By Logan Day, Caney Creek High School
• October 22, 2025
Montgomery County leaders partnered with event organizer Charlie Diggs, hosting a memorial service on the Montgomery County Fairgrounds Sept. 30 in honor of activist Charlie Kirk who was assassinated...
By Ruby Guerrero and Audrey Rostowsky
• October 22, 2025
Just a few months after the first ‘No Kings’ protest against President Donald Trump’s administration, on Oct. 18, the second ‘No Kings’ protest was held in over 20 countries, in all 50 American...
By Siena Codekas, Brea Olinda High School
• October 20, 2025
As Wildcat football players rush off the field due to a loose facemask, a broken shoulder pad, or a blood-stained jersey, they head straight for Eric "Zeke" Zeker, Brea Olinda High School's equipment manager.
At...
By Joselyn Duran Corona, West Chicago Community High School
• September 26, 2025
As the rain poured down, the Wildcats stood soaked in sweat and water, but nothing could dampen their spirit of the Wildcats. They raised their helmets with pride after a dominant win against Ridgewood.
After...
By Ruby Guerrero, West Chicago Community High School
• September 23, 2025
On Mexican Independence Day, the streets of West Chicago filled with food, music, and chants as residents celebrated the holiday while also protesting against recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement...
By Beatrix Lozach, Maya Tackett, Wren Vanderford, Priya Thoppil, Riley Pita, Daniela Di-Capua, Sienna Martens, Katie Martin, and Carson Duncan
• September 16, 2025
Just as the sun was setting on Friday evening, the McCallum marching band began its annual Bandapalooza performance in the band parking lot. After the last month of all-day rehearsals during summer...
By JoJo Barnard, Delaney Lavelle, Sienna Martens, Sophia Manos, Maggie Mass, Elizabeth Nation, Callen Romell, Maya Tackett, Priya Thoppil, Isa Truan, Camilla Vandegrift, Nate Williams, and Harriet Zettner
• May 7, 2025
McCallum had its annual student-directed fashion show in the MAC this past weekend with a performance on Saturday at 7 p.m and a matinee on Sunday at 2 p.m. The theme of the show was “Celestial Wilderness:...
By Alexine Cornelio, Chantilly High School
• May 2, 2025
The hallways and lecture hall were filled with photographs, paintings, drawings, animations and portfolios created by art students from kindergarten through senior year from different schools including...
By Shila Gill, Lillian Gray, Maggie Mass, Sophia Manos, Josie Mullan, Callen Romell, Sofia Saucedo, Priya Thoppil, Camilla Vandegrift, Wren Vanderford, and Nate Williams
• April 10, 2025
The classical guitar program held its annual Battle of the Bands in the Fine Arts Building Theater last Thursday evening. Each band performed three original or cover songs, and audience members used their...
By Daniela Di-Capua, Evelyn Jenkins, Josie Linton, Sienna Martens, Harper Maxwell, Katie Martin, Piper Norfolk, Elizabeth Nation, and Mira Patel
• April 4, 2025
Last Wednesday, Blue Brigade kicked off their competition season with their annual show-off of all their competition pieces in front of family and friends in the McCallum gym. The show-off prepares the...
By Daniela Di-Capua, Carson Duncan, Chloe Lewcock, Beatrix Lozach, Josie Mullan, Piper Norfolk, Arwen Pelletier, Callen Romell, Chloe Seckar-Martinez, Maya Tackett, Fletcher Vandegrift, and Nate Williams
• March 27, 2025
The McCallum Youth Dance Company performed its annual winter showcase, “Movement 2025” at the Austin ISD Performing Arts Center last Thursday and Friday night. The company began working on these dances...
By Kanin Cadam, Conifer High School
• March 12, 2025
From the tunnels of Vietnam to the depths of one’s mind, from the corners of Peru to a mission to be kind, all Peace Day speakers gathered to share their each and every find.
On Feb. 7, 332 students...
By Lillian Gray and Wren Vanderford
• December 20, 2024
The McCallum robotics program hosted a Vex robotics tournament on Saturday Dec. 7, which drew in 27 teams, four of those were underclassmen teams from Mac—B, C, D and E.
This season’s game is called...
By Ruby Guerrero, West Chicago Community High School
• December 3, 2024
Dan Bovey and his family battled harsh winds and weather to bring new hope and inspiration to West Chicago citizens during his announcement of a mayoral run—the first time in a decade a new candidate...
By Lillian Gray and Wren Vanderford
• November 20, 2024
Peer Assistance Leadership and Service students took a trip to the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired last Tuesday for their annual Blind Awareness Day.
The event gave PALS members a chance...
By Miley Pegg, West Chicago Community High School
• November 5, 2024
The West Chicago Wildcats' season ended in a hard-fought battle against the Normal Community Ironmen, falling 41-16, but the scoreboard could not capture the grit and heart that carried them there. In...
