Are Youth Sports Too Competitive?

 

Cadence Scheunemann

    Youth sports have been impacting society's children for centuries. Youth sports are athletic events that people under the age of eighteen, and typically over the age of five, participate in. Kids can participate in a wide range of sports, including, baseball, soccer, horseback riding, running, and golf. Sports such as these give kids a chance to make new friends, develop emotionally, and allow them to cultivate sportsmanship. However, kids may end up developing streaks of competitiveness along with the development of their new skills. Competitiveness can be good and it can be bad, that is what we are here to talk about today.

    Competitiveness in youth is seen as good by many people, that's why so many parents put their kids in organized sports! Through participating in sports, kids' abilities academically, socially, and emotionally increase rapidly. This can lead to a better life for those children later on. One study has even found evidence that "former competitive high school athletes earning 5%-15% more [money] across their careers, than students who did not participate in organized sports [as kids]" (Oberschneider). If kids are guaranteed a better job, just from playing a game when they are young, why wouldn't someone want to put their kid in a sport?

    Youth sports can give incredible benefits to the kids participating in the sport, but the downsides to participating in high-demand situations are many. As children begin to move up in the ranks of their sport, more will be required of them. Moving up leaves them with less time for themselves and the fees continue to rise. According to Oberschneider, "families are spending as much as 10 percent of their incomes on their children’s sports.  With... [up to] $20,000 annually"! Some parents aren't willing to hurt their fragile finances just to increase their kid's chance at a job by a mere 5%. To continue, pressure on kids to perform well in sports situations, "can lead to a host of larger psychological problems and harmful behaviors such as anxiety, substance and alcohol use, steroid use, and eating disorders" (Oberschneider). Kids should be playing a sport to have fun, and if the game is stressing them out, it isn't a game anymore.

    Youth sports competitiveness isn't just in the youth, the parents get competitive too, and the ways parents react to a lost game can be a real problem. Many parents scream at their kids from the sidelines, letting them know all too well if they made a bad pass, or messed up the score. Some parents are just trying to help their kids out, thinking "sports will be... [my kid's] ticket to college, even though only 1% of high school athletes get full-ride college scholarships" (Elliott). Encouraging their kids to get into a good college by doing good in sports isn't really encouraging them.

    In all, I believe youth should show competitiveness in sports, it's what makes sports fun! For kids to have the chance to think positively about themselves winning a game or scoring a touchdown is super important. However, parents shouldn't be competitive! Too much pressure from parents can cause a kid to not learn the valuable skills that are being applied in youth sports.

Works Cited:

Elliott, Sonya. “How to Handle Extremely Competitive Sports Parents in Youth Athletics.” Stack, 12 Nov. 2021, www.stack.com/a/how-to-handle-extremely-competitive-sports-parents-in-youth-athletics/.

Oberschneider, Michael. “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Competitive Youth Sports.” Blue Ridge Leader & Loudoun Today, 29 Apr. 2021, blueridgeleader.com/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-of-competitive-youth-sports/.

The Character Evaluation of Pip - Good Girl, Bad Blood

 

The Character Evaluation of Pip

Good Girl Bad Blood

By Emma Hendricks

To start off, Good Girl Bad Blood is the second book in the series, so I’m going to make some connections from the first book to the second book. So, getting into Pip’s character. In the first book Pip decides to try to solve a murder case that went cold for her senior capstone project. She is a really smart kid and has always had near perfect grades with no trouble. When she first takes up the task it seems harmless and she seems to enjoy the thrill of following each clue she finds. But as she continues she begins to get threats and doesn’t tell anyone which puts her in danger. And eventually she starts putting herself in dangerous situations with little thought about herself because she is so immersed in the case. 

After the case and all the danger she put herself through, her parents have her promise to focus on school and not get into any more trouble. But as you can guess she is not great at listening. Pip is very determined and in moments sneaky and conniving. As we start the second book we can tell that Pip isn’t really the same since the case, and others see her differently because she was so willing to do whatever necessary to solve it. She does happen to make a friend, Ravi along the way that helps her and they become inseparable. Though as the case is over she is still getting the occasional threats from people and just continues with school feeling a little less passionate about it.

