May has always been a hectic time for students and staff with the end of the year fast approaching, in addition to the disrupted class schedule as students take their AP and IB exams. While this year has undoubtedly been the same, students also adjusted to new attendance expectations.

Principal Emilie Greenwald explained last year’s policy for AP/IB tests.

“Students [were] released for half days . . . allowing them to self-select times for studying,” Greenwald said.

This year however, students are expected to attend all classes unless they are taking an AP/IB exam, in which case students are excused for that entire day.

Senior Lauren Stechschulte who took five AP tests both this year and last year, said she enjoyed the opportunity to take a half-day to study; she is unhappy with the change.

“I liked having the half day off before the test to study,” Stechschulte said. “Having it after the test does not improve my test score. It will probably just make it harder for me to concentrate during the test because I will be impatiently waiting for when I can go to lunch and hang out with my friends.”

Greenwald explained that the old policy resulted in confusion and complicated attendance, causing the administration to re-evaluate the system and adjust the policy.

“The policy change for AP/IB testing came about from trying to simplify when students are expected to be at school,” Greenwald said. “It enables students and staff to have a clear understanding of when students should be in the building.”

Stechschulte doubts this will be the case; she said students may find their own way to take a study day.

“In all honesty, I think [this policy change] may make attendance more complicated since so many people are just planning to call in ‘sick’ the day before their tests,” she said.

As Stechschulte said, with so many students now out for days at a time, she often has found herself in a class with only five or so kids, making it difficult to continue with normal lessons.

Greenwald said a possible future change may be moving towards something known as a “May term”, where students finish with standard classes earlier and are then free to take electives for the remainder of the year.

“I think [a May term is] something we may investigate in the future. The challenge is what we do with all students, those who are involved in AP/IB testing and those who are not,” Greenwald said. “Some of what may also drive the discussion of a May term is end-of-course exams and when they will be given. We anticipate those replacing the OGT starting in the 2014-2015 school year, but we don’t yet know when they will be or how we will administer them, electronically or on paper, like the OGT.”

Regardless of what changes might be made in the future, Greenwald said she believes the school has continued to run smoothly.

“May is a little nutty with so much testing and with all of the senior activities for the end of the year, but our staff and students do a great job of adapting to the schedule,” Greenwald said. “[This month] gives staff the opportunity to pursue additional topics of interest with their classes.”

by Matias Grotewold, ’13

Comparable to a wildfire or a school-wide game of telephone, rumors in a crowded environment like UAHS disperse quickly.

Whether the word is spread unintentionally or with a malicious plan – through word of mouth or by a social networking site – it has a tendency to find its way to hundreds of students and often even the administration.

In mid-April 2013, a Twitter account under the name of “@UAConfessions” began asking its viewers to submit lewd and inappropriate comments about other students that were then published anonymously on the social media website.

Although not the first of its type since accounts such as “Dublin Confessions” have previously existed, the “UA Confessions” account received a strong reaction from the UAHS administration. The administration contacted Twitter as well as several legal entities, and the account was shut down.

UAHS assistant principal Andrew Theado explained some actions the school took in response to the posts on the Twitter account.

“We contacted the [Upper Arlington Police Dept.], Twitter [and] at one point we had the [Ohio] Attorney General’s office on the phone,” Theado said. “Our main objective was to get [the account] shut down so students [could] feel safe and be educated without all that unnecessary stress and anxiety.”

Twitter responded by shutting down the account.

According to Theado, the district does not monitor students’ Twitter accounts, but investigates and responds if something on a social media site is disturbing the learning environment.

“We aren’t [online] watching what [students] are posting,” Theado said. “But we have to make sure that students aren’t being harassed and in this case they were.”

In spite of the majority of the posts being allegedly false, Theado said the administration still felt that the learning environment was being disrupted by the situation.

“I’m assuming a lot of it was false…but parents and students contacted us and if it’s disrupting educational opportunities for students, [the administration] steps in,” Theado said.

Theado did not disclose the punishments that the students responsible for the creation of the account received or their respective names, but punishments for harrassment and bullying can include suspension, according to the UAHS Student Handbook.

Regardless of the origin of rumors or their means of spreading, the administration does not step in to stop them unless they realize the educational process is being disrupted, according to Theado. With modern technology though, it can often take less than a day for a rumor to affect a significant portion of the school.

“From my understanding, the effect [of UA Confessions] was relatively immediate. The day of, in fact,” Theado said. “[Rumors] nowadays travel really quickly because of the social media.”

In a voluntary survey conducted of about 150 UAHS students, it was found that over 90 percent of students had heard of the site and that almost 80 percent of students knew someone mentioned in a post.

