According to an article in The International Business Times by BS Unnikrishnan , excavation of an ancient Mayan ruin called Tortuguero in Tabasco, Mexico, revealed an inscription which indicated uncertain but possible cataclysmic events in connection with the Mayan god of war and creation. The stone tablet with the inscription referenced Dec. 21, and people have interpreted this information as the end of the world.

At a second site, the Comalcalco ruin, another brick was found with the same date inscribed on the surface. This brick was covered in stucco and facing inward, leaving Mayan translation experts to believe that its prophetic message was not meant to be seen by average people.  Along with a nearly illegible ending to the inscription, archaeological experts and scientists remain unconvinced by the prophecy of doom.

“There’s no future tense marking [on the brick], which in my mind points more to the Comalcalco date being more historical than prophetic,” David Stuart, specialist in Mayan inscriptions at the University of Texas, wrote in a press statement.

The Mayans followed a cyclical calendar called the Long Count, which began in 3,114 B.C. It marks time in roughly 394 year periods known as Baktuns. The number 13 was a significant and sacred number among the Mayans, and the 13th Baktun ends around Dec. 21, 2012. Since the calendar is cyclical, the end of this period is seen by many experts as the end of a rotation, not as the end of the world nor associated with apocalyptic events, according to an article by Elisabeth Malkin in The New York Times.

According to an article in The New York Times, astronomers say there is no astrological phenomenon scheduled to occur near that date, which denounces some of the claims the world will be affected by the alignment of the sun and galactic center or through solar sunspot activity. Many of the KHS history teachers are firm believers in fact, not superstition over the projected date.

Though media has exploited this end-of-the-world theory through advertising techniques and movies such as 2012, scientific evidence disputes many of the doomsday theories.  The belief in cataclysmic events leading to the end of the world can be explained by faith in a religion of god of some kind, said Stephen Platte, history teacher.

“If they believe fervently then the world doesn’t make sense,” Platte said. “It’s full of misery and contradictions, so some kind of rapture is a logical way to extrapolate that their god is all-powerful.”

Though he does not believe the world will be ending in 2012, BJ Kenyon, history teacher, puts a positive spin on the possibility of doom.

“At least I’ll have made it to my 44thbirthday,” Kenyon said. “And I won’t have to do any Christmas shopping.”

“Someone needs to put me in a group because I’m not like them, so they need to put a label on me,” Matthews said.

While others have referred to her as agnostic, Matthews dislikes the term due to its attachment to a God and spirituality. Her faith lies in scientific fact, since she does not believe in an afterlife.

Though both her parents were raised Catholic, they are fine with Matthews’ beliefs.

“If I wanted to believe in some man in the sky or even a flying spaghetti monster, they would be okay with that,” Matthews said.

Matthews does not have holidays or traditions to celebrate, but she believes in the importance of morals and interactions with other people. According to Matthews, a quote by Eddie Izzard, a British comedian, sums up her beliefs.

“‘I don’t believe in God, I believe in us, as human beings.’ There is a spirituality to it, but it’s more of how people interact, and that’s what I’m interested in,” Matthews said.

 
After watching her mother teach an introduction to meditation course at the Big Bend Yoga Center, Buddhism captured Pagano’s interest. Buddhism is a non-theistic religion, which means there is no God.

 
“It’s really just about coming to inner and outer peace using awareness, and meditation is a huge factor,” Pagano said. “It really builds confidence and you get to know yourself.”

 
While Buddhists are typically encouraged to meditate for an hour each day, Pagano is realistic about the amount of time a busy teenager has. To get in the habit, she tries to meditate for about five minutes each day. In comparison to many of her friends who are Jewish and Catholic, Pagano feels her Buddhist beliefs keep her relaxed and free of stress.

 
“There’s a whole lot of stress you can come by as a teenager, and this is just taking a few minutes a day to just stop and not have to think about anything,” Pagano said.

