Story & Graphic by Areesa Steele – Social Media Editor  Mr. Bronco is an annual event hosted by the dance team. Toward the end of the year, the senior class has the opportunity to nominate the funniest boys in their grade. The top ten selected get to participate in Mr. Bronco. During the Mr. Bronco show, they have many different parts they compete in.   “The boys compete in the sportswear, talent, and eveningwear and a panel of teachers and students choose who is awarded the title of Mr. Bronco. The boys also perform an opening number with the Northern Star Dance Team,” Shelley McCain, dance team coach, said.   Mr. Bronco is not easy to get into. The voting of who will be Mr. Bronco depends on who the seniors think is the funniest. The boys will then be approved by the administration. Once they get approved, they will have certain days to practice and master what they will be doing for the performance.   “They have about 11-12 practices with the dance team to learn the opening number,” McCain said.   Mr. Bronco is not just about the opening number that they get to perform. It is also all of the other events that they get to participate in. For the other events, they have to use their imagination. That is what makes the Mr. Bronco participants so special.   “For their individual events, they use their imaginations, local goodwill, and friends to help them prepare for their sportswear, talent, and eveningwear events,” McCain said.   The actual Mr. Bronco performance is April 28 and admission is $7.00 at the door or online. Come and cheer on your favorite Mr. Bronco candidate.

Story & Graphic by Mia Fuller – News Editor   As Women’s History Month draws to a close it is important to recognize the class that celebrates and recognizes women’s history in America the whole school year. Just this year Sarah Courtney, US Women’s History teacher, and Jennifer Mooney started a US Women’s History class for all those who are interested in learning about the important and often overlooked role women have played in the story of the United States. Courtney and Mooney started the class after seeing despite the interest of many students, that there was no class on the topic.    “Ms. Mooney and I have been talking for years about the topics that interest our students and are unfortunately absent from a lot of our curriculum.  Women’s History is one of these topics, so we found out that a class had been started at LSHS several years ago, and we decided to try to offer it at LSN,” Courtney said.     Despite the class only being in its first year at LSN, it has been a flourishing success, with two semester-long classes filled with students passionate about learning about the important roles of women in our country. The class has been such a success that Courtney’s class next year already has enough students to help the class continue on running at LSN for what is hopefully years to come.     One of the most important things Courtney believes her class teaches is that the women who were the first or only one to do and achieve these amazing things are not the only ones deserving of recognition, they are a facet of the millions of women who have helped shaped and grow America into what it is today. Something that Courtney hopes for her future Women’s History classes is to provide any student the chance to learn about a less familiar, but just as important part of  United States history.     “My hope is that we continue to have the opportunity to introduce Broncos to parts of our country’s history that are less familiar to them – in this case the story of women in the country!  I truly believe that we become better versions of ourselves when we develop an understanding of the struggles and successes of those who shaped the world we live in,” Courtney said.     In short, the new US Women’s History class is a valuable opportunity for students to learn and celebrate the role of women in America for not only a month but the whole year.

Story & Graphic by Mia Gatti- Feature/Sports Editor  Many people might not know that Fashion Club is new to LSN this school year. It is a great way to meet new people, gain more knowledge about fashion and express yourself in many ways! This new club was started by Ms. Owens, our new science teacher at North. This is a passion of her own that she wanted to share with many other people.     “First, the purpose of the Fashion Club is to promote a sense of personal style and confidence. I decided to start a Fashion Club because I ABSOLUTELY LOVE fashion! I have always had a love for fashion as a young girl and during high school, I was voted “Best dressed”. I developed a love for fashion from my beloved Mom who was very fashionable. Furthermore, I noticed that many students at North seemed to have a sense of style as well and this also sparked the start of the Fashion Club,” Owens said.     Fashion Club also holds fundraisers and clothing drives to give back to the community, any help they can provide is the goal.     “The Fashion Club’s goals are to host several clothing donation drives to give items to local shelters in the area, participate in community service projects, and attend fashion show events around the state. (As a matter of fact we attended KC Fashion Week on March 10th (2023)). Other goals are to invite speakers from fashion industries/ platforms to expand members’ knowledge about fashion, and participate in upcoming school events [with fashion shows] at pep rallies, school assemblies, sporting events, etc. throughout the school year,” Owens said.    Anyone is welcome in Fashion Club at LSN. Fashion Clubs wants people interested and excited to be a part of the group! If you are interested in Fashion Club or want to learn more about it, contact Ms. Owens with any questions you may have!!  

Story & Graphic by Kate Gerding – Staff Reporter    The next few weeks are a big deal for IB students. Most IB classes are finishing up their IAs or “internal assessments”. Kennedy McEnany, senior, is enrolled in several IB classes this year and has been working hard on upcoming projects.    “I’m taking IB Biology, IB History, and IB English. IB Biology is probably my favorite class that I take because it’s just so fun,” McEnany said.     A significant part of IB students’ grades are the different assessments each course requires.    “For English, we write essays and we have orals and speeches, for IB Biology we have an experiment, and then for IB History, we have a deep analysis of a particular thing in history,” McEnany said.     The topic that students choose for their IAs is pretty much completely up to them. The most important goal is that students can apply what they have learned in the course to their projects.    “It’s really about students interpreting the course to their own extent and their own likes and values,” McEnany said.     Students can start working on the project whenever they want, as long as it is completed before the due date the teacher assigns.    “I started working on it last semester, I had all my data collected before winter break.  I really wanted to be ahead of the grind, but a lot of people are starting on it now and I’m glad I started it a lot earlier,” McEnany said.     McEnany’s experiment for her Biology IA involves topics that are very close to her.    “I am talking about how mycelia, which is mushrooms, how they have the potential to soak up oil pollution…hundreds of thousands of indigenous people were poisoned by the water,” McEnany said.     It is important for students to choose something they are passionate about to keep them interested in their research.     “As someone that’s really concerned with indigenous people’s representation in our modern-day society, and also someone that’s obsessed with mushrooms, I was super excited to have the opportunity to experiment on my own,” McEnany said.     Looking ahead to the last few weeks of school after IAs are wrapped up, students will take their IB exams in May. 

Story & Graphic by Lily Temple – Assistant Editor    As most students know, we have the day off on Friday, March 17th. What students may not know is that high school teachers also have the day off.    “March 17th is a comp day for high school teachers that had to work Spring Enrollment Conferences for two nights in February. The reason other teachers don’t is because they did not have to do Spring Enrollment Conferences,” Sarah Graff, assistant principal, said.     High school teachers had to work a week of very long hours during February for Spring Enrollment Conferences. It only seems fair that they get a day off.    “I think it’s fantastic [that we get the day off]! We work really hard and we deserve it,” Matt Bolch, English teacher, said.    No matter how teachers spend their day off, it is always nice to have a break.    “It’s Saint Patrick’s day so I’m sure there will be some kind of shenanigans that I do,” Bolch said.    So, high school students and teachers, enjoy your day off on March 17th!

Story & Graphic by Abby Langle – Editor-in-Chief  On Wednesday, March 15th the National Honor Society (NHS) will hold a ceremony to welcome new members. It will be held in the PAC for current juniors whose membership was accepted in February. There will be 93 juniors getting inducted at the event.    The ceremony will be about 45 minutes long. During that time students and families will learn about the four pillars of NHS – Leadership, Service, Scholarship, and Character. The audience will also be given a brief history of NHS at Lee’s Summit North and of course, see their child walk across the stage and become an official member of National Honor Society.    “Students will offer an oath committing to uphold the central pillars of NHS and then will hear more about these pillars from our senior officers.  Dr. Collins and I will address the students and their guests about the importance of NHS to the school.  Students names’ will be read, and they will receive their membership card and pin before signing a membership book that holds the names of all members inducted into NHS since the opening of Lee’s Summit North High School,” Sarah Courtney, NHS sponsor, said.    Since this is a big event and they want to make it very special for the new members and families, the organization needs a lot of help from current NHS members to pull it off.     “Our current NHS Officers – Ashlyn Bandelier, Hayden Davies, Sasha Plowman, Leyton Porterfield, and Kennedy McEnany – will address guests and new members by explaining to them the four pillars of NHS during a candle-lighting ceremony on stage.  Our President, Ashlyn Bandelier, will also guide our new members through the member’s oath. In addition to our sponsors and our officers, we also have some current senior members who have helped with preparing in advance for and volunteering during the ceremony.  We have students who will help organize junior inductees ahead of the ceremony, distribute programs,  run the lights and audio for the ceremony, and host a reception after the event.  It takes an entire team to host an event of this size, and we’re grateful to have so many people willing to help out with Induction,” Courtney said.    This is a very special night for these students. Families get to celebrate students and watch them succeed as they go into their senior year of high school.    “It gives families and loved ones an opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of these students!  These students have maintained a consistent record of academic success, leadership, character, and community service during their time as high school students, and the induction ceremony is an opportunity to recognize this as the students prepare to begin their senior years,” Courtney said.    Becoming a member of NHS is no easy feat. Students and their families have good reason to be proud and enjoy this once in a lifetime moment that takes place this week.

Story & Photo by Aressa Steele – Social Media Editor  Adrienne Ray has been a part of the teaching community for nine years. She spent a part of those nine years teaching in the Independence School District at William Chrisman High School. She taught a Chemistry Lab at a college in Colorado and lastly has been teaching at Lee’s Summit North. Many students have enjoyed her presence and her teaching style. Mrs. Ray teaches many different classes, but she is mostly known for her passion for Chemistry.    “I currently teach AS Chemistry 1, Chemistry 2, and AVID 11. I have also taught Chemistry 1, Biology 2, Biology 1, and FPC,” Ray said.    In her earlier years, she attended many different colleges. One of which is The University of Kansas for her bachelor’s degree.     “I attend Johnson County Community College, The University of Kansas, Metropolitan University of Denver, and Western Governors University,” Ray said.    In college, she was very involved in numerous activities. One activity she loved was being a part of the distance running team at The University of Kansas. She is now coaching the girls cross country and distance track teams at LSN.    “I was a Collegiate Distance Runner, I at KU I was a Phog Phanatic for Basket Ball Games, I was in a few different clubs in college like the Oreo Eating Club and Friends who watch Friends club,” Ray said.    Before teaching, she worked as an Assistant Coroner in Aurora, Colorado. This job she experienced allowed her to examine a person’s cause of death. Not only did she work as an Assistant Coroner, but she also had a variety of other jobs.    “I worked as an Assistant Coroner in Aurora Colorado, a Surgical Pathology Gross Tech at the University of Colorado Hospital, and as a Brain/Spinal Tissue Harvester for the Rocky Mountain Multiple Sclerosis Tissue Research Bank. I have also held jobs as a bartender at a variety of bars/ restaurants and clothing stocker at Old Navy in my younger years,” Ray said.    Although Mrs. Ray is teaching now, that wasn’t her first passion. Her first experience teaching showed her an interest she did not realize she had, she began to enjoy teaching! The first experience of teaching for Mrs. Ray lead to the decision of leaving her other jobs behind.    “I have not always wanted to be a teacher. When living in Colorado I did some teaching at the University and I found that I did enjoy it. I left my medical jobs due to burnout, switched to teaching since it was a side job that I enjoyed,” Ray said.    Her first teaching experience led to her teaching for the next nine years. Now, Mrs. Ray’s favorite thing about teaching is seeing students learn and enjoy chemistry each day!

Story by Abbey Euritt – Staff Reporter    With the 2023 track season beginning, new talent and athletes are rising in many events. The multitude of events for the athletes to participate in allows different skills to perform throughout the season. Coach Madison Granillo, the boys and girls hurdles coach, is pursuing her second year of coaching track at Lee’s Summit North, intending to continue building improvement in the athletes.      “[My goals for this season are] continuous improvement and building upon last year, which was my first year coaching at LSN after coaching high jump at Liberty High School for one year before,” Granillo said.     In Granillo’s high school experience, she participated in track, running sprints and hurdles. Track is a large part of her life, and she continues to share her passion while coaching.    “I have such a passion for track and field. It’s how I met my husband and some of my best friends. I enjoy sharing my passion with kids and watching them work hard to get better,” Granillo said.     As she coaches the hurdle events at LSN and also participated in them throughout her high school experience, Granillo shares lots of knowledge about them.      “There are two hurdle races in high school track. For girls, they run the 100m and 300m hurdles and boys run the 110m and 300m hurdles. The short hurdle races have 10 hurdles on the straightaway and the 300m hurdles have 8 hurdles around 3/4 of one lap that are much further spaced apart. They are both sprint events with hurdles to jump over during the race,” Granillo said.     The athletes practice a variety of exercises to further their success at the event each week. Each training session has a specific way of bettering the athletes in different ways.     “We will practice hurdles 2-3 times per week, and the other days the hurdlers might do other events (like jumps) that they will go to practice as well as do the sprinters’ workouts. As I mentioned earlier, the hurdle races are sprinting events with the addition of hurdles, so you need to be able to run fast and hurdle well at the same time,” Granillo said.     As the LSN track team begins their season, new talents have begun to show through the athletes, leaving coaches excited for the success that will hopefully come this season. 

Story by Bailee Council – Entertainment Editor    For seven years now Longview has held a Fine Arts Challenge. This year first place went to junior, Stella Kline.    “I submitted a self-portrait and I wanted to incorporate how fairy tales have influenced me, and how I kind of want to be in a fairy tale,” Kline said.    The competition consisted of entries from all three high schools. Twelve LSN students participated, and six got their work accepted. The students had to deliver their work, the pieces were judged and then a few weeks later there was an opening in which a judge speaks and awards are given -along with third, second, and Best in Show awards. The show stays up for a few weeks where students can retrieve their work.    “Stella’s preparation mostly consisted of her class work, she is in IBVA and Portfolio, as well as a variety of other art competitions like RayPec, UCM, and Show of Excellence,” Colby Mathews, art teacher, said.    Kline expressed how art had always been in her family and she kind of fell into it from her grandmother, but that art was a big passion of hers.    “I didn’t really have any words when I heard I had won because all of the other pieces there were so good, I was very astonished,” Kline said.    Since middle school, Kline says Mathews has helped her with her art journey and taught her how to express her passion for art.    Photo courtesy of Colby Mathews