Author Spotlight
Campbell Wood
Sophie Henschel
Kate Heitmann
Lyda Cosgrove
Caroline Wood
Madeline Funkey
Caroline Gould
Nora Lynn
Mia Vogel
Paige Zadoo
Greyson Imm
Katie Murphy
Emma Krause
Luke Beil
Artists, athletes, leaders, entrepreneurs, friends and more.
18 Under 18 showcases East’s most stand-out Lancers who have spent their high school careers thus far helping to lead and influence the community — as nominated by you.
The following 18 students have been chosen by the nomination of the student body after evaluation by The Harbinger’s editorial board under the criteria of being involved in high school, a leader in the community, having the potential for future success, a wide skillset and talents and unquantifiable excellence.
The Harbinger presents your 18 under 18:
by Mia Vogel
After transferring to East from Pembroke Hill during her freshman year, feeling very “out of her depth,” now-senior Essy Siegel began attending all-theater meetings with the encouragement of her drama teacher Tom Defeo. This eventually prompted her to audition for her first Frequent Friday show.
After getting her first part, she was hooked — immersing herself in the theater department and working her way up the ranks to her current position as a theater executive.
“I finally had a purpose,” Essy said. “[Theater] gave me a reason to want to come to school, and I finally felt like I was involved in something I was good at.”
Theater became Essy’s outlet at East to find herself and her place, as it was a drastic change in size and culture from her childhood at Pembroke Hill. Students and staff now know Essy from her leading roles in productions such as “Mamma Mia” and “Les Miserables” and are quick to congratulate her on her accomplishments, regardless of whether they personally know each other or not.
“[At East], I feel like there isn’t any animosity between groups…even though we all do different things, everyone recognizes what each other does,” Essy said.
She became friends with upperclassmen in the department and received advice on navigating theater and roles, all of which has shaped her high school experience and who she is today. Essy hopes to do exactly that in return for this year’s freshman theater students.
“Essy has always been so welcoming to me, and it’s nice to have someone older as a friend to ask questions about theater and high school in general,” theater student and freshman Gracie Brown said.
Due to the pandemic, theater recruitment was low last year due to the lack of in-person interaction with freshmen. This year, as a senior theater executive, one of her main initiatives was freshmen recruitment and connection.
“We’ve been exceptionally pushy since the department has suffered so much because of COVID-19,” Essy said. “Unfortunately, the first thing to go last year was the arts.”
As head of publicity for the department, Essy has organized open houses, made trips to Indian Hills Middle School and approached freshmen at the Link Crew dance — utilizing multiple methods for recruitment.
“There’s something about helping someone find their passion…I like to be pushy, but in a nice way,” Essy said. “I feel like freshmen need a little push.”
For as long as he can remember, senior Sam Stedry has always been a type-A person. He wakes up in the morning, reads his list of goals that lives on his nightstand and gets going — no time to waste.
While Sam hasn’t always known exactly what he wants, he’s known one thing, it’ll be in Chicago, specifically at Loyola University — his goal since the age of 10. His aunt lives there and he always admired how she unapologetically lived her best life in the city — a childhood fantasy of his.
He realized that he needed to stop thinking about how badly he wanted to end up there, and begin thinking about how exactly he’ll get there. That’s when it all began.
Sam attributes his high school career’s success to setting such a large goal of ending up in Chicago at a young age — performing in theater as an underclassman, landing jobs at fitness studios like Power Life Yoga, MOJO and City Shape Fit and finding time to slip in volunteer hours with the puppies at Wayside Waifs.
According to Powerlife Instructor and coworker Jamie Yost, Sam takes all of his challenges on head-first, inspiring her through his persistence in doing whatever it takes to meet his goals.
Sam sets an example for both underclassmen and his peers via exerting his confidence and being transparent with his setbacks and doubts, posting on social media when he doesn’t feel he’ll accomplish his hard-to-reach goals or strays from his strict routines. However he’s established himself as a helpful listener that people can approach about feeling unmotivated or insecure. Whether that be through cracking a joke in english class or sharing inspiring words during an exercise class.
“When you exert positivity, it’s only going to make you and other people around you feel better,” Sam said. “[Instructing at Powerlife] taught me that you need to tend to be a good person, not just because you should, but because it makes you feel good. It makes other people feel good.”
But Sam wasn’t always this way.
According to Sam, he often felt like a puzzle piece that got mixed in with the wrong set through his middle school and early high school years — but he couldn’t quite figure out why.
He soon realized it was his sexuality that was holding back his full potential.
“I always knew there was something a little bit different,” Sam said. “I remember one day, I was sitting on the end of my bed. My door was shut, my record player was going and I was like, ‘Shoot, am I gay?’ It was the most horrifying thing and I was like, ‘Oh my god, this is so scary. My whole life is gonna be messed up now.’ I was like, ‘No, I can’t be. I can’t be,’ But then I was like, ‘You know what? You are.’”
He realized that others went through this same thought process when identifying their sexuality. Because of his originally-alarmed reaction, Sam wanted to make sure others around him were aware their conversations with him were a safe place.
This is a mindset Sam wants to carry in the next stage of his life. In the future, Sam plans to live out his 10-year-old self’s goal of attending Loyola and waking up at the crack of dawn for yoga classes at the recreation center — having finally received the acceptance letter last week. Post-college Sam has hopes to open up his own fitness studio, creating a brand name for himself across the country.
After nearly five hours of sifting through endless washes of vintage denim jeans, and 20-year-old letterman jackets, sophomore Trey Hyde finally feels satisfied with his thrifted finds. He places his unique and one-of-a-kind collection in his cart, ready to be sold through his business, Too Time Vintage — he sells vintage clothing on Depop, a popular reselling app, and at pop-up stores around Kansas City, Kan.
