Benjamin Herrera - Staff Reporter
Hi! My name is Ben Herrera and I'm a Senior at Oswego High School. This is my first year on the 42Fifty staff, and I'm currently a Reporter. Additionally, I am involved with Oswego High School's cross country and track teams, as well as multiple honor societies. You can contact me by emailing 42Fifty@sd308.org and putting my name in the subject line. We welcome comments on our articles and feedback on our publication!
Last Friday, the OH girls cross country team completed in Conference at the Channahon Community Park placing fifth overall with three runners make All-Conference,including Lindsey Sturm, Morgan Bradley, and Alivia Kath.
OH sophomore and runner Grace Johnson said, “I think we did very well dealing with the harsh conditions… because the course wasn't ideal.”
Leading up to the meet, there was lots of rain, which meant some standing water and mud on the course for the runners to contend with. Despite this, the girls team performed well, mostly, the team said, because of all the training they had done in the season up to this point.
OH junior runner Alivia Kath added, "We've been more intentional with our workouts [[and]] recovery, [[which]] we've been able to see in our racing.”
Just two years after setting the record for the most losses ever in an MLB season, the White Sox made it to October baseball.
On July 28, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed a bill that would restrict cell phone use in all Illinois high schools. This decision was passed with the intention of engaging students in material, while freeing teachers from needing to manage their classes behavior.
“I don’t think [[students]] are ready [[to have phones]] yet," said OH Social Studies teacher Sarah Carlson. "We need to switch to something else.”
At OH, many classes require students to put their phones up in a pouch before the start of the class period. According to OH classroom cell phone practices, often published in course syllabi, the main concern with phones in the classroom is that students will get distracted by them, keeping them from paying attention in class. In theory, if they don’t have access to their phones during class, they will be more likely to stay engaged with material.
The Sept. heat has gotten in the way of many sports teams' practice schedules. From football to cross country, nearly all sports teams have had to reassign practices due to the heat.
According to OH Assistant Athletic Director Mark Johnson, OH uses a measurement called the "wet bulb" to determine the safety of athletes in the heat. The wet bulb accounts for “temperature… but then, what’s the humidity like, but also…shade, and [[the]] breeze,” Johnson said.