September 2015 Volume 101 Issue 1 100 Selma Ave st. Louis MO 63119 Photo From Elise Palmquist

ECHO

2 Table of Contents ECHOthe

2015-16 ECHO STAFFEDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Jack KilleenJUNIOR EDITOR: Andy KimballBUSINESS/ADS MANAGER: Ashli WagnerOPINION EDITOR: Abby BotanGRAPHICS EDITOR/NEWS EDITOR: Jake CollinsSPORTS EDITOR: Bennett DurandoFEATURE/ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR: Irene RyanVIDEO EDITOR/ WEB EDITOR: Caroline FellowsCIRCULATION EDITOR: Kadifa TabakovicADVISOR: Donald Johnson

SOME MATERIAL COURTESY OF AMERICAN SOCIETY OF NEWSPAPER EDITORS/MCT CAMPUS HIGH SCHOOL NEWSPAPER SERVICE

The ECHO is a monthly publication of the newspaper staff of Webster Groves High School, 100 Selma Avenue, Webster Groves, MO.

To contact staff members, call 314-963-6400 ex. 11157 or write wgecho@wgmail.org.

Unsigned editorials are the opinion of a majority of staff members; signed articles are the opinion of the writer.

Letters to the editor of 300 words or less are welcome; submit letters by the 10th of the month to wgecho@wgmail.org, or room 155. All letters must be signed, although the name may be withheld from publication if request-ed. The ECHO has the right to edit letters for publication as long as intent remains unchanged.

The ECHO is a member of SSP, Quill and Scroll, MJEA, JEA, MIPA, NSPA and CSPA.

September 2015

Pg. 3............................................................Men should be feministsPg. 4................................Trump succeeds despite unorthodox stylePg. 5..........................................Lack of supervision cheats students Pg. 6..........................................School receives letter, changes logoPg. 7.......................Driver charged with involuntary manslaughterPg. 8-9........District, community plans recovery from S&W failurePg. 10-11...........................................New teachers come to WebsterPg. 12......................................Authors speak to WGHS communityPg. 12......................Feminist Coalition members give voice for changePg. 13.....................................................Bennett from the BleachersPg. 14............................Cashel enjoys last season with son, seniorsPg. 15...................................Drama department to perform HamletPg. 16...........................................................Sushi Station isn’t fishy

The ECHO Family helps make the ECHO possible. To become a member of the ECHO Family, please contact Ashli Wagner at abwags99@gmail.com. Thanks to all of our members!

Julianna FellowsBret WaeltermanPeggy SmegnerCurtin Family

Melodie CarrollKathy Whaley

Laurie MurphyTom and Mary Ann Schafer

Webster Groves Baptist Church

Zychinski Family

The ECHO FAMILY

ECHO 3OpinionECHOthe

September 2015

Editorial

Men should be feminists

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie defines a feminist as a person who believes in the social, political, economic equality of the sexes.

People have a warped understanding of what it means to be a feminist. It isn’t that difficult to understand. Feminists want equal rights. Feminism is for everyone; anyone can support feminism. Supporting feminism in no way makes a man any less “masculine.”

“Some people ask: ‘Why the word fem-inist?’” Adichie wrote in her book ‘We Should All Be Feminists.’

“’Why not just say you are a believer in human rights, or something like that?’ Because that would be dishonest. Femi-nism is, of course, part of human rights in general - but to choose to use the vague expression human rights is to deny the specific and particular problem of gender. It would be a way of pretending that it was not women who have, for centuries, been

excluded. It would be a way of denying that the problem of gender targets women. That the problem was not about being hu-man, but specifically about being a female human,” Adichie wrote.

Women have a still standing history of experiencing sexism (oppression of gen-der/sex) and misogyny (hatred towards “womanly” things and femininity).

In third world countries like India, Sau-di Arabia, Afghanistan, etc. women are rejected an education for simply being a female.

According to Elite Life, nine out of 10 women are illiterate in Afghanistan. Af-ghanistan is said to be the hardest place to live as a woman. As a woman, many of them go through hardships on their way to school like acid being thrown in their faces. Women are forbidden to learn with boys, making it hard to actually find a school nearby.

Also, rape isn’t just a women’s issue;

it’s everyone’s issue. Women who live in America have a 25 to 26 percent chance of being raped in their lifetime which is one in four, according to The Hathor Legacy.

In rape cases there is often a snarky comment like, “She was asking for it.”

No one asks for rape. Wearing a short skirt shouldn’t make a woman a rape tar-get. Being intoxicated shouldn’t make a woman a rape target. Being in a vulner-able situation shouldn’t make a woman a rape target. Being a woman shouldn’t make a woman a rape target.

Men have a one in 10 chance of be-ing raped in their lifetime, and most men don’t report it in fear of being made fun of or not being taken seriously. No one should have to be in fear of being sexu-ally violated walking home from work or even at a party. It’s not something some-one should have to do.

Feminism is actually beneficial for men because it shows their support for the women’s rights considering feminism wraps itself around gender equality. We still have places where women are denied basic rights, and men often ignore these issues and the fact women need voices to amplify their wants for equality including America. Men deny women’s oppression because it’s not as harsh compared to-wards those who live in third world coun-tries, whose oppression may be worse.

Men have misconceptions when it comes to oppression in the third world countries. One is that women who don’t live in first world countries are more op-pressed than those who do, making them irrelevant, which is completely false. Men should show support for all women and help improve all of the oppressive situa-tions women all go through.

