laughing all the way

to the bank

graphics By allie laing

Nov. 8, 2013 In-DEpth

crying

NOV. 8, 2013 in-depth

There are something like seven billion people in the world, and with the exception of a tiny frac-tion of them, almost all are somehow involved in an increasingly connected global society. A Syr-ian child in a Jordanian refugee camp, a German Formula 1 driver, a stockbroker on Wall Street; all of them form parts of an interconnected web of humanity thats literally impossible to fathom there are simply too many people, and too many connections between them, each one as intricate and nuanced as the last. Yet this seemingly mi-raculous network of individuals is only the natural result of the innate sociability of the individuals themselves. This can be seen in the many mecha-nisms of the modern worlds they have created, but perhaps most importantly, in money.

Money, as the old clich goes, makes the world go round, but its really human interaction that keeps society humming; money is simply the mechanism of that interaction. Its easy to think of money as a real object, but its really not. A dollar bill is a real object, to be sure, but theres no innate value in it. It isnt money unless you agree that its money, and money has no basis in the physi-cal world beyond the exchange of electrons along a certain pattern in the minds of those thinking about it. Its based entirely on a perceived value that all parties involved in its trade agree upon. Its a unit of trust, an issuance of debt that can be relied upon to be credible.

Think of it as an IOU that can be redeemed by anyone, anywhere, because everyone, everywhere agrees that it has value.

If a corn farmer wants shoes from a shoemak-er, he has to give the shoemaker some corn. Ex-cept, its July, and he doesnt harvest his corn for a few more months. So he issues an IOU to that shoemaker. But suppose the shoemaker needs a new iPhone more than he needs corn. He cant simply give Apple an IOU from a corn farmer to him. What interest would a tech giant

By Tom Schueneman

MANAGING EDITOR

have in corn, and even if they were interested, how could they trust that an IOU written by someone they had never met, to someone else, would have any value for them whatsoever? Now, if that IOU could be used to purchase cheap Chinese laborers to produce iPhones with, that might be a different story. But it cant. Its simply a promise a corn farmer made to a shoe-maker, to give him some corn in a few months.

But now say, the same trades are being made using U.S. Dollars. The corn farmer simply pur-chases the shoes from the shoemaker for $100, which he will get when he harvests his crops in a few months. The shoemaker takes that mon-ey, goes to the Apple store and buys himself an iPhone, and Apple uses some of that money to pay an impoverished Chinese man for his labor, so that he can afford to feed his family corn thats been imported from the farmer. The belief of all four parties in the value of their currency allows them to interact in a way that they never could have otherwise. It enables practical interaction on a massive scale, because the people doing the interacting have a reason to trust each other.

Its not a perfect system. The impoverished Chinese laborer in this example is still getting the short end of the stick, but he is at least get-ting something. Because he is engaging in such a trade, he is creating value for himself, maybe not as much as hes entitled to, but value nonethe-less. A few ears of corn dont mean very much to a corn farmer who has to go about his work barefoot, nor does a pair of tough leather boots mean anything to a starving shoemaker. By trad-ing with each other, each one benefits, and value is created, not because someone printed a few more dollar bills, but because two people inter-acted to their mutual benefitthe dollar bill was just the medium through which they interacted.

Somewhere around seven billion people are constantly involved in interactions like this, all over the world. These interactions occur on ev-ery imaginable scale for every imaginable rea-son.

By Nata Ward

feature EDITOR

The government shutdown cost an estimated $24 billion according to Standard & Poors, and furloughed close to 800,000 workers. National parks closed, databases were down, and some parents were unsure of their next paycheck. For many, there was no affect other than a running joke on their twitter feed, but for others it hit clos-er to home.

Senior Bodhi Confer-Wood, his brother, soph-omore Bryce, and their mother, Heidi Confer had an issue. They left their car door unlocked the night of Sept. 28 only to find later that Heidis purse had been stolen.

Inside the purse: the boys social security cards, Heidis drivers license, green card and passport.