Cole Reinkemeyer, freshman, has utilized Churchill’s program since fourth grade. Reading, writing and typing have always been a struggle for Reinkemeyer, and although it does not alter his ability to play lacrosse or shoot air soft guns, Reinkemeyer’s dyslexia causes him trouble with his everyday reading and writing skills.

At age 2, Reinkemeyer showed signs of speech problems, so his parents decided to have him tested for different learning disabilities. Reinkemeyer went through timed reading and sound and symbol tests, and while his math scores were high, he tested positive for a learning disability in reading.

“I was already used to it so [when I found out I had a reading disability], I wasn’t worried about my future in school,” Reinkemeyer said.

While Reinkemeyer’s mother, Irene Reinkemeyer, was concerned about her son’s dyslexia at first, she was confident he would be able to overcome it.

“It’s not something that’s going to ever go away,” Irene said, “but he will learn strategies that will help him throughout his life.”

Reinkemeyer meets with private tutor Maggie Scheurer at Churchill every Monday after school. The program offers one-on-one tutoring and consultation services for students not enrolled full-time in any Churchill Programs.

“We work on reading and learn ways to chunk it so it’s easier,” Reinkemeyer said.

Mary Brotherton, director of Community Outreach at Churchill, is in charge of setting up fundraisers and reaching out to the community. Brotherton believes in focusing on teaching students the skills needed to make their daily life a little bit easier.

“[I think that] knowing how to figure something out is more important than memorizing facts,” Brotherton said. “Our goal is to work on deficit areas and as quickly as possible return [the kids] to a traditional school.”

Reinkemeyer’s parents had first thought about enrolling him into Churchill’s daily schooling program, but he soon was able to compensate for his weakness in reading and keep his grades up in a traditional school.

“I think that Churchill has really done wonders for him,” Irene said. “We were really lucky to find it.”
Since attending Churchill Center & School, both Reinkemeyer and his parents have seen an improvement in his reading and writing struggles. Reinkemeyer hopes that because of Churchill, he will one day be able to completely overcome his dyslexia.

“He’s really just like any other kid,” Irene said. “We just want him to be whatever he wants to be.”

“Do I see backwards? Sometimes,” Yarborough said. “Do I start reading in the middle of passages? A lot. But as far as being capable? Never been a problem.”

After being considered “dumb” by her teachers as a young student, Yarborough had to repeat the first grade. Her struggles with reading and writing became easier, however, once she started attending “brain training” sessions conducted by scientists at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. The sessions involved recognizing shapes and patterns and repeating the patterns she was given. The point of the exercises was to learn techniques that would help her make sense of the scrambled letters and opposite directions created by her brain. She still uses many of those strategies to this day.

Though she still occasionally writes a sentence on the board backwards or starts reading a textbook from the middle of the passage, Yarborough has never feared embarrassment from her students.

“I’m honest [with the students],” Yarborough said. “[I tell them] this is who I am. I have dyslexia. Sometimes I’m going to write things backwards on the board. So when I do, tell me.”

After 25 years of teaching, Yarborough has encountered many students with dyslexia, and realizes that every case is different. Student’s brains may have a different way of organizing letters or recognizing patterns. When spelling, she tends to start with the letters in the middle of the word, then work her way outwards.

Though dyslexia is a daily struggle for Yarborough, she encourages those with the condition to understand the way their brains function and work hard to maintain those “brain training” skills.

“You have to train your body,” Yarborough said. “Work harder. Know your tactics. Know when your brain gets tired.”

When Karrer was around the age of 4, her parents and teachers began to notice that she was having trouble reading at the same level as the other kids. After testing in the Special School District of St. Louis revealed a deficiency in her reading abilities, Karrer was officially diagnosed with dyslexia.

Since her dyslexia affected the way she viewed letters and numbers, Karrer had many difficulties comprehending her schoolwork. Spelling tests were particularly difficult, and she often spent hours memorizing the words for a quiz with 15 questions.

“I could probably recite the test better than actually doing it on paper,” Karrer said.

