All posts by HPSH Plaid Line

Music/Concerts

The Lumineers new album ‘Automatic’ review

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By: Grace Wright

The Lumineers started in New Jersey in 2005 with Wesley Schultz lead singer/guitarist and Jeremiah Fraites a dummer. They struggled with getting their music out so they moved to Denver in 2009. When they moved to Denver they went through many different music genres and evenly settled on folk/indie kind of music.

They started playing in basements and soon put out an ad that caught the attention of Neyla Pekarek. She is a multi-instrumentalist and a singer. They soon later released an EP called ‘Ho Hey’; the call and response title track caused it to be a fan favorite. Once they released ‘Ho Hey’ they signed a contract with Dualtone Records.

They have 7 albums and many singles and EPs. They have collaborated with many artists like Zach Bryan, James Bay, Noah Khan and many more. Their newest album is called ‘Automatic’ and has 11 songs. “Same Old Song”, “A**hole” (title edited), “Strings”, “Automatic”, “You’re all i got”, “Plasticine”, “Ativan”, “Keys on the table”, “Better day”, “Sunflowers”, “So long”.

They released “Same Old Song” and teasers of all the songs on Jan 13, 2025 and the full album came out on Feb 14, 2025: Valentines Day. Much like their other songs and albums, they have catchy beats and deep meanings behind their lyrics.

My favorite songs on the album are “Same Old Song”, ‘”A**hole” (title edited)“, “Automatic” and “Keys On The Table”. These are my favorite songs because I like the meanings behind them but also because I like the way they were musically written.

Overall, I really liked this album because the songs are very thought out and I really liked the different meanings behind them. I also really like the song called “Strings”. I like it because there aren’t any words in it, it’s just violins and it makes me think of growing up and getting older. I also really like how this album is what I consider more calm compared to their other ones. You can find their music on Spotify, iHeart Radio and Apple Music.

For more information, please visit:

School Life, Tech/Games

Effects of phones on people’s education

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By: Chloe Rocha

The phrase “It’s because of your phone” is something that is commonly heard amongst adolescents. In some cases, that phrase can apply, but in others it is not necessarily accurate.

This phrase however, can apply to the education of kids during school. Cell phones have been something that is used in our day to day lives because they provide convenience and also connectivity. But at the same time they can also be proven to be a distraction while in the classroom.

There have been proven to be many negative effects of cell phone use while in the classroom, and according to an article by ‘Why Edify’, these are the top 10 reasons:

  1. Distraction
  2. Cyberbullying
  3. Academic dishonesty
  4. Social isolation
  5. Physical health issues
  6. Sleep disruption
  7. Privacy concerns
  8. Inequality
  9. Reduced physical activity
  10. Addiction

Distraction:

Decreased focus and attention in the classroom can occur because students become distracted by their phones, whether it be social media, or playing video games. These platforms are made by design to hook the user and keep them entertained. This can also be known as “doom scrolling” in some situations.

Cyberbullying:

In some cases students use their cell phone to send hurtful messages. Many adults don’t know how big of an impact cyberbullying can be and how frequently it is seen in classrooms. Nearly 42% of kids have been bullied online, according to an article by Annapolis, MD. When these children experience cyberbullying by their own classmates, it can cause them to be fearful or anxious about going to class and in the long run can have harmful effects on their education.

Academic dishonesty:

It is a very well known fact that AI has been evolving and also becoming more frequently used during people’s day to day life. Specifically in class, students have become more reliant on using AI to guide them in their class work. A global survey, that was conducted by Statista, showed that 86% of students used AI in the year of 2024. Students may also cheat during exams or assignments, simply because they have access to the answers or the information on their phones.

Social isolation:

When students use their phones excessively, it can cause them to spend less time interacting face-to-face with their own peers. Face-to-face interactions are crucial during a child’s adolescence because it allows them to develop many crucial social skills. Some of these skills include empathy, effective communication, the understanding of nonverbal cues, peer dynamics, and forming a strong sense of identity.

