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The Student News Site of McCallum High School

The Shield Online
The Student News Site of McCallum High School

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From the 15th to the 15th, nothing but food, festivities, fun, family, fellowship

Students of Color Alliance, Ballet Folklórico bring awareness, entertainment during Hispanic Heritage Month
Noah Braun, Carlo Hinsdale, Evelyn Jenkins, Sophia Manos, Maggie Mass, Tallulah McAuliffe, Piper Norfolk, Sofia Saucedo, Priya Thoppil, and Camilla Vandegrift • October 22, 2024
Andy Baxa
A CELEBRATION OF HISPANIC HERITAGE: Ballet Folklórico dancers Valeria Alcauter Robles (red), Carley Castro-Seiler (turquoise), Abi Peacock (black), Shirel Behar (green) and Mailyn Gil (periwinkle) perform this past weekend at the AISD Performing Arts Center, competing in AISD’s Fiesta for Hispanic Heritage Month. Gil has been a part of the club since her freshman year. Upon joining the group she had no idea what it was, but was inclined to join due to influences of her grandfather. “I joined because my grandfather loved the traditional dances and that it showcased all regions,” Gil said. “I wanted to honor him in a way, as well as learn more about my culture.” Competing in a small group ensemble during the Fiesta, Gil felt that the members as well as herself were very composed and performed their routine smoothly. “We were very comfortable in our pieces, enough to just get on stage and do what we did, and have fun,” Gil said. “The only difference between this performance and the past was that we had judges this time, so it was a little nerve wrecking since it was a competition.” Groups from different schools competed in a variety of categories, some being soloists, music groups, and bands. The groups each performed their pieces, and then the judges took 15 minutes at the end to go over scoring before they announced the winners. Gil said that even though the club did not win, they felt proud of their performance. “We were very positive and respectful, and even though we didn’t win we felt proud of our accomplishments,” Gil said. “I was proud of our newcomers because they learned everything so quickly and got the hang of it.” Caption by Priya Thoppil.

From Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, McCallum celebrated National Hispanic Heritage Month, a month dedicated to honoring Latino and Spanish-speaking cultures. It commenced with a salsa tasting contest run by the Students of Color Alliance on Sept. 27 during lunch where students could enter salsa in the contest to be tasted by fellow students. The Students of Color Alliance also held a lunch and learn on Oct. 1 with some of McCallum’s Latinx students to discuss both the intracultural and intercultural issues they face at McCallum and in the world generally. On Oct. 11, Ballet Folklórico performed traditional Mexican regional dances in the cafeteria for students and faculty. In addition, Ballet Folklórico visited the AISD Performing Arts Center on Oct. 12 for the Hispanic Heritage Talent Show alongside freshman Sofía Moreno, who was a finalist in the event. The month culminated with Hispanic Heritage Treat Day on Oct. 15, which gave McCallum students exposure to snacks and candy from Hispanic countries.

We are proud to present our coverage of Hispanic Heritage Month for this week’s Tuesday Top 10.

