Over the course of the last few months, I’ve been struggling deeply with who I am. This is exceptionally hard for me to explain because I thought I knew who I was. I thought when I looked in the...

"When Sam was little, maybe ages 3-5, he would spin anything that he could spin. If it was a block, he would turn it on the pointy side to spin it, and he would sit and do that forever. We had wood floors,...

As a teenager on the very cusp of adulthood, I have quite successfully attempted to completely (not legally) emancipate myself, so that once I am actually an adult I will be able to handle myself. With...

My life has flown by in a series of different types of pain. The pain of loneliness, the pain of misunderstanding, the pain of ingenuity, anxiety, depression, not belonging, being too much, not being enough,...

I sit in front of my therapist, a person whose input I hold most valuable and most understanding, and I tell her about the things I've been living. The last three weeks since I've seen her, they've been...

"My husband's birthday is the day before Valentine's Day, so we always end up celebrating both at the same time. He's not a big birthday person, but we usually go out to dinner to celebrate. One of the...

I stare in the mirror, and I notice the changes in my body. My hips have widened-- despite the fact that I have the widest hips of anyone I know. There are another few layers of fat on my stomach, and...

With the emergence of FHC's new poetry club, into the light comes students who have an intrinsic passion for poetry that goes past academic units and assignments and has become a part of them. One such...

Depending on the beliefs, superstitions, and experiences of people, it is not uncommon for others to believe in the supernatural. However, there is a large stigma around the belief because of how it's...

Cleaning off a table late one night, I overheard my favorite Sunday-night regular and his two-year-old son talking about the difference between good boys and bad boys. The little cutie had asked what I...

"It was band camp, and we're all taking the group picture that we do every year. We were all getting in line, and at first, it was just the normal picture, nothing goofy or anything. Then they say goofy...

My mind shoots from one thought to the next in a quick succession, none of the thoughts connecting in a way that puts together a genuine thought. I do not have a methodical way of thinking. I hold every...

A liminal space is a place in the world where reality is slightly altered. The feeling you have when you're in a hotel, an airport, a playground at night, a school building when no one is there, waiting...

Exploring the halls of the building, climbing and descending stairways, and entering classrooms, one will occasionally see small blue stars taped here and there with encouraging messages etched on them...

Every judgment or question I receive pertaining to my life and how I live it leads to more and more questions and answers that delve into my belief system. I could spend hours, weeks, and months having...

I have many rules I need to live by in this world, important things to remember and keep in mind as I attempt to survive each and every day. Until now, I had not voiced those rules in the form of a list....

Now that I have apologized to my body for all the harm I've caused and worked around the clock to heal it, I have an important task to accomplish to allow myself to be happy physically, mentally, and emotionally...

A single moment can change someone's entire world and everything they once knew. For senior Allison Alvarez, the instant she circled "interested" on the arbitrary Navy recruiter's survey as they stood...

My therapist tells me that in my new unhealthy mindset that my only goal right now should be to get better, to deliver my brain to happiness by any means necessary. Sleep as much as I can, eat as much...

There are so few places I feel comfortable in this world. Every place that I have made my own, each little nook that I have strived to find and successfully create is locked in my mind forever. It doesn't...

The voice of a student gives way to change in the eyes of those who are capable of making it happen. As students in Ken George's English classes prepare for their end-of-the-year TED Talks, their public...

My IHOP Family Walid - Walid, dear, I appreciate your entire soul. We don't know each other very well because of how busy you are with all three of the stores and the new one being built, but it is...

My heart clenches as tears run down my cheeks; it has been months since I have cried. Tissue after tissue is soaked, the words and expressions of every human in the vicinity playing back in my head as...

Dear Mason, There is a list of things that I am not in this world. I am not a chef: I burn water. I am not an athlete: the last sport I even attempted to play was track in middle school (I quit...

Name: Josh Nasser Grade: Senior Role: Lloyd Dallas 1.) What are you most excited about? "Just for everyone to see what we've been doing; it's such a blast. It's a really fun show; it's going...