While the school made announcements alerting parents and students about the UA Confessions site and the actions being taken, the survey found that most students had already heard about it through Twitter or their friends. Theado said the speed at which the rumor spread and its lasting presence on the internet worried the administration.

“A problem with things like this being said over social media… is on the web it is out there for more people to see and more people to read,” Theado said. “It is essentially everlasting and that is very concerning.”

Some students feel UAHS dress code limits freedom of expression

By Emma Klebe ‘13

By Mattie Stevens, ‘13

As you sat in the grass in your backyard, you traveled to another world where your Polly Pockets and Hot Wheels were real and you were the creator. At family gatherings you played hide and go seek and tag with your cousins. However, unlike the children of our generation, kids today are consumed by their phones. Playing outside becomes Doodle Jump, and tag with your family becomes posting posed pictures of yourself on “Selfie Sunday.”As technology becomes more prominent and accessible, the age of those owning phones continues to decrease. While there is no harm in owning a phone, boys and girls in elementary school are not yet mature enough to use these electronics appropriately and their overuse causes kids to not develop proper social skills.

According to theonlinemom.com, a website dedicated to teaching mothers about modern technology, the average age of those receiving their first cell phone is 11.6 years old. Also according to the site, 10 percent of parents report that their children were between the ages of 7 and 9 when they received their first phone.

This trend begins with the innocence of children needing the ability to contact their parents. And with the massive take over of the cellphone market by Apple, smartphones have become a much more common appearance in the hands and pockets of Americans, and increasingly, those Americans are also including elementary school children. This is where many of the problems stem. Now, kids can text, video chat and buy music and apps in addition to calling home.

While many people in the generation above us might argue that high school students are overly obsessed with technology, I refute that by saying that we use it in moderation. While we do use more technology than those older than us, it is only because iPhones and laptops were not available to the generation before us to for them to utilize. However, young adults have access to the same technology as elementary school kids and teens, however we are not glued to our phones like they are.

Not only is it aggravating that 10-year-olds are wasting their time with their noses stuck to the screen playing Doodle Jump and Temple Run, but I worry for the implications it will have on the functionality of their social skills. Instead of playing baseball in the backyard, they play Angry Birds in their basements. Children who spend lots of time on their phones have less social interaction, which is critical to developing social skills that are used in everyday adult life. Being able to have meaningful in-person conversations and interact appropriately is a major aspect of many jobs.

The next generation needs to dial back their phone use and find a way to strike up a good conversation with a friend. Call the neighbor over to shoot some hoops or fish out the chalk bin, but try to refrain from Instagramming your drawings with the shadow of your peace signs. #soartsy

By Mattie Stevens

Q: How did you decide to become involved with Norwester?

Carothers: Norwester has completely expanded and made my high school experience what it is. I wanted to join yearbook to cover the people and events that aren’t typically covered and to celebrate the successes and talents of students.

Q: How long have you been a part of staff?

Carothers: I joined the staff my junior year as a sports editor. Covering sports was a blast but a lot of work because of the 72+ sports to cover in such a short amount of time. Looking back now I wish that I had joined my freshman or sophomore year because of the great experiences I have gained from it. I recommend that anyone who is interested in Norwester should join next year because it was one of the best decisions I made during high school.

Q: What is your favorite part of being on Norwester?

Carothers: My absolute favorite part of being on the Norwester staff is creating a book that will forever hold the memories of the student body made throughout the year. It definitely adds pressure to my job knowing that what most people will remember about this year is what we cover in our 400 page book, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Q: What is the yearbook’s theme this year?

Carothers: Our theme this year is “Beyond Tradition.” At first I wanted it to be “Traditional,” but then I realized that we have really gone beyond and created a whole new set of traditions.

Q: What is your favorite aspect of the yearbook this year?

Carothers: I love the new collage spreads we added this year! They allow so many more students and events that aren’t covered to make an appearance in the book.

Q: What are the qualifications for being Editor in Chief?

Carothers: At the end of each year our advisor Ms. Volksen hands out an application to all returning students. However, I considered my entire junior year the “interview process” because there is no one question or scenario that can encompass all it takes to be editor-in-chief. I believe that hard work, ownership and leadership are important qualities for anyone on the yearbook staff and a year of working consistently to make the yearbook the best it can be is the only interview you need.

Q: What is your least favorite part of being on Norwester?

Carothers: The hardest part of Norwester is deciding what to cover. Our school is always busy with events, games, club meetings and fundraisers, trends, class trips, projects, concerts, plays and everything else that comes with being a high school student. As you can imagine, it can be hard to cover everything.

