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By Audrey Lutz

Ms. Switzer and her History of Nonviolence class made an outstanding art installation depicting a visual timeline of nonviolent movements in American history. The project is the culmination of many years of preparation, research, and development. 

After involving Ms. Story, an upper school art teacher, they decided to make a timeline following events through history. We were standing in front of the artwork when we spoke and she said,  “If I were to go back 20 years when I first started teaching about non-violence I would not have known half of what is up here.”

Each student made individual tiles that show non-violent activists and researched them to gain a better understanding of who they are and how they affected history. I was able to speak with Leah Cox about her involvement with this project. “I was a student in the class, so I helped with brainstorming and making the background,” she said. “If you look at the board, on the far right, there is a collage of non-violent organizations and above it there are doves. I made both of those.” 

Ms. Switzer said that the installation is a way “of visualizing all of the interconnected complexity of non-violence in American history.” Everything is connected one way or another, and this installment shows all of the historical branches. 

As we started the interview Ms. Switzer implied that “Non-violence isn’t just about creating peace and justice, it’s creating conditions where violence is less likely.” This art is meant to show that peace is possible and that people are willing to risk their lives to stand up and say, they want a better society. 

There are 14 different non-violent movements that are represented on the board, but the art piece starts with the Indigenous people in the United States. “What my students discovered is that from a very early point, Indigenous people in the United States had non-violent peacemaking kinds of cultural technologies, and a lot of the non-violence that evolved came from seeing the way the Indigenous people resolve conflict,” said Ms. Switzer. 

The Indigenous people are the true roots of America and the first people to teach non-violence. “Many people think that the Indigenous people were just bows and arrows, but they had such a complex life,” said Ms. Switzer. 

Next, we move on to the Quakers and Anabaptists. “The historic peace churches (the Quakers and Anabaptists) came to the United States to escape persecution.” The Quakers and Anabaptists lit the fire for the anti-slavery movement. “They believed that there is a god and somehow that god is present in all people, so then anytime you’re unjust or violent to another person, you’re being unjust and violent to god. So that sort of theological premise motivated them to confront slavery first.”

Everything is connected in history and this board is illustrating that. “So we have this early women’s movement that starts, and those same women became the leaders of the suffrage movement.” Ms. Switzer then shows me how the branches connect everything together. 

As we keep moving down the boards we are introduced to the pre-civil rights which of course leads us to the all mighty civil-rights movement. They tried to include as much as they could, but the board can only hold so much. The board includes the majority of the 50s, 60s, and 70s. 

Finally, we come to the final board with the Black Lives Matter movement “as the most recent manifestation,” with its focus on anti-racism. “We have anti-racism, kind of having these moments of surging and then receding and then surging over time, but always there.” 

People have always been fighting against racism in history. “A takeaway that one of my students realized is that since the 1600s, there have been people, white people standing against racism, all the way to the current time. And since 1730-1740 every year someone has been born in America who has fought against racism.”

At the end of the final board, there are many pieces of art. “We have this collage of doves and it sort of represents the future for hope and peace,” Ms. Switzer said. There is a collage of different activists, and then finally  a mirror “because we wanted people to get to the end of the installation and say, well what can I do to make a more peaceful future?” 

Under the mirror, it says “The Future of Nonviolence is You.”

This project was a semester-long idea, yet the idea mainly came to fruition right around thanksgiving. As Ms. Switzer usually has a much bigger class she doesn’t do big projects like this one. This year she only had 9 students in her History of Nonviolence class, so Ms. Switzer asked them if they wanted to do something more creative than they normally couldn’t do with a greater number of students. “We talked to Ms. Story and we started brainstorming options. My students wanted to work together so we developed this idea, which was much more complicated than we were expecting and I didn’t know if we were going to finish.”

They started making it right after fall break and only had until exams to finish. “Towards the end of the last 2 weeks of class, this project was all we did. The students came before school, after school, and during lunch. They spent so much time on this and it’s incredible.” Leah Cox, a student who worked on this project, said that “There were times when we would have to come during our free periods, and we would work together and collaborate throughout the whole process.”

As the artwork started to finish they brought in Ms. Story again to take a look. “Once Ms. Story saw the project coming together she said that we needed to get this in front of other audiences.” Then came talk of where this outstanding project could go. They are considering the  Hartfield Jackson airport, which has a section where they display student work; the Center for Civil and Human Rights; and even the history center of Atlanta. “Right now the chief of the marketing department – Janie Beck- is working on finding out if this could be a traveling exhibition.”

Ms. Switzer is so proud of this piece and it has only made her think of what she could do in the future. “I’ve been trying for years to know how to organize this incredibly complex history and the more I taught the more I realized that it’s not just the history of non-violence but the histories of non-violence, and I’ve always struggled to make sense of it all visually. And the fact that they were able to create a way of visualizing it is amazing, not only to me but to them and future students.”

This project was huge, not only for Lovett but for the future of Ms. Switzer’s class. This artwork alone holds so many important people, dates, and moments in history that are not talked about in the history books. 

The students had to work so incredibly hard to get this project completed and it brought them closer together. “I think that this bonded my class,” she said. “We would see one another so much during the day that our close proximity to each other almost forced us to get closer.”

This artwork will be displayed in the art gallery hall until the end of February. After that, no one is truly sure where it will end up but, hopefully, wherever it goes it will inspire people. “We’re trying to create a better world,” Leah said.

