This summer, Kaufmann will not only be in a production of Legally Blonde the Musical at Theater in the Park, but she will also journey over 800 miles to spend three weeks at the prestigious Interlochen Summer Arts Camp.

Interlochen, a liberal arts camp in Interlochen, Michigan, has seen notable attendees such as Josh Groban, Norah Jones and Bob Dylan. The camp targets students of all ages, from juniors in elementary school, high school students and an “academy,” or boarding school, where high schoolers can take specific focus classes on their art of choice.

“I am looking forward to meeting so many people that are interested in the same thing as me and people that are as dedicated and want to go into it as a profession,” Kaufmann said. “I’m looking forward to being surrounded with competition so that I know where I fit in terms of when I get there later in life and so I can see where I really shine so that I can be successful.”

Interlochen provides a variety of programs based on length of time and intensiveness. These programs incorporate classes with specific instruction for their intended major from qualified professors like Jason Banks, who has designed lighting for A-List concerts such as Boys 2 Men and Smashmouth or Philip Dikeman, the associate director of flute at The Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University.
These professors factor into why Kaufmann was interested in the camp.

“My mom has gotten really good this year about researching things for me,” Kaufmann said. “I’m going into senior year and she’s really big on wanting me to have all the credentials to A, get into the colleges that I want, B, get in to the musical theater programs that I want and, C, get the scholarships that I want.”

What sold Kaufmann on Interlochen, other than prestige of the camp, was her voice teacher and alumni of the camp, Melinda McDonald, who convinced Kaufmann to make Interlochen a priority for the summer.
“I went to her and she told me how she went there as a kid and how amazing it is and how much it will help me,” Kaufmann said. “She told me if there was anything else that you want to do to put it after Interlochen, make time for Interlochen, make money for Interlochen, do whatever you can to get to Interlochen.”

Unfortunately, when Kaufmann found out that she could still apply for Interlochen, she was about to embark on a ten day trip to Italy with the East Choraliers.
When she returned from Italy, Kaufmann started right in on her tape. She had to sing two 16-bar songs, one ballad and one more up-tempo Broadway song.

For her audition, Kufman sang the Alto’s Lament, an upbeat song that she has performed for auditions before. For her ballad Kaufmann sang “Simple Little Things” for the musical 101 and the Shade.
Then, since the application encouraged dance experience, Kaufmann used the East dance room and had her mom film a short choreographed dance to Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” that showed off all her leaps, turns and fluidity.Within five days the campus administration emailed Kaufmann with her acceptance into the three-week theater program and a merit based scholarship offer for $750.

With her acceptance Kaufmann also found out she would be overlapping programs with fellow junior Emma
Reno, who will be attending the six-week Orchestra and Wind Ensemble summer program for the flute.
While on a family vacation to Michigan, Reno and her mom took a day to visit Interlochen and explore the campus.

“I had never heard of it before, I didn’t realize how prestigious it was,” Reno said. “But after I did all my research on Interlochen and found out it’s kind of a big deal, I was like, OK I need to do this now.”
For her application Reno, like Kaufmann, had to do a video recording of two songs that had to be selected from a list of specific repertoire that Interlochen provided.

Since Reno wanted the best sound quality for her audition she reserved time in UMKC’s White Recital Hall and hired a professional to record her performance. Reno was accepted, but wasn’t given any of the financial aid or scholarships that she was hoping for. So, when Interlochen announced that they were holding an online contest for any accepted student, who hadn’t gotten any financial aid, Reno knew it would be perfect for her. Reno made a video of herself performing “Strength” and added a blues solo that she wrote, naming it “It’s a Blue Day for Pan.”

With votes pouring in Reno thought that she actually might have a chance at winning sound check which included full tuition, travel, uniforms and laundry—over $8,000 total. Reno ended up not winning the Sound Check contest but still wanted to attend the camp.

She now had to figure out a way to pay for Interlochen herself. Combining her life savings, donations from her grandfather and her parent’s friends, plus money she had saved up from working at the Tune Shop in Prairie Village, Reno was able to raise $6,300. Her parents agreed to pay the rest.

With her application turned in, Reno turned to fellow orchestra member junior Ali Felman who attended Interlochen last summer in the six-week Orchestra program for viola.

“I was excited for her when I heard because you know I want people at East to get the same experience that I had,” Felman said.

Felman had heard about Interlochen from a poster in her 7th grade orchestra class. When she got home that day and googled the camp it instantly became a dream.

“It’s really prestigious and I knew that I would learn a lot while gaining that camp experience,” Felman said. “I just kept reading about how it changed peoples lives and I wanted it to change mine.”

After applying Felman was fortunate enough to receive a $1,500 scholarship — something she knows really helped her out.

When summer rolled around and Felman had finally arrived at Interlochen she felt and immediate sense of welcome and companionship.

“Everyone there is so nice and welcoming,” Felman said. “You walked into the camp and felt an instant bond.”

Financially it didn’t work for Felman to go back again this summer but she hopes to return the summer after that or maybe in her college years.

“I learned to much technically about viola and about how to be more professional and how to be a better section leader,” Felman said. “I leaned how music can help people communicate and bring people together.”
All three girls know how much Interlochen will help them in the future.

“Interlochen is not only a great learning experience but is also definitely a good resume builder that can help me get into the colleges that I want,” Reno said.
Both Kaufmann and Reno know that although they might be some of the best for Kansas City, Interlochen will be a good reality check.

“Right now I’m kind of in this bubble where I get parts and I’m considered good,” Kaufmann said. “But when I get there I’m going to realize that this is what the real world is like and what I’m going to be up against on Broadway.”

At Interlochen this summer Kaufmann might be doing theater and Reno might be doing orchestra but in the end they’ll both reap the same benefits.

“I’m going to be at a camp with the world’s best,” Reno said. “And that’s going to be life changing.”

It’s hard for Katie not to feel happy when she’s playing pretend. That’s the way it’s always been. Her mom, Mary Sgroi, still remembers when Katie would play “dress-up” as a stumbling toddler and do different accents. She remembers how one day she tried to act out “Witches from Macbeth” with her babysitter. The dialogue probably didn’t have the right emotional depth and Katie maybe didn’t understand the play’s complexities, but she enjoyed babbling along to Shakespeare.
“Even at a young age when she was playing a character she was always able to stay in character even if I came down to ask if she wanted a snack or something,” Mary said. “She would stay in character even when answering me.”
For Katie, this summer is kind of like coming full circle. She will be acting on stage with the people that taught her growing up. She may even be acting with people she has seen multiple times across Kansas City stages. She’s nervous for the shows. Just like she was in the audition, she worries about how people will receive her. And she has never done anything on this big of a scale: it’s scary for her to imagine going from Dan Zollar’s auditorium for East shows to an outdoor venue that seats thousands.
But, according to Katie, she has a “most definite” addiction to theater. She couldn’t really get away from it even if she tried.
* * *
Katie still can’t believe she got the part. She says she will often go a little while without thinking about her upcoming summer, then she’ll read for Juliet in English or see something about Shakespeare in the paper and it hits her. It makes her feel giddy. Because even though she likes to stay modest, Katie can’t help but get a smile when thinking about her summer.
“It is a pretty big deal…for me,” Katie said. “There was a fair amount of people there at the audition, and for me to be one of them [in the cast], it’s a pretty big thing.”
Katie knows that performing at Shakespeare in the Park on a professional show is impressive. She knows that thousands of people will come to watch her. But she also knows that when she tells people she made the show, they may stare at her blankly and say “Umm… you mean Theater in the Park?”
Katie’s OK with that, though. She likes things that are different. She likes sitting at home and watching “Doctor Who” on Saturday nights. She likes her thick-rimmed glasses and the silver emblem that separates them from everybody elses’. She likes drinking hot green tea in her “Rampallian!”- and “Fustilarian!”-covered Shakespeare insult mug.
Katie’s always been drawn to things that aren’t the norm. And this summer is going to be brand new for her.
“This is close to five or six weeks instead of two or three months,” Katie said. “That’s going to be much shorter and more compact than anything I’ve ever done before.”
This summer, she is going to be performing 30 shows in a little over a month. She’ll have Mondays off to hang out with her friends or catch up on TV. But she may have to rethink family vacations. She can forget about any sort of summer job. She’ll probably have to deny a lot of friends’ requests to hang out.
But Katie can’t wait until that first friend asks her if she can do something on a Saturday, or a Tuesday or even a Sunday. She knows exactly what she’ll say.
“So, [it will be] like, ‘Hey do you wanna go hang out?” Katie says with a smile. “No… if you hang out on a Monday I can see you. Otherwise, no — cause I’ll be doing a show every night.”