Q: What are your major responsibilities?

Carothers: A few of my duties include keeping everyone on track to meet their deadlines, help brainstorm with other editors, communicate with our publisher and edit the entire book multiple times. I also have the same responsibilities as other staff members, such as photographing events, interviewing students, make sure that we’re covering a variety of events and students and bringing in baked goods! It’s a lot, but very doable.

Q: How has Norwester changed this year compared to last year?

Carothers: We have focused more on teamwork and have stronger deadlines to ensure that the yearbook in making consistent progress. I try to meet weekly with each section editor or staffers to check progress and figure out how I can help things that have fallen behind. As far as the actual book, we also did a completely new design in the “people” section and did our coverage earlier this year so more clubs are included. Our timeline for the book is a lot different than last year because we don’t want to be working on the book in July like last year.

Q: What is your favorite part of being Editor in Chief?

Carothers: My favorite part would be the ability to work with a great group of students to create a time capsule of what school was like at Upper Arlington High School in 2013.

By Anna-Maria Thalassinos

Recently Columbus has made its mark both nationally and internationally with its various honors and awards

Columbus is proudly home to quite a few attractions such as The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, which was voted #1 Best Zoo from the Besties Readers Choice in 2012. With 580-acres of space, this famous zoo features a wide range of animals and a 22-acre water park, Zoombezi Bay.

According to the NY Daily News,one of the nation’s top 25 spots for cool, creamy blends is Columbus’ Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream. The shop is known for its rich, exceptional taste and unique flavors. The publication also named the city of the best ice cream cities in America.

In January 2013, the think tank Intelligent Community Forum announced Columbus as one of the world’s most intelligent communities, and was the only U.S. city selected for 2013. This means that Columbus is a role model for creating competitive local economies and vibrant societies in today’s hyper-competitive global economy.

According to the ICF website, after the “Smart21” Communities are chosen in autumn, ICF then selects the “Top7” Intelligent Communities for the year within that group.

ICF undergoes a rigorous selection process in order to select the Top7.

“Each Smart21 Community is invited to complete a detailed questionnaire based on ICF’s Intelligent Community Indicators as well as an annual theme,” the ICF website states. “An international academic team of analysts review the questionnaires, score each one on dozens of factors, and produce a quantitative ranking of the candidates.”

The Top7 epitomize models of economic and social transformation in the 21st Century. According to ICF, in June they will announce their Intelligent Community of the Year based on a second round of analysis, site visits by ICF’s co-founders and the votes of an international jury.

Named the #13 Arts Destination in the U.S. by American Style Magazine, downtown’s Short North hosts the trendy Gallery Hop the first Saturday of every month. Celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2009, the Hop hosts over 40 galleries each month.

Although many shops are open earlier, according to the Short North website, the Gallery Hop officially starts at 4pm and goes until 10pm, with restaurants and bars staying open considerably later. While Gallery Hop fans travel from one gallery to the next, street performers provide spectators additional sources of entertainment for the night.

In America, over a quarter of the nation’s population qualifies as obese, and less than ten percent of Americans are happy with their weight according to Gallup polls. There are TV shows, newspaper articles, magazine covers and government programs all devoted to the idea of slimming down America. The push to lose weight to gain health surrounds students, but this is not the only message being sent out. The call for self-acceptance and positive body image has also started to gain national media attention with many large companies taking a stance on the issue. Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty is fighting to change the results from their study that showed less than five percent of women consider themselves to be beautiful. This lack of positive self-image can turn into something even more destructive—eating disorders.

These two messages can get distorted, leaving some students struggling to find both happiness and healthiness.

Sports Pressure

One place UA students have found a balanced approach to wellness is through sports. The ultracompetitive environment and the need to succeed allows students to work towards their physical peak, according to junior wrestler John Gardikes.

“Sports play a big role [in getting healthy] because obviously you’re going to want to be the best, you’re going to want to be the strongest, the fastest. So that means you have to be the healthiest,” he said. “You have to work the hardest if you’re going to do that.”

Yet sometimes these measures can lead athletes to try drastic diets. A 2008 report by the Journal of Athlete Training showed these extreme diets negatively affect the health of up to 62 percent of female athletes and 33 percent of male athletes. Wrestling in particular has frequently experienced trouble with eating disorders, as athletes are required to stay within a certain weight category using methods such as weight-cutting to rapidly lose body fat, according to a bulimia in-depth report by The New York Times. Gardikes agrees that wrestlers have to face additional challenges that include staying within their weight class through dieting methods.

“With wrestling, you sometimes have to lose weight,” Gardikes said. “You have to stay strict to the diet and it’s kind of tough… I was pretty hungry but it’s just something you have to mentally overcome, you have to be disciplined.”