Karrer’s parents used unique methods and mediums to help her brain comprehend the shapes of letters, such as writing words in crayon, chalk and even in impressionable surfaces like sand. These tricks helped Karrer approach reading in a new direction, and her difficulties have improved over the years.

“Things are just foreign at first, like driving a car,” Cindy Karrer, Karrer’s mother, said. “Like knowing how far to turn the wheel, it’s just a learned skill to apply.”

As an actress, one of her greatest challenges is cold reading, or reading from a script for an audition without reviewing it. When auditioning for a big role, Karrer calls to see if she could get a copy of the script ahead of time. Since many of the casting directors are unable to do so, Karrer will use connections at the Muny or through a college friend to find the script for the play.

Reading through any part that she could potentially be considered for, Karrer memorizes all the lines for the play.

Nikki Clodfelter, junior and Karrer’s friend, said Karrer’s dyslexia doesn’t keep her from being successful as a performer.

“It does slow down the process, and it requires work other people may not put into it,” Clodfelter said.

Karrer hopes to get a minor in musical theater and a major in teaching. Her ambitions are directed towards helping other kids who have dyslexia, and showing them what they can achieve if they work to overcome their disorder. Karrer’s goal is to tell her story and let them know that everything happens for a reason.

When she was younger, Karrer hid her dyslexia from friends and classmates. But this summer Karrer traveled to New York for a teen Broadway camp and gained a new perspective after seeing successful people who went through the same ordeals she did.

“I have no problems telling people about my issues anymore,” Karrer said. “Its not even an issue, it’s just telling about the way my life is.”

At KHS we have McCallie Hall and the Keating Theater, both named after retired principals. If you could have one building in the school named after you, what would it be?
I wouldn’t ever think about that, truthfully. Here’s more than you need to know. My grandmother donated money in my mother’s name to the ATLAS program. There was a sign that said “Holley Hall” on that door by ATLAS. The first couple of years it was up I thought, “This isn’t what our family does. Our family does not want names on things.” So I took it down. [My family] does not do this for our name on something.

If you could name three people you could not survive without at KHS who would they be?
I wouldn’t do that either. I don’t want to exclude people. I could say Mrs. Ravenscraft because she keeps my life orderly, but there are people I talk to every single day. Mike Wade does certain things, Chris Lindquist does certain things, the administration are the people with whom I’m in the closest contact with. I talk to [Randy] Kriewall [math teacher] everyday because he makes me laugh. Kriewall and I have become very good friends through this experience.

If you could take one class at Kirkwood, what would it be?
I always like sitting in Mr. Olderman’s or Mr. Platte’s history class because I’m a history guy. But I think someone out of the box would be David Cannon [choir teacher]. He knows this; I fancy myself as a singer and I’m really not. So I would like to be in that class.

If you were a student at KHS today, what kind of student would you be? Would you be taking hard classes?
They didn’t have these harder classes when I went here. I played basketball. I knew the standard in my house was pretty low. You better not come home with anything less than a 3.0. What has shaped my belief in this school is my experience as a student was so based on who taught the class, I didn’t care what the subject was. If I had a great math teacher, I loved math. If I had a great science teacher, I loved science. I didn’t really have great history teachers. That’s part of the reason why when I got to college and had great history teachers, I began to love history. But in high school I never challenged myself. Sometimes I worry about kids trying to do too much. I wonder if we push kids too hard. My son was the editor of The Call, he was the vice president of Student Council, he was on the swim team and the water polo team and he took two or three A.P. courses and he almost couldn’t make it through his senior year. There was a point when he almost melted down. That’s why I try to play and have fun to let kids laugh a little bit. Being 18 or 17 is pretty hard sometimes.

Do you feel like you’re ever pushed too hard in your job?
Not lately. Not since December. Probably, but I don’t remember. I thought coaching and teaching were way harder than being a principal. How about trying to teach five out of six hours of history and being a great history teacher? I worked hard at trying to be a great history teacher, and I worked hard at trying to be a great basketball coach, and I worked hard at trying to be a good father and to be a great husband. That was way harder than being a principal. Way harder.

