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CHAPEL BAND RECAPTURES THE CROWD
Chapel Band Recaptures Crowd
The fully-revamped chapel band impressed the student body with captivating song leading the past few Wednesdays.
Anna Grace Likes
Editor-in-Chief
Those who lead chapel at Westminster have an impossible task: engaging an audience of over 900 judgy middle and high school students. Each year, the chapel band has to fi nd new and exciting ways to get their audience involved in worship. Students are obligated to attend chapel every Wednesday, and fi nding ways to entertain each week is often near impossible. They’ve tried a physical band accompaniment, acoustic versions, high-energy contemporary, and more, and each time students seem to become less interested in the performance as the morning goes on.
Over the years, worship leaders changed and the group evolved. Individually, last year’s band possessed talented musicians. But with the absence of graduated senior leader Kaitlyn Butler, chapel leadership was ready to undergo some renovations.
This year, the group was reinvented to recapture their audience. The band consists of three seniors and one sophomore so far, all who met the requirements of leading worship at their own church and keeping up with their grades at school. Even though the band only consists of singing with no physical band accompaniment, the energy they bring to the Arena seems to have refreshed the chapel environment.
Even the band this year noticed a difference in the response of the crowd compared to last year. “I have to say, the audience calmed my nerves because of the support that they bring to every gathering,” said Charlotte Roberts, sophomore and chapel band member.
Cheers, clapping, and an overwhelming amount of singing along has made chapel come alive this year. Other audience members noticed a change in the atmosphere as well. “I really enjoy hearing the talent of these new performers and I think that they work really well together,” said Natalie Klein, junior.
Members of the band also agree with the audience’s assessment. “The people I perform with work very well together and are some of my best friends. I love them with all my heart, and am
(L-R) Charlotte Roberts (10th), Patrick Howard (12th), Zach Leeker (12th) and Lily Evans (12th). Courtesy of the Westminster Christian Academy chapel livestream. thrilled to get to perform with them a few times before they leave after Senior year[…]If I had to come up with a word to describe us, it would be family,” said Roberts. This chemistry within the group seems to be what allowed this band to captivate the school so well. Future performances will be more telling of how the audience will react throughout the year, but the fi rst few weeks were enough to tell that according to much of the student body, this chapel band renewal was worthwhile. The band is still open to fi nding new members within the Westminster community, so the group still has the opportunity to grow and change as the year progresses. With the potential to see new talented singers and musicians, the student body can get excited to know that they will surely not have a boring chapel band experience this year with the talent on stage. Chapel is meant to bring the community together through worship, and this new wave of talented worship leaders does just that. They are strong in their faith, energetic on stage, and captivate the crowd with their voices. Students and staff may not know what this school year will bring, but what everyone can count on is a solid chapel worship team to uplift dreary, mid-week spirits.
““I have to say, the audi-
ence calmed my nerves because of the support that they bring to every gathering,” - Charlotte Roberts, sophomore and chapel band member.
Paper or Plastic? Or Maybe Neither
Other cities are taking the lead in reducing the amount of bags fi lling up landfi lls, particularly those made of plastic
Christina English
Staff Writer
While other cities in America are meeting the problem of the plastic bags that are a part of almost every single shopping experience, St. Louis seems to be be lagging in this fi ght. This needs to change.
Single-use plastic bags. They are used in grocery stores, in some takeout places, and many other places. After people take their groceries or takeout food home, they tend to get rid of the plastic bags that they came in by throwing them away. How does this affect the environment and society as a whole? Is there any way that St. Louis specifi cally can solve the issue regarding plastic bags?
According to Sharon Jacobsen from lacounty.gov, from January to December, “around 500 billion bags are used worldwide.” Jacobsen also adds that “100 billion [bags] are consumed in the United States alone.” That’s a lot of bags! The article continues by talking about how plastic bags affect the level of pollution in our world.
“Plastic bags are diffi cult and costly to recycle and most end up on landfi ll sites where they take around 300 years to photodegrade,” explains Jacobsen. “They break down into tiny toxic particles that contaminate the soil and waterways and enter the food chain when animals accidentally ingest them.”
Jacobsen also explains how since so many plastic bags (along with many other plastic items) enter the ocean, it is really affecting the sea life. “Plastic bags are now amongst the top 12 items of debris most often found along coastlines,” said Jacobsen. “Animals and sea creatures are hurt and killed every day by discarded plastic bags [since] mistaking plastic bags for food is commonplace amongst [them]. Plastic clogs their intestines and leads to slow starvation. Others become entangled in plastic bags and drown.” So, how can St. Louis, Missouri specifi cally help out with this plastic bag problem at hand? At the moment, there are many cities and states in the U.S. that are working on solving this issue that St. Louis can learn from and follow. As a city we just need to admit there’s a problem, acknowledge others are fi ghting it, and then just follow their lead.
“As a city we just
“As of July 1, 2022, retailers in the State of Delaware no longer provide a plastic carryout bag made from fi lm at checkout. Instead, they now provide customers access to a reusable bag for purchases,” said the people at delaware.gov. They went on to explain how they had been passing laws since 2019 on banning plastic bags to improve the environment.
There is also progress being made in Pennsylvania at a local grocery store called Wegmans according to wgal.com: “Wegmans says in stores where they have already eliminated plastic bags, on average, paper bags are used for 20% to 25% of transactions, while the remaining 75% to 80% use reusable bags, or no bag at all.” Wegmans will be able to get rid of all its plastic bags by September 22, 2022.
By St. Louis following their example, it can also be a city trying to help with the problem of single-use plastic bags.
