A trip to the Botanic Garden

by Shannon Ryan

The National Art Honor Society recently took a field trip to the US Botanic Garden located on the National Mall.

The field trip included a small group of students who had a goal of documenting artistically one of the capital’s unsung spots.

In these photographs, I tried to capture the beauty the Botanic Garden, and especially the many colors on display.

The peach drift roses seen in the middle photo were especially striking, as was the sheer scale of variety that gardeners have cultivated.

Name and pronouns

Leo Apollo Brooks, he/him

Graduation year

2024

Zodiac sign

Libra

Describe your style

Punk grandpa

Biggest style inspo

80’s trad goth and 80’s punk

Favorite hobbies

Collecting shiny things, making art, watching cartoons

Favorite niche color

Blood red

Dream job

Being an artist and selling art

What do you want more of at NHS?

Inclusivity

Tell us a secret

I’m left-handed

Favorite article of clothing

My cardigan

Name and pronouns

Grace Lee, she/her

Graduation year

2025

Zodiac sign

Gemini

Describe your style

Basic, modern, simple, minimalistic

Biggest style inspo

Pinterest

Favorite hobbies

Tennis

Who would you cast as yourself in a movie?

IU

If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you, too?

No

Who’s your fashion twin?

Kim Thai

Navigating the AI landscape

AI from Page 1 weren’t so sure. “I’m not actually super confident that I’m right,” she admits, “[but] I think the first one was written by a real student and the second one was written by AI.” Ultimately, some kinks in the first essay — the one written by a real student — clued her in. “There were some mistakes in the first one … like subject-verb agreement things, that seemed more likely for a student to make than a computer.”

Ms. Monica Bond-Lamberty (any pronouns), an AP World History teacher, says she’s “not at all” confident that she can catch AI essays in students’ assignments. “I would like to think that the real student wrote essay 2, and not essay 1, because essay 2 makes more sense.” Like the other teachers we spoke to, Ms. Bond-Lamberty saw the discrepancies between the two essays’ grammar and structure. But unlike the others, this made her lean towards essay 2 — the ChatGPT one — as the actual student writing.

“But the thing is,” she points out, “and I know this from personal experience, it’s not always the students creating what’s in front of them.” Good old Googling and plagiarism are equally prevalent, and often difficult for teachers to catch, as eager as they might be to deny it. These other forms of cheating further obscure teachers’ abilities to distinguish AI writing from real student work.

Naturally, the first concern of educators when it comes to the issue of AI cheating is its impact on accurate grading. Because ChatGPT doesn’t keep a record of any of the writing it generates — unsurprising, as the website now has an average of 1.8 billion users a month — and the program generally mimics human writing remarkably well, it can be nigh impossible to determine whether a student’s writing is really their own. According to Ms. Priest, despite the concern of many teachers, she and many others “don’t … look for it that much.” Ironically, her focus on helping students learn can distract her from

Whether you like it or not, Taylor Swift is the future of the music industry

by Ariana Amaya

Taylor Swift is one of the most famous female artists of all time. At just 16, she dropped her first studio album and has been creating music ever since. She is the mastermind behind some of the biggest hits of the 2000’s and 2010’s, including “Blank Space,” “Shake It Off,” “Bad Blood,” “Love Story,” “You Belong With Me,” “Our Song,” and more.

With all the music she has created, she has also claimed multiple records and significantly altered the music industry. Every album Swift drops are hits, and she becomes more successful every time. In 2006, Taylor dropped her first single “Our Song” from her self-titled debut album. “Our Song” made it to Number 1 on Billboard’s US Hot Country Songs, making her the youngest artist to have written and performed a Number 1 song. Recently, her tenth studio album, “Midnights,” placed as the best-selling album of 2022, with over 1.8 million copies (both digital and phys- looking for plagiarism. “My mind isn’t in — it’s in evaluating writing, or evaluating thinking, but it’s not really in, like, looking for the lie.”

But beyond the concerns about grade honesty, what many teachers, especially in the humanities, are more anxious about are how these AI writers may prevent students from learning the most valuable lessons from their classes.

