Oct. 23, 2014

NW E mag

azin

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23october2014

volume 37 – issue 2

INSIDE: Retirement of the NW flag, performed by JROTC members (page 17)

Table of Contents1 Cover

2 Table of Contents

3 Editorial

4 Seniority in the stands

5 Weighted grades

6 Royals column

7 A day in the life

11 Celebrating a spooky night

9 How to survive a horror movie

10 Ouija board

12 1 in 1400

13 Freshmen v. Seniors

14 Twins

15 An unbreakable bond

16 Elections

8 Before the lore

TOC2

StaffThe mission of the Northwest Explorer Magazine and northwestexplorer.org is to produce well-researched, well-written and engaging stories and ,multimedia that inform and entertain, provide a forum for student voices, and offer a variety of perspectives.

Mission Statement Editorial PolicyThe Northwest Explorer is the official publication of Wichita Northwest High Shcool. The opinions in the newspaper are those of the students, and do not neccessarily reflect those of its administration, faculty, and staff. We welcome letters to the editor. To read the full editorial policy, see our website:www.northwestexplorer.org

Ads PolicyThe staff reserves the right to refuse advertising because of space limitations, publication deadlines, or content. Ad copy will be in the hands of the publication staff one week advance of the issue being sent to print. To see the full ads policy, go to our website:www.northwestexplorer.org

Alyssa Gisick Managing Editor

Madison McCollum Copy Editor

Haley Cooper Sports Editor

Paige Rodriguez Features Editor

Whitney Clum News Editor

Emily Dulohery Design Editor

Taylor Allen Opinions Editor

Grace Wilkinson Online Editor

Jordan Gourley Reporter

Jordan Coss Video Editor

Kelsi Cannady Social Media Editor

Dana Gase Reporter

Nicole Walters Reporter

Jozabeth Garcia Reporter

Whitney Jenkins Cartoonist

Brianna Trotter Ads Manager

Rebekah Morse Adviser

17 Flag retirement

18 News - in the world

19 News - in the school

20 Looking back

Above: JROTC students stand at attention during a ceremony for the retirement of the flag.

Left: The stars, cut out from the rest of the flag, are placed in a disposal container to be burned.

Below: Students hold the flag as the stars are carefully cut out. Photos by Kretchmar

See page 17 for more pictures and the whole story.

Editorial 3

News flash: fatal diseases that spread quickly and easily are NOT a new concept. Take for example Bubonic plague. Yellow fever. Smallpox. Swine flu.

The hype that comes as a result of a fatal disease spreading is not new either.

What’s causing the problem now is the disparity between concern for the few American deaths and for the thousands in Africa.

Human life and the concept of death is not something to be taken lightly.

Who has the power, or even the right, to say what deaths we should or should not care about? Why should one life be valued more than another? Why should Americans be so frantic

about the few cases of Ebola in the U.S. and so much less concerned about the multitudes in a third-world country that is unable to sufficiently care for its sick and impoverished?

Answer: because it is a big deal. Such a big deal, perhaps, that we are too concerned with protecting our own citizens to worry about protecting the others.

Our apathy is not born from a lack of compassion, but from a need to survive. And maybe the threat of another outbreak is just enough to motivate us to prevent it - not for the sake of America, not at the expense of another country, but for the good of humankind.

Cartoon by Whitney Jenkins

Emily Dulohery on behalf of theNorthwest Explorer

STAFF EDITORIAL

Ebola craze

Opinion4

Grizzly talkwords we overhear in the classrooms and hallways

It smells like patriotism in here.

Where is Hatfield’s ponytail?

Which pope did I follow?

What do you call Gatorade in the Ghetto? Ghettorade.

Did you just lick me? I hardly noticed.

I like your shoes.Thanks, they’re my grandma’s.

If I was a girl transformer, Optimus Prime would so be my boyfriend.

I’ve got a situation. My pants are falling down.

Why do you look like you just crawled out of a trash can?

Have something to say? Tell us at [email protected] or @NWHS_Explorer or drop it off in B57.

A simpleton’s request

Seniority in the stands

I stand at my closet and stare at all of the clothes that I have that could go with the theme for the night’s game. Clothes fly off the hanger and

onto my bed as I try and decide on the perfect outfit. Realizing that I own too many black shirts, I just pick something and run out the front door.

On my way to pick up my friends, I blare the radio to find something that will get me pumped up for the game. With the endless selfies that my friends and I take on the way to the game, we can feel the school spirit by just being in the parking lot.

Walking up to the press pass gates and seeing all of our other friends heading to the stands, we take more selfies with the black face paint we just applied. As we head up the steps, trying to find spots in the front row to stand, we see underclassmen sitting in what was supposed to be our spots. All of that excitement turned into anger.