Another is that women who live in first world countries don’t face oppression at all, which is again false. Men still live in a patriarchal society and to assume that it’s disappeared when women are still denied basic rights is ignorant. There are pressing matters that men need to address and fix.

Men shouldn’t ignore feminism because after all...it’s their issue as well.

Photo from Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/MCTFeminist leaders and activists demand Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the In-ternational Monetary Fund, be removed from his post during a protest in front of IMF headquarters in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, May 18, 2011. (c) 2011, Olivier Douliery. Distributed by McClatchy/Tribune Information Services.

4 Opinion ECHOthe

September 2015

Caleb BolinContributing Writer

Donald Trump has gained increasing support from Republican voters in his campaign for presidential office despite having made several nasty comments about various groups of people.

The latest poll shows Trump with 28.5 percent of the backing when compared to the rest of the Republican field, with Ben Carson in second with 18.8 percent of support. Neither Trump nor Carson are career politicians.

Normally, a presidential candidate would suffer after making the kind of comments about Megyn Kelly, Fox News reporter, and Mexicans, among other peo-ple and categories of people, that Trump has made. However, when renowned po-litical experts and journalists have specu-lated that Trump would crash and burn, he has seemed to defy the laws of political

gravity and fly higher. On Meet the Press on Aug. 23, discus-

sion about Trump echoed this belief that he is defying the laws of political physics.

Amy Walter, National Editor of The Cook Political Report, said, “All of our assumptions have sort of blown up in our face.”

Jon Ralston of The Las Vegas Sun, also on Meet the Press, said of Trump, “No one wants to say, including people in our business, the real answer, ‘I don’t know.’ Nobody knows.”

It is true Trump’s campaign has sur-passed the expectations of many. The same political commentators and reporters who have repeatedly predicted Trump’s down-fall have repeatedly been proven wrong. The truth is, like Ralston said, nobody knows how Trump’s campaign will play out. Journalists and political experts alike have been too quick to try and predict Trump’s catastrophic end.

The fatal error in the predictions of the

media and political commentators is they treat Trump like a politician running for president. If Trump were another candi-date who was running for office, maybe he would have succumbed to the outcries at his politically incorrect, and insensitive, comments.

Trump is no politician, and his com-ments have only made him seem more genuine. Those who support him are tired of politicians and tired of being too “po-litically correct.”

Those who are opposed to him find his off the cuff remarks to be a liability.

Junior Olivia Dell, Trump supporter, said Trump would fix the country by, “Getting rid of illegal immigrants, and fixing crime and jobs.”

Dell, like other Trump supporters, likes that he is outspoken and tough on immi-gration and fiscal issues. However, she said his closed-mindedness and stubborn-ness are also weaknesses.

Junior Easton Culver, who opposes Trump, said, “[He is] decisive, strong-willed and rich;” however, Culver added, “[Trump] is sexist, homophobic and stuck in the past. Trump doesn’t represent the nation’s values.”

Trump speaks his mind and speaks it honestly, and he comes off as “real” to voters. After all, as insensitive as his comments about Mexicans and others were, his words were his own, and nobody else’s.

Besides being the front runner for can-didate, Trump’s celebrity and bold re-marks are also drawing attention to the Republican Party and the issues that face our country. After having Trump on the first Republican Debate, Fox News got its highest ever ratings for any presidential debate, reaching 24 million viewers.

The big questions remaining for Donald J. Trump and the GOP won’t be answered any time soon. Will Trump receive the Re-publican Party nomination? It is far from decided. Will Trump win the election?

Perhaps the media and political experts should stop comparing Trump’s campaign to that of a politician and realize that Trump is unlike his contemporaries or any who have run before him.

OpinionTrump succeeds despite unorthodox style

Photo Credit: Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/TNS2016 presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the City Club of Chicago to a sold out crowd, Monday, June 29, 2015 in Chicago. Trump discussed every-thing from immigration, Miss Universe, and “The Apprentice” to business. (c) 2015, Antonio Perez. Distributed by McClatchy/Tribune Information Services.

September 2015

Kimball’s KonceptionLack of supervision cheats students

Andy KimballJunior Editor

After being in school for a month, stu-dents will receive more tests and quiz-zes. As students dread their upcoming assessments, they will take shortcuts and do something all too common at the high school, cheat.

A male honors student said it is “very easy” to cheat at the high school. The same student added he had seen students cheat in the past saying, “(Students cheat) in a lot of different ways: people get tests from other people; people write down notes and hide them.”

He added sometimes students take an-swer keys and study/ show them to other students before the test.

“I’ve seen kids take things off teachers

computers and put them on flash drives; and the teachers don’t even realize it,” he said.

The same honors student also admitted to cheating himself, saying he had even asked the person next to them for an an-swer and not been caught.

“I’ve cheated by knowing the questions that are going to be on the test, and that going into a test, a lot of kids know the questions (to the test),” the student said.

An ECHO poll of over a hundred stu-dents showed that over half of the students have witnessed cheating firsthand and that about 39 percent had witnessed cheating multiple times over the past year.

In the same survey over 30 percent of students said they had cheated in the past year on a test and/or a quiz, and 20 percent of those said they had cheated multiple times in the past year.

This shows cheating is a problem at the high school. Webster needs to ensure that all students maintain academic integrity. Also, the fact that students cheat is un-fair to students who have to work hard to get good grades while others just take the easy way out.

