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McCallum High School / 5600 Sunshine / Austin, TX 78756 / March 13, 2015 / Issue 4 / Volume 62

WHAT’S INSIDETheater students, guitar program travel to Disney Parks for competition

page 6

page 13

Get an inside look at the ‘voices in the cieling’

Contem

porary

Clas

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Student-led fashion show, Avant Garde, inspired by European clothing

news

feature

sports

opinion

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After over 100 measles cases, student, nurse discuss the impor-tance of vaccinations in schools

Seniors Eric Sandoz and Benjamin Pargaman work to gainrecognition as Eagle Scouts

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Senior Charlotte McKinley plans to attend the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City

Students, teachers discuss the influence the Fine Arts Academy has had on the curriculum

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Senior Juliana Olivo finishes her high school wrestling career with a second place state finish and a 24-2 record

After being taken out of athletics due to a knee injury, junior David Ruwwee coaches an Upward basketball team

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Staffer discusses the excessive use of phones by teenagers and the effects on communication, relationships

Other specialty programs in AISD, such as magnet schools, should strive to reflect the diversity of the district

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Varsity girls, boys soccer vs. LBJ. Boys 7:15 @ Nelson.Girls 7:15 @ House Park.

Spring Break

Boys baseball vs. East Side @ Northwest Park

Band Concert 7 p.m. in MAC

27-29 One-act student directed plays in FAT

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Top: Junior Jesse Levy-Rubinett dives to get the ball in play-off game against Vista Ridge. Photo by Nick Robertson. Bottom: Se-nior Amani Alexander sings “I’m Outta Here” in theater’s spring mu-sical “Ghost.” Photo by Aiden Foster. Cover: Senior head model Kate Pargaman opens Avant Garde in a gold accented dress designed by senior Elena Villalon.For more visit www.macshieldonline.com

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On pins and needles

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urfaceRACHEL WOLLEBEN

staff reporterWhen news came out about the mea-

sles outbreak in the United States, school nurse Kathleen Volkaert grew anxious about what would happen if the disease came to McCallum.

“I’m concerned a little bit about it because we have so many students who have immunization exemptions,” Vol-kaert said. “They don’t show that they’ve been immunized, and that worries me if we were to get measles here.”

Since Jan. 1, over 102 measles cases have been confirmed in 14 states by the federal centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“I’m more worried about the spread of stupidity,” sopho-more Matthew Garcia said. “If people who are against properly protecting themselves from these diseases die from them, then their communi-ties will see the diseases as completely undefeat-able. Their ideas will spread to the next generation and to others around them until diseases that were a huge problem in the early 20th Century are again a huge problem now.”

Measles, a respiratory disease caused by a virus that spreads through the air, was considered eradicated in the United States in 2000; however, a record-break-ing number of cases, 610 according to the Centers for Disease Control, were con-firmed in 2014.

“The most common symptoms for measles is a rash that usually spreads across your torso and arms,” Volkaert said. “Then you may get a fever and maybe some respiratory symptoms. But do not go into your doctor’s office if you think you have measles because then you’re exposing anyone who’s unimmu-nized to the disease. Call your doctor.”

Over 52 out of the already identified cases of measles have been linked to the popular California theme parks Disney-land and Disney’s California Adventure. More than nine visitors to the parks have been infected with measles while over 30 children-visitors have been put into

isolation. Orange County has reported that six measles patients are Disneyland employees. The rapid spread of measles across the country has even persuaded some schools to order unvaccinated children and children with weak immune systems to stay home until their exposure to the disease has passed.

“That would hap-pen right now if we had an outbreak in our

school,” V o l k a e r t

said. “All those people that

have not been i m m u n i z e d would prob-ably have to stay home,

w h i c h is pretty serious. I would encourage par-ents to have their child immunized, es-pecially for measles and other diseases that can cause real problems right now.”

Volkaert said multiple parents at Mc-Callum do not believe in vaccinations for religious and medical reasons as well as personal choice.

“I do believe it is a parent’s choice,

but you should really

research the con-sequences of getting

that illness versus getting your vaccination,” Volkaert said. “Even

as a parent, I looked at some vaccines long and hard before I chose to have

my children immunized. I talked to my physician, and in the end I went with the vaccine.”

Many parents are afraid of the effects that vaccinations can have on their chil-dren, such as suffering from long-term brain damage. The primary concern that parents who are against vaccinations have is whether or not the shots can in-crease a child’s chances of developing autism. However, these worries came out of a now discredited study on 12 chil-dren done by Dr. Andrew Wakefield in 1998, which led to a decrease in the num-ber of children receiving the vaccine that prevents measles, mumps and rubella in the United States. This study was later disproved by a series of massive stud-ies made on over two-and-a-half mil-lion children in Europe, which found no increases in autism among children who had been vaccinated versus those who weren’t.

Yet Garcia dismisses this fear, in-stead saying parents are objecting for a whole different reason.

“Considering the evidence that said vaccines cause autism were found fake and the doctor’s medical licence was removed, I don’t think people really believe in that anymore,” Garcia said. “People just like to argue. Every time someone comes up with a solution to people’s worries over vaccines, someone else comes up with a whole new reason why they are bad.”

Still, the anti-vaccine movement has been spreading rapidly since celebrities

like Jenny M c C a r t h y

joined the cause.“People will ar-

gue until they die,” Garcia said. “Then their fol-

lowers will just take their place. With the spread of diseases that

were once contained, it will definitely become a problem if as many people continue to not vaccinate themselves and their children.”

On the other side of the vaccine-debate spectrum, Garcia fully supports having forced immunizations for Ameri-can citizens.

“While that may sound scary, and suggests a lack of freedom, it would be for the better of the country’s health as a whole,” Garcia said. “I believe the health of the whole country should come before an individual’s preferences. There are always certain cases where people can’t get their vaccinations, but in general ev-eryone should get them.”

All states allow forms of medical ex-emptions from getting vaccinations, but certain states allow other exemptions for religious or philosophical reasons. Texas allows exemptions for both.

“To get an exemption you have to fill out a form you can pick up from the Texas Department of Health, then we keep a copy of it on file for you here,” Volkaert said. “If a physician writes that a child should not receive immunizations for this medical reason, that’s a permanent condi-tion and you never have to re-submit your form for that. But if you have a religious or conscientious exemption, you have to re-submit a form every two years.”

How the measles outbreak will play out depends on how many people re-ceive their immunizations, and the edu-cation of parents concerning the pros and cons of getting them.

“I think we’ll probably have some cas-es of measles in Texas, then it will pass,” Volkaert said. “But at the same time we now have so many more people who use the conscientious objection to not get their vaccinations that we may see more cases than in other states. I think as a par-ent you should look at not just the safety of your child, but the safety of everyone else. Because if you’re child’s not vac-cinated and then they get measles, they could expose other people to it.”

Illustration by Rachel Wolleben

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White

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According to an Austin-American States-man article published Feb. 9, AISD magnet schools lack diversity.

“We, on campus, have almost 1650 stu-dents, and just under 500 of them are fine arts majors, but almost at any given time, two-thirds of the entire student body are partici-pating in fine arts classes,” Kalyse McElveen, coordinator of the Fine Arts Academy, said.

Currently, magnet school applications don’t have any questions on them about eco-nomic status or race for students.

“Since we’re fine arts, we have to do audi-tions, so they see them,” junior Isabel Clark said. “I just wish more people were strong enough to come out and audition. Some of the other programs, such as the orchestra program, are much more diverse than the theater program if I’m being honest.”

Even though McCallum has an appli-cation process for people who want to be a part of the fine arts program, the school is not listed as a magnet school.

“We are not a magnet status because it

muddied the water when people think that in the magnet programs there’s this lack of di-versity, and those programs are set up a spe-cific way,” McElveen said. “And [the other schools] do have mag-net-only classes and they do have all of these things that look like a more protective model over those courses, versus we have only a very small handful of classes that are only for fine arts majors.”

McElveen said that letting students get access to public trans-port would help increase diversity.

MEENA ANDERSONstaff reporter

White

Hispanic

Asian

African American

“The other main thing for us that we feel is a barrier for some students to either apply or accept our offer to go to school here is the lack of transportation,” McElveen said.

“We’re actually submitting a propos-al to the district this year to at

least be able to fund a bus pass for every Fine Arts

Academy student that needs one through-out the four years of high school for Capital Metro.”

One of the problems some people have with magnet schools is

that they get to pull from all areas around

Austin instead of just the attendant zone of a

school. “I can’t speak for

how to come up with a solution for specific situations, but I can

speak to the conversations that we have most

Article says racial diversity not found in magnet schools, specialty programs

frequently here, which really revolve around spreading the word about our program,” McElveen said. “That’s gotten better over the last few years with social media, but we still have a long way to go to make sure that every student in our middle schools knows about our program.”

McElveen said diversity is good for the fine arts program as a whole.

“I think that the best solutions come from being able to collaborate with people who come from all sorts of different backgrounds and experiences because that lens opens up,” McElveen said. “You’re not looking at life just through your own filter.”

Kealing Magnet School 809 students

LIberal Arts and Science Academy 809 students

McCallum Fine Arts Academy 477 students

Austin Independent School District 84,609 students

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Scouting for successHALEY HEGEFELDco-assistant editor

After a long day of hard work on his Eagle Scout project, senior Benjamin Pargmann

got to play with puppies that survived the parvo virus in the memorial garden he had just built to the dogs that had not survived.

“Austin Pets Alive has a parvo ward, and every year they’ve got a lot of puppies that pass away from the disease,” Pargmann said, “so I built a garden to honor their lives and to provide a place for the workers to re-lax and calm down after their day.”

An Eagle Scout project has two major requirements, Pargmann said. It must be something that benefits the community and it must be something the Scout plans and carries out to completion. Another senior, Eric Sandoz, also completed his project for the honor.

“I re-did all of the wood at the stands on the baseball field,” Sandoz said. “I tore it all up and put down new wood. On Sat-

urday, there [were] a lot of the baseball kids that helped rip up all of the old wood. Then on Sunday and Monday it was basically just me, my dad, [senior] Jake

Two seniors complete projects for their Eagle Scout ranks[Holmes] and a couple of other kids [work-ing on it].”

