (1)

1. Alabama A&M University (2)2. University of Alabama (3)3. Alcorn State University (1)

18. University of Central Missouri (3)

15. Butler University (1)14. Butler County Community College (1)

11. Bradley University (3)10. Boston University (1)9. Belmont University (1)8. Bard College (1)

6. University of Arizona (7)

4. American University (1)5. Arizona State University (1)

7. Avila University (1)

12. Brigham Young University (2)

16. Carleton College (1)17. Case Western Reserve University (3)

27. Colorado State University (2)26. Colorado College (1)

25. University of Colorado at Boulder (1)

47. The New School for Liberal Arts (1)46. Emory University (2)45. Elmhurst College (1)44. Eckerd College (1)

43. Eastern Mediterranean University (1) - Cyprus

42. Duke University (2)41. Drury University (1)

34. University of Delaware (1)33. Creighton University (1)32. Cornell University (2)31. Cornell College (2)30. Concordia University - River Forest (1)29. Concordia University - Irvine (1)

40. Drake University (2)39. Dominican University (1)38. DePauw University (1)37. DePaul University (1)36. University of Denver (4)35. Denison University (1)

52. Genesee Community College (1)51. Furman University (1)50. Fontbonne University (1)49. Florida International University (1)48. University of Evansville (2)

53. George Washington University (1)

57. Hampton University (1)56. University of Georgia (1)55. Georgia Institute of Technology (1)54. Georgetown University (1)

adventurenext

1

2

356

7

9

1112 15

16, 138

18 19

20

2526

27

29

3133

36 38

40

4142

4850

59

60

61

62

63

6465

66

68

72

73 74

76

7879

81

86

8889

90

91

92

93

9495

96

97

9899

101

102

105

108

110 111

112

115

117

118

119

120

124

125

126

127

129130

131133

139141

143

144

146

147148

154

155

156

157

58. Harvard University (2)

83. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1)82. University of Maryland, College Park (3)81. Macalester College (1)

76. Knox College (1)75. University of Kentucky (1)74. University of Kansas (7)73. Kansas State University (1)

61. Hope College (1)

68. Iowa Western Community College (1)67. Iona College (1)66. Purdue University Indianapolis (1)65. Indiana University at Bloomington (10)64. Illinois Wesleyan University (1)

62. U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (4)63. Illinois Institute of Technology (1)

60. Hendrix College (2)59. Harvey Mudd College (3)

70. Ithaca College (2)69. University of Iowa (2)

72. Judson College (1)71. Johnson & Wales University (1)

78. Lindenwood University (3)

80. Loyola University Chicago (1)79. University of Louisville (1)

77. Lafayette College (1)

86. Miami University, Oxford (3)85. Metropolitan State U. of Denver (1)84. McGill University (2) - Canada

97. Missouri Western State University (3)96. Missouri Valley College (1)95. Missouri S&T (3)94. Missouri State University (7)93. Missouri Baptist University (2)92. University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (1)91. Mineral Area College (2)90. Millikin University (1)89. University of Michigan (2)88. Michigan State University (1)87. University of Miami (1)

98. University of Missouri Columbia (42)

108. University of Notre Dame (1)

115. University of Portland (1)114. University of Pennsylvania (2)

113. Osaka University (1) - Japan112. University of Oregon (1)111. University of Oklahoma (1)110. Occidental College (2)109. Nova Southeastern University (1)

107. Northeastern University (1)106. New York University (2)105. New Mexico Highlands University (1)104. New College of Florida (1)103. Muskingum University (1)102. Murray State University (1)101. Montana State University, Bozeman (1)100. University of Missouri, St. Louis (5)99. University of Missouri, Kansas City (3)

125. Santa Barbara City College (1)

132. Spelman College (1)131. Southern Methodist University (2)130. Southern Illinois U., Carbondale (3)129. Southeast Missouri State (4)128. U. of South Florida, Tampa (1)127. Sewanee: University of the South (1)126. Seattle University (1)

124. Samford University (1)123. Saint Louis University (10)122. Rollins College (1)121. University of Richmond (1)120. Rice University (1)119. Rhodes College (3)118. University of Redlands (1)117. University of Puget Sound (2)116. Princeton University (4)

138. St. Olaf College (2)

137. St. Louis Community College at Meramec (15)

136. St. Louis Community College at Forest Park (15)

135. St. Louis Community College at Florissant Valley (4)

134. St. Louis College of Pharmacy (2)133. Spring Hill College (1)

144. Truman State University (14)143. University of Texas, Austin (1)142. University of Tampa (1)141. Stephens College (1)

140. State University of New York - Plattsburgh (1)

139. Stanford University (3)

150. Villanova Univeristy (1)149. University of Vermont (4)148. Vanderbilt University (2)147. University of Tulsa (1)146. Tulane University (5)145. Tufts University (3)

156. Whittier College (1)

153. Wellesley College (1)152. Webster University (7)

151. Washington University in St. Louis (24)

155. Westminster College (1)154. Western Kentucky University (1)

159. Yale University (2)158. Worcester Polytechnic Institute (1)

157. University of Wisconsin, Madison (1)

In 2013 and 2014, 94.3% of CHS graduates continued their education after high school, attending two-year and four-year colleges and universities. As the class of ‘15 makes their final decisions, the

Globe takes a look into the schools attended by the CHS classes of ‘13 and ‘14.

1

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16 feature

“Wheat”-ing Out the Problem

by CAMILLE RESPESS

Three years ago, Melissa Vatterott, then an intern at the Missouri Coalition for the Environment (MCE), noticed a large problem in the St. Louis region: the trends towards industrialized farming were impact-ing the environment, something Vatterott and MCE are very passionate about.

MCE was promoting healthy water when the advocacy organization became conscious of the fact that farming plays a pivotal role in the re-gion’s water quality.

“Farming influences whether or not our soil is in good health and that we aren’t having erosion,” Vatterott said. “So after a few years, we realized that the problems that MCE already works towards are the result of our current agricultural system.”

These findings led to Vatterott exploring the agricultural tendencies in the St. Louis region through The St. Louis Regional Study, which she wrote and MCE published in November 2014.

“[The St. Louis Regional Food Study] examines a 100-mile radius of St. Louis to see what our current agricultural trends are and our historical trends, which we call the St. Louis Regional Foodshed. What the people in the Foodshed were eating 80 years ago versus now as well as what the health impacts are to indicate that our current agricultural system is not benefiting us,” Vatterott said.

After publishing the report, Vatterott took on a new role in MCE as Food and Farm Coordinator, which was based off of the high alarm sur-rounding the food study.

The project centers around four main principles: increasing food ac-cess in the area, increasing the presence of local food in larger markets, expanding farmer knowledge and support of environmental stewardship and educating individuals about food identification.

Currently, the premier goal of the Food and Farm Project is to find out how to source local foods more easily in the region.

In January, Vatterott began engaging with businesses dependent on produce to find out where they were getting their food from and if they were interested in sourcing foods locally.

“I talked with Schnucks, Dierbergs and Whole Foods to find out if they wanted to source more local food,” Vatterott said.

Vatterott found that all of the grocers that she spoke with want to

have locally grown products in their stores, they just don’t know how to find the small farmers in the region. Usually, farmers approach grocers to sell their crops, but this has not been the recent trend.

“I’ve found that since small farms are more labor intensive, farmers don’t want to be behind a computer researching new markets. There’s this communication gap,” Vatterott said. “Part of my program is to be able to engage with some small farmers in the coming months to educate them that larger markets would like more products that are sourced locally and then to help the farmers make those connections.”

The appeal to buying local produce comes from the basis that small-scale, local farms are typically better for the environment with a larger focus on environmental stewardship than industrialized farming.

The Green Dining Alliance, a program through St. Louis Earth Day, certifies environmentally conscious restaurants and food service pro-grams in the St. Louis region. Crushed Red, Five Star Burgers and Pastaria are among the listed. Additionally, Washington University in St. Louis earned a 5-star rating from the Green Dining Alliance. According to the GDA’s website, Washington University sources their produce, meat and artisanal products within a 150-mile radius of St. Louis. The university also uses reusable dishes and has compost and recycling bins throughout the campus.

Currently, Vatterott is working with 15 other organizations to estab-lish a food policy council in St. Louis to make food services like Wash-U the norm in the region.

“We see a need for collaborative effort in the St. Louis area to help our community eat better, learn how to find food, learn how to support the local economy by supporting local farmers,” Vatterott said. “I’ve found that other cities have policy councils in some form to help change their food system and to increase local food access.”

According to Vatterott, the typical food product that any American obtains travels an average of 1500 miles to reach them.

“It’s very important for our livelihood and our food security to be able to obtain local foods. I have a sense of security when I buy products locally because I know who grew the product,” Vatterott said.

With the start of the farmers market season in St. Louis, consum-ers have the ability to go to their neighborhood markets to get locally

17feature

“Wheat”-ing Out the Problem

grown products, except not in Clayton. The Clayton Farmers Market has ended indefinitely due to a lack of attendance after changing the location from the Straub’s parking lot to N. Central Ave. The farmers market also switched from Saturday mornings to Thursday evenings dur-ing the spring and summer months in 2014. On March 11, the market posted on their Facebook page, “The Clayton Farmers Market is not taking place this summer. Please check back for 2016. Thanks.”

Although this market has closed, people living in Clayton can venture to Kirkwood, Tower Grove and Soulard to visit the farmers markets that are held there.

“The growing season has begun, so it’s very easy to find local products for the next six months. So I would say, if people are concerned with the is-sue, vote with your wallet. Buy locally sourced food that supports our agricul-tural lands,” Vatterott said.

Missouri has a large amount of land that could be used for farming fruits and vegetables, but the majority of it is dedicated to corn and soybean.

“In the 100-mile radius of St. Louis that I studied, 76 percent of the cropland went to corn and soybeans while 0.1 percent was for fruits and vegetables. When we have so much cropland, we should be producing fruits and vegetables,” Vatterott said.

