Steinmetz Star

Steinmetz StarVolume 84, Number 4, March-April 2019

www.steinmetzstar.com

In this issueNews: 1, 4 Arts & Entertainment: 6 Sports: 7-8Opinion: 2-3

Four students performed at the Louder Than A Bomb (LTAB) poetry competition in February at Columbia College.

Freshman Jahvier Mejorado saved the day by stepping in to perform at the last moment when another member was unable to attend.

Senior and four-year LTAB veteran Wissame Chafai led the team, also composed of juniors Jamie Montanez and Alyssa Smith, coached by teachers James Sloan and Jon Hood.

The team hopes to attract more members next year when Steinmetz’ bell schedule moves an hour earlier. •

Valentine’s Day: 5

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Three conference champs: boys and girls basketball, swim teamStudents object to khaki pants

Columns, editorial and photo opinion: “Who is your Black History Month hero?” P. 3

Brainiacs flex intellectual muscles at Academic Decathlon

Slam team performs at Louder Than A Bomb poetry fest

School improvements appreciated

Star poetry contest

In celebration of National Poetry Month, every April the Star sponsors a poetry contest.

All students are welcome to submit original work, which will be judged by students on the Star staff. Partici-pants will receive 1st, 2nd or 3rd place certificates. Poems will be published on the Star website.

Email your poem to [email protected] by Tuesday, April 30.

See more information at www.steinmetzstar.com. •

By Daniel Kania

T wo years ago I was a sophomore with an idea to get us

a new court. I went to countless meetings and came up with designs for the court. It was tiring,

By Erika Carrasco

The Brainiacs consisted of ten girls this year, making it the first ever

all-girl academic decathlon team.

In the first round competi-tion, each of the participants received at least three medals in the various categories of the competition. This year’s theme was the 1960’s.

Some people wonder why students would join an activ-ity that requires more study-ing and a competition that involves taking many tests.

“There’s actually people in the world who are natu-ral inquirers and like to learn more than what they’re taught inside the classroom,” co-cap-tain Millie Martinez said.•

Theater club and reviews of music, movies and TV shows

Maria and Areli’s shout out and others also on steinmetzstar.com

Student leaders to attend summit in Washington D.C.

Juniors Giselle Ayala

and Britany Bautista, lead-ers in the Northwest Side Hous-ing Center Belmont Cragin Youth Leadership Council, will be attending the UnidosUS Change Makers Summit in Washington D.C., March 25-28.

They will participate in advocacy training and meetings with congressional members, including Senator Dick Durbin.

Education funding, mental health resourc-es, access to affordable housing and gun con-trol are issues the students have researched, NWSHC executive director James Rudyk, Jr. explained in a letter.

“We are very excited for Giselle and Brit-tany to be part of this hands-on experiential learning opportunity,” he said.•

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but worth it. Now, as a senior, I’m leaving this behind as a memory

and present for this school. People told me I wasn’t going to make it happen. Now they can see it in front of them. •

Changes this year include the new mascot, decals on the stairs, new mats, mirrors in the bathrooms, work on a recording stuidio and gaming lab (not completed at Star press time) and the new gym floor.

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2 Steinmetz Star March - April 2019

2Steinmetz Star

Steinmetz College Prep High School Principal Jaime Jaramillo

3030 N. Mobile, Chicago IL 60634

773-534-3030

Website: www.steinmetzstar.com

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @steinmetzstar

The Steinmetz Star is the student print and online newspaper of Steinmetz College Prep High School. Our goal is to serve the Steinmetz community by informing and entertaining students. The opinions expressed in our articles are not necessarily those shared by the Star newspaper staff or the Steinmetz faculty and administration.

Anyone in the Steinmetz community is welcome to send letters to the editor, submit corrections or write articles for publication.

Co-editors-in-chief: Erika Carrasco and Tamara Johnson

Reporters and photographers: Maurice Abrigunda, Shaw-ronda Anderson, Yannally Alvarenga, Angel Antunez, Alyssa Avilez, Lara Banez, Diamond Bass, Frank Cabrera, Justin Carrillo, David Colon, Eva Delgado, Victoria Delgado, Mercedez Escanio, America Flores, Rocio Flores, Dayanna Garcia, Jenny Garcia, Perla Gonzalez, Daniel Hassan, Adrienne Henry, Brandon Hernandez, Luis Huerta, Valeriia Lytvak, Edandre Macahidhid, Mia Marrero, Aliyah Martin-ez, Millie Martinez, Vonndria Monroe, Nelida Navarro, Jay Ann Perez, Jason Ramirez, Mayra Ramirez, Angela Rodri-guez, Kevin Rodriguez, Alyssa Smith, Jose Sanchez, Joseph Torres, Roxana Urizar, Angelina Villarreal, Raychel Vician, Abdulkabir Yahya

Star content decisions are made by student editors and reporters, with advice from the faculty sponsor, Ms. Sharon Schmidt.

Free speech: The Illinois Speech Rights of Student Journal-ists Act, signed into law on July 29, 2016, affirms students’ right to exercise freedom of speech and of the press in school-sponsored media. The law states: Except as otherwise provided in this Act, a student journalist has the right to exercise freedom of speech and of the press in school-sponsored media, regardless of whether the media is supported financially by the school district or by use of school facilities or produced in conjunction with a class in which the student is enrolled. Subject to Exceptions of this Act, the appro-priate student journalist is responsible for determining the news, opinion, feature, and advertising content of school-sponsored media. This shall not be construed to prevent a student media adviser from teaching professional standards of English and journalism to student journalists. There shall be no prior restraint of material prepared for official school publications except insofar as it violates Exceptions of this Act. School officials shall have the burden of showing justification without undue delay prior to a limitation of student expression under this Act. Exceptions. This Act does not authorize or protect expression by a student journalist that: (1) is libelous, slanderous, or obscene; (2) constitutes an unwarranted invasion of privacy; (3) violates federal or State law; or (4) incites students to commit an unlawful act, to violate policies of the school district, or to materially and substantially disrupt the orderly operation of the school. Liability. No expression made by students in the exer-cise of freedom of speech or freedom of the press shall be deemed to be an expression of school policy, and no school district or employee or parent, legal guardian, or official of the school district shall be held liable in any civil or criminal action for any expression made or published by students, except in cases of willful or wanton misconduct. (http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=3723&ChapterID=17)

Membership: Scholastic Press Association of Chicago

Printing: The Star is printed at Topweb LLC, 5450 N. North-west Highway, Chicago.

