HAPPY FAMILY: Multiple sets of siblings run cross country as well as the entire team celebrate the success of the girls first state championship.
 Kerrigan ‘25 and Finton ‘27 Chaney, Josh ‘25 and Caleb ‘28 Miao, Harry ‘25 and Peter ‘27 Anderson, twins Madison and Olivia Ball ‘29, all ran for the varsity this year. The Ball’s ran with younger brother Gavin ‘30 on the Middle School team. Last year Alex ‘24 and Gabe Dickenson ‘29 shared workouts on the cross country team spanning seven years, the boys and girls team. 
Not many people were aware of the coincidence of the amount of siblings that inhabit the team. Kerrigan and Finn’s mom, Darcy McGrath, suggested that someone in the newspaper should talk about the amount of siblings on the team. This opened not only my and the team's eyes but fellow journalist and cross country teammate, Kaitlyn Perkins ‘28. 
“I don’t really notice because on the team like siblings would,” Perkins said. “We push each other and compete to get better.”
The wave of eighth graders got to shine on the varsity and assisted on the first ever win for girls cross country in the history of NCS.”It was a team effort from beginning to end,”  Head Coach Ed Dickenson said, “reflecting the character and heart that our girls' team has shown all season. Amazing performance!” 
Twin troubles: Olivia Ball ran a 21:51, the fourth fastest time among the Raider girls and cementing the championship with her 24th-place finish. In only her second varsity race, her sister Madison came in at 23:33, putting her at 63rd overall. More than 150 girls ran in the Div. II race.
Another sibling duo that seems to fly under the radar is Josh ‘25 and Caleb ‘28 Miao. 
“It’s been pretty fun to be able to run with Caleb this year because even though we’ve been on the same team before . . . we haven’t, you know, both like been varsity, like running together, so that’s been a pretty cool thing,” Josh said. “It’s also been cool to see how much progress he's made, because the last couple of years he’s been in middle school, and I’ve been in high school, so we’ve been running together in practices but never in a race.” 
Caleb finished his season at Panorama Farms in Earlysville, running a very solid 21:27. Running a sub-20 minute top-five time for the team, Josh has not finished his season and high school  career yet. He and his teammates are eager to go out with a bang at the Foot Locker meet, Nov. 30th in Charlotte, North Carolina, with the majority of his fellow senior runners.
Finishing third overall in the race, the boys were paced by Spencer Britton ‘27, who placed second overall, and Finn Chaney, who placed 10th overall. Meanwhile, Justus Horner ‘28, whose sister Lydia ‘24 ran with the team for many years, placed 20th. Those three Raiders earned all-state honors. Five seconds after Justus, Harry placed 21st.

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​Ambassadors of DEI and GSA clubs host a LGBTQ+ table celebrating important events and people in history.

On Oct. 25 the DEI club and GSA had many tables outside of Willis Hall. These tables were not open to the whole school rather just the Upper school. 
A question wheel with historical questions about LQBTQ+ was run by me, Jacob Johnson ‘25, Kayleigh Johnson ‘26, Caroline Welfare ‘27 and Abby Landry ‘26. After answering a question correctly, students won a pack of Skittles. 
 
Many people praised the cake pops from History teacher Hannah Ewing, who worked at the table with GSA Club members asking students to answer trivia questions in order to win a cake pop. 

The majority of the DEI crew contributed to the success of the tables. 
“The LGBTQ+ table was successful,” DEI coordinator Debbie Taylor said.
 “We had students playing games and taking an active interest in learning. One ninth-grade student playing trivia said, ‘I am learning,’ and students with whom I had a very in-depth conversation about acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community two years ago, came over and played trivia. That makes me happy. Those are highlights for me. Some of our football players stopped by to play the game. Our students are becoming more accepting and willing to learn.”

For the prize of a shirt supporting the LGBTQ+ community, there was a choice between two questions: 1) Q: The Stonewall riots took place in which New York City neighborhood?” The second asking,Which contemporary TV show features the longest running queer character in TV history? (Dr. Callie Torres Grey’s Anatomy) Even teachers felt stumped. 
One person on the table and walls of the Upper School took most students  by surprise. Many people didn’t realize that the famous singer songwriter who produced masterpieces such as “Blond(e)” and “Channel Orange",” Frank Ocean, identifies as bi-sexual. 

“I really didn’t know about Frank,” Chris Carter ‘25 said. “I never really got into his music, but I definitely know his work.”

“We are in the business of teaching here at North Cross and in the DEI program about acceptance and kindness towards everyone”, Taylor said. “We are a community that has space for everyone regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion.”

