LH Magazine

LHOctober 31, 2014

Feature Magazine

see page 6 for story

City High’s SUPERNATURAL

SUPERST I T IOUSexperiences

with the

2 Little Hawk Feature Magazine

10.31.2014

Contents

Examining the value of standardized testing

42

10Student Profile

Ethan Nelson-Moore ‘16 shares about life as City’s resident tech guru, and his plans for

the future.

42

21Fighting for

Control

The story of one student’s struggle

with an eating disorder.

42

22Sugar Rush

Anton Buri set out to find out

just what sugary diets mean for

the health of our nation.

Logging Off

High schoolers seem to be mov-

ing away from Facebook, but the social media giant

may not yet be forgotten.

42

4Autumn Eats

Will Barker and Dominic Balis-treri-Fox cook

up some new fall favorites.

2

14

17

Cover photo by Caroline Brown

October 31, 2014 3

Teacher Profile

By Sonali Durham

Every day, Susan Rustwick climbs up three flights of stairs to her classroom in a far corner of the school. From 7:30 until the bell sounds for the start of first hour, she helps students through their chemistry questions. She then begins her day, teaching all three levels of chem-istry that City High offers: Chemistry, Chemistry Honors, and AP Chemistry.

“I like to see how excited students get when they really understand something,” she said. “That’s a really cool feeling to see.”

Although no one in her family is a scientist, Rustwick always knew she liked science.

“I was really interested in medicine and biology,” she said. “Then once I got into college I realized I liked chemistry a lot.”

Rustwick attended the University of Iowa, and although she doesn’t believe that experience directly led her into teaching, it did have a “profound impact” on her.

“When I arrived for my college tour as a junior, I hadn’t even gotten out of the car yet when I said to my mom, ‘This is where I’m going.’ There was no other option,” she said. “This was actually the only place I applied because it was the only place I felt would be acceptable.”

She initially did not plan to become a teacher when she began her college education.

“I considered pharmacy, and I actually was a pre-pharmacy major for a while,” Rustwick said. “And then when I started to realize what that looked like on a daily basis, I went and talked to the science educa-tion coordinator, and I transferred over.”

Rustwick’s own high school teachers were a major factor in her decision to go into teaching.

“I had really awesome teachers growing up, and I was very close with them,” she said. “It was actually all my English teachers growing up that I was close with, and that made me want to go into teaching.”

Rustwick has taught a variety of science subjects in both her native

Illinois and in Iowa.“When I taught in Illinois, before coming to Iowa City, I taught with

some of [my former teachers] as a peer, as opposed to being a student,” she said. “That group had a really profound impact on me.”

Although she returned to Illinois after leaving the University of Iowa, she eventually returned to Iowa City with her husband.

“This town as it is right now reminds me of what Naperville was a long time ago, and so I find the town to be really friendly and charm-ing,” Rustwick said. “I loved it, like I said, from the second I arrived.”

Now in her second year at City High, Rustwick’s favorite project of the year is one she assigns to her AP Chemistry students.

“I really like, in AP Chemistry, the molecule history project we do at the end,” she said. “I would describe it as a competition. [The students] each choose a molecule, and [they] all try and debate with each other which one was the most important or the most influential in develop-ing the world as it is.”

Outside of the classroom, Rustwick is an avid fisherman, continuing her family’s tradition.

“I’m a huge fisherman,” she said. “And not like little panfish. I like to sport fish. Every summer, for two weeks, my family and I go up to northern Wisconsin. No T.V.s, no cell phones, no Internet — and we fish muskie. Forever.”

Rustwick’s passion for science transverses the divide between school and the outside world.

“My most important goal would be, whatever course I’m teaching, to make the content relevant to my students’ everyday lives,” she said. “I want them to walk out and experience something like salting the roads and say, ‘I know why we’re doing that!’”

Teaching is not without its difficulties for Rustwick.“I think the biggest challenge is to face the fact that not everybody

loves science as much as I do.” she said. “I try to make them love it a little bit, and appreciate it in their everyday life, but I wish everybody wanted to be a scientist.”

Teacher Profile: Susan RustwickLEFT:Susan Rustwick teachers her Honors Chemistry class. RIGHT Rustwick vacuums Andrea Flack ‘16 to introduce pressure. PHOTOS BY KIERRA ZAPF


Food

FOODw

ith

Willand

Dominic

By Will Barker & Dominic Balistrieri-Fox

It’s Halloween, and in food terms, that usually means candy and sweets, in copious amounts. If, however, you find yourself sick of Snickers and burned out on Reese’s Pieces on some rainy after-noon, you can treat yourself to one of the two recipes we’ve picked out to brighten up fall days. Pumpkin spice hot chocolate is a richer, spicier alternative to your typical store-bought variety. The preparation is fairly easy, and the result is something that’s sure to warm you up, but doesn’t pack enough sugar to make you feel regret. It’s still very sweet, though. The pumpkin flavor is a little understated, so amounts can be tweaked slightly to match your taste. You might even go so far as to make a glass special for a friend. On the other end of the preparation spectrum are the sweet, tangy apple cider donuts. The donuts admittedly take a long time—around five hours—but the process is fun, you get to use up some leftover apples from Wilson’s, and it would be a really sweet activity to do if you have any younger relatives visiting. That’s not to say that parents can’t enjoy them either. They’re best eaten while warm, so save this recipe for a rainy day, and really make a project out of it.