Through the U.S. government’s Farm Bill, farmers can get paid to grow certain crops. There are many programs that pay farmers to grow

and harvest commodity crops: corn, soybean, cotton, tobacco, wheat and rice.

“The short answer is, [farmers] are producing corn and soybean be-cause of the government payments that come from those crops,” Vatterott said.

The bill also subsidizes the growth of fruits, vegetables and organic farm-ing. However, the monetary support given to these forms of agriculture is much smaller than those for commod-ity crops.

According to Farm Forward, a non-profit advocacy group, 99 percent of meat purchased in America comes from industrialized farms. This is largely due to the mass-production of these meats that can be sold widespread at a low-cost to consumers.

With the popularization of this ag-ricultural trend, unrelability is inevi-table.

“There are food safety uncertainties with our industrialized food system so

I think it is important to source locally because you have a better under-standing of where your food is coming from,” Vatterott said. “At the same time, [buying locally] supports the people in your community.”

Vatterott believes that the current agricultural system lacks a princi-ple necessary for success: dialogue, which is something she is optimistic to change.

Vatterott said, “It’s just a very disconnected system, our current agri-cultural system.”

Left: (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/TNS) Above: (Mark Harrison/Seattle Times/TNS)

“In the 100-mile radius of St. Louis that I studied, 76

percent of the cropland went to corn and soybean while 0.1 percent were for

fruits and vegetables.”

-Melissa Vatterott

Stages of Change

18

n Wednesday, April 8, 2015 through Sunday, April 12, 2015, CHS students and families filled the Black Box the-ater each night to watch their family members and peers perform in “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.”

This production, performed every spring at CHS is unlike any other: it is run completely by students. The

Student Run Musical, or the SRM, is student directed, choreographed, conducted, costumed and designed; the only part of the production not created by students at CHS is the script itself.

Instead of writing their own script, students use scripts of already produced shows.

However, the SRM was not always this way. Andy Neiman, CHS alumni of 1991, was involved in the SRM all four

of his years at CHS, performing in the show his freshman and junior years, co-writing the show his sophomore year and directing the show his senior year.

“It was always original,” Neiman said. “It was always original music, it was always an original script.”

The SRM tradition of writing original musicals existed years before Neiman.

“There were two producers, two writers, two composers and two direc-tors so there was a team of eight of us who put it together from scratch,” said Wayne Saloman, CHS alumni of the class of 1966. “So we weren’t drawing from musicals and then producing them ourselves, it was liter-ally from nothing.”

The SRM was always this way, that is, until the year of 2000 when CHS drama teacher Kelly Weber decided it was time for a change.

“It wasn’t very well organized, they didn’t rehearse for very long and it just wasn’t taken very seriously,” Weber said. “I knew it needed to change after the year that literally the kid who was composing was writing the music on the way to rehearsal. And they were three note little jingles, and I was like, ‘we’re done.’”

Since the year of 2000, Weber has chosen an already produced show for the SRM and given students the responsibility to direct, choreograph, design and conduct the production with little to no help from the ad-ministration, allowing for the tradition of the student driven show to be honored without the stress of creating original material.

Although the change was a risk, the integrity and difficulty of the SRM was not lost.

“As soon as we started doing published musicals, all of the sudden kids had really good material to work with and I felt like the production was a much different challenge,” Weber said. “Rather than the challenge of cre-ating the piece itself, now you have all of this difficult music, this difficult material to get through.”

Weber has also found that the change has allowed for students to re-ally focus on the responsibility involved in creating a show.

“Since we’ve changed the format, I have found that when the mate-rial is real, it has made the project more authentic, so students are more willing to listen to their peers as leaders,” Weber said. “It is like we have been entrusted with this show to put on. There just seems to be a lot more respect from people to their student leaders.”

Another factor that has changed over time is how these student lead-ers are chosen.

In the 1960’s, SRM directors and leaders (all of whom were seniors) were chosen by the administration. “They chose us because of our affin-ity for theatre,” Salomon said. However, as time progressed, this formal process was lost and directors were simply chosen by the student director from the previous year. feature

by GRACE HARRISON

Student Run Musicals

2015

1991

1966

2012

Top to bottom: “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” (Photo by Eric

Woolsey)“Rocky Horror Picture Show,” Andy Neiman Class of 1991, Wayne Sa-

lomon and Janet Hochman Class of 1966. Photos from CLAMO Yearbook.

O

“It was kind of a friend passing on kind of thing,” Weber said. “There were no requirements, I mean the person who directed it the first year I was here had never taken a theater class and she wasn’t even in any of the plays that year. It was weird.”

Since Weber changed the format of the SRM, there has been a strict application process to become a director, choreographer or musical direc-tor. In addition, positions are not excluded to be for only seniors; any student from any grade can earn a leadership position.

Despite the new format of the SRM, the tradition of a student written SRM has not disappeared completely. Although the past decade of SRMs have been mainly professionally produced shows, the option for a student to write an original script still remains.

“I would never ever want to stifle kids’ creativity for actually writing a musical,” Weber said. “I think that is the way the SRM started and I think it should be honored.”

Honored it was in 2007 when “The Adventures of Average Man and Normal Boy” was the first student written show since the change.

“It was wacky and weird and everything but the music was phenom-enal, the book was great and we were nominated for a Cappie for it,” We-ber said. “It didn’t win, but to just to be nominated, I couldn’t have been more pleased.”

Since the success of “The Adventures of Average Man and Normal Boy,” Weber has been waiting for someone to take on the challenge of an original script again.

“I am kind of hoping in the next couple of years someone takes the bull by the horns and writes another one,” Weber said. “I think it would be great.”

While directing an SRM is a difficult feat, being a student leader in the SRM is more than just a challenge. The responsibility of leading a show at

such a young age plays a major role in the development of the individual. “It was the first time that I was [in charge of] the play and I had to

learn to deal with my peers in a way that wasn’t entirely grotesque which I think informed what I did later,” Saloman said. “And now I’m really proud of the way I direct plays, because I never raise my voice, ever. It doesn’t matter what chaos there is, I’ve learned a different way because of the fact that people were willing to empower me with this position because they trusted me.”

Bobby Miller, CHS alumni from the class of 1968, has used his experi-ence from the SRMs at CHS to further his professional theater career.

“The show taught me discipline, leadership and certainly furthered my acting and directing skills, strengthening my confidence to go on to the-ater school and a stage and TV career,” Miller said.

For years the SRM has been inspiring students, pushing them to reach further, be braver and try something new. The spirit of the SRM lives not only in the Black Box theater, but in all of those who carry their SRM memories with them.

“CHS prepared me for the rest of my life,” Saloman said. “I just wasn’t very successful at it then. Later, when I began to appreciate it more and I thought of the plays I did and the small parts I played and the response that the audience gave me, that I carry that with me every day. Empower-ing students in any way that you can, especially in something as difficult as theater, is good.”

Janet Hochman, co director with Saloman in the SRM of 1966, took similar life lessons from her time in a leadership position.

“I learned that bonding occurs with people of like minds, interests and passions with whom you share a lot of time and experiences,” Hochman said. “I have loved every minute of what I have done and continue to do with theater and music. It’s pretty much who I am.”

feature 19“You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” was the 2015 SRM (Eric Woolsey).

15’class o

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Rachel BluestoneThe George Washington UniversityMy favorite thing about Globe is... “The staff--everyone on it is a wonderful individual and I’m going to miss seeing them nearly every day while hanging out in the Globe office.”

Gwyneth HenkeWilliams CollegeMy favorite thing about Globe is... “The wonderful staff--I’ve never encountered a group so kind, sweet and compassionate. They are some of my best friends and biggest role models.”

Jeffrey FriedmanPomona CollegeMy favorite thing about Globe is... “The endless search for the truth.”

Bridget BoegerSouthern Methodist UniversityMy favorite thing about Globe is... “The ability to write about anything and everything.”

Natalie MillerUniversity of Missouri School of JournalismMy favorite thing about Globe is... “getting to spend so much time around so many great people and Mrs. Castellano. Al-though I only got to be on the staff for a year it has been one of my greatest experiences at Clay-ton; everyone is so supportive and fun to be around.”

Audrey HoldsUniversity of California Santa BarbaraMy favorite thing about Globe is... “The journalism community. Everyone is wonderful.”

As the year draws to a close, we take a moment to rec-

ognize the Globies who are graduating this year.

21feature

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Marina HenkeBowdoin CollegeMy favorite thing about Globe is... “The knowledge that as I go through my day at the high school, no matter what, the Globe office’s doors are open and welcoming. It is a place where stu-dents get to be truly joyful and do work that they deeply care about. Even next year the knowledge that this place exists for students will make me happy.”

Peter BaughUniversity of Missouri School of Journalism Honors CollegeMy favorite part about Globe is... “What’s not to love? There is food, an amazing teacher and incredible people. It’s one of the most caring groups of individuals that I have been a part of, and ul-timately that is my favorite part.”

Sierra HieronymusThe George Washington UniversityMy favorite part about Globe is... “The amazing bond between the staff and Mrs. Castellano! Also the food.”

Becca PolinskyUniversity of MichiganMy favorite thing about Globe is... “The staff of leaders, knowl-edge and heart. I thank the Globe for its light.”

Jeffrey ChengUniversity of PennsylvaniaMy favorite thing about Globe is... “Free license to interrogate friends, family, teachers and complete strangers in the name of journalism. And the staff is pretty cool.”

University of Missouri School of Journalism

Noah EngelUnited States Naval AcademyMy favorite thing about Globe is... “our common search for ab-solute truth.”

Zach BaylyColumbia UniversityMy favorite thing about Globe is ... “getting the opportunity to have Mrs. Castellano as a men-tor and teacher; not only has she taught us so much about journal-ism, but she’s taught us all how to be good human beings. She’s truly one of a kind and I’m so privileged and humbled to have had her as a teacher.”

