The Little Hawk October 2025

LITTLE HAWK

Letter From The Editor

Hi Little Hawks and Friends!

In our very first issue of the year, we have lots for you to read: there’s information about a cool new sports officiating class, a rundown on some awesome summer movies by Ben, this year’s Sports Freshmen to Watch by Tessa and Ben, and more.

Check out our special news spread with school board election interviews from candidates Jayne Finch, Ruthina Malone, Dan Stevenson, and Jennifer Hornfraiser.

Our Staff Editorial, which is the cover story (art by Kyle Hartwig) for this issue, tackles AI use and answers the question: “how much AI is too much AI?” We explore the big Do’s and Don’ts of generative AI and when AI can be useful versus harmful.

Whether you’re a student, staff member, or Iowa City resident with no relation to City High, we think this issue has something for you! Keep up to date with us on Instagram (@instalittlehawk) and read more on TheLittleHawk.com.

Your favorite (current) executive editor, Lily

LITTLE HAWK GAMES

NEW CLASS TEACHES OFFICATING

Coach Cory Connell is teaching a new class at City High this year called Officiating Youth & High School Sports, which helps students to become certified to be an umpire in high school softball or baseball

By Rayan Ahmed

Finding officiants for City High sports games has just gotten easier.

“If we don’t have officials, we can’t have games. This class is a way to get students involved, build confidence, and even open doors for future opportunities,” Cory Connell said.

Connell is very familiar with the sports world. He has coached wrestling, baseball, and soccer, and has even officiated wrestling matches himself. These experiences showed him how essential officials are in sports.

“I work with officials all the time, and I know how important they are,” Connell said.

This class is part of a new program called Ref Reps, which brings officiating to schools. It helps students see sports through an officiate’s lens and develop real life skills they can carry on forever anywhere in life.

“Officating teaches you confidence , leadership, professionalism, patience, and how to deal with people respectfully,” Connel said. “Those are skills you’ll use long after the game is over.”

Officials have to stay calm under pressure and make quick decisions, anad this

class teaches those skills.

“This class helps students understand the game from a completely different perspective. Connell explained. “They not only learn the rules, but also the ability to assert themselves.”

With his past hands-on experience officiating, Connell knows the opportunities and doors can be opened through officiating.

“In some sports students can work just one weekend and make several hundred dollars,” Connell said. “For high school students, that’s a huge opportunity to earn money and stay connected to the sport you love.”

SEVEN STUDENTS SELECTED FOR NATIONAL MERIT

The National Merit Scholarship Corporation is an organization that awards college scholarships to high school students

By Witten Johnson

Every year, seniors from City High qualify for the National Merit Scholarship Program. This year, seven students have qualified as semifinalists, which include: Alma Bhandary-Narayanan ‘26, Amal Eltayib ‘26, Philip Berry-Stoelzle ‘26, Abigail Burns ‘26, Tobiah Collins ‘26, Lily Rantanen ‘26, Miriam Reschly-Krasowski ‘26.

“It’s really cool. I think this is a cool opportunity, and it’s a chance to get scholarships to a lot of different colleges.” Rantanen said. To qualify for Semifinalist, you need to complete the PSAT beforehand and score in the top one percent of students in the state. “I just kind of looked at [THE PSAT] as like a practice test for the SAT and I had taken it the year before so I had a little bit of experience, so I didn’t think it was that bad.”

BRIEFS

By Lily Rantanen and Martha Willard

Special Ed Requesting Plastic Bags

City High’s Special Education department is in need of plastic bags. Faculty and students wishing to donate them can deliver them to Sophia Jarvis in room 1202.

“We have students that have accidents or clothes get dirty or whatever, and we have to send the clothes home,” Jarvis said. “We don’t want to get the rest of their backpack and stuff dirty, so we always try and keep it contained so it’s more sanitary to send them home.”

Parent-Teacher Conferences Oct. 6 and 8

Parent-Teacher Conferences will be held in-person on October 6 and online October 8. In-person conferences will be held open house style, but online conferences require sign-ups. Parents can come to City High from 4:30-7:30 PM on October 6 to speak with teachers or sign up for online conferences using the link emailed to them.

FASFA Meeting Oct. 6

An informational meeting about the FASFA (Free Application For Student Aid) will be held October 6 in the City High Library from 6:00-7:00 PM during Parent-Teacher Conferences. It will include important information for seniors and their families about applying for aid and paying for college.

Choir Concert Oct. 8

The City High Choir Program will hold their fall concert in Opstad Auditorium at 7:00 PM. Concert Choir, Bass Choir, Advanced Treble Ensemble, and Treble Choir. Concert Choir will perform works by Joshua Shank, Susan LaBar, Hye-Young Cho, and Sydney Guilaume.

Run for the Schools Oct. 12

Run for the Schools will be held on Sunday, October 12. Here is the list of events and start times: 1/2 mile 8:00 AM 1 mile 8:15 AM 5k 9:00 AM 10k 9:00 AM

Run for the Schools is an event held by volunteer group Iowa City Road Races, Inc. to support student education while promoting health and fitness. Funds raised through Run for the Schools will go directly to the Iowa City Community School District and Regina Catholic Education Center. Registration and volunteer sign-ups are open online until October 9.

All-State Auditions

Oct. 24

Semifinalists then have to complete either the SAT or the ACT, submit a recommendation letter, and write an essay to become a finalist.

“The reading and writing section is weighted twice as much as the math section. So if you have a really good reading and writing score, that can balance out your math score, and vice versa,” Rantanen said. “So I would recommend reading a lot, because that can help your English skills.”

All-State Auditions will be held all-day Saturday, October 24 at Iowa City West High School. This is a change from previous years, when they were held at Washington High School in Washington, Iowa.

October College Visits

Oct. 8 NYU

Oct. 12 Luther College

Oct. 14 Aveda Institute

Oct. 15 University of Dubuque

Oct. 20 Drake University College representatives are available during A and B lunch in the cafeteria.

FOUR CANDIDATES COMPETING FOR THREE SEATS

Interviews with the 2025 ICCSD school board candidates

Why are you running for School Board?

I ask myself that everyday. I sincerely had hoped that I could step away after serving eight years. I always believe that it’s important to encourage others to give back to our community, and I worked really hard in trying to convince a couple people to run, but it just wasn’t the right time for them. All of the remaining board members that aren’t up for election encouraged me to run. ey expressed that my experience and leadership was important to continue on on the board.

Why are you quali ed to be on the school board?

One, it goes back to just my professional experience. I work as an administrator at the University of Iowa within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. In that position, I have experience managing budgets, planning for facility renovations and new construction, overseeing human resources aspects of a job, [and] supervising people, which I think is a huge part of a skill set that board members need to bring to the table since it will be our responsibility to supervise our one and only employee, the superintendent.

And…my commitment to being a representative for all of our families, not just families that live on a certain side of town or in a certain town. I hear quite a bit from families across the district that they appreciate the fact that my decisions are measured, taking into account everyone’s best interests, not just a small subset of our community.

What would you say is the biggest issue facing public education today?

Funding. I mean, the biggest issue is funding. [Public education[ is not funded nearly enough for everything that a public education has to provide for our students. I would love to see our districts or even all public school districts being able to o er free breakfast and lunch [for everybody]…we know if a child is distracted by hunger, they’re not going to be able to focus in class. at’s tied to funding because it costs so much and we can’t do something like that.

How are you prepared to address student achievement gaps?

