Snowden Farnsworth, Editor
April 22, 2019
One morning in Aug. 2016 I woke up unable to move. I was completely paralyzed. It almost didn’t surprise me. Over the past year, doctors had discussed diagnosing me with leukemia, lymphoma, neuroendocrine tumors, multiple sclerosis, Lyme disease and West Nile Virus, to name a few. At that point, I was almost numb. I had been relatively healthy up until the beginning of eighth grade. I could count...
Cary Robbins, Editor of Feature Stories
April 1, 2019
"When I see racism in the news and stuff, I think ‘oh, that’s terrible. It’s happening to so many people,’” junior Kennadee Carlton said. “I never really think about how in a few years, this could happen to me.” Carlton is not alone in worrying about racism. A study by NBC news found that 64 percent of Americans believe that racism is still a problem. And a survey by NPR, the Robert...
Evan Dorian, Co-editor-in-chief
January 15, 2019
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Or is it? What if the holiday season, generally perceived as being an epicenter of happiness, a hub for celebration and time with family, is actually what brings some people down this time of year? In a survey conducted by the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI), 24 percent of respondents who have a diagnosed mental health issue believe their...
Emma Bennett, Co-editor-in-chief
December 24, 2018
Let’s say you’re a Christmas tree, or rather, a Christmas tree seedling. You’re going to want to be planted alongside some sister seedlings in a place where you can soak up the sun, roughly seven feet from your fellow tree friends. That’s about 350 million tree friends, by the way, planted all across the United States. Depending on the kind of Christmas tree you are, you could end up in...
Cary Robbins, Editor
December 21, 2018
“I joined the military because it felt like it was the right thing to do,” Middle School IPS teacher Mr. Mike Smothers said. “There wasn’t a war on. It wasn’t this heroic mission thing. It was more that, I wanted to contribute. I wanted to help in some way.” Mr. Smothers was about twenty years old when he enlisted into the military, and he was in for a total of eight years working...
Emma Bennett and Snowden Farnsworth
November 28, 2018
It should have been an ordinary Friday morning, but an email the night before informing students of a shortened academic schedule suggested otherwise. From morning to noon, freshmen, sophomores and juniors confusingly rotated through their abbreviated classes wondering what awaited them at the end of the day, while seniors, in on the secret, innocently followed along. Then the clock struck 12:25....
Cary Robbins, Reporter
May 17, 2018
"When my brother died, the moment that someone told me that he had been shot, I actually thought it was a dream,” senior Bryan Payne said. “I didn’t want to believe that it was true. Why did it have to be him?” Cameron William Selmon, Payne’s older brother, was shot and killed when he was 19 years old on Oct. 22, 2015 at Tennessee State University. Payne was only a sophomore at the time. Payne...
Emma Bennett, Web Editor
April 10, 2018
"I thought it was early Alzheimer’s,” upper school history teacher Dr. Marianne Leung said. “I could not remember. People were saying ‘We talked about that yesterday’ and I had no memory of that. I wasn’t paying attention, so I never heard it. I had not forgotten. It is just my mind was not there.” After going to the doctor, Dr. Leung was diagnosed with Attention-deficit/hyperactivity...
Lauren Purdy, Opinion Editor
April 10, 2018
Since she was a little girl, junior Alexis Turner has always been reminded that she had darker skin than those around her. “It’s always been kind of iffy stuff people have said. Moms would be like, ‘Hey, chocolate baby.’ Why do I have to be a chocolate baby? Just let me be a baby,” Turner said. “I mean there were also times where, it never really hurt my feelings, but at school if the...
Cary Robbins, Reporter
February 9, 2018
When alumnus Adam Cruthirds was diagnosed with leukemia at age 16, his first response was one of bravery. “I am not afraid,” he remembers saying. His second response was the beginning of a journey. “What’s leukemia?” he asked. “I didn’t really know what that meant. And then the doctor said it was cancer,” Cruthirds said. “I still didn’t really...