Although this discipline can achieve positive results when combined with a drive to ensure proper nutrition, there is a point where discipline can turn dangerous.

“There are some guys that don’t eat at all, they’ll have a couple celery sticks a day and that’s not good,” Gardikes said. “You want to still maintain a healthy diet you just don’t want to eat a lot of it or overeat.”

Media Pressures

Sports are not the only place students are compelled to meet a certain weight standard. The influx of airbrushed figures and photoshopped faces provided by the media can make the message of self-acceptance difficult to hear. Senior Nina Wehner says she struggles with ignoring the beauty standard the media has set, making self-acceptance a difficult task.

“To some extent, I try and ignore [the pressure to be thin,” Wehner said. “You have to be able to appreciate someone, but remember they’re completely separate from yourself, and you need to appreciate yourself too.”

Junior and girls varsity soccer player Anna Eversole also believes the media has had a significant effect on how young people perceive healthiness. Although girls may attempt to lose weight in hopes of trying to attain the media version of beauty, this may not be the healthiest of options when taken to the extreme.

“[The media is] focused on being really thin. Anytime you’re shopping online all the models are stick thin,” she said. “It’s just as unhealthy to be sickly thin as fat. I think working out all the time and not eating at all [is bad].

Balance is one of the most important aspects of overall fitness, according to school nurse Laurie Long. She believes this balance can come from several facets of one’s life, including their physical and mental health.

“As a nurse I feel that it is important to look at all aspects of your life and achieve a balance of exercise, activity, food, work and emotional health,” she said.

Eversole tries to maintain a balance within her own life of exercise and positive dietary choices and believes this principle holds the most promise for anyone wanting to get healthy.

“It’s a balance… working out the right amount, eating the right amount,” Eversole said.

Yet this balance can be difficult to achieve and may not always yield the results expectant dieters may have hoped.

Benefits of Healthy Living

The importance of a balanced and nutritious diet combined with exercise is stressed by not only health professionals but fellow UAHS students. Eversole believes leading a healthy life now will mean reaping benefits as one grows older.

“It’s important to have a healthy lifestyle because you just feel better about yourself,” Eversole said. “And it’s going to set a better [life] for the future. I think it’s important when you’re young because you’re making good habits now for when you’re older and you can’t work out as much.”

Gardikes agreed that exercising and eating right when young will lead to a better future. As high school students are in a time period physically where their bodies are creating patterns that will last through their adult lives, Gardikes said health is all the more important for students to realize today.

“It’s good to be healthy because throughout life, as you get older, it’s a lot harder to maintain a healthy diet because your body is changing,” Gardikes said. “Lifting and eating healthy now will help prepare you for the future. It will help you live longer than if you were to be unhealthy.”

Taking Action

Obesity is a serious concern for those who fail to embrace the benefits of healthy diets and regular exercise. Solutions to the growing problem are being sought out nationwide as people search for what action to take.

Personal trainer and UA mom Jill Scott believes a more personal approach within individual communities can create widespread change.

“I think education [needs to be the course of action],” Scott said. “I would love to see people seeking to prevent versus just treat, so I think that could certainly be a grassroots effort within schools and communities… I don’t think it will happen from the government down I think it has to happen from the grassroots up.”

Hoover believes the role of education in students’ daily physical education must be reevaluated. With the recent failing of the levy, students in the coming years will have the option of using out-of-school sports as credit towards their PE requirement.

“Right now America’s youth is at risk, and they’re at risk because of being obese and some kids aren’t even obese they just aren’t active,” Hoover said. “And to me there has to be a better way or better suggestions [than cutting PE].”

Long agrees that the importance of schools in the health of its students is significant. Students can spend over 35 hours during a normal week within schools and one of their three daily meals in a school cafeteria, which leaves the institutions in a crucial position.

“Schools play a particularly critical role by establishing a safe and supportive environment with policies and practices that support healthy behaviors,” Long said. “Schools also provide opportunities for students to learn about and practice healthy eating and physical activity behaviors.”

Starting A Path to Wellness

The push to get healthy continues and many diet and exercise regimens have been attempted, yet long lasting results prove difficult to achieve. With so many exercise advertisements and diet programs that promise success, there are several mistakes aspiring health nuts make, according to Scott.

“To lose weight I really recommend that they look at a holistic plan and that they don’t just do something crazy and quickly but really make a plan for what they’re doing,” Scott said. “A lot of times people will just try to get ready for spring break and go down to 1200 calories and just eat things that have no nutritional value… so I recommend healthy eating but reducing what you’re eating and then being consistent with the exercise.”

