It’s very rare to find a lone building without capturing some nearby greenery. Parks, plants and trees now invade the area that some would consider chaos. This chaos refers to no place other than our very own, Downtown Tulsa. 

Almost 75% of the global population is dairy free. 10.8% experience some sort of food allergies. 30% of the population have allergies revolving around gluten. Although I may not be a part of that 30%, I am determined to experience how those individuals live their day-to-day lives eating gluten free. It’s difficult to find accommodations, snacks and meals that actually taste good in the GF community. My goal is to pinpoint quick and tasty meals while going gluten free for an entire week. While this may seem easy to some, it is most definitely a large task that some people have to uphold for the rest of their lives. Throughout this story, I will log the food and feelings I have while completing each day. I hope that by the end, you have more respect for the GF community and more motivation to complete the goals that you have set in mind even if it seems to be difficult. 

It was the summer before 6th grade and my older cousin was in town staying with us. She was going to school in California at the time so she was very in touch with her hip trendy side. In a conversation with her I mentioned how recently I was thinking about eating less meat because the idea of eating animals started bothering me more and more. I remember she looked at me and said she could picture me becoming a vegetarian, so I took that and ran. 

I knew from the second that I wrote down Human Anatomy & Physiology on my Junior year schedule that it would be a massive mistake.

Growing up, my family always had a garden. Whether it was the flower garden in the front of the house, or the vegetable garden in the backyard, we always had something growing. Now, the word “we” is being used as a term to just describe my mom and dad. I never wanted anything to do with a garden. Sitting outside all day to plant things was not my ideal Saturday morning. But now I've decided to change my thoughts on gardening and try it for myself. 

I have never once played lacrosse but it has always been something that intrigued me ever since I was an elementary kid. My practice has overlapped with the highschool boys lacrosse team since I was in 4th grade running track. Watching them practice  I always thought that it looked like something I, as a very competitive kid who loved playing sports, would have so much fun doing, but I never knew how to join or had the time in my overly busy schedule.

As my highschool career comes to an end I look back on the past four years of my life and all I can see is growth. From being a bratty freshman who thought the only important thing was how many shoes I had to a seasoned senior who now only cares about summer internships. A lot has changed- friend groups, boyfriends, and even pets. To honor this growth and change I have decided for this month's story to grow my very own watermelon. 

When someone says the words preschool and nursing home, in your head you probably think of two different establishments. What if I told you that there's a place in Jenks where they coexist? Grace Living Center, located a short two minute drive from the high school, houses Jenks’ multigenerational program. Everyday a class of pre-k and kindergarten students participate in their normal school work, but there are also spaces in their day cut out where they hang out with the residents of the home, who they call “grands.” 

One of the most underappreciated yet essential groups in our school is the cafeteria staff. Without them, the school simply could not function. These workers do far more than just preparing and serving food. They also clean up after the students and reset the entire dining hall four times a day:  after breakfast and each of the three lunch periods. Their hard work often goes unnoticed, so this month, I dedicated my story to highlighting them and all their hard work they put in to keep the dining hall clean and ready for students.

Most kids get the opportunity to go on trips with their schools and most would say that it is an enlightening experience that helped them gain insight on respective places and even more insight on their peers. This statement can be true whether you've driven a couple of hours or traveled thousands of miles around the world. As beautiful as these trips are and typically captured, I was driven to give a more accurate look into this years’ International Scholars Programs trip to Peru. 

When you’re on the outside of highschool, relationships can seem… stereotypical. From the perfect popular couple to the nice nerds that only see eachother at school. However, highschool life is not Freaks and Geeks. It’s much more than that. Everybody finds someone whether they fall into their clique or not and everybody has relationship issues. It’s understanding the root of these issues that contributes to much healthier relationships in the future, but the real question is do high schoolers know anything about the important things that go into relationships despite where they fall on the totem pole?

