What also is concerning when considering an older candidate is their lack of prudence. It is very possible they are less engaged in long term issues, such as climate change, and will leave our generation to clean up any unresolved messes. 

     In a form of government where the people largely decide who will be president, why are many Americans unhappy with the age of candidates, saying they are too old when they elect them? 

     Grimm provided some insight about lack of representation in the USA. “I hate how one sided [American politics] are,” Grimm conveyed. “We have two parties, and it’s really the only thing we have. Like, any third parties have no chance at all.” 

     A third party president has never been elected: it remains true third parties have very little chance to become elected when put up against the two mainstream parties: the Democratic party and the GOP. 

      A common concern when mentioning a maximum age limit to run is expressed by Moyer.

     “I think the idea is interesting, but I don’t know how you would choose that number because there are so many variables,” Moyer expressed. 

     Rather than choosing an arbitrary number where potential candidates can no longer run, increasing tests with age will hopefully ensure increased confidence and efficacy in presidential candidates.

     Barter gives examples on what to test presidential candidates on, “I think there should be an age cap which should also be accompanied with a cognitive ability test.” 

     One of the most notorious aspects of the 2024 election revolves around former president Donald Trump’s felony charges. According to politico.com, Trump’s felony charges are as follows: 34 felony counts for issuing “hush money” payments to a sex worker in New York, 40 felony counts for hoarding classified documents and impeding efforts to retrieve them in Florida, four felony counts for attempting to overturn the 2020 election in Washington D.C. and four felony counts for his election interference from Georgia. 

     Someone with one, let alone many felony charges filed against them is not apt to run this country: how will a president enforce laws if they choose not to follow them? 

     Largely, the American people are not satisfied with the current presidential candidates. This is why it is vital to American democracy to take on the duty of educating yourself.

The high school’s girls field hockey team opened their rivalrous game versus Hawken by scoring half way through the first quarter. Stow battled throughout all four quarters, keeping the plays alive. This team has had a fair start to the season with their record being 3 wins and 5 loses before the game. Considering this, the team is optimistic about their games to come.

    Six of the players were interviewed before the game to gauge their feelings. When asked how they feel about the game, senior Emma Oshel responded, “I’m really excited, a little bit nervous, but I think we have a good chance if we play as a team.” Senior Mckenna Rice agreed with Oshel’s sentiment by adding, “Yeah, it’s going to be a lot of fun and it’s going to be hard, it’s going to be physical. I’m really excited and I really want to win.” Spirits were high, even though the team admitted that they were nervous for their upcoming match, they would put more effort than ever to work together as a team to beat Hawken. Senior Alyssa Walter admitted, “This is the one game I really want to win and we have a chance if we play right.” Rice continued to explain the reason why Hawken was such an important competitor to beat saying, “It was tough last year, they were mentally and physically draining.” The others agreed, mentioning the poor sportsmanship among Hawken which makes them a fierce competitor. With the game taking place at the high school’s football stadium at seven pm, the girls were ready to finally beat Hawken.

    The game opened up with the rivaling teams fighting for the ball in the middle of the field. The first quarter started out with both teams zero and zero until senior Angie Ilijevich scored on an open path. She managed to get ahead of Hawken and push past their defenders for a goal. Towards the end of the first quarter, number 30 from Hawken had the jump on Stow and scored. First quarter ended with the score tied at 1-1,

    Second quarter started out with a tied game and renewed spirits. Stow’s upset from the first quarter continued into the second as their defense was working harder than before. Hawken continuously tried to score as defender Oshel completed a tackle to hold them off. With only 2 minutes left of the quarter, Senior Aubrey Bottger was awarded a corner which gave them an advantage over Hawken. The two teams battled for the ball until the end of the quarter. Even through the multiple battles, Stow’s defense held strong keeping the game tied at 1-1.

     Quarter three began with Stow starting with the ball. This quarter was fairly unattentive until ten minutes left in the quarter Stow was awarded a corner shot. From here, this allowed Bottger to gain yet another advantage over Hawken. Bottger was able to switch the fields and get the ball into Hawken’s defensive zone. Minutes later Hawken ended up in Stow’s defensive zone and scoring, though this ended up being ruled no goal. With new faith in the game’s outcome, Stow came back out with their offense stronger than before. Hawken was awarded a corner which lead to a long battle in the middle of the field. With the third quarter ending in a tie, the final push to pull a win out from under Hawken was approaching fast.

     Stow came into the fourth quarter with determination. Rice battled through multiple Hawken players to keep the ball on Hawken’s side of the field. Stow was awarded a corner two minutes into the quarter. With this advantage, Bottger scored resulting in the score to be 2-1 in Stow’s favor. A corner pocket was awarded to Hawken.. Even considering this advantage, goalie Mary Barnes, junior, blocked a shot on goal. Bottger once again was able to pull away and switch the fields once again. Stow took a timeout with five minutes and fifteen seconds left of the quarter. Rice snatched the ball and hit it up to the middle of the field. Minutes later Hawken had control of the ball, scoring with only 57 seconds left of the quarter. End of the fourth quarter finishes with both teams tied 2-2.

     Considering the tied game, Stow and Hawken had to go into a 7 versus 7 player showdown. No substitutions are allowed and it lasts for 10 minutes, or until a goal is scored. Stow opened up by Oshel preventing a goal from Hawken. Within seconds, Hawken scored but it was once again ruled a no goal. Bottger snatched the ball, running up the far end trying to switch the fields. Hawken’s defense fought as they received control of the ball. Barnes blocked a goal, giving Stow another chance. Only three minutes left in the game, Hawken scored, giving them the win. This leaves the final score being 3-2 in favor of Hawken.