Junior Quentin Reed helped cut stuff, move stuff or anything to help make it easier for Sandoz.

“It feels really good [to have helped], es-pecially when you know that other people are going to be able to enjoy what you built,” Reed said. “That way people aren’t fall-ing through the stands with all the cracked wood.”

Before the actual working could start, the boys had to put in many hours of plan-ning for the projects. Sandoz said it took sev-eral months to get his plans approved by the higher-ups.

“Normally I’d get home from school and do 30 minutes to an hour of just planning and checking prices of things,” Pargmann said. “I’d have to schedule meetings with the Aus-tin Pets Alive representative and meet with her.”

Sandoz said he learned problem-solving from the project. Things would go wrong, like a part wouldn’t fit, so he had to find ways around that. For Pargmann, the hardest part was the time management.

“I am a horribly disorganized person,”

Pargmann said. “Never have been very good at it. So having to fill in time slots and actu-ally figure in man-hours and what that means, and plan out and use my time efficiently was incredibly hard. I failed a lot. I really did. There were times when I worked for three or four hours and got nothing done. But in the end, it taught me to use [time] better.”

From this project, both boys gained skills that can be applied to future projects.

“It feels really good to accomplish it be-cause the number of hours that was worked was somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 hours,” Sandoz said, “so it was pretty satisfy-ing to see it all done.”

1. Volunteers place a fountain in the memorial garden.2. Volunteers put rocks with the names of the dogs around the foun-tain. 3. Pargmann discusses and shows his plans to several overseers.4. Volunteers clear an area for the garden and add mulch. Photos provided by Benjamin Parg-mann.

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Assistant Principal James Wilson won the H.L. Gaines Human Relations Award on Feb. 22 for his participation in educa-tion in the L.A. Unified School District and the AISD.

“It was a good feeling knowing that I have worked hard,” Wilson said. “Some of the things I’ve wanted to accomplish I have, and so it’s proud to think that someone appreciates what you do.”

The award was presented at the 32nd annual African American Heritage Awards Ceremony, which took place to celebrate academic achievement in middle and high school students, and to award teachers with outstanding achievement.

“We have contributors in every field,” Wilson said. “We have African Ameri-cans that have contributed to science, math, culture, music, you name any area,

you’ll find a lot of Black History.” America isn’t the only place that cel-

ebrates Black History Month, but it cele-brates more than other countries around the world. A lot of schools only get to teach Black History during the month of February instead of incorporating it into history lessons.

“Integrated history is the best way to go, there’s not doubt about that, so just to focus on one particular month for one particular race and forget about it, that’s not the way it should be,” Wilson said. “In fact, it should be incorporated into history books so we should learn about it not only in the month of February but throughout the year.”

Social studies teacher Greg Anderson said although gains have been made, the country still has a way to go.

“It’s everybody’s history,” Anderson said. “You can judge a society on how they treat the minority population.”

Many schools do incorporate famous

MEENA ANDERSONstaff reporter

Celebrating Black History Month

African American Heritage Award

winners 9th: Meena Anderson, Destin Watson

10th: Solana Oliver, Darian Fisher

11th: Ariana Freitag, Michael Watson

12th: Brianna Williams, Christopher Oliver

Assistant principal, students honored during American Heritage Ceremony

events happening in black history during February, like the Memphis Sanitation Strike or Nelson Mandela’s release from prison.

“Every day this month, every day at the beginning of my class, I pick five or six historical events that happened on that day in the past,” Anderson said.

Black youth make up 16 percent of public school students and 9 percent of private school students in grades K–12 in America, but they account for 35 per-cent of in-school suspensions, 46 per-cent of those who experience multiple out-of-school suspensions, and 39 per-cent of those who are expelled. Protests have been led all across America and the world to advocate racial justice in educa-tion, work and the daily lives of citizens.

“When society is able to recognize the contribution of each person, regardless of skin color, then I think we wouldn’t need to single out an ethnic race to talk about history,” Wilson said. “I think the contributions of anybody now is going to depend on their own merit, not per-haps what their forefathers did but what they can do.”

1. Captain Norman Scales, grandfather of a McCallum senior and 1st black

Texan fighter pilot, stands in front of a display for Black History Month.

2. Senior Grace Scales does the “Black History Highlight”

on the morning announce-ments. 3. Senior Brianna

Williams accepts her African American

Heritage Award.4. UT Professor

Moore, speaks to students to

inspire them to think critically

about Black History on Feb. 4.

5. Assistant Principal James Wilson and Dr.

Charles Akins. Photos used with permission

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news in brief

2 students named National Merit Scholar finalists

PALS hosts International Women’s Day event

PALS did a project honoring Inter-national Women’s Day for one of their spring projects. They wanted to increase awareness of some of the struggles wom-en around the world face.

“The United Nations decided to bring attention to the fact that women in many countries struggle for with their rights,” PALS sponsor Richard Cowles said,“ whether it’s the right to vote, fair pay, other issues that they have. So they cre-ated International Women’s Day to try to create awareness, especially in Third World countries, of the plight that wom-en have in those countries.”

This is the first year PALs decided to do this project. Cowles said he got the in-spiration from this project from when he volunteered in the Peace Corps.

“At the beginning of the year, we had a talk about different project ideas, and one of the ones I suggested was Inter-national Women’s Day,” Cowles said. “When I was in Chad in the Peace Corps, International Women’s Day was one of the things the Peace Corps was involved in to try and participate the local com-munity, bring awareness, all that sort of stuff. So I suggested it, and they thought it was a cool idea, so we just kind of ran with it. It’s one of our smaller projects, so we just kind of did announcements and [made] posters, we did the cool T-shirts, all that sort of stuff. It’s just an awareness thing.”

The goal of this event was to bring awareness of the struggles women in America and other parts of the world go through. Cowles said he hoped some students learned more about the issue and “maybe looked it up online.”

“So it was just to raise awareness that if we’re going to best succeed, everyone

needs to be on equal footing,” Cowles said. “So the goal of that is just to raise awareness that, we struggle in the U.S., we certainly have a better situation than some countries, we struggle with equal pay and those things, but in other coun-tries it’s significant struggles. Just trying to be aware of that I think makes a big difference.”

Cowles said PALS doesn’t know if they will continue this project as a tradi-tion but if they do, they may change it.

“I think it was a great first effort,” Cowles said. “Again, I think if we do it again, I hope we improve on it. Each proj-ect we’ve done, we’ve kind of tweaked and improved each year, so hopefully that gets better and better.”

Cowles said he likes to give each group of PALS options for their projects. He said in the future, he’d like to high-light more of the international students at McCallum.

“I think personal stories have more impact than kind of just talking glob-ally,” Cowles said. “I know we have some kids from Africa, some kids from the Middle East, so I think it’d be kind of neat, if they’re willing to have their per-sonal stories to raise awareness.”

Seniors Ben Dickerson and Jacob Rob-erts-Miller were named National Merit Scholar finalists.

“We took the PSAT junior year and then sometime last semester, probably around September, we were told we were semi-finalists,” Roberts-Miller said. “We had to send in an essay and I think a transcript or two by January or some long ago date, and then we got a letter in February that said we were finalists.”

Dickerson and Roberts-Miller both said that being named a finalist was exciting.

“It was pretty exciting because I knew I could get a fair number of scholarships

MARA VANDEGRIFTnews reporter

Band students continue to state Solo and Ensemble competition

Grammys Foundation awards McCallumSignature School grant

from pretty much all of the universities that I applied to, and making college easier is always a plus,” Roberts-Miller said. “It got especially exciting when Mr. Garrison pluncked down a large crate of candy in front of Ben and I and told us to take as much as we wanted.”

While Dickerson is still waiting to hear back from schools, he’s hoping that being a finalist has a positive effect on admissions.

“I’m hopeful that it’ll make some dif-ference, but I’m not gonna hear back for another month-and-a-half anyways,” Dickerson said. “It’s all very much up in the air.”

Dickerson said he was surprised when he found out he found out he was a finalist and it was a reassurance.

“It was nice to see, and it wasn’t some-thing that took long-term applied work, but it was something that I was happy about,” Dickerson said. “It was a con-firmation of some hard work and some blind luck; it’s somewhere between.”

Band students competed in the UIL sponsored Solo and Ensemble competi-tion Feb. 21. A total of 83 musicians ad-vanced to the state competition.

“Your private lesson teacher and you pick a solo and you learn it,” junior Han-nah McChesney said. “When you go to the first round, you don’t have to memo-rize it, but if you do, you can go to state Solo and Ensemble if you get a one. If you get a one and you don’t memorize it, it’s still good. You just can’t go to the next round.”

At Solo and Ensemble, students don’t compete against each other as much as in other competitions, junior Hugh Pau-wels said.

“[At] state for Solo and Ensemble, you’re awarded for your effort as op-posed to going against other people,”

Pauwels said. “It’s a lot more. You’re not competing against other people in UIL Solo and Ensemble, but you are in TMEA in order to get to a certain place. Although there is a little in Solo and En-semble, it’s not nearly as competitive as TMEA.”

If a student scores a one on a memo-rized piece, they will be awarded a med-al, McChesney said.

“There is nothing that really happens; it’s just an honor,” McChesney said.

The main competition at state is the “Outstanding Soloist Award.” This is awarded to the musician who “goes above and beyond the call of duty,” Pau-wels said.

“The judges are in certain rooms, and so any woodwind will go to a woodwind judge and they’ll hear tons of people,” McChesney said. “They’ll pick the one person they like the best out of every-one that they heard, and that person gets ‘Outstanding Soloist Award.’ That’s like a really big deal if you get that because out of everyone that judge heard, they liked you [the best].”

The state Solo and Ensemble competi-tion will take place May 29 and 30.

McCallum was named The Grammy Foundation Signature School of the year on March 10 and was awarded a grant of $5,000.

