Snow Days Are Thing of the Past

By Tanya Marques ‘23 The excitement of waking up and seeing those bright red words right on the MCPS homepage, “Schools will be closed due to inclement weather” are soon to become a thing of the past.  On February 1, 2022, MCPS announced that snow days would transition into virtual learning to reduce the number of makeup days in the … Read More

Hero Is Attacked for Saving American Lives

by Marissa Harris ‘22 “The unseemly things that crises bring out in the world; it brings out the best of people and the worst of people, and getting death threats to my family and harassing my daughters to the point where I have to get security – it’s amazing.” The person who shared this bewilderment is Dr. Anthony Fauci, the … Read More

Pro vs. Con: Shakespeare in School

Each year, Sherwood students are required to study the many works of William Shakespeare. From Romeo and Juliet to Hamlet, the majority of advanced English classes devote a month or more of the school year to teaching and analyzing his plays. But why? What makes Shakespeare’s writing so important that it is being taught 400 years after it was written? … Read More

The Developing World Needs Help Fighting Climate Change

by Reade Fenner ‘22 Following the end of the two-week COP26 United Nations climate summit held in Glasgow, Scotland, many countries made agreements in an effort to reduce the impact of climate change. The UN resolved to continue putting pressure on developed nations to cut their emissions and the resolution urged countries around the world to phase out fossil fuels. … Read More

Unsigned Editorial: MCPS Made the Right Decision

With the Omicron variant of Covid-19 emerging recently and spiking in cases over winter break, MCPS has been forced to make difficult and often controversial decisions. Although there were significant failures in how MCPS communicated to teachers, students, and parents, the best option is to keep schools open in-person unless a lack of staff necessitates schools to close for a … Read More

Colorism Plays a Part in Women’s Roles

by Timaya Pulliam ‘23 Zendaya, Amandla Stenberg, Storm Reid, and Yara Shahidi all have one thing in common. They are all light-skinned and mixed women in Hollywood with plenty of major roles. When looking at diversity in television and film, many people think about race; however, skin shade is just as much of an issue. These leading ladies and women … Read More

Schools Are Failing Introverts

by Anna Haas ‘23 Pods of desks, group projects, a spot on report cards that grade for class participation. All of these and more are ways that schools align themselves around extroverts. MCPS has even been pushing to get away from lecture-style teaching and teacher-led instruction in favor of groups, projects, and socratic seminars. Extroverts reading this are likely jumping … Read More

The Right To Choose Must be Protected

by Sydney Wiser ‘23 On December 1, the Supreme Court began hearing arguments for Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a Mississippi case that could determine the future of abortion in this country. The case directly challenges Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court case that protects the right to choose whether or not to have an abortion under the … Read More

Don’t Blame Teens for Tech Addiction

by Erica Kuhlmann ‘22 A study done in 2018 reported that 50% of teenagers feel addicted to their phones, and this number has surely increased in recent years as COVID-19 lockdowns caused people to rely heavily on technology for connection with the outside world. Teens are told that they are addicted to their phones or the internet constantly, getting called … Read More

The Racist and Elitist Issues with the SAT

by Alexis Booker ‘23 and Perri Williams ‘23 The SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) is a standardized test distributed by the College Board, a provider of tests and curriculum that shape the U.S. education system. The origins of the SAT began in 1926 and first was used by the U.S. Army to test how intelligent recruits were. Although reasonable on the surface, … Read More