Kirkwood High School student newspaper

The Kirkwood Call

Kirkwood High School student newspaper

The Kirkwood Call

Kirkwood High School student newspaper

The Kirkwood Call

Lost in translation? “I-C-H-S”statue raises questions

Dedicated Sept. 2 as part of the new “Pioneer Circle” outside the varisty gym, the “KHS” statue has left most students quite confused. Five staff writers gathered to have a serious (ish) discussion and wonder why the statue reads “I-C-H-S” when the actual name of the high school is Kirkwood.

Kevin: I’m staring at the I-C-H-S statue and I have a question for the people who gave us grants: didn’t you spell check?

Claire: All I can really say is that with its close proximity to the field hockey field it might get hit during a really intense game. Maybe knock it down.

Kevin: That’d be a pretty powerful ball.

Aubrey: My only problem with it is that if you’re going to build it in a prime look-out spot you’re unfairly tempting us to climb it.

Kevin: That’s what I was going to say!

Aubrey: I want to climb that thing. And, if I’m going to get yelled at for being reckless on top of a statue that’s not even my school’s name, that’s not fair.

Kevin: I agree. And I think we should put mulch under it so if you fall it’s like a nice soft surface to fall on. Or, or a trampoline. A waiver would need to be signed, but this could work.

Claire: A shrine. To me. Bam. We got it.

Jimmy: There already is Claire, it is called Kevin Bedford’s heart.

Claire: ….Right.

Jimmy: Perhaps a rope coming down to it from the Keating building for a zip line. I’m just spitballin’.

Kevin: Surf board.

Jimmy: Umbrella from the rain and sun, perhaps?

Aubrey: Ramrod for doors, more specifically, the ones that are locked in the guidance hallway.

Kevin: A really overbearing paperweight.

Maddy: Are these supposed to be useless objects?

Kevin: Hey. Rude.

Jimmy: We could support the ideas of reusing and recycling. So, in the name of eco-friendliness we’ll melt down the metal for other uses. Maybe a KHS sign?

Maddy: Perhaps as a chair. You could park yourself right where the ‘C’ curves in and you have to hang on a little, but it could work. Beggars can’t be choosers so, deal with it.

Claire: When finals week gets to be a little too stressful people can bring their baseball bats and take stress out on it. Make it into an even more modern art piece. Very relaxing.

Aubrey: Actually, I really want it to be one of those things that are lucky at a school and you rub it to help you on tests. So, you just go up and rub it in one place ‘til the paint wears away just awkwardly in one spot.

Kevin: Sprinkler on top. Fountain. There you go.

Jimmy: Or, or we could put a rotating wheel under the base so we can make it a swing ride, a spinning swing ride.

Aubrey:  What?

Jimmy: You have the swings branching off.

Maddy: Like a maypole?

Aubrey: So we dance around it, now?

Claire: We should do it in a cult-like manner. That might be fun.

Kevin: Maybe we could have used that grant to get better construction workers on the football field.

Collectively: Oooooooh.

Jimmy: Here’s an idea, just take it down.

Kevin: No. Cheese grater.

Editors’ Note: According to the Kirkwood High School website, Pioneer Circle is privately funded. Donors include Evelyn Terall, who donated in memory of her son, the KHS Classes of 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1988, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010, the KHS Mothers Club and the KHS PTO. Brother Mel Meyer, the local artist who created the sculpture, was paid for his work.

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Comments (13)

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  • T

    TAKING A STAND!!Oct 13, 2010 at 10:34 am

    opinion:
    –noun
    1. a belief or judgment that rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainty.
    2. a personal view, attitude, or appraisal. THATS WHAT THEY WERE DOING! Giving their opinion of what they thought it looked like to them. They were wrong yes, but that still gives us no right to go on this website and complain about what they wrote, be grateful that we have a newspaper or we have these types of statues, no one is right and no one is wrong! There are more important things that are happening in this world TODAY other then this statue and the font of it, stop complaining about it and just be grateful, because from what I am seeing, no one cares about the calls opinion and no one cares enough to say one thing, all we are doing here is complaining, STOP IT AND GROW UP!! We can’t fix the statue, we can’t do anything about the newspaper, for once can we as a KIRKWOOD HIGH SCHOOL just agree on something and be grateful! Because I seems like no one is anymore! Im grateful for the statue and I’m grateful for the call everyone has a voice and they are allowed to speak their mind! LET IT GO and drop the whole statue, what does it look like to you thing! IT LOOKS LIKE ICHS but we all know it actually is KHS!!

