Volume 60, No. 5March 20, 2017Peoria, Illinois

I n s i d e t h i s E d i t i o n :

Making a Splash: The End of Swim Season

Assembling in Unity: BHMA 2017

Robots Replacing Humans- Fantasy or Future?

Catastrophy for Caterpillar

How Beyonce Maintains her Mystique

Senior Elizabeth Lindqwister performing OO

By Amanda Riggenbach

Continued on Pg.6

There is a rhyme and reason to every given idea in life. For the certain students, getting up at four a.m. on cold Saturday mornings for months on end be-comes their reason to be. While to some this may be a kind of torture, to others it is a way of life. This journey is as trying and exhausting as any other sport, requiring the blood, sweat, and tears of all who participate.

Speech tournaments involve traveling to schools all around the central Illinois area, and performing informative, act-ing, political, or even dramatic speeches multiple times in a day. The state-level competition takes the weekly norms of speech tournament and amplifies it in a two-day long meet, in which the best of the best- the top 18 performers- in each speech event battle it out for the top positions

BECKETT KENNY:

ORIGINALLY COMEDIC

Senior Beckett Kenny, state champion in Original Comedy

in the state. Richwoods managed to have multiple students rank in the top 10 for their respective events, yet one student took it to the next level: Beckett Kenny.

Among all of these phenom-enal acts, it was the senior who first made it first into state finals, and then ended up winning the state championship with his Original Comedy piece. Not only did he win the tournament, he was ranked #1 by four out of five judges in the final round- a feat almost unheard of at the state competition.

Within Kenny’s piece, he por-trays the struggle between two siblings whose dead mother has an interesting sense of humor when dictating how to distribute her children’s inheritance. The two siblings, who comically hate each other, are presented with three tasks to compete for their mother’s inheritance- a

sort of will olympics. These tasks ranged from dealing with a hated cousin, Terry, to expressive mourning over the dead mother’s casket. In the end, the inheritance is a measly forty dollars and the two feuding siblings decide to split it, merrily planning a trip to luxurious Walmart.

“Coming into speech my fresh-man year it was made clear that breaking at state was nearly im-possible for kids in our area of Illinois,” remarked Kenny, “At state, every event is dominated by Chicago and the suburbs. The invisible glass ceiling prevent-ing kids in central and southern Illinois seemed impervious. I can’t even describe the elation I felt when I saw my name on the Original Comedy poster, signal-ing that I had made it to the final 6 competitors. When they called my name for first place I wasn’t elated as much as shocked. It

felt like I wasn’t in my body, I was just watching myself win state.”

And for the teammates and friends watching, his reaction was almost as comedic as his piece. As they called out the state runner up in OC and the audi-ence realized Kenny had won, a collective gasp and screams of excitement arose from the audience.

Kenny’s win was not simply his own. It belonged to the entire speech team. Those who also stayed long hours after school, who arose those early Saturday mornings to go to some new school to speak to complete strangers, those who poured out their hearts over and over through their spoken words, giving all they’ve got. At the end of year performance fund-raiser for the team, known as the Dessert Performance, the team

exhibited their senior state-qual-ifying speakers one last time. Whether it be Ariej Mohamed’s impassioned speech about femi-nism, the heartfelt defense of the humanities by Elizabeth Lindqwister, the crazed laughter of Katy Henderson’s Prose, or the brotherly love found in the Humorous Duet Acting skit of John Marsh and Adarius Blake, these students displayed a range of talent and passion that went beyond what the coaches could teach them. To these speakers, speech was more than just a competition- it was a way to spread awareness and deliver a message to the people around them. With Beckett Kenny’s historic state championship, the team is poised to keep moving up and forward.

This season, the Richwoods

The Speech Team wraps up a season filled with champions on the local, regional, sectional, and state level

Senior Katy Henderson performing her prose

2 NewsMarch 20, 2017 The Shield Volume 60, No. 5

By their very nature, businesses are des igned to make money. Although they o f t e n w o r k with company-centered monetary goals in mind, they have the capability to build, improve, and support the city in which they are based. Through their influence, busi-nesses can transform cities into a close-knit and interconnected community- something Peoria is rather familiar with. Caterpillar is one of the largest employers in Peoria, a once-proud owner of a significant portion of the downtown area, a beneficiary to the fine arts and sports, and has employees located across the world.

But, again, Caterpillar is still a business.

While this simple concept can be easy to forget when all the ex-traneous benefits are constantly presented, Peoria has been get-ting a reminder of CAT’s more business-orineted foundation this month.

At the end of January, Cat-erpillar CEO Jim Umpleby an-nounced that the company was moving its headquarters from Peoria to Chicago due to a need for easier transportation and communication for executives.

This historic move has put the future of Peoria’s downtown in question. Caterpillar strived to build a new global headquarters in downtown Peoria by tearing down the preexisting headquar-ters and Chase offices and then building upon those blueprints. By mapping a layout of company buildings that accommodated to every need of the company- whether it be business or other-wise. The development of this CAT-centered campus created a sense of optimism and city pride for many area residents, many of whom believed the company would remain a staple in the community. Naturally, it came as a shock to many when they heard of the decision to relocate outside CAT’s home town.

“Locating our headquarters closer to a global transportation hub, such as Chicago, means we can meet with our global custom-ers, dealers and employees more easily and frequently,” said Cat-erpillar CEO Jim Umpleby. As a business, until recently, CAT has been undeniably successful as 59th on the Fortune 500 list

of American companies with two-thirds of its business com-ing from other countries. The diverse sources of business is why Umpleby argues it is neces-sary for management to have that quick access to multiple sources of transportation, easier found in large cities. However, Peoria Journal Star’s reporter Nick Vlahos speculates that CAT’s transportation needs are being met well enough by their private plane, but the executives simply want to live in Chicago.

Despite the implications of the executives moving north, the company maintains that it will not have a significant impact on the company’s presence in cen-tral Illinois.

“Growth comes from investing in our products, and our services, and our solutions,” stated Cater-pillar spokesperson Rachel Potts, “We have to find a way to get back to that. Peoria remains our hometown, despite establishing a new global headquarters in Chicago,” continued Potts on the company’s serious, but cau-tiously optimistic message.

By Mary Sherman

The North Korean govern-ment has faced its fair share of scrutiny from countries around the world. The most contentious policy naturally comes from its weapons program. The program is no stranger to receiving or ignoring criticism, however, with North Korea’s new round of weapons’ tests in February of 2017 this criticism and, even worry, from other countries is at an all-time high. As what many officials consider a show of force to the new Trump administration, North Korea launched a missile from their North Pyongan into the Sea of Japan 500km away. This new development in North Korea’s program forces a need for a global understanding of the country’s history with weapons and,in turn, the responses across the globe.

North Korea’s nuclear pro-gram has progressed over the last few decades from tactical

artillery rockets to long range ballistic missiles. The modern missile program only began in 1976, but by 1984 it had already garnered its first round of inter-national scrutiny. Persisting on, North Korea continued to test and develop its nuclear missiles. Current missiles can deliver conventional warheads which may contain biological, chemical, and even nuclear capabilities. Since little about their weapons program is re-leased to the public, no one can be truly certain about the capability of these missiles outside of the North Korean gov-ernment. The primary confirmed information the international commu-nity has is that North Ko-rea has conducted several nuclear weapons tests in, most notably, 2006, 2009,

Caterpillar Corporation Up for Question Federal Investigators Raid CAT’s Soon-to-Be Discarded Headquarters

Motivations aside, the company is trans-ferring approximately 300 employees to Chi-cago and plan to leave 12,000 jobs intact in Peoria. This is unde-niably good news for

m a n y Peorians, however, the hometown’s reception to this announcement has been less than satisfactory.

“This, in some ways, is a betrayal of our com-munity and in com-plete disregard for the hardworking employees and citi-zens of Peoria,” remarked Congressman Darin Lahood, “Like many Peorians, I joined with countless Caterpillar em-ployees in the unveiling of the new state-of-the-art world head-quarters in Downtown Peoria in February 2015. Now, it appears that we have had the rug pulled right out from under us.” La-Hood has since remained the most consistently critical of Caterpillar’s recent admin-istration decisions.

“It’s a horrible kick in the gut,” lamented Peoria major, Jim Ar-dis, “We may lose up to around 300 jobs when this is done. But we still have the 12,000 plus people living and working here in the Peoria area and we still need Caterpillar to be strong and

vibrant.” Despite any politicians’ care-

fully phrased and cautious re-sponses to the move, all of Peoria was caught off guard when federal law enforcement officials raided CAT’s facilities in Peoria, East Peoria, and Mor-ton on March 2nd. Most notice-ably, dark-jacketed individuals that either were marked “IRS special agent” or “Police federal agents” walked into Peoria’s downtown headquarters with no warning. After a few tense hours of searches, in which many employees were sent home for the day, investigators left from all locations with documents and electronic records as a part of a criminal investigation into CAT’s alleged tax evasion.