A few chapters later one of Pip’s best friends goes missing and she has to really contemplate whether the emotional and physical pain is worth it. But, in the end she doesn’t want to let down her friend and starts to work on the case. It begins to concern her parents as they are still upset about last time and she doesn't want to listen to what they say. As she continues with the case and some things go wrong she starts to distance herself and gets angry at others, including Ravi who’s been with her and helped her through everything. Later, she even tried to fight one of her close friends at school resulting in suspension. Her parents start to get scared for her, as she lets her grades slip and comes late to school. Her mom is the most concerned because she knows how long Pip had been working to get into Cambridge for college.

In the end Pip has already gone through so much and is shaken to her core from everything she witnessed and dealt with. With all the knowledge she has and trauma she got from both cases it’s obvious she isn’t the same as she was two years ago. Overall Pip now doesn’t push herself as much in school, has lasting trauma, and also has made many enemies in her town whether purposeful or not. She was considered to be a pretty quiet and attentive. But this changed to her being quiet in a new way kind of hiding a bit and only being loud to speak out about cases. I think Pip has grown as a character to be more defensive and isn’t seen as a little kid anymore because of everything she has done.  

Was Life Harder 200 Years Ago Than Life Now?

 

A picture of Atlanta, Georgia. 1889 compared to today.

Was Life Harder 200 Years Ago Than Life Now?

It’s difficult to compare two completely different periods; there were different trends, and people saw the world differently. To answer this question you first have to define ‘harder.’ Because if we look at the past from the 21st century's point of view, life would be harder. But kids 200 years ago probably didn’t define their ways of life to be hard. It was normal to work from sunrise to sunset, it was normal to wash your clothes by hand and then hang them to dry. If we look at life 200 years ago; there was no internet, the life expectancy rate was 40-50 years, and people's way of life was completely unalike. If COVID-19 had hit 200 years ago it might have wiped out a good chunk of the population because medicine was very underdeveloped.

 

200 years ago, people had to work for themselves from morning to night to survive. Child labor laws were not invented yet, and the use of technology to make life easier was just starting to appear. But how would people 200 years ago look at the 21st century, most would call modern people lazy. If we compare people born in the 1800s to people born in 2020, life is probably easier for 2020 babies. Death during childbirth and the death of infants was very common in the 1800’s. So life was a survival game. Simple technologies like candles or even dyed fabrics were not common because it was too expensive for the average family. Now you can go buy a pack of 100 unscented candles for 10 bucks.

So was life harder 200 years ago? Yes, most people would agree that it was harder for the average person to grow up in the 1800’s. As time goes on, hundreds of people invent new things to make life easier. In the past, there were no cell phones, and no way of documenting your life unless you were dedicated enough to write in a diary. People couldn’t capture a memory with the tap of a button or shoot an “I can’t come into work today.” text to their boss. Every day can be labeled as a struggle, but if you define the entire 1800s as a struggle then that would completely strip all the happiness people felt. So how do we know that they thought of their lives as hard? We probably will never know. 

Citations:

Munk, Karen Pallesgaard, 'Transitions in Later Life', in Nancy A. Pachana, and Ken Laidlaw (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Clinical Geropsychology, Oxford Library of Psychology (2014; online edn, Oxford Academic, 6 Jan. 2015), https://doi-org.proxy2.library.illinois.edu/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199663170.013.006, accessed 2 Feb. 2024. 

Steinbach, Susie. "Victorian era". Encyclopedia Britannica, 7 Jan. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/event/Victorian-era. Accessed 2 February 2024.

Picture from:

https://www.vacationsmadeeasy.com/TheBLT/ThenandNowYouWontBelieveWhattheseCitiesUsedtoLookLike.html

What are your earliest memories of music and how have they formed what you listen to now?

 

What are your earliest memories of music and how have they formed what you listen to now?

By Emma Hendricks

I’m known to have a really bad memory but there are lots of songs that I still listen to that were introduced to me when I was younger. The most popular music I would listen to when I was younger was almost every 2000’s pop song. My mom was the one who introduced music into my life so most of my music taste is the same as hers, besides the occasional country song. There were artists I grew out of like Katy Perry and Lady Gaga, even Justin Bieber (we all went through the phase). But for the most part pop music stuck with me. My mom still tells stories of me mistaking words in songs when I was little. Like when I would listen to “Moves Like Jagger” I would say “move my jacket” and she still jokes about it to this day.