Grade: 12

Tools: “Definitely a sewing machine, definitely scissors. Lots of pins. A sewing gauge, which is like a six-inch ruler. A blue fabric marking pen and an ironing board, usually. Those are the main ones for every project.”

Favorite tools: “I really like cotton because it comes in all sorts of patterns and colors and there’s more variety to it, so I’ve got more to pick from. But then I like patterns that I know I will use. I don’t want to make something and never wear it or never use it versus something I know I’m either giving as a gift or I know I’ll wear or a bag I know I’ll use.”

Beginning: “I started when [I was] in seventh grade, with FACS (Family and Consumer Sciences) class just because I thought it was going to be fun. But I’ve had sewing in my life since I was little. My mom sewed Halloween costumes and that kind of thing and my grandparents would always sew. It’ll probably just be an extra curricular as a fun way to relax [in the future]. I’m not going into anything sewing related.”

Stuck with it: “I thought it was really fun and it was kind of a way to relax during the day. Instead of taking all hard classes it was an easy way to do something more creative. I’ve actually become my friends’ go to person when they’ve got holes in their clothes or buttons falling off. It’s little repair things that they need done, but I’m still able to do it quite easily and quite quickly.”

Granstaff worked to build a rear spoiler. He is in his second year in the auto program at East. He has always enjoyed reading about cars and would consider working on them as a job if the opportunity arose. His idea to design and build a spoiler was something entirely new to East auto teacher Brian Gay.

“[No projects] have been aerodynamic like this,” Gay said. “This was the first that needed to be designed on [Computer Aided Design]. Usually they are more physically challenging, but this was more of a design problem. He almost could have decided on building an airplane body and had similar problems, it just so happens that we put it on a race car.”

Granstaff built the rear spoiler to go on a Porsche Cayman S owned by a friend ofGay. He built it to help increase the traction of the car. The spoiler does this by causing air to flow over the top of the car. It then pushes down on the spoiler, which pushes the car into the track on curves, increasing speeds.

“On race cars, in general they have spoilers and just other aerodynamic parts that help them out on the racetrack to give them grip,” Granstaff said. “That is what you’re going for, as much grip as you can get with as little weight added so you can go into turns faster.”

The car started off as a standard Porsche Cayman S worth approximately $60,000. Last year, Gay had his beginning auto tech class strip the Porsche and rebuild it into a racing Porsche worthy of use in the interseries races- – an American car series with car designs based off of historic racing Porsches. After two semesters of work from the auto tech class, the car’s value has risen to about $80,000.

“[The owner] would be allowed to use the car if he joined the interseries, although they would have to make a couple little changes,” Gay said. “We built the car up with the idea that if he decides to go racing he has the set up all the modifications we do are good for that.”

Gay suggested that Granstaff expand off of what the auto tech class did last year when they changed the Porsche’s transmission, suspension and overhauled the interior. Granstaff looked at Porsche interseries cars and their rear spoilers; this gave himthe idea to design and build one.

“I went into CAD and drew it out,” Granstaff said. “It took about a week to figure out how to make it structurally sound because you don’t want it to fall off. Then I printed it off to scale on paper so I could print off all the pieces.”

Granstaff started off by cutting out all of the ribs from aluminum using a jewelry saw. After all of the main pieces cut out, he riveted them together with the help of Gay. He used about 300 rivets in total to attach the ribs to each other and to a piece of L channel aluminum, a bent piece of metal used for strength. The final step was to wrap the entire spoiler in a thin sheet of aluminum.

One of the main problems that Granstaff ran into while building the spoiler was ensuring the structural stability. With speeds approaching 175 mph and nearly 200 pounds of down force being applied at the most critical angle, the wing had to be built stiffer than expected.

“We didn’t really account for having to put in the L channel aluminum lining the entire wing,” Granstaff said. “He just told me we needed ribs but it turned out we also needed a lot of other support.”

According to Gay, all of the hard work payed off as he was able to take out the Porsche for a day a couple of weeks ago.

“With Jonathans’ spoiler it was just a little bit slower on the straight away,” Gay said. “But it was much more stable in the corners. On a racetrack, you are happy to give away a bit of straight away speed to make it up in all of the corners and it does a good job of that.”

Granstaff said it is also a possible career path. Next year he is attending the University of Kansas and is planning on majoring in mechanical engineering.

“I really enjoy doing stuff like that so if there is an opportunity I definitely will pursue it,” Granstaff said. “I like working with my hands and I love CAD, I don’t know what I’m planning on doing with my degree but I would like it to have something to do with cars.”

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.

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.

Local Talk by HarbingerHomegrown

Matti Crabtree | Harbinger Online

If you were to look purely at the statistics behind the  college graduate unemployment rate and debt, you would a) faint b) abandon all plans for college c) apply for a job at a nearby McDonald’s. With the current college graduate unemployment rate at 9.1 percent (an all-time high) and the average student loans owed at $25,250, it is easy to get caught up in the numbers. However, before you trade in your books for burgers, take a hint from three SME graduates who have landed internships while still in college. They are living, breathing proof that it is possible to get a job that you love despite this topsy-turvy economy.

Drew McNamara – Stylist

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

The final bell rings and students sprint out of the classroom. Summer has started and it is time to let loose and forget about school for the next three months. They are about to go watch the newest movie with their friends until they reach into their pocket and realize that they are out of money. They’re broke and in order to be able to go to all the sweet summer concerts and satisfy the sweet tooth with the occasional TCBY frozen yogurt they are going to need some money. There are two options: sell everything in the house or get a job. Instead of selling the X-Box and TV, here are some the best local jobs East students are working that students could get hired to do.

It doesn’t matter if someone is working at their carwash at 85th and Stateline or at 119th by Town Center one thing’s for certain, they’re going to make bank. The pay may be near minimum wage but the tips will make up for it. Junior Patrick Blackburn who has been working at the carwash for two years, said that the tips can make the hard labor worth it.

“On a typical week, I make about a $100 a week working 20 hours a week,” Blackburn said.

Waterway allows their workers to get to polish up Johnson County’s wide range of automobiles. “Sometimes there were some old dirty cars that were a pain to clean or P.O.S.’s like I like to call them, but then there were some sweet cars like Bentleys or Benz’s that we got to get inside of,” Blackburn said. “It’s pretty cool since I’ve never really been up close to one.”

According to Blackburn the only downside to working at “The Way” is going to have to be working on the blazing hot 100 degree summer days. But if someone can work through the heat and wants to fill their pockets up with some cash, Waterway is the perfect job.

Junior Jackson Stephens nannied for a couple kids last summer and believes it’s the most convenient and easiest job he’s ever had.

“The worst part was probably picking the kid up from his house,” Stephens said. “Other than that I would usually just take them to the pool which is never a burden.”

The pay for this job can vary and mostly depends on the parents that are employing the sitter. Stephens received about $100 for 21 hours a week which is pretty low but other nannies can receive between $10 to $15 an hour.

No matter the pay, the most important job of a nanny is to ensure the safety of the child they babysit. Stephens says this job requires responsibility and the ability to connect with kids. Parents will be entrusting the nanny with their child and failure is not an option.

“As long as the kids are well behaved then the job won’t be that hard and it will be an easy few bucks.” Stephens said.