October 31, 2014 5

Food

Ingredients

2 red apples, such as Cortland or McIntosh2 1/2 cups apple cider3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, add more for dusting4 teaspoons baking powder1/4 teaspoon baking soda3 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon1 teaspoon salt1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg1 2/3 cups granulated sugar3 tablespoons vegetable shortening1 large egg and 1 egg yolk1/4 cup buttermilk1 teaspoon vanilla extract1/4 cup confectioners’ sugarVegetable oil, for frying

Directions

1. Core and coarsely chop the apples (do not peel). Combine with 1 1/2 cups cider in a medium sauce-pan over medium heat; cover and cook until softened (about eight minutes). Uncover and continue cooking until the apples are tender and the cider is almost completely reduced (about five minutes). Puree with an immersion blender or in a food processor until smooth. Measure the sauce; you should have one cup. (Boil to reduce further, if necessary.) Let cool slightly.

2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg in a medium bowl.

3. Beat 2/3 cup granulated sugar and the shorten-ing in another bowl with a mixer on medium speed, until sandy. Beat in the egg and yolk, then gradually mix in the applesauce, scraping the bowl. Beat in half of the flour mixture, then the buttermilk and vanilla, and then the remaining flour mixture. Mix to make a sticky dough being sure not to overmix.

4. Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured sheet of parchment paper and pat into a 7” x 11” rectangle, about 1/2” thick. Cover with plastic wrap and refrig-erate for at least two hours or overnight.

5. Meanwhile, make the glaze: simmer the remaining one cup cider in a small saucepan over medium heat until reduced to 1/4 cup. Whisk in the confectioners’ sugar until smooth and glossy, then set aside. Mix the remaining one cup granulated sugar and two teaspoons cinnamon in a shallow bowl; set aside for the topping.

6. Heat two inches of vegetable oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with paper towels. Cut the chilled dough into 12 rounds, using a floured 2 1/2” or 3” biscuit cutter, then cut out the middles with a 1” cutter (or use a doughnut cutter). Slip two or three doughnuts at a time into the hot oil and fry until golden brown, one to two minutes per side, adjusting the heat as needed. Transfer to paper towels to drain.

7. Dip one side of each doughnut in the cider glaze, letting the excess drip off; dip just the glazed side in the cinnamon-sugar or roll all over in cinnamon-sugar, if desired. Serve warm.

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Ingredients

1/2 cup milk1/3 cup heavy whipping cream1/4 cup milk chocolate chips1 teaspoon cocoa powder1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin puree1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice1/4 cup whipped cream1 pinch ground cinnamon (optional)1 pinch ground nutmeg (optional)

Directions

1. Whisk milk, cream, chocolate chips, and cocoa powder together in a saucepan (microwave works as well) over medium heat until chocolate chips are melted, and hot chocolate is smooth (three to five minutes). Stir in pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice until fully mixed.

2. Pour hot chocolate into two mugs. Top with whipped cream; sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg over whipped cream.

Hot chocolate recipe from allrecipes.com

Doughnut recipe from foodnetwork.com

October 31, 2014 7

By Caroline Brown

Do You Believe

Two months ago, on a cloudy Septem-ber afternoon, Isabel Cody ‘16 wan-dered up to the old brick house that her father used to live in. After being invited inside by the new owner, she walked through the front door and suddenly experienced a moment that

was life-changing. “I was walking past the room that he died in

when I totally felt something, like a wave through my body,” Cody said. “I felt like it was something actually trying to give me a message. It was really powerful.”

Though startled, she continued to explore the house with great curiosity.

“I felt really happy, I always feel really happy when I can sense him. He just gave me the message that he’s here and watching and that he loves me. I haven’t gone back since but I’m planning to.”

This occurrence strengthened Cody’s belief in the supernatural. For hundreds of years, ghost stories as well as other superstitions have evolved in cultures all around the world. Cody agrees that superstitions have an effect on society, as well as in her own life.

“I think it all starts when you’re a kid and you’re crossing your fingers, hoping that something will happen,” Cody said. “That’s basically where it started for me, doing little tiny things like that, and then it just grew and grew and grew.”

City High psychology teacher, Jane Green, has also seen the effects of superstitious beliefs.

“I think people are superstitious because they have been reinforced to have those beliefs,” Green said. “These ideas start when they are accidentally reinforced. They’ve been rewarded in the past, and so people continue to believe it works. For example, a lot of hotels don’t have a 13th floor or a 13th room, because no one wants to stay there!”

Though telling scary stories and avoiding black

cats have become common practices in American society, there are people who do not believe that there is truth to any of this. Emmett Adamson ‘16 is one of those people.

“I’ve never seen a ghost. I hear a lot of stories from people who claim they have,” he said. “I think the hu-man mind does weird stuff, especially under condi-tions where they’ve been using substances or alcohol. It messes with their brains, and they think they see things, especially when they’re trying to come up with an answer.”

Adamson also believes that adrenaline and strong emotions can affect the way people think.

“In crazy situations the brain will make them think that they’re seeing

something that isn’t there, or they will hear noises, but they have some other explanation,” he said.

However, Cody is convinced that there are other reasons people

don’t believe. “I think there are two categories

of those people,” Cody said. “Some people just don’t believe in other life and can’t be convinced of it, and then there are other people that think it’s way too scary to believe in because if they did they would be terrified.”

