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
All content by Julia Copas
TIGERS TALE OF THE TAPE: Clemson sprinter Wanya McCoy reacts to the Tigers’ victory in the fifth first-round heat of men’s 4x100 on Friday March 31 at Mike A. Myers Stadium. The finish shows the razor thin margin of competitive college track and field. Brenen Thompson of Texas ran the anchor leg for the host Longhorns and finished second to McCoy in a photo finish. Both relay teams finished with identical times of 39.80, but by winning the heat, McCoy and the Tigers advanced to Saturday’s final while the Longhorns landed in 13th place overall and out of the finals because only heat winners and the top four best times overall advance. Christopher Morales Williams ran the anchor leg for Georgia, which finished third in the heat and 15th overall at 39.89. McCoy had a good day at the relays on Friday. In the 100-meter dash prelims, he ran a personal best 10.04 in the 100-meter dash to advance to Saturday’s finals. The time would have been among the 10 fastest in Clemson history, but it didn’t count because the time was aided by a strong Texas wind. In Saturday’s final, the Clemson 4x100 relay team placed fourth in 38.87 behind winner LSU (38.53), second-place Iowa (38.70) and third-place Tennessee (38.85). In the 100-meter final, McCoy placed seventh (10.21), five one-hundredths of a second off the pace set by winner Isaiah Trousil of Northern Iowa (10.16).

MacJ sports photographers place third in ATPI Top Program contest

Julia Copas, Naomi Di-Capua, Lillian Gray, Amira Habib Weymouth, Charlie Partheymuller, Camilla Vandegrift, and Macjournalism sports team
May 30, 2023
MAKING MOO-VES IN THE ENSEMBLE: Sophomores Zoe Maxwell and Robin Kulhanek, senior Atticus Adair, juniors Addie Knight and Henry Mayes and sophomore Zalie Mann perform Notice Me on the opening night of Cows: the Moosical. Maxwell, who was a member of the three-person ensemble, found dancing on Cows to be an especially intimate experience compared to their past experiences with MacTheater. “I had worked with everyone in the cast before, and it was really refreshing to have fun with something that was so homemade,” Maxwell said. Not only was Cows a smaller-scale production but also a faster-paced one. According to Maxwell, rehearsals were hectic but still fun. “There were probably only a few rehearsals where everybody in the cast was there,” Maxwell said. “[Mann] and I spent the week before and of the show running back and forth between Cows rehearsal and Mac Dance rehearsals. It was very much ‘down to the last minute’ kind of rehearsal, but once the adrenaline kicked in, everything came together.” During this frenzied pre-show period, Maxwell worked closely with director, choreographer and writer senior Anderson Zoll to perfect her performances of the many dance numbers throughout the show. “I had some prior experience working with Anderson as the choreographer for both Pippin and Descendants, but it was really incredible seeing him work not just for choreo, but writing, staging and managing all together,” Maxwell said. “I think he’s a great choreographer, and he’s super open to suggestions and collaboration.” Once the lights were on and the stage was set, Maxwell saw the fruits of their, and the rest of cast and crew’s, labor reflected in the audience’s reactions. “[I loved] watching the cast from the sides and hearing the crowd laugh at all the parts I love in the show,” Maxwell said. “I think also getting to perform in the FABT for the first time was a great experience.” Caption by Francie Wilhelm.

‘Cows’ a graze show with mooving performances

JoJo Barnard, Kate Boyle, Julia Copas, Lanie Sepehri, Alice Scott, Elena Ulack, Lucas Walker, and Francie Wilhelm
May 2, 2023
LOVE TO LAST A LIFETIME: Seniors Noah Lawrence and Julia Wallace prepare for their senior duet at the Blue Brigade spring show. “I was feeling super reflective, thinking about how much time we have spent together on Blue Brigade,” Lawrence said. “This moment was the culmination of countless hours spent not only improving ourselves as dancers but also developing a friendship that I feel will last a lifetime.” Lawrence focused on the choreography aspect of the dance.  “Julia, while providing valuable input, let me have most of the choreographic liberty,” Lawrence said. “However, everything I created translated so well to her. She performed every move exactly how I envisioned it, and it took no time at all to produce a piece that both of us were very satisfied with.” The duet was to a song by Adele called ‘Make You Feel My Love.’ “The duet was sort of meant to illustrate the difficulty of loving someone from afar, especially after being together for so long,” Lawrence said.  Lawrence was ultimately proud of the duet and how the showcase went as a whole. “The show went very well, and though I did not give a flawless performance in every number, I spared no effort on that stage,” Lawrence said. “Thats what I think counts.” Caption by Kate Boyle.

