Ashlyn Gillespie, Deputy Managing Editor-in-Chief
Pronouns: she/her
Grade: 12
Years on staff: 4
What was your favorite childhood TV show? Little Einsteins or Dinosaur Train
What is your favorite book? I really liked The Things They Carried, but that’s a hard question as always
What motivates you? Being able to meet new people and share their stories, helping their voices be heard through our publication, a platform they may not otherwise have if not for us. That really gets me motivated every day.
![Tilting their head patiently, senior Macy Ziegler gets their face painted in the library in preparation for the Spring Pep Rally. The library invited students to come in during lunch and paint each other’s faces West-themed for the event. “[The event] sounded fun. [Face painting] is a thing I haven't done since I was eight, and I had a friend who wanted to go, so I figured, why not? It's free,” Ziegler said. “I hung out in the library before school a lot last year with my friends, and I enjoyed it.”](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/DSC_0061-1-900x600.jpg)
![NHS members wear red to support and promote blood donations. NHS sponsor and English teacher Erin Fluchel helped student members organize the event. “[Donating blood] is a really small thing that can make a big difference. It can impact people that you don't necessarily know. You don't see the immediate impact, but it can be really powerful,” Fluchel said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/DSC_0004-900x600.jpg)
![Greeting his 3-year-old daughter Molly McCabe, Principal John McCabe smiles after getting pied in the face by senior Esha Francis during lunch. McCabe got pied as a reward for school spirit at the Parkway Holiday Cup Volleyball Tournament on Wednesday Dec. 14. “[Molly] just started her first year of Pre-K and she's loving it. I told her all weekend I was getting pied and she thought it was really funny, so she just wanted to see dad getting pied. She loved it but she told me she was a little bit scared because she didn’t recognize me,” McCabe said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/DSC_0060-900x600.jpg)
![Swimming the 500-freestyle, junior Maddi Lang competes in a home meet against South, Tuesday, Dec. 13. Already five weeks into the season, Lang improved her freestyle time by five seconds. “I loved the meets and how we all supported each other, it was a positive [environment]. At our very first meet, I could see our team at the side of the pool cheering for everyone, which was a cool [experience.] Even though some people might not have [as good of a ranking] as others, we all supported each other,” Lang said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/DSC_0517_2-900x600.jpg)
![Seniors Abigail Wheeler and Grace Fotheringham hand candy to a princess at the varsity cheer trunk. Fotheringham helped decorate with streamers and loved interacting with kids and seeing their costumes. "I love kids, and it [was] a great way [for them] to get involved at West. It was such a cute idea," Fotheringham said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/DSC_0260-900x600.jpg)
![Explaining how to request high school transcripts for the college application, college counselor Chris Lorenz leads a senior class meeting for English teacher Diana Lurkins’ AP Literature class. West High transitioned the counseling department to create a single college counselor, following in the footsteps of the other four Parkway high schools. “I love working with high school [students], coming of age, moving from being a child to an adult. I’m helping individuals through that transition, which encompasses an understanding of themselves and their passions are as they leave high school and go off to do bigger and better things,” Lorenz said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/lorenz-900x600.jpg)
![Wearing a bright smile, custodian Sean Smith sits on a bench greeting students in the morning. Smith believed that if the first thing students see when they enter the school is someone saying good morning, it will make their day that much better. “Now, if you're walking up that walkway with an attitude, I want [you] to see a cheery face that says ‘hey, I'm glad to see you,’” Smith said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/IMG_1186-900x675.jpg)
![Starting at her grid paper, freshman Nola Becquette tries to recreate a spread from another school’s yearbook using Cheez Its, graham cracker, Airheads, Twizzlers, Hershey kisses and Kit Kats. After watching the Pica King video, students applied the skills they learned before getting on to computers to create their own designs. “I definitely got an understanding because before then I didn’t know how to [create a spread]. But now that I have more experience, I finally feel like I can get the hang of it,” Becquette said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/pow1_27-edit.png)
![Freshman Skyler Gulino and freshman Molly Bailey converse and laugh at their second lunch. Now that she has been in person for three months, Bailey is feeling more a part of West than she did last year. “In eighth grade, I was [a part of] the virtual Parkway West (middle school campus) program. I hadn’t actually and physically been in person since about November of 2019, my seventh grade [year],” Bailey said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/skyler-Bailey-900x629.jpg)
![Waltzing with the chambelanes, May Trejo-Vasquez and her court perform the second dance in her quinceañera. Although everything played out smoothly in the end, Trejo-Vasquez and her court had some problems performing the waltz in the rehearsals leading to the big night, due to Trejo-Vasquez’s ball gown. “It was pretty difficult, the boys kept slipping on [the dress] in our last practice but we got it down,” Trejo-Vasquez said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/File_007.jpeg)
![Counting out the steps to the beat, freshman May Trejo-Vasquez and her friends practice the dances for the Quineañera one more time. This was the last of the practices before the big day, and Trejo-Vasquez’s friends who were standing in the ceremony did their part. “All my friends are going to be able to come because most of them are standing in the quince and then the other [friends who are not standing in the ceremony] I’m just inviting, they’re all going to show up,” Trejo-Vasquez said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/IMG-3741-900x675.jpg)
![Principal Jeremy Mitchell measures the distance between desks to aid in contact tracing. After measuring the desks, Mitchell gave the information to Assistant Principal Kate Piffel, who used seating charts to determine close contacts. “Dr. Mitchell measures the desks to see how far apart they are because if they are within six feet [there is a] 98% chance that those students are going to have to quarantine if they're that close to another student,” Piffel said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/DSC_0011-900x600.jpg)
![Seniors Abigayle Dorrance, Sophie Reidt and choreographer Joe Milliano rehearse a tap routine to go along with the song "Toledo Surprise" from “Drowsy Chaperone."
Milliano assisted with auditions and choreography in preparation for the musical. “[The actors] don't have the tap experience but everyone that's working in the musical has a 'can-do' attitude of 'if I work hard at this and I practice I know I can make this happen.' That's what makes it so much fun. And I know that with the hard work that the students are putting in that we will get a great end result as a result of that,” Milliano said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Milano-900x548.jpg)
![Freshman Rohan Daggubati engages in a ping pong match against junior Sri Jaladi. Daggubati has played ping pong for two years and with the Ping Pong Club every Tuesday. "I get the chance to play, and I liked the tournament [we had]," Daggubati said. "[I like that] in the club everybody can play, even if you don't have a table at home."](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/DSC_0127-900x600.jpg)
