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The best stories being published on the SNO Sites network

Best of SNO

The best stories being published on the SNO Sites network

Best of SNO

The best stories being published on the SNO Sites network

Best of SNO

Vulcans, Hobbits and Hooligans: the trilogy of political personas faces unbalance

Vulcans, Hobbits and Hooligans: the trilogy of political personas faces unbalance

By Siena Versaci, The Masters School March 21, 2025

My personal favorite aspect of Star Trek (besides watching with my father) was the Vulcan people, a fictional extraterrestrial species. Each time one was in a scene, their characteristic strict adherence...

The struggles of being mixed race

The struggles of being mixed race

By Jasper Paulson, Kaneland High School’s student news publication March 21, 2025

Throughout human history, there has always been racism, and there will never be a time without it. We like to believe that it is not as large of a problem as it is even though 52.5% of the reported hate...

Recent legislation has changed the United State's stance on major health organizations, such as the National Institute of Health and the World Health Organization, leading to removal of informative health sources.

Public health should be safeguarded, not stifled

By Olivia Yuan, Lynbrook High School – CA March 21, 2025

In the first weeks of his second term, President Donald Trump has already issued sweeping executive orders that strike at pillars of national public health. Changes like deleted data, disappearing webpages...

Legislators are more focused on enforcing policies such as the Parent's Bill of Rights than protecting the physical safety of students.

Opinion: Legislators are neglecting pressing issues for petty policies

By Ava Vogel, Rutherford B. Hayes High School March 19, 2025

Currently, Hayes is undergoing many changes due to recently passed legislation, including the enacted Senate Bill 104 that limits where students may use the restroom to their assigned sex at birth. Subsequently,...

A large pothole in the middle of an intersecting back road on Feb. 28 at White Oak Blvd.

Montgomery County wastes funds on non-essentials, fails to improve roads

By Breshad Robinson, Caney Creek High School March 18, 2025

Last summer, the Granger Pines Facebook group exploded with excitement. The park playground was filled with enthusiastic chatter. The big news? A Domino’s Pizza was opening in front of the neighborhood. The...

Recent studies have shown a stark decrease in literacy rates among younger generations. With the rise of artificial intelligence, several students have strayed away traditional forms of education—the most alarming being books.

The Decline of Literacy and the Rise of AI: Are We Losing the Ability to Think?

By Elliott Ruvalcaba, San Juan Hills High School March 12, 2025

We are witnessing a crisis—not just of literacy, but in our societal capacity to simply think for ourselves. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the percentage of U.S....

Why should I be okay with this?

Why should I be okay with this?

By Abigail Tripp-Bullough, Thousand Oaks High School March 12, 2025

I remember it as if I had just experienced it all over again, 30 seconds ago. It was my first day as a freshman, and I wasn’t sure if I’d have to dress out. I was walking to the Green Wall to grab...

Activists line National Road, holding signs in protest of the current administration and advocating for a better future. Courtesy of Teddie Grogan.

Protests in Wheeling

By Kelsey Holeczy, Wheeling Park High School March 11, 2025

If you frequently travel along National Road, you may have noticed a group of protestors lining the street, holding signs that read “Defund Fascism”, “Support Trans Youth”, “Fight 4 Democracy”,...

This box showcases African and Black American culture, while using the African American flag as a symbol to represent the connection between both cultures. Graphic Illustration by Dara Alitoro

Op-ed: Including African culture in the larger conversation of being Black

By Dara Alitoro, Archer School for Girls March 11, 2025

Even though both groups are classified as Black, Black American and African cultures have very prominent differences. However, in the U.S., African culture has often been overlooked and lumped into Black...

The Erasure of Black History Month

The Erasure of Black History Month

By Philipos Alebachew, Southwest Career and Technical Academy March 6, 2025

It’s that time of year again; fourth-grade teachers are queuing up the BrainPOP video about Martin Luther King Jr., corporations that own slave mining operations in the Congo are tweeting about how they’re...

As Lieutenant Governor, Micah Beckwith serves as the president of the Indiana Senate, and as the chairman of several committees and state agencies including the Office of Tourism Development, Housing and Community Development Authority, Natural Resources Committee, and the Air Pollution Control Board.