Thirteen schools were given grants for excellence in music education rang-ing from $2,500-$5,500. McCallum was the best of the gold recipients and named National Grammy Signature School. The remaining two gold recipients were awarded $3,500. Two Signature Schools were awarded $2,500. Eight schools won the Enterprise Award for economically under-served schools and were awarded grants of $5,500. The grants all go to ben-efitting each school’s music program.

For a complete list of winners, visit grammyintheschools.com.

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bottling up their feelings and trying to avoid them; acting out or becoming angry with friends, family or themselves (a method that is more common in boys with anxiety); or acting in (self-harm, criticiz-ing yourself, not eating, a method that is more com-monly found in girls with anxiety). However, not all students respond to anxiety in these three ways.

Doe has been dealing with anxiety since she was a toddler. As her anxiety grew worse and be-came more conflicting with her everyday life, she began seeking professional assistance.

“A lot of times I try to just listen to my breath-ing,” Doe said. “It sounds dumb, but it sort of puts you in perspective and brings you back down to earth and you realize what’s real. Because a lot of times, although anxiety is a real feeling, you’re usually not feeling something that is real. You’re like making it up in your head. So while the feel-ing is really real to you, it’s important to remember that it’s not actually reality, and that helps.”

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Piling on the PressureAn inside look into how anxiety affects teenagers

As junior Jane Doe* experienced the increase in anxiety as she progressed from elementary to middle school and then from middle school to high school, she noticed anxiety attacks weren’t only more intense, but they were much easier to trigger.

“I didn’t like to go to restaurants because that would stress me out,” Doe said. “Going out of town, riding on airplanes, even stuff like going to my friend’s house, just like hanging out [really freaked me out]. If there wasn’t a set plan and I didn’t know the friend or the family really well, I would just be nervous because I would have no-where else to go then.”

Anxiety is a problem all humans deal with to some extent or another, counselor Kate Carmi-chael said. Students often experience anxiety due to the stresses of dealing with school, social lives and growing up, Carmichael said.

“Some students find unhealthy ways of man-aging their anxiety,” Carmichael said. “They do things such as hyper-fixating on romantic rela-tionships, turning to drugs or alcohol, or using self-harm as a way of cop-ing. Learning healthy ways to handle anxiety is a life-long journey as we live in a culture that promotes med-ication or other u n h e a l t h y methods to relieve these symptoms.”

According to Carmichael, the three main ways students respond to hav-ing anxiety is either by

Although many people confuse stress with anxiety, they don’t understand that anxiety is an awful thing if you actually have it, Doe said. Panic attacks can either cause someone to feel very sick or they can cause someone to become completely oblivious to the world around them.

For Doe, once a panic attack has started, her body shuts down, making it nearly impossible to absorb information at school.

“Anxiety attacks usually start with an emotion-al trigger,” Carmichael said. “Triggers can include everything from trauma to being rejected, bullied, or low feelings of self-worth. You already feel anx-ious and something stresses out our emotional sys-tems which causes your body to have a reaction. Breathing becomes difficult, your heart will begin to race, and as you experience these scary reactions you will begin to become more anxious, which causes an anxiety attack. Your vision becomes blurry and people often collapse or pass out.”

While anxiety has caused Doe to remove herself from new, possibly triggering situations, she said exposing herself to new experiences has helped with overcoming anxiety.

“Anxiety has made a lot of social things a lot harder for me than other people,” Doe said. “It’s

made the stress around aca-demics a lot harder. But

its also taught me a lot about overcoming things. Now I pretty much have it under control and I can function normally like everybody else, so it’s kind of shown me how much I can get over. Basically if I want to do some-thing, I can make it happen because I know I can. Like if

I can overcome that, I can do almost anything.”

HANNAH ILANstaff reporter

*Name changed for privacy.Photo illustration by Hannah Ilan.

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Group of musical theater students compete at Disney World, Florida

Classical guitar performs at festival, goes to Disneyland, California

SEREN VILLWOCKco-editor in chief

NATALIE MURPHYassistant editor

Students in the classical guitar program didn’t meet in the orchestra room Feb. 26 but instead at the airport. They traveled to Vanguard University at Long Beach, California for a performance in the second annual guitar festival. After prepping the music since November, the group was one of eight school ensembles that played at the festival.

“I think we blew some people away who haven’t heard us before,” senior Alex Lew said. “I sat next to some people from downtown L.A. and hung out with some college students from Vanguard. It was a really interesting experience.”

Though traveling and playing at the festival took a lot of energy, Lew said the performance went smoothly.

“The guitar festival itself was kind of difficult just because it was pretty long and enduring,” Lew said. “We had to sit there for a good three hours while other people were performing, but it was really fun. Everyone put in the best they can. We’re all really close, and traveling just made us even closer.”

Even though the group was missing some of its members, the performance was a success, junior Marcela Bertadillo said.

“The hardest part was that we were all prepped for going, and then some people weren’t eligible to perform,” she said. “That kind of threw us all off, but it ended up going really well.”

Off the stage, Bertadillo said the festival allowed the group to meet people from the different ensembles.

“Each school got to perform their sets, and at the end we all came together and performed one big piece,” she said. “During lunchtime, there was talking amongst people in the audience. We got to talk to each other between sections.”

The ensembles came from middle schools, high schools and colleges, mostly from California around L.A.

“They were all really good,” senior Sarah Pringle said. “The colleges were really impressive. They had quartets and small groups, too.”

After the performance on Friday, the group spent the weekend around the city and at Disneyland.

“I liked the beach the most,” Pringle said. “We had three different vans that we drove to each place. It was very fun.”

Traveling together brought the group even closer together, Lew said.

“It was kind of weird at first because we didn’t know what we were going to do together for five days,” Bertadillo said. “But then once we got there, it was fun. We did a campus tour of Vanguard the first day and we went to the beach. The second day was the all-day performance, and the third day we went to Disneyland. We pretty much became family.”

When junior Kendrick Knight took a trip to Disney World, it wasn’t to ride the roller coasters. It was to watch the faces of the kids in his Mosaic Children’s Theater group as they went up on stage to accept their awards and take their picture with Mickey Mouse.

“Just watching their faces, knowing that they can feel so incredible about themselves, is so inspiring to me,” Knight said. “If I touched these kids lives, if I made an impact on them, that’s the biggest reward.”

Knight helps lead the children in Mosaic Children’s Theater, his mom’s company in South Austin that caters to kids who may not be able to afford other theater companies. The group packed wigs and costume pieces in their carry-on bags and traveled to Florida Feb. 18 to participate in a Disney World musical theater competition. Performing alongside the elementary and middle school actors

were some McCallum students, including Knight, freshman Tristan Tierney, junior JR Scott and senior Quinlyn Tesar.

The groups competing came from all over the country. The diversity of performances was inspiring, Scott said.

“Being there and competing with kids from across the nation

was pretty cool,” Scott said. “It opened my eyes. I really

liked the experience of it.”The group performed two shows,

“Hairspray” and “A Taste of Broadway,” which Knight choreographed and directed. They were judged for individual and group awards and received an “excellent” rating.

“I thought it was really good for our first competition and for the diversity of the kids we had,” Knight said. “We got a standing ovation for both our shows. We took away a lot of individual awards. I personally got three, one for directing, one for acting, and one for singing. We may have not gotten the highest for our group rating, but what we lost in group score we made up in individual score. The greatest thing about the feedback that they gave us was that it was nitpicky. It was all little things. I was super-proud of them and all the work they put in.”

Knight said the day of the performance was a bonding experience as both friends and teammates.

As a role model for the younger kids, Knight said the most rewarding part of the trip was making a difference in their lives.

“These kids bring a newness and energy that you just don’t get from other kinds of theater,” he said. “It’s one thing to win individual awards, but I honestly care more about impacting these kids’ lives. If they will do more theater, become more comfortable in their skin, sing and dance more, and I pushed them in that direction, that’s inspiring. That’s why I think children’s theater is so important for kids growing up.”

feature09march 201513

Knights in the Magic Kingdom

photo essay10 march 201513

1. Sam Wheat (played by Jacob Roberts-Miller) and Molly Jensen (played by Ellie Zambarano) perform their final duet, “The Love Inside.”

2. Molly sings in the rain.

3. Sam is tormented as his girlfriend Molly and friend Carl (played by Max Corney) start to fall for each other.

4. Oda Mae Brown (played by Amani Alexander) listens to the many ghosts that want to communicate with the living.

Photos by Aiden Foster.

Three Little Words...‘Ghost the Musical’

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feature11march 201513

The Shield: When did you start dancing?Charlotte McKinley: When I was 4 years old.

TS: What are some of your best and your worst times when dancing?CM: My best times dancing… Every time I place in my solo, then I feel really good, or when I get a scholarship at conventions. The worst part would be after conventions. I feel like I’m not worth anything, like, “What am I doing with my life?” But you keep going. Everybody is so good, and you’re surrounded by the best of the best. You’re competing and then you’re like, “Wow, what am I doing?” You realize every single one of your flaws, but you just have to keep going. That’s the worst part. It’s such a tough world, but you just have to have thick skin. It teaches me to be very humble in life.

TS: What is the appeal of New York and LA?CM: New York and LA are the two places where opportunity lies for the entertainment world, and I need to get out of Texas and expand my world. Also, when I traveled to New York, I felt the energy is exactly how I was: very busy and energetic and weird. I love the atmosphere of New York.

TS: What is your schedule like?CM: I go to school Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then I have dance from 5:30 to 9:30, except Thursday and Friday. Saturday I have rehearsal from 9 to 5 at night. I don’t have time to do homework, so I have to do it during class or stay up. It takes me 30 minutes to get to my dance, so

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I have to leave here from school and then I get home at 10 every day. So I either stay up really late then go to bed, or I just do it in class; I used to have to time manage. It’s just hard to keep up with school and your craft.

TS: With such a busy schedule, have you ever had doubts about dancing?CM: I’ve never had doubts about dancing because I’ve never had any doubts about things that I love to do. But I’ve had doubts such as asking myself, “Am I really going to make it in this world?” I ask that question almost every day. But you keep going because we all have a purpose in this world, and I believe I’m on the right path.

