September Hawk Talks

      School has been going for a few weeks now, and with the start of a new school year, a plethora of new rules and regulations have come with it. 

     The biggest part of the 2024-2025 handbook, and (arguably most controversial), is the new phone policy. According to this new policy, all cellphones are to be placed in lockers until the end of the day. Additionally, the student handbook says that if a student is caught with their device, they are to deliver it to the office and they can retrieve it at the end of day. However, if this offense is repeated three times, the student will be required to hand their phone into the office every morning when they enter the building. 

     This policy has sparked some controversy, as some students don’t like how they cannot communicate with their parents. Additionally, some find it frustrating because (previously) using your phone to communicate with teachers was much more convenient than booting up their chromebooks every time.     

     Junior Brylie Williams has experienced similar issues because of this new policy. 

      “I think it's definitely harder to do things that you need your phone for, like texting my college professors, because one of mine doesn’t like emails. I also can’t text my mom when I need to ask her about anything important I have going on,” Williams said. 

      Another major policy that was introduced this year is the new E-Pass system. Instead of the classic pen and paper sign out sheets we’ve used previously, students are now required to digitally sign out. The way it works is simple: 

      First, you have to type in the location from which you are departing from. Next, you have to fill in your destination. Your request will then be sent to the teacher, where they will have to accept it in order for the student to leave. The E-Pass comes equipped with a variety of features, including a timer to tell how long a student is out of the room. You can also make appointments with E-Pass between two teachers. These can be made ahead of time, and will automatically activate a pass for a student when the appointment time comes. 

     Some find the new E-Pass system time-consuming and tedious, however, Hiawatha High School teacher Brady Jasper doesn’t mind the new system at all.

       “It seems like it’s an effective way of monitoring students in the hallways, I think people thought it was going to be a big deal, but it turned out to be pretty simple,” Jasper said.

      In addition to the other technology rules, another rule was put in place a couple days after the school year started. This policy completely prohibits the use of headphones that are not school issued, this includes bluetooth headphones and earbuds, and wired ones as well. The addition of this rule being put into place after the school year has already started has sparked some controversy among students, and some are wondering if more rules and policies will be put into place as the year goes on. 

Colleen Hoover, an American romance author, has risen to TikTok fame in recent years. She has popped up on “BookTok,” the book readers community on TikTok. Readers have been recommending her most popular books, “Ugly Love,” “Verity,” “Layla” and “It Ends with Us.” However, with the rise of online popularity, Hoover has been in some controversies as well.

The most popular controversy is the content in “It Ends with Us” (a book about domestic violence) and how the movie, like the book, handled the topic of such a serious subject.

While Hoover is to blame for the problems in the “It Ends with Us” book, the film’s cast and marketing team are to blame as well. The criticism is directed more toward Blake Lively, one of the main lead actors in the film adaptation. The drama snowballed from how Lively was treating the film on press tours to the cancellation of Lively’s career. She used the film as an opportunity to promote her haircare line and her husband’s new movie, “Deadpool and Wolverine.”

Since the movie’s release, I’ve been hearing more and more about Lively rather than the actual movie and it makes me wonder: What was the point of adapting “It Ends with Us” if the discussion is just gonna be about celebrity drama rather than the supposed message about domestic abuse?

This question that I have has only been turned into more questions, such as, “Why, out of all books, ‘It Ends with Us’ was chosen to be made into a film?” And, “Should Hoover’s works even have adaptations at all if they’re known for being problematic?”

“I think she portrays certain subjects in an over-exaggerated, dramatic way that romanticizes them; like it doesn’t feel natural and just her overall writing style feels too easy to read,” said Olivia Hawks, HHS student.

In addition to the issues with “It Ends with Us,” common remarks against Hoover’s works center around the illogical characterization of the characters, including the strange plot lines that Hoover chooses to write.

In “Ugly Love,” Miles (the main love interest), falls in love with his step-sister, Rachel, which leads to Miles and Rachel creating a baby together until that baby tragically dies. The main lesson that Miles learns from the conclusion isn’t that he shouldn’t have pursued a relationship with his step-sister, but rather that he should allow himself to move on from his trauma. Healing from a painful past is not a bad moral to teach; however, Hoover could have had Miles learn to not ruin the importance of a familiar relationship by turning it into a romantic one. I think it was unnecessary for Hoover to even include a step-sibling romance because the point of the book isn't about incestuous relations, but rather how traumatic events affect people.

Despite these criticisms, there are still many people who enjoy reading her books.

“There are a lot of plot twists and she makes it so good every time you turn a page you just want to keep reading,” said Chrissy Allen, HHS student.

