Pathways Press

February 2016

Volume 1, Issue 1

Upcoming events
2/24: Open House, 3:006:00 p.m.
3/19: Tax prep assistance with Meraris
3/24: Spring College &
Career Fair, 10:00 a.m.1:00 p.m.

Ongoing events
Mondays, Mens Group,
10:30 a.m. and 2:30
p.m.
Tuesdays, Womens
Group, 10:30 a.m. and
2:30 p.m.
Thursdays, Book Club,
10:30 a.m. and 2:30
p.m.

Inside this issue:

Sports Column

Cartoon

Louder Than a
Bomb

Poetry Corner

Staff Spotlight

March Preview

Chill Chicago

About Us

Corruption in college sports

By Jack Miller
Contributing columnist
The current state of college
athletics is a rigged system that
benefits only the few administrators involved. These coaches,
presidents and chancellors
grossly enrich themselves at the
great personal expense of their
players/students. The constituent members of the respective
teams involved are seen as
pawns as opposed to people
with lives and aspirations.
These administrators rebuke the idea that their players
should have any compensation,
representation or benefits as
they are amateurs, not professional players. The athletes
themselves risk debilitating
injury while wholly committing
themselves to their sport.
It is common that these time
-consuming obligations usurp
their academic requirements,
allowing students to fall behind
in their studies. The response to
these failings by coaches and
outside influences is to pressure
administration for a waiver on
the students behalf. This can
mean an essential relinquishment from their commitments
and work in the classroom.
Recently the NCAA has come
under fresh scrutiny from several former players on Division I
teams seeking recourse and
justice for past inequities. In
September 2015, Ed OBannon,
former forward for the UCLA
Bruins, won a federal lawsuit
alleging that certain NCAA amateurism rules violate federal
antitrust law.
OBannon also demanded
compensation for players images, likenesses, autographs and
more as they are a source of

By Jalil Smith
Contributing cartoonist
profit for the association and not
the players. The proceedings
managed to breach the finite
area of compensation for players likenesses and merged into
the immense issue of pay-forplay.
During the trial NCAA President Mark Emmert gave testimony: It [the case] was about
issues of trademark and right of
publicity and it is now blatantly
about pay-for-play. Despite the
broadening of the plaintiffs
rhetoric the critical point remains the same: Student players
are maltreated and their educations are sacrificed to business
interests.
Emmert remarked that the
trial focused on alumni rather

than current players involved. It

would be magnanimous to say
that this dodge could be debunked as current student players have no representation; in
many cases the association goes
to great lengths to keep its players discreet about their discontents.
In its verdict the court made
several rulings. Judge Jay Bybee
of the U.S. Appeals Courts Ninth
Circuit, expressed reservations
about
granting
full
NIL
rightsname, image and likeness rightsto student-athletes.
He stated that cash sums paid to
players separate from educational expenses would liken the
NCAAs operations to minor
(Continued on page 3)

Page 2

Pathways Press

Poetry team takes

third in competition
By Meg Morrison
Adviser
The famed American poet Robert
Frost once wrote, Poetry is when an
emotion has found its thought and the
thought has found words.
If this is true, then many emotions
found thoughts and words with the students who took third place in the Louder
Than a Bomb (LTAB) poetry competition at Columbia College on Feb. 18.
The LTAB team was comprised of
eight students from the Ashburn and
Brighton Park campuses, according to
social science teacher Noemi Aviles.
Aviles co-led the group along with
special education teacher John Pace and
attendance specialist Natasha Dunn,
who started the team during the 20142015 school year.
Aviles says the group started meeting in October for an hour and a half
once a week.
Students would recite their poetry
and we would give feedback and pointers and expect them to bring it back the
next week edited in terms of both the
writing and performance, Aviles said.
Students began working on their

Poetry Corner
As part of our commitment to
providing a platform for student
voices, Pathways Press will seek poetry and creative writing submissions for every issue. Photographs
and artwork are also welcome.
The online edition of the publication will also accept submissions of
original music, including lyrics, audio
and video.
If you are interested in submitting your creative work for publication, contact adviser Meg Morrison in
person or via email at mmorrison@pathwaysedu.org.

