The Student News Site of McCallum High School

The Shield Online
The Student News Site of McCallum High School

The Shield Online
The Student News Site of McCallum High School

The Shield Online
SETTING THE STAGE: Senior Lauren Ryan-Holt (Leading Player) welcomes the audience in the show’s opening number, Magic to Do.  As a play within a play, Pippin has many layers to it, including the opening number which is performed as if the cast members were arriving at rehearsal and setting up for the top of the show “It’s the casts musical bait to the audience,” Ryan-Holt said. “We’re luring them into the production we’re about to put on. We describe the journey and all the magical, fantastic things that will take place along the way. We literally set the stage for both the show and the audience’s expectations.” Ryan-Holt opens the number and leads the other ensemble members until the song turns into a fully choreographed number. However, for Ryan-Holt, the opening seductive chords are her favorite part. “There’s just something so mystical and enticing about how it sounds,” Ryan-Holt said. “It’s the one part where you can feel the full focus of the audience.” Reporting by Alice Scott. Photo by Gergo Major.  

Like its title character, ‘Pippin’ evolving with each act

JoJo Barnard, Chloe Lewcock, Gergő Major, Alice Scott, Ingrid Smith, and Francie Wilhelm
January 31, 2023
Junior Esme Barraz reaches for the ball in last Tuesdays game against LBJ, one of McCallum’s most formidable district competitors. “They are second in the district, and last time we played them, we won in overtime,” Barraz said. “This being said, we really brought our energy and were able to execute enough to win.” The Knights worked hard to support each other and executed successful plays to bring home the win and maintain the first place title. Caption by Isley Cameron. Photo by Amira Habib Weymouth.

Knights vanquish Jaguars in second faceoff to stay unbeaten in district play, crack 5A state Top 25

JoJo Barnard, Isley Cameron, Lillian Gray, Amira Habib Weymouth, Stella Little, Helen Martin, Elena Ulack, Francie Wilhelm, and Dave Winter
January 24, 2023
Shavonne Wright (Deena Martin), Kaye Faulkner (Christine Harnos) and Jodi Kramer (Michelle Burke) waiting outside of the Americana Theatre.

Looking back on the good old ‘Dazed’

Sally Butler, Mac photojournalism
January 17, 2023
BACK TOGETHER AGAIN: Former McCallum soccer players pose for a group photo at the annual varsity vs. alumni match. The teams of graduated Knights consisted of students as recent as the Class of ‘22 all the way back to 2003. After two years of COVID delays, coach Nick Martin was finally able to hold the match on Dec. 28.  “[The alumni game] provides like a continuity for the program. It doesn’t matter what year you are,” Martin said. While some organizational changes were made to the event this year, with matches being held tournament style rather than a free-for-all, Martin maintained the spirit of community that the match holds for his past and current players.  “Getting the chance to come back and see each other whilst also playing some soccer is something me and my friends have a hard time turning down,” class of 2021 alumn Aiden Golliher said. “I’d predict and hope that as the years continue, the close-knit community the boys varsity had will continue [and] that will allow this program to grow.” Caption by Francie Wilhelm. Photo by Morgan Eye.

First alumni ‘game’ since 2019 morphs into ‘everything, everywhere, all at once’ scrimmages

JoJo Barnard, Julia Copas, Morgan Eye, Chloe Lewcock, Lanie Sepehri, Ingrid Smith, Elena Ulack, Francie Wilhelm, and David Winter
January 10, 2023
Gergő Major, “One in a million” first place, open advanced

Mac photographers make lasting impression in ATPI Fall Contest

JoJo Barnard, Julia Copas, Jolie Gabriel, Lillian Gray, Chloe Lewcock, Gergő Major, Charlie Partheymuller, Lexi Ramos, and Clara Williams
January 4, 2023
Protestors gather at the Texas state Capitol to show their support for Ukraine in its war against Russia. The Austin Ukrainian community has been organizing rallies every day since the wars start on Feb. 24. We will not stop the fight until Ukraine wins,” Darya Ledesma, a member of the Austin Ukrainian community, said. “We are fighting for existence and we’re fighting for the future.”

2022: A Year In Review in Photos

Shield reporters and photographers
December 27, 2022
After matches, the engineers headed back to their tables or went to practice in the practice area. For junior Henry Holmes, fixing temporary issues with his robot was an important job he had to do.  “I was trying to put a roller on the top part of the robot,” Holmes said. “But most of the work on the robot was to try to fix our intake system since it was very high maintenance at the time.” For Holmes and his team, the effort of tweaking the robot’s system helped during the matches. “Our intake system ran much smoother every time we worked on it,” Holmes said. “But I wasn’t very successful in installing a roller system.” Photo and caption by Lillian Gray. 

Mac robotics shoots and scores at home tournament

Lillian Gray, Stella Little, and Vivian Medina
December 20, 2022
REPPING THE SENIOR: Senior Helena Finos dances at the Winter Fairytale Dance last friday. Finos had been planning to come to the event from the start due to her position as senior class president. “I wanted to come represent my class and it turned out to be a lot of fun so I’m glad I went!” she said. Finos was also pleasantly surprised by the number of students that showed up after disappointing crowds at prior events. “It was a lot of fun [since] a lot of people came,” she said. “Which I didn’t necessarily expect since we didn’t have the best turnout at the last dance. I think are excited that we’re doing dance again after COVID and the long break from a lot of school events.” Reporting by Ingrid Smith and Caption by Francie Wilhelm. Photo by Morgan Eye.