By Parvi Anand, Megha Lakha, and Izzy Taylor

On April 9, the winners of this year’s short short story contest read their stories during a community time assembly. In between readings, the Ellington Jazz Ensemble performed, directed by Justin Varnes.

First place: Nicholas Holland

Senior Nicholas Holland said his story, “A Seat At The Table,” was inspired by the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special. He did some research and discovered that the character of Franklin appeared on the show after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. 

He wanted people to think about the Lovett community and consider whether it was really inclusive. “Through my short stories, I try to spread awareness on social issues that go on in the world or even in our community,” he said. “I resonate with Franklin because I wrote his character in a way that was just plopped into a new, unfamiliar environment, which is similar to how many African Americans felt going to Lovett.” 

Nicholas acknowledged that not everyone might have gotten the references from his story, but he still thinks it’s important to advocate for issues. “If your efficacy is low and you feel like you don’t matter, you never will vote and you lose your voice,” he said. “But if you exercise your voice, even if the outcome is not exactly what you wanted, your vote and voice matter.”

Second place: Amelia Wonder

Amelia Wonder is a rising junior here at the Lovett School. Her sweet, quiet demeanor adds charm and makes it feel easy to be her friend. It also makes her the last person you’d expect to submit for the competition.

When I heard that Amelia won second place in the competition, I was surprised. I never thought that the soft-voiced girl from my newspaper class would be standing before me, reading her powerful story, “Untouched,” to the entire upper school. 

When I asked how she came to submit to the contest, she was very candid. “Honestly, I would say it was really a last-minute decision. There was obviously a cash prize involved, so that’s pretty intriguing.” Besides the payment, Amelia also noted, “I love to write, so I think that was just my main inspiration to do it.”

The idea for her story was incredibly interesting to me. “I wanted to explore the idea of being perfect. Being perfect on paper is sometimes a trap,” she said. “I think from a very young age, we’re always told to be calm in certain situations, stay out of trouble. And sometimes, unfortunately, that means standing by when other people are struggling. I think that sort of sense of calmness is actually a flaw.”

When I asked her how it felt to place in the top three, she expressed a mix of emotions. “I would just say I was really happy,” she said. “I was nervous, obviously, to read it in front of the entire school because I’m not a great public speaker or anything, but I think it allowed me to go out of my comfort zone.”

I asked Amelia what she hoped people would take away from her story, and her message was one of support. “I wanted it to inspire other people to realize it’s okay to be the person who steps out to help people,” she said. “It’s really important to participate in life instead of just watching it happen. “

Third place: Malaya Madison

If you ever saw Malaya Madison walking the halls, the first thing you’d notice was her bright eyes and welcoming smile. The second thing you’d notice as you got closer was how those attributes reflect in her personality. Malaya is a bubbly, outgoing rising sophomore at the Lovett School.

This year, Malaya served on Lovett’s Onlion Newspaper team, and I was familiar with her strength as a writer within the class. When I asked her why she submitted her story, “Silent Witnesses,” to the competition, the one that took third place, her response was quite funny. 

She told me she wrote the story for her English class and submitted it on the last day. The only issue: her story was 800 words. The maximum for the contest is 500. “I didn’t read any of the fine print,” she said, laughing. Fortunately for her, Mr. Newman emailed her to offer her the opportunity to cut it down by 8:00 that night. 

As for her hopes for success? “I just wanted to do it for fun,” she said, “and I thought it would be crazy if I even got any recognition from it.”

I asked her how she came up with the spooky idea for her story, and I found her taste in media was very similar to my own. As a true crime fanatic myself, I recognized the patterns quickly. “My first documentary about true crime I watched was about Kara Robinson, who was a story similar to this, which is where I got my inspiration from,” she said.

When I asked her how it felt to see her own work go so far and be affirmed by the judges and the audience, she remembered it as surreal. “I was really, really excited, but I was more focused on the fact that I had to read it in front of everyone. I was really nervous for that,” she said. “It kind of hid my excitement, but I was overall super excited and really happy and proud of myself.”

Honorable Mentions 

This year’s honorable mentions in Lovett High School’s short story contest included senior Amelia Darden and freshman Isabella Ying. Their stories were very different, but both writers shared how they came up with their ideas and what they learned from the process.

Amelia Darden, a senior, wrote “The Tunnel.” Her story started with a joke she heard. “I heard the joke, ‘the pessimist saw the darkness, the optimist the light at the end of the tunnel, and the realist the train- the conductor only saw three idiots standing on the tracks,’” she said. “I liked it, so I expanded it and changed it.”

Her story explores different ways people think, especially through characters like the Optimist and the Pessimist. When asked about the message, she said, “Not really… maybe the dangers of extremism? If you see a train coming your way, move?”

She said the hardest part was deciding what ideas to include. “Figuring out the philosophies I wanted to use,” she said. “The Optimist and Pessimist stayed, but I changed the others a lot.”

Darden said she didn’t feel closely connected to most of the characters. “None of the characters are really meant to be connected with,” she said. “But the Optimist is my favorite because he has the best lines.”

For her, being recognized meant people enjoyed her story. “It means some people got a kick out of reading it, just like I did writing it,” she said. She also said the contest helped her improve her writing humor.

