Shila Gill, opinion editor
Shila Gill is a senior and second-year staffer, she is the opinion editor and is excited to close out her high school career on a high note this year with the newspaper. Gill became interested in journalism because she’d always enjoyed writing and wanted to try something new. Last year she focused on covering the robotics team, but looks forward to covering new clubs and a wider variety of topics this year. When she’s not in school, Gill works at Westminster, a senior living home, and enjoys cooking, reading, and spending time with her two dogs.
![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]."](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/homecoming-blue-brigade-pep-rally-1200x675.jpg)
![READY FOR THE CHALLENGE: Junior defensive end Nehemiah Trejo listens intently to head coach Thomas Gammerdinger's instructions for the team's next offensive possession against Anderson. Trejo praised the coaching staff for its work leading up to game.
“Our coaches did an excellent job preparing us for this game,” Trejo said. “They spent a lot of time game planning and reviewing our strategies. We saw many of the things we expected, and we came into the game focused and ready to give it our all.”
Trejo praised Coach Gammerdinger for his role in adapting during the game.
“Coach G was great at addressing what was working for us, correcting mistakes and improving communication,” Trejo said. “He reminded us that our defense had the capability to hold them back and make crucial stops.”
As for the game’s outcome, Trejo noted it was an intense fight but did not come as a surprise.
“It went exactly as we anticipated,” Trejo said. “Anderson came out with a strong offense, and it turned into a shootout between who could score more and who could get the most stops. We showed in the third quarter that we weren’t giving up and fought hard throughout [the game].”
Caption by Tristen Diaz.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/53969271626_31e4eaaa3f_o-1200x800.jpg)
![A PRIDE-FUL WEEK OF CELEBRATION:
As part of AISD's week-long celebration of PRIDE, students of the McCallum Spectrum Club worked to create a week full of activities, prizes and helping hands to support the school's LGBTQ+ community. The club is widely available for anyone to join, and specializes in creating a safe space for students to share and give advice. While Pride month itself isn’t until June, AISD designates one week in March to celebrate and commemorate the importance of this part of the student body.
As part of the week of festivities, the club held a booth in the front hall handing out pride stickers, pins and merch to passers by. For junior Zane Joly, the booth idea was brought up as a way for students to engage with one another, and connect with the community.
“I call out to people in the halls, ‘hey, do you want stickers?’” Joly said. “We just give out free pride stickers and sometimes other free pride merch to the students of Macallum because everybody likes pride stickers.”
While the week itself is packed with a variety of different activities, the overall goal is to bring students closer together and create a safer environment for self expression at McCallum.
“The idea for the student panel largely came from the black [history] student panel that is done during Black History Month,” Joly said. “And the idea for giving out free stuff was developed at Spectrum last year.”
Joly is not only a member of the Spectrum club, but also holds a leadership position giving them a more hands-on role with the projects and Pride Week activities.
“McCallum has a very high queer population,” Joly said. “I think It's nice that we get a chance to celebrate Pride because Pride Month is during the summer, and I think it's just a nice thing for the community and getting to just celebrate it.”
While the merch table at lunch was only a small part of the numerous parts of McCallum’s Pride week, for Joly this small impact made all the difference.
“The purpose of Pride is to make people not feel alone and to make them feel safe,” Joly said. “The goal is [to make people] happy about a part of themselves that they're often conditioned to not feel good about.”
Caption by Chloe Lewcock. Photo by Shila Gill.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/53597258192_6e7168d8ae_o-1-1200x676.jpg)
![FROM THE TRAVIS COUNTY JAIL:
Seniors Marshall Clifton, Danielle Todd-Harris and August Krosta perform “Cell Block Tango” from “Chicago.” “Cell Block Tango” is the behind-bars ballad of six women accused of killing their significant others. After singing “Cell Block Tango” with choir friends, Krosta felt inspired to bring the song to Cabaret auditions.
“Last year me and a couple of my friends would reenact it because we do a bunch of karaoke stuff in choir,” Krosta said. “I wanted to get all of them together because I thought it'd be really fun. We didn’t actually think that we'd be able to get in but kind of just wanted to put it all together and see what happens, but he really liked the idea.”