TS: How will being in New York/LA change you as a dancer?CM: New York/LA will change me as a dancer and performer because I will be working with people (in my college) who are currently working in the industry, and it will provide a lot of opportunities to make this a career where I can pay my bills. Although the people I work with now have worked in the industry, the people in New York/LA are working and know how to make it currently, which is important.

TS: What did you have to sacrifice to continue dancing? CM: I had to quit volleyball because they switched the period to the end of the day, so I can’t do volleyball at the same time. I used to do volleyball in the mornings and then dance in the evenings. But I had

to quit volleyball and then take less AP classes because I cannot keep up with the homework, and because I’m a slower learner in general. And I sacrifice going out with friends, parties, spending time with family. Every time you see me I’m either spending time with my friends or stuff because I want to get my childhood taken care of because I know it’s going to be taken away.

TS: Are you interested in singing and acting as well? CM: Yes. I would love to be on Broadway one day. My goal right now is to start commercial, so you do music videos and award shows, things like that. Then as I get older, Broadway. That’s why I’m graduating in LA, because LA is more commercial.

TS: What ultimately is your dream job?CM: My dream job/jobs are literally not possible. One, to dance for Michael Jackson and two, to be Beyoncé. But since those can’t happen, it would be to be on Broadway or to be in a music video, just something related to a musician who is changing the world with their music. I’d like to become a part of something bigger than myself.

TS: What is it like when you’re performing? CM: People tell me this all the time: it’s like I’m a completely different person. I don’t know why. I guess I’m so silly during school, but whenever I’m on stage, it’s serious business. It feels like, this is weird, but it feels like I’m connected to the universe. I just connect with music in a different way. It’s

On pointeAIDEN FOSTERstaff reporter

Senior Charlotte McKinley plans to attend the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York

more important to be connected with your soul. It’s so serious, but that’s what I feel. Everyone has a purpose, and that’s mine.

TS: When did you know that dance was your purpose in life? CM: It’s not that dance is my purpose in life; it’s to be happy. I realized that dancing/ entertaining people was what I’m most comfortable doing when my dad made me take two years off of dance to go to Kealing. It was the worst two years ever. I played every sport, and I was good at them, but it wasn’t what I was most happy doing. And school was so boring. I knew that I needed something more. About the beginning of junior year I knew that I needed to entertain. When I begin to feel like I’m not worth anything or feel like giving up, I always think, “You’ve made it this far. You’re already in pain. Might as well get a reward from it.” I know that I will not live a satisfying life with a 9-5 job and have a “normal” life that everyone surrounding me will have. The purpose of life is a life of purpose.

TS: Anything you want to add?CM: I just like the dance world because, like on the Grammys, there was like five or six people that I had met and that I’ve taken classes from, and they were on the Grammys. It really connects you with the industry, and it’s really easy to make connections. I’m just going for my dream. I don’t know how the outcome will be, so it’s just a chance because it’s the entertainment world.

Photo illustration by Aiden Foster.

feature12 march 201513

Project Lunch, led by building manager Mary Noack, is a group that does crafts during lunch to ben-efit the Austin community. The projects include making blankets for the homeless and for Dell Children’s Cen-ter.

“I need service hours,” junior Thea Jackman said. “I love to sew, so I figured it would be both. My grandma is in a nursing home right now, so I figured it would help people that are impor-tant to me even if they are not my grandma.”

Even though the group has only helped Dell Chil-dren’s Center and homeless shelters so far, Noack hopes to expand to other organiza-tions.

“As we find a need for something, that’s who we would do it for,” Noack said. “Even if we had students here at school who are in

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need of something, we would do it for them.”

Each week the club grows. With Principal Mike Garrison al-lowing Noack to buy supplies for the group and generous dona-tions from parents, Project Lunch has supplies to make a variety of crafts. Students can now make scrap blankets out of shirts with the sewing machine they have. One week the group made over 30 cards to send to the Dell Chil-dren’s Center.

“I feel like it’s a good deed it makes me feel fulfilled,” Jackman said.

Counselor Mindy Croom came up with the idea for Project Lunch but passed it on to Noack because she is able to teach students how to knit, crochet, scrapbook and quilt.

“I have enjoyed it so much,” Noack said. “It’s a positive way for me to work with students and know the students. For me, it’s been very valuable and reward-ing because I’m showing people how to do things that they may not have learned how to do other-wise.”

MAYA COPLINphoto editor

Lunch is servedStudents volunteer their time by doing community service projects

1. Building manager Mary Noack cuts fabric for students to sew into a quilt.2. Junior June Bendich sews squares that will turn into a quilt. 3. Junior Sinclaire Jones works to create crafts that will be donated to the Dell Children’s Hospital. Photos by Maya Coplin.

1

2

3

“For me, it’s been very valuable and reward-ing because I’m showing people how to do things that they may not have learned how to do other-wise.”-Mary Noack, building manager

feature13march 201513

You hear them every morning, often referred to as “the voices in the ceiling”.

“It’s pretty satisfying to be the voice in the ceiling that everyone hears,” senior Kate Pargaman said. “Sometimes it’s a huge responsibility, but it’s always a privilege.”

“I am an announcer because I am the voice of McCallum.” Brown said.

As 2015 class officers, Pargaman and seniors Mary Stites and Harrison Brown get to give the announcements over the intercom every morning.

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‘Good morning, McCallum’Senior class officers give announcements along with bad joke of the day

“Announcing is fun because you’re in the know about everything,” Pargaman said. “You learn things about McCallum that you didn’t even know existed. It’s sort of like an all-inclusive behind the scenes.”

Before students hear “Good-morning, McCallum” at about 10:37 in the morning every day, the announcers must prepare.

“Before the announcements, one of the announcers will go get the new announcements, then we sort out all the old ones and make any corrections that we need,” Pargaman said. “Then we divide them up and find a bad joke of the day—that’s usually the hardest job. We

are always open for suggestions. Because I usually greet the school, I usually clear my voice as well.”

It may seem like being a morning announcer is a pretty serious job, but as Pargaman explains, they sometimes get silly.

“There is no hiding the fact that we sometimes get a little tickled when we are announcing,” Pargaman said. “Sometimes we have to read the silliest things or even different languages. Sometimes we will accidently read one twice or mispronounce something. We aren’t perfect, but at least we get a good laugh at our mistakes.”

JULIA ROBERTSONstaff reporter

“An interesting expierce I have had is when people mess up and say the wrong thing,” Brown said. “But I never mess up because I dont make mistakes.”

Pargaman said she has definitely made mistakes along the way in delivering announcements, but they always laugh off the worst mistakes they make.

“As I’m sure the school knows, we make quite a few mistakes. The worst is when you have read a list of people’s names. I personally would like to apologize to all the people whose names I mess up on a daily basis,” Pargaman said. “It can be hard on the spot. But there’s always tomorrow.”

Mary Stites Harrison Brown Kate Pargaman

feature14

New classic 10th annual fashion showbenefits Humane Society

MAYA COPLINphoto editor

After preparing since May, McCallum presented its 10th annual Benefit Fashion Show March 7. Seniors Megan Jones and Caitlin Sconce directed the 2015 show and named it Avant Garde, a French phrase used to capture the innovative essence of the show.

Senior Calla Bordie won first place for the third year in a row, senior Owen Summers won second and freshman Io Hickman won third. Marielle Brandon won best in show model.

Directors, interns, designers and models worked together to create the show. Junior Ramona Beattie not only designed a line for the show but also modeled other designer’s lines.

“As a designer, you have to come up with a creative focus for your collection,” Beattie said. “As a model, it’s different. You have to serve the purpose of being in the character going with the concept of the designer. Then there are also a lot of things that you have to do that are uniform with everyone in the fashion show and every collection.”

Each designer picked a European design-er to use as an inspiration for their line. Junior designer Megan Darion chose Elie Saab, a de-signer from Lebanon known for his couture gowns. Darion was inspired by the beading and light fabrics he uses when creating her collection not only for the 2015 show but for previous shows.

“When I was in New York a few years back with my aunt,” Darion said, “we went to Saks Fifth Avenue. They have designer col-lections and they had some of his clothes in

Pierce Gray (10)

Pierce Gray (10)Ramona Beattie (11)

Nellie Johnson (10)

Nene Mbaya (12)

Grayson Liebes (12)

Photos by Maya Coplin and Aiden Foster.

there, and I was kind of just like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is the coolest thing ever.’”

Bordie closed Saturday’s show with her line inspired by Damir Doma, a Croatian designer based in Paris. Unlike in previous years, the process leading up to the 2015 show was more structured; designers had to have all their clothes done by a dead-line so they did not have to finish clothes the night before.

“In my past couple years,” Bor-die said before the show, “I haven’t been able to finish things as thor-oughly as I wanted them to be. I’ve had to cut some corners, but I’m hoping to make everything exactly like I want it to be this year.”

Senior Dominoe Jones showcased her final line, inspired by Stella McCartney, in the fashion show. Even though this was her final year to create clothes at McCallum, Jones said she wishes to continue designing clothes during college even if she does not major in design.

“I was pleased with how [the clothes] looked,” Jones said. “It was nice to get it out there and have it done. I guess this year I pushed myself to do more things. I did more pieces than I have ever done, and I did my first guys’ piece. I have had the same model for three years, so right before we walked on the runway she was like, ‘Domino, can we hold hands?’ and I was like, ‘Sure.’”

Pierce Gray (10)

march 2015

Ramona Beattie(11) Amelia Meinbresse (11) Olivia Hardick (11) Wyatt Martin (12)

Hayes McMillan (11)

Marielle Bardon (11)Hayes McMillan (11)

Charlotte McKinley (12)

Brittne Miller (10)

Sierra Moore (11)Kate Pargaman (12)

Cal

la B

ordi

e (1

2)

Owen Summers (12)Laney Hawn (10)

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Senior designer Calla Bordie won best designer at the Benefit Fashion Show for the third year in a row.

“It was really exciting,” Bordie said. “I was also still really excited for my friend winning second place, especially because it was his first time being a designer. I was re-ally proud of him. They [the directors] went really fast, so I just ran up and took the flow-ers.”

