Flying over to the United States from his hometown Madrid, Spain, Nicolas Cobas Gomez ’26, started a new chapter of his life this school year.
Cobas’ parents wanted him to come to the U.S. to have many opportunities and to learn about the culture. 
Cobas said that his old school was “100 times bigger,” and that at North Cross, it is more practical. He said that at his old school the students use textbooks more than teaching the children themselves. Cobas talks about missing his old school and how even though he likes North Cross,. 
He also misses his family, friends and girlfriend very much. Although, people aren’t the only thing that he misses. Cobas states that he misses the big parties in Spain very much, as well as the traditional Spanish cuisine. 
This is not all for this international student, he is also a very good tennis player who has been participating in the sport since the young age of 6.
Cobas’ wishes that he could meet Kidd Keo if he could meet anyone in the world. Kidd Keo, who was mentioned earlier in the interview, is one of Cobas’ favorite artist. As well as, RAP, Duki and Anuel AA. Besides listening to his favorite type of music, Cobas enjoys occupying his free time by playing video games. He said that he is entertained by any type of shooting game, such as Call of Duty or Counter Strike 2.
Although Cobas loves a lot of the teachers here at North Cross, his favorite is chemistry teacher, Getulio Brasil. Cobas talks about how Brasil teaches at a fast pace, which he is used to and feels the most comfortable with. Not only does Brasil match Cobas’ preferred method of teaching, but he is also said to teach well and overall a very good teacher. Cobas’ year at North Cross so far is going pretty well, his favorite part has been the sports, especially tennis. Cobas is excited to see where the rest of his Raider journey will go!

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Kids strike a pose behind the peace decor for the DEI International Day of Peace. It was peace day on Friday and North Cross decided to spread some cheer by organizing fun activities for the Lower, Middle and Upper School students. The faculty put together a posing poster that comes with fun accessories such as circular glasses (Gandhi and John Lennon made them famous) and peace sign necklaces. There were also posters all around, bringing in students to promptly pose with their friends. There was also a temporary tattoo table with eight different tattoo designs to choose from and sponges and water to stick it right on to your skin Lots of kids, especially the younger ones, were more than excited to pose as soon as they saw all of the fun colors! “I love your glasses,” Abby Landry ‘26 said enthusiastically to one of the first graders posing in the picture.
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Kerrigan Chaney ‘25 kicks off of the race with a great start. It was Senior Day, and since Chaney is the only senior girl, she was especially honored. "Kerrigan has been a major part of our cross country program for the last seven years,” Coach Ed Dickenson said, “and we are looking forward to watching her compete during her senior year and reaching new goals in her final year with the school." Chaney got first place for the girl's varsity cross country, marking another one of her wins. Chaney is ranked No.1 in the VISAA according to Milestat and took first place in 21:06. Chaney has been honored and recognized many times for her talent including the last two state championships and one conference championship. Chaney will compete in the VISAA championships on Nov. 7.

Caption and Photo by Nola Daninger ‘27

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Ainsley Myles ‘27 bolts toward the end zone to try to score a touchdown as Emma Votta ‘26 tries to get her flag. On the day of Powderpuff, cross country runner Myles decided to take part in the action. She had to attend multiple practices held on weekends to be able to perform. Ainsley states that playing against the upperclassmen was a very difficult task. “Scout took me down,” she said while laughing. Myles has participated in cross country for five years, so she already had the speed the team needed. As shown in the picture above, she is flying through all of the other players.

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“I am running,” Elodie says in the beginning of the movie. Damsel is about a teenage princess who is forced to marry a prince far away from her castle. She does not want to marry, she would rather be independent and save her city.  Her father forces her to marry, and she must leave her sister, him, and his stepsister  As they get married she finds out that she is actually a sacrifice to a dragon. The family that she is marrying into killed the dragon's baby a long time ago, and now the dragon seeks revenge. Because of this, the family constantly marries their son, and past sons, and sacrifices the bride-to-be into the ditch. Elodie is the strongest princess that has ever arrived, and she surprises everyone as she appears back to the castle, with the dragon by her side. Damsel is playing on Netflix. It is rated PG-13. “It was the perfect mix of fairytale and adventure,” said Maria Albishah ‘27. ​

Smartphones are a very controversial topic. Kids who were gifted smartphones by their parents love the devices. It is usually the parents that have a pretty big problem with the device that they bought. 
The article discusses all of the problems with smartphones. I agree. 
But to some extent, I think that smartphones can be helpful. According to the article, social media is dangerous as well as “brain-rotting.” It messes with young teens as well as even kids and makes them think they need to look impossible. All of the pictures are edited so kids and teens are having unrealistic standards to live up to,whether it’s how they look, their home life, or even just how they should be living. 
In this generation, many new and improved devices, like smartphones have been installed. Because of this, it is inevitable that kids and teens will constantly be looking at a screen. The people who are extremely mad at young girls and boys for being on their phones grew up in a different generation than us. Because of this, it is unfair to judge kids and teenagers for constantly being on phones when there wasn’t a time in our lives where barely any technology existed, like in our parents or our teachers lives. A lot of the time, parents and teachers will say something like “Oh well, if I didn’t even have a phone at your age, you can go without.” This expression does not make any sense, because the grownups right now didn’t have access to the same things that we do now. Therefore, they can’t properly blame us or judge us for constantly wanting to have the luxury of having a phone or a TV nearby. 
Although there are many dangers and unfortunate events that can occur to people who are constantly on their phone, there are also advantages that our smartphone can bring us. For an example of how the phone is helpful, some TikTokers help people who are struggling with self image, body dysmorphia, or confidence. The article even states “Many teens are aware that smartphones disrupt their sleep, their moods, and their self-image, but they believe, as several parents told me, that giving up their phones would kill their social lives.” Influencers like this can seriously help people when they are at their lowest. The problem is that it is probably social media that made the individual feel that way about themselves.