The problem isn’t what Hoover chooses to write, the problem is how she writes them. Even though I have my issues with Hoover’s works, I think all of them have potential. A lot of her books miss that mark because they are not treated with the serious care that they should. This was why people were upset with the movie and the original book version of “It Ends with Us.”

If there are any more future film adaptations based on Hoover’s books, then I hope that the people behind it understand the time and place for marketing. That way, the original messages won’t get lost in the fire.

The USD 415 school district welcomed new principal Ms. Rhonda Wright to Hiawatha High School. Wright began her 36th year in the education field on August 15 with HHS. 

Wright went to Nickerson High School near Hutchinson, KS. From there, she earned her bachelor's degree at Fort Hays State College, then proceeded to get two master's degrees from K-State and then Emporia. She originally started as a high school mathematics teacher, then got her counselor's degree.         

Throughout her counseling journey, she worked with preschool to high school students. Wright worked her way up to becoming the secondary principal for grades seven through 12 at Southeast of Saline High School for three years, then became assistant principal at Ark City High School.

So far, Wright said she enjoys the staff and students at HHS. She prefers the smaller school and community here in Hiawatha. Wright enjoys the staff and students and their ability to communicate with her and get to know her. She said she looks forward to getting to know everyone at Hiawatha High.

  “I’ve only ever heard positive things about this school,” Wright said.

This school year, new rules and regulations have been put in place at HHS. Although Wright did not put these rules in place, she likes how it's going so far. As for the cell phone policy, she said she thinks it is going well, for it is a board-approved policy, so she will enforce and follow it.

“We are here for school. It (cell phone use) can be a hard habit to break,” Wright said. 

Another policy that was put in place for the 2024-2025 school year is the E-Hall Pass. E-Hall Passes are an online pass that students can request on their computer when needing to leave the classroom and must be approved by their teacher. 

“I had never used it before coming here, but I did know about it. I think it's great and makes it easier for us to keep track of where the students are,” Wright said.

Wright values success and wants the best for each student. She is aware that not every kid loves school; however, she said she wants them to know that the staff cares about them and wants them to be successful. Additionally, Wright wants people to know that the students that go here are good people.

“I care about the students and the teachers and I am going to enforce policies,” Wright said. “I like consistency and an equitable learning environment.”

Although HHS students know Wright as their principal, she is also an adventurous person and loves going on walks. She also spent five years of her life working in Thailand and two years in Panama for an international school program.

Wright is excited about what this year will bring for the students and staff of Hiawatha High School.

Monkeypox is something we’ve been hearing about since 2022. Is it just now becoming a threat? Is it something we should be worried about at Hiawatha High School?

According to the “World Health Organization,” Monkeypox’s initial outbreak was in Africa over two years ago, but it has recently been detected in western countries like ours. After seeing the symptoms such as painful rashes, lesions and muscle pain that can last weeks, many teenagers on TikTok have become somewhat worried about the virus.

A video captioned “Lockdown Season 2” talks about how spokesman Farhan Hag from the World Health Organization declares Monkeypox as a public health emergency of international concern. The video currently has over seven million views and 400,000 likes.

Just like the fearful TikTok users, students at HHS are also becoming concerned.

“I recently learned about the situation... the thing that concerns me the most is that if it becomes a worldwide pandemic, people won't take it seriously and the mask/quarantine issue is gonna be a thing again, along with people getting upset over government mandated rules,” senior Isabelle Burnos said.

Others aren't very concerned and think that Monkeypox is just another small obstacle in a big world.

“It’s not a big deal because we’ve already gone through COVID so we know what we’re doing to a certain extent and we also have plenty of resources for it,” sophomore Alissa Enke said.

While many people are scared about monkeypox, senior Allera Roberts seems to be somewhat grateful for the pandemic.

“It’s a scary disease and I hope none of my friends get it,” Roberts said. “But, I wouldn’t mind a global pandemic again... as long as I can get my phone and stay home.”

While this virus has not had as much of an effect as COVID has, it is still something that high school students need to be aware of.

From Disney Channel to number one on the Billboard charts, Sabrina Carpenter is winning in life right now. The 25-year-old blonde icon has been rising from the C list to the A list in recent years, and her newest album is proof. Sabrina was at one point infamous for being “that blonde girl” in Olivia Rodrigo’s song “Driver's License.” But Sabrina has proved with her newest album that she is much more than that.