What is the hardest part of your job? Is it the meetings?
I don’t have meetings because I hate meetings. I don’t discipline kids because I have great assistant principals. The hardest part for me was finding great teachers, and finding the teachers in this school and encouraging teachers who aren’t up to the standard to lead. That’s hard. What I never learned in graduate school is how to get rid of the teachers who are here that aren’t good teachers. That’s not easy. It can be gut-wrenching because of what it does to lives of those people.

What was the single hardest day you ever had as a principal?
There’s no doubt about that. I can’t even talk about it. My first year a kid who my daughter was with Friday night before Turkey Day committed suicide on Monday morning. Imagine Turkey Day of your senior year, one of the most popular kids in the class on that Monday, committed suicide. If I ever have to go to somebody’s house again where the child has committed suicide, I’m just going to keep on walking. I can’t do that anymore. I’ve done that too many times. A death is terrible. But that was the worst week of my entire principal career. It affects my daughter to this day. I don’t know if that’s too serious, but that’s the truth.

How about the best day?
This is kind of goofy. I love Kriewall [former head boys’ basketball coach]. The day they beat Webster, (Dr. Holley begins to cry). You can’t explain this because I love Kriewall so much. I wanted Kriewall to win that game so much. We got off to a really big lead and Webster came back. I went into the bathroom the whole third quarter and I couldn’t watch it because I wanted Kriewall to win that game. And we won. I love that guy. And that meant so much to me that we got the win. The common theme in my highlights were all when we beat Webster. The problem is we didn’t beat Webster enough.

How did having your kids Lara and Jay at KHS affect how you were principal?
Laura was a senior my first year, and I was lost my first year. My first year, every day I turned the page I didn’t know what was going to happen. It’s so big. I’d been the principal at North. There were 600 kids [at NKMS] and then there were 1,800 [at KHS]. All these things are smashing you in the face everyday. 9/11 was 10 days into my principalship. Laura and I talked a lot. I talked more to Jay. One thing Jay said when he went to college was, ‘Don’t they understand it’s just high school?’ I don’t want to diminish that this isn’t important but the point is this isn’t the end of the world, it’s high school. It’s not brain surgery.

You said that your first year as principal was tough. What would you say to a student next year about handling a new principal?
I would say to the senior class, be accepting. First of all, he’s a great guy and it’s different than when I came here because I had been gone for 10 years and I’d never been an administrator. The advantage he has is that he’s been here. He understands the rhythms of the school. He’s different than I am and that’s good. You don’t want somebody like me being the next principal.

Are there any moments when you think, “I wish I would have reacted differently”?
Every day. I go home and I say “I wish I could have done this differently or I wish I could have done that better.” I’m an emotional person and I do a lot stupid things because of how I react to things. Can I give you a specific? No. I go home and say “Boy, was that a dumb thing I said” or “Boy was that a dumb thing I did.” There are very few decisions that are irreparable. You can’t just change.
How often do you cry at school? What still moves you emotionally at KHS?
A lot of things do. I love this school. I love the teachers at this school, and I love the kids at this school. You’re trying to make me cry again. When I talk about things about which I am passionate, I am unable to control that in myself. And I don’t think that’s a good thing by the way. I can just be talking to you and all of the sudden I start talking about Kriewall and I start crying. I don’t know why that is. My decision was, “I want to leave this place when I still love it and I still love my job. I don’t want to leave this place with somebody tapping me on the shoulder saying, “Do you know it’s time for you to go?’” There probably are people who say that. In general, I am leaving on my terms when I still like my job. That is important to know about myself. And know that it is time to go. Your question was “what makes you cry?” I don’t know what makes me cry. I’ll be talking about something and the next thing I know we’re talking about Mike Wade and the next sentence I’ll start crying.
Your former basketball coach Denver Miller was an important role model to you. Are there any teachers now who remind you of him?
I think everybody in this school is Denver Miller to somebody. David Cannon is Denver Miller to somebody. Mitch Eden is Denver Miller to somebody. I know that’s not what you asked, but the person who sat next to me on the bench probably didn’t even like Denver Miller. It was not a universal like. He was the right person at the right place in my life to do the right thing. Just like David Cannon or Mitch Eden or Julie Goodman. Everybody in this school is somebody’s Denver Miller. That’s why I think this is a great school. Denver Miller was an incredibly passionate and fiery person. He retired at 65 and he was just as passionate when he was hired at 23. That’s one of the things I admired about him.