Trey started his business in November of 2020, hoping to influence his peers through the empowerment of fashion and providing satisfaction to his customers with unique pieces.
“I want everyone to feel like they can be a part of what I do,” Trey said. “Knowing that I’m going to be giving these clothes a second chance instead of having them end up in a landfill is really inspiring to me.”
Trey has countless days when motivation fails to strike, but he always makes sure to ground himself when he begins feeling overwhelmed with the pressure of upkeeping both school and Too Time Vintage.
“Positive affirmations have really helped me,” Trey said. “Whenever I feel myself doubting my abilities I say things like, ‘I release negative feelings and thoughts about myself’ and, ‘I believe in who I am.’ These help to keep your subconscious filled with positive thoughts instead of being negative.”
Trey has always used fashion as a creative outlet — establishing his aesthetic throughout middle school after finding a love for colorful ’90s and 2000s pieces.
“In elementary school, I would look through my grandma’s magazines and admire all the different models on the runway with their different gowns,” Trey said. “It was so fascinating to me at such a young age. I wanted to learn more about how I could make fashion a part of my own life.”
When Trey began developing his own style, the confidence came naturally. According to Trey, spreading that same confident feeling has been the most rewarding part of starting his business.
“It makes me feel really happy that I’ve given other people that sense that they can wear what they wanna wear,” Trey said. “It took me a long time to find confidence to start wearing the clothes I wanted to wear, but now when I do I feel a lot happier and I feel like my best self.”
Being able to make a friend in a room full of strangers is Trey’s specialty. Jami Hyde, his mother, sees the selflessness in him, spending his evenings packing orders and sifting through the Goodwill bins instead of relaxing at home.
“He’s very nurturing,” Jami said. “He tries to take care of everyone, accounting for everyone’s interests and feelings in the room. It makes him happy to make others happy.”
Trey wants to continue growing his business while influencing others to step out of their comfort zone and embrace their sense of style. His goal is to go to the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York to study either fashion merchandising or fashion design. He hopes to design his own clothes and is working his way into opening his own shop.
“I can see Trey as a stylist working one on one with people or working with designers to make them bigger,” Jami said. “He’s very dynamic and outspoken and likes to shine, but if you really watch him, he likes to make other people shine more than himself, and that’s hard to find.”
Then-freshman Evan Broaddus stood silently on the football field with his bass drum — he was the only freshman who made the drumline and didn’t know anyone yet. It was the first day of summer marching band camp.
It didn’t take long for his rosy cheeks and flustered glances to cue the seniors to welcome him with a drumline-band-camp tradition — heading to Pickleman’s Gourmet Cafe on Wornall Road after the first day.
“To me that’s sacred,” Evan said. “I just thought that was really special. So when we did that, I started to feel ‘I’m a part of the group now, people really want me here, they appreciate my presence.’”
Now as a senior, Evan’s the one inviting the drumline to Pickleman’s on the first day. But his kindness to the newcomers doesn’t stop there. Evan is always the first to offer the new freshmen a ride to 7 a.m. practice and let them in on the drumline’s inside jokes. In every activity — whether band, swim, International Baccalaureate or his introduction of the Zero Reasons Why campaign to East — Evan strives to strengthen the community at East.
“For me, it’s just asking myself, ‘What did [the upperclassmen] do to make me feel comfortable?’ and then trying to do that for freshmen and sophomores and new people in general,” Evan said.
Over the summer, Evan made a schedule for the drumline to help in an area they’d struggled with in the past: discipline. The drumline met more frequently during the summer to better acclimate to each other and get ahead in learning the music, which resulted in a greater understanding in expectations between the band members.
While Evan established places of trust in his East activities, he also saw the work Blue Valley had done with Zero Reasons Why — a mental health and suicide awareness program — and wanted to introduce the program to East.
“I realized that it’s really important to give people a place to go to feel safe,” Evan said.
Evan’s sister and 2019 East alum Emma Broaddus helped put Evan in contact with sources and information and watched the process of preparing the banner for the first meeting. Emma was nervous about how such a heavy topic would resonate at East, but saw Evan’s unwavering mindset and knew if anyone could bring this to the community, it was him.
“He just really wants everyone to be included,” Emma said. “Not in a way of like, ‘I don’t want you to be left out so we’ll invite you,’ but in a way like, ‘I genuinely want to get to know you as a person.’ I think that’s a really great quality to have because who doesn’t want to feel important and loved and I think Evan’s really good at doing that.”
Evan’s talent at bringing people together reaches students beyond specific activities and to the entire student body as he gets everyone on their feet and leads them in the Viking Chant — a time-honored tradition that involves Evan rhythmically beating the bass drum and leading the attendees in a chant.
During the kickoff at football games, murmurs of “where’s Evan” fill the stands. As he comes out with his bass drum strapped on his shoulders and mallets in hand, the student section roars and then obediently falls silent:
Bum bum.
“East,” the students shout in unison with a clap of their hands.
Bum bum.
“East.”
Evan bangs the drum as the crowd’s chants follow the beat. The rhythm picks up, the rest of the band joins in and soon the bleachers are pulsing with school spirit.
“Doing the Viking Chant is so powerful and it’s so intoxicating to just have everyone be really quiet and then to do it,” Evan said. “Also, the precedent behind it and the tradition…For me [I hope my legacy is] just leaving behind a precedent of how to act, how to behave and hopefully one of kindness and one of being inclusive and accepting.”
After moving to Texas in fourth grade and then back to Kansas again the next year, freshman Clara Peters is all too familiar with unknown halls and new faces.
