By Emma Wurster, Carlos Calderon, Katie Yin, and Jayden Luse

When discussing the school policies, many teachers decide not to allow food in class. But students do not tend to follow this rule, and many start asking the question, why is food not allowed in class? The truth is, there are many arguments for and against snacking in class. Many claim that eating disturbs class time and makes a mess, while others argue that it helps to overcome the boring moments and hunger during that period. But is eating in class more beneficial or an issue for high school classes?

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By Zainab Alvi, Cameron Day, Rares Rus, and Sarah Taimoory

After many hours learning in the classroom, the bell finally rings. Students fill the halls, rushing down the stairs, only thinking about the melty cheese on their pizzas and the crispy chicken nuggets. Yet when they finally arrive at the dining hall, the lunch line is already out the door. Approximately 63% of public-school students eat school lunch. So we sought to find out what these schools offer, and how it compares to private school lunches.

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By Riya Dasgupta

It started with a simple question: What is the theme of Macbeth? But when a high school sophomore got a five-paragraph essay within seconds, they realized they had stumbled onto something bigger than CliffsNotes ever dared dream. Artificial intelligence has officially entered the chat—literally—and it’s flipping the classroom upside down. “I just asked it for a thesis, but then it gave me an outline, then a whole essay,” one student shared in aReddit thread. “And like… it was better than what I would have written.” They laughed. “Is that bad?”

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By Riya Dasgupta

On April 3, 2025, Wall Street was rocked by one of the most catastrophic single-day crashes in recent history. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted over 1,200 points within the first hour of trading, and by market close, the S&P 500 had dropped nearly 5.4%, while the NASDAQ cratered by a staggering 12.1%—its worst daily loss since the early 2000s dot-com collapse. Investors watched in disbelief as nearly $2.3 trillion in market value was wiped off the board in less than 24 hours. 

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By Riya Dasgupta

Across high schools nationwide, the culture of Advanced Placement (AP) classes is as deeply ingrained as Friday night football games. Students dive headfirst into a whirlwind of honors and AP courses, often stacking their schedules with more rigor than a caffeine-fueled all-nighter can handle. This academic arms race has become so normalized that taking multiple AP classes feels less like an achievement and more like a rite of passage. While this pursuit of excellence is admirable, it comes with a hefty price tag: stress and burnout.

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By Kate Bevins

With glamorous advertisements for delicious burgers, or chicken nuggets, it is easy to see why 36.6% of Americans eat fast food on any given day. Some obvious issues that come to mind with these staggering numbers are obesity, and disease. However, one of the biggest ways American food systems are failing ethically and environmentally is through their means of production.

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By Elizabeth Chen

With the growing popularity of AI, the 2024 election may be called the “AI election” as its popularity and developments are proliferating, but the effects are also worldwide.

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By Kate Bevins

Many Americans form opinions and beliefs manipulated by the content they see on social media. But what does this mean when the information they are receiving is biased or completely incorrect? Social media has led to an explosion of misinformation on health, breaking news and, in extreme cases, the spread of viral conspiracy theories, offensive and extremist content. Social media is playing a significant role in fueling the division that is destroying our nation. As America continues down a radical spiral of hatred and division, social media companies need to begin taking action and making changes within their sites, changing a system that rewards hatred and misinformation. 

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By: Sonya Malik

Girl Scout cookies are a tale as old as time in the United States and are considered a classic seasonal dessert when they are being sold since 1912 when founded in Savannah Georgia by Julliete Gordon Low. But some cookies are leaving the menu this year.

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By: Sonya Malik

No one would’ve guessed that 2025 would’ve started with apocalyptic fires raging throughout southern California in LA. We all know about how wildfires are common throughout the state but wouldn’t have expected them to run through one of the biggest cities in the United States which is home to many celebrities. These fires have been catastrophic to the LA community and have made national headlines. 

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Skye Warner 

A president’s first official task, apart from accepting the victory, is nominating his cabinet members. It’s the nation’s first look at who the president thinks is qualified and who the president wants to greenlight their policies. It’s also a look at what a president values. Is their cabinet all-male? All-white? What’s their background? Are they loyalists, or will they be able to tell the president no? Finally, the people that the president chooses will display his own values. Are they choosing a war hawk or dove for the Secretary of Defense? Are they choosing a treehugger or Shell’s CEO for the Secretary of Energy? Is their UN Ambassador isolationist or multilateralist? All of these people will play an important role in carrying out the president’s policies, and it’s a look into what the president is likely to do down the road.

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By: Sonya Malik

Typically when we think of oil we think of money, resources, cars, and the climate. Something behind the production of oil is the oil rig. An oil rig is used to extract oil and gas from beneath the earth’s surface. Oil rigs are typically in bodies of water far from coasts of lands. As people want to move towards a more sustainable future the oil rig industry is not as favorable. As a society we don’t necessarily want to eradicate all oil rigs, but find more positive things to see in them. But there may be more behind the scenes of these steel structures in the middle of our oceans than meets the eye.

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By: Frances Xing

In 2022, MIT announced that they were bringing back the standardized testing requirement in their college admissions. As of 2024, Dartmouth, Yale, Brown, UT Austin, and more have also joined, turning against the growing number of test-optional schools. 

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By: Elizabeth Chen

Sunday, July 21st: Joe Biden drops out of the presidential race, four months before the 2024 election, following a disastrous presidential debate between Joe Biden, the current President of the United States, and Donald Trump, Former President of the United States. The viral debate ranged in topics from who had the best golf skills to relations with a porn star, leading to Biden’s chances decreasing in the polls.

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By: Elsa Plank

As the 2024 General Election approaches, here are some important guidelines for young Americans to consider. Don’t know where to start? Let’s begin by learning more about deciding which candidates to support. 

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By: Manthan Madan

Public transportation is for everyone and is most commonly found in densely populated areas. The subways in New York and California are examples of public transport, whereas cars are examples of private transport. Both cars and public transportation have advantages and disadvantages for the economy.

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Hypothetically, if there was a family with two kids in college, who earned the average national income of $74,000, their combined college tuition would be around $72,000, which essentially equals that family’s annual income. This offers a dilemma; do you send your kids to college? Or do you prioritize your basic needs such as mortgage payments and food?

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The Golden Globes, an awards ceremony for American and international films, celebrates outstanding films produced by hard work in the industry. This 81st Golden Globes should have served “as a bid to return to awards so relevancy” due to the controversies in recent years, but an opening dialogue from comedian Jo Koy, the host of the ceremony, set an uncomfortable tone.

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A study done by NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information has shown that 2023 has been the warmest year on this planet in 174 years. Each decade has been hotter than the last, a preview of the events that will happen in the future if humanity does not act now.

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Westward Expansion built the foundation of the United States. The expansion of the United States territory west was vital for creating the modern United States. Consequently, the push westward has been honored throughout history and one such commemoration was with a massive, stunning steel structure known as the Gateway Arch. Saint Louis’ Gateway Arch, completed in 1965 by Eero Saarinen, was built to celebrate the enlargement of America.

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