Peter SchmidtPrinceton UniversityMy favorite thing about Globe is... “Being part of a community of people that care about their school and community. It’s really empowering to work with pas-sionate people.”

Developing by LUCY COHEN

review

DiversityClayton High School students expand their social awareness through a St. Louis program called Cultural Leadership.

23feature

re you ready to become a ‘Trouble-maker of the Best Kind?’” was the slogan for the Cultural Leader-ship intiative that spoke to CHS graduate Maalik Shakoor when

he learned of a program designed to help teen-agers gain a better understanding of the African American-Jewish experience.

While at Clayton, Shakoor was inducted into a group of other sophomores and juniors, known as class 8. Shakoor has a knack for social justice and believed this would the perfect opportunity.

“I wanted to do Cultural Leadership because I liked what they stood for,” Shakoor said. “I felt it would be a great learning opportunity, not only about unspoken or unheard black heroes, but also some influential Jewish activist.”

Cultural Leadership is designed for both mid-dle schoolers and high schoolers. There is Camp Cultural Leadership, a summer camp for middle school aged kids, and a year-long program for high schoolers looking to get more involved.

In the high school year-long program, sopho-mores and juniors participate in a year of cultural activities, dialogue sessions, public speaking, leadership training, retreats and much more. The goal of the program is for the students to increase their awareness of the religion, culture and history of others.

When the students apply, they go through a process of filling out an application and being interviewed before they are fully accepted. Once they are allowed into the program, they have to pay tuition and are in-ducted into a class full of other students from the St. Louis area.

To be apart of Cultural Leadership, the applicants must have showed a strong amount of curiosity, maturity, leadership and a sense of civic responsibility.

CHS sophomore Izzy Newmark joined Cultural Leadership and was in-ducted into class 10. Like Shakoor, she has a passion for social justice and thought that the program would be good for her.

“At first ... I really, really did not want to join because I thought my mom was just making me do something that I did not want to do,” New-mark said. “I started filling out the application and I was like, ‘Okay, I have to get into this program.’ Figuring out how to become a better leader is something I feel really strongly about and ... those questions really just grabbed me and I was like, ‘Okay, I’m in.’”

Once in the program, the students participate in activities designed to help them grow as leaders in the community. They have to attend nine programs and three weekend retreats, school swap day, sharing Passover and Easter and a three week transformational journey. It is a year of in-tense political and social justice training.

During the program, the members will experience team bonding exer-cises, films, music, guest speakers and museums. In addition, they engage in group talks about discrimination and social justice.

When Shakoor was actively participating in the program, he met and talked with different guest speakers. One in particular that stood out for Shakoor was Reverend Al Sharpton.

“My biggest moments with the program would be when I spoke be-fore Reverend Al Sharpton and his congregation called National Action Network,” Shakoor said. “I also was interviewed by Fox 2 news for the special ‘St.Louis to Selma’ and one moment that hit home for me that the program allowed me to do was visit the Audubon Ballroom in New York.”

The participants also have time to bond with the other members of their class.

Developing

“I have gained a lot of really good friends who have the same objective and goal as me in their lives. They want to make a change in their life and they’re learning how to do it,” Newmark said. “I know if I need help getting something started in the future I can always turn to them because they will always be there and always have the same drive as me.”

The friendships that come from the ex-perience are only part of the reward for students. The members come out of the pro-gram with a deeper understanding of differ-ent cultures.

“It opened my eyes in a numerous amount of ways,” Shakoor said. “This program makes you incredibly socially aware and it throws a lot of knowledge at you. So when it’s all over you continue to strive for information and stay politically aware and involved.”

After the year of training in the year-long program, the students graduate and con-tinue to grow as leaders. They emerge from the program as more curious, confident and better educated than before. In Shakoor’s ex-

perience even though students may have graduate, they continue to feel a part of the group.

“Once you are a member... you are a member for life,” Shakoor said.

Left: Mary Blair and Dena Selig, members of the Cultural Lead-ership class Above: Students working together during a session

(photos from Cultural Leadership).

“It opened my eyes in a numerous amount of ways. This pro-gram makes you incredibly socially aware, and it throws a lot of knowledge at

you.”-Malik Shakoor

A

BY THE NUMBERS

e live in a society driven by numbers. We are always worrying about test scores and perfor-mance data. Ten years ago, accessing informa-tion about a certain school or district entailed a drive to Jefferson City. From there, the in-quirer would have to sift through a pile of data in order to find the desired information. Now,

in 2015, information moves faster than ever before. With new technology comes increased transparency. Any desired informa-tion can be found on the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) website. Graduation rates, student-teacher ratios, teacher salaries, discipline incidents, ACT scores, school finance data and more are all readily avail-able at the click of a button. But what do these numbers mean? They are only a snapshot of many variables that make up the whole picture.

by ELLIE TOMASSON with reporting by Peter Baugh, Marina Henke, Mitali Sharma, Joanne Kim and Peter Schmidt

WAll public school information from Missouri Department

of Elementary and Secondary Education.

26 cover

ACT ScoresAverage ACT scores from 2014, according to the Department

of Elementary and Secondary Education.

igh school students across the country know the stress of taking the ACT. The ACT helps schools see how their students measure up in comparison to others across the country.

Although the test attempts to level the play-ing field by becoming standardized, many vari-ables shape the outcome of the scores. Generally, schools in lower socioeconomic brackets tend to have lower scores while schools with more finan-cial resources tend to score higher.

Clayton, for example, had an average ACT score of 25.7 in 2014, 3.9 points higher than the state average, while McCluer High School in the Ferguson-Florissant School District had an average score of 17.

Clayton’s scores are excellent in the arena of public schools; how-ever, private schools like John Burroughs School, with a median score of 32, invariably get much higher scores because of their selectivity.

The CHS college counseling department helps prepare students for standardized tests such as the ACT.

“What we do is provide opportunities for students to take pretests,” said CHS college counselor Mary Ann Modzelewski. “This past year we administered the ASPIRE, which is the pre-ACT, and we administered the preliminary SAT, the PSAT.”

While the counselors do not directly endorse test preparation class-es, many students choose to enroll in expensive classes.

“It’s also up to a student, individually, to make some decisions on whether or not they are going to take a test prep class or something like that,” Modzelewski said. “We neither support nor discourage test prep, it is a student and family’s choice.”

H

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17

23

32

Median Score

27cover

layton has some of the best graduation rates of any public high school in the area. In 2014, 96.2 percent of CHS students fulfilled their graduation re-quirements and walked across the stage to re-ceive their diploma.

However, not all schools in the St. Louis area had rates this high. McCluer High School in the Ferguson-Florissant School District reported a graduation rate of 74.9 percent in 2014.

Clayton’s high rates of graduation are due in part to the CHS counseling depart-ment. The counseling department puts a number of interventions in place to make sure that students are able and encouraged to graduate.

“The supports that are in place would include the learning center, the grade level counselor, the individual teacher and that interaction between the student and the teacher,” Modzelewski said. “This year we’ve added parent-teacher conferences so that the parents and the teachers can have conversations about the student. The stu-dents themselves have also created tutoring groups such as the Helping Hounds.”

This additional attention gives students who are struggling with their course load or personal issues an extra push towards graduation.

“What’s unique about Clayton is that our size promotes more of a one-on-one and hands-on approach because we’re not a huge public school,” Modzelewski said. “We’re kind of a nice size with 800-plus high school students. It’s much easier to manage.”

Clayton’s small student-teacher ra-tio helps prevent students from slipping through the cracks and recieve more one-on-one assistance.

It is the goal of the counseling depart-ment, as well as teachers, parents and ad-ministrators, to identify students who are struggling and to help support them so they can graduate.

“The point is that you want to have systems in place so that if students are in trouble, whether it’s social, emotional, academic or in any level of their lives that the school community can come together to work with that student and that family,” Modzelewski said.

CGraduation Rates

Number of students graduating from high school.

GRADUATION RATES96.2

94.7

93.4

92.3

74.9

92.1

2322

18

2223

12

7

Median Score

Student-Teacher RatioNumber of students to classroom teachers.

Discipline Incidents

Schools are required to report discipline incidents that consist of 10 or more days of in school suspension.

.1%

1.8% 1.9%

0%

12%

1.9%

iscipline incidents can range from cutting class to stealing to physical altercations. All public schools deal with these incidents in their own ways.

Just looking at the numbers, it would seem that students at McCluer High School in Ferguson, MO, whose reported discipline incidents come out to 12.7 per 100 students, are more prone to misbe-havior than students at Metro Academic and Clas-sical High School in St. Louis City, whose reported incidents are zero, but there are many variables

that go into these reported numbers besides just the character of the students.

Each school is responsible for its own policy regarding how it han-dles discipline issues. These procedures can color the numbers that the state of Missouri requires be reported.

Metro High School is a magnet school in the St. Louis City School District. Metro’s discipline incident rates are largely affected by the dropout and expulsion rate of the school.

“Because Metro is a magnet school, if a student receives more than two F’s on their semester report card they must return to their ‘home school.’ A ‘home school’ is your district school - either Roosevelt, Sum-ner, or Vashon,” said Isabelle Appleton, a senior at Metro High School.

Clayton’s approach to discipline issues is more flexible. Discipline incidents are judged on a case-by-case basis. There is no rule book that stipulates that a certain punishment always accompanies a certain misdemeanor.

“A lot of schools have zero tolerance policies. The research I have looked into and the people I have talked to [suggest] that does not work,” said Assistant Principal Ryan Luhning. “Each kid is an individ-ual, and we’re consistent in our punishments and our consequences, but I would say I’m inconsistent with how I talk and deal with indi-vidual students. With zero tolerance, if you make a little mistake, you

Dcan be removed from school, you can miss a lot of classes, it’s a slip-pery slope.”

Clayton tries to uphold a policy that allows students to learn from their mistakes in high school, so that they do not repeat them in the real world.