Photo courtesy of Noemi Aviles

The power of the spoken word. A group of eight Pathways students competes at Louder
Than a Bomb at Columbia College on Feb. 18. Ashburn participants included freshman Isabella Barragan, senior Jared Burrows, junior Hubert Gonzalez and sophomore Hope Porter.

independent pieces in November and

continued the revision process through
February. The group as a whole also
composed a piece called My Damn
World.
It was about different things that
were going on in their world that they
wanted to talk about, Aviles said. It
had a lot to do with politics and
neighborhood violence.

Despite the fact that the team will

not be advancing to the next round of
competition, Aviles says she and the
other advisers are very proud of them.
The students astounded me with
their work ethic and commitment to the
competition, Aviles said. I have no
doubt that next year were going to take
it.

I Am
I am aware and thoughtful
I wonder if I am going to succeed in life
I hear everyone screaming at me
I see no bright future
I want everything to be easy in life
I am aware and thoughtful
I pretend like my life is easy
I feel happy
I touch people's feelings
I cry when I am hurt
I am aware and thoughtful
I understand that people go through a lot, even more than others
I say don't regret what you say or what you do, just turn your back and walk away
I dream of a better life
I try to do my best
I hope to always be happy
I am aware and thoughtful
Miguel Besler, junior

Page 3

Volume 1, Issue 1

Staff spotlight on Ariel Dilworth

By Josh Jones
Contributing writer
Ariel Dilworth joined
Pathways in Education in
2014 after hearing about the
school from English teacher
Darnisha Monson.
Dilworth and Monson
were sorority sisters in Delta
Sigma Theta at Illinois State
University. Dilworth says she
was looking for a change of
pace after leaving her job at
an insurance company and
asked her network of friends
for help finding a new position.
I reached out to my sorority sisters and let everybody know I was looking for a
job, Dilworth said. It just so
happened that Pathways in
Education was hiring, and
Darnisha told me to apply.
Dilworth interviewed for
the position and started in
August 2014 as the compli-

Photo courtesy of Ariel Dilworth

ance coordinator for the

Ashburn campus.
I pretty much take care of
enrollment and orientations
with new students, Dilworth
said. My favorite part about
working here is getting a
chance to get the first look at
our new students.
Dilworths role also includes submitting grades at
the end of each quarter and
making sure students have
completed all of their graduation requirements.

I process all graduates at

Pathways, Dilworth said.
Anything pertaining to our
computer system, Impact, I
pretty much handle as well.
In addition to learning her
job responsibilities, Dilworth
had to adjust to a different
kind of relationship with her
friend and sorority sister.
We really had to re-learn
each other in a different way
so that we could remain
friends and sorority sisters
but also be able to work together in our professional
lives, Monson said. But now
its easy and its definitely a
benefit [to have her here]
because shes my confidant.
Overall Dilworth says she
likes working at the school.
The work culture is awesome. Our students are great,
Dilworth said. And I love our
graduation success rate.

Q&A with Ariel Dilworth

Hometown: South Side of
Chicago
Siblings: Twin sister and
an older brother
College/degree: Illinois
State University, B.S.
Major: Mass communication
Favorite hobbies: Traveling, shopping, listening to
music, going to concerts
Favorite music genre: R&B
Dream vacation: Trinidad,
where her mothers side of
the family is from
Dream job: Marine biologist. As a child she was
fascinated by dolphins and
water.