A solution to this problem is to have more supervision during tests. It is very hard for one teacher to supervise a class of 20 or more students at a time during a test. A way to have more supervision for a

ECHO 5OpinionECHOthe

test is to have a teacher aide or a substitute teacher come in to supervise a test with the teacher.

This will make it easier to monitor all students in a class and therefore harder for a student to cheat.

More importantly it will ensure aca-demic integrity and fairness for all stu-dents at the high school.

Willie’s Comic By Jack Killeen

Did you know...c39 percent of WG students have witnessed cheating in the past year

c30 percent of WG students admitted to cheating on a test or quiz in the past year

c20 percent of those admitted to cheating more than once

cAccording to glass-castle.com, about 20 percent of college students admitted to cheating in high school during the 1940s, but today 75-98 percent of col-lege students surveyed each year admit to cheating in high school

September 2015

School receives letter, changes logoECHOthe6News

Photo from mshsaa.orgThe high school has gone back to this Webster Groves logo.

Andy Kimball Junior Editor

Bennett DurandoSports Editor

WGHS had a new look, and it was used as the face of a new “Super-Fan” phone application and on 1,200 student hand-books before the school year.

The issue is, this is Webster Groves High School, not Austin Peay University.

The creator of the Statesman App, se-nior Sam Cashel said, “I changed the face, color and made (the logo) into a Webster version to avoid copyright.”

Austin Peay emailed the activities of-fice on Aug. 10, about the now ex-States-man logo. The logo was changed on the Statesman App on Aug. 25.

According to activities director Jerry Collins, “(Webster Groves High School) asked Austin Peay about the logo, and

they said they would rather (Webster Groves High School) not use our variation of their logo, so rather than push the issue and risk further action, we decided to go

back to the top-hat for now.”

Principal Jon Clark said, “We asked permission from Austin Peay, and they didn’t feel like we made enough changes, and we’re com-

pletely with them on that.” Clark added, “I mean personally I’ve

always liked the top-hat” and “We feel the same way in regard to our logo, like if someone, locally of course, tries to use our logo, we usually can’t let that hap-pen.”

About a future logo, Collins said, “I’ve heard possible ideas of voting for a new logo, possibly a survey. The vote for the new logo could even be on the app (States-man Sports App).”

“Sam and I have each had ideas from over the summer about logos,” Collins said.

Buy an ad in the

ECHO!

Photo by Andy Kimball This year’s student handbooks had this logo, which the high school will no longer use.

September 2015

Bennett Durando Sports Editor

In the aftermath of the fatal car crash that injured (then) WGHS junior Emma Casey and killed Casey’s boyfriend Xander Wohl-stadter, Belleville, IL resident Willie Green was charged with first degree involuntary manslaughter.

Green was also charged on two counts of armed criminal action, one count of assault in the second degree (operating a vehicle while intoxicated resulting in injury) and one count of leaving the scene of an accident.

After 8 months

Driver charged with manslaughterAccording to the probable cause statement from the St. Louis

circuit attorney’s office, blood tests conducted by the Missouri State Highway Patrol showed Green’s blood alcohol to be .162, more than twice the legal amount.

The crash occurred at 9:33 p.m. on New Year’s Eve when Green ran a red light at the intersection of Chouteau Avenue and South Jefferson, colliding with the Mitsubishi Lancer driven by Wohlstadter, 20. Casey was riding as a passenger with Wohl-stadter.

According to the probable cause statement, Green was travel-ing at 55 mph when he went through the light and ran into Wohl-stadter’s vehicle. The zone’s speed limit was 35 mph.

The circuit attorney’s office alleged, “…the defendant (Green), while under the influence of alcohol caused the death of X.W. by colliding with a vehicle in which X.W. was an occupant when operating a motor vehicle with criminal negligence in that the defendant was violating electrical signal or driving above the posted speed limit, and X.W. was not a passenger in the vehicle operated by the defendant.”

Wohlstadter was declared dead at the scene of the crash, while Casey went into a coma for 13 days afterward but survived.

Casey said the charges, while late (eight months after the crash), were fair.

“It’s good someone’s being held accountable, but I don’t want people to have any pent-up anger toward Willie Green,” Casey said. “You may have anger or stress at Willie Green, but that’s not going to change what happened.”

Casey, who also suffered injuries to her skull, rib and pelvis, has since celebrated her 17th birthday and started her senior year at WGHS.

“It’s a good feeling, senior year, my last year… and my teach-ers have been really great, given everything that’s happened,” Casey said.

ECHO ECHOthe 7News

News in brief...ECHO staffers named NSPA finalists

Senior Irene Ryan and graduate Aerin Johnson were listed as finalists in the National Scholastic Press Association’s 2015 Story of the Year and 2015 Picture of the Year respectively.

Ryan’s story “McCaskill proposes bi-partisan anti-rape bill” was a finalist in the Diversity category.

Johnson’s photo of the Ferguson protest at WGHS was a finalist in the News Picture category.

Winners will be announced at the JEA/NSPA Fall National High School Journalism Convention in Orlando Nov. 12-15.

National Merit honors 4 seniorsFour seniors, Travis Williams, Gavin Turner, William John-

son and Michael Hayes, were named National Merit Semi-Finalists based on their PSAT scores.

Semifinalists represent fewer than 1 percent of U.S. high school seniors and includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state.

Photo by Alex RingAccording to the police incident report, the car Willie Green was driving hit Xander Wohlstader’s at the intersection of Chouteau and Jefferson Avenues on Dec. 31, 2014.