“I don’t like kids making mistakes, but I’d rather you make them in high school than once you leave this place,” said Luhning. “We can protect you here, once you get out of here, it’s tough to do that.”

*Burroughs Data Unavailable

ost other schools get a varied mix-ture of district, state and federal funding, but Clay-ton gets the vast majority of its funding, 95.5 per-cent, from the local tax base.

Missouri allocates funding for schools based on a formula that takes into account student attendance, target funding per stu-dent, localized cost of living and subtracts out local effort.

In order to ensure that schools don’t lose funding under this new plan, the state guarantees that each district gets at least as much funding as they did in the 2005-2006 school year, the year the plan was passed. If the formula yields less funding than the district got in 2006, the school district is called a ‘hold harmless’ district, which means that it gets a comparable amount of funding that it did in 2006.

Clayton is a hold harmless district, so it receives the same funding as before the new plan was passed.

Chief Financial Officer Mary Jo Gruber said, “Since Clayton receives more money from local assessed value, the state will not contribute more than the District is held harmless.”

The overwhelming local support for Clayton schools explains the disparity in the districts break down of local, state and federal funds.

While plans to link Missouri state fund-ing to test scores have been discussed, at this point, there is no link between perfor-mance and funding.

School Finance

Where funding for districts comes from.

Clayton Schools

St. Louis Public Schools Rockwood Schools

Washington Schools

Ferguson/Florissant

M

*Burroughs Data Unavailable

*Burroughs Data Unavailable

29cover

Where students head after high school graduation. Post-Graduation Plans

McCluer

Washington

he main goal of any public high school is to prepare students for the adult world and compete in the global job market. For many, this preparation includes going into higher education, but oth-ers decide to go straight into the workforce or the military.

At CHS, 84.1 percent of stu-dents attend a 4-year college after

high school as opposed to the 26.3 percent who do so at Washington High School in Washington, MO. Many other students decide to attend a 2-year col-lege or a technical institute to further their educa-tion and prepare themselves for the job market.

Modzelewski said, “[We help] students to meet their goals, to achieve, through their academic jour-ney, their next steps to whatever that might be. For many of our students, it is true that the next steps are college that it has to do with higher education, but not all students end up going to college.”

Marquette

Metro

T

ClaytonSummit*Burroughs Data Unavailable

layton has some of the highest paid teachers in the area, with an average yearly salary of $74,920 in contrast to Washington High School’s average teacher salary of $46,037.

“A person who is coming into the [Clayton School] District as a first year teacher with a bachelor’s degree would get $43,000 as an annual salary. As you increase your education and years of experience, your annual salary goes up a percentage,” said Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Sean Doherty. “Our goal when we do the salary negotiations is to look at the total impact of the district budget for salaries and to be market compteti-tive with surrounding districts in terms of salary increases.”

Clayton’s financial incentives succeed in getting the most qualified teachers for the district. Clayton has a high number of teachers with advanced degrees, totaling 96.8 percent.

“One of the things about the School District of Clayton that is unique compared to other school districts is that we give teachers their years of service when they come to the District … so if you have been teaching for 20 years and you come into our district, we will pay you on the salary schedule for how many years of experience you have. It is a great way of getting the very best people here,” Doherty said. “Our focus is to find the very best teachers. It’s not about looking what we can possibly do to save. My goal is to make sure we get the very best person.”

Teacher salary comparisons and teachers with advanced degrees.

Teacher Info

Where students head after high school graduation. Post-Graduation Plans

C74.9k

57.7k 58.8k

51.6k55k

46k

Teacher Salaries*Burroughs Salary Data Unavailable

Teachers with Advanced Degrees

96.8%

76.7%80.4%

75.5%

58.2%

69.4%

87%

Teacher Years of Experience

17.812.913.413.911.21313

31cover

32 sports

hen Christian Thomas told Ryan Luhning, his Clayton basketball coach, that he wanted to be a college basket-ball player, Luhning told him that his best chance at be-ing a Division One athlete was in football. At the time, Thomas was a freshman at CHS.

“He needed to get stronger. He needed to work on his ball handling, his passing. He needed to work on his

shooting,” Luhning, now one of Clayton’s assistant principals, said. “We talked about things he can do, we gave him drills. We talked about the ways he could grow. And the key for Christian was he did it all on his own.”

This determination paid off for Thomas. By his senior year he devel-oped into one of the top St. Louis basketball players in the class of 2011. That year, the Greyhounds went 22-7 and won the District title. Thomas averaged 21.9 points and 13.2 rebounds per game. He was named Confer-ence Player of the Year and earned both All-State and All-Metro honors.

Luhning credits Thomas’ success not only to his work ethic, but also to the strong support system that he had at home.

“His family unit was so strong,” Luhning said. “If he was struggling in classes, we [Luhning and Thomas’ parents] would sit him out first half of games because we knew how bad that hurt him to sit out of games.”

By the end of his senior year, Thomas received multiple Division One basketball offers. He was in communication with St. Louis University when Porter Moser, one of SLU’s assistant coaches, took the head coach-ing job at Loyola University in Chicago. Moser offered Thomas a scholar-ship, and Thomas took it.

“I took a visit, fell in love with the campus,” Thomas said. “I love Chi-cago and it just worked out great for me.”

In Thomas’ first year at Loyola, the Ramblers went 7-23, winning only one conference game. By his senior year, Thomas helped transform the Ramblers into a winning team and contender on the national level.

“Each year has just been kind of building,” Thomas said. “I think the program is definitely heading in the right direction. There’s a lot of good pieces coming back next season, so hopefully they can continue their suc-cess.”

His freshman year he started in around half the games, and was a full time starter his sophomore through senior year.

“He’s not going to overwhelm you with highlight reel type plays and those type of things, though he does have some highlight reel dunks, but if you want someone who is going to be solid on the offense and defensive end, do everything you ask of them, give 100 to 110 percent, all that good stuff, all those cliches you have, that’s Christian,” Luhning said.

Loyola’s success culminated in Thomas’ senior season, when they won the College Basketball Invitational, or CBI. The CBI, along with the NCAA Tournament and NIT, is one of the end of season national basketball tournaments for Division One schools.

In the CBI finals, Loyola beat Louisiana-Monroe in the best of three series. After taking the first game, the Ramblers edged out a 63-62 win in game two to become tournament champions.

“It was the first postseason action that Loyola had had in about 30 years and so making a little bit of history with that and then winning my last college game is something that a lot of people don’t get the opportu-nity to do and so I’m thankful for that,” Thomas said.

In his career at Loyola, Thomas scored over 1,000 points and also fea-tured the third highest field goal percentage in school history. Thomas

A Shooting Starby PETER BAUGH

double majored in Information Systems and Operation Management, but he may not be done with basketball just yet. Though he is still undecided on his future, he may try to play professionally in Europe.

With an excellent career at both the high school and college level, Thomas is among Clayton’s all time greats in basketball.

“It’s because of his work ethic, because not only did he value basket-ball but he valued his academic work, he valued social relationships with his peers, he valued his friends and he also knew the legacy that he was leaving here with,” Luhning said. “That he wanted a reputation as being the best player ever to walk out of here. Not only the best player, but one of the best people to ever walk out of here. And I think he accomplished both.”

Left: Christian Thomas dunking in a Loyola game. Right: Christian Thomas, as a senior, playing in Stuber Gymnasium (Photos from

Christian Thomas).

1,353 points 684 rebounds 55.4 shooting percentage

Career

W

33sports

On Aug. 2, 2012, a YouTube video was posted showing a young man punting footballs. The punter landed each of the six footballs he kicked inside the 10 yard line. The man’s name? Karl Schmitz. The location? Gay Field in Clayton, Missouri.

After years of hard work, Schmitz is now getting the chance to play for an NFL franchise, the Denver Broncos. In March, he signed a contract with the team.

“[I am] looking forward to competing for a starting job these next few months,” Schmitz said.

Schmitz graduated Clayton High School with the Class of 2005. He moved to Clayton before his junior year, previously living in Bermuda. Af-ter playing soccer his junior year, a number of football players convinced Schmitz to try football his senior season.

Sam Horrell was an assistant coach in 2004, Schmitz’s only year with the football program.

“He had a natural skill as it related to kicking the ball and things of that nature,” Horrell said.

After missing the first part of the season with injuries, Schmitz de-veloped into a strong kicker and punter for the Greyhounds, helping the team win the Missouri State Championship. Horrell said that it was key to have a kicker that could pin the opponents deep in their own territory.

“It takes away another aspect of the opponent’s team and phase of the game that you have to worry about,” he said.

That year, Schmitz played with Jairus Byrd, who now plays for the New Orleans Saints in the NFL.

After graduating from CHS, Schmitz joined the football team at Jack-sonville University. He then transferred to the University of Missouri in St. Louis, a school without a football program. However, he never gave up kicking footballs.

“Karl had always trained and worked in the offseason with private trainers and continued to go to free agent camps and things across the country, whether they were in Arizona, Florida, California, wherever it may be, just working with coaches to try to better his craft and chasing that dream of eventually one day signing a contract with the NFL,” Hor-rell said.

Now, after years of training and kicking, that dream is coming true.

GRYEHOUND TO BRONCOby PETER BAUGH

Thomas’ College STATS

PPG: 11.2FG%: .563REB Per Game: 4.5

1,353 points 684 rebounds 55.4 shooting percentage

Photo of Karl Schmitz (from CLAMO Yearbook)

2014-15 Season

Career

34 sports

seniorOur

“Zach Bayly (14), he was my first four year varsity player here since I started coaching in 2010 and was one of our most outstanding players both on and off the field.” Tom Redmond, boys’ soccer

“Lindsey Anderson (11) is in her fourth year of varsity so she’s been with me all three of my years of coaching girls’ varsity, and she’s just one of those kids that’s the heart and soul of Clayton girls’ soccer.” Tom Redmond, girls’ soccer

“Kelly Dickens (13) has truly embodied what it means to be a ‘cheerleader’. It is with pride that she represents her school, and leads with her outgoing, positive attitude and beautiful smile.” Colleen Riordan, cheerleading

The Globe asked each sports coach to recognize

one standout senior athlete from their team.

