Theme parks can be overwhelming to those with autism or other sensory issues. Although there are many theme parks out there that can provide a sensory friendly experience, there are also some to avoid. Many parks have a disability access pass that allows those with sensory issues to skip the line, but the best parks for autistic people are those with designated quiet rooms and sensory rooms.

Sesame Place, a Sesame Street theme park in Pennsylvania, was the first theme park to become a Certified Autism Center. Sesame Street has been making kids of all different types feel welcome and normal, whether it be the diverse human cast, serious topics, or the new character, Julia, an autistic Muppet. At Sesame Place, families can sign up for the disability help package online ahead of time, and go to guest services to get things printed out, such as sensory guides, a map, and times for parades and shows. If a child is having a bad sensory overload or a meltdown parents can ask guest services for the code to the locked quiet rooms. If they don’t need a quiet room, there are areas they can go to take a break from the crowds. The Sesame Place PA YouTube page has many more resources, including an Autism Social Story Playlist. For more resources, you can go to the Sesame Place website. While this theme park is themed for small children, it’s still a great place for any person, especially those who like Sesame Street and The Muppets.

Dollywood is another great example of a theme park that is very safe for autistic individuals. They have a quiet room/sensory space, similar to Sesame Place. Even better, if you tell a worker at guest services that you or your family member is autistic, you receive an emergency number to call if you are feeling overstimulated or having a meltdown. In that event, Dollywood will send a worker to escort you to the quiet room on site. While Dollywood is not a Certified Autism Center, many parents of autistic children, as well as various autism-friendly vacation blogs, have raved about how great Dollywood treats autistic guests. They also have a disability access pass for rides, including the big ticket rides. This video by Nicole Burgess has a wonderful explanation of how the access pass works, along with other accommodations available for autistic individuals. The quiet/sensory room is larger and more engaging than the one at Sesame Place, which makes it good for those who need to spread out or play with stim toys. The sensory space also has a chalkboard- however, for many autistic individuals, chalk and chalkboards can mess with sensory issues. Dollywood is a better experience for bigger kids, teens, and young adults over Sesame Place or the next theme park.

Legoland Resorts announced that all of its North American theme parks would become Certified Autism Centers in 2022. Rides at Legoland have sensory guides and a quiet room, just like the other two parks. The Legoland quiet room has a Lego table and a magnet wall with mix-and-match Lego minifigures. The staff is professionally trained to deal with individuals with autism. Legoland is a popular spot for children with autism because Legos are a popular toy, and those with autism might enjoy putting together Lego sets.

According to a survey about the parks, most autistic people either had already been to Legoland and plan to return, or haven’t and want to. Legoland seemed to be the most preferred theme park of the three. Even the one response from a non-autistic person said they’d go to Legoland.

If you appreciated any of the information in this article, you can take the aforementioned survey. It is encouraged for autistic people to take this survey, but anyone can take it. Most information on the form is a repeat of what is in this article. With summer vacation coming up soon, it’s great to plan a vacation ahead of time, and for any autistic people out there who this article helped, I am happy I could share this information with those who need it.

The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970, as part of the modern environmentalist movement that came about in the late 1960s. Although environmental policies and regulations have improved somewhat since then with the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Clean Water and Air Acts, our environment is still struggling- maybe moreso, as pollution increases and the ozone layer thins. 

This is why Earth Day is as important now as it was then. It calls attention to the planet and encourages everyone to appreciate it, regardless of where they stand on environmental issues. Environmental activist groups all over the world celebrate Earth Day every year on April 22. 

Although school celebrations were put on pause for the past four years due to COVID-19 restrictions, they resumed in full this year on Friday, April 21. Part of the reason Brown’s Earth Day celebration was able to match its old scale was because of Brown School math teacher and Environmental Club sponsor Andrew Gray. “I was Environmental Club sponsor at Fairdale High School for five or six years. So, it was just kind of natural when I came to Brown,” said Gray of his decision to become the club’s sponsor. “It just kind of naturally fit. We traditionally had a Brown School Environmental Club here. Jamie McMillin, our alumni representative, he used to teach Social Studies here and he used to run an Earth Day on First Street. They would close down First Street.”

Gray shows his love for the environment in more ways than one- from trips to the parking garage roof for a breath of fresh air with his Algebra and Stats classes to advocating for a recycling program at Brown. However, his care doesn’t stop with the school; it extends to his personal life, too. “At home, we each do our individual part,” he said, going on to explain the sump pump-creekbed project he took on when his family moved into their current home. “Basically, we dug a creekbed, it goes about 40 feet, back to the alley, and it takes all the sump pump water. And then we planted native plants there to soak up the water, so it’s a win-win, right? The plants are getting water, we’re getting rid of the water, and so we try to do a lot of things like that.”

However, Gray doesn’t consider himself an ‘Environmental Activist’. “I would say [the club] is my activism. I do network with activists… I would just say I come at it from the educator perspective. I just try to inspire you guys to think about it.” His philosophy applies to club membership as well. “We’re not perfect,” he said. “I always tell kids, you know, with Environmental Club- whatever you can give us, we appreciate.”

