By AB Cullen
As the girls tennis team began to start warm ups for their match against their big rival VES, something horrifically tragic happened… It was Friday, October 13, the day of the girls tennis team’s big match against VES. This match would determine who would be the conference champions. All of the girls were excited but also very nervous and anxious. When 2:00 came, it was time for the girls to be dismissed and go change into their red skirts and white tops. After changing, they made their way up the steps to the tennis courts where they met their coach Ryan Schlachter, who read out what the lineup was going to be. For the next hour, the girls warmed up and began to get focused in and ready for their matches. When 3:30 came around, the match was supposed to start, but VES was not here yet. “It’s ok girls, I’m sure they will be here soon,.”, Coach Schlacter said. Time passed and they still were not here, and everyone began to grow concerned after not hearing from them about why they were not here. Finally, Coach Schlachter was ready to calls off the match, when all of the sudden a strange looking space shuttle appeared out of nowhere. Startled, everyone began to run and hide. After a few minutes, a weird looking figure appeared falling from the space shuttle and as it got closer and closer everyone quickly realized it was an alien zombie. Once the alien zombie got onto the ground, he demanded everyone to come out of hiding. He explained to everyone that the VES tennis team was being held captive on the space shuttle. He demanded that one of the North Cross players come up to the space shuttle or else the VES tennis team would never be seen again. Coach Schalcter volunteered and was taken up to the shuttle by the alien zombie. A few minutes later, the space shuttle began to caome out of the sky and eventually landed in the parking lot. All of the VES players rushed off as well as Coach Schlacter, and the shuttle disappeared into thin air.
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Before new English teacher Emily Mountcastle had children, she worked part time as a SAT verbal instructor. Now she’s back full time. “I wanted to teach at North Cross because I love to teach,” Mountcastle said, “and I knew it would be a great environment of engaged students and caring faculty.” Mountcastle went to Patrick Henry High School and then James Madison University where she was an English Major and received a Master’s in Education. “I was a pretty good student, social and engaged,” she said. “I liked my teachers and worked hard in my classes.” Mountcastle taught at Patrick Henry High School for five years and she also worked with students at Roanoke Catholic and Crystal pring Elementary. “I have wanted to be a high school English teacher since I was little,” she said, “as I always looked up to my grandmother, who was a high school English teacher as well.” Veronica Weston ’26 appreciates Mountcastle. “I think Mrs. Mountcastle’s style of teaching is relaxed, but in a way where I am able to learn a lot,” Weston said. “The class has been interesting so far and she is a great English teacher. She makes the learning fun with projects and videos included in her classes. My favorite thing we have done in her class so far were the group presentations on The Crucible. These presentations really took a deep dive into the background and making of The Crucible.” Justin Jones ‘26 agrees. “I really enjoyed The Crucible project, and I think that her class is really exciting, fun, and enjoyable.” Lastly, when asked what she does in her free time Mountcaslte says: “I like to run, bike, or go to yoga. I also love to cook and bake. You can usually find me at the park with my kids though!” I’m ready to ride a jet ski with Jackson, one of my really good friends (not my boyfriend). Jackson is 17 and in 11th grade. Riding along the waters of Virginia Beach was one of my favorite things I did this summer. At the end of July, my family went to Virginia Beach with another family who are our closest friends. It was really special to see them because they recently moved to Raleigh and we don’t get to see them as much anymore. One of the days that we were there we went on jet skis at another families’ house which was on the bay. My mom took this picture right before we headed out onto the water. I did not drive the jet ski. I had a lot of fun and really enjoyed it. The most interesting thing I have ever done was in first grade; I was jumping on my bed, and I accidentally jumped off and shattered my elbow. I had to have surgery and spend the night in the hospital. I was in a cast that was all the way up to my shoulder and I was out of school for a few weeks. Eventually, when I got my cast off, I had to have the pins removed that the doctors had put in my elbow to help heal my elbow. It was very painful and now I have a hole in my elbow.
I was born in Charlotte, North Carolina and I moved to Roanoke when I was 2 years old. I came to North Cross when I was in third grade. One statistic that reveals something about myself is that I have one brother. His name is Gray and he is 11 years old. He plays basketball and golf. A quote that my mom always tells me is: “Anything is possible if you really put your mind to it.” I came to North Cross because I had a terrible second grade year at public school. I went to Crystal Spring Elementary school from Kindergarten until second grade. My second grade teacher was very mean, and if I did one thing wrong she would make you walk laps around the whole playground for the entire recess. When my parents told me that I was coming to North Cross I was really sad because I did not want to leave my friends, but I ended up liking it a lot better. “A quote that my mom told me before I started North Cross was: “You don’t know until you try it.” She said this because I was very unsure about starting school at North Cross, and I didn’t think that I would like it. After high school I want to go and play tennis in college and hopefully Division I. I am really going to continue to work hard so that I can achieve that goal. A quote that I live by is: “Opportunities don’t happen, you create them.” |
ABCMy name is Anne Bradley Cullen and this is my second year in the Journalism program. I play tennis. I really like to spend time with my dog named Derby. Archives
October 2023
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