It’s been a stressful adjustment for some, a relaxing break for others, and everything in between. The start of the 2020-2021 school year came with endless questions about the future of school at Liberty and the issues we’ve encountered with online learning. This system was created to benefit students during the pandemic, but how much is it really?

Road trips, sightseeing, and sunbathing. In Washington's countryside, life seems untouched by the coronavirus pandemic.

In recent years, rising student activism in our district and surrounding area has seen the results of incredible change. Last year, we fought to keep our 8-period schedule with student involvement and parent encouragement; nationally, in 2018, we walked out in solidarity with students across the nation after the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida. In the last month, students of Kennedy Catholic High School protested the firing of two teachers on account of their sexual orientation. But is this activism worth it? Are our voices actually heard?

We’ve seen it on Reddit. We’ve heard it on TikTok. Gee, we’ve even heard it from government officials. “OK, Boomer”, a minimalist clapback increasingly used by millennials and Gen Z-ers to dismiss baby boomers as old-fashioned and out of touch with current issues, seems to have conquered the internet. It’s a trendy thing to say, but that’s the problem. When did we become okay with reducing intergenerational dialogue to a mere catchphrase?

As procrastinators, we don’t feel like doing a lot of things. And by we, I mean everyone, at one point or another. It could even be that straight-A student or teacher who has every lesson in the semester planned out. There is no doubt that procrastination is a productivity disaster, but few procrastinators are speaking up about the fact that laziness is not always the reason. Even fewer of us are willing to admit that procrastination takes away so much more than just our time.

In the wake of college admission scandals, questions about academic integrity have come up over and over again: why do students cheat? What can they gain from such dishonest actions, and are there honest alternatives to cheating that help students get ahead? Because what may seem like a few little shortcuts can impact students for months to come.

I was sitting in the library one day, the sun streaming through a wide, high window across my high-tech school computer, when I noticed a small, vulgar doodle in the wall: “f*** liberty,” it said. I paused, considering, and decided this bothered me. I know the library cost over $5,000,000 to make, and in light of this, the graffiti seemed ignorant; I grabbed a Sharpie and crossed it out. I know Liberty is a nice school: our hallways are wide and clean; our textbooks glossy; our teachers generally happy to teach. It got me thinking: how much money is actually pumped into this place, day-to-day? Aside from our expensive library, how much did the building cost? This, my final feature article, is all I could find out about the cost of Liberty High School.