Jessica Kotnour EDITOR-IN-CHIEF November 2014 17 Four years ago, I sat down to fill out my four-year plan. Ignor- ing the advice to fill it out in pencil, I wrote in ink the classes that I would take before I graduated. I was to spend my high school career taking AP sci- ences and never having a free period. I vowed to fulfill my fine arts require- ment then never step foot in the Arts Wing ever again. I had my time outside of school planned as well. Set to play soccer until I graduated, I was determined to spend all of my afternoons out on the fields and my week- ends traveling to tournaments. The start of freshman year went according to plan. I managed to take all the classes on my four-year plan, and I was the starting goalkeeper on the var- sity soccer team. November of my fresh- man year, things changed. I started getting caught up in making my perfect high school plan work. If something wasn’t in my original plan, there was no way I would do it. I stopped trying new things since they did not fit into the ideal plan that I had established in 8 th grade. I stayed in clubs that I didn’t like. I kept playing soccer despite wanting to try a new sport. Al- though I wanted to be in differ- ent classes, I didn’t take them because they weren’t part of my plan. I stopped experimenting. I had made a plan, and I had to stick with it. As I began my sophomore year, I tried to stick with my plan, but I soon realized that if I was going to enjoy my time in high school at all, I would need to make a change. When I signed up for my junior year classes, only two of my classes were on my four-year plan. I finally quit soccer and joined the weightlifting team. These changes were things that I had always wanted to do, but had neglected to out of fear of the unknown. When I think of change, I normally think of change that I have no control over. I think of change as being forced to move away from friends or having to grow up and take on more responsibility. Change is not always involuntary. The scariest changes can be the ones we have to make ourselves for our own happiness. If something isn’t working, I challenge you to make a change. By making a change, you are guaranteed to have a different out- come than what you were getting in the past. Most of the time, this change will lead to a happier life.
Transcript
Jessica KotnourEDITOR-IN-CHIEF
November 2014 17
Four years ago, I sat down to fi ll out my four-year plan. Ignor-ing the advice to fi ll it out in pencil, I wrote in ink the classes that I would take before I graduated. I was to spend my high school career taking AP sci-ences and never having a free period. I vowed to fulfi ll my fi ne arts require-ment then never step foot in the Arts Wing ever again. I had my time outside of school planned as well. Set to play soccer until I graduated, I was determined to spend all of my afternoons out on the fi elds and my week-ends traveling to tournaments. The start of freshman year went according to plan. I managed to take all the classes on my four-year plan, and I was the starting goalkeeper on the var-sity soccer team. November of my fresh-man year, things changed. I started getting caught up in making my perfect high school plan work. If something wasn’t in my original plan, there was no way I would do it. I stopped trying new things since they did not fi t into the ideal plan that I had established in 8th grade. I stayed in clubs that I didn’t like. I kept playing soccer despite
wanting to try a new sport. Al-though I wanted to be in differ-ent classes, I didn’t take them because they weren’t part of my plan. I stopped experimenting. I had made a plan, and I had to stick with it.
As I began my sophomore year, I tried to stick with my
plan, but I soon realized that if I was going to enjoy my time in high
school at all, I would need to make a change.
When I signed up for my junior year classes, only two of my classes were on my
four-year plan. I fi nally quit soccer and joined the weightlifting team. These changes were things
that I had always wanted to do, but had neglected to out of fear of the unknown.
When I think of change, I normally think of change that I have no control over. I think of change as
being forced to move away from friends or having to grow up and take on more
responsibility. Change is not always involuntary.
The scariest changes can be the ones we have to make ourselves for our own
happiness. If something isn’t working, I challenge you to make a change. By making a change, you are guaranteed to have a different out-come than what you were getting in the past. Most of the time, this change will lead to a happier life.
Jessica KotnourEDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Four years ago, I sat down to fi ll out my four-year plan. Ignor-ing the advice to fi ll it out in pencil, I wrote in ink the classes that I would take before I graduated. I was to spend my high school career taking AP sci-ences and never having a free period. I vowed to fulfi ll my fi ne arts require-ment then never step foot in the Arts Wing ever again. I had my time outside of school planned as well. Set to play soccer until I graduated, I was determined to spend all of my afternoons out on the fi elds and my week-ends traveling to tournaments. The start of freshman year went according to plan. I managed to take all the classes on my four-year plan, and I was the starting goalkeeper on the var-sity soccer team. November of my fresh-man year, things changed. I started getting caught up in making my perfect high school plan work. If something wasn’t in my original plan, there
wanting to try a new sport. Al-though I wanted to be in differ-ent classes, I didn’t take them because they weren’t part of my plan. I stopped experimenting. I had made a plan, and I had to stick with it.