This job requires the capability to swim and a lifeguarding certification that costs about $95. According to sophomore Maddie Hise who lifeguards at the Carriage Club, the best part of the job is having the opportunity to meet new people everyday.

“You really get to know the members and see your friends,” Hise said. “It’s also nice to hang out by the pool on nice days.”

Unfortunately, lifeguarding isn’t as easy as getting certified and sitting by a pool. Hise has had a couple memorable experiences on the job that she would have rather not dealt with. One was when a couple of members were overserved and her manager made her tell them to leave.

“It was awkward kicking them out but it had to be done,” Hise said. “It’s important to make sure the Carriage Club pool is a friendly zone.”

Hise said that other than the one instance, the only other problems she’s had to deal with are swimmers’ injuries and kids acting up.

“If a boy starts getting too loud or throws things then it’s my job to give him a warning and make sure that he doesn’t do it again.” Hise said.

Despite rowdy kids and having to deal with a few boo-boos, Hise loves her job and plans on continuing it this summer.

Every summer the demand for for a well-kept lawn is high. That’s why this job has the one of the highest market than any other of these other jobs. According to sophomore Jackson Granstaff, the first thing somebody who wants to make a lot of money is going to want to do is to make flyers and hand them out to your neighbors. Once they get a few customers they are going to want to make sure they do a good job on their yards so they can build a good reputation. A good reputation means the customers will recommend the mower to their friends. This means more customers; more customers equals more money.

Granstaff, who has been mowing since seventh grade, started off with a few yards but has now escalated to over 10 yards.

“I started mowing with someone else but this summer I’ll be doing it by myself,” Granstaff said. “This summer I’m going to cut back on the yards so I have time to swim and my social life.

The best part about lawn mowing? The tax-free cash.

“It’s nice not having to deal with tax and getting one hundred percent of the profits,” Granstaff said.

Granstaff says he made $5,000 last summer and used that money to buy himself a 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee.

“Now that I bought myself a car I am planning to just save the rest of my profits for college,” Granstaff said.

Hiba Akhtar | Harbinger Online

Advanced Repertory is a drama class for seniors only. It’s the most advanced theatre class offered at East and students must take drama, actors studio, technical theater and repertory theatre prior to Advanced Repertory.

“It’s supposed to show what they’ve learned through their theatre studies, so we allow them the opportunity to direct their own piece and they do children’s theatre shows and things like that at a more advanced level,” Advanced Repertory teacher Brian Cappello explained.

During second semester, the seniors collaborate with each other to put on children’s plays at the local elementary schools.

“We have a big enough class this year that we divided them in half so one group is doing Cinderella and another group in doing Where the Wild Things Are,” Cappello said.

The class has given the students an environment to be creative and try want they want.

“Not only are we kind of each other’s peers in the class, but we’re also just a close, tight-knit group of friends.”

“It allows them to explore and study stuff you wouldn’t do for other classes because they aren’t ready for that yet,” Cappello said.

Because of the freedom, the seniors have decided to add a more musical component to their plays. Breckenridge explains that in one scene of “Where the Wild Things Are”, they pass out instruments to the students so they can join in with the “Wild Rumpus”.

“We have everyone playing instruments, banging around, jumping up and down and singing along. I’m holding the stick and just conducting everything along,” Breckenridge said.

Breckenridge says that she has really enjoyed being in the Advanced Repertory classes and had been looking forward to the class ever since she came to East. She says that the class not only has helped her with acting and becoming a better actress, but also by shaping her as a person.

“For a job application I recently had, they asked for leadership roles and so that putting in that I directed a Frequent Friday. I’ve actually gotten quite a few jobs from the fact that they know I can handle leadership,” Breckenridge said. “I’ve learned time management and how to get my ideas across in a way that people could actually understand.”

The class’ relationship with each other will be something that they’ll have for the rest of their lives. These seniors have stuck together through all four years.

“Not only are we kind of each other’s peers in the class, but we’re also just a close, tight-knit group of friends,” Breckenridge explained. “Anything stressful that happens outside of class, they know that they can just come here and just talk about it.”

Advanced Repertory has and will continue to have an impact on the students. It’s not just another class, it’s seventh hour Advanced Repertory.

–

The plays will be held April 13 at the elementary schools Belinder, Westwood View, Corinth, Prairie, and Briarwood where they’ll perform for roughly 100 kids. The first performance is held at 8:30 and the last is at 1:30.

To watch all the Advanced Repertory students’ Frequent Fridays, click here.

Grade: 12

Tools: Violin, bow, rosin- “tree sap molded into a shape that you rub on the bow to produce sounds”- and music stand.

Began: Fourth grade. They offered it in elementary school and I thought it would be fun to try. I ended up really liking it.

Best Part: The final product. You know, after you’ve practiced for weeks and weeks or months, even; it’s really rewarding. Every time orchestra finishes a concert and we know we’ve worked hard and played well, we all have big smiles on our faces and it’s really special.

Inspiration: Usually I hear a really cool piece or someone mentions a piece that they really enjoy and that drives me to practice more and work harder. Also, hearing everyone play and come together in a big group is really rewarding.

Advice: At first, it’s really boring. You start out by just plucking strings and being bored. There are all the repetitious exercises, scales, arpeggios. Even working on one little part over and over again is frustrating and annoying, but it eventually pays off. It’s important to stick with it because you learn so much and learn to play some really beautiful music.

Vocalise by Sergei Rachmaninoff

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.”

Grade: 12

Tools: “I love Sharpies. I have to have Sharpies. They’re probably my favorite thing to use. I don’t get too specific, though. It changes a lot. I use a lot of mixed media. Ink pencil, colored pencil. I like spray paint. Using just one thing gets boring; I like mixing it up.”

Inspiration: “Just what happens in my daily life. What I see and experience in and out of school, what I feel, how I process my world. You know, if a teacher asks me for a paper, I ask if I can draw because it’s easier. I always have ideas in the back of my head. And culture, especially. I grew up with an Italian mom and a Mexican dad, which has been a big influence. What I’ve seen in other countries and the people I’ve met; I’ve learned so much in a cultural way and that really helps with my work.”

Style: “I started when I was a little kid, just drawing randomly. As I aged, I realized it was something deeper than just drawing and that took me a while to figure out. Because of that, I don’t really follow what the teachers tell me to do. How I see it in my head is how I put it on the paper. I grow by trying things and experimenting. Of course, there are ways to go by the book, but it’s mostly what comes out of my head.”

Why: “I’ve always liked it. It became a hobby and a passion. Now it’s how I process everything, how I express myself. I have to do it, now, and some people don’t really understand [that]. I like that everyone has their own way of doing it; that’s my favorite part. The art I do is mine, no one else’s. And everyone has different ways they think it should be. Some people don’t get what’s up in a painting, but the artists knows exactly what’s up because it’s his. It’s a really special thing.”

Jake Crandall | Harbinger Online

It’s a culture that was created over the course of 30 years by coach Chip Sherman and the way he truly made it a community program. It’s a program that junior Jordan Darling grew up and worked towards being a part of someday.

Rated as one of the top 100 juniors in the state of Texas by www.texasfootball.com, Shawnee Mission East’s football team has a new quarterback. And although junior Jordan Darling has a new home at East, he has lived a life of a nomad. Having called four different states and two different countries “home,” Platte City is where Jordan learned to play the game that defines his life today.

Having lived in Platte City since he was 12, football is ingrained into his core. Growing up, Jordan spent his weeks like any other boy his age: living for the Friday night football game; dreaming and preparing for the day that he would be under the lights wearing Platte’s black and orange being led by coach Sherman.

“In a little town like that during your Friday night, that’s all you do,” Sherman said. “You go to the game and you wear your youth jersey; you sit in the stands with your group of kids and you’re cheering and that’s what those kids looked forward to.”

With an older brother in the program, Jordan learned of the legend of Sherman first hand. As Matt, Jordan’s brother, progressed with the team, Jordan stood on the sidelines of any practice he could, watching and learning. Jordan saw his brother grow from receiver as a junior to starting quarterback as a senior, soaking in everything he could.

