Juan was just a freshman in the backseat of his friend’s car when he went outside of the lane. The driver swerved into oncoming traffic, collided with a car and flew off the road. Juan didn’t know if he would regain control.

“I knew from that second, I might not live from this,” Juan said of the accident.

Juan knows that life is not an individual sport. He has individual goals — goals of making it to state and running under 50 seconds in the 400 meter dash — and he does everything in his power to make these goals a reality. But life is a team sport; he can never forget how the actions of others can impact his goals.

He can’t forget the impact of the tree on the car. The glass on his skin. The way his friends laid motionless in the backseat.

“[The driver]’s body was halfway out and he looked at me, tears and blood mixing in his face,” Juan said.

He can’t forget that. The driver made a mistake and they all paid for it — he had been drinking.

“Because of his mistakes, I’ve got scars on my body that will never go away,” Juan said.

Juan couldn’t feel his legs when he woke up in the hospital two days later. The doctors had put him under heavy anesthesia while they removed each individual shard of glass that had pierced its way into his muscles. He was banged up, bruised, scarred and numbed — but he was OK. He would run again.

Juan has been in the driver’s seat since the crash. His mother, Mary An Joers Pestano Ramos, doesn’t have to tell him what foods to eat anymore. She doesn’t have to tell him that quitting is unacceptable. She forced him into playing football, but no one told him to run track. Juan sets his own goals now. He runs out front during drop out 200s and speedmakers. He rides his bike to the gym because accepting a ride from his mom would mean losing an opportunity to get better. He runs another five miles after an hour long workout and the bike ride home. Juan wants success as badly as he wants to breathe.

“A lot of times, he might not hit his own goals, even when he did great in my mind,” Mary An said. “But to him, it’s not enough. Since it’s not enough to him, I tell him it’s not enough. I know that’s what he needs.”

Maddie Schoemann | Harbinger Online

Juan needs to be pushed. Before moving to Kansas at the beginning of this year, he attended a school less than half East’s size in Hickman County, TN. He didn’t have people pushing him.

“I was the fastest guy at the school and there wasn’t much competition,” Juan said. “But when I got to sectionals, I met a lot of guys who were better. I wound up placing fourth and my time didn’t match up.”

Juan knew that being the best in a small town wasn’t good enough; he would have to be better if he wanted to make state. He got a fresh start when his family moved to the East area. It didn’t take long for him to make an impression with sprinting coach Brie Meschke.

“He came and visited me at the beginning of the year and told me that he had run at his previous school and his times were very competitive,” Meschke said. “I was super excited, but a lot of times you hear about kids and it doesn’t pan out to what you think it’s going to be — but he’s the real deal.”

Juan proved his talent at the very first time trial, running a 52 in the 400, but Meschke saw plenty of room for improvement.

“He had a lot of raw talent, but didn’t have much instruction before,” Meschke said. “It’s been really fun to help him with that.”

Juan was on his own in Tennessee. His coaches expected him to carry the team, but offered little support. And it wasn’t easy being a black athlete on a predominantly white team — segregation is still a reality in Hickman County.

“There was me, my cousin and a Vietnamese boy on the team,” Juan said. “And when we’d go into the locker room, everyone else’s locker would be on one side. Leaving me, my cousin and the Vietnamese kid by ourselves. We didn’t care, because we played our hearts out on the court.”

Juan isn’t just part of the team at East, he’s part of a brotherhood. Along with junior Carter Olander and seniors Joe Lewis and Jack Fay, Juan has achieved great success with the 4×400 relay team. The group of runners quickly accepted him.

“He’s really fit into the track culture,” Lewis said. “He works hard and the team loves him.”

Juan has developed into a far better runner this season because he now shares his goal with the entire team. Lewis begins the race with a quick burst. Olander gains ground on the rest of the field. Juan chases down the leader. And Fay holds onto the lead. Each runner has an impact on the outcome of the race.

“When you run by yourself and you don’t run your best, only you are disappointed,” Lewis said. “But if you run in the 4×400 and don’t run your best, you’ve let down three other people.”

Juan knows all about being let down. He’s experienced the helplessness of freefall and the unforgiving crash of a car. He’s learned from his scars; he’s changed his work ethic, rebuilt himself and taken over the driver’s seat. He knows about the impact that his actions have on his teammates. But he’s doing everything he can to make it positive.

“I think, ‘what if this was my last day?’ Could I honestly say that I gave it my all?” Juan said. “I want to benefit, and have others benefit from my actions.”

“It’s really a satisfying feeling,” sophomore outfielder Erin McGinley said. “Especially for the seniors, since they’ve been working towards this for so long. For all of us, it’s just a really cool feeling to be a part of something that made history at East.”

The Lancers beat Shawnee Mission West 9-3 and Olathe North 7-5 to qualify. The championship tournament will begin on May 25, where the Lady Lancers will mostly face teams from the Olathe and Blue Valley districts. After beginning their regular season 12-0, the team expressed feelings of confidence and pride going into these championship games.

“At state, it’s a big deal and it’s sudden death,” sophomore left fielder Savannah Bellem said. “But we’re just feeling really relieved to have gotten this far. A lot of the pressure’s off now, actually, and I think we’re going to be playing much more relaxed. We’re just really excited for this experience.”

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

\Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Not present for pictures:

Elizabeth Cox
Grade: Freshman
Experience: One year on JV team
“The opportunity to possibly go to nationals in March,” Cox said. “Lancer Dancers is one of the best drill teams in the area. The mock trial was my favorite part. I love watching the seniors, and it’s going to be great making new friends and progressing as a dancer.”

Madison Stottle
Grade: Sophomore
Experience: Two years on JV team
“Lancer Dancers are my family,” Stottle said. ” I can’t wait to have fun with my friends.”

Peri Ogg
Grade: Sophomore
Experience: Two years on JV team
“I love dancing and having fun times with the team,” Ogg said. “I also love performing at basketball games and spring show. Tryouts are really stressful, but I loved practicing with Audrey and eating food. I am really excited to perform at basketball and football games. It will be really fun to bond with the team and get to know them better.”