Long notes the importance of consistency and continuity in any type of diet so that the results are long lasting and effective.

“To be successful, [cutting back on calories] has to be combined with healthy lifelong exercise and changes in lifestyle,” Long said.

Scott added that in today’s day and age there are many different ways to exercise that can make getting healthy more fun and interesting for those who want to try something new.

“If you’re not doing any type of exercise try something new, there are so many fun things [to do],” she said. “Parkour and golfing, bowling, just try to find something different and see what you like. And whatever you try… do it for 30 days [to] really give yourself that time to form new habits because anything’s going to be difficult the first couple weeks.”

The benefits of leading a physically healthy and balanced lifestyle at a young age can also improve mental health, as Eversole noted.

“When I eat healthy and work out I feel more confident [and] I feel better about myself ,” she said.

Despite the extreme measures some students may take on the path to wellness, others, such as Eversole, have found with a sufficient amount of determination and motivation they can be both happy and healthy.

A Skinny Sacrifice

Despite the safety felt by many living in the ‘UA bubble’ dangerous disorders like anorexia do exist, and teens in Upper Arlington could be at an increased risk. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) states that the group most at risk for developing this type of mental illness is high achieving Caucasian teenage females belonging to a middle to upper socioeconomic group—in short, a description for the majority of girls at UAHS.

Senior Nina Wehner was just 15-years-old when she began a diet that soon spiraled out of control.

“At first [the weight loss] was in hopes just to get healthy, but then it became an obsession,” Wehner said. “Between October and December of my sophomore year I think I lost ten pounds…then it was I can eat lunch and a little bit of dinner, and a few weeks later it was then I’ll just eat dinner this week and it was just progressively maybe I can get away with not eating today.”

To add to her struggle, Wehner’s cousin and best friend, Bethany Terry-Wehner, was dealing with anorexia at the same time. The two girls were the only ones who knew there was something more sinister occurring than a normal diet.

“My cousin had been a model and she was over in L.A. and we both basically had an eating disorder at the same time, and it was acknowledged but we both encouraged each other [to keep losing weight],” Wehner said. “[Our illness] was known to someone but it was [someone who was] in denial that it was a bad thing.”

The inability to recognize a problem is a common thread for those with this type of mental illness. The DSM states that one of the symptoms of anorexia is a disturbance in the perception of one’s body image. Psychiatrist and UA parent Kevin Ware has seen this startling occurrence within his own patients.

“[People with anorexia] see an obese person no matter how much weight they lose,” he said.

And unfortunately for the thousands across the country struggling with an eating disorder, the path to recovery is a much longer one than the rapid descent into mental illness.

“It’s a really hard condition to treat because you’re telling them all of your thinking has to be corrected,” Ware said. “You don’t believe you’re ill but… you are.”

Not only is the psychological harm of these mental illnesses devastating, but, as Ware points out, many are hospitalized and even die of various health concerns such as malnutrition, heart trouble and starvation. In fact, these illnesses have the highest mortality rate of any mental disorder, demonstrating that when mental health is ignored, the results can be detrimental for physical health.

“With an eating disorder you have to remember it’s a mental disorder and a physical disorder so mentally you can’t separate the two,” Ware said.

For Wehner, one of the hardest parts was how psychologically draining the disorder was combined with the lack of proper nutrition.

“It’s all pretty terrible because it’s not only a big physical toll, but it’s also big mentally,” Wehner said. “I was just always really worn down and I think that was really hard.”

The recovery process for Wehner was a long one, and to an extent, is still ongoing.

“One of the biggest things is just eating in front of people, that’s the hardest thing that you have to overcome,” Wehner said.

Part of what made recovering so difficult for Wehner was admitting there was something wrong in the first place. For others suffering from a similar condition, Wehner understands the struggle but urges others to seek help immediately.

“The hardest part is admitting ‘I am not ok’ and I remember that was one of the scariest things,” Wehner said.

Once Wehner came to terms with her illness, she was able to reach out to her family who helped her recover from her ordeal, both physically and mentally. Now, after going through such a traumatic event, Wehner has a new appreciation for the importance of self-acceptance.

“It’s really important [to accept yourself] because in the end, you’re going to be with yourself the rest of your life,” she said. “You’re the one person you’re not going to escape from and you need to be happy with who you are and every aspect of yourself. Loving your body is the first step to accepting a lot of things.

