FeaturesThe West Wind Febraury 13, 20157

Public speaking sparks fear in students

Public speaking anxiety is a fear people may experience when they are delivering or preparing to give a speech or speak in front of others.

According to the Mayo Clinic website, the fear of public speaking is a common phobia. It can range from slight nervousness to paralyz-ing fear and panic.

Some people on the Bellevue West’s Forensics team are scared of speaking in front of crowds and that’s what the class is mainly about. Sophomore Marcus Sandlin recently joined the team and was nervous about what people will think about whatever he’s speaking about.

“I freeze up and get red,” Sandlin said.

But forensics isn’t the only class that speeches are given at West. Every student in an English class is supposed to give two three WR�À�YH�PLQXWH�VSHHFKHV�GXH�WR�WKH�curriculum.

Teachers, like Jamie Procopio, try to be understanding of public speaking anxiety.

“For the most part they re-ally understand that getting up and giving a speech [is something that students need to do]. They re-ally have to understand that no one likes speaking in front of people especially when it’s in front of their peers,” Procopio said.

Senior RaeAnn Daniels has speech anxiety and gets nervous when people stare at her while she’s talking.

“I start shaking and my voice starts wavering and my hands get really sweaty,” Daniels said.

According to the Mayo Clinic website, there are steps you can take to be more comfortable in public speaking. These steps include get organized, practice, visualize your success, do some deep breathing, focus on the material and not the audience, recognize your success, and get support.

“I just try to breathe really

Photo by Patience Jurgens

Senior Katie Cashin gives a speech during her forensics class. 7KLV�VHDVRQ�&DVKLQ�KDV�PDGH�LW�WR�¿�QDOV�FRQVLVWHQWO\�ZLWK�KHU�entertainment speech.

deeply and think they’re just listen-ing and they’re not judging even though they really are,” Daniels said.

Teachers want to help students succeed and be comfortable. Pro-copio said that most of the time the problem is that students aren’t prepared.

“Usually [students] come to me prior to giving me their speech,” Procopio said. “I try to make that distinction between ‘I have anxiety’ versus ‘I just didn’t want to do my work.’ A lot of the time when students actually have anxiety they come to me personally prior to when they’re assigned something.”

In an article written by Jer-emiah Massengale for USA Today, Massengale wrote that the biggest reason students should take a public speaking class is because it prepares students for future events, such as college or job requirements.

“They do need to do this be-cause it’s going to be practice for what they have to so when they get out of high school,” Procopio said.

Patience Jurgens

Reporter

Teen moms motivated by children to succeedCodi Pierce

Reporter

Most teenage girls go to school, work a job, play sports, and hang out with their friends. For juniors Alexis Araujo and Monica Guthrie, they do most of that and are also mothers.

Guthrie has a one-year-old son named Austin and Araujo has a 17-month-old son named Jayden.

Both Guthrie and Araujo agree that their sons have had huge im-pacts on their lives. Growing up quicker and becoming a lot more mature sooner, happened to both mothers.

“I definitely had to grow up earlier but I don’t mind it,” Guthrie said. “It just means twice the love, twice the hugs and twice the kisses a little earlier.”

Having a child comes with a lot of responsibilities. For Araujo, she feels it’s one of the hardest things she’s ever done.

“You can’t even imagine how hard it is to have to balance every-thing out while being a student,” Araujo said.

As far as being a student, Araujo has been influenced by her own experiences to become a neonatal surgeon, which is a surgeon who performs operations on newborn babies. She is involved in a program through the University of Nebraska Medical Center which is designed for students who are aspiring physicians, surgeons, etc.

“I am in the UNMC HSA (High School Alliance) program that al-lows students of upper classes to

H[SORUH� WKH� FDUHHU�À�HOGV� RI �PHGL�cine,” Araujo said. “The classes I have taken so far are Pathology, Community Health, and Anatomy & Physiology.”

Araujo’s son, Jayden, has always KDG�DQ�LQÁ�XHQFH�RQ�KHU�WR�UHDFK�KHU�goals and to achieve.

“I have always excelled in all of my science classes and science has always been astonishing to me,” Araujo said. “I cannot explain in words how much motivation and encouragement he gives me.”

When it comes to balancing out their school, family, friends, and work, the girls have learned to work that in around their sons. Guthrie said that its a lot easier than it seems. Araujo on the other hand, believes

that balancing everything has been the hardest part.

“I don’t typically hang out with IULHQGV�DOO� WKDW�PXFK�ZKLFK� LV�À�QH�with me. When I do though, Jayden comes with me,” Araujo said. “We’re a package deal.”

A lot of outside help and sup-port is there for these young teen moms, including a program at Bel-levue West called the Head Start program.

“The Head Start Program is a federally funded program that we provide space for. Its purpose is to provide low income parents with a daycare for their children so they can go to work or in our case, it’s re-ally targeting teen moms,” principal Kevin Rohlfs said.