You can find the JV results here.

Watch the finals from the North Relays.

Want to know more about track from this year?  Read about staffer and track athlete Emma Pennington and her family’s legacy on the track here, as well as junior Grace Pickell’s record breaking high jump.   For more on the track team, check out the SME Track site.

Grant Kendall | Harbinger Online

All he has to do is walk outside to his backyard and pry the lid off his beehive.

* * *

Seven years ago, Nash’s dad, James, walked into his usual barbershop for his usual cut. As he stared in the mirror, a glass jar in the bottom right corner caught his attention. It was a standard mason jar, sitting on his table at his barber’s station, filled to the brim with honey. James, having recently read about and researched the impressive life of honeybees, asked his barber where the honey came from. What he learned was this: he was a newly bred beekeeper, thanks to the help of the accomplished and retired WWII veteran beekeeper down the street from the barbershop. The barber told James to go see him. After his cut, James did just that.

“It just seemed so natural,” James said.

With the advice and connections of his new beekeeping friend, James’s hobby was finally taking flight. He purchased three hive building kits and 30,000 bees from his supplier, Fischer Bee Supplies. Nash helped from the very beginning. The two began by building the hives, a stacked series of four boxes with raised hexagons on the plastic walls — a blueprint for the bees to start building their comb off of. The bees came all the way from California in three three-pound boxes, each filled with 10,000 bees and one queen bee in a separate container.

“I had them all in my minivan and it was pretty loud,” James said. “They don’t like being in the car.”

Grant Kendall | Harbinger Online

“Being able to see these amazing engineers at work in nature is amazing. They are so efficient, like perfect,” Nash said

He sees them as more than just pests that swarm the courtyard trash cans and make freshman girls squeal. Even though he’s been stung five or six times, he agrees with his dad that their hobby as well as bees are under appreciated.

“Because there are a lot of misconceptions, I think people are a little afraid of it,” James said.

But listen to Nash and his dad talk about the dynamics of the hive and beekeeping for just five minutes, and you’ll understand what all the buzz is about.

* * *

“Beekeeping is really just being guardians,” James said.

According to the James, the phrase “busy as a bee” is valid one — but beekeepers do their fair share of work as well.

The first things they do is transfer the bees to the hives. The boxes of bees the Reimers purchase last for years on end, as the queen bee reproduces at a rate of laying 1,500 larvae a day, in her prime, to keep the hive thriving. The boxes include a corked smaller box inside that contains the queen bee, or the “VIP” bee as Nash describes her. They replace the cork with a small marshmallow that the worker bees eat through as a process of releasing and getting acquainted with their queen.

Next, all of the bees get dumped into the hive. They’re so anxious to be with the queen that they “pour out like water,” though the action isn’t quite as safe. Thus, the hive is born, and the intricate life of bees begins.

Bees are hard workers from birth which is Nash’s favorite quality about them. They spend the first two weeks of their lives as nursery bees, cleaning out the comb they were born in so it can be used again. Next, they work as hive bees. They meet the forager bees, the ones that go out and get the nectar and honey, to transfer and process what they brought back and turn it into fresh honey. In the final stage of their life, bees act as foragers. Foragers travel up to six miles in any direction, make six to eight trips a day and have to make two million flower visits to produce one pound of honey.

Foragers also perform what beekeepers call a “waggle dance”, where they fly and spin in circles to describe where resources or enemies are in relationship to the sun.

Grant Kendall | Harbinger Online

A new hive has to be checked on once or twice a month, but an old one only needs a post-winter checkup to make sure the colony survived. One of Nash’s hives died out in his second year, which was disheartening. Thankfully, it was followed by a successful year.

“I was really excited when I was able to get a good harvest the next year,” Nash said. “It picked my spirits up.”

The majority of the work for the beekeeper comes in late August, which is honey harvesting time, Nash’s favorite part of his job. At its best, the hive can produce up to eighty pounds of honey for the beekeepers to take.

Nash and his dad go around to all the hives and take the top box, which is filled with extra honey that bees won’t need to survive the winter. They take it back to their basement and pick the wax caps that the bees put on to preserve the honey off of each comb, the most labor-intensive part of the job — Nash estimates there are 250 combs on each frame that are only half a centimeter wide. The empty comb is then saved to be put back into the hive so the bees can reuse it. Next, they put the frames in a centrifuge, which looks like a 15-gallon bucket with a handle on top. They spin it around for a few minutes until centrifugal force pushes all the honey out of the combs and into the container. Nash and his dad emphasise that it’s a sticky job.

“You’re up to your elbows in honey,” James said.

Finally, they put it through a sifter to make sure there’s no unwanted wax or pollen. And that’s that; the honey is made, pure and simple.

The Reimers enjoy their honey so much that they’ve replaced all the sugar in their house with honey. It goes in their tea, on their toast and in their oatmeal. It even ends up on the table in quite a few Kansas City homes. Nash sells the bee’s honey for $5 per one pound tub to family and friends and gets more customers by word of mouth. It looks the same as the honey you’d buy at the store, but a bit darker since the bees made it from the pollen from purple lilies, a commonly used flower for pollination. According to Nash, it tastes the same as store-bought honey but has the local, organic appeal. Even though making money isn’t the point of the hobby, Nash was able to collect about $250 in profits last year. He recognizes that he’s essentially stealing the product he’s then selling, and he’s grateful for it and the bee’s hard work.

“You have to be thankful for whatever you get,” Nash said.

As for the future, Nash hopes to come home from college to be able to check on his hives at the beginning of the season and later in the season to help with the harvest. It wouldn’t hurt for him to take a quick break from school to see the best engineers in the business at work, after all.

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Grade: Sophomore
Experience: One year on Varsity squad
“I love spending time with my friends on cheer,” Trecek said. “I wasn’t as nervous [for tryouts] as I was last year just because I know what to expect. I’m so excited that we have a new coach.”