We have been dealing with that question since the dawn of time. I think, as a district, we have tried a variety of things to try and to move that needle. I know…we have made some gains over the years with our students on IEPs, students on free and reduced lunch, but obviously we need to do more. We need to look into ways to ensure that we capture them early or identify some of their needs early instead of passing students on from fourth grade when we know that they’re reading two grade levels below. We need to make sure that we’re giving them the additional support, whether that’s reading support, math support, that’s needed.

What are your positions on the bills regarding education being passed in the Iowa Legislature, speci cally the attendance, voucher, and smartphone laws?

What I have seen from sitting at the table [is that] these bills get passed not necessarily in support of public education. It’s laws that they think are xing a problem that’s not really a problem, but they base it o of a small subset of feedback or information or talking points that they hear on a national level and it’s not well thought-out. ey don’t give consideration to the other side. And so oftentimes we’re left with laws that, absolutely, we will follow because we’re not going to break a law. But at the same time, they make it really di$cult. A good example of that is the truancy law that was passed last legislative season.

Part of that law was [that] certi ed letters had to go out to families. e district spent $30,000 plus on sending those letters. Oftentimes, a lot of them got returned unopened because of bad addresses, they couldn’t deliver them, what have you. And now they took that piece out of the law. We are a rather large district and $30,000, yes, that hurts, but we were able to a ord to cover that. But some of our smaller rural districts, that was crushing their budget.

Why are you running for School Board?

With my experience and commitment to public service, I think this is a natural role for me where I’ll be able to support educators and students in the Iowa City Community School District.

Why are you quali ed to be on the school board?

My background is 100% in education. is is my 24th year in the classroom, and so I have a rm understanding of how education works. Beyond just my experience in the classroom, I’ve served as a union leader here in West Liberty for over 10 years. I’ve been our lead negotiator in negotiating our contract with the district and the president…which has given me a great insight into how school districts work from nances to policies. And I see the work of the school board as being critical to support educators and students.

What would you say is the biggest issue facing public education today? So, two, but they’re really one and the same. e rst one is funding. I’ve been incredibly concerned over my career to see how our annual per pupil funding has barely increased for so long. And I am scared for the future of funding for public schools as the state spends more and more money on private school vouchers.

e other one is anti-education legislation. I think legislators have an unrealistic view of or understanding of what happens in classrooms. ey pass laws meant to limit what teachers can do, which then has the e ect of making teachers feel like they’re on the defensive in the classroom. I think it’s critical that the school board and administration within any district makes sure that we let teachers know that we have their back. Because of all of these laws, we’ve seen more and more people leaving the profession. We’ve seen huge teacher shortages across the state. We need to, as a district, ensure that we’re doing everything we can to support educators so that we can continue to have the best educators in the district.

How are you prepared to address student achievement gaps?

So, I think there are two issues related to that. First, we have a question of the numbers from state testing. ose are easy to look at and we need to do something about [that], which we do. But I think a really important piece of that is not just the targeted test prep type education, but ensuring that all students are feeling supported and welcomed in our district. I think Iowa City does a great job of creating community within the school and within the broader community. at’s something I hope to see expanded. . .I think those things that help increase students’ sense of belonging and support will help with those achievement gaps. I think when we focus just on the achievement gap, the solutions we get are focused on just passing tests, buying products, for students to drill certain skills that will help them pass the test that don’t necessarily help them be better prepared for life.

What are your positions on the bills regarding education being passed in the Iowa Legislature, speci cally the attendance, voucher, and smartphone laws?

I think they are de nitely laws that want the right thing for our kids. I know my daughter in particular hates the new rules with regards to phones because she likes to have an earbud in. But overall, I do support keeping phones out of kids’ hands, particularly during instruction time in class. I think Iowa City had a good policy about this, and they updated their policy to align with that law. As a teacher, I understand the need to help students focus and learn. But there’s a lot of other things Des Moines could be addressing.

As far as attendance, again, I think attendance is absolutely critical to student success. I know in our district, West Liberty, we’ve done a lot to look at how attendance a ects students’ grades and graduation. So we absolutely need to focus on attendance. I think the way that the law was implemented this past year was overly onerous on school districts in terms of what they had to do. I’m glad that there’s been a little bit more clarity going into this year. e district won’t have to spend as much money and time on registered letters to families. I don’t know that the laws from Des Moines are what we need for our community.

JENNIFER HORN-FRASIER JAYNE FINCH

Why are you running for school board?

Two things made me decide to run this time. One is just that I was so concerned about what I was seeing happening to public education in the country [and] in our state, and I wanted to help protect and support our own district. And then Ruthina Malone, who’s the current board president, said, “hey, would you consider running?” And I realized that if I didn’t run, I would really regret not trying, so I decided I needed to jump in and…just give it a shot.

Why are you quali ed to be on the school board?

ere’s a bunch of reasons that I feel I had a lot to contribute. One is that I started out as a public school teacher. I was an English teacher, but I was one of those people who switched majors several times in college. I started as a music education major, and then I was a Physics and Chemistry Education major for two and a half years. So I have a lot of experience in learning about education in a lot of di erent academic areas, and then experience in the classroom for six years. After I decided to leave teaching and do some other things, almost everything that I have done over the last 30 plus years has had something to do with education. I spent 16 years at ACT, working…on the workforce development part of the business. In particular, a lot of the time I developed programs and tests to help people who are…trying to work while they’re continuing their learning and advance through their career pathway. I’ve worked with school districts, community colleges, the University of Iowa and Iowa State University. I’ve also worked with a lot of nonpro ts tackling the challenges that our community faces.

What would you say is the biggest issue facing public education today?

I really think that it is the systematic stripping of resources for public education, whether it’s just baseline funding or access to expert resources like our area education associations. Education is where our whole world needs you to come to school as a whole person, not just this little academic brain. So we need to meet students as whole people at school. We need a lot of di erent types of resources to do that. And as the state and federal decisions are being made to reduce those resources, it makes it harder and harder for us to provide that quality, accessible public education for everybody.

How are you prepared to address student achievement gaps?

[Underfunding public education reduces] the access that we have to resources to individually help students and to design methods of instruction that are more engaging for students…we need time and resources to approach education [in a] way where it really is meaningful to students. We also need to make smart use of the standardized assessments that we do have. I think that there are bad ways to use standardized assessments and good, helpful ways. ey are a snapshot of a student’s performance on a given moment, but they can provide information about where those gaps exist, and then how to identify students who would bene t from additional resources.

What are your positions on the bills regarding education passed in the Iowa legislature, especially the attendance law, the voucher law and the one about smartphones?

I’m glad that they’re continuing to ne tune [the attendance law]. I do think that a one size ts all solution is rarely a good solution, so having the opportunity for one-on-one and sort of individualized intervention and o ers of support is really important.

As far as the voucher law, I am strongly opposed to that. I do not think that it’s right, morally right, to take public money and funnel it to private education that does not have oversight, is not required to serve all students, and often goes to for-pro t schools. I think that public money for public education should be used for the public good.

Smartphones. I see how my own phone interferes with my life sometimes, and I think it’s very di$cult to manage. I think it’s very good to have a policy that minimizes the interference of phones during class and during day to day.

Why are you running for school board?

I’m running because I want to keep our school district strong in the face of all of the attacks on public education, particularly the new voucher law.

Why are you quali ed to be on the school board?

My past service over the past four years quali es me. Prior to that, I was on the Equity Committee for four years, and I chaired that committee for two of those years. So those are some additional quali cations I have for being on the board.

What would you say is the biggest issue of public education today?

Again, I think it’s the vouchers and just the overall lack of funding over the past decade.