“[Ben Tamsky] (6) played the game with so much grit and passion every time he touched the ice. Whether it was in practice or game, he was there to compete and make others around him better.” Zach Han, hockey

by PETER BAUGH

athletes

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14

“Michael [Gant] (21) was a defensive tackle [and was] several years mentioned [as an All-Conference player].” Scott Weissman, football

“Emma Chereskin (4) was not only a fantastic player to have on the team, she was a great person to have on the team.” Chris Livingston, softball

“Cortez Stewart (17) has overcome injury and hardship to become one of the top 400 meter sprinters in the St. Louis area.” James Crow, boys’ track

“Senior captain Gabe Remshardt recorded his 200th career point this past week. His senior leadership has helped the ‘Hounds reach number two in the state with a 9-2 record.” Matt Paige, boys’ lacrosse

“Bridget [Boeger] (22) was a vocal leader and her hardworking approach to running and her stability in racing will be sorely missed next year.” Kurtis Werner, girls’ cross country

“Jacques [Painter’s] willingness and dedication to cross country was evident by doing the small things to remain healthy during his four years and it provided him a spot on the varsity team during most of his har-rier days.” Kurtis Werner, boys’ cross country

“Stefanie Getz (18) has stepped up in a real strong way to be-come a voice of unity and teamwork. Her positive presence is in-valuable.” Jud Brooks, water polo

“Reeves Oyster (16) was an outstanding leader for us on and off the court. Her attitude made us a better team.” Steve McFall, girls’ basketball

“[Alex Hawkenbery] (1) is extremely dedicated and hard working. I have enjoyed having him on the team.” Susie Luten, boys’ tennis

“[Connor Cassity] (5) set the tone for our team and her work ethic set an example for … the girls. She was rewarded by winning the State doubles champion-ship this past season.” Susie Luten, girls’ tennis

“[Makenna Martin] (2) has been with the pro-gram all four years and has been a very determined player. She spent every off season practicing and per-fecting her game.” Jackie Jaques, volleyball

“It is hard to ignore John Howard’s (3) pitching dominance in district tournaments the last two years. John earned the win in five of the six contests including the championship game two years in a row against John Burroughs.” Craig Sucher, baseball

“Kristen Brown (9) is an outstanding dancer and an ex-ceptional team leader. As captain of the dance team she motivated the team to work hard and have fun. Her joyful personality made her a pleasure to work with and she will definitely be missed.” Dana Jones, dance

“You don’t say this a lot about kids but [Mitch Elliott] (10) really did everything right all the time in every drill in practice and in terms of being a leader, that was something that I thought our younger guys could always look up to.” Mike Nelke, boys’ basketball

“Andrew Litteken (19) was a great leader on our team because he worked hard on a regular basis in practice. [He] set a good tone for others to do the same thing.” Rob Laux, boys’ swimming

“Maya Lucas-Clark (15) is a wonderful young lady with a bright future. I really enjoy the senior leadership that Maya brings to the team and will miss her next year.” Barry Ford, girls’ track

“Isaac Fish has been one of the more pleasant surprises for us both on and off the course. He’s had some good scores for us so far … he’s also been quite the leader on the team.” Chris Moody, boys’ golf

“Alexis [Schwartz] (7) was an amazing captain this year. Due in large part to her leadership we aver-aged over 30 girls a day at morning practice. This effort contributed greatly to our team’s overall success this year.” David Kohmetscher, girls’ swimming

“[Jared Garrett’s] (8) ability to break his opponents is only surpassed by his ability to consume literature.” James Abshier, wrestling

“[Natalie Miller] (23) had never played lacrosse and re-ally embraced it and just loved the game. I think she’s just a great leader for our program and everyone looks up to her.” Darby Hille, girls’ lacrosse

“Emily Braverman (12) is a four year player for field hockey, [she] really takes everyone under her wing. She’s ... really trying to grow field hockey for the Clayton program.” Darby Hille, field hockey

“[Molly Droege] (20) was a total leader of the team. What was great about Molly was how much leadership she showed just in terms of golf etiquette … leadership that can’t be taught.” Kim Shelley, girls’ golf

15 16 17

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36 sports

ATHLETE PROFILE

LEADER INTHE BACKFIELD

hat does it feel like to almost achieve a goal? To be so close to that elusive accomplishment, but narrowly fall short?

In her District cross country meet, senior Bridget Boeger finished in 16th place. The top 15 runners went to state.

However, to be a truly elite competitor, one must strive to learn from even the most painful of losses.

Boeger not only learned from this moment but cherishes it as one of her greatest memories as a runner.

“That was really frustrating, but it was also my best moment because it was my best time and I knew I did the best I could,” Boeger said.

Boeger kept this chip on her shoulder going into the soccer season where she has proved to be an extremely capable senior leader and sweeper on the young and steadily improving team.

“I think our goals are to go over .500 and to start winning some of the harder games [against] teams that we’ve been pretty close to in the past couple years,” Boeger said.

This goal seemed to begin to take shape a few weeks ago when the team shone in its victory over Parkway Central, which Boeger described as her best moment in a Greyhound uniform.

“We lost to them last year, we lost to them before and we’d been having a bad couple of games so it was really nice to win that game,” Boeger said.

Although Boeger’s own leadership is evident, she has high praise for another leader, her coach.

“I really think [Coach Redmond] pushes people to do the best they can and he’s not one of those coaches that’s going to yell at you if you do something wrong,” Boeger said. “He’s going to be one of those coaches that you will want to make proud of you.”

Boeger has goals for her final season as a Greyhound, but she also feels as though the team will continue to improve after she leaves.

“We only have a couple of seniors this year so our team is pretty young so I think everyone will be able to start stepping up when we leave next year,” Boeger said.

With her final game in a Greyhound uniform rapidly approaching, Boeger looked back on her notable CHS athletic career in a very positive light.

“I love being a part of the teams and when you are in season with your team you have a lot more fun when everyone is going through the same thing at the same time,” Boeger said. “If you have a hard game you just all have to work together and I like that.”

W by BRIAN GATTER

Bridget Boeger clears the ball at a Clayton girls’

varsity Soccer game (photo from Yearbook Archives).

THE CRAZY SPORTS OF THE MONTH MOMENT by KEVIN ROSENTHAL

and ELISE YANG

There is a perpetual fantasy among St. Louisans of their hockey team heaving a silver trophy as the champions of the National Hock-ey League for the first time in franchise history.

Unfortunately, this thought is nothing more than mere reverie. On April 26th, the St. Louis Blues were eliminated from the Stan-ley Cup Playoffs in the first round for the third year in a row. Al-though the Blues had an excellent regular season in which they won the Central Division, they fell short in the playoffs, leaving fans to wonder what the missing piece is for the Blues to make a deep run in the postseason.

The Blues were one of the most dominant teams in the NHL this year, and they have clinched a postseason berth all four seasons with coach Ken Hitchcock at the helm.

St. Louis has put forth a dismal effort in the playoffs under Hitchcock, however, and it didn’t help that this year the Blues faced a resurging Minnesota Wild team.

Since acquiring goaltender Devan Dubnyk from Arizona in Janu-ary, Minnesota closed out the season with a 27-9-2 record, the best in the NHL. Difficult as it seemed for the Blues to face the revived Wild, St. Louis was riding a hot streak of its own entering the play-offs.

The Blues won five of their last six games in the regular season, including two crucial wins against their rivals, the Chicago Black-hawks. Youngster Jake Allen was phenomenal down the stretch of the regular season, stepping into the role of the starting goalie for the Blues. Allen was solid in the first four games of the playoff series against the Minnesota Wild, but in the pivotal Game 5, where the Blues had the opportunity to take a 3-2 series lead at home, some-thing shifted for the rookie goaltender.

Allen seemed nervous after Game 4; all his confidence that led

to making critical saves in the first four games of the series seemed to have disappeared. It did not help either that the Blues’ offense was lackluster.

There was major disparity between Vladimir Tarasenko and ev-ery other player who donned a blue note on his chest. Tarasenko was unstoppable against Dubnyk, scoring six goals in the six games played in the series. With the exception of Game 4, a 6-1 thrashing of the Wild, most other Blues players did not maintain the grit and intensity necessary to succeed in a series in the NHL playoffs.

The Wild won the series four games to two. So what is the missing piece for the Blues? For the past few seasons, it seemed as though the Blues had as good a chance as any team to lift the Stanley Cup after the grueling two month battle that is the NHL playoffs.

But year after year, St. Louis’ hopes of being the champions of hockey have been cut short just weeks into the postseason. Over the last four years in the playoffs, the Blues have started four dif-ferent goaltenders, but the core of their offense has stayed virtually the same.

So, what needs to change and what must stay the same? It ap-pears that this could be an offseason filled with big, controversial moves for the Blues. But one thing is clear: change is necessary for a team who has proven time and time again that its core cannot compete with the other playoff heavyweights.

Head Coach Ken Hitchcock’s job is potentially endangered due to the continual shortcomings of his team in the playoffs. As fans, we have no say over the formation of next year’s team. We cannot control which players are on the ice for the Blues come next October.

All we can do is keep cheering on our Blues, waiting patiently for the day that dream becomes reality: the day the Blues hoist the Stanley Cup.

St. Louis Blues goalie Jake Allen and for-ward T.J. Oshie stand perplexed as Jason Zucker of the Minnesota Wild slips a goal past the Blues (Chris Lee/MCT Campus)

sports 37

38 review

Year of the Sequelby DANIEL CHO and NEEL VALLURUPALLI

As a new year has come, movie enthusiasts and followers alike are ecstatic with the scheduled release of many blockbuster sequels this year. Here are

just a few:

2015’s movies will not be letting us down as sequels to legendary classics are sure to please old and new generations alike.