But the artist that stuck with me the most since I was little was Bruno Mars. I listened to every song of his on repeat and learned every lyric of every song by heart. So, because my mom new how much I loved his music she saved up to get concert tickets for my grandma, her, and me. I got the concert tickets on my birthday and is was the best thing ever, hands down. I waited till it was concert time and was stoked to be going. We drove up to the hotel and then to the concert. It was my first concert ever and I expected it do be amazing, but when we got there we had to wait because Bruno Mars came on late. But once he came on the music was awesome, everything was going great and I was loving it besides it being extremely loud. Then two women in front of us managed to spill their beer behind them and onto me. That ruined it for me and I asked to go home. We went home and I was disappointed but I got over it.

The concert never affected how I felt about Bruno Mars it just wasn’t a great experience. But music in general was always a way for me to connect with my mom even more than we already did. Every car ride we listen to music and it’s our thing. My whole family has extremely diverse music taste but when we all want to get along we put on 80’s music. I see music as a way that I can connect with my family even if we aren’t in the best mood or if we’re angry at each other. Though sometimes we do argue about who has the better music taste and it gets heated.

Besides all that, my music taste has changed a little over the years. Maybe the reality of life hit, I don’t know but I started listening to songs that meant something to me for often. So I listened to the upbeat and happy music a little less. So I think the music that you are exposed to when you are younger really does affect what you listen to later on in life but you still grow and begin to choose new pathways along with the old ones. It’s cool to look back and see how I grew to dislike some music and figure out new music that I enjoy now, it gives a sense of character. And I’ll probably change more of my music taste as I grow up more, who knows.  

Are You the Same Person on Social Media as You Are in Real Life?

 

There are many concerns and different ideas surrounding social media, one of which is your identity online, who you are online can vary from who you are in real life. The internet has many tools that can be used for good and for bad, photoshop and filters, for example, can simply be used to change the background a little, maybe there was a leaf in your face that you wanted to get rid of, or a tree in the background looked particularly ugly, there are tools online that allow you to fix those things to edit out a simple mistake that you could've fixed by yourself but it was easier to fix online. Now there is a dark side to these tools, maybe instead of getting rid of that ugly tree, you completely change the background, making it look like you are somewhere that you aren't, maybe instead of getting rid of the leaf in your face you change the way your face looks, or change the way your facing.

These tools can be a problem, being able to change things about yourself and things around you can lead to misleading posts and pictures. These posts can lead to people making themselves look better than they are, whether it is physically changing the photo, or changing it in a way to make you look mentally or emotionally better, this can cause people to feel that they are below this person, which can lead to mental instability and depression. It can also be degrading to the person who posted it, people will have unreal expectations of them in real life, making them stressed about whether they're living up to their online profile, which can cause them stress.

But these tools aren't all bad, you can use them to change something that doesn't matter but could make something more appealing overall, you might also edit out something that some people might find to be offensive or disturbing, and you save them from looking at it. It can also be useful in consideration to other people if you have some random person in your photo and you like the picture but that person has explicitly said they don't want to be in the picture or you just want to respect their privacy you can edit the photo to not have them in it.

The urge to do this might be part of the reason it happens so much, maybe you took a picture that you look back on and see how you could make it so much better with a few tweaks. It might be such a small difference that nobody notices, but it means something to you. You also might not care and won't cause any detriment to anyone else, making it completely harmless, and maybe boosting your self-confidence at the same time. Overall you can become a completely different person online, using online tools, but it isn't always a bad thing.

- Erik

Ahmet and his New Friends.

Cadence Scheunemann

    Ahmet is a boy who showed up in Alexa's 4th-grade class three weeks into the school year. Ahmet doesn't say a word, looking down at his desk, and rumors about him fly through the classroom. "'Maybe he's deaf?' someone whispered" (Raúf 14). Maybe "he [i]s from a super-rich family and... his parents had sent him to... [Alexa's] school undercover so that he wouldn't get kidnapped" (Raúf 23). No matter how mean, far out, or downright weird the rumors were, Alexa is determined to become friends with the new boy. Eventually, Ahmet starts talking to Alexa and her other three friends, Josie, Tom, and Michael and they find out why Ahmet is really at their school (You'll just have to keep reading to find out!).

    At the beginning of their friendship, Alexa gives Ahmet a special treat every day after school to try and get Ahmet to smile at her. The first day Ahmet arrived at her school, Alexa gave him some extra lemon candies she had in her pocket. The funniest part of that interaction was when Alexa's teacher winked at her to say thank you. Alexa then decided to wink at Ahmet FORTY times every day! Ahmet found it so amusing, that he stared at her all throughout class. Alexa also figured out what Ahmet's favorite fruit is and she went on a giant adventure with her mom to find a dragonfruit to give him after school. That finally gets a smile out of him, and it is the first time that Alexa knows they are going to be friends for real.

