more years 4
OHIO EXPECTED TO LOCK BUSHʼS RE-ELECTION
STA/RHS SWITCH DAY
Tyler Yarbrough Copy Editor
Rockhurst student council members shadow for day Alison Raybould Staff Writer
good and didn’t act at all macho even though so many girls were focusing their attention on them.” Rockhurst students visited to see student activities. “The biggest objective of the switch day was to see how you run your student organization,” said SGA treasurer and secretary senior Patrick Curran. “Second, we are really interested in the teachers. I attended some of the same classes that I take at Rockhurst, but the whole topic changed depending on how the teacher presented it. We also
experiment with the contrasting techniques.” Several months of planning As the morning bell rings, went into creating the switch eight skeptical Rockhurst boys day, which began with a meetstepped onto the quad, their dress pants and ties breaking up ing between the schools’ SCO the sea of plaid skirts. On Monmembers. day, eight members of Rockhurst “There, we bounced around High School’s Student Governquestions at each other, so that ment Association shadowed at when we offered it to our adminSTA to study how the adminisistrations we would have a game tration runs academic affairs and plan,” said Curran. “We wanted how SCO operates. Many felt to make it a joint project.” that the presence of the RockAfter their meeting, the two hurst students was huge during organizations presented the idea their day. to their advisors, who immedi“The girls will probably be in ately agreed. awe of having “It sounded boys at school,” like a great idea in said SCO vice order for us to represident senior ceive input on how Amen Iyamu. to improve as an Teachers organization,” said agreed that girls Ms. Stacie O’Rear. were distracted “I hope that the in the classgirls return with room. a better under“Even the standing of [Rockmost serious of hurst’s] ways for student’s could doing things and not get their thoughts on how act together,” to enrich STA.” said Ms. KjerOn Nov. 11, sten Metzler. SCO will send “I mean in AP Rachel Straughn eight members in Chemistry the their organization Rockhurst and STA students mingle in the quad between classes. girls could not The Rockhurst students, who shadowed Monday, gave the STA com- to shadow at Rockfocus. The sim- munity a better understanding of a co-ed environment. hurst. plest of things When they Eight RHS Student Government members attended STA for a day Monday. arrive at Rockstumped them. The following members of SCO will shadow at Rockhurst on Nov. 11. And these are hurst before girls who are school starts, the STA Student Council RHS Student Government normally really girls will attend Senior Michaela McKenny Senior Jeff Herrera bright, but they a SGA meeting, Senior Amen Iyamu Senior Chris Rhoades just became which is their Senior Ann Langworthy Senior Pat Cohen giggly with the monthly gatherSenior Katie Hembree Senior John Graves guys around.” ing to discuss past Junior Katherine Schilling Senior Patrick Curran Sophomore events and plan for Junior Laura Strickland Junior Brian Chalmers Carina Murchupcoming affairs. Sophomore Lauren Fowlkes Sophomore Gibran Chavez phy said that They will attend a Sophomore Carolyn Wiedeman Sophomore Frank Reardon the girls were pep assembly. so adapted to If the switch single-sex education that the co- want to know about your adday is successful, then it might ed environment just felt weird ministration and how they run eventually be opened up to the “I noticed a difference in things. The scheduling that you entire school. some of my classmates,” said guys go by is really complex and “Hopefully, the switch day Murphy. “Sure, it was awkward difficult to understand without will later involve more people at first and I was slightly more experiencing it.” outside of SCO,” said McKenny. self-conscious at the beginMany felt that the switch day “SCO is a good start to experining. But in my opinion, I never would be futile, but the students ment because it will keep the want to look dumb in front of a involved in the activity have experience controlled. This is guy, so I was less inclined to act particular goals in mind. something we hope to repeat ditzy.” “People are kind of like, and extend through the years.” Though some teachers saw ‘Well what is the point?’” said As the final bell rung, the their students as sidetracked, it SCO president senior Michaela Rockhurst boys once again was not because of the RockMcKenny. “[Rockhurst teachers] walked out into the quad, this hurst students’ behavior. go about doing things differtime with a little more swagger “The boys were awesome,” ently, so we can compare to find and hopefully a lot more knowlsaid Metzler. “They were really which system is better and then edge about STA.