We then decide to just find any open spots and are surprised to find the only openings are in the back rows. When it is time to yell the “Do It”

chant and we spell out “Seniors” and are given weird looks from the underclassmen who are in front of us, we feel an urge to enact physical violence.

When I was a freshman, I would always respect this tradition of seniors in the front rows. And now it is our turn to keep this tradition going. But we can’t when we are sitting in the back of the stands.

Administration should try more to enforce this so that we can have more room to sit in the front. Or maybe they should mark a section for seniors only.

For so many years the seniors have always had the privilege to sit in the front rows but now it seems we have to sit either in the first row or the very back few rows. Underclassmen need to respect this tradition and allow the seniors to sit in the front rows. You will get to have your chance to sit in the front and you will expect the same thing as we do. Let us have this privilege that we have been waiting so long for. See, there is this thing called seniority, and this year is our year.

In our lowly little school named Northwest High, there be people of little

wit. These people have no extensive vocabulary like you and I, and must often resort to a most unfavorable adjective; “gay.” It is a most shocking spectacle to overhear, for it often does not fit in context. Fear not -for I know you do- but I have arrived at a most fitting solution!

In order to make these people of small brain capacities feel less self-conscience about their repetitive diction, we shall all attempt to be more like them. Yes, in fact, we shall refer to everything as “gay.” ‘Go sit in that gay.’ (Desk). ‘Would you like to try out for the gay?’

(Soccer team). ‘I need to gay my plants.’ (Water). Yes, we will use it so much, they shall feel right at home.

The only fault I see in my plan is the feelings of offended peoples who do indeed like the same sex and are, in fact, gay. And as I see no other solution being raised other than my own, we must all bind together to find one. Perhaps we could teach these uncouth younglings new words and acceptance for our fellow human beings around us, if it is deemed more feasible than my carefully crafted plan.

I profess I have no cruel wishes to the these folk; only that perhaps they learn some proper adjectives.

Story by Madison Hofer-HoldemanGuest Writer

Story by Paige RodriquezFeatures Editor

Seniors Paris Womack, Jordan Hall, and Kieran Brandl cheer on the foot-ball team from the stands, along with

their fellow classmates.Photo by Crigler

Opinion 5

Tell us at [email protected] or @NWHS_Explorer or drop it off in B57.

What is going on in the 13th lot?

When driving to school in the mornings, I encounter exasperated drivers

rushing to try and find parking spaces before school starts. In the mornings it’s not as bad finding a parking spot but during lunch students might as well stay, since arriving back there are no spots left on the 13th side. Having no spots left results in having to go all the way to the Tyler side, praying for a parking space and being late when coming back.

When multiple students come in around the same time late because of parking problems, they should get a pass to class since it’s not their fault for being late.

It’s not the construction making teachers park in the 13th lot that has students running late, because the first weeks when construction started parking was fine.

Then these past few weeks all of a sudden there are no parking

spots. Only sophomores, juniors, and seniors, are allowed to park in both lots, so why are there a limited number of spots?

According to security, the truth behind crowded lots is that only two-thirds of drivers have parking passes out of all the people who need them. Once school started, more people started driving but didn’t buy parking passes. On a random day in October, it was counted that 38 out of all cars on the 13th side didn’t have parking passes.

All the students who decided to start driving, including freshman, have taken up so much space. And it just makes me think: Why did I pay for a parking pass if I don’t even need it? Why is needing to have a parking pass not enforced more?

As a senior I just want to be able to find a parking space and make it to class on time.

Weighted grades provides helping hand

Coming to school with little to no sleep due to homework is not exactly uncommon. I can’t exactly complain about it, since I was the one who chose to follow Northwest’s urgings to take as many

AP classes and honors classes as I could. When I filled my name out on the enrollment sheet chock full of difficult classes last year, I knew I was more or less signing my life away, without even taking all my extracurricular activities into account.

I don’t know why I’m being punished for doing exactly what schools ask: push ourselves in subjects we are already good at and push ourselves harder in subjects we aren’t so great in. In the end, for all the work I’m putting into school, I will always be placed behind students who

take easy classes when it comes to class rank or GPA. While there is nothing wrong with taking easy classes so you have that shiny 4.0, I don’t see why people who are willingly wading through piles of homework and coming out with a mix of hard-won A’s and B’s should be compared to people who take the easy road when it comes to class rank.

This isn’t a new problem: in fact, it’s a problem that other schools have already fixed by doing something called weighting grades. I’m not talking about what we already do, where we make test points worth oodles more that daily work points. How the weighted grades system works is this: Say your friend took all regular classes and you took all honors classes, and you both got all A’s. The best GPA your friend could get would be a

4.0, but since you were in honors classes, you got a 5.0 Then, if you got a couple B’s or a C, your grades would be reduced from a 5.0 to a 4.0, making lower grades in honors classes worth the same as high grades in regular classes.