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Grade: Junior
Experience: One year on Freshman squad
“I like being able to try new things in stunting and spend time with friends, as well as make some new ones,” Robert said. “Practicing with my friends over the weekend at our slumber party was the best part of tryouts. I’m really looking forward to Friday night football games!”

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Kendall Dunn
Grade: Freshman
Experience: One year on Freshman squad
“East cheer has a lot of fun girls and Tim to offer,” Dunn said. “I’m excited to start next year with Lindsey as our head coach. Cheer is one of those sports with extra fun things to get involved in. My favorite part about tryouts is going in in front of the judges and going crazy with my spirit. I’m excited to see the program move forward next year to reach new levels of amazing cheer.”

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Grade: Sophomore
Experience: One year on Freshman squad and one year on Varsity squad

“It’s a lot of fun to get to know all the girls and have a physical activity that is motivating, rewarding and fun all at the same time,” Seabaugh said. “I always look forward to coming to practice and games and being involved in school activities. I like seeing everyone who is trying out and what they’ve been working on to get to all year. It shows everyone’s skills that they’ve built up through the year. There’s a new head coach and she’s is supposed to have a lot of new ideas and activities that we’ve never done before.”

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Grade: Junior
Experience: One year on Sophomore squad and one year on JV squad
“I enjoy the spirit we bring to this school,” Reynolds said. “It is so fun putting energy into the crowds at sporting events. I enjoyed the tryout dance because I love to dance. [Next year] will be my senior year and my grade is filled with so many talented athletes that are going to make cheering at games such a great experience.”

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Not present for interviews/pictures: Caroline Breckenridge

You can find the JV results here.

Hiba Akhtar | Harbinger Online

It’s a constant game of who can make who smile larger when senior Emily Frye and junior Scott Slapper are together. He’ll sophomorically tease her, pinch her leg and call her a brat. She’ll jokingly scoot away from him, eyes transfixed on his. When together, all the two see are each other.

The past 157 days have been filled with quintessential high school moments for the couple.

They went to WPA together, saw “Project X” and frequently run away to Crown Center or the Liberty Memorial to be by themselves. They go on walks after church, both listen to country and agree “Inception” was good but too hard to follow.

They bicker.

She blames him for not answering the door the first time she met his family. He argues he was too busy playing Madden.

They talk about everything with each other. But there is one thing they don’t like talking about: The future.

Four months from now, Frye will be studying at Kansas State University. Slapper will be a high school senior, 124 miles away. Or in their terms, around 20 trips to Liberty Memorial from Frye’s house.

Next year is full of ambiguity and uncertainty for the couple, but before they worry about any separation, they’ll have one last high school memory to make: Prom.

They’ll dance at Union Station together. Frye will be too energetic and all over the dance floor. Slapper will laugh and tease her about it. And throughout the night, they’ll try to forget about next year when Frye won’t be able to smell Slapper’s shirt when he comes back from making pizzas at work. Or how they won’t be competing in gingerbread house building competition with Frye’s family next December.

And they’ll ignore statements about how this might be their last dance, together.

Hiba Akhtar | Harbinger Online

Hiba Akhtar | Harbinger Online

Hiba Akhtar| Harbinger Online

6:30.

Junior Parker Johnson has no time to spare today. No time to hit the snooze three or four times. No time for an extra yogurt for breakfast. He has plans this morning.

6:40.

Sophomore Annie Kuklenski wakes up like she would on any Monday. Slowly. She crawls out of bed and begins her regular routine. No need to rush today.

7:00.

Johnson hops in his car and rushes off to school, handmade poster in hand and trickery up his sleeve. She’s not going to know what hit her.

7:20.

Kuklenski worries about track practice on her way to school; her coaches told her it’d be a hard one today. She ponders how she will do her Algebra 2 assignment before sixth hour. Mondays are never her days.

7:25.

Johnson prepares his surprise for Kuklenski. He checks to see if his button-up is tucked in. If his hair is just right. The sign is readable. Everything’s set. He takes his place behind Senora Myers’ desk next to his accomplice, the one he calls “Maximo,” and the star of his “one act.”

“Do you know which one to dance to? Blonde curly hair. Sits at that desk.”

“Maximo,” really freshman Maxx Lamb, nods his head, he understands.

7:40.

Kuklenski walks in room 506 to find “Carlos,” the fake iguana they often joke about, siting on her desk. Next thing she knows, “Vamos a La Playa,” a song she and Parker joke about, starts blaring from Senora Myers’ projector.

Maximo emerges, clapping. Dancing. Cartwheeling around the room.

Then Johnson emerges. Smile on his face. Sign in hand.

“I’m not as good of a dancer as Maximo, but will you go to Prom with me?”

Kuklenski responds with only a shocked look. A nod. And a hug.

Hiba Akhtar | Harbinger Online

An orange heart drawn with window paint on the top-right corner of senior Calvin Handy’s Honda Accord lights up with each passing streetlight. The blaring of “Good Ol’ Fashion Nightmare” by Matt & Kim shake blow-up flamingos in the packaging in the backseat, as he makes the routine voyage to his best friend, senior Lanie Leek’s house.

For Handy, it was never who he was going to ask to Senior Prom, but how.

He and Leek grew up together. Scraped knees in the creek behind Leek’s house playing tag. Spent days riding bikes up and down Ensley Lane.

It makes sense for them to go to Senior Prom. They went to their first high school dance together — why not finish the way they started?

Handy approaches Leek’s car with care, window paint and two inflatable flamingos in hand. He tip-toes around sticks and leaves, carefully hoisting himself onto her maroon Ford Escape, hoping not set off the motion sensor light above the garage.

They’ve gone on vacations to Colorado, run up and down hills in Lawrence at KU football games and gotten in trouble for playing with the hose when Handy’s mom told them not to. They’ll both head off to KU next year and take on college. Prom will be their final high school hurrah. Together.