While this may be the most dramatic investigation into Cat-

erpillar yet, this isn’t the first of these accusa-

tions against the company. A con-

gressional investiga-tion in 2014 was the

first to truly look into the company’s tax prac-

tices. It was concluded that, through the use of a Swiss subsidiary, it had evaded paying $2.4 billion over 13 years. The investigation failed, however, to successfully conclude that CAT

North Korea Arms Up2014, and 2016.

With this lasting and secretive history of nuclear technology, North Korea has unsur-prisingly only con-tinued to build up its pro-

gram. On Febru-ary 12th of 2017,

North Korea con-ducted yet another

weapons test off their coast. Of course,

this warranted a round of rather unpleasant re-

sponses from countries around the world. In the

past, countries like the United States, Russia and

China have passed sanctions against North Korea as pun-

ishment for its nuclear pro-gram. After February’s tests,

the UN Security Council have only strengthened their resolve to economically force North Korea into submission under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). This international treaty was intended to prevent the spread of nuclear weapon technology and to promote a peaceful attitude between countries regarding

By Lily Muranuclear weapons. The treaty went into effect in 1970 and was extended indefinitely in 1995. North Korea joined in 1985, but announced its withdrawal from the NPT in 2003. Many countries have urged North Korea to rejoin the treaty with little success.

“Because North Korea has not listened to regulations from the UN in the past, there is nothing concrete they can do now. The only thing they can do for certain is encourage and impose sanc-tions against North Korea and hope for the best,” said Ms.Reed, a government teacher here at Richwoods. As she explained, threats from other countries to impose sanctions and more regulations obviously have not stopped North Korea from flex-ing its military muscle and wor-rying governments around the world.

North Korea Puts the World on Edge After Launching a Missile into the Sea of Japan

Continued on pg. 7

Opinion 3 Volume 60, No. 5The ShieldMarch 20, 2017

SHIELD STAFF

Editor-in-Chief: Elizabeth Lindqwister

Advisor: Dr. Kerns

Copy Editor: Amanda Riggenbach

News Editor: Mary ShermanNews Writers: Lily Mura, Tasneem Naffakh, Joshua Boyle

Feature Editor: Ramona NaseriFeature Writers: Hannah Stewart, Ariel Zedric, Jackson Frey, Laney Richardson, Lilah Roos

Entertainment Edi-tor: Rachel Rudolph

Entertainment Writ-ers: Emily Antonacci, Beckett Kenny, Shay-lee Bent, Ariel Zedric, Nuha Shaikh, Patrick Riley, Jessica Lawler

Graphic Designers: Katy Henderson, Tas-neem Naffakh

Technology Editor: Ianne PadagasTechnology Writers: Ciaran Maloney, Char-lotte Herz

Sports Editor: David HayashiSports Writers: Lashai Childers Harris, Zoie McMahan, Brandi Simpson

Photography Editor:Audri Jeffs

For more photos,

articles, and news, FOLLOW

@newspaper_rhson Twitter!

First and foremost, one of the major issues with the total repeal of Obamacare is the possible loss of insurance for mil-lions of Americans. 20 million Americans have gained health care through the Af-fordable Care Act or its partner Medicaid ex-pansion. Many of those 20 million were never able to afford health insurance before, mean-ing when Obamacare is repealed they could be left without insurance again. Not only does the ACA give its recipients monetary aid for routine and unexpected health costs, but it also provides a measure of security and peace of mind only gained

through reliable health insurance. The greatest percentage of the 20 million-person

coverage comes from individual plans; the most noteworthy of these are coverages for the poorest Americans, whom the repeal of Obamacare would most harshly affect. Furthermore, with a total repeal of Obamacare, children and young adults (up to age 26) would no longer have the ability to obtain coverage through their parents’ plans, and those working 30 or more hours per week (at companies of 50 or more employees) could lose coverage, as many companies consider 30 hours to be part (not full) time.

As well as gaining coverage for unexpected costs, Obamacare has closed the gap, or as many

Perspective Clash: Repeal and Replace of ObamacareA Means to Saving an Overburned Healthcare System or A Danger to Millions of Americans?

call it the donut hole, in Medi-care’s prescription drug cover-age by allowing senior citizens to pay less for their Medicare coverage and prescription drugs. Nearly as important is the reduc-tion of prescription drug costs, which makes medicines used to treat anything from pain caused by rheumatoid arthritis or mental illnesses like schizophrenia more readily available to the people who need them. Small business haven’t been made the victim of high premiums for employing older and sicker workers. The act also gave Americans access to free, potentially life-saving tests like mammograms, colonosco-pies, and cholesterol tests. Those tests can help to identify ailments like cancer and heart disease, which left unnoticed and/or un-treated can prove fatal, or at the very least significantly decrease a person’s quality of life.

Overall, the main concerns with the repealing and replace-ment of the Obamacare are the possible repercussions as a result of the reversal of its many ben-eficial provisions and the lack of a complete replacement plan. Republicans have recently put forth a draft bill, which allevi-ates some apprehension over the possibility of repeal without re-placement, but at the same time, it is worrisome that the new bill may not be nearly as far-reaching as the ACA.

Throughout Trump’s campaign, the then-presi-dential candidate made it quite clear that one of his first objectives would be to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or as it is commonly known, Obamacare. Fast forward to the present, and President Trump and Congressional Repub-licans are making good on their promises. Cur-rently, a complete repeal of the ACA is unlikely given that Republicans have chosen to repeal through a method known as the budget recon-ciliation process, which “can only be used to pass bills that affect spending and revenue.” This mode of rolling back and enacting legislation requires a simple majority (51 votes) in the Senate, as opposed to the usual 60 votes required, and bills put in place this way are immune to filibuster-ing. Since Republicans desire the path of least resistance, it has become their chosen method to still remove as much of a key part of President Obama’s legacy as possible.

By Josh BoyleIt can be easy to argue that

Obamacare benefits lower class Americans the most; however, the overall burden that Obama-care has placed on many Ameri-cans and the healthcare system as a whole leaves far more to be desired in a replacement program. While Congressio-nal Republicans and President Trump alike draft the official replacement concurrent to the repealing process, they have only drawn more attention to the key downfalls of the ACA.

A key tenant of Obamacare is the individual mandate that forces all Americans who can af-ford it to have health insurance, get an exemption, or pay a fee. Many poorer Americans who are just above the Federal Poverty Level experience not only an extra layer of difficulty in filing their taxes, but don’t qualify for cost assistance for the healthcare they can supposedly afford. This places a higher burden on some of the most ignored, poorer Americans that Obamacare claims to protect. The individual mandate also burdens young, healthy Americans who would typically only need catastrophic health insurance, but they must now take on more comprehen-sive (and expensive) insurance to help insurance companies balance out the costs of more sicker patients.

Of course, there is another

faction of the population that the ACA doesn’t even posture to pro-tect . High-earning Americans and even the healthcare industry itself now have to take on even higher taxes to fund the programs. There is a special burden on more wealthy Americans because if they opt into a private health insurance, they have to deal with the creation of far more cover-age options which makes it much easier to over or under buy the amount of insurance that they may actually need. This also acts as a drain on businesses because the ACA requires that all business with more than 50 employees must offer health insurance.

Much of the newly insured that is easily boasted about by Democrats, are people who now may have health insurance but it is not of true quality. Many gained health insurance under Medicaid; however, as found by a 2014 study in the Journal of the Ameri-can Medical Association, Medicaid patients often struggled to find doctors who would service them. Medicaid pays doctors less than a typical private insurance which makes those doctors, understand-ably, much more inclined to focus on the patients that can pay them the most.

The ACA may have been well intentioned, but it has created some seriously negatives affects on Americans across the country and across economic lines. To start fresh with a new government pro-gram is the best means for improving the quality, not just quantity, of healthcare.

By Mary Sherman

Dear Richwoods Student Body,

Richwoods is more than a school- it is a vibrant environment bursting with potential. Olivia and I, as your newly elected Student Council Vice-President and President, are incredibly excited to get to work to continue to help all of us reach our potential. We will fulfill our campaign promises to not only listen to your feedback on Student Council’s work, but listen to your needs as a student body. Through a new area of Student Coun-cil dedicated solely to planning your club meetings, your practices, and your events, we can listen to your individual goals and what needs to be done to reach them. After all of that hard work, we want to celebrate together better. By utilizing Student Council resources, we can organize and upgrade our pep assemblies. Student Council has the capability of keeping this school improving not only next year, but for years to come.