Schools such as Bishop Carroll and other districts in the Wichita area have already put this into effect, proving that weighing grades are not some theoretical idea being tossed around downtown-it’s already been used by other schools, to great success. The question is not whether we should implement this or not, rather, the question is why we haven’t already rolled out this program.

“I think it would encourage kids to get into honors and AP classes, because then they wouldn’t be worrying about ruining their GPA,” math teacher Sarah Gegen said.

The only real argument against weighing grades is that colleges sometimes un-weight them.

However, it goes the other way, too. Schools such as Newman go through accepted applicants and manually weigh them. So, since there is no set way colleges measure grades, why not give the advantages to students who are willing to take the hard classes?

Story by Kelsi Cannadysocial media editor

Story by Whitney ClumNews Editor

Sports6

5-1

tennis

boys

soc

cer

footballvolleyball

OF A MASCOTa day in the life

Senior KeShaun McGaugh (top) carries the ball during a game against West on Friday,

Oct. 3.On Oct. 9, sophomore Jesus Morales looks

downfield in a game against Derby. Photos by Crigler

5-3Seniors Kayla Haase and Kaitlin Haight will com-pete in state as a doubles team. Anahi Arc-Gross will compete in state singles.

14-169-4-2

Kansas sports in

Story by Jordan GourleyReporter

New era begins for many Kansas sports teams

Kansas sports teams have been making headlines lately. The Kansas City Royals made the playoffs for the first time in 28 years, the University of Kansas recently fired its head football coach and the Kansas City Chiefs are becoming a consistent force in the AFC.

In 1985 the Royals made it to the World Series and beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4 games to 3, but have been on quite the postseason dry streak until now.

The Royals are currently up 3-0 against the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Championship Series. They have a chance to play the Cardinals once again in the World Series if they can close out the series in Kansas City. The road to the ALCS has been a hard fought one, but the Royals can’t seem to lose

Charlie Weis was hired by the University of Kansas before the start of the 2012 season after Turner Gill’s two season stint as head coach. Unfortunately for Weis, his timetable for success was cut short after his firing on Sept. 29 due to lack of on field success. Weis had a record of 6-22 over two seasons and four games into his third season.

The Kansas City Chiefs have been a consistent AFC team since 2010, when they made it to the postseason and lost the wildcard game to the Baltimore Ravens. Since then they have averaged a record of 7.5 wins and 8.5 losses, with one more wildcard appearance in 2013, losing Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts 45-44.

The Chiefs current record is 2-3. The fans have to be wondering if their Chiefs are ever going to make a playoff run, or a even consistent record. Based on the current roster and coaching staff, it seems like Kansas City will remain average for a few more years, if not teter below .500 once more.

transition

Freshman volleyball players head to the huddle at Southeast on Oct. 14. Photo by McCoy

Bear wakes up very early.

Bear indulges in a little PDA.

Bear goes to choir.

Photo Story by Madison McCollumCopy Editor-In-Chief

Sports7

tennis girls golf

cross country

1stGolfers won their 6A

regionals, with seniors Alex Jennings finishing 2nd, Lexi Clark winning Individual Honors, and Sarah Crigler finishing

7th overall.The team competed at State on Monday, Oct. 20. Results were not

available at press time.

Senior Sadie Fleeting (left) vol-leys in a match on Sept. 11. Photo by Trotter Girls gather for a moment of prayer before beginning their race at the El Dorado invita-tional on Oct. 11. Photo by Smith

Sophomore Alyssa Frausto broke the school 4K record with this time and won the varsity girls

race, followed by Gabi Reyna who received 3rd place and Keyanna Patterson who placed 14th.

15:03Lauren Thomas takes a swing on Oct. 14 at regionals. Photo Kretchmar

Bear enjoys a cup of coffee while reading the school newsmagazine.

Bear stops by the College Career Center.

Bear hungry.

Bear gets started on some homework

Bear retires to his cave to catch some zzz’s.

Features8

Halloween is one of the holidays left unexplained. Christmas is acknowledged as the birth of Christ; Valentine’s Day is in remembrance of the saint by the same name who married lovers in a time when it wasn’t allowed.

Halloween, on the other hand, is a day to dress up in colorful costumes and run around to the houses of strangers, demanding a “trick or treat” when we know there’s really only one thing we’re asking for.

Any other day, dressing up in a sheet and barging onto a stranger’s property would end rather poorly, so why such strange rituals are allowed once a year, and are socially acceptable, can be hard to comprehend.

So how did we get to Halloween as we know it?

Its Gaelic origins date back to before Christianity was , as a festival called

Samhain, meaning “end of summer.” It is one of the four seasonal holidays celebrated by pagans, and is widely considered to be the “witch’s new year.” Large festivals were held in it’s early days where a person would burn offerings of animals and crops to appease the pagan spirits.