The Double Standard: ‘Thinshaming’

Many people feel that this is socially acceptable—that to comment on a skinny girl’s weight is different than commenting on a plus sized woman’s weight. Some feel skinny women are the reason for eating disorders. In fact, I was told that I was the reason that women have eating disorders. That was a big weight to put on my shoulders. I remember feeling very ashamed of my weight at that point. I wondered if I was beautiful. Was I too skinny? Would anyone ever find my boy hips attractive? Does my lack of curves make me less beautiful than those curvaceous women?

I feel that people look at skinny women and think, “She must always feel confident.” I’m here to say that is simply not true. It is never acceptable to make the statement that someone is more

beautiful than another simply because of weight. If I should not tell another woman she is too large, then why is it alright for someone to tell me I am too skinny? I can’t count on my fingers how many times I’ve been told to eat more from people that don’t even know me. That isn’t right. There shouldn’t be a double standard. Everyone is beautiful.

Many ads that preach about loving your body and feeling good in your skin only show plus sized models. The ads assume that skinny women always feel beautiful, that the only women who need positive reinforcement about their bodies are those that cannot fit into a size two. My personal belief is every woman should always be told they are beautiful.

Beauty ads that want you to “love the skin you’re in” should showcase a myriad of women. From skinny to plus size. The only ways to combat the “beauty epidemic” in our society is to make every single woman on this earth feel beautiful. That means excluding no one, putting down no one. Instead of focusing on our flaws we must embrace our perfections. Everyone is beautiful.

by Elizabeth Tzagournis, ‘13

The shouts of students clad in the cardinal and white attire of Stanford University fill the stadium as the lacrosse game begins with the pivotal faceoff draw. This atmosphere is a dream that could turn reality for sophomore Molly Plasket. Plasket, as well as other students, has found a future in collegiate athletics and has made a verbal commitment to Stanford University as a lacrosse player for 2015.

Plasket is young be committed to a college by the late winter of her sophomore year, compared to the majority of senior students who have more recently committed to play sports at the university level. Senior Jack Mueller is one who has joined the ranks of college-bound athletes and signed on to play football at the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY. Both students have had hopes of playing their respective sports in college since a very young age, according to Plasket and Mueller.

Though both are bound for future college sports careers, their choice of university is unique to each student’s hopes and goals. Plasket said she is excited for the strong academic experience Stanford offers.

“[Stanford] is academically outstanding,” she said. “Students are presented with incredible opportunities and connections that will most certainly help them receive a graduate degree and out in the workforce.”

Mueller also desires a competitive academic environment, but furthermore chose West Point in order to eventually serve in the army. His interest in West Point specifically began in middle school.

“I went to a football game with my granddad back in seventh grade and they played Akron [University] and after that I kind of got interested and stayed interested,” Mueller said. “I always wanted to be in the army so that’s why I chose [West Point].”

Sports scholarships provide students with an education and an opportunity to play their particular sport more often and at a more competitive level. According to Plasket, this commitment can prove demanding.

“You have to love the game you play. If you don’t love it, you will probably get burnt out pretty quickly,” Plasket said. “You also have to be fairly easy going because you will have to be really open to change—change in your position, change in how much you play, and playing on an entirely new team.”

Mueller agreed that dedication and hard work are necessary assets for aspiring college athletes.

“You have to have some talent but you also have to show lots of determination,” he said.

Playing sports in college may seem more common than the reality, where around two percent of high school athletes will end up playing for an NCAA school and nabbing a sports scholarship, according to 2011 article “The Odds of Playing College Sports” by CBS news. The journey from high school to college sports is not an easy one with Plasket having begun her contact with colleges, specifically OSU, during her freshman year.

“It started when Ohio State invited me out to a recruitment meeting and a basketball game,” she said. “[Then] the ball started rolling and I became in contact with an increasing amount of programs. My first official offer came from Ohio State in October 2012.”

Yet not all prospective college athletes get such an early start, as Mueller began his search during his junior year. Mueller received letters of recruitment but students could get phone calls from the sport department and later the prospects may visit the universities they are interested in and talk with the coaches and their recruiters.

“When I visited West Point in the summer the football coach came and talked to me and that’s when I got [interested],” Mueller said.

After receiving offers from different colleges and making their respective decisions both students have enjoyed recognition from UAHS students and faculty on their achievements.

“When I first committed, I didn’t tell anyone at the school,” Plasket said. “Now that people know, random students and teachers stop me in the halls and congratulate me. It is really special and I’m not sure it would happen anywhere besides UA.”

In addition to student and faculty support, Plasket and Mueller credit their families and coaches as being instrumental in the recruitment process.

“All of my coaches knew about the role sports can play in a student’s high school career and subsequent future,” Plasket said.