According to history.com, the concept of a ghost or a specter is based on the belief that even after death, a person’s soul can continue

to exist separately from his or her body. In fact, the ritual of funerals first originated

as a way to prevent a person’s spirit from coming back and haunting the living.

“People who’ve had apparition experiences say that it’s usually a family member. They come back once, and they come back to give them important informa-tion,” Green said. “There’s no scientific explanation for it, or proof, but each of those folks have said, ‘I wasn’t dreaming, I wasn’t drunk, and the message was just for


The International Association for Near-Death Studies defines this expe-rience as “a profound psychological event that may occur to a person close to death or, if not near death, in a situation of physical or emotional crisis.”

“People come back from near death experiences as changed people. They come to the realization that they survived for a reason, and there is something they have to do, something they still have left. They just know,” Green said.

This is not only a common occurrence among people who almost die, but also among people who are in the process of dying. These people often have out-of-body experiences, as well as elaborate visions of movement and light, and often confrontations with deceased family members or loved ones.

“There are people who have done a lot of work with people who are dy-ing. They have said these people will tell them that there is an ancestor, or a grandfather, or a family member there waiting on the other side, and that they can see them before they pass over,” Green said.

But sometimes death has nothing to do with it. Green has visited many lighthouses that she believes are inhabited by past keepers.

“You can kind of feel a presence there, and it’s interesting that you never know for sure which ones have a reputation unless you live around there,” she said. “I don’t feel a presence in all of them, but the ones I have felt presences in generally have a repu-tation for that, which I find fascinating.”

One lighthouse imparticular made an impact on Green, though it was not a frightening experience for her.

“I stayed at a bed-and-breakfast light-house, and it had a reputation for having a ghost that’s very benevolent and very happy,” she said. “And supposedly, what the ghost does is if you put things out for it, it comes and moves them around. So I set some things out! And I said, ‘If you’re here, come move it around!’ And in the morning everything had been moved and the window curtains were changed.”

Cody has also witnessed a spirit in action, but her experience was a little more frightening.

“I was at a friend’s house and we made a homemade Ouija board with cardboard and sharpies. We shut off all the lights and we put on some candles and we started to ask some questions,” she said.

Cody’s experience with the Ouija board was atypical.“The time we did the Ouija board I was mostly looking at the candles

and we asked, ‘If anyone’s here, flicker twice,’ and it did! It gets your heart up in your throat for a second,” she said. “If it keeps going like that and you get those first hand experiences, you really start to believe in this stuff.”

For people who haven’t had these experiences, the stories people tell are often hard to believe, especially because of how the media portrays the supernatural.

“I love horror movies. I do really like to imagine that a demon could possess someone or take them into the other world, but I definitely think they are for entertainment value strictly,” Adamson said.

Even though Adamson doesn’t believe, he still appreciates Halloween as a holiday.

“I think dressing up is a tradition. People got it from old books and myths. I loved it when I was a kid because trick-or-treating meant free candy. It’s fun to dress up and go to Halloween parties. My mom hosts one every year and there are always a lot of people there,” he said.

Cody also has a Halloween tradition that began when she was little.

“I used to live right by a graveyard, it was literally right across my driveway. I liked the Black Angel on Halloween; you could see it from my bedroom window. I liked dressing up and doing Halloween walks in the graveyard, even though I wasn’t supposed to,” she said.

Cody believes that her experiences as a child have thoroughly changed the way she

views the world. She is still able to communicate with her dad when she visits his grave.

“I think it changes the way you look at things,” Cody said. “If you believe in ghosts you’re going to be more aware and more open to that kind of thing. When something spooks you at night, it’s not just something that spooked you anymore. It could be something a lot more interesting.”

“THEY COME TO THE REALIZATION THAT THEY

SURVIVED FOR A REASON, AND THERE IS SOMETHING THEY HAVE TO DO, SOME-

THING THEY STILL HAVE LEFT.”

-JANE GREEN

Photos by Caroline BrownEdited by Elise Goodvin & Cora Bern-Klug

October 31, 2014 9

Are You Superstitious?Check off any of thesuperstitions you believe in

Friday the 13th is an unlucky day.

If you break a mirror, you’ll have seven years of bad luck.

Rabbit’s foot brings you good luck.

Astrology works...and you check it everyday.

DO NOT open an umbrella indoors.

If you step on a crack, you’ll break your mothers back.

Don’t let a black cat cross your path.

Bad luck comes in threes.

Itchy palms mean money is coming your way.

666 is more than a number.

Knock on Wood.

Never rest a hat on a bed.

If you call Bloody Mary enough times while looking in the mirror, you’re in for a scare.

Make a wish at 11:11 and it will come true.

A horseshoe is good luck.

The Chicago Cubs are cursed.

Fortune cookies only tell the truth.

Garlic protects you from vampires.

A plane can’t crash if a nun is on board.

Find a penny, pick it up, all day long you’ll have good luck.

If you had between 0 and 5

You aren’t superstitious. These myths don’t scare you one bit.

If you had between 6 and 12

You don’t believe many of these su-perstitions… but maybe you should still toss that salt over your shoulder. You can never be too safe.

if you had between 12 and 20

You are superstitious. You are a scaredy cat. As long as you follow these superstitions, you’ll be safe.


