Photo by Aimee Ni Here at BHS few topics spark as much debate and division as the quality of its bathrooms. According to students at school, the bathrooms have various factors that makes a bathroom the “best. To have an ideal bathroom experience students try to find the right balance between the two most important aspects: privacy and accessibility. The first quality that will be discussed is privacy. After asking around campus, one bathroom has been consistently ranked fir

Photo from Unsplash Between classes, sports, jobs and social activities, high school students are constantly balancing limited time and money. That’s why at-home press-on nails, which can be applied in minutes, have become such a popular option for school dances, special events and for some, day-to-day life. At the same time, many students still opt for nail salon services for their wider range of designs and professional application, especially if they’re concerned about na

Caption: Apple’s MacBook Neo, available in Silver, Blush, Citrus, and Indigo. Photo from Apple/apple.com Recently, Apple made a new pastel-colored addition to their shelves–the Macbook Neo. For only $500 with the student discount, Apple may have made the new value king of laptops for high schoolers. $500 is big news. The next cheapest Apple laptop would be the base configuration Macbook Air 13” at $1100, meaning Apple’s new best value proposition just halved in price. The N

An assembly in 2024. Image by Mingze Shi. Bellevue has a problem with its assemblies. It’s not that assemblies lack spirit,  instead, assemblies are too unruly. This is especially prevalent when it comes to one of the most important symbols of American public schools: the national anthem, for one, it takes too much time for the audience of students to get quiet, and then even during the anthem, students do not stay quiet. The anthem isn’t important because it’s simply a trad

Taking a picture using a digi camera. Image by Piper Lipon. Two aesthetics are emerging from apps like Instagram and Facebook with two seemingly completely different visuals and vibes. The first aesthetic has developed throughout social media since sharing photos online started; these types of photos usually involve a clear shot with deliberate posing and are achieved on phone cameras usually. The second aesthetic has recently come back into the sphere of the younger generat

Nicole Caulfield's classroom for Ceramics and Jewelry, 1126. Image by Mingze Shi. In my personal experience, if you take an instrument series—band, orchestra, etc.—it guarantees you successive years of art. But if you do not, you’ll likely realize that the required art credits are a lot. For many that really value artistic experiences and find them interesting, BHS has a variety of these courses at your disposal. But for those who want to take a lot of STEM classes (physics,

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

ALL PHOTOS & GRAPHICS/BEN KOH Imagine it’s the end of the unit, and as you anxiously wait for your teacher to announce the final exam, they inform everyone that it’s going to be a group project. What a nightmare. Group projects are one of the most common methods teachers use to measure their students’ understanding of course content, but instead of assessing collaboration and better efficiency, group projects usually achieve the opposite result. “Group projects aren't effe

ALL PHOTOS & GRAPHICS/BEN KOH One of the worst parts of the day is waking up early. Hearing your alarm ring before sunrise and having to get out of bed, do your morning routine, and then endure an entire day of class is grueling at the least. For many students, waking up early can also offset their entire day through fatigue, especially if they don’t get enough hours of sleep. But there’s a super easy solution to this: make school start one hour later, which the American Psyc

ALL PHOTOS & GRAPHICS/BEN KOH With big movie releases like “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” “Marty Supreme” and “Zootopia 2,” it seems like movie theaters should be busier now more than ever.  However, a look inside Cinemark shows how, surprisingly, the theaters are emptier than ever before. “I just went to the movies to see “Song Sung Blue”, and there wasn’t really anyone my age there,” freshman John Bede said. With the lingering effects of the pandemic and the explosion of stream

A Bellevue High drop-off lane, with an rainbow. Image by Aimee Ni. There are countless points of frustration among students, most notably freshmen and sophomores, surrounding morning traffic congestion at Bellevue High School. Traffic congestion is affecting students’ ability to arrive at class on time. With two drop-off locations spread around campus, primarily used by underclassmen who do not yet have driver’s licenses or personal vehicles, traffic often becomes backed up a

TikTok has become one of the most widely used apps among students and is rapidly shaping an app where a constant stream of short, entertaining videos are served. As you can scroll for hours on TikTok without even realizing how much time has passed. The app can be fun and even educational, but does TikTok really have anything good to offer for students and teachers in the long run especially when it comes to focusing on class? Many Bellevue High School students use TikTok seve

Second semester is very busy. Image by Mingze Shi. With shorter days and more darkness, the second quarter is definitely the busiest time of year. With the semester coming to an end, a sense of urgency creeps into the minds of many students at Bellevue high. Many students also celebrate major holidays during this time, such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s. Therefore, there is a heightened number of students who travel and miss school days. “One year, I was gone

Comparing water and caffeine water. Image by Piper Lipon. You wake up, exhausted, and the clock already reads seven. Bad idea to stay up until 3 o’clock last night, right? You get dressed, brush your teeth, skip breakfast because who has time for that, and right before you leave you reach for the energy drink sitting in the fridge, it’s just staring at you, practically glowing like the nectar of gods. You make it to school, energy drink already chugged on the way and a sugar

Image from Unsplash. Not related, but the author is lazy and would not provide an image of his own. Authors need to provide images of their own. Over a decade ago, Vine was created by entrepreneur Rus Yusupov, a short-form video and social media app owned by Twitter. With a peak of 200 million users, Vine's six-second limit and its wave of entertaining creators made it one of the most influential platforms of its time. Its looping clips shaped internet humor and helped shape

Photo by Aimee The spirit at Bellevue High has been slipping for years, and this year is no different. Student sections in every sport have lay empty and games are often played quietly with select parents cheering in the stands. Even Bellevue’s nationally recognized football program has been struggling with attendance and silence is beginning to feel like the new norm. Players feel both unimportant and unmotivated during games. So what happened, and more importantly how do w

Christmas candies photo by Mingze Shi. Everyone loves a good gift, a good deal, a cute new item that they just need to buy. Splurging during the holiday season is no new thing, but how much is too much? New trends arise every year leading consumers to do what they do best: consume. This consumerism picks up more than ever during the winter as companies and influencers press increasingly for the purchasing of their new products. Although this does not seem like a problem as in