With Mueller’s final season of UA football complete, he said he looks forward to a football and military career at West Point. As a sophomore Plasket has two more full seasons of lacrosse with her current season still underway. She said she appreciates her lacrosse journey thus far and how it has helped shape her future.

“Lacrosse has done so much for me,” she said. “[It] has taught me so much—not only about being on a team, but just life… You learn about teammates. You learn about compassion. You learn about working hard.”

Yang is one of many students who takes advantage of a unique opportunity: the chance to take classes above his grade level. For high school students, this exists as part of a program called the Post Secondary Enrollment Options (PSEO). According to the UAHS college center, PSEO enables students to take classes at either the Ohio State University or Columbus State Community College for credit towards college while in high school.

To take part in a PSEO class, a student applies the year before at the college center. The credit one earns through a PSEO class can be counted either only as college credit or additionally be counted as high school credit.

For some students, PSEO affords opportunities that fulfill their academic needs when the high school cannot. Junior Everett LeViness, who takes a PSEO Calculus class at OSU, said that he began to consider PSEO when he completed the high school mathematics curriculum.

“I was recommended to do post-secondary by Mr. Silliman last year since I had already taken all the math classes that the high school offers,” LeViness said. “So I talked with [then] college counselor Mark Davis who put me in touch with the undergraduate admissions counselor Michelle Brown at OSU, who walked me through the admissions process. I had to register, then sign up for classes.”

For Yang, the chance to take university-level classes is about more than just taking an advanced course. PSEO also offers students like him an opportunity to experience the college environment firsthand.

“More than anything it’s about learning to take responsibility,” Yang said. “In college, it’s not like in high school. [With] having a reprieve pass. If you don’t turn in the assignment on time, sometimes the professor doesn’t take the assignment.”

Though PSEO classes open up new opportunities for the students taking them, they also pose a new difficulty. In order to take classes at a university, students have to interrupt their normal schedules at the high school. Yang cites this this as a major worry when he signed up for PSEO.

“I wasn’t sure whether to take an economics class in high school or go to OSU. Basically I decided to take that OSU math class, so I had to drop AP economics,” Yang said. “Also, that class is only offered during [the high school’s] 2nd and 3rd periods, so basically, for the last 5-10 minutes of my physics class, I have to leave early. That’s the biggest challenge, I have to commute– drop my class and leave early.”

Leviness also had to create a more complicated schedule in order to reap the benefits of his PSEO class.

“I had fifth lunch, so at least the class itself fits into my lunch period.” Leviness said. “But taking into account travel time I had to move my 6th period Chemistry class to 1st period, which was a study hall. I have to leave half an hour into my German class on a normal day.”

In spite of their difficult schedules, Yang and Leviness both chose to accept the challenge of PSEO as a way of pursuing their academic interests beyond UAHS.

For Yang, being able to take advantage of the opportunities available to him outweighs the difficulty a tangled schedule may pose.

“I just want to use the [available] resources as much as possible. Under the circumstances, the colleges offer classes [that have more challenges] and variety.”

The main duty of the custodial staff is cleaning the classrooms. According to staff member Janet Mitchell, during the school year, the custodial staff members receive “sets,” or fixed areas, of the school that they are assigned to clean. The custodial staff also works closely with the teachers whose rooms are included in their sets.

According to Michelle Louks, another staff member, the teacher- custodian relationship is critical to the custodians’ work evaluation.

“The most important thing is service. It’s servicing your teacher, and making sure that your teachers are happy,” she said. “If your teachers are happy, then your boss is happy, and everyone else is happy. And if your teachers are happy, your boss knows you’re working.”

However, the duties of the custodial staff go far beyond simply sweeping the rooms. According to Head Custodian Jerry Adkins, the duties of the staff custodians are extremely broad, ranging from day-to-day cleaning to building security.

“We do everything, from trying to keep security where we can, the cleaning of the building, helping with events or banquets, that kind of thing,” he said. “Just seeing that the school runs properly, that the building has heat and electricity, just to be there if anything happens to the building, or if it needs minor repairs.”

Despite their important role, many of the custodians don’t feel that they are properly respected by the students. Custodial staff member Hermy Cuenca believes that some students view the custodians as being too ordinary to take seriously.

“Some students I have [had to] talk to, because the way they [see the custodians as] run of the mill,” Cuenca said. “I’ve heard [one] student [say] ‘Let those stupid custodians do their job.’ So I talked to the student, ‘Do I look stupid to you? I’m a custodian here. I live here in Upper Arlington, my two kids are in this high school, so do I look stupid to you?’”

Custodial staff member Janet Mitchell also notes that oftentimes students will ignore custodians altogether, even though without them the school would not be able to function.

