Ah, summer. The season of swimming, sun, sundaes, and…studying? The school year, it seems, does not conclude after 180 days. In reality, during the summer months, many students are busy balancing work, travels, and spending time with family and friends, and come the summer after sophomore year, students are overloaded with assignment after assignment, all of which must be completed without assistance from their teachers.

The Los Angeles Unified School Board voted in late June to ban cell phones starting January 2025. This past summer, a number of Needham parents and faculty expressed frustration with cell phone use in class, and advocated for a stricter policy. Going into the 2024-2025 school year, that has become a reality: the administration is making “phone hotels” mandatory in all classes, including x-block. However, Needham should not follow the LA School Board’s example. 

Welcome back, seniors! As a lover of summer, I find it extremely bittersweet to be returning to school for senior year. A part of me is utterly anxious about the heavy workload I know I’ll be facing: college applications on top of difficult classes and various fall extracurriculars. Part of me excitedly anticipates a festive Senior Sunset, Powderpuff, and the endlessly-celebrated Senior Spring as we all prepare for our promising futures ahead. And part of me is wondering: Is everything really changing?

Welcome back, everyone! I hope your summers have been amazing and relaxing, but now that August 28th is here, there is something serious we need to discuss: starting school traditions. We have some traditions at Needham High School, such as Spirit Week, the end-of-the-year art show, the Oracle, and Senior Field Day. On top of these, I propose we add a few more this year, so hear me out. 

While most Massachusett residents likely had a typical New England summer, 20 athletes from the Bay State spent their time competing at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games hosted in Paris, France.

Back-to-school season serves as a time of anticipation, excitement, and at times, also worry and stress.  Whether you are preparing to transition from middle to high school or gearing up for your long-awaited senior year, going back to school means going back to the long hours of homework, stressing about big tests and assignments, and worrying about how to get all of it done in a timely manner. The most important thing to keep in mind as the school year starts back up is that setting good habits early on will help you in the long run. 

Have you noticed that recently, more and more small town newspapers have gone out of business? In fact, according to Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, “In 2005 there were 8,891 newspapers. In the early 20th century, there had been about 24,000 newspapers in the U.S.”