Back Issues: More than 60 issues of the Star, going back to September 2009, are available on the Steinmetz school web-site at www.steinmetzcp.org. Go to the “Newspaper” link. Additional content is published at www.steinmetzstar.com.•

By Frank Cabrera

I’m so tired of students saying Steinmetz isn’t a great school when they’re ditching class, not doing homework, failing classes,

disrespecting teachers, fighting, spreading ru-mors, causing drama, etc.

Some of you bring your own demise to yourselves. You want to know why we don’t have a lot of involvement in clubs? Because so many people say they’re dumb and don’t

If Steinmetz stopped requiring a uniform like these other northside schools, there would be no unfairness in enforcement:

We’re a great school for great studentsStar Opinion

Think before you act and speak

The uniform is impossible to enforce 100 %, become a favorite and you won’t be bothered

By Nelida Navarro

Imagine if the Mona Lisa had an obvious modification to it – something dramatic, like a gigan-

tic scribble grazed over the entire painting, or something simple, like if she had a mustache. Even if it was one minor line it would change the entire outcome of the art piece. One simple line is all it takes to destroy or enhance a finished product.

Consider yourself a blank can-vas. Endless possibilities linger in the air on what you will turn out to be. On this canvas there is an outline of your basic identity, and your ego becomes the main focus of this still life. However, everyone who comes in contact with you can leave a mark of any kind, ultimately affecting the end result of you.

Our ability to create a chain reaction is obnox-iously overwhelming. Our words spill out of our mouths like vomit, and since we want to be heard, it feels like it is impossible to contain them.

This all could be easily summed up into one simple sentence: What you do affects people, so watch what you say and do. But that isn’t intense enough. It is so incredibly easy to disregard the impact that these random words hold.

The order in which we place words can make a difference or just become repetitive things said in different varia-tions. We are capable of enhancing each other.

Educate yourself on issues happen-ing in the world, or even just about one specific person, and strive to make things better. Unity is necessary for survival; there is absolutely no point in hating each other or disrespecting others because of their beliefs and opin-ions when toxic issues in the world are unraveling before our eyes.

Step away from just your perspective in the world and absorb compassion and love. Not everyone will agree with what you believe in or stand for, and that is simply okay.

Dreaming becomes a beautiful tool, especially when having an optimistic point of view. The power we have to imprint all things possible is combusting inside of us.

Instead of saying controversial things to be funny, or purposefully hurting or insulting someone for simply living, acknowledge the impact you have on yourself and others and constantly try to be better.

Everyday, everyone has the potential to be dif-ferent. No one is the same as he or she used to be. Constant change, whether it is negative or positive, continues to flourish.•

By Aliyah Martinez

Some students decide to come to school without wearing a uniform. It makes the Steinmetz staff members freak out

when students aren’t in uniform. But in reality, they only freak out on you

if they don’t really know you or if you are a quiet person who is always minding your own business.

So, here is some advice: If you don’t want to be yelled at while you are in the halls, start to say hi to the staff members, smile at them, try to laugh if they say a bad joke. And, if you can, be friends with them.

Or if you believe you are in the right, let them know. Don’t be afraid. Most of the time, the security and teachers avoid students who will argue back. •

join them.How do you expect a school to put effort and

change when you don’t even do anything yourselves? The only way Steinmetz will get better is if you get up and do your job as a student.

I’m sorry, but do not say Steinmetz is a bad school if you are not:

1. Taking any honors, AP or IB classes, or

2. In a school sport, club or activity, or3. Putting your best foot forward in school.Also, it is never too late to apply yourself in

school. We just began a new semester. Apply your-self and see the change you create. Whether you’re a freshman or a senior about to graduate, straight A’s feel great and you can definitely achieve them. Steinmetz also has tutoring. •

Alcott, 2957 N. HoyneAmundsen, 5110 N. DamenCrane Medical, 2245 W. JacksonChicago Academy, 3400 N. AustinChicago Arts, 2714 W. AugustaClemente, 1147 N. Western,DeVry, 3300 N. CampbellDisney II, 3900 N. Lawndale,Foreman, 3235 N. LeClaireJones, 700 S. StateLake View, 4015 N. AshlandLane, 2501 W. AddisonLincoln Park, 2001 N. OrchardMather, 5835 N. LincolnNorth-Grand, 4338 W. WabansiaNorthside College Prep, 5501 N. KedzieOgden, 1250 W. EriePayton, 1034 N. WellsProsser, 2148 N. LongRoosevelt, 3436 W. WilsonSchurz, 3601 N. MilwaukeeSenn, 5900 N. GlenwoodSullivan, 6631 N. BosworthTaft, 6530 W. Bryn MawrUplift, 900 W. WilsonVon Steuben, 5039 N. KimballWestinghouse, 3223 W. FranklinWells, 936 N. AshlandWhitney Young, 211 S. Laflin •

Aliyah Martinez (right) also reports on students’ prob-lems with the uniform, specifically the pants require-ment. See page 4.

ProPublica photographer Joshua Lott takes photos of Frank Ca-brera, senior class president and Local School Council student rep-resentative, for an article in which Frank was quoted.

Nelly Navarro

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More interviews and Black History Month heroes at www.steinmetzstar.com

March - April 2019 Steinmetz Star 3

Star Photo Opinion 3

Star Editorial

Who is your Black History Month hero?