A Pastor of Hate

By Jackson Lythgoe, Logansport High School March 6, 2025

Micah Beckwith has emerged as the newly inaugurated Lieutenant Governor of Indiana, an extremely controversial figure in both state and national politics. He will now be featured at the Cass County Republican's...

Often the most commonly banned books in some school districts are readily available in others.

Opinion: Mirrors, Windows, and Doors

By Annika Good, North Allegheny Senior High School March 6, 2025

“Mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors.” Although the experience of reading can be described in numerous ways, Dr. Rudine Bishop's analogy perfectly captures the essence. Bishop, an Ohio State...

The ban on corporal punishment against students in South Korea has led to an increase in self-harm incidents of educators.

Public school educators face immense stress and lack societal support

By Kaylie Jeong, Daegu International School March 4, 2025

*Disclaimer: This article discusses sensitive topics, including self-harm—reader discretion is advised.* “My chest feels so stuffy. I feel like I’m going to fall somewhere. I don’t even know...

Someone holds a newspaper that is delivering breaking news. Surrounding the paper are icons representing timeliness, empathy and accuracy — essential aspects of service journalism in times of crisis to keep communities informed. Graphic Illustration by Meredith Ho.

Editorial: Role of service journalism in times of crisis

By 24-25 Oracle Editorial Board, Archer School for Girls February 27, 2025

When Americans think about the role of a journalist, they often imagine a human robot producing stories at their desk for hours or having an intrusive reporter shoving a microphone into someone’s face....

Categorizing individuals by race dilutes unique cultures, identities

Categorizing individuals by race dilutes unique cultures, identities

By Isabelle Carlsen, Palo Alto High School February 27, 2025

I am proud to be able to speak Flemish. It’s my mother’s native tongue, one she’s immensely proud of. I’ve been taught the language my whole life and grew to love it. Yet, in my everyday life,...

Following Yoon's impeachment crisis, Seoul National University students expressed disapproval of the president. The poster additionally criticizes the R&D budget cuts, which are described as having "eliminated Korea's technological competency."

Cutting innovation: how President Yoon’s austerity measures fail STEM in Korea

By Jerome Kwon, Daegu International School February 25, 2025

The president’s bodyguards cover the mouth of an angry STEM graduate and drag him out of student hall. This action encapsulates the government’s response to student unrest over its research & development...

School vouchers will only divert funds from public schools in order to fund a system that isn’t effective. Research shows that students perform worse on standardized tests when attending a private school under a voucher program.

Don’t vouch for school vouchers

By Ishani Kaushik, Bellaire High School February 25, 2025

The 2025 Texas legislative session put school vouchers on the table yet again, with Senate Bill 2 being passed on Feb. 5. In writing, the bill provides $10,000 annually per child or $11,500 per disabled...

The Death of Print

The Death of Print

By Carly Ellermeyer, Randolph High School February 20, 2025

Once the backbone of public discourse and community engagement, print journalism now teeters on the brink of extinction. With dwindling circulation, declining ad revenue, and a generation of news consumers...

The popular social media app TikTok is undergoing a 75-day waiting period in the U.S. during which its ownership must be transferred, or the app will be banned, according to Forbes. Prior to an executive order signed by President Donald Trump Jan. 20, the app was banned Jan. 19.

Anticipated US TikTok ban challenges freedom of speech

By Rania Raj, The American School in London February 20, 2025

I woke up to countless messages from my friends in the U.S. complaining about the ongoing TikTok ban Jan. 19. The previous night, users in the U.S. opened TikTok expecting to be greeted with yet another...

Even with severe post-traumatic outcomes, many military sexual trauma incidents, especially involving male survivors, go unreported due to fear of ostracization.

Breaking down barriers

By Young Min, The Harker School February 18, 2025

Trigger warning for topics of sexual assault. In discussions about military trauma, an oversimplified, distinct division is often made between combat trauma and sexual trauma, with the former usually...

During times of crisis like the L.A. wildfires, people often repost Instagram Stories about news, whether it’s false, exaggerated or true.