By Lillian Gray and Wren Vanderford
• October 16, 2024
The band took on the Bands of America Regional competition to perform this season's show, ¨Fury Road.¨ The event was held at the Kelly Reeves Stadium in Round Rock on Saturday and marks the band's first...
By Jonah Rossiter, Archie Williams High School
• October 16, 2024
During the Oct. 11-13 Fleet Week Airshow, an annual spectacle in the San Francisco Bay Area, an array of aircraft perform 10-12 acts for audiences around the bay. Aircraft perform various aerial maneuvers,...
By JoJo Barnard, Sunday Cardinal, Tegan Hahn, Delaney Lavelle, Lilah Lavigne, Beatrix Lozach, Sophia Manos, Tallulah McAuliffe, Josie Mullan, Riley Pita, Adele Seeboth, Nico Williamson, and Nate Williams
• October 10, 2024
MacTheatre has been closely working on the fall musical Tuck Everlasting since Aug. 5, when the cast of 35 people leapt headfirst into vocal and choreography rehearsals. They spent hours rehearsing everything...
By Lillian Gray, McCallum High School
• September 17, 2024
This morning the Austin Fire Department climbed 1,368 feet of stairs, the height of the World Trade Center in 2001. For over an hour, participants made their way up and down the Pleasant Valley Tower,...
By JoJo Barnard, Chloe Lewcock, Callen Romell, Ingrid Smith, Maya Tackett, Priya Thoppil, and Francie Wilhelm
• May 21, 2024
The annual McCallum fashion show took place over on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon in the McCallum Arts Center. The show displayed a variety of looks created by an array of designers, all fitting...
By Onari Kahandawa, Piscataway High School
• May 21, 2024
Many girls share high school memories of quiet chattering, secret stares, and trying hard not to laugh for silly things while the teacher is talking. However, The ‘Girl Up Club’ is a place for high...
By Sami Moesch, West Chicago Community High School
• May 17, 2024
The Class of 2024 started their high school careers on Zoom, with hybrid learning the year after. Those very seniors walked the halls for one last time on May 8 before saying farewell to what can only...
By JoJo Barnard, Julia Copas, Gaby Esquivel, Shila Gill, Evelyn Jenkins, Chloe Lewcock, Helen Martin, Maggie Mass, Caroline Owen, Alice Scott, and Lanie Sepehri
• April 12, 2024
Local bands took the stage in the McCallum Fine Arts Building and battled it out last Thursday during this year’s edition of the Battle of the Bands. Mac Classical Guitar kicked off the new year with...
By ENO Staff, Jake Radcliffe, Srihitha Madepalli, Sofia Ayala, Erica Deutsch, Will Ligon, and Isabel Multer
• April 10, 2024
As students walk to the turf, junior Brandon Livingston gets a view of the partial eclipse. The partial eclipse took place before and after the total eclipse from 12:32 to 3:02 p.m. Nearly 12 cities...
By JoJo Barnard, Gaby Esquivel, Sophie Leung-Lieu, Chloe Lewcock, Aubrey Macedo, Caroline Owen, Lanie Sepehri, Maya Tackett, Priya Thoppil, and Francie Wilhelm
• February 23, 2024
To give incoming students a taste of what the Fine Arts Academy is really like, McCallum hosted its annual fine arts showcase. The event, held Nov. 8, allowed the academy to show off each discipline and...
By JoJo Barnard, Shila Gill, Evelyn Jenkins, Chloe Lewcock, Beatrix Lozach, Josie Mullan, and Alice Scott
• January 12, 2024
As part of McCallum’s Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations, the Student of Color Club put on a variety of activities to show their appreciation and pride. Part of their month-long festivities, the club...
By Laila Taraporevala, The American School in London
• November 30, 2023
The Performing Arts Department put on the fall musical “Anything Goes” Nov. 16-18. Set on the S.S. American, a boat traveling from New York to London in 1934, “Anything Goes” follows a combination...
By Eshan Amir, West Chicago Community High School
• November 28, 2023
There exists a special kind of water that cannot be found in grocery stores, malls, or water fountains anywhere in America - one with a taste that cannot be quickly forgotten. That is right: microorganism-filled,...
By Riley McConnell and Isabel Multer
• November 10, 2023
This story contains an alternate format that can only be viewed on the original site. View this story on Eagle Nation Online. It was originally published on November 2, 2023.
By Sutton Banning, JoJo Barnard, Olivia Dungan, Carlo Hinsdale, Chloe Lewcock, Beatrix Lozach, Helen Martin, and Olin Michalovic
• October 31, 2023
Longtime PALS adviser Richard Cowles remembers when Pink Week was a young Mac tradition and would bring in around $200. More than a decade later, he says, the expectation is that Pink Week will bring in...