“We’re people too. We have feelings just like everyone else,” Mitchell said. “If I’m walking down the hall, kids tend to just [not] care that [I’m] there. It’s just that people always take the custodians like we’re nothing.”

Mitchell feels her duties as a custodian aim primarily to create a safe learning environment for students.

“Without custodians, the building wouldn’t be clean, and you can’t come to school if the building isn’t sanitized,” she said. “[Our] main [goal] is safety for the kids and sanitation for the building.”

Adkins believes that the lack of good relationships with the students may be partially due to the shift schedule for the custodial staff, which makes developing connections with the students difficult.

“I have a lot of people who say ‘hello’ or ‘hi’ in the hallways, but [given] the shift that we work, we don’t have a lot of direct communication with the students,” he said. “Our biggest thing is usually telling them not to do something.”

Adkins worries that the custodians may come off as being too harsh, given that they have a different set of life experiences and may not identify with the students. He says that in reality, however, the custodians are as concerned with the development of students as the high school’s teachers.

“The custodial staff is really interested in seeing what happens to the kids in the long run,” he said. “Some [of the staff members] may come off a little strong at times with their personalities, but really, they’re basing [their attitude] on their [life experiences].”

Despite the lack of attention they receive, the work of the custodians is integral not only to the everyday functioning of the high school, but to the growth of the students. Louks hopes that in the future, students and the custodial staff will enjoy a more positive relationship.

“Just because a custodial staff walks by doesn’t mean they’re mad or in a bad mood, [the students] can come up anytime, ask anything, and [we’ll] answer them,” Louks said. “We all have different personalities, and in this school district, there’s some diversity. We all have to respect each other and care about each other. Regardless of whether we say anything or not, we still care.”

Tradition of senior tag continues despite controversy regarding amended dress code

Water guns? Check. One tucked in the waistband, another in the glove compartment.

Water balloons? Check. A whole trunk of balloons primed and ready to be thrown at the targets.

Bathing suit? Check. Stripping down to nothing but a bathing suit is the only way to avoid elimination when attacked.

Spring has brought way to an epic, city-wide battle of senior tag. Squads of 17- and 18-year-olds hunt their targets, stalking them on their way home or catching them unaware in a parking lot. Paranoia slowly creeps in as contestants cautiously walk out of their houses each morning, and at any moment the hunter can become the hunted.

Organized this year by senior Davey Strahm with an entrance fee of $10 per person, the tradition of Senior Tag continues. However, controversy has emerged concerning the attire permitted for respective genders. Strahm believed that allowing girls to wear any shorts was unfair to the male players involved.

“The shorts that girls can wear are a lot more restricted. Last year girls could be in basically any type of short, but that just wasn’t fair to the guys who had to wear bathing suits,” Strahm said. “I mean, here [at UAHS] there’s a huge discussion about girls wearing shorts, but at [Dublin] Jerome the whole discussion is about being naked. I think we can definitely take the competition up a notch and allow less exceptions to the bathing suit rule.”

Sean Ng, currently a senior at UAHS but formerly a student at Dublin Jerome High School, said that, until recently, players at Jerome had to be naked to be considered safe.

“It was basically the same rules, but you had to be naked,” Ng said. “I remember kids would show up to school with bathrobes or just a sock. It seemed a lot more intense that way.”

While nudity would add to the difficulty and competitiveness of the game, public nudity is not permitted in the vast majority of the country. When Strahm originally wrote the rules, only bathing suits were permitted and girls could not wear any sort of shorts. However, many girls, such as senior Gabrielle Whitcomb, felt that was discriminatory.

“Boys can walk around wearing bathing suit bottoms as shorts and then all they have to take off are their shirts,” Whitcomb said. “[But] girls do not have the luxury of walking around in their bathing suits so they have to take off [more clothes] which would take more time.”

When Strahm announced the rule saying that girls could not wear shorts, there was an uproar from female contestants. After much deliberation, it was finally decided that girls are permitted to wear swim shorts but no jean shorts or other type of material.

According to Strahm, over 120 seniors chose to participate in this years’ competition. In a Facebook poll, more than 50 girls voted in favor of wearing shorts.

Under intense pressure from a number of female participants, as well as the results of the vote, Strahm chose to allow girls to wear an equivalent of swim shorts similar to athletic shorts.

“I just didn’t want people to keep arguing about the shorts so I found a compromise,” Strahm said. “It’s always been a fun activity so we’re [going to] keep it that way.”

On Sunday April 21, Strahm randomly selected each team’s target and contacted the participants with their assignments. The following day, the first contestants began showing up to school in bathing suits, the first reports of players tagged were phoned in and the game began.