{"id":7436,"date":"2024-07-03T15:50:52","date_gmt":"2024-07-03T19:50:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=7436"},"modified":"2024-07-03T15:50:53","modified_gmt":"2024-07-03T19:50:53","slug":"caffeinated-culture-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?p=7436","title":{"rendered":"Caffeinated Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

1st Place, Environmental, Health or Science
<\/strong>2023-24, Division 2, News Writing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Abby Hosler, Avery Bogemann & Rin Weller
<\/strong>The Northern Light
Portage Northern HS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The drip of coffee into a mug. The crack of a cold, crisp, energy drink. The sense of sleepy dread as you make your way into school for the day. Students and teachers alike look for ways to wake them-selves up, and most turn to caffeine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Google Forms survey of PN students revealed that most students didn\u2019t feel they needed caffeine to do well in school, but a majority also admitted to drinking caffeine either occasionally (38%) or a few times a week (29%). Th e leading reason that students gave for drinking caffeinated beverages was to help with waking up. \u201cI feel that it would most likely really help me throughout my day and keep me awake, seeing as I\u2019m of-ten very tired throughout the day,\u201d said freshman Damien Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many teenagers find themselves overwhelmed with the lack of time to themselves, opting to instead stay awake late into the night to make up for the time they didn\u2019t have during the day and exacerbating their daytime tiredness as a result. 75% of respondents said they drink caffeine outside of school, opting to wait until later in the day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI drink caffeine aft er school,\u201d said freshman Keegan Rickstad. \u201cIt just helps me wake up aft er a day of school and stay awake longer.\u201d
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While caffeine is often used to wake students up and perform better during the week, for some students it\u2019s also a necessity for school events on the weekends. Forensics meets, cheer competitions, and wrestling are taxing after school activities that some teens might turn to caffeine to get ready for. Junior cheerleader Haily Rantz especially feels as though she needs it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[Without caffeine], I\u2019m actually a really grumpy per-son, I really jump at people on the littlest things,\u201d she shared. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During her first competition, Rantz, a self-proclaimed caffeine fanatic, followed her coaches\u2019 guidance to avoid caffeine during athletic performances, and didn\u2019t consume any the morning of their first com-petition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was really grumpy to-wards my teammates and coaches, and I did not perform the best, so [our coach] has allowed me to have caffeine now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have studied the effects of caffeine on overall health and determined that it is addictive and can even cause withdrawal symptoms if a person does not consume their usual daily amount. Th is is a dangerous game, because the body also builds up a tolerance to caffeine, requiring more and more to receive the desired effects over time. Johns Hopkins defines caffeine addiction as, \u201cfeeling as though a person cannot function properly without it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are a ton of health risks to consuming caffeine, especially for teenagers. The National Institute of Health advises against caff eine consumption for minors, citing research that it causes, \u201cnervous-ness, irritability, nausea, cardio-vascular symptoms, sleep impairment, osteoporosis, and stomach ulcers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teens in school seem aware of the health risks of caffeine and its effects on the human body, but are undeterred. Others live above the influence and choose to avoid it al-together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m aware of some of the negative impacts caffeine can have on your body and I don\u2019t want to have to rely on coffee to keep me functioning in the morning,\u201d said senior, Trinity Cooper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the addition of the 641 Coffee Counter in the library this year, caffeine is more accessible to students than ever before, and it\u2019s not just kids that turn to caffeine for a kick of energy. There are coffee pots in all of the teacher\u2019s lounges and many individual teacher\u2019s classrooms. English teacher Lindsey Wangler is no exception. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018We start school so early and most teenagers – just like myself – stay up later,\u201d she explains. \u201cWhether that\u2019s for homework, or for social reasons, or sports or [other] activities.\u201d She believes that caffeine is so common in high school be-cause most people\u2019s bodies are not made to function during early morning start times. \u201cLike on the weekends I don\u2019t drink as much caffeine,\u201d she explained, noting that weekends bring more sleep, making caffeine unnecessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both students and teachers alike have a multitude of tasks to complete daily and limited time to complete them. While it\u2019s necessary to do schoolwork, make money to pay for college, and have a social life, it\u2019s also important to be aware of what we as humans can handle. Adding on that extra dose of energy via caffeine, to some, is something that feels like a must, and while we can acknowledge that caffeine is not good for us, it\u2019s nearly impossible to curb the use of it unless other systems in the world we live in change so that we can slow down and prioritize self care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NW-17. Environmental, Health or Science<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This story will focus on an environmental, health or science topic. It can be a straight news story or an investigative piece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judging Criteria<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Topic relevant to the school or students and covers health, science or environmental story that is informative<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Sharp, attention-getting lead grabs reader and arouses curiosity<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Shows thorough reporting skills through research and interviewing<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Effective use of facts\/quotes from both primary and secondary sources<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Balanced, fair and sensitive presentation<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Sentences, paragraphs of varied length; written clearly, concisely and vividly<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Proper diction\/grammar; use of third person<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    1st Place, Environmental, Health or Science2023-24, Division 2, News Writing By Abby Hosler, Avery Bogemann & Rin WellerThe Northern LightPortage Northern HS The drip of coffee into a mug. The crack of a cold, crisp, energy drink. The sense of sleepy dread as you make your way into school for the day. Students and teachers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[65,4],"tags":[207,21],"class_list":["post-7436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-environmentalhealthorscience-nw","category-nw","tag-2023-24","tag-division2","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"PJ Pfeiffer","author_link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?author=15"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6K0n6-1VW","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7436\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}