Justice for All
By Julia Poppa, North Allegheny Senior High School
September 22, 2020
The closer one looks at America in the 21st century, the harder it is to accept that we are, in its truest sense, "the land of the free." Ruth Bader Ginsburg knew this better than the rest of us. 2020 has worn down the shiny, store-bought façade of American exceptionalism. She loved what was best...
Opinion: The depression epidemic
By Camila Villarreal, Coppell High School
September 21, 2020
For six months, America has waited for the disaster of COVID-19 to be over. For six months, the steady rhythm of our daily lives has been warped and tampered with. We have locked our doors, closed our windows, and shifted our lives to an alternative state of existence. It goes without saying that...
Remembering a superhero
By Mackenna Moslander, Convent of the Sacred Heart High School - CA
September 21, 2020
While working on a piece about the disparity of the standardized testing system, I checked my phone thinking I received a text update from one of our staff cartoonists when I saw the notification. “Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court Justice and liberal icon, dies at 87.” As I reread the notification...
I’m not just checking a box, I’m acknowledging my heritage
By Cate Navarrete, Walt Whitman High School
September 18, 2020
When brought up in conversation, my ethnic background usually gets two different reactions: “Wait, you’re Hispanic? But you look white,” or “You’re so lucky; it’ll be so easy for you to get into college.” For most of my life, I considered myself Spanish and Irish; my paternal grandmother’s...
Closing the Curtain on Performative Activism
By Avery Brundige, Notre Dame de Sion
September 18, 2020
On the morning of Tuesday, June 2, the world awoke to a social media storm of black squares. These posts, mostly captioned #blackouttuesday, also began to flood the #blacklivesmatter hashtag, effectively “muting” one of the most efficient ways to exchange information on the movement. The mass posting...
Passive About Pathogens
By Kristen Kinzler, North Allegheny Senior High School
September 18, 2020
Do you remember the days when we weren’t concerned about how long a virus could live on a desk? Or the last time you exited a classroom without applying some hand sanitizer? Or when you didn’t feel the need to constantly clean your cell phone with a Lysol wipe? Yeah, me neither. But while those...
Whiteness Does Not Make You Superior: A Message to the Brown Community
By Maryam Pervaiz, New Jersey City University
September 18, 2020
The Black Lives Matter movement has me thinking about how I can become a better ally. Within the culture that I come from, there is a world where brown people are constantly obsessing over how light their skin is and how disgusted they are by dark-colored skin. For all my non-brown folks, you might...
Opinion: Men’s mental health overlooked, toxic masculinity huge factor
By Rachel Laposka, Starr's Mill High School
September 18, 2020
Content warning: This story contains themes of suicide and mental health. Mental health is generally seen as a taboo topic in society--it goes against that “perfect” facade we are expected to have. Due to the lack of discussion, people suppress their emotions and bottle them up in fear of being deeme...
Snodgrass: President Trump’s threat to defund schools over 1619 project is empty but concerning.
By Jillian Snodgrass, The Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science
September 18, 2020
Slavery and its consequences have affected every aspect of the United States’ history, and therefore should be placed at the center of historical education. That’s the essence of The New York Times' 1619 project, which many schools across the nation, especially in California, are planning to implement into ...
Eat the Rich
By Valentina Moreno, Oakmont High School
September 18, 2020
“Eat the Rich,” a slogan for dissent of excessive wealth, has permeated into our generation’s social conscious and is just as pertinent as when Jean-Jacques Rousseau first declared, “When the people shall have nothing more to eat, they'll eat the rich,” during the culmination of the French...
The Dangers of Gender Reveal Parties: From Wildfire to Plane Crashes
By Anika Schmid, Academy of the Holy Names
September 17, 2020
A wildfire was started on Saturday, Sept. 5, at 10:23 AM at the El Dorado Ranch Park in Yucaipa. It was caused by a smoke-generating pyrotechnic device set off at a gender reveal party. Due to the Santa Ana wind conditions and dry climate, the fire was increased. Six helicopters, four fixed-wing ai...
Monday’s with Ms. Marvel: Trump tapes
By Trisha Dasgupta, Liberty High School - TX
September 16, 2020
Bob Woodward, one of the journalists who broke the Watergate stories, released exclusive tapes from a series of interviews he conducted with President Trump from January to March of this year, tapes that included the President admitting that the administration was purposely downplaying the extent of ...