Bordie said she took inspiration from Damir Doma, a Parisian designer, by using simple pieces to create a complex look. She had four male models and four female mod-els whose outfits were all in black, grey or gold. Besides watching the different lines on the runway, the designers had dance parties backstage because the loudspeakers were in the dressing room.

“It was fun,” Bordie said, “but you al-ways see the mistakes when you see it walking when it really matters. It was one of those situations where all the designers found all the mistakes but no one else could notice them because everyone was having a fun time.”

Bordie plans to continue designing clothes in college even if it cannot be her ma-jor. Bordie said her favorite part of the night was helping her models get ready to go on the runway during the show.

“I liked helping my models get dressed,” Bordie said, “and helping straighten out everything when they put it on because it’s the closest you get to a model as a designer, and they are really excited to be on stage. And you are exited because it’s your stuff [clothes].”

Bordie wins Best Designer

1513

“In the middle of the journey of our life I found myself within a dark woods where the straight way was lost.” -Dante’s Inferno

static friction-when object is at rest, you must apply force greater than iner-tia and interference

feature16 march 201513

With the arts program at McCal-lum, department chair Carey West said the school is allowed to have a broader range of courses for the McCallum pop-ulation as a whole, which is a benefit to the overall campus.

“[We have] things that other schools might not be able to provide their stu-dents,” West said, “like we have jewelry

and drum classes and these [oth-er] specialized classes.”

In total, 38 fine arts electives are offered to students, regardless of whether they are a ma-

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Artistically mindedjor or not.

Senior dance major Lauren Lym said the school has fewer cliques because of its very relaxed and creative feeling.

“When you dance or when you per-form, you get to sort of share whatever your message is with somebody who maybe you wouldn’t otherwise talk to, and so really it just makes me happy,” Lym said.

Junior Ariana Freitag is also very involved in her strand, visual arts. Fre-itag agreed the fine arts curriculum in-creases the diversity of the school. She said people who would not normally take arts are exposed to them on a daily basis, which makes the school unique.

“Students who just came to McCal-lum who might not have originally [planned to be] in art can find a bug or a passion as well,” West said. “I think that by recruiting students to come here, we’re overall strengthening the face of McCallum by incorporat-ing the students from around Austin that have special talents and gifts.”

Junior John Carson is not

a visual arts

for themselves, whereas in other classes the student gets a strict set of guidelines and has to follow them exactly.

“Well, often [art projects] make you think more abstractly or think in a dif-ferent way,” Lym said. “Like when you’re doing math, it’s a lot of the same process, but when somebody says to you, ‘Okay, take this story and turn it into a dance,’ or ‘Take this monologue and read it as a character,’ you have to shift the way that you’re thinking about something.”

Freitag, who plans to pursue a career in STEAM (science, technology, engi-neering, arts and math), said incorpo-rating creative learning into her school day helps to blend the technical and ar-tistic elements of thinking together.

“I won’t be a fact monkey spitting out how to do different math problems,”

Freitag said. “I can use what I know in a practical way and an innova-

tive way to come up with new things, instead of just using

what’s already there.“West said the pro-

gram benefits every kid who takes an art class or a dance class or a theater class.

“The more in-volved a student is

in the fabric of their learning environ-

ment, the better they do both academically and

investing in their future and finding a passion for

lifelong learning and appre-ciation for arts or sports or what-

ever it is,” West said. “It’s that idea of having a place where it feels like home, where your people are. It’s providing that home base for kids to find an ‘in’ that makes them passionate about com-ing to school.”

HALEY HEGEFELDco-assistant editor

Academy allows students to develop creative skills, apply them to other classes

F=ma

paradox

Napoleonic Wars“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne

back ceaselessly into the past.” -The Great Gatsby

A mass suspended vertically from a

spring is oscillating at 1.1 Hz. Find the

period of oscillation.x=Pert projectile motion

1492

noune=

mc2 1861-1865

6.02x1023

modernism

potential energy+kinetic energy=mechanical energy

“We the people...”

major, but he is involved with the pho-tography program at the school.

“[Photography is] a hobby that I re-ally enjoy,” Carson said. “It’s fun and engaging for me, and also I’ve gotten better at it and learned a lot of things about it.”

Lym said being a part of an arts class creates a more well-rounded student be-cause they make students think outside of the box.

“I think in our society, with a lot of industry jobs, a lot of people forget that you need to be innovative to really get somewhere or to be the next big thing,” Freitag said. “You need to have innova-tion, so I think working with a creative medium allows for people to develop themselves and in turn, become more innovative in the future.”

In arts, the guidelines for projects are broad, Freitag said. It might just be a medium the student has to work with or a theme. Thus, the student has to brainstorm ideas Photo illustration by Haley Hegefeld.

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feature17march 201513

Junior Charlie Beck said the first day he took Adderall, he felt like his mind was going 100 miles per second.

“That feeling lasted for close to 12 hours,” Beck [who has a prescription] said.

Adderall and other drugs similar to it are the fourth most used drugs in the United States among high-school-aged kids, only behind only marijua-na, amphetamines and synthetic mari-juana. While most drugs are used to create a certain high or distort reality, Adderall enhances a person’s ability to focus and often gives them an ad-vantage over students who don’t use it or students who need it because of their disorder. Adderall is a combina-tion of amphetamine and dextroam-phetamine and is used to treat atten-tion deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Beck said there is a common mis-conception about Adderall and other drugs like it.

“All it does is make me really fo-cused, “ Beck said. “There’s no kind of rush or sensation you get. It’s not like taking a drug necessarily, and since I am ADD, it doesn’t really affect me. It just helps level me out, and I stay fo-cused. I really hate the fact that people use it illegally. It’s almost like using steroids in sports if you don’t actually need it because it gives you an unfair advantage.”

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While Adderall is commonly used illegally to help with school and other production, it also has ways it can be used recreationally. With it being so easy to attain and much cheaper than other amphetamines, it is often crushed and snorted. Snorting gives a person a similar high as he or she would get with cocaine or speed but at a much cheaper price.

Nurse Kathleen Volkaert said the drug has opposite affects on people who have ADHD

“For someone who is not ADD or ADHD, it would have sort of a stimulat-ing affect, but for a person who is ADD or ADHD, it has more of a calming affect,” Volkaert said. “Their minds instead of going subject to subject, it should kind of narrow the focus.”

Volkaert said often medicines like Adderall are over-prescribed.

“I think sometimes in school settings, behavioral expectations are high. We expect students to sit still and sit on the dotted line, especially at the elementary level,” Volkaert said. “I think it definitely needs a diagnosis completely away from a school setting where a doctor could make that decision.”

Volkaert said she does see uses for the drug.

“There are some people who really can’t function or stay focused or are just too hyper,” Volkaert said, “but person-ally I think it is overused in our society.”

Beck said he has even had people try to purchase pills from him.

“I’ve had people come ask me to

give them Adderall before, and I’ve had them offer to pay me for my pills,“ Beck said. “To me that’s just really insulting because they’re just kind of mocking the fact that I struggle with ADD.”

Junior Luke Richter who has had a Vyvanse prescrption for close to a year said he does not use it every day, but only when he thinks it’s necessary.

“I use it a few times a week depend-ing on the workload I have in school,” junior Luke Richter (who has a prescrip-tion) said. “It varies. Sophomore year during the research paper, I used it a lot more than normal. While I was on it, I was so focused I didn’t have the ability to even daydream.”

Richter said at first he was over-whelmed by the effects.

“Even on the lowest dosage, at first it was really overwhelming,” Richter said. “The first day I took it around 8 in the morning, and it didn’t wear off to 11 at night.”

Richter said he believes people who use it without a prescription are cheat-ing.

“It gives the kids who don’t use it without a prescription an unfair ad-vantage,” Richter said. “It just boosts their abilities to an almost extreme lev-el while for people who need it, it just levels them out. I am also pretty sure there are kids out there that don’t re-ally need it that have a prescription for it, and I’ve also heard that some kids and their parents fake ADD symptoms just to get a prescription.”

BEN BROWNco-sports editor

Photo By Ben Brown

Attentive addiction Students find Adderall prescriptions beneficial in the classroom, but can be detrimental outside of it

feature18 march 201513

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Security officer Georgia Pina will travel to Alaska over the break. On the trip she will go ice fishing, fly over Mount McKinley, and go on sled dog tours and nature hikes.

“I can’t wait to see all the animals,” Pina said. “I want to see the whales, the polar bears, the moose, the little dogs (foxes) and the bears.”

Pina said she is “super-nervous” about the flight over Mount McKinley. The mountain is 20,322 feet tall, so the flight will take about two hours from the time of take off to when they land.

“The flying part is what makes me ner-vous,” Pina said. “The plane is so small and my family is going to be in it, so it may fall out of the air. It is going to be beautiful seeing the mountain in person and up close.”

Special education teacher Margaret Smith and art teacher Carey West will go to the Basque Region with a group of art majors over spring break. They will travel to Paris, Bilbao and Madrid.

Freshmen Jack Switzer will go to Arkan-sas over spring break.

“The one thing I’m most excited for is the whitewater rafting,” Switzer said. “I’ve been before and loved it. My favorite part was when the water would splash up into the

Sophomore Luna Triviano will go to Park City, Utah, for spring break. She plans to ski, hike, and bird watch.

“When I go skiing, it will be my first time,” Triviano said. “I really don’t want to fall on my face and embarrass myself.”

Triviano said bird watching is one of her favorite things to do. In the summer she spends hours in Zilker Park looking for birds such as the painted bunting (a small multi-colored bird) and the ruby-throated hum-mingbird.

“I’m definitely excited for the bird watch-ing,” Triviano said. “The bird I hope to see is a rose-breasted grosbeak.”

“We will be traveling up and down the coast between France and Spain,” Smith said. “We’re going to all the big museums that we can possibly go to.”

The sites the group plan to see include the River Seine, Notre Dame, the Guggen-heim and the Louvre.

“I’m really excited to go and get to know the group of students better,” Smith said. “I went on a trip like this when I was 16. It’s been 20 years since I’ve been. I’m excited to experience it from an adult perspective.”