September 2015

8 In-depth ECHOthe

2015-2016 Budget savingsTotal Savings= $1.6 million

Non-Staff ReductionsReduce Professional Development Allocations: Money used for teacher training e.g. learning how to use SmartBoardsEliminate Tuition Reimbursement: Money used to help pay for teachers to go back to

school for further degrees.Employees share Insurance Premiums: 10% match, originally 0% match.Reduce Department/Building Budgets: 5% Dept., 10% Central OfficeReduce extra work days Librarian/Counselor: Days worked before/after school year reducedEliminate A+ Schools curriculum work: Dr. Yeggins no longer doing curriculum workReduce Administrative position at preschool: Only 1 preschool director opposed to last year’s 2Administrative salary (100%) to Ambrose Family Center: Money from preschool and Adventure Club paying

preschool director’s salary, not districtStaff ReductionsReduce Aides by 10%Reduce Supplementals 5% HS & 10% MS: Money for teachers volunteering to do more in

school (e.g. sponsoring a club) reducedEliminate Facilities Management Position: Assistant Administrator in Buildings and ground

dept. moved to technician positionEliminate 1.5 Custodians in district Tech Software Coordinator Retired- position not filledFull Time non Tenured Teachers4 non tenured teacher contracts not renewedPart Time non Tenured TeachersFine Arts Coordinator (Retiree)HS- Non Tenured Math (Cut)HS- Communication Arts (Retiree)HS- Math (Retiree)Teachers Resigning/Retiring3 teacher positions resigning/retiring not filled

Jack KilleenEditor in Chief

Following the failure of last school year’s S&W proposition, the Webster Groves School District has made changes to cope with the loss of expected taxpayer dollars.

From laying off staff members to cutting construction plans, the district is looking for spare change wherever it can find it. Its 2015-16 budget plan projects a savings of $1.5 million.

It’s nothing new for Webster to have cutbacks; last year the district withheld 10 percent of department budgets, eliminated a part time director’s position and increased cafeteria prices, as well as other money-saving tactics.

This year departments face another budget cutback of 5 per-cent while Central Office faces 10 percent.

“The idea is to keep it as far away from the students, so that you don’t feel the effects. That’s always been the goal,” com-munications director Cathy Vespereny said. “I think that, for in-stance in the high school, there’s some new faces that you aren’t seeing from these retired teachers that aren’t coming back.”

Retired positions without a replacement include a fine arts co-ordinator, communication arts and math teachers, a technology software coordinator and a preschool co-director.

Because of cuts, the high school’s total staff list is four mem-bers shorter. As a result, students may notice an increase in class sizes.

Principal Jon Clark estimated student to staff ratio is up by one since last year —now 22.5:1.

“My goal is always to keep it around 22 [students],” Dr. Clark said about the ratio. “I spent a lot of time with [John] E. Thomas and counselor [Karen] Verstraete keeping that balance.”

Until another levy is passed, the district will continue making budget savings.

About whether another levy would come up, Vespereny said, “No one has talked about when we go to the voters, and that’s when we’ll have more money and be able to not have to do some of these things. We could go anytime we want, but there has been zero talk about April, and you would have to know by now be-cause there’s certain deadlines you have to meet, as far as getting your ballot wording to the county.”

Students should not only look for what has changed in the dis-trict but what hasn’t changed.

Steger still shares a building with Computer School, Moss Field remains the football field it was last year, and Clark School’s building space holds steady.

According to Vespereny, this year’s sixth grade class is unusu-ally large. Had Prop. W passed, sixth grade would have moved to Hixson, helping reduce its class size problem.

District, community plans recovery from S&W failureDistrict delivers cuts

Vespereny said, “I think that it was too much, and I think it wasn’t that the people didn’t like what we’re doing or think we’re doing a bad job, I think they just were not ready to shell out that amount of money.”

September 2015

ECHO 9In-depthECHOthe

Irene RyanFeature/Entertainment Editor

“One of the ways in which the community has traditionally supported our schools is by approv-ing tax and bond mea-sures, and as we all know that didn’t happen last time” school board vice president Amy Clenden-nen said.

Webster Groves School District parents, board members and educators met in the PV commons on Wednesday, Sept. 2, to discuss the failure of last year’s tax levy and bond issue, Propositions S&W.

Roughly 100 attendants participated in groups to discuss why the bond and levy didn’t pass, what it would take to get new ones to pass and ways for the school board to better communicate successes, and failures to the com-munity.

Parents were asked what their impressions of the district were. Responses ranged from “a reason to move to Webster Groves” and “a well-rounded approach with engaged parents” to “stuck in complacency” and “strong, but not advancing at the level we think it should.”

Parent Jen Sauter said of the district, “My impression is that people move to Webster and agree to pay higher prices for homes because it’s a good district. That’s why I live here. My impres-sion is also that we as a community have a challenge because we don’t have a lot of retail; we don’t have a large tax base besides our homes. Taxing the people that live here is the really only way to make money for our schools.”

Parents, board discuss S&WDistrict, community plans recovery from S&W failure

Photo from Cathy VesperenyAlfred Abotsi and other community members meet with district board members on Sept. 2, in the PV Commons. Among other things, residents discussed why they did not pass Propositions S&W.

Overall, parents seemed to be disappointed with the level of communication from the school board. Parents also did not feel informed about the significance or necessity of the bond issue, which would move the Steger Sixth Grade Center over to join Hixson Middle School.