Trump administration should not ban TikTok
By Daniel De Beer, The American School in London
September 16, 2020
Over the past year, Chinese-owned social media app TikTok has increased in popularity exponentially, becoming a form of expressing oneself comparable to Instagram, Twitter and even YouTube. With an active user count of 800 million, the app, owned by ByteDance, has become a known hobby among teenagers worldwide. From dancing to comedy, TikTok serve...
The conversation we need to have about 9/11
By Tyler Kinzy, Parkway West High School
September 14, 2020
I have no 9/11 story. There is no work meeting or trip down the hallway when I learned a plane crashed into the World Trade Center. I will never have a 9/11 story because I was born in 2003. For me, Sept. 11, 2001 always has been and always will be a date lining the page of a history textbook more...
9/11 remembered, but not lived
By Abigail Bell, Canyon High School - TX
September 14, 2020
When I sat down to write this piece, I was struck by the gravity of the task set before me. To convey the horror and grief that accompanies the date of Sept. 11 is a task of incredible magnitude. Although I was not alive at the time--the dark day occurred over two years before I was born--I see the anguish...
State legislations restrict higher youth turnout
By Sanjana Ranganathan, Dougherty Valley High School
September 14, 2020
Nine years ago, New Hampshire's Republican House Speaker William O’Brien promised to end voter fraud, proclaiming “kids voting liberal, voting with their feelings, with no life experience.” What followed were a series of restrictive voting laws that remain roadblocks to increasing America’s...
Gordy: Rugged individualism is destroying America
By Colin Gordy, The Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science
September 11, 2020
“If it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide,” President Abraham Lincoln said as he addressed the threat of possible...
Djedjos & Vanga: Mississippi schools should have handled reopenings amidst COVID-19 better
By Vineeth Vanga and Nicholas Djedjos
September 10, 2020
As the back to school season powers ahead nationwide, a difficult question for many families has presented itself at the front of their doorsteps: whether to send their children to school in person or not. For some, this question has a straightforward answer. However, many remain unsure on sending their...
This land was made for you and me?
By Nicole Tian, The Harker Upper School
September 10, 2020
Whenever I travel to a foreign country, my American passport tells my identity. Gold eagle stamped on navy blue. Carrying it to visit relatives in China for weeks at a time, I spoke English with my sister to distinguish myself as American. I, with my childish pride, knew exactly what I was: American....
Opinion: Call white supremacists what they are
By Auva Soheili, Carlmont High School
September 10, 2020
What would you call someone who murdered two people after crossing state lines with an illegally obtained AR-15 to support a white supremacist gang countering a Black Lives Matter protest? White supremacists in Kenosha On the night of August 25, white supremacists gathered in Kenosha, WI, in respon...
Kirkwood, we are the problem
By Genevieve Francois, Kirkwood High School
September 10, 2020
Feet move down the street in unison. “No justice, no peace!” soars through the air. Signs with Black fists dot the skyline like clouds. On June 6, 2020, Kirkwood streets were filled with supported protesters, whereas on Sept. 18, 2017, students were told they would be punished. This summer, Kirkwood...
Why Indians should stand with the Black Lives Matter movement
By Akshara Kollu, University Preparatory Academy
September 10, 2020
The Gandhi Mahal, a Bangladeshi-Indian restaurant in Minneapolis, was set aflame on May 9 amid the protests and riots regarding Black Lives Matter (BLM) and the unjust treatment of George Floyd, amid crimes against other Black citizens. Yet Ruhel Islam, the owner of the restaurant, continued to sta...
Using their platform
By Hayden Davidson, Kirkwood High School
September 8, 2020
In a post directed toward fellow athletes and artists, LeBron James tweeted on June 23: “We have incredible influence in our community. We need to use this moment to demand change. I gotta be honest…I struggle with what to demand because so damn much needs to change. But I’m starting with our ...
Stop policing people’s grammar
By Morgan Weir, Millard West High School
September 8, 2020
Language is the centerpiece of culture. It’s about more than communication; it’s a shared tool that bonds us with people in our community. However, it can also become a barrier that isolates and differentiates us. It can quickly shift from a powerful tool to a weapon. On a large scale, this often...