  • Y

    Yah know who dis beSep 30, 2010 at 8:05 pm

    I thought this story was veeeeeeery funny. Yet I must admit that it went much too far. I greatly admire sarcasm, yet this is very insulting. Especially to the people involved with acquiring this statue. I agree that there shouldn’t be much censorship in the newspaper, and that it’s wonderful to have such a lenient administration. But the paper does need to take into account at least some sort of fact in place of complete bias and snide sarcasm.

  • A

    AnonymousSep 28, 2010 at 8:17 pm

    After reading many of the responses to the Call opinions piece “Lost in Translation,” I must congratulate the opinions staff for their effort in engaging in the age old discussion of the purpose of art. Art is supposed to evoke emotion and inspire the intellect as well as lively discussions as to its beauty or not. According to the KHS website, this sculpture was commissioned by a local artist with private funds and donated to the school. I agree that this was a generous gift and should be acknowledged, however I feel we all must also recognize how fortunate these students are to have such freedom and support from teachers and administrators to voice their opinion in such an outstanding high school newspaper. I do not dispute that this article may have offended those involved with acquiring this sculpture, but it was published as an opinion piece. We must remember that art is highly subjective and beauty does indeed lie in the eye of the beholder.

  • I

    I love KarenSep 28, 2010 at 12:47 pm

    KAREN I LOVE YOU, YOU KNOW WHATS UP!!

  • K

    KarenSep 27, 2010 at 10:10 pm

    Maybe these students need to attend a class teaching them about respect and appreciation of generous donations… they could tour the school and be reminded of the private donations which have enhanced their education and school environment. Do they think Walker Commons, The Keating Center, the Science Center, the Stadium, the Courtyard, the Art Garden, etc, all were all donated by the government?

    The KHS “font” was obviously selected to look young and playful, to appeal to the very students who are ridiculing it. Sarcasm has its place in journalism, but this time it backfired as an embarrassing reflection on our student’s’ lack of appreciation for generosity and altruism. I would like to personally thank this donor for a thoughtful, generous, and attractive donation to our school!

  • A

    another student with an opinionSep 23, 2010 at 6:13 pm

    It’s obviously KHS, maybe you can argue it looks a little like IC but still not much. The point is that hopefully all of us are smart enough to know that it says KHS, why the heck would they make a huge statue that says ICHS?! I think that talking about taking it down or destroying it is just plain disrespectful.

  • M

    make it rightSep 23, 2010 at 2:30 pm

    Everyone has there own view on what this statue looks like, when I first went out to see it, I didn’t like it all that much, because of the “K”, people are allowed to say and put what ever they want in this story, its called an opinion article for a reason. Yes, it was wrong that they said some of the things but if you don’t add something funny in a story like this, then its going to just be a boring. It was very sweet for them to donate the money and the ideas, do not get me wrong but they could have just made the “K” look like a K, I love the circle and the statue but we also need to understand that were only high schoolers, what we think is funny can be very rude and sometimes we don’t understand. It’s not the calls fault for saying and speaking out for what they think it looks like to them.

  • H

    HannahSep 21, 2010 at 2:36 pm

    http://www.kirkwoodschools.org/khs/news/article/1381/
    hope you had fun breaking their hearts

  • E

    EmilySep 17, 2010 at 11:05 pm

    I thought this was hilarious, good job guys! 🙂

  • L

    Lizzy SekoSep 16, 2010 at 1:32 pm

    I thought it looked like KHS when i saw it!

  • N

    NICE PERSONSep 16, 2010 at 12:26 pm

    this is so mean. like really the man who made this statue donated it to the school in honor of his son. to publish something so insulting is extremely disrespectful to the artist and makes this school look unappreciative and RUDE. our school is lucky to have people who would want to donate and this article makes this mans work look like a total waste of time. overall, i am embarrassed for our school because this article makes us look like we are ungrateful for the things we have

  • K

    KHS StudentSep 16, 2010 at 12:25 pm

    Our school is really lucky to have people donate nice things to it, I don’t see why you would even possibly post a story about this, to say a bad thing about the sculpture is one thing, but to write a whole story bashing on it is taking it way too far. I lost a lot of respect for “The Call” over this article.

  • S

    Student with a heartSep 16, 2010 at 12:21 pm

    This is a horrible story. This statue was donated from an old man in honor of his son and this story was taken too far. We get that it may look like “IC” instead of “K”, but it should never of been taken as far as burning the statue or hoping a field hockey ball hits it…….just because you do not like it does not mean you should bash the statue considering the time and money that was put into putting that statue up. When the man who donated the statue reads this his heart will be broken and that will be all thanks to the five writers of this story. You should’ve at least had people in the story that LIKED the statue….that would’ve made an interesting conversation to read.

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Lost in translation? “I-C-H-S”statue raises questions