Physical health issues:

When cell phones are used excessively, they can begin to cause physical health problems, such as poor posture, eye strain and many other health issues.

Sleep disruption:

Cell phone use before going to bed can cause disruptions to people’s sleep patterns. When sleep patterns are disrupted, it can lead to fatigue and also a decrease in their academic performance. Sleep is important because it improves your brain performance, your mood, and also your health.

Privacy concerns:

Students may share their personal information or photographs and this can raise concerns about their privacy.

Inequality:

In many classes, a digital divide can be formed among students because not everyone may have access to a cell phone. This can cause students to feel left out from their peers.

Reduced physical activity:

This issue applies to both in school and out. During school, cell phones can discourage students from engaging in physical activity during recess or during their breaks. Outside of school, when a child has access to a cell phone, they often don’t release their energy in a physical way, like going outside, instead they go on their phones while in the house.

Addiction:

As mentioned before, many apps on your phone are by design very addictive. Mobile apps can stimulate the release of dopamine and this leads to the formation of habits. Some very popular apps that you may use that are also addictive are Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Youtube, and TikTok.

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Tech/Games

JOYSTiCK Reviews Ep. 14B: ‘Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’ – The Escape

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By: Daniel Kendle

Image taken by Silar via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?search=jail+cell&title=Special:MediaSearch&type=image

Hey gang, it’s me, Mr. Whatshisname, back again with another spine-strokin’ issue of JOYSTiCK Reviews. I’m ALSO back again in a, uh, cage.

Like the sound of clanging metal in a zebra enclosure, I’ve never been…oh, what’s the point? Ever since I was kidnapped in the last part of this review, I haven’t been able to string a metaphor together. It’s miserable! Writing this serial’s never been harder with these conditions; the wind’s cold, long nights, and all I can hear outside are… animals, frankly.

But what can I do? These hellish conditions are nothing short of permanent, I’m afraid. Even after around 2 months trapped in here, no amount of probing my cell’s given way to finding some kind of exit. Without any viable alternatives for escape, I suppose I’ll be staying here for the rest of my life.

Well, dear readers, this is it. With my paper supply running on fumes, I guess this is goodbye. Thank you for reading, and please keep me in your thoughts…

…is what I’d be saying if I didn’t have an escape plan! You shallow sheeple oughta know that, like clockwork, I’d already have formulated a masterful guide on how to ditch my concrete corral. Fret not: in the next 48 hours, I’ll have transformed from an innate inmate into a free spirit, wandering amongst the living once again.

Unfortunately, my plan requires a mailed device that’ll take another good half hour to arrive here. Until then, I might as well finish some junk on my to-do list – which is a perfect segue into today’s topic: ‘Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.’ Specifically, the “World of Light” campaign. It’s here I mention that if you haven’t read my previous article on this game, it’s advised you do so before reading this. Not only will it give context words to my current entanglement, but there’s a bunch of stuff I’ll mention here that was explained there.

World of Light functions as the game’s main campaign, a common part of many fighting games, let alone ‘Smash’ titles. In this game, the campaign revolves around a new addition to the series: Spirits!

Spirits are basically customizable upgrades for your fighters. Coming in the form of a video game character, each Spirit can be equipped, giving players special abilities and defenses in matches. Some are rarer than others, and with over 1,600 of them to obtain, this leads to a vast variety in potential team setups and builds.

Spirits are obtained through Spirit Battles, where you fight a CPU-controlled fighter that’s chosen to “embody” the character – really, this amounts to the fighter being picked if they look, act, or have moves reminiscent of the Spirit. Each battle has different effects that modify how the fight will play out. Lava floors, random debuffs, gravity-switching… Once again, there’s a wide array of different effects that Spirit Battles can have, making each unique to their own character.