How are you prepared to address student achievement gaps?

First of all, what our district is doing with the preschool program I think is amazing. One of the things I’m most proud of is how we’ve expanded our preschool o ering to all-day in all of our schools, and I think we’re going to see some changes and improvements with the achievement gap. With that early learning, it’s so important to start early. Preschool prepares kids to enter kindergarten ready to learn, giving them a better chance of reading at grade level by third grade, which is when students transition from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.” Children who read at grade level by the end of third grade are more likely to succeed academically. e preschool [is one way to address student achievement gaps]. e other is hiring the best teachers and making sure that our class sizes are a reasonable size.

What are your positions on the bills regarding education being passed in the Iowa legislature, speci cally the vouchers, phone policy and attendance law?

I’m opposed to the vouchers. I think public money belongs in public schools, and if [the Iowa state legislature is] intent on funding private schools with public money, then there needs to at least be oversight, and they need to play by the same rules that the public schools need to play by. It’s an invitation to waste, fraud and abuse the current system that we have.

e phone policy, our policy that we passed in December and started in January, complies with the state law. So I don’t really have a lot to say about the cell phone policy, because I think we’re already what the state wants us to do in that regard.

en the attendance policy. I’m grateful that they took away the requirement for the certi ed mail, because that was a huge burden on us, both nancially and also just administratively. So I’m glad that they took that requirement away. I think that it has helped some with our attendance. Some people got into some bad habits because of the pandemic, and I believe that’s probably why they decided that they needed a law. I think the main focus of the attendance policy is getting services to people who need them. So that’s the way our district has approached it. If we have a student and a family and they’ve reached that cut o , where we have to notify the county attorney, what that does is it triggers a meeting with the family so that we can troubleshoot with them to gure out what are the barriers that’s preventing you from getting your student to school, and to work on that. Rather than it being punitive, it really is focused on helping the students get to school.

ese interviews were conducted by Martha Willard and were edited for brevity and clarity.

Photos of candidates are courtesy of Ruthina Malone, Dan Stevenson, Jennifer Horn-Frasier, and Jayne Finch.

You can read the full interviews at eLittleHawk.com, or scan the QR code.

Opstad Closes for Winter Months to Undergo Construction

By Estelle Hartz

Opstad auditorium will be closing its doors for construction beginning at the start of winter break, and will remain closed until March 20th. The school show choir and jazz band show on December 19th will be the last event held in the auditorium until its reopening in the spring.

Opstad will undergo several small construction changes to infrastructure, but the construction is mainly focusing on a full lighting upgrade which will allow Opstad to be changed over to a full LED system.

“This will give us the opportunity to change the color of lights, but also save TONS of energy when the lights are being used. Currently, each incandescent instrument uses 575 watts to light, while the new LED will use around 280. 135 instruments @ 575w=77625w vs. 135 instruments @ 280w=37800w when they are on at full,” said Doug Lestina.

The new lights will also be much brighter and more effective, so less light will be needed to light the stage.

Along with the new LED lights, Opstad will also be getting new Cyc lights, spotlights, and the sound booth will be moving out of the auditorium to make more room for both sound and lights. There are also plans being made for future upgrades such as rigging, sound, and improvements in the lobby.

“I think these improvements will enhance the concert-going experience immensely. The lighting upgrades will allow greater visibility on stage and versatility in creating lighting design,” said Mr. Hagy, choir director.

Shows and events January through March will be affected by the construction, including the mid-winter concerts held by the orchestra, choir, and band in February, the Large group speech show in January, and the show choir show, and orchestra’s dessert concert in the spring.

“Though it is unfortunate that it will impact some of our performances, I am excited that we’ll be able to use them for our end of year concerts,” said Mr. Hagy.

The music and theater department directors are currently exploring a range of different options for an alternative space for

the shows that will be impacted by the temporary closure, however each department is doing things differently, depending on the show and their needs.

“We are trying to be creative in seeking out venues that will be aesthetically and acoustically pleasing, while offering enough space for our performers and fitting within a reasonable rental budget. We have been in contact with the University of Iowa, var-

ious theatres in the area, houses of worship, etc. to strike that balance,” said Mr. Hagy.

The spring musical Frozen will be the first show to be put on following Opstad’s reopening.

“There will be many great changes in the next few years to really bring the already great Opstad to another level. We will have some of the top technology for our students to work with,” said Doug Lestina.

Refocus Film Festival and I.C. Book Festival Run Together

By Vencenzio McGill

The 4th annual Refocus Iowa City film festival will kick off with an adaptation of Iowa Writers Workshop alum Denis Johnson’s Train Dreams (2011), directed and co-written by Clint Bentley the adaptation, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival back in January, will be the first movie shown off for the festival on October 9th at the Englert Theater and it will include special guest appearances however those guests have still yet to be announced.

“Refocus Film Fest is always a really cool experience, Myself, along with my colleagues, Maggie Yocius and Michael Close, facilitate Film Fest. Kids put it all together and host it and submit films, but we just make sure everybody’s doing what they need to do at City High Film Fest,” Dan Peterson, art teacher at City High said.

Following its film festival screening, the film will have a limited theatrical release on November 7th and a streaming release on Netflix on November 21st. Meanwhile, the Refocus Film Festival will go from October 9th to October 12th, 2025, running concurrently with the Iowa City Book Festival, which itself will be running from October 5th to October 12th, 2025. Other films to be shown off are the Ice Tower at 6.15 pm on October 10th, Orwell 2+2=5 at 1.10 pm on October 11th, and Play It As It Lays at 4.05 pm on October 12th.

UNFROZEN SPRING MUSICAL SWITCHES

With the recent

By Estelle Hartz

Last spring, the musical for this year was announced to be Sweeney Todd. In mid August, the announcement came out that Frozen was available for high schools to perform for the first time, and the theatre directors knew that this was going to be an opportunity that only came around once.

“We take very seriously the choice of what show we’re going to do, because first of all, we know that each student only has four years of being able to do a show, and that we see ourselves as a community program that is trying to provide something for the whole East Side and Iowa City. We also are very mindful of the resources that we have and making the most of them when we are making one of these decisions,” said theatre director, Lauren Darby.

Logistics were a concern for the directors, since Opstad will be closed for construction for the winter months, but the work that is being done is set to be finished by April.

“Not only will we have our space back, but we should have all new lighting to be able to do something really cool. With the amount of color and effects in this, we’re really going to be able to showcase those improvements at In Opstad in a way that’s going to be so exciting,” Darby said.

Sweeney Todd would have been much different from any

other show the City had put on before. Lauren Darby, as a director, has never done Sondheim, and had never done a show that requires just as much complexity for the orchestra.

“I think that doing Frozen is in no way easy because there is a lot of magic, right? So whenever you’re trying to create magic on stage, that takes a lot of special effects and things like that,” Dar-

by said, “I also don’t take lightly that a lot of people have a strong emotional connection to the show and may have certain expectations of how we execute it.”

The Frozen musical has a lot of differences from Frozen the movie, there are different songs, a different interpretation of the trolls, and different plot details. Another difference is this year the theatre department is also planning on

bringing in elementary school students to participate, along with the cast, which is only something that happens every few years.

“There are some elements that feel a little bit darker than in the movie, there’s some pieces that have been cut, but we still want to be true to the spirit of the story that has been so popular with people and so beloved,” Darby said.

Frozen has a larger cast than

Sweeney Todd, and there are many more roles for women.

“We have a very strong senior class that is very female dominated, and I really want them to have this opportunity to shine,” Darby said.