As for Brown’s current Earth Day celebration, Gray has a clear vision in mind. “It just started from student interest, and interest from my end, and I’m all about, like, positive experiences for people, to make change. So I always try to push that level, and of course, I work with teenagers, so that’s a good approach. It’s always about getting kids positive experiences, thinking about eco-related issues.”

Despite his own ideas about Earth Day at Brown, Gray is happy to let students take the lead in planning the celebration. “The kids have just been great,” he noted proudly. “I give credit to the club, working every week with recycling, and then meetings every other week. All the hard work, you know, it wasn’t the fun stuff. We got to the fun stuff in the spring, with the little kid activities and the fashion show, but really the hard work was where I was impressed with what they did.”

Club members took responsibility for almost every aspect of this year’s festivities. Students present on April 21st most likely remember seeing an Environmental Club member at every turn, from freshman Chris Riley overseeing the electric-car exhibition in the parking garage to junior Sophie Hyde grooming the goats in the lobby-turned-petting-zoo. “They really did all that legwork,” said Gray, “contacting the people and getting that conversation started. They did all the work in terms of, you know, organizing the structure, the times, and contacting the teachers, and making sure everything was good.”

From a short interview, it’s easy to see that Gray’s favorite part of sponsoring the club is the student involvement. Over the years, he’s seen students come and go, and watched many come into their own as environmental activists. “Anthony Riley was in my original group, and so it’s really neat to see. [Anthony’s sister] Michelle would actually come to the recycling sessions, and would sit and eat snacks, and now here’s Michelle as a senior, right, and [her brother] Chris, as well.”

Student involvement also defined his favorite part of this year’s Earth Day celebration. “The best part for me was watching the kids get [the fashion show] ready beforehand, and just kind of stepping back, and watching, you know, listening to that music play and the kind of suspense of the crowd happening. I felt like I was at a, like, a rock concert,” he joked. “It was fun, you could feel the buzz in the room, and that’s a good thing.”

His future plans for the Environmental Club and future Earth Day celebrations involve more connections for members of the club with other environmental programs across the state. “At Fern Creek, they were able to get dual credit with Sustainability 101 at UofL, and so I’m going to look into… any school can apply, we just need our Environmental Science teacher to apply for that. I’m going to try to push for that.” 

Conspiratorially, he concluded “One of the things I’d really like to add, and this has been all the way along, this is so hard to pull off- I want other JCPS or any other county Environmental Clubs to come here for a conference, or we can go there, and we could get you guys talking to each other, right? Because, like, the experts coming in, I want that,” he clarified, “but I want sessions where Fern Creek Environmental Club can meet with Brown School, or can lead a session with the other clubs, you know what I’m saying? To me, that’s ultimately my end goal, is to make this a fun, celebratory day- but also, a youth-led conference.”

Students interested in joining the Environmental Club this year are still welcome to participate in meetings and recycling sessions. Those who want to help plan next year’s Earth Day celebration should pay attention to the announcements and Bear Essentials for information about future meetings and events.

 “I always tell the kids, and you can put this in the paper: whatever you can add is great,” Gray concluded. 

Many people have strong feelings about Starbucks discontinuing their raspberry syrup. It is a staple in people's lives and this can change their whole view of the company. The syrup is part of the recipes for many drinks because it has a sweet flavor that compliments a lot of Starbucks beverages very well. Customers are left confused because of this decision, and want to know why this is happening. 

The raspberry syrup being discontinued doesn’t sound like a huge issue but for some it is. It is perfect all year round and pairs well with multiple drinks. In a recent Today article, journalist Joseph Lamour said, “Raspberry syrup is a key ingredient in drinks such as the Raspberry Chiffon White Mocha and unofficially could be found in secret menu items like the White Chocolate Raspberry Mocha, Raspberry Lemonade and Raspberry Cheesecake Mocha Frappuccino, among others.” 

Raspberry  syrup is great for cold drinks, disappointing even more customers as they look forward to traditional summer drinks. Sadie Dickson, a sophomore at Brown High School, is a frequent customer at Starbucks. “I usually get the strawberry açaí refresher with raspberry syrup in it. It's the perfect summer drink and it's super refreshing! Perfect for a hot day!” she said.

Starbucks is making room for new flavors. To some people,  raspberry syrup doesn’t seem like the right choice to eliminate, but there is always a reason. “As a standard course of business, we continually evaluate the ingredients in our stores, and have decided to discontinue raspberry syrup,” a Starbucks spokesperson told Today's news. 

Because of the loss of the raspberry syrup, people want to see new things added. Several students  from Brown High School had some ideas about what new items they wanted added. A couple people said they wanted more summer drink flavors-  specifically, a mango refresher and more freeze dried fruits to add in different drinks. Another student had an idea to make a drink out of the popular dessert cookie, Lotus Biscoff. “Biscoff cookie crumble frappuccino and syrup would make a good addition to the seasonal list!” said this student. Adding more food is what a few students said. Ideas for the food are donuts, more breakfast sandwiches, and pastries. 

Even though many people are upset by this decision, we all know Starbucks wont let us down. They are very creative when it comes to new drinks. Although the raspberry syrup will be missed we can only hope for new and better flavors to be available soon!