CALL TO ACTION: Reposting about crises on social media proves ineffective

By Christine Yoo, Sunny Hills High School February 18, 2025

“Breaking News: L.A. goes up in flames.” “Pray for L.A.” “Donate to the GoFundMe.” With every swipe, posts like these fill up social media feeds. Whether a natural disaster such...

Protesters carry red banners, saying “National Assembly Disorder! Civil War Leader! Behead President Yoon!” in Itaewon, South Korea on Jan. 4. Photo | Samuel Teo

The MVHS Korean community shares insight on protests against the South Korean president’s breaches of democracy

By Samuel Teo and Subin Ko February 13, 2025

As lightsticks flicker through Seoul’s packed city squares, casting a warm glow over throngs of protesters demanding accountability from South Korea’s president, echoes of the upheaval resonate...

Meta will replace its professional third-party fact checking with Community Notes, which may lead to misinformation and polarization.

Meta’s decision to end fact checking will manipulate and polarize

By Stuti Jain, Lynbrook High School – CA February 12, 2025

A student scrolls through Instagram to take a break from schoolwork, absorbing a carefully curated feed of reels without a second thought. Meta, the parent company of Instagram, Threads, WhatsApp, Messenger...

Indian women are offended by the media's perception of their beauty.

“The Great Shift” is a great joke: Why the TikTok trend is insulting to Indian women

By Meghna Dixit and Aletheia Ju February 12, 2025

After clicking the upload button on her latest TikTok, sophomore Aeshna Chatterji was greeted by an influx of comments. While scrolling through them, a couple of them caught her eye, reading, “You’re...

Newspapers have been primary sources of news for years, aiding the public in being informed about the world around them.

Journalism needs to adapt to fit today’s society

By Anand Ginsburg-Shukla, Richard Montgomery High School – MD February 12, 2025

In the past 10 years, the world’s approach to media has taken a series of drastic and unexpected changes. With the combination of social media, misinformation, and now the emergence of Artificial Intelligence...

A woman curls up in pain from her period. Studies estimate that at least 5 - 10% of women experience extreme period pain that disrupts their daily lives.

That pain of the month

By Helen Beebe, Bellaire High School February 7, 2025

Dear society, How often do you ignore the pain of the human condition? How do you continuously fail the people who are in the most need? How much will you watch us bleed and weep until deciding it’s...

Commentary: Three things I've learned since losing my home

Commentary: Three things I’ve learned since losing my home

By Maya Hernández, Archer School for Girls February 7, 2025

My entire life flipped upside-down Jan. 7, 2025, when record-setting winds spread two wildfires over 37,000 acres of Los Angeles and destroyed my childhood home. This devastation not only impacted me and...

Credit: Jane K.

EDITORIAL: A Call for Leadership

By The Editorial Board, Westridge School February 7, 2025

In times of crisis and frustration, Westridge has historically rallied together to provide a space to mourn and take action. Most recently, when Kamala Harris lost the 2024 presidential election to Donald...

Student journalism, a cornerstone of local democracy, is endangered across the country.

OPINION: The case for student journalism

By Isabella Edghill, duPont Manual High School February 5, 2025

Endangered Species. That is how journalist Scott Simon referred to high school newspapers in a 2013 NPR article, citing social media as the end of student journalism. Over a decade later, however, after...

A familiar scene: phones take center stage in the library, leaving books untouched. Are we witnessing the decline of reading and writing habits among students?

[OPINION] Time flies, literature dies

By Gabriella Castro, West Chicago Community High School February 5, 2025

Editor-in-Training Gabriella Castro is a two-year member of the Wildcat Chronicle who sometimes writes opinion pieces. The views expressed in this piece are her own. Educators are observing a concerning...

Opinion: What Losing the Places I Love Taught Me About Community

Opinion: What Losing the Places I Love Taught Me About Community

By Ella B., Westridge School February 5, 2025

I first saw the fire at 6:22 p.m. from my back patio. By 7 p.m., I had evacuated to a friend’s house in South Pasadena. As the San Gabriel Mountains—the background of my life—blazed away, my family...