Krosta said “Cell Block Tango” stood out in the setlist because of mood and murder.
“The mood was different than a lot of the other numbers,” Krosta said. “It just had a different energy because we're killing people on stage. My character actually didn't kill anyone on stage, but it was fun watching everyone else do it. Because the looks on people's faces are like, ‘What in the world is going on right now?’”
Junior Sam Kruck was one of the three male dancers “killed” during the performance. During a choreographed fall on the third night, he accidentally broke a chair.
Kruck said faking his death was an “interesting” experience.
“I've never had to do it before, but I think I'm an expert on it now,” Kruck said.
Kruck’s second scene was a ballet number that occurred during Krosta’s French monologue. Krosta worked with a French teacher to learn the lines describing the male character’s disappearance.
Krosta said the highlight of performing “Cell Block Tango” was the audience’s enthusiastic reaction.
“As we finished they [the audience] started like screaming,” Krosta said. “It was super cool to have everyone cheer like that.”
Caption by Ingrid Smith.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/53376771133_081b8af1e3_o-1200x676.jpg)
![KEEPING THE STREAK ALIVE: Senior Edward Bomba rings the bell after the Knights’ victory over Travis on Thursday while quarterbacks junior Luke Dunham and senior Jack McGinnis wait their turns. Bomba, a defensive end, suffered an injury earlier in the season but still supported his team from the sidelines.
Even though the Knights have won the last 13 Battle of the Bell games, the Knights still see the Travis game as a rivalry game, and they wanted to keep their streak alive.
“Their coach was saying he thought they were going to win, and we couldn’t let that Battle of the Bell 12-year win streak end,” Bomba said. “Their coach told us he wanted to keep [the rivalry game] going even if they went down to 4A. They obviously want another shot at us.”
Going into the game, the team had the mentality of this being a rivalry game and that they needed to be prepared to go out and play their hardest. The Travis coach’s statement fueled their desire to win.
“We wanted to do what we do best, which is playing more physical than our opponent and starting and finishing the game strong,” Bomba said.
Caption by Callen Romell.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/53289927433_5196a69d91_o-1-1200x675.jpg)
![SPREADING THE JOY: Sophomore Chim Becker poses with sophomores Cozbi Sims and Lou Davidson while manning a table at the Hispanic Heritage treat day during lunch of Sept 28. Becker is a part of the students of color alliance, who put together the activity to raise money for their club.
“It [the stand] was really fun because McCallum has a lot of latino kids,” Becker said. “And I think it was nice that I could share the stuff that I usually just have at home with people who have never tried it before.”
Becker recognizes the importance of celebrating Hispanic heritage at Mac.
“I think it's important to celebrate,” Becker said. “Because our culture is awesome and super cool, and everybody should be able to learn about other cultures of the world.”
Caption by JoJo Barnard.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/53221601352_4127a81c41_o-1200x675.jpg)
![PART OF HISTORY: Principal Nicole Griffith, journalism teacher Dave Winter and science teacher Elaine Bohls-Graham pose with pride flags on the first day of AISD PRIDE Week. At his previous school in Midtown, Atlanta, Winter witnessed a similarly accepting and robust observance of PRIDE week. However, he feels that McCallum's history and culture, particularly with Spectrum, make Mac's PRIDE celebrations unique.
"For as long as I have been at Mac and before that, [Spectrum] has been vital in providing a safe space for LGBTQ students to be themselves," Winter said. "The group has had a lot of turnover with faculty sponsorship in recent years, but its essential role has stayed constant through all of that. I think that the main thing is that Spectrum and PRIDE Week helps to give students a voice on campus."
PRIDE Week closely followed Black History Month, where students and faculty organized similar events, like student panels. In both instances, Winter saw how crucial and courageous it is for students to lead the conversations on issues like identity.
"I was impressed [by] the fearlessness and leadership of the panelists and the willingness of students and teachers to listen and work to understand better the experience of others," Winter said.
Caption by Francie Wilhelm. Photo by Lillian Gray.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/dsc09798_52760398309_o-900x600.jpg)