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Piper Norfolk
A SECOND HOME: On Oct. 11 during lunch, the Ballet Folklórico dance troupe performed in the cafeteria, allowing students to watch them perform live, and learn about their cultures and traditions. This club has existed for 21 years and has continued to foster a sense of community and connect students through their passion for dance. Sophomore Natalee Ibarra (left) performed a duet from the region of Sinaloa, Mexico with her friend, sophomore Carley Castro-Seiler (right). “The dances we did were from different parts of Mexico, and the dance we performed was really fun, it has really good energy,” Ibarra said. “I think it’s important for people to understand culture, especially when we need more awareness of how history came to develop.” Ibarra said an upperclassman inspired her to join Ballet Folklórico. “I’m in 10th grade, I just started last year,” Ibarra said. “When I was a freshman, one of my friend’s senior sisters talked to me about Ballet Folklórico, and told me that if I liked to dance then this was a good option for me to pursue.” Even though this is only Ibarra’s second year in the club, It already feels like she has found a second home in Ballet Folklórico within the community at McCallum. “The community and environment is so fun, and I feel like everyone has their own welcoming vibe, everyone loves to interact with each other,” Ibarra said. Caption by Sophia Manos.
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For Margaret Dismukes Massad, the owner of Peter Pan Mini Golf and a McCallum graduate, the importance of Peter Pan Mini Golf goes beyond saving the business. As a child, some of her happiest memories are of observing her father, Glenn Dismukes, create the sculptures that still stand today at Peter Pan Mini-Golf in her backyard. “My favorite memories are just of my dad carving the figures,” Massad said. “We were the only kids with a dinosaur in the backyard.”
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AS EASY AS PB&J: At the blindfold sandwich-making station, senior Zane Wiggins and Kai Talebi attempt to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The activity allowed students to experience the mundane task without sight. Wiggins found that the simple activity turned into a challenge in almost every aspect of the process. "It was pretty rough," he said. "My bread wasn’t put together properly, and I put my jelly right next to my plate and not on the plate, it was really difficult. I was expecting it to be easier than it was cause I'd made sandwiches all my life, and I thought 'I can do this from muscle memory,' but it was a lot harder than I thought, and it makes you not take your sight for granted. Access to your sight makes things so much easier." Since students participating are used to having full sight, it was difficult to adapt to the sudden loss of a sense. "I had to kind of guess where things were and the plate was moving a lot," he said. "Every time I would reach for the plate it would be in a different location, so I kind of had to feel around for everything." Along with that, Wiggins had to work together with Talebi to communicate to communicate which ingredient he needed next. "I had to share the peanut butter and the jelly with Kai, so we had to coordinate with each other on who gets what first," he said. "I knew Kai was right next to me, but it was hard to know where her hands were. We had to find each other's arm and make our way up to pass the ingredients." Caption by Lillian Gray.
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ONE LAST BATTLE CRY: Seniors Joe Colaleo and Theo Northcutt dressed as Mario and Waluigi cheer hard as they win their last senior battle cry. “I was very excited and happy because we had just won,” Colaleo said. “Now that I look back on it, it feels a little sad knowing I can’t go to another one.” Colaleo said although the moment was bittersweet, it’s also nice to know other things in life are coming up. Colaleo and his two friends said they dressed as Mario characters because it was a simple and fun costume idea. “I decided on the costume because it’s so iconic and recognizable,” Colaleo said. Caption by Josie Linton.
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FRIENDS, FUN AND TUCK: For junior Zane Shieh (second from the left), being a part of Tuck Everlasting has not only brought him closer to his castmates and crew, but has also brought up some mixed emotions seeing that this was the last performance together for many senior classmates.  “I did have to do Tuck because of my major, but I also knew lots of friends that were auditioning and I wanted to work with the seniors that will not be here for long,” Shieh said.  Because it's the last performance for a lot of seniors, Shieh says it is a bittersweet feeling when experiencing someone's last show at McCallum.  “I feel very sad because all the seniors are so cool, and kind and funny and I think I'm gonna miss them,” Shieh said. Caption by Sofia Saucedo.
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AN ABUNDANCE OF OPPORTUNITIES: Senior Harper Freach, a cello player in the chamber orchestra, plays the first movement of “Triptyque” by Yasushi Akutagawa, which they began practicing in August. Freach said she was nervous going into the concert, having recently focused on other pieces. “I was feeling pretty nervous because we hadn't played it for a while because we had been focused on pieces for another concert, so everyone was a little rusty,” Freach said. After the performances, the fine arts majors separated into smaller groups so that the audience could interact with whatever fine arts they were most interested in learning about. Freach’s younger sister is interested in the dance department, so they went into that group. “We went to the dance building and got to watch a bunch of different types of solos of all different dance types to show what you could audition with for your audition and got to talk to the dance teachers,” Freach said. Freach said she had a very different experience with orchestra before high school. “I went to a private school, and we had a very different way of playing, we would have to audition for actual seatings and chairs,” Freach said. “It's different because now you walk into orchestra, and you don't know what to expect. Pringle will either have you play for the class or play with a different section; it's just a very broad range, and you never know what you're going to get. I like it because it tests my abilities and tells me what I need to work on and sometimes shows that I can pick up on things faster than I thought I would be able to.” Freach’s advice for any new Knights is to take advantage of as many opportunities as possible. “Any opportunity that you are presented with you should take it,” Freach said. “I couldn't do that my freshman year because we were still pretty shut down due to COVID. I was scared to try other things besides orchestra, but I regret not involving myself in other areas at McCallum where I could have possibly found my passion.” Caption by Shila Gill.