“If these flamingos fall off her car, I’m going to freak,” Handy says, scooting off the hood of Leek’s car.

The bright green paint on Leek’s windshield radiates in the dark night. He makes finishing touches, skitters to his car and bolts.

Ten minutes later, Leek gets home from swim practice. Walking up to her car, she reads the sign.

“Lanie: Will you Flamin-GO to Prom with me?”

-Calvin.

She laughs. Of course, he didn’t even need to ask.

Hill and Mack Brown spent time talking with head football coach Chip Sherman and Sam Brown. Sam Brown told the Harbinger Online that Missouri is not currently recruiting anyone here, but they are expressing interest in junior quarterback Jordan Darling. Darling has already received offers from KU and gaining interest from other Division I schools. For more on Darling, check out Corbin Barnds’ article here. ]]> http://smeharbinger.net/sports/university-of-missouri-coaches-come-to-east/feed 0 http://smeharbinger.net/featured/earth-fair-piece http://smeharbinger.net/featured/earth-fair-piece#comments Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:14:43 +0000 Brendan Dulohery http://smeharbinger.net/?p=55355 Residents of greater Prairie Village walked out of the Shawnee Mission East gym with more environmental knowledge on Saturday.

The 11th annual Prairie Village Earth Fair saw thousands of visitors, young and old alike. Attractions included Cultivate Kansas City, Environmental Club booths and interactive presentations, animals and vendors.

“There was a good turnout, the fashion show was exciting and there was a good variety of people in attendance,” Environmental Club secretary Ada Throckmorton said. “We had our waterbottle igloo, recycled crafts [newspaper hats] and a competition to construct bridges out of recycled materials.”

Molly Howland

“I love cooking and I love baking and it makes me happy,” Sarah said. “And it makes other people happy, too, and that’s an exuberant bonus.”

To her, cooking was as easy as breathing, and something she did every day for pleasure. And if  you had told her that she would one day turn her favorite hobby into a business, she wouldn’t have believed you. It didn’t seem fair that she could make money doing something that she loved so much.

“Cooking is its own art,” Sarah said. “It’s something you get a lot out of, because it plays to all the senses.”

She first decided to start her business at the beginning of the school year. She talked it over with her parents, discussing the pros and cons of having her own business and what kind of risk she could be taking. After her parents, John and Kathy, had to sell their restaurant in 2005 due to the unpredictability of the economy, Sarah was hesitant to enter the same risk. But she needed a job, and since she commutes 45 minutes every day from Edgerton to East for the I.B. program, it isn’t possible for her to have a regular job like her friends.

Grant Kendall | Harbinger Online

So Sarah opened Classy Cakes, which according to the Facebook page, promises to provide “cupcakes and other joyous confections for birthdays, graduation and awkward family gatherings!” Offering brownies, snickerdoodle blondies, coconut macaroons and any kind of cupcake, everything is sold for $18 a dozen. Sarah researched costs of local bakeries and priced her products much cheaper in the hope that she would draw in more customers.

“Food is not an easy way to make money,” Kathy said. “It takes a lot of time, but it is very rewarding because when you give someone good food, you give them joy.”

Previously, Sarah was selling her hand-crafted jewelry at Lulu’s. But making jewelry was too time consuming, and only worked as a gift for her friends. So she switched to baking, which she could do on a more flexible schedule and use as a gift for both genders.

Food has been her life, her passion, since as long as she can remember. She grew up constantly surrounded by food whether she was strapped to her parents’ back at a Farmers’ Market, helping in their family vegetable garden, or copying down recipes from her favorite cookbook, Bailey Lee’s Dessert Book. Cooking was something she picked up along the way.

“I think the idea that I, or anyone, ‘taught her to cook’ is a bit of a misconception,” John said.  “If teaching amounts to hanging around answering a few perceptive questions while the student explores one delicious creative avenue after another – with the rare dead end – then I guess I taught her to cook along with her Mom. I would, however, describe Sarah as self-taught. We just help keep the culinary environment vivid and necessary supplies on hand.”

Now, Sarah spends at least an hour every day in her kitchen cooking. She makes a homemade, organic meal for herself and her parents every night, as well as her lunch for the following day. For a majority of her dishes, Sarah creates her own recipes; she calls it being “adventurous.” Her inspiration for these new dishes come from the hours she spends watching “America’s Test Kitchen” and researching on allrecipes.com or epicurious.com. She’ll mix recipes like Banana’s Foster and Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes, and come up with something completely new. And when she wants to test it out, she brings it to school for feedback from her classmates.

Grant Kendall | Harbinger Online

But before she tries anything new or mixes any recipes, she meticulously reads countless reviews, because nothing irks Sarah more than a recipe gone wrong.

“I get really upset because it just seems like such a waste,” Sarah said. “And especially if I’m going to bring it to someone, I’m like, now I can’t make their day happy.”

But, as her dad said, Sarah rarely meets dead ends in her experiments.

Although Sarah has not yet decided what college she is going to next year, she knows one is for sure — she won’t be studying the culinary arts. She’d rather keep that as something on the side. She plans to keep the business going and expanding what she sells throughout her college years, but she will be studying Art History and Art, with a focus in Archeology and Art Preservation and a minor in math.

“It has nothing to do with cooking, which is very upsetting,” Sarah said. “[But] it’s very much a part of my life.”

And despite her busy schedule, juggling between her schoolwork and her artwork, Sarah will always make time for cooking. Because, after all, cooking is her art.

Miranda Gibbs | Harbinger Online

Growing up, Vaughn had always been fascinated by costumes. From admiring the costumes of Disney princesses to actually making Halloween costumes for her siblings, Vaughn has loved every aspect of making costumes.

“I’ve always been crafty when I was younger,” Vaughn said. “But this is the biggest [project] I’ve ever [taken on]. I’ve embroidered my backpack and done other little things, but this one’s pretty intense.”

