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The Student News Site of Thomas S. Wootton High School

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The Student News Site of Thomas S. Wootton High School

Common Sense
The Student News Site of Thomas S. Wootton High School

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Poll

When do you start decorating for the holidays?

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  • Thomas S. Wootton
    0
    North Hagerstown
    3
    Nov 16 / Girls Volleyball
  • Thomas S. Wootton
    20
    Magruder
    7
    Nov 14 / Football
  • Thomas S. Wootton
    3
    Howard
    0
    Nov 12 / Girls Volleyball
  • Thomas S. Wootton
    35
    Thomas Johnson
    21
    Nov 8 / Football
  • Thomas S. Wootton
    3
    Dulaney
    0
    Nov 8 / Girls Volleyball
  • Thomas S. Wootton
    3
    Magruder
    0
    Nov 6 / Girls Volleyball
  • Thomas S. Wootton
    13
    Damascus
    53
    Nov 1 / Football
  • Thomas S. Wootton
    3
    Watkins Mill
    0
    Nov 1 / Girls Volleyball
  • Thomas S. Wootton
    15
    Magruder
    20
    Oct 24 / Football
  • Thomas S. Wootton
    14
    Churchill
    0
    Oct 23 / Varsity Girls Flag Football
News
Spikeball Club President Brandon Luxenberg sets up a booth for the Club Expo in the back field on Sept. 20.
Spikeball club looks to gain members through activity, involvement
Evan Halpern, staff writer • November 7, 2024
At Fall Festival, Pet Connect promoted its organization by letting students interact with dogs available for adoption. Juniors Mia Stubbins and Isy Caban represented the club at the festival.
PetConnect helps animals find forever homes
Avni Koenig, staff writer • November 6, 2024
During their Halloween meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 29, the Breakfast Club had a Halloween waffle decorating contest. Seniors Diya Khetan and Justin Kim and junior Rebekah Buchman participated in the contest as one team.
Breakfast club cooks up welcoming community
Nicole Kaffee, staff writer • November 6, 2024
EESA held their first meeting of the year in room 247 on Oct 23.
Ethiopian-Eritrean Student Association creates community for students
Joshua Oluwaboro, staff writer • November 6, 2024
Profiles
Main office secretary Markaela Talley takes a phone call during fourth period. Around lunchtime, the main office gets busier and phone calls become more frequent.
Main office secretaries hold school up
Sophia Shapiro, staff writer • November 17, 2024
Former competitive gymnast, gymnastics coach and poms dancer Anna Illarionov flies through the air during a routine. Illarionov earned a medal at each of the Junior Olympics and nationals competitions she competed in during her career.
Accomplished gymnast Anna Illarionov looks to guide next generation
Noah Friedman, features editor • November 17, 2024
Counselor Daniella Bienstock works on her computer during lunch on Nov. 13. Bienstock has been a counselor here for four years and values making connections with her students. "Seeing students on a daily basis acting with integrity and wanting to make the world a better place gives me a lot of hope and makes me want to act the same in my life,” Bienstock said.
Counselor Daniella Bienstock strives to advocate for all students
Pragna Pothakamuri, features editor, race and equity editor • November 16, 2024
Geometry and pre-calc teacher Catherine Ruback helps junior Skylar Wade with her pre-calc worksheet. Ruback is passionate about helping her students understand their work.
Teaching math with passion
Annalise Yi, staff writer • November 15, 2024
Opinion
After the end of marking period 1, the Wellness Wednesday slides showed what grades students need to earn in the second marking period to maintain or improve their semester grade. This “teaches them some of the wrong lessons that they shouldn’t be learning. What it does is it gives a lot more kids A’s, which means that we look like we’re doing a great job, but that doesn’t always pan out when kids go to college and have to do things on their own,” AP Seminar and Research teacher Michelle Hanson said.
Grade inflation: Is a 4.0 GPA still impressive?
Helen Manolis, features editor • November 16, 2024