Many factors are causing a lack of teachers in areas like STEM, and the salary is one of the biggest. The average high school teacher in Missouri makes 1,720 a year. Between the highest, Alaska’s average of 5,420, and the lowest, Oklahoma’s average of 1,880, Missouri is on the low end.

Editorial: Fix the Foundations

By Editorial Board, Marquette High School February 4, 2025

In an effort to meet the growing demand for teachers, the Missouri State Board of Education  proposed an amendment on Tuesday, Dec. 3, to change the minimum required GPA for teachers from 3.0 to 2.5 in...

The PRESS Act, a bill to protect journalist's sources from being compelled, was passed unanimously through the House of Representatives. However, it never made it onto the Senate floor because of one Senator and a then former president.

Do we still care about free speech? Because the Senate doesn’t

By Gianna Roberts, Delaware Valley Regional High School January 31, 2025

On June 21, 2023, the Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying Act was introduced to Congress by Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon. It unanimously passed through the House of Representatives,...

Jimmy Carter continued to serve the people of the United States long after is presidency. Design by Aya Al Waeli.

OPINION: Revisiting Carter’s finest—and most notorious—presidential address

By Grady Amick, duPont Manual High School January 31, 2025

Former President Jimmy Carter died on December 29, 2024. One of the most common refrains from his supporters, before his death and after, is that a man as moral as he was could never have stayed in the...

Twelve members of Latin's Math Team practice for a regional competition at 7:15 a.m.

Can We Please Stop With All the Clubs?

By Rohin Shah, Latin School of Chicago January 29, 2025

To be honest, I’m sick of hearing a peer tell me, “I’m starting a club,” or, “If you join my club, I’ll give you a leadership position,” or, “My friend and I are starting a nonprofit-volunteer...

Inoculate Yourself Against Misinformation

Inoculate Yourself Against Misinformation

By Shreya Chellu, Beachwood High School January 29, 2025

On Mondays last year our journalism class went to the library for “Media Literacy Mondays.” Library media specialist Angela Maxwell showed us clips from TikTok, Twitter and Instagram and asked us...

Starting on Jan. 21, the government-operated site has been inaccessible to all users. It is unknown why the site was disabled or if access will return.

ReproductiveRights.gov: Out of service or out of sight?

By Abby Eckert, Delaware Valley Regional High School January 28, 2025

As you sit down with your family and turn on the television, you witness the passing of the torch of the United States presidency. You anticipate the tide to shift, and new orders to be signed. However,...

Some of the most deadly instances of gun violence have occurred in schools, communities and other ‘safe spaces’ for students. These uncontrolled settings give way to the need for gun regulation, including background and mental health checks. “Gun control comes about with more laws, but there are a lot of guns out there that people could obtain illegally. What is a solution that would get the illegal guns off the street? We have yet to find [one],” social studies teacher Nancy Sachtlaben said.

Lives on the line: Gun violence’s impact on America

By Ruthvi Tadakamalla, Parkway West High School January 28, 2025

On Nov. 23, as Christian Brothers College junior Colin Brown and his father drove home from a hockey game on Interstate 55, a stray bullet hit and killed Brown. Brown’s tragic death sent shockwaves of...

I didn't "always know something was different," but that doesn't make me any less trans.

I wish I wasn’t trans: a sadly necessary PSA

By Sophia Mix, Forest Hills Central High School January 28, 2025

Today, my teacher was looking at the stickers on my computer. She stared at the one that takes up the most space: a butterfly colored yellow, black, purple, and white—the non-binary flag colors—with...

NAIS Apologizes for Antisemitism: Enough is Enough

NAIS Apologizes for Antisemitism: Enough is Enough

By Amelia Bowman, Brimmer and May School January 23, 2025

The Annual People of Color Conference, or PoCC, was held this December in Denver by the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), which includes about 1,700 private schools across the U.S. According...

CAPITOL MOURNING: Public viewing was open at the Rotunda from Jan. 7th to Jan. 9th for people to see President
Jimmy Carter.