This is what World of Light is all about: fighting in these battles to free Spirits, then using them to free more Spirits. This cycle has you free around 600 Spirits for a 100% save file, with the other thousand or so being obtainable through other side content in ‘Ultimate.’

You also go around freeing characters. These fights don’t have any special attributes, instead being simple brawls against the respective fighter. Once freed, they can be used in single player and multiplayer fights. These aren’t the only way to obtain characters, though – you can also occasionally have the chance to fight a character after exiting the campaign menu, after fulfilling certain requirements.

Honestly, I’m very mixed on Spirits overall. This was a very brief overview of the system, but I find the hardcore focus on these battles to become tepid after a while. In World of Light, you’re basically only doing these battles, only occasionally being interrupted by boss battles, mini-games, or Spirit training buildings. These brawls are fun, but become so monotonous that they eventually mix in with one-another, becoming amorphous memories. There weren’t many super memorable fights, with the whole of them being largely forgettable. Obviously, you can’t expect 1,600 fights to each be recognizable instantly, but my point still stands: this gameplay facet of ‘Ultimate’ largely remains forgettable in the long run.

I also think Spirit fights are flawed in a major way: their special attributes. See, when each Spirit Battle has unique conditions you must fight in, when you claim Spirits that basically negate these variables, it makes many fights somewhat dull and uninteresting. Furthermore, what was once a unique fight now becomes leveled, and pretty lame. This issue is definitely subjective, and I understand why it’d be hard to completely rethink the gameplay completely, but it’s such a large factor in my lukewarm reception of the campaign that I can’t ignore it. It’s definitely my least favorite piece of ‘Ultimate,’ for what it’s worth.

I still think World of Light is fun, however. Limiting the amount of fights to around a third of the total Spirit count was a smart move, in my opinion. While the fights are still somewhat-forgettable, the lowered total amount for completion is still an upside. Also, it’s very important to note that fighting opponents is still really fun, even if using your own Spirits negates a lot of the difficulty. I’m less annoyed at Spirits, but instead a bit disappointed, really.

Other than that, the story’s alright. Nothing crazy; basically, Galeem, a god of light, has taken over the universe, swallowing each ‘Smash’ fighter and creating duplicates of them that encompass miscellaneous video game characters, turning them into Spirits. These puppet fighters take up the mantles of the sea of characters, explaining why you’re ‘freeing’ each Spirit: you’re essentially liberating them from Galeem’s control.

Eventually Dharkon, a god of darkness, defeats Galeem himself and overtakes the world. These gods fight, with you caught in the middle. I won’t spoil the ending, but it’s a very fun time, and while nothing amazing, it’s a good time all-around. And that’s a good way to summarize World of Light: nothing spectacular, but certainly not a major detriment to ‘Ultimate.’ Instead, it’s, simply-put, good.

. . .

Hey guys, it’s me, Mr. Whatshisname, back again. You may be wondering what happened after I finished explaining the World of Light experience, and why I’m now sitting in a cozy living room, in front of a roaring fire.

Image taken by Vyacheslav Argenberg via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?search=Fireplace&title=Special:MediaSearch&type=image

(Sips cocoa)

I hope you’ve been enjoying these visual aids; my therapist recommended casual photography to me a while back. (Chuckles) Not yet sure how a Polaroid camera was supposed to aid my vehicular manslaughter PTSD, but hey, I eventually decided that yeah, it was time for a new hobby. And a new therapist.

Oh, right, my escape! Yeah, it wasn’t that complicated, honestly. I ordered this weird door I saw on Craigslist the other day with a glowing green eye on top. Once I walked through it, I was transported into this weird antimatter dimension, until being dropped back home again. How convenient! I currently have 13 different felony warrants for my arrest.

Anyways, I think that about sums up my thoughts on ‘Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.’ A fantastic game overall, with tons of fun to be had by all. With tight gameplay, fun side content, and an enjoyable, albeit disappointing story mode, I’ll be giving this game a 9/10.