Normally, this wouldnt have been a problem but the government shutdown happened.

The Social Security Office was closed so getting new social security cards was out of the question. The U.S. Department of Citizenship and Immigra-tion was slowed so Heidi had troubles getting a new green card.

Without the green card and passport, Heidi couldnt fly to Albuquerque, New Mexico as her job called for. She also couldnt write checks or keep her peace of mind. The green card had been her proof of citizenship in the United States since she moved from the Philippines many years ago.

Also, without a social security card, both Bryce and Bodhi were in danger of having their identi-ties stolen.

I was kind of scared they were going to put me in debt, Bodhi said. Maybe going out and buying a house under my name or something.

After the government reopened Oct. 17, the Confer-Woods were able to reapply for their sto-len paperwork. The brothers have their social security cards, and they are waiting for the green card to arrive.

The government shutdown also affected the school through the shutdown of databases and government run websites. Among the websites that were having problems were USA.gov and Education Resources Information Center (ERIC).

Senior Project and Comp were in the middle of the research phase of both classes, said head librarian Carrie Turner. Many of the articles stu-dents had found for their research were located in the ERIC database, so were inaccessible.

Towards the end of the shutdown, EBSCOhost opened some databases through their portals. That allowed students to retrieve their research, although a few weeks too late.

At home, there might have been some uncer-tainty if a parent or other family member worked in a position that would be furloughedmeaning they wouldnt get paid while the government was shutdown.

Sophomore Sujata Sapkota felt the affects of the shutdown when her family members, living in Nepal, werent allowed to apply for a VISA to visit the United States.

My grandparents were going to come here, but they needed to request a VISA and the office was closed, Sapkota said. We havent seen each other for seven years.

Her grandparents were coming for a festival in the United States, but by the time the government reopened, the festival had passed.

I just thought, you know, Darn, Sapkota said. I would [have loved] to see them.

CASH CULTUREMoney ties the world together

SHUTDOWNWestside students feel effects

24 billion

dollar loss

24 billion

dollar loss

24 billion

dollar loss

Nov. 8, 2013 In-depth

The money you paid for your ticket to the football game last week is going to help purchase new helmets for the team.

The dollar you spent on a brownie from the bake sale after school will go back to purchasing new art supplies for art club.

And the raffle tickets you bought at Cabaret Night will go back into purchas-ing costumes and helping with the trav-el expenses for the show choirs.

With over 100 clubs, activities and sports teams offered at Westside, the common assumption would be that or-ganizations have to compete for fund-ing.

However, while many activities com-pete against other schools for titles, ac-tivities within the school do not have to do that. Most are self-sufficient finan-cially, and do not rely on district fund-ing to sustain them.

Westside assistant principal and Ath-letic Director Tom Kerkman is in charge of budgeting for each of the 17 sports the high school offers. While football is the largest and most expensive sport with over 100 students involved, it is also the largest source of revenue coming back into the athletic program.

The gate money comes back into the athletic budget, Kerkman said. That's why it's important to have such large crowds at football, because that money not only pays for football but also for other sports that are fairly expensive to run.

An average game of football brings in around $9,000 of revenue to the ath-letic department, which includes money from ticket and concession-stand sales. The money gets dispersed right away to fund other sports that dont have similar high profits from ticket sales and con-cessions income.

Student activity pass fees are also a source of revenue for the athletic de-partment. The activity pass is manda-tory for student participation in sports, and it is a one-time payment of $30 for the school year. Non-athletes can also purchase activity passes to get into events and not have to purchase tickets.

Not only does the activity pass get them into the games, but [it] also helps to cover the cost of uniforms and other necessities, Kerkman said. I think for $30 it is quite cheap.

Kerkman believes it is important to keep attendance at athletic events high so there is no need to raise fees for play-ers as some states have began doing in recent years.