It wasn’t until the Catholic movement through Europe that the Halloween we know today came to be. Samhain was to be celebrated from Oct. 31 at sunfall to Nov. 1 at sunfall. Christian officials created a day called “All-Saints Day” that was, you guessed it, Nov. 1. It was also called Hallowed Day, making Oct. 31 Hallows-eve, which is the root of the whimsical name “Halloween.”

The Christianization of the holiday also changed the dressing in skins of animals and worshipping spirits into dressing as saints and angels and remembering the dead.

From this point stems Dia de los Muertos, a Mexican tradition, as Mexican holidays are largely influenced by Catholicism.

But American Halloween went through one more country to get to the candy festival we love today.

And that country is Scotland: the Scottish made a habit of dressing up as the deceased and also started a practice called “souling,” which was the door-to-door begging for food (sound familiar?) in exchange for prayers for the souls of dearly departed.

From that point on, Scottish and English immigrants brought over the holiday, and one thing swapped out another (ex: food for candy), and we ended up with one of the largest and most profitable commercial holidays of the year.

Before the lore

the Hope diamond

slenderman

a history of HalloweenStory by Grace Wilkinson

Online Editor

Information compiled by the NWE staff

LEGENDS

Features 9

how to survive ahorror movie

the Hope diamond

bloody marythe Jersey devil

Information compiled by the NWE staff

There are horrors all around us. Ghosts. Mummies. Mice. Clowns. Reliable sources such as SyFy channel and the amount of summonings gone wrong recorded on video cameras with everlasting battery life prove that you are 99.99% more likely to be thrown into the plot of a horror movie than you are to catch that one disease that Germ-X doesn’t catch. You know how FDR once said that there was nothing to fear but fear itself? Well, clearly Roosey never ran into a spider on his bathroom wall. So, being the humble gift to humanity that I am, I will generously give you a crash course on how to survive a horror movie in exchange for your firstborn child.

First off, lower your IQ. Smart people don’t survive because then someone in the group of scoobies might be able to make intelligent decisions. Just make sure to suggest hiding in a dark, windowless basement with no way

to escape and a convenient axe hanging around. The point is, if you make dumb decisions, the little trolls who direct the plot have a reason to keep you around.

Second, dolls and/or statues. Don’t bring creepy dolls into your house. Don’t put creepy dolls next to a baby cradle. If you see weeping angel statues, don’t blink. This really isn’t that hard.

Thirdly, avoid houses with histories involving:

- murders- missing people- garden gnomes- curses- curses that turn missing murdered people into garden gnomes.Bottom line: If a real estate agent looks

at a house with a body under the floorboards that has a tell-tale heart, and calls it a “real

fixer-upper,” avoid it. Last but certainly not least, clowns. Never

good news. A general rule is to treat all clowns with suspicion. I don’t care if it’s the Joker. I don’t care if it’s Ronald McDonald. Every time you see a clown, step on one of their huge shoes, slash his clown car tires and make like Forrest Gump.

In retrospect, it’s probably best to be the bad guy, because you can’t die - they need you for the seven sequels already in development.

My work here is done. You have your advice. Take it or leave it.

I advise you take it.

Story by Whitney ClumNews Editor

Features10

With the Halloween season coming around, many people are looking for more creative and legitimate ways to scare themselves. Haunted houses, Field of Screams, or terrifying movies. Some don’t stop there, some want to feel the experience for themselves. They attempt to summon spirits or say “Bloody Mary” three times in a mirror, providing a pounding heartbeat and new found respect from friends. Wow, that was brave, man. Take it to the next level, let’s mess with a Ouija Board.

Before you decide to toy with things unknown and unseen, you should know a few helpful hints.

One: get more than one person. You don’t want to have your immense courage go unnoticed by your peers, and this ritual does not work with

only one person.Two: remember you are opening this gateway into the supernatural forever. It can never be closed. Sealed?

Maybe. Blocked? Sure. But never fully closed.Three: imagine being in an open chat room on the Internet. Only, when you’re in this chat room,

you can hide nothing about yourself, your name, your face, your location... but the

people you’re chatting with are completely anonymous, and they

may even lie about who they are. This is exactly what you are opening up for yourself.

Four: the spirits you encounter may not be evil, but they can definitely cause misfortune to those who let them. And guess what: you’ve let them into your home, with no exit plan, because you wanted to show off and get your blood racing.

Five: gather sage to burn for purification and white candles to burn day and night, memorize your rhymes to expel the spirit, gain access to a large body of water that will never be disturbed. Keeping the ouija board completely submerged in water will blind the unreasonable spirit possessing the board. Some people think to burn it, which only leads to freeing the spirit from the gateway.