In 7th grade, Vaughn took FACS but it wasn’t until taking sewing classes at Harper’s Fabric and Quilt Co. the summer of her junior year that Vaughn started expanding her interest in designing, making and sewing costumes. Vaughn took part in the NAHS Fashion Show this fall and discovered the fun of fashion shows.

“That was a really good experience,” Vaughn said. “Definitely over the summer I’m going to try and see if I can find some [more fashion shows]. I just want to keep doing it because it’s good practice. And it’s really fun meeting the new people and seeing their designs.”

Vaughn’s previous experience in the NAHS Fashion Show led her to take interest in the Re-Fashion Show. Hosted by the Environmental Club, the Re-Fashion Show will be at noon in the gym during the Earth Fair on April 21. The clothing must include some type of repurposed material to coincide with Earth Day. Materials can range from conventional materials like clothing and fabric to unconventional materials like flowers and paper. Vaughn decided to make her dress completely out of Starburst and newspaper strips.

Watching “Project Runway” has given Vaughn a sense of the difficult tasks involved in designing something unconventional, but Vaughn still wants to do it. This fashion show has given Vaughn the opportunity to try something she had never done before, while applying skills and techniques she has learned.

“I’m in high school and I have a job so obviously I can kind of spend money willy-nilly,” Vaughn explained. “As when I’m older, I won’t really have the time or maybe the resources to do this. So, it’s kind of a good time – a very good time to do this.”

Using a technique a friend taught her in 8th grade, Vaughn is going to weave a dress completely made out of Starburst and newspaper. Vaughn got the idea when she made Starburst bracelets using the same technique when she was younger.

“I was looking through my drawer of sewing stuff and there was a huge bag full of wrappers [leftover] and was like ‘this could be pretty cool, if I could get it done,’” Vaughn said. “Which I think I can.”

Vaughn has worked hard to make the individual links. Although she doesn’t do much of the eating, Vaughn brings in huge 14 oz. bags of Original and Tropical Starburst to her classes so they can eat the candy and she can have the wrappers.

“I bring them to class and they’re gone in no time,” Vaughn said. “It’s crazy but it’s good.”

Vaughn has folded so many Starburst wrappers that it has become second nature to her.

“It’s kind of like origami,” Vaughn said. “I’ve taught some people in my classes and it’s really not that hard. People are really amazed by it but to me it’s like I can just do it by now.”

After folding multiple individual links, she quickly attaches them together to make a chain. Vaughn doesn’t consider the folding processes hard work but just very time consuming. This approach to finishing the dress is more efficient.

Vaughn took inspiration from the 1800s to make her dress. She wanted to combine modern styles with the style of the 1800s. Vaughn’s plan for the dress is that the bodice will be made of newspaper and fade into a Starburst skirt. Although Vaughn doesn’t have a specific pattern for weaving the Starburst, she makes sure there aren’t similar colors.

“I mean I think it’s really cool cause far away people are going to be like ‘oh, that’s cool’, but when they get up close it’s like ‘oh my gosh, it’s trash but it looks really cool,’” Vaughn said.

Vaughn will have to use a combination of weaving and sewing to finish the dress. She’s already worried about sizing and because she is using Starbursts, she won’t be able to make quick changes. Any major changes that Vaughn wants to make will have to require taking apart links.

“I’m going to be working up until then. I’m probably going to have to sew my model into the outfit,” Vaughn said. “It doesn’t matter if I don’t get enough sleep, miss some school maybe, but I’ll get it done.”

Vaughn wants to design costumes in the future and do it as a career. She was recently contacted about styling for a 1800s themed calendar.

“I like the range that you get from costuming because you can basically do whatever,” Vaughn explained. “It’s your imagination — you can basically come up with whatever.”

Apparel teacher Marsha Boyer thinks that Vaughn has a future doing this.

“She is a very hard worker and is very creative,” Boyer said. “She has the ability to envision things in her head and then figure out how to make it and turn out to be an actual dress or project.”

While her classmates chew their Starburst, Vaughn quietly collects the wrappers and starts weaving. The noise of wrappers, chewing and folding quickly become background noise to the presentations. Vaughn continues weaving throughout class, only stopping when the bell rings. Nobody gives it second thought.

***

Brendan Dulohery | Harbinger Online

Anna Danciger | Harbinger Online

The excitement was contagious, and the scene, described by six-year-old Tommy Smith, was one of the coolest moments of his life.

On April 6, the Sea Life Aquarium opened its doors to over 1,200 people.

“Opening day it was crazy,” staff member Erick Adair said. “It was very busy, very crowded, but very efficient. We got everything moving along, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I think it was pretty successful overall. We’ve had some older people here who were really excited about the sea turtles coming in. It was cool because people of all different ages and backgrounds found something they enjoyed here.”

After waiting in a 45 minute line to get in the door (good reason to bring a friend with you), I finally got to see what all the fuss was about. I was welcomed by the incredibly accommodating staff of the aquarium. The sound of laughter and gurgling water floated down the hall as I bought my ticket in the main atrium, then entered into the first room.

The aquarium was designed to usher the crowds forward through a maze of rooms, taking visitors from the pond life of Kansas to the shores of the ocean, and then down to its depths. The flow of the theme from room to room was enhanced by the design. The tour starts out in a room reflecting a stream with Kansas’s indigenous fish. As I walked further through the aquarium, I came into a room resembling the seashore, complete with rock pools where visitors can touch starfish and sea urchins. Finally, the deep-ocean tanks come into view, where the main attraction begins. Sharks and stingrays swim amongst smaller fish above patrons as they walk through a three-part tunnel, which gives different views of the tank.

While the creatures are still young, it’s still an extraordinary sensation to be inches from a mini-Jaws. Aside from the aggressive soccer moms wielding their strollers as they blew through the crowded walkways, the atmosphere was very peaceful. The steady flow of water coupled with the soothing underwater background sounds and the sight of rays gliding lazily through the water made for a relaxing visit, much more appealing than that of the bustling crowd.