“I do think the ability to organize your thoughts and put them forward in a compelling manner is such a level of intellectual achievement,” says Ms. Bond-Lamberty.

“If kids are just going to [use AI programs], it’s going to be a disaster.” Above all, she worries about how this reliance on AI and other forms of cheating will impact her students’ futures.

“With this grading system, you can get by without writing an essay all year. And you’re going to go to college like that?... What I’m afraid of is they’re going to end up in college, get caught for plagiarism, and get expelled and have lost all that money. That’s my big fear.”

But the real value of studying and practicing writing goes even deeper than one’s academic future. According to Mr. Brammer, the key to learning is really “being open-minded and curious about things.” Otherwise, “when someone hands you a book and says ‘read this,’ and you’re like, ‘ugh, this is from the 1800s? I’m not reading that,’ [you’ve] closed yourself off from a whole set of possibilities.” When people become resistant to learning things they initially find uninteresting, “you’re making your life smaller and smaller every time you do that.”

Ms. Priest says the process of writing in itself is just as valuable, if not more. In doing so, “you learn how your mind works, you learn how to put thoughts together, [how to] come up with your own ideas … A lot of stuff is discovered [about yourself] as you’re doing it.”

The most important thing ChatGPT ical) sold in just three months. The album also sold over one million vinyl records in the US alone.

Furthermore, Midnights debuted at first place on the Billboard 200 for five weeks, and held the top spot on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart for 12 consecutive weeks. Midnights became the biggest pop album of all-time on Apple Music, and also the most-streamed act on Spotify with 228 million streams in the 24 hours after its release.

In late 2022, Swift also became first person to occupy the top 10 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with “Anti-Hero,” “Lavender Haze,” “Maroon,” “Snow On The Beach [ft. Lana Del Rey],” and more, all from “Midnights.”

In November 2022, Taylor announced the Eras Tour which sold out many shows across the US alone. The tour demand was so high that fans even broke TicketMaster; the servers crashed, as they couldn’t handle the immense amount of people on the site at once.

Just 17 years into her career, the question becomes: what can’t Taylor do?

Seeing Swift’s exponential increase in success over the years, you may begin to wonder, will she ever miss? Will she ever have a “downfall”? While much of her future remains unknowable, one answer is simple: whether you like it or not, Taylor writing lacks, in Ms. Bond-Lamberty’s eyes, is “humanity, to be very basic about it. And I’m not saying that AI can’t simulate humanity, but it simulates what’s on the web. And that’s an ugly part of humanity generally, right?” Particularly in subjects like World History, AI programs tend to focus on what’s written about more, such as white and European history. Since the internet sources AIs draw from reflect what people write about most, it also guides AI to write about what students are already taught far too much, compared to the parts of history that go ignored. “That’s going to further narrow what kids are exposed to,” Ms. Bond-Lamberty says. She worries that these writing shortcuts prevent students from learning “to think for themselves … [that’s] how you get stuff like Facebook and TikTok, or what have you, feeding people a certain way of viewing the world. You’re gonna take that view as your view? Without even thinking about it? They are sometimes, and that’s a little scary.”

After all, Mr. Brammer says, “Our understanding of the world is constructed through language.” Without experiencing different texts and honing their writing skills, even if they may find it dull, people prevent themselves from understanding others and the world in a deeper and more nuanced way.

Though she agrees, Ms. Priest remains optimistic. Ultimately, she says, “students are better at thinking … I think that the weakness in student writing a lot is that students struggle to get the things in their mind out onto the paper in an organized way. And ChatGPT doesn’t have that same problem. But [in ChatGPT writing,] there’s rarely an original idea.”

“Also,” she adds, “ChatGPT has no sense of humor. I mean, it can make you laugh, but only by accident. And students have a sense of humor. That adds so much.”

Swift is the future of the music industry. There are many records and awards she has claimed, which no one else has even come close to reaching. She holds the most American Music Awards, collecting 40 awards in her career, 14 more than Michael Jackson’s 26 awards or Whitney Houston’s 22 awards. Furthermore, Swift is the most streamed female artist on Spotify and iTunes.

