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MEREDITH & EMMA: THIS OR THAT
Juniors Emma Blackburn and Meredith Zendarski give their opinions on their favorite holiday.
Ice Skating or Skiing
Meredith: I prefer Ice skating because skiing makes me feel out of control. The downhill slope is too scary for me.
Emma: I prefer Ice skating because I like feeling the breeze in my hair when I`m skating.
Christmas Cookies or Candy Canes
Meredith: I like Christmas cookies more. They're so much fun to decorate, and eat!
Emma: I like Christmas cookies more because It`s fun to help my grandma bake them.
Live or Artificial Tree
Meredith: I'd say artificial tree. I've never had a real tree, but I would definitely get tired of the pine needles everywhere.
Emma: I`ve never had a real tree but my grandparents always get one. I always love theirs because it`s so pretty and the pine smells good.
Decorating or Wrapping Gifts
Meredith: I prefer decorating. Hanging twinkle lights and garland is so much more fun than cutting and taping paper.
Emma: I prefer wrapping gifts because my mom and I always wrap together. I look forward spending that time with her.
Faith Durci '27 creates a variety of coffee drinks for customers at Harvest Moon. Many students gather at the coffee shop after school.
Photo Credit Sydney McKinzie '27
the moon is shining bright in natrona heights
the moon is shining bright in natrona heights
by Sydney McKinzie '27
In November, Harvest Moon, a trendy coffee shop in the Heights Plaza opened, giving students a place to hang out after school and get a nice drink.
Freshman Faith Durci works at Harvest Moon and is able to give us the inside story on how they work.
“I absolutely love the food and drinks. Everything is baked right there. My go-to drink is the mocha java frozen frappe,” Durci said.
When I visited the shop I tried their baked banana bread, and I could definitely tell it was baked there and not store bought. Their drinks were also fantastic. I tried a latte and a matcha while I visited. The lattes don’t have a strong bitter taste, and are enjoyable to drink. The matcha had a strong tea flavor and wasn’t overpowered by the milk. It was a perfect blend.
Creating and serving all this wonderful food and drink seems like it would be a lot of work.
Durci said, “It’s not that difficult working as a barista once you learn everything. I had a lot of training. There are difficulties in every job, but it’s pretty simple.”
When I went in everyone was friendly and welcoming. They treated every customer like this. The baristas were knowledegable about the menu and they worked together and communicated well. It felt like a peaceful environment and made me want to go back.
The outfits that were created for the thrifting review were very simple. They turned out to be similar. It was really hard to get an outfit with only 10 dollars.
Photo Credit: Courtney Mentecki '26 and Kayla Black '26
friends go thrifting with just 10 dollars: Can you tell which outfit costs less?
friends go thrifting with just 10 dollars: Can you tell which outfit costs less?
By Kayla Black '26 and Courtney Mentecki '26
Fashion is something that most high school girls obsess over. It can be costly to dress in all of the popular trends. We want to look and feel our best, but for less. So we decided to give ourselves a challenge to see if we could create an outfit that looks good, but without the high price tag.
On a budget of 10 dollars, we headed to the thrift store to see what we could score. To help make a comparison.
Our goal was to create this outfit in under 15 minutes, but it was way harder than we thought it would be. Attempting to create a full, completed outfit with just 10 dollars is truly a struggle.
Right away, we figured out that it was very difficult to find an outfit that was similar, even at a thrift store, with just a 10 dollar budget. These days it is quite hard to find a full outfit with a low budget like that. But we were not giving up.
Instead, we picked an outfit that we normally would not wear. So while this "new" outfit is not our style, the idea is to see if anyone could tell the difference in the cost of each outfit. One outfit was 10 dollars, and the other was way more.
In the end, we were able to fool a few of our family members with which outfit was thrifted, and which one was from our closet at full price. Can you tell? And truthfully, the outfit on the left side of the photo was thrifted!
Music is a huge part of everyone's life. Teenagers are constantly listening to music on different streaming platforms. The SJHS team captains shared their top 5 songs of all time, since music is so important to them.
Image Credit: Jamie Noonan '24
Team captains share their top 5 songs of all time
Team captains share their top 5 songs of all time
By Jamie Noonan '24
Music is a crucial part of a teenagers life. Songs are what we will remember when we are older and we think back to our high school years. We will remember the songs that we blast in the car with our friends, and the ones we dance to at prom.
I asked SJHS team captains about their top 5 songs of all time. The responses included all types of different genres. It ranged from rap, to country, to classic rock, and pop.
When I asked for the top 5 songs, I assumed that I would get responses consisting of mostly rap music. However, this was not the case. Most of the responses were classic rock or pop music. Songs like “Livin’ on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi and “All Too Well” by Taylor Swift were mentioned. Even Elvis made the list.
Songs live on for generations and I believe that this will continue throughout our lives as well. And I think it's because music is a universal language for all to be able to communicate.
Songs:
"Only the Good Die Young" by Billy Joel
"Sarah’s Place" by Zach Bryan
"August" by Taylor Swift
"Burning Love" by Elvis Presley
"Jackie and Wilson" by Hozier
"All Too Well" (10 min version) by Taylor Swift
"Feeling Good" by Michael Buble
"Chicken Fried" by Zac Brown Band
"Don’t Walk Away" by Miley Cryus
"When We Were Young" by Adele
"Wake Me Up" by Avicii
"So What" by PINK
"Pompeii" by Bastille
"Mean" by Taylor Swift
"Livin' On A Prayer" by Bon Jovi
"Me + All Your Reasons" by Morgan Wallen
"I Remember Everything" by Zach Bryan
High school is a huge learning curve for teenagers, especially with the new skill of driving. Many are so overcome with joy when they get their first glimpse of freedom, that they don't realize how much responsibility it takes. Here are some helpful tips on how to change a tire.
By Meredith Zendarski '25
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