Thanks,Mary Sherman

A Letter from Our Newly Elected

Student Council President

4 Opinion Volume 60 No. 5The ShieldMarch 20, 2017

For decades, black citizens have received lower incomes, have faced higher poverty rates, and have had higher incarcera-tion rates than their white coun-terparts. All over the country, African Americans face social, political, and economic disad-vantages

In 2016 alone, more than 250 African American citizens were killed by police nation-wide. In an extensive report by the Guardian, they found that thirty-nine were unarmed, four were killed by stun guns, nine died while in custody, and the large majority were fatally shot. Overall, the source found that 34 percent of those killed in 2016 were unarmed black men, which was statistically alarming since black males only make up six percent of the United States population.

Although many may assume these issues are limited to only big cities, they are still prevalent throughout our nation. The level of racial prejudice may vary from region to region, but their

existence may actually be more present in our daily lives than we think.

These differences between white and black Americans in varying regions were examined by 24/7 Wall St. in both an eco-nomic and social sense to create one of their signature top ten lists: “The W o r s t C i t i e s for Black A m e r i -cans”. All of the 10 worst cit-ies identi-fied were located in the Mid-west: four in Illinois and two in Iowa.

Number one on 24/7 Wall St.’s list was Peoria, IL.

“Black members of the work-force are far more likely to face difficulty in finding a job than their white counterparts,” the article reports. The black unem-ployment rate in the metro area

is 15.3% compared to a 5.4% white unemployment rate. High incarceration rates for African Americans in Peoria contribute to the regional inequality; com-pared to white Peorians, black Peoria residents are almost nine times more likely to be incarcer-ated.

Immediately after 24/7 Wall St. published their article, all of Peoria was talking. Although some see the ranking as an ac-curate description of the racial climate in our region, many were surprised to see Peoria surpass bigger cities like Chicago and Detroit. On December 6th, more than 317 Peorians gathered in

front of the Gateway Building by the Riverfront to attend a workshop in an effort to address the purported racial inequality head on. Residents along with officials from Peoria Public Schools, Illinois Central Col-lege, and Bradley University among others gathered to listen to city officials discuss the racial inequalities. Peoria City Council officials, including Mayor Jim Ardis, were pleasantly surprised by the resident turnout at the meeting and hoped to continue similar community-driven dis-cussions.

“If you think this is an African-American issue, you’ve already missed the point. It’s a city of Peoria issue that involves people of all colors,” argued Denise Moore, 1st District Council Member, to the diverse crowd at the workshop.

Despite apparent steps forward in unity like these, Peoria still has glaring racial issues for it to be named the worst city for African Americans out of the thousands of other larger and

historically dangerous cities in the U.S. Given the 24/7 Wall St.’s conclusion, it is inevitable to wonder how Peoria’s schools, like Richwoods, play into the battle of racial inequality.

Despite that lack of diversity in staff members, MAAP, or the Minority Academic Advance-ment Program, members and students alike consider Rich-woods a welcoming place where teachers motivate their students to pursue their dreams no matter what their race and their respec-tive statistics have predestined their future to be.

“Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard, and despite the racial stereotypes that surround me, my teachers and classmates have motivated me to become something great,” said Kiara Leverette (Sr.) in an optimistic response to the rank-ing made by the 24/7 Wall St.

Peoria: “The Worst City for Black Americans”

The stands in the gym are bursting with students fighting to crowd onto the gym floor. Arms are waving in the air, shouts puncture the noise, and the wooden stands groan in protest at the jumping students. They scream, they cheer, the move as one unified front of spirit.

They also chant. “WE ARE RICHWOODS!”

“AW SHUCKS YOU GOT THE WOODS FIRED UP!”

It’s an image of utter school unity, until the classes begin to compete against each other. Freshman shout out boos to their older classmates, seniors tease the juniors for being the younger upperclassmen, and the juniors yell, “I-C-C! I-C-C!”

It’s this chant that puts a damp-er on an energetic and lively assembly. In the last few assem-blies, in which the juniors were tightly pitted against their rival seniors, the junior class resorted to using the prospect of attend-ing ICC as an insult to seniors. The problem lies not within the relatively innocent chant, but rather in the wrongful stereotype that ICC is a contingency plan for “bad” students.

The senior class is currently solidifying college plans, secur-ing scholarships and hearing responses back from the rest of their colleges. Of all the big life decisions made at this time, students within Richwoods and across the nation struggle most with the financial aspects of college. Too many times stu-dents have been accepted to the school of their dreams to realize that the cost of college is too insurmountable and not worth the years- decades- of debt that would surely follow. As a result, many seniors turn to alternative options: schools with generous scholarships, state grants, or community college.

While the first two options are lauded as being practical, wise, and safe, the latter is wrongfully deemed as lesser of the three.

But why?Illinois Central College- and

community colleges across the nation- provide opportunities for a wide range of students with varying levels of academic abili-ties. Whether it be from students undecided on their future career path to students who need the financial cushion ICC offers,

the college’s wide variety of opportunities make it wholly un-deserving of the flak it receives from misinformed students.

ICC currently offers four dif-

ferent tracks for students to follow: Transfer, Degree, Cer-tificate, and Other non-two year programs. The Transfer Program sets up a schedule designed to help students transfer- after two years- to a four year university and still carry over credits from their ICC classes. This program

is especially popular for many students, since it is free under the terms of the Peoria Promise grant, and gives them a chance to get their general education class-

es out of the way; thus, they save a significant amount of money from the four-year college tu-ition. The Career Program is another two year pro-gram designated to give students a college degree help them immediately be hired into the workforce. The Certificate Program can be completed in less than two years, and it is another job-preparation program that offers spe-cific, vocational training for over 60 occupations ranging from 9-1-1 Tele-communications to Weld-ing Specialties. Within

these programs, ICC offers the opportunity for students to be enrolled in the Honors Program, in which admitted students can continue to challenge themselves by taking the College’s most rigorous courses.

Besides offering a wide variety of academic options to students,

ICC provides an environment in which students who may not feel ready for a four year university can prepare academically and mentally. Leaving home for a new school with different living situations, different friends, and much different food is a daunt-ing task for any student, and the prospect of leaving the comforts of home can make even the most independent students nervous. But because ICC gives students the opportunity to remain at home while pursuing a higher education, it inadvertently pro-vides valuable time for students to further mature.

In light of the recent college decisions being made, it’s im-portant to realize that ICC is not an option to be frowned upon. Because it provides resources for students to discover their respective career paths and save significant amounts of money in the process, ICC is a practical and reasonable option for any student. So when the juniors begin to chant “I-C-C!” at the seniors, realize that it should not be an insult, but is rather a viable future for many students.

ICC: A Strong Start on the Future for Any StudentWhy the community college is no laughing- or chanting- matter

Analyzing why our own town is a negative environment for people of color

“If you think this is an African American issue, you’ve already missed the point.”

-Denise Moore

By: Tasneem Naffakh

By: Elizabeth Lindqwister

Feature 5 Volume 60 No. 5The ShieldMarch 20, 2017

and guest speakers. We also get to visit colleges, which can be re-ally eye opening for students. By senior year its amazing hearing

about the colleges and universities our stu-dents get accepted to. Shout out to my AVID students!

What are some of your favorite things: books, movies, mu-sic?

I love going to see live music—it’s one of my favorite things to do in my free time. As far as musical styles, I like a wide variety. I like oldies, rock, some American pop & R&B, Spanish pop, world, and lots of Indie. I like to read, most of which I get to do in the sum-mer—I am currently reading an older book called ‘Dune’, and my favorite book of all

time is ‘Cien Años de Soledad’. I like to keep up to date on current events so most of my reading during the school year comes from magazines like ‘The Week’. I am a nerd when it comes to movies—I love sci-fi

and pixar movies. What’s something you’re re-

ally passionate about and how have you pursued it?

I am very passionate about traveling. Another advantage to being an educator is that I can spend my summers traveling. I try to go to at least one new place every year. I’m very blessed and have been able to travel around Europe twice. Last summer I went to Yellowstone with my brother—we had a blast.

What’s the most difficult part of teaching?

That’s a tough question. Like any job, there are challenges. Sometimes keeping students motivated as the year goes by can be difficult.

Mr. Earhart is a passionate person inside and outside the classroom. He mentors students on not only the topics that are covered in class, but also strives to open the minds of every indi-vidual at every desk. With these qualities, Richwoods is lucky to have a teacher with such a large (Ear)hart!