The welcome back before-school picnic her friends organized upon her return to Kansas to help her when she was lost was such a relief, after trying to transition mid-semester in Texas not knowing anyone. This experience showed Clara the link between knowing your classmates and feeling welcome at school.
Clara strives to make her friends, and even kids new to the school feel more welcome. Her involvement and drive to help others was recognized when the SHARE Executives and Coordinators selected her as one of the five freshman representatives for SHARE’s Freshman Connections this year.
“You should always try you’re best to be kind to everyone because you never know what someone’s going through or [what] their life is like,” Clara said. “Just like how people were nice to me when I first moved here, I just pass it on. If you give people kindness then you get it back.”
On Freshman Connection, Clara and her other co-leaders put together events and volunteer opportunities for the freshmen in order to help them get more involved at East.
“She had familiarity with volunteering and she’d shown a commitment to volunteering in middle school,” SHARE Coordinator Erin Billingsley said. “We wanted somebody who had experience and also who could get other people motivated to volunteer and get excited about it, and we also wanted somebody who was organized and could actually help us promote and follow-through on the projects.”
Clara does the little things to show everyone they’re appreciated, whether it be talking to someone who’s sitting alone or asking classmates how their day was between JV Drill Team stretches.
“At East, I’m always trying my best to be kind to everyone, which is really important because everyone wants to be appreciated,” Clara said.
Besides spreading her positivity in school through Freshman Connections and being on Drill Team, Clara has volunteered with the Matthew’s Ministry organization at the Church of the Resurrection for the past year. Through this organization, parents drop off their child with special needs at the church one Saturday a month and they get paired with a student around their age to hang out with for the night.
This program is meant to help these special needs children make connections with their peers, which is a perfect fit for Clara, who wants to fulfill her goal of making everyone feel welcome.
“When I go to Matthew’s Ministry, it’s not like you’re getting paid or anything, everyone who’s there is there out of the kindness of their hearts and they’re there to really help,” Clara said.
From her experiences with SHARE and Matthew’s Ministry, Clara hopes to pursue helping and spreading kindness to others through potentially joining groups like Pack of Pals, social skills and blood and bone marrow registry drives.
“I am always trying my best to be nice to everyone and inclusive and I’m always kind to everyone that I can be,” Clara said.
Every day, it was the same 20 students on their screens in each class. Remote learning was full of repetition.
Then-sophomore Anohita Paul found her friend group narrowing during the 2020-21 school year as it was difficult to form acquaintances with her classmates over Webex boxes. Her only real interaction with other students was her bi-monthly 30-minute calls with junior Ava Cooper. Working through their Chemistry homework together was the highlight of Anohita’s day — giving the girls the idea to form Homework Help Club.
Homework Help Club was a chance for students to come to English teacher Erica Jackson’s Webex room and receive help on homework from Anohita and Ava. However, it soon doubled as a place for casual conversation, topics ranging anywhere from new restaurants to try to Justin Bieber.
“People who weren’t just in my classes came to some of our Webex meetings,” Anohita said. “There were people that I knew of, that I hadn’t talked to in a while or I hadn’t even really known. It was fun to interact with people who I didn’t always talk to.”
Through starting the Homework Help Club, Anohita was able to provide students with a chance to socialize when many were feeling isolated and lonely.
When it came time for Anohita to enroll for her junior year courses, she was uncertain in her decision to take the route of the International Baccalaureate Diploma program or Advanced Placement classes. She realized other students has similar conflict and asked 2021 East alumni Lily Utt and Kate Hardinger along with other teachers and students to speak to club attendees about their experiences in their respective program.
Anohita’s friend and junior Tatum Aikin received clarity on which program she wanted to pursue based on having the opportunity to ask questions. She admired how Anohita facilitated questions and conversation while still maintaining a casual environment.
Anohita chose the IB Diploma program, where she has fully immersed herself. She says she enjoys learning about a broader scope of school that has challenged her traditional way of approaching problem solving skills. However, she’s continued to involve herself throughout the school and community outside the IB program.
Anohita is the co-chair of the SHARE projects MOSCA, Variety KC and the Angel Tree. In addition, she’s the junior class secretary, where she has set up for school dances, organized the Soups for a Sip event for StuCo’s can drive and is part of planning the 2022 Prom.
Outside of school, Anohita interns at the University of Kansas Medical Center where she runs tests on mouse ovaries, exploring the world of medicine — a career path she’s interested in.
According to Tatum, Anohita is driven to achieve her goals and still encourage others, whether that means working on homework on a Friday night at Panera or encouraging the underclassmen StuCo representatives to involve themselves more.
“She knows what she wants and she will work as hard as she can to get to that point,” Tatum said.
by Emma Krause
The minute music plays and senior Ashley Garverick is off to her fifth hour social skills class. She’s greeted by a hug from Cece and a high five from Ian as they start off class with the question of the day. After going around the circle, learning something new about each person, they move on to discuss various topics such as friendship paths and appropriate compliments that assist both the social skills and leadership students in their everyday lives.
The daily routine of spending time in room 416 has taught Ashley patience and compassion and given her insight to what she wants to do with her life. She’s developed a passion for making every student feel included regardless of their circumstances — dedicating herself to this goal throughout the past two years.
“I really like the aspect of helping others and seeing over the years how someone’s [social] skills have grown and are much more developed,” Ashley said.
Ashley first heard about the class from her older sisters who were also involved, leaving her with a determination to take the class as she has a great interest in working with special needs students in her future. She filled out the application and turned it in at the end of her sophomore year.
Ashley received the role of a leadership student in the social skills class her junior year, and this year she’s also a teacher’s assistant for special education teacher Rachel Kirby.