The experience was heightened by the knowledgeable education specialists stationed throughout the tour. They weren’t pushy about sharing their information with the crowds, but were enthusiastic about answering any questions about the creatures in their domain. Several recommended that I come back periodically, because there are always new creatures moving in to accompany over 5,000 animals that currently call the Sea Life aquarium home.

“We’re constantly getting in new animals for new attractions or to replace ones that died,” staff member Tom Creech said. “We’re waiting on sea turtles and jellyfish to come in.”

This aquarium is unique in the way it is specifically designed as a marine-biology education center. Although smaller than others of its kind, it provides for an intimate experience between guests, education specialists and, most importantly, the animals.

It was after two months of demanding dance classes and competitive auditions that senior Grayson McGuire found a reason to believe that he didn’t graduate early for nothing. After auditioning for Travis Wall’s [from “So You Think You Can Dance?”] new reality TV show, the casting director made it a point to tell McGuire that he would have made it if he wasn’t still 17.

After completing the three classes in his schedule at East, McGuire had set out on his own to L.A. to pursue his dream of being in show business.

He started dancing in sixth grade at the Miller Marley School of Dance and Voice at the urging of his fellow actors at Theatre in the Park.

“I was really into musical theater, so I decided to give dance classes a try,”  McGuire said. “I hated it at first because there weren’t many boys in the class.”

But after a while more boys signed up for the class and once McGuire became more comfortable, he discovered he had a passion for the art. In his free time, he began choreographing dances for himself and later classmates. It was during his freshman year that he began to realize he wanted to make a career of dancing.

“I don’t want to be sitting behind a desk all day,” McGuire said. “If I couldn’t [succeed in Los Angeles] I would be a choreographer or I would teach dancing or voice. Anything to stay out from behind a desk.”

McGuire left his friends and family for the City of Angels on Jan. 12.

“My parents were obviously concerned about things like me living on my own and having to take care of myself or never seeing me again,” McGuire said. “But they were mostly worried about me getting into cocaine or other hard drugs, just because there’s a huge market in L.A. and it’s easy to get sucked into that. But I don’t do drugs, so no worries there.”

For the first step to making it in L.A., McGuire needed to get picked up by a talent agency. Packed in a gym alongside over 200 other Hollywood hopefuls, he was taught a routine and asked to replicate it with a group of three to five others in front of his potential agents. He was fortunate enough to be one of the 10 selected for representation.

He has since auditioned for a variety of gigs, including a dancer in several music videos, the Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards with Will Smith, for parts in various reality TV shows and even for a job in Disneyland Tokyo.

He’s currently concentrating on the training side of fame, taking classes at several studios including The Edge Performing Arts Center, Millenium Dance Complex and Debbie Reynolds Dance Studio, as well as partaking in as many auditions as he can. Even if he doesn’t fit one part, if he becomes a familiar face, the casting directors might refer him for a role more suitable to his talents.

Yet despite his success, he misses the rain, the dollar-cheaper gas and streets devoid of heavy traffic in Kansas. He misses his English teacher Mrs. Frutchey-Miller, his friends and family, especially his dog Shammy and his cat Neo. He hasn’t been back to visit yet, but he plans to return for graduation and stay until mid-summer, spending that time choreographing and catching up with the friends and family he left behind.

In the meantime, he’s made a new family in Los Angeles. He’s become extremely close with the people in his contemporary dance company, Entity, during their 10:30 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. dance rehearsals.

“Meeting people here is an ongoing thing,” McGuire said. “I just try to be nice to everyone and make connections cause it’s all about who you know out here.”

He has also adopted a new member into his family, a guinea pig named Lucy in the Sky.

“She’s amazing,” McGuire said. “I want to get another one and name it Dirt on the Ground. I think that’d be really funny. But seriously, guinea pigs are the way to go.”

McGuire loves his new home in the dance capitol of the world. He likes the fact that the average temperature is around 70 degrees every day. He likes that he can go down to the beach in Malibu, hike in the Santa Monica Mountains and tour the city in the same day.

But he especially loves the opportunity he has been given.

“I’m constantly trying out for different shows,” McGuire said. “I mean, I almost made it on a TV show [within a few months of being here], so hopefully big things are in store for me soon. We’ll see what happens.”

Grayson’s Solo Performance

AnnaMarie Oakley | Harbinger Online

For Gehring-Lowery, the Lancer Day parade is just one of many things that she will miss as she moves to Texas later this year.

“I’ll miss the coffee shop because it’s really cool, no other school has had that,” Gehring-Lowery said. “I am going to miss the pep rallies, the choir singing in the hallways and the band going through the hallways. I’m also going to miss Sports Picks with Will and Nick, you have to put Sports Picks in there. I’m gonna miss all these things.”

Gehring-Lowery is leaving behind the people and events of East during the last weekend in May. She is moving to the town of Flower Mound, north of Fort Worth, TX. Her husband, Joshua Lowery, has been in Texas since the beginning of November after accepting a job with Wilson Mohr, an industrial controls company. Before changing jobs and moving, Lowery worked in industrial sales for Burner Design and Control, a company specializing in heating.

“[He] was offered a position down there that had a higher pay,” Gehring-Lowery said. “We had been wanting to get back to Texas for a while.”

Moving back to Texas brings some challenges for Gehring-Lowery, from looking for teaching jobs in Texas, to only seeing her husband once a month.

“We try to see each other once a month,” Gehring-Lowery said. “It’s been really difficult. We do have our daughter who is 12 and she is in a lot of different activities, and then with work and taking care of all the animals it’s been kinda tough to do it all on my own. We don’t have a lot of family in the area so a lot of the responsibility falls on me.”

One of the challenges for Gehring-Lowery is transporting her horse nearly 550 miles in the summer heat. She is currently looking for a cross country horse hauler to help transport her horse. According to Gehring-Lowery, it’s necessary to use a hauler because the horses need a periodic break from the heat along with food and water.

