News in Briefs: Catch up on school and local news

DECA qualified 110 students at the state tournament against 50 other high schools, from March 2-4. 

At the state tournament, 25 East students qualified for DECA Internationals. But the date of DECA Internationals overlaps with prom weekend, meaning that qualifiers have to make a choice. 

By placing in the top two of their individual event or in the top three for their team event, 14 seniors and 11 juniors qualified for internationals.

Senior Sam Day placed first in the business finance series competition and said that the senior class took state a lot less seriously since most of them plan on attending prom.

“We spent a lot less time rehearsing and we went to see ‘Captain America,’” Day said. 

This is the sixth time prom has been scheduled at the same date as internationals in the past 19 years, according to DECA Advisor Amanda Doane.

“At the beginning of the year, when we were checking to make sure there wasn’t a conflict, there wasn’t a conflict yet,” Doane said. “So, it’s unfortunate that it had to be changed.”

Doane also stated she and Co-DECA Advisor Mercedes Rasmussen gathered the students who plan on attending DECA Internationals even before state. More than 100 students opted out of internationals prior to state and plan on attending prom.

Senior Mae Bledsoe, state champion in two events this year, explained that she’s chosen to go to prom after attending DECA Internationals last year. 

“Prom is so unique in the way that people stay a lot at the actual dance,” Bledsoe said. “I think it’s just one of those memories that you will look back on when you get older.”

After a proposed real estate sale of Joe Dennis Park by Karbank Real Estate Company and the City of Westwood for a new development, citizens have picketed, pursued legal action and protested every step of the way. 

The project includes plans to keep a quarter of the park and to add in public bathrooms at the cost of Karbank. Even with these efforts to appease the residents, the issue has reached a homeowner-wide vote that will take place on April 1. 

Westwood residents originally disliked the plan because the park has been around since the 1960s. 

East parent and resident activist Tara Hensley stated that the citizens originally weren’t given the option to vote on the sale of the land and sued in the Kansas State Court of Appeals. After a state judge sided with the residents, the voting was allowed. 

East junior Nora Dorton-Hugunin lives in Westwood and went to Westwood View from Kindergarten to sixth grade. Dorton-Huginin said that she’s firmly against the development.

“It’s just nice for the neighborhood to have a place to go on walks and stuff and bring their kids,” Dorton-Huginin said. “I think that they should put in something that brings something good to the community and not something that takes up space and causes traffic.”

Westwood residents like Dorton-Huginin are disappointed in the development, but only five to eight citizens, according to Hensley, are actually involved in the legal part of fighting. 

“There’s never been information to the residents, educating them of their rights and that this issue has been through the legal process,” Hensley said. “Because of all that, you have this super divided city where people don’t understand and it’s a much bigger deal than anyone realizes.” 

The Department of the Interior confirmed on Feb. 14 that over 2,300 employees will be fired across the entire department due to an overall goal to increase government efficiency.

CNN stated that 1,000 of the Department of the Interior employees fired were NPS workers.

The NPS is currently short staffed, operating at 15% less employees than in 2010, even with visitor rates spiking by 15%, according to a fact sheet by Washington State Sen. Patty Murray.

The fact sheet explained that if National Parks don’t have full-time or seasonal staff during this peak season, visitor centers and campgrounds may close, bathrooms will not be properly maintained and guided tours will be cut back or altogether canceled. 

Emergency response times will drop, and visitor services like safety advice, trail recommendations, and interpretation will be unavailable, according to the fact sheet. 

While President Trump has signed an executive order stipulating that for every four workers who are fired, one will be hired back, these rehirings won’t be enough to substantially fill the gap left from recent layoffs, according to the fact sheet. 

These layoffs have attracted the attention of the media and even East students. Senior Ashley Freund recently learned about the park ranger layoffs and felt distraught, recalling her national park visits on family trips. 

Freund has visited around 15 national parks with her family and is planning on visiting Yellowstone — pending how safe the trip will be. 

“I think the narrative is if you work for the government, your job is protected,” Freund said. “I was shocked that the government, much less the President of the United States, would go as far as to fire some of their most valuable workers.”