Mac becomes ‘fairytale’ for winter dance

JoJo Barnard, Kate Boyle, Morgan Eye, Iris LaRue, Callen Rommell, Ingrid Smith, Andie Svatek, Camilla Vandegrift, and Francie Wilhelm
December 13, 2022
LAST TIME FOR THE TRIO: Seniors and chamber choir members Cate Thomason, Georgiana Murray and Stella Pitts perform “Landslide” in the style of The Chicks during a performance of the annual choir cabaret. This year’s cabaret production, themed “This is the Moment… Be a Light,” featured songs about the choice humans face to build someone up or break them down. Thomason said after four years of performing together, the trio’s personalities blend as well as their voices. For the trio, this Cabaret was bittersweet. “We weren’t that nervous this year because we’ve been singing together for so long,” Thomason said.  “We were mainly just excited and sad that it was our last year singing together.” Former choir directors Malcolm Nelson and Cheryl Lindquist returned to Mac to put on Cabaret this year. Thomason said Nelson and Lindquist’s fun taste in music made the experience even better. “Cabaret is a lot of work but it’s a lot of fun music and an exciting experience,” Thomason said. “We are really fortunate to have Mr. Nelson and Dr. Lindquist coach and help us with everything. I think they’re really good at picking fun songs and putting so much together in such a short amount of time.” Photo by Francesca Dietz. Reporting by Ingrid Smith.

Cabaret 2022 succeeds in bringing the ‘Light’

JoJo Barnard, Francesca Dietz, Chloe Lewcock, Alice Scott, Ingrid Smith, Camilla Vandegrift, and Francie Wilhelm
December 6, 2022
SUNNY CALIFORNIA: Principal Nichole Griffith poses with her wife Brenda and son Langston at the golden gate bridge in San Francisco.  For Griffith, Thanksgiving break is perfectly timed.  “Thanksgiving comes at just the right time every year when we all really need a mental break from school, and this year I was able to completely forget that I was a high school principal and just be on vacation with my family. I didn’t check my email which I needed to do. It was a nice refresher. In their time in California, the group, along with Griffith’s mother, saw sights such as Alcatraz, took a cable car ride, rode a train and visited the science museum.  “San Francisco is a fun place to be but it is also a place that is special to our family,” Griffith said. “My wife lived there and really loves it. I always joke that she left her heart there and we have to go pick it up every once and a while.” Most excited for the trip was Langston.  “[My son] loves travel. He gets so excited. He is a definite travel bug, which I don’t know where he gets that. But he loves travel, loves being around his grandparents. It was really great.”  The young adventurer got to lean his head out the window on the train, learn cards with his grandmother and explore all of the sea creatures at the aquarium.  Griffith was also thankful to miss the rainy weather in Austin.  “The weather was beautiful [in San Francisco],” Griffith said. “We missed all the rain in Texas. By the time we got back on Saturday it had passed. But it was sunny in San Francisco and super clear. We never didn’t have these beautiful expanses of light.”  Photo courtesy of Nichole Griffith. Reporting by Morgan Eye.

Thankful for Thanksgiving travels

JoJo Barnard, Julia Copas, Morgan Eye, Chloe Lewcock, Emerson Merritt, Alice Scott, Ingrid Smith, and Francie Wilhelm
November 29, 2022
NSPA Fall 2022 Best of Show winner JoJo Barnard, feature photo, sixth place A SWEET SURPRISE Senior art society officers Amaya Collier and Claire De Silva-Yost smear cake on their advisor, Sara Massey. The students thought it’d be funny to cover Massey, who was dressed as the Mona Lisa, with cake, because the famous work was recently vandalized with the dessert. “I liked seeing all our efforts being enjoyed by everyone in school,” De Silva-Yost said. “I saw so many smiles.” De Silva-Yost found the stunt to be extra exciting considering that the acts of vandalism are still currently happening, with the most recent occurrence being last Thursday, targeting the painting “Girl With a Pearl Earring” by Johannes Vermeer. Although it isn’t certain that the defacing of the Mona Lisa corresponds with the more recent outbreaks, De Silva-Yost wouldn’t be surprised if the two were linked. “I support the protests’ message to stop using oil,” De Silva-Yost said, “but I think they executed it in a way that lacks a clear message to the public.”

A gallery of MacJ’s national award winners

The Knight and Shield staffs
November 22, 2022
FISHING FRIENDS: Freshmen Sienna Gunning and sophomore Fin Kirsch sit at the Mac Angling Club table, advertising to visitors at A Knight at McCallum. Gunning decided to join the club at the beginning of this school year to find new ways to experience one of her favorite hobbies. “I’ve always enjoyed fishing, and I was looking for a club to join,” she said, “so I joined fishing club, [and] it was something different.”  Even though it’s only her first year as a Knight, Gunning appreciated the opportunity to show off one of the many extracurriculars that McCallum offers, as well as getting to see the future freshmen take a look around campus. “I enjoyed showing the bait off and just talking to other people about fishing,” she said. “It was nice to see them interested and excited to be apart of Mac fishing club when they come to McCallum.” Caption by Francie Wilhelm. Photo by Dave Winter.

A ‘Knight at McCallum’ to remember

JoJo Barnard, Lillian Gray, Chloe Lewcock, Merrill Price, Lanie Sepehri, Maya Tackett, Priya Thoppil , and Francie Wilhelm
November 15, 2022
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