As I began my sophomore year, I tried to stick with my
plan, but I soon realized that if I was going to enjoy my time in high
school at all, I would need to make a change.
When I signed up for my junior year classes, only two of my classes were on my
four-year plan. I fi nally quit soccer and joined the weightlifting team. These changes were things
that I had always wanted to do, but had neglected to out of fear of the unknown.
When I think of change, I normally think of change that I have no control over. I think of change as
being forced to move away from friends or having to grow up and take on more
responsibility. Change is not always involuntary.
The scariest changes can be the ones we have to make ourselves for our own
happiness. If something isn’t working, I challenge you to make a change.
November 201418
We can do it Time has had an impact on women’s rights
Tears rolled down from the audience’s eyes as Emma Watson stood behind the podium voicing her opinion about women’s rights. When Watson attended the recent U.N. conference, she introduced the “HeforShe” campaign, a movement supporting gender equality.
“[Women’s rights] is an important cause that needs attention to ensure that women are treated with basic needs such as safety, dignity and respect,” said Denise Musselwhite, the co-Advisor of Trinity Prep’s PeaceJam Club.
During the early 1900s, the U.S. took action in order to make sure that women are treated equally. Passed in 1911, the 19th amendment allowed women the right to vote. This was one of the fi rst
initiatives in making sure that women are given the same rights as men. Since then, change has occurred as women were given more rights. For example, the pass-
ing of Title IX in 1972 resulted in the ban of gender discrimination in the public schools system.
Currently, this issue is almost unheard of, and the gender gap between women and men has substantially shrunk in the United States.
Women from different countries, especially underprivileged areas, do not have some rights and opportunities that women have in the U.S. “Lack of access to an adequate education and personal safety is an enormous obstacle in developing countries around the world and a barrier to the advance-ment of women’s rights,” Musselwhite said. We should decide on how to change the future by focusing on events that affect others. Recently in Norway, a group launched the Thea Campaign that is raising awareness for underage marriage. Underage marriage is prevalent in coun-tries where poverty exists. Joining the Thea campaign is a step towards prohibiting underaged marriage. There are many campaigns that people can join to make a difference in women’s rights all over the world. Campaigns that focus on peaceful change are the most effective and sucessful. The Thea and Smart Girls
campaign are non-violent campaigns that focus on social issues including women’s rights.
Amy Poehler started the campaign, Smart Girls, which is an inspiring role model for the young. Smart Girls is a fun way of being part of an online community that encourages women to volunteer and to become activists. Here at Trinity Prep, clubs such as PeaceJam focus on social issues including women’s rights. Last year, the club selected the topic of “Untrap Untapped Potential.” The project promoted the rights of women and children globally and supported the Harbor House and Girls Learn International. For change to be achieved for the future, both men and women will have to cooperate together. We should remember that the women’s rights movement does not cause a lack of concern or support for men’s issues. It is important that those who are inter-ested in issues related to women’s rights have signifi cant and inclusive conversations. Both gender’s voices should be considered while doing so.
Shea PereraSTAFF WRITER
Amber Yang
Choose and cherish change
No one can avoid change. It takes us into the unknown. How many of us welcomed the idea of portable classrooms? But they’ve turned out to be well-furnished, air conditioned and spacious. Voluntary changes such as choosing an AP course or something as simple as trying out a new recipe can cause stress because we don’t want to fail. On the other hand, when life throws a curve ball with something as trivial as losing a favorite pencil to something as serious as losing a loved one, it forces a change in our life that causes anxiety and resentment. The best approach is to never fi ght change. Since change is inevitable, it would be prudent on our part to prepare ourselves well in advance. We must begin by understanding the mechanics of change. Neural pathways in our brain are formed as a result of repetitive tasks. For example, every time we press on the brake at a red traffi c light, we rein-force that particular neural pathway, and the task of braking at a red light becomes “hardwired.” Our behavioral response becomes automatic. Mentally speaking, repetitive tasks consume less energy and are comforting. They actually make us feel good. However, any change to these tasks disrupts the well-established neural pathway. Change stimulates the prefrontal cortex that is directly linked to the amygdala, which controls our basic instincts of fear. A change in routine tasks activates the fear circuitry in the brain. As a result, we feel fear and anxiety. Having recently relocated to Orlando from New York, Athletic Director Steven Bluth and his entire family are dealing with a big change in their lives. Bluth’s all-time favorite quote— “Adversity introduces you to yourself ”— is from Coach K at Duke University. Bluth believes change creates adversity whether the change is positive or negative. A supportive environment and open communication can help make the transition easier. He believes sud-den unexpected changes create confusion, while controlled changes are easy to rationalize and fi nd solutions for. He further adds, that if you feel over-whelmed while facing adversity induced by a change, then you need to take a step-by-step approach. The key to managing change is to adapt to it as quickly as possible. From Dr.John Kotter, emeritus professor at Harvard Business School, here are some things we can do to cope with change and embrace it wholeheartedly.