It is clear that Swift puts a lot of hard

Unfortunately, as much as teachers try to crack down on students cheating via AI, there’s little they can do to prove their suspicions or prevent students from using sites like ChatGPT. And with the immense stress put on students, Ms. Bond-Lamberty says that she “hates having to police students. But I have to police students.”

But it’s difficult to antagonize those that cheat; after all, she says, “There’s a lot of mental health issues going on right now, there’s a lot of socioeconomic issues going on right now. And so if you’re kid X and you’re facing any of these pressures, why not take the easy way out?”

To a certain extent, digging into questions around the worth, or harm, of ChatGPT feels pointless. “The problem with AI is like the genie in the bottle question,” says Mr. Brammer. “Once it’s out, you can’t put it back. So, it’s in the world now, we have to adapt to this new world with ChatGPT in it.” With the rise of the program, many defended it by comparing it to other advances in technology and writing, like printing presses and computers. The teachers we spoke to say they can’t deny the similarities; and maybe, like those earlier advances, AI writing programs will end up becoming another harmless writing tool, instead of a complete replacement. But the power of these programs in comparison to its predecessors make many skeptical.

At the end of the day, Mr. Brammer believes that “a lot of the value in life doesn’t come from just, like, doing tasks. It comes from appreciating art, literature, nature, friends, family, you know, all these things that can’t be generated by technology.” People — yes, even bored teenagers in English class — all share this desire for meaning and connection with real people. Reading and writing are not the only way we can find these things, but it’s certainly a significant one.

Ms. Priest remains hopeful. “I think people have an innate desire to be creative, and to connect with people.” No matter what printing presses, computers, or AI programs come our way, “we’re just gonna use what’s in front of us” to continue that human tradition to create and connect.” work and thought into what she drops and how. She is a mastermind when it comes to her work, which is why she is so successful. Other competing artists don’t have the particular approach to music that Swift has.

Swift is still young and has her entire career ahead of her, it is exciting and intriguing to see what she has planned for the future.

Just what on earth is Eurovision 2023? An explainer

by Ash Newton

Eurovision 2023 is here, and with it comes a wave of confusion from out-oftouch Americans. What are our neighbors across the Atlantic doing? How does the contest work, and why do they care so much?

Put simply, Eurovision Song Contest is a televised international competition in which 31 nations each perform one song in the hopes of winning the Grand Final. In practice, the production is unwieldily complex and incredibly expensive.

In order to win Eurovision, a song must first pass through the Semi-Final, unless they are a member of the Big 5 — the countries with the largest markets for Eurovision, namely England, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. They make it through automatically and do not appear until the Grand Final. Songs that pass the Semi-Final are decided by public vote, which can be submitted through text or on the Eurovision website. Any viewer can submit up to 20 votes for about one Euro each. Until this year, voting was restricted only to participating countries; now, anyone in the world can vote. However, no one may vote for their own country’s song.

At the Grand Final, winners are decided by public vote and a prestigious jury vote. Every country has their own jury that awards two sets of 12 points, two sets of 10 points, and a distributed ranking of eight points to their chosen songs. These juries are highly protected and each country’s

Teacher Feature: Ms. Silberberg, photography teacher

by Angie Jurado

For many students, taking an art class is simply a requirement, a class they have to take so they can graduate. But for those who have taken Photography and have had the opportunity to have Ms. Silberberg as your teacher, you know how much of a positive impact she can make.

Apart from teaching Photography 1 and 2, Ms. Silberberg also teaches AP Photography. She is a teacher you can depend on and trust. She will sugarcoat things when needed, but the majority of the time she will tell you the truth.

Just like every teacher, Ms. Silberberg has passions she pursues outside of school for her own personal interest. When she’s not planning lessons and helping students develop film, she’s also a professional photographer.