Auditions for Frozen are set to fall the week following speech districts, somewhere between late January and early February.

“I think we will definitely get a lot more people coming to the show because it’s more well known, I was pretty surprised with the change at first but now I have come to terms with it and I think it’s going to be fun,” Julia Shannon said.

One of the theater departments main focuses is taking into consideration what opportunities and experiences students have and haven’t had yet. Directors make an effort to pick different styles of shows each year so that students will leave having been exposed to different types of acting, singing, and music.

“I really appreciate the flexibility that people have had with this change. I know that it has been hard for people to kind of readjust when there is a change, but I think it’s ultimately going to be a really fun experience and a very positive one,” Darby said, “We’re creating more opportunities for more students than we have otherwise had. So that’s ultimately always our goal is to create more opportunities for students, everything we do is in service of that, and I think that this is going to be a really good year for that!”

The Little Hawk Little Hawk Journalism Staff

Executive Editor

Lily Rantanen

News Editors

Martha Willard

Liyan Elgiseer (asst.)

Sports Editors

Jack Rogers

Rito Perez

Tessa Driscoll

Ben Klitgaard

Louisa Berry-Stoelzle (asst.)

Caden Beard (asst.)

Opinion Editor

Nicolas Vergara-Vanegas

A&E Editor

Estelle Hartz

Positivity

Editors

Ada Meineke

Scarlett Carino-Marek

Izzy Brown

Feature Editors

Lily Rantanen

Rayan Ahmed (asst.)

Video-Broadcast

Melody Ross

Avery O’Brien

Social Media

Ramy Makawi

Staff

Jack Lampe, Owen Raefield, Ben Haines, Kyle Hartwig, Jack Litton, Ven McGill, Micah Hartwig, William Meis, Bella Ragona, Kelsey Herrig, Liz Degner, Stevie Wilmoth, Oliver Erickson, Alex Donovan, Jacob Reid, Audrey Vandenberg, Henry Birt, Stella Demarest

Advisor

Jonathan Rogers

Mission Statement

The Little Hawk, student journalism newspaper and website of City High School, aims to inform, educate and entertain readers. LH journalists follow the code of the journalist by seeking truth, doing no harm, being independent, and working toward balance in all news stories. All student voices are enouraged to be part of a LH journalism class. To join the class, talk to your guidance counselor today.

Letters to the editor may be submitted to: LittleHawkPage@gmail.com

ICCSD Equity Statement

It is the policy of the ICCSD not to discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, disability, or socioeconomic status in its educationall programs, activities, or employment practices.

If you believe you (or your child) have been discriminated against or treated unjustly at school, please contact the

Equity Director at:

509 S. Dubuque Street (319) 688-1000

Letter to the Editors

AI

Dos and Don’ts in School

One of the most controversial and dividing topics of our generation is AI. Beyond the debate if our distant future is going to most likely resemble Terminator or WALL-E, in our school world, the biggest arguments have revolved around when, where, and how AI should be used. Recently, ICCSD released their guidelines for AI use in schools. Surprisingly, these guidelines aren’t actually that specific, and really only apply to their use in writing. However, in our ever changing world, AI really has more uses than in just your Language Arts class. So, without further ado, here are The Little Hawk’s Do’s and Don’ts for AI use in our classrooms.

AI DON’Ts

One big problem in journalism is that we’ve come to a point with AI, especially with Generative AI, that we don’t always know what is real and what isn’t. It’s kind of scary to think that we can look at a photo and not be able to tell whether it was a picture taken by an actual, breathing human being. The district policy completely ignored this, but it merits mentioning that a video or photo made by a gen AI, even if you wrote in the prompt, is not your work. The idea that you can make a photo of someone and it not actually be them is not only lying, in the right (or should I say wrong) circumstance, it can

STAFF EDITORIAL:

Students and teachers need more specific tips on what is okay and not okay in school. We have provided a list of what LH editors believe should be allowed and not allowed in school.

be damaging to the people you ‘photographed’ or ‘videotaped’. In general, using AI to create something that isn’t yours is bad, and using it to create photos instead of taking your own is just wrong. Even making AI polish and perfect your photos, deleting people from events, is wrong. What the districts did mention in their policy, and what many schools have been arguing for years, is that making an AI write anything for you is plagiarism. This is true. After all, an AI wrote it, not you, and you are stealing its work and saying it was your own. Lying aside, making an AI do your work for you, in any way, whether it is writing your SAQ’s or doing research for you, it’s besides the point of the assignment. Believe it or not, there is a point to all the work teachers give you in school. Doing this kind of work gets your mind working. It makes it easier to do critical thinking. Think of it as challenges you have to beat before leveling up to the next level. If you do the work, you’ll come out better. A better thinker, and better reasoner, and better writer. Here’s

another thing. Grades don’t define a person. They’re guides, telling you where you’re at. They can change. As you get better, as you do more work, you’ll find school gets easier. But you won’t get there if you make an AI do it for you. All you’ll learn is the refined art of laziness, and let’s be honest, we don’t need an AI to get that done. For your own sake, rather than that of the rules, refrain from making an AI do your school work for you. That being said, there are other situations where making an AI do something rather than you can be rather beneficial.

AI DOs

Yes, making AI create photos is a Don’t. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use it to fine tune a few things. Often, we at the Little Hawk use AI to remove backgrounds in photos and to improve resolution. So yes, AI can be used in photo editing, so long as the majority of the work was yours.

Another instance that may be closer to home is spell check. Spell check is nothing short of amazing.

Thanks to that little red line, you read ‘amazing’ and not ‘amzing’. There’s nothing wrong with using an AI tool to shortcut something like spell check. It can take quite a bit of time to check your work for grammatical mistakes, and even when you do, you can miss some stuff. Still, refrain from using an AI that rewrites your mistakes. That isn’t the point. Spell check is there to help; a rewriting tool is there to replace you. Don’t use that rewriting tool.

Surprisingly, fact-checking with AI can be very useful. AI is able to see sources and analyze them way faster than you can. If you’re unsure of a fact, it’s probably a good idea to run it through an AI. That being said, you can’t blindly trust an AI source just like you can’t blindly trust the internet. After all, anything and everything an AI makes conclusions about comes from the Internet. So when you do use an AI to fact check, make sure you really analyze the situation. In other words, take it with a grain of salt.

There are other Yes, No’s, and Maybe So’s, when it comes to AI and its use, and some of them are detailed in ICCSD’s new AI policy, which you can see at their site. While these are just a few, they should be enough to give you the impression that AI should be used responsibly. After all, in this technology-oriented world we live in, you never know when you’ll need to use it.

by Miles Thomas

IT’S NOW OR NEVER FOR THE PACKERS

The Green Bay Packers have been near the top of many NFL power rankings recently, especially since trading for Micah Parsons. For many years the Packers have been hyped up just to fall short in the playoffs, but if there is a time to live up to hype, it’s now.

Jordan Love signed a massive contract extension last summer, and after giving up two first round picks and Kenny Clark for Micah Parsons and handing him a huge $186 million contract, it can only mean the Packers front office wants to win now.

The Packers have been the youngest team in the NFL for two straight years, but that doesn’t last forever. Everyone has heard about the unproven wide receivers, but almost all of them are nearing the end of their rookie contracts. Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs are both heading into their fourth year, and Jayden Reed is going into his third. Since they are close to the end of their contracts and many of them will not be re-signed, time is running down to go far in the playoffs. Although the receivers struggled with drops last season, I do believe they will only be better.