For kids who still haven’t found a home at KHS, what advice would you give them?
High school isn’t for everybody. I know that. Not everybody wants to be in the play or the band or The Call. That’s okay too. But hopefully they’re passionate about something. If it’s their job at PetSmart, I hope they’re passionate about their job at PetSmart. I can’t imagine about living a life where you’re not passionate about some part of your life. That doesn’t mean you have to be passionate about everything, but hopefully you can find something you’re passionate about.

This is your last interview as KHS principal. Is there anything else you would like to add?
This is high school. It needs to be fun. That’s what I try to do as a teacher. That’s what I try to do as the principal. All this stuff with the Blow Pops is silly, but I think high school is hard. And I think being 14 to 18-years-old is hard. What we try to do is, as in people who act silly, is let kids have fun. It makes kids smile on a Friday afternoon. On a Friday afternoon, everybody’s tired and nobody wants to learn. Smile a little bit and have fun. I hope you had fun, I hope you learned a lot, and I hope kids have come out of here able to embrace their passion. Somebody has a passion for journalism, someone has a passion for the flute, someone has a passion for math. I think having a school where we can channel that passion is an incredibly important thing.

Mary Dahlem, school secretary, has known Holley since he became principal 10 years ago and has worked with him for five years.

“It’s just fun working for him, there’s no doubt about it,” Dahlem said. “There’s work going on in the office, so there’s not necessarily a whole lot of interaction; it’s just there’s positive energy around him.”

Jackie Ravenscraft, executive secretary for Holley the past six years, said Holley helped make her job at KHS her dream job.

“I love Dr. Holley,” Ravenscraft said. “We’re a great team.”

What Ravenscraft admires most about Holley is how much he cares about each and every student.

“I love the fact that his focus is the kids,” Ravenscraft said. “His primary concern has always been hiring great teachers so that the students have the opportunity to learn and are able to achieve the most they possibly can.”

Dahlem also admires Holley’s passion for the students, and some of her favorite memories of him are when he invites students into the office and breaks open the candy jars.

“It’s so fun. He just obviously cares about students in a big way, and he’s very generous. I think both of those parts of him come out [when he shares the candy],” Dahlem said. “And the same thing when he does the pep rally. I think part of why he’s so good at that is because he really cares about Kirkwood High School as an institution.”

Both Ravenscraft and Dahlem see Holley’s retirement as bittersweet, but they want to wish him well in his next endeavor.

“I’m sad about him leaving because I know a whole lot of us are going to miss him,” Dahlem said. “But I’m also happy because he’s done 10 years, and he’s done incredible things.”

What many of these students may perceive as minor annoyances throughout their days are actually plans purposefully enacted by KSD administrators to lower energy expenditures and reduce the impact the school system has on the environment as a whole.

Tasked with providing and paying for electricity, natural gas, sewer, water, phone and transportation systems to more than 5,000 students and over 800 staff members at 12 locations, the district has spent an average of over $2.1 million each year on these services for each of the last four years, according to Mike Havener, assistant superintendent of finance and operations.

The Kirkwood Call took a look at what this money goes to, the ways the district is trying to save and who is behind it all.

Administrative Building

Administrators keep three goals in mind when dealing with utilities and energy provision, Havener said: cutting costs, reducing consumption and providing for students.

“It’s not only about cost,” Havener said. “It’s also about the environmental factor. We want to conserve as much energy as possible.”