Ms. Silberberg takes professional photos for many different events. Commercially, these range from graduation to wedding photos. When she was asked what initially got her into photography, she said, “I wanted to get into photography after taking my first photo class in high school. My teacher was Mrs. Bernhardt. In her class I was able to combine art and science in the darkroom, which made me feel like a genius!”

Ms. Silberberg also said that the darkroom “was also very soothing because the intricate process of shooting film and developing it made sense. There was order to the madness that is art. Our assignments were broad, which led to me exploring a lot of different concepts, but they all choice is announced by one appointed national spokesperson. The national juries are usually quite political with their votes, and many countries vote exclusively for their close allies. For example, Greece almost always votes for Cyprus, and Cyprus for Greece.

Last year, in what was (by some) considered a symbolic motion of allyship, Ukraine won both the public and jury votes. However, the winning country must host the next competition, which proved impossible for a nation overtaken by war. Instead, the runner-up, England, is hosting this year, although it is still considered Eurovision Ukraine.

That said, the question remains: why is Eurovision such a big deal? It’s not just the diplomatic aspect. Eurovision draws millions of viewers each year because it is unlike any other competition in the world. A good Eurovision song possesses four aspects: strong composition, powerful vocal performance, dazzling visuals, and one random what-is-going-on feature. Performances puzzle just as much as they entertain, and this year is like no other.

Of the countries competing, the most dramatic (and odd) include Romania, who sent Theodor Andrei to perform the anthemic pop-rock song “DGT (Off and On).” In his Semi-Final performance he stood in front of a background of flowing lava, and during the final chorus, a single female dancer emerged from the wings and slathered a handprint of black paint on his chest.

Another notable song was performed by Austria’s duo Teya and Salena. Both women used their unique vocal styles to propel a dancey pop song about being possessed by Edgar Allan Poe into the Grand Final, titled “Who The H--- is Edgar?” The wound up in a grid-like contact sheet.”

When she was asked what her favorite thing or event to photograph is, she said, “I love photographing weddings because it’s an action-packed eight-hour day, full of being social and collaborating with people to make sure I capture their day perfectly. It’s a good workout, there’s free food, but most of all it is being surrounded by people who have come together to support people they care about as they embark on a joint venture through life.”

She also made it clear that it is not just the subject of her photo shoots, but also what she gets to do.

“I enjoy any collaborative photo shoot,” she said. “If someone has a concept they are not sure how to implement it, we end up throwing ideas around, problem solving, and trying out different ways to capture the concept. It’s really this great collaborative energy where you are working towards a common goal. I think we need more of that in our lives.”

Lastly, when she was asked if she would ever want to be a photographer full time, she explained how she already was.

“I was a photographer full time! I worked as a freelance photographer for 13 years. It can be stressful finding clients and promoting yourself, plus all the post-production editing requires sitting at the computer for hours at a time. That was probably the least fun part of shooting — the editing — unless I was editing photos that I took for fun or for a personal project.”

Ms. Silberberg has a long history when it comes to photography. She has interned with Dan Whipps Photography, worked for Ancestry.com, photographed “Plebe Summer” at the US Naval Academy, worked for George Street Photo, American Wedding Groups, Life Gallery Studio, all along with other odd jobs. She has also first verse includes such gems as “There’s a ghost in my body and he is a lyricist / It is Edgar Allan Poe, and I think he can’t resist”, exemplifying the uniqueness of Eurovision entries. worked at Brookside Gardens butterfly exhibit and light show, as well as the Kids Club at Gold’s Gym.

Possibly the greatest entry of all was Finland’s rap-metal-pop banger “CHA CHA CHA,” done by the mononymous Käärijä in a green puffy bolero jacket and spiked leather motorcycling pants. He was joined by four dancers in bright pink fluttery bodysuits who danced on leashes as the singer emerged from a plywood cage. The songs lyrics entail a nearly stereotypical Nordic sentiment: I’ve had a hard week, time to drink and party. Already a fan favorite, the song passed in a landslide through the Semi-Finals and was projected to perform well in the Grand Final public vote. The jury vote odds were more dubious, especially considering the fact that the song is almost entirely in Finnish.