Freshman Isabella Ying wrote “Louie Hawkes.” She said the story came together quickly. “It started with a sentence,” she said. “I wrote it on my phone at 1 a.m., one day before it was due.”

​​Her story is about a strange girl who doesn’t have a heartbeat. She said she didn’t start with a message. “I just wanted to write something eerie,” she said.

Her biggest challenge was motivation. “I kept putting it off and thinking about other assignments,” she said. “Then I thought of an opening sentence and finished it the day before it was due.”

The moment she felt most connected to was when the narrator sat on a bench, feeling scared as they noticed everything around them. “The river is loud, and the forest has a lot going on,” she said.

Ying said being recognized was encouraging. “It made me less nervous,” she said. “It was nice to know people actually saw my story as something worthwhile. It makes me want to keep writing.”

She also said the contest helped her try fiction writing for the first time on a larger scale!

Mr. Newman: Contest Organizer

When Mr. Newman came to Lovett over 23 years ago (well before any of us were even alive), he brought with him a passion for stories. At his previous school, they had a short story competition very similar to ours. He said that over the years the basic framework has remained the same, but “there are some efficiencies that have been built in,” he remarked.

He explained to me the behind-the-scenes planning for the competition. “An announcement happens sometime in January. I’ve always read one of my own stories on the occasion, and students have a month to write their own,” he said. “We’ll get anywhere from 20-something stories up to the high 40s or something. In my mind, it’s like if we hit 20, it’s a contest.”

When I asked Mr. Newman about his favorite part of the competition, he said it was never about the stories themselves. “I love seeing how creative they can be,” he said. He noted that upper school students don’t typically have many opportunities to write fiction.  “Yes, a voice can come out in a piece of analytical writing,” he said, “but it’s much different than when you suddenly see somebody building a world and the way that they imagine things and characters, it’s quite different.”

I asked Mr. Newman if he had any advice for young writers who may be afraid to step out of their comfort zone and submit to the contest. His message was simple. “Try, try. And then just like with a lot of things, you get better the more you do it.” He did acknowledge that it can be hard to submit. “You have to put yourself out there,” he said.

Judges

The contest had a panel of students and faculty serving as judges for the works. I had the opportunity to speak with US Science teacher Dr. Lamar and senior Isabelle Cheroff. 

Dr. Lamar has been an on-and-off judge for about 5 years. Her interest in being a judge stemmed from her “long pastime of creative writing.” She said, “I actually submitted to my high school’s short story contest, so it’s interesting to come from the other side of that.”

Dr. Lamar loves reading the stories, but “sometimes they’re so good that it’s tricky to pick my top 5,” she said. The good news is that with there being so many judges, a lot of times “stories that you wish you could’ve snuck into your top five end up in someone else’s top five,” Dr. Lamar said.

This year was particularly interesting for Dr. Lamar’s judging career because the stories that ended up being in the top three were in the exact order that she ranked them. “That’s never happened before,” Dr. Lamar said. “I guess I’m getting better at judging.”

Isabelle was one of the student judges, along with Carter Rumph. Isabelle explained that Mr. Newman came into her AP Art History class one morning and asked if anyone wanted to be judges. She and Carter jumped at the chance.

“I volunteered because I thought it would be interesting for people to see what people came up with,” Isabelle said.

Carter said the stories were “sent in groups.” At first, “it was a group of seven, and we had to rank our top five,” Isabelle explained. “Then Mr. Newman got back to us with another round, and that was twelve stories.” Isabelle had an airtight method for ranking her stories, carefully considering each. “I went through each one 2-3 times and just ranked it based on how much it spoke to me and how creative I thought it was,” she said.

Isabelle encourages students to both volunteer to judge and submit their stories next year. “I wouldn’t be scared at all to submit in the future, every story I read was amazing,” she said. “I would submit any story you have because who knows what will happen.”

By Maiya Tomlin

If you are a dedicated reader of the OnLion, you may have wondered why we have not written an article about the illustrious, definitive junior-year experience: the American Studies Research Paper. But fear not, we were not going to let this year’s paper get away, no strings attached.

Instead of discussing the topic proposal, outline, first draft, and even the final draft, it is imperative to report on the cherry on top. Immediately after students submit their final draft, they are introduced to the Alternate Assessment.

Alongside my teachers, Mrs. Gray and Dr. Ezell, each American Studies pairing had a similar approach. 

The Alternate Assessment, originally called the “iMovie project” until about 2023, is a chance for students to take creative liberties in capturing the spirit of their research paper, whether it’s a poster, college, or video essay, or even something else (approved by Mrs. Gray and Dr. Ezell, of course).

We were given a very broad, deliberately up-to-interpretation rubric, but there were still some requirements. We must include our thesis statement, the strongest evidence, and the writing process. 

I spoke with Dr. Ezell and Mrs. Gray to ask why they decided to remove the project’s restraints. “There are some projects that fit that video essay format really well,” Dr. Ezell told me. He used Palmer Elsas as an example, who filmed a documentary of himself and his writing process. “So it still works really well, but we just felt like it kind of artificially constrained the project,” he said.

They both agree that broadening the iMovie project was an excellent decision. Mrs. Gray told me that the most notable benefit is “student engagement and more student enthusiasm, which produces better results for the kids.”