Six: once you toy with a spiritual opening, it is your responsibility. Last but not least, seven, remember that most myths and

spooky toys are a mix of (not always correct) interpretations from several pagan and Wiccan ideologies made to amuse you, rather than actually work. But be prepared for if they do, because the spirit world is not something to mess with.

ouija boardwhat to do with a

Story by Taylor AllenOpinions Editor

This piece is written as satire only. It is not the intention of the NWE staff to ridicule, trivialize, or otherwise offend the readers of this publication.

Halloween is a big event for most families. They are either dressing their kids up and urging them to go knock on strangers’

doors, or planning parties with candied apples and costumes galore.

On, the costumes range from kids dressed in M&M suits, to teenagers dressed as superheroes, to adults dressed up as naughty nurses. These costumes are fun and give us a sense of freedom for one night, but do they cross the line of being appropriate?

Everyone has a sense of morality, and it tells us that blackface is inherently wrong. It is directly taking on someone else’s culture for fun, which is not only disrespectful but racist. There are other cultures we have to worry about offending too, and racism can be found in many tight crevices we may have overlooked.

Many kids dress up as their beloved Disney

characters or what is inspiring them at the moment. Characters like Pocahontas, Jasmine, Mulan, and more generic costumes such as a geisha, an indian, a samurai, all are culturally, ethnically, or racially based. Does it cross the line to wear these costumes? Does dressing up in someone else’s garb make it brutally obvious that we do not consider these things normal?

Many people do not consider the fact that dressing up as an indian girl could be offensive, but the implications of the costume do not usually affect the person dressing up. Why would they consider how this could affect someone else, in a way deeply rooted in their being from their everyday culture, which we are not always thoughtful of?

Dressing up in someone else’s culture is not the only problem we face. Our own culture has sexualized aspects of our everyday life,

and there are plenty of “sexy asian girl” and “sexy gypsy” costumes circulating during this holiday. The sexualization of these cultures is also incredibly disrespectful. It is lessening the seriousness of the culture and their values, and the human elements of these people are being extracted for the sake of bringing us laughter or making us feel more exotic.

Many costumes can be offensive to other people, and it is our job to be sure to be respectful of every culture, whether prevalent in our lives or not. It is important to think about who our perceived innocent fun could be hurting. Any form of taking from another’s culture for your own personal gain is called appropriation, and is ever present on Halloween.

Do Halloween costumescross the line?

Story by Taylor AllenOpinions Editor

Features 11

what to do with a Celebrating a

Be sure to reserve your copy of the

2015 Silvertipat jostensyearbooks.com

Story by Paige RodriguezFeatures Editor

Skeletons, ghosts, haunted houses and everything in between: senior Paige Wise loves it all.

“I love all the decorations and the creepiness that comes with it”.

Every year, Wise plans a Halloween party for friends to come in costume and play fun games.

“At my party, we don’t just sit around and talk,” she said. “We do fun activities like a scavenger hunt, mummy activities, etc. You have to be really creative.”

Last year Wise had games set up and had scary movies to watch. She also dressed up as a referee for Halloween.

“Last year I think I didn’t have as many activities to do,” she said. “But this year I have been planning this party since January and I

think that I am more prepared this time.”Wise isn’t the only one who goes all out to

prepare for this ghostly holiday, English teacher Jennifer Enright decorates

her house with giant spiders, black ghosts and pumpkins.

“In our society we do everything we can to not be scared so this gives us the opportunity to actually get scared and still be safe,” she said. “There’s no other day like it.”

Enright and her husband usually go to the DAV to find clothes to cut and sew to make their costumes.

“Last year my husband and I dressed up as the Joker and Harley Quinn.”

To Enright, Christmas is actually her favorite holiday.

“Halloween is my husband’s favorite holiday. He loves scary movies, he loves to be scared. That’s his thing”.

Not only does Enright celebrate Halloween with her family, she also tries to celebrate with her students.

}{ “In our society we do everything we can to not

be scared, so this gives us the opportunity to actually

get scared and still be safe.”

spookynight

Features12

in Senior Allana Ornelas remembers school being far more difficult and cumbersome than it is today.

“I was always the one who’d put my headphones in,” Ornelas said, “and be like, you know, whatever.”

She didn’t enjoy school, but it wasn’t because she was lazy and unwilling to apply herself; she simply underestimated herself and found the work to be too hard.

“I’d look at a sheet and I’d just be like ‘I can’t do this,’” Ornelas said, “before I even tried to [answer the questions] because I’d always just think ‘this is too many questions, I’m a slow reader I can’t do that.’”

Ornelas didn’t really see herself going anywhere; in fact, the only future she imagined for herself walked in the shadow of her mother. Ornelas grew up without a father, had three brothers who she didn’t view as role models, and a mother who worked hard every day to get them by.

Her plans changed, however, due to the influence of a teacher from Wilbur Middle School and Ornelas found herself reassured and- despite admitting she didn’t realize it at the time- influenced by her English teacher.