“Maya Angelou. She was a very strong and power-ful African American women who endured a lot. Her most memorable poem for me is “Still I Rise” because she painted a visual depiction of knowing your self worth.” Jakera Kimble, junior

Students, don’t leave a mess in the bathrooms

“Colin Kaepernick. He stood up for his beliefs.”Aaron Garcia, junior

“Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He inspired so many people from many backgrounds. He inspired me because it’s not the skin color, or the place you come from; it’s you as an individual that defines who you are.” Jeremiah Herrod, junior

Star News: Upcoming Events

“Malcolm X. He fought for rights by any means necessary.”Khadaris Lewis

“Fannie Lou Hamer. She was involved in trying to get Black people voting in Memphis, and changed a lot of people’s lives with her courage. She fought for the future not just for the present.”

James Sloan, teacher

LettersExcellent paper

As Principal Jaramillo has responded to students’ requests for bathrooms with mirrors and feminine products, we are

happy to see improvement in the bathrooms. But more needs to be done.

Students need to do their part and to stop making messes and start taking care of the bath-rooms.

Don’t leave garbage around. In the third floor bathroom, we saw a plate from the lunchroom with milk and fruit inside a bathroom stall. Don’t eat in the bathroom.

In the boys bathroom, don’t throw soap, trash, milk cartons, bottles or anything else in the urinals.

Don’t skip class and stay in the bathroom. There are girls who sit on the floor or on a toi-

let, some smoking weed. It makes us feel self conscious and weird when you’re in there. We’re just trying to use the bathroom, but you’re just in there hanging out.

Be mature with the feminine products; don’t throw them around and waste them.

Take care of the bathroom like it’s your own. The custodians have to clean it at the end of the day. When you leave garbage or worse, it just makes it harder.

Don’t vandalize the bathrooms. Don’t break the seats and the new mirrors. Don’t write on the walls or the new mirrors. If you do have to write on the walls, at least write something cute or encouraging.

Flush the toilets when you’re done. Dispose of feminine products so others don’t see them. Don’t

use too much tissue so that the toilets don’t flush.Don’t clog up the sinks. It feels mucky when

you go up to wash your hands and the drain is clogged.

We have more requests for administration and staff:

We need cleaning by the custodial staff throughout the day and security to check the bathrooms. We can’t clean up other people’s mess-es or get the class-cutters out of there ourselves.

In addition, the bathrooms often need soap or hand sanitizer. The boys’ bathrooms need doors on the stalls and hand dryers to work.

Most of the students who leave messes and use the bathrooms as a place to meet when cutting class are the underclassmen, mostly freshmen. We ask the teachers to help these students understand that this is a problem.•

JROTC Military Ball Juniors take the SAT Steinmetz Fest

March: Women’s History MonthMarch 13: IB, AP English to Hamilton March 22: Star staff to Scholastic Press As-sociation of Chicago workshop and awards End of March: Rm. 113 Gaming lab – 13 gaming PCs; XBox, Play Station, Nintendo Switch consoles; 2 virtual reality seats

April: National Poetry MonthApril 5: No school for studentsApril 6: Military BallApril 9: SAT for juniors; no school for othersApril 10: PSAT for freshmen and sophomoresApril 11: No school, Report Card Pick-UpApril 15-20: No school, Spring Break

May 1: College decision dayMay 3 : Senior lock-inMay 10: Senior panoramic photoMay 18: Steinmetz Fest and car showMay 21: Senior awardsMay 27: No school, Memorial DayMay 31: Senior’s grad night at Six Flags

June 1: Star senior shout outs and memoriesPictures/text to [email protected] June 8: Senior PromJune10: Senior luncheonJune 12: GraduationJune 20: Last day of school for freshmen, sophomores and juniors

January 20, 2019This is to tell you how im-

pressed I was with the Nov.-Dec. 2018 edition of the Steinmetz Star and its student staff.

The articles presented the many varied interests and ac-tivities of the students and were extremely well written – clear language and free of grammati-cal errors.

This paper could well be a model and standard for other high school newspapers. I look forward to more editions of your excellent newspaper.

Mary Kazarian, teacher

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“Michelle Obama. She attended public school and went from the southside of Chicago to Harvard then went on to become the best First Lady this country has ever had. So many people tend to overlook the potential everyone has, specifically students in CPS. She defied these odds fiercely. Thank you, Michelle, for inspiring so many people and being an overall badass.”

Adrienne Hensgen, senior

“John Lewis. He fought alongside with Dr. Martin Luther King. He believed that every person of color should bring justice to racial discrimination. Today he is in the Congress, and still fighting for his beliefs.”

Stephanie Walker, teacher

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4 Star News

By America Flores

This is a warning for the

incoming se-niors next year: Around the middle of the first semester in your English classes, you will have to write a research paper.

“It was the most stressful assignment I’ve had to do in my all four years of high school,” Mercedez Escanio said, “but worth it.”

Students have to pick a topic, gather and analyze information, evaluate sources, take notes, write an outline of their information, develop an argument and support their claim with facts and quotes from their research, write a correctly formatted, formal paper, and write a works cited page.

When they’re finished, they need to create a slide presentation to share their information with their class.

A few students give up. But no matter how well they did in their class, without the research paper they will fail English. Then it’s night school or summer school or online credit recovery if they want to graduate.

‘’The reason that I didn’t do the senior paper was that I was too lazy to do it,” said Edwardo Rizo, who is taking night school this semester. “The senior paper shouldn’t be a requirement. I know that the reason to do the paper is to prepare students for the kinds of work that they will do at college, yet some will not go college and will be working or helping their families after high school.’’

Other students got the paper done, but without enough effort.

“I wish I was more prepared,” Santiago Riano said. “I did it the same day it was due.”

All the teachers work with students to

help them master the various parts.“Having Ms. Russo as a teacher really

helped with having her go in depth with everything we needed to do for the paper,” Sabrina Merrero said.