Mr. Earhart is a pretty well known teacher around our school, marked by his kindness and open admiration for others. Whether he knows you or not, Mr. Earhart is always greeting others in the hallway and wish-ing them a good day. Because of this positive energy- and his height- a teacher like him is hard to miss. But, there are some small things that make some students wish they had him as a teacher. If students are feeling overwhelmed by a stressful day, once they enter his classroom the anxiety dissipates just by the peaceful environment his relaxed attitude has created. Stu-dents are lured into class by the sound of calming music and are welcomed with a big smile. Mr. Earhart modeled his classroom around this relaxed environment because he hopes to inspire and foster academic creativity like his high school teachers did for him.

What inspired you to start teaching?

I had some really great teach-ers in high school and I’d say above all else, they inspired me to pursue a career in education. I think I have a decent knack for it and I love the idea of sharing

ideas and learning in a com-munity. I love my job and being around young energetic people.

What do you think is some-thing really important that high school stu-dents should know?

I’m trying to think of something that isn’t cli-ché. I guess one of my life philosophies is try to be grateful for the things you have and the oppor-tunities available in our country. Not everyone starts on an even playing field and life is hard work, but I think it is vital to have gratitude and that is something I try to ex-emplify and teach to my students.

What is a class you’d like to teach, but don’t currently?

I taught economics for two years earlier in my career and I loved it. However, I’m happy teaching psychology and AVID as well.

You’re very active in AVID - can you tell us more about the program?

The AVID program is a col-lege prep programed designed

to provide support for students who want to attend a four year college or university. It is a four year program and it is so awe-

some when I see the progress students make throughout high school. We do everything from working on leadership, com-munity service, public speaking, writing skills, career research, college research, SAT prep, col-lege applications, scholarships,

We Hart EarhartBy Ramona Naseri

A night overflowing with food, music, and outlandish door prizes: Richwoods’ an-nual IB International Night. This multicultural gathering has yet again provided an opportunity for the Richwoods students, par-ents, and staff to experience an evening that teaches about the cultures and customs of nations across the world. The Interna-tional Baccalaureate Program, which consists of academically dedicated and diverse juniors and seniors, is a program that is offered at select high schools across the globe, and focuses on expanding a student’s edu-

cation through vigorous integrated courses, and developing the intellec-tual, personal, and social skills that are needed for success.

Along with these academic and social ideals, the Interna-tional Baccalaureate Programme works to expand students’ hori-zons by exposing them to works of different cultures, regardless of where they’re located in the world. Through these practices, the IB Programme is truly an incredible way for students to become more open-minded and well-versed in both intellectual and cultural aspects.

Appropriately, IB students

use International Night as an opportunity to both learn and share new information about numerous cultures. For the event, juniors en-rolled in IB History of the Americas and se-

niors enrolled in either IB Span-ish or IB French select a country, research its history, customs, and culture, and create a display for their nation. For the students en-rolled in an IB foreign language class, they had to select a country that speaks their respective lan-guage, either Spanish or French, to expand their knowledge upon the language and how it affects different nations and their cul-ture. For the display, students create an eye-catching, informa-tive tri-fold about their country, and provide a traditional food

for all attendees to try, a staple in International Night. Some students decide to don garb from their respective countries and many play music from their chosen nation.

“IB International Night is always fun, and is one of my

favorite events at Richwoods,” re-marked Senior IB student Hannah Fauser-Hoyt, “I’ve been able to attend and participate in International Night for two years now, and it’s only im-proved! This year I had to complete a tri-fold for a French speaking country, or ‘Francophone’. It was a super in-teresting opportu-

nity because I was able to teach visitors about the country of St. Martin,” Fauser-Hoyt is cur-rently enrolled in IB French, and had known little about St. Martin before her International Night research.

In conjunction with broaden-ing one’s knowledge, Interna-tional Night is as an occasion to research a country of which a student already has knowledge.

“My foreign language class was Spanish, but I decided to go with Australia because I knew information about it beforehand.

Australia was fun to research, as it was a very diverse culture, is a beautiful place, and it interested me. I hope some day to have the chance to travel there,” stated Senior Kenna McConnell, who chose her country simply be-cause it peaked her interest.

International night not only gives students more knowledge about the nation they chose, but provides a chance for people out-side IB to learn about a myriad of other cultures.

“IB International Night is such a great experience for not only those involved in IB and the night itself, but the students, fac-ulty, and family that attend. It’s a great opportunity for people to learn about cultures outside of their own, and try a few new things. There’s always some-thing new to learn and I’m so glad that this event is available every year for the Richwoods community to enjoy,” said Junior Ginger Batton.

Due to its multitude of en-tertaining attributes, IB Inter-national Night is an extremely popular event at Richwoods, at-tracting students from outside of IB, teachers, and families from Richwoods. Through an event like this, people outside of IB are able to experience an event that creates an educational environ-ment, which is both lively and enjoyable.

Seniors Andrea Meier and Elia Canfield show off their display

By: Hannah Stewart

A short conversation with one of Richwoods’ youngest and most casual teachers

6 Feature Volume 60 No. 5The ShieldMarch 20, 2017

In 1926, African American historian and teacher, Carter G. Woodson, dedicated a whole week to Black History. Fifty years and one c i v i l r i g h t s movement lat-er, 1976 rolled around and a week was found insufficient to encompass and fully celebrate the entirety of African Amer-ican history. Thus, the en-tire month of February was dedicated the rich and intri-cate history of African Amer-icans. Since then , B lack History Month has been an opportunity to learn about and honor famous African American historical icons of past and present. This year, Richwoods brought the month’s celebration to an en-tirely new level, with posters, spirit days, and a riveting as-sembly that celebrated diversity and acceptance to its core.

Since late January, it’s been hard to miss the posters around schools that feature influential African American leaders, such as a bright purple poster of Prince hung in the senior hallway. These posters were created and hung by the Minority Academic Achieve-ment Program (MAAP) club for the purpose of educating and informing our students on some

of the influences that African Americans have. They featured forefront members of the civil rights movement, artists, and

even lesser-known yet highly influential African Americans that might’ve once been left in the shadows. On top of the posters, MAAP designated a Black History spirit week, with days featuring Divine 9, PAN African, Historically Black Col-lege or University day, tradi-tional African garbs, and Purple Reign, all which were ways to acknowledge and embrace Afri-can culture.

To round off the month-long celebration, the MAAP club put together a very well received Black History Month Assem-bly.

“The essential key was the fact that we took an everyday person

in our today’s society - very re-bellious - back in time to help her understand [African American history],” reported Senior Kiara

Leverett. This connection kept the storyline fluid, and the audi-ence engaged.

After many dances and cel-ebrations of African music, a notable part of the assembly was when Senior Ariej Mohamed gave a passionate spoken word speech regarding feminism.

“Not only did this assembly show the struggles of African-Americans, but also it paid tribute to how far women have some and how they need to stick together to get stronger,” re-flected Mohamed, a state-ranked member of the speech team who is no stranger to performing speeches in public.

Despite the incredible show

put on in the assembly, many students felt the most memo-rable part of the celebration was the first-ever Richwoods

Peace March that followed the assembly. Juniors and Seniors filed out of the auditorium and followed the sound of Gary Moore’s drum as he led the march around the RHS campus. The march was equipped with posters and chants, making it an extraordinary experience and a great way to peacefully show support amongst our student body. Banding together, the stu-dents created a powerful image of unity and stood in solidarity against the discrimination that many have faced in the past and

Roots, Branches, Trees of EqualityBy Ariel Zedric

even the present. Overall, the point of this en-

tire month was to emphasize to every person that it’s important

to know their roots, but ap-preciate and empathize with the history of other cultures and races.

“Your or i -gins don’t de-fine you and how you act, but it’s impor-tant to have an understanding of what your ancestors had to go through a n d h o w i t led to the life you’re living,” s ta ted Ar ie j Mohamed.

This year, in light of sev-eral nationwide protests and controversial political deci-

sions, the students planning the assembly felt it was even more important for ethnic minorities and majorities to stand together as simply humans.

“You can’t know what your future holds if you don’t even know where you’ve come from. A tree doesn’t know what it’ll be or how strong it will stand until its roots are firm in the ground,” reflected senior Kiara Leverett.

And what Leverett says holds true- there’s roots before branch-es, empathy before unity, and acceptance before equality.

The Black History Month Assembly was a force of unity and celebration

Speech Team was truly a pow-erhouse. In almost every single tournament, the team managed to place in the top 3 for team sweepstakes, and a majority of tournaments ended with the team outranking other schools by over 100 points. This suc-cess is largely attributed to the high population of experienced varsity speakers, many of whom were seniors.

Richwoods’ tournament suc-cess did not end at the regular season competitions, however. After the many months of pol-ishing and performing their skits and speeches at local tourna-ments, the varsity team strives for the ultimate goal: making it to state. State series, consisting of first Regionals, then Section-als, and eventually State, is an exhausting and trying set of tournaments, and only the top winners from each of those tour-naments can advance forward in the competition.

