Myers Park Hoofprint

The Myers Park High School Newspaper

Hayden Gala

PCP Building Up

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With all of the new urbanization around the world, the building of cities, more homes, new apartments, and condos has led to  the debate between building up, building outwards, or building down to rise. Some may say that building up can take away from the luxury of valuable living space but I disagree. By building up you might not be getting the “spacious aspect” but you get more for the square footage you have. It boils down to the financial, social, and environmental factors one must consider when determining what works best for you. 

By building up, you still take up the same amount of land you are just taking advantage of the sky above you and gaining more living or working space. Even better, for homes you can be way more strategic with room placement. For example, the bottom floor of your home could be used for more public and active spaces such as the kitchen, living room, playroom, etc. The second floor can be used for either more living room space or playroom space. The third is for private spaces like bedrooms, and the fourth is used for storage (like an attic). By doing this you don’t take away from  any more space than needed. In doing this more homes can be built, allowing for more space for people to live. This also allows for more farmland and greenery. 

Not only is the aspect of building up smart for homes, but it is also smart for work buildings like skyscrapers. By having this kind of layout, the business spends way less money on square footage and there is more room for other buildings near them. Height creates space in dense cities and a larger profit margin, providing more lease income for the owner of the building. These skyscrapers are the best way to ensure as much retail space as possible in a city with only a few blocks to spare. Depending on the way these skyscrapers are built, some are extremely more energy efficient and even made up of recycled materials. They also promote affordable living. They aren’t only business spaces, they are also apartments and communities. When people live closer to downtown, the usage of cars and other transportation decreases resulting in less pollution and costs less for the individual in general since they have to spend less money on gas and other transportation needs. Lastly, they are a great tourist attraction, like the Empire State building, centered around their views of NYC.

 This concept of building up also prevents urban sprawl(the uncontrolled expansion of urban areas). This concept originated in the 19th century during the Industrial Revolution when people from rural areas started migrating to more urban areas. Urban sprawl has an intense environmental and economic impact by diminishing greenspace, reducing the amount of trees, polluting the air, reducing available farmland, and contributing to water absorption, according to CreedLA. When people expand outwards, the distance between people’s homes and cities increases therefore resulting in more pollution, more cars, and longer commutes. This also leads to more food being imported from other countries which heightens the risk of transporting dangerous substances or food not produced to the high standards of the United States and other developed countries. Social segregation is another impact of urban sprawl since there are fewer parks and public places for residents to meet each other and everyone is enclosed in their own community. 

Whether in residential areas or workspaces, building up is the smartest in all financial, environmental, and political aspects. With stopping urban sprawl and social segregation, building up provides so much more than just more living space. It encourages social connection, more greenery, enough farmland, and so much more.

Women in Sports

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Women’s sports have dramatically changed over the years, with a remarkable increase in professional organizations and spectator viewership. Before 1972, there were few women participating/showing interest in sports. Women’s sports were nearly nonexistent during that time period, given they were mainly seen as house cleaners and child bearers. This stigma affected the opportunity for women’s sports to gain enough traction to succeed.  

On January 23rd, 1972, however, Title IX was passed to ensure equal access to any program that receives federal financial assistance, including sports. Title IX states, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” Before Title IX, 1/27 women played sports. In 2016 that proportion changed to 2/5. The Women’s Sports Foundation’s first president, Donna de Varona, tributes the effect of Title IX on women’s sports today, saying,  “Since 1972, thanks to increased funding and institutional opportunities, there has been a 545% increase in the percentage of women playing college sports and a 990% increase in the percentage of women playing high school sports.”

Mrs. Goudes, a social studies teacher, dive, and swim coach here at Myers Park, shared her experience being a female athlete during the start of Title IX. Goudes was a swimmer and zoned for West Charlotte High School. Since West Charlotte didn’t have a swim team and Title IX existed, CMS had two choices: either start a team at West Charlotte for Goudes or allow her to go to Myers Park and swim there. CMS chose the second option, allowing her to attend Myers Park. She spoke about her experience as a female athlete and how the experience has changed since she attended. She states that today it’s “much more acceptable to be a female athlete.” In describing herself as a tomboy then, she says she was “personally chastised” and “called a male” in high school. Goudes adds, “In the ’70s and early 80’s it wasn’t really as accepted to be a female athlete. That has totally changed. And changed for the better. You want to be an athlete? Be an athlete. It is more accepting, whichever you want to do. It is actually quite liberating”.

Emma Price, a senior and varsity soccer player here at Myers Park, also shared her experience as a female athlete.  During Price’s freshman-sophomore years, she played for the JV women’s soccer team, and during her junior-senior years, she played for the varsity women’s soccer team. She says, “I love being in this program with so many incredible people/players and they all push me to be better on and off the field. Everyone is so supportive and always wants you to be the best you can be.” Price says, however, that the team does not receive a lot of MP support, and “one struggle that I would think of would be the least amount of support that we get … we can barely get many people to come to our games even after we won states in 2021. People will sometimes come for playoff games but not all the time, and rarely ever show up for the conference games we have every week. I think people just don’t pay attention to women’s soccer, which is frustrating because we have won a state championship. And yes, we lost 13 seniors after that year, but we still are good and are competitive throughout the playoffs each season.”

Myers Park High School has a variety of hard-working women’s teams, whether it be our women’s basketball team that made it to the playoffs this year, our women’s soccer team that is at the beginning of their season, our women on the swim team holding the state title, our softball team also beginning their season and so many more.

Mars Crater

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On December 24, 2021, NASA’s InSights lander detected what was thought to be a massive quake on Mars. While InSight- a spacecraft designed by NASA to give Mars its first thorough checkup- was stationed on Mars, it noticed the planet’s surface starting to tremble beneath. This disturbance was thought to be a marsquake (the Mars version of an earthquake) with a magnitude of 4. To mark its extremity, the biggest marsquake recorded had a magnitude of 5. In articles published on October 27th, 2022, from NASA, the cause of this massive disruption was revealed. 

A meteoroid between 15-40 feet in diameter, traveling 3.2 kilometers per second (equivalent to two miles per second), crashed into Mars nearly 2,174 miles from InSight. This Metroid released energy somewhere between 2.5 and 10 kilotons of TNT. For reference, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima at the end of World War II was equal to 15 kilotons of TNT. This created a crater wider than a football field in the Amazonis Planitia region (located between the two main volcanic regions on Mars), reaching 492 feet across and 70 meters deep. Some of the material from this meteoroid even landed 23 miles away from the crater. Quoted from NASA, “This is one of the largest craters in our solar system ever observed as it was created.” When scientists from NASA started studying this strike a little further, they began connecting the dots back to their previous studies on Mars. They realized this was one of, if not the largest, meteoroid strike on Mars since NASA started studying the planet 12 years ago. NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter even confirmed it was the most immense meteoroid impact on record in the entire solar system. They also discovered that the impact was not a marsquake but rather the thunk of a space rock hitting the surface of Mars. 

Upon careful investigation, NASA scientists found “boulder-sized ice chunks”. This usually wouldn’t be such a significant discovery since ice had been found on the martian surface before, but this ice specifically was found buried closer to the equator than ever detected before on the planet. Due to how deep this crater is, it is allowing scientists to take an even closer look at the martian subsurface than ever before. 

So how exactly can this affect future astronauts on Mars? One of the most crucial parts of a mission for astronauts is landing near an accessible ice source to find a way to make drinking water and create rocket fuel for their journey back to earth. Since this crater is as big as it is, this becomes a perfect landing point for future travelers for a safe and accessible mission. With the open landing of accessible ice, astronauts won’t have to worry about a limitation on these sources. Not only will it help with the creation of drinking water and rocket fuel, but it could also be a way astronauts can grow fresh crops during their mission. Another major advantage of the discovery of this crater is that it shows ice, which astronauts are so desperate to find, can be located in various places on the Martian surface, including somewhere close to the equator. Scientists can also benefit from this crater because, with careful inspection, they could start to better understand past and future climate changes on the planet. 

So the main questions are, could this lead to the possibility of life on Mars? Could this lead to the discovery of another sustainable living planet? What discoveries on Mars will this lead to in the future? As of right now, there are no answers to these questions, but what we do know is this opens a new opportunity for further investigation. Only time will truly be able to provide us with the answers to these dier questions. 

Nutrition & School Lunches

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Over the past decade, school lunch nutrition has changed in a massive way. In 2010, Michele Obama passed the Healthy, Hungry Free Kids Act increasing nutrition within most public school lunches. Rather than foods high in sodium or trans fat, her program requires schools to serve more fruits, vegetables, low-fat or fat free milk, and whole grains regularly. 

New research done by the School Nutrition Association shows that children are starting to get their healthiest meals of the day at schools rather than their home meals. By offering free or lower-priced school meals, it can reduce levels of obesity, poor health, and food insecurity according to frac.com. School meal programs are playing a significant role in obesity prevention, combating child hunger, improving academic achievements, and the overall health of students. Furthermore, the new school lunch nutrition plan has had an extremely beneficial impact on food selection and consumption across the United States; particularly during the pandemic when school lunches were free.During the pandemic, lower income families had trouble providing nutrients to their kids, especially with the growing expense of nutritious meals. In March of 2020, federal pandemic regulatory waivers allowed students to be offered free meals by schools without any application. It also provided schools with higher per-meal reimbursements to help with covering pandemic costs. 

When the pandemic caused schools to switch to virtual learning,  shut down schools, school nutrition professionals created  a program that would allow students to still get their school meals. The program  provided grab-and-go meals for students at drive-by pickup sites, on bus routes, or delivered straight to the student’s doorstep. 

Research done by the CDC shows that school lunches are far more nutritious than expected. Students who participate in school meal programs tend to eat more whole grains, milk, fruits, and vegetables and posses a better diet quality than nonparticipants. 

So what should teens be eating in a day to keep a healthy and balanced diet? Well, according to Johnmurihealth.com, teens should maintain a diet consisting of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, low/no-fat milk products, beans, eggs, fish, nuts, and lean meats. Teenagers should be eating around two cups of fruits and two and a half cups of vegetables a day, 1,300 milligrams of calcium (which can be found in dairy products, beans, spinach, fish, etc.), and five and a half ounces of protein to help with muscle and organ growth.  Six ounces of whole grains to provide energy andiron rich foods for blood health are also necessary in a teenager’s diet. Boys should be eating around 2800 calories a day, girls should be eating around 2200 calories a day, and teens should be limiting fat intake to about 25-36%of their total calorie intake of the day. 

With academics and social lives shifting back to normal, prices are returning to school lunches. Now, school lunches are $2.50 for Pre-K students, $2.75 for K-8 students, and $3.00 for 9-12 students. CMS is committed to providing students with quality and nutritious meals to support their academic success. To ensure students know their carbohydrate intake and what kind of allergies lunch foods may contain, Myers Park High School includes a nutritional chart in the cafeteria along with the scheduled lunch meals for the month. We appreciate the hard work CMS and Myers Park’s hard working cooking staff has done to make lunches accessible and healthy for all students.