With all of the moves the Packers have made as well as other big changes around the NFL this offseason, it creates a very favorable set up for Green Bay. The biggest threat to the Packers the last few seasons, the Detroit Lions, lost some key parts to their power, the biggest being former offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. While I don’t think the Lions will have quite as big of a downfall as some other major reporters are predicting, I do think the level of play will drop compared to the last two seasons.

by Nico Vergara-Vanegas

The other top team in the NFC North, the Minnesota Vikings, are also set to have a downfall. After losing quarterback Sam Darnold, former tenth overall pick JJ McCarthy will take over as the starter. McCarthy is coming off of a torn meniscus that kept him out all of his rookie year, which means he still has lots to learn to become an elite QB. Although wide receiver Justin Jefferson is still an elite player, he will be without his complementary wideout Jordan Addison for the first three games of the season due to suspension. Along with possible trouble with the passing game, running back Aaron Jones is only getting older and has not been

as good in recent years.

Chicago Bear’s new head coach Ben Johnson does seem to have a solid system going, but I still think the Bears are missing some parts to be a top contender in the NFC. These reasons give the Packers a clear shot at winning the NFC North this season, but other teams are only going to get stronger after this season.

With the rising competition around the league, and big moves coming from the Packers, if Green Bay doesn’t bring home a Super Bowl in the coming years, we may not see another championship in Titletown for some time.

New Chromebooks, for Better or for Worse

As of Wednesday, August 27th, each and every City High student was given a new chromebook to replace their old one. For most students, this was a much-needed upgrade. But for me, it felt a little unnecessary. I do think that it is fantastic that we were given new chromebooks. The computer itself is an improvement. They have HDMI ports. The touchscreen is much sleeker and easier to use. The computer is smaller and less heavy, making it easier to carry around, and that last fact might not be significant to you, but when you have a backpack as heavy as mine, every little thing counts. They even look better, sleeker, and more advanced. The real only downside from these new chromebooks to the old ones is that the keyboard is slightly smaller and the keys a little too close together. But back to my point. I don’t know how your old chromebooks were shaping up after who-even-knows-how-many years of use; mine only had two; but my chromebook, my sister’s, and my brother’s were all in pretty good shape. A quick analysis of other students’ chromebooks would give you mixed results on how well they were maintained. So did we really need new computers?

Don’t get me wrong; I understand the need for an upgrade every once in a while. But if something isn’t broken, why should we try to fix it? How much money did we use to buy these new computers? This is district wide. That means that, if we assume that every chromebook the school bought it about 40 dollars (the price of the older chromebooks), and we distribute that to about 1200 kids per grade, district wide, we get, after the annoying math problem 1200 x 12 x 40, a grand total of 576,000 dollars.

That’s about half a million dollars, in other words, more than some of us will be making after 10 years. And I understand that there can be contracts and outdated technology, but just think of what could be done with that money.

Even if we accept the monetary costs, what about the environmental ones? (And yes, I know, I say these things a lot) I’m sure that some of the pieces are salvaged and recycled, but how many are just thrown into the dumpster? That’s pieces from 14400 chromebooks all in one place. Every five years. That’s a lot of trash. A lot of trash that doesn’t decompose easily. So at the same time that we’re enjoying our new, techy comput-

HEYN’S ICE CREAM

FRIDAY HIGH FIVES

SWEATER

ers, our old ones are releasing chemicals into the environment as they slowly decompose. Good. Good for our conscience. All that aside, I do understand that this is not an easy decision to make. It’s not like chromebooks are high quality. They’re not going to last years and years. And then you have to consider contracts the school has with these companies, and the usefulness of computers. And I get it. We do need these chromebooks. But I still feel that being aware of exactly what happens when we get these new chromebooks is important. Maybe now, we’ll take better care of them. Make them last those five years. Just something to think about.

ONE OF THE GREATEST SEQUELS?

by Ben Haines

In 2001, a film titled Ocean’s Eleven was released by Warner Bros.

Directed by the great Steven Soderbergh and starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, and a million others, this was a remake of the somewhat little-known original Ocean’s 11 from 1960 starring the Rat Pack. Ocean’s Eleven (2001) is now (and then) regarded as one of the great remakes for it did away with many of the traits that led to the original film being forgotten.

These include the film’s slow pace as well as its tonal confusion. “Tonally confused” and “slow paced” are the last thing anybody would ever accuse Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven of being. It’s one of those classic films where if it’s on TV, it’s just so fun that you might decide to watch till the end, commercials and all. The film led to two sequels, a reboot/sequel starring Sandra Bullock from 2018 (confusingly titled, Ocean’s Eight), as well a prequel currently in production rumored to star Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie. I don’t want to talk about Ocean’s Eleven, however. I want to talk about its direct sequel Ocean’s Twelve. Largely dismissed at the time (currently maintaining a rotten 55% on Rotten Tomatoes) and now regarded as one of the lesser additions to the franchise, I believe that it is time to open our hearts back up to this movie and declare it a masterpiece. And--- perhaps---one of the greatest sequels ever made.

I think this film is a masterpiece, but I’ll be the first to admit that the setup for the film is extremely sweaty. However, this sweatiness is necessary for the secret ingre-

dient. After the first scene introduces us to Rusty and Isabel, we’re back to the present with Danny and Tess (Clooney and Roberts). Danny’s retired and we get the sense that Tess is getting slightly tired of him, but they seem to be happy and Danny is out of the house buying Tess a present for their “second-third” anniversary while Tess is figuring out what color to paint their kitchen. It is then, however, that Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) shows up at Tess’ house. Even though he got the money they stole from him in the last movie back from the insurance company, he now demands it back from them with interest. In two weeks. “You know, as it turns out, I’m not the only person in the world looking for Ocean’s eleven,” he says to Tess before he leaves. We then get a delightful little segment of scenes in which Benedict interrupts the lives of the eleven characters who helped carry out the heist in the last film and gives them the same news. This helps make the stakes clear (reaffirming Benedict’s claim that he does know everything about the heist from the last film, as well as everybody who helped), but it’s also a fun way to reintroduce us to all of the characters and see where they’re at in their lives. This answer for a lot of them is, despite the riches, they’re kind of stuck in the same place. After this, Danny and his team meet up to discuss how much they owe and how they’re going to steal that much in the next two weeks. Okay, that took a while to describe the setup, because as I said; it is extremely sweaty. ‘Andy Garcia wants his money back (plus interest) because Danny Ocean robbed him in the last one so now Danny and his team have to do a bunch of little heists’ is not nearly as simple or (dare I say) as fun as the first film’s setup of ‘Danny Ocean wants to rob a casino with his buds’... but that’s part of the point. See, the second secret ingredient to make this film one of the greatest sequels of all time is that the characters themselves are reckoning with the very

idea of a sequel. Why are we making these characters from another film return in a new one just to pull off the same dumb tricks from the last one? Ocean’s Twelve is never satisfied with doing that.

I’m of the unpopular opinion that mainstream cinema right now is somewhat irony-pilled and modern blockbusters are far too self-aware. For me at least, I’d much rather watch Jake Sully in Avatar: The Way of Water say the goofy line “This family is our fortress” than make a goofy quip because it feels sincere. The film wouldn’t carry the same amount of emotional weight if there weren’t lines like this. It’s the sort of lesson that Marvel (in their current state) should learn from. Having said that though, Ocean’s Twelve is extremely self-aware, but it doesn’t feel like a copout as self-awareness often does in modern blockbuster cinema. So why does Ocean’s Twelve’s quippy and self-aware nature not bump up against me? Well, partly because this is an actual comedy (not a 300-million dollar action extravaganza) and also because it feels true to the characters. Steven Soderbergh understands that Danny Ocean is his self insert, so it makes sense that Danny Ocean would be questioning why he’s attempting to recreate the magic of his last outing. The line “We’re forcing it” that Danny says to Rusty might feel cutesy and insincere in another film, but it works here because it also feels extremely personal.

