“We’re not gonna sneeze on your children and make them shake a stick at God,” freshman Cate Deller said. “Just because your kid is gay, trans, bi, doesn’t mean that they are a bad person. I don’t see [being lesbian] any different as being straight; girls are just cute, you know?” To many students, the LGBT community is like its own alphabet, each letter representing a different sexual...

A one hallway high school with a population of 127 students and seven full-time teachers, Troy College and Career High School was formerly known as Niles Community High School. TCCHS evolved from NCHS five years ago, the latter started in 1995. TCCHS is in a joint building with other academic support centers in the Niles Center building. TCCHS offers an accelerated academic program that allows students...

Please note that all of the parents and students interviewed have had their names changed not only to protect their family’s privacy, but also in respect to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. The names of the special education teacher’s name as well as the director of Special Education’s name have remained intact. Thomas Edison is known for many things, primarily the incandescent...

School has been in session for two months now and for some it can bring excitement and nerves, but others are already drowning in homework, extracurriculars and stress. Stress and anxiety presents itself in students for numerous reasons and may vary depending on the person. Pressures such as getting into college or high academic expectations are only some of the factors that play a role in a student’s...

The first time senior Amelia Stewart, whose name has been changed, drank alcohol, she was in her friend’s basement. “One of the girls [I was with] knew someone from another school [and they gave us the alcohol],” she recalls. Stewart says she enjoyed the experience and now drinks about once a month with her friends. “[It creates] a fun atmosphere,” Stewart said. “It’s something...

According to the Office of Adolescent Health, every day, 94 percent of American teens will use the internet on their devices and 77 percent will go on some type of social media platform. So, this prompts the question: is social media and technology use helping our generation or hurting them? Senior Nathaniel Drasovean believes that technology has caused people to avoid social interaction. Overall,...

Sophomore Ahimsa Sathyakumar arrives at home at 9 p.m. for her first time since school ended and immediately begins eating her dinner while completing two subjects of homework at the same time. With her burning eyes and aching legs, she proceeds to find the most uncomfortable spot in the house to keep her eyes from drifting asleep. There are less than three hours before she needs to go back to school,...

It was the summer of 2016. Instead of spending her evening at the pool enjoying the fleeting warm weather, junior Alice Lee, whose name has been changed along with the rest of the student names in this story, was huddled in her friend’s basement with a few others. The air was thick and hazy; the mustiness of the basement mixed with the anxiety of experimenting with an new addictive substance. “Do...