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
Hidden Corners: Uncovering the murals of West

Hidden Corners: Uncovering the murals of West

Sravya Reddy Guda, Staff Writer • May 28, 2024

Parkway West High is home to countless students and nearly six decades' worth of history. While much of its history has been lost over time as students and teachers leave and move on to the next chapter...

With five languages under her belt, junior Suraiya Saroar's plan to become fluent in several languages is underway. Although she is also fluent in English, Hindi, Urdu and Arabic, Saroar's first language, Bangla, is the most important to her to speak fluently. "It is especially important to me to be able to speak my native language, so I can speak to all my relatives properly and not have to worry about them not understanding me," Saroar said.

Proud to be a polyglot

Anna Claywell, Staff Writer • March 10, 2023

Walking through the halls, hundreds of conversations in English surround junior Suraiya Saroar, though her mind goes from language to language. As a friend catches up to her to chat, she replies with an...

Following a district announcement that Latin A and B will be removed from course registration at the middle school, teachers and students with ties to the language have been disappointed. However, some Latin students are taking strides to promote enrollment to rising freshmen. “Even if [the administration] is making these decisions based on numbers, there is a human element that should be considered. How does this affect other teachers? How does this affect families? How does it affect your financial bottom line? As Parkway moves towards a student choice schedule, we need to allow all possible options: including Latin,” Latin teacher Tom Herpel said.

The loss of a language

Madi Michajliczenko, Conceptual Editor-in-Chief • March 2, 2023

What causes a language to die? Is it when people stop speaking it? Reading it? Writing it? Historians have long regarded Latin as a dead language because it no longer has native speakers. However, they...

Latin teacher Tom Herpel helps freshman Maaz Siddiqui understand the practice sentences in the Latin 1 textbook.

Latin teacher Tom Herpel brings his class to life with international travel opportunity

Drew Hayes, CJ1 Writer • January 31, 2022

Attempting to bring the curriculum to life, Latin teacher Tom Herpel offers a 10-day trip to his students to travel to Italy over spring break. During the trip, students immerse themselves in the archeology...

Writing Greek prose on the whiteboard, seniors Nell Jaskowiak and Deirdre Jost practice their letters and accents during their independent study. Taking Greek enables Jost to better prepare for a variety of possible futures, both through the content itself and the skills she retains. “Greek actually has a whole bunch of different accent marks which is not something you have in English,” Jost said. “I feel like I'd like to take [another] language, maybe Spanish or French, in the future and having learned the Greek language with different alphabets and different accent marks might make it easier to learn that language, whatever it may be.”

Growing through Greek: seniors Nell Jaskowiak and Deirdre Jost gain valuable life skills through independent study

Brinda Ambal, Conceptual Editor-in-Chief • April 2, 2019

The hallway is silent and still except for the occasional wanderer in search of the water fountain. A second glance finds seniors Nell Jaskowiak and Deirdre Jost settled on the floor by the Latin room. Jaskowiak...

ASL teacher Tiffani Symons signs to one of her students in her American Sign Language II class. Symons has been teaching for 17 years. "Students are only learning visually. I admire students who are up for this challenge, and my job as a teacher is to promote their learning and success," Symons said.

Getting to know American Sign Language teacher Tiffani Symons

Gabby Leon, STAFF WRITER • February 23, 2018

Pathfinder: What got you interested in teaching? Symons: “I wanted to be a teacher since I was in high school. I realized I wanted to teach deaf and hard of hearing students, so I became a teacher...