In years past, Richwoods has always had an individual event or two make it to state. The team had never won a regional or sectional title in decades and did not have an entire team advance to sectionals under the current coaching staff.

That all changed this season. Starting at regionals, Rich-

woods swept the competition with 11 individual tournament champions and a solid team sweepstakes win. At sectionals the week after, the team yet again dominated: eight individual champions and four more top

3 winners all qualified to state. The state qualifiers were as fol-lows: Adarius Blake and Maddy Morrow in a Dramatic Duet Acting (DDA), Beckett Kenny in Original Comedy (OC) and Humorous Interpretation (HI), Ginger Barton in Radio Speaking

(RS), Mary S h e r m a n in Extem-poraneous S p e a k i n g ( E S ) a n d Impromp-tu (IMP), E l izabe th Lindqwis-ter in In-formational S p e a k i n g

(INF) and Original Oratory (OO), Adarius Blake and John Marsh in Humorous Duet Acting (HDA), John Marsh in Poetry (POE), Arej Mohammed in Ora-torical Declamation (OD), last, but not least, Katy Henderson in Prose Reading (PR).

What’s remarkable about this

is that last year, the team had less than four events qualify for state. In just a short year, that number tripled and Richwoods was ranked #1 entering the state-level competition- a feat almost unheard of for a school south of Chicago.

“I think it’s been a fascinat-ing season. I never expected

“I would watch this again and again!”

critique for Beckett Kenny’s OC from a

state judge

us to end up where we did. It is a very hum-b l ing and overwhelm-ing experi-ence as the coach to see your team do so well and to know t h a t y o u have helped build a pro-gram tha t can continue to do well in the future,” stated head

coach and Richwoods teacher, Alyssa Emanuelson.

With the 2017 team’s es-tablishment of a history of excellence,these talkative knights proved that talent and honor is not simply in the athlet-ics, but also the arts.

Speech continued from pg. 1

Local legend Gary Moore performs for the audienceSe

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Aniya Smith, Ayanna Lewis and Justin Worley

Feature 7 Volume 60 No. 5The ShieldMarch 20, 2017

The time has come for Presi-dent Beckett Kenny & Vice President Stella Khazzam to step down from their executive positions of Richwoods’ Student Council. The duo has pulled off two successful dances and even began a new tradition here at Richwoods High by organizing the very first homecoming pa-rade, along with many other new and exciting additions to spice up this school year. While the student body is sad to see such passionate and exuberant lead-ers go, Richwoods has elected two very qualified candidates to take over.

Junior Mary Sherman, presi-dent-elect, has served on student council for the past three years while Junior Vice President-elect Olivia Smith has excelled within only one year on Student Council. These new leaders have some great new ideas on how to improve our school while simultaneously upholding the established values of student council.

Both the Sherman/Smith duo, along with their opponents, Anna Gentry and Rachelle Khoury, ran clean campaigns by making

creative posters and handing out treats to students passing by in the morning. Both teams gave impassioned speeches that were televised on Thursday morning, followed by voting that took place at lunch that same day. After the weeks of preparation and stress for these campaign-ers, Principal Elliot announced the election winners on the announcements, congratulat-ing Sherman & Smith on their

victory.As for their goals, Vice Pres-

ident-elect Olivia Smith said that their main focus for the next year is “to bring more attention to student council and to get more of the students’ involve-ment through better programs and organization, making the school overall a more positive environment.”

Though she does worry that it will be difficult to juggle her responsibilities as Vice President along with her IB programme homework and various other ac-tivities, Smith thinks that she and Sherman will be able to handle new positions very well- and it’s clear that those who elected them believed so as well. As for all those who want to get involved in student government, Smith advises not to get “intimidated by the whole election process. Rather, focus on all the fun events and things you would get to work on and be a part of.”

President-elect Mary Sherman has been an integral part of the executive board this past school year, serving as the Speaker of the House who largely planned the first Homecoming parade.

A New Era: Sherman & SmithBy Delaney Richardson

Two juniors earn next year’s executive positions

Because of her experience on the executive board and success with Homecoming week, Sherman is poised to continue support-ing the student council and the student body through the work she does with this organization. Although she brings experience with traditional student council activities, she does have plans to revitalize the program and involve more students in the decision-making process. For more details on Mary’s vision for Richwoods, take a glance at her first presidential letter to the student body on page 3.

With the beginning of the Sherman/Smith administration coming close, it’s time to say goodbye and thank you to our current executive board of stu-dent council.

The election winners, Olivia Smith (left) and Mary Sherman (right)

WYSE- or Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering- is a program that introduces intel-ligent students to mathematics and engineering. Basically, these students take tests for fun.

Yet, the WYSE team consists of students who strive to push themselves beyond what’s of-fered to them in their everyday classes. With subjects like computer graphics and math that goes even beyond what’s taught in HL math, WYSE has long been a staple for students hungry for a challenge.

To be on the WYSE team, members try out by taking different exams in subjects ranging from English to engi-neering. Most of the students on the WYSE team are juniors and seniors who are taking the highest level of AP and IB class-es Richwoods offers in their subject area.The team is thus chosen by how high they scored in their respective subjects. The team only really has one chance to compete- when they go to Regionals in February to face other WYSE teams in the area. Only if the team ranks in the top two can they advance to Sectionals, which take place

in March, and then State, which happens in April.

Last year’s team was strong enough to qualify for Sectionals and State, with individual mem-bers even ranking high at the state-level competition. Despite the incredible amount of col-lective brainpower found in the current WYSE team, these test takers did not have as successful of a season as anticipated.

The 2017 WYSE team con-sisted of a wide range of stu-dents- including a few freshmen- competing in all categories. For the first time, the WYSE team was large enough to have a var-sity and junior varsity team- a strategic move by the sponsor, Mr. Baumgardner, to encourage more underclassmen to prepare early for these tests.

Because there were many high-ranking WYSE seniors last year who graduated, the current team was left with younger members trying to fill in the gaps. With tough competition from Dunlap High School and Metamora High School, Richwoods had a difficult time at Regionals and unfortunately did not place high enough to advance as a team to the sectional competition.

However, a few members

ranked high enough individu-ally to medal and even advance to the next level of testing. Junior Jennings Rule advanced to Sectionals for English and engineering graphics. He was the Regional champion in English. Senior Ted Lewis medalled in chemistry and Sophomore Jonah Alligood medalled in computer science (neither will continue on to Sectionals, however).

Even though the team had a much shorter season than they hoped, this trend is not uncommon. In the 20 years Richwoods has had a WYSE team, there have been state championship t e a m s a n d smaller teams that don’t even have any mem-bers placing at Regionals. The current WYSE advisor has hopes for the upcoming years, how-

By Lilah Roos

What’s Up with these WYSE Guys?

ever, and still valued his time working with the 2017 team. “My favorite part about coaching the WYSE team is being able to watch them compete and realize how much they truly know. Rich-wood’s best students really have shown themselves to be able to compete academically with any-one in the state,” said chemistry teacher and three-year WYSE coach, Mr. Baumgardner.

The 2017 WYSE team struggles with tough competition and difficult tests

Although the 2017 WYSE season did not have as success-ful of a season as anticipated, the overall effort put into this academic challenge should not be discredited. Because the team is young, there is much potential for success in the upcoming seasons. After all, these WYSE-guys wouldn’t have it any other way.

The WYSE Team poses outside of ICC after regionals

CATERPILLAR Continuedof a criminal investigation into

CAT’s alleged tax evasion. While this maybe the most

dramatic investigation into Cat-erpillar yet, this isn’t the first of these accusations against the company. A congressional in-vestigation in 2014 was the first

to truly look into the company’s tax practices. It was concluded that, through the use of a Swiss subsidiary, it had evaded paying $2.4 billion over 13 years. The investigation failed, however, to successfully conclude that CAT had actually broken the law.

Currently, the Internal Rev-enue Service is demanding $2 billion for taxes and penalties with little success as Caterpil-lar continues to thoroughly contest accusations. Caterpillar did cooperate with the physical search and seizure, however, and has stated that the investigation would likely not have any seri-ous impacts on its finances.

Even if Caterpillar manages to evade any type of penalty and is found completely innocent by federal investigators, the investigation itself has already taken a toll on the company’s stock and squeaky clean image. Stock shares fell by 4.6 percent to $94.00 each on the day of the investigation and can only be expected to fall if the investi-gation goes negatively for the company.

With the recent tax evasion allegations matched by layoffs and a headquarters relocation, the future of Caterpillar- and Peoria- is far from certain.