"I don't really know where to start. I lived in Allendale for my whole life, and then I found out I was moving over here. One day, in seventh grade, my mom told me I had to shadow someone. I woke up one...

Being who I am, distancing myself from others and not keeping people close in my life, I find it very difficult to believe that I have any influence on anyone whatsoever. I don't believe in my ability...

In Chinatown in New York City with her family, senior Dilara Erhan peruses the shops on the boulevard. Looking around up and down at the shop signs, she can read them in their natural state, no English...

I am going to a community college. I am getting my own apartment right out of high school. I am working my way through and towards my future. Don't tell me you're disappointed in me. I have given...

As a dual athlete in the middle of his high school career, for sophomore Mitchell Haberman, the world can get a little stressful. Practice, game times, homework, essays, projects-- they can build up and...

My heart beats deep and erratically; it moves around in my chest like someone reaching through my tight skin and clutching it like a stick shift. With every movement, my body revs and shakes like an engine....

Driving my sister to the bus stop in the morning, as I do every single day, she talks to me about what the day has in store for her. She has band, chemistry, Spanish, geometry, and ceramics, and we talk...

Nine best friends stand in a line as they introduce themselves to their director and an empty auditorium that, in a mere day, will be packed to the aisles with audience members looking to join in on the...

I work best by myself. I know my priorities, but I don't know me as a person. I know that getting hurt is necessary for my growth, but I avoid it at all costs. My best friend is my sister; there's a comfort...

"Cats are definitely not the only ones with nine lives. I've had a lot of close calls, most of them when I was young. When I was probably just three years old, I was crawling around in our yard. We had...

Cynical, analytical, boundary-pushing, and self-deprecating comedian/musician Bo Burnham is everything I am when my world is crumbling at my feet. In my opinion, everything in the world should be looked...

The building is burning down. Flames encircle every entrance and exit, the people inhabiting the area are trapped inside for fear of severe bodily damage or even death. What do they do in this situation? Seniors...

Dear Dad, We've been through a lot together in this life I've lived. It's only been a few years for you as you've lived a Wild West lifetime without me, but I've had you for all of mine. For a long...

As she sits in focus at a desk, bottles upon bottles of paint scatter junior Summer Wetherbee's workspace in varying shades, soon to appear in mixtures and swoops on the canvas beneath her brush. Different...

With the events that have occurred in the last week or so regarding Hurricane Harvey and the upcoming hurricanes, Irma and Jose, senior student council decided it was time to raise funds for those being...

My life is something that I need to love, to experience for myself and find what makes me happy. It is for no one else that I am alive, and my future is mine to make. Despite this, my idea of a happy life...

"We were going to visit America to see what it was like and see our friends over the summer, it was cool and sounded exciting. We stayed in my mom's friend's house, my mom was seeing this guy, Richard,...

There are multiple points in a person's life when they have to make a genuine decision that will affect the worldview they find themselves in, and the decision they need to make has multiple options, each...

What was best for me today was sleeping in until 10:30 a.m. when I was supposed to be in school, eating half a case of Oreos, talking to our dog for hours, getting her an ice cream, watching a horror movie,...

Along the human journey of life, people accumulate things. Things that mean something to them, things that are useful, things that people need, and sometimes things just to have things. Junior Hannah Kos,...

Driving down the practically one-road city, Jenison, there are few restaurants in tow. An old family friend having opened his own bar, a friend and I decided to abandon our usual spots to try something...

Film: Rooms Producer: Carly Anderson 1. What theme would you consider your film? "A horror mystery." 2. Can you give a brief overview of the plot of your film? "It starts off with a shooting,...

Dear Roobug, The sun sets over the hole we dug together in the backyard and the place on the side of the street where I park my car. I am not home. I'm working late at the HOP, spending some...

A young girl, far surpassing anyone her age, kicks and screams like a child is known to do. While it breaks her uncle's heart, he is also proud of her at the same time. She has been told she is great and...

