May 2022 U-Times

U-TIMES

SENIOR ISSUE

Reflections on U. City...

Tiyah Jackman

My time at U. City has been a nonlin ear experience. I attended this school my freshman and senior year, but my sophomore and junior year I attended a smaller local all girls Catholic school. Both schools are very different in their own right, and both presented me with different challenges and successes that helped me grow. In the end, U. City was a better fit for me. Comparing both of the high schools, U. City gave me way more independence in regards to how I chose to spend my time and overall just a better preparer for the world outside of high school. My freshman year I built connections with people and was able to create some really great memories. Deciding to come back my senior year was one of the best decisions I’ve made so far in my life.

Albert Smith

U. City taught me a lot. Living in the community taught me how to interact with a variety of people from other races and cultures that differ from my own. It taught me how to take advan tage of the opportunities given and go after the ones that aren’t. Throughout high school I mostly involved my time in either the auditorium or journal ism space as I picked up theater and yearbook class. These two experiences revealed my social strengths and have shaped my plans for the future as I now want to pursue entertainment and social media marketing. U. City taught me the importance of influ ence and how to overcome adversity without complaints. I remember those long nights sophomore year trying to survive APUSH. The truth is that life isn’t easy and without some of the prob lem solving skills and confidence I’ve developed while being a student here, I would likely not be as prepared for the real world. I appreciate what U. City has taught me and will never take it for granted. I’m glad to be a Lion.

Ella Chisholm

I grew up through U. City schools. U. City is where I found my love of music through the strings program. Since then, I’ve played the violin in an orchestra, and had the opportunity to learn new instruments. One of my orchestra teachers even let me take home a bass and a cello to practice over the summer, an experience I feel isn’t offered every where. My advice for freshmen - make connections with your teachers.

The teachers at U. City are some of the most supportive people I’ve ever met. They’ll push you to do your best in every subject, even when you don’t really want them to. Throughout my time here, I felt like a lot of my teachers (past or present) genuinely cared about me, and how things were going for me outside of academics.

college decisions

MISSOURI

Michael Bostic University of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City

Karnell Burress Missouri West

ern State University, St. Joseph

Ella Chisholm Webster University, St. Louis

Mykie Collins University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis

Shyria Day Harris-Stowe State University, St. Louis

Lucas Dean University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis

Aniya Foley

St. Louis

Community College, St. Louis

Isabel Forster University of Missouri-Columbia

Patrick Fuller Webster University, St. Louis

Marley Gardner Webster University, St. Louis

Zakiya Glenn Saint Louis University, St. Louis

Joy Gordon Lincoln University, Jefferson City

Lila Gralnick Webster University, St. Louis

Jamonny Hatcher Ranken, St. Louis

Jerod Johnson St. Louis Community College, St. Louis

Carter Lemen William Jewel College, Liberty

Annalise Overlin Webster University, St. Louis

Chance Pinkston William Jewel College, Liberty

Salena Roach St. Louis Community College, St. Louis

Jeremiah Robinson-Lowe University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis

Senthil Rogers Lindenwood University, St. Louis

Aidan Shostak University of Missouri, Columbia

Bailee Sistrunk University of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City

RonTina Smith St. Louis Community Col lege, St. Louis

Ericka Warren St. Louis University, St. Louis

Kahleb Williams University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis

IOWA

Marcus Holman Upper Iowa University, Fayette

Michael O’Neil Iowa State University, Ames

KENTUCKY

Paris Drummer Kentucky State University, Frankfort

ALABAMA

Breia Connor Alabama A&M University, Huntsville

NEW YORK

Maxine Adams The New School, New York City

Xavia Wright-Jones Pace University, New York City

FLORIDA

Cameron Martin University of Miami, Miami

Emma Scharff University of Miami, Miami

DELAWARE

Jakada Christmas Delaware State University, Dover

OHIO

Remember when? Pics from the past

The

of

affect the school

Ellery Cole Cleveland State University, Cleveland

ILLINOIS

Terrell Johnson Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Edwardsville

Albert Smith Columbia College, Chicago

MINNESOTA

Terrell Commings Macalester College, Saint Paul UNITED KINGDOM

Julia Nelson Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance, London

SENIOR SHOUTOUTS

Congratulations Albert!

are

remember that

Love, Mom and

of

or indirect

while serving as a training ground for future journalists as part of the school curriculum, recognizes all rights and responsibilities under the

estab

Amendment.