8 Entertainment Volume 60 No. 5The ShieldMarch 20, 2017

As the saying goes, “great comedy comes from great trag-edy.” Or at least I think that’s a saying, and if not, it should be. As of right now Saturday Night Live is producing some of the greatest comedy of all time from arguably a rather tragic presi-dential administration. Politi-cal affiliations aside, President Trump has been taking fire from all angles, from his controver-sial secretary of education pick Betsy Devos to his “muslim ban” that has come within the early days of his presidency. Whether or not you’re a fan of our new President, it seems that Trump’s presidency may be the best thing to have happened to comedy since SNL’s genesis.

Over the years, political satire

has become SNL’s forte, so it makes sense that the program would be attracting more view-ers because the world is more interested in politics than ever before. SNL also benefits from a good person to make fun of--who could forget Tina Fey’s iconic turn as Sarah Palin, or Dana Carvey’s turn as George Bush? And with Donald Trump’s unconventional public image, speaking style, social media prescience, and speech sub-stance, he has become the perfect centerpiece for SNL’s show. Alec Baldwin’s performance as Trump is as fantastic as his source material, totally embody-ing this larger than life character and adding little twitches and pauses which make the charac-

ter hilarious, compelling, and unique.

However, it isn’t only Baldwin who has been nailing the show’s satirical characters. Melissa Mc-Carthy has guest-starred twice as press-secretary Sean Spicer, each time giving a powerhouse comic performance like only she could give. The way McCarthy portrays the simultaneous apathy and stubbornness of Spicer is flawless, and her physicality and timing is of next-level comedy. Kate McKinnon also shines as… whoever they need Kate McKinnon to be. Her roles have included a clueless Betsy Devos, a racist Jeff Sessions, Trump’s contrary campaign manager Kel-lyanne Conway, and a comedic caricature of Hillary Clinton. Beck Bennett’s appearances as Vladimir Putin are also uniquely brilliant and minimalistic, bring-ing political relevancy to a co-medic skit.

It is because of the contro-versial source material, flawless cast, and compelling political landscape that SNL is reaching its highest ratings and is mining comedic gold. These ratings are well-deserved as SNL’s cast and writing has never been better. As someone who has seen nearly ev-ery episode of SNL and followed it closely since he was a child, I have to say that this has been the best SNL I’ve seen in a long time, and I can’t wait to see what the next four years of Saturday Night Live have in store!

The classic show hits political and comedic gold

By: Beckett Kenny

Soaring Sights & Sound

Twenty One Pilots made a stop at the iWireless Centre in Moline, IL on January 29 for their Emotional Roadshow World Tour. This stop was just one of 118 total stops on their tour promoting the band’s Blur-ryface album. Supported by Jon Bellion and Judah & The Lion, Twenty One Pilots delivered a breathtaking performance full of amazing music and a comfort-able, inviting atmosphere.

After the band formed in 2009, Twenty One Pilots put out sev-eral independent releases, and eventually signed to the re-cord label Fueled by Ramen in 2012. Since 2009, the band has released four albums: Twenty One Pilots (2009), Regional at Best (2011), Vessel (2013), and Blurryface (2015). The current members of the band are Joshua Dun and Tyler Joseph. The mix-ture of Dun’s talent on the drums combined with Joseph’s incred-ible voice and wide instrumental repertoire creates the group’s unique sound.

What marks the difference

between a good concert and a great concert is the perfor-mance put on by the perform-ers. It’s as simple as the dif-

ference between a performance that audience can watch versus a performance that an audience is a part of, and Twenty One Pilots definitely achieved the latter. Their concert made me feel like I was part of the show, even with thousands of other fans around me. This show was easily one of the best concerts that I’d ever seen.

Twenty One Pilots’ setlist was filled with some of my favorite songs of theirs, and some song covers that were new to me. Despite the size of the venue, the show felt intimate and personal. Performing on both a main stage and a B-Stage, the band was close to many fans and there wasn’t a bad seat in the house. At one point, Joseph was in a human-sized hamster ball rolling around while the crowd held him up. Dun had a similar moment, when his drum kit was placed on a platform that was carried through the crowd on the arena floor. I hope many get the oppor-tunity to see this band perform live- it’s out of this world!

Director M. Night Shyamalan is known for two things: his epic plot twists, and for producing hit or miss films. Unfortunately, his most recent film, Split, appears to be a miss. Split has an appar-ently easy plot to follow: a young man named Kevin kidnaps three teen girls and locks them in his cellar. However, this young man is revealed to be more than what meets the eye as he suffers from a dissociative- or split- iden-tity disorder. Moviegoers were excited to see what the movie would entail, as the premise was nothing short of enthralling and original, but many were sadly disappointed. While in some aspects Split nailed it, there was also very obvious room for im-provement.

The performances in this film acted as the movie’s saving grace. James McAvoy is person-ally one of my favorite actors, and his portrayal of a crazed man suffering from this split disorder is memorable. He’s been able to breathe new life into an old char-

acter,

Charles Xavier, or “Pro-fessor X”, seen most r e c e n t l y in X-Men: Apocalypse. In Split, how-ever, we see a new side of the versatile actor. His character ’s main personality is Kevin, the host of his body, but Kevin’s per-sonality does not come out as much as the other personalities splitting his character apart, for they are working together to keep him out of the light. Other major personalities include Dennis, the obsessive one responsible for kidnapping the girls, Hedwig, a nine year old boy who just wants friends, and Patricia, the only known fe-

male of the

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c o n t r o l of Kevin’s

body. McA-voy’s ability to

switch between characters so

flawlessly is en-thralling to watch

for viewers. In ad-dition, his lead costar

Anya Taylor-Joy put on a stunning perfor-

mance as Casey, a teen with a traumatic past and

one of the three girls who falls victim to the abduc-

tion. While Taylor-Joy is new to the big screen, her

superb emotional performance ensures that she will certainly be seen again.

Although the acting is phe-nomenal, a few things about Split put me off. While we are briefly shown Kevin’s other person-alities on video, we never come face to face with the twenty-something other parts of him, making the film seem to be not well thought out. After all, what is the point of all twenty-four personalities if we never see them? The inclusion of those personalities on a larger scale would have significantly upped the scare-factor of the movie and would have undoubtedly made the film much better in terms of consistency.

Additionally, the audience has very little reason to con-nect and sympathize with the heroine of the movie or her two companions. The audience could connect more with the heroine if we were made to go through the same thought process as she did, instead of being shown only a small section of all that Kevin

contains within him. One of the biggest disappoint-

ments was how predictable and straightforward the movie was. When we see M. Night Shya-malan credited on a motion pic-ture, we expect to be pushed on the edges of our seats, waiting for that big reveal that makes us stop dead and ask, “Wait WHAT!?” With “Split” however, I found myself unsurprised and thoroughly unimpressed.

Possibly one of the worst parts of the film is the moment when the “Beast” (the final and by far the scariest personality of Kevin) emerges and goes crawling on a train station ceiling. I found myself laughing uncontrollably at this, as it came so suddenly and was utterly out of place in a movie that had seemingly been trying to stay as realistic as pos-sible until that point. Maybe it’s my personal inability to deal with serious moments, but it struck me as a classic case of a horror movie trying too hard to A

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Entertainment 9The ShieldMarch 20, 2017 Volume 60 No. 5

The Buzz Behind the Beyhive

In recent years, Beyoncé has received effusive praise for her music, the most recent being for her hit album, Lemonade, released in early 2016. But, that praise is nothing new for her. As the proud possessor of 245 awards (and 716 nominations) for her music, Beyonce’s acco-lades more than qualify her for the title of “Queen.” Of those awards, 22 of them were Gram-mys and she’s tied with fellow singer Adele for the highest number of Grammys won in one night (six awards). This fact,

combined with her six concert tours, three residency shows, and numerous other live performances make her a formidable force within the music in-dustry. While she is undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with, one must ask: what is it specifically about her that makes Queen Bey, well…Queen?

Starting out in the girl group Destiny’s Child in the late 90s, With the release of “Crazy in Love” (her first hit single, in 2003)

she was skyrocketed to fame as a solo artist, far surpassing the fame her fellow members of Destiny’s Child. In addition to her musical prowess, Beyoncé has made a career for herself in cinema and television as well. Throughout her earlier career as a solo artist, she appeared in an Austin Powers film, and show-cased both her acting and singing talent in the movies Cadillac Records and Dreamgirls, play-ing the parts of Etta James and Deena Jones respectively.

In recent years, her status has seemingly surpassed that of a regular recording artist, earn-ing her the fan-created title of “Queen Bey” and giving her a status that far surpasses that of most other female recording artists. Wherever Beyoncé goes, it seems, those fans will follow with unwavering support. She challenges artistic norms and creates highly relatable music that covers topics from heart-break to political and social justice. Because of this, she has won countless awards and her resumé is far more impressive that any regular person could ever hope for.

