So, it’s been a bad day. You got to school late, forgot to study for that math test, and woke up with another pimple on your forehead. When things couldn’t possibly get any worse, you hear someone shout your name, followed by a de-rogatory comment. You try to shake it off, but you can’t seem to forget about the awful insults. Bible Beater, Jew-Nose, Towel Head. It’s as if your religion is some-thing to be ashamed of. Students witness, en-dure, and even partake in religious discrimina-tion on a daily basis. As hateful slurs become subconscious comments, more and more students become accepting of this unacceptable behavior. Part of the reason teens at West aren’t as sensitive to differing be-liefs may be because of the lack of religious di-versity in the school. “People in this part of the country, especially in this school, are mostly Christian,” Comparative World Religions teacher Jim Torrez said. “At our school, it is not as reli-giously diverse [as op-

posed to some schools in the OPS district]. There’s just not a lot of pluralism here when it comes to re-ligion.” Although Christian-ity is the dominating religion by far, Mormon is a specifi c branch of Christianity targeted by students who are not appropriately informed. Junior Caleb Williams is one of many students who belong to the Mor-mon community. Williams expressed that his peers confront him on a regular basis with assumptions regard-ing his religion, such as not being able to drink soda or listen to certain genres of music. In fact, a majority of the students interviewed for this story did not recognize Mor-monism as being affi li-ated with Christianity at all. “[People often as-sume] that I’m a polyga-mist [(polygamy: the state or practice of be-ing married to more than one person at the same time, according to Merri-am-Webster)],” Williams said. “It’s really annoying because it happens a lot. People try to debate with me about why I’m a po-lygamist, but I’m not. I’m seventeen. That doesn’t

even make any sense.” In addition to Mor-monism, Jehovah’s Wit-ness is another religion that often faces prejudg-ment. Sophomore Ame-lia Rice, who has prac-ticed this belief since birth, felt equally offend-

ed by the misconcep-tions against her religion. “[People assume] that we’re just the re-ligion that goes and knocks on people’s doors

to talk to them about Je-sus,” Rice said. “Some people think that we don’t believe in Jesus, which is entirely untrue. They’ll say we make up our God. It’s sad because people say those things without knowing what

we believe in, but I like to prove them wrong when I tell them ‘yes, I do be-lieve in Jesus.’ While students who don’t practice Christian-

ity are not of great num-bers, they are still victims of discrimination here at school. Senior Tim Sew-cheon was brought up in a traditional Buddhist household, and felt that teenagers show less em-pathy for those in reli-gious minority. “When it comes to anything but Christian-ity, people get all weird about it,” Sewcheon said. “Since we are differ-ent, or of a different reli-gion, people often frown upon it or look differently at it.” Because of the preju-dice against minorities, Sewcheon often shies away from being open about his religion. “Most people don’t know I’m a Buddhist; I only tell people if they ask. I’m afraid that if I tell them, they’ll say some-thing bad about it, or something bad about me,” Sewcheon said. In agreement with Sewcheon, junior Nicole Lindell had strong opin-ions about religious pre-judgment on minorities. Lindell described her religion as pantheism, which is “a doctrine that equates God with the forces and laws of the universe,” according to Merriam-Webster.

“[I see discrimination] especially with Islam,” Lindell said. “In light of the Paris attacks, a lot of people tend to think Muslim men and women are terrorists. They de-note their beliefs, they denote their humanity because a few people decided to pervert their religion.” Collectively, inter-viewees agreed that the most commonly targeted religions by students are that of Islam and Juda-ism. Due to the height-ened bigotry against the Islamic religion, a few Muslim students respect-fully declined to be inter-viewed for this story. As far as intolerance for these two religions go at West, students agreed that prejudice against Ju-daism is more prevalent. It is also a common-ality for students to be more willing to judge an individual based on physical attributes that would fi t this religious stereotype. “Faithism is directly tied to racism in that way, in appearances,” Lindell said. “I see it quite often with having a big nose and people thinking you’re Jewish.”

Continued on page 7

A L S O I N T H I S I S S U E

THUNDERBEATTHE

Bellevue West High School • 1501 Thurston Avenue, Bellevue, NE 68123 thethunderbeat@gmail.com • www.thethunderbeat.org

402-293-4068 • Dec. 18, 2015

Bryn Estlund teaches us how to makegingerbread waffl es on page 8.

Learn about what it really takes to get a GED on page 6.

Read about transitioning from middle school sports to high school sports on page 5.