U-Times as a public forum,

will apply professional

and ethics for decision-

as they take on the respon

sibility for content and production of the newspaper. Inasmuch as the stu dent staff encourages constructive criticism of any part of the news paper, authority for content rests in the hands of the student members of the newspaper staff. Students will not publish material considered to be legally unprotected speech, or libel, obscenity, material disruption of the educational process, copyright in fringement, or unwarranted invasion of privacy.

Policies

Opinions expressed on the editorial page do not reflect the viewpoints of the school administration. All editori als (unsigned) represent a majority opinion of the Editorial Board. Signed editorials, columns, editorial cartoons, and reviews reflect the views of the author and not necessarily those of the U-Times Editorial Board. The U-Times reserves the right to reject, edit, or shorten letters. Submit letters to Mrs. Mary Williams in Room L306, or to any UTimes staff member, or to marywil liams@ucityschools.org.

Jaden Sekou Benjamin BlumenhorstDemitrius Taylor D’Angelo Young Gage Hendrix

Michael O’Neil Victoria Trice Marcus Holman Joy Gordon Kahleb Williams

ONE ENCHANTED EVENING

Prom is perfect end to first year back since pandemic

by Albert Smith | Staff Writer

For the first time in two years, U.City was able to hold an in-person prom. For months, the senior class rallied and fundraised to lower ticket prices.

“We wanted to lower the ticket price because we wanted as many people as pos sible to go,” senior class president Michael Bostic said. “Throughout the year, we held many senior events such as scavenger hunts, senior sunrises, and senior sport ing events to fundraise and keep our class engaged with what their student council was planning. All of that was a giant build-up to prom.”

The prom was able to garner over a hundred seniors.

“The turnout was amazing and with Windows on Washington being an expensive venue, the ticket prices were definitely on the lower end,” Bostic said.

Tickets were priced at $50 per person and $100 per couple. With a venue and ticket price decided, the race for prom royalty began. At the forefront of this race were seniors Yaniya Battle and Darius Pointer.

“Prior to running for Prom Queen, be lieve it or not, was pretty nervous,” Battle said. “When they announced that I won, I could hardly believe it! It was literally a dream come true and made prom night so

magical.”

Battle had reason to feel magical. With the “Enchanted” theme, students had the opportunity to show up in their best formal attire.

“My favorite part of prom was seeing everyone and how good they looked in their outfits.” Reina Nadal, senior, said. The deco rations really added to the atmosphere and I couldn’t complain.”

While some focused on the attire others focused on the dance floor.

“Everyone looked good but I had a lot of fun dancing with everyone,” Grant King, se nior, said. “My favorite part was when the DJ turned on “Faneto” by Cheif Keef. Everyone went crazy.”

Seeing as how this was the first prom since the class of 2019 had theirs, some found the importance of soaking in the mo ment.

“I felt great and had fun the entire night,” Kylin Fisher, senior, said. “I’m grateful to even have a prom because for the past couple of years no one here did.”

As the school year concludes, prom sig nifies the end of an era for some students.

“We all had a really good time and if I had a chance to go back I would,” Fisher said.

“This year flew by really fast.”

AND QUEEN

Prom fashion 2022

Seniors Ellery Cole, Cameron Martin and Kylin Fisher record a video of themselves “My friends and I were having fun dancing to great music,’’ Cole said. “It was great to just hang out with everybody and it made me so happy to see everybody at prom having a good time.” PHOTOS BY MADELAINE PROVINCE AND SASHA ALBRIGHT

Visit utimesonline.com for more prom pictures and coverage

As the first ones on the dance floor, Cailey Shanks, sophomore, and her friends inspired others to get up and dance. Shanks went to prom with no expectations, but was very impressed as to how it turned out. “I was dancing a lot because was having a great night and it was genuinely fun,” Shanks said. “It was really interesting going to prom as a sophomore and can’t wait to have two more years of prom.”

