Lake Zurich High School Student Media

Bear Facts
Lake Zurich High School Student Media

Bear Facts
Lake Zurich High School Student Media

Bear Facts
Sasha Kek

Sasha Kek, LZ Life Editor

This is Sasha’s third and final year working with the Bear Facts staff as the LZ Life Editor. Aside from helping Bear Facts run smoothly, you can find her competing with her twin brother – and winning 90% of the time -, rushing with the Yearbook staff to get pages done by deadline, or preaching for everyone to join Bear Facts. While it will be hard for her to part from the chaos, she will continue to encourage other students to join a staff that will support them in every situation. Her hope is to put her Ukrainian roots to use and pursue a career in law enforcement and security.

All content by Sasha Kek
Part of groupthink is the need for “connections and bonding, and just really feeling secure,” Katie Murtaugh, school social worker, said, which she says are main components teenagers want in high school. “When you enter high school as a teenager, you want to feel connected. You want to have somebody to sit with at lunch, to have connections, whether it's in the classroom or extracurricular activities,” Murtaugh said. “[Groupthink] could be both positive and negative. Thinking about the theory of attachment, it's that bond with other people that is essential. Most of us grew up with a consistent parent or two, and those were our first relationships that started things off for us as human beings. If someone were to lack that connection, there could be negative consequences later.”

Thinking without thoughts

Sasha Kek, LZ Life Editor
May 20, 2022
Since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war on February 24, Ukraine has been able to fight back against the aggressor, which Rudy Tabachnik, first-generation Ukrainian-American senior, believes is not only due to foreign aid. “It’s also definitely the resilience of the people. If there's one thing that's true, it's that the people that are fighting there are fighting, and they are fighting for their country. The Ukrainians passed a law in the beginning days of the war that able-bodied men 16 to 60 need to stay there and fight, so I think that there are a whole bunch of factors as to why they've lasted this long, but I think Russia didn't expect what's going on. To a degree, I think that they really didn't expect the amount of resilience coming from the Ukrainian people.”

Living in a nightmare

Sasha Kek, LZ Life Editor
April 8, 2022
Technology consumes teeangers’ daily lives, which exposes them to negative and positive influences and opportunities, according Ryan Siegel, senior. “Technology makes us more self aware. For better or worse, it makes it so that the attention seekers can get their attention and they'll do whatever just to get more attention,” Siegel said. “It also makes it so that we can better society. You'll always see it on YouTube or wherever, the one story that someone wrote, did, that just changed someone's life, and most people see that - whether they actually do it or not is a different story - but they want to change and do something like that. It kind of makes people want to be better.”

Stuck to screens

Sasha Kek, LZ Life Editor
March 21, 2022
Jenna Moller, Learning & Innovation Hub coordinator, recommends all students take advantage of the author visits to inform themselves on the multitude of professions they can go into. “While you're in high school and people are providing these opportunities, you should take them because when you are older and life is just too busy, you don't always have opportunities to explore things that aren't in your direct scope of daily life, so take advantage of opportunities when you can,” Moller said.

Book a visit with the “prose”

Sasha Kek, LZ Life Editor
January 24, 2022
Cayla Stubler, senior, has an American father and a Filipino mother, who “took the reins” when it came to parenting. “I guess you could say it was the stereotypical, Asian parent household, with a lot of respect towards elders, a great stress on respecting your manners, so 'pleases' and 'thank you,' things like that. [My mother] was forced to assimilate to American culture, but she always implemented Filipino culture of how she was raised in regards to maintaining identity,” Stubler said. “She always made sure that we were proud of being mixed and proud to have a mom that was from the Philippines. We would travel there every other year for Christmas to instill that this is where you're from. She was very stringent with grades, and I don't know if that's completely an Asian thing, but you see all those jokes about it; it was very math and science heavy. We wear house shoes. I guess if we misbehave, we would get a spank on the behind or the wrist with one of our bamboo brooms, and that was the majority of it.”