A Nameless Chasm: Making Sense of America’s Senseless Growing Pains
By Reuben Kadushin, St. Benedict's Preparatory School
September 8, 2020
Walking through crowds of masks hanging like armor over black faces -- under eyes glossed with a frantic panic, anxiety, or rage -- the strings of my mask teasing my cheek bones, and the sun feeling close enough to fall out of the Bed-Stuy sky, I took the subway on a July afternoon to a dentist’s office...
The confusing intersectionality of the queer Asian identity
By Kay Patel, Los Altos High School
September 8, 2020
Note: Rose Liu is the graphic artist for this article. Colleges want to know one thing about me: who I am. They’re asking for a lot of things, but I don’t know how to explain who I am; I don’t know how to explain my experiences. I’ve seen few others do it well, because I am a queer Asian Am...
Column: How a diehard Democrat joined a Republican group
By Charlotte Tragos, Archer School for Girls
September 3, 2020
The past four years have challenged the idea that the United States is a great country. Our once admirable foundation of diversity is being destroyed by the divisive rhetoric of our president. Coming from a Gold Star family with roots in Missouri, my background is that of an old-school Democrat. My core...
Opinion: A sign of the times
By Sally Parampottil, Coppell High School
September 1, 2020
With each snip of the scissors, another lock of hair fell to the ground. As nearly six inches of black waves were severed, a small pile formed at my feet. It was my first haircut since May of 2019. Time is relative. Though measured in standards like hours and days, each person experiences the pa...
Op-Ed: One should have been enough
By Nyah Fernandez, Archer School for Girls
June 2, 2020
How many black people need to be beaten for the system to change for black lives to matter in the world? How many innocent lives need to be lost for this to stop happening? I find myself asking these questions as I see one after another black person's life be taken like it was nothing. History has continuously...
Column: On ancient armor, quarantine and certain victory
By Lena Jones, Archer School for Girls
June 2, 2020
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the...
UC retaliation against COLA strikers not in accordance with their principles
By Youqi Huang, Lynbrook High School - CA
June 2, 2020
Graduate students across the University of California (UC) system have gone on strike, demanding a $1412 cost of living adjustment (COLA) per student to be added to their salaries. The UC system has responded with aggression and employed intimidation tactics contrary to its progressive reputation. As...
Opinion: Trump vs. Truth
By Atharva Weling, Wayland High School
June 2, 2020
This should have happened a long time ago. On Tuesday, May 26, the president tweeted that “there is NO WAY (ZERO!)” that mail-in ballots would not result in election fraud. He boldly declared that “mail boxes will be robbed [and] ballots will be forged,” and concluded by warning America of ...
Opinion: When will we all learn to stand together?
By Jaiman White, Baldwin High School - PA
June 1, 2020
I am not black. I am not black, I never will be black, and I can only imagine what the African-American community has had to endure for so long. With that being said, I am more than sympathetic for what my brothers and sisters are going through right now in black communities across the country. There...
Why the press does what it does
By Marta Hill, St. Louis Park High School
June 1, 2020
While protests and riots spread throughout the Twin Cities, the press has a job to do. The press needs to be there to truthfully record history for the people who can’t attend and for future generations to look back on. Student press fills a different role in this situation than professional press....
What You Missed at the BLM March in SF on May 30, 2020
By Zoe Mason, Woodside High School - CA
June 1, 2020
It is an overcast day in San Francisco, California. A Facebook event has invited people to protest police brutality after the brutal murder of George Floyd by police just a few days earlier. As of that morning, 370 people had marked “Going,” and another 1200 had marked “Interested.” At...
The arrest of CNN journalists is an affront to the First Amendment
By Rachel Cohen, Pascack Valley High School
June 1, 2020
https://twitter.com/CNN/status/1266315061221613569?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1266315061221613569&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbestofsno.com%2F%3Fp%3D44828%26preview%3Dtrue As a journalist, I stand with Omar Jimenez. Jimenez, a CNN correspondent, was arrested by state police on li...
If a pandemic won’t stop police brutality, what will?
By Yasmine Pascal, The Masters School
June 1, 2020
There has been a long history of police brutality against black people in America, from shooting unarmed black men, like Greg Gunn in the street or Stephon Clark in his grandmother’s backyard - and most recently the death of George Floyd in Minnesota. During this global pandemic, politicians have called...
