According to the 2013 Monitoring the Future study, 45.5% of high school seniors have tried marijuana, making it the most common illegal drug used by teenagers. Alaska, Oregon, and Washington D.C. recently joined Colorado and Washington in legalizing marijuana for recreational use. Is legalizing recreational marijuana the right step to take? The short answer…
This column comes to you from what is sure to be my death bed. For the last week, I have been infected with what I have decided to describe as the modern plague. And although unlike the plague, this cold is unlikely to literally kill you, it will be sure to kill your academic…
With over 232 million users, Twitter has emerged as a popular social networking site for teens to talk about what they just ate, when they last pooped on the field, or to let the world know when it’s raining. However, with the increased reach of such technology, Twitter has begun to appeal to a…
Teenagers have a voice that deserves to be heard, as well as first-hand experience with relevant issues that need to be brought to the attention of politicians. But for whatever reason, teenagers just aren’t going to the polls. Maybe it’s because to a young adult, policy matters seem far away and irrelevant to a…
600,000 Americans die every year of heart disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CIA estimates that the United States is 47th in infant mortality rates, 5.2 deaths for every 1,000 live births. The flu kills about 36,000 Americans every year, also according to the CDC. Ebola, on the…
It’s that time of the year again, when everything is terrifying and teenagers are up late at night, sometimes even until the early morning hours. That’s right, it’s midterms! Oh, yeah, also Halloween. Back in August, we all started seeing the black and orange decorations lining the aisles of stores and the pumpkin-flavored-everything filling…
Looking around as you walk down the street on a fall day, the sights and sounds of the autumn are mingled, without fail, with the words “pumpkin spice”. The flavor has lost some of its unique autumn charm due to this overuse. The name seems to appear in every possible location and starts to…
There are fifty-two cards in a deck, or, if you include jokers, fifty-four. I learned this lesson the hard way, through a game of “52 Card Pickup” initiated by my demonic older brother. While this was a rather unpleasant way to embed this lesson in my head, I haven’t forgotten it since, so you…
Seeing a teenager off their phone is a rare sight. It’s safe to say that cell phones have changed dramatically since the first mobile phone was created, and this has sparked an equal change in the way many people live. No more sitting around the home phone, awaiting a call. Now, you can be…
To the disgruntled students who wanted to take AP English or AP Spanish, you are not alone in your annoyance at this year’s changed schedule. Both of these classes were cancelled and are no longer offered, and students wishing to take either class were enrolled in IB English or IB Spanish in a schoolwide…