"I think three years ago, [my family and I] noticed [this house]. This man is so passionate about his home and getting it decorated for Halloween. He talks to everybody that goes by—they have bonfires...

I often think that I’m a collage of all of the people I’ve ever met, that I’ve spent my life collecting little pieces from people to call my own—insignificant little things, like saying “sick”...

Sophomore Sydney Fentzke is better known to many as “Squid.” “In second grade, we were learning how to rhyme,” Sydney said, “and I was very adamant about how I didn't like the name 'Sid the...

I’m not sure what happened today—if it was the rain painting the sky in hues of gray, the sleep deficit I was shouldering, or the minute disruptions to my routine here and there—but I couldn’t...

Once upon a time, I would’ve driven home on a night like this, sick on the sugar-sweet fumes of the hours I’d spent simply trying to fill in the empty spaces. Headlights reflecting off the rainy streets,...

I’d be lying if I said I don’t enjoy a good “sing-it-at-the-top-of-your-lungs-in-the-car” song. By no means would I consider myself musically inclined, but there are few things I find more cathartic...

Senior Josh Treichel had his doubts about film photography at first.  When he originally laid eyes on his friend’s old film camera, his initial thought—to be exact—was, “What is this hooligan...

We roamed the busy sidewalks of a city that I’m always shocked to call home, left the in-between spaces we’d previously occupied, and broke down just a few of the barriers that we’d clumsily managed...

What was your reaction to hearing your name called? "I was very surprised. It was kind of exciting. I was pretty shocked, but it was pretty cool." Why do you think you were nominated for court? "I'm...

What was your reaction to hearing your name called? "It was just joy. It was pretty cool to hear it and that people [thought] of me to be nominated." Why do you think you were nominated for court? "I...

I wouldn’t be doing this column justice if I didn’t admit that I was sobbing mere minutes ago.  As I sat down to write, my attention strayed to the old stories on my staff profile—a valiant effort...

It was only Tuesday, and it had already been a long week. I was running off the feeble fumes of the week before, next to zero sleep after senior retreat, and my first-ever Celsius, kiwi guava flavored,...

A picture of the night sky as day bleeds into night

Logan Mix practices ping pong in his basement with his father.

Through the bustling camaraderie and sawdust-smattered floors of the woodshop, past an imposing green door, in a small lot shaded by twin pine trees, sits senior Grace Collins’ van, lovingly dubbed Lennie. A...

Arms wrapped in tight, hiding in the cavern of her own soul, she cowers under the pressure of nothing and everything at all.  Heart pounding out of her chest, fingers transfixed in trivial repetitions,...

This review contains minor spoilers for The Raven Cycle series and Call Down the Hawk Before I was a writer, I was a reader. I was the little girl who carried a book with her everywhere she went, who...

My mornings start at 6:45, I spend two hours a day in room 139, and I’m happy. There aren’t many synonyms for happy, at least not for happiness like this—sustainable, liberating, peaceful. No,...

The book-filled crates mounted to my bedroom walls house more than just the words of writers who came before me; my own words fill notebooks piled one upon another on top of the crates, only a fraction...

a picture of me in my dad's old shirt reaching for books at the top of the shelf

For the past three and a half weeks, I’ve been fighting a sense of self-focused frustration, despite the overall contentment that the golden arrival of summer has brought me. I’ve been guiltily fending...

Hi. My name is Natalie. If you read The Central Trend with any regularity, you’ve probably read an article or two of mine. For the last three years, I’ve been publishing an average of three articles...

The auditorium milled with thirty-some students, the high-ceilinged space warm with conversation and nerves. Matching “FHC Inspires” t-shirts caught my eye at every turn, each one styled differently...

She walks a fragile line, on these desperate late nights, when the words are elusive and uncooperative. She’s mastered the balance between prose and feeling, yet at times, she’s still entirely at a...

Senior Lynlee Derrick drives like she lives: without hesitation.  In all the ways that it manifests itself, whether it be impromptu ice cream trips with her best friend or hours spent hot-gluing Diet...

After a year of relegation to the digital world, FHC Inspires is back in person, redefining the entire show. This year's FHC Inspires team, headed up by student directors Lydia Bolger and Sarah Bethel,...

The past few months have found my sticker-adorned laptop consistently overloaded with tabs partitioned by windows correlating to each of my six subjects.  This system has become a necessity, the only...

Once, she was seven, and she doesn’t remember much about being seven—mostly the feelings. She remembers how all-consuming those feelings were, the enormous anxiety too great to fit into her small body,...

Senior Abby Wright’s final year of high school found her spending more time than ever in the small town of La Porte, Indiana. While she’d often resided there during her summers, only this year was...

it has to be like this impromptu beautiful in simplicity heart racing, fingers dancing   and in a way she's been avoiding   but how else, to capture the epitome of youth   how...

She’s consumed by conflicting consternation on these late Friday nights, the time for adventures, for laughter in bubbles and bursts, for the epitome of teenage folklore. She feels the shadowy black...

Name: Gavin O'Meara Grade: 11 Role: Troy Bolton What’s your pre-show warm-up routine? "I usually go through both a vocal and physical warm-up. My vocal warm-up consists of a lot of scales...

Name: Thomas Smith Grade: 11 Position: Head of Tech What’s your favorite time-killer activity during scenes? "I run and manage most of the technologically related parts of most shows that...

Name: Josie Butler Grade: 9 Role: Mrs. Darbus What’s your pre-show warm-up routine? "I don't really have one, but I guess I'd say making sure to drink water and going over lines if I need...

Name: Nick Stockenauer Grade: 12 Role: Coach Bolton What’s your pre-show warm-up routine? "I don't have one." Why did you decide to try out for the musical? "Mrs. DeMeester suggested...