Corruption in college sports

(Continued from page 1)

league status. Even with this ruling, Bybee

also buttressed a major point made by U.S.
District Court Judge Claudia Wilken in 2014
that the NCAA has been violating Section 1 of
the Sherman Act for years. Both judges
agreed that current NCAA regulations
including their amateurism lawsillegally
prohibit member schools and conferences
from competing to compensate Division I
players.
Despite several decisions in favor of
OBannons core thesis, chronic issues still
remain within the system. Although the
court reinforced oversights on the association, ambivalence remains in their attitude
towards compensation for currently enrolled
players. Policies regarding cash sum payments to student-athletes are so that active
students, unlike alumni, cannot exercise
their NIL rights. Despite their fragrant in-

fringement of long-established antitrust laws

the NCAA is still impudently callous to the
financial hardship and adversity of their
players.
With such a vast disparity and divide
between administration and studentathletes, reform is crucial in the area of how
coaches and association officials are paid.
This kind of reform would ensure that officials would be paid according to how their
players are compensated. The nepotism that
currently allows the association to negotiate
billion-dollar commercial deals and then
disproportionately distribute the wealth
would be clearly spelled out as immoral and
unethical. If fundamental reforms arent
made at the association level informed by
insight gained during the proceedings then
former players will continue to come forward with new cases as they have been since
OBannons trial. The associations belliger-

ence and unwillingness to make fundamental, necessary reforms is routed in an entrenched power structure that relies on
keeping the status quo alive and well.
In light of this dismal reality there remains a silver lining. Even if the NCAA sees
no precedent for change there now exists an
fierce opposition to their bureaucracy
student-athlete alumni seeking recourseas
well as a fresh and engaging discussion on
college athletics, amateurism, pay-for-play
and more. If this positive trend of players
finding a collective voice and rallying point
continues the association could soon find
themselves responsible for countless past
atrocities and more importantly the well
being of their current and future players.

March preview
Justice Speaks
Need advice? Senior Justice Hernandez will answer
your burning questions on
school, relationships, parenting and more.
Look for the box in the
main room to submit your
questions. Justice will choose
her favorite questions to answer in Pathways Press.
By submitting a letter,
you are giving us permission
to print it. All letter writers
will remain anonymous.
Blackbird Farm
A group of students visited Blackbird Farm in California in February to learn
about sustainable and urban
farming, caring for animals
and food awareness.
Students who attended
this trip and the previous one
to the farm in November
2015 will share their experiences and photos in a special
feature for the March issue.
Spring fashion
Junior Emanuel Clark will
share his perspective on contemporary fashion, focusing
on upcoming trends for
mens clothing and accessories for spring and summer.
Join Pathways Press
What do you want to see
in the March issue? See the
adviser, Meg Morrison, to
submit your suggestions and
get involved. All are welcome.

Pathways in
Education
3284 W. 87th St.
Chicago, IL 60652
Phone: 773-434-6300
Fax: 773-434-6301

Photo courtesy of Nick Pastwa

Chilling out. Special education teacher Nick Pastwa and math teacher Joe Duffy took 14 students snowboarding in January and February through youth development program Chill Chicago.

Students hit the slopes with Chill Chicago

By Joe Duffy & Nick Pastwa
Staff
Chill Chicago is a youth
development program that
uses snowboarding to teach
life skills and increase selfesteem in underserved youth
ages 10 to 18.
In the six-week program,
students focus on building
patience, persistence, responsibility, courage, respect and
pride.
During our second year of
Chill, Pathways in Education

was able to involve the Brighton Park and Ashburn campuses. On Thursdays in January and February, we had the
opportunity to take 14 students to Grand Geneva Resort
in Wisconsin.
In six weeks, students
went from setting foot on a
snowboard for the first time
to cruising down hills with
the help of the volunteers and
lessons provided by the resort.
Being involved with the
Chill program has benefited

our students by giving them a

unique and challenging extracurricular activity.
CHILL has offered them a
chance to explore an exciting
new experience, empowering
them to make healthy choices
moving forward in their daily
lives.
This has also served as an
excellent model for forming
appropriate social relationships. Chill has been a wonderfully positive experience
for both chaperones and students.

Pathways in Education is an alternative high school

that serves students ages 15-21 who live in Chicago.
This is the first issue of Pathways Press, a monthly print
and online publication featuring content on a variety of
school, local and national topics.
To learn more about Pathways Press or to submit a
piece for publication, email the adviser, Meg Morrison,
at mmorrison@pathwaysedu.org.

Visit us online at
www.pathwayspress.weebly.com