“I had an open semester in my schedule and I knew that I wanted to help with the students in another way [besides] during social skills class,” Ashley said.
With the numerous roles Ashley plays in the special education program, she works to both set an example and be a leadership student that others can come to when needed.
“Leadership plays a role in both classes for me by helping out students, being an example, answering questions and just being there as a friend and peer for all the students in class,” Ashley said.
According to Kirby, watching Ashley interact with the special education students and make them feel included and welcome is something that’s warmed her viewpoint on the program as a whole.
“I just wrote a recommendation letter for her and the word that kept coming to mind when I was writing it was understanding,” Kirby said. “She has such a quiet and caring demeanor.”
Over the few years that Kirby has had Ashley as a student and helper, she said it’s always been apparent that Ashley is approachable and a great friend to others.
“In class they say, ‘Everyone is working on something,’ which inspires me because even if I’m just helping with the class or with the students I can tell it has grown my personality and my leadership skills over the past year,” Ashley said. “My drive to help others and getting to see the reward of how everyone is learning is what really made me want to keep doing the class and also be a cadet teacher this year.”
Junior Michael Newbold is reserved. He doesn’t interrupt. That is, until you catch him in a history class where he’ll raise his hand and proceed to spill a flood of additional facts that your teacher doesn’t even know of.
Michael doesn’t isolate himself to any specific clique, as he’s involved in IB, AP and Honors courses along with auto mechanics, environmental education and the Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps. Whether you’re a standard or high-achieving student, you’ve probably seen him in a class or two of your own.
“I can confidently say that I’m more connected with a larger range of people,” Michael said. “I see myself as a bridge between the communication of both [types of students]. That’s the role that I feel I play with the cohesiveness of Shawnee Mission East.”
His array of courses help people know him. However, his intellect and wide understanding of the content at school make people remember him.
“Whenever he talks, we get to the peak of the conversation,” friend and junior Tristan Chabanis said. “Michael Newbold might be one of the smartest kids at East. It’s not just intellect. I think Michael has a complex understanding of life.”
This wide understanding of different cultures, history, government and more — as a result of his upbringing in Hong Kong — make him known for keeping the conversation going in and out of class.
“Michael has a multifaceted brain,” Tristan said. “You start him on one subject, and he’ll end up very quickly on the next. His intellect is so wide, if you get him started on something, you’ll end up with something completely different five minutes later.”
According to another friend and junior Rafael Washburn, being raised in Hong Kong and having been a part of a multitude of different cultures only expands his knowledge.
“He’s one of the most unique [students] at our school,” Washburn said. “He brings a perspective into the school that nobody else has.”
Throughout all of his actions, Michael puts others first and acknowledges their unique talents and charms. While he can be adamant in his opinions and isn’t afraid to back them up with evidence, he simultaneously excels at showing kindness to everyone at East.
“I see that in a way where I usually limit the amount of times that I get frustrated and I don’t swear at school, nor home,” Michael said. “And I tend to be more humble when dealing with superiors or seniors who have more knowledge than I do.”
His friends as well as the entirety of the school not only know Michael for his genuine kindness and academic ability, but for his humor and talent to shed light on darkened situations, which Michael acknowledges when talking about his friends.
“A little humor goes a long way in life,” Michael said.
by Paige Zadoo
Despite moving from her home in Castle Pines, Colorado to Kansas City, Kansas at the beginning of her sophomore year, senior Emma Kate Squires has immersed herself in the East community and become known as an advocate for gun violence, her political beliefs and photography over the past two and a half years.
Emma Kate is a photo editor on the Hauberk, president of the SME Young Democrats Club, president of the East Against Gun Violence Club, on the girl’s swim team, is a part of the YMCA’s Youth Advocate Program, the local leadership program for the UN and East’s Sources of Strength club, started and operates her own photography company and works at CHILL in Prairie Village, Kansas.
Influential is an understatement when describing Emma Kate according to her friend and co-photo editor of Hauberk, senior Katherine Hamilton.
“She’s empowering and impactful,” Katherine said. “She brings in new perspectives a lot, when you meet her she totally inspires you.”
According to Emma Kate, she fills her schedule and involves herself in East activities in order to make an impact on the community
Though her schedule is packed tight with these accomplishments, she still finds time to connect with her peers, friends and fellow Hauberk staffers — growing especially close to Katherine.
She agrees that Emma Kate has given her peers voices and opportunities to speak out and fight for their beliefs — inspiring others to take initiative and be their own advocate.
For example, she’s given politically-focused students a chance to increase their activism in spreading their political beliefs through the SME Young Democrats Club and making voter registration easier for the younger generation by holding it at East during lunch periods.
She’s given students who are passionate about gun violence awareness a place to advocate and express their beliefs through discussions and volunteer opportunities.
Emma Kate views photography as a way to increase and express her voice through a lens — having found a passion of letting people see the world through their own eyes.
But Emma Kate isn’t stopping at her existing accomplishments and successes, as she hopes to run service projects for both clubs she’s president of throughout the rest of her senior year.
Whether it’s impacting the photographers she works with on Hauberk, being an advocate for gun violence or bringing awareness of politics to the East student body and giving her peers advocacy opportunities, she’s constantly strengthening voices within others.
Making an impact on her community is Emma Kate’s top priority.
“The more people you involve, the bigger the impact you make,” Emma Kate said. “I want people to know they’re capable of making a difference and a change.”
It wasn’t the passion, love or drive that prompted senior Lillian Williams to begin her activism — it was the anger, frustration, doubt and fear. The rest followed.
It was the comments of “Can I touch your hair?” It was the dirty looks in the hallways. It was being told black girls aren’t as pretty as white girls. It was the blatant racism that angered Lillian into becoming the person she is today — fighting to make East a more inclusive place for future generations.
