Everyone knows the biggest problem with Cheetos or Doritos is the orange stains they leave on your hands, and if you are not careful, you will track them everywhere. You can’t do anything while you eat these chips because you will look down and realize that bag of Flaming Hot Cheetos you just ate left red powder stains all over your shirt, gaming controller, TV remote, and your math homework. And do not even consider giving them to a child whose tiny sticky fingers will be leaving neon red handprints all over your house. Lucky for us all, there is a solution.

If another movie about another annoying self-absorbed white guy getting “famous” and immediately becoming a disloyal, cheating weirdo who parades around ruining the lives and marriages of all the people around him, wins and gets nominated for best picture, I am canceling my AMC A-List subscription, never watching another biopic again, and deleting every single streaming app I own. 

Greatness comes in all shapes and forms, and we most commonly recognize greatness in sports. Some examples include Tom Brady in football, Wayne Gretzky in hockey, and LeBron James in basketball.

Greatness comes in all shapes and forms, and we most commonly recognize greatness in sports. Some examples include Tom Brady in football, Wayne Gretzky in hockey, and LeBron James in basketball.

I've always been an outside kid; for as long as I can remember, I preferred to spend every possible moment outdoors. This never really changed: whether I'm sitting on the back porch doing homework, running down a trail, or backpacking through the woods, I spend as much time as I possibly can in the fresh air. To me, it always seemed that no matter what problem you are dealing with, you can feel just a little better when you are outside. It always brought me a tiny sense of peace, no matter the circumstances.

The community of Jenks is rapidly growing and expanding, especially in the culinary world. New restaurants, coffee shops, and stores are popping up all across Jenks, making it a premier destination for shopping and dining. As Jenks natives, we–Sydney Koetter and Emma Travers–set out to explore some of the newest Jenks restaurants and coffee shops and tell you everything you need to know before you visit each of these establishments.

Everyone knows that when the holiday season comes around, the thing you wish for most is a drink in hand. You want that taste of Christmas—fresh peppermint and holiday cheer—all swirled into one small sip, or in other cases, a giant gulp. The question is, which place can best give you all of those feelings and flavors wrapped into one? 

Many athletes you talk to have had some form of injury or had something happen that caused them to halt participating in their sport. We can sometimes see how it affects them physically, whether it’s a cast, a brace, KT tape, etc. But how does it impact them deeper than what we can just see?

Jenks Athletics holds over 200 state titles in various athletic competitions. The skills necessary to compete at the highest level are a product of the grit and determination of Jenks athletes, and supporting these successful athletes are a wide variety of athletic shoes. Let's explore some of the soles of these successful Jenks athletes.

In every hallway, there’s more than a teacher; they guide, believe, and are compassionate towards their students, even in the ones who learn differently. At Jenks, from mild interventions to intensive one-on-one care, the three levels of special education work together to ensure every life is well-suited for success. Behind those classrooms stand teachers who have patience and dedication that form the school.

In a room with black walls, ceilings, and floors, Allyson Blackshare manages to light up her classroom with her energetic teaching style and positive attitude. A Jenks Alumna and former OSU theatre student, she knows her way around a stage. Blackshare is young, fun, and full of energy. Just sitting in a room and talking to her could make anyone realize how she’s become a beloved teacher in such a short amount of time.

Last school year, phones were a common sight in our school days. Students' eyes glued to their phones at lunch, surrounded by their peers, who did the same, AirPods in both ears, blasting music. Hallways were filled with teenagers texting or calling as they walked from class to class. But since the ¨bell-to-bell¨ state wide phone ban was implemented, things have changed---not a phone in sight. Whether you're for the ban or against it, it seems like everyone has an opinion. Concerns for safety and being able to focus without music battle reports of more involved and more social classes. An anonymous survey was conducted as an opportunity for students to express how they really feel, in their own words. From Freshmen to Seniors, our Jenks student body has had a lot to say about it.

New year, new team, new chemistry, new opportunities, fresh start. This 25-26 season, the Trojans are looking for the ultimate accomplishment: Winning State. After a stretch of increasingly better years, the Trojans are looking to finally get to the holy grail, and prove their dominance in the state.

You slide on your shoes, maybe even put bandaids on your heels, your shoes rub against your swollen ankles leaving little bubbles of flesh. Whether it be heels or dress shoes we can all agree while the blisters persist for weeks nothing can compete with this school event. The glimmering lights, blaring music, a dumb poster and uncomfortable shoes…HOCO. A school tradition, which prides itself on welcoming a new football season is a sizable price tag and planning tradition. Jenks’ STUCO event planners, Riley Sharp and Madelynn Goss, give us a hefty update on the 2025 dance and how tradition meets planning.

With modern media like Twitch and YouTube, gameplays have become one of the biggest trends that have only continued to grow in the last decade, especially post-COVID. People our age are getting their first good gaming set-ups and deciding to stream Fortnite or their hardcore Minecraft world, hoping to make it big. However, they have no idea that they could start making it big with their gaming at school.

With 38 state titles, the Jenks Swim Team has quite the standard to uphold. After seven years, Jenks’ beloved head coach Diego Henao stepped down from his position this past spring; this left a pronounced hole in Jenks Swimming in need of being filled.

You're sitting in a classroom surrounded by your fellow elementary students, but instead of the usual table groups and chatter, the desks are arranged in neat rows, and the silence is thick with worry. You're staring at a math question that looks like it was written in another language, and your heart feels like it's about to beat out of your chest. You can see your other classmates finishing the test but you are nowhere near done. Your stomach is now doing flip-flops, and the clock is ticking louder and louder. You could swear you've never seen this kind of math before. And the clock is still ticking. And you're running out of time. And you bubble in C and pray you guessed right before moving to the next question.

Jenks Community Education has been providing drivers education to the Jenks community for over 30 years. However, they have now expanded their opportunities and are now offering drivers tests on-site at Jenks Community Ed. Their new motto, “Skip the Line,” encapsulates the full service experience they now supply. Mike Gaines, a Jenks High School teacher and driving instructor with Jenks Community Ed., says the new motto was his own handiwork.

As much as this is a story about organic farming, it’s also a love letter to the farm itself. Lightfoot Farm, run by resident farmers Will and Katelin Nole for Living Kitchen, is an organic produce farm in Muscogee Creek Nation, Oklahoma. I had the privilege of bringing my camera to their land, capturing the dedication and passion that fuel their work. Day in and day out, this young couple pours their hearts into cultivating not just crops, but a way of life. Here are some of these moments I witnessed through my lens that I feel adequately represent the personality of the farm.

The Aquatic Center lobby. On top you can see the hanging artwork that represents water flowing, which I've been told is extremely hard to clean. This space holds lots of things from people standing around waiting to shops being set up during meet days selling everything a swimmer could need from goggles to even custom sweaters and shirts.