And with that out of the way, that’s all the time I have with y’all today! Thanks for tuning into this episode of JOYSTiCK Reviews, and have a great week.

Getting To Know/History, Music/Concerts

History of R&B music

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By: Fletcher Pike

Photo by Nascimento Jr. on Pexels.com

Many might know about the popular music genre of R&B, popularized by several artists such as Lauryn Hill, Michael Jackson, and Whitney Houston. But some might not know of the history of this music genre and how it became so popular today. In this article, I plan to go over the basic history of R&B, and some notable figures who influenced this unique genre of music.

In the 1920s-1930s, a large number of African Americans migrated to urban cities and industrial areas such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City, which created a brand new market for music such as jazz or blues music. “Race music” was the term that was used to initially describe music that was made by African Americans, but the term later acquired a racist interpretation.

In 1949, writer Jerry Wexler substituted the label “rhythm and blues” which would later become the title of R&B music, as R&B stands for rhythm and blues.

Ruth Brown (Jan. 12, 1928- Nov. 17, 2006), also known as “Miss Rhythm”, was a popular R&B singer who released music throughout the 1950s. After the release of her first recording, “So Long”, she became one of the most notable female R&B singers of the 1950s. She brought many pop genre elements to the R&B genres, which influenced many artists in the future.

In the 1960s, African American made music shifted from its primary theme of blues music and shifted to more gospel styled music. “Soul” was the title that many African Americans called this style of music in 1964, which captured the emotional value of this genre.

Since then, R&B has evolved to adapt more modern elements, especially in the 90s and 2000s, with artists such as Mary J. Blige, Aaliyah, Lauryn Hill, and Alicia Keys bringing modern-pop elements to the R&B genre.

The genre itself can be usually characterized by its combination of many different genres, such as blues, jazz, pop, and gospel, with slow rhythms and emotional lyrics. 

I hope that this article taught you about some of the history of the R&B genre as well as some of the different artists that popularized this genre. 

If you want to learn more about the history of R&B music, check out this link: https://www.britannica.com/art/rhythm-and-blues

Getting To Know/History

The Northern Cities Vowel Shift

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By: Maggie Hong

Image created using Canva AI

If you think the Midwest isn’t an important part of the English speaking world, think again. The largest change to the English language since the time of Shakespeare is happening right here, in the upper Midwest.

Think of a typical Minnesotan accent. Someone might say ‘bayg’ instead of ‘bag’, or ‘melk’ instead of ‘milk’. These aren’t just regional pronunciations; they are markers of a big change to the way we speak English.

When we pronounce words like ‘bag’, ‘milk’, ‘cat’, and ‘bit’, we form vowel sounds using a certain position of our mouth. All our vowel sounds, though they were in use for centuries before, were firmly established during the Great Vowel Shift throughout the 15th century. They’ve remained mostly the same since. Now, in cities surrounding the Great Lakes region, they are changing.

Vowels are organized in a sort of carousel, corresponding to where in the mouth they are pronounced. Vowels like the one in ‘bat’ are pronounced near the back of the mouth, while ‘bot’ is pronounced at the bottom of the mouth. When one vowel moves out of its spot, say from the back to the bottom of the mouth, the rest follow it. The vowel which was pronounced at the bottom of the mouth moves to the front, the one from the front moves to the top, and so on.

In the northern cities, this began with the vowel in ‘bat’, known as the trap vowel. The trap vowel, which was pronounced in the middle of the mouth, began to get longer, now sounding like the vowel in ‘yeah’ or ‘mia’ and resulting in the Midwestern pronunciation of ‘bayg’. As the trap vowel moves up, it occupies the space once held by the ‘kit’ vowel. ‘Kit’ moves down, now being pronounced with the vowel in ‘dress’, and resulting in the Midwestern pronunciation of ‘melk’. This continues until every vowel sound has shifted.