From her many awards for her music, to her engaging and thoroughly impressive tour per-formances, to her immense versatility as a performer, there is little doubt that there are very few who do what she does, let alone as well as she does. Very infrequently is there a presence like Beyoncé in the music indus-try. Her uniqueness, drive, and talent are what truly set her apart and make her the undisputed Queen of Pop.

By: Rachel Rudolph

I’d Like to Thank the Academy...Hollywood and the Oscars

have long been criticized for their lack of diversity, especially since the past two years’ nomi-nations have been a majority of white movies and actors nomi-nated. This apparent whitewash has lead to the #OscarsSoWhite tag on Twitter. But this year, the Academy has made it clear that it has been taking steps to make this year’s nominations more inclusive.

This year, the “Best Picture” award went to Moonlight; it was the first LGBTQ+ and all-black cast film to win that category. Joi McMillon, the editor of the film, was the first black woman to be nominated for an editing Oscar and Mahershala Ali, a supporting actor from the same film, became the first Muslim to win an acting Oscar.

Along with Moonlight, films such as Loving, Hidden Figures, Fences, Lion, and The Sales-man highlighted the important issue of portraying non-white narratives in the media. The

nominations for the best actress/actor category had been the least diverse of this year, with Lov-ing’s Ruth Negga and Denzel Washington, respectively. Viola Davis, the winner of best sup-

porting actress as a result of her performance in Fences, was nominated along with Naomie Harris from Moonlight and Octavia Spencer from Hidden Figures. Dev Patel of Lions and Mahershala Ali (as aforemen-tioned) were nominated for best supporting actor, among others.

However, many have picked up on the faults of this year’s list of nominations. Octavia Spencer, the first black woman to have been nominated for best supporting actress (in the 2012 movie The Help) and to have come back as a nominee, said it the best.

“I don’t feel there’s a lot of di-versity. There’s black and white. But there are a lot more people of color than African Ameri-cans. ... There’s so much more to diversity than being black or white ... I’d like to see diversity in directing — there are bril-liant women directors and cin-ematographers,” Spencer stated in an email to USA TODAY, highlighting the importance of

inclusiveness for all people of color and all genders.

Even though many viewers have praised the Academy for better representing America and it’s diversity, people have high-lighted the fact that no Latino or Native American actors have been nominated, along with an absence of women directors.

“One year of films reflecting the Black experience doesn’t make up for 80 [years] of under representation of ALL groups,” posted April Reign, the woman who created the Twitter hashtag #OscarsSoWhite. She tweeted that she appreciated the efforts for more diversity and that things were changing as a result of people standing together, but hopes to see continued efforts in the fight for diversity.

With 18 African Americans nominated in different cat-egories this year, the effort to become more diverse is clear. However, the Oscars still has a long way to go before it’s fully inclusive of all races.

A whitewashed Oscars season first raised controversy in 2016

The movie awards program has been accused of becoming too whitewashedBy: Nuha Shaikh

be scary.On the whole, Split isn’t a ter-

rible film, but it isn’t terrific by any means. Its main attribute is James McAvoy’s performance, with the rest of the movie unfor-tunately paling in comparison. Split lacks what M. Night Shya-malan fans have come to know and love about his films and is ultimately a disappointment for those expecting a piece as good as one of his previous movies such as The Sixth Sense. That being said, if you’re just look-ing for a horror film to see on a weekend trip to the movies with your friends, Split wouldn’t be a bad choice. If you’re looking for quality cinema, however, I’d steer clear of this one.

Split Continued from pg. 8

Get Out Goes Outside the Box

On the surface, Get Out seems to be the classic horror film. It opens with a suspicious and pretentious family in the middle of nowhere with a large, old house welcoming their son-in-law in for the first time. It’s the perfect frame for a scary movie. But Get Out is so much more than typical horror trope.

The film is centered around Chris Washington (Daniel Ka-luuya) and Rose Armitage (Al-lison Williams), an interracial couple looking to take their relationship to the next level by introducing Chris to the in-laws. Immediately, Rose’s parents are established to be an odd couple. Her mother, Missy, hypnotizes Chris in attempt to break his smoking habit, setting an uneasy tone for Chris’ visit with his new in-laws. The Armitages then host a huge family reunion complete with an auction, which only serves to make Chris more sus-picious. He is further disturbed and intrigued by another African American man who undergoes a mental breakdown after witness-ing Chris’ phone camera flash, and it’s at this point that, like any smart hero in a horror film,

Chris decides that something is definitely wrong with this fam-ily. He attempts to convince his girlfriend that they should leave. But, of course, it’s not quite so simple.

The story is filled with twists that leave you with an abundance of questions and concerns about what our society has done. The most important part of Get Out is not the formulaic scenes nor is it the investigation of childhood guilt. This horror film sends a much deeper message about racism and slavery by putting them in a new and unusual set-ting. Once you look past the brightly lit woods surrounding the mysterious house and the overly elegant clothing of every-day people, Get Out is anything but conventional. Kudos to the director Jordan Peele for taking on such a controversial topic and breaking barriers in such a new and thought-provoking way.

Get Out provides an interest-ing perspective about the differ-ent ways racism and prejudice manifest and, like any good horror film, leaves you guessing until the very end.

The fresh horror flick impresses audiencesBy: Ariel Zedric

A look into the devoted following of Beyonce

10 SportsThe ShieldMarch 20, 2017 Volume 60 No. 5

She Got GameAn exciting look at the success of the Richwoods Girls Varsity Basketball Team

The valiant Knights’ IHSA State fairytale has come to a close. No more adventures of grand feats of strength, precision shooting, or speedy footwork will be played in the Castle’s hall this school year. The Lady Knights’ basketball season has come to a close, but they have left a story to be remembered for the school and the players from the preseason through to Senior Knight.

“Senior night and our last game were both extremely bit-tersweet,” reflected Senior Oli-cia Neff, “It was kind of sad because I’ve been playing bas-ketball for the past 13 years, and it came to an end just like that… those two nights/games were basically closing for this chapter of my life.”

Throughout the past few years, the Girls Varsity Basketball Team has been outstanding, and this season was no exception. They were ranked in the top ten in the state. From their dominant defense and outstanding offense, the team proved to be the best in

the area. They ended the season with a record of 25-4. Not only

did they have an outstanding record, they had spectacular con-ference play. They won the entire conference and had a perfect conference record of 10-0 in one of the most remarkable seasons Richwoods has seen of late.

On top of their impressive record, every member of the team was crucial. There wasn’t

By David Hayashi

Shooting the Lights OutReflections and introspections on some of the best moments of the Richwoods Boys Varsity Basketball Team

By Raven MooreAs the Richwoods High

School Boys’ Basketball Team wraps up their season, a senior on the Varsity squad and four year member on the team, Ahmad Washington, and Coach Hogan, the Head Sophomore Boys’ Basketball coach, reflect on the exciting season that they’ve had. They give us a look into the grueling practices, seasoned pep-talks, elated wins, and resilient losses that have dominated th is season. Coach Hogan empha-sizes the hard work, diligence, and dedication the players and coaches dedicate to the sport on and off the court, and reflect on some of the best moments on and off the court.

“The varsity team started the year as an inexperienced group,” Hogan says. Despite this, the team grew with the knowl-edge and guidance of not only Coach Hogan, but the plethora of decorated and experiences coaches that we are proud to

call fellow Knights: Head Var-sity Coach Will Smith, Assistant Varsity Coaches James Roberts and Robert Foster, Coach Karl

Taylor, the Freshman Basketball head coach, and Assistant JV Coach Derrick Parker.

“[These players have] grown throughout the year and con-tinued to play better as the year progressed,” Hogan proudly stated.

The boys have concluded their season with a record of 10-16 with their most noteworthy games being their wins against Notre Dame and their Senior Night buzzer win against Peoria High.

The team’s win over Peoria High gives insight into the com-mitted coaching practices of Coach Hogan and his colleagues

who work hard to encourage the team, never los-ing faith in their team’s ability to turns things around.

During half-t ime , Hogan describes how he gets the guys ready to take on the second half.

“I try to talk about the things

that need to be improved upon from the first half, and let them know that I think that after making some adjustments they can go out and perform better in the second half.” These words of encourage-ment seemingly worked, as the Knights started the game off with a coonvincing lead; however, at halftime the Lions had nearly tied the game up. After a quick timeout huddle, the opposing players were in a constant battle trying to tame the Lions. The game was all tied with a few

seconds left, and the Knights had put up a missed shot that looked like the game was going into an exciting overtime. With less than two seconds left, the Knights had a putback tip buzzer beater, winning the game. The Woods had gotten fired up over arguably one of the most exciting games of the year.