As the Darling family got more invested into the program through Matt, Jordan was able to spend time with Sherman learning not only skills for on the field but for off the field as well.

“The main thing he’s taught me, was that no matter what you do in life, just work your hardest and eventually it will all work out,” Jordan said. “He’s a big inspiration based off his work ethic and his story, beating cancer. It just comes to show that if you work hard at anything, you’ll be able to succeed in life.”

Every Monday through Thursday night during the football season, Sherman walked his dog up to the Platte County high school stadium and had an open invite out to any football players to come for help with whatever they needed on the football field. Whether it was help on perfecting stances, running routes or long snapping, they knew Sherman was there to help. Whether a kid was the starting quarterback on varsity or in 6th grade just learning how to make a form tackle, Sherman welcomed him. Since the Darling’s arrived in Platte, Jordan was always there. Whether it was throwing to his brother as he ran routes or playing with his Beagle dog Luna, Jordan grew up on these fields.

“Growing up, he just couldn’t get enough of being up at the field,” Sherman said. “If we ran a youth camp, man, he was the first one there, last one to leave. Or at practice, he’s around. You know he just liked being around it.”

One night, five years ago, when Jordan was in 7th grade, Jordan really grabbed Sherman’s attention. Watching Jordan play catch with a friend on the Platte Stadium field, Sherman asked if Jordan would throw into the particularly strong night wind. Going away, Sherman said something to Jordan that has stayed with him throughout high school.

“One thing that has always stuck with me,” Jordan said. “I’ll be real special one day as long as I keep working hard and luckily I’ve been blessed thus far.”

For Sherman, identifying Jordan’s talent at quarterback was easier for him than it was for his earlier coaches. When they saw Jordan’s massive frame paired with speed beyond the ability of most players that big, they thought Jordan playing quarterback wasn’t logical.

“I identified this back when he was in 8th grade; everybody wanted to move him from quarterback because he was so big — they wanted to move him to tight end, d-end, all of that,” Sherman said. “And I told his dad, ‘don’t let them move him, don’t let them move him. Kid’s a quarterback, let him play quarterback.’”

With his relationship with Sherman and the early success he saw, Jordan’s life entirely shifted focus to making himself the best football player he could be.

“Growing up, he just couldn’t get enough of being up at the field,” Sherman said. “If we ran a youth camp, man, he was the first one there, last one to leave.”

“I don’t really have an off season; football is an all year thing for me and my dad,” Jordan said. “We go out and throw six times a week, I lift five times a week, I run 6-7 days a week, all I know is to work hard because that’s all I’m good at.”

In 2008 as Sherman retired from Platte County High School, Jordan entered his freshman year. But with his mother in the military, the Darling family received orders and they were on the move. Although both Sherman and the Darlings were separated, their friendship that began the moment they arrived in Platte continued, allowing Sherman to keep tabs on Jordan’s next chapter in football.

“I could tell [Jordan] was going to be a real good player,” Sherman said. “He was so determined and he was so dedicated to being good.”

It was only a matter of time before the Darling’s run in Platte was over. Although it’s where Jordan lived for much of his life, it didn’t start there.

First it was Germany, and then to Platte, next was West Chester, Ohio, and finally Waco, Texas. As Jordan moved from home to home, the quickly acquired friends with Ohio accents soon became friends with a Texas twang. High school allegiances changed, cities changed, and friends changed, but the only thing that remained constant for Jordan was family and football. It’s the life of a military brat, and with no option he accepted it, handling a hardship that would be tough for anyone.

“You go to four high schools, in three years in four different states, whether you are a football player or not, that’s going to be challenging,” Jordan’s father, Bill Darling, said. “It’d be challenging for anyone, it’d be challenging for adults. You know I think it has helped him actually, the experience has made him stronger not weaker.”

Finding himself in Ohio, enrolled in Lakota West high school, then sophomore Jordan worked himself into the starting job at quarterback. Despite only playing eight games, Jordan threw for 1,083 yards and seven touchdowns.

With each move, Jordan’s already strong arm grew and that 6’1, 205 pound frame as a freshman transformed into a 6’4 230 pound athletic specimen. With each added inch, college football programs interest in Jordan grew exponentially. First it was camping by invitation at the University of Oklahoma, and then it was the University of Florida and finally Ohio State – all in only the summer leading into his junior season.

Last fall in Waco, Texas, Jordan walked into a not-so-ideal situation. Headlining a three quarterback rotation, the team’s possessions were split three ways; with this, finding his rhythm with his receivers proved difficult. Jordan never complained as he not only led his team in passing yards but finished second in his five team district with 1820 yards and 16 touchdowns but most importantly, his team was winning. Waco Midway found their way to the Dallas Cowboy’s Stadium playing in the state championship game against 4-time back-to-back champion, Lake Travis. In front of a crowd of 33 thousand, Waco Midway and Jordan lost 22-7.

As the season for Waco Midway was underway, Jordan’s father was also following Shawnee Mission East and Sherman’s battle with cancer. And as the year went on, the realization that they may be on the move once again became more and more real.

“Honest truth, I never thought I’d coach him, I never thought I’d coach him,” Sherman said. “Here I’m at Shawnee Mission East, he’s in Ohio or Texas or wherever he was going to be but over Christmas vacation his dad called and we started visiting about this that and the other thing and we just started talking about life. One thing led to another and before I knew it, he called me back and said ‘hey, how would you like Jordan to play for you?,’ And I said ‘I’d love it.’ You know I just thought he was messing around. And I didn’t even know if I was coaching, see I hadn’t had a scan since April 6th so if the cancer is back, I won’t coach… So then I told him the truth ‘guy’s I may not be coaching because at that time I was still doing radiation. So we just got to see what happens”

It was official. Jordan’s mother was being transferred to Fort Leavenworth and although it was still 36 miles away from Shawnee Mission East, the realization that Jordan may be able to play for the coach who for so long made him who he was couldn’t seem more real.

During Christmas break, Jordan and his father got their very first look at Shawnee Mission East and although Sherman coaching that season was still up in the air, they believed he would be there.

“He kept on saying, I can feel it, I just have faith,” Sherman said. “I said ‘Bill, I just don’t know if I’m going to be coaching.’ He said ‘I have faith, you’re going to be coaching, He’s going to play for you. That’s what he’s wanted to do forever, play for you.”

With the Darlings needing to move back into the Kansas City area, the news of Sherman beating cancer was all they needed for them to pull the trigger on moving into the East district.

“We got orders to come to Leavenworth and none of us knew whether coach Sherman would be coaching or not, so it’s not like we planned this,” Bill said. “Everything just fell into place, we had orders to come into Leavenworth. Chip couldn’t tell us whether he was coaching. The doctor hadn’t cleared him. Everything fell into place, the god blessed Chip and here we are.”

With the news, Jordan had found his final high school and on March 21st he got his turn to be in Sherman’s program.

“It’s not that Shawnee Mission East is the football capital of the world, he could play anywhere in the country,” Sherman said. “You could send him down to Florida; he can play in a big school anywhere. It’s just who he is.”

Standing at 6’4 and 230 pounds, Jordan gives the Lancers a quarterback that they have never had before. With 4.8 speed in a 40 yard dash, Jordan will be used running the ball in the same capacity that former East and now Colorado quarterback John Schrock was used.

“Jordan is a quarterback, he can throw it, he can run it, he does the mental part of it and all of that,” Sherman said. “Jordan’s best attribute may be his will to be successful and his will to work and his will to sacrifice.”

Having already received his first offer from Charlie Weis and the University of Kansas, Jordan hopes that his success in his senior season can only fulfill what people expect of him.

“I don’t want to be all talk,” Jordan said. “I want to prove on the field that I’m as good as people say and it’s not about me, it’s about the team. Football is a team sport and I’m excited to be a part of the team.”