Dr. Ezell added, “I think that it is also a chance for students for whom writing is not their preferred or even best form of expression to nonetheless express what they found in their research paper.” He continued, “Just because you’re a good thinker or very creative doesn’t mean that you enjoy writing necessarily. That’s just one way of getting your thoughts out.” 

He explained that the approach students choose for their paper is the one that best captures and aligns with their voice. For example, Eliza Pieschel wrote her research paper about The New Yorker, so naturally, she made her own copy of The New Yorker for her project. 

Grace Schmidt took a somewhat similar approach. “My paper was on how three separate magazines, Vogue, Saturday Evening Post, and Life Works, showed different topics of the Return of Soldiers from World War II,” she explained. “So I did a magazine, and I called it Recovery, and I basically wrote about what I talked about in each of the magazines,” she said. “So I made it on Canva, and then I had Canva send it to me. It’s so pretty.” I can vouch for that. The magazine was light blue with a cute, editorial design on the front.

Finally, I asked the two teachers what they would choose if they were to do the project. I could tell Dr. Ezell had pondered this question when he immediately answered, “I really like Noir movies, like the gangster movies from the 40s and 50s. And I had the thought of like shooting a Noir Montage,” he explained. “Noir, one of the things that it’s famous for is voiceover… the protagonists tend to be very laconic. So it would suit really well to like do an investigation around campus shot in black and white with like a gruff voiceover and fake cigarettes,” he finished before clarifying, “because obviously on a smoke-free campus, you can’t have that.”

Then we looked at Mrs. Gray. “Alexander Hamilton, I assume,” Dr. Ezell asked. If you have ever seen Mrs. Gray on a NUD day, she is most likely wearing her “This girl loves Hamilton” T-shirt, which, as a huge Hamilton fan, I complimented the first time I saw it. Mrs. Gray nodded and said, “The play took it all away from me. Lin-Manuel [Miranda] stole my thunder.”

And I bet you are dying to know what my project was! My research paper examined how New Orleans, Louisiana, embodied the classic concept of the American “melting pot,” as shown through the films The Princess and the Frog, Down by Law, and A Streetcar Named Desire. So, I made a poster board, advertising the classic American melting pot. It was even listed for $17.18! New Orleans was founded in 1718, duh.

By Valeria Benitez

With the end of school nearly here, everyone is so excited to hit the pool and tan, but not the juniors. They can’t hit the pool yet, because they first have to hit the outdoors for JOE (Junior Outdoor Expedition). 

With JOE,  juniors go into the woods for 3 nights and 4 days and come out as seniors. Some are excited for JOE, others are anxious, whether because they are terrified of bugs or of not showering for 3 nights.

Ms. Vernon, as well as Mr. Howell, has sent us multiple emails about Wear’ Em Wednesday, so we won’t get splinters and can break in our boots. There are rumors that if we wear our boots we’ll be able to choose one friend to be in our group or choose our leader. The keyword there is RUMORS. While you may think that you haven’t seen anyone wear their boots, you clearly haven’t seen Bridget Casey or Janey Aaronson with their boots on Wednesday. 

I wanted to learn more about student anticipation, so I checked in with some juniors. 

I asked Savannah Jones what she is most excited about JOE, and she immediately said, “Hopefully to get close and make new friends with people I don’t know super well in the grade, and I am also excited to just have a bonding experience with other people going into senior year.”

Lucile Beardsley is also looking forward to getting to “know people whom I don’t normally spend time with at school and haven’t had any classes with.” Beyond the social element, she’s eager to try new things and step “out of my comfort zone for a few days.” 

As for concerns, Lucile said she likes nature and thinks of herself as “pretty chill.” Savannah is a little nervous about getting blisters or “that my back will hurt because that will probably make it pretty miserable.”

While Lucile and Savannah are optimistic, Lane Rodts is terrified of every aspect of JOE. Which might explain why the thing she’s most looking forward to is “Probably leaving.” (She may have been joking…a little.) Her biggest fear is that “she’s going to live till 17 and die on a mountain, and also the bugs.” She announced that she is not a bug or snake person.

Lane has also been procrastinating with the gear gathering. When I talked to her, she only had her high socks and her boots, which she had not broken in yet. Then I asked her what she would miss the most, and in her joking tone, again she said her “free will.” Bridget Valls chimed in and said, “My dry shampoo. Then Lane went on to yap about how they are not letting us bring basic hygiene products and not letting us shower, and as if it wasn’t bad enough, ”we have to poop in holes. So disgusting.”

Lane actually has had a lot of outdoor experiences; she goes to camp all summer in the mountains. She went on a Moon Dance type of trip.  She said she had to live in a tent for two weeks, and it was definitely interesting, but she is more of an “AC type of person.”

I then walked into Ms. Howard’s 7th-period math class with a bunch of juniors and asked Zarin Sapra, Maddy Eford, and Luke Darsey about what excited and scared them.

Zarin started off by saying she’s excited about “My group and just bonding with more people. I’m also excited about sharing an experience with people and bonding with everyone.” It seems like it’s a common pattern for everyone to be excited about their groups. 

She then told me she is scared she won’t be prepared enough or won’t have enough stuff.  “I don’t have my backpack or anything,” she said. Hopefully, her hiking in Colorado, which she told me about, will pay off, as she had to spend the night in the woods.

Maddy added how she went to a sleepaway camp in the woods, “and we hiked A LOT, but I don’t think it was as serious as JOE.