     On Aug. 23, 2024, Sabrina debuted her newest album, titled “Short N’ Sweet.” The R&B singer released two singles from this album which quickly became earworms, “Espresso” and “Please, Please, Please.” While these songs are structurally and lyrically sound, they’ve gotten old over the past two months thanks to TikTok. However, most of her album proves to be nothing but pure Sabrina Carpenter bliss, as per usual. So, here is my unprofessional ranking of the album. 

     The album has 12 songs in total, and is approximately 36 minutes long. I’m gonna be talking about my two favorite songs on the album. 

My number one would have to be “Don’t Smile,” it’s the last song on the album and explores the feelings that come after a breakup and losing somebody that you love.

 It has an almost 80s type of feeling in the instrumentals, and the lyrics give a melancholy but beautiful sound. The song turns the saying “don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened” around, changing it into “don’t smile because it happened baby, cry because it’s over.” Overall, the song is an upsetting yet beautiful composition, and is a great addition to an already platinum record.

     My second favorite song is “Dumb & Poetic,” a song that is seemingly another addition in the saga of Olivia Rodrigo, Joshua Bassett, and Sabrina Carpenter. This love triangle of teenage drama and tears was an all the rage in 2020, and has since been put to bed. But the lyrics in this song have lead fans to believe that it’s one more dig at her ex, Joshua Bassett. In the song she mentions the poet, Leonard Cohen, who Joshua Bassett has always said is his biggest inspiration. She also talks about Joshua’s recent “journey to the light” that was prompted by Ayahuasca. Ayahuasca is a plant-based psychedelic, commonly used by celebrities in LA on retreats to “cleanse the mind.” Despite the song being about Joshua, it is honestly a great display of Sabrina’s writing skills as well as her amazing voice.   

     All in all this album is an 8/10 in my opinion, and I can’t wait to watch Sabrina continue to grow as an artist.

Hiawatha High School gained multiple new teachers for the 2024-2025 school year. One of these new teachers is Nicole Jewett. Jewett is the Junior English teacher as well as the proctor for College English.

Jewett introduced herself to HHS students at the beginning of summer when she was a summer weights coach.

“Her involvement in the summer weights program was impressive because she just stepped right into her role and led our female athletes,” HHS head volleyball coach, Brenda Seibenmorgan said.

During summer, students and athletes got further knowledge on who Jewett is as a person. Students learned that she is engaged to HHS History teacher Cody Jiru. Her most favorite thing in the world is her dog Packer, named after the Green Bay Packers (Jiru named him of course). Jewett even shared some of her “weirder” passions such as having an obsession with Abraham Lincoln and wanting a capybara as a pet.

Later during summer, Jewett was one of the coaches for Hiawatha High School’s Summer League volleyball. Her involvement has continued as she is now the HHS C Team volleyball coach.

“Although she is new to coaching this sport specifically, she comes with a competitive nature and a passion for motivating young athletes,” Seibenmorgan said.

Jewett openly shared what her biggest weakness is as she said weaknesses only build us as people.

“My biggest weakness overall is being short. I am not capable of doing the things that tall people are capable of doing, but I solved this problem by dating a tall guy,” Jewett said.

Jewett went from a large school in Colorado where she led her softball team to state and taught History, to a small highschool where everyone knows everyone and she teaches English. This only means an opportunity to grow more and have a closer bond with her students.

There obviously was an adjustment since the last size of her school, but HHS is still a good environment to be in according to Jewett.

“My favorite part of HHS so far is the students. It makes me so happy to see my students as other people not just as students, but as athletes and employees at local places like Walmart,” Jewett said.

For many people and highschool students especially, handling failure or even acknowledging failure is a hard thing to do and most people do not admit it. It is vital that role models of younger people express that failure is common and does happen. Jewett is a role model to this school now- due to her involvement in so many programs.

“Failure does happen, but the first step to handling it is acknowledging that the original plan was not successful and you need to get back up and try again using the knowledge and growth you have gained from failing,” Jewett said. “This will only grow you as a person,”

Being a teacher in today's world is extremely controversial because of the way teachers are paid or the lack of payment. however, teachers very clearly do not do it for the money, they do it for the students.

“The students are what motivated me to be a teacher and yet still continues to motivate me. Being able to not only educate younger people that look up to me, but being able to celebrate through accomplishments and encourage through losses is my motivation,” Jewett said.

People may define success as accomplishments and others define it as impacting society, getting degrees, and being wealthy; nevertheless, money does not define success. Success is a mindset and has nothing to do with where you are physically in life, but rather mentally.

“I would define success as being comfortable and satisfied with where you are in life. I would define it as the point in life where you know that all of your hard work has paid off,” Jewett said.