This is all behind-the-scenes nonsense however, if the movie doesn’t have any actual answers. It, of course, does. Why do we (or why should we) make sequels? It’s not irrational to revisit (or remake) stories (to claim that it is, is to deny storytelling of one of its key traits; repetition). This film posits that we do this to interrogate new perspectives and by doing this, find a new audience. In the process of revisiting, given the choice between rehashing or creating, Steven Soderbergh’s 2004 masterpiece chooses to create.

SPIDER MAN

Across the spider-verse

by Ben Haines

CLASSIFICATION CLARIFICATION: In celebration of this summer’s 28 Years Later, we will be classifying each of these movies into three categories. These include

SLOW-LOW (the worst of the bunch; these are the films I don’t recommend seeing), SPRINTER (the film isn’t perfect, but still has some stuff going for it), and ALPHA (the best of the bunch; if you haven’t seen it yet, do so as soon as possible).

WEAPONS

A term that particularly pushes my buttons every time I hear it is “elevated horror.” It strikes me as the type of term coined by somebody who’s embarrassed by the type of movie they like to watch/make. Horror movies, just like any other genre, can scare us as well as make us think, regardless of how “high-brow” it is. Adding the “elevated” part does not remove you from the genre that you’re playing in. Somehow, in a genre that doesn’t often get recognized by large awards bodies, a term has emerged that’s more pretentious than most others in film. This is why Zach Cregger is able to get such great results in his films. If I were to guess, I would say that Cregger also hates the term “elevated horror” and that’s why his most recent film Weapons doesn’t run away from simple scares, but sometimes it’s these scares that are the most effective. Everybody knows from the trailer or marketing for this movie the thirty-second pitch: At 2:17 one Wednesday night 17 children got up out of bed and ran into the night never to return. All except one, a young boy named Alex (Cary Christopher) who’s the only boy left in Miss Gandy (Julia Garner)’s class. The monologue that tells us all of that is delivered as voice-over narration at the beginning of the film as we see the children run through the town. Cregger understands that sometimes, you gotta have some sweaty narration in order to get to the good stuff as fast as possible, so any, um, “plot holes” that the audience might take issue with are dealt with in these opening minutes. The rest of the film is split up into chapters, each dedicated to a different member of the town doing their own investigating (or just minding their own business) who all intersect at the end. One of these members is a fantastic (perhaps underutilised) Josh Brolin who plays Archer, the father of one of the lost kids. Sometimes one wishes that Weapons would try a little less hard, (you can feel the overthinking in the camera work), but the highs you get when things come perfectly together in the last twenty minutes might make that strain worth it. Cregger also understands that people are naturally going to be scared of the unknown. It’s a creepy enough premise that any attempt to explain it will inherently make it less so. So by the end of the film, it still feels like there’s more information lying in wait (maybe in a creepy basement) that we’ll never learn. And that’s a good thing.

CLASSIFICATION: ALPHA.

HIGHEST 2 LOWEST

DIR. SPIKE LEE

SORRY, BABY

DIR. EVA VICTOR

While I was watching Shawn Levy’s 2024 film Deadpool & Wolverine, I couldn’t help but ask myself, “What are we doing here?” Surely this massive film, which ended up grossing over a billion dollars, has more going for it than soulless references and callbacks that even I was having trouble understanding. It genuinely made me wonder if it’s time to put this genre to bed if this is what it has to offer. The most impressive feat that James Gunn’s take on Superman pulls off is that it reminds us of what draws us to superheroes in the first place. The characters are vibrant and it’s a genuine delight to watch all of them.

Superman opens with Superman (David Corenswet) three years after he revealed himself to the world and three minutes after losing his first fight to a robot controlled by Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult). It’s impossible to ignore all of the pressure resting on this film’s shoulders: the supposed “superhero fatigue” going on right now, the fact that (in this critic’s opinion) there hasn’t been one good Superman movie since 1978, the fact that this movie is the start of “a new era” for DC films and if it doesn’t go well nobody knows what’s gonna happen. The solution this movie has to relieve this weight is to just have fun. It’s been a while since there’s been a Hollywood blockbuster this sincere, but the result is that you, the viewer, feel almost none of the pressure that Gunn and his collaborators most certainly felt in the development process. Gunn may be currently working at the highest level imaginable in his occupation, but he still makes movies with his friends, which makes them personal and fulfilling to their own themes. This especially applies to Superman. Corenswet and Hoult are sur

Spike Lee’s newest “joint”; Highest 2 Lowest, is a modernized remake of Akira Kurosawa’s film High and Low, about an older music mogul (Denzel Washington) whose driver (Jeffery Wright)’s son (Elijah Wright, Jeffery Wright’s real son) is kidnapped by an aspiring rapper (A$AP Rocky) hoping to get some form or recognition by committing this crime. Lee is the same age as Danny Boyle and everything I’ve previously stated about Danny Boyle could also be said about Spike Lee, however, watching the first half of Highest 2 Lowest, it’s impossible to wonder if ol’ Spike hasn’t lost a step or two. It’s extremely melodramatic and Lee shouts the themes of the movie at us as if it’s 1989, but he’s no longer a hip young kid. He’s almost 70. A film that I found myself exceptionally excited about, was letting me down. Until I realized that, of course, Lee had been tricking me the whole last hour. The film is literally about an artist who was once hip, who has now found himself confused about what’s actually important in his work life and personal life. The second hour of Highest 2 Lowest has as much energy behind it as any sequence in 28 Years Later (well…maybe not every sequence) Lee seems alive in the way he’s shooting setpieces and he seems assured in the themes he’s yelling at us (including, but not exclusive to a scene in which a man literally yells at the camera about how much Boston sucks). The film that Highest 2 Lowest is most comparable to isn’t any by Kurosawa, it’s Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis from last year. Megalopolis doesn’t have quite as much switch midway through (which is fine, as Megalopolis takes place in a bonkers universe which is decidedly not our own), but Coppola appears to be grappling with many of the same things that any elderly storyteller would. It’s hard to argue that Highest 2 Lowest is one of the best films of the summer with such an intentionally

Director, writer, and lead actor Eva Victor gives an incredible performance in her debut film, Sorry, Baby. It’s a promising directorial debut feature, but I can’t help but wish the finished product was just a little more memorable. Perhaps if her talents weren’t split up between all three creative processes, the film would stick with us a little more, but alas, distance from the project was not present. This is not to say the film is bad, but it’s frustrating to watch a film with such potential to be great that doesn’t quite stick the landing. Sorry, Baby is centered around a literature professor named Agnes (Eva Victor) who, three years after the fact, is understandably still reckoning with the sexual assault inflicted upon her by her own professor, Preston Decker (Louis Cancelmi), whom she looked up to. Agnes lives alone, but she has a cat, a friend who visits her not often enough named Lydie (Naomi Ackie, who already gave one of the best supporting performances of the year in Mickey 17), and her neighbor Gavin (Lucas Hedges), whom she has a flirtatious relationship with. The best moments of Sorry, Baby are the quiet ones with almost no dialogue. It’s a disappointment, in fact, when Agnes spends a scene eating a sandwich with a nice old man named Pete (the great, John Carroll Lynch) and they have a long conversation. Both actors work incredibly well with no dialogue, so why waste it on a scene like this? Nobody would call the film overly spelledout (the actual assault scene is extremely restrained and effective), but having four soft-spoken scenes has a similar effect as one overly spoken one. And it feels like a waste not to spend that time on Agnes’ relationships with Lydie or Gavin. Regardless of these flaws, I look forward to see what Eva Victor does next.

