The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

Pathfinder
The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

Pathfinder
The Official Student News Site of Parkway West High

Pathfinder
All content by Angie Ren
“I spend a lot of my time volunteering at this shelter every Saturday, called Project Downtown. It’s located in Jennings, Missouri, and the poverty rates are pretty bad over there, so what we do is we make food for them and then distribute food boxes to people who need it in a parking lot. I started volunteering there when I was seven, and I have just stuck with it since. I usually volunteer with my friends, and it’s nice because it creates a fun environment with the people I know and the new people I get to meet. I started volunteering there because just seeing how different these people’s lifestyles are from mine, makes me want to take action and help them in any way I can.” - Rahma Salem, 11

Rahma Salem

Angie Ren, Staff Writer
May 29, 2023
“My favorite hobby is volleyball. I’ve been playing since third grade, and I play for a club outside of school, and I also play for the school team. I love the supportive environment in volleyball, and everyone on the club team is my best friend, so volleyball is a way I get to see them almost every day. There was once when I sprained my ankle, and it took me out for a couple of weeks. It’s a bad feeling because you just have to sit on the sidelines and watch your teammates play, and sometimes your teammates will be losing and you can’t do anything to help them. I usually end up spraining my ankle at least once a season, though, so I’ve gotten used to it since almost everyone gets hurt at least once a season. What keeps me motivated in volleyball is not wanting to let my teammates down. I know some of them want to play volleyball in college, and so I always want to play my best to give them the best games and not take away any of their opportunities.” - Abby Vogelgesang, 11

Abby Vogelgesang

Angie Ren, Staff Writer
May 26, 2023
“Boys Scouts is a big part of my life, and I’ve been doing it since sixth grade. In Boy Scouts, we have weekly meetings, and we learn a lot about survival skills and leadership training. I first joined because I like nature in general, and it's peaceful because of the solitude it brings. My dad is also pretty involved in Boys Scouts too, so he inspired me to join in the first place. My favorite part about Boys Scouts is when we travel out of the state and country for different adventures. We’ve traveled to Philadelphia, places on the east coast, and we’ve even backpacked 100 miles in New Mexico. It can be really fun, but there are also some mental challenges because even though hiking and backpacking are fun, it can be really hard to get myself motivated enough to actually do it, but at the end of the day, I want to achieve these things Boys Scouts brings to me, so I always work my hardest to.” - Chris Gray, 11

Chris Gray

Angie Ren, Staff Writer
May 25, 2023
“Dance is a big part of my life, and it has been since I was three years old. It’s not only really fun, but my closest friends dance with me at my studio, so It’s great getting to see them every day. A specific time I was really proud of myself in dance was when I completed my first solo in sixth grade. I felt proud that I was able to perform in front of such a big crowd, and I actually ended up doing pretty well for my first time competing. A challenging part about dance is when I can’t get a skill, and I don’t know the reason why I can’t. It can be really frustrating since all you want to do is be able to improve in the sport you do. I overcome this by just moving on to a different skill for a while to take a break, and eventually, I’ll come back to the previous skill and work on it for a while again. I love dancing, however, I don’t see myself pursuing it in the future just because it is so time-consuming, and dancing in college can be a big commitment.” - Paige Schnarr, 11

Paige Schnarr

Angie Ren, Staff Writer
May 24, 2023
“Something I’m proud of is how much weight I have lost, and the amount of muscle I have gained back. At the start of quarantine, I was around 220 pounds, and I just wasn’t satisfied with how I looked. I felt pretty pressured by social media influencers, and that’s something that motivated me to want to change my lifestyle. At first, I would just play video games all day, and I was losing weight in an unhealthy way, but one day my friends started going to the gym, and I just thought it was finally time to change. Now, I’ve been going to the gym for almost two years, and I have lost around 60 pounds. I try to go almost every day because it’s just a part of my daily routine now, and it’s something that makes me happy. I also feel proud to see how much improvement I have made, but I’m still not satisfied with how I look yet. I want to be able to compete in the future with weightlifting, and I’m hoping to gain even more muscle than I have now.” - Michael Tigue, 11

Michael Tigue

Angie Ren, Staff Writer
May 23, 2023
“Something I do outside of school is that I resell different video game skins on Counter-Strike and game bundles. I used to also resell sports cards, but I don’t really focus on that anymore. As a short summary of what I do, I go on sites where I can buy skins for less than they’re worth, and I would resell them on different Chinese websites. I first started doing this as just a side business because I wanted to earn money in something that I spend some of my free time doing. Counter-Strike is a fun game, so I thought, just why not try to earn money by playing games? Now I just use the money I earn to invest more into buying skins on video games to resell, and it has now become a continuous cycle.” - Phillip Tovrea 11