I asked Luke what excited him the most about JOE, and at first he looked a little confused, and then he just said, “Oh, I’m not going.” Zarin looked at him, even more confused, and said, “Yes, you are, everyone goes.” But not for him or the rest of the baseball team, because they have playoffs during JOE. I guess that is one way of getting out of JOE.

In APUSH, I spoke with Copeland Stukes and Yehia Hamza to ask them about their overall feelings toward JOE. With a little hesitation, Copeland said, “I am excited to just hang out with my friends and just be in nature.” For those of you who don’t know him, he loves nature and made his whole AMSTUD project on a photo essay on the Chattahoochee River, so he will definitely thrive at JOE. 

Yehia exclaimed, “I just want to embrace nature and have time off school to connect with my friends.” After a long junior year, the time off from school will definitely be very appreciated.

Finally, I got the chance to speak with Mrs. Vernon, who has been prepping for JOE, alongside Mr. Greenberg.

Mrs. Vernon told me that they start planning in June or July the year before. ”Almost as soon as we get back, we clean everything, we pack it all away, and then we start brainstorming about what we can do differently, what worked, etc.,” she said.

I was curious about how they get so many leaders willing to spend 3 nights in the wilderness. She said anybody who wants to come can come. 

She noted how the numbers are different every year because many have family obligations or random injuries, but there is always a core group with Coach Brentzel, this being her 7th JOE, Mr. Crowley, Mr. Reynolds, and Mr. Greenberg, who go very often. 

Something you may not know is about the luxurious JOETEL (or at least more luxurious than spending your nights in a tent). Mrs. Vernon told me that it’s a hotel where staff are able to communicate with the JOE leaders each morning. Ms. Armato always texts a good morning with a sunshine emoji and an encouraging message or just  “a really sweet message.”

The JOETEL faculty are usually there to hike into the woods to bring people more gear or grab a kid who’s sick or injured.

If you have seen the famous Instagram posts of all the juniors looking like they came out of war on the last day of JOE with their JOE shirts, then give that credit to Mrs. Vernon. She told me how she designs two different t-shirts, one for the leaders and one for the rising seniors. “It is definitely one of my favorite JOE prep things to do,” she said.

For many, going away in the woods and just being away from home might not sound great, but Mrs. Vernon said it is one of her favorite things about JOE.  She told me that, as much as she loves her daughters, “It’s really nice to like not be a mom for a minute.” She also enjoys getting to meet new juniors and having extra people to hug at closing chapel. “I knew two kids in my group of 14, and I got to meet 12 new juniors,” she said, which is great because she doesn’t usually teach juniors.

If you are worried about having to wake up early, don’t worry too much if you are in Mrs. Vernon’s group because she’s “a big fan of letting people sleep if they want to sleep.” She did note t that three years ago, Wright Williams would not get up and everyone was packing and he was still dead asleep, so that was really the only time she’s had to wake someone up.

Whether juniors are excited, terrified, or somewhere in between, JOE is almost here, so you’d better get over those fears. Hopefully, everyone comes back with new friendships and only a reasonable number of blisters (so break in your boots!). And if not, at least senior year starts right after.

By Micah Ingram

As the final bells approach, it’s time to look back on everything that made this year one for the literal and metaphorical books, and to look ahead at plans for the summer. The 2025-2026 journey was more than just a series of tests and lectures; it was a collection of moments that transformed a group of individuals into a community. 

To ensure these memories don’t fade with the summer heat, we put together a survey to document the milestones that defined our year. We wanted to hear about the triumphs, the challenges, and the everyday scenes. As a freshman, I can say this year was a wild ride of feelings, friendships, and, most of all, unique memories. AI came into these halls not knowing what to expect, and I’m leaving with a phone full of photos (which I did not take during the school day) and a million stories to tell. It’s been a whirlwind of surviving my first week, finding my lunch spot, and classroom fails. 

When I reached out to all of you, I got a ton of responses describing your experiences. To start, I asked for your grade levels, and surprisingly, my fellow freshmen were the ones who filled out the form the most. 

The first question was about some teachers who made this year extra special, and made their classrooms feel like home. Whether it was the “GOAT” energy in Dr. Douglas’s AP Gov Class or the laughter-filled projects in Mr. Davis’s room, the best moments happened when teachers kept things real and vulnerable. Students appreciated Mr. Buczek’s chill vibe in World Cultures and the freedom to discuss controversial topics with Mr. Nascimento. It was clear that the classes we enjoyed most were the ones where we actually felt engaged. 

Even during the tougher subjects, the teachers still made it fun, with Mr. Bayless helping students survive Physics while we rated his daily fits, and Dr. Lamar showing students how Neuroscience actually connects to students’ real lives. Or, finding a home with Mr. Decker in Theater 1. In terms of academic growth, science, math, and English were the recurring subjects where people felt they made the most progress. 

Looking back at the gradebooks, the 2025-2026 year was a massive learning curve. Academically, we moved past the basics and dove into the deep end, tackling everything from the Krebs Cycle and cranial nerves to the “disgusting” world of advanced trig and derivatives. While some of us were busy mastering Spanish subjunctives or building helical gears, others were having a mid-year realization that the old “study the night before” strategy just doesn’t hit the same anymore. 

Whether it was learning about Mean Absolute Deviation or realizing that school is just one big social construct, we’re all leaving this year a little sharper.