CLASSIFICATION: SPRINTER

FRESHMEN TO WATCH

AFour athletes from the class of 2029 discuss their careers and future goals as Little

Hawks

Andrew Hayek

ABy Tessa Driscoll

ndrew Hayek, ‘29 enjoyed a multitude of sports as a child. But, at age four, soccer became a staple of Hayek’s life. Hayek started off playing club soccer at Kickers soccer club and is currently playing for ISC. The center back feels ready for his time at the high school level.

Hayek has already begun a list of accomplishments he would like to achieve during his time at City High. First of all, making varsity as a freshman. Next up, beating West High.

“Beating West is obviously a big deal,” Hayek said.

Hayek has been around the cross-town rivalry for years, and he is ready to be a part of the action. The freshman is full of a competitive spirit that he attributes to growing up with two older siblings. Watching his siblings play when he was younger, Hayek said that he always “wanted to try the sports they were playing, too.”

Born and raised in Iowa City, Hayek

Audrey Howe

By Tessa Driscoll

udrey Howe, ‘29 has been playing sports for as long as she can remember. Howe plays volleyball, basketball, and runs track. Over the years, Howe developed a passion for volleyball that trumped the other sports she participated in. Howe says that passion was due to the fact that most of her family played volleyball in the past, so she was surrounded by the sport throughout her childhood. Howe’s older sister, Lila (‘25) was the starting libero for the Little Hawks last season. Audrey plans to follow in her sister’s footsteps.

Growing up in Iowa City, and after attending Longfellow Elementary, Hoover, and South East, she is finally entering her first year at City High. Earlier this year she placed13th placed at AAU Nationals. Howe has many goals she’d like to accomplish during her time as a Little Hawk, and she believes that begins this year.

“I am a Libero on my team, so I want a certain dig number. I think that’ll be a good accomplishment to make. I’m not on varsity this year, but I definitely want to be able to get up there in the coming years,” Audrey said.

As a freshman, Audrey is already looking ahead to her collegiate career.

“I definitely want to see how high school plays out in the next few years because I am obviously only a freshman. But I definitely think reaching that D1 level would be a good goal to reach. It would kind of feel

was surrounded by The University of Iowa Athletics. This influenced his early start to soccer, and his fondness for the game.

“Living here increased my love for it (soccer). I grew up going to football games, soccer games, baseball games, and it encouraged me to play a sport.”

When in need of inspiration, Hayek looks to pro soccer player Lamine Yamal. The soccer star went pro at age 16, and this feat is one that Hayek admires.

“He’s the best in the world. It just shows how good a young player can be,” Hayek said.

Now, Hayek is approaching the same age that his role model was when he went pro. Hayek’s goals are not quite as lofty, but he is excited to contribute to the City High soccer team and program.

“I want to play well for my school.” Hayek said. Soccer is not Hayek’s only goal, though. He aspires to dedicate himself to his education during his time at City High.

“I want to play well for my school!”

ANDREW HAYEK

“It’s important to me to get good grades freshman year,” Hayek said.

As for the future, Hayek says he would “possibly” play in college, but would like to see how his first high school soccer season goes before making any future plans.

like it would be for nothing if I didn’t want to try and play at that higher level.”

Reaching that level will take a lot of work, but Howe is dedicated to devoting many hours to perfecting her game.

“I practice volleyball every single day, but for basketball and track, those will get more consistent as the seasons come along.”

When asked who her biggest inspiration is, Howe answered without hesitation: her dad.

“My dad is very influential in my life, and a really big motivator for me. If I’m nervous for a game, he’ll give me a breathing exercise or something like that to calm myself down.”

With her dad and family supporting her, Howe says she is “super excited” for her time at City High. She is looking forward to “meeting new people through the program,” and working toward accomplishing her goals. for a game, he’ll give me a breathing exercise or something like that to calm myself down.”

“My dad is very influential in my life, and a really big motivator!”

AUDREY HOWE

With her dad and family supporting her, Howe says she is “super excited” for her time at City High. She is looking forward to “meeting new peo ple through the program,” and working toward accomplishing her goals.

Maddie Fraga

By Tessa Driscoll

Maddie Fraga, ‘29 is the definition of a multi-sport athlete.

Participating in dance, track, and basketball, Fraga is looking to be a large part of many sports programs within City High. Fraga has been running track for three years, playing basketball for six years, and dancing for 13. Fraga is no stranger to rigorous practices, routines, and high pressure situations.

“Dance competitions can be, like a week to a weekend, and you need to stretch a month prior, even more than you usually would. You definitely need to get your body ready.” Fraga said.

Although dance takes up a lot of her time, Fraga says that track is her favorite.

“I like my teammates, and there’s a lot of different events you can run and participate in.” Fraga said. The freshman does not like to be confined to one sport, much less one event.

Fraga attended Longfellow and Hoover Elementary, and then moved on to South East, where she began her track career.

Throughout her childhood, Fraga’s love for sports grew, and this

love was encouraged by her father, Ben.

“He was the one who encouraged me to get into track. In middle school, he convinced me to go out. He taught me different tactics on how to get better. I also talk to him before my meets. He pumps me up.” The thing that hypes up Fraga the most, though, is her pump up playlist that she listens to religiously.

“My playlist gets me excited and hyped up.” Fraga said.

Listening to her playlist all the way, Fraga plans to take City High sports by storm

Beginning with her freshman season, Fraga already has goals she’d like to accomplisih. “I want to make it to state.” This feat is one that Fraga’s siter, Ellie ‘27 has accomplished during her past two seasons running track for the Little Hawks. Fraga strives to follow in her footsteps, and her sister believes she is more than capable of doing so.

“It’s a dream of mine to run track in college.”

“Maddie is one of the most dedicated people I know. Whatever she puts her mind to, she will do. Freshman year track is often a difficult jump for 8th graders mainly because of the increase in work required. I know Maddie will make the jump easily because she will step up to whatever is asked of her. I know she iwll have asuccessful season based solel on ow much she cares and I’m excited to see what she does,” Ellie said.

Gabriel Ralston

By Ben Klitgaard

abe Ralston has spent most of his life playing sports. Gabe can always be found around a baseball diamond or a football field. Baseball was his first love, which he started playing around age 4. However once he began playing football in second grade, there was no turning back.

“I love the community and the family environment that is around a football team,” said Ralston . Where most feel nervous or scared, on the football field is where Gabe Ralston thrives.

The physicality and the quickness of the game is right where he belongs. Gabe finds peace within the madness of such a

“I love the physicality of the game and the toughness that it takes to perform at a high level,” said Ralston.

Ralston grew up in Iowa City, and attended both Lincoln and Penn elementary before entering his first year at City High. Through this journey Gabe has met some of his best friends and closest teammates whom he is looking forward to playing with for the next 4 years.

According to senior Rito Perez ‘25, “Gave shows up every day and works hard to make everyone better whenever he can. You can tell he really loves football an cares about the team.”

“I would love to play football in college, even not at a D1 level”

GABRIEL RALSTON

Gabe is looking forward to this football season and has high expectations for himself and the team. Being a younger member of a very experienced team, Gabe is eager to learn what he can from older Little Hawks, such as Perez, and hopes to grow both as a player and as an athlete.