Parents also felt they should be more informed about what the district does on a regular basis financially and what it does to save money.

Moving forward, the survey also suggested the school board should use “a variety of channels to share more detailed com-munication with the entire community.”

September 2015

Rasnic teaches ‘independent learners’ Cole SchnellContributing Writer

Beth Rasnic, academic lab teacher, said, “Be independent learners.”

Rasnic doesn’t want her students to be consumed with home-work and school work, but to be involved and independent learn-ers in and out of school.

Rasnic, a retired stay-at-home mother of two teens, was a per-manent substitute here last year and has hopes of becoming a counselor. Rasnic has a counseling degree from UMSL and a background in business.

Rasnic wants her students to have out-of-school hobbies. Her hobbies include reading, running and biking. She frequently vis-its Queeny Park in her biking and running routes.

If Rasnic weren’t a teacher, she said, “I would like to work with the homeless youth, finding them homes and developing programs to assist them to overcome their obstacles and thrive in the future. I also would like to work in the Peace Corps.” Rasnic added she would work with a variety of people and cultures all

over the world. Webster Groves is home to Rasnic, having lived here for her

first 22 years. She said she wants the first impression of her to be “despite that I am soft-spoken and quiet, I am creative and can be fun.”

Photo by Cole Schnell Beth Rasnic talks to one of her academic lab students.

Julia KarsteterContributing Writer

Diamonds are a girl’s best friend, but carbon, the element that fills diamonds, is a science teacher’s best friend. Specifically, chemistry teacher Lisa Sylvester, who said carbon is her favorite element.

Sylvester is a new resident of St. Louis and of Webster Groves High School. She moved here about a year ago from Virginia

New teacher discovers love of science

Photo by Ashli WagnerNew chemistry teacher Lisa Sylvester talks to her chemistry class about past experiences.

Beach, when her husband got a position at Barnes Jewish Hospi-tal in the neurosurgery department. “The Big Barnes,” she calls it.

She recalled the time when she first visited St. Louis during a ridiculously hot summer, while her husband was here doing research.

“My husband was like, ‘Yeah, I think we should go to Barnes.’ I was like, ‘Oh, really? It’s so hot there!’ but it hasn’t been that bad, actually.” Sylvester then chose to come to Webster Groves when she learned about the school system and wanted to send her two children here.

Sylvester decided to be a teacher because while she liked chemistry, she thought her old lab work job was too dangerous and had inconsistent hours for her to stay in, especially with her growing family. She then moved to teaching, first starting in Newport News, Va.

Sylvester first realized her interest in science when she took a science class in college and met a classmate who provided her more in depth knowledge about it. This led her to switch from her then music major, making music a hobby instead of a career, and eventually leading her here to WGHS.

10Feature ECHOthe

New teachers come to WGHS

Go to wgecho.org for more Webster news

September 2015

Zach SheetsContributing Writer

Jazz and music of all types is what ac lab teacher, Katie Mc-Guire throws her extra time into. McGuire attends concerts once a month. If not, McGuire is at home practicing instruments like the piano, the guitar or the ukulele.

Other musical events like the Jazz Festival here in Webster are where McGuire likes to spend free time. She recently attended the Foo Fighters concert, which happens to be one of her bands of interest, McGuire said.

As one of the new ac lab teachers, McGuire said she’s very excited to start at Webster Groves High School and has heard nothing but great things.

Social worker comes to teach at WGHS

Page KimzeyContributing Writer

St. Louis born and raised, new ac lab teacher and JV volley-ball coach, Molly Dean, joined the Webster Groves High School community this summer.

“My last semester I student-taught, but this is my first time ac-tually teaching,” Dean said.

Dean got her first degree in secondary social studies education

Scout HornkohlContributing Writer

In addition to being new to the math department, Emily Lesher is also experiencing a different region of the country.

Lesher grew up in the mountains of New Jersey. After graduat-ing high school, Lesher attended Virginia College as an under-grad, studying to become an engineer.

Then she became involved with a project that would create night vision goggles, which “kids say is really cool, but was ac-tually not good,” she said.

This is where Lesher discovered she belonged in mathematics. She switched majors and received her masters at SLU.

Next, Lesher worked as an instructional assistant. The courses for freshmen were taken online, so her job was to be there in person to help when students needed it.

Now, settled with a new position, Lesher has a full schedule. Leaving around 6:30 a.m. each day is difficult, but this makes her free time all that much more meaningful.

Lesher’s favorite activities include gardening, making her own

and student-taught at Southern Boone in Ashland, MO. Dean is going to graduate school at University of St. Louis to earn her master’s degree in mathematics.

One thing Dean wants is to teach social studies or math at Webster.

Dean would also like to continue coaching volleyball and get involved with an after school activity like student council or an-other club. Dean played volleyball throughout high school for Parkway West High School.

Being a teacher has been her dream job: “All throughout high school, I knew this is what I wanted to do, and being able to coach volleyball is a big added bonus because I love doing that.”

clothes and playing with her poodle puppy Hokie.

Lesher grew up with poo-dles, and her heart went out to little Hokie when she decided to rescue him.

Lesher’s parents and father’s family moved to Dallas, and now she travels frequently to visit. The best part is Hokie is the perfect size to fly with her.

Not all of Lesher’s family is far away. Her mother’s family lives in St. Louis, so there is always support when she needs it. Lesher enjoys the Missouri summers, but the winters are not a favorite of hers.