I’ll be honest: I took Ms. Silberberg’s photography class so I could get my art credit out of the way, but I ended up really enjoying her class. Besides the fact that she teaches you how to properly take photos and develop them, she’s also someone you can go to for anything. She is always willing to listen to any personal problems or struggles you might be dealing with at the moment. When you need someone to talk about a class to personal issues she will always be there.

No matter how confused or lost I might have felt at times when we were learning something new, I have never regretted taking her class.

If you’re ever interested in having your photos taken I would definitely recommend talking to Ms.Silberberg about it. You’re guaranteed a fun and meaningful experience — and from a professional photographer, as seen in these photos.

Despite easily being the most popular song among the audience, Finland lost to Sweden in the jury vote. While Käärijä received an overwhelming majority of public votes, Swedish singer Loreen was favored by the juries due to her previous win in 2012 coupled with the fact that next year’s event will coincide with the 50th anniversary of ABBA’s winning performance of “Waterloo” in 1974. As such, judges were pushing hard for next year’s event to be held in Sweden. In the aftermath of Finland’s second place, fans were devastated, with the topic “Finland” receiving 150k Tweets in America alone. And Americans don’t even watch Eurovision!

Truly the greatest unifier of this year’s event — and the best primer for new viewers — was this monumental disappointment. Get used to it.

The Last of Us: a video game adaptation done right

by Andrew Blakey

For the past couple decades, filmmakers were absolutely terrible at adapting video games into movies and/or TV shows. It seemed like they only looked at barebones foundations of what video games are, didn’t care about what made a game great, gave it a bad script, and overstuffed the adaptation with fan service in order to get people to watch it because, let’s be honest: most of these studios did it for the money anyway. So when HBO Max announced that they were going to do a live-action adaptation of “The Last Of Us,” people, including myself, were not only surprised but skeptical. “The Last Of Us” is regarded not only as one of the best video games of all time, but also as one of the most revolutionary. Naughty Dog, the studio behind the game, proved that video games can have stories that are just as impactful and emotional as stories told in movies and TV shows. So getting fans on board with making this beloved game into a show was going to be a difficult task to accomplish. A story about a grieving father and a young girl forming a strong and unlikely bond in a zombie apocalypse may seem very simple on the surface, but it’s much deeper than that. Yet somehow, they not only managed to do it, they managed to make it one of the best video game adaptations ever.

One of the biggest mistakes made when adapting a video game is not knowing what your source material is. If you don’t know a lot about what you’re adapting, then the final product is going to be mediocre at best and pitiful at worst. Not only that, but you’ll infuriate a bunch of hardcore video game fans, which isn’t a pleasant sight. Thankfully, the show had the fortune of having Neil Druckmann, the director of both “Last Of Us” games, and Craig Mazin, who is also a huge fan of the games, as the creators, writers, and executive producers of the show. Mazin was also the creator of the critically acclaimed “Chernobyl,” so it’s pretty clear that the show was in good hands. Add in the lovable Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as Joel and Ellie, the show turned out to be better than expected.

Mazin and Druckmann went above and beyond by not only following the game’s story correctly, but expanding on it, giving fans more insight into characters we didn’t know much about in the game.

Bill and Frank are perfect examples of this. In the game, Bill is just a hardcore survivor only out for himself and Frank is unfortunately dead. But the show dedicates a whole episode to a beautiful and heart-warming love story between Bill and Frank, giving both their characters more depth and giving the audience a story they can empathize with, and it was amazing to watch. There’s a reason why that particular episode is regarded as one of the best in the show. The relationship between Bill and Frank is so well done, and that’s the main reason why this story works.