Having undergone SMSD schooling since she was in kindergarten, often the only student of color in the classroom, it’s needless to say that Lillian has seen first-hand the lack of racial inclusion among her peers over the years, especially entering high school.
As she’s grown up dealing with these troubles, Lillian has learned how to confront others on their wrongdoings and teach them about racial injustice — whether that be via an open conversation or sharing information about how people can further educate themselves.
“It’s honestly just relating, it’s treating black students like every other person and I think that’s the only thing that high schools in this area struggle with is that because the gap in race population is so big,” Lillian said. “It makes [these conversations] really hard.”
Lillian has always been involved in making a change — attending board meetings to get diversity education implemented at the elementary level and finding ways to educate the students of East through efforts like posters and publicized meetings, making it an inclusive community for all races and genders to find a home. Being a leader of C.O.R.E Club (formerly known as Kickback club), she’s made it her mission to leave a legacy in the grades below her to continue in acts of kindness and encourage an all-inclusive environment at East.
According to Lillian, C.O.R.E. Club has had a strong turnout this year with meetings held bimonthly for students to talk openly about the racial divides and injustices at East and have the hard conversations in order to create an environment where the issues are directly addressed.
Not only does she make efforts within the school at C.O.R.E Club, having conversations and hanging up posters around the school to spread awareness, Lillian reaches the community level by posting on her social media platforms. She posts when she has a constructive opinion of her own to share, or finds other posts she found beneficial.
Lillian’s efforts to lead East towards being a more inclusive community have been successful according to friend, C.O.R.E. Club member and junior Gigi Smith.
“When we’re in our groups, she does mention to everyone that she’s a senior and she wants the legacy to continue for many years, and to keep this tradition of equality at East not just because she’s doing something about it, but because everyone’s doing something about it,” Gigi said. “She’s almost like a big sister to everyone. She lets you talk, she lets you share your opinions, she listens and she’s proud of us.”
As Lillian completes her senior year, it’s the idea that she’s made a change for the upcoming generations and is leaving inclusive traditions in driven students’ hands that keeps her going in her attempts to make East a better place. It’s thinking about the seventh and eighth graders at Indian Hills Middle School that will arrive at East in the next few years, and imagining how she wants their experience to be: equal and inclusive.
by Greyson Imm
Collapsing into a pile of giggles on their neighbor’s front porch, then-9-year-old August Hyde fell once again running through the choreography to Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” with Baxter — August’s neighbor and a 16-year-old drag queen. August fondly remembers their early childhood living in Lawrence, Kansas due to the unique — but always welcoming — cast of neighbors and friends who inspired August to find their identity as a queer person.
“My parents were very young and didn’t have a lot of money to do stuff or for childcare because they’re both working full time,” August said. “So, they just let us run around [the neighborhood]. I saw so many cool queer people; that was kind of the beginning of my little awakening.”
August is an advocate. From amplifying the voices of LGBTQ+ students to confronting administration about the lack of gender-neutral bathrooms, August is known as someone who will speak up for friends or even strangers to make East more welcoming.
“They are working really hard to make sure that East is an inclusive place that everybody can — at the very least — feel safe, if not happy and welcome,” close friend and junior Tatum Aikin said.
Zine Club, an art club named after the practice of making mini magazines, is one of August’s very own creations. When they first picked up a zine in Lawrence, August instantly became enthralled with the lesser-known art form. Though they had been making zines for a few years, it was in 2019 when August approached art teacher Adam Finkelston about sharing knowledge with classmates and friends.
Now a few years later, room 204 serves as a bustling haven for friends and strangers alike to hang out and make zines about anything during seminar. Some of August’s past zines ranged anywhere from self-identity to pickles. Don’t be fooled — the art-making process isn’t complete without the typical shenanigans like attempting to make human pyramids and watching Minecraft YouTube videos.
Zine Club isn’t the only impact that August has made on the community through art however. In March and April of 2020, they began to notice a common trend brought to light on social media: magnified financial struggles brought on by the pandemic. In response, August began selling prints, paintings and patches on their Instagram story to eventually raise $2,500 for those in need.
August fondly recalls a memory of a single mother’s gratitude. The money raised allowed her to pay her electricity bill that month — a basic expense that kept her house warm and her lights on.
August’s latest pursuit is a degree in elementary education after being offered a $30,000/year trustee scholarship to Coe College. This seemed to be the perfect use for the teaching skills August used in Zine Club and their desire to be a role model for the younger generation.
“I want to be a teacher that people can go to if they’re worried about something,” August said. “The kind of teacher that you want to visit when you come back to your elementary school.”
Walking down the halls of East, August is hard to miss. With a zine clutched in their hands, a statement ring made in jewelry class that reads the word “f*g” in an effort to reclaim the word, arms and legs dotted with sentimentally-inspired stick-and-pokes, a Bladee song blasting through their classic yellow headphones and smiling at a friend on their way to class, their unique impact — and appearance — is plain to see. Just how August likes it.
by Nora Lynn
While practicing a new stunt during a morning varsity cheer practice Sept. 24, there was a mishap as a flyer fell on junior cheer captain Samantha Herpich, knocking her to the ground and leaving her concussed.
Samantha has been out for about a month and a half as of the beginning of November, and her fellow captain senior Lindsay Brown was immediately affected by her absence.
“It’s just this whole piece of excitement that was missing from us because she’s always the one to hype people up, get people excited, get people to start moving around more,” Lindsay said. “So having that bond, [her absence] was definitely noticeable.”
Though Samantha hasn’t been able to cheer, she’s still present at games and practices just to be with the team. Samantha has learned this year as the first junior cheer captain that putting her teammates’ interests first by listening to their needs produces the best solutions for the team as a whole.