“Mrs. Fisher, I won’t forget her--ever,” Ornelas said, “She made me realize that everyone has potential. I wanted to be like her, to help people realize that like, you have potential. She was the first person in

my life to make me realize that.”Ornelas had trouble with reading, and

she deemed that to be the main cause for her setbacks and insecurities. However, with the help of her teacher, she found herself becoming more confident in herself.

“She’d come by me and she’d read me the questions,” Ornelas said, “and I’d do the whole worksheet and I’d be like ‘that’s it? that’s all I had to do?’ and she’d just be like ‘that’s all you had to do. You doubt yourself so much’”.

Next semester Ornelas will be required to take only government and English to finish her senior year, and hopes to go on to Butler for college to begin studying to become a social worker.

“That’s one of my goals,” Ornelas said, “I want to kinda help kids who are kinda like me, work in a juvenile place with kids that were like me that didn’t do as well as I did.”

Ornelas feels like her life goals and personal views on herself were altered purely because of one teacher and without her, wouldn’t be in as good of a place as she is now. There’s only one true request she still has for her teacher.

“She doesn’t work there anymore, but I’d love to get ahold of her and like invite her to my graduation. I’d like to get ahold of her and be like ‘you have no idea how big of an impact you had on my life like, no idea.’”

Adventures of a lifetimeMany people devote their lives to

mission trips, sacrificing money and time to help the less fortunate

around the world. Senior Hanna Wingert is one of those people and ever since the fourth grade was inspired to go on mission trips with her family and Church.

“My first mission trip was really strange but my parents felt like God was pushing our family to do that,” Wingert said.

Since her first mission trip, she has been going around the world with her church, First Mennonite Brethren, to help the less fortunate.

“Ive been to Mexico seven times and our Church goes twice a year,” Wingert said.

These experiences have shaped her life and given her the opportunity to experience different cultures in a way most could only imagine. During these trips she has worked in orphanages, babysat, set up churches and much more.

“You learn something new every time you go down and crazy stuff happens

every day that you don’t really see in the American culture,” Wingert said.

Living in America shelters some of us to the outside world, where drinking water is rare and some fight starvation day to day. The eye opening experience would alter your way of thinking forever.

“The hardest part was adjusting back in the American lifestyle, and the jet lag of course,” Wingert said.

The support from her church and doing fundraisers leaves the cost slim to none so the expenses of the mission trips don’t hold her and her family back.

“We usually fundraise the whole thing or you can write letters to other people in the church and they’re very supportive,” Wingert said.

The most satisfying advantage of going on missions trips is the impact you feel from helping other people in need. The passion and the faith other cultures have touches the heart of anyone who witness it.

“People depend on God for everything,” Wingert said.

Senior Hanna Wingert retells her experiences in Thailand

14001

Allana Ornelas

Story by Nicole WaltersReporter

Story by Madison McCollumCopy Editor-In-Chief

Features 13

The first 9 weeksFreshman v. Seniors

To be honest, it was a little difficult since this is my first year in high school it’s hard to adjust to all my classes, trying to get all over the school.

Probably by my third week I got used to everything. I ad-justed quickly after I saw some old friends, they’ve helped me with everything so far.

I love high school, there’s so many people I can relate to. I’m mature for my age and in middle school I didn’t find a lot of people like that.

Here, it’s like all maturity all the time and that’s what I like. I like high school because the work is easy sometimes, and the students are kind.

I’m pretty excited to find out everything else that is going on, I was just excited recently when I found out that I’m going to be swimming soon in gym.

I’m excited for graduation, too. I’m looking at everything for all my four years of high school while taking notes.

I’m going with my friends of all grades and they take me through everything that I’ll have to learn over the years. I think this is going to be a breeze.

I don’t think I’d feel the same as a senior. I think my attitude towards school will change. I love coming to school, but com-ing here for the next four years and dealing with everyone all over again, it’s going to be difficult. I know there will be more things I can get to know and people I can meet. I think it will get old after awhile, but I think there will always be surprises along the way and I’m ready for that.

Freshman year, especially the first nine weeks, everything was new and exciting. I couldn’t wait to go to school every day. I was ready to get in here and everything was easy. I got my stuff done.

You know, sitting there in your classes the first nine weeks of freshman year, you’re thinking like ‘This is just the beginning, I have 15 more of this to go.This is one of 16.’ And now it’s our senior year, this is 13 of 16. That’s crazy.

Before I was thinking ahead that I have all these years and now It’s like, I have two semesters left.

Now, It’s harder to come to school for sure because I know I’m so close to the end and I’m slowing down.

I’m not as excited to come to school anymore. I think everything’s always better in the beginning. You’re excited to get started and then now that it’s reaching the end it’s not as fun to be here; it’s almost just like coming here every day is just one day closer to the end.