Beyond the classroom, our extracurriculars were a total movie. We saw massive wins across the board, like athletes making state teams in cross country, earning all-region honors, or sprinting a 11.0 in the 100m. The creative side was just as loud, with one student finishing a 93,000-word novel manuscript (would love to write more about that, so please, if you’re reading this…email me!) and others taking the spotlight at the Variety Show and Winterfest.

From the adrenaline of football recoveries and winning volleyball games to the strategic victories at Model UN, the hustle was real. Some of us found our place on the lacrosse field or stage managing three different shows, while others celebrated the simple victory of just making it through the season. 

When it came to school spirit, the calendar was packed, but a few events clearly stood out. Homecoming week popped, especially for the dress-down days, powder puff games, and the high energy of the Friday pep rally. Prom and Friday Night Lights also brought the heat, giving us a chance to actually hang out with friends outside of a stressful classroom setting.

The smaller, more niche moments were just as legendary. Whether it was the chaos of the Kona Ice and pizza party, the performances at Winterfest, or the chill vibes of Worldfest, there was something for everyone. Even more specific traditions like Dignity Chapel, PDC, and the PALs trip got some love, proving that some of the best memories happened when we finally got to step away from the books.

Looking ahead, the goals for the next few years focus on the “lock-in” mentality. A huge chunk of the grade is aiming for the Principal’s List and straight A’s, with a collective vow to finally stop procrastinating. Or, on the less broad side, perfecting their jewelry stack to writing a second novel manuscript (again, please contact me). 

Before we officially ‘lock in’ for 2027, the grade is ready for a much-needed reset. We asked around to see how everyone is planning to spend their freedom. The most common answers are going on vacation, hanging out with friends, and getting much-needed rest and sleep. 

To wrap everything up, we couldn’t look back on the year without mentioning the soundtrack that got us through it. The vibes were all over the place, ranging from the high energy of Katseye and Don Toliver to the classic rotations of Mr. Brightside and Hotel California. 

As the final bells finally ring and we head into the break, we’re leaving behind the “disgusting” math equations and the stress of the Krebs cycle for a much-needed summer reset. So, keep those jewelry stacks fresh, keep working on those novel manuscripts, and most importantly, enjoy the freedom. Bye-Bye, 2025-2026 Year!

By Malaya Madison and Ella Harvey

Last Friday was a day that some seniors had been waiting for their entire Lovett careers. It’s the day when the hallways are engulfed in the odor of Sharpies, and there is barely any space to walk. We were practically late to newspaper, attempting to wade through the crowd of seniors…signing each other’s shirts.  

The long-standing tradition involves seniors painting the logo of the university they will be attending next fall on one of their (now-old) white senior shirts. Then classmates, not just seniors, sign the backs of their friends’ shirts, and this continues throughout the day. 

Lots of seniors get their shirts painted or designed by people whom they pay because they might not be as artistically inclined. Ashley Traylor’s brother, Gavin, asked Ashley (a very good art student) to paint the UPenn logo on his shirt, and, after talking to her about it, she felt “very stressed because I also have a lot of other school work aside from painting Gavin’s shirt.”

Multiple seniors expressed their delight on this day because it marks the beginning of their last week, also known as Senior Week, during which all seniors receive NUDs every day and end with a very nostalgic all-school closing chapel. 

We wanted to go around and talk to the seniors about their excitement on this day. Tanisha Naik ‘26 was among the seniors who weren’t sure what journey they would embark on over the next four years until recently. 

“I would say at the beginning of the year, I didn’t really know where I wanted to go,” she said. “So I would always procrastinate all my applications.” 

At the beginning of senior year, Tanisha was very stressed because she “didn’t even know where I wanted to go.”

After all the procrastination and indecision, Tanisha will be attending George Washington University this fall.

“It’s right in the heart of DC,” she said, which is something Tanisha loves because she is majoring in International Affairs. 

When asked how she felt about finally knowing where she’s going, she shared, “Now all the stress has been relieved,” because now she knows “where I’m going for the next four years, YAY!”

Tanisha recalled how she felt in this exact moment (shirt day) last year, being a junior. “I was getting sad because I realized that’s going to be us in a year,” Tanisha shared.

She was right, that is the senior class right now, and emotions are high.

Kai LaBarrie, who is committed to Murray State for soccer, claimed that this day is very bittersweet, “Because we’re walking around, everyone, all the seniors are like, ‘Oh, can I sign your shirt,’ even if you guys don’t talk that much or you’re not really friends,” she said.

Now that she knows where she is going to university, “it was a huge weight off my shoulders when I found out where I was going to go.”

We also talked to Zaynab Farid, who called the day chaotic, but “I guess we’re all just feeling a lot of nostalgia because we’ve known each other for a really long time, and it’s crazy to think this is the last time we’re going to wear this uniform.”

Zaynab has known where she is going to college since January, but also knows people who just committed a few days before the college shirt-signing day. “I know they’re definitely feeling really relieved,” she said, “because it’s really nice not worrying about it.”

It was also interesting to hear the teachers’ perspectives on the almost graduated class. Mrs. Gilmore spoke about the growth she observed in the class. “I will say that the class of 2026 is very special in my eyes because I feel like they were collectively more old souls,” she said. She mentioned that, instead of some kids having an academic “glow-up,” most students have been working hard for all four years. 

