By: Courtney Mentecki '26

As the seniors prepare for college and spend their last year at Saint Joseph High School to the fullest, the senior sunrise tradition continues for a third year in a row. The students gather at the school to watch the sunrise while enjoying breakfast, playing games, and capturing pictures for memories. 

Domenic Dellemenche ‘26 said, “My favorite part of senior sunrise was, one the mass, and how it was very inspirational, and the other was going to J&S with the class. We were able to sit together and have a good time.”

As Dellemenche said, this event allows the students to come together and reminisce on the past 3 years. Talking about all of the memories that have been made makes it refreshing to see how far each student has come. There is a small amount students in the class of 2026; however, that does not break the bonds that have been created.

“I believe our class has always been close and especially since the end of last year,” Niviah Andree ‘26 said. 

To make the morning even more memorable, each student brought an essential for breakfast such as donuts, fruit, and bagels to share with each other as they sat and watched the sunrise.

Bella Graff ‘26 said, “My favorite part was definitely the food, especially Ava’s cinnamon rolls.”

After enjoying the delicious food, and senior sunrise coming to an end, there was discussion about what the students were most excited for this year. 

“I am most looking forward to all of the events towards the end of the year where we do F&S day and prom,” Andree said. 

There is much to look forward to as a senior and there definitely will be teachers and classes missed. SJHS provides such great opportunities and prepares the students for college effectively. The senior sunrise event was a strong way to start the year on a positive and unforgettable note.

By: Kayla Black

As fall rolls around, we prepare to get into that autumn mood: Halloween, crisp and cool weather, orange and red leaves, and bare trees. Music selection is key to getting in that autumn mood, understanding what new music you need for the season is important. 

“My fall playlist is quite important to me; it plays a large role in getting me ready for fall. Fall decorations allow me to express my love for fall, which is my favorite time of the year,” says Courtney Mentecki, ‘26.

Listeners tend to lean toward slow tempos with a bold harmony. Indie, soft R&B, and even a slow, classic jazz make up that autumn mix. Your music library usually builds around how you are feeling this cozy season. 

“Usually, my playlist changes throughout each season. My fall playlist this year is in the making,” says Brayden Ehrman,‘27.

Here are some popular song options that you can add to your music library and listen to while you take in this beautiful autumn season:

• “Sweater Weather” - The Neighborhood

• “We fell In Love In October” - girl in red

• “Coffee” - beabadoobee

• “Vienna” - Billy Joel

• “Space Song” - Beach House

• “Lovers Rock” - TV Girl

• “Sofia” - Clairo

• “I Know You” - Faye Webster.

• “Maple Syrup” - The Backseat Lovers

•  “Henry, Come on” - Lana Del Rey

•  “Type Dangerous” - Mariah Carey 

These song choices are perfect to enhance your bittersweet fall vibe. Sit around a campfire, grab a cup of hot cocoa, and enjoy these comforting tunes.

By: Ava Myers

On Monday, September 29th, the whole student body of St. Joe’s gathered together in order to attend this year's Club Fair. Every year at SJHS, the school holds a Club Fair - to show students the many clubs they can join. Each teacher gets to choose a club to sponsor. On the day of the Club Fair, the teachers set up tables with sign-up sheets and information about their club in the gym and the lobby of the Sci-Tech building. 

The school allows students to join many different clubs including Outreach Club, Yearbook Club, Drama Club, etc. There is a club for everyone here at SJHS. Each club has a unique focus and goal. For example, the Women’s Empowerment Club hopes to help the girls with things like confidence and self-worth. The E-Sports club allows students to spend time playing their favorite video games.

 The clubs also fall into three different categories: WIN  time clubs, lunchtime clubs, and after school clubs. The WIN time clubs meet once a month when we have forty minutes of WIN time on Mondays. Each student must join a WIN time club. The Outreach Club is an example of a WIN time club. The lunchtime clubs meet during lunch and students eat their lunches while participating in their club. Catholic Faith Club, Women’s Empowerment, and Bible study are all examples of clubs that meet during lunch. Lastly, the after school clubs are clubs that meet after school or possibly on the weekends. The drama club is a great example of an afterschool club.

