Whether attending club meetings, practicing for the winter play, or preparing for exams, there is always something going on amongst our community. Through our athletes winning state championships to students making All District Choir, our students are always involved on and off campus. Although we take pride in being such an active and lively community, we all can feel some degree of pressure or stress at times. Seniors especially have been hit by this wave of stress the most with things like college applications and senior speeches. 
“I’m stressed about college applications and maintaining grades,” said senior Cate Cook ‘24, “and I don’t want to get senioritis.” 
Other seniors find their main source of stress coming from themselves.
“I put a lot of stress on myself to perform,” said Paul Schueler ‘24, “and set myself up well for the future, which is overwhelming.”
As seniors go through the college admissions process, some are starting to really feel a whole new level of responsibility.
“I’m stressed because of the heavy workload I have and how being a senior,” said Helen Hertz ‘24. “I’m having to be faced with the idea that I will be an adult very soon.”
“Going to be an adult is stressful,” said Isabelle Onufer ‘24.
These things can be extremely overwhelming, but luckily for seniors and other students, we don’t have to handle this stress alone.
Through ups and downs, our school community offers support and encouragement when we need it. We can always count on one another to lend a helping hand or help us work through stressful times. This unity and close bond we share brings us together and is something truly special at North Cross that we should appreciate. 
After attending the Thanksgiving Assembly, it really gave students and faculty a time to reflect on all the things we are grateful for. Between our many academic and athletic opportunities to our strong and intertwined community, we all can be thankful for many different aspects of North Cross. Our school is flourishing more than ever, and every day we look to make improvements and make impacts on our community. But while keeping focus on our school community, we make sure that we do not lose sight of our community beyond North Cross. In the spirit of gratitude, our school holds great importance to giving back.
Willis Hall has been doing just that by making positive efforts toward helping others in need. From the beginning of the school year, we started by raising money for Maui to help those affected by hurricanes. Green Club has been working on collecting plastic for Trex Recycling. Recently, the SCA collected coats to send to the rescue mission, and students held a dodgeball tournament to raise money for juvenile diabetes research. In the coming weeks, we are collecting more items, toys, and necessities to send to the Rescue Mission. Additionally, in the spring, we have more efforts coming like our school wide Rise Against Hunger event. But this is only the beginning, and our students, faculty, staff, and community will continue to give back

By Caroline Welfare

The settlement started only 30 minutes from where Roanoke is now, back when that land was deemed inhospitable due to the lack of good ground for building houses, and it has been a beautiful farmland since the first families who settled there. Those families might not be there for much longer, and the beautiful valley would go with them. 
The government itself is ordering and forcibly obtaining farm and forested land for the 42-inch fracked gas pipeline that not only disrupts the community, but also damages the pristine waterways connected to Virginia’s second tallest waterfall, Bent Mountain Falls and Camp Creek, both of which are home to 10% of freshwater organisms in both Virginia and the Blue Ridge.
The Nature Conservancy owns the family-friendly and popular hiking trails known collectively as Bottom Creek Gorge, but not the land that has been claimed for the pipeline. 
And runoff from the nearby pipeline is not their only concern. 
Families old to the area are afraid of having their land claimed without them having committed a slight against the people, despite Virginia having strict laws about eminent domain. This is not a common problem, but the U.S. government has been known to claim land already owned for resources. Several signs of protest are hung on fences, the closest one to the paused construction says boldly; “THIS IS THEFT!”
According to reporting in Cardinal News judges have ignored several emergency pleas, and after a four-month-long pause in construction, the Supreme Court has once again given the project a green light.
According to the Appalachian Voice runoff is not the only environmental concern. When the pipe inevitably breaks, the fracked gas will spread and ruin the surrounding waterways, endangering species that were threatened already. 
From above, or from distant overlooks, the pipeline looks like a scar on the lush mountainside.
The Mountain Valley Pipeline threatens both the environment and farming families who have been there so long that they may not have another place to go. Not only are homes that have been legally owned for decades being claimed by the order for the pipeline, but when it unavoidably breaks, we will have a wholly different, water-poisoning problem on our hands.
“U.S. Supreme Court gives Mountain Valley Pipeline the OK to resume construction as 4th Circuit hears arguments,” according to Cardinal News. A photo shows the construction - but conveniently hides the “THIS IS THEFT!” sign on a through road.

By Eason Zhou

​Virginia has a reputation for having historically lax gun laws, which have generated discussion and attention frequently. Despite the state’s long history of hunting and gun ownership, its lax gun regulations have made it possible to openly carry firearms in public areas and have few background checks for private sales. Concerns about gun crime and public safety have been raised by this laxity, which has prompted calls for tougher laws and background checks. 
Is Virginia genuinely effective in reducing gun violence through firearms restrictions?  No, is the response. The U.S. state with the 29th-highest rate of gun violence is Virginia. Between 2010 and 2019, there was a 9 percent increase in gun-related deaths, a 4 percent increase in gun-related suicides, and a 20 percent increase in gun-related homicides in Virginia. At $836 per person annually, Virginia is rated 31st in the U.S. for the highest social cost of gun violence. Virginia spends $7 billion on gun-related deaths and injuries, of which $292 million is covered by tax dollars. Of gun-related deaths, 32% are homicides and 65% are suicides. Virginia averages 7.4 suicides and 0.7 suicide attempts per 100,000 people, or 663 gun-related fatalities and 62 gun-related injuries annually. Virginia has the 35th-highest rate of attempted and actual firearm suicides in the US. In Virginia, the average annual number of gun-related homicides and assaults is 339 for every 100,000 people, or 4.1 homicides and 7.8 assaults per 100,000 people. In the U.S., Virginia has the 31st-highest rate of gun-related killings and assaults. In 77 percent of all killings, a gun is used. The primary cause of death for kids and teenagers is firearms. In Virginia, firearms claim the lives of 85 adolescents and teenagers on average each year; homicides account for 55 percent of these deaths. 111 women were shot dead by an intimate partner between 2015 and 2019, and 62 percent of victims of female intimate relationship homicide died with a gun in their hands.    
It’s important to note that the effectiveness of gun control measures can vary depending on the cultural, social, and economic factors of each country. Additionally, correlation does not always imply causation, and other factors may contribute to the observed outcomes. But I believe that regardless of the cultural and economic differences between countries, no country’s people hope that more people will die from gunfire. The United States ranks among the top in the world in terms of various data related to shootings, and there is still a lot of room for progress on the gun control front. The effectiveness of gun restrictions has been well demonstrated in some countries, so why hasn’t the United States taken action to reach a collective consensus on limiting firearms in order to create a more harmonious living environment?  
While some may claim that owning a gun gives them the opportunity to protect themselves, the simple truth is that guns are more often used to cause harm than to protect. The data shows that loose gun restrictions lead to more firearm deaths.  There are many people in the process of promoting the new law who are preventing its change, whether it is organizations like the NRA or individual citizens. However, to change the situation, we can only speak out in hopes of  changing the minds of more people. As more and more people join, those who truly have the ability to change policies will take action. I hope this day will come soon and make our society better.