Despite only being a part of the team for two weeks, Jordan has already been spending time going through workouts with next year’s seniors and his future targets, David Sosna and Conner Rellihan. With this jolt to the program, expectations for Jordan and next year’s team have been running wild.

“If you ask any high school football player period, they’ll all say they want to win a state championship and I’m no different,” Jordan said. “I just want to take it one day at a time and then as next year rolls around – we’ll take it one week at a time. We’ll just start off winning some football games and see where that takes us.”

For Sherman, coaching Jordan isn’t significant for the pursuit of another state championship, it’s significant because he can see out a kid who spent much of his young life dreaming of playing for him.

“My right hand to God, I just hope he’s happy, that’s all I want for him,” Sherman said. “I don’t care about awards, yards, wins; the kid deserves to be happy…Have a good time, enjoy himself and at the end – let him say it was a good experience and he had fun. Winning and all of that takes care of itself. I just want the kid to be happy, he deserves to be happy.”

Grade: 11

Tools: White paper, black gel pen

What:  ”I just take one of my black gel pens and they always turn out as these swirls, and just let it be free flowing and almost organic looking because I know when I’ve tried to make liner, geometric shapes, it just doesn’t look very sophisticated or interesting. Sometimes when I’m anxious it just comes out.  The intent is to be almost therapeutic. Sometimes I’ll just do it because I feel like getting something out.”

Began: “Honestly, a couple months ago. I made my first one when I didn’t really want to concentrate on what I had to be doing and it was just simple- my technique for doing it. So I just kept replicating it. Sometimes I do them in class because sometimes I don’t want to stop when I’m doing one. And It’s encouraging when someone looks over and is like, “Oh that’s cool” or, “That’s intricate” or, “That looks like a maze” or something, and that makes me feel good and it makes me want to keep doing them.”

Inspiration:  ”I’m just really inspired by things that are naturally occurring and look really cool. Or, like in mathematics, fractals. I think those are really awesome. They’re just like shapes with a lot of different little designs inside of them.  When I’m inspired to do something it’s because I really want to sit down to work on it and that’s when I try to make them the most elaborate. When I sit down to draw one it’s not really with a purpose; I use it as an outlet. I feel like if I use other outlets I’m going to be kind of disappointed, but usually, if I need to focus on something, and I end up drawing one of my shape designs, I feel like I did something constructive. I’ve tried adding color to them, but there’s something I really like about black gel pen on white paper. Especially since I could never draw comic book looking doodles like I wanted.”

Duncan MacLachlan | Harbinger Online

Fetzer has been sending out a carefully selected quote of the day every day since the beginning of this school year. She started when she was disappointed to find the quotes of the week that used to be on the pages of the planner had been replaced with wellness and study tips.

It started off as just a daily quote from a book she’d gotten as a gift. Every morning, she would send one out to a few close friends. But soon, she had to send it out in multiple messages- her phone would only send it to ten people at a time. What had started with just a small group of friends was growing by the day. Today, Fetzer sends the quote of the day to 64 people.

“Once one friend in a friend group got it, everyone else wanted it,” Fetzer said. “It just kind of grew.”

Fetzer finds inspiration for her messages everywhere, and no two quotes are alike: messages range from inspirational phrases from the founding fathers to MC Hammer’s “Can’t Touch This.” And Fetzer loves that the unplanned, somewhat eccentric quotes are sometimes the ones best liked.

“[‘You Are Beautiful’] was on the radio on the way home one night and I decided to use it [the next day],” Fetzer said. “[Quotes can] come from websites, books, Criminal Minds always starts with a quote. If they quote something… and I like it, I’ll use it.”

Fetzer says she’ll keep sending until people get tired of her messages, which she hopes won’t be for awhile, since she’s already chosen the quote for this year’s and next graduation days. She’s even hoping to get an early upgrade on her cell so that maybe sending will be a little less time-consuming.

Fetzer hopes that her daily quotes will not only brighten people’s days, but possibly make them think about the advice they’re receiving from great minds like Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Winston Churchill. What she wants most of all is for the more inspiring passages she sends out, like her favorite she’s sent so far from Winnie the Pooh, to help someone through a difficult or emotional time.

“Always remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”

Matti Crabtree | Harbinger Online

Over time, with no signs of improvement, a higher dose of Ritalin was prescribed and Jacobson’s grades and ability to pay attention dropped immensely. Six months after being diagnosed with ADHD, Lane was back in the clinic for re-evaluation. He scored within the normal range on the Test of Variables of Attention test. Jacobson’s behavior, his parents were told, was a result of boredom and excess energy, not ADHD.

“It was just hard to grasp,” Lane said.  “First they told me I had this disorder then they tell me it’s something I can control. For a 9-year-old, that’s tough.”

The Center for Disease Control’s national survey of Children’s Health reported an 830 percent increase in children diagnosed with ADD or ADHD from 1985 to 2011. Children’s Mercy Officials say this extreme increase is debated to be a result of misdiagnoses.

Psychologist Judyth Reichenberg believes attention disorders are being over-diagnosed.

“The inconsistency of diagnostic criteria and apparent over-diagnosing in this country has led many to question the diagnosis of ADD and ADHD,” Reichenberg said.  “I believe conditions mimicking ADD, such as developmental disorders, lead poisoning and epilepsy are commonly diagnosed as ADD, leading to improper treatment.”

Lisa Campbell, director of the  ADHD department at Children’s Mercy Center, believes the rise in diagnoses is not due to misdiagnosis, but to a rise in practitioner knowledge or a rise in the number of people with ADD and ADHD.  She believes there might be an under diagnosis of attention disorders.

“It is possible that this may even be an underestimate of ADHD prevalence,” Campbell said. “Given that one study that included clinical assessment of children for ADHD symptoms found that only one-half of children meeting the criteria for ADHD had received a diagnosis of ADHD or regular medication treatment.”

*Anne Jacobson, Lane’s mother, said Lane’s misdiagnosis has caused her to lack faith in medical professionals.

Grant Kendall | Harbinger Online

“Misdiagnosing [Lane] with ADHD and prescribing him meds ended up really hurting his grades,” Anne said.  “It makes me wonder what else is misdiagnosed and who is harmed in the process…You’d think doctors would be more careful when diagnosing.”

One of the main problems Lane faced with the diagnosis were the drugs prescribed to him

“I felt jittery all the time when I was on Ritalin,” Lane said, “It’s like it had the opposite effect on me. ”

According to Reichenberg that’s exactly what happens to non-ADD/ADHD patients while on the medication. Ritalin, Adderall and other ADD and ADHD medications are stimulants — meaning they stimulate and increase the release of certain neurotransmitters  such as dopamine that  attention disorder patients lack to a varying degree. People who do not have ADD or ADHD already have enough of these neurotransmitters, so putting them on stimulants will often cause an over-stimulation in their brain and a constant energetic or jittery feeling — thus creating the “opposite effect” Lane described.

Seven years after Lane’s misdiagnosis, he is an honor roll student who still gets bored in class. Lane wishes classes would be more engaging for students and thinks this might help to avoid more situations like his own.  Boredom and excess energy caused Lane to become disruptive and unfocused whereas chemical imbalances in the brain cause ADD and ADHD in patients.

“I think it’s important that doctors recognize the difference between bored or high-strung children and children with actual psychological problems,” Lane said. “[If we don’t], We could do more harm than good for children and their educations’.”

Senior Ryan McNeil said he was rightly diagnosed with ADHD at 4 years old, but he does believe other children who do not have ADD or ADHD are too often diagnosed with it.

“I think [the number of children diagnosed] is ridiculous,” McNeil said.  “Most kids have shortened attention spans and sometimes kids will act up — it’s part of life. I think some people in society use it as an excuse for their children’s behavior if they aren’t perfect kids.”

McNeil took medication including Vivance, Ritalin, Adderall and Stratera until his sophomore year when he decided he didn’t need the medication to deal with his ADHD.

