Justice fir all: It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Keep that in mind as you hold on to tradition from afar and watch Charlottesville’s Grand Illumination Holiday Concert remotely this December. Performers from around the region, including the Charlottesville High School choirs, Odyssey of Soul, and Rattlebag, take the Paramount stage during a TV […]
Charlottesville High School
Still here: Public health experts urge caution as holidays approach
Nationwide, nearly 100,000 new COVID cases were reported last Friday—the most in a single day to this point. And with COVID-19 spreading across the country faster than ever, that number will almost certainly rise. Locally, positivity rate has remained low, currently at just 2.4 percent, said Thomas Jefferson Health District medical director Denise Bonds at […]
Imperfect solution: Activists warn that existing social service systems can’t fix problems with policing
Since the violent arrest of an unhoused man on the Downtown Mall earlier this month, Defund Cville Police—along with numerous other activists and community members—have continued to call for the creation of a local mobile crisis unit, which would respond to emergency calls that the police are not equipped to handle. Lori Wood, director of […]
Telling the truth: Local schools overhaul history curriculum
As protests against police brutality continue around the country, school districts are tackling another form of systemic racism and oppression: whitewashed history. Since last year, Albemarle County Public Schools has been working to create an anti-racist social studies curriculum, elevating [...]
High school seniors modify end-of-year traditions
By Claudia Gohn Senior year traditions—from proms and sports banquets to senior nights and graduation ceremonies—have long been a way to commemorate the end of high school, giving students the chance to celebrate and say goodbye to one chapter of life before beginning a new one. But with [...]
In brief: Happy (socially distanced) graduation, Memorial Day, and more
Rad grads Charlottesville’s 2020 high school graduates imagined they’d be walking across a grand stage right about now, with “Pomp and Circumstance” blaring as an auditorium applauded. That’s gone, of course, but the virus hasn’t stopped our schools from showing love for their seniors. [...]
High school seniors mourn loss of milestones
by Charlie Burns Ever since its emergence in the United States, the coronavirus has impacted people’s lives in distinct ways, and laid waste to societal norms as we know them. For high school seniors, this includes social and academic expectations for their final semester. Senior year has [...]
No service: Looking to curb distraction, some schools ban phones in class
By Alexis Gravely All of the nearly 50 students at the Renaissance School have their own mailbox in the front office. But as the teens walk into the Charlottesville private school every day, they’re not dropping papers into them—they’re dropping their cell phones. The students can check their [...]
Being there: Ebony Groove revives a highlight of C’ville’s musical past
When Ebony Groove posted some old photos to its Facebook page in 2009, the comments came quickly. “Can we get a reunion please?!” “OMG what memories.” “Damn, now this brings back the real good ole days, cats!” “How about a reunion concert?” “You know I will be there if there’s a reunion!!!!” [...]
Vape escape: Raising the vaping age hasn’t deterred teens
Bathrooms. Locker rooms. Cars. Check any of these places on a typical school day, and you’re likely to find students taking part in the latest teen trend: vaping. “It’s pretty common around my crowd,” says one Charlottesville High School senior, who estimates about 25 percent of his classmates [...]
Racist threat reverberates: Schools closed, teens arrested, students protest
As thousands were celebrating literature at the Virginia Festival of the Book in Charlottesville, a less-exalted missive from the nether regions of the internet, threatening “ethnic cleansing” at Charