Examples of mistrust, intolerance, misunderstanding and inequality are everywhere.  Individuals who cross the “color boundaries” of our city may find themselves being followed, pulled over, and sometimes even harassed.

Cultural Leadership is a program focused on learning about the roots of this inequality and what can be done to change it.

“The goal of Cultural Leadership is to create a future generation of leaders, activists and change agents who will fight for social justice, inclusion and an end to discrimination,” Maggie Harris, the director of Programs and Operations for Cultural Leadership said.

Cultural Leadership is in its ninth year of existence. Each year, the program selects 25-30 high school sophomores and juniors from high schools throughout the greater St. Louis area. Most of the students are either African Americans or Jewish Americans; however, there are white Christian Americans as well. The students spend a full year attending workshops and weekend retreats where they learn about both the African American and Jewish experiences, including the roots of discrimination, prejudice, anti-semitism and social injustice.

“Cultural Leadership has changed my life as well as encouraged my previous thoughts. I have put my ideas into action and already have thought of how I will incorporate social justice into my career. It changed me, because whenever I hear a simple comment that is ignorant or discriminatory, I don’t just sit there. I do something. I say something,” junior Barri Wishne said.

In addition, students participate in a three week “Transformational Journey” in June, at which time they visit places of civil rights and social justice significance, including New York City; Washington D.C.; Atlanta, GA, and many other cities throughout the south. They meet with and learn from leaders who have made – and are still making – significant contributions to improving society, such as Senator Claire McCaskill and Chief Justice Clarence Thomas.

“My most memorable experiences during the transformational journey came from bonding with my village as well as hearing motivational speakers. It was important to me that I really hear what they had to say because after all they started out just like me, not knowing exactly how they would make a difference,” Wishne said.

There is a rigorous selection process in order to find teens that demonstrate curiosity, maturity, a sense of civic responsibility and leadership potential. Once accepted participants spend almost 425 hours in intensive programming.

“I would advise people who are interested in joining to understand that Cultural Leadership is not a simple program. It enhances your abilities to read the facts and take action. Yes, it is a serious program, but it was the most fun and invigorating program I have ever been a part of,” Wishne said. “Cultural Leadership is a place where my true values were met with my classmates. It was a chance to practice the mindset I had had all along, about enduing bigotry. Cultural Leadership wasn’t just a program but a lifestyle to live up to and have fun with at the same time.”

In November 2013, Cultural Leadership will accept applications for the 2014 year. To learn more about the program check out www.culturalleadership.org

The results of the election were shared with the student body on May 3 during announcements with clear winners for every section except for representation of a Student Body Treasurer, Publicity Producer and the 2013-2014 Sophomore Class.

In the original election, no students ran for Student Body Treasurer or Publicity Producer so no winners were chosen. However, there are now two current candidates that will be chosen by the Parkway Executive Board after the 2012-2013 school year comes to a close on May 23.

The Sophomore Class candidates ended with a tie between current freshmen, Hope Emerson and Stephen Zang. After a second vote, Emerson and Zang tied again, leading to a Co-Presidency with one another.

The Junior Class officers will be current sophomores, Aron Tesfai, President and Charlie Huff, Vice President.

“I chose who to vote for by looking at the candidate with the most experience with leadership roles and is the most involved in our school,” sophomore Alya Bajwa said.

The Senior Class will be represented by current juniors, Laura Santangelo, President, and Kemone Lindo, Vice President.

Lastly, the new Student Body President for next year will be current junior, Yasmin Younis. The new Student Body Vice President will be current junior, Ezgi Ilhan and Student Body Secretary will be current junior, Rigel Robinson.

“It was easy to choose who to vote for to represent the upcoming senior class and the entire student body for the next year since I know all of the candidates that ran,” junior Noreen Webster said. “I voted for my new Class President and Vice President and my new Student Body President, Vice President and Secretary by choosing the person who I thought would do the best job according to their personalities. Reading their Officer Paragraphs was also an extremely large deciding factor in who to vote for.”

Although Webster read into each candidate and was thorough in deciding who to vote for, she doesn’t believe all students are as careful with their choices as she was.

“A lot of people don’t actually read the candidate’s letters of intention. Most people vote for the names that they know and the people that they know personally,” Webster said.

Likewise, Bajwa feels as if some voters’ intentions were not as they should have been.

“I believe that some people really do take the voting process seriously but I also believe a lot of the student population doesn’t. Sometimes if people that aren’t involved in school and don’t take the process seriously have a friend running for presidency, they’ll vote for them as a joke without knowing what their intentions are. This whole process can mess up the entire system and elect somebody that may not have been the best and most qualified person to be elected,” Bajwa said.

In order to have a more strict look on who can and cannot run for presidency, students should be chosen by not only their involvement in the school, but the classes they take, their extracurricular activities, experience with leadership roles, and have a strong base of teacher recommendations for a leadership role.

Since voting is all online and most campaigns are on some sort of social media site, many students are either unable or unwilling to look at what each candidate has to offer, causing their votes to be less educated than they need to be in order to pick the best person for the Student Council roles.

“If the entire student body had to attend a mandatory assembly in which candidates had to stand up in front of everyone and read their platforms, it would be extremely beneficial for the voting process,” Webster said. In this way, students would be more aware of the hands they are placing not only their individual class but the entire student body in.”

For the project, Osborne cooked fudge and then cooled it in different batches at different temperatures. This caused different sized crystals to form, which she then observed and analyzed. The experiment took a day to make all the fudge and examine the crystals that formed.

“I went online and saw the idea. I like sweets, so I picked it right away. But the fudge actually tasted really gross and terrible.  It was crummy quality fudge,” Osborne said.