#EthanUpA student, a website, and a love of technology

October 31, 2014 11

He is known as the tech guru of City High. He has created web-sites, phone apps, and shortcuts for all

kinds of gadgets. With the grow-ing importance of technology in our everyday lives, a new genera-tion of “techies” is forming. Ethan Nelson-Moore ‘16 epitomizes this trend as the most tech-savvy stu-dent at City High.

“Technology is just something I’ve always found really cool,” Nelson-Moore said. “There’s an elegant way about how you can make a collection of tiny electrical things—microscopic things—do exactly what you tell it to.”

His fascination with technol-ogy instilled a desire to learn how to make computers perform cer-tain tasks. In other words, how to program.

“I started learning how to program by copying and pasting different examples together and changing them a little bit. And then I gradually started know-ing what it actually meant. Now I can program without copying and pasting anything.”

Over the past three years, Nelson-Moore has gained a rep-utation as “the kid who can fix anything,” from SMART Board glitches in class, to developing apps for teachers.

“People, even teachers, ask me to fix things, but it’s kind of weird that I’m known as more of

a tech guru than the actual tech people,” he said.

In addition to assisting oth-ers, he also works on personal projects for fun. He is most well-known for his website, lime-up.tk.

“Imagine Nyan Cat, but with a lime. It’s a lime flying upward infinitely in the sky, singing,” he said. “It is also wearing a fedora and has eyes, and it has timer that tells you how long you’ve been on the website.”

He went on to explain the story of exactly how Lime Up came to be.

“I was trying to send a text using Siri. I forget what I wanted to say, but it sent my friend TJ ‘lime up song.’ And he was like, ‘what’s ‘lime up song?’ He came to Iowa City a week later from Davenport, and we made ‘lime up song’ at about two in the morn-ing,” Nelson-Moore explained.

Despite being such a simple concept, many students at City High find Lime Up to be strangely entertaining. The website gives people the option to let their friends on Twitter know how long they have “limed up” for, spread-ing the word of Lime Up through social media. Nelson-Moore has also taken full advantage of social media networks like Twitter to keep up with the latest technology.

“I look at a lot of news websites about technology and I also look at Twitter. Definitely Twitter. I started tweeting last October and

I’ve tweeted almost 8,000 times,” he said.

Following almost 800 ac-counts, Nelson-Moore regularly communicates with other pro-grammers around the globe, shar-ing projects and opinions on the latest technology. But like any

other teenager with a Twitter ac-count, he also follows friends and various silly accounts.

“My favorite thing about the Internet is the amazing amount of random, hilarious things that waste time and give me an excuse to not do anything,” he joked.

Nelson moore is already thinking ahead to the new wave of technology; google glass, smart-watches, and new capabilities for smart phones.

“I think partly it’s good be-cause it’s easier to end a call, for example, from a smartwatch,” Nelson-Moore said. “The prob-lem with a smart watch for me is

I would just sit there poking at it during class. And I would never use Google Glass or anything like that because it’s too in-your-face. I mean, what’s next? Google con-tacts? Google implants?”

Nelson-Moore believes that the more people rely on technol-

ogy, the more they lose a sense of self-sufficiency.

“If we keep [depending too much on technology] we aren’t go-ing to be able to function without something that depends on elec-tricity working, which is a prob-lem. The world already doesn’t work well when the power’s out,” he said. “In terms of the wearables, I think they’re too intrusive with all these privacy issues,” he said. “In my opinion the NSA should not exist at all. I think reform is a good idea but it shouldn’t exist, because if it exists it can find some loophole in some law and contin-ue spying on us.”

“THERE’S AN ELEGANT WAY ABOUT HOW YOU CAN MAKE A COLLECTION OF TINY ELECTRICAL THINGS — MICROSCOPIC THINGS — DO EXACTLY WHAT

YOU TELL IT TO.”

-ETHAN NELSON-MOORE ‘16

ONE OF CITY’S VERY OWN SHARES HIS FASCINATION WITH TECHNOLOGY.

By Caroline Brown & Innes Hicsasmaz

Technology plays a large role in Nelson-Moore’s plans for the fu-ture. Interested in biomedical en-gineering, he can see himself going into business and making apps and tools geared towards that field. In addition, Nelson-Moore plays the cornet and piano, and is very in-terested in music. He would like to blend his two interests by compos-ing and remixing music.

“In the perfect dream I have, I would already be making enough money at some start-up to support myself. But I’ll probably get some job or internship and then start a start-up on the side. I’d make in-teresting apps. My favorite things to make are things that are really useful and easy to use.”

Even with all the gadgets al-ready in the world, Nelson-Moore would still like to leave his mark on society by using technology to im-prove our world. He has a long list of inventions that he would like to design, from phone batteries that last for days, to systems that bring first-world conveniences to third-world countries.

“The charitable part of me wants to invent something that would easily provide and grow food and water without taking up a lot of horizontal space,” he said. “And it would be nice to develop something that gives easy access to the Internet in developing coun-tries.”

So what isLime Up, anyway?

Nelson-Moore describes it as “Nyan Cat, but with a lime.” Check it out yourself at lime-up.tk•The site was inspired by a botched Siri interpretation of a text mes-sage•Between October 18 and 23, 2014, 41 people “limed up.”•Before the counter was reset on October 18, it was at around 11,000•The “Lime Up Song” is two minutes, 21 seconds long


10Louie HomeSearch for people, places and thingsf

31

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By Sonali Durham

News Feed

Messages

Events

The Death of Facebook

12 Events Happening31

It’s Halloween!