Lesher enjoys her new position, but like all teachers, she faces difficulties while teaching. She said the hardest part of being a teacher is “remembering when you used to be here.” She said sometimes it is easy to forget the students are learning this mate-rial for the first time.

ECHO 11FeatureECHOthe

Teacher joins WGHS, coaches volleyball

Math teacher experiences new region

Photo by Scout Hornkohl

Photo by Page Kimzey

Photo by Zach Sheets

McGuire said, “I’ve wanted to work here for a while; actu-ally I applied six times before I got the job,” McGuire said.

McGuire’s college back-ground includes degrees in history and communications at Webster University and Mizzou University.

Experience in social stud-ies, algebra and geometry are what McGuire hopes to use to her advantage to help educate students but said she also has expe-rience in being a social worker, teaching middle school math and working with people who have dementia. McGuire said she hopes to teach math here.

September 2015

12 Feature ECHOthe

Kadifa TabakovicCirculation Editor

English teachers are collecting items for baskets to be silently auctioned as

part of the Save the Date: “Write You Are” Trivia night on Sept. 26, at 6 p.m. at the Webster Groves Masonic Hall.

The proceeds from this event will help fund the winter All Write Festival, which is a week-long celebration featuring local au-thors and students’ written work. It will begin Feb. 24, 2016.

“Right now we are focusing on Jon-athan Franzen, the silent auction item

collection and the Brian Selznick fund raiser, and then after these events we will start booking authors,” English teacher Rita Chapman said.

Franzen, Pulitzer prize winner and WGHS alumnus, spoke to seventh hour classes on Sept. 17, in the auditorium.

“Jonathan Franzen is a Webster gradu-ate and a celebrated author, award winning New York Times Best Selling Author, so we are excited about that,” English teach-er Katie Guymon said.

Franzen also sold and autographed his new book “Purity” the same day at 7 p.m. at the Best Bank Books store. Admission was $35, and it included a copy of the book.

“An Evening with Brian Selznick” oc-curred in the auditorium on Sept. 24, at 6:30 p.m. Selznick spoke about his new-est book, “The Marvels.” This event was sponsored by the Novel Neighbor, and some proceeds went to the WGHS All Write.

“We are building on our successes from last year by expanding the days of the festival and getting new writers,” English teacher Steve Leftridge said.

Ashli WagnerBusiness Manager

Seniors Rebekah Perman, Gianna Metzger, Jenny Perkowski, Annie Bryan and teacher Kristin Moore founded the Feminist Coalition, which meets every other Tuesday at 7:20 a.m. in room 284.

The club’s priority was to create activ-ism in the school for gender equality and to educate people about what feminism means and what it means to be a femi-nist.

Seventy-five people attended the first meeting to talk about how to advertise the club with ads and posters.

The club plans an after school speaker series where different people come to the school to educate equal rights and LGBT rights.

On Oct. 3, the club plans to have a fund

raiser with puppies at Eden Seminary Field. Gateway Pets is lending the club puppies, and people can pay $5 for five minutes with a puppy.

All of the proceeds will go to Lydia’s House for abused women and their chil-dren. The coalition plans for the fund rais-er to be 1 p.m.-3 p.m.

One change already seen by the club’s activism regards the dress code.

Senior Annelise Kerr-Grant thought WGHS’s dress code was unfair and tar-geted towards girls, she said.

“It’s innately sexist how the dress code was targeting short shorts and strappy straps and low cut shirts,” Kerr-Grant said. Boys don’t have as many dress code rules and a boy wearing a low cut tank showing off his pectoral wouldn’t get called out, but a girl wearing a tank top with spaghetti straps would get called out

in front of the class.“One it’s inappropriate, and two it

should be against school rules,” Kerr-Grant said.

In order to change the dress code Kerr-Grant had to take multiple steps. She first wrote a letter and asked vice-principal John Raimondo if she could hang her let-ters around as a passive aggressive note.

Raimondo instead arranged a meeting for Kerr-Grant and senior friends Bryan and Mia Berg to talk with administrators. That lead to another meeting with more students and more diversity to talk with teachers and administrators about what should be changed and what was wrong with the dress code.

This went throughout the summer, and by the beginning of the school year the school had a new dress code.

Feminist Coalition members addresses dress code

Authors speak to WGHS community

Follow @WGECHO for more news updates!

Photo by Aerin Johnson English teacher Amie Keane sells All Write Week T-shirts outside the Little Theater between presentations last year. All Write Week was Feb. 24-27, 2015.

September 2015

ECHO 13ECHOthe

Bennett from the BleachersColumnist looks back at 2014-15 sports

Bennett DurandoSports Columnist

Well in case you missed it, it’s a new school year, bringing new sports seasons here at WGHS. We’re already well into the 2015-16 year, but before we get too far in, let’s take a look back at the successes of teams last year.

While every program at the high school had its great moments last year, we have here a ranking of the five teams whose success in their 2014-15 campaigns will be remembered most at WGHS in the years to come.5. Men’s Basketball

This team had such an incredible sea-son, one can almost overlook the cruel fashion in which it ended. Men’s basket-ball makes this list because it posted yet another 20 win season (24-6) under head coach Jay Blossom, who recorded his 400th career win during the season.

The team won its first 17 games versus in-state opponents, and went to Florida for a top national tournament and had suc-cess against some of the best teams in the country, going 2-2.