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HIGH KICKS, HIGH SPIRITS: On Friday, Oct. 18, McCallum culminated a festive spirit week with the homecoming pep rally. During the pep rally, the class winner of the hallway decorating contest was announced as well as the usual spirit stick award. Sophomore and Blue Brigade member, Peyton Robenhorst noted how festive the student section was. "It felt good to perform for the homecoming game," Robenhorst said. "I knew a lot of people were going to [cheer for us]."
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APPRECIATING TRADITION: For senior Kai Talebi’s last teacher appreciation volleyball game on Friday night, she stuck with tradition, and chose to ask English teacher Amy Smith to walk the court with her before the game. “I took her last year too, so it’s kind of like tradition,” Talebi said. “Now I was like, ‘Of course I have to take her.’” Talebi is happy to have had Smith twice in the past four years, first for her sophomore year and again this year. Noting that Smith was an integral part of her high school experience, Talebi said the English teacher had a very positive impact on her. “Senior year, it’s been really fun to have her as a teacher again because I already know her super well, and we have a good relationship,” Talebi said. Having a teacher twice is not very common, but for Talebi, it was a blessing in disguise. “Sophomore year she definitely helped me get out of my shell a lot, and encouraged me a lot throughout the year,” Talebi said. The pair have been close ever since the first class Talebi had with Smith, Advanced English 2. Talebi is also a tutor in the Writing Center, so they see each other very often. “She [Smith] is the sweetest,” Talebi said. “And we have definitely grown closer because of me being her student multiple times.” Caption by Priya Thoppil
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THE ROBINHOOD ISSUE: Texas state Rep. Ken King, a Republican, addresses his audience on Sept. 6 at the Texas Tribune Festival about funding public education in Texas. King stated that to have Texas citizens pay less taxes to support public education, the state needs to reach 51% funding. “When I served on the committee that instated House Bill 3, it seemed to me that we were at 36 percent state funding,” King said. “After we instated House Bill 3, we were at 46 percent. The goal was to get to 51 percent by the 21st session, but we went backward. The state needs to put a huge amount of money into that system in order to meet that constitutional obligation.” Another issue King spoke to was the Robin Hood Plan, also known as recapture. The plan was enacted around 1993 as a way to provide equity in school financing. After the plan was enforced, many citizens were upset because the state took a huge percentage of their property taxes and redirected them to less property tax rich districts. King agrees that it should be overturned. “It’s been said that we need to get rid of Robin Hood, and as a representative who has watched my community pay so much in Robin Hood, I agree,” King said. “Problem is, the Supreme Court has ruled Robin Hood to be a part of equity three different times, and I think it’s gonna stay.” Caption by Sofia Saucedo.
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GRETCHEN WHITMER: At Thursday night’s opening keynote, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Texas Tribune co-founder Evan Smith kicked off the Texas Tribune Festival with a discussion about Whitmer’s new memoir and her time as governor. Whitmer, the second woman to become governor in Michigan, has held office since 2019 and talked about her experience running for that position and the progress she has made during her time in that position. “In Michigan we got on the right side of civil rights for the LGBTQ+ community,” she said. “We were able to get the Crown Act signed into law and feed all 1.4 million Michigan public school students breakfast and lunch every single day. We were able to get background checks and red flag laws and secure storages. We have been delivering on the agenda on which we ran, always mindful though, that it’s a one-seat majority. So where we can find bipartisan support we strive always to do that. Because in order to sustain this work we’ve got to make sure that this is what’s good not just for the Michigan economy but for all of the people that call Michigan home.” As Whitmer covered much of her accomplishments, she talked about her experience running for governor. She described challenges she faced but also advice she got from others like one piece of advice said to her prior to one of her debates for governor that still sticks with her today “The happy warrior always wins the debate,” she said. “If you can turn off the volume and just watch and see who looks like they’re having the most fun, they’re almost always the one who wins the debate, so try to remember to be a happy warrior.” With a range of different topics covered in the opening keynote, a large portion was about Whitmer’s governor race and her experience in politics. Along with that though, the conversation pivoted toward the end to cover the upcoming presidential election and what Whitmer hopes to see from Harris. “Let Kamala be Kamala,” she said. “I think so many politicians get all tied up in knots because they’re trying to be this for that audience and this for that audience, and they lose themselves. I think just showing up just as she is is incredibly powerful.”
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