Edandre Macahidhid’s experience Writing the senior essay is nothing short of

a test on how well I can work under a deadline and how well I can utilize skills that I learned over a course of a few months.

We were given a large amount of time to finish the senior essay, yet a large portion of students I know didn’t utilize that time given to finish the paper early or even on time. I am one of the students that didn’t manage to finish the paper until near the end.

The most difficult part about writing my paper was writing it without bias. My topic became, “How should we treat asylum seekers?” after originally asking, “Should we allow them into our country.”

Immigration isn’t a very pretty topic, espe-cially with the rise of President Trump and his very open opinion about the idea of immigrants taking away jobs or being dangerous. But most of those who seek asylum are attempting to run away from danger and oppression.

After finishing my paper, I can say that it wasn’t my best work, but what stemmed from writing it was a sense of understanding of both the history of immigration and the beneficial effects of it. I consider myself an open-minded person. I am very glad to have written this paper. •

Field trip offers insight into civil engineering careers

Historic runoff election will be held on April 2

Chicago to elect its first Black female mayor

Khaki pants are a problem for many, even the few who don’t mind a uniform

The top two vote-getters in the Feb. 26 Chicago mayoral election were Lori Lightfoot (right) and Toni Preckwin-

kle (left). A runoff election will be held on April 2.

In a vote of the civics class students, con-ducted by the Star, Amara Enyia and Susana Mendoza were the top two vote-getters.

See the Star’s special election edition on our website – www.steinmetzstar.com. •

By Mayra Ramirez

There are several warning signs of breast cancer. These include lumps in the breast or underarm, other changes in

the breast or the nipple, and pain that does not go away.

My aunt, who recently passed away from a late diagnosed breast cancer, had some of the early warning signs, but didn’t get checked until it was too late. It was so late that not

even chemotherapy would help. After she was diagnosed in December, she passed away six months later in June. Having someone close to me go through something like this made me realize that I could help someone else and prevent them from going untested.•

[See Mayra’s complete article on the Star website: www.steinmetzstar.com. She ex-plains the different kinds of breast cancer, the eight warning signs, who is affected, treat-ment options and organizations that help.]

From the Steinmetz Facebook page

Our students engaged with civil engi-neers as they explored and learned about careers in the engineering

field. What an awesome field trip.

The Burns McDonnell firm was very hos-pitable. The workers shared their journeys to civil engineering and gave inspiring and motivating advice to our students. A special thank you to Alderman Gilbert Villegas for making this partnership possible.•

Business class teaches real life financesBy Jose Sanchez

Steinmetz has many required classes to graduate, but also many unique electives.

This year, there’s a new college level business class taught by Abel Pereryra, a DePaul graduate with an MBA in finance.

The class is a Wright Col-lege dual-credited class, which means not only do you get six GPA points for getting an A, you also get a head start on college with credit hours.

In the class, there are many discussions, topics, and advice that are essential to learn-ing if you wanted to start a business of your own. Not only that, but you will also learn about how the economy works, accounting, stocks, market inflations and deflations, and so much more.

Mr. Pereryra does not only have college business experience, he also personal business experience. “I worked as a banker, manag-ing construction loans for five years, and I also worked as a bond broker in Chicago for Nomura Securities and Lehman Brothers for about 12 years before teaching,” he said.

“I wish I had a business class in my school when I was in high school, I would strongly encourage juniors and seniors who are inter-ested in business to join the class.”

This would be a great class to take if you want to start your own small business, such as a restaurant or more.

The class has stock purchase simulations where you use imaginary money to buy imagi-nary stock and wait days how the stock has changed. Some students get massive profits and gain more than they started with and others (such as myself ) would lose money and have to decide whether to call it and take the loss or wait more and risk losing more, but have the chance of gaining back the money. •

Business class photo by Jose Sanchez

Seniors learn from required research

By Aliyah Martinez

A Star poll taken last year showed

that 93 percent of students would prefer no uniform; seven percent of students are okay with the requirement. Of the students who accept a uniform, most still don’t feel com-fortable wearing khaki pants.

The Local School Council changed the uniform policy three years ago to require khaki pants. Prior to that, the “Spirit Fridays” dress code was the regular uniform policy. This allows jeans, joggers or other pants with a Steinmetz shirt.

The LSC needs to have consideration on women. For girls, it’s really uncomfortable to wear light-colored pants when we are on our period because an accident can happen and it makes us feel embarrassed. The Star asked other students if they felt comfortable wearing khakis.

“No, I don’t feel comfortable,” senior Kimberly Peralta said. “I’m constantly worrying if I stained my pants. I have to

be careful while I sit down. I feel way more comfortable with joggers because khaki pants are too tight.”

In addition to the fit, students dislike how dirty they get.

“It’s hard to find the right size of pants, and they get dirty re-ally fast,” senior Yannaly Alvarenga said. “Also, we have to buy expensive pants because most of the times the fabric is cheap quality.”

Wearing khakis limits students.“I don’t find comfortable khaki pants,”

senior Lesly Martinez said. “I have to fold the bottom of the pants because they are too long. I get paranoiac when I’m on my days because khaki pants are literally close to white pants.”

Nearly all girls dislike wearing the pants when they’re on their period.

“I’m not comfortable wearing them be-cause what if you get your period unexpect-edly and if you get stained it would be very noticeable,” junior Erika Nieto said.

Boys dislike the khakis, too. “I prefer to wear joggers because khaki pants are not com-fortable,” senior Daniel Reyes said. •

Awareness of breast cancer warning signs can help save lives

Edandre Macahidhid, third from right, and the other seniors faced a daunting writing assignment this year.


Star Valentine’s Day 5

Shout outs to those we love (more at www.steinmetzstar.com)

Break-ups are a part of teen romances, and life goes on

Single on Valentine’s Day50 Shades of Valentine’s Day By Maurice Abrigunda

By Nelida Navaro

Sometimes, it’s vividly clear that you’re better off without someone, but sometimes that

transparent glass becomes foggy with every word they say. High school re-lationships are indescribable. There usually happens to be a lot of first.