Sure, the story is about trying to survive the zombie apocalypse, but the relationships between the characters is what really makes it special. Joel and Ellie, the most important relationship in the show, works because their characters are both given time to be fleshed out on their own, and together. As the series progresses, you get to see that Ellie is a snarky and energetic kid who also has a dark side to her, and the way they flesh out both sides is incredible. Likewise, Joel is a gruff and hardened man after a tragic loss. You soon realize that he’s kind of suffering from depression, and it’s because of Ellie that he’s brought out of the dark place the apocalypse put him in. Same with Ellie, now having someone she can lean on and can feel safe with, both the characters learn and grow together and it’s an amazing development. Also, putting a game like this, or any game for that matter in a TV show format instead of a movie format was the perfect choice. Story-driven games deserve the time they need to develop their story and flesh out their characters that an hour-and-a-half to two-hour movie just can’t provide most of the time. The fact that “The Last Of Us” managed to not only flesh out their story but expand it and the world created in a way that made sense is genius.

“The Last Of Us” is definitely one of the most faithful adaptations of a video game I’ve ever seen. Not only that, but it’s one of the best-written shows I’ve watched in a long time. This show is the perfect wake-up call for Hollywood. If you want to adapt any type of source material, whether it be a book, game, or a comic, this is how you do it. It’s not enough to just play a game and go “I know how to do this.” You have to understand it. You have to understand story and the characters. The cast and crew got it right with this show and deserve every ounce of praise that they get. If you haven’t watched this show, whether you’ve played the game or haven’t, I implore you to do yourself a favor and watch it because it doesn’t disappoint. It’s truly a piece of art.

Get to know a band: the soft sounds of Japan’s indie act Lamp

by Shyla Rincon

If you are ever trying to get into an artist that makes you feel at home with their music or just listen to music that makes you feel calm, Lamp is the perfect group for you.

Lamp (ランプ) is a Japanese indie band that was formed in 2000 with members Taiyo Someya, Yusuke Nagai and Kaori Sakakibara. Their music can be best described as Shibuya-kei, jazz pop, city pop, bossa nova and indie pop. But they’re difficult to classify. As you hear their music you can hear inspiration from The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel, and Brazilian music. Taiyo became friends with Yusuke during their high school years as they bonded over their common love for 60s music. In college, a friend had introduced Kaori to Taiyo, as they all shared a strong passion for music and common love for 60s music, Taiyo then decided to start Lamp. In April 2003, Lamp released their first album “Soyokaze Apartment Room 201” (そよ風アパートメント 201). “Soyokaze” means “Gentle Breeze.” Lamp were looking for a word that suits the six songs. Someya has used manga artist Yoshiharu Tsuge as influence for the first album’s lyrics. In February 2004, they released their second album “For Lovers” (恋人へ). Though it wasn’t as commer-

Max playlist: the ones to watch (or rewatch)

cially successful as their other albums when it was released, over the years it has became one of lamp’s most popular works. In 2005, they released their third album “Komorebi Dori Nite” (木洩陽通りにて), and in 2007 followed with the mini-album “Zankou” (残光).

2008 saw the release of their most notable and most popular album, “Lamp Genso” (ランプ幻想) with the infamous track “Yume Utsutsu” (ゆめうつつ). That song has became popular due to the app TikTok, making Lamp gain thousands of fans across the platform.

In 2010, they released their sixth album, “The Poetry of August” (八月の 詩情), and the next year released “Tokyo Utopia Correspondence” (東京ユウトピ ア通信). The album cover was created by manga artist Ouji Suzuki. Lamp then had started their own label, Botanical House. On February 5th 2014, they released their eighth album, “Yume” (ゆめ), the first on their own label.

Finally, in 2018 they released their ninth album, “Her Watch” (彼女の時計). Lamp have been around since for a total of 23 years, yet they are still very much active and have been in the process of producing a new album with a goal of releasing it by the end of 2023. Lamp are very active on social media, so if you want to check them out you can look at their official Instagram account @bontanicalhouse_lamp. Their music is loved by millions across the world and has popularized the genre Shibuyakei. Lamp’s soft vocals and pleasing instrumentals will be sure to help anyone feel safe and sound.

by Megan Leatherwood

Northwood baseball season in review

by Luc Girardot

The Northwood baseball season has come to an end. Unlike last year when the team won its first playoff game in ten years, this year’s team fell short of another one. It was a learning experience for the team as most of the players experienced their first playoff loss. Despite the disappointing end to the season, there were many positives and areas for improvement next season.