Even though contestants could have a partner, Osborne decided to take on the experiment by herself.

“I was new this year so I didn’t know anybody to partner with, but it would have been hard to coordinate between two people so I’m glad I didn’t have one,” Osborne said.

Osborne was awarded a blue ribbon at the Queeny Science Fair and a purple ribbon at the Parkway Science Fair. The $550 she received will go toward her college fund.  She received $400 from Monsanto and $150 from a crystal society.

“I was so excited when I won. I started laughing and yelling and all my friends looked at me like I was an idiot. My parents are making me put the money in my college fund,” Osborne said.

Osborne is currently enrolled in honors physics and plans on continuing to excel in science.

“I was more excited than nervous about going to state another time and the possibility of another top four finish,” junior Grant Keesling said.

The team began in the second seed and played a total of four games against Fort Zumwalt, Kirkwood and MICDS in the semifinals and ended with a game against DeSmet for third place.

“We came out with a zone style defense in the semis which dug us in a whole early.  We came out in a press the second half and were able to claw back,” varsity coach Charlie Cutelli said.

This is the team’s third year in a row making it to state.  In 2011 they placed third and last year they won the state title.

“We are building a tradition of success at West that we hope to continue,”  Cutelli said.

“We were a little rocky at the beginning, but as it progressed we really came together and earned a spot in this tournament,” senior Paige Smith said.

The post season began with a bye, then with a 12-7 victory over Ladue, the team advanced.

“I’m proud of our team and how we’ve played the last few games. I think if we come out hard and ready to play, we’ll succeed,” senior Annie Spewak said.

As the next tournament game approaches, the team is practicing and conditioning.

“We’ve worked on our ride and transition today. As long as we win 50:50 ground balls, we’ll be in good shape,” Spewak said.

The team plays MICDS on May 14  for the next round.

“I think because we know it could be our last game we’ll definitely play as a team and leave it all on the field,” Smith said.

The MICDS team’s record for the season was 12-3, and has not yet played against Parkway West this season.

“I don’t think we will let the rankings bother us going into the game. The biggest challenge for us will be to keep our heads up for the entire game no matter what happens,” Smith said.

With the final four and championships coming, the team is mentally preparing for the possible games ahead.

“We’re just really focused. MICDS is a great team, and we know to win we need to work together as a team, come out strong and stay strong. We’ve been going over plays and I think that will help us to be aware and one step ahead,” junior Kemone Lindo said.

Beautiful Lengths is a partnership between the American Cancer Society and Pantene. They are designed to help women battling cancer. It began in July of 2006 and has since, donated around 24,000 free real-hair wigs to the American Cancer Society. Beautiful Lengths requires at least 8 inches of hair, having no dyes, bleaches or chemicals and should be no more then 5% gray.

On Jan. 6, sophomore Sarah Shin donated her hair to Beautiful Lengths. She posted a Facebook status saying “If 50 people like this status, I will cut my hair for cancer.” Shin got a total of 64 likes on her status.

“It only took about 24 hours to get all the likes on my status, and my hair will grow back, I wanted to give it to someone in need and I wanted to make a change and help someone,” Shin said.

Since the age of six, freshman Rachel Osborne has been donating her hair to Locks of Love. She waits two years between each donation to let her hair grow back out.

Locks of Love is a public non-profit organization that helps kids all around the U.S. and Canada under the age of 21. They donate around 400-500 wigs per year. However the retail price for a hairpiece ranges between $3,500 and $6,000. For kids to receive a hairpiece they must apply online. To donate your hair to Locks of Love it must be at least ten inches long from tip to tip and it must be in a ponytail or braid before it is cut. After it is cut you must mail it in to Locks of Love.

“I love donating to Locks of Love because it is one of the biggest non-profit organizations,” Osborne said, “I hope that getting a wig makes it easier for kids to go through cancer.”

Pink Heart Funds is another organization. Kristen Witt, English Academics Support Center teacher, has donated her hair four times. With Pink Heart Funds it takes seven ponytails to make one wig. They provide free wigs to children and women who have lost their hair no matter what the cause. To donate hair it must be ten inches long, anything less then that is used for bangs. Gray and chemically treated hair is acceptable. After it is cut it must be completely dry before you can mail it in, or it will not be accepted.

“I cut my hair because it grows fast and it’s easy to donate,” Witt said, “I hope that it gives kids one less thing to worry about while they go through a difficult time.”

But as years passed, trends changed.

“Crocs are just socially unacceptable,” junior Jacky Noonan said. “The tan-lines they leave are repulsive.”

However, the social norms have not stopped sophomores Austin Sisk and Claire Webster. Every Late-Start Wednesday, Sisk and Webster sport their Crocs and jibitz at school with great pride.

“Austin and I wanted to bring Crocs back because they’re sensible and comfortable footwear,” Webster said. “We think people should be able to wear them without being judged.”

Webster does not limit her Crocs to Late-Starts, though. She can be seen strutting her pastel blue Crocs almost on a daily basis. Her jibitz are jewels that are strategically placed to catch light.

“I wanted the jewels to kind of catch light so they could reflect and people would be able to see them more clearly. I guess you could say that my Crocs are show stoppers,” Webster said.

Sisk wears his lime green Crocs with pride.

“I like them because they’re really different types of shoes and they are actually comfortable,” Sisk said. “I have a lochness monster jibit that glows in the dark, then a basketball, football, baseball and dinosaurs.”

The two hoped to revive the old trend.

“I basically started wearing them to start the trend again,” Sisk said.

However, Sisk and Webster also look at their Crocs as a way to celebrate.

“Crocs are my favorite things. It’s a perfect way to celebrate Hump-Day,” Webster said.