In our constantly changing lives, the evolutionary theory formulated by Charles Darwin in the 1800s still holds true: “It is not the strongest nor the most intelligent of the species that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”
In our constantly changing lives, the evolutionary theory formulated by Charles Darwin in the 1800s still holds true: “It is not the strongest nor the most intelligent of the species that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”
Recognize that change is inevitable Don’t try to run and hide from change. As our teachers change, we have to adapt to different teaching styles. There is no point getting frustrated over the different expectations of the new teacher.
is no point getting frustrated over the different expectations of the new teacher.
Set smart goalsSet small achievable goals that will help you adapt to the new change effortlessly.
In our constantly changing lives, the evolutionary theory formulated by Charles Darwin in the 1800s still holds true: “It is not the strongest nor the most intelligent of the species that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”
Set smart goalsSet small achievable goals that will help you adapt to the new change effortlessly.
Face your feelingsMove beyond the “Why me?” stage. Analyze what factors are causing the negative feelings and eliminate those. For example, instead of fretting over the new braces, it would help to re-mind ourselves that those braces are not permanent fi xtures and will come off in a couple of years leaving be-hind a dazzling, beautiful smile.
Consider change as an op-portunity rather than a challengeFocus on the benefi t every change brings along and make that into an opportunity. The iPhone 6 Plus monstrosity is diffi cult to handle at fi rst. But, hey, thanks to the larger screen size, games, photos and vid-eos look very impressive.
RelaxLearn to relax. Stress is bad while dealing with change. There is no point fi ghting over change that is here to stay.
Adopt a thought process that supportsNegative thoughts block the creative process while positive thoughts con-struct bridges to possibilities. Instead of thinking that portable classrooms are time-out boxes built to alienate stu-dents from the rest of the school, we should focus on the big, swanky new building that will provide extra space for all of us.
Set smart goalsSet small achievable goals that will help you adapt to the new change effortlessly.
Noopur RanganathanSTAFF WRITER
November 2014 19
November 201420
“Climate change will…” “By 2050, global warming…” We are all familiar with headlines that warn us of drastic changes in our global climate (only just in many years.) Consciously or not, these headlines lead us to believe that climate change is a far-away problem. To many, the impacts of climate change are abstract—a couple polar bears dying 6,000 miles away or a fl ood in the Amazon. According to a recent Gallup poll, only 36 per-cent of Americans see climate change as a threat in their lifetime. AP Environmental Science teacher Jonathan Grey warns, however, that we should absolutely be con-cerned about climate change now. “It is affecting human populations in terms of sea level rise. Cities such as Miami are starting to come up with detailed plans on what to do about rising sea levels on the beachfront in places like Miami Beach, where we have huge buildings [at risk],” Grey said. Living in Florida, the state with the most coastline in the continental United States, it is time to accept climate change as a reality. In May, the U.S. government released the most in-depth climate as-sessment it has ever published. The National Climate Assessment highlighted major impacts from climate change felt in our country cur-rently and that will only magnify as time goes on. Beyond sea level rise, our state faces numerous other changes. In Florida, most of our fresh water comes from the natural limestone aquifer underground. As salt water levels rise, it fl ows into the aquifer and contaminates our drinking water. As the ocean warms, it becomes more acidic as well. Consequently, our state’s coral reefs and fi sh, key to the tourism industry, are also harmed. We can no longer afford the luxury of believing climate change to be a partisan issue or a far-fl ung abstraction. Like it or not, climate change is our reality, and procrastination in accepting that will only hurt us.
Climate change needs to sink inAmy LowndesFOCUS EDITOR