After arriving in Texas, Gehring-Lowery’s troubles won’t be over. As of now, she doesn’t have a specific job lined up. The school systems in Texas are currently going through the same problems that the systems in Kansas have been going through since the recession started in December of 2007: budget cuts. Nearly $5.4 billion dollars was recently cut from the school budget by the Texas state legislature according to a Texas State Teachers Association press release.

If Gehring-Lowery can’t find a teaching job, she might have to find a job in a different field for a few years while she waits for the state education budget to go back up.

“I probably would go back into human resources,” Gehring-Lowery said. “Or maybe something in industrial sales, something similar to  that.”

AnnaMarie Oakley | Harbinger Online

“I really had to work to gain my students respect and trust and motivate them to want to learn,” Gehring-Lowery said about Cy-Ridge high school. “When I could do that with a class of students it was amazing. It was really great to feel like I can get these kids to love learning and they can really do something.”

Although Gehring-Lowery has taught at both a school in Texas and one in Kansas, her students from both schools have the same thing in common – the ability to change her outlook on life.

“My favorite part about teaching is that [my students] make me laugh every single day,” Gehring-Lowery said. “I really enjoy and appreciate how enthusiastic and idealistic my students are, it gives me faith and hope that when things are not going well in the world it can turn around.”

Gehring-Lowery’s students laugh alongside her according to sophomore Taylor MucCullough.

“She is very personable and easy to talk to,” McCullough said. “She is a teacher, but sometimes she can also be like a friend too.”

Although Gehring-Lowery is moving to Texas, she will still be looking to do her favorite thing and continue to improve students’ lives and their opportunities.

“I can get these [former students at Cy-Ridge high school] to love learning,” Gehring-Lowery said. “They can really do something. I believe in the phrase ‘education is power.’ You know, education is the one thing that we can gain that no one can take away from you. It gives you options, provides doorways and pathways that may not have existed before.”

Evan Nichols | Harbinger Online

Someone reports your Facebook profile to the school? One of your friends tags you in a tweet about how you’re going to #party tonight? @TotalSMEastMove retweets a picture of you holding a red cup? Please report to the main office at the end of this hour.

Multiple students have been called into the office this year due to social media related referrals which has raised an important question: does the school have a right to pry into the student-driven social media scene? In most cases, absolutely not. Using the famous Tinker v. Des Moines Sch. Dist. court case as a standard, courts around the country have again and again ruled in favor of free student speech on the grounds that the speech did not “materially and substantially interfere with the operation and discipline of the school.” Unless a tweet inhibits other students’ ability to learn or teachers’ ability to teach, the speech is protected under the First Amendment. Students getting called into the office because of an out-of-school, 140 character message to their friends isn’t just a waste of time, it’s outside the school’s jurisdiction.

Granted, the increased use of technology both in and outside of school has made it difficult to determine just how far a school’s jurisdiction over its students extends. As the Student Press Law Center has pointed out, “the wide accessibility of the Internet blurs the line between on- and off- campus speech…”

Yes, the Internet has made it more difficult to define the boundary lines. But that’s why schools have policies. SMSD has a policy about appropriate Internet use in school. They have a policy prohibiting drug and alcohol use in school or at school sponsored events. They have a policy on how to handle sexual harassment cases in school. They have a policy against cyberbullying in school.

Can you see the phrase that keeps popping up here?

In school. That’s where the administration’s jurisdiction begins and ends. Their policies apply only to SMSD property and school sanctioned events. The use of social media or any other form of speech outside of school is protected by the First Amendment and above administrative interference. As Kansas American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Legal Director Doug Bonney explains, “school administrators are not imperial babysitters.”

Now, this doesn’t mean you should start firing off tweets about drugs and drinking once you drive out of the East parking lot, especially if you have a public account. If your account is public — meaning anyone can access your profile or account or tweets without having to “friend” you or get your expressed permission — the school has every right to inform the Prairie Village Police Department or any other police station of what you tweeted. But according to Bonney, they do NOT have the right to bring up a student’s tweet during school and discipline them.

There’s multiple cases around the country that support students’ right to private social media use. In the 2000 court case Emmet v. Kent Sch. Dist., a student created humorous “mock obituaries” of some of his school friends on his own website. Upon discovering the site, school administrators put Emmet on “emergency expulsion.” When the case was taken to trial, the court found Emmet’s speech to be “…entirely outside the school’s supervision or control,” and ordered the court to immediately lift the punishments (Emmet also scored $1 in damages and $6,000 in legal costs from the school).

In Beussink v. Woodland Sch. Dist., then junior Nadean Beussink received a 10-day suspension (which consequently caused him to flunk his classes) after teachers and administrators discovered his personal, off-campus website which criticized the school. Using the Tinker standard, the U.S. District Court ruled in favor of Beussink, stating that although his site voiced an “unpopular viewpoint,” it had not caused any “material disruption” to the school. His suspension was overturned, and he passed his classes.

Cases like these  illustrate the danger of administrative interference into students’ social media use. Right now, according to assistant principal Molli Armstrong White, “[Social media referrals] fall under the same guidelines that we look at any kind of disruption.” She went on to say that “the only time the school becomes involved is when it has a direct and substantial impact on something that is going on in the school.” That’s all great to hear, but this is a policy that isn’t set in stone which makes it dangerous to both administrators and students.

Earlier this year, a senior student was called into the office because anonymous twitter account @TotalSMEastMove retweeted a picture of him asleep on a couch. Really? That’s worthy of a visit to the office? In that case, they should’ve probably called me into the office for the time I tweeted a picture of one of my friends who had fallen asleep watching a movie. Now, no disciplinary action was taken against the student, and I admire the fact that the administration is concerned with the safety of its students. But they need to play to their own rules and intervene only when things substantially impact the school. That office referral should have never happened in the first place.

