Ingrid Smith, co-online managing editor, co-news editor
This is junior Ingrid Smith’s second year on the Shield staff and third year in the MacJ program. This year, Ingrid joins the editorial staff as co-news-editor and co-online-managing-editor. Her favorite stories to write take important issues and localize them through the lens of high schoolers and she appreciates the opportunity to use the newspaper platform to tell people’s stories. Outside of newspaper, Ingrid is a violinist here at McCallum, a fiddle player, and a cat lover. After school, you can find her listening to country music and making plans to eventually become a billionaire. This year, she hopes to use her new positions on the editorial staff to improve her leadership and writing skills and explore her own writing style as a journalist.
![PINK FOR PROM: Seniors Vaughn Vandegrift, Peter Wiseman, Max Yehaskel and Alex Gold sing and dance their hearts out at Saturday’s “Under the Knight Sky” prom. Yehaskel and Wiseman stood out in the sea of black and navy suits as the pair opted for bright pink with contrasting, yet coordinating, shirts and ties. While the style decision seemed big to onlookers, for Yehaskel it was a simple choice.
“I like pink, it’s a solid color,” he said. “It almost melted when I ironed it actually. It’s 100% polyester, and I got it from Kohl’s.”
Yehaskel enjoyed prom overall, except when it came to the royalty announcement.
“Someone stole prom queen from me,” he joked. “It was very tragic. But other than that, it was fun.”
As prom marks another milestone at the end of senior year, Yehaskel is ready to sit back, relax and enjoy his last few weeks as a Knight.
“My grades don’t matter anymore [and] after AP tests I’m done,” Yehaskel said. “I’m going to go nuts, and I’m going to start cooking more.”
Caption by Francie Wilhelm.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/g_m_0458_52847345379_o-900x600.jpg)
![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.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/dsc_2412_52601882073_o-900x600.jpg)
![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.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/52561412854_9decf47bc2_o-900x600.jpg)
![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.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/FullSizeRender-900x675.jpeg)
![ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES: Seniors Mira Wagner and Tyler Mankinen duke it out during the first moments of the final round at the Cap City Marching Competition. The 2022 marching show “Seeing Stars” gets its name from its boxing theme, and according to Wagner, who represents the woodwinds section, the early fight scene “definitely sets the tone.”
“Right off the bat you see two people fighting so you know that this show is full of energy,” Wagner said.” “Even throughout the show the woodwinds and brass are ‘competing’ against each other which goes with the boxing theme.”
Mankinen, who represents the brass section, believes the fight scene is a crucial element in the marching show.
“[The fight scene] usually gets the crowd pumped up and draws the attention of the audience into the show,” Mankinen said. “The show is super unique and seeing the crowd react to an unconventional element of a marching show is really exciting.”
Caption and photo by Morgan Eye.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/img_5736_52385662511_o-900x600.jpg)
![SENIOR SEASON: Decked out in their jerseys, senior Parker Mitchell takes a photo of senior Sophia Kramer and friends before the first day of school in the senior parking lot. The night before, the class of ‘23 decorated their cars to show their senior pride going into their last year of high school. “It’s tradition for seniors to come and take [pictures] the morning before the first day of school,” Kramer said. “Being able to share that memory together is definitely bittersweet. I’m super excited for this year but I am anticipating all the lasts.” Reporting by Alice Scott.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/52288662181_5a1d0b7ef8_o-900x438.jpg)
![CROWDSOURCING: Arwen Frederiksen (far left) walks down the hallway before school starts to re-familiarize themselves with the campus. “[The hallways] were definitely busier than I expected,” Frederiksen said. After almost a year and a half of virtual learning, Frederiksen expresses how they are simply happy to be around other people once again. “I haven’t seen a bunch of my just school friends in forever,” Frederiksen said. “It was great.” Reporting by Alysa Spiro.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/03-Alysa-900x598.jpg)
