Author Spotlight
Caroline Gould
Since the Kansas government leaves the decision of which crisis drills to practice each year up to the individual school districts, East administration chose to talk about what to do in the event of an active shooter.
To focus in on the subject, teachers showed the active shooter video to their seventh hour students on both Nov. 17 and 19 to fit into their in-person days with hybrid schedule.
School Resource Officer Anthony Woollen played a role in the creation of the video by working with SMSD’s video production team to come up with a script, which he then narrated.
“The Chief of Police from the school district has an overall philosophy that in the preparedness for the school, he wanted everybody to be on the same page with being ready in the event of a safety concern with a shooter,” Woollen said.
To break down the procedure if an active shooter were to enter a school, they demonstrated the content in two videos — one showing teachers their role in keeping their classroom safe, and the other teaching students about the ‘Run, Hide, Fight’ method.
The process of making the video involved many people — including students — who participated as actors in the video, along with Officer Woollen and the production team.
“Between corresponding, between the video production team and everybody that’s involved, it’s unbelievably complex,” Woollen said. “We did several different takes and shots on each segment over and over again until the video production department captured exactly what we were trying to communicate.”
Woollen sees the main goal of the video was to educate students and staff on what do in the case of an active shooter and satisfy the state mandate without creating too frightening of a tone.
“We didn’t want to instill fear, but we still wanted to do it in a serious tone, because it’s an unbelievably serious topic,” Woollen said.
Amidst the new COVID-19 restrictions in the Kansas City area, Peloton has recently opened a new workout equipment showroom in Leawood’s Town Center Crossing.
The in-store experience holds pre-booked appointments of up to two people, or walk-in appointments if time slots are available. According to their website guests are offered a 30-minute walkthrough of their showroom and workout equipment pieces upon visiting.
Senior Meredith McGannon has been anticipating the opening of the new showroom after spotting promotional posts on social media. While working the front desk at Mojo Cycling on the Country Club Plaza, McGannon considers biking and workout equipment to be of big interest to her.
“I do a lot of the Peloton classes, and I’ve done them for a while, so I think it will be cool to have a store with stuff that says ‘Peloton’ and get fun clothes,” McGannon said.
She used to have to rely on the Peloton app for her purchases, but now she’ll be able to browse the equipment in-person at the showroom.
“I really like that on their app they have a bunch of strength classes, and other different [workout] classes that I like to do,” McGannon said. “When I was at home, I did a lot [of their classes] during quarantine, and it was really nice that they had a lot of options.”
McGannon knows a lot of people have been working out at their house. She feels now is a perfect time for Peloton to open a store to spark sales and increase their customer base.
“I definitely think it was a good idea because I think that a lot of people, especially now, are finding different options for working out at home,” McGannon said. “I feel like a lot of people choose Peloton for treadmills and [other workout equipment], so I think that they can get a lot of sales, especially with the time being, as people are staying home from their gyms and studios.”
With the current spike in COVID-19 cases in the area, Peloton is making sure to safely open their new store. The in-store experience requires masks, hand-sanitizing before entering, social distancing, daily professional cleanings and contactless payment only.
With the Biden Administration slowly transferring into power, they’ve begun to release their White House staff members — announcing that their senior communications team will consist of only women.
This staff includes seven women who will, according to Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, “communicate clearly, honestly and transparently with the American people.”
Sophomore Libby McShane believes that appointing all women to this staff is a step in the right direction, as she thinks it will show women that they can hold a powerful position in the upper government, which has been primarily run by men in the past.
“I think it’ll give a different point of view from what we’ve seen over the last many, many years,” McShane said. “Women have such different perspectives than men, as women have had more restrictions on themselves, so I think that women bringing their good point of view into upper government is just a step forward.”
While McShane is entirely on-board with this decision, senior Jack Haulmark emphasizes that this is only a good decision if these women are fit for the job.
“I think it’s important, because women have historically been pushed down in a way, but in a way it needs to be [the] right women,” Haulmark said. “Just because it’s necessarily a woman doesn’t mean that it’s progress.”
McShane believes the selection of an all women team will result in progress, especially when it comes to women’s rights.
“I think with women’s rights being in question by multiple people in the government, that this could ensure that we’re one step closer to achieving those rights and having those rights no matter what we do or who we are,” McShane said.
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