Louie the Little HawkEdit Pro�le

Just a few years ago, Facebook was the most popular social media site in the world. Today, however, more and more teenagers are deleting the app from their phones and logging out for good. And growth, particularly among high school and college-aged people, is declining — but not as rapidly as it may seem.

Chris Snider, a Drake Universi-ty professor in the School of Jour-nalism and Mass Communication, has observed the trend himself.

“I think the decline in Face-book’s popularity is among young people,” said Snider. “Among teens especially.”

Emmett Adamson ‘16 used to be an avid Facebook user. Re-cently, though, he has moved on from his once-favorite site.

“Literally every time I didn’t have something else to do, I would go on Facebook,” Adamson said. “Then a while ago, I stopped using it by my own choice. I would be lying in bed at 10 p.m., scroll-ing through my newsfeed on my phone, just because that’s what I did every night, and one day I just realized that I was not having fun.”

Adamson is not alone. More than 20 percent of City High stu-dents with Facebook accounts say they never use the site. However, Facebook’s decline may not be

as dramatic as it seems to some. Claire Chapman ‘16 still uses the site regularly.

“I used to post a lot more,” she said, “But I still do, every day or every few days.”

Although Chapman uses the site less than she once did, she attributes the decline to her life, rather than disinterest.

“I’m just busier now,” she said. “I have a job and school, so I don’t have as much time.”

University of Iowa profes-

sor Brian Ekdale has noticed his journalism and mass communica-tion students moving away from Facebook.

“I’m teaching a large-lecture course, and there are 200 students in there,” Ekdale said. “And I re-ally get the sense that most of the people in that room either aren’t on Facebook, have quit Facebook, or it’s just not the social network they see as most important in their lives.”

However, Snider still has and uses a personal Facebook account.

“Facebook is the most valuable [social media site] to me in terms of my personal life and people I know,” Snider said, “Just to keep up with friends and relatives I don’t live near.”

Ekdale, too, uses Facebook regularly, though he described

Twitter as his “go-to social net-work.”

“For the most part, I use Facebook to share pictures of my daughter with family and friends who wouldn’t necessarily have another outlet for seeing them,” Ekdale said. “I don’t produce as much content for Facebook any more.”

As more and more social me-dia platforms flood the Internet, it’s easy to forget how successful Facebook was, and continues to

be.“I can’t say everybody is on

Facebook, but so many people are,” Ekdale said. “The range is from young to old, from rich to poor, from American to around the world. [Facebook] did what they wanted to.”

So what accounts for the mass migration of teens to other sites?

“I mean, I know the reason why I stopped using Facebook, but unless it’s just the same reason, I don’t really know why

other people would stop,” Adam-son said. “Maybe it’s just to be cool, like a hipster thing.”

Trends certainly play a role in the rise and fall of any piece of popular culture.

“I would say that things have their trends, they have their peaks,” Chapman said. “Just like Myspace, how people kind of got bored with it and switched to Facebook. I imagine that will continue.”

But Facebook is only losing ground with its teenage audience; with adults, it’s still the top social media platform.

“Their parents and their grandparents are on it, and teen-agers don’t want to do the same thing their parents are doing,” Snider said. “They don’t want their parents to see everything they’re

October 31, 2014 13

“I WOULD BE LYING IN BED AT 10 P.M., SCROLLING THROUGH MY NEWSFEED ON MY PHONE, JUST BE-CAUSE THAT’S WHAT I DID EVERY NIGHT, AND ONE DAY I JUST REALIZED THAT I WAS NOT HAVING FUN.”

-EMMETT ADAMSON ‘16

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS ARE MOVING AWAY FROM FACEBOOK AND ONTO NEWER SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS, BUT THE SOCIAL MEDIA GIANT MAY NOT BE AS FORGOTTEN AS IT SEEMS.

?


31


By Sonali Durham

News Feed

Messages

Events



It’s Halloween!


moved elsewhere.”Adamson has had the experi-

ence Snider described.“My mom uses Facebook a lot,”

Adamson said. “She’s always telling me about posts she’ll make about me, or pictures of me, and she’ll be like, ‘Oh my God, Emmett, look, this many people liked this picture of you!’ And she thinks it’s really fun. It’s just more appealing to that age group now.”

Teenagers are using Facebook less. But Facebook hasn’t lost their attention entirely.

“Facebook bought Instagram, and that’s the most popular net-work among teenagers, so that’s a big strategic move by them,” Snider said. “We’re going to see Facebook launching a lot more apps, some of which will be targeted at a younger audience.”

With 94.9 percent of City’s Instagram users visiting the app at least once a day, the photo-sharing platform certainly seems to have recaptured the younger audience that Facebook is beginning to lose.

“I use Instagram because it seems like more fun,” Adamson said. “It’s a good way to make yourself look cooler than you actu-ally are.”

Other, newer platforms are also beginning to gather followings among younger audiences.

“Anonymous apps like Yik Yak [are] catching on in high schools and colleges,” Snider said.

Another platform, Ello, is being touted as the ad-free anti-Facebook.