Although the administration needs to reconsider the situations they choose to involve themselves in, this isn’t an entirely one-sided issue. To my fellow students: constitutional rights don’t give you the right to be a dumbass. Tweeting or Facebooking about illegal things on the weekends might not get you in trouble with the school, but it could get you busted with the real law enforcement. Cyberspace never forgets, even when you have. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: social media isn’t going anywhere, and for that reason we — that is, both administrators and students — need to learn how to use it and respond to it appropriately.

Emma Robson | Harbinger Online

In the top drawer of that dresser, though, my most prized nostalgic possession hides itself from the rest of the world. I’ve shielded it away from most who know me, besides a few closest friends, but I feel I’m ready to reveal my dorkiest fervor. Here it goes: I am a closet ‘80s fanatic, and that embarrassing possession in my top dresser drawer is a stack of CD’s I have accumulated over the years from my Mom and Dad’s old CD collection. The Cure, Tears for Fears, Psychedelic Furs and a copy of “The Breakfast Club” soundtrack. Any ‘80s new wave song, you name it, I probably know most of the words to it; I’m a sucker for synth.

I don’t think of the ‘80s in neon colors and shoulder pads, or even permed hair and fingerless gloves. My infatuation with the ‘80s is heavily influenced by one man – John Hughes. “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, “Pretty in Pink”, “Sixteen Candles”: Hughes is the fuel behind these angst-filled flicks. And then there’s “The Breakfast Club,” the movie that fills me with nostalgia for a decade I was never even alive for.

“The Breakfast Club,” released in 1985, is one of the greatest cult classics of all time. It’s timeless, emotionally forceful drama, that’s ironically comical at times, is compelling to teenagers to this day. The movie follows five unknowing high schoolers who spend one Saturday morning together in detention with their cynical principal. It is a movie about nothing and everything.

I cannot describe how many times I have geeked out listening to “Fire in the Twilight” by Wang Chung, picturing the memorable scene in Breakfast Club when the Brat Pack is running through the linoleum floored halls of their suburban, Chicago based high school. I should be more embarrassed about confessing to this, but my next confession is fundamentally more embarrassing.

I always pictured high school, or at least my high school experience, playing out to be like a quintessential John Hughes movie. My Breakfast Club dream dates back to sixth grade, when I was first exposed to the Brat Pack in all their glory. No other movie I had seen before “Breakfast Club” had made high school seem like a life-changing experience, much less fabricate the idea that detention could result in an impromptu dance montage.

To my younger self, this type of high-school-based movie was refreshing after “High School Musical” mania spread like wildfire through the pre-teen hearts of my school. John Hughes understood me and every other teen that was filled with a mixture of anxiety for the inevitable future and the ever-looming doom of puberty that would ensue in the next two years.

Hughes’ characters weren’t just “the princess” or “the jock” or “the recluse.” There was Claire Standish, played by Hughes’ muse, Molly Ringwald — the spoiled popular girl, but also a girl caught in the middle of her parents’ crumbling marriage. John Bender (Judd Nelson) is the rebellious smart-ass who has to live with the scars from the abuse of his father at home. Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall), the stereotypical brain dealing with the constant fear of failure. Allison Reynolds (Ally Sheedy), the reclusive basket case who hides behind her strange exterior due to her lack of friends. And Andrew Clark (Emilio Estevez), the popular wrestler who constantly fights the guilt he feels for bullying other kids.

I wanted to be Claire, Bender, Allison, Andrew and Brian all at once. And if I couldn’t be a culmination of the five main characters, I was at least determined to find them in the halls of Shawnee Mission Wonderful at some point during my four year stint in high school.

By the end of the movie, these characters strip each others’ perceptions of each other, revealing something to the viewer that makes them believe it’s the youth versus the future and the 9-to-5 jobs that we will perhaps all face at some point in our lives. If anything, it revealed the fact that being stranded here on this island called high school together should bring us closer.

So here I am, senior year, a little less than three months left in this institution and I still haven’t found my “Brian” or my “Claire.” I still have yet to have that “Breakfast Club Moment” — the moment of unexpected spontaneity between an unlikely group of people.

The problem just might be, that as real as Hughes’ cult classic seemed every time I watched it, it wasn’t real at all; it was only a movie. For one, no one is just a nerd, or a jock or a rebel. The jock is also the nerd, the rebel is also the jock and a lot of times the princess is also the basket case and the rebel and the nerd. There’s also no such thing as Saturday morning detention, so the idea of the “Breakfast Club” is completely irrelevant to Friday Schools and consequently would have to be referred to as “After School Snack Club”, which sadly isn’t as catchy.

I realized one defining thing about my Hughes inspired search. No, I haven’t sat in detention with four seemingly polar opposite strangers, (the only detention I have been handed was for texting my mother in my freshman English class. It seemed like a bigger deal at the time). No, I haven’t run through the white-walled halls of East like the Brat Pack did. And no, I haven’t danced on top of bookshelves in the empty library when the administration wasn’t looking.

But I have danced across the streets of Portland at night with fellow Journalism students, half running and skipping past flickering streetlights — a bunch of journalism nerds. I have sprinted into the freezing waters of Lake Michigan after running a 5k Cross Country meet in Chicago with 20 other seniors — a bunch of cross country jocks. I have also driven to the middle of nowhere Olathe and back with three of my elementary school friends in the seats in front and beside me, belting our favorite tunes and counting the number of houses that we passed. I sound like a “neo–maxo zoom dweebie,” but even though my high school experience hasn’t mirrored that of a John Hughes flick, I guess all of those moments were still miniature “Breakfast Club” moments.

I still haven’t given up hope on my big “Breakfast Dream,” though. I have a little less than three months left, and I now accept the fact that my “Breakfast Club Moment” will occur when I least expect it, with people I least expect to have it with. Call me crazy for writing this column, but you see it as you want to see it — in the simplest terms or most convenient definitions. So, whether you’re a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess or a criminal, I’ll see you in detention.

For more results from the meet, click here.

Footage of Shawnee Mission East’s varsity track meet, the SME Quad.