Who's Who: Haley Hegefeld

It's been a busy past couple of years for Haley Hegefeld. She's a dance major, on the newspaper staff, is the Student Council treasurer, French Club president, and Key Club secretary, is a part of the MAC Writing Center staff, and is involved with Young Life. Haley loves being involved in school activities because of the sense of accomplishment it gives her. "I'm just really proud that I got involved and helped with so many things," she said. "When all of the hard work I've contributed to the school has come to fruition, when I get to see it or hold it or see how it's affecting other people, is really exciting!" Haley's one regret is that she didn't become involved sooner because her favorite part about school is actually all her extracurriculars. For college, Haley hopes to attend Yale University and plans to major in psychology and minor in neuroscience. From there, Haley wants to get her masters degree in developmental psychology. "I kind of want to work with children who were abused and do research on how that impacts all the elements of their life as they get older," she explained. The thing Haley will remember most about McCallum is her friends, how they went through everything alongside her and how they have affected her life more than anything at McCallum. It was the welcoming environment that made her choose to go to McCallum over LASA or her home school, Bowie. Having fun with the girl she shadowed with at McCallum back when she was in 8th grade convinced Haley that McCallum was the school for her. The first few months of her freshman year, when she started to meet people, only solidified her decision. Haley is very appreciative of how accepting McCallum is and how everyone is encouraged to be themselves. She believes that going to this school actually taught her to feel more confident and embrace herself for who she is. "I really think that that is more important than any one skill that going through high school could have taught me," she said. "Because when you're confident in who you are you can make better decisions and you're happier in general and more able to go and do what you want."

Current Events Quiz 5.1

1. According to Chief Acevedo, the internal investigation concerning the shooting of naked, unarmed teen, David Joseph. It's significant because of the brevity of the investigation. According to the police chief, most cases like this take a year to a year and a half to process while this one only took a month. The three options the police have as a reaction to this evidence is to either schedule a disciplinary hearing for the officer, request further investigation, or exonerate him of any policy violations. In order to make the findings of the investigation public, the officer in question must be suspended for at least one day as a consequence of the shooting.

2. Hortensia Villegas and her family are rushing to become citizens so that they can vote in the election and against Trump. This is part of a larger trend of Latino immigrants naturalizing in order to prevent a Trump presidency. President Obama has made it easier for legal residents to naturalize by making the fee to naturalize able to be paid by credit card, offering the civics test online, and making applications more readily available. This is what I think Donald Trump would say (read in Trump's voice).

"What these Hispanics are doing will have no impact whatsoever!  I'm telling you now! No impact! It's stupid, I mean. Really, really stupid. They can't stop us! They can't stop The Donald!!!!"-Donald J. Trump

3. The Texas Railroad Commission is struggling because they do not have enough money due to the slump in oil prices (they get 75% of their budget from drilling activities). Without adequate funding, commission leaders warn conservatives that the federal government will be forced to take over.

4. Former First Lady Nancy Reagan died last Sunday at the age of 94. This is why President Obama ordered all the flags on federal buildings to be raised half-staff. First Lady Michelle Obama will be attending her funeral on Friday. Because President Obama remarked on how much Nancy Reagan meant to her husband and to her country, it is appropriate that the current First Lady, Michelle Obama, will be attending her funeral. Nancy Reagan will be remembered for her work as a first lady and also as a board member of the Reagan Presidential Library, which she had dedicated her time to for the past 15 years.

5. Erin Andrews will awarded $55 million dollars in her lawsuit against a stalker that recorded a nude video of her and posted it online. Andrews' parents testified that they had felt terror and fear for their daughter when they had learned of the video's existence. The people found guilty were the stalker as well as the two companies that run the hotel that the video was shot at. The stalker will pay 51% of the money and the two companies will pay the rest. The companies protested that the only guilty party was the stalker and that they should not be included in the verdict. It is my personal opinion that they should be included in the verdict but should only be responsible for, like, 25% of it.

6. The Supreme Court, citing the "faith and good credit" clause of The Constitution, ruled that states must honor adoptions made by same-sex parents that have moved across state lines. This came about from a case in which a Georgia woman was denied the right to visit her children that she had adopted with her former partner by the Alabama Supreme Court. The vote was unanimous and arguments for the case were not heard because it seemed as if the judges had already made up their minds.

Rolling Stone Reaction Part 2

According to CJR, Rolling Stone failed to fact check it's story thoroughly, failing to realize that Jackie's story was fictionalized before it was published. This was mainly due to their confidence in Jackie as a reliable source. In particular, they failed to confirm the identity of the man she accused of raping her.

I think the lesson that journalists should take from this is to never be completely trusting of an individual as a source. To take precautions against something like this happening, you should probably fact check with someone or something besides the reporter and the interviewee.

I think this story is a particularly complicated because the only person they could really rely on to tell the story was Jackie. She was the only one who experienced the event firsthand that wouldn't deny that it happened and she hadn't filed a police report. I think that this is is the fault of the reporter for not attempting to adhere to the policies necessary to protect the integrity of her magazine but also I don't really know what she could've done.

Rolling Stone Article Reaction

I think the article was very emotional and jaring. Having an article like this published in such a well-known and widely distributed magazine as Rolling Stone probably made people very aware of the unspoken of problem of sexual assault on college campuses. I think it was very well reported and well written.
This article honestly made me very fearful as someone who is a woman and will be going to college soon. I'm considering applying to many schools that have a well established Greek system. I want to have fun and go to parties but reading this made me very wary. To think that something as brutal as rape could happen to me or any one of my female friends if we make the slightest error in our judgement (or even if we don't) is horrifying.