Students give back to community with Charger Christmas
Many believe the Christmas season is all about giving back, so this year, Oxford High School is having their own version of the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree in order to give back to families in the OHS community called Charger Christmas.
“Charger Christmas is a way for the students at OHS to give and show love to different families in our district during the holiday season,” student council sponsor Katherine Brown said.
Student council wants to change the mindset of more students about Christmas and get them to help others in need.
“It is easy to get wrapped up in a world of ‘What do I want for Christmas,’ and we forget that others are asking ‘Will I have a Christmas,’” Brown said. “Student Council wants to spread this mentality throughout our student body to give and show love.”
Student council is trying to change the way some students perceive Christmas since some families and children are used to not receiving presents.
“The attitude around Christmas for some people was that they dread it, and they are really not looking forward to it because they know they won’t really be receiving anything,“ Student Body President Margaret Pepper Adams said. “So, we just really want to uplift our people, and its a part of ‘LYP.’ Show them love and that we care about them, and that they can have a great Christmas too. We are going to help them do that”
Students can participate in Charger Christmas starting Nov. 9 through Dec. 15.
“The students here can participate by donating money in their third period classes,” Adams said.
However, if students, families, or other OHS clubs want to get more involved this holiday season, they can “adopt a family” and are committed to getting the items that the family has listed they need or want, wrapping those presents, and delivering them to the school.
“It is completely anonymous, so maybe it will say ‘family one’ and it will be like ‘child one, child two, child three’ and there will be items that each child is wanting or needing,” Adams said. “But, its kind of a mix of want and need, so that they can get both things.”
All the money and items donated are going directly to students and families that are a part of Charger Nation and are in need.
“Counselors across the district have selected OSD students whose family is in need and requested a list of items needed for the family,” Brown said. “The money raised will go towards meeting the needs of these families.”
Students, such as sophomore Representative Sarah Jane Yerger, believe that this is a great way to give back to and strengthen Charger Nation as a whole.
“I believe Charger Christmas will uplift the Christmas spirit and create happiness for others by giving those in need presents and by others helping them by donating money,” Yerger said. “It will really strengthen Charger Nation by helping to give back to those in our community that may not be as fortunate as others.”
'Grey's Anatomy' impresses and pays homage to past characters, themes with 300th episode
“Grey’s Anatomy” has been a hit medical drama since its debut in 2005, and on Nov. 9, 2017, the show premiered its 300th episode.
While many shows are fortunate to hit the 100th episode mark, “Grey’s Anatomy” recently premiered their 300th episode, which is very rare in the TV industry. This medical drama has captured the attention of millions all over the world, and the 300th episode did not disappoint.
Series creator Shonda Rhimes and executive producer Betsy Beers provided the audience with many Easter eggs, a hidden message or intentional inside joke, throughout the episode, showcased the amazing, emotional acting talent of actors that have grow accustomed to their roles, and payed homage to the whole series and the people that made the show what it is.
Easter eggs have become very common in big movies and special episodes of TV shows, so naturally, Rhimes and the writers of “Grey’s Anatomy” wanted to make sure to include some to bring out a nostalgic feeling in their viewers that have been with the show since the beginning.
The episode opens with a monologue from Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) as she stands on a ferry boat. This is one of the first of many Easter eggs in the episode; the ferry boat was a subtle reference to Grey’s late husband, Derek Shepard (Patrick Dempsey), and his love for ferry boats. While this setting wasn’t essential to the plot line of the episode, it was used to represent the departure of Dempsey in season 11, and how his character still influences Pompeo’s character three seasons later.
Another Easter egg that affected many viewers was the reappearance of the show’s original theme song “Cosy in the Rocket.” The theme song has not been presented in the show for many, many seasons, so it was nice to hear the familiar beat and lyrics at the beginning of a very memorable episode.
Many of these actors have been playing their characters since the beginning of the series. Ellen Pompeo, Justin Chambers (Alex Karev), Chandra Wilson (Miranda Bailey), and James Pickens Jr. (Richard Webber) have all embodied their characters for the entire run of the series.
Many would believe since these veteran actors have become so accustomed to their characters that their acting would become boring and uneventful to viewers. However, this is not the case. In each scene these actors do, the viewers can see their emotion and how passionate they are about their job.
As Pompeo’s character achieves a lifelong medical dream of her’s, you can see the raw emotion in Pompeo’s eyes as she fully experiences all the emotions that are going through her character's mind. I didn’t doubt for one second that Pompeo actually felt those emotions since she presented it so clearly to the audience.
While many actors have exited the show throughout the course of its 14 season run, either by their character leaving or dying, the 300th episode had many references to the previous seasons and actors that had appeared on the show.
The most signification reference was the introduction of three guest characters that resembled Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh), George O’Malley (T.R. Knight), and Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl), the three of the five original interns that have left the show.
Cleo Kim (Jackie Chung) and Greg Williams (Brandon Tyler Russell) arrive at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital in order to receive treatment after they get stuck in a roller coaster cart. Immediately when they arrived, most of the Grey Sloan staff notice the resemblance between these strangers and their friends. If that wasn’t enough to tug at viewer’s heartstrings, Kim and Williams’s pregnant friend Liza Simmons shows up to see how they are doing, and she is a doppelgänger for Izzie Stevens.
These patients immediately grab the attention of the whole staff of Grey Sloan, including Meredith Grey, who was supposed to be on her way to a prestigious medical award ceremony but instead decides to stay back and help save these strangers that resemble her friends. The only think that would have been better than this reference would have been the actual appearance of the original characters, but for now, this will suffice.
“Grey’s Anatomy” has had many iconic episodes throughout its 14 season run, and the 300th episode tops all the others. Hopefully, “Grey’s Anatomy” continues beyond its 14 seasons, and I hope to see more iconic episodes and storylines of “Grey’s Anatomy.”