“There’s a new social network out being promoted more as the privacy-friendly version of Facebook,” Ekdale said. “And it

is getting some notice, but then I looked at it and said, ‘Geez, do I want rebuild all my networks from scratch on it? I don’t know if it’s worth the effort.’”

And therein lies the major obstacle new platforms are facing: Facebook, and even more recent sites like Instagram and Twitter, have an established user base.

“One of the things with Face-book is because it has such a wide, large user base — that’s a blessing and a curse,” Ekdale said. “The curse is that it’s losing younger users. The blessing is that if another social network comes out, people will look to it and say, ‘All my friends are on Facebook. I don’t re-ally want to start from scratch.’ And I think that is something that will give Facebook some longevity.”

According to Snider, Facebook

is aware of the advantage it has, and it’s already using it to plan for the future.

“We’re going to see Facebook launching a lot more apps, some of which will be targeted at a younger audience. They launched a Snap-chat-like app called Slingshot. And they have an anonymous app in the works,” he said. “They’re trying.”

With its enormous presence and its plans for the future, is the loss of the youngest demographics enough to drive Facebook to extinction? Not likely, according to Ekdale.

“I don’t think, a hundred years from now, we’ll be talking about Facebook,” he said, “It’ll be some-thing completely different. But it’s hard to know when that will be and why that will be.”

Adamson also doubts that Face-book will disappear any time soon.

“I’m sure people will always use


Social Media at City

Based on a survey of 146 City High studentsINFOGRAPHICS BY SONALI DURHAM

“I CAN’T SAY EVERYBODY IS ON FACEBOOK, BUT SO MANY PEOPLE ARE,” EKDALE SAID. “THE RANGE IS FROM YOUNG TO OLD, FROM RICH TO POOR,

FROM AMERICAN TO AROUND THE WORLD.”

-DR. BRIAN EKDALE


31


By Sonali Durham

News Feed

Messages

Events



It’s Halloween!


and why that will be.”Adamson also doubts that Face-

book will disappear any time soon.“I’m sure people will always use

[Facebook], because it’s a really useful website,” he said, “But a lot of people have just turned off to it.”

Though Facebook is clearly seeing a decline in use by young people, it’s far from dead. So what will happen in the world of social media as Facebook fades and new platforms crop up?

“[People] are starting to move on to either the new thing that comes on the market, or they find the platform that fits their inter-ests,” Ekdale said, “If they’re into photography and sharing images with their friends, they’re much more an Instagram crowd. If they’re curating various things, they might like Pinterest. But in some ways, it’s just a moving target. They move from Facebook to Twitter to Yik Yak and so on. It becomes a much more fragmented environment than it was maybe five years ago, when Facebook really was the most popular.”

So far, no clear replacement for Facebook has emerged.

“They want to be on whatever the new thing that the people a year ahead of them are talking about. And they’re trying to be on what-ever they people a year ahead of them are talking about,” Ekdale said. “There’s a real trickle-down effect.”

Ultimately, the decline of Face-book may not be as dramatic as it seems to high schoolers. But that doesn’t mean the world of social media still evolving.

“When Instagram starts having promoted posts, or Twitter starts having promoted posts, and I feel like every time I go on my social network I’m just being advertised to, then I’m going to like it less,” Ekdale said, “There’s going to be an-other version of Instagram, another app, that’s going to be better.”

October 31, 2014 15

The Other Options

Ello is an invitation-only social media platform that was founded on the principles of privacy and free-dom from constant advertising.

Yik Yak is an app that allows users to make anonymous posts that

can be seen by any users who are geographically nearby. It is rapidly

catching on on college campuses across the country.

Yo is a messaging app at its sim-plest: the only thing users can send to their friends is the word “yo.” Its creators are reportedly considering expanding its features.

Slingshot is Facebook’s new Snapchat-like app. Uniquely, Sling-shot reauires users to send a mes-sage of their own before they can view messages they’ve recieved.


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October 31, 2014 17

A R e

R e a l l y


AS MORE AND MORE STUDENTS AND EDUCATORS ARGUE THAT STANDARDIZED TESTS LIKE THE SAT AND ACT STIFLE CREATIVITY, COL-

LEGE ADMISSIONS TEAMS ARE LOOKING TO GPA AND ALTERNA-TIVE ASSIGNMENTS DURING THE SELECTION PROCESS.

The Problems With Testing

Well over three million students take the ACT or SAT test each year, and an immense amount of time, effort, and worry are put into these tests, as they can determine a student’s future col-lege options. However, a growing number of students, parents, and college admittance counselors are questioning the value of the in-formation these tests provide, and whether they are deserving of the large role they play in the college admissions process.

As a City High Counselor, Tara Kolker informs students about college entrance exams and helps them sign up for these tests.

“I absolutely encourage kids to take either of those tests, because when you think about the applica-tion process for college, that’s a piece of the puzzle,” Kolker said. “Almost all colleges are going to look at your ACT or SAT score.”

Out of the millions of kids that take the ACT or SAT test each year, many will get the score they wanted, but many others will not.

“[Standardized tests are not always good] for kids who have talents and gifts in other areas, like creativity, art, or creative writing,” Jan Warren, Assistant Director for Student Services at the Belin-Blank Center, said. “Most stan-dardized test, like the ACT or SAT, don’t measure those areas.”

Students with learning disabili-

ties also experience testing diffi-culties that can prevent them from achieving their desired scores.