“She won’t put her interest first, she will put everyone else’s interest first,” Lindsay said. “If there’s something tough that needs to be told to the coach and no one really wants to stand up and say it but it needs to be said for the better of the team, she will do it. She will make herself vulnerable for the sake of the team.”
Samantha believes that one of the most important traits she possesses is caring for other people, especially for her fellow cheerleaders. On her cheer squad, she’ll put her own spot as cheer captain on the line to resolve issues between teammates or coaches by acting as the voice or representative for the entire team. This is part of what makes Samantha a strong leader, according to Lindsay.
“I care a lot about other people,” Samantha said. “I care about what everyone has to say, what their opinions [are] and what they want to say. I listen to everyone.”
Lindsay says she has learned a lot about being a leader from Samantha this year through being co-captains.
“She’s taught me many leadership skills,” Lindsay said. “The one that stands out to me most is the way she feels all the same frustration [and] anger, but she finds a way to turn it into something positive, and instead uses her energy to bring the mood of the team back up, instead of dwelling on it.”
Along with being cheer captain of the varsity cheer squad at East, Samantha is involved in DECA, serves as a S.H.A.R.E. Chair for three projects and an Assistant Photo Editor of the Hauberk.
This being Samantha’s third year being involved in East cheer and a set up to be a possible cheer captain next year, she hopes that her leadership will leave a positive impact on other cheerleaders, especially the freshman team.
“I talk to those girls when I’m at practice and when I see them in the hallways,” Samantha said. “I feel like I know everyone on the team and that’s important to me. Being that person that everyone looks up to, hopefully, and being a good role model for those people is shocking but it’s really cool.”
“Are you sure?” senior Abby Goodmon stuttered to her pilot instructor during her first day of flying lessons.
He reassured her that he’d have just as much control of the plane as she would, yet she was still hesitant as she sat herself in the pilot’s seat of the Cessna 172.
To Abby, the hardest part of flying a plane was never taking off, landing or even doing zero gravity drops — it was talking.
“You have to be so precise because when you’re taking off or landing, you have to get permission form Air Traffic Control,” Abby said. “When you’re talking, you have to make sure you’re saying it correctly [and] saying it at the proper speed because sometimes Air Traffic Control can get mad [at] you.”
After just two years of flying lessons and over 50 hours logged in her flight book, Abby has finally mastered the talking aspect and is an oral and written test away from getting her pilot’s license. The timid hands turning on the radio have slowly worn away as she no longer hesitates to speak — something she’s learned through her role as drum major for the marching band.
“[As drum major], she’s had to blow a whistle and speak in front of people and tell people what to do and all those types of things, but it has really made her grow immensely,” Abby’s dad Mason Goodmon said.
When Abby auditioned to be a drum major junior year, she had to submit a Zoom recording of her conducting to some of the band’s songs. Even though it wasn’t the typical live performance for the audition, Abby felt on edge knowing people would be voting on how she did. Nonetheless, if Abby was going to audition, she was going to go all out, according to her dad.
“She had this ladder, like this big ladder in her backyard and she just climbed up it and like had this most fierce look on her face, total confidence and…just blew me away,” band director Alex Toepfer said.
She got the part.
From there, Abby was first to volunteer at in-person auditions the following year when it was an in-person audition and began going after almost everything she wanted, like starting her own crochet business and joining the pole vaulting team — and with an established routine of giving commands in front of the 120-plus-member band — she did everything with more confidence.
And that confidence carried into her flying.
“You have to be confident in that seat because your life depends on it,” Abby said. “If you’re not confident and you don’t do something aggressively, it’s not going to tumble and hit the ground, but you have to make some aggressive decisions sometimes like, ‘The wind is going this way, I have to be more aggressive with the wind.’”
Abby had to make these aggressive decisions when ice formed on the wings during a winter flight — a problem that can alter the shape of the wing and affect its aerodynamics. Her brain switched into how-am-I-going-to-land-this-plane mode.
What other planes are at my altitude?
Where can I land?
How do I ensure a safe landing?
With the help of her instructor, Abby safely landed the plane. Despite being her scariest experience flying a plane, Abby was mentally strong enough to bring the ice to her instructor’s attention and talk through with them how to proceed.
Abby plans to go into the Space Force or aerospace engineering someday. Her only two requirements as she chooses a college are her long-lasting passions — having a strong aerospace engineering program and a great band.
Senior Spencer Newton knew he wanted to be involved and get the most out of his time at East, but didn’t know how to join clubs, meet new people or make a mark at the school during his freshman year. He knew there were a million things to get involved in, but there always seemed to be a deadline he wasn’t aware of or a sign-up sheet that wasn’t shared. He made it his goal his sophomore year to find ways to get himself involved and create an environment at East where no underclassmen will feel the way he did.
“As an underclassman, I was never really that involved,” Spencer said. “As I’ve gotten older, I’ve kind of found [a want] to make it easier for students like me to get involved. So, for example, I started a Spikeball Club and you could simply click on the GroupMe from an Instagram link. I became a Pep [Club] Executive and my mission was to make it very easy for people to get involved.”
Since he set this goal for himself, Spencer has found his place all throughout — as a co-founder of the Pizza Review Club, StuCo representative, Link Crew leader, debate board executive member, founder and president of entrepreneurship & business club, founder and co-president of Spikeball Club and now a Pep Executive.
Needless to say, Spencer has now, two years later, found himself surrounded by all sides of East. Successfully involving himself in all that he has, Spencer’s learned that there isn’t a community or club East doesn’t have, but oftentimes students aren’t aware that their community at East already exists.