They leave tomorrow at 10:30 and get back March 22 at 9:30 p.m. On the flight back, they fly from Madrid to Amsterdam, then from Amsterdam to New York. There will be a four-hour delay in New York before

Teachers, students plan to travel in and out of country over spring break

On the road againPark City, Utah

Alaska

Arkansas

raft.”Switzer said he’s a little worried about the

camping that is planned for the trip. He and his family will tent camp in Ozark National Park.

“I love camping, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve never been to this area, so I’m not too fa-miliar with it,” Switzer said. “ I hope to see some cool wildlife, like a bear or something.”

Europe

they get on the plane. “The only thing I’m nervous about is how

tired I’m going to be when we get back,” Smith said. “I’m going to be absolutely ex-hausted, but it’s going to be worth it.”

Luna Triviano

Georgia Pina

Margaret Sm

ith

Jack

Switz

er

feature19march 201513

The advantages young adults gain by turning 18 signify a rite of passage: voting, buying lottery tickets…and getting tattooed

Senior Jessica Meyer said she was working off adrenaline before her first tattoo appointment.

“I was really anxious and excited but also terrified because it’s always going to be there,” Meyer said. “Afterwards, it hurt like crazy, but it was worth it once I saw it because it’s just beautiful.”

Meyer said the procedure took about an hour of nonstop work and felt like a razor blade constantly going over her skin.

“ M e n t a l l y , you have to be ready to sit there and take pain for quite some time,”

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Meyer said. “Once it’s started, you don’t want to have to tap out.”

Senior Penny Stopper has tattoos but, although 18, has not been to a shop to get them done. Through a process called stick n’ poke, Stopper actually marks the art on herself.

“I’ve always wanted tattoos, I guess since middle school,” Stopper said. “I just think they look cool. I know some more conservative people say, ‘Oh, it’s gonna look gross when you get old,’ but I dunno. I think it’s so cool to have art on your body.”

Stick n’ poke tattoos are the result of taking a sterilized and thread-

wrapped needle, dipping it into ink and poking

yourself to deposit the ink into your skin. Stopper, instead of using a sewing

needle, uses tattoo needles so they hold more ink.

“I always wipe down with alcohol, and the tattoo needles come with sterile

packaging, so I know that it’s safe,” Stopper

said. “I haven’t gotten any infections, and the people

I’ve given stick n’ pokes haven’t

gotten any infections.”

M e y e r , w h o s e tattoo is a flower-w r a p p e d arrow, said

hers is backed with personal

meaning. “I’m a Sagittarius,” Meyer said. “I

have very strong beliefs and opinions. The tattoo has flowers on it, which means that I can be this nice and hopefully beautiful person, but in the long run it’s still a bow and arrow, and it still causes damage.”

Stopper’s tattoos also display personal value to her.

“They all kinda [have meaning],” Stopper said. “The one on my left ankle is the Sagittarius arrow. [The one on my leg] are hands because I’m an artist, so hands made sense to me. I have a slice of pizza on my left knee. I did it with a friend that I met over the summer. I only knew him for a month, but we became really good friends so we were like, ‘Let’s just do a stick n’ poke!’ We both put a little slice of pizza on our left knee. Then on my arm I have ATX512. When I came back from Baltimore over the summer, I realized how much I really missed Austin, so I wanted that on me.”

Meyer added people should definitely think about their tattoo for a long time before they get them because they will be a permanent part of them for the rest of their lives.

“Even if you do try to get the laser treatment off, it’s going to leave a scar, which is just as bad, in my opinion,” Meyer said. “It should really represent who you are because it is something people will see and judge you by. But if you love it enough, then go for it.”

Fresh inkStudents talk about tattoo experiencesAIDEN FOSTERstaff reporter

Clockwise from left: Jessica Meyer’s Sagittarius arrow. Tabitha Copeland’s tattoo, inspired by Emily Dickinson. Penny Stopper’s Austin-based stick n’ poke.

The two photos above show two of Penny Stopper’s stick n’ poke tat-toos. Photos by Aiden Foster.

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sports20 march 201513

The Shield: How long have you been playing volleyball?Andrea Janss: I started playing club around eighth grade, but I started play-ing on little leagues in fifth grade. Just the idea of everyone playing it got me into it.

TS: How did you get injured the first time?AJ: Well, it wasn’t significant, but it was February. I couldn’t walk anymore because it hurt so bad. But I just got in-jured by playing volleyball. I’ve been injured three times, and it’s been about 10 months now that I’ve been injured. I think I got hurt mostly because of diving. I was starting every game and playing the whole time, so I just overused it. TS: How did you know you were injured the second time? AJ: Well, it’s a very sharp pain in my low-er back, and I had felt it previously. I knew the pain, and it just came back.

TS: How did you feel when you first got injured? AJ: Not as bad as the second time because I wasn’t as frustrated. The first time I was just like, “I’m go-ing to get back as fast as possible,” but it actually took me about four months to get back. The second time I was just really, really frustrated.

TS: What all have you missed because of your injuries?AJ: I missed the end of my club season fresh-man year and then I missed my whole soph-omore year of school volley-ball. You miss a lot of recruiting

opportunities because I want to play in college, so I missed a lot of that.

TS: Have you done anything while you’ve been out to get ready to come back to volleyball?AJ: Yeah, a lot of rehab. I go work out at Train for the Game in Westlake, and they’re really good at getting athletes back. Colt McCoy works out there. So I’m working hard to get stronger and get back in the game. I’m actually cleared right now. I’ve been cleared for about a

week.

TS: What were you think-ing when you got cleared? AJ: Just, “Stay healthy phys-ically and just keep playing

until college.” Being out of shape and playing again at

a high level is going to be the hardest part

about coming back.

TS: Do you have to do anything dif-ferent so you

don’t get re-injured?

AJ: Yeah, no diving and no center move-

ments. It’s something I just have to learn. TS: How did being out for 11 months affect your play-ing?

AJ: I mean, since I came back every-so-often, surprisingly

I’m not so rusty. Right now I’m not doing too bad. I just need to

get my vertical back. This season I’m just gonna take it slower, not go so intense in the beginning.

TS: Describe what it’s like when you watched your team play without you.AJ: I assistant coach whenever I’m out, so I just help my team out as much as I can, telling them what’s open, spots and stuff.

TS: What have you learned from your injuries?

AJ: I’ve learned a lot about my injury and rehab and physical therapy.

Andrea Janss- Volleyball

Sam Russell- BaseballThe Shield: How long have you been playing baseball?Sam Russell: Since I was about 5. I just kind of grew up around it. I had a lot of relatives who played, so it was kind of just the law of the land.

TS: How did you get injured?SR: I overthrew. I was playing year round, and I overthrew a couple days in particular. I took a lot of outfield throws. It just put a lot of stress on my elbow.

TS: What were you think-ing when you first got in-jured? SR: I wasn’t very optimistic. I was thinking this could be a career-ending injury because I know a lot of people who fully tear their UCL don’t ever come back.

TS: What have you missed be-cause of your in-jury? SR: Well, I took a lot of time off, not throwing, so I’m just kind of out of the loop and I haven’t been getting any bet-ter, so now I’m kind of relearning how to throw. I think even-tually this will help me out in the long run because it’s let-ting me get all of my mechanics on point so this doesn’t happen again. I’ve been out for about three months.

TS: Have you done any-thing while you were in-jured to keep up with baseball? SR: I’ve been doing a lot of exercise, so that’s helped me get into shape more than I would if I was just playing baseball. I got cleared to play po-sitions about a month ago, and then I just got cleared to pitch two days ago.

TS: What were you thinking when you got cleared? SR: I was happy but also a little bit cau-tious just so that nothing bad ever hap-pens again.

TS: What are you most excited for about coming back?SR: Winning the first round of the play-offs.

TS: Do you have to do anything differ-ent during the season to make sure

you don’t get re-injured?SR: I’ll probably have to do a lot more band work [stretching] just as a pre-caution.

TS: How are you gonna treat this sea-son differently?

SR: My ideal goal is to work as hard as I can.

TS: Describe what it was like for you when you were watching the team play with-out you. SR: Well, they never really

played any games without me, but I did really miss it. You know whenever you’re on the bench, there’s always some part of you that really wants to get back out there and play.

TS: Summarize your injury in one sentence. SR: That’s a tough one. Disap-pointing in a sense. I mean, I don’t know. Any injury is a major setback when you’re a pitcher.

TS: How has being injured made you appreciate baseball more? SR: It just helps me not take any-

thing for granted. Just make sure to play every inning like it’s my last.

TS: What was your physical therapy process like?SR: It was tough but rewarding. I had to do a lot of arm-specific ex-ercises like band work (stretching) and other arm stretches.

TS: Have you learned anything from your injury? SR: Yeah, mechanical-wise just keep ev-erything out front and stuff like that.

sports21march 201513

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Three seniors took part in the annual Austin Marathon on Feb. 15. The trio of Adam Freng, Alonso Fernandez and Thomas Magnuson had been preparing for months leading up to the big race.

Freng said he prepared for the race by run-ning five miles daily and incorporating one weekly long run that increased in distance in-crementally.

“I thought 18 was a really big year, so I wanted to do something really memorable,” Freng said. “I figured, what’s more memorable than your first marathon?”

Fernandez is a starting varsity soccer player, so he had to train uniquely since the marathon occurred during the middle of soccer season.

“I’ve been preparing since cross country season last year. I was running a lot then,” Fernandez said, “but since it was the middle of soccer season, I wasn’t able to be on a nor-mal training program because it was hard to work one in with games, but I was running on Town Lake whenever I could and I tried to eat healthy. I ran the marathon last year, so I knew it was also a lot of mental preparation to go along with the physical preparation. You have to be pumped and positive and make sure you don’t get hurt.”

Magnuson said he ran the marathon be-cause he wanted to push his body to its limit.

“It wasn’t an easy thing to accomplish, so I really wanted to push my body and my brain to the limit,” Magnuson said. “It was the hard-est and most painful thing I’ve ever done, yet it was the most fulfilling. All the pain was worth it because right when I crossed the finish line I felt invincible, but then two seconds later I could barely walk.”