What we're going to start to seeing as budgets in states get tighter, schools are going to have to rely more on stu-dent fees and not just one flat fee, Kerk-man said. I know in Wisconsin, certain schools are having their kids pay $150 just to play football, and then if you wanted to play basketball it's another $75, and track or baseball is around $50. So students there might be paying around $300 just in fees alone to play sports. Here at Westside, kids are only paying $30 a year.

One more source of revenue that has historically been very helpful in funding the athletic department is the Westside Athletic Club, which sells memberships each year to Westside community mem-bers and other patrons of the district who want to donate money to sports programs. The athletic club intends to incorporate all sports programs, and in recent years they have helped pay for

the new scoreboard in 2012 and new equipment for the training room. This year they also funded projects to in-crease school spirit, like the new flags for the fields and adding Westside em-blems in the gym.

To run a successful athletics program with 17 different sports, Kerkman thinks there must be a conscious effort to sus-tain the quality of the facilities, and he says coaches are all very mindful about where they can spend money. The dis-trict also does help out in funding, but that is usually for long-term projects such as new construction or large, struc-tural improvements.

Beyond just sports, Westside also offers over 70 clubs at the high school, each sustained by their own budget.

SAB is one of the largest clubs at Westside, and they hold the kick-off carnival each year before the first home football game. At the carnival, clubs are able to rent booths, and at the end of the carnival the club exchanges all the tickets they received and gets money for them.

While SAB does many events throughout the year, only one of their events revenue, Winter Formal, goes back into their own budget for the year. The rest of the events SAB puts on throughout the course of the year, such as Mr. WHS and the talent show, all have proceeds that go to charities.

With most of our events we end up giving the proceeds back to charities like Make-A-Wish, SAB co-president, junior Hannah Dickson said. But with Winter Formal we end up keeping most of the money so we can fund other events.

Although the kick-off carnival is the main source of income for many clubs, some still do other fundraisers through-out the year, such as bake-sales, selling t-shirts or decorative items around the holidays.

Many clubs at the high school will request a small fee at the beginning of the year to cover costs, but club spon-sors understand if members arent able to pay.

Vice Principal Trudi Nolin thinks it is important for students to be involved in activities at school, and they should nev-er be turned away because they arent able to pay.

Research shows that students need to be involved in activities at school, Nolin said. Not just going to classes, and we really want that to happen. So we really try to make it so students can all be involved in some activity and not turn them away because of a financial reason.

The districts free and reduced lunch program is available to have fees waived for students so they are able to partici-pate in activities, along with providing lunch.

While these waivers are available to help students, many activities were created with the vision of helping the community, such as Westside for the Children, the Service Learning Club, Warriors Assisting the community and DECA. Most sports teams annually vol-unteer or do special fundraisers with their team to give back to the commu-nity.

I think it's good for students to un-derstand it's not always just about us and our club, Nolin said. It's about also helping out our community. We have a lot of different clubs that are not just here for our school, but here for our community, and that says a lot about our students.

By kellie wasikowski

design EDITOR

24 billion

dollar loss

SELF-SUFFICIENCYClubs, sports pay for themselves

Nov. 8, 2013 In-DEpth

westsideBudget

overall budgetGeneral

4% transfer

18% non-salary

23% benefits

55% salary

Non-Salary19% INSTRUC-

21% transportation

13% TECHNOL-

37% OPERA-

COMPARED TO OTHER DISTRICTS

Total Budget

13

WESTSIDE

12

11

10

9

Per Student*numbers approximate

OPS RALSTON MILLARD

revenue

8

STATE AID$31,982,702

MOTOR VEHICLE$2,100,000

STATE AID$2,500,000

SPECIAL ED.$3,500,000

PROPERTY TAX$12,543,035

USE OF FUND BAL-$7,134,317

COMMON LeVy$31,982,702

other$1,550,000

By LIA HAGEN

CoPY EDITOR

Since its conception, Westside has had a reputation for being one of the rich-est schools in the city. However, very few students have any real understanding of what goes into making our school run. These infographics shed some light on the inner workings of our school and how we compare to our fellow school districts.