It’s always hard, not even just the beginning of the year but the beginning of any new semester to concentrate and have your stuff together because you think you have so much time, and it’s starting to kick in more this second nine weeks than ever before that I don’t have that time, that it’s running out.

As seniors, we’ve had our first senior meeting, we have cap and gown pictures here soon. That’s crazy. It’s different this year than any other one because there’s not that room to slack--it’s here, and it’s almost over.

Parrot-fa-nalia

1719 S Hillside(316) 682-5531Mon- Sat: 10-9Sun: 1-6

Just say NO to designer knock-offs

Senior Baylee Fillipello and Freshman Tyaja Wimbley describe their first nine weeks of school

Story by Alyssa GisickManaging Editor-In-Chief

Features14

Josh Helm, sophomore Racheal Martin, sophomoreLeah Martin, sophomoreLuz Aguirre, juniorChristina Aguirre, juniorJon Helm, sophomore

“It’s nice to have someone who is literally always there and to also, in a way, have the same feelings and understandings,”

-Stephanie Rodriquez, senior

There were

131,269 twins born in

2011.

source: www.cdc.gov

Mothers of multiples have a greater risk of developing depression compared to women who give birth to just

one baby.

source: www.cdc.gov

The birth rate for twins has increased by 76% since

1980.

source: www.everydayhealth.com

In 2009, there was 1 case of twins in every

30 births

source: www.everydayhealth.com

If you have an identical twin with depression, your

chances of having depression are about

50% higher

source: www.everydayhealth.com The rate for identical twins with bulimia is

23% (eight times that of the general public),

9% in fraternal twins (three times the

national average)

source: www.doitnow.org

17% of twins are the result of fertility

treatment

source: www.cdc.gov

Features 15

At around 9 a.m. on Dec. 15, 1999, Karsen Ross was born; English instructor Tracy Morris became a mother.

She became the mother of fraternal twins when Emerson Ross was born that same day.

By 3 a.m. the next morning, Morris also became the recipient of bad news.

“The nurse came and got me and told me that [Emerson] wasn’t going to live through the night,” Morris said. “I had to go in a wheelchair of course, but I had her send me down there. I talked to him, sang and read to him--anything I could think of--and I kept my hand on him. He started doing better and then got a little bit stronger.”

Morris pleaded with Neonatal Intensive Care Unit specialists to put Emerson in the same incubator as his twin sister, hoping to speed up Emerson’s recovery process. After several days, they finally conceded.

“They kept them apart,” Morris said. “Probably a foot between the two babies. And babies that size aren’t supposed to be able to move. But Karsen, in seconds, started wiggling sideways and she put her hand on [Emerson’s] back. Then everything got better for him. I mean his health... he was released one day after Karsen was. And they told

me he’d be there for months.”An unbreakable bond was instantly developed between Emerson

and Karsen, now freshmen at Northwest. “We’re closer than most siblings,” Karsen said.They are close--best friends, as Morris described it--but Emerson

doesn’t think much of their identical birth date.“It’s cool, but we don’t really think about it much that we’re twins,”

Emerson said. “It’s not that big of a deal to us because we’re used to it.”

Morris says not just the twins but her whole family is close, including her daughter Gracyn, age 12.

“When the twins were three and Gracyn was one, I left their dad. Since then we’ve really functioned as a unit so those three are very, very close. They take care of each other.”

The family had more than one miraculous beginning.“The big surprise for me, because all three of them were born

prematurely, is that they overcame their deficits probably within their first year of life,” Morris said. “Just to see where they came from to where they are now is amazing. Truly amazing.”

Drew Darr, juniorKerby Sloyer, junior Lauren Sloyer, juniorStephanie Rodriquez, senior Paige Rodriguez, senior Derek Darr, junior

source: www.cdc.gov

Story by Haley CooperSports Editor

Seni

or P

hoto

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photosbykaylamarie.com

visit www.photosbykaylamarie.comor call (316)-680-4175

for more details

An unbreakable bond

Features16

Background on the candidates

Sam Brownback Paul Davis

Greg OrmanPat Roberts

Brownback states that he learned first-hand about hardwork and responsibility that farming requires, growing up in Parker, Kan.

Davis grew up and went to school in Lawernce, Kan. He’s also the

son of two teachers.

Pat Roberts grew up in Topeka Kan. He says he always puts

Kansas’ needs first in his public service career.

Orman grew up in Stanley, Kan. with five siblings. He says he

worked for his father’s store where he learned the different values of working in a successful buisness.

GOVENOR

U.S. SENATE

2014 ELECTION

Who would you vote for?

Forty-nine Northwest faculty and staff voted on Oct. 16-17

Brownback

18%Davis

76%

Orman Roberts

24%68%Undecided/Not voting

Undecided

4%Not voting

2%

Batson

4%4%

source: mct campus source: davisforkansas.com

source: roberts.senate.gov source: ormanforsenate.com

Features 17

2. 3.