“As a little kid I felt dependent on it.  It helped me concentrate but it gave me a scapegoat for when I would act up and get in trouble,” McNeil said.  “Being off of it has really helped me a lot. I can sleep better now, and it feels good to not have to depend on it.”

Studies such as the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD, and research done by the CDC have proved that medications are effective in helping students with both weak and severe attention disorders. Reichenberg, however, thinks these mind-altering drugs should be used only when less intrusive forms of treatment such as therapy exercise, iron supplements and neurofeedback fail.

If patients are incorrectly diagnosed its unlikely they will be correctly treated.  Anne believes the main flaws lie not in the treatment of attention disorders but in the unreliable diagnostic system.  While Reichenberg and Campbell disagree about over diagnosis of ADD and ADD, all three agree the system used to diagnose ADD and ADHD is unreliable.

Multiple options are available to determine the prevalence and severity of attention disorders including interviews with the child and family member, audio/visual tests, child and parent written surveys, and other written exams such the TOVA test.  Methods of diagnosis vary with different medical professionals, but according to Reichenberg and Campbell there is no sure way to diagnose ADD or ADHD.  A child might take multiple tests, or just one test depending the methods of his or her personal medical professional.  A kid can score in the normal range on three out of four tests, but if they only take the one test that signifies they have the disorder, they can be diagnosed.

Reichenberg believes it is not helpful to group so many people with widely differing symptoms into one disorder and treat them all with similar therapy or drugs.   She has worked with children with mild to major behavior, learning and attitude problems and thinks children need to be handled as individuals and unique cases need to be looked at on a personal level rather than trying to fit the problems into a large category of psychological disorder.

“We need to either redefine ADHD and ADD, or reevaluate the severity of the cases and the severity of the medication needed,” Reichenberg said. “If we continue on this track, we will have the whole country medicated for minor behavior problems.”

Stefano Byer | Harbinger Online

Sophomore Gaby Azorsky scrolls up and down her bright green, blue and orange website that is La Mode du Jour. She scans the cursor over the different panels including an outfit log, food guide and make-up tutorials while still trying to brainstorm even more trends and ideas to fill the pages with. La Mode du Jour, Gaby’s blog, is where she expresses her love for fashion.

“[I first became interested in fashion when] I came out of the womb,” Gaby said. “It has always been with me.”

In the beginning, fashion was just a way to be unique and different than the other girls at dance and school. Fashion was Gaby’s way to achieve this even if it was as simple as a leotard.

“I think when I was little I would use it as a way to stand out because I didn’t want to be like everybody else,” Gaby said. “I remember when I was little everybody would have their pink leotards and I always wore a black one because I had to be different than everybody else.”

As she grew older her style and love for clothes grew with her. Gaby still wanted to be different than the other second graders but now she also wanted to express her growing creativity.

“I remember one outfit I was wearing was a baseball top, with black gauchos, knee high striped blue socks, orange high top Converse, a hat and knit fingerless gloves,” Gaby said. “That is not the most stylish outfit but I think I was in second grade and all of those pieces meant something to me and I just figured it out.”

Gaby continued to ‘figure it out’ and put together her own unique style. Eventually her bright orange Converse were replaced by her bright yellow Doc Martins and her gauchos were replaced by cut off denim shorts. As she grew older she would start to document her style by taking pictures of her outfits. This became Gaby’s new way of organizing and growing her style.

“I don’t really mind if I repeat outfits, but then I know what worked and what didn’t work for myself,” Gaby said. “For example, if I went to a party and got a ton of compliments on [an outfit] I know I should wear it again.”

All of this documenting eventually grew into her blog. Gaby started La Mode du Jour last fall as a way for her to share her outfits, food, make-up and trend tips with the world.

Posting on her blog didn’t come easy at first. It took Gaby time to figure out the process but after posting for the first few she got the hang of it. Gaby updates her blog very frequently and is always thinking of new ideas.

“If I am just sitting in class thinking about something, I will just write down my ideas and then when I get home I will take pictures of it and then I just post it,” Gaby said. “Its pretty simple. At first it was hard to get started because I didn’t know what to do and had so many ideas but once you get stared it is really easy and really fun.”

As Gaby became more experienced she wanted to expand her blog with new features. One of these new features is her outfit log.

“I basically just take a picture or have someone take a picture of me every morning before school while I’m waiting for my ride to pick me up,” Gaby said. “Then in the car on the way to school I will just write something short about my outfit. Sometimes it is a little bit lengthtier but usually it is just a head to toe break down. I will usually focus on one splurge item but usually my clothes are on the cheaper side.”

Gaby prefers to keep her spending to a minimum but will spend money on a piece she knows she will wear frequently. Most of the items in her closet come from Savers, Urban Outfitters, H&M and American Apparel.

She launched the website with the help of her father, Bryan, who is a web designer. He helped Gaby structure the site and is looking forward to seeing her interest and blogging evolve.

“We were looking through this one blog she likes, Cupcakes and Cashmere and it was really interesting to look through the archives and see how different the site was at the beginning,” Bryan said. “I look forward to seeing her blog do the same as she goes off to college and moves on.”

Gaby’s parents were very supportive and excited when she first told them about the idea of the blog. Her mother, Felice, is very proud of the progress since the first post.

“She is very diligent about posting on her blog and almost posts everyday,” Felice said. “That is also just part of her personality. She finds the time in between all her stuff with school and dance team.”

Felice and Bryan also help Gaby with her posting by helping her find ideas. Felice says she is always ready to give Gaby suggestions.

“I do give her suggestions for the blog,” Felice said. “The other day I saw an article about the Academy Awards and suggested she blog about it. Sometimes she does use the ideas and sometimes she doesn’t, but that’s ok.”

Gaby added a like button to her blog in order to get more viewers on her site. She hopes to use this as a way to become more professional.

“I added a like button on my blog which I think is helping,” Gaby said. “I mean I only have 65 likers on Facebook and I know my information is getting out there.”

Gaby has also gotten herself out there by becoming an intern at Birdies, a boutique located downtown. She had to ask the owner several times to hire until finally the persistence paid off.

“Even though I was persistent and I think I made a good case and I think they realized they needed me,” Gaby said.

At first she was just hired temporarily for the holiday season, but was offered the job shortly after. She spends her time at Birdies organizing, wrapping and stocking but the real excitement comes when gets the opportunity to style.

“I like styling because I can help put together outfits and I can also help other people,” Gaby said.

While working there she has had opportunities to give her opinion for styling and photo shoots. A big opportunity is coming up on June 9 when Gaby will be an intern for the 18th Street Fashion Show.

As Gaby’s career expands she wants her blog to expand as well. In the future she wants to add more features such as interviews and recipes. Even with an expanding career and website, fashion will always be number one in her world.

“[Fashion] is just in my veins,” Gaby said. “Its everywhere, it’s how people express themselves, it’s how people introduce themselves, it’s how you make first impressions. Even if you don’t care about it, you subconsciously care about it.”

Spencer Davis | Harbinger Online

“Camille, do you have a pencil? Not a mechanical one, a regular pencil.”

Senior Camille Breckenridge rifles through her backpack, eventually giving up the search and returning empty-handed. Director Brian Cappello brandishes a pencil and wipes it off with a napkin.

“You can use this one,” he says.

The upperclassmen exchange knowing glances while the younger actors watch intently. Breckenridge inserts the pencil in her mouth and bites down.

“Now say your lines,” Cappello says.

It’s an age old exercise: the obstacle of the pencil forces the actor to open their mouth wider and put all their focus on projection and diction. As a seasoned thespian, Breckenridge has been through this many times, but Cappello uses the same methods on his freshmen as his seniors. The Spring show, “Durang, Durang,” continues to be a learning experience for everyone — it’s a show unlike any before.

That much was evident from the instant the cast list went up. Hopeful actors huddled around the call board, with one question on their mind:

Did I make it?

After scanning the list, junior Ali Felman left with more questions than answers.