In addition, the team graduated six se-niors, two of whom will play Division 1 college ball this year (Alex Floresca at San Diego, Stephen Harris at Austin Peay). Oh what might’ve happened if a District Championship ref had counted to five correctly….4. Football

Again, we have a team that had its life taken in impossible fashion.

A year after an unprecedented run to the Final Four, the football team was loaded and a top force in Class Five. It seemed bound for another deep playoff run when, with a seven-game win streak (7-1), it

prepared to host Ladue in the District Championship. The streak seemed safely headed toward eight in the second half before quarterback/kicker Jack Fox and Ladue erased a 28-6 deficit for a stunning 34-28 win.

Like the men’s basketball team, devas-tating as the season’s ending was, it was a spectacular year for the team, which also graduated star receiver and defensive back Cam Hilton.

Hilton can now be seen playing SEC football as a safety for Mizzou. 3. Men’s & Women’s TrackIt’s impossible to rank either of these

teams over the other after their perfor-mances at State last year.

The women’s team took fifth overall at the meet, with (then) junior Carolyn Ross winning the State title in the triple jump event. Stacey Lambkins, in her last State meet, took second place in the 100-meter hurdles and broke a school record with her five-foot, three-inch high jump that earned fourth place.

The men’s squad was equally impres-sive, most prominently in the 4x800 relay, as Tyler Lawson, Lucas Bennett, August Bont and Billy Howells ran for a school record and a State championship.

Lawson medaled in two other events to help cement his and the team’s place in school history.2. Women’s Soccer

This team may fall short of the number one spot on this list, but the 2015 women’s soccer squad may have been one of the most dominant teams in any sport WGHS has ever seen.

It was led by (then) senior goal-ie Charlotte Ken-nedy and a lock-down defense that produced 24 shut-outs… in 27 wins on the season.

At the peak of the team’s amaz-ing season, it was headed to the Final Four in the midst of a 13 game win-ning streak that in-

cluded 12 shutouts and held all opponents to a combined total of one goal.

The team also graduated Maddie Po-korny, now playing D-1 soccer at SLU.

It had just as much championship po-tential as the sport’s male counterpart, but another of Webster’s best teams met its end in heartbreaking fashion; this one in the State semifinal when Notre Dame de Sion capped a comeback with a game-winning goal at six minutes to play. 1. Men’s Soccer

The State Champs are the obvious choice for most successful team at WGHS last year. Their historic run after never having won State and not having won a district title since 1987 has them down in the history books already (John Conley hoisting the trophy backwards is becom-ing an increasingly iconic image in the WGHS community).

In a series of dramatic playoff games, (then) junior Sheriden Smith scored late game-winning goals twice, including his two goals in the last 15 minutes of the State semifinal to beat Smith-Cotton 4-2.

It doesn’t hurt either that former ECHO feature editor and cartoonist Willie Zem-pel scored the eventual winning goal on his header in the State title game.

The team may not be done; returning 12 seniors, there’s certainly potential for a re-peat (see story by Jake Collins).

The sports year already in progress will hopefully produce more memorable mo-ments and teams that can make a push to bring WGHS a State Championship.

The Webster-Kirkwood Timeskeeps you in touch with your community

in print every week and online all the time.

Check out our all new website:www.timesnewspapers.com

now with major league sportscoverage from columnist Rob Rains

Make a difference in your community:Shop first at locally-owned stores!

NO MO' #FOMO!

Presenting Sponsor of the Old Webster Jazz & Blues Festival

Sports

September 2015

Cashel enjoys last season with son, seniors

Jake CollinsNews/ Graphics Editor

“Are we really going to talk about our seniors already?” Tim Cashel men’s Var-sity soccer head coach said.

His team has most of the same faces he saw last season. Losses include goalkeep-er Sam Craig, midfielder Jogi Shimotomi, defender Willie Zempel, midfielder Wes-ley Wride and midfielder Daniel Gomez.

At the end of the year he will lose 12 of his players, including his son, Sam Cashel.

“As we get older and go our separate ways I hope that soccer can be something that bonds us together,” Coach Cashel

said. “I will miss all the kids a lot.” Coach Cashel knows the players well

as most of them spent most of their child-hood years at the Cashel household.

“It is sad in both respects (as a coach and parent),” Coach Cashel said.

Webster isn’t just rivals with Kirkwood anymore.

“The guys look forward to the SLUH game and some of the other teams that we play yearly,” Coach Cashel said. “It’s one of those games that is just always good soccer.” Webster lost to SLUH 2-0.

“It was a hard fought game; we were in it the whole way through,” senior Mick Hanarhan said.

Another loss at the end of this year will be the team’s managers, seniors Max Cha-

nitz and Will Conerly. ”They have a crazy amount of value to

us.” Coach Cashel said, “They do a great job of making things flow easier, at both practice and games.”

The Webster Groves soccer club (first grade- seventh grade) is also run by Coach Cashel.

“There really is no end to coaching for me... especially last season, since our sea-son went so late there was about a week of overlap between the programs,” Coach Cashel said. He coached some of the play-ers on this year’s Varsity team through the same program.

Following the loss to Lindbergh, Web-ster went on to win the next four games including a double overtime victory over St. John’s Vianney (2-1, 2 OTs) on Labor Day weekend.

Webster’s home games are broadcast on a low power FM station, KWRH-LP. These games are on 92.9 FM, or on its website, www.radio63119.org. All dates and times for games that will be on the air are located on its website. Past games are also available to listen to there.