Headed to the bar, Chloe Richardson and Mya Blanks, seniors, take a break. “I had a lot of fun and enjoyed seeing all of my classmates glammed up,” Blanks said. “I regret not eating the food but the Sprite was perfect.”

After escaping the mosh pit, seniors Quavion Jones, Adian Shostak and Jordan Stokes take a break.. “I had a lovely night, spending time with my friends and remembering all of our time together was a great experience,” Jones said.

Seniors Yaniya Battle, Janaye Stampley and Myecia Hill break out from the crowd dancing to the “Wob ble.” “I almost fell over my dress which is what we were laughing about and Myecia was pointing at me,” Stampley said. “We were all just happy and doing the slide to the song having a good time,.”

Darius

Folake Adawele

Rontina

Smith

Xavia WrightJones

Jeremy Musaddiq

Darrell Culton

Emma Scharff and Khloe Fox

Joshua AllenWilson

Sport:

Game changers, in and out of class

Sport:

Sport:

DON’T DELAY YOUR EDUCATION

Jada Bolden-Jackson Jakada Christmas

Sport:

Maxine Adams Annalise Overlin Daniel Looby

Patrick Fuller Aidan Shostak

Cameron Martin

Carter Lemen

Khloe Fox

Emma Scarff

Folake Adewale Emmett Feld Xavier Blake

Senior Paris Drummer bought her Egytian-themed dress in Chicago.

“I had a really great time at prom, and I appre ciate everyone who was involved with the planning and putting it together,” Drummer said. “This was most definitely the highlight of my senior year.” See prom coverage on p. 4-5.

May 2022

Albert Smith, Staff

While writing for the newspaper

I was able to pick a lot of my own topics to write about. My personal favorite is my editorial about fan culture follow ing the Astroworld tragedy. think it was a pretty strong article and I won a Superior award at the state level.

Marley Gardner, Staff Balancing newspaper with yearbook isn’t always the easiest, but love the opportunity it gives me to express my thoughts and feelings. I’ve grown so much as a writer, and become much more articulate in my beliefs.

Xavier Thomas, Staff

I have been able to interview people with interesting stories and been to different places I’ve never been to be fore and I am ready to continue doing that for the next 2 years.

Dani Wasserman, Staff My favorite part about newspaper was being able to write about inter national events. I enjoyed the process of researching and interviewing in order to fully understand the topic.

farewell

After 15 years of advising UTimes, it is time to say “fare well.”

This year, U-Times has published for the first time since February 2020 because of the pandemic. And we came roaring back with five issues. I am proud of our small, but mighty, staff for their dedication and determina tion. It has been my pleasure to work with so many talented stu dents over the past 15 years. At this time, I am passing the torch to Ms. Olivia Steely to continue the U-Times tradition of excel lence. As I relinquish my role as adviser, I wish the best to all of the budding journalism students under the guidance of Ms. Steely. -Williams

Alara Stewart, Co-Editor With virtual school last year, Sasha and I had to quickly learn how to be editors, but with the help of the staff and teachers, we all persevered and produced an astounding newspaper. I’m so proud of everybody’s hard work and can’t wait for next year.

Eliana Wade, Staff I have really loved being on newspa per. I feel have grown as a writer and I have learned so much from the experience. It has been interesting seeing the different styles of writing there are, as well as researching top ics I’m not familiar with.

Being able to collborate with Alara and the rest of the staff this year has been the best part of being an editor. This year taught me about working harder and perservering even when things got difficult. Thank you too the staff for all your help.

Sasha Albright, Co-Editor

PHOTO BY SASHA ALBRIGHT PROM PERFECT