Phillip Tovrea

Angie Ren, Staff Writer
May 22, 2023
I’m passionate about doing well in school. I think that as a freshman it’s important to start on the right foot in high school since it can affect how you do later in the year. A lot of people say freshman year doesn’t matter, but I still want to do the best I can on all of my tests and homework so that I can get the grades that I want. Doing well can also give me a cushion for next year and the years after that, and if I do well it can make college cheaper with scholarships. I hold high expectations of myself, and it stresses me out and I get frustrated knowing that I could have done better.” - Camden Wilford, 9

Camden Wilford

Angie Ren, Staff Writer
May 19, 2023
One of my biggest accomplishments is winning all districts and second, all-conference in the top suburban conference of Missouri. No freshman in Missouri won my conference, so I’m really proud because all of my hard work paid off. I’ve been playing basketball for my whole life, and so did my mom and my grandma, so it sort of runs in the family to play basketball in high school and college. My coach is my biggest inspiration because he’s always cheering me and motivating me on the court. He’s probably my number-one fan. I can see myself playing for the rest of high school and it’s also my dream to play basketball in college.” - Ava Albanese, 9

Ava Albanese

Angie Ren, Staff Writer
May 18, 2023
“Something I am hoping to do in the future is college gymnastics. I have currently been doing gymnastics for 13 years, and my parents first put me in because they needed to find a way to get me out of the house. I have practice five days a week, and I compete from December through May. I have met some of my best friends through gymnastics, and my teammates and coaches motivate me to improve because just seeing my teammates work hard and progress makes me want to improve too. I’ve faced a few injuries throughout the years, and it can be really hard to recover from them. Because my practices are so often, if I’m injured I have to miss a lot of the time which can be really damaging to my improvement because gymnastics is all about repetition and it’s hard to get back into it after you take time off. I definitely want to do gymnastics in college, and I’m currently trying to get recruited by emailing coaches and sending videos of my gymnastics skills.” - Ava Bauman, 11

Ava Bauman

Angie Ren, Staff Writer
May 15, 2023
“I’m passionate about being close to others around me. Good friendships influence my life when I can have a lot of people around me, and it makes me happy to see other people happy too. I put myself in a lot of new social environments where I’ll pursue new hobbies and meet new people in those spaces. I got into Dungeons and Dragons, car mechanics, and video games which is where I mostly meet new people. One of my favorite things to do with my friends is going on walks since it’s a relaxing activity and puts you in a more personal situation where it creates more room and time to talk to them. I also talk to my friends and see if they know anyone new in my areas of interest, and then I’d go and introduce myself to those people. Overall I value building new and current friendships, and I hope to be able to continue that for the rest of my life.” - Mason Sehi, 11

Mason Seay

Angie Ren, Staff Writer
May 12, 2023
“Traveling is my favorite thing to do since my family loves to travel too, and we always visit new places with every opportunity we get. Over spring break, I went to Rosemary Beach in Florida with my friend. My family loves traveling to warm places, so a few of my favorite vacations have been when we visited Jamaica, the Grand Cayman Islands and Mexico. I would describe myself as adventurous, so traveling is extremely exciting to me since I visit places that I only ever get to hear about. When traveling, there’s also no stress of school or anything back home, so it’s like a whole week of fun. Over the Summer, I’m going to be traveling to Alaska, where I get to try bobsledding for the first time, and I’m very grateful I get the opportunity to do something like that.” - Emma Nunnelee, 11

Emma Nunnelee

Angie Ren, Staff Writer
May 11, 2023
“Currently, college has been stressful for me, especially because I’m trying to get recruited for field hockey, and a lot goes into that process. It’s overwhelming since I feel a lot of pressure to not only go to a good college but one that also has a competitive field hockey team. So far, I have attended college recruitment tournaments, and I have emailed several colleges. Still, I haven't completed my field hockey profile, which is where recruiters can see and learn more about me. I want to play field hockey in the future since I’ve been playing my whole life, and I love playing sports in general. Field hockey is my favorite hobby by far, and it’s something that makes me happy and always brings up my mentality. I spend all my time playing after school, and it’s my dream to continue playing in the future. I’m okay if I don’t end up playing for a division, I just want to keep doing what makes me happy.” - Ava Reuther, 11

Ava Reuther

Angie Ren, Staff Writer
May 10, 2023
“I’m passionate about going to the gym, and I’ve been going since November of 2021. I started going to the gym since I would always see gym routines and videos on my Tik Tok For You Page, and one day I decided to try it out and ended up enjoying it. I started going more often with friends, which became entertaining, so I kept going. I have gotten a lot more confident in the gym because I try to work out after school almost every day or on days I don’t have work. Going to the gym has not only improved my mental health a lot more, but I can see a lot of improvement in my physical strength and appearance. I have also noticed that it’s made me happier and energized overall since seeing slow improvement within myself daily gives me satisfaction. I want to keep improving and working towards learning more exercises to help me once track and tennis season starts again.” - Karley Josef, 11