New student, Kaleb Robinson ‘26, drives to the basket against Patrick Henry High School.                 Kaleb Robinson is a new addition to the NCS community bringing his astounding height standing at 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds. Robinson was previously a student at      Christiansburg, where he played basketball. First getting involved with the NCS summer league Robinson began building chemistry with his future teammates.  Coming in and putting in hard work and efforts to get ready to have a promising season with other  NCS basketball players Jaziel Hart ‘26, Siah Haynes ‘27, and fellow new student Daven Reed ‘28.  Kaleb claims to being confident in the potential they hold for a great season “It’s hard to describe, he’s good at everything. He has a center size but can handle like a point guard, and I’m excited for his first season.” JV basketball player, Hanchen Ou claims.
   “Really it was for basketball and also a better opportunity to go to college because Christiansburg, my previous school, wasn’t really great at that,” Robinson said when asked about the reason for his transfer. As it did with many students who transfer into NCS, it was a big change for him. Most students, especially ones who transfer after going to another highschool, show signs of not so smooth adjustments.“It [the transfer] was very tough for me, especially with the 45-minute drive from Christiansburg to here,” Robinson said. “Also just the expectations that are way higher. Everyone here is on another level from public school. Definitely the drive is the toughest.” A s school is only a few weeks in, Robinson has already immersed himself into a handful of activities. Robinson has begun attending many meetings with the African-American and Latin X affinity group. Also he has been doing offseason training with head boys’ basketball coach, Jamiel Allen. “My previous coach was not reaching out to coaches for me,” Robinson said, “and it’s better for other coaches to reach out. And Coach Allen would have done that. With him doing that, it would give me a better college opportunity,” Kaleb said when asked about expectations from the basketball team. Many have different opinions about NCS and the way the community is run. “The people have been very welcoming, the environment, and the teachers are very personal,” he said. “I like how teachers give you breaks because they know you have vigorous work and they’ll work with you.” Another controversial topic is the phone policy. “It’s not a problem for me because my mom makes me keep my phone at home and gave me a flip phone for emergencies,” Kaleb said. Meanwhile, Robinson has high hopes for the athletic teams. “Im expecting NCS to go far in the playoffs for all sports,” Robinson said with confidence.

Attempting to overlook the fact that this is our last time together, this picture across the street from the NCS dorm collects a sentimental last moment between separating friends (Aren Barranco ‘26 on the left and former NCS Gabo Ramirez-Lugo on the right). This was the night I stayed at the NCS dorm before they closed for the summer. This experience was needed because Gabo had told us just weeks earlier that he was transferring to a school in Connecticut for a better chance and getting far with soccer. “It’ll be okay, this isn’t goodbye but just see you later,” Gabo told me before he got on the bus the morning of the dorm closing. That night we did everything together, making sure we wouldn’t be able to say we wish we would have done this or that. As I watched that bus take the best friend I’ve ever met, my brother, drive off to start a new separate life, I tried to fight the feeling of sadness as I realized he’s gone.

I wouldn’t say smartphones are dangerous, but I would say depending on the uses, they can be harmful in ways. I say this because if used for just connection and necessities, phones are not a dangerous or harmful thing. On the other hand, if you use your phone for entertainment, which I must confess I am guilty of, it can be harmful. Like the article said, ”By the time that smartphones  and social media were becoming omnipresent, in the late two thousands and early twenty-tens, children were also spending less and less time engaged in unstructured, largely unsupervised play with their peers.” I believe less engagement with peers in the real world actually doing things can lead to a decrease in physical and mental health and even social skills. A decrease in social skills can cause an increase in anxiety when in a social environment. I say this from experience., I get anxious in big crowds especially aroundof people I don’t know. So to circle back to the question depending on the use, phones could possibly be harmful to kids, young adults and even adults.

By Jacob Johnson
New Spanish international student, Cesar Suarez Cuenca ‘25, went to my grandmother’s house for Thanksgiving and ate Thanksgiving dinner for the first time. 
Cesar came to my house after the last day of school for Thanksgiving break ready to experience something new, relax, and play video games. Little did he know just because NCS stopped doesn’t mean my house stops, we kept going like a runaway train at full force.
Eating Thanksgiving dinner for the first time, Cesar indulged in turkey, stuffing, dressing, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes with gravy, and a multitude of other things. 
“The food at Thanksgiving was really good”, Cesar said. “The idea of the whole family and no problems of who’s there and not having enough food, because there’s so much.”
Cesar went from overindulging in amazing food to being dragged down to Norfolk to visit someone he didn’t even know. My mom, dad, aunt, uncle, cousin, grandfather, Cesar and I traveled four hours to Norfolk in two cars to see my uncle. It was obvious when on the way to our destination his favorite part was the sights he saw.
”I loved it. It was amazing because it was my first time out of Roanoke,” Suarez said. Seeing his reaction to driving over where the boats pass out of the naval base stationed in that part of Norfolk was a great experience in its own because it amazed him and for someone who’s grown around that, I kind of took it for granted.
To finish the eventful trip My dad, uncle, Cesar, and I were packing up to go to the notorious wing restaurant, Hooters, but due to the pay-per-view fight, we couldn’t get in due to the up-charge they wanted. Although we left the hotel with intentions to go to the adult restaurant, we ended up in Buffalo Wild Wings. 
“I was excited but it was not that deep so no problem,” Cesar said when asked how he felt about the ending of that night. “But I would have liked to go to leave with the experience,” 
Photo by my father