“I saw the cast list, and at first I only saw the underclassmen list,” Felman said. “I saw these names and thought, ‘Oh my God, these are all underclassmen, what happened?’”

Double casting happened. For the first time in the Shawnee Mission East theater program, there are two casts putting on the same show: an underclassman cast and an upperclassmen cast. Felman found her name on the adjacent list and her moment of horror quickly faded to feelings of excitement and confusion. She is sharing the role of “Prunella,” a devious ex-wife, with sophomore Emma Calvert.

“The show has 18 roles – there are five different one acts – and we had about 65 people try out,” Cappello said. “It’s an incredible number for a Spring show, which tells us that the interest is there and we don’t want to destroy that interest.”

After witnessing the abundance of talent in auditions, the director concluded that double casting the show would be the easiest way to involve as many people as possible while fostering a passion for theater amongst the underclassmen. There are now two actors for every role and each actor will perform twice during show week, instead of the usual four performances. Cappello has considered double casting in the past, but found “Durang, Durang” to be the perfect fit because of its simplicity and lightheartedness. The Spring show is centered around the sketch comedy of the American playwright, Christopher Durang.

“It’s just funny people in funny situations, and that’s what pulls the whole show together,” Cappello said. “Sometimes, theater is just about fun.”

While the cast size has doubled, the number of rehearsals has drastically decreased. Main stage shows typically rehearse four or five times a week — but each act of “Durang, Durang” is only rehearsing four times total. Junior A.J. Orth plays Lawrence in “For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls,” the longest act of the show, and finds the schedule to be ideal for sketch comedy.

“We’re trying to avoid over-rehearsing one-acts since they are shorter,” Orth said. “If you schedule too many rehearsals, it can look overworked and lack spontaneity.”

Orth has earned leading roles in several main stage shows, but the shortened schedule has caused him to approach his character in a different way.

“I’m taking a lot less time to analyze everything I say and how to say certain lines,” Orth said. “With a one-act like this, and such a funny one, you kind of just have to go with it.”

Freshman Austin Dalgleish, who is also playing Lawrence, was initially shocked when he saw the cast list, but is up for the challenge of playing a lead. He has looked mainly to his director for instruction, instead of his upperclassmen counterpart.

“Mr. Cappello is pushing me to make my own character rather than follow A.J.,” Dalgleish said. “It’s really important to develop your own style, not just watch someone else and do what they do.”

The two actors rehearse the same role on the same day, but they are determined to create two distinct interpretations. While Cappello gives many personal directions to Orth and Dagleish, he also emphasizes bigger points which apply to both actors. In one particular rehearsal, the director describes the difficulty in portraying a disabled comedic character like Lawrence.

“You know when you’re in the lunch room and you see a freshman drop his tray?” Cappello asks. “You feel kind of bad for him, but it’s also the funniest thing ever. That’s what this comedy is — cruel.”

As a freshman himself, Dalgleish finds the example slightly less funny, but nevertheless, takes the point to heart. Now it is up to the two actors to shape their own version of Lawrence. While Orth and Dalgleish intend to work together as the show progresses, some acting duos have already begun to form a bond.

Senior Sara Cooper and freshman Bailey Camp have cooperated closely in their shared role as a scornful DMV employee in “DMV Tyrant.” Cooper plays the role as a sarcastic, older woman; Camp, as a chipper and younger nuisance. Though they differ in their character, the two actors have benefited from their close relationship.

“It’s really nice to have someone to run lines with and we can bounce off of each other’s characters,” said Cooper. “We’re playing this completely different, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get ideas from one another.”

Cooper knew what she wanted from her character by the first rehearsal; Camp, however, required more fundamental direction before diving into character analysis. Cappello says that freshman tend to worry more in the early stages.

“They’re not really focused on how to approach a character, they’re more concerned with ‘Am I doing this right?’” Cappello said. “What Bailey is doing, Sara was doing three years ago.”

Camp is showing rapid growth as an actress — she even had her lines memorized before her senior counterpart. Both casts are reaping the benefits of one-on-one time with Cappello, but each member is also responsible for memorizing lines and practicing independently.

“As much as we need direction, we really need to be able to pull this together ourselves and improve as actors,” Camp said.

Dalgleish and Camp weren’t confident that they would even get a role in “Durang, Durang,” but they have risen to the challenge of playing a lead. Cappello has been very pleased with their progress. The Spring show has brought growth not only to the underclassmen, but to the theater program in general. Upperclassmen like Ali Felman are open to trying new methods to accommodate the expanding program.

“Theater has grown exponentially in the time that I’ve been here and there’s much more enthusiasm,” Felman said. “If this growth continues, we’ll have to keep doing bigger shows. Maybe it will be double casting again, and maybe they’ll do something else.”

Christian Wiles | Harbinger Online

He loved watching classics like “Halloween” and “Friday the 13th,” and has watched “The Walking Dead” so many times he’s lost count. For Halloween, he dressed up as a zombie and put a life size Freddy Krueger on his front porch, complete with a motion sensitive robotic claw. He’s always wanted to tour the haunted houses in the Warehouse district, which he refers to as “real haunted houses,” like the ones in the movies he used to watch – before the breathing problems worsened. Since then, things have changed.

Ewing can’t watch scary movies anymore, or ride the roller coasters at Worlds of Fun – something he’s always wanted to do. He can’t play his favorite video game either. Ewing can’t walk the length of his street now without bending over in pain from loss of breath. After March 12 though, things will change. Ewing will undergo major surgery on his left side to fix a birth defect he has had his whole life, but has only known about for seven months.

Since he was two, Ewing had been misdiagnosed with severe asthma. His life consisted of doctors’ visits and waiting rooms to treat his asthma. At three-years-old, Ewing spent two weeks hooked up to a breathing machine to live. Ewing’s mother, Connie Wyrick, believed what her son had was asthma until the summer when he developed persistent coughing fits that would keep him up until 1:00 AM. She finally took Ewing Kansas City Asthma and Allergy Clinic to see a specialist in September.

“He stuck this tube up my nose that had this little camera on it and the first thing he said was ‘I have no idea what I’m looking at,” Ewing said.

The birth defect is known as a vascular ring, a tight rubber-band-like loop surrounding Ewing’s trachea and esophagus that develops as an extra artery when the aorta intertwines with the trachea. This causes blood to rush through the arteries, squeezing Ewing’s trachea and esophagus.

“Basically in the case of a vascular ring, the aorta is wrapped around and intertwined with the patient’s trachea, cutting off the ability to breathe,” asthma and allergy specialist Dr. Jeoffery Wald at Kansas City Asthma and Allergy clinic said. “It is extremely rare that patients are diagnosed with this type of birth defect later on in life. Almost always is the condition detected at birth in the mother’s womb.”

The birth defect effects his everyday life. When Ewing runs errands to Hy-Vee with his mom, Connie Wyrick, he makes his way to the register to buy a Coke, then waits in the back of the cafe’ area until he sees her push the shopping cart over to him. If Ewing walks the entirety of the store, a seething pain will develop in his chest and he won’t be able to catch his breath. The pain is the blood rushing around his trachea and esophagus through the vascular ring.

“The feeling is like when people run a mile really fast and you try to catch your breath when you’re done,” Ewing said. “Except, I can never catch my breath.”

After further tests and a CAT scan, the specialist sat Wyrick and Ewing down to tell them the asthma they had been treating for 15 years was, in fact, a serious birth defect.

“I wanted to strangle every doctor who told us it was just asthma,” Wyrick said. “It would have been easier to fix this when he was two or three.”

According to Dr. Gary Ripple, pulmonary expert at St. Luke’s Hospital, the diagnosis of a vascular ring is never easy to detect.

“It is a very uncommon condition to start with so doctors don’t necessarily expect symptoms to be a vascular ring,” Ripple said. “It really depends on the patient and how easy it is to detect early on.”