There's a distinct moment, right before you get a tattoo, in which every second slows down to the vibrating needle and you. The world falls away. Everything touching you, looking at you, staring out from...

Just recently, the FHPS district has decided on starting the 2017-18 school year a week prior to the usual starting date, beginning school on August 28th. In previous years, the Michigan Department...

Kenneth George, notorious for ample change and creative ideas within his classroom, has brought the ideas outside the classroom. Specifically, an outdoor classroom. George, spending summers researching...

Jake Lohrke Role: Seymour What are you most excited about? "Well, when I first started, I was most excited about meeting the cast. But now, it's about presenting what we've created. I'm really...

A demonic, deafening voice roars down the hallway as a young boy runs towards his family in the living room, terrified of something that used to bring him a childish joy. A poetic, horrifying rhyme begins: "There...

Being a horror movie fanatic, I am constantly looking for new films to watch and appreciate. Unless you're looking for the same scary, home-video-type show, there aren't many horror movies, and there are...

I have always reveled in consistency, always leaned towards the side of the predictable and unchanging in life. With anxiety, this is almost a natural instinct. Everything that is new or different gives...

Riding in the car with my mother, we have a tendency to deeply analyze and discuss our personal issues. Right after we wake up, on the way home from school, on the way to work, after work, after counseling,...

Having achieved my goal of three years: to find a job and work as hard as I possibly could, December came through with a promise of finally being able to afford holiday presents for the people I love. Years...

I didn’t make a lot of money tonight. I’m getting worse at serving. Yes, weeks of doing well have proved that I am just fine. It was just slow tonight and we were overstaffed. But I forgot table 21's...

Entering the resource room for the cognitively impaired, any student is instantly accepted as a part of the bunch. The ambiance is empowering whether it be from special education teacher Kara Kimball’s...

Entering high school, students are encouraged to overload themselves with new class opportunities, clubs to join, sports to participate in, to aspire to exceed expectations curricularly and extracurricularly,...

A thing is not a thing until you say it out loud. An honest person who knows who they are is a gift to this world, so be honest and be who you are. Live your life, breathe your air, eat your food, button...

Growing up, my first reaction was always to believe in the goodness of others with a whole heart and a free mind. I could look into the eyes of a stranger and see the best of intentions and the smallest,...

Having lived in Lowell for four years, it was entirely conceivable to me that I had experienced all this small city had to offer in terms of dining. There is the typical bar scene known as Sneaker’s,...

A lone boy stands in the center of the stage. Lights beating down on him from every angle, he stares without reserve into the awaiting audience before him. Time passes by, getting more awkward every second....

After what could qualify as the worst day of my present life, I enter the threshold into my home. Still on edge of more potential damage, I trudge up the stairs to throw my backpack on the floor and myself...

Signing up for classes to take the following year, the year you haven’t even begun to think about, is exceptionally challenging when faced with the repercussions of your decisions once it actually comes...

In a society plagued with constant superhero movies, metahuman good guys, the average Joe Hero, and every protagonist in the book repeated time and time again, it was time for the uniting of some baddies...

Before the school year ended, a day came along that was very painful for many kids, and most of all, English teacher Michele Wallace. Having cried in every hour, exhausted from the tears, beloved student...

It’s 1:00 a.m., I’ve been awake for nineteen hours now, and I can’t seem to stop reading this online personal theory conclusion of Phantom of the Opera. Hours have passed since I last left the...

My mother once told me that I came out of the womb with a to-do list. My whole life centers around planning and analyzing, plotting each significant event in my soon to distant future. From my Christmas...

When I find something that I’m interested in, I contribute much of my time to learning about it. I analyze its entirety until I’m an expert. My obsessions typically don’t last longer than a few months,...

With flips, twists, and turns of the wrists, senior Elizabeth “Libby” Kelley attempts to manage the devil sticks without dropping them. Having just nailed the Tic Toc after a few tries, she continues...