    With the game over, Coach Palma was interviewed and asked about her perspective on the game as a whole, “Hawken is one of our greatest opponents. Just last year we lost 12-0 to them, so the fact that we got to go into overtime with them, and we were able to compete with them was a huge win,” Palma said. Palma was very proud of her team by continuing to say, “I think this game was one of our better games that we’ve ever played, and that I’ve ever coached. I think at the end we just got very tired and that affected us a lot,” Palma explained. Ilijevich was questioned about her opinions about the team’s performance, “[The team performed] super good! We were passing super well which was one of our struggles at the beginning of the year but now it’s one of our strengths so that is amazing to see,” she explained. Bottger, who was another one of the two to score, gave her opinions about the game and the team’s performance during this game. She led off saying, “I feel like [the game] went well, we did really good communicating. We did good to keep hustling and I’m just really proud of us,” Bottger explained. With the team, overall, seeming happy with how they performed, this softened the blow of a loss to a harsh rival team.

Hockey is one of the less popular of the major sports in America. However, it may not stay
that way for long in Ohio. The local hockey team in Ohio, the Columbus Blue Jackets, have one
of the brightest futures in all of the National Hockey League (NHL). After finishing second to
last in the most recent season concluded in April, the Blue Jackets will have a top pick in the
upcoming annual draft, in which they will be picking from the top hockey prospects in the world.
Similar to the other professional sports leagues like the NBA, the NHL uses a lottery system
to determine the picks in the draft to reduce the effects of intentionally losing to gain good draft
position, also called tanking. Since the Blue Jackets finished in the bottom two this season, they
are guaranteed a top 4 pick in what some analysts are calling the best draft class in modern
history of hockey.
Arguably the best prospect in hockey history will be drafted into the NHL this upcoming
draft. Connor Bedard is a Canadian hockey player who has been talked about since he was in
middle school. He played on Canada’s national junior hockey team and tore up a league full of
players that have already found NHL success at 20 years old. Bedard was the best player, despite
being only 17 years old. He is undoubtedly the top prospect in the draft, and the Blue Jackets
have a 13.5% chance to get him. Although this may not seem very high, any chance to get a
franchise-changing player like Bedard is pretty much as good as it gets.
While getting Connor Bedard in the draft would almost guarantee a bright future for hockey
in Columbus, there are many other players that the Blue Jackets can draft to turn around their
franchise. Players like Adam Fantilli, Leo Carlsson and Matvei Michkov are all excellent players
that should perform well in the NHL.
Adam Fantilli comes out of Michigan University, from which the Blue Jackets already have
two very successful players in Kent Johnson and Zach Werenski. Fantilli won the Hobey Baker

award for the best player in college hockey this past season. Leo Carlsson is another top-tier
prospect coming from the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the top hockey league in Sweden. He
did extremely well in a league full of men in their prime playing professional hockey. Finally,
Matvei Michkov is another prospect that could make a huge difference for any NHL team. He
comes from the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), the top professional hockey league in
Russia. So the Blue Jackets have a large pool of players to pick from when it comes time to draft
their next superstar.
While a top prospect would grow the Blue Jackets a lot, they already have plenty of
developing players to lock down their future in hockey. David Jiricek, Kent Johnson, Denton
Mateychuk, Kirill Marchenko, Yegor Chinakhov, Corson Ceulemans, Patrik Laine and Jordan
Dumais are just a couple of players under 24 years old that the Blue Jackets have. All of these
players have been extremely successful at all different levels of hockey, with some already
finding success in the NHL.
Along with all of these amazing young players, the Blue Jackets have several players who are
already very successful in the NHL. Johnny Gaudreau is the centerpiece of the franchise that will
be built around during the coming seasons. The 7 time all-star signed a 7 year contract with the
Blue Jackets, running through 2030. In 80 games with the Blue Jackets, Gaudreau netted 21
goals and dished out a stunning 53 assists. Patrik Laine is another highly talented player on the
roster. Drafted second overall in 2016, Laine is only 24 years old but has already had a 44 goal
season, although not with the Blue Jackets. He has had his struggles ever since being traded to
the Blue Jackets two seasons ago, but he has the potential to be one of the best goal-scoring
forwards in the entire league. Lastly, Zach Werenski is a defenseman who has the capability to be
top-tier if he can stay healthy. He has only played 116 games in the past 3 seasons, but has over

70 points during that time. The two-time all-star defenseman will be a staple for the Blue Jackets
for years to come if he can remain on the roster.
With all of these talented players on the team, it is reasonable to wonder why the Blue
Jackets lost as many games as they did over the course of the latest season. Over 550 games were
missed by players due to injury. Considering there are 82 games in a season, there was an
average of over 6 players out due to injury every single game. This includes forementioned star
Zach Werenski, who went down in the first week of the season with a shoulder injury and missed
the remainder of the season due to surgery. He is one of if not the best defender on the team, so
him going down was detrimental to the team’s success. Injuries do happen in sports, but the Blue
Jackets were particularly fragile during this past season. If they can manage to stay healthy
during the next season, the playoffs will likely be in the picture.
Many fans have already started to recognize the huge potential of this franchise. On average,
about 17,000 fans went to Blue Jackets home games, filling out around 85% of Nationwide
Arena’s capacity. Toward the end of the season, some Blue Jackets games had as many as 21,000
fans in the arena, which was over the capacity with the arena being 105% full. This gives the
franchise a lot of room to grow with a foundation of great fans.
Between the extremely high potential in the prospect pool, the locker room full of all-stars
and talent, and the loyal fans who show up to every game, the Blue Jackets have a very bright
hockey future. The NHL draft lottery takes place on May 8, so tune in if you are interested in
seeing if the Blue Jackets have the opportunity to draft one of the best prospects in hockey
history.