Eddy Galstad ‘16 faces excep-tional challenges when taking standardized tests. She has ADHD, and despite having taken the ACT every year since seventh grade, she continues to face adversity.

“[Taking tests is] definitely a challenge because they’re so many different elements to it; ADHD can be so different depending on the kid. In my case I am terrible at paying attention. On tests, I’ll look at the test—especially during reading or math—and I’ll drift off into what-ifs. Then I’ve wasted 15 minutes.”

Galstad applied for testing ac-commodations, which allow her to test in an isolated location with a greater time allowance.

“It’s very different [for me], and that’s why I finally got test accom-modations: so I could have extra time to be by myself."

The Admissions Debate

According to data from a study led by former Dean of Admis-sions for Bates College, William Hiss, GPA is a better indicator of future success in college than test scores are. In the study, high test scores without good grades in high school did not mean that a student would be successful. Students with lower test scores but higher high school grades

By Riley Lewers & Olivia Parrott

Test Score Factors

INFOGRAPHICS BY RILEY

ABOVE AND BELOW: information from The New York Times

October 31, 2014 19

often did better in college than their peers with higher test scores, but lower high school grades.

“I think in a sense it’s a good idea, [not to require the ACT or SAT] because not everybody’s a good test taker,” Kolker said. “You can have someone who’s an

awesome student; they have great grades, their GPA is awesome, they are involved in a lot of things, but they’re not a good test taker. That makes it hard if colleges are put-ting a lot of weight on the ACT or SAT score.”

According to a national cur-riculum survey, the content of the ACT is closer to the material a student has covered in high school than is the content of the SAT — but it is still no more accurate than the SAT in predicting college grades, research has shown.

“Really, the kind of skills that matter in life are going to be critical thinking and problem solving, and I don’t think those get measured as well on tests,” Daniel Kelly ‘16 said.

Even for dedicated students, these tests can be challenging.

“The format of the test is such that you’re under time constraints, and there’s a lot of questions and a lot of information coming at you. I know that’s definitely something that hurts me,” Kelly said.

Galstad shares a similar senti-ment in the effectiveness of the high-pressure tests.

“My testing doesn’t reflect my overall intelligence; I’ll do really well in class and then I won’t do so well on the standardized tests.”

Another problem with colleg-es relying too heavily

on entrance exams, such

as the ACT and SAT tests, in the admissions

process is that it can have negative effects

on the diversity of the student body. This could be due to the fact that SAT/ACT scores tend to increase with family income, according to a report by the Washington Post.

“If you’re a student that can show what you know on a standardized test, then it is a good and productive tool for you to get into the kinds of universities that you want to get into,” Warren said. “If you’re a kid that it is not a good tool for, then perhaps you want to look at a school that is going to consider your other strengths.”

Perhaps due to some of these issues with over-reliance on standardized tests in the college admissions process, there are about 850 test-optional colleges in the US—and that trend is slowly growing.

“I’ve heard very little about [test-optional colleges], but I know they exist. I’ve just heard of colleges focusing less on it than they did in the past, and more on cumulative things that can show more about you, like your GPA,” Daniel Kelly ‘16 said.

Recognized as a blossoming trend, there are now dozens of colleges that do not demand to see applicants’ ACT or SAT scores, including Bowdoin, Smith, Holy Cross, Brandeis, Wake Forest and

the University of Texas, when in the 1990s, there were only a few. More colleges are joining the list every year.

Goucher, a 1,400-student liber-al arts college near Baltimore, an-nounced a policy this month that a prospective student may apply by submitting two pieces of work (at least one of them a graded high school writing assignment) and a two-minute video, rather than a high school transcript.

Galstad believes in the new alternative college admissions process.

“I had never thought about [alternative admission require-ments],” Galstad said. “I would really enjoy that, because the tests don’t take into consideration ad-ditional knowledge students have such as foreign language.”

For large public universities,

tests can provide a baseline for sorting through tens of thousands of applications, so it is unlikely that a university like the U of I would ever go test optional.

“Sometimes testing is a way

you can just start focusing on a group that you’re going to select from,” Warren said. “There’s an ease [to using test scores to nar-row down applicants], and they’re standardized.”

Test optional application policies are also new and untested, meaning colleges have no way of knowing if students will even try these alternative application meth-ods, or if they will be successful.

“If they didn’t require any admissions test I would think that [colleges] would have to do more of a personal interview- to come in and maybe do a class shadow for the day,” Kolker said. “They would have to get to know the students more on a personal level.”

“REALLY, THE KIND OF SKILLS THAT MATTER IN LIFE ARE CRITICAL THINKING AND PROBLEM SOLVING, AND I DON’T THINK THOSE GET MEASURED WELL

ON TESTS.”

-DANIEL KELLY ‘16


October 31, 2014 21

he idea that too much sugar is bad for us is a concept that we have all grown up with, but only recently have researchers and studies expressed the idea that excess sugar could be one of the most threatening flaws in the diets of recent generations.

“I see people with toddlers who have their own soft drink and think, ‘That’s just scary to me’,” dietician Cathy Gehris said. “You look at the parent and they appear to have health issues. They’re overweight. They don’t look healthy. And here is another generation who is probably going to be in the same shape or worse.”

Simple sugars, or natural sug-ars, are carbohydrates that can be found in almost all types of foods we eat, including fruits, dairy products, and grains. In fact, sugar is the preferred energy source of our bodies.