Stuck in the middle

Sasha Kek, LZ Life Editor
December 17, 2021
Elizabeth Tise, English teacher, grew up in a Romanian household, and notices there is a difference between American and immigrant parents. “Because American society is so diverse and we are made up of a modge podge of different cultures, the lines get really blurry between what is politically correct and what is not politically correct,” Tise said. “Romania is a very small country, it's a very particular culture and it's a very, very old culture. We've been around since before the Roman Empire - before we were conquered by the Roman Empire, it was called Dachia; Romanian culture is older than Rome itself. It's been around forever, so because that culture is very much established and very deeply rooted, and it's had a much longer time to develop, I think that's why it's a little bit more stringent than American culture.”

Boundless achiever

Sasha Kek, LZ Life Editor
December 17, 2021
Mark Pfister, Lake County Health Department executive director, talked to students about the development and effectiveness of the COVID vaccine. “The technology and being able to look at the genomic sequence made it much more beneficial to put this vaccine together in a timely manner, but billions of dollars were allocated for additional research and development, and I think that's what a lot of us forget about; pharmaceutical companies, when they do research and development, they want to invest in something that is going to be a return on their investment. Usually, the flu vaccines tend not to be a large return on their investment, so in this case, they're getting a large return on investment and put in the research that was necessary to get these very highly effective vaccines that are 90 plus percent effective,” Pfister said. “The flu vaccines tend to be about 40 to 60% effective, so great, great work that they did to get these very effective vaccines.”

LCHD updates student journalists about vaccination

Sasha Kek, LZ Life Editor
December 3, 2021
About 43% of students say they sleep four to six hours, which is less than the eight to ten the National Sleep Foundation recommends for teenagers; however, the amount of school work students take home has an impact on how much they sleep. “I think teachers should talk to each other more, and I don't think more than two tests should be allowed in one day,” Marin David, junior, who says she sleeps five to six hours on average, said. “That would be a dream, but that's probably not going to happen. That definitely would help a lot of students.”

“Sleeping” on sleep

Sasha Kek, LZ Life Editor
November 19, 2021
With a majority of students feeling anxious in school, the calming room is a supervised place students can go when they need to process their emotions. “For me, it's a quiet place. It's just quiet, I can get my work done, and it's nice to have a place for students to go to,” Michaela Towne, Spanish teacher and calming room supervisor, said. “It doesn't benefit as much, but it is nice for students if they feel like, 'Okay, I need to take a break,' they now have a place to go.”

School builds calming room for students to process negative emotions

Sasha Kek, LZ Life Editor
October 28, 2021
Mark Frey, school resource officer, stands with Matt Aiello, dean of students, across from the main office, where they normally greet students. “He listens, he doesn't lecture. He is there to listen and he will offer advice. He's at all the events and he's there as a person who wants to be there; he's got no other agenda,” Aiello said. “He wants to be there for the students, he wants to be there for the staff. He can take a joke and he can give a joke. I think just his demeanor, you see him and I often in the halls and we try to say hi to everybody. He tries to say ‘hi’ to everyone and jokes with everybody. I think he brings a really calming presence to our building.”

Profile: protectors with pride

Sasha Kek, LZ Life Editor
October 7, 2021
Every person has their own opinion regarding America, as well as what it means to be patriotic. “I grew up being taught about the privileges we have as Americans and how there are many communist countries out there where freedoms are limited, especially speech,” Grace Trumbull, a self-described proud American, said. “I guess I’ve always held onto that perspective and not let social media distract from America’s solid foundation, but I certainly think those who don’t realize this as much have let social media and the criticism of America get to them and change their whole perspective.”

Give me liberty or give me posts

Sasha Kek, LZ Life Editor
October 5, 2021
According to OurWorldinData.org statistics, 52% of Americans are fully vaccinated. Yet the vaccine does not guarantee immunity from COVID, and there are increasing numbers of breakthrough cases that resulted in hospitalization or death; if the vaccine is not 100 percent effective to prevent people from contracting the virus, why should anyone be forced to take it?

My health, my choice

Sasha Kek, LZ Life Editor
August 25, 2021
For the 2021 digital AP exams, the College Board has made a few changes from last year’s exams. “This year with digital, they are not allowing you to write out essays or write out answers, like last year, when you were able to write them out and upload them with your phone - that's not allowed this year," Laura Will, Testing Assessment Coordinator, said. Everything has to be typed out, so it just mirrors the paper exam.”