Upcoming Webster men’s Soccer Games10/7 Kennedy, 4 p.m. @ Chaminade10/12 Chaminade, 4 p.m. @ Selma Field10/14 Kirkwood, 4:15 p.m. @ Selma Field 10/15 Affton 4 p.m. @ Affton10/19 McClure North 4 p.m. @ McClure North10/21 Ritenour 4 p.m. @ Selma Field

Photo by Jake CollinsWebster players senior Mick Hanrahan, junior goalie Will Sprick and senior Trey Paloucek collide with SLUH players senior Matthew Frein and senior George Haman off a SLUH free kick. SLUH took the win 2-0 over Webster.

14 ECHOtheSports

September 2015

Drama dept. to perform ‘Hamlet’

Caroline FellowsWeb/ Video Editor

After last year’s comedies “Rumors” and “10 Ways to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse,” the drama dept. will present the Shakespeare tragedy, “Hamlet,” Oct. 22-24.

“We have not done a Shakespeare play in our season since I started teaching here,” director Todd Schaefer said, and he welcomed the challenge of producing a

complex production.“Performing Shakespeare is terribly

difficult. It’s very rigorous for the actors to do it, and so for the challenging aspect I think it’s definitely worth it,” Schaefer said.

The drama department will not present the full-length, four- hour play, but a cut version to be performed in about an hour- and –a- half. Schaefer originally saw this production at the Black Cat Theater in Maplewood, which was cut by Jason Cannon and his wife. This version cuts

out the political aspects of “Hamlet” and pretty much anything not directly related to Hamlet’s revenge plot.

In WGHS’s adaptation, a female plays Hamlet, a casting decision made by Schaefer and drama teacher Sarah Ro-manowski long before the auditions.

“We needed more opportunities for fe-males to carry the show… and [Hamlet] is definitely a part you can do a gender switch on. We can make it work.”

“This will hopefully be the start of a tradition where we dive into Shakespeare so that our student body who is involved in Shakespeare gets exposure to the Eliza-bethan dramas,” he said. Schaefer added the drama dept. should produce a Shake-speare at least every eight years, if not four.

“It’s a terribly important part of our the-ater history,” Schaefer said.

The cast features junior Hannah Leath-erbarrow as Hamlet, junior Loren Kah-rhoff as Ophelia, senior Kate Arendes as Gertrude, junior Rowan van Horn as Claudius, senior Justin Comegys as Polo-nius, senior Nick Suber as Horatio, junior Jacob Noce as Laertes, and senior Dylan Martin as Ghost.

Other cast members include sophomore Kate Becker, freshman Joe Castleman, freshman Tea Gardner, senior Annelise Kerr-Grant, junior Bridget Kahrhoff, ju-nior Molly Kurtz, junior Lily Newsham, senior Alec Reeves, senior Jonah Schnell, junior Miles Umbaugh and sophomore Elliot Williams.

Photo by Cole Schnell

Junior Rowan Van Horn rehearses his role as Claudius for the upcoming performance of “Hamlet.” The play will be Oct. 22-24, in the auditorium.

10/2 Joywave 8 p.m. @ The Firebird10/5 Royal Blood 8 p.m. @ The Ready Room10/7 Father John Misty 8 p.m. @ The Pageant10/13 Chance The Rapper 8 p.m. @ The Pageant10/17 Grace Potter 8 p.m. @ The Pageant

10/19 Passion Pit 8 p.m. @ The Pageant

10/20 Mac Miller 8 p.m. @ The Pageant10/30 Mat Kearney 8 p.m. @ The Pageant10/31 21 Pliots 8 p.m. @ The Pageant 11/17 Ben Folds 8 p.m. @ The Pageant

Upcoming Concerts

15EntertainmentECHOthe

Review: Sushi Station on a rollNew restaurant offers signature dishes

September 2015

Greg FrazierContributing Writer

Sushi Station is great for experienced and inexperienced sushi eaters, offering a wide selection for locals, and Webster students can get 10 percent off if they show their student I.D.

Most customers are young couples and families, who can be heard making positive remarks, like, “Thank you, that was ter-rific.”

The establishment has a humble setting. The walls coated with wood paneling. It serves authentic Thai and Japanese cuisine with the signature “Old Webster” sushi rolls. These include salm-on, tuna, yellowtail, asparagus, gobo and honey wasabi mayo and costs $12 with the appetizers at $4.50.

The different entrees amaze customers who try them. The location, 29 North Gore Avenue, is particularly conve-

nient because of its easy accessibility to local schools and fami-lies who come into Old Webster to shop and dine.

This is a good alternative to the popular Drunken Fish because of the wide selection of signature sushi like the Old Webster, as well as the great location and most definitely the service.

The owner, R.J. Xu, is from Thailand and studied Japanese Cuisine there and California. In mid-February, he went to Japan at the peak of fishing season to visit the numerous shops at the shore.

Photo by Greg Frazier Sushi Station brings in the East with authentic Thai and Japanese cuisine. Its logo represents the colors for the Japa-nese flag.

“You could smell the freshness off of the fish,” Xu said.Xu looked forward to the Old Webster Jazz and Blues Fest and

hoped to receive plenty of customers.

Photo by Donald JohnsonSushi Station’s appetizers include sashimi (fresh raw sliced fish): $5 for five pieces, $18 for 10 pieces and $35 for 20 pieces.

16 Entertainment ECHOthe