Because the team grew to learn how to play ball as a team rather than as individuals, many of the graduating players will certainily miss the season and will hold nostalgia for their home court.

“[The think I’ll miss most is] not being able to play in the gym again,” stated Senior Ahmad Washington, a four year player.

“We’re sad to see these seniors go. They have given a lot of time and energy to this program,” says Coach Hogan.

Nonetheless, both players and coaches are ecstatic to be ending a season alongside a team that was dedicated toward excel-lence. Good job and good luck to the futures of the 2016-2017 boys.

one superstar carrying the entire team. Every girl had a key part

and counted on each other to get the win.

“[My] biggest change between freshman and sophomore year would be my role,” said Neff, “As a younger player, the older girls like Olivia Elger would take me in under their wing and men-tor me. As a senior, it was easier for me to do the same with the

underclassmen just because of my experiences.” Neff entered

the basketball program when se-niors like Olivia Neff and Claire Goldhammer were dominant forces on the court.

The post season State series was a rollercoaster adventure for the girls. The Lady Knights had to uphold their reputation they had built up and deal with the accompanying pressure. Yet

they blew away the competition, grabbing Richwoods a Regional championship.

These girls weren’t just bas-ketball players, though. They felt their sport helped them grow not just as star dribblers- the team fostered much friendship and personal growth beyond what was played on the courts.

“I’ve learned so much through being a part of this program,” re-marked Neff, “Aside from actual basketball skills and knowledge, it’s helped me grow as a person. There’s so much more that goes into a sport besides the actual physical part of it. It takes a lot of maturity, leadership, composure, discipline, and patience.”

The chapter has not quite ended. The girls do have a strong core to stay at Richwoods. The team only has four seniors, and although they will be missed and were crucial to the team, the rest of the team will remain. There will be a lot of hope for next season, and plenty of games to claim as Richwoods’ victory.

The team poses with their Regional Championship plaque

Jaylin Hosea in action

The boys raise their fists before the start of their regional game

Technology 11The Shield Volume 60 No. 5March 20, 2017

Snapchat’s Success Story in 10 Seconds or Less How Snapchat snatched the social media crown

by Ciaran Maloney

Success presents itself in dif-ferent forms. Personal success, financial success, corporate suc-cess, or technological success, for example. In the past few de-cades, the world has made great advancements in several fields of technology. One advancement our world has had recently would be the massive and all-consum-ing impact of social media. A specific example of a social, financial, and technological suc-cess, would be Snapchat.

Essentially, Snapchat is fa-mous for its key component: simply sending photos and vid-eos to friends and family. How-ever, Snapchat is also widely used- and unique- for its ‘self-de-structive feature’ -- any images or videos viewed would soon self-destruct, leaving, almost no trace of the message. This feature is widely used by those who would favor anonymity in the social aspect of the internet.

Snapchat was created back in 2011 and was formerly known as Picaboo. Created by then-Stanford students Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy as a simple final project for a product design class, the app has expanded to

Going Ahead with AutomationWill robots soon be replacing people in every workplace?

by Charlotte HerzLosing a job or competing for

one is no easy thing. But, how would you feel if you lost your job to a robot? What would you do if you were competing against a machine that can’t think or emote like a human?

Automation, or automatic con-trol, is the use of various control systems for operating equipment with minimal or reduced human intervention. The purpose of automation is to raise production levels with less human mistakes or waste while also saving mon-ey. Sure, machines cost quite a bit of money, but unlike human workers, you don’t have to pay them wages, give them benefits, and they can’t start unions.

One of the earliest uses of automation was the thermostat. Thermostats can react to the temperature increases and de-creases around them and provide heating and cooling accordingly. The first example of this was created in 1620 by Cornelius Drebbel. Another early example of automation is the automated

loom created in 1745 by Jacques de Vaucanson. Nowadays our technology is more advanced and we’ve cre-ated more intri-cate automation such as the elec-tronic amplifier created in the 1920’s.

Some of the upsides to auto-mation are that it increases effi-ciency and accu-racy while being cost effective. The simple fact is that when it comes to produc-tivity rates, machines have the upper hand in manufacturing workplaces. They can produce multiple copies of a product in very little time as long as they are programmed correctly. They are consistent, can work in dan-gerous environments, and can

surpass the human abilities of strength, speed, and endurance.

Automation is not completely foolproof, though. It can create unnecessary security threats concerning hacking, and can be extremely costly. Another well known argument against automation is the opposition to

lights-out manufactur-ing, or manufactur-ing where no human workers are hired, and the process is almost 100% automated. This is a scary thought to many workers in the manufacturing indus-try. When a machine is better equipped than you are, you have less of a chance of get-ting hired. As a result, there is a lot more competition for the few jobs that are left, and thousands could fall into poverty.

There are already a few lights-out manu-

facturing companies around the world and it remains a looming threat to workers everywhere. One example of a business that is a lights-out manufacturer is Philips electric razors in the Netherlands.

But, workers in the manufac-turing industry don’t need to

a company with a net-worth of roughly four-billion dollars.

The app is by far one of the most widely used mobile apps for teenagers. The app began as a simple, in-novative idea be tween two friends. Its orig-inal intentions may have been less than noble, since many us-e r s then and now associate the app wi th explici t mes-saging. Yet, the app has grown to transcend any stereotypes, and is used for a va-riety of features, whether it be messaging or even for reading the news.

The application took the world by storm practically overnight. After just one year, the applica-tion had gathered much attention in the social media scene. Fa-cebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg offered to purchase

rights to the app for roughly three-billion dollars, only a year after its initial debut. In the end, Spiegel, who acts as the Chief

Executive Officer, declined Zuckerberg’s offer, and main-tained rights to the application. It was rather obvious the appli-cation had made a huge impact in the world of social medias and its denial of a merger with Facebook spoke volumes to the then-potential of this app.

According to a series of tests and records, Snapchat is used by roughly one-hundred-and-fifty-million persons every day, while

the social media giant Twitter only features one-hundred-and-for-ty-million daily users. Snapchat continues to grow every moment of every day, while other social media applications seem to have reached a stalling-point. This may be at-tributed to the app’s constant updates and additions of new things to do within the app. With the addition of “My Story” and vari-ous news sources, us-ers continue to be sur-prised and entertained by the ever-changing

application. In 2014, forty-percent of eigh-

teen year olds within the United States were using Snapchat daily. In May of 2015, the application gathered just over one-hundred-million daily users. In December of 2015, thirty-six-percent of Americans between the ages of

worry quite yet. There are a lot of skills that humans possess over robots, such as pattern recogni-tion, language comprehension, and language production. The appeal of robots may be able to replace a manufacturing belt worker, but the robots can’t over-come human qualities that are irreplacable by nuts and bolts.

No matter what, the fact re-mains that while robots might have the upper hand in some situations, they are not human. We have the power to assess scents and situations, something robots cannot do yet. It is us humans who are responsible for implementing this technology and programming it in the first place. Although the presence of increased automation raises the possibility for a fourth industrial revolution involving increased mechanization, it’s clear that that future is closer than ever, but not completely detrimental- yet.

Art by Katy Henderson

eighteen and twenty-six, were daily users of Snapchat -- mak-ing the application the fastest growing social media among the millennials. In 2016, the White House opened a Snapchat ac-count to join this social-craze that the application had started. Finally, in 2017, the application has seven-billion views every day -- rivaling even Facebook.

In conclusion, Snapchat is by far the greatest social media success of the decade. Gather-ing a massive net-worth in just less than a decade and taking the world by storm, this is an appli-cation that is soon reaching its prime, and must either expand, or come to a standstill. There are one-hundred-and-fifty-eight million Snapchat users each day -- roughly half the population of the United States of America.

One must ask, what is the fu-ture of Snapchat, and what is the next major success in the world of technology and social media? But at the rate Snapchat is ex-panding, it’s clear that the future of social media will remain in the hands of this app... or perhaps the users behind it.

Art by Katy Henderson

12 Sports/Fun & GamesThe ShieldMarch 20, 2017 Volume 60 No. 5

Dipping into the (Deep) End

The boys swim team recently wrapped up its season with a respect-able finish at Confer-ence and Sectionals. With the junior varsity team placing first at Conference and varsity placing second, they added to their rather distinguished season record of consistently placing in the top five. Historically speaking, their Conference suc-cess was the closest the varsity team has come to winning Conference since 1972, when they also came in second place. Despite the Conference-winning drought, the swim team does have a history of excel-lence, boasting many Division I swimmers and even Olympic trials qualifiers.

In the swimming Knights’ current pool of athletes, broth-ers Daniel and Ben Matlock are leading the pack with their respective successes at both Conference and Sectionals. For the second year in a row, bot