EMMA LARSON

FEATURES EDITOR

State changes school grading protocolBROOKE RILEY

COEDITOR-IN-CHIEF

“Eeny meeny miny mo, catch a tiger by the toe, if he hollers let him go. My mom said to pick the very best oneand you are not it.” When I fi rst heard this rhyme, it was in el-ementary school at re-cess. We would line up

by class to go inside to lunch and the teacher would use the rhyme to pick which class line got to go in fi rst. I always thought the rhyme was cheerful and catchy. Until I found out “tiger” wasn’t the origi-nal word. The original rhyme sung by children

on playgrounds in the mid 1900s replaced the word “tiger,” with the word “n---er.” The “n---er” version of the rhyme referenced slave trading. When buying slaves, own-ers were said to grab a toe, piece of skin or appendage and twist. If the slave yelled, it was thought to be an indica-

tion that the slave would be a trouble-maker. It appalls me that a rhyme I was hearing as a young kid was actually based off a word used in the history of our na-tion to degrade African Americans.

Continued on page 3

CODI PIERCE

BUSINESS MANAGER

‘Discrimination is inherently human:’ Students open up about religious prejudice

Opinion: N-word off limits

The State of Schools Report (SOSR) recently updated the way schools are graded. Accountabil-ity for a Quality Educa-tion System, Today and Tomorrow (AQuESTT) is the new accountabil-ity system that raises the standards for our schools to receive a high grade. According to the Nebraska department of Education, one of

AQuESTT’s priorities is to support schools. The new grading makes it hard for schools to receive an “excel-lent,” providing room for improvement. The system now grades schools as a 1, 2, 3 or 4 (needs improve-ment, good, great and excellent). Bellevue Pub-lic Schools was classifi ed as a “good” school dis-trict. “We have some ar-eas to improve but are

happy with the starting point,” assistant principal Dr. Fran Pokorski said. The data used to grade schools is taken from the academic per-formance from NeSA reading, writing, math and science tests. Instead of a profi cient counting toward a school’s grade, students now have to get an advanced. The system takes into account NeSA test scores and graduation rates like the old system,

but also looks more into the school for support and growth. The new system takes factors other than NeSA into consideration before giving a school a grade. These factors would include college and career ready educa-tion, support of students and families, building community partnerships, and much more.

Continued on page 2

“It appalls me that a rhyme I was hearing as a young kid was actually based off a word used in the history of our nation to degrade African Americans.”

“When it comes to anything

but Christianity, people get

all weird about it.”

Tim Sewcheon

The Christmas trees in the library refl ect the ‘narrow religious spectrum’ at Bellevue West.

Photo by Em Brandon

Graphic by Jacob Kunes

2

2

2

2

Admission is $5; all pro-

ceeds go to the Food

Bank for the Heartland.

Carriage rides at Shadow Lake. Enjoy

some old-fashioned

quality time on a horse

drawn carriage in Shad-

ow Lake Towne Center.

Free rides are available

12-4 p.m. on Satur-

days through Dec. 19.

Bell ringing. Bell

Ringing for The Salva-

tion Army goes through

Dec. 24. Log on to

RingOmaha.org to reg-

ister with friends, fam-

ily, or an organization.

This is a great oppor-

tunity to give back dur-

ing this holiday season.

Go see A Christmas Carol. Watch as Ebene-

zer Scrooge takes you

through one of Charles

Dickens’ most beloved

Christmas stories at

the Omaha Commu-

nity Playhouse. Tickets

can be purchased on-

line: $29 for students

22

22

Religious prejudice is a problem

Features7 The Thunderbeat Dec. 18, 2015

Sewcheon recalled a

specific instance where a Jewish student was being

targeted during a class.

“The stereotypes of

Jewish people [at Bellev-

ue West] are greater than

most other religions, say-

ing like ‘oh they have big

noses’ or that they are

good at keeping mon-

ey and stuff like that,”

Sewcheon said. “He

was getting made fun

of for it, and it was sad.”

History teacher Bren-

na Dacey was baptized

and confirmed Pres-

byterian, but her fam-

ily converted to Judaism

in her childhood years.

Although Dacey

didn’t grow up practic-

ing Judaism, she cultur-

ally identifies as Jewish.“I guess I haven’t

always shared [my re-

ligion] because I’ve al-

ways wondered ‘Are

people going to react

strangely?’ because I’m

not a part of the major-

ity religion,” Dacey said.

Directly affected by

the stigma around Juda-

ism, Dacey is always apt

to educate those around

her about the importance

of religious acceptance.

“People don’t real-

ize they’re being offen-

sive because it’s a part

of their everyday ver-

nacular,” Dacey said.

