Ingrid Smith, co-editor-in-chief
This is senior Ingrid Smith’s third year on staff, and she is so excited to be co-editor-in-chief for the school year. This summer, she spent a month at the Medill-Northwestern Journalism Institute where she learned about writing, broadcast journalism and ethics. She likes to write in all sections of The Shield, but she especially loves in-depth news stories and features. Her favorite part of the writing process is connecting with people through interviews and using her words to lift their voices. After a year as co-online-managing editor, Smith loves working on The Shield Online and enjoys making podcasts. Outside of newspaper, she is a violinist in the McCallum Chamber Orchestra, a fiddle player and a member of the varsity girls golf team. After school, you can find her jamming out to Taylor Swift, hanging out with her cats and eating muffins.
![MAXWELL’S MASTERPIECE: Members of Zoe Maxwell’s choreographed dance for the spring student directed show 'Perennial' form a group pose.
For both the choreographers and directors the performance was an opportunity to show off their unique style of dance and bring together the dancers, the theme, and music to create a dance that resembled them.
For junior Zoe Maxwell the performance was unique because while it was her third year performing in the show, it was her first time getting the chance to choreograph a dance and have a more hands-on role with the show.
“It was my last show with all of my senior friends and it was the first student directed show that I got to contribute to choreographically [which was special],” Maxwell said. “My favorite part of the experience was getting to showcase my creativity and seeing that come to life.”
Maxwell said her song choice inspired her choreography.
“Since I heard the song 'MOVE' by Beyonce I knew I wanted to choreograph it,” Maxwell said. “The tricky part was matching it to the themes of the dance show, but luckily the song mentions fire so I connected it to the element theme of the show,”
The role as choreographer proved to be a learning experience for Maxwell because the process of creating a dance differed from just performing in one.
“The biggest challenge was managing the rehearsal time we were given and planning accordingly so that our dances would be finished in time for the show,” Maxwell said. “I took some inspiration from videos and choreography online, but other than that I just kind of improved to the song until I found moves I liked.”](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/53719496826_a8b6b35cb8_o-1200x678.jpg)
![BACKGROUND IN THE BUSINESS: Dressed by junior designer Kaitlyn Gerrie, senior Chamila Muñoz took to the “Dreamland” runway this past weekend. While it was her first time participating in the McCallum fashion show, Muñoz isn’t new to the modeling world.
I modeled here and there when I was a lot younger, maybe five or six [years old] for some jewelry brands and small businesses, but not much in recent years,” Muñoz said.
Muñoz had hoped to participate in last year’s show but couldn’t due to scheduling conflicts. For her senior year, though, she couldn’t let the opportunity pass her by.
“It’s [modeling] something I haven’t done in a while so I was excited to step out of my comfort zone in a way,” Muñoz said. “I always love trying new things and being able to show off designs of my schoolmates is such an honor.”
The preparation process for the show was hectic, leaving the final reveal of Gerrie’s design until days before the show, but the moment Muñoz tried on the outfit, all the stress for both designer and model melted away.
“I didn’t get to try on my outfit until the day before, but the look on Kaitlyn’s face when she saw what she had worked so hard to make actually on a model was just so special,” Muñoz said. “I know it meant so much to her. But then she handed me a blindfold and told me I’d be walking with it on, so that was pretty wild.”
Caption by Francie Wilhelm.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/53535098892_130167352f_o-1200x800.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)
![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 Nicole 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 Nicole 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)