The breathing complications in turn, can appear to be asthma if further tests are not preformed. To permanently fix the vascular ring, Surgeons will split open Ewing’s ribs on his left side to successfully get to his trachea and tie off the ring so blood cannot pass through, a surgery that is rare and extremely risky, especially since Ewing is at an age in which the procedure is almost never performed.

Ewing isn’t worried about the dangers of the surgery or the excruciating pain that will ensue during recovery though, he’s excited for the future.

“It was either have the surgery, or live like this for the rest of my life,” Ewing said. “I don’t want to live this way anymore, so it’s worth it.”

Wyrick hopes that the surgery will allow Ewing to enjoy the things he’s missed.

“I know it was hard for him, seeing everybody doing normal kid stuff and he would just have to watch them,” Wyrick said. “I told him you don’t stop, you do whatever you can with what you got and you never totally give up.”

Ewing has been given a chance on March 12, not a second chance, but his first chance, his final chance to live close to a normal life.

He can’t help but smile when he talks about the surgery, like he will transform into a completely new person, because he will finally be able to breathe in and exhale like a normal teenager and not feel a agonizing pain in his chest. Post-surgery recovery will require at least a week in the cardiovascular care unit at Children’s Mercy Hospital and Ewing is uncertain when he will be able to return to school, or if he will graduate for that matter. But Ewing is willing to put off school for now. He already knows the first thing he will do once he can breathe again.

“I want to ride every roller coaster at World’s of Fun,” Ewing said. “Especially the Mamba.”
 

   ***

Their house is nestled on the corner of El Monte street in Fairway, KS. It’s quaint with six cars parked in the driveway and on the street. Its shingles show a worn yellow paint under the dimly lit porch light. This is the same street Wyrick would take Ewing on long walks every other day in the summer before his breathing problems peaked. They would sometimes just weave around to Delmar, but on special days where the weather wasn’t too hot, Wyrick would take Ewing to Baskin-Robbin’s where she would buy him Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream and they would walk home, talking the entire way.

“After the surgery and recovery, I really want to be able to walk with my mom in the summer again,” Ewing said. “I don’t want to sit at home anymore while she walks alone. I will finally be able to live my life.”

Last spring, Sundberg signed a contract with the Hawks after two weeks of tryouts. Come August, Sundberg wasn’t preparing for his senior year at East. Instead he packed up his bags and spent time with his friends and family before his departure.This was the beginning of a new chapter of his life. This was his shot at the big leagues.

That first practice on the August morning made Sundberg instantly notice the superior skills his teammates had over him.

“I realized these kids were really good, a lot better than I’m used to,” Sundberg said. “So for the first week I had to play catch up and really try hard to keep up. There was a lot of conditioning and over the week I really got to know the guys better and started to get in the swing of things.”

The Hawks are a part of the Eastern Junior Hockey League (EJHL), similar to a minor league baseball team. This was the first step to the next level of his hockey career. Every morning consisted of a cup of coffee at six, goalie coaching at seven, practice at eight and crossfit training at nine-thirty, followed up by a two and a half hour nap. Then back to work.

From the time he arrived, Sundberg knew he would have to earn his place on the team. The Hawks already had a Russian goalie, Nikita who had played the previous season. As a newbie, Sundberg had to prove himself and earn his playing time. His coach had belief in him and worked with him often. Sundberg and the third goalie were only tested against the weaker teams, while Nikita rested. Sundberg began to impress his coach, and began splitting halves with Nikita. He was right where he wanted to be.

However, Sundberg’s confidence dropped after a weekend in Boston. The Hawks faced four top Northern Conference Teams, losing every game. Sundberg and his team were discouraged. For Sundberg, this was the first time he had faced that level of play. The Northerners were in as league of their own. Sundberg began to rethink his choice to play for the Hawks.

“There were a lot of times I laid awake at night thinking what am I doing here maybe I should just go home maybe my dreams won’t come true, but I stuck through it, gave it my best and got the results I wanted.”

The team stepped it up. Drills at practices became a competition to see who could finish first. There was a family bond between the players. If one man fell down, his teammate would pick him right back up. Literally.

The Hawks were playing the Atlanta Knights in a showcase game before Christmas. Sundberg had just played in the previous game, so he sat on the bench in his dress clothes. There, he watched his best friend, Brendon, get laid out by Atlanta’s biggest player in the center of the ice. Brendon crumpled to the ice. Sundberg immediately thought he had got knocked out, but Brendon slowly got on his skates, made his way to the players box and fell next to Sundberg on the bench.

Sundberg asked his buddy if he was okay. No response.

Brendon’s head was slumped down and fell into Sundberg’s arms. Sundberg turned him over and laid him on the bunch. At that moment he looked into his best friends eyes, and watched as they rolled back into his head.

“It still gives me chills picturing that,” Sundberg said.

The EMT grabbed him and pushed him out of the way. Sundberg could do nothing but watch. Brendon’s heart had stopped from the trauma, but he was revived by the EMT.

The next day the headstrong Canadian was at practice, dressed and ready to play. His coach told him to undress.

For Sundberg, that changed everything.

“He could of died 1000 miles away from home in my arms, it wasn’t just a game anymore,” Sundberg said. “He wanted it enough to almost die and come back and try to play the next day.”

Sundberg could feel his improvement in the league. On his second trip to Boston, Stephen faced the second ranked team in the North, the CD Selects from New York. Sundberg played out of his mind. Sundberg was pounded on by the Selects with 80 shots on goal, but only two got by him.

“Even though we lost 2-1, that’s when I started thinking I can make it in this league,” Sundberg said.

Sundberg and the Hawks ended the season with a 21-18 record. On Feb. 24, Sundberg came back from his long season with the Hawks, and began reconnecting with his family. He has been spending time with his grandpa who was ill while he was away. Outside of family, Sundberg continues to keep his fitness up by playing with the East lacrosse team.

Sundberg’s hockey career is not over. He has been offered a spot to play another year with the Hawks by his coach. Sundberg is still looking to play at the next level. His next step is the North American Hockey League (NAHL), which is a whole tier higher than the EJHL. After that Sundberg hopes to play college. Right now he has Division III offers but he’s holding out for better. The ultimate goal is to make it Division I, and possibly play in the NHL. It’s a long road for Sundberg, but his experiences in Palm Beach taught him he is capable of doing a lot more than he thought.

“What drives me was the dream to live my life playing hockey professionally, there’s no greater thing in my mind than that.”

Grade: 12

Tools: “For embroidery I use an embroidery hoop, fabric, and embroidery thread. For metal working, I use a variety of tools. The main tools I use would be a torch and solder and a variety of shaping tools, like hammers, and dapping tools. For polishing I use tripoli and rogue, which gives it a really nice shine.”

AP Concentration: “My AP concentration would be enameled bowls. It’s where you take a copper sheet and cut out a circle and then you have to shape it into a bowl then clean it and use enamel, which is glass. They look really pretty when they’re done. I chose this as my concentration because it is technically pleasing and they’re really fun to make.”

Embroidery vs. Metal Work: “I prefer embroidery. It’s so relaxing and it’s fun to make all different sorts of things. Metal work I mostly do at school and embroidery I do at home. But I like to do the two of them constantly so I’m always doing something art related.”

Future: “I’ll always continue doing embroidery and maybe some metal working, but I don’t plan on going to an art school because it’s very expensive and having a pre-existing medical condition called aortic coarctation. I had to have heart surgery for it in fifth grade. Because of my condition, it makes it impossible for me to get medical insurance without having a good job. So I am going into nursing instead of doing art full time.”

Grade: 12

Tools: “I like to use different mediums; I really like experimenting.”

Inspiration: “I don’t really have any inspiration. I feel like a lot of it is random and mostly just things I like or if I have a cool idea I want to pursue.”

Involvement: “It was just something I always enjoyed and wanted to be better at. I’ve taken design, drawing, and photo. Drawing was my favorite because I feel like drawing is a big part of any art work.”

Favorite Part: “I like the way it relates different things in a visual sense. I like that pieces can have multiple meanings and it’s an easy way to express yourself.”