[Photo] A Knight of glitz and ‘glamour’

April 18, 2023
The Knights and their first-year coach Barney Guerra huddle around their new favorite shared possession: the bi-district championship trophy.

Knights outlast Patriots in playoff PK shootout

March 25, 2023
Junior point guard Finn Corrigan will be a key piece to the puzzle for a 2023-2024 Knights team that will lose seven seniors to graduation.

Patriots best Knights to win bi-district title

Julia Copas, Mac photojournalism
February 24, 2023
A SHADOW OF PERSONAL STYLE: Designs by junior Isa Pirkey make their runway debut during the Saturday fashion show, styling freshman model Marveyah Munoz-Tavera. Inspired by the “reflections and shadows” theme, Pirkey designed two dresses that were shadow versions of one another. Similar in silhouette, one dress was pink with white detailing and the other was entirely black.  Ive always been really inspired and interested in EGL fashion, which is a genre of Japanese fashion, and Ive always wanted to make my own,” Pirkey said.  When Pirkey heard that the theme of the 2023 fashion show was “reflections and shadows,” so was so inspired that she pushed her worries aside and decided to participate in a McCallum fashion show for the first time. “Im a big fan of contrast, and so the ‘shadows’ theme was really inspiring to me,” Pirkey said. “Ive always wanted to get more into designing my own clothes. I like wearing fun things just usually dont have a lot of time.” After months of work, Pirkey was both surprised and proud to find out on Sunday that she had tied for second place. She hopes to do the fashion show again next year, especially after she learned a valuable lesson. “I learned that I should not cram sewing because my sewing machine might break,” Pirkey said. “If I have time I would love to keep designing, and I think that once I get over being so tired from all of this, Im definitely going want to do it next year. Caption by Ingrid Smith. Photo by Julia Copas.

[Photo] Fashion show ‘reflects’ artistic identities

February 22, 2023
ONE FINAL HURRAH: For her fourth and final year performing at Coffeehouse, senior Charlotte Blackmon picks one of her older songs to perform for the audience. Her song in the first act was the show opener, as well as a major crowd-pleaser.  “Ive done Coffeehouse since my freshman year, and I always love it and love getting to share the songs that Ive been working on or that I haven’t played in a while,” Blackmon said.  This year, her song was inspired by her own personal life and experiences. “I wrote the song I performed last year in songwriting class,” Blackmon said. “It’s about when you have somebody in your life who you don’t see anymore but they’re still important to you.” Blackmon explained how throughout high school Coffeehouse has been an opportunity for her to grow and continue sharing her music with people in school and beyond.  “I think whats made me want to keep going with Coffeehouse is the environment of creativity, which has stayed amazing since I started playing,” Blackmon said. Caption by Chloe Lewcock.

Valentine’s Day Coffeehouse brings heartfelt performances, heart-filled library

Julia Copas, Chloe Lewcock, Ingrid Smith, and Francie Wilhelm
February 15, 2023
Freshman Iris Burns-Trahanovsky twists into a dive for the Girls One Meter Diving event.

[Photo] Swim team places third at district

February 1, 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 11, 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
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 30, 2022
NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE: Senior Jayden Mason breaks into tears after being honored by teammates and coaches at the volleyball Senior Knight. To Mason, the ceremony was emotional because of the change that it represented. “[It was] the fact that I’m leaving soon. It’s a big change, a new branch of independence and decision-making,” she said. “I’ve known a lot of these people for quite a while, and after high school this may be my last time seeing them.” Ultimately, seeing her teammates being showered with gifts and speeches was what brought on the waterworks. Mason will miss the people and routine provided by the McCallum volleyball program. “I’ve done volleyball all four year so it’s going to be hard not having that daily task in my routine. I’ve created lots of friendships so it’s going to be hard [to say] my goodbyes.” Photo by Julia Copas. Caption by Francie Wilhelm.

[Photo] Volleyball program savors its championship season

November 8, 2022
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