Each student joins their clubs for a multitude of reasons, whether it be personal interest or because they need the experience for a certain activity. Some students join certain clubs because they make them happy. “I joined drama club so I can continue to participate in activities that have to do with theater,” stated Julia Skowronski ‘29. As you can see, the Club Fair is a chance for all students to become a part of something that piques their interest or to join a club that they just have fun being a part of. 

By: Braylie Bayne

In the past couple months, Taylor Swift has been busy. She ended her record-breaking tour but she didn't stop there. She earned her music back, put out a new album, and is getting married.

Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift has been dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce since 2023, when he attended her concert on July 8 with a friendship bracelet with his number on it. Even though the bracelet never got to her, she showed up to one of his games on September 24 sitting with Kelce's mom, and that's when the rumors sparked they were dating. So after that, Taylor went to all of his games, home and away. The Chiefs even won the Super Bowl that year. Next football season, she continued to go to all of the games and they made it to the Superbowl yet again hoping to win three Super Bowls in a row, but they unfortunately lost to the Eagles.

Taylor got her music back. In 2021, she started to rerecord her first six albums, since they were sold to Republic Records under her contract. Before that, Scooter Braun owned them, and she was not given a chance to buy them and has had conflicts in the past with him. So she did not own her first six, and it was always a goal for her to own the music she makes. She started to rerecord and called them “Taylor’s Version,” which included vault tracks.  Recently, she just bought the rights back to her first six albums, so now she owns all of them, including anything done with the album, like music videos and photos.

Taylor recently announced her album, “The Life of a Showgirl”, on New Heights, Travis and his brothers podcast. She told the 12 tracks on her 12th album and when the album would be coming out. The album dove in behind the scenes of when she was on tour, with one song featuring Sabrina Carpenter. It came out on October 3rd and is already breaking records, like the most streamed album in a single day for this year and biggest opening week in US history. She's been on many podcasts and late night shows like Jimmy Fallon, where she talks about the album and what it's about. She had a stream party in theatres where she showed the lyric videos for each song and talked about each. She also debuted her music video for her single “The Fate of Ophelia” and the behind the scenes for the video.

After their podcast, Travis proposed to Taylor in his backyard filled with thousands of flowers. He blacked out the windows so she couldn’t see it getting set up. He asked Taylor to go for a walk in his backyard, and that's when she figured out something was happening- especially with how nervous he was. They didn’t announce it until August 26. The ring is a custom by Kinred Lubeck of Erifex Fine Jewelry; Taylor has mentioned their jewelry before. He had the ring a while before he actually proposed.

On Good Morning America on October 14th, she was set to appear. It was a video where she announced a movie and documentary coming to Disney+ on December 12. It will be the last night of the tour with The Tortured Poets Department since it wasn’t filmed last time. The document is a behind-the-scenes of the tour featuring artists like Gracie Abrams and Ed Sheeran.

In conclusion, Taylor is always busy, especially behind the scenes putting out easter eggs, filming, and so much more. She has got her music back, released an album, and is busy supporting her fiance.

For the 2025-2026 school year, new classes have been added to the freshman curriculum. Choir and band.These classes are offered almost everywhere except Saint Joe’s. Many upperclassmen want the option to take these classes and wish for the same opportunities. 

The freshman class of ‘29 had the option to choose between choir or band. Once a week they meet, and because of this, it replaces a class that day. After interviewing freshman Max Townsend, he told me he wished it were “more of an elective you choose,” and he followed this with “if you don’t do it you have to do something else related.” For the future, they could make the alternate option something relating to musical or stage crew. Another option would be to participate in choir at church.

I did not just want the opinion of freshmen. I also wanted to hear those of the upperclassmen, specifically the ones feeling left out. 

“Yes,” says Niviah Andree, class of ‘26, after I asked if she would want this option. “I love singing and miss having a chorus.”

From this, the question of how students would be able to take it appeared. Would it be a part of the curriculum like the freshman or an elective? “I don't think it would fit into our schedules, you would miss a day of each week,” said Alex Park, class of ‘28.

Many others interviewed shared the common opinion of it being an elective. Especially because people who do not want to take it wouldn’t have to. It would be fair to those who love singing or playing an instrument. The people who want to participate can and give students another reason to love Saint Joe’s.