The Gladiators had a rough start to the season, going 3-9, but were able to bounce back to go 3-1 down the stretch. Midway through the season, captains Milo Chamberlain and Will Giaudrone talked about their desire to play better to finish the season. They ended up winning co-MVPs as Giaudrone had a 1.029 OPS and Chamberlain led the pitching staff in innings and ERA. Chamberlain said, “The mental side of this team is the weakest part.” That could be evidenced by multiple games as they didn’t get off to a good start and let it get to them or the opposite started off well but couldn’t finish it. The other team captain, Owen Dominguez, said, “The team has so much more potential and the record doesn’t reflect the team.”

“This was a great team to coach and I had plenty of fun with them,” said Coach Daniel Stein. This year’s team was always positive and ready to play no matter the opponent. They all believed in each other and picked up their teammates after a mistake. The team chemistry built a lot since the beginning of the season. Stein also believes that the results didn’t show the performance of the team.

A common theme since the beginning of the season was not putting all aspects –hitting, pitching, and fielding – together. In the opening game of the season against

PWC: the WrestleMania 2023 special, part 2

by Megan Leatherwood

Welcome back to the PWC! WrestleMania SPECIAL. Pro Wrestling Column (PWC) is back with the latest news in the wrestling world. My name is Megan, and I am writing about the thing I love most. Follow my Instagram wrestling account @ raw_smacktalk for more.

Here is the current wrestling schedule:

• WWE Monday Night Raw (Monday, 8 p.m., USA)

• WWE NXT (Tuesday, 8 p.m., USA)

• AEW Dynamite (Wednesday, 8 p.m., TBS)

• WWE Friday Night Smackdown (Friday, 8 p.m., Fox)

• AEW Rampage (Friday, 10 p.m., TNT)

As I’ve stated before WrestleMania is the biggest event of the wrestling year, dating back to 1985 in Madison Square Garden.

This year’s WrestleMania was held in SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles for a two night event.

Night one began with John Cena vs. Austin Theory for the United States Championship. WrestleMania is famous for their wrestlers’ entrances, and John Cena delivered by having a few Make-AWish kids accompany him. This heartfelt entrance couldn’t save Cena from his loss

Richard Montgomery, Northwood put up 8 runs on 8 hits and 13 walks: a great offensive showing, but it was overshadowed by a poor defensive game where 8 errors were made which resulted in a 10-8 loss. With even half that many errors, you could argue Northwood could’ve snuck in a win over the Rockets. Against Poolesville, Gladiator pitching allowed 9 runs in the first two innings while the defense and hitting was solid.

When Northwood puts everything together, it leads to a win, as evidenced by a 5-1 victory over Paint Branch. Milo Chamberlain’s complete game and 8 strikeouts led the way.

Now that the season is over, the team will look to next year and past the loss to Wheaton. Next year’s team will look much different as there are four departing seniors who were all part of the starting lineup, but there is still lots of confidence going into next season and belief they can to Theory after a cheap shot.

YouTuber Logan Paul faced Seth “Freakin” Rollins but was defeated alongside his friend and YouTuber KSI. The Bloodline with the Usos lost their titles to Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn after a feud that went on for months.

The Usos lost their Undisputed tag titles to Owens and Zayn, which raised suspicions about the Bloodline leader Roman Reigns.

Royal Rumble winner Rhea Ripley defeated the Smackdown women’s champion Charlotte Flair. Bianca Belair gave an amazing entrance performance by having The Divas of Comptons dance to her music. Unlike John Cena, this boosted her win against Asuka even though many fans were disappointed.

Last but not least, Roman Reigns defended his Undisputed heavyweight championship against Cody Rhodes. Rhodes debuted last WrestleMania, going against Seth Rollins and winning.

This created a rivalry between Rhodes and Rollins which ended up injuring Cody. But this didn’t stop him from going against Reigns.

After winning the Royal Rumble he was granted this opportunity. To everyone’s surprise Roman Reigns retained his title.

