2023 Stories - page 2

By: Keely Betenson  Fall is officially upon us as the summer comes to a close. As students scurry to pack their totes with college essentials and begin browsing for places to stay, there may be certain aspects they either overlook or simply don’t know. In order to fully understand the what, where and why of moving into a new “home,” I interviewed upperclassmen staying on or near campus.  Here is what they have to say about the first year of college life.  “Don’t bring too much stuff. Don’t do it, ” said Destiny Gregory, an OU senior in Gaylord College. Gregory…

By Zyer Henry, Lawton MacArthur High School After 44 years, the Service Station is running out of gas. The Service Station is a gas station-themed restaurant just north of the University of Oklahoma’s Campus Corner where you can grab food such as fried chicken and burgers. On top of that, they also have a full bar for adults to lounge with friends.  The restaurant announced on July 4 it’ll cease operations at the end of the month, generating a flood of nostalgia and flurry of last visits by locals.  The restaurant originally opened Nov. 18, 1978. Before owning the Service…

By Santos Castaneda, Bartlesville High School As kids are preparing to head back to school this fall, some students may find several book titles either restricted or banned from their school’s library shelves. Book bans are not a new topic to the U.S., with the first book ban in what’s now the U.S. dating to the Puritan era in 1637. However, in recent years more and more books have been removed from the public school library shelves and from students’ grasp.  In Oklahoma, there is a change being put upon all public schools due to a new law. On March…

By Jaxon McElwee, Bixby High School Name, image and likeness has a major effect on their current and future athletes, especially so at schools like the University of Oklahoma where sports has greater prominence relative to many universities.  On June 19, Sports Illustrated ranked college sports programs based on revenue, listing OU was in its top 10. NIL allows student athletes to capitalize on their publicity in ways the NCAA didn’t previously allow. Toby Baldwin is the OU executive associate athletic director responsible for NIL as well as operational advancement. He worked his way up through the program, and was…

By Eboni Montgomery, Crowley (Texas) High School On average, teachers work 53.3 hours a week teaching and doing school-related work, according to a job recruitment website Zippia. That doesn’t even include the work they might have to do at home like grading papers and creating lesson plans because they don’t have time at school. Hillary Cowen experienced this first hand to the extent that she quit the career she loved. Cowen taught middle school Spanish at a public charter school for 16 years. She quit teaching last January and is now working as a banker. She has a bachelor’s degree in…

By Madisson Cameron, Mustang High School With the pandemic forcing a reckoning with mental health, support systems have become more accessible to in-need communities. But gaps still exist, particularly in the same places that serve these communities.  It poses the question, who provides mental health care for the mental health providers? Mary Abbott Children’s House has been helping families and children in foster care since 1996. The house offers several services, almost all of which start with a family advocate. Brittany Akre, who is one of two advocates, said her main goal is being the support system of any incoming families.…

By: Kate Menz, Bishop McGuinness High School Oklahoma’s weather is already extreme, and it’s only going to get worse.  According to the Environmental Protection Agency, climate change will cause Oklahoma’s weather to become warmer; droughts and floods are going to become more severe. “People have increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the air by 40 percent since the late 1700s,” a 2016 report from the EPA said. “These gasses have warmed the surface and lower atmosphere of our planet about one degree during the last 50 years.” Because of this increase in heat, water evaporates more quickly and droughts…

By Becca Jolly, Harding Charter Preparatory, Oklahoma City As of 2023, Oklahoma ranks 49th in education. The year before, the state ranked 45th.  After the COVID-19 quarantine in 2020, schools across the state have been experiencing decreases in grades and test scores. Reports from the State Department of Education have shown slight improvements with 2022’s Oklahoma State Testing Program scores. Even with the improvement most students are ranking basic or below level in subjects such as reading, science and math.  According to The Oklahoman, more than 38% of high school juniors were proficient or advanced in reading. Since 2021 they…