In high school, it’s hard to find a topic that every individual can relate to. Whether you are an athlete spending hours perfecting your craft or an AP student drowning in homework each night, there is one thing that each person can mutually agree on. Sleep. We all take it for granted when we are kids. Never wanting to take naps or trying your hardest to stay up past bedtime. The irony hits you hard when you enter high school and develop a fulltime job of being a student. Now it feels like there is never a chance to relax. Any ounce of freetime is spent practicing, studying or simply being a human. As soon as you get home from school, the only thing you want to do is sleep. I never fully understood why my parents were so tired coming home from work and why they didn’t want to stay up until midnight watching movies. Now that I am a Senior in high school taking multiple college classes and spending hours each day practicing, I understand more than ever. Throughout this article, I have examined and surveyed several students from Jenks High School to gain access on what their “normal” sleep schedule consists of. My end goal is to determine how much workload is on our plates and if it’s actually beneficial for us in the long run. 

Taking an Advanced Placement (AP) course feels like a badge of honor for high school students. Being enrolled in this course guarantees college credit for most schools (if you pass the exam) and a boost in your GPA, but behind this is also a significant cost. Does the financial part of AP courses hinder students' desire and/or ability to take them?

January marks the start of a new year. It marks the start of new resolutions. It also marks the start of a widely favored sport’s event. January is the time to crown a new National Champion during the College Football Playoffs (CFP). Each year a set of teams are picked to fight against each other for the overall win. Like most sports, there are favored teams that are expected to be the best of the best each year. What would happen if one of those teams didn't qualify for the largest event of the year? For teams like Alabama, they had to learn the hard way and for an individual like myself, I disagree with the outcome of their CFP ruling. 

Imagine you wake up, get ready for the day, and prepare for your set of classes. You walk outside, and admire your view of a wide and endless stretch of ocean and bright blue sky. This is the reality for students aboard the semester at sea ship. 

Horror movies began to be popularized in 1974 with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and the virality only skyrocketed in the decades to come. Now, horror movies come along every month of the year in all shapes and sizes. However, not all horror movies make an impact like classic horror movies do

Like many other high school students I have a severe caffeine addiction and usually can’t go a day without consuming some form of it. Whether it be coffee or an energy drink I have tried so many different kinds. We’ve all tried the current chain coffee shops by our school like Starbucks and Dutch Bros, but a new phenomenon is currently being built, and it's known as 7 Brew. 

Wrestling has been a sport for centuries, but girls wrestling has just recently become a highschool sport. Though it’s only been incorporated into Jenks for the past few years, girls wrestling as a whole has skyrocketed in popularity. 

Every time I try to study in my house I feel like I'm the least productive person to exist. From wanting to crawl back into my warm bed and just go to sleep or my brothers screaming while playing some video game studying at home is just insanely difficult, but if I studied in a cafe every day my bank account would cry at the cost of having to buy some overpriced coffee just for a quiet warm place with wifi to get some homework done. Luckily libraries exist to give you a free study space with wifi. In this article, I’m going to rate the different public libraries all within eight miles of the school. I will rate the libraries on a scale of one to ten based on their noise level, their vibe and aesthetic, their seating, and their charging stations because we all know the school-assigned Chromebook's battery life is non-existent. Rating these libraries I’ll start off with the closest to the high school being only 0.4 miles away, and the smallest library I visited, and then will work our way out to the furthest library being just less than eight miles away.

As the freezing air touches our delicate skin- it begins to crack, peel, and sometimes even burn. The winter v.s. Delicate skin can be an excruciating battle, and oftentimes it seems like there is nothing you can do to win the battle. As someone who has struggled with acne for the past six years, finding a moisturizer that works for you can be extremely hard, but thanks to my extensive field experience, I have tried and thrown away plenty of moisturizers. In this review I will be covering what moisturizers are worth it through their actual moisturizing ability, the texture, and how it reacts to delicate skin.