My experience reporting on President Jimmy Carter’s service in Washington

By Leo Powell, Midtown High School January 23, 2025

This story contains an alternate format that can only be viewed on the original site. View this story on The Southerner. It was originally published on January 17, 2025.

EDITORIAL: As the deadline for New York’s Class Size Law gets closer and closer, added clarity on implementation is needed

EDITORIAL: As the deadline for New York’s Class Size Law gets closer and closer, added clarity on implementation is needed

By The Editorial Board, Townsend Harris High School January 16, 2025

By September 2028, NYS high school classes, excluding physical education, will be capped at 25 students as a result of New York State's class size law. This legislation was sponsored by our state senator,...

A ballot box with question marks rising above it symbolizes the lack of outreach to nearly half of Latine voters during the 2024 election. It reflects our conflicted feelings, unanswered questions and disappointment with both political parties. Graphic Illustration by Catalina Lopez-Sanchez.

Column: The blame game — Why the 2024 Election was a wake-up call for Latine community

By Catalina Lopez-Sanchez, Archer School for Girls January 10, 2025

The dust of the 2024 election is slowly settling, and we’re drowning in voter analysis: “How did Latinos vote?” “Why did Latinos vote this way?” “What does this mean for 2028?” It’s...

Legacy or luck: Rewarding the rich

Legacy or luck: Rewarding the rich

By Maria Garcia-Musalem, Walt Whitman High School January 10, 2025

Bloodlines have no bearing on how a student develops their academic qualifications, yet they still can determine the course of their educational career. Nevertheless, the majority of universities continue...

Within the U.S., the busiest shopping period of the year is Cyber Week, the time from Thanksgiving through Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This year, shoppers spent 3.3 billion on Cyber Monday, which is a 7.3% year-over-year increase from 2023. “When I was younger, I would always be out with my mom getting Christmas gifts or just shopping in general. Now, as she has gotten older, I've noticed [that almost] every day, I'll open the front door and there's three packages that my mom has ordered. Part of that is she just doesn't always have the time to go to a store for 30 minutes to an hour, but the other part is when she gets bored, she has easy access to [shopping],” junior Grace Garetson said.

Season of giving, season of getting

By Pathfinder Editorial Board, Parkway West High School January 9, 2025

Temperatures drop, snow begins to fall and colorful lights go up around residential neighborhoods: the holidays are here. This ‘season of giving,’ as it’s been affectionately named, arrives with...

A photo illustration of Griffin Petti surrounded by parental consent forms.

The Wrongs of Parental Rights

By Griffin Petti, Dreyfoos School of the Arts January 9, 2025

On my first day of freshman year, my teacher asked us to make place cards for our desk so she could learn our names faster. She passed out paper and had us write our names, the phonetic spelling, and our...

Being a Part of the .8%

Being a Part of the .8%

By Gia Galindo Bartley, Aspen High School January 9, 2025

6,741 people make up the population of Aspen; 0.8% of that population identifies as black. But what does “black identifying” really mean? Does it refer to African Americans? Or possibly the 20+ countries...

Without breaks, students slog to get through the periods.

The Breaking Point

By Lavanya Mani, Clayton High School January 7, 2025

There's no feeling like fresh air to jolt your brain back into action after hours of intense academic work. Eighty-five minutes of calculating derivatives or analyzing complex themes makes even the most...

ILLUSTRATION

OPINION: Haven must more thoughtfully balance STEM, humanities

By Kaitlyn Ho ’26 and Clark Kerkstra ’27 January 7, 2025

The death of the humanities is something long prophesied. College enrollment numbers in the humanities have been in free fall recently amid worries about future job prospects and lower pay for humanities...

Students share their thoughts on the environment around South Asian representation at the school. An online survey conducted by The Standard from Dec. 4--10 with 132 student responses revealed that 60.6% of students witnessed anti-South Asian racism and 40.2% experienced it.

Struggling for recognition: Anti-South Asian racism remains overlooked

By Ayra Ansari, The American School in London December 18, 2024

“Are you even Asian?” is among the many questions people ask me when I tell them I am from Pakistan. Growing up, it has been challenging to navigate the complexities of my identity in a society that...

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