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
“People should look forward to taking [the] Poetics of Hip-Hop class. Mr. [Dan] Barnes kind of lets us explore a bunch of rap music and [we] try to justify how it's poetry. Other students like to bring in their own music. For example, we do daily dissections. So, he hands us a paper, and whatever student is presenting, they pick the song. I think it was ‘Yale’ by Ken Carson, and we kind of just did a deep dive into that. It's just a really fun thing [we get to do]. We [have] learned how hip hop came to be, and it's just really fun. We share our music experiences, and Mr. Barnes is definitely the best teacher for that. But there's also different styles in rap. We have seen pop songs be tried to turn into rap, and it just doesn't work. It's not poetry like rap is. I think everyone should take this class, because it's a really fun English class, and it's one of the many options that seniors have here. It offers [an opportunity] to look at music in a new perspective, which has been constantly [downed upon] because of the lyrics and how vulgar they [can be], but it's just poetry. It's about the deeper meaning behind it.” - Evangeline Copeland, 12

Evangeline Copeland

Taylor Faintich, Staff Writer • December 12, 2024

President-elect Donald Trump has big plans to change the American education system, promising to dismantle the Department of Education and to restrict federal funding toward schools teaching about critical race theory or gender identity. In our increasingly polarized nation, we need public schools to create educated citizens with critical thinking skills and uncensored history knowledge.“It's almost disgusting how both Democrats and Republicans have politicized getting an education on different cultures and races' history in America. If the schools have the resources and the teachers to be teaching these classes, then they should be strongly encouraged, if not required to be learning this information in a non-political way,” senior Gianna Lionelli said.

Now what?

Pathfinder Editorial Board • November 30, 2024

On Nov. 5, America made its decision. Former President Donald Trump was re-elected for his second term of presidency and, to little surprise, a majority of Missouri counties sided with this ending. The...

Spring Spirit Week

Sakenah Lajkem, Esta Kamau, and Ruthvi Tadakamalla • March 4, 2024

Culinary teacher Katie Hashley receives two haikus around her door. Student writers chose to highlight the wafting scents and spice concoctions created in the kitchen. “I love that the students chose to write haikus about our class because especially if it’s a former student, it lets me know that they really enjoyed taking the class,” Hashley said. “[The haikus] were completely true. When we bake cookies, the whole school does, in fact, know. In my mind, it’s free advertising for students to take the class. It also made me really happy because when we make cookies, it’s always a really fun day for students.”

Hoards of Haikus

Addie Gleason, Managing Editor-in-Chief • March 15, 2023

White papers appear spontaneously outside classrooms and school locations, each detailing an essential part of school culture. Formatted in the familiar three-line structure of a classic haiku, student...

Greeting students with a poem and a smile, junior Nicole Imral hands out one of many pocket-sized poems in her stack. Spread out near the school entrances, Imral and several other National English Honors Society (NEHS) members informed students and staff about the day and handed out poems. “I love poetry. I was excited about [Poem in Your Pocket Day] because it's fun to read a bunch of different poems you've never read before, especially short ones because it's easier to get through them,” Imral said.

National English Honors Society celebrates Poem in Your Pocket Day

Cindy Phung, Editor-in-Chief • May 24, 2022

As the morning rush of students flooded the school entrances, each person was greeted with a poem printed on a brightly colored slip of paper. On Thursday, April 28, Poem in Your Pocket Day was celebrated...

New Courses on the Block

New Courses on the Block

Madi Michajliczenko, Conceptual Editor-in-Chief • March 10, 2022

Sixteen requests, four alternates. For years, students have logged into Infinite Campus to register for the following year’s courses. While the registration period has passed, several new courses have...

Featured with his kids’ motivational signs, English teacher Dan Barnes poses with his family after the 2021 St. Jude Memphis Half-Marathon. Barnes raised over $700 for patients at St. Jude. “I think the mental side of [the run was difficult]. Going into the half-marathon the week before, I was just like ‘I haven't done enough.’ It was just the uncertainty of doing something I'd never done before. But it was everything that I wanted,” Barnes said.

English teacher Dan Barnes runs half-marathon in support of St. Jude

Emily Early, Editor-in-Chief • January 12, 2022

English teacher Dan Barnes stands in the rain at the starting line of the 2021 St. Jude Memphis Half-Marathon, anticipating the sound that would initiate the race. He had spent three months training for...

English teacher Dan Barnes points to a book that was eaten by his student’s dog.

“My dog ate my homework”

Addie Gleason, Managing Editor-in-Chief • December 1, 2021

Starting out at a new school, teachers carefully craft lesson plans and decorate their classrooms, preparing for the typical trials and tribulations of the everyday class commotion. However, there are...

As part of Creative Writing, students publish short stories.

Aspiring authors: Creative Writing Students publish short stories

Madi Michajliczenko, Conceptual Editor-in-Chief • May 28, 2021

Usually in English classes, students are asked to write narratives, literary analyses and even research papers; however, students in English teacher Dan Barnes’ Creative Writing I and II get to create...

Searching for the piece of art that she will respond to, Creative Writing student and senior Allainah Crawford looks at works from the AP Design and Photography class. “This project is ‘free range’ compared to some of the other ones,” English teacher Dan Barnes said. “With express the music, we have word count, [but] with this one, I just want my students to be inspired by art.”

Art responding to art: Creative Writing 2 and the art department’s curriculum collaboration

Zoe DeYoung, Staff Writer • February 4, 2020

Ekphrasis—better described as art responding to art—is a practice that English teacher Dan Barnes knows well.  When Honors English 3 was offered as a class, Barnes taught ekphrastic response, having...

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