Fernandez was on pace to beat the three-and- a- half hour goal he set after last year, but then cramps took effect.

“I started off really well. I was feeling it; I was pumped,” Fernandez said. “Around mile 18 I got a warning sign of a cramp, and on mile 20 the full cramp set in. I had to stop a little bit and stretch it out, but it just kept hitting. So I just had to tell my body to relax because

your body is supposed to hear everything your mind says. By the end of the race, it was both legs cramping, so I just had to say, ‘Relax, relax, relax,’ and I just had to tell myself, ‘Keep going. Don’t stop.’ If you are mentally strong, a lot of the time you can just push through that stuff. I was able to jog the last three miles, and I was just really happy to finish. It was actually a lot easier last year.”

Both Magnuson and Fernandez agreed they would do some things differently if they were to do it again.

“I made the huge mistake of training the week of the marathon, and that’s something you are not supposed to do because it made me sore for the actual marathon,“ Magnuson said. “The training actually hurt in the race because it made it much more difficult. I pulled some-thing the week of the marathon and wasn’t able to heal in time, so the race was very painful. It will be a while before I do my next one, but I will most likely do another one.”

Fernandez said he would change some things if he were to do it again.

“If I were to do it again, I would definite-ly set up a steadier training program where I could train better and more regularly, but with being in the middle of soccer season, I just couldn’t train perfectly,” Fernandez said.

Senior Alonso Fernedez keeps pace while running the Austin Marathon

Run

ning

on

emp

ty

Senior cross country members Adam Freng, Thomas Magnuson, Alonso Fernandez finish Austin Marathon

Freng, Magnuson and Fernandez smile at the finish line of the Austin Marathon. Pho-tos provided by Alonso Fernandez.

BEN BROWNco-sports editor

22 13

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Senior wrestling captain Juliana Ol-ivo placed second in state after taking first at district and second at regionals.

“I felt like I could’ve done better, but I was proud of myself,” Olivo said. “I’m the first one [Mc-Callum] ever had in the [state] champion-ship.”

Olivo, along with her senior co-captain Julyssa Boortz, have been wrestling with coach Ray Amaro and assistant coach Richard Sala-zar for three years.

“[Their] wrestling has improved immensely and [they’ve] also improved as peo-ple,” Salazar said.

Boortz said Amaro is very strict with the wrestlers.

“[Coach Amaro] is always on us for grades, for behaviors, being leaders in class,” Boortz said. “We cannot get caught doing anything or we will be kicked off.”

Captains are cho-sen by the team but are ultimately up to coach Amaro.

“I felt excited [when they voted me captain],” Olivo said. “I guess they look up to me and trust me to show them [what to do].”

Wrestling training includes strength training and being physically fit.

“This sport is not for wie-nies,” Boortz said. “It’s a lot of cardio and strength training.”

Bootz’s younger sister, sophomore Adriana Boortz, began wrestling be-cause of her sister and may take over as one of the captains when her sister and Olivo graduate.

“I started wrestling in my freshman year,” Adriana said. “My sister told me they needed a 95-pounder, and I was 97 pounds, so I did it.”

The wrestling team runs at least a mile before cardio and

strength practice every day.“I train every day

even if we don’t have prac-tice,” Olivo said. “I still run at

least three miles a day.”The wrestling drills usually consist

of 15-second, 30-second, 1-minute and 2-minute take downs to resemble an ac-tual match intensity level every day.

“You learn to love it,” Adriana said. “It’s a love-hate type of thing, like when you’re cutting weight, but when you win

it’s the best feeling ever.”

B o t h Julyssa and

Adriana said they ap-preciated these drills

when they both placed in their district competitions.

“[Wrestling] is a very independent

Top of the heapCaptain Juliana Olivo places second in state wrestling championship

sport,” Adriana said, “which is why a lot of people don’t do it.”

Although it’s an independent, one-on-one sport, the team trains together, and members help each other with train-ing and weight issues when they need it.

“We’re like a family in a team,” Olivo said. “We help each other and push

each other to be better wrestlers and people.”

Because the seniors are about to graduate, Amaro has been more ob-

servant and is starting to choose new cap-tain candidates for next year.

“[Coach Amaro] is choosing captains based off of behaviors, leadership and how they wrestle,” Adriana said. “Also how they

interact with the team and how they help run the team.”

The coaches push the team to

work together and encourage each other

to be the best. The coach-es also said they made the

right decision making Boortz and Olivo captains.

“I thought it was a great choice [to make Olivo and Julyssa captains],” Salazar said. “They both have different

characteristics they bring to the table, so I think they mesh well together as captains.”Both Julyssa and teammate Chris-

tian Alfaro said they believe wrestling should be given more recognition.

“If you see a wrestler, give them the respect they deserve,” Julyssa said. “They work their butts off doing what they love.”

Juliana Olivo continues her 24-2 season with this take down.Photo by Aiden Foster. Graphic by Emma Cunningham.

EMMA CUNNINGHAMstaff reporter

march 2015sports

sports23march 201513

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Looking upwardStudent shares experience coaching youth basketball

Making a shot makes a basketball player feel good about themselves, and it was also rewarding for the coach. In the case of David Ruwwe’s youth basketball team, scoring a point was a very exciting and rewarding feeling.

“We didn’t win a game all season, so it’s obviously good when we score,” Ru-wwe said. “This one game we were like, going off, we scored like eight points; that was our max. Every time they score you’re just like, ‘I helped. I helped do that. I helped make them better.’”

Ruwwe coaches for Upward Sports with his friend Mike Genovesi along with an adult leader named Pat; this is their first year. He said he joined to give back to the community and practice his leadership.

“I’ve learned that I need to be pa-tient,” Ruwwe said. “It’s kind of frus-trating because you’d expect then to do a lot better. In reality they’re god-awful, but they’re trying and that’s all that mat-ters. They’re having fun, so you have to realize that it’s [recreational] basketball. You’re not there to be a jerk. They’re there to have fun, not to be recruited to the USA basketball team. You have to re-alize that they’re having fun and you’re having fun with them.”

Ruwwe said that coaching is a bal-ance between being fun and strict.

“I’m just like, ‘David, you gotta chill out man. They’re having fun,’” Ruwwe said.” You have to be stern but you have to be nice when either reprimanding them or teaching them or trying to get their attention.”

Ruwwe said youth sports are very important to him, and he wanted to pro-mote the importance by being a teenage coach.

“When I was in youth sports, it was a great opportunity to make friends and create a whole new social scene,” Ruw-we said. “I didn’t know that at the time,

but I made a lot of new friends, and I connected with them and I stayed con-nected with them throughout the years. I think it’s important for youth sports to emphasize team work and commitment because it’ll set you up for other things and school and sports.”

Ruwwe said youth sports also teach-es kids that they have to be on time for things and work as a team in order to be successful.

“I always tried to emphasize that practice was at 6:30 every Monday night and games were at 11 on Saturdays [and to be] there 15 minutes early,” Ruwwe said. “That taught you that you needed to be on time for important things in your life. As a second and third grader, they’re pretty self-absorbed with the idea that, ‘I want to score. I want to have the ball.’ I tried to emphasize that there are open teammates. More often than not you could actually pass the ball to some-one who has a better chance at scoring; therefore you can win the game. Kids that age aren’t really focused on doing stuff for the team. They’re more focused on the individual.”

While Ruwwe tried to teach the kids through coaching, coaching also helped improve his leadership.

“I’ve also known that I was a good leader but whenever I’m the only coach there, I have to take charge and I have to make decisions by myself like what we’re gonna do today, what we’re gonna try to get better on,” Ruwwe said. “There is a mid-practice devotion so that’s kind of hard to lead sometimes.”

The devotion session is a short ses-sion during practices that helps the kids learn more about responsibility.

“It’s a set sheet of what we talk about,” Ruwwe said. “We get certain verses from the Bible and then we talk about that. It’s like five to ten minutes and then we choose initiative, responsi-bility, good traits to have and then we re-enforce them by telling stories about our own life.”

Ruwwe dislocated his knee and tore his MCL and can no longer play sports. He said coaching gives him an oppor-tunity to be involved in sports without having to risk further injury.

“Since they’re smaller kids and you’re practicing with them, it’s obviously not as intense,” Ruwwe said. “You don’t have that level of competition to play against. I can show them the skills they need to learn without going 100 percent, so it’s helpful in that sense. There’s not that risk involved of hurting myself if that makes any sense. Although I was injured, or I guess I still am, I feel like me being there as a teenager promotes the sport because it gives the kid something to look up to. Not just me but seeing an older person, someone not that much older than them, participating in the sport, enjoying the sport. I guess that just gives them a good reason to do it.”

Although he is injured, Ruwwe can still show the kids how to do each move thanks to his prior knowledge of bas-ketball and the fact that he plays for fun sometimes.

“Considering I played basketball [be-fore, and] I play basketball just for fun sometimes, I can physically do the dem-onstrations for them and show them how to do things,” Ruwwe said. “I would say I’m pretty good at basketball. I’m not a hoop-star, but I’m a hoop-moon-not-as-big as a star. Since I’m actually able to do it, I can play in the scrimmages with them. I can show them how to do stuff.”

In the end, Ruwwe said he wanted the kids to like him. There weren’t many times he could share things about him-self, but he wanted them to know him as a fun coach.

“It’s kind of like the good cop, bad cop situation,” Ruwwe said. “I want them to know me as the good cop and the one that’s trying to have fun. Although I have to be responsible and assertive, I always try to have fun during the practices and just mess around with them. So I want them to know me as being the fun guy who makes the practices fun.”

MARA VANDEGRIFTnews reporter

David Ruwwe

Assistant Head Coach

Team name: The Panthers

Year: 1st Year

Position: Point Guard

Favorite play: Layup

Pre-game pep talk: Do your best and have fun Favorite pre-game meal: Pirate’s Booty

Favorite pump up song: ‘Sandstorm’ by Darude

sports24 march. 201513

sports in brief

The varsity baseball team entered its second week of district play this week against Lanier after winning both games last week against Crockett.