“The name’s Bond, James Bond.” This is the line heard by spy film devotees since the release of “Dr. No” in 1962. As of 2015, there has been an astounding 22 Bond films that have continued to keep viewers coming back for more. The new film, titled “Spectre,” named after the MI6 rival organization in the earlier bond films, has been scheduled to release on Nov. 6, 2015. Starring Daniel Craig for his fourth consecutive role as 007, the film takes place following the events of the previous Bond film, “Skyfall.” After the destruction of “Skyfall,” Bond’s home, a cryptic message is uncovered from Bond’s youth. This leads Bond into a game of cat and mouse to uncover an ominous organization. While the new “M” of MI6 is battling political forces looking to terminate the British Intelligence Agency forever, Bond continues to uncover the dark secrets that lie behind SPECTRE. With cars, guns and secret organizations, what’s there not to be looking forward to?

review

“May the force be with you.” The much anticipated sequel to the “Star Wars” series is set to be released on Dec. 18, 2015. Many “Star Wars” fanatics are eager for the release of the film. With the last episode, “Episode VI - Return of the Jedi,” released 32 years ago in 1983, the continuation of this saga generated by George Lucas is set to take place 30 years after the time of “Return of the Jedi.” The two trailers released look promising. With the original cast of Harrison Ford (Han Solo), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia), and Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) returning in the new sequel, director J.J. Abrams has been able to keep his fans interested and yearning for the release of the movie in December. With bet-ter computer technology, the special effects in this movie are something many people are interested in. Although not much of the plot has been revealed to the public, one thing is certain: “Star Wars: Episode Episode VII - The Force Awakens” is not going to disappoint.

“Welcome… to Jurassic Park.” “Jurassic World,” following the notable “Jurassic Park” series, is set to release on June 12, 2015. The movie takes place 22 years following the events of the original film. The island of Isla Nublar has now been converted into a popular dinosaur theme park that John Hammond, the original creator of “Jurassic Park,” had envisioned 22 years earlier. However, over the years that Jurassic World has been open, the sales have been dropping significantly. Then by the request of the company, the park’s scientists create a new genetically modified hybrid mutant dinosaur. The plan backfires horribly when the hybrid es-capes from containment. It is up to Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) to save the day. The trailer seems to emit the classic “Jurassic Park” vibe with new and improved special effects. This dynamic duo will sure keep the popcorn crunching.

All photos are the official movie poster

39

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

review

by SOPHIE BARNES

Luth Research measured 2,500 Netflix subscrib-ers who tuned in to specific shows in their first days of release (Netflix has an estmated 40.9 million viewer base). Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (7.3% of subscribers) managed to surpass veteran House of Cards (6.5%) in view-ership after its first few weeks in release. Photo of Ellie Kemper from official show poster.

“Unbreakable! They’re alive, dammit! It’s a miracle! Females are strong as Hell!” This catchy song is the theme for the new Netflix show, “Un-breakable Kimmy Schmidt.” Schmidt, played by Ellie Kemper, appearing in “The Office” and “Bridesmaids,” is a 30-year-old woman kidnapped in eighth grade, who becomes known as an “Indiana Mole Woman.” When she is found years later, her reaction is pure joy. Rather than being upset about everything she has missed, Schmidt is ecstatic to be back in the real world. She begins her new life in New York City, and finds a roommate, Titus Andromedan, played by Titus Burgess from the TV show “30 Rock.” Schmidt also gets hired for a job by an Upper East Side trophy wife, Jacqueline, played by Jane Krakowski. Her life in New York City is an adventure and the highlight of each episode.

One of the producers of this show is Tina Fey, producer of “30 Rock” and comedian from “Sat-urday Night Live.” Fey had first tried to get the show to air on NBC as a comedy, but NBC was not positive about its success, and it ended up on Netflix.

NBC’s Robert Greenblatt told The New York Times, “Nothing would have made us happier than to have Tina’s next show after 30 Rock, but I also would rather see it go to Netflix than put her in a position to not succeed due to our limitations at the mo-ment.”

Lots of people say that the show is almost perfect for Net-flix. The way the show is laid out, the narrative is better in binge watch form and the show is quirky and controver-sial. So far, there are only 13 episodes, but season two is cur-rently being produced and will be released March 2016.

Many different controversies have been brought up with this show. Critics are saying there are too many stereotypical jokes. An article for CNN states, “The majority of the humor is Schmidt’s mis-understanding of the real world, but the contrasting jokes are about the Asian character, Dong, the gay African-Ameri-can roommate, the Native American who whitewashed herself, and the hispanic

maid that doesn’t know English.”Slate magazine says that critics are not wrong, but are just missing

the point. “Tina Fey’s high-wire act is all about the alchemy of making it OK

to laugh at big, heavy issues -- like kidnapped women, the experience of undocumented Vietnamese immigrants, and people with Native

American ancestry passing as white -- by skimming over them with a light touch,” Arthur Chu wrote on Slate.

Recently, celebrity dermatologist Dr. Fredric Brandt was found dead in his home, confirmed that he committed

suicide by hanging himself. This has been largely talked about in relation to “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.” There

is a plastic surgeon, a minor character played by Martin Short, who is a regular doctor to Jacqueline Voorhees, and tries to do a surgery on Schmidt. The doctor’s name

is Dr. Sidney Grant but is pronounced Dr. Franff be-cause that is the only way he can pronounce it after all of the botox and plastic surgery.

“The show was not the reason for his depression, and it was not the reason he would take his own

life,” Brandt’s publicist Jacquie Trachtenberg told Page Six.

Brandt was struggling with depression before this episode came out, and played a role in society with being insecure about beauty and perfection.

Even with the different controversies, overall, this show is perfect for summer viewing. You can easily watch all 13 epi-sodes in a weekend. All of the controver-sies from critics are the opposite of what their purpose is. “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” is supposed to be a show people can relate to with current issues,

and that they can laugh about it. Tina Fey’s message is to take on life lightly,

don’t take things too seriously.

40 review

The Shackefore even enter-ing The Shack, I knew it would dif-fer greatly from other restaurants in the area. The restaurant, which

opened its second location in Fron-tenac on April 12, is truly unlike any other: guests are encouraged to write on the walls, and the language on the menu is exceedingly cheeky.

Having visited on a Sunday morning, I was nevertheless shocked at the 45 minute wait time. There were groups of people scat-tered around the exterior of the building, as well as some waiting inside. The Shack is first come, first serve as well—you can’t make res-ervations.

The time flew by, though, and pretty soon I was being seated at a table. It was at this time that I noticed the decorations in the res-taurant—not only was there writ-ing on nearly every inch of wall space, but the tables were decorated

with memorabilia from the vari-ous high schools around St. Louis. I was slightly annoyed to see that I was going to be sitting at the Ladue table, but that annoyance quickly faded as I read the menu.

The Shack’s menu was interest-ing, to say the least. I ordered the “Because We Can E-Z” — two eggs crammed between two pieces of french toast with hashbrowns. In addition, I ordered the “Toucan Sam” shake, which was comprised of non-fat yogurt and fruit loops.

The wait for the food wasn’t long, and I eagerly began to eat. I found that while the “Because We Can E-Z” was absolutely delicious, the “Toucan Sam” shake was not. While the first taste was okay, the taste quickly became overwhelming and I found myself preferring water over the shake.

All too soon, my food was gone, and I was left with the feeling that I would be returning to The Shack very, very soon—perhaps next time, to try dinner.

by RACHEL BLUESTONE

Rules for writing on the walls:

1. Don’t write over another person’s name please... that’s not your memory.

2a. Don’t write profanity or other stupid stuff cause we have an “orbital palm sand-er” in back and we are not scared to use it.2b. (amended 6/3/14) We consider anything related to “KU” or “Jayhawk” written on walls as “profanity or stupid stuff” and or-

bital palm sander will be used.3. And unless you’re some type of celeb-rity (which you are probably not cause you would be sick of signing stuff anyway) don’t sign bigger than the size of an index card.4a. You only get one chance so make it

count.4b. However, if you wrote “heart” some-one and then broke up, then you can sign again. But don’t erase the first one, cause we’ll likely point and make fun of that. And

that’s totally worth the memory.

The “Because We Can E-Z” meal with the “Toucan Sam” shake (photos by Rachel Bluestone).

B

CON FED?MISSOURI

APR 00MO

41commentary

rite of passage in high school is getting a driver’s license, and, for some, it means getting a first car. You may have noticed that some students have specialty license plates. Specialty plates bear the emblems of colleges, military personnel, charitable groups and other organizations. They can be pur-

chased for approximately $15. On March 23, 2015, the Supreme Court heard arguments about

whether the state of Texas can refuse to issue license plates bearing the Confederate battle flag. The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) are requesting the plates. They claim that the “Confederate flag is a symbol of sacrifice, independence and Southern heritage” (NYT). However, most people view the flag as a symbol of slavery, racism and hate.

Of course, the First Amendment states that free speech should not be prohibited. One issue in this case is, whose speech is on a spe-cialty license plate? Is it the speech of the person whose car sports the plate? Or is it the speech of the government that issues and makes the plate? A second issue is, if it is the government’s speech, do they have the right to pick and choose which viewpoints to put on specialty plates? Or, must they treat all viewpoints equally?

To begin with, I believe that the speaker is the state because they are issuing and producing the specialty license plates. Also, the plates bear the name of the state. This means the government has the right to choose what they want the plates to say or not say. I be-lieve that individuals should have the right to display Confederate flag on their cars, as despicable as this symbol may be. However, I do not think they have the right to compel the government to print this symbol on license plates for them. If an individual wants to dis-

play a Confederate flag, or other racist or prejudiced messages on his or her car, he or she can purchase bumper stickers from private companies that are willing to print such messages.