The resulting set of pronunciations defines the Midwestern accent. And although English speakers around the world have accents, the Midwestern accent is the most significant because it is a chain shift. In the British or Australian accent, vowels move one at a time. The change is small. In the Midwest, they shift in a chain reaction, each move prompting another. No such chain shift has occurred on a large scale since vowels were first established in the 15th century. So, the next time you hear someone say ‘melk’, you are witnessing a historic moment for the English speaking world: the Northern Cities Vowel Shift.

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Basketball

Highland vs. Central student section and the team

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By: Nereida Dominguez Remedios

“The St. Paul Central vs. Highland Park football rivalry known as the ‘musket game’, is one of the oldest and most storied high school football matchups in St. Paul. This rivalry began in 1964 and has been a staple of the local sports scene ever since.” – Greatamericanrivalry.com

On February 11, 2025 Highland Park played Central at Highland Park Senior High School. Since the start of the game, more students from both schools came in and both student sections started to get more packed.

During the second half, Central’s student section started to chant for the Highland student section. One of the chants Highland was doing was “Overrated”, where they were yelling at the Central section 3 times. In response, the Central kids were yelling at the Highland section “We can’t hear you”. After that, it was just a war on who was louder. Even though there weren’t as many students from Central, there were still lots of arguments happening.

During the game, Central’s cheerleaders, who weren’t supposed to cheer, still came without uniforms to cheer against the Highland cheerleaders.

During halftime, the Highland cheerleaders had a show even though not a lot of the students stayed to watch them. I did watch it though and it was amazing. The cheers were high energy and you could tell the cheerleaders were passionate with what they were doing.

Even though Highland lost by 9, the final score was 67-76, the Highland players put up a good fight to try to win the game, but Central still won. Next year, we will play them again and hopefully win.

Within the game, Central’s players were a lot more aggressive and pushed the Highland players; the Central players were throwing the Highland players to the floor. Within the game, Highland had 9 fouls and Central had 7 fouls.

Advice/How To

Learning how to love yourself

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By: Kate Tabor

Image created with ChatGPT

Learning how to love yourself is something that everyone always preaches about, but how do you actually practice self love? Well, it starts with focusing on yourself, and being the best version of you that you can be, which can be tricky.

In order to focus on yourself, you need to let go of other people’s opinions of you. Validation is always nice, but the only person you really need it from is yourself. As long as you’re happy with yourself, nobody else’s opinion matters.

Focusing on yourself doesn’t stop with that though. Start doing things for yourself that you want to do. For example, joining a gym, like the JCC, joining a club, trying a new sport, exploring a new hiking trail, etc. It doesn’t always have to take you out of your comfort zone either, maybe you’re letting yourself take a break, staying in more often, letting yourself relax. It’s important to have a mix of putting yourself out there, and knowing when to let yourself take a break.

In order to move forward and love yourself, you need to let go of the past. Let go of all the things you think you should’ve done, and all the things you wish you hadn’t. You can’t change the past, so there’s no point of holding on to it. Reflect on those moments, accept what happened, and take your newfound wisdom with you into future experiences.

Start accepting the parts of yourself and your life that you can’t change. Life can be hard, but it’s those moments that matter the most, and that make you who you are. Let yourself go through pain in order to overcome it. Then, take a step back, and appreciate what you gained from that situation. Find the good in every situation you find yourself in. You can’t love yourself if you bury the experiences that made you who you are.

Everything happens for a reason, and you won’t be able to fully appreciate your wins if you don’t let yourself feel your losses.

Be the person you can always count on to give you love.

Travel/Food

Crumbl

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By: Sylvia Yannsdottir & Maya Song

Image by Revoleikooc via Wikimedia Commons

Introduction to Crumbl

Crumbl is an extremely popular, and widespread cookie shop across the United States of America. With its vibrant appeal, fun flavors, and trendy advertising, it has become one of the most well known dessert places, with over 1 million desserts sold every single day.

Crumbl was based in Utah, and founded in 2017. Since then, it now has 1071 store locations across the United States of America.