“I’m just so quick to be

like ‘Really? You think

that’s okay to say?’ A

common phrase is ‘Oh,

they Jewed me out of

money.’ That’s offensive,

that’s a stereotype, and

that’s not okay to say.”

Stereotypes also exist

for students who do not

support a specific reli-gion, and consequent-

ly, identify as atheists.

Sophomore Jordan

Gross can attest to this.

“[Being an atheist is]

usually seen as a nega-

tive thing,” Gross said.

“Usually I don’t care

what people think about

me, but people some-

times discount my opin-

ions towards religious or

political discussion. The

biggest stigma is that

people discount what

you believe because

you don’t have a faith.”

Gross felt that discrim-

ination against various

beliefs is very prevalent

amongst teens, espe-

cially on social media.

“I have [seen dis-

crimination] on the in-

ternet, like in YouTube

comments sections,

on Twitter, or on Face-

book,” Gross said. “It’s

a lot easier to talk badly

about other people and

what they believe when

they’re not face-to-face.”

The narrow religious

spectrum at Bellevue

West combined with en-

couragement from social

media has driven teens to

a point of insensitivity and

non acceptance when

dealing with religion.

Although this prob-

lem will continue, and

presumably worsen with

time, students have the

potential to fall back

on their better selves,

and approach dis-

criminatory situations

with tact and grace,

rather than with mock-

ery and closed minds.

“Discrimination is

something that is inher-

ently human; prejudging

is wired into our brains,”

Lindell said. “But the

part of human beings

that is beautiful is that we

have that level of know-

ing what is wrong. Even

though we [discriminate],

we are able to correct

ourselves by teach-

ing others that people

who are different than

them are still people.”

Holiday Break Bucket List: Fun and affordable KORTNEY BURESH

REPORTER

and $40 for adults. The

play runs until Dec. 23.

Look at lights. Something the Old Mar-

ket is known for is pre-

senting awesome lights.

Walking around with

friends or family makes

for good quality time

and excellent photo op-

portunities. Midtown

Crossing also presents

a unique, free holiday

light and music show. It

is a 20 min show start-

ing at 7 p.m. available

from Nov. 21- January

1. Helpful hint: the best

area to view this show is

in the middle of Turner

Park, facing west. Parts

of the show will be vis-

ible from the promenade

surrounding the park.

Bake festive cook-ies. Get together with

some friends and bake

your favorite recipes.

You’re sure to get some

laughs and a tasty treat

out of the event. If you’re

wanting to give back to

the community this holi-

day season, you can also

deliver it to a local shel-

ter or retirement home.

Have a movie mara-thon. Invite some friends

over to watch your fa-

vorite holiday movies

while sitting around the

tions. Knock on doors and

bless people with your

wonderful singing voice,

or your subpar singing

voice. It doesn’t matter

if singing is your forte,

sharing your favorite

holiday songs will surely

brighten someone’s day.

Christmas tree. You don’t

even need to leave your

house. This is a fun way

to reminisce your child-

hood while spending

an evening with friends.

Go Christmas carol-ing. Experience one of

the oldest holiday tradi-

Culture CornerEvery week, 1,709 students cram through the halls of Bellevue West. Ev-

ery person has his or her own beliefs, traditions and culture. Month-ly features on different students and faculty will highlight Bellevue West’s diversity.

During this season of

festive music, Christmas

trees and Santas, it can be

easy to forget about oth-

er cultural celebrations,

such as Hanukkah.

Hanukkah is a an eight

day long Jewish holiday.

Sophomores Daniel Fox,

Hailey Kitzman and Jes-

sica White all partake the

celebration of Hanukkah.

“You are celebrat-

ing, basically, a miracle,”

Fox said. “What hap-

pened was there was

oil [in a menorah] that

burned for eight days

when it was only sup-

posed to burn for one.”

An important part

of this holiday is light-

ing a special candle

holder, called the me-

norah or hanukkiyah.

“We light candles

every night on the me-

norah,” said Fox. “We

use the shamus, which

is the middle candle,

to light each candle.

Then there is a prayer

we say in Hebrew as

we light the candles.”

Kitzman cele-

brates Hanukkah in a

less traditional way.

“My grandpar-

ents are really big

into Hanukkah, but

my family doesn’t

get too into it be-

cause my mom

likes us to have a

balance,” Kitzman

said. “They have

a menorah and

celebrate on their

own, and we go

along with it.”

Just like Christ-

mas, special

foods are made

in order to cel-

ebrate Hanukkah.

“There is

latkes, a potato

pancake; there

is kugel, which

is kind of like a noodle

pudding; and matzo

ball soup,” Fox said.