Mrs. Gilmore also announced her excitement about the Class of 2026 moving on to college. “I know that they’re right on the precipice of such an amazing part of life. And those college years are few and far between, and after that, like really, there’s no set trajectory in life,” Mrs. Gilmore explained. 

She is also a Lovett graduate and said she gets very emotional around this time of year, especially when she has a reunion at Lovett, because it is very exciting. “I’m especially excited for this class. They’ve been great.”

Ella and I decided to venture to the middle school to find teachers who taught the current seniors, to see if their emotions were as heightened as the seniors’ on this special day.

We spoke to Coach Taylor, MS In-House Sub and MS Basketball Coach.

Although Coach Taylor isn’t in the high school to see the seniors day-to-day, he has experience with them growing up.

While Coach Taylor was helping out with Senior Night for the Boys’ Basketball team, he felt bittersweet because those were some of the kids he had coached on his 8th Grade team. 

Seeing them graduate now, “It lets me know when I’m getting old,” Coach Taylor shared.

“It’s tough to see them go because you see how much they’ve matured,” he said.

Coming back from a meeting with Coach Taylor, we met senior Elle Albert, who is going to Howard University in D.C. 

She had known she was going to Howard since around Christmas time, so the second semester of senior year was a breeze. 

Elle shared that this semester is “just getting to school every morning and getting the email from Ms. Gilmore in the morning saying, ‘Hey. Where are you at?”

That was pretty much the spring semester in a nutshell, until senior shirt day. When the caps of the Sharpies came off, and laughter filled the hallways, Elle’s final days as a senior became more surreal. 

“Seeing everybody in their college shirt and signing their shirts, and people signing my shirt because it’s like, dang, I’m not going to see these people every day anymore,” she explained. 

Everyone in the Upper School has the same advisory for four years, so seeing these people every day, including advisory, the people you are surrounded by almost every morning. 

She also mentioned that she went from a closed-off advisory as a freshman to now a lively advisory and “having such a great relationship with everyone, it’s just a little sad, but I’m happy for everyone. I’m really excited for everyone to see what they do, if that makes sense.”

Even though it’s “really sad and surreal,” it is bittersweet at the time.

When asked how she felt going on this new journey, she shared, “It’s really exciting. Exciting times. I’m pretty excited.”

Elle’s excitement was hard to miss.

Unlike Elle, Wyatt Botha ‘26 just found out he was going to Auburn University at the end of March. “It was nice to know after that, finally. So it’s been much more chill since then,” he shared.

Wyatt realized that college decisions can be unpredictable.

“The places where people are going are very different than the places people thought they were going,” he shared.

Wyatt mentioned that some of his classmates have known where they were going since kindergarten because of family legacy, but his decision wasn’t as predictable. 

“If you asked me in eighth grade or kindergarten, even, I would not have guessed Auburn. So even this earlier this year, I wouldn’t have guessed Auburn,” Wyatt shared.

For seniors, signing shirts isn’t just a tradition; it’s a visible countdown on their final days of high school.

By Henry Thompson

There are lots of ways to prepare for exams. If you’re freshman Ian Aguilar, one of those ways is looking for an alligator. 

The search is actually a portion of Ian’s final exam project for Honors Biology in which he, along with his group members, must categorize and document the members of a specific set of organisms, or a “taxon,” on the Lovett campus and the Atlanta area in general. “This could be like reptiles and amphibians, which are generally grouped in one, and is the one I’m doing,” he explained. “People are also doing things like birds, fish, or trees. Stuff like that.”

All of this work is then formatted together on a Google site as well as a poster that details information such as the location of the organism, their characteristics, their behaviour and their role in the Lovett ecosystem (ie. If you were doing Lovett boys, you might say: found in a third-floor alcove; can be identified by the quarter zip jacket and Onward Reserve shirt during nuds. This one was of the blond-haired variety and carried the typical black North Face backpack. Was found playing a game on his laptop as expected, and appears to have left a few wrappers on the table from a cafe snack).  

Ian and his group of two others, Couper Wainwright and Daniel Yuan, chose Reptiles and Amphibians as their organisms, so they spent their last few weeks of science class and school digging around the creek and searching through the woods for snakes. Sounds fun. 

In all seriousness, Ian has a great passion for all things biology, beginning at a young age and, of course, carried through to now. “Ever since I was very little, I’ve always spent a lot of time getting my hands dirty in gardens and in nature,” he told me, going on to credit the Chattahoochee Nature Center for his love of wildlife, having gone to camp there as a child and now applying to work there as a counselor. He went on to insist on the value that donating to the group would bring to nature and the ecosystem in Atlanta. 

In his personal life, Ian has been the proud owner of many pets, including rabbits, fish, and a tortoise. The tortoise, RT, was credited by Ian as the one responsible for his love of Russian tortoises, which he considered his favourite animal in the reptile/amphibian group.

For these reasons, Ian said this project is basically his dream final exam, and he has taken full advantage of it, working to ensure his findings exceed expectations. “We have found over double of anybody in the past with these animals,” he said. “We have four frogs, like six different species of turtle, two different species of skink, one species of lizard, three species of snakes, one species of toad, and six species of salamanders.” In his work thus far, he has also done his class the favour of finding a snake on campus and bringing it to class the next day for his project’s midpoint presentation, adding a new level of excitement. 

