Dear friend that I do not know, Nothing about me is new. I cannot see where I have come nor can I see where I can go. If they were to lift the camera and peek through the viewfinder, they would find...

One of Eva's senior pictures with her horse, Thirsty, that she rides.

At times, people defend feminism by telling those who oppose it that it benefits both men and women and that it’s just about equal rights. It appeases everyone. This undermines the idea of feminism...

If I didn’t know any better, I would think that this account is rage bait. Everything about the TikTok user Aurora Bird makes my blood boil. Recently, Aurora Bird aka “Birdy” went viral on TikTok...

I’ve never liked “neurodivergent TikTok” or “safe space for those with ADHD” accounts.  The romanticization of disorders like ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) or ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity...

Putting a snail’s secretion on my face sounds unpleasant, to say the least. However, people across the world have been using a product called snail mucin for years. One of the most popular companies,...

The days have been gray for too long. The burnt-out, faint glow of the rounded screen emanates the fog. The voices from the suspiciously benevolent reporter can’t cut through the fog, dissipating...

Animals are not accessories and should never be treated as such. However, there is no reason that pets should not have their own sense of style that complements the owner’s outfit. My dog, Leon, is a...

I talk a lot. As peers that share lingo with me would say, I’m a yapper. My friends are always telling me to “shhh” and “I’m trying to do my work.” I still talk their ear off whether...

Nex Benedict was a 16-year-old who brought a smile to two different communities that face adversity in their home state of Oklahoma. Nex, being both a member of the LGBTQ+ and indigenous peoples communities,...

It is getting increasingly terrifying to attend any nationally known event, and tragically, these fears are often well-founded.  After a thrilling victory for the Kansas City Chiefs at the Superbowl...

Any 87-year-old who lives in and is the head of the world’s smallest country and has a car named for his position—the popemobile—would be considered legendary in media, but the current leader of...

As notable as he is, former President Donald Trump may not be making the cut for the Republican primary election ballot in Colorado and Maine. Although Trump is leading the Republican race right now with...

I’m a terrible cook.  No matter how much Chopped, Nailed It!, or Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives I watched when I was little, I still can’t bake, cook, or function in a kitchen. I’m lucky if I can...

The Kentucky Derby was an event I looked forward to year-round as a kid. My horse-loving friends and I would sit in front of the TV, cheering enthusiastically for the horse that had the cutest name...

My average screen time on my phone alone is longer than the amount of sleep I get per night. That’s not including my computer, which I use about as often if not more than my phone. Sometimes, I use the...

I thought the series was going to end in 2013. I was convinced that it would be no more in 2015. Yet, when I was caught off-guard, it went off air in 2020. I was convinced that I’d never be able to change,...

On December 1st, Representative George Santos (R-NY 3rd District) was the sixth member to be expelled from the House of Representatives. In a 311-114 vote, which exceeds the ⅔ majority needed to oust...

In 2022, the Department of Housing and Urban Development identified 582,000 people experiencing homelessness in the United States. While some people view homeless people as dangerous, dirty, or drug addicts,...

I stopped playing the piano when I was 14. I hated the piano–I hated practicing, I hated performing, and I hated lessons. I hated when my old piano was out of tune, I hated the bench I somehow broke,...

To the TCT staff, for being my everything Kiera, for being one of the most influential writers on our site and also one of my longest-term friends. Saniya, for being both brilliant and outspoken in...

Students of all genders and styles have their looks at the mercy of one thing: school air. No matter how much I style my hair in the morning or perfect my skincare routine, by the time I head to my...

Injuries can be career-ending, but senior Jenna Lowell’s injuries were the start of hers. When Jenna tore the tendon in her finger and her ACL, she had a long recovery period that required plenty...

Despite her many AP classes, extracurriculars, and other responsibilities, senior Ashley Schenck is only applying to two colleges. Although she has many accolades to show for her hard work throughout...

Everyone around me is covering their ears. I scream when I’m scared, and lately, I’ve been constantly terrified. It’s obnoxious; people are starting to turn away. It’s painfully obvious when...

Small towns are meant to be peaceful and safe, not the sites of mass shootings. On Oct. 25, Robert Card went on a rampage in Lewiston, Maine, in two different locations, taking the lives of 18 and injuring...

Vivid colors flicker amongst laughter and early 2000s animation. The tones are saturated with a love that modern designs lose in their complexity, a love known only to those who sat in front of the TV...

Some of my favorite TikTok POVs are those that consist of “girls who have everything in their bags.” I know that these are supposed to be a lighthearted joke about how unrelated their supplies are...

My hands are melting. Well, they might as well be; my palms are nearly cupping my sweat. I’m on a stage, thousands of eyes boring into me. My failure is their comedy, and my success is their entertainment....