College Board offers an online, in-person option for AP exams

Sasha Kek, Secretary
May 24, 2021
“We were in Puerto Rico over spring break and we got negative COVID tests to be able to go,” Asha Spetter, sophomore pictured on the far left, said. “We saw a lot of histroy and went to some really nice restaurants; the buildings all had a unique color as well.”

To travel or not

Sasha Kek, Secretary
May 21, 2021
As a current in-person learner, Shaun Stubenvoll, sophomore, says despite seeing people violating social distancing rules, it is still possible in schools. “Of course it’s possible, and with vaccines coming out by the time we start school next year, hopefully social distancing will be a distant memory,” Stubenvoll said.

Not enforced, not practiced

Sasha Kek, Secretary
April 27, 2021
The construction for the renovations is starting today, Monday, March 1. “I'm all about student engagement - I talked to the staff a lot about social emotional support, but also that engagement element. Especially in a pandemic when I've been in classrooms observing, I feel really bad because sometimes students don't want to turn their camera on and they're still engaged, but it's hard for teachers to tell,” Erin DeLuga, principal, said. “I think outside of a pandemic, I'm really looking forward to seeing how this is all going to work because I came here in the middle of all this, so it's kind of crazy having your first year as a principal in a pandemic.”

STEAM lab to be built in library location

Sasha Kek, Secretary
March 1, 2021
Steen Metz, Holocaust survivor, presents his autobiography to the English I students about his experience in the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp.

Ensuring students never forget

Sasha Kek, Secretary
February 26, 2021
Because this is the last year for seniors at Lake Zurich, the school is trying to engage them as much as possible. “The decision was made to begin with our senior class [as] we're trying to think creatively of all different types of ways to really engage our seniors in their final year here at LZ, and that's been quite a task, but one that we still remain really passionate about,” Ashley Weltler, assistant principal of academics, said. “We made the decision to begin with our seniors to offer the opportunity to still come in and engage daily at LZ.”

Seniors extended opportunity to come in for five-day learning

Sasha Kek, Secretary
February 19, 2021
Living in a big family requires a precise schedule to coordinate through the day. “I started at 8:00am and I taught periods one through three, and then eight and nine, so I had the middle of the day off, which was nice because I was able to eat lunch with my kids and spend some time with them,” Meghan Reynolds, English teacher and mother of three kids, said. “For my kids, my six-year-old and my seven-year-old, they started at 8:30. They were live with their teacher, sitting in front of their computer, for five to six hours a day, so similar to me; it worked out because we had the middle of the day off together, which was nice.”

Chaos, commotion, and fun

Sasha Kek, Secretary
February 8, 2021
Every person starts with the same 16 pieces, and the objective is to capture the king. Because in-person chess is not possible currently, Chess club is using a website called chess.com, which is where all chess games will take place.

[Photo] 64 tiles, 32 pieces, infinite possibilities

Adam Monnette, Live Media Manager
January 14, 2021
As students get ready for winter break and prepare for holidays, some may need to modify their traditional celebrations due to the ongoing pandemic. “Usually during the holidays I hang out with friends, go present shopping, and eat out with family,” Niya Katsarska, junior said about her regular winter break traditions. “Now I’m trying to distract myself with other things I enjoy and come up with different ways to do things, so instead of shopping in person, I’m doing online shopping for presents.”

Unpredictable holidays in unpredictable times

Sasha Kek, Secretary
December 14, 2020
Cybercrime increased by six counts this year, according to PurpleSec statistics, which is why students need to be aware of any malicious activity they see online. “I get a lot of Instagram DMs that have random links in them,” Julia Cison, senior who was hacked on Instagram, said. “I’ll never go into them or look at them anymore because that's what I think started when I got hacked. Maybe I clicked on a link or something that someone sent me, so I just pay attention to what I do on my phone to make sure it doesn't happen again.”