New experiences and emo-tions flood our minds. Experienc-ing love for the first time creates a monumental bookmark in your life. However, when love comes, so does heartbreak. The majority of the time, high school relationships do not last.

Statistically, only two percent of high school relationships will result in documented love. (Huffington Post, “Are High School Relation-ships Worth It?”)

Disregarding these statistics and entering a day dream-like mode can become surreal. Getting lost in your significant other’s being becomes

strangely addictive. It can be more than difficult to deal with a break up, or even admit to yourself that it is awfully necessary.

When going through an intense breakup, it’s impossible to avoid cli-che phrases of comfort often from the people you let know about it, but mostly from yourself. Truth is, it can take years for the immense attachment to wear off.

Although heartbreak happens to everyone, knowing that doesn’t take away from any raw emotion that you are experiencing. Instead of looking at relationships as lessons of regret, transform them into experiences.

The most important thing to take away from anything in life is that life goes on, and for the most part, you get to choose what happens. Therefore, if you’re feeling any type of dismay, that’s just part of this whole life experience.

Live through heaven and give it hell. •

By Alyssa Smith

Valentine’s Day is one of the many holidays of this na-tion that encourages people

to spend unnecessary amounts of money in order to express love and gratitude.

Americans are estimated to spend about $18.2 billion on this holiday alone, which averages out to about $140 per person, according to an ABC News study.

Social media adds to the hype with an outpouring of posts display-ing romantic gestures.

For decades, Valentine’s Day has

typically been used as a reason to shower the female in the relation-ship with materialistic symbols of affection.

Women don’t usually feel the pressure that falls upon men when it comes to receiving gifts. They aren’t necessarily required to get the male anything because society has estab-lished a female to male dynamic that glorifies the man taking care of the woman.

“I wouldn’t feel too obligated be-cause men are obviously viewed as the providers and they’re supposed to do grand gestures for their wom-an,” junior Alyssa Avilez said. •

By Aliyah Martinez

Valentine’s Day is a special day where we receive and give love, candies, letters,

hugs, kisses – all types of romantic stuff. People celebrate with their loved ones to make them feel loved and happy. But it wasn’t always this way.

The origins of Valentine’s Day come from ancient Rome. Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia, February 13 to 15.

Men would hit women with the hides of animals that they just had slain. Women would line up to get whipped, while the men were drunk and naked, hitting them.

Romans believed that whipping women would make them fertile, but in reality it was just hurting them and slowly killing them.

Another part of the festival was a matchmaking lottery where women would be coupled with men, and spend time with them during the festival or until the end of it.

The ancient Romans executed two men, both named Valentine, on February 14, on different years during the festival. Later, the Catholic Church honored their martyrdom with the St. Valentine’s Day Celebration.

Source: “The Dark Origins of Valentine’s Day,” npr.org. •

To my best friend Sofia, I love you so much. I’m blessed to have you and hope you know just how much Thank you for being the Rico to my Pedro. We got this. Alyssa

Happy Valentine’s Day to Kim Taehyung for making me happy. Alejandra Cruz

I’m going to spend this Valentine’s Day with the ones who love me for who I am and who are always happy to see me – my dogs.This love is worth every hair I find in my clothes, every muddy paw print, every early morn-ing walk, every dollar spent. Perla

To Clementine:Hey, Boo. I thought putting your name in the school newspaper was impressive. Happy Valen-tine’s Day and happy early birthday, I love you very much.From, Elliot Morales

By Aliyah Martinez

How do you feel about Valentine’s Day? The Star interviewed a few seniors to hear what they think about this holiday.

What’s the purpose of Valentine’s Day?“For us to show our loved ones that they have a

special place in our hearts.”- Nefthali Ramirez“To show love and affection for our loved ones.

Not only on Valentine’s Day, we should show them love everyday.” – Ruby Ocampo

“Valentine’s is a day to share the love you have for family members and friends.” – Juan Perez

“The purpose of Valentine’s Day is to spend time and show the people you love that you care about them and you love them.” – Kenneth Gillespie

“To show love and appreciation to all your loved ones. It’s a day to even give back to those who really appreciate and love you.” – Cesar Ramirez

Do you think that is a good idea to ask someone out on Valentine’s Day?

“It is not the perfect day to ask someone out be-cause if you were to break up with them that date might not be the same.” – Nefthali

“I don’t think it is a great idea to ask someone out

on Valentine’s Day because you should be able to have your own unique date with that special someone, apart from celebrating Valentine’s Day” – Ruby

“Valentine’s Day would be a perfect day to ask someone out because you are expressing true love to another person that you are trying to go out with.” – Juan

“If you are feeling somebody and you want them then you shouldn’t wait to ask them out, go for it right away; it’s never a bad time to ask.” – Kenneth

“I would say no, because on this day people don’t ask people out. They try to get to know someone they like and grow from there.” – Cesar

What do you like most about Valentine’s Day?“What I like the most about Valentine’s Day is

the candy and the love that is received.” – Nefthali Ramirez, Senior

“I mostly love the love you get from unexpected others, and, of course, the candy, apart from spending a romantic night with my boyfriend.” – Ruby

“The thing that I like the most about Valentine’s Day is showing love to the people I care about, espe-cially my mother.” – Juan

“I like spending time and vibing with my girl, and it’s a good day to do that.” – Kenneth

“I just like that I can give back to those who I care about and do surprises.”– Cesar •

What do you think of Valentine’s Day?

Double standards in spending

Should the man in the relationship receive the same Valentine’s Day treatment as the woman?