At this point it should come as no surprise that Ian’s teacher, Mr. Renolds, respects him greatly, having awarded him the ninth-grade honors biology award and essentially given him the guarantee of a perfect one hundred on the project. 

This is where the Alligator comes in: having already completed the necessary work for his project, Mr. Renolds has given Ian and his group one last task, one that, while seemingly impossible, holds the holy grail of exam results: bonus points. All they have to do is find an alligator, and it doesn’t even have to be on campus. As Mr. Renolds put it, “If there is anyone in this school that could find an Alligator, it’s Ian.”

Ian is equally determined, stating that he “Will find an alligator. Recently, a juvenile female about 2 to 3 feet long was sighted along the Chattahoochee Nature Trail. If that doesn’t work, I know a spot where I can definitely see one.” He then doubled down, saying that he will get an alligator regardless of whether the bonus points will be given or not for “the aura.”

During our conversation, Ian expressed his love of biology, which I think is a pretty fitting end to the school year (and to this article) and an interesting idea to keep in mind for life itself.  

“I love learning about biology because you never ever are able to 100% identify something,” he said. “There’s always some sort of new thing that you can learn because it’s an ever-evolving field. There’s always something you don’t know, and it’s amazing.”

By Angelina Ricker

For most of human history, I would have just gone by Angelina. The first ever recorded last name, O Cleirigh, was in 916 AD, according to MyHeritage Blog. 

Last names are what make people recognizable, like when people say the name Henry, people say, “I’ve met like six Henrys in my life,” but when people say the name Henry Vlll Tudor, people are like, “Oh yeah, that’s the guy with six wives.”

Some would say (including me) that last names have impacts on people’s lives, big or small. As someone with the last name Ricker, I was always placed towards the end of the line in lower school. Sometimes, I’d even be caboose. I would also frequently be number 16, whether in sports or where I sat in class, which is why I call it my lucky number. 

But “r” isn’t nearly as close to the extremes of the alphabet as other letters, like “a”, “b”, “y”, and “z”, so I chose a few people with last names starting with those letters to find out if and how their last name has affected their life. I also chose one person whose last name is in the middle of the alphabet and asked the same questions.

Senior Lila Zrno is the second-to-last name in the high school directory, followed by senior Andrew Zverkov. “I can’t lie. I was a little mad when he came because I had gone my entire life being last,” she told me. 

Lila really enjoys her last name because it’s always at the end of lists where she can easily find it, and she loves how unique it is. She even mentioned that other people don’t think her last name is “real” because it only has one vowel at the end. “I feel like it kind of defines me. Not defines me as a person, but it just adds that special something and I feel like it makes life a lot easier,” she said. “[You] just kind of know right where you are always.”

Lila’s last name has Croatian roots, and, as the only child in her family, she expressed that she wants to keep it alive throughout generations. “My last name,” she said, “it definitely carries some weight.”

Another person with a last name toward the end of the alphabet, sophomore Betts Taubel, also says that her last name has put her at the end of the line a lot when she was in lower school. 

More recently, Betts signed up for the Discipline and Honor Council here at Lovett, and she complained that “on the ballot, my name was kind of towards the very end and in the middle [of the list] so you couldn’t really see it. So a lot of people told me they didn’t see my name because it was really in a weird place in the lineup.” 

Having a last name in the middle of the alphabet is, according to freshman Raina Lumpris, “very mid. You’re always in the middle. You’re not great. You’re not the worst.”

In lower school, Raina explained that she would have to line up in alphabetical order in case of an emergency. “I wanted to be in the front, so I was the first out the door,” she said. I don’t think I even thought that far ahead when I was that young… But instead of being first, Raina’s last name caused her to “blend in.”

Aside from its “mid” position, Raina told me that she isn’t the biggest fan of her last name. “Raina Lumpris, that’s so boo, so lame. And it makes my initials just so bad,” she said. She also mentioned that if it were up to her, she would change her last name to end in a vowel because it would “sound nicer.”

Raina’s last name hasn’t affected her life socially as much as others’, but it has created some confusion. 

“The most distinct is the fact that me, my mom, and my sister all have different last names,” she said. “And so that is kind of awkward. So whenever I tell people, ‘Oh yeah, that’s my sister,’ and they’re like, ‘Oh, but y’all don’t have the same last name.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, we’re half sisters.” Or whenever I invite someone over to my house and they’re always like, “Oh, hi, Ms. Lumpris.” I’m like, “No, it’s not Ms. Lumpris; we have different last names.” 

And what about those with “A” last names? Freshman Ian Aguilar, whose name is towards the beginning of the alphabet, says that he is usually “first for really anything that was already planned,” including line leader in lower school and presentation order in high school. For some, that would be a nightmare, but Ian shares that even with his predetermined fate in line, “I jump at the opportunity to speak, so I usually volunteer regardless,” he said.

The bigger issue for Ian is not where his name falls in the alphabet but how people say it. His last name is Hispanic and people often mispronounce or misspell it. 

There’s a whole variety of last names out there, and each one brings different, unique experiences to the person who has it. Even if last names can sometimes be inconvenient or not as good as we hope, it’s important to know that last names are a part of our character that helps us stand out and be the person we are today, no matter how long we have to wait to hear our name called at graduation or how many pages of the yearbook someone has to flip to find us.