By Dhanveer Gill, West Chicago Community High School
• October 20, 2023
A car commercial is not the first thing that people think of when Charlestowne Mall comes to mind; instead, a once lively and popular shopping center is often far more memorable in the minds of the residents...
By Julia Copas, McCallum High School
• October 19, 2023
On Sept. 8, 1953, A. N. McCallum High School, named after AISD's third superintendent, opened its doors to the 1,336 students enrolled. They weren't Knights yet because they hadn't yet picked the mascot....
By Ella Furuichi, Archie Williams High School
• October 16, 2023
Nestled in the middle of downtown Napa Valley, the first Down in the Valley music festival took place at the Oxbow RiverStage, Saturday, Sept. 2, and Sunday, Sept. 3, featuring a lineup of nine talented...
By JoJo Barnard, Julia Copas, Naomi Di-Capua, Chloe Lewcock, Maggie Mass, Alice Scott, Lanie Sepehri, Ingrid Smith, Lucas Walker, and Francie Wilhelm
• October 12, 2023
Through the sweltering heat, the McCallum band showed off the first two movements of their 2023 contest show, “Starsurfer” in the band parking lot on Friday night. The annual Bandapalooza event gives...
By Genesis Arrieta, Dreyfoos School of the Arts
• October 12, 2023
“I’d like students to see a richer world so that they can live a richer life,” science teacher Timothy Siniscalchi said. “I don’t want my classes to just be words on a page, where rules are...
By Avalon Nielsen and Baylie Van Horn Turnidge
• October 5, 2023
Fire blazing, heat roaring, smoke billowing and hundreds of students huddled together.
This is the Homecoming Bonfire.
The Homecoming Bonfire was one of many Homecoming events, following the parade...
By JoJo Barnard, Julia Copas, Naomi Di-Capua, Chloe Lewcock, Alice Scott, Lanie Sepehri, Ingrid Smith, and Maya Tackett
• September 25, 2023
McCallum’s observation of the Taco Shack was a mix of old traditions blended with new ideas.
The student government pulled ideas from homecoming and Pink Week to bring a new experience to Taco Shack....
By Emily Ziajor, West Chicago Community High School
• September 18, 2023
West Chicago Wildcats vs. Bartlett Hawks. The first football home game took place on Sept. 1 at WCCHS in Memorial Stadium. The West Chicago Wildcats came out victorious with a score of 21-14, securing...
By Andrew McLaughlin, North Allegheny Senior High School
• June 1, 2023
In 1977, a North Hills amusement park called West View Park closed forever. 35 years after the park’s closure, a seven-year-old boy wandered into his local library’s nonfiction section and pulled a...
By Kate Boyle, Naomi Di-Capua, Chloe Lewcock, Caroline Owen, Charlie Partheymuller, Ingrid Smith, Priya Thoppil, Francie Wilhelm, and Dave Winter
• May 18, 2023
After a successful year of performances, pep rallies and dance competitions, the Blue Brigade ended its season last weekend in the annual spring show. Held in the MAC and hosted by class of ‘22 officers...
By Kate Boyle, Morgan Eye, Meredith Grotevant, Chloe Lewcock, Sophie Kessler, Gergő Major, Helen Martin, Caroline Owen, Alice Scott, Ingrid Smith, Grace Vitale, J. Frank Webster, Francie Wilhelm, and Dave Winter
• May 17, 2023
After four years of classes, COVID and all kinds of change, the class of 2023 kicked of its graduation festivities with the “Under the Knight Sky” prom last Saturday. Prom, which welcomed seniors and...
By Aidan Smith, Dreyfoos School of the Arts
• May 4, 2023
Denim, spandex, nylon, and neon erupted onto the bleachers as SGA co-presidents communications senior Kate Wagner and strings senior Sofia Plaza welcomed students in the gym to Generation Day activities....
By Kate Boyle, Tristen Diaz, Chloe Lewcock, Gergő Major, Lanie Sepehri, Ingrid Smith, Priya Thoppil, Camilla Vandegrift, Grace Vitale, Francie Wilhelm, and Dave Winter
• April 18, 2023
With extravagant dresses, a smiling crowd and a music-filled dance floor, the fourth-ever McCallum Quinceañera brought students together this past Saturday after years of COVID-induced shutdowns. The...
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![NEW CHALLENGE, NEW TEAM MEMBERS: Every season, VEX creates a new game that robotics team members are faced with and have to build a robot to compete in. This year’s game forces students to create a robot that is able to stack rings onto mobile goals in order to score points. The change in games each season is something that robotics teacher Audrea Moyers appreciates.
“One of the things that I like about VEX is that they have a new problem to solve every year,” she said. ¨Even though the equipment’s the same, they have to analyze the game, and they have to come up with solutions that are unique that year. They are using their knowledge from prior years, but they have to kind of redesign a problem.”