Pre-draft wants and post-draft review: wrapping up the Commanders’ draft

by Liam Surrusco

Pre-draft

I felt before the draft that this would be a very important one for the Washington Commanders. They could have gone in any direction; trading up to draft a quarterback would have been an option.

With the recent success of quarterbacks C.J. Stroud and Bryce Young, some NFL teams may overlook one of the most athletically gifted quarterback prospects ever in Anthony Richardson, who is 6’4, 231 pounds and runs a 4.43-second 40-yard-dash. Another quarterback that may be a star in the NFL is Will Levis from Kentucky, probably the most NFL-ready quarterback in this draft.

If the commanders were looking to draft a quarterback, they might have considered trading up in the draft to take a chance on Anthony Richardson. Another route they could have taken would be drafting a defensive player, preferably in the secondary. The good thing about this draft is that they could go any route and still come out with a good pick. A big move that the Commanders could have done would be to trade up for the first pick in the draft next year with a focus on adding USC quarterback Caleb Williams. Williams won the Heisman trophy in 2022 and also AP College Player of the Year, USC’s first winner since running back sensation Reggie Bush.

Post-draft

The first few picks of the draft weren’t a surprise. Bryce Young, Will Anderson, C.J. Stroud, Anthony Richardson all

My first spring track season: a reflection

by Charlotte Cazahuatl

I was a late comer to the track team, and was also completely new — and knew nothing about the sport.

I quickly learned that there was a difference between a distance runner and a sprinter. A sprinter is a runner ready to use power and speed to run to their fullest potential. A distance runner is trained to run for long distances using slow endurance.

I chose to be a sprinter and realized it comes with both light and intense training. My first practice, I had to run 10 strider exercises with a five-minute break in between. By the end of the day I was so sore; I had never been able to get myself to do an ice bath till then.

Everyone on the track team was so expected to go in the top 5. Toward the middle of the first round is where we started to see surprises. Christian Gonazalez, supposed to be the best cornerback coming out of college, was still on the board and could be a cornerback who could have gone in the top 5. welcoming and would let me know what we would be doing. I didn’t realize that the intense training would just only be jogging the whole track (400 meters).

The Commanders were on the clock and took Emmanuel Forbes, a playmaking corner out of Mississippi State. Forbes owns the most pick-sixes in college football history. It was a solid pick, but I would have taken Gonzalez if we really wanted to take a corner. He was a great playmaker and good in coverage, just a bit undersized at only 181 lbs and 6’0. This will make it harder for him to guard bigger receivers.

I think the biggest takeaway for the Commanders in the first round was how good the Eagles’ first round pick was. The NFC Championship winners, the Eagles are in our division and were able to pull away two of the best defenders from the Georgia Bulldogs, who won the National Championship earlier this year. Jalen Carter is being compared to Aaron Donald, weighing in at 300 pounds and 6’3, and Nolan Smith was one of the leaders on the Bulldogs’ championship team. He weighs in at 240 and is 6’2.

The second round was a weird pick, the commanders decided to take a nickel-back. Needing help on the offensive side and still stacking the defensive side, especially the secondary, when we already took a corner in the first round: this was a bad decision. The third round pick was a good pick, going with center Ricky Stromberg out of Arkansas. This was especially important since we had one of the worst-rated offensive lines in the NFL last year.

In the end, our draft wasn’t the best, but it was decent. My hope is that Emanuel Forbes is able to have that same spark at playmaking in college and bring that over to the NFL.

Fast forward to my first track meet, Northwood against Rockville. I had felt the nervous feeling of standing at the starting line for the first time, anxiously waiting for the starter to say, “Runners ready — at your mark.” As soon as I heard the gunshot I began with a good push off my feet and started sprinting.

I didn’t realize that I passed the finish line already and my teammates came to me and said I got first place.

In track they say to never care about racing against other runners but to care about racing against the clock, getting a lower time than before.

This season I participated in three meets. Each experience has been nerve-racking but so much fun to cheer for your teammates, and to race your own teammates occasionally.