    Ahmet arrived at Alexa's school because he is a refugee. He was running away from Syria with his mom, dad, little sister, and cat. Now, he is living with a foster mom in England. After Ahmet learns some English, he makes a presentation to the class about his trip to England. Ahmet saw some true hardships before he even turned ten! His cat died in the mountains and his sister in the ocean while he was traveling on a boat to get away. His mom got sick in the refugee camp and he hasn't seen her since and Ahmet's dad couldn't get past the gate with Ahmet. It's such a good thing Alexa and her friends are being nice to Ahmet after he has had to deal with all of this.

    Caution! This paragraph contains a *SPOILER ALERT* Alexa learns about Ahmet's family and knows she has to do something to reunite them. The gates to England will be closed by the end of the month! Together Alexa, Josie, Tom, and Michael come up with many plans as to how to keep the gates open so Ahmet's family can get across the border. None of the ideas seem like they are going to work until Alexa realizes that they just need to go to the castle and deliver their letter directly to the Queen of England! A huge adventure takes place after Alexa's idea forms, involving trains, bravery, guns, and tea. The fact that his new friends are willing to go through all of that just for Ahmet is really special and it showcases how special Ahmet is as well.

You should read the book to see if they successfully find Ahmet's family!

Pluto is Still a Planet (in my Heart)

          

            In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (or, more commonly, the IAU) created its definitive answer for what a planet is. Just like that, planet Pluto was planet no more. Of course, the debate goes much deeper, but the IAU’s rule stuck. Pluto is still not a planet. But should it be? For starters, the rule that cut Pluto out is about as ambiguous as it gets and its fascinating geology can make it a worthwhile visit. For sentimental reasons as well, keeping Pluto as a planet ends up as the better idea. 

Starting with the science, Pluto got cut out because of it doesn’t clear its neighborhood. However, this rule gets murky and almost seems to specifically block off Pluto and its fellow “dwarf planets” in the Kuiper Belt. A planet “clearing its neighborhood” means that it can move away anything that is within its orbit. But in the Kuiper Belt, with millions of astronomical bodies, getting everything to move out of Pluto’s path is hard. According to Paul Bryne, a planetary scientist, if you put Earth in the Kuiper Belt, “where neighbouring bodies are far, far more distant than in the inner Solar System, Earth would not necessarily be able to clear its neighbourhood” (Bryne). As Paul explains, the farther out planets go, the harder it gets to be the gravitationally dominant object, especially in the massive Kuiper Belt. The IAU’s variable determinant of planets conveniently cuts out Pluto without providing other substantial reasoning.

The IAU also ignores the geology, the main contributor to the love Pluto; its colorful patches, mountains, glaciers, and the possibility of an ocean makes it extremely fascinating to scientists. Unlike other dwarf planets in the Kuiper Belt, like Eris and Makemake, Pluto contains so much that, despite being demoted to a dwarf planet, scientists still heavily research it. In addition, within it’s 248-year orbit, its surface changes with heat from the sun (Stephens). The IAU’s rules are purely physical and do not consider the character behind it. After all, the 2006 decision was before NASA’s New Horizons flyby in 2015, which provided many photos documenting Pluto’s fascinating surface.

One of the main arguments against Pluto being a planet is that, if Pluto becomes a planet, why shouldn’t the Moon become one too? What about Eris, or the tens of other objects with Pluto in the Kuiper Belt? The flaw in this argument is that, all of them can be planets. Splitting nature provides a lot more problems than lumping things together (as seen with our fall final history project!). Calling Pluto a planet does not imply that everything else needs to also be a planet. A planet can be anything. The IAU’s reclassification of Pluto drew more attention about its demotion than the cool things that scientists have leaned about it. For a more modern and whole argument, Pluto should be a planet. 

Works Cited:

Bryne, Paul. “Pluto Should Be Our Ninth Planet. A Planetary Scientist Explains Why.” BBC Science Focus Magazine, 12 June 2023, www.sciencefocus.com/comment/pluto-is-a-planet.

Stephens, Tim. “Pluto’s Varied Landscape Reveals Surprisingly Complex Geology.” UC Santa Cruz News, 17 Mar. 2016, news.ucsc.edu/2016/03/pluto-geology.html.