Happy Valen-tine’s Day to my dog, Obi. He doesn’t fail to make me feel better; he is the reason I’m in a good mood all the time. When-ever I feel like I have no one, he reminds me I have him.Marta Stasik

To Alyssa, the best person with a heart of gold. I love you very much. Happy Valentine’s Day, best friend. Sofia

Juan Perez, Nefthali Ramirez, Ruby Ocampo and Kenneth Gillespie shared their opinions for this article.

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To Lind-sey, you deserve lots of things in life. I miss you so much. I miss be-ing stupid with you in lunch. You’re really epic.Maurice

Ancient Romans whipped women during the February 13-15 feast days, hoping it would make them fertile.


6 Star Arts & Entertainment

By David Colon

Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, known by his stage name Bad Bun-ny, is a Puerto Rican Latin trap and

reggaeton singer. If you ask Bad Bunny for the meaning

of the word lost, he’ll give you a more unique definition than unable to find one’s way; not knowing one’s whereabouts.

Bad Bunny’s thoughts are that being lost is not knowing who you are or where you stand.

On his first album, X100PRE (For-ever), he wrote a very interesting song called RLNDT (Rolandito). It refers to the case of the child Rolando Salas Jusino, who disappeared on July 7, 1999, in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, as a metaphor of how you feel: lost. The case of Bad Bunny is different, since he is lost by fame and without knowing himself.

The song’s opening line starts with “Hola, ¿Quién soy? No sé, se me olvidó,” meaning, “Hello, Who am I? I don’t know, I forgot.”

This part of the song, next to the title of it, refers to Rolandito’s case. Benito does not talk about the case exactly, but he uses it as a metaphor to explore the subject of the depression he felt at a moment of apogee in his career – having fame and success but not finding himself, feeling like a vacuum.

Hoy olvidé las coordenadas de mi destinoSe me dañó el GPS a mitad de caminoY no sé si me raptaron o estoy perdidoPero ya son varios días que no hablo

conmigoNo sé navegar con esta oscuridad, siento

que estoy algaro,No sé si dejarme llevar, no confío en los

faro’ I forgot the coordinates of my destination, My GPS was damaged halfway through

my journey, And I don’t know if they kidnapped me

or I’m lost, But it’s been several days since I’ve talked

to myself,

I don’t know how to navigate with this darkness,

I feel that I’m algaro (running), I don’t know whether to let myself go, I don’t trust the headlightsAll of this is about his journey through

depression and how he doesn’t know who to trust anymore.

Near the end of the song, Benito says,“¿Será como me crié o como crecí? Algo que escuché o algo que vi, Lo tanto que amo, ya no me hace feliz ¿Será que no lo amo o que no soy así?”

Translated: “Is it how I grew up or how I was raised? Something I heard or something I saw, So much that I love, it does not make me happy anymore, Will it be that I don’t love it or that I’m not like that?

These lines refer to the love and, or the attachment, that he came to feel for the things he got because of fame, but that no longer make him happy. Those things no longer give him happiness because the real Benito does not love them.

Another song on his album, and prob-ably the most liked, Estamos Bien (We Are Fine), has a great meaning to it.

This is an upbeat song where Bad Bun-ny describes his fancy lifestyle and that he doesn’t care about what others think about him, while at the same time talking about how he feels after Hurricane María hit Puerto Rico on September 16, 201.

At the end of the song, he says: “Although we have no light at home, Thank God because I have health, eh, eh (amen).”•

How LGBTQ+ artists are breaking the barriers of the industy

Painting new waves in music

Bad Bunny’s powerful metaphors and emotions

‘Spider Man: Into the Spider-Verse’By Maurice Abrigunda

One of the most anticipated animated movies in Marvel universe was “Spider Man: Into the Spider-Verse.”

This movie has changed the animation industry. The visuals, the art style, and the music were incred-ibly good. The movie compliments the comic art style. Not only that, the creators of Spider-Verse are the same from “The Emoji Movie.” (Weird right?)

The story is great because the main character Miles Morales has incredible growth during the movie. He found that he can be his own Spider Man.

Plus, the side characters are very likeable. They are their own Spiderselves despite having different stories than the actual Spider-Man.New Yorkers loved this movie as New York comes alive.

Even my non-nerd friends enjoyed the movie. Please watch it and you’ll enjoy it, too. •

By Maurice Abrigunda

Big Mouth’s second season is better, funnier, filthier, and quite a surprise.

Fans of the show were so ex-cited to see the new season released on Netflix on Oct. 5, 2018.

After I finished watching the whole season, I wasn’t disap-pointed. This show caught me in shock.•

Second season of Big Mouth is funnier than first

By Alyssa Avilez and Alyssa Smith

Underrepresenta-tion in race, gender and

status has been a prob-lem plaguing the music industry for decades. Sexuality has often been left in the dark in the industry with major labels and big names not wanting to stir up controversy; it’s been regarded as taboo.

When R&B artist Frank Ocean rapped about his sexuality in “Oldie,” an Odd Future song from 2012, it was with ambiguity: “I’m high and I’m bi, wait, I mean I’m straight.”

In the rap community, with its culture infamously synonymous with misogyny, brooding images of violence and the day to day sttruggle of Black America, few have taken the courageous step of coming out in a culture dominated by hegemonic masculinity and deep-rooted beliefs until now.

Despite the adversity and display of deep-rooted homophobia in the nation and throughout the world, more artists have come to prominence, openly accepting and embracing their sexuality, not viewing it as a hindrance, but as something to empower both themselves and their supporters.

Artists like Tyler, the Creator, Kevin Abstract of Brockhampton, Taylor Bennett and others have paved the way for future generations to express who they are without fear of ridicule or harassment stemming from ignorance.

Harry Styles, of One Direction fame, surprised the world with his move toward rock and embrace of openness after the band

announced its hiatus in early 2016.

From flamboyant Gucci suits to outfits designed by artists who are known to break the barriers of what is considered women’s clothing and men’s, Harry Styles accompa-nied his fashion choices by prancing around the stage and letting little boys know that “crying is very manly.”