The new bathrooms have the sinks positioned in the hallway and two larger handicapped stalls on the sides. This design has proved to be an incovenience as students get used to the new facilities.
New bathrooms disappoint, prove to be inconvenient
October 8, 2024
Top: Then freshman Helen Manolis (this writer) attends a football game with her friends. Bottom: Rather than going to a football game, now in her junior year, Manolis stays home and does homework on a Friday night.
Do football games lose excitement throughout high school?
October 8, 2024
Senior Abby Brodsky logs into Naviance to check the status of her college applications. "It's sometimes hard to see all your documents and know their status," Brodsky said.
Inefficiency of Naviance impacts accessibility of higher education
October 6, 2024
Reviews
Sophomores Lale Olguin (left) and Edlawit Abebe (right) work on Honors Chemistry homework while waiting for drinks at Starbucks.
Best local cafes for studying
Lale Olguin, staff writer • November 17, 2024
The "Transformers One" poster is displayed at AMC Theatres in Rio, Gaithersburg. The film follows Optimus Prime's resistance to Megatron's rise to villainy. "I never go into a role thinking I’m the bad guy. I wanted people to leave the movie feeling conflicted about Megatron, maybe even understanding him," Megatron voice actor Brian Tyree Henry said in an interview with Essence.
Transformers One is more than meets the eye
November 14, 2024
The Rockville Chick-Fil-A at 2:30 p.m.: In about 20 minutes there will be a flood of students looking to grab a chicken sandwich or some nuggets and relax.
Tasting the chicken sandwich
October 31, 2024
Sophomore Ashrita Khetan browses HBO Max watching the new mini series, "The Penguin."
HBO Max’s new TV show ‘The Penguin’ slides onto the scene
October 31, 2024
Features
Formula 1 driver Giancarlo Fisichella races in his Ferrari F1 car at the Race for Peace in Jerusalem, Israel.
The thrill of the track: Formula 1’s growing appeal among students
Sloane Berk, staff writer • November 18, 2024
English teacher Michelle Hanson reads through six essays to determine which are written by AI. The use of AI in schools is leading to negative impacts on student learning. "If [students] don’t have to think deeply about what they are doing, they don’t learn and absorb as much as if they had to do it on their own," Hanson said.
The power of AI: Can teachers tell the difference between AI and student written essays?
November 18, 2024
Character.ai, an online chatbot service, offers a personalized therapist chatbot for people to talk to and discuss their problems with. However the website provides a warning that this "therapist" is not a real person or a licensed professional and should not be taken seriously.
AI companions can not replace human interaction
November 18, 2024
The Dungeons and Dragons: Wrath of Ashardalon board game, adventure book, figure and 20-sided die are used to play Dungeons and Dragons.
Dungeon Masters give life to Tabletop Gaming Club
November 18, 2024
Columns
This school's library has a table set up for Halloween, promoting scary books for the month of October. They also had a challenge for students: if they read and reviewed two books, they were entered to win a prize.
What’s the world reading: Are you thrilled yet?
Emma Karcz, managing editor • October 30, 2024
Senior Josie Spicer reads "The Scarlet Letter," by Nathaniel Hawthorne, on Friday, Oct. 5, during advisory. Having not read a book in a while, she said she is struggling to find the motivation.
What the world is reading: Slumps
Emma Karcz, managing editor • October 4, 2024
Senior Brandon Bartee stands in front of the poster for Francis Ford Coppola's 23rd film, "Megalopolis" outside of AMC theaters on Sept 28. "Any attempt to portray a message or make a grand critique of the world fell very far short, a waste of two hours," Bartee said.
‘Megalopolis:’ mega flop
Ahmed Ibrahim, opinion editor • October 4, 2024
Senior Emma Karcz read 17 books over the summer including "Into the Wild."
What the world is reading: Summer book review
Emma Karcz, managing editor • September 10, 2024
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