What’s the appeal?

One thing that makes Crumbl truly unique is the flavor variety and creativity. The company is known for its weekly rotation of 6 new, fun flavors that come out every Monday. Crumbl is also widely known for keeping up with current trends.

Crumbl’s flavors are mainly inspired by popular existing treats, or candies, and the company frequently collaborates with exciting brands to come up with new flavors.

While they maintain a surprising variety of flavors, the company keeps one cookie the same every single week, the Classic Milk Chocolate Chip cookie, which was their first invented flavor.

Rise to fame

There are a lot of aspects to what has made Crumbl so remarkably well known, and to sum it up a mix of its innovative design, publicity, and its appeal have led it to its success.

When we analyze Crumbl’s design, one thing that stands out is the iconic pink box. Since the company started, desserts come in a signature bright-pink box, with the company’s well known logo on top. Aside from that, stores are also designed with bright, intriguing colors.

A key factor to the success of Crumbl is its publicity. Specifically directed towards younger generations, a huge wave of influencers across social media platforms post reviews, start trends, and add to the fame of the brand. Crumbl would not be the company it is today if it weren’t for social media platforms.

Lastly, its appeal. The typical Crumbl cookie is neatly and creatively decorated to correspond to its flavor. With all of the flavor options, it’s hard to resist trying one.

Criticisms

Whenever there is something new, and popular, there will always be something that needs improvement.

One huge criticism about Crumbl is the nutritional value. Although of course, it is a dessert company, it has a ridiculous amount of calories per cookie. One of the typical cookies has anywhere from 800-1000 calories, which is kind of insane if you think about it.

Typically, when you go to Crumbl you’d get a box of between 4-6 cookies, and indulging in this sweet treat can easily be up to 6,000 calories, which is almost double the amount of calories a grown person is encouraged to consume in a single day.

While it is known that desserts aren’t going to be the healthiest thing ever, it eventually gets to a point where it’s just too much. Along with that, there are thousands of content creators who’s pages are dedicated to trying, and reviewing Crumbl every single week. Not only does that normalize an extremely unhealthy habit, but it is rather concerning in general.

Aside from that, another thing that Crumbl could improve on is its pricing. A lot of people can agree that it’s rather overpriced for what it is. Oftentimes, a box of 6 cookies is $26. When you compare that to other places, it’s quite a bit pricier.

Competitors

Crumbl is not the first innovative dessert brand like this, and definitely won’t be the last. There are of course a lot of other dessert brands out there, but specifically there are a few that have reached a similar status as Crumbl.

One very popular dessert brand out there is Insomnia Cookies. Insomnia Cookies is a dessert brand that was founded back in 2003 in the United States, with over 150 store locations now.

Insomnia Cookies are known for having freshly baked goods, especially their cookies. Just like with Crumbl, there are a lot of flavor options, and typically their cookies are large, and have fillings in the interior of the cookie.

A few aspects that set Insomnia Cookies apart from Crumbl is the availability of the cookies. A big part of the brand is how it’s known for staying open until 3 in the morning serving its fresh cookies. Besides that, there’s a variety of other dessert options that come with the cookies.

Some people say that they prefer Insomnia Cookies over Crumbl cookies, because of the freshness, the more realistic nutritional value, and availability. Others would choose Crumbl over Insomnia Cookies because of the flavor variety, constant change, and because Crumbl is typically seen as a rare treat.

Personal Opinion

We would highly recommend trying Crumbl cookies. We say this because they are genuinely delicious, and it’s really fun to go try out new flavors with friends or family.

Although they’re not the best for you nutritionally, life is about balance and we believe it’s more than okay to have them occasionally.

Crumbl is an extremely innovative brand, has come really far, and has maintained its platform very well. It’s very exciting to think about what will come from it in the future.