Threat behind the screen

Sasha Kek, Secretary
December 14, 2020
About half of the student population is voicing their concern about a changing the school schedule to make Zoom meetings longer and passing periods shorter. “It's just going to be more time spent on technology, which is never good,” Sydney Fessenden, junior who started a petition to the new schedule, said. “I feel like the schools praised a lot of, 'get outdoors, try not to be on technology,' but this extra time, I feel like it's a little bit contradictory, but I know they're just looking out for our best interest. People are going to feel like they're on their iPad, literally their eyes glued to the screen, all day.”

971 and counting

Sasha Kek, Secretary
December 6, 2020
With students returning to full remote learning, classrooms will be empty until after winter break. “If COVID cases are rising while we're in school, it's safer to just stay home,” Max Barboza, freshman hybrid learner, said. “Safety should always be the first priority when you're dealing with a global pandemic.”

LZ shifts to fully remote learning until 2021

Adam Monnette and Sasha Kek
November 13, 2020

Boys, girls cross country to compete at Shazam state meet

Sasha Kek, Secretary
November 7, 2020
The high school will shift to elearning next week between October 26 to November 9, which can be an advantage or disadvantage depending on perspective. “Although [teachers] might have a more difficult time teaching through Zoom, I think that they'll feel probably more comfortable [shifting to elearning] because I know a lot of my teachers were expressing that they were nervous to go back into the school; a couple of them had to take a leave of absence because of it,” Annie Moriarity, freshman, said. “Some [parents] may be like, ‘Okay, whatever,’ but parents who might need their kid to be in school for childcare purposes might feel a little upset.”

School to close temporarily next week due to an increase in COVID case in Lake County

Sasha Kek, Secretary
October 23, 2020
Sanya Ahuja, sophomore band member, practices playing her flute to prepare for the ILMEA audition. “I'm big on competing for things and I try to compete for as many opportunities as I can,” Ahuja said. ‘I feel like [ILMEA is] really gives me the broader idea of, "Wow, there's so many things we can do with band!’ I really wanted to take advantage of the fact that I could be chosen for something bigger than just Lake Zurich band.”

Musicians submit ILMEA auditions online

Sasha Kek, Secretary
October 15, 2020
Twitter has gained popularity among teenagers with 32% of US teens active on the app looking to stay up-to-date with current information. “The ability to be able to talk to other people because humans are naturally social, and the ability to literally just have the whole world in your pocket is what gives social media the impact it has,” Rudy Tabachnik, right-leaning junior, said. “Twitter is just the front runner. You also have all of your celebrities on Twitter, you have a lot of politicians on Twitter, you have all the pundits on Twitter, you have even crappy meme accounts on Twitter; everything's on Twitter and that's just how it works."

Tweeting left and right

Sasha Kek, Secretary
September 25, 2020
333,768 students world-wide could not submit their exams according to College Board data. Of the 1,302 exams that LZHS students took, about 36 could not be submitted due to technical issues.

The unlucky 2%

Sasha Kek, Secretary
August 26, 2020
Zoom was not working for the first period of the first day of school. "Zoom was not working for first period," Edward Kek, junior, said. "It felt weird. There I am, after summer, it's sunny and summer's ending and all that. Then [Zoom] doesn't work and you're like, 'What the heck? Come on school."

Students, teachers unable to sign into first classes of school year

Sasha Kek and Adam Monnette
August 25, 2020
Celebrating from a distance

Celebrating from a distance

Adam Monnette, Alexandra Rauchfuss, and Sasha Kek
May 26, 2020
A student looks on the College Board website for updates on AP exams. “I look at College Board videos [to study for the exam], which help when I can't contact my teacher or just want to get more information on a certain topic," Ratana Khek, sophomore AP European History and Computer Science student, said.

College Board revises AP exams

Sasha Kek, Staff Writer
April 20, 2020
Laura Beata, HAO - LENG counselor, meets with Kelly Sibert, junior, about scheduling, but counselors also assist students in times of crisis. “I think a common thing in high school [is] a lot of social media issues, like someone’s saying something unkind, or even the perception that things like that are happening can cause a student to be in crisis,” Beata said.

Counseling through crisis

Sasha Kek, Staff Writer
March 13, 2020
The gymnastics team poses with their trophy at State. "I definitely think anyone who's done gymnastics for a long time is never going to get out of it completely," Julia Mcdevitt, senior co-captain, said. "In college I don't think I'll be doing anything, but I definitely plan on a summer job coaching and I'll be back at the gym all the time to visit. I still have a lot of friends that aren't graduated yet, so I think I'll never really leave the sport.”