In addition to food,

family and friends

also play a key role

in the celebration.

“My favorite memo-

ry is probably going to

our friends’ house the

first night of Hanukkah,” White said. “Celebrating

with them is really fun.”

Another component

of Hanukkah is the dreidel

game, in which a four sid-

ed spinning top is used.

The dreidel is also

used as a joke among

family and friends.

“I remember, we

had a few family friends

that came with us one

time while we were vis-

iting our grandparents,”

Kitzman said. “It was

a funny situation: my

grandma would be sing-

ing little Hanukkah songs

and they kept quietly

A m e n o r a h i s l i t o n t h e f i n a l d a y o f H a n u k k a h .

Photo courtesy of Jessica White

singing ‘dreidel, dreidel,

dreidel’ underneath her.

I thought it was funny.”

Since the celebration

goes on for eight days,

it normally overlaps with

school; however, there

is no school during the

celebration of Christmas.

“It doesn’t effect me

so much since I celebrate

Christmas,” White said.

“It’s understandable, but

there are people who cel-

ebrate different things.”

Science Olympiad,new coaching style EMMA LARSON

FEATURES EDITOR

A new coach is taking

charge of the 2015-2016

Science Olympiad team:

Kristina Armbruster.

Practice sessions

for Science Olympiad

started about four weeks

ago. At these prac-

tices, members come

together to prepare

for their events while

Armbruster supervises.

The Science Olym-

piad members meet on

Mondays and Wednes-

days after school and

on Saturdays at Mis-

sion Middle School.

“I’m doing a lot right

now,” Armbruster said.

“I’m helping get us orga-

nized, get focused, and

we’re hoping to do a lit-

tle fund raising this year

so I’m helping coordi-

nate that. It’s a lot of just

supervising, making sure

that if people need help,

I can help them find the resources they need.”

Starting in late win-

ter, the team will at-

tend about three or

four competitions.

At the events, they

will test their knowledge

in a variety of science-

related topics, such as

anatomy, bridge build-

ing, and physiology.

“Usually you do

two [events], but some

people have to do four

because of how many

events there are,” senior

Michael Kochera said.

As a Science Olympi-

ad veteran of five years, Kochera is able to handle

those additional events.

This year, though,

Armbruster is not only

focused on older mem-

MELISSA IRISH

REPORTER

bers, but is taking a

different approach to

work with the less ex-

perienced members.

“She seems a lot more

open to new members

who haven’t been doing

it since middle school,”

Kochera said. “Typically,

everyone who’s done it

in middle school con-

tinues to do it in high

school, and so we’re all

really experienced. But

this year, she’s having

a bunch of new people

join up to see if they’ll

be better at it than

some of our veterans.”

Sophomore Kat

Woerner is among the

rookie students, as this is

her first year participat-ing in Science Olympiad.

“I like it,” Woerner

said. “I’m learning a lot,

and mostly you do every-

thing on your own. You

do stuff in groups, like

you compete in groups,

but you learn the major-

ity of the information on

your own, which is fun.”

This is not only Arm-

bruster’s first year with Science Olympiad, but

also her first year of teaching. This year, she

is taking on AP Phys-

ics alongside her po-

sition as supervisor

of Science Olympiad.

Armbruster ex-

pressed her gratitude

towards the opportu-

nity to work with all of

the Science Olympiad

students, veterans and

first-time members alike.“I think it’s really

nice to get to work with

students outside of the

classroom, wherever

that is,” Armbruster

said. “Whenever you

can work with students,

it’s a good opportunity.”

Kris t ina Armbrus te r ass i s t s jun io r Mal i s sa Mi l le r

dur ing an af ter-school Science Olympiad meet ing .

Photo by Melissa Irish

People enjoy themselves while skating under the lights at ConAgra Foods Ice Rink.

Photo by Kortney Buresh

Continued from Front Page.

It’s that time of year…

Christmas lists, crowded

malls, family time, and

a long awaited break

from school. There are

many activities around

the Omaha area to

get you in the Christ-

mas spirit during winter

break; however, some

of these activities may

be expensive for the

average high-schooler.

This guide will help

you find festivities that are as fun as they are

affordable. So, don’t

be a “Grinch” and get

out there to see what

the city has to offer.

ConAgra Foods Ice Rink. Help “Shine the

light on hunger” by ice

skating at the ConAgra

ice rink. It is located on

10th and Harney St.,

Omaha (Old Market

area). It is open Dec. 11-

Jan. 3 until 12:00 a.m.

“People don’t realize they’re being offensive.”

Brenna Dacey