Editorials/Student Voice

Benefits of volunteering

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By: Teagan Mack

Image taken from Eagle Brook Church Instagram

Volunteering is a really good way to give back to the community while also improving yourself. Whether it’s helping at an animal shelter, contributing or volunteering at a food bank, or cleaning up a local park, volunteering has many benefits that go beyond doing good deeds. It’s a rewarding experience that can help shape a person in more than one way.

One of the most significant benefits of volunteering is the good influence it has on mental health. According to research, helping others can increase happiness and reduce stress. Having a sense of purpose from meaningful work can boost one’s self-esteem and general well-being. Volunteering allows you to interact with people, which can help you overcome loneliness and develop a strong sense of belonging.

Another significant benefit is developing new and important skills. Volunteering can teach responsibility, teamwork, and communication skills that can help in school and in the future. It can also help people to gain more real-world experiences and adapt. Some examples could be volunteering at a hospital, which could give insight into medical fields.

Volunteering with children can help with patience and leadership skills, like I volunteer every Saturday and Wednesday at my church with the kids. Saturdays I do worship, where the kids join in following dances and singing to songs, it’s such a fun experience. Wednesdays I volunteer in the cafe during student groups for middle schoolers and high schoolers; this prepares me for future jobs with communication and teamwork skills.

Volunteering can introduce you to new people and expand your social skills. You get to work with people who have similar interests and goals, and you can also learn from them. This could lead to possible friendships and future opportunities. Most organizations can offer letters of recommendation or certificates, which could help you apply for college or future jobs.

Finally, volunteering can make a big impact on the world, and on the people you help. Even just small acts, like helping at community events, or tutoring younger students, can help in major ways. It helps to show that no matter your age, anyone can contribute to make a difference in someone else’s life, or even your own.

In the end, volunteering isn’t just about helping others, but also about personal growth. It helps people gain connections, and experiences, new life skills, and feel good about helping others. It doesn’t matter how or where you volunteer, because the benefits are endless.

Movies/TV/Theaters

‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ review

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By: Sasha Deans

The show is a coming-of-age story that follows Belly, who is no longer the awkward little girl she once was. Now that she has grown up, she begins to catch the attention of boys around her, including her longtime crush and family friend, Conrad. However, she soon finds herself in a complicated love triangle.

I believe the show features strong performances. Lola Tung brings a lot of depth to the character of Belly, while Christopher Briney and Gavin Casalegno shine as the Fisher brothers, effectively portraying their contrasting personalities.

The cinematography is also stunning. The show’s coastal setting at Cousins Beach, combined with its warm color palette, enhances the nostalgic and summery feeling.

The soundtrack, featuring artists like Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo, perfectly complements the emotional tone of the series. Songs like “Cruel Summer” and “August” from Taylor Swift brought so much to the whole entire vibe of the show’s scenery and they are also just so significant to the entire show. Like, “August” in the last scene as they are leaving in August and the “Cruel Summer” it really was with that intriguing love triangle. It also has so many fun songs like “Summer Nights” from ‘Grease’ at a party giving it a certain vibe of nostalgia. And there are also ones that just really tell the scenes story like “ARE WE STILL FRIENDS” by Tyler the Creator and it really is definitely asking are we still friends! That’s for sure.

However, the show does have some weaknesses. Some side characters, like Belly’s best friend Taylor, feel underdeveloped. Like, you kind of just see her really as a side character but I feel it only really represents her as a mean annoying best friend which wouldn’t exactly make sense since Belly is portrayed as a very kind, sweet, and shy girl. So, if they have been friends since childhood I don’t think that she is actually all that mean as the show shows her as the whole season one. Additionally, the pacing is quite slow at times, with unnecessary filler episodes that drag the storyline.

Final Verdict:

‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ Season One is a nostalgic, warm, and heartfelt coming-of-age drama that captures the magic of youth and romance realistically. With strong performances, beautiful cinematography, and good storytelling, it is an enjoyable watch.

Rating: 4/5

You can watch ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ on Netflix