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

By Jacob Johnson​

Arriving in October as a new attacking midfielder from Puerto Rico, Gabriel “Gabo” Ramirez-Lugo ‘25, had a total of three points: one assist and one goal this season. 
“Even though joining a new team mid-season and not really knowing anyone and even speaking a different language, I feel I had a great overall season,” Gabo said. 
Even though he came in the middle of the season it was obvious that the connection with the team on and off the field was instant. 
“I had a great debut, like my first game, I had 17 clips [highlights of the game] in 30 minutes and even an assist,” Ramirez said. Gabo’s first game with the Raiders was Oct. 5.  In that same game North Cross took the victory over Virginia Episcopal School 3-2. In his first game the only other people to get an assist were Maddox Haskins ‘24 and Hunter Basile ‘25.
Gabo came to NCS late due to the fact former NCS  student, Mika Droste ‘25, left for his home in Germany to begin working. Gabo took the opportunity to join the school through the help of the agency for the international students.   
Even though the season ended in an unfavorable manner with a loss in the state semifinal, the team still had an amazing run this season. 
“Well, the result of course wasn’t expected,” he said. “We hoped to put up a fight with a positive mindset after the quarters, but the other team outperformed us and took advantage of their many opportunities.” 
“I definitely felt like we should’ve done more,” Gabo said, “but at the end of the day, there was nothing left but to wish the best for the other team in the final.” 
”Losing happens,” he said, “it’s what makes the sport so beautiful, just have to move on and focus on what the future may bring.”
As they walked off the field, there were very strong emotions headed back and a lot of disbelief. “Just seeing the environment even though we lost I mean there were a lot of sad faces and I can’t blame them cause I was one of them,” Ramirez said. “There was a lot of  ‘What happened?’ and ‘What needed to happen?’ from our guys.” 
“There are a lot of seniors now, but it was still really good and fun,” he said. “And in the end, there’s always next year. We’ll come back stronger.” 

By Jacob Johnson


Throwing a PR of 37.3 ft in shotput and running 7.3 in the 55 meter dash marked Sander Frogner’s debut for the indoor track team after leading the state champion Raider football team defense in tackles and earning first team all-state honors. 
Frogner ‘25 came from Norway this year to expand his chances for playing in college and maybe one day professionally.
Wanting to expand his already undeniably great talent, he asked football and track coach Shannon Taylor how he could improve. 
“I needed to be faster with the sprinters and stronger with the throwers and ST told me,” Frogner said. 
 He walked in with a good feeling of confidence on track Jan. 11 at Roanoke College. For his first track meet the champion middle linebacker planned on throwing and running the 55-meter dash with the guidance of Coach Taylor. 
“I don’t really feel nervous, but I feel like I want to beat Eason at throwing,” Frogner said with humor, showing his competitive drive with his fellow outside linebacker.
Even though this was his first time trying track, Frogner set on the big prize, qualifying for states. 
“Eason throws 38 at meets and I throw a little shorter, so probably 30-35,” Frogner said, “My goal before the end of track is to qualify for states in at least one thing.”
The qualifying mark for shotput is 34,7. So he already achieved his goal of qualifying for states by practicing with throwing coach Brett Jones.
At the Bulldog Invitational meet in Lynchburg on Jan. 27, Frogner ran 7.17 in the 55 meter dash.so now he is set to compete in two events at the state meet at St. Christopher’s on Feb. 18.