As returning teams were faced a new game, some new teams and members had to adapt to a uncommon playing field and game.
“Three of our four teams were competing for the first time this year, and they had very different experiences match to match, so I think they learned a lot,¨ she said. ¨It’s hard just watching a video online to know how it’s actually going to be in person, so they all learned a lot about what gameplay is like, how to work with an alliance partner [and] how to adapt during the day to changes.”](https://bestofsno.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IMG_9283-1-1200x800.jpg)
![BACKGROUND IN THE BUSINESS: Dressed by junior designer Kaitlyn Gerrie, senior Chamila Muñoz took to the “Dreamland” runway this past weekend. While it was her first time participating in the McCallum fashion show, Muñoz isn’t new to the modeling world.
I modeled here and there when I was a lot younger, maybe five or six [years old] for some jewelry brands and small businesses, but not much in recent years,” Muñoz said.
Muñoz had hoped to participate in last year’s show but couldn’t due to scheduling conflicts. For her senior year, though, she couldn’t let the opportunity pass her by.
“It’s [modeling] something I haven’t done in a while so I was excited to step out of my comfort zone in a way,” Muñoz said. “I always love trying new things and being able to show off designs of my schoolmates is such an honor.”
The preparation process for the show was hectic, leaving the final reveal of Gerrie’s design until days before the show, but the moment Muñoz tried on the outfit, all the stress for both designer and model melted away.
“I didn’t get to try on my outfit until the day before, but the look on Kaitlyn’s face when she saw what she had worked so hard to make actually on a model was just so special,” Muñoz said. “I know it meant so much to her. But then she handed me a blindfold and told me I’d be walking with it on, so that was pretty wild.”
Caption by Francie Wilhelm.](https://bestofsno.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/53535098892_130167352f_o-1200x800.jpg)
![IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Junior Zalie Mann performs “I Love to Cry at Weddings,” an ensemble piece from the fall musical Sweet Charity, to prospective students during the Fine Arts Showcase on Wednesday, Nov. 8. The showcase is a compilation of performances and demonstrations from each fine arts strand offered at McCallum. This show is put on so that prospective students can see if they are interested in joining an academy or major.
Sweet Charity originally ran the weekends of Sept. 28 and Oct. 8, but made a comeback for the Fine Arts Showcase.
“[Being at the front in the spotlight] is my favorite part of the whole dance, so I was super happy to be on stage performing and smiling at the audience,” Mann said.
Mann performed in both the musical theatre performance and dance excerpt “Ethereal,” a contemporary piece choreographed by the new dance director Terrance Carson, in the showcase. With also being a dance ambassador, Mann got to talk about what MAC dance is, her experience and answer any questions the aspiring arts majors and their parents may have.
Caption by Maya Tackett.](https://bestofsno.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/53321803427_47cd17fe70_o-1-1200x800.jpg)
![SPREADING THE JOY: Sophomore Chim Becker poses with sophomores Cozbi Sims and Lou Davidson while manning a table at the Hispanic Heritage treat day during lunch of Sept 28. Becker is a part of the students of color alliance, who put together the activity to raise money for their club.
“It [the stand] was really fun because McCallum has a lot of latino kids,” Becker said. “And I think it was nice that I could share the stuff that I usually just have at home with people who have never tried it before.”
Becker recognizes the importance of celebrating Hispanic heritage at Mac.
“I think it's important to celebrate,” Becker said. “Because our culture is awesome and super cool, and everybody should be able to learn about other cultures of the world.”
Caption by JoJo Barnard.](https://bestofsno.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/53221601352_4127a81c41_o-1200x675.jpg)
![PINK FOR PROM: Seniors Vaughn Vandegrift, Peter Wiseman, Max Yehaskel and Alex Gold sing and dance their hearts out at Saturday’s “Under the Knight Sky” prom. Yehaskel and Wiseman stood out in the sea of black and navy suits as the pair opted for bright pink with contrasting, yet coordinating, shirts and ties. While the style decision seemed big to onlookers, for Yehaskel it was a simple choice.
“I like pink, it’s a solid color,” he said. “It almost melted when I ironed it actually. It’s 100% polyester, and I got it from Kohl’s.”
Yehaskel enjoyed prom overall, except when it came to the royalty announcement.
“Someone stole prom queen from me,” he joked. “It was very tragic. But other than that, it was fun.”
As prom marks another milestone at the end of senior year, Yehaskel is ready to sit back, relax and enjoy his last few weeks as a Knight.
“My grades don’t matter anymore [and] after AP tests I’m done,” Yehaskel said. “I’m going to go nuts, and I’m going to start cooking more.”
Caption by Francie Wilhelm.](https://bestofsno.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/g_m_0458_52847345379_o-900x600.jpg)