“Our goal as a team is to win 28 games,” junior Jonah Smith said. “If we are able to do that, that would be great, but we need to make a run in playoffs. We are a really good team. We just need to make sure that we play our game ev-ery time we get on the field.”

According to Smith, the team needs to play with more confidence.

“I am looking forward to changing the tradition here at McCallum,” Smith said. “Recently we have been eliminated in the first round every year, but this year we are planning on going a few rounds deep in the playoffs so that we can really make a statement.”

The team’s next game is tonight against Lanier at Nelson.

On Feb. 4, National Signing day, seniors Jake Holmes, Eric Sandoz and Sabian Cannon signed to be athletes at the collegate level for schools in Texas.

Sandoz will attend Navarro College in Corsicana to pitch for the Bulldogs. During the school baseball season, Sandoz said he hopes to stay healthy in order to be on the field as much as possible.

“I picked Navarro because they are in the top five baseball junior colleges in the nation,”Sandoz said. “It is the best fit for me to carry on my baseball career after col-lege.”

Holmes signed to be a pitcher at Ranger College in Ranger, Texas, on a full schol-arship. Holmes signed with the first school that contacted him when he began his recruitment process.

“Picking a school was all about finding a place that was most suited for my needs,” Holmes said. “The most important part was finding a program that would make me the best student-athlete I could possibly be. They were really committed to building a relationship with me, and they had believed in me from the start of the entire recruit-ing process, so it felt right.”

Cannon received a full ride scholarship to play wide receiver for the Midwestern State Mustangs in Wichita Falls.

“I played wide receiver as a sophomore but this past year I played quarterback to fill the position,” Cannon said. “They had a great atmosphere and a great environ-ment. I like the campus and the academic part of the school.”

Cannon said he has focused on learning how to manage time to prepare him for the next step in life.

“The game of football means life will put you down,” Cannon said. “Football has taught me to keep fighting because when someone pushes you down, you have to get back up. I have to just stay humble, keep up the hard work and stay focused.”

Senior Jake Holmes pitches for the Knights varsity baseball team. Photo by Emily Goulet

Seniors Eric Sandoz, Sabian Cannon, and Jake Holmes sign to their future schools on signing day. Photo used with permission.

Athletes sign to play collegiate sports

Senior Meredith Gates dribbles the ball past LBJ midfielder during an defensive play. The girls soccer team will work to secure the zone title and a spot at playoffs tonight at House Park at 7:15.

Girls soccer closes in on district title

The varsity girls soccer team is clos-ing in on its first district title in three years. They currently have a 9-1-1 re-cord in district ahead of rival LBJ with a showdown today in the final game of the season.

“The season has been really good,” sophomore Eanna Cavazos said. “We have really hit our stride late in the sea-son, and our past couple of games have been our best. We have really been get-ting our passing down.”

According to Cavazos, the team is expecting to win against LBJ and clinch the title.

“We won 3-1 the first time we played LBJ,” Cavazos said. “It was not a small margin the first time so I am really con-fident especially because since then we have gotten so much better.”

If the Knights win tonight at House Park, they will clinch the outright dis-trict title.

Baseball team opens district play

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opinion25march 201513

Students need to put down phones and spend more time talking face-to-faceJULIA ROBERTSONstaff reporter

Every day at school, I see kids walking the halls star-ing at their phones. They don’t see what is going on around them and are only in tune to just what is going on in that little box. Personally, I cannot walk around on my phone all the time as I feel like I will trip and fall. I feel like walking in the halls it is a game of human dodgeball with all of the kids staring at their phones.

I am going to be completely honest here; I am on my phone a lot. But this year for my New Year’s Reso-lution, I thought it would be a good idea to be off my phone more often. With this new mindset, I don’t take my phone out when I am hanging out with my friends. It is so great to not have a distraction right next to me or in my pocket and just to be with my friends in the moment. Now that I don’t stay on my phone with my friends, we have so much more time for activities and hanging out and actually talking to each other about things that mattered, not things that we saw on Insta-gram earlier that day.

I was in the hallways at school and looking around to see what everyone was doing. Some people that were just walking with their friends talking about something. But that definitely isn’t everyone. I see so many peo-

ple every day walking around with their eyes on their phones staring at them without looking up to see what is going on. I bet that if we talked to someone 10 or 12 years ago and told them that every 14-18 year-old was going to have one or more electronic handheld devices with them, they probably wouldn’t believe us.

According to a Mobile Technology Fact sheet, 90 percent of American adults have a cell phone, 58 per-cent of American adults have a smart phone, 32 percent of American adults own an e-reader and 42 percent of American adults own a tablet computer. What is even crazier is the number of texts that a teen on average sends per month compared to that of an adult 65 years or older. A teen on average will send upwards or 3,339 texts per month while 65 year olds will only send about 32 text messages per month.

I was sitting at lunch one day with my friend, and we were talking and looking around outside and noticed a couple of girls sitting next to each other, just staring at their phones. What are they even looking at? Most likely watching pointless videos on Vine or replying to Snapchats from earlier. This kind of thing is ridiculous given that for seven hours of the day we have to silently sit at a desk and not talk at all. I love that at lunch I can finally put my phone away and be able to just talk to my friends about morning classes and whatever else is

going on. Of course, phone and technology usage is not all that

bad. It can be a great way to communicate with people who live far away from you. It can also be used during school to look up things you need to know for school or calculators for math.

There are definitely consequences to being on your phone all the time. Recent research studies have come to the conclusion that kids on their devices more of the time results it affecting their communication skills with the world. Most kids will not look forward to commu-nication in real life and find it awkward and uncomfort-able to be able to talk to people about what is going on.

But what is going on while all of these kids are send-ing texts and not interacting with the actual people and things going on around them? Well, it’s pretty simple. It seems that kids are “missing out.” Talking to several people around school, it is pretty clear that high school-ers are pretty scared that people are talking about them behind their back or doing things without them.

It doesn’t have to be like this, however. People can put their phones away, leave them at home and practice just enjoying the moment. With this kind of practice in mind, it can be a lot easier to put the phone away and just be more present in the moment.

How teens use phones:

83% Take Pictures

60% Play Music

46% Play Games

32% Exchange Videos

27% Surf the web

23% Social Network

Digital Distractactions

Source: griffintechnology.com

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opinion27march 201413

Main Street, Space Mountain, Mad Hatter Tea cups, Mickey Mouse hats and measles. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health advi-

sory Jan. 23 about a multi-state outbreak of measles that included 123 cases between December and March after a foreign traveler attended Disneyland Park in California.

Since the recent outbreak, a debate regarding the necessity of vaccinations has heightened, blurring the lines between personal rights and national health.

While the possibilities of nationwide outbreaks are so rare that the idea is practically intangible, the threat of an outbreak is enough to enforce strict immunization standards for minors and adults who come in

contact with others on a regular basis. Students who come to school without proper immunizations are not only putting themselves at risk for infection, they are jeopardizing the health of every student who comes in contact with them in the day.

Every state, with the exception of Mississippi and West Virginia, allow for students to get immunization exemp-tions for religious reasons. While religious beliefs are and should remain protected, exemptions for “personal” or “philosophical” reasons only increase the possibility of exposure to disease. According to the CDC, in 2014, a large Amish community in Ohio experienced an outbreak of over 383 cases. The exposure to the virus to those not vac-cinated can result in the rapid spread of unwanted sickness. If more students are vaccinated, there will be less of a threat of an outbreak.

For viruses and diseases that propose the threat of a mass outbreak, it is better to be proactive rather than reac-tive. To lessen student’s risks for exposure, all students, except those with legitimate religious exemptions, should be obligated to have up-to-date immunizations. In order to protect the well being of all students, parents must step back to look at the big picture to realize that personal beliefs should not outweigh other students’ health.

Twenty states currently have “philosophical” or “personal” exemption opportunities for school immunization requirements. These states are increasing the likelihood of exposing students to sickness. States should be concerned with overall health of the students, not accommodating to people’s philosophical objections to immunization. By reducing the opportunity for exemption, students will be better protected against disease and sickness.

A shot at health Students should be required to be vaccinatedto reduce risk of widespread sickness

87% of the newspaper staff said student

vaccinations should be required with only religious

exemptions

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A.N. McCallum High School 5600 Sunshine Dr. Austin, TX 78756(512) 414-7539 fax (512) 453-2599

contact.macshield@gmail.com

editors-in-chief MAry STITeS AND SereN VIllwoCk

adviser

rHoNDA Moore

assistant editorsNATAlIe MurpHyHAley HegefelD

sports editorsBeN BrowNNICk roBerTSoN

news editorMArA VANDergrIfT

reporters

The Shield is published by journalism students in the Newspaper production class.

Although students work under the guidance of a professional faculty mem-ber, the student staff ultimitely deter-mines the content.

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photo editor

MAyA CoplIN

keAgAN AleMAN, MeeNA ANDerSoN, BellA CuDe, eMMA CuNNINgHAM, roNAlD DoTSoN, AIDeN foSTer, HANNAH IlAN, JulIe roBerTSoN, rAMÓN wAlker, rACHel wolleBeN

photo essay28 march 201513

shieldthe

17 going on 15Spanish teacher recreates traditional Quinceañera

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1. A Quinceañera has many traditions: crowning the Quinceañera, getting jewelry, changing shoes and getting a last doll. Jibson Johnson-Davila and Natalie Viruegas dance the waltz together.

2. Anabelle Crofts Patterson, escorted by Joaquin Villarreal, enters the Quinceañera.

3.Junior Eliza Dahmen and senior Wyatt Martin dance the classic waltz, one of the tradi-tional dances in a Quinceañera.

4. Junior Lauren Wallace and Mario Perry wear the traditional attire for a Quinceañera. Stu-dents either wore dresses and suits from their own Quinceañera or borrowed a dress from one of the stores that rented dresses for McCallum’s Quinceañera.

5. All students involved in Quinceañera pose for a group photo. “It was a very colorful, beautiful thing,” Spanish teacher Juana Gun said. “We already know we are going to do it again next year. It was successful.”Photos by Maya Coplin.

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