Name: Abbey Calderwood Grade: 11 Position: Student Director How do you get in your zone before shows? "I make sure everything's running smoothly and everyone's ready to go." What’s your...

Name: Sophie Young Grade: 12 Position: Head of Hair, Makeup, and Costume How do you get in your zone before shows? "I don't really think I'm ever out of the zone during shows. If I'm working...

Check out these Q&As with a few of the main cast members and the three crew heads of FHC's production of High School Musical Jr! Go to fhfineartscenter.com to purchase an in-person ticket or live stream...

Poetry is the language of unfathomable pain, of broken people. Poetry is the language of exquisite moments out of time, of mundane beauty rendered in words. Poetry is the language of this moment, with...

Alumna Meredith VanSkiver vividly recalls sitting in the audience of the Candlelight Ceremony her freshman year, enraptured by the sea of glowing candles, longing to someday be recognized in her senior...

Every time I sit in front of this blank page, with too many fragments of ideas competing to become whole, the fear creeps back in—that I will run out of things to say, run out of ways to say the same...

Name: Vicki Felton Years at the school: 18 Field: Special Education What are some of the most exciting experiences you’ve ever had? "Some of my most exciting experiences have been when I'm...

Name: Amy Stone Years at the school: 23 Field: STEM What would you consider to be your greatest achievements?  "Graduating third in my class at Rockford High School [and] winning the Distinguished...

Name: Tracy Will Years at the school: 22 Field: Math What would you consider to be your greatest achievements? "I am proud of the family I've built. I have a great husband and two children,...

Name: Ms. Zilhaver Years at the school: 4 Field: The arts What would you consider to be your greatest achievements? "My ‘greatest achievements’ feel kind of ordinary to me. I am proud of the work...

The moon indifferently illuminates the shoreline where my feet rest in the sand, the cold pressure of the grains leaving a pattern on my skin.  The sun’s jurisdiction ends here; the moon watches...

The Central Trend is celebrating Women's History Month! Read our Q&As with female teachers from every department in the school as they discuss their experiences as women.

Name: Anne Keller Years at the school: 1 Field: English What would you consider to be your greatest achievements? "Up there on my greatest achievements [is] getting my PhD—that was pretty...

Name: Laura Stiles Years at the school: 26 Field: Social Studies What would you consider to be your greatest achievements? "I think that the assembly we pulled off—the Winterfest assembly?...

Name: Whitley Morse Years at the school: 3 Field: Administration What would you consider to be your greatest achievements? "Giving birth to my daughter this past November. I didn't give in to having...

Name: Señora Dykhouse Years at the school: 35 Field: World Languages What would you consider to be your greatest achievements? "As far as my career goes, I am very excited about the fact that every...

The future is ubiquitous in the corridors of my mind. I’ve tried fruitlessly to capture her and put her on the page, but I’ve only managed fragments, tangential points in yet another self portrait.  But...

A mile and a half on roller skates, my palms and knuckles battered, and I’m sore for days after from hitting the ground too many times. But there were people at the park, and encouragement fell from...

Principal Steve Passinault has been committed to ensuring that education could prevail through even the darkest moments this year, but to prioritize the most possible consistency for the school year, he,...

Sophomore Maya Rogne once spent a few nights on the grounds of a former Hitler Youth training camp that had been converted into a summer camp.  The strange and solemnly historical experience composed...

The jar balances on a shelf below the window, shrouded by the sunlight on the best days, a constant in the ever-changing room. It’s painted in landscapes, in the scenery from dreams, in delicate curves...

I’m unraveling knots, flipping through pages, dipping my brush into every bucket of paint. I’m scared to tell this story wrong, scared to distract from the point, scared to make something from nothing...

With no volition to call my own, no strength to change the tape, I am watching something else take control over my life, something I refuse to call me. I like to think that some higher power—Fate, Destiny,...

She's always romanticized what's at her fingertips, captured beauty in sentence fragments.   Like stained glass windows in high and hidden places— her church is everywhere.   Or...

Last March, with another one of Michigan’s lagging winters reaching an inevitable end, the Forest Hills Public Schools district had only clocked in one snow day. It was a stark contrast to the “snow...

I can feel myself slipping again, could feel it potently in the overwhelming desire to slip back under it all. My fingertips are rubbed raw from scrabbling at the rocky precipice till they bleed.   No...

She was just a seed, a thought,  a small yellow bloom in a rippling sea of flowers,  and she can’t swim,  so the sea scares her.    But in that sea of flowers,  she was brought...

I’ve found an unconventional sort of home among the aisles of D&W Fresh Market—especially the version of them with makeshift tape arrows that I shamefully ignore—because my need for the comfort...

I’m not sure if I like lines.    I guess you could say I like some of them, particularly some of the clearest ones.    The bold, definite ones that delineate the blended colors...

Name: Mr. Brad Anderson Classes: AP World History How many of your classes did you show the inauguration today, and for how long? “I started it when the dignitaries started to enter the US Capital...

Name: Mr. Jeff Manders Classes: Civics, Government, Media Communications How many of your classes did you show the inauguration in, and what parts of the inauguration did you show? “It was...

Inauguration Day was a momentous occasion in the capitol—an event with significant precedent that was produced under a warped lens this year, remaining on par with the absurdity and unexpectedness that...

The silence I've come to know isn't really silence. It's merely all the noises that I've never stopped to listen to.   In the absence of every other macabre noise, I can hear...

She grew up on stories, was raised by them, if you will.   Between the pages of worn copies, her memories exist to be drawn up again by faintly familiar words. Between the pages,...