“It’s a pretty important thing. The problem is, with people rely-ing more and more on processed foods, often there are other things in our foods that weren’t there when nature provided it,” Gehris said.

One of these things is chemically manufactured molecules, or artifi-cial sweeteners, five of which are currently approved for use in the U.S. Like anything unnatural we put in our body, there is much controversy over the health of these sweeteners.*Symbol that references box*

“I’m comfortable that they’re safe for human consumption. There are a lot of people who have strong feelings for other things, but from a safety standpoint, I’m comfortable,” Gehris said.

These sugar substitutes duplicate the effect of sugar in terms of taste, but contain no nutritional value, and more significantly, no calories. For this reason they are very attractive to consumers and are extremely com-mon in our foods today. The problem is just how sweet these sweeteners can be.

“What [artificial sweeteners] do is continue to ‘reward’ the mouth for that taste. Even though you’re not getting any calories, your body is still wanting that sweetness,” Gehris said.

Artificial sweeteners can be up to 8,000 times sweeter than natu-ral sugar. As we become accustomed to this sweetness, we develop an acquired taste for it, and in turn, desire more of it. To satisfy this craving, we consume more food, particularly those with sugar. This habit leads

to overeating, obesity, and possi-bly diabetes. So although artificial sweeteners contain little to no calories themselves, they lead to the consumption of more calories.

“People will say ‘But I only drink diet pop. I don’t know how I could be obese’. Well, maybe you’re drinking diet pop, but what are all the other things that you are eating because of that taste for sugar?” Gehris said.

So where exactly are we getting all of this artificial sweetness from?

According to Kristine Clark, PhD and spokeswoman for the Sugar Association, 33% of unnatural sugars consumed come from soft drinks.

But artificial sweeteners can also be found in unexpected foods like ketchup, peanut butter, and crackers. This reflects our desire for sweet foods and only adds to the amount of sweetness we consume, worsening our ‘addiction’.

The fact that there is so much sugar in everyday foods means we are consuming more sweetness than we are aware of. Gerry Curatola, DDS says that in just 20 years, the amount of sugar annually consumed by each person in the U.S. has leaped from 26 pounds per person to more than 135 pounds per person.

People are demanding more sugar and sweetness, and the food mar-ket is responding. Big corporations have more success with products that contain more sugar.

By Anton Buri

“You look at the parent and they appear to have health issues. They’re overweight. They don’t look healthy. And here is another generation who is

probably going to be in the same shape or worse.”

-Cathy Gehris, Dietician

T


“The consumers are saying that’s what they want. They want it to taste like it has a lot of sugar, but they want to feel good about it being healthier,” Gehris said.It’s demands like these that lead to the use of artificial sweeteners. Only recently have large-scale corporations set out to reduce the amount of sugar in their products, often by adding artificial sweeteners. In 2009, General Mills pledged to reduce their children’s cereals to single-digit grams of sugar per serving. Perhaps the efforts of some of the bigger corporations have helped to stabilize trends in these diseases.“Some of these diseases at least are not continuing to skyrocket, but we’re not seeing the declines we’d like to be seeing,” Gehris said. “The other part of it is just retraining our mouths to not want all of this sugar.”

Rather than simply diminishing the amount of sugar we consume, it may be even more important to find a better balance.

“I believe strongly in moderation, and feel this is too often lacking. Sugar may be the latest trend receiving attention, but whether it’s sugar, other carbohydrates, fat or calories, there is no substitute for moderation,” Alison Demory, Iowa City Community School District’s Director of Nutrition Services, said. “I don’t believe children benefit from having all

choices removed, but rather, they should be taught to eat from all the food groups in appropriate amounts and sweets and treats in moderation.”

Gehris agrees that regaining this median will help to vastly improve our health.

“I think we’ve gotten away from why we eat, and we just focus on ‘it tastes good’. We eat to nourish our body to do the work we ask it to do,” Gehris said. “So the best foods to nourish our bodies with are going to be the ones that not only give us the energy that we need, but they’re gonna give us some of the other nutrients that we need as well. When I talk to people I like to have them think about foods that are multitasking for them.”

Although some artificial sweeteners are de-rived from natural sugars, they are chemi-cally manufactured and are not found in nature. A few Food & Drug Administration

(FDA) approved and recognizable sweeteners are aspartame, saccharin, and sucralose. These sweeten-ers have long been subject to criticism as they are accused of having many life threatening side effects. A lab study in 1977 study linked saccharin to bladder cancer in lab rats. People have reported headaches after consuming foods with aspartame. Some have accused them of worsening attention deficit disorders among kids. The truth is that artificial sweeteners are too new to know for sure the long term effects of, and remain a relevant part of our culinary culture.

Snickers King Size Sugars, total: 54gCalories, total: 510Calories from sugar: 216

Reese’s 2 piecesSugars, total: 20gCalories, total: 230Calories from sugar: 80

Skittles One BagSugars, total: 47gCalories, total: 250Calories from sugar: 188

Starburst One PackageSugars, total: 34gCalories, total: 240Calories from sugar: 188

October 31, 2014 23

In need of a Halloween costume? Try The Little Hawk’s original

Bacon MaskCut along the dotted lines, tape a pencil to the tab, and enjoy

being City High’s principal for a day!

Little Hawk Feature Magazine

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