4. 5.etiquette

1When displayed on a car, flag should be firmly placed onto the chassis or the right fender.flag

Respectful

The JROTC class and instructor John Hughey salute the flag while it is being dropped into fire for retirement. Photo by Rodriguez

Sophomore Tyler Grommesh lowers the flag for retirement during his 6th hour class. Photo by Rodriguez

retirement

When a flag becomes too tattered to fly it’s retired, and that’s no different for the flags at Northwest. JROTC retires their worn

flags once a year and all members of the company can volunteer to take part in it.

“We do it once every year to honor the flag,” JROTC teacher Cedric Johnson said. “The flag means so much to so many people and to me since I have a few friends who are still serving, it’s just a way to honor them.”

There are a number of steps taken when retiring a flag, and each flag is treated with the same amount of respect.

“As a company we fall in and we have a color guard present the flag to be retired,” senior Brian Robinson said. “It goes through an inspection and once it has been deemed unserviceable, it is

retired.” A person from the company volunteers to lower

the flag, and then goes through the ceremony of retiring it. It’s completely silent except for the shouting of commands as everyone stands at attention.

“The stars are separated from the stripes,” Robinson said, “and then as we are saluting we lower the flag into the flames and retire it.”

The ceremony is something that not many people can participate in outside of JROTC.

“The new students will learn the importance of retiring a flag correctly,” Johnson said.

At the end of the ceremony the company says the Pledge of Allegiance and then repeat the steps for each flag. This ceremony happens once a year.

JROTC classes retireAmerican flags

Flag should be in the center, and be the highest when placed with other

The flag cannot be carried flat or horizontally. It needs to be aloft and free.

When placed on a podium, it should be placed behind speaker, to it’s left.

The flag should be placed at every public institution.

Story by Kelsi Cannady and Paige RodriguezSocail Media Editor and Features Editor

News18

in the world: in the state:

There were over 5,000 participants in the Race for the Cure, sponsored by Susan

G. Komen, on Sept. 27, 2014. The race made $270,000 in net revenue and is important for raising awareness of breast cancer.

USD 259 spent up to $200,000 adding Hall Pass visitor

management systems in all 91 schools around the district. Scanners will be placed in main offices.

Starting second semester, students will be focusing more on their writing skills in the

majority of their classes. “I think we and the state have abandoned good writing, that’s the focus for this year,” Principal Gil Alvarez said. “I’m not talking about big research writing, but summaries, journal entries and reflections, which will help students now and after they graduate.” The practice will also prepare juniors for the changes made to this year’s state test, which will be focused more on writing as well.

The Ebola virus reemerged earlier this year. So far rumors have

flown all over the U.S. of possible cases of people with the virus. In reality only a few cases have actually been diagnosed. Despite the fact that it can only be passed by bodily fluids, many people fear contracting the disease.

in the school:

News19

in the state:

in the universe:

The American Civil Liberties Union are fighting to get the

same- sex marriage ban lifted. On Oct. 14, they asked a federal court to allow same- sex couples to be wed. They currently have a lawsuit filed against the state.

The world doesn’t revolve around Pluto, but recently social media

has lit up with articles, messages, and praise for the small planet. After its demotion in 2006, several Pluto-fans seemed to appear out of nowhere and expressed their outrage through blogs, t-shirts, and various other outlets, only for their attempts to be proven futile in their attempts to gain the ‘dwarf planet’ it’s rightful title in the solar system. However, that might change. Recently scientists have renewed the debate on whether Pluto is a planet and are digging deep into politics and emotion in an attempt to put it back in planetary status.

Former English teacher Susan Powell lost her battle with cancer on Thursday, Oct. 9.

“Susan was a friend to many at Northwest and across the district,” Principal Gil Alvarez said in an email to the faculty. “She educated and inspired hundreds of students at Northwest High School.”A memorial service will be held in the auditorium at 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25.

Four Northwest journalism students went to the State Fair on Sept. 11 to compete

in the Kansas Press Corps. contest. The team took 2nd place. (Left to right: seniors Cody Kretchmar and Madison McCollum, junior Emily Dulohery, and senior Taylor Allen)

in the school:

Enthusiasm

Senior Darnell Toliver helps serve food at the culinary arts sale on Sept. 19. Photo by Sturdivant

The Northwest Honey Bros get pumped for the powderpuff game on Sept. 24. Photo by Webber

The Northwest Bear Buddies relax and eat popcicles after a soccer game on Sept. 19. Photo by McCollum

Senior Austin Edwards leads the Northwest pep band at the homecoming game on Sept. 26. Photo by Smith

Senior Tamatha Vaughn and Senior Blake Ellis

do a victory dance after winning homecoming king

and queen on Sept. 26. Photo by Smith

The junior class celebrates winning a tug of war at a pep assembly on Sept. 26. Photo by Williams