N AT I O N A L V O T I N G
KCMO POLICE IMPLEMENT NEW TRAINING
Brookside death calls attention to flaws in system Rachel Straughn Rockhurst junior Brian Chalmers joins juniors, from left, Danielle Yeager, Laura Strickland, Frannie McShane, Katie Kennaley and Alex Horton in Honors Algebra II on Monday. Chalmers and seven other Rockhurst students visited STA to observe differences between the two communities.
bush 51% kerry 48%
Two years ago, police shot and killed Mr. Aaron Dougherty, then 26, in his home on 56th and Main for fear that he was a threat to himself and his father. But what they did not know was that Dougherty was mentally ill. Not only did the family receive $250, 000 in compensation from the Kansas City Police Department’s self-insurance fund, but the pressure the Doughertys put on KCPD caused a change in their police policy dealing with the treatment of mentally ill suspects as well. The police department promised the Doughertys that 20 percent of all officers were to receive the crisis intervention training (CIT). This training was implemented to prevent other incidents where suspects are mentally unstable. “For the crisis intervention program, the training is extremely intensive,” said Officer Calle McGregor, a patrol officer of the KCPD. “We trained for 40 hours in a week. We learned about different medical conditions and the medicines that
suspects may use. We had to meet with several doctors who deal with the patients.” McGregor said that there are around 100 CIT officers now. The crisis intervention training is voluntary. “We actually had more officers that wanted to be a part of it than we had room,” said McGregor. Because of the Dougherty case, the police have promised to assign a duty officer to the grieving family members at the scene of police shootings to ensure that they are taken care of. According to McGregor, in correspondence with that new reform, the police also have a crisis hotline. “We use the crisis hotline to call local experts and doctors that deal with people who are emocionally disturbed,” said McGregor. “We don’t have to take them to a mental facility, we just bring the experts in to them at the scene.” According to McGregor, one of the other major reforms to police policy is the use of “less-lethal” weapons for emocionally disturbed suspects. The “less-lethal” weapons are powerful enough to stop and wound a suspect, but not potent enough to hurt anyone. In a news conference with Mr. Karl Zobrist, the president of Kansas City’s Board of Police Commissioners, Mr. Jim Dougherty said, “...It was incredible...Our son’s spirit lives on.”
Feast day honors past, looks toward future Sarah Tampke Staff Writer STA celebrated the feast day of St. Teresa of Avila and the completion of the Bridging Three Centuries Capital Campaign with an assembly on Friday, Oct. 15. The entire school and over 100 guests gathered in the gym for this occasion. The guests included STA alumni, parents, donors and 20 Sisters of St. Joseph of the Corandelet. The assembly included scripture readings, a performance by the STA Singers, reflections and concluded with a surprise presentation to Dr. Faith Wilson. The first reflection was given by STA Alumna Bonnie Vontz, graduate of the class of 1965. She spoke of how wonderful her experience was at STA and how she hopes that one day her granddaughter will attend the Academy. Since she has been connected to STA since the 1960s, she has witnessed many physical changes throughout the years. “My class was the first to evolve from the jumper to the pleaded skirt, similar to the one the girls wear now,” said Vontz.
The skirts are not the only changes Vontz has witnessed. She spoke of how the campus looks different, but the principles are still the same. Now when she looks at the campus she thinks of memories of the past, actions in the present and the dreams of the future for the school. “[STA girls] have confident and loud opinions on things that matter, the world should take note when we speak,” said Vontz. Vontz concluded her reflection by stating that after 139 years STA still has the same mission. That mission is the foundation the campaign was built on. The second reflection was given by STA athletic director and teacher Mr. Mike Egner. Egner first came to STA in 1988 and has witnessed the recent changes firsthand. When he first arrived here he noticed that the buildings had lots of “character,” other words for character being classic, antique or old-fashioned. Egner said that we are lucky for the facilities we now have at the school. “When sports teams from out of town come to play at our gym, they are amazed at our campus,” See ASSEMBLY, page 2
Nicole Farley Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet bless the STA community at the assemble held Oct. 15 to honor the completion of the Bridging Three Centuries Campaign, which gives $14 million dollars to STA in the next 10 years.