Karley Josef

Angie Ren, Staff Writer
May 9, 2023
“Fishing is my favorite hobby to do outside of school. My friend, Andrew Leonard, invited me to go fishing [during] the summer of 2020, and that’s when I started to realize how much I liked to fish since before, I never really thought much of it. During the summer, I would go multiple times a week with my friend, Max Brophy, and we still sometimes do now, but since it’s cold out, the fish usually don’t take the bait as often. I love fishing because I don’t have to talk to people, and I can just listen to music for hours while no one bothers me. It’s peaceful. I have also grown a lot closer to Max since it gives us a lot of alone time to talk and spend time together. I’m looking forward to this summer so I can go fishing with my friends and have a good time overall.” - David Hawiger, 11

David Hawiger

Angie Ren, Staff Writer
May 8, 2023
“Something exciting happening in my life right now is lacrosse season. I’ve been playing lacrosse since freshman year, and I’m looking forward to playing this year since there will be more new people on the team. I recently had tryouts, and it was nice to see all the girls again and the new people coming up and just hanging out together. It was a little stressful just because everyone was worried about what teams they were going to be placed on, but in the end, it all worked out well, and everyone was happy with where they were. I’m excited about the team bonding this year since we didn’t get to do that many things together outside of school last year. Our team has already been planning different hangouts this year, and some of my favorites are movie nights, brunches, and slideshow nights. I plan to play lacrosse throughout the rest of high school since I want to improve myself and work on my stick work.” - Ruby Pfiel, 10

Ruby Pfiel

Angie Ren, CJ1 Writer
April 28, 2023
“I spend a lot of my time after school working at HiTea, and I work there once a week. At first, I started working there because I wanted to earn money, but I really enjoy making the drinks and serving them to customers. It’s fun to see first-time customers who have never had boba before and to see their reactions to it since it is pretty different from other popular drinks. Work can sometimes be draining since I’ll have a long day at school, but then I have to go straight to work after. I have made some of my closest friends through work, which makes it less draining, and sometimes I even look forward to going. I can see myself working there for the rest of high school, but after college, I want to pursue a career in math or science. Even though working at a boba shop and a career in math is different, working at HiTea for two years has definitely given me a lot of experience in the business world. It has improved my social skills tremendously.” - Louis Liu, 10

Louis Liu

Angie Ren, Staff Writer
April 21, 2023
“Tennis is something I spend a lot of my time on. My dad played tennis throughout high school, so he wanted me to get involved in the sport so that he could teach me. I enjoy playing tennis because I love to win, and it gives me satisfaction to have a mindset to strive to win every game. My favorite tennis player, Roger Federer, inspires me to do my best in tennis, and I learned a lot from him just by watching him play. His strokes are very pretty, and his form is really good, so he usually is my go-to pro tennis player to watch. Along with just enjoying tennis, it has also improved my thought process and mentality a lot because when you’re playing singles, you don’t have a lot of help, so you have to think and do everything for yourself. This has also helped me in school because, say if you’re taking a test or doing work, you have to work independently and for yourself.” - Kai Daudsyah, 10

Kai Daudsyah

Angie Ren, Staff Writer
April 17, 2023
“I grew up in Oslo, Norway, where I lived until I was 8. My family and I moved to St. Louis since my parents thought Norway was too cold year-round. When we moved here, it was pretty hard because I didn’t know how to speak English, and everything about my surroundings was different. I had to pick up English quickly, which changed my personality in some ways because it was hard to talk to people. Not knowing how to speak English made me a little more independent and less social, and I started to seclude myself from others because I couldn’t talk to them. Right now, I still can be slightly anti-social, but I have become more comfortable because of how long it’s been. My family and I still visit Norway almost every year, and I love to ski there because there are really big mountains and it snows a lot. Even though my family and I moved to a different country, we still carry out our old Norwegian traditions. I speak Norwegian to my family at home, and we always watch Norwegian movies together.” - Max Brophy, 11

Max Brophy

Angie Ren, Staff Writer
April 17, 2023
During tryouts, members of the chess club practice for the tournament and make team selections. During Academic Lab, players practiced checkmates in a variety of settings from rapid games under 10 minutes such as bullet and blitz to standard games which run over an hour. “Forming a full team this year was an enjoyable experience in and of itself, such that I was not only playing for myself but also for my school. This extra motivation undoubtedly heaped more pressure on me but provided more gratification,” team captain and junior Wilson Gao said.

[Photo] Moving on from winning accolades at State Chess Championship

Raj Jaladi, Newsletter Editor/Data Analyst
May 19, 2022