Bellevue senior boys enjoying their last day in town at a restaurant just hours before all outside access was restricted. Photo by Alex Gillin. During mid-winter break in February, members of Bellevue's senior class visited Punta Mita, Mexico. A completely gated resort packed with beach clubs, hotels, restaurants and even two golf courses. Punta Mita is located about 25 miles northwest of the city of Puerto Vallarta, in the neighboring state of Nayarit. The region is a well-

Photo from Unsplash              After waiting four years, the Winter Olympics have finally arrived in Milan, Italy. Although often overshadowed by its summer counterpart, the Winter Games feature a wide variety of sports accommodating all sorts of tastes. There’s freestyle skiing for exhilaration, curling for strategy and patience, skating for fast-paced racing, and much more, all of which result in of the most exciting and anticipated events in recent years. And this time,

Photo by Aimee Ni   Every year, there is an event hosted at Bellevue High School that not many know about. It is the annual mock congress that combines multiple classes from three civics and government teachers with nearly 200 participants. The meeting is hosted during the school day within the Performance Art Center and aims to provide students with an opportunity to act as members of the House of Representatives and get hands-on experience of what congress is like.         

Seahawks fans gather in the Super Bowl parade in Seattle. Picture by Vaughn Ederer. Seattle finally got to have its moment again.  After 11 years they finally got their revenge on the Patriots to avenge their devasting Super Bowl loss in 2015.  The parade felt like the whole city showed up at once. The streets were packed with fans, all of them yelling with excitement, just taking in the moment fully. “I felt the passion in crowd, and it was extremely rowdy,” senior Stell

Golden Statue awards. Image from Unsplash by Samuel Ramos. The Grammys celebrated their 68 th  televised event on February 1 st . The night was filled with talented musical artists, countless celebrities and fashion. Trevor Noah came back as the host for his sixth consecutive year. He announced during the show that this year was his last year hosting the Grammys, allowing him to push the boundaries with the jokes and jabs! When it comes to fashion, the red carpet is the pla

Photo from Unsplash With February just around the corner, many are excited for Valentine’s Day. Here are what some Bellevue students are going for Valentine’s. “For Valentine’s Day [my boyfriend and I] will probably get dinner at 13 Coins and exchange gifts, personally I got him a matching keychains for us from Japan, but I was thinking of also maybe making like matching bracelets with thread and a handwritten card with a printed photo of us,” said junior Katherine Chang.

Senior Swafiya Twahir speaking at the MLK assembly Bellevue High's Bellaires preform "Carefully Taught". A song about ongoing racial prejudices in the United States. Gonsango, a dance company based in Seattle led by Etienne, left, preforms traditional West African music at the MLK assembly. Everyone participating in the dance. Freshman Edward Li, standing left.

Photo from Unsplash Every morning during the second period announcements, a habit has quietly developed in the classroom. Conversations continue, students play games on their computers and others keep their heads down. What was once a shared routine among students in elementary school has now become background noise for our current distractions in life. I hope others are aware of what their unintentional protest to the pledge means. Standing for the pledge is now seen as ra

Photo from https://es.geneastar.org/genealogia/wilsonkathe/katie-wilson Seattle’s new mayor, Katie Wilson, stood out during her campaign for her background in grassroots organizing. However, beyond just her passion for community activism, she enters office with an agenda that reflects her experience in policy reform; an agenda that will matter far beyond Seattle’s city limits, as her policies start to affect Bellevue residents who commute, work, and move through Seattle ever

Graphic by Mingze Shi Every 10 years, Washington state redraws voting district boundaries based on new census data. According to Oregon Public Broadcasting, the current bipartisan system, where Democrats and Republicans decide the maps together, has been in place for over 30 years. But after seeing states like Texas redraw their voting maps to favor Republicans, Washington Democrats are attempting to do the same to balance Texas out. To maintain a majority in the House afte

Photo by Brooklyn O'Connor There are nearly 200 diverse classes offered at Bellevue High School, and many of them are social studies. But there are very few classes dedicated to studying the variety of cultural identities around us. In a city and school that is approximately 40% Asian American (the highest racial percentage), how much do we actually know of their history? While major detrimental events like the Chinese Exclusion Act and Japanese internment are certainly not

Graphic by Brooklyn O' Connor Beginning in the spring of 2026, Alaska Airlines will expand its west coast, transcontinental and international flight network.  As Bellevue High School looks forward to mid-winter break, spring break and summer break, this new expansion creates endless possibilities for travel. On a domestic scale, Alaska is revamping its services and adding two new routes: Seattle to Tulsa, Oklahoma, starting March 18, and Arcata-Eureka, California, starting

Students learn about the extradition of Nicholas Maduro. Photo by Ben Koh The extradition of Nicolas Maduro was a terrible idea from the jump. Although many have pointed out Maduro's notorious abuses of power, and how his economic policy ran Venezuela into the ground, his extradition is bad not just for Venezuela, but also the world. People across the world were stunned when the extradition happened. Some students at Bellevue high school found out through social media. “I t

Students learn about the  extradition of Nicholas Maduro. Photo by Ben Koh The conflicting opinions surrounding Maduro’s alleged kidnapping plot is an example of how global instability can reach Bellevue High School and the students within. It is important to keep an open mind to such sensitive topics and understand the facts before forming an opinion. Just three days after the start of 2026, shocking news spread across the world. United States forces had bombed Caracas, th

Bellevue's Light Rail, while flashy, often fails to meet the needs of its passengers. Photo by Ben Koh The East Link light rail connecting Bellevue with Seattle was originally expected to open in late 2023. After repeated rounds of delays, from spring 2025 to March 28 of this year, the light rail project remains unfinished. The officials reported significant construction problems over the I-90 bridge, but the details are rarely revealed. As years pass, it has become clear th

Graphic by Ben Koh Just a few of years ago, gambling was limited to the casino. Cards were played on cafeteria tables. People participated in friendly March Madness brackets or made weekend bets during football games. The risk wasn’t available on every play. Betting stayed connected to games of luck and never really seeped into daily life. But last year that boundary vanished. A new form of betting has emerged, driven by prediction markets that connect speculation to real-w

Photo Credit / Ifrah Naaz It’s test day, and every single student pulls out a calculator from their backpack, each with a similar interface, the familiar Texas logo and the words “Texas Instruments” inscribed. The students simultaneously press the same familiar buttons on their calculators to reset the memory, and the teacher walks around checking the identical screens for confirmation, then passes out the test. Nationwide, the story is the same: students just won’t stop usi

Although Bellevue has historically been known for its excellent football program, the boys swim team has gone under the radar. As a result of a first place finish in the 200 meter medley relay, as well as ten additional top eight finishes in different events, Bellevue stood top of the top of the perch at the state competition, the first time since 2016. This year, the defending champs are well on their way towards repeating their state title, with wins at all but one swim mee

Many Bellevue student athletes don’t just balance school sports and their regular classes but also balance their club sports as well. Club sports are rigorous and can take up significant hours of the day. Finding an effective way to balance school, extracurriculars, club sports and school sports practices can be difficult, yet this task is one that many students find methods to overcome. “Balancing lacrosse while being in school can be hard because sometimes it’s physically a