His concerts are full of fans from every walk of life – from gay and lesbian couples waving rainbow flags to African Americans holding up Black Lives Matter posters.

“I’ve never felt the need to label it,” Styles

said about his sexuality. At his concert last July in Los Angeles, Styles responded to gay fans with “We’re all a little bit gay, aren’t we?”

After One Direction was formed on the Xfactor UK, it was brought to their fans’ at-tention that there might have been a “bro-mance” between Styles and Louis Tomlinson.

For the first two years of the One Direction era, Harry and Louis were able to be inter-viewed together, go out with each other, and interact with one another on stage.

However, after a while, their management, known as Modest!, forbade them to do such things. Over the years, they were interviewed separately, on opposite sides of photoshoot posters, and they stopped interacting with each other on stage.

Their management wanted them to sell their boyish charm and masculinity in order to sell their brand, products, and music.

But now, as Styles announced through his song title, “Sign of the Times,” things have changed.•

Theater club meets on Saturdays, new students always welcome

Brandi and Jakera performed in front of 100s of students, from dozens of schools, prior to a production of ‘Hamilton,’ at the CIBC Theatre, 18 W. Monroe. •

Continued on the Star website www.steinmetzstar.com

Harry Styles, performing at the United Center in July 2018, holds the flags of Black Lives Matter and LG-BTQ+ pride.

Juniors Brandi Cannon and Jakera Kimble with Ms. Buckmaster

The theater club is run by the Repetorio Latino Theater Co. It meets on Saturdays in Room 122 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more.information, contact Angelita Ruiz: [email protected], 773-283-3888.


Star Sports 7

Rolling together for an excellent season Keeping the pace up The benefits of running

By Aliyah Martinez

The boys bowlers did the best they could while com-peting. Even though there were ups and downs in the season, they were able to do their best and work

as a team. What made it stressful for the whole team was the experi-

ence while playing. Some players were new and it was their first time competing against other schools.

Also, having seven players as a whole team made it difficult because players have to give more than expected. However, they always managed to work as a team and support each other.

“Bowling requires geometry, patience and practice,” Coach Angel “Lefty” DeJesus said. “The majority of the Streaks bowling team are leaving, since they are seniors. More practice would be required for future teams.”

Enrique Robles and America Flores, of the girls team, were the outstanding players of the bowling season.

Three bowlers on the girls team made it to the Citywide Bowling Championship: Sabrina Marrero, America Flores and Asia Zanders. America Flores placed in the top 50 bowl-ers citywide.

For those who are wondering, baseball coach Renato Roldan gave Mr. DeJesus his nickname Lefty in his freshman

year at Steinmetz because he was a left-handed pitcher and Coach Roldan didn’t remember his name. •

By Angel Antunez

Running, a cardiovascular exercise, has many health ben-efits. By simply running thirty minutes a day, running can improve someone’s mood, quality of work, and con-

centration. Running every day can either help you lose or maintain

weight by burning calories after your workout. This is known as “afterburn,” which is known as a process called excess post oxygen consumption.

Being able to run can strengthen your knee joints by increas-ing bone mass in your body, which can help prevent bone loss when you age. You might be asking, “How should I start, what should I eat, and what would be a good running schedule?”

First off, if you’re a beginner, it is highly recommended that you run three days a week and run at a constant pace that you can keep up with. When it comes to eating, you should be eat-ing foods with carbohydrates such as bread, pastas, and cereal.

Coming up with an exercise schedule can be difficult at times; maybe you won’t have time because you’re busy with family or homework. It is best to plan ahead and see when you will be available to run even if it’s a ten to 15-minute run, it will still be best to get some time in.

After having the habit of running, you can start referring to how you started, to where you currently are now.

“Its painful to run in general, but I think it’s fun to see the progress you’ve accomplished,” junior Issac Bernal said. “Worth the pain.”

Even though you may have moments of not wanting to run or just being lazy one day remember running can prevent cancer, make you look good when you’re older, and improve your overall brain function.

So the next time you decide to sleep in or play video games, why not change your schedule a bit and get an early run in to start benefiting yourself. •

Varsity ties school record of 26 wins in one season

Streaks basketball wins conferenceBy Justin Carrillo and Jose Sanchez

The Streaks easily won confer-ence with a 9-0 record. The toughest conference teams

were North Grand and Senn, but the Streaks still won with a wide margin: 80-70 and 53-46.

The team made history by tying the record of most wins in a season with 26 wins on Feb. 16.

“Our 48-39 victory over Chi-cago Academy gives us a place in Steinmetz history,” Coach Brad Dowling announced on the Stein-metz Facebook page. “So happy to help this awesome group of young men and women make a memory they’ll never forget. Love my team.”

Captain Quame Gipson was a leader and standout player, averag-ing 16.9 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 3.6 steals a game.

Varsity captain Myon Dalton said, “The team is complete and gets more wins together.”

Myon has played in multiple sports for all four years in Steinmetz. When asked which team is the best and when are they at their peak, he said, “The basketball team is the best and this year for sure.”

On senior night, the Streaks blew out Noble Street high school. At halftime, the seniors – Ayoub El Mansour, Daniel Kania, JuSon Hines, Captain Myon Dalton, Michael Ticer and Justin Carrillo – received green Steinmetz basketball jackets and flowers for their families. Steinmetz played Chicago

Academy four times this year and won every game, although CA gave the Streaks a battle each time.

The Fenton game was probably the worst of the season against teams at the Streaks’ level. Never before was there so much pressure.

Fenton had a big crowd that yelled at players, using their specific names. The crowd shook bottles to distract Steinmetz players. Racist insults were also used.

When one of the Steinmetz parents objected to

the other team’s fans, she was kicked out without a warning.

The game, though, gave the team some help against Elmwood Park, the first round game in the state tournament. Elmwood Park had beaten Fenton and didn’t expect Steinmetz to be as strong as they were.