“I hate my thighs” versus “I’m super.” “I’m ready for my #selfie” versus “boy genius.” Little girls’ clothing versus little boys’ clothing. “No cookies for me, prom is...

When junior Sully Lower was a freshman, he had the entirety of his band class staring at him with wide eyes and their mouths hanging open. Prior to this moment, Sully had decided to take up a solo on...

A picture of me and Eva Harshman on one of the many friday football nights

I constantly convince myself that I am free from the first-world problems that others my age are plagued by, but in reality, a soap opera is continuously spinning around me—I am in the center of the...

To explain my dad in a simple sentence, I’d say this: He will buy anything as long as it’s on sale at Costco. That was how I came into possession of the first energy drink that my parents had voluntarily...

The phrase “government shutdown” is fear-striking yet highly possible in the U.S. in the coming days. As seemingly dystopian as a government shutdown sounds, it has happened thrice since 2013 with...

“Your life is like a sitcom.” Years ago, an acquaintance told my friend and me this as we were recounting one of our many misadventures. But as I stare blankly at a disconnected, never-flowing,...

After killing a controversial but beloved bird, Elon Musk has gone down in history as the man who destroyed Twitter and built up X. Following when he fully acquired the social media app in October of...

AP Psychology and online teacher Danielle Redman was inspired to become a teacher because of a poster. On her AP U.S. History teacher’s wall was a quote from Howard Zinn reading, “You can’t be...

Per usual, I power the television on. I watch TV every night—I’m not sure if it’s out of enjoyment, habit, or addiction, but I find myself in front of a glowing screen each evening.  I can’t...

Math teacher Tracy Will is notorious for three things: her Taylor Swift obsession, her entertaining social media accounts, and her dedication to giving her students the best high school math class experience...

Sophomore Hailey Beels is the only underclassman in her FX class. Although she may be the youngest on the crew, Hailey has worked just as hard—or perhaps even harder due to her age—to earn her spot...

United States presidential elections are like no other—they’ve become a worldwide spectacle and somewhat of a reality series for American and international viewers. As every voter knows, American presidential...

I am absolutely terrible at time management. Notoriously terrible even, especially in the morning when I’m getting ready for school—I’ll wake up an hour before I have to leave and still be extraordinarily...

Tucker Carlson is among the most popular, controversial, and entertaining political talk show hosts--not just of the right-wing--but of all media outlets. He also just lost his main platform. On...

When I was about 15, I stopped growing. I’ve pretty much maxed out at 5’8. I lost all of my baby teeth pretty early, too—my last ones were gone at around 10 or 11. I think I really was done growing...

Senior Katelynn Heilman’s brother will never admit that he’s a talented singer, but Katelynn will confess to this through actions rather than words. Since she was young, Katelynn was raised around...

Trends come and go through the decades, but some things are ugly forever. I am never getting on board with jeans under dresses—sorry Y2K fashion. Regardless of my opinions, there are some items of...

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve been deprived of cats. My dad is severely allergic to cats, so we can’t have any in the house, and very few of my closest friends have any felines. While I’ve...

For the first time in United States history, a former president has been charged with criminal activity. On April 4, former president Donald Trump was charged with 34 counts of felonies. These pertained...

Until I was around 15 years old, I couldn’t have cared less about the Hello Kitty franchise. Lying around my house were a few items of Hello Kitty and Mimi stationary, but I didn’t pay much attention...

Freshman Nova Wilson found themself hanging by one ankle from a long silk cloth. However, despite the precarious situation, Nova was laughing. While this experience in aerial arts may seem terrifying to...

Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez) has quite possibly the worst luck in the entire murder-mystery genre. The day after she celebrated the solving of her former friend, Tim Kono’s (Julian Cihi), murder, she found...

Junior Mary Holtgrieve’s most vivid memory from the Kent Career Tech Center, or KCTC, is walking into a room and seeing cadavers. As morbid as this may sound, Mary wasn’t afraid—the purpose of these...

Nothing is more freeing than the feeling of running alongside man’s best friend in an open field without a single restraint. While I’ve only done this in my yard on a much smaller scale, I loved sprinting...

My TikTok For You Page has always had a wide variety of content on it, ranging from humorous clips to cute dog videos. However, recently, a certain rising star has been popping up more and more frequently:...

I’ve always been fascinated by inedible things that look extremely appetizing—from erasers to sea glass, I have to restrain myself from popping one into my mouth. During my time on TikTok, I have found...

Senior Tim Xu found his passion and possible career path in a typical household item: a light switch. The illumination of the bulb at the flip of a switch fascinated Tim since he was as young as he could...

“Think long and hard about getting a tattoo because that is a permanent mark on your body.” Many people who have considered getting a tattoo may have heard this caution when confiding in someone...

Sophomore Khai-Thi Pham fought against another student who had claimed that “racism is just a feeling.” Thankfully, Khai-Thi was in an environment where arguing and getting your point across is commonplace...