When asked of his goals to play sports at the next level, Ralston certainly has high ones.

“I would love to play football in college, I think it would be an awesome experience and lots of fun.”

Little Hawk Golf Team Wins Back to Back Meets

After losing two key factors to the team from last season, the team rebounded with multiple wins and a new 18 hole school record of 285. Jack Rogers led the way to the record with a 68.

By Rito Perez

Heading into the season, the Little Hawk golf team had some holes to fill in their roster, losing two of the six starters from a year ago. The top returner for the team is Jack Rogers ‘26, who won the individual conference championship last season. Another returner is Henry Birt ‘27, who plays the two for the team and has a nine-hole scoring average of 37.85 this season. The last top returner for the team is William Feagler ‘28, who plays the three for the team and has a ninehole scoring average of 38.35.

“We started off the season a little rough, but we are all starting to finally find our groove. We have only improved over the course of the season, and we are just trying to get one percent better every day. This is one of the more locked-in teams that I have been a part of,” Rogers ‘26 said.

At the beginning of September, the team won back-to-back nine-hole meets after not placing in any of the other meets to start the season. Rogers led the way

with a 34 in the first meet to win individually by three. Birt carded a 37 to tie for second individually in the meet. The last two players to place for the team were Feagler with a 39 and Del Brewer ‘27 with a 39. The team carded a 149 and won the meet by nine shots. In the following meet, Rogers led the way again with a 35, getting second by one shot. Other scorers for the meet were Feagler with a 38, Collin Riley ‘27 with a 38, and Birt with a 39. The team carded a 150 and tied for first, but won in a playoff, going back to the sixth position score.

“I’m having a great time competing in every meet, just trying to take it one at a time before we get to districts. I think we have a good chance of getting four good scores in every meet we play,” Feagler said.

The team is sitting in fourth in their side of the conference with one meet to play before deciding conference honors. Rogers is twelve shots back from the current individual leader with one meet to play. The team shot a school record 285 in the second conference meet at Twin Pines Golf

Course. The final meet to decide is at Gardner Golf Course in Cedar Rapids.

“I didn’t start the season great in 18-hole meets, but I have found my groove in the nine-hole meets, trying to play my best. After losing the twins this year, the team has done a great job adjusting and playing even better than we did last year in some meets. The conference is tough, but the team is willing to do whatever it takes to get that top spot,” Birt said.

With only one player on the team who was playing when the team made the state tournament two years ago, the Little Hawks will have to rely on new faces to get them back to Hyperion Golf Course come the end of the season. One of the new faces is Del Brewer ‘27, who has scored in the majority of the meets this season playing the four, five, or six spot.

“This year has been really fun so far. I wasn’t expecting to contribute to the team as much as I have, but it has been a great season. Everyone is starting to play their best golf, and the team has a lot of chemistry. The ceiling we have is very high,” Brewer said.

DOUBLE TROUBLE

City High Football has some new faces this year, including those behind center

By Rito Perez & Jack Lampe

After last season, the City High football team was left without a clear quarterback after the departure of star Bobby Bacon.

There were three options at QB, one senior quarterback or two sophomore quarterbacks. Ultimately, the team decided to go with the dual quarterback system with the sophomores, Chris Kabaiza and Coden Kurtz.

“Being a young QB in these big games is a little bit nerveracking, but what helps the most is getting one or two completions to be more comfortable and have

the nerves go away and more confidence,” Kurtz said.

Kabaiza, who was awarded the start in the team’s first game against West High, had a lot of eyes on him entering the game.

“There’s some pressure, but you just have to not think about it and go out there and give it everything you got,” Kabaiza said.

Both QB’s didn’t come from families that played football. Kurtz family comes from a wrestling background, with his father Marcus Kurtz coaching his children in Mat-Pac wrestling club and wrestling collegiately. Both of Kurtz’ older siblings also wrestle at Coe College. Kabaiza

playing football was out of the ordinary. No one in his family had ever played before, he played mainly basketball and ran track. After some convincing from his friends and coaches, he decided to come out.

“I started playing maybe 6th grade, but I got really into it in 7th, being inspired by OBJ when I used to watch clips of him. It definitely has not been the easiest task but just slowly developing from here on out,” Kabaiza said. Neither of them saw the varsity field at quarterback last season; however, Kurtz did start the final four games of the season at safety. Kaibaiza played mostly

on the freshman team at QB last season. Despite a rocky start for both, there have been flashes of talent on the ground and in the air. Both have faced some difficult secondaries in the first couple of games, with games against Bettendorf and West, both of which have defensive multiple D1 commits.

“Rotating two QBs has been good because when I need a break from defense, Chris is there to pick me up, and we build off each other’s mistakes as well,” Kurtz said.

Running the ball has been the main part of City High’s offense, so they have had less

opportunities to throw the ball, with sophomore standout Marshall Sheldon and senior running back Dom Roe getting the majority of the plays on offense.

“I admire their work ethic every day and their jump in maturity this year. They’ve stepped up a lot since last year. There is still a lot of work to be done, but I know they’ll turn out to be great leaders and players,” teammate Owen Raefield ‘26 said. Most recently, Kabaiza had his best game against Cedar Falls. Boasting 233 passing yards, 90 rushing yards, and both a passing and rushing touchdown.

TOP RANKED XC HEADS INTO POST SEASON

By Louisa Berry-Stoelzle & Jack Rogers

It was a cool 50-degree morning on Saturday when the cross country team took off at Crow Creek Park with 17 other teams. The girls’ cross-country team competed at Pleasant Valley in the Spartan XC Challenge on September sixth, finishing in fourth place with 95 points. The Little Hawks are currently ranked 5th in the state of Iowa.

“Everyone was excited to run because we all know we can improve in some way at PV. Running at PV gives you a different type of adrenaline on the line, makes it feel like a fast course no matter what time you run,” Kelsey Herrig ‘28 said.

The team held onto their fourth-place finish from last year, beating their cross-town rivals, Iowa City West, and Liberty. Top three finishes for Varsity include Abigail Burns taking sixth, Grace Hamann placing ninth, and Eliza Doster finishing 11th. JV top finishes include Lucy Sherburne, finishing in sixth, and Adrianna Coiner, dropping five minutes and 24 seconds from her run at the Spartan Challenge in 2024. City had two top ten finishers, improving from last year.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing how this team continues to grow, and have as much fun as possible,” Coach Ryan Ahlers said.

The team began training in mid-August and has

been preparing for their meets ever since.

“At Luther, definitely the vibe of the meet is awesome. It’s a true cross-country experience,” Coach Ryan Ahlers said.

The City High girls’ cross-country team will compete in its next meet on September 13th at Luther College. Their home meet, the Bud and Bonnie Williams Invitational, is on October 2nd at Kickers Soccer Complex.

City High boys cross country is also at a strong spot midway through the season. Currently ranked #2 in the state only behind Cedar Falls. They are led by four year varsity veteran Linus McRoberts ‘26, who has led the team in times for two straight years. His PR this year so far is 15:56.10. Recently, City finished first in the annual meet at Luther, prevailing over many MVC schools. The next race for the team is at Central College, racing against schools in the Des Moines area.

The team has a strong junior class as well, with Emmett Palmberg, David Randall, Will Carey and Henry Vandeberg all being below 17:25 this year. Randall has the fastest time of the bunch, running the second best time on the team with a 16:20.

The teams next home meet is on October 2nd, the Bud and Bonnie Williams Invitational. The final home meet of the year is on October 16th, that being the MVC Super Meet.