Where Education Fails LGBTQ+ Youth
By Alexa Williams, Middleton High School - WI
May 26, 2020
One year ago, I stood in the field house, presenting my board on LGBTQ+ history for the annual MHS Culture Fair. Person after person walked by my poster board, marveling at the same revelation: how little they knew about LGBTQ+ history. Most people had a passing familiarity with the Stonewall Riots...
Op-Ed: Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month matters
By Rio Hundley, Archer School for Girls
May 22, 2020
Recently, I was scrolling through Hulu in a bout of quarantine boredom when a stumbled across a promotion for "Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month." I was immediately confused. Even as a Filipina American, I had never once heard of or even thought about having a designated time to celebrate my herita...
Column: Other
By Reya Mosby, Marcus High School
May 22, 2020
“Reya isn’t fully Black or fully Indian, so she’s nothing.” This phrase is all too familiar to me. I’ve heard it from friends, acquaintances, strangers and even myself. I am biracial — half African American and half Indian. I’ve struggled with my cultural identity for a long time;...
Senior column: Dark chocolate
By Nikhita Ragam, Marcus High School
May 18, 2020
In a bustling cafeteria of nose-picking, immature third-graders, I sat with my peanut butter sandwich, quietly nibbling on it, amongst the girls from my class. Macey, a rambunctious basketball player, proposed the idea of comparing our skin colors to types of chocolate. Fear crept into my stomach. One by one, she identified my fri...
I Thought We Could Do Better
By Quinn Volpe, North Allegheny Intermediate High School
May 11, 2020
When I saw that #BelieveBiden was trending on Twitter, my heart sank. The party that I have generally supported on many different fronts changed their standpoint from #BelieveAllWomen to #BelieveBiden in order to benefit themselves. This behavior is almost bipartisan, as it can also be seen from the...
Biden Assault Allegations Reveal Hypocrisy
By Nina Burik, Latin School of Chicago
May 11, 2020
“For a woman to come to come forward in the glaring lights of focus, nationally, you’ve got to start off with the presumption that at least the essence of what she’s talking about is real.” Presidential candidate, Joe Biden, shared these words in defense of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford during the...
Protection for election security cannot come soon enough
By Alex Steil, Stillwater Area High School
May 11, 2020
For the world’s oldest democracy, voting would seem to be the act most unilaterally protected by the government. In the United States, however, that does not seem to be the case. Although states and the federal government are providing basic funding measures for Secretary of States’ offices and...
Opinion: Hardship paves way for leadership
By Cori Nicholson, Carlmont High School
May 11, 2020
Throughout history, leadership is always needed. From monarchies to elected officials to unassuming individuals thrust into positions of leadership, society needs leaders who have the charisma to take charge. Though it might be hard to define leadership, times of crisis allow for stark contrasts between...
Corrupt Competition Culture #4: I Was Never Like This…
By Claire Majerac, North Allegheny Intermediate High School
May 5, 2020
Every day I walk into my homeroom hearing different variations of the exact same thing: How is this funny? It’s your health, first of all, and second, why on earth would you stay up until four in the morning studying for a test, when you could be sleeping and not cramming? Isn’t sleep supposed...
Toward a Land of the Free
By Kevin Pharrell Jackson, St. Benedict's Preparatory School
May 4, 2020
¨Where are you from? Montclair, Little Silver, Long Branch? You’re so well mannered!¨ A teacher at a prestigious nearly all-white high school in New Jersey, asked me; I was a student for a day. ¨No, I’m from Newark,¨ I said, trembling, embarrassed. ¨Aww man, did we check you for weapons...
Jira: The college application process–universally flawed and selectively rewarding
By Violet Jira, The Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science
May 1, 2020
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” It would be nearly impossible to find a child in America who hasn’t been asked this question. This question is usually followed up with a statement: you can be anything you want to be. In fact, that very statement is why I spent a solid year of my li...
Remodel the model minority
By Jenna Wang, West High School
April 29, 2020
We all know the common Asian stereotype: super smart, math geeks and are perfectly quiet. Asians have achieved more success than any other minority and are therefore the model to follow, otherwise known as the model minority. Sounds like a compliment to Asians, right? You’d be wrong. Imagine...
Dystopia, Now?
By MILA BARRY, Gloucester High School - MA
April 28, 2020
Since the dawn of fiction, rhetorical thought experiments that explore the ultimate fate of human society have been a favorite of readers across the globe. From apocalyptic cliches to the methodical satires, we love to delve into the undetermined darkness of days unlived. The allure of dystopia has...