The game was a heartbreak because it so close throughout all four quarters, with the final score a loss for the Streaks, 49-45.•

Archery team hits the mark at Schurz meet

Jose Sanchez (left) scored highest for the Steinmetz team, coached by Sgt. Cornell Davis.

2018-2019 Varsity StreaksWin - Loss record

W - Rickover Naval W - Chicago AcademyL - Northside prepW - AmundsenW - SennW - Rickover NavalW - AmundsenW - Chicago QuestW - IntrinsicL - Loyola AcademyW - AspiraL - Catalyst-MariaW - Chicago MilitaryW - Chicago WashingtonW - Roosevelt W - North GrandW - GolderW - Disney IIW - Chicago AcademyW - AspiraW - North GrandW - IntrinsicW - ReavisW - AmundsenW - Chicago AcademyW - Noble StreetW - ITW Speer L - Chicago SullivanW - HansberryW - Chicago AcademyL - FentonL - Elmwood Park

Photos by Dayanna Garcia, Victoria Delgado, America Flores

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Seniors on the swim team pose with Coach Sullivan (Coach Luigi De Col not pictured). Swim Team, Class of ‘19: Zeke Rubio, Allen Namrood, Daniel Bacuilima, David Krasniki, Marek Wojtkielewicz, Luis Huerta, Hector Perez, Mariusz Doroz, Sam Oden, Edwin Bazan, Gilberto Torres and Frank Cabrera


8 Star Sports

Streaks basketball wins conferenceUndefeated in conference, varsity wins first state playoff game

By Alyssa Avilez

The Silver Streaks easily won the conference championship, finish-ing 10-0 in conference play. The

Streaks crushed Ogden, Foreman, Kelvyn Park, Rickover, Marine, Roosevelt, Soto and Amundsen, and beat Farragut in a close game. Uplift forfeited.

The team had an overall season record of 16-14.

The first victory was a 35-21 win against Chicago Academy.

One of the best games was the team’s overtime 30-28 win in the state playoffs against North Grand. Senior Dionne Beals made the winning shot in a game televised by the Illinois High School Association.

The team had learned from several close losses throughout the season: Disney II, Intrinsic, Kelly, Woodlawn, Thornridge and Bowen all beat the Streaks by just one or two points.

“We ended up listening more towards the end, listening to the coach,” junior Brisa Farias said.

JROTC instructor Joseph Kaminski pushed the team with a rigorous schedule and promoted the players’ accomplish-ments.

The team’s page on the website Max-preps includes several highlight videos of players making blocks, steals, fast breaks and 3-pointers, featuring Dionne Beals, Keriona Carter (K.C.), Sage Reyes, Brisa Farias, Jada Ayala, Issalina Villareal, Les-lie Nunez, Jaelin Roman and Antwanette Gates.

The season ended with a loss to Naz-ereth Academy, the eventual 3rd-place winner in the state tournament.

Swim team wins conferenceBy Mia Marrero

Not only did the swim team win con-ference this season, all the swimmers on the large team, deep with talent,

improved and enthusiastically participated.“Throughout the season we saw a lot of

growth,” senior Frank Cabrera said. “Everyone would be improving their strokes, dives, or flip turns. Everyone improved. And at each meet, guys were screaming and cheering on everyone in the pool; you could feel the energy.”

The Streaks were undefeated in six con-ference dual meets and won the conference meet beating Prosser, Westinghouse and North Grand.

“The craziest meets we had were with Prosser,” coach Suzy Sullivan said, “just be-cause of swimming against them three times. Our scores were close to each other.”

The team included about 25 swimmers. Se-niors David Krasniki and Luis Huerta, captain of the team, swam on varsity for four years.

Many other seniors, some who were new to the team this year, also contributed to the team’s success. Edwin Bazan couldn’t even swim his junior year, but this year Coach Sullivan said she “could depend on him for any event.” Mariusz Doroz could swim, but he needed to learn the strokes. Senior Hector “Frankie” Perez was very dedicated, Coach Sullivan said.

Sophomore Natan Klodzinski and junior Eduardo Delgado are ones to watch next year. Eduardo, who had previous experience swim-ming on a team for Shabonna Park, is “dedi-cated and awesome,” Ms. Sullivan said.

Natan, the only swimmer on the Streaks to place at city, took 15th overall for the indi-vidual medley. •

Steinmetz swim team awards2019 conference meet

David Krasniki 1st place 200 medley relay1st place 200 freestyle relay1st place 500 freestyle (a distrance of25 lengths in the Steinmetz pool)

Luis Huerta1st place 200 medley relay1st place 100 backstroke3rd place 50 freestyle

Eduardo Delgado1st place 200 medley relay1st place 200 freestyle relay1st place 200 freestyle2nd place 100 butterfly

Daniel Bacuilima1st place 200 freestyle relay

Natan Klodzinski1st place 200 medley relay1st place 200 freestyle relay1st place 200 freestyle1st place 100 breaststroke2nd place 200 individual medley

Gilberto Torres3rd place 500 freestyle3rd place 200 freestyle

Juan Cordona3rd place 100 breaststroke

Keriona won the Regional 3-point contest at Fenwick, hitting 9 out of 15 shots. She qualified to compete in the IHSA Three Point Showdown Competition at Redbird Arena in Normal at Illinois State University

The Star asked Brisa which players grew the

most and deserve recognition.“K. C. and Jada worked a lot and made the

most points out of all of us,” she said.The Star asked Brisa, who transferred from

Farragut and also plays on the Streaks soccer team, about the best part of being on the team.

“I actually really like communicating with my teammates and being honest with each other,” Brisa said.

“I love that we help each other and work out mistakes, so we can correct each other and get better.”•

Coach Kaminiski talks to starters Jada Ayala, Keriona Carter, Sage Reyes, Brisa Farias and Dionne Beals at the city playoff game against Bowen.

Keriona Carter, Jada AyalaDionne Beals

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