“[Getting involved] allowed me to get a wide variety of experiences that opened my eyes to what I like and what I don’t like,” Spencer said. “If my underclassman self looked at what my activities are [now], I’d be shocked. I think that’s really cool to see the development from freshman year to now. It’s something that I really take pride in.”
Spencer has been successful in his efforts as Spikeball Club had a turnout of about 150 students at their first meeting, and have a steady 100 returning, Pep Club has had a positive turnout and though it’s no longer active, Pizza Review Club racked up 846 Instagram followers with daily viewers on their posts. In his mind, there’s no downside to being involved, so he tries out every opportunity he finds.
According to Spencer’s twin, senior Sydney Newton, Spencer has always been driven and a leader inside and outside of school.
“As he’s gotten older he’s kind of grown into himself and gotten a lot more outgoing and I think a part of that comes with the leadership he’s gotten,” Sydney said. “The Spencer I see now is so much more of a leader and so much more impactful than the Spencer I knew three years ago which has been really cool for me to see his growth. Everything he does is very intentional, he does what he cares about.”
Outside of East, Spencer has a job at Fairway Creamery, runs a shoe reselling business, plays varsity hockey at Carriage Club, is an Eagle Scout, interned full time at C2FO editing data, filling out tax forms and running reports over the summer and is currently working on social media advertising at Boddle, a gamification company. Free time is a foreign concept to Spencer.
Looking into the future, Spencer wants to find himself at a college that fits his interests in involvement, joining clubs and organizations that will get him immersed in the student body throughout his time at the university. He plans to major in finance with a minor in computer science, and hopefully someday start his own company.
by Luke Beil
Although freshman Ingrid Blacketer has only attended East for three months, she’s already found her place at East. She’s the freshman vice president on StuCo and S.H.A.R.E exec for her class, while simultaneously holding a spot on varsity golf. What truly sets Ingrid apart from most students, though, is her leadership and volunteer work.
“Helping people makes me feel accomplished,” Ingrid said. “Like you’re doing good. And people appreciate you for doing it.”
She loves to be part of the process, whether it’s planning fundraisers or setting up for Homecoming, she wants to see her impact on others. One of her goals at East is to educate peers about how they can get involved within the school and community.
“With S.H.A.R.E., I tell people why it’s important and how everyone is not as fortunate as most people at East,” Ingrid said.
For most of Ingrid’s life, she’s been a natural-born leader according to her mother, Heather Blacketer. Ingrid believes the reason she has such drive to drive to be a leader in helping others in need is because of her mother’s influence.
After watching Heather serve on boards such as the March of Dimes and be the PTA president of Ingrid’s elementary school, Ingrid emulates her mother’s leadership.
“When she was little, I would take her on charity walks and fundraisers, and I think she saw [what we did] and knew it was the right thing to do,” Heather said.
Ingrid has already helped coordinate major events to get her fellow classmates involved as well. She helped in setting up a pickleball event for her freshman class earlier this year. She also makes posters about big upcoming events, sends out Instagram posts and chats with her fellow freshman about volunteering opportunities.
Ingrid doesn’t just get involved with East-related extracurriculars, she also volunteers at other nonprofit organizations like The Children’s Place, a specialized trauma treatment agency for kids.
“Most people pay for their therapies, but these kids who may come from broken families and not so great backgrounds can get it for free,” Ingrid said.
Ingrid has been involved with many nonprofits and other organizations for years now and has been able to grow relationships with the people there, believing the main reason she goes back so frequently is due to the warm feeling, she gets from knowing she positively impacted someone else’s life.
“Sometimes I’ll go to a nonprofit and grow an attachment to the kids there, who then grow an attachment to me,” Ingrid said.
This is only the beginning of her journey in volunteering with nonprofits. Ingrid can one day see herself directing her own nonprofit or even creating her own. But in the meantime, she’ll continue emphasizing the importance of exploring the opportunities to get involved at East and around the community to her fellow classmates.
“If you get involved, you will have a good impact on the community while also making yourself feel accomplished,” Ingrid said.
On an average school night, junior Kate Whitefield’s phone lights up nearly every two seconds with one notification after another from every GroupMe and group chat she’s a part of — Kate feels her to-do list is basically never-ending.
Between planning the next theatre event-of-the-month as one of six Theater Execs, responding to submissions for the Freelancer as its Co-Editor, running through dance moves for her show choir while still finding time to jot down every lyric that pops into her mind in the margins of her AP Calculus homework, Kate literally never stops.
“Honestly, I think I work a lot better when I’m busy,” Kate said. “Last year, when we were online, when there were no extracurriculars going on, it would take me so long to get my homework done because I wouldn’t be motivated to do it. When I’m busy, I feel like I knock it out.”
For Kate, everything comes back to music. Serving as an escape from the structure of her day-to-day schedule, Kate ends most days strumming her guitar and reaching out to every possible coffee shop, pizza place or local festival she can and spends her weekends performing at open mic events or farmers markets.
“I’m not looking to make a living off of being a touring artist,” Kate said. “I just want to keep doing that for fun. What’s really important is that I don’t focus on money. I’ll take a gig whether or not I get paid.”
During her three years at East, Kate has naturally fallen into leadership roles in various areas of school — each one connected to the next. Her positions in the theatre department and Freelancer stem from her love for creativity and the arts, while her newfound roles as a StuCo Junior Class Representative and Prairie Village Teen Councilmember were fueled by wanting to branch out further — beyond East and into Prairie Village itself.
“I don’t know a lot about government, and I’m not taking any government classes, so I thought it’d be cool just to see how things work on a city level and how my daily life is impacted by that,” Kate said.
