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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

All content by Lillian Gray
While parents and teachers formed a marching line with rainbow umbrellas to insulate students from the hateful messaging coming from the sidewalk, students wrote supportive messages with sidewalk chalk to express support for the same groups that the agitators were villifying.

Community responds to agitators’ return with show of support

By Lillian Gray, McCallum High School
November 13, 2024
ALL ABOUT ALTOS: In the midst of the prelims performance of “Fury Road,” movement captain and alto section leader junior Liliana Escamilla, makes her way through the music and choreography with other members of the alto section by her side. This being her third year as a member of the band, Escamilla has played in the Bands of America Regional competition before and knew what to expect.

“It went pretty well and most people were pretty proud of how they performed,” she said. “The competition has always been an extremely hard one as most of the bands are 6A, so we do it as more of an experience to improve, but I feel like it definitely benefited us to see what we can do better for the next competition next Saturday.”

Band sharpens its craft at first competition of season

By Lillian Gray and Wren Vanderford
October 16, 2024
GRETCHEN WHITMER: At Thursday night’s opening keynote, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Texas Tribune co-founder Evan Smith kicked off the Texas Tribune Festival with a discussion about Whitmer’s new memoir and her time as governor. Whitmer, the second woman to become governor in Michigan, has held office since 2019 and talked about her experience running for that position and the progress she has made during her time in that position.

“In Michigan we got on the right side of civil rights for the LGBTQ+ community,” she said. “We were able to get the Crown Act signed into law and feed all 1.4 million Michigan public school students breakfast and lunch every single day. We were able to get background checks and red flag laws and secure storages. We have been delivering on the agenda on which we ran, always mindful though, that it’s a one-seat majority. So where we can find bipartisan support we strive always to do that. Because in order to sustain this work we’ve got to make sure that this is what’s good not just for the Michigan economy but for all of the people that call Michigan home.”

As Whitmer covered much of her accomplishments, she talked about her experience running for governor. She described challenges she faced but also advice she got from others like one piece of advice said to her prior to one of her debates for governor that still sticks with her today 

“The happy warrior always wins the debate,” she said. “If you can turn off the volume and just watch and see who looks like they’re having the most fun, they’re almost always the one who wins the debate, so try to remember to be a happy warrior.”

With a range of different topics covered in the opening keynote, a large portion was about Whitmer’s governor race and her experience in politics. Along with that though, the conversation pivoted toward the end to cover the upcoming presidential election and what Whitmer hopes to see from Harris.

“Let Kamala be Kamala,” she said. “I think so many politicians get all tied up in knots because they’re trying to be this for that audience and this for that audience, and they lose themselves. I think just showing up just as she is is incredibly powerful.”

Texas Tribune Festival offers buffet of political ideas

By Lillian Gray, McCallum High School
October 8, 2024
Cowles poses for a selfie with Alumni Band members Kirsten Davenport (left) and Anne Hochfelder (right) before their halftime performance with current members of the Longhorn Band.

Cowles marches back to college

By Lillian Gray, McCallum High School
October 1, 2024
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