The kids are kept there and the parents are allowed to go see them typically over their lunch break, dur-ing a study hall, or whenever they have free time.

“I get to use the daycare that is in Bellevue West which is great because I can check on Jayden when-ever and get to have lunch with him every day,” Araujo said.

Overall, the program has had a positive effect on the school and has worked out great for the teen moms and their push for graduation.

“The graduation rate at West for teen moms without the program was less than 50% and the gradua-tion rate with the program has now increased to 95%,” Rohlfs said.

In order for teen parents

at West to take advantage of the program, they have to be attending school. This prevents parents from dropping off their kids and skipping school. Their child also has to be three months old.

“The program is free for the parents. It provides meals for the kids and the parents just have to provide a change of clothes,” Rohlfs said.

The program allows for parents to be in school and still be progress-ing with credits.

“Honestly all my teachers were understanding and I couldn’t thank them enough for not giving up on me,” Araujo said.

Both girls believe it’s more of a personal insight as to whether young age affects one’s ability to be a good mother.

“Some women and make poor choices that could affect their future as a mother,” Guthrie said. “But some teenagers can accept the situ-ation and make better choices.”

:DLWLQJ�XQWLO�\RX�DUH�À�QDQFLDOO\��emotionally, and physically ready to have a child is the best option in Araujo’s view.

“But I do not believe that my DJH� UHÁ�HFWV�P\� SHUVRQDO�ZD\V� RI �parenting,” Araujo said. “I can say that I think I am a great mother to my son.”

Araujo has learned many things since becoming a mother.

“If I had to say one thing about being a mother, it would be that being a mother is learning about strengths you never knew you had,” Araujo said.

Photo by Codi Pierce

Junior Monica Guthrie feeds her son, Austin, during their lunch time together. Guthrie became a mother at WKH�DJH�RI�����³,�GH¿�QLWHO\�KDG�WR�JURZ�XS�HDUOLHU�EXW�,�GRQ¶W�PLQG�LW�´�*XWKULH�VDLG�

Cardboard activism: Miralles speaks with signs

Masses of students push and yell in the hallways, their backpacks and bodies shoved together in a lump. In this din, with cardboard signs in hand, she speaks louder with printed words than any voice can.

Quietly, through knowing smiles and shared support, junior Jade Miralles is changing the way people think about feminism and gender roles.

“So we had a whole bunch of cardboard laying after Christmas,” Miralles said. “I’ve always wanted to put my voice out there. I was being more resourceful in something I had wanted to do for a while.”

On Jan. 22, Miralles began her cardboard campaign, bringing a cardboard sign to school.

At first, Miralles was simply moved to make a statement on femi-nism; she wanted address some of the misconceptions about the idea.

“Feminism means equality for everyone and that we should not be discriminated [based upon] our gender,” Miralles said. “Our gender does not make us less or more of a person.”

But soon that idea grew into addressing other important LG-BTQ topics, and Miralles wanted to change the way people use their words. Gay, for example, is a word to describe someone’s sexual orien-tation, not to be used as an insult.

“I’ve heard a lot of homopho-

bic language in the hallways and a lot of people don’t agree with feminism because they don’t know what it’s about,” Miralles said.

Her other goal is to clarify mis-understandings about gender roles, and to put those ideas in a more positive light. To do this, Miralles uses humor in the signs she makes, such as the slogan, “Why have gen-der roles when you can have sushi rolls?”

“I thought it was a quick, funny thing to put on my sign,” Miralles said. “It’s something to laugh at, like why have gender roles? We shouldn’t be guided by these sets of principles [based on] our gender.”

By doing this, and by presenting the issue in a positive light, Miralles hopes people will be more inclined to think deeply about what gender roles mean, and to think critically about their impact on modern so-ciety.

Other slogans are more serious, aimed at ending gender discrimina-tion with accepting slogans like, “Your gender does not make you more or less of a person,” and, “Trans people are just as valid as you are.”

On the whole, Miralles said the reaction to her activism has been positive.

´,·YH�JRWWHQ�KLJK�À�YHV��WKXPEV�up, people wanting to take pictures with me. I’ve gotten more positive [reactions] than negative,” Miralles said.

For the people who didn’t take her message seriously, and made

jokes about the signs, Miralles simply responds calmly.

“I wouldn’t say anything snarky back. I would try to explain,” Mi-ralles said.

Miralles said she was inspired by senior Tatianna Hizar.

“She’s an activist [in her cloth-ing] and in social media,” Miralles said. “I’ll always ask for her help and she knows more about it than I do. She’s my go-to person.”

The most rewarding part has been knowing that others feel just

as she does.“Some people who are too

scared to talk about it are thanking me,” Miralles said. “The positive re-actions are great to see. I plan to do it for the rest of the year and I plan on doing it next year too.”

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Grant Harrison

Editor-in-Chief

Photo by Patience Jurgens

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