With the additions of all of these new teachers, HHS is on the way to having a great school year. HHS is so lucky to have Jewett as a new teacher and we all welcome her to this new journey in her life.

Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential election on Sunday, July 21, making Kamala Harris the Democratic nominee. Harris is the first female vice president of the United States, and many believe she could be the first female president as well. 

      Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, have gone viral on the social media platform TikTok where people are making edits and other types of videos about the two. The generation of teenagers and young adults, known as Generation Z, have been the main demographic making these videos on social media platforms. 

      There are many differing opinions on this upcoming election. 

      “I believe that everybody deserves to have a choice, which is why I support Kamala Harris. Reproductive freedom and women’s rights are healthcare and deserve to be fought for,” HHS senior Kerragan Bachman said.

      Harris proposes to fight for the reproductive rights of women, if elected. She is making reproductive rights one of the key points of her campaign in this upcoming election. Harris’ view on abortion is a stark difference to that of her Republican counterparts. Harris’ running mate, Tim Walz, has also voiced his own support for reproductive rights and the rights of women to choose. 

     “I do not hate her as a person, but think she makes some questionable choices about her campaign. I don’t like all of the celebrity endorsements politicians do now. She is not making the greatest choices when it comes to her campaign,” HHS junior Jacob Gallagher said. 

    Gallagher does not support or oppose either side in the running, stating that both sides are a little questionable and do not make the best choices when it comes to certain issues.

“I would say that the social media aspect is showing more negative things about Kamala and making fun of her in a way,” HHS senior Olivia Hawks said. “Since she is a woman, most people in politics are men, so she gets made fun of for being a woman. People look down on her and don’t want to support a woman. Kamala was forced to be Biden’s replacement and this is something new to her. I think both sides are in the wrong, and I understand why this generation would make fun of politicians and political campaigns.” 

      Hawks also says she sees how this social media presence could be both positive and negative for the Harris-Walz campaign. A lot of young people have taken to the TikTok app to post edits and fan cam-style videos of Harris and Walz. One in particular is the edits people have been making of Harris to song “Brat” by Charli XCX. These edits have gone viral on the platform.

      There are many differing opinions on the campaign and on the election in general. People, including HHS students, see the different perspectives on this election and how people could have different opinions and views. Harris and her campaign has made a large impact on Generation Z, even if people don’t agree with all of her beliefs. Harris has had an impact on young girls, showing them the possibilities of who they could be. 

Welcome back Redhawks! With this new school year at Hiawatha High School, there are lots of new teachers, a new principal, and unfortunately new policies. My least favorite policy is the cell phone policy.

     I think having a cellphone policy that requires students to NOT have their phones on their person and in their lockers at all times during the school day is harsh. I understand during classes and bathrooms, but not being able to have them at lunch, in passing periods, and before school is very outlandish.

     I also think that teachers being able to grab the phone from a person can be invasive. It shouldn’t be the good kids having to deal with policies that are for bad kids.

      “I think they are taking our property during a time when there isn’t class (lunch). We aren’t taking time from them, so I think we should have some break time,” Junior Claire Twombly said. 

      I think having some free time with phones is good, and having it be a huge “no” makes it rather difficult, I mean it's nice to relax and have your phone for 20 minutes in an 8-hour day. Having no time to be on your phone, especially when we have downtime, is a bit grating. 

      “I don’t mind not having it in class but as a senior when you can’t have it during break times like lunch or hallways, it makes me and other seniors wanna leave faster,” Senior Allera Roberts said. 

      I think most seniors or even other students don’t mind not having them in class but not being able to have them at breaks is what is hardest for most students. 

  Think of your lunch break at work at your job. Jobs allow phones during breaks. I know I get my phone at my job during my lunch or my 15-minute break. 

      To be fair there are benefits to not having your phone, I think it helps to look at the bright side too. We aren’t on our phones as much, I know people who were constantly on their phones during school last year which is kind of crazy. It also gives us more time to work on our work and be honest about time management. Since we don’t have our phones it kind of forces us to be more productive and proactive with our time. 

      “I think from the education perspective it makes sense to ban phones, it might not make people happy but, it gives them a better chance to learn,” Junior Gus Smith said. 

      I can understand what Smith said, I am sure teachers felt that they were backed into a corner and that they needed to do something about it. There were lots of problems with last year's policy about the phone caddy and that is probably why we have the policy we do now. 

      I think there are lots of negatives and some positives, it’s hard to determine the proper approach. Most students I interviewed understood not having it in class, and that it has helped them learn more. I still think we should be allowed to have it at certain times of the day and that being told we can’t and having no freedoms makes most of us feel like kids.