GPT-3 (Generative Pretrained Transformer 3) is a language generation model developed by OpenAI, capable of generating human-like text based on its training on a massive corpus of text data. ChatGPT is...

Sophomore Toby Cameron’s favorite Odyssey of the Mind memory is sitting in a packed stadium in Iowa. While this alone seems unexpected, Toby’s enthusiasm stems from the thrill he experienced from being...

Despite the fact that American Sign Language teacher Kimberly Anderson has a talent for working with kids in their high school years, she is well accustomed to teaching people of all ages. From teaching...

The first time I heard a Måneskin song, which was “Beggin’,” I scoffed. While this was, in part, due to the fact that it was on my dad’s dreaded “New Music Friday” playlist, I was taken aback...

Every time a YouTuber promotes their own brand, I hold down the “5 second skip” button until I get to the actual content of the video. While I enjoy a variety of content creators, I have a hard time...

The more I see a 30-year-old and a 16-year-old have a heated feud on TikTok regarding which generation is lazier, or worse yet, which hair part is better, the less I want to ever interact with someone...

I like to think of myself as unique, but in terms of body modifications, I’m essentially as basic as possible. I have my ears pierced (usually with very inconspicuous studs in) and my doubles, yet only...

A 19-year-old climate activist slammed a 36-year-old kickboxer on Twitter for gloating over his car emissions—verbally, of course. Only one of these two have been detained by Romanian authorities, and...

The United States has more guns than people with a rate of 1.2 guns per capita. This puts it at the highest of any country—not just more-developed countries. Statistics alone don’t speak for this fact;...

Teamwork can come in many forms: in sophomore Jacob Sanford’s case, in the form of running with three shoes for two miles. When a fellow runner lost a shoe during one of the cross country team's meets,...

The softest, lightest, ginger-brown hair gently undulates in the wind. His pale, bare feet are silent as they tiptoe across the stone and twirl onto the soft grass. In the night, it is coated with a thin...

I was very nearly going to miss one of my favorite events in the entire world. For three days only during a single weekend in November, the Grand Rapids Comic-Con comes to DeVos Place. This year, from...

Kiera and Addy, for just “getting it” When I say you “get it,” I mean that in more than one way. I can no longer imagine not having you two by my side at every milestone we’ve been through...

Since 2016, it seems that during each and every election, more and more is at stake. This is certainly true for presidential elections, but increasingly, midterm elections are rising in importance for...

The proud notes of a bagpipe reverberate through the halls of FHC on Nov. 11, 2022. This is certainly a special occurrence—as it should be. In order to properly honor those who have served, the FHC Veterans...

From around the ages of eight to thirteen, I was always perpetually upset by the same thing: not being a Minecraft kid like all of my friends were. I didn’t have a laptop or PC to play it on, so I was...

Emalea Rooke went into an antique shop seeking out some necklaces and left with one of her favorite clothing items of all time. This unplanned experience is one of Emalea’s fondest memories of her passion...

Several months ago, I was attempting to explain the Sanrio and Hello Kitty franchise to my mom, and her means of understanding it was by saying to herself, “oh, so she’s like a Kardashian.” She is...

Despite the fact that my family is fairly religious—I grew up in the Eastern Orthodox Church all of my life—I haven’t been exposed to religious media as much as I have through traditional manners.  Since...

I was a tomboy growing up, much to the chagrin of my grandmother who always wanted to put me in fancy clothes and accessories. My best friends were boys, I liked being outside all of the time, and most...

I distinctly remember being about ten or eleven years old—about the same age as the protagonists—watching Pokémon: Indigo League in my living room during the long days of the summer when both of my...

It’s not a typical sight to see leaders of several countries meeting in a high school classroom, but that’s exactly what can be found in history teacher Brad Anderson’s classroom during a certain...

 In all honesty, it’s a bit embarrassing to explain how I fell in love with Steve Lacy. However, because of my dedication to both The Central Trend and Lacy, I’ll expose myself: I was listening to...

Day in, day out. Read the textbook, fill out a paper and turn it in for a completion grade. Get tested on these exact terms three days later without remembering a single word. Each time the words are written...

It’s all too easy to blame shortcomings in school on teachers and outside influences, such as instruction methods that aren’t preferred and clashing personalities. However, lots of learning takes place...

It’s not uncommon for FHC teachers to be from Grand Rapids or surrounding areas, but very few have had the international teaching experience that English teacher Morgan Beckett has had. Although Beckett...

Most teachers in the current educational system in the United States teach in a manner that leads to about a 30% information retention rate for students. With several alterations, students could be retaining...

I used to be able to skim my textbook, call it studying, take the test, and scrape by. This worked for me for a long time, until it didn’t. School got harder, and I needed to up my game. Now that I have...