Beaming with pride

Sasha Kek, Staff Writer
March 4, 2020
Lachezar Todorov, sophomore student who is planning on attending a prestigious college, searches up the application process for John Hopkins University. “[Prestigious colleges are] very expensive but they have extremely qualified people, and their programs are proven from the years over of countless students,” Todorov said. “If you got a diploma from there, everyone's going to want you, right? Prestigious colleges, it says in the name: prestige.”

Worth the hype?

Sasha Kek, Staff Writer
March 3, 2020
Timothy Beranek, math teacher, checks the fantasy football statistics during a free period. "[Fantasy football] gives me a reason to actually want to watch more sports and just piques your interest,” Beranek said, “so you're not just interested in your favorite team, but you're interested in every game that goes on. It definitely helps me learn more about the game and who's good, and kind of dive into a little bit more.”

Tackling the trend

Sasha Kek, Staff Writer
January 20, 2020
Joey Nemec, junior Spectrum leader, talks to the Spectrum club during a weekly Tuesday meeting after school. “I see the LGBT community that we’re all people who are born this way and we can’t change that,” Nemec said. “I just think we should all accept each other because [the LGBTQ+ community is] not hurting anyone. Love is love.”

“Eccentric, but in a very good way”

Sasha Kek, Staff Writer
December 13, 2019
The Orchesis team poses for a photo during a rehearsal. “[Orchesis is] a place where you can put yourself and your dancing out there, and not have other people get into your feelings,” Emily Rosenfeld, senior and Orchesis president, said. “I wish more people would dance so they could experience this type of creativity and this outlet.”

“B-Team Poms”

Sasha Kek, Staff Writer
November 10, 2019
During Ally Week, students signed a banner and pledged their alliance with the LGBTQ+ community. "I think a lot of the people who come up are already allies, but [Ally Week helps LGBTQ+ students] by showing other people that there are a lot of signatures on this [banner] and there are a lot more people that support us; there’s a lot of us," Joey Nemec, junior and Spectrum member, said.

We’re all in this together

Sasha Kek, Staff Writer
September 30, 2019
Randal Dunbar, girls cross country and boys track and field coach, poses with two signs that resemble a positive mindset. “If the players think positive, it leads to a positive experience overall, whether you’re winning or losing,” Dunbar said.

It’s all in the posi-team mindset

Sasha Kek, Staff Writer
September 27, 2019
Honors English l students work on an assignment based on their summer reading assignment. Evan Mrazek (freshman)- "I feel fine with [CP not having summer reading] because we need to be more prepared for the Honors level and CP might not take as much preparing for the class," Evan Mrazek, Honors English l student, said.

Teaching without the reading: opinions on english CP without summer reading

Sasha Kek, Bear Facts Staff Writer
September 11, 2019
An English Honors students reads the summer reading book required for the course before class. CP students will no longer be needing to catch up on any reading over the summer months.

Summer reading booked only for AP and Honors English

Sasha Kek, Staff Writer
August 25, 2019
"I was like four when my mom just threw me in a ballet class and I really opened up when I walked into the studio because I could express myself,” Alyssa Alber, senior, said. Alber aspires to become a performer from her passion for dance.

Introvert turned performer through dance

Sasha Kek, Bear Facts Contributor
May 24, 2019
Night of a Thousand lights themed posters are hung around the school to give students information about ticket sales and the dance.

Night of a Thousand Lights: juniors and seniors get ready for prom

Sasha Kek and Alexandra Rauchfuss
April 25, 2019
Students are initiated into NHS at the induction in March 2017. For the 2019-2020 induction, 92 students will be on stage for the ceremony, ready to be inducted into NHS.

New members to be inducted into NHS

Sasha Kek and Alexandra Rauchfuss
March 19, 2019
Senior Class Board members share ideas during an early meeting. Here students are discussing ideas for the upcoming senior picnic and graduation.

Class Boards: concealed under one title, individually diverse

Niya Katsarska and Sasha Kek
March 13, 2019
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