English teacher and Freelancer sponsor Amy Andersen has seen Kate’s natural leadership firsthand, having her in her creative writing class as well as seeing her dedication to her duties on the Freelancer.
“Leadership takes a personal set of skills and Kate has a lovely variety of those,” Andersen said. “She’s kind, compassionate, level-headed and good at giving clear direction and navigating Freelancer meetings. She’s good at subtly bringing a wrap to conversations that need to end and noticing people in the room who want to say something and directing the conversation to give them a voice.”
Not only were Kate’s compassion, charisma and natural management skills recognized by Andersen, but by former “Freeleaders,” who chose Kate to be one of the Freelancer’s three co-editors through the competitive selection process.
As she looks ahead into post-high school plans, Kate sees herself incorporating her existing hobbies into her future. Even if it means performing in a show at a local theater or simply popping up at an open mic night every once in a while, Kate knows that music and performing will be a lasting passion no matter where she ends up professionally.
by Paige Zadoo
When describing junior Charlie Kitten, it’s easy to say he’s unapologetically himself, according to his close friend and junior Vivian Riehl.
Confidence and self-love are traits present in Charlie’s current life motto: Be yourself no matter the circumstances. If people don’t like it, then that’s their issue.
Riehl can attest to this.
“He’s taught me to let go and be more at ease,” Vivian said. “He taught me that you can’t love anyone else without loving yourself. He’s taught me confidence.”
While reflecting his motto in social situations, Charlie also implements it through his fashion. He’s spent the past two years growing his self-love through outfits and fashion — displaying a unique style on a daily basis and taking East fashion classes.
“You can tell a lot about someone based on their fashion and clothes,” Charlie said. “I love that you can express yourself with it.”
Charlie feels he’s become significantly more comfortable and confident with his clothing style since freshman year. During his sophomore year, he started integrating pieces like five-inch platform boots or multi-color sweaters into his everyday wardrobe. It was a pivotal time for Charlie’s realization of who he wants to be and how he wants his style to affect others — someone who constantly lifts other people up.
The best way for him to do this is by displaying himself authentically through his unique fashion choices. Since his sophomore year, Charlie’s fashion has re-shaped numerous times, now wearing more minimalistic pieces like light-colored sweaters and jeans.
Charlie is commonly described by his friends as warm, welcoming, accepting, outgoing and charismatic. Riehl has felt all of this from Charlie starting with the first day she met him in art class.
“I asked to sit next to him and he automatically said yes,” Vivian said. “He was unbelievably welcoming — we were automatic friends.”
Not only does Charlie focus on his own confidence and self-love, he strives to implement it within his friends and peers.
“I always want to motivate my friends to be themselves,” Charlie said. “I always want them to be full of confidence and be who they want to be.”
According to Riehl, the impact of her improved self-confidence she felt after talking to Charlie that first day was more than most people leave in a lifetime.
“He’s taught me to let go and be more at ease,” Vivian said.
Along with inspiring his friends, Charlie hopes that through empowering others he’ll reach a greater net of people in the East community simply through others viewing his confidence in the halls.
“I’m not close with [Charlie], but you don’t have to be to know who he is,” junior Sofia Blades said. “In passing and classes he’s just always outgoing, funny and positive and it leaves a mark on everyone he talks to even just in five-minute passing periods or a class.”
Taking a look into the future, Charlie hopes to reach and impact more and more people on a daily basis by continuing to be outgoing and welcoming to others, hopefully from a fashion school.
by Katie Murphy
*This story includes content related to eating disorders. For more info or to get help with an eating disorder, visit www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/help-support or contact the national helpline at (800)-931-2237.
After four months of no Instagram notifications, sophomore Izzy Margolin’s phone was finally buzzing.
Friends, family and even strangers were commenting on her newest post describing her eating disorder journey in a paragraph-long caption under a photo of her hugging her sister. It was Eating Disorder Awareness Week, and Izzy felt it was the right time to share her story.
Sophomore Violet Paisner rushed to congratulate Izzy’s courage by commenting “I’m so proud of you Iz” on the post the second it popped up on her feed. 126 more comments flooded in over the next few days.
“You are so strong.”
“I’m glad you are in my life.”
“Thank you for being brave.”
Until the post, only a handful of Izzy’s closest friends knew about her anorexia nervosa diagnosis. She started quietly struggling with portion sizes and skipping meals during mid-2020, when she began seeing a therapist specialized in eating disorders. She spent a few weeks in an intensive outpatient program before transferring to a hospitalization program — spending all day every day at treatment.
Izzy was terrified to move into full-time treatment, although only 20 minutes from her house, because she was unable to attend school or see friends and family. But, the people she met there quickly became close friends and supporters.
“I thought I was the only one dealing with my struggles,” Izzy said. “But then, they’d be like, ‘Yes, I understand that feeling.’ That’s what really pushed me through.”
To combat her constant comparisons to other girls on Instagram and TikTok, she decided to log off of those platforms for four months. During the long-overdue silence, her new friends inspired her to go public with her story and become a positive role model for others — the role model she needed last year when her social circle didn’t know how to support her.
“I like to go to her because she’s open about her experiences and I know she’ll always be there,” Violet said.
She didn’t expect the buzz her post created — people she barely knew began texting her kind words and asking for advice. Plus, friends she didn’t know were struggling with eating disorders. She reminds them that all foods benefit your body in some way and “it’s diet culture that teaches us, ‘Don’t eat this.’” She admits that some days of recovery are harder than others, but promises them that the effort is worth it and everyone deserves recovery.
“It feels really good because I feel like I’ve actually helped people by showing them they’re not alone,” Izzy said. “If I know they are struggling a lot, I’ll text them and just say, ‘Hey, how are you?’”
Leave a Reply