Second, while I support free speech for individuals, I believe that the government not only has the right, but also the responsibility to censor its speech more carefully. Offensive individual speech and offensive government speech are two very different things. For ex-ample, if my neighbor hung a Nazi flag with a swastika on his front porch, I would be upset and disgusted, and I may inadvertently forget to put his name on the invitation list for the neighborhood barbecue. However, if the White House hung a Nazi flag on its front porch, I would be fearful, I would distrust the government and I would make sure my passport were up-to-date. It is one thing to feel hated or menaced by a neighbor, but another thing entirely to feel threatened by one’s own government.

If Confederate flags are printed on state-issued license plates, this implies that the government backs the racist ideology that this flag represents. It is not only offensive, but also intimidating to a large segment of the American population, just as the Nazi flag feels hostile to me. When the government speaks to its citizens, it has a responsibility to not convey messages that could be perceived as threatening by part of the population.

Unfortunately, in a similar lawsuit against Maryland in the 1990s, the courts ruled in favor of the SCV. In the current Texas case, the Fifth Circuit Court also ruled in favor of the SCV. It now re-mains up to the Supreme Court to decide whether or not Texas can turn down the SCV’s requests to make the inflammatory plates. The Supreme Court is expected to make its decision by early June.

License Platesby AMY TISHLER

SHOW-ME STATE

A

42 commentary

For Molly Brodsky, a graduate of Ma’ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls in Teaneck, New Jersey, the decision to take a gap year was a no-brainer. The question of what exactly to do during her year off, however, was anything but easy.

Brodsky, now a freshman at Washington University, grew up in a vi-brant orthodox Jewish community in Fair Lawn, New Jersey.

“Based on my school demographics, about 90 percent of each grade, maybe 85 percent, took gap years in Israel,” Brodsky said. “That was the norm. Based on our Jewish studies background, we would continue on because before college, which was continuing our secular studies, we would take a gap year to continue our Hebrew studies.”

It’s easy for a person that’s never taken a restorative break from strict-ly-ritualized academics to say that gap years are a waste of time. But there are so many reasons to take a gap year, the most obvious being that it is a time to explore one’s passions and to make progress in the search for a life purpose.

Brodsky spent most of her year on an Israeli communal farm, known as a “Kibbutz” in Hebrew. Unlike many American students, however, she wasn’t involved in a program run by and intended for Americans. Instead, most of her peers were Israeli students taking a year off before going into the Israeli Army. The program was entirely in Hebrew, and focused pri-marily on Jewish studies.

While the idea of taking a year off from strict academics can be daunt-ing to many high school graduates, it’s fairly simple to get the ball rolling on the process of planning a gap year between high school and college. Carolyn Blair, the director of counseling at CHS, spoke to the specifics of the process.

“Usually what you would do is you would apply through the normal ad-mission cycle and be admitted, and then you would defer your admission for a year,” she said. “For most places, if they will grant you a deferral, you have to have a reason. You can’t defer just to play video games.”

Blair mentioned that students also have the opportunity to apply to college a year later than most graduating seniors, but she noted that it’s often difficult for students to get their applications together after being away from school for a year.

One of the most noteworthy reasons to take a gap year is that there are substantial communities of gap year students at most colleges and universities. A great way to learn about other people’s lives is to share gap year experiences. In fact, gap year students will often seek each other

out in order to discuss what stuck with them from the adventurous year between high school and college.

Also, interestingly enough, colleges usually like it when admitted stu-dents take gap years. Students have a year to become more independent-minded and to mature before spending four years away from home. Also, application deferrals often help the college with yield rates, because new beds for the incoming class free up when high school graduates defer ad-mission.

In addition, for academic programs of a very prescribed nature, like many engineering programs, it can often be difficult for students to study in a unique academic setting during their four years of college. Therefore, in many cases, it’s best to take a break from formal academics on the front end as opposed to somewhere down the line.

Not only do some people argue that a year off of school is time poorly spent in today’s hustle-and-bustle society, but they point to petty set-backs that come with taking a break from formal academics. They men-tion that colleges and universities don’t allow students to take courses for college credit before they set foot on campus, that students will retain much less of the information they learned in high school by stepping out of the classroom for a year, and that being older than most other college freshmen is unnatural.

Brodsky dug through the minor setbacks to shed light on one of the core purposes of the gap year.

“It’s a year for yourself,” she said. “It’s a year to really think about who you want to be and what you want to do…No two gap years are the same. When it comes down to it, I think what gap years have in common is, because they’re such unique experiences, they really become something that you can own, and it’s one of the first times where I think you become more independent in a new way.”

After a great deal of thinking, Brodsky managed to find words for what she sees as the very essence of her gap year.

“Logically, you can say there’s more to life than academics,” she said. “A lot of the time, emotionally, we forget that, and emotionally, we get caught up in this academic world. And we’ll say constantly, ‘No, no, there’s more,’ but we never act on that, and we never feel that way. But I think, at least personally, what I got was that I was able to say there was more than academics, but I also was able to really act upon that and actu-alize those feelings. I thought that logically, and felt that emotionally.”

by JEFFREY FRIEDMANTHE PRO

Brodsky’s visit to Copenhagen, Denmark during her gap year (photo courtesy of

Molly Brodsky).

43commentary

by ZACHARY SORENSON

As seniors finalize their plans for after high school, many are consid-ering a gap year, a little reward for all their hard work in high school. Wouldn’t you want to go to Europe? Get a job? But the fact of the matter is that a gap year will make college much harder for you when you do actually attend.

Have you ever come back from summer break, entered a math class, and had completely no idea what was happening? Well, with a gap year, instead of three months, you’ll have a whole year to gradually leak out your knowledge of calculus and trigonometry, not to mention any other technical knowledge you may have found useful. Studies show that most students lose about two months of their grade level equivalency in math-ematical computation skills over just the few summer months. This can effect those pursuing STEM careers, which almost always require a math class, as well as writing skills.

Readjusting to a school environment, if you’ve been gone for a full year, may also be difficult. After exploring the world, you may not be pre-pared for the structure of college. Thus, your study skills could degrade and you could come back a worse student.

Furthermore, the trip abroad will set you back a full year. If you are not taking classes, you will not be graduating from college alongside your high school class, rather, a year behind them. This could isolate you from your fellow college freshmen who not only lack your new found “perspec-tive” but are also by and large a year younger than you.

When considering a gap year, you have to evaluate its use of your time, as well as the academic consequences.

But, let’s look at the positives of taking a gap year. For one, you can travel, you will have the longest break from school of your life, and assum-ing you start job searching immediately after college, it may be your only year long vacation for a very long time. But, traveling and vacationing for

a year is expensive and one has to wonder whether or not the potential life experience of seeing Rome or Paris in person is worth it. It’s far more practical, in my opinion, to take a year off after college or simply travel overseas as part of your college experience; that way academics aren’t so much of a concern, and you can still explore the world.

You may also simply want time to figure out what you want to do at college, to try to find a passion that could coincide with a degree during your big break. What people often forget is that once in college you are not chained down to what you study, at least not for the first year. College can be a time of self-exploration just as much, if not more, than a year of quiet contemplation and experimentation. In fact pursuing the classes all over campus probably would give you a better idea of what to study than traveling abroad or contemplating from afar.

What’s far more understandable would be if you need the time to work so you can mitigate any student loans you might need to take out for col-lege. What I think people should consider however, is the possibility of working in the summer or throughout the school year to accomplish the same effect. However, once again depending on your financial situation you may need to take the year off. If so, you should try to study as to pre-vent a great deal of your own individual brain drain.

The effect of taking a gap year is detrimental to your college education, both academically, and socially. As a result, if a gap year can be avoided, it should be avoided. Traveling can wait until after college and figuring out what you want to do in college is best done at college, even in the situations regarding financial duress other options should be explored beforehand. I would strongly advise students to go to college immediately instead of delaying it and making your education that much more difficult when you decide to continue it.

PRO/CON: G A P Y E A R S

THE CONSouthern Methodist University campus.

(Photo from Wikimedia Commons).

MANDATORY TESTING

“We are data-driven.”This phrase flies around board meetings and administrative ses-

sions with great weight within the Clayton School District. Such a phrase was the driving force behind recent scheduling changes made at Wydown Middle School and stands as a dominant factor in all educational decisions made within the District.

It is a justification for large-scale changes, an indicator for future trends and past problems and even a point of pride for our modern district. When it comes to school, or even District level decisions, data carries a great amount of weight.

Clayton is no outlier. With increasing technological capabili-ties and a growing dependence on numerical evidence, hundreds of schools around the country are looking towards data to examine growing trends and show areas of improvement.

Students rattle off standardized tests as if the tests were kernels of knowledge within themselves: MAP testing, EOCs, the ACT, APs. The list goes on.

Within the walls of our high school and the confines of our coun-try, our education system looks towards numbers as a means of self construction. Unfortunately, the culture of our nation’s data depen-dence trickles down into students own understandings of them-selves.

As we are uniformly sorted across averages and along curves, students sometimes use these metrics as a means of measuring themselves. Top-performing CHS students often throw around ACT scores as if they were badges of honor, even signs of their academic superiority to other peers. A school that is “data-driven” runs the risk of creating a student body that is data driven as well.

Of course, the unfortunate truth is that public schools are highly influenced by state-mandated policies and regulations, including No Child Left Behind and Common Core standards. These mandates reach far beyond the control of even high-level administrators. In some states data translates into a school’s ability to access funding.

In this issue’s cover story we showcased a slew of numbers, ev-erything from composite ACT scores to average teacher salaries. Even beyond the statistics that we published, we had access to doz-ens of more variables.

Clayton’s statistics mirrored that of many of our competitors. However, the path between student’s experience and the formula-tion of this data differs greatly for many of these schools. In fact,

behind near identical columns of data lie classrooms that in many aspects are worlds away from one another.

One of Clayton’s common competitors is a magnet school, allow-ing selective enrollment. Another school focuses heavily on testing, so much in fact that the school virtually shuts down any non-testing activities before an onslaught of standardized assessments.

However, the ramifications of data-dependence permeates far past competitive students or misrepresentations of daily life. It marks a shift in our priorities.

In 1914 Kansas State Teacher’s College professors developed what we think of as standardized tests. They served to give objective judgement on a student’s understanding of their work. They were not designed for educational empowerment, or even enjoyment.

In contrast, CHS student’s most vivid experiences within the high school occur far outside of a testing room or Scantron sheet. They extend even past the scope of traditional class work: wading through chilly Atlantic waters on the coast of Jekyll, Georgia, reen-acting the Cuban missile crisis in sophomore history class, reading aloud the ghoulish spells of Macbeth while dawning tall black witch hats in English.

Although data driven, Clayton students spend far less time in the classroom focused on generating statistics than many neighboring schools. Teachers are committed to creating rich lessons that allow students within a realm of deep critical thinking, and the greater community values the importance of an education. Additionally, the District has the luxury of knowing that receiving accreditation and basic funding will be a relatively easy feat.

Because of this students have the opportunity to share stories of element speed-dating in chemistry class and have first hand ac-counts of Vietnam war veterans.

How do we compare schools on these metrics? We can’t. After an entire story dedicated to statistical comparison it seems probable that a data-driven district, boasting of thousands of data points, could somehow convey such rich experiences. However, there’s no standardized test for student engagement or happiness.

Instead, we must put faith in our administration that the point of generating our impressive data comes from intentions of creat-ing as many of these experiences as possible. A data-driven district should be driven by such desires, and not rooted solely on the intent of being number one.

STAFF EDITORIALDATA DRIVEN

Despite the reliance upon data in the Clayton District and at the national level, drawing comparisons based solely on num-

bers can lead to false understandings.

44 commentary

45commentary

ou sit at your desk, staring at a pile of work that you haven’t started. Instead of grabbing your pencil, your hand finds your phone, and then you’re on YouTube watching videos of cats or Old Spice ads. Half an hour later, you’re not quite sure what you’re doing, but you know you’re wasting time, and your homework hasn’t

even been touched yet.Procrastination isn’t always harmful, but it can easily get out of

control. While some people who procrastinate can get all the work done quickly, others cannot, and end up with their work unfinished or hastily done.

There are a lot of main reasons why some procrastinate. The good news? All of them can be easily solved.

The simplest reason is simply that you are hungry, tired, or other-wise uncomfortable. Sometimes, taking a quick snack break or short nap before or during homework can be incredibly motivating.

However, sometimes we just don’t feel like doing it. No matter how many times we read and re-read the directions, our mind wanders and we cannot focus on the question in front of us. In that case, one could try listening to music, or perhaps making a game out of study-ing. Some suggest gathering up some small treats, and setting goals for yourself; saying, ‘If I can read until page 14, I will have one piece of chocolate.’ Other people say that coming up with a new way to study can be helpful: sometimes, lack of motivation can actually be helped by studying in a different (or better) way than previously.

Perfectionists are more likely to procrastinate than others. Their logic is that if they can’t do it perfectly, they shouldn’t do it at all. How-ever, sometimes it just takes patience to either better comprehend the material, or figure out a way to complete the assignment as best as you can. If you’re having trouble understanding what is being asked of you, or just the general information, taking some time to look over the material, or find other sources that may provide you with some extra information can be very beneficial.

It is often said the first step to getting something done is plan-ning. For some, that can mean making lists, or organizing the work into some kind of order. For others, it can mean making a schedule, us-ing only a specific time allotted for each assignment. Whatever makes one feel more comfortable with the workload while, at the same time, making it seem less daunting can be used for step one. (Tip: if you go with the to-do list, it often helps to put something very easy at the time, such as ‘get a snack,’ because sometimes knowing that a task has already been completed can also serve as a good motivator).

Step two would obviously be to follow the plan. The process will naturally be different for each person, but it is important to keep motivating yourself. Playing music softly can be good to drown out background noises, as long as it’s not distracting. Perhaps you aren’t comfortable where you are sitting; in that case, perhaps move to a dif-ferent chair, or table, or lie down on the couch.

Even if you still can’t get yourself to turn away from your computer or phone or whatever it is you use to stall before homework, don’t worry. Don’t let yourself panic, or get stressed out, as both can also lead to procrastination. Play calming music, and encourage yourself. Do the best you can, and it’s okay to take breaks. It’s okay to not finish things occasionally, and it’s okay to have trouble understanding some-thing. The important thing is that you always come first, and also that, because you know yourself best, you are the most aware of what you require to focus and do your work.

PROCRASTINATIONby NISHA KLEIN

nlike previous juniors, this year’s CHS juniors’ standard-ized testing will be slightly different. Beginning this year, the ACT will become the state mandated standardized test.

Unlike other ACT tests that students must sign up for by themselves and go to a certain location, such as a

university, to take, students are automatically signed up for the state mandated ACT and it is taken right at CHS.

While having the ACT be a state test has its benefits, there are still a few negative consequences to this that should not be ignored.

Beginning with the positives of the state mandatory ACT, the first is that the test is funded by the state instead of the school. This means that both students and the school district can save money.

Also, this is the official ACT, so if a student is satisfied with their score on the state mandatory ACT test, then they do not have to take any other standardized tests for college.

Another benefit is also that the timing of this state mandatory ACT is pretty good. The date for the state mandatory ACT this year is Apr. 28. This date is very close to another official ACT test date which is Apr. 18.

Apr. 18 is also not too far from June 13, which is another official ACT test date that is very popular for high school juniors. If students are planning on taking the June ACT, then the state mandatory ACT can be used in preparation for the June test.

One last benefit of the state mandatory ACT is that it is very con-venient for students. Instead of having to sign up for a certain date at a certain location, all CHS juniors take this state ACT at the same time and at the same place.

However, the state ACT also brings along with it some negative as-pects as well.

One of these includes the fact that all students are required to take the state ACT. Even if the student is not planning on using the ACT for college and use the SAT instead, they still have to take the state ACT test.

A second very major issue with the state ACT test is the score re-turn timing. Normal ACT tests are scored in around two weeks after they are taken, so students get their scores back very quickly and can then decide whether or not they are satisfied with their scores and whether or not they want to take the test again.

But with the state ACT test this year, scores will be sent to students by around July at the latest. This means that students will not know how they performed on this test until July.

For students planning on using the ACT for college, if they wait until they get back their scores for the state ACT test in July and are not satisfied with their score, then they do not have many more time slots left to retake the ACT.

For those same students, the only other option is to have taken another ACT test before July and before knowing the scores for the state ACT test. However, that could be a waste of both time and money if in July the student finds out that they scored the same on both tests.

CHS has always offered juniors the option to take the ACT at school before it became state mandatory, so students will not experience too much change, but some of these issues surrounding the state ACT may be important to how students make plans for other standardized tests.

In my opinion, as a high school junior who is planning on using ACT for college, the benefits of this new mandatory ACT outweighs the negatives. Plus, even though the scores will be released in July, students will still have another opportunity to take the ACT in Sep-tember and still make it in time for their college applications.

by ALBERT WANG

MANDATORY TESTING

U Y

WHO IS

46 Q&A

SPIRIT TEACHER QUIZ

SPIRITTEACHER?YOUR

47Q&A

SPIRIT TEACHER QUIZ

SPIRITBY MITALI SHARMA

1. If you had to choose one word which comes closest to describing your essence and being, which of the following would it be? a. Cosmic b. Balance c. Empathy d. Clear

2. How would you say people perceive you? a. “That dude is out there.” b. “Hopefully as a good human being.” c. Caring. d. Approachable; willing to collaborate

3.What is your favorite hobby? a. Collecting used lotto tickets to redeem them on the Missouri Lottery website. “It’s basically free money.” b. Photography. “The science behind it comes pretty easily. The art part is maddeningly difficult.” c. Playing with small kids. d. Running. “The outdoors is kind of my church.”

4. Out of the following, how would you describe your music taste? a. Eclectic. “I listen to a little bit of everything and I thank my parents for that.” b. Broad. “I can listen to pretty much anything and enjoy it.” c. Country/Religious d. Acoustic jams

5. What is your outlook on life? a. “Don’t do drugs, get high on life instead.” b. “I like to look for the good side of things.” c. “That’s a tough question. I live life each day and don’t really think about it. I guess I go into each situation expecting the best. Sometimes there are disappointments but that is just part of life.” d. “To quote my son, ‘It’s a beautiful day! The sun is shining. The breeze is blowing.”

6. Are you more of an extrovert or introvert? Or maybe you don’t believe in those generalizations… a. Extrovert. “I do believe I could make money if a real-ity TV show followed me around all day.” b. Introvert. “I need my alone time.” c. Combo. “Usually extroverted but an introvert in new situations.” d. Definitely lean towards extrovert. “I think we are all some combination of the two.”

7. If you could get a chance to go on a vacation of your choice regardless of cost, time or location, where would you want to go? a. Australian beach vacation. “I look forward to reading a ton of books.” b. San Fran! “It’s like a big mall with Pier 1 at one end and Land’s End at the other” c. African Jungles. “Staying close to the tour guide as we see animals in their natural environment.” d. A tour of the national parks. “Some type of adven-ture.”

If you mostly chose A, then you are a Wer-ner! Yep, you seem to match up with the perky

cross country coach and history teacher. If you chose mostly B answers, you are a De la Paz! Your spirit leans towards the optimistic

and, did I mention, tall, physics teacher.Picking the C choices? Don’t worry, there’s one for you, too. You’re warm and family-cen-tered spirit reflects (get it?) the one of geome-

try-specialized math teacher Ms. Glenn!Answering D? You’re a Castellano! Yes, your spirit shares common traits with our one and

only Globe adviser!

Ready to find out?

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