The older buildings within KSD, dating as far back the early 1900s, pose a problem when it comes to reducing energy output. According to Havener, various projects have been enacted to help reduce these expenditures over the past few years. Responsible for overseeing most of these projects is Jim Dressel, special projects manager.

“We’re always looking for ways to save energy,” Dressel said. “It can be choosing equipment or anything that is more energy efficient.”

The district pays attention to its consumption through monitoring monthly bills. Though savings and the environment are kept in mind, they take a backseat to students and staff.

“When we’re in school, we want to provide the optimal setting for learning,” Havener said. “We’re interested in looking out for the environment as well as the students and the teachers.”

Locker Rooms

While Dressel said programs which conserve energy are in place all over KSD, a recent example of a small change expected to make a significant impact is in the school locker rooms.

“Lights in the locker rooms used to be turned on once in the morning,” Dressel said. “Now, we’re putting sensors in, and they’ll turn the lights on when someone walks in. Instead of lights being on from morning until 10 p.m, they’ll just be on when they need to and use what energy they need to.”

Dressel estimated lights would stay on five minutes after movement in the room stops.

“In our maintenance, we try to save additional costs anywhere we can,” Dressel said.

Classroom

Harig said a box was installed over the thermostat in his room a few years ago.

“In my understanding, it’s to save money,” Harig said. “Students and teachers were messing with [the thermostat] too much, and so temperature was wildly fluctuating.”

Harig does think the temperature in his classroom still varies widely throughout the day, but he does not have a problem with the changes.

“I’m never really bothered by [the temperature]. Sometimes students will get up and open a window or something, but it’s no big deal,” Harig said.

Havener said teachers are also expected to keep an eye on when windows are open in order to ensure too much energy is not wasted.

Cafeteria

According to Dressel, while 30 percent of energy expenditures come from lighting, 30 percent from cooling and 23 percent from heating, an often overlooked portion of energy output comes from appliances plugged in all of the time.

“The load comes from things like vending machines, microwaves and fridges that we leave plugged in,” Dressel said. “That energy is called the plug load, and it’s a lot.”

Computers, ActivBoards and SmartBoards are also culprits, Havener said. The district takes account of all of these appliances in buildings all around and encourages sharing and reduction of their use.

“The less we have plugged in, the less load we have and obviously less cost,” Havener said.

Copy Center

An average of 18 million pieces of paper pass through the KSD copy center per year.

Located in the district offices, this extension of the district does its share to reduce expenditures, too, like switching from more expensive, bright colors available for copies to pastel colors.

James Archey, copy center manager, estimates the district spends $100,000 per year on copies. Jobs are carried out on various appliances, including four black and white copiers and one color. While copy volume tends to stay the same over the years, the center finds other ways to reduce energy output.

“Everyone wanted us to start electronic submission, where people submit jobs electronically, so that eliminated the ticket we used,” Archey said. “We’ve saved money not using those forms.”

Archey said all copies are two-sided when possible, and the copy center has cut back its hours within the past few years to cut back on the amount of time machines are in use and the office is functioning fully. Also kept in mind is the environment.

“North Middle students come take our recycling every week. They recycle everything that we throw away,” Archey said.

New and Old

Older buildings contribute to higher energy costs, and KSD struggles reconciling its long history with its current energy expenditures, Havener said.

The main energy drains come from old windows and frames, which allow air to escape and heighten heating and cooling costs, poorly insulated pipes and older, incandescent lights. Havener and Dressel both agree recent improvements within the district have helped greatly in remedying more than just a few of these problems.

“The older buildings are a big factor. They are less energy efficient, and renovations need to take place to provide a setting that will enable us to better cut down on those issues,” Havener said. “Newer buildings are absolutely better than older buildings. It’s harder to operate an older building.”

Recent renovations in the KHS gyms and science buildings have helped these problems, and Dressel thinks upcoming renovations at both the middle and elementary levels provided by the recent passing of Proposition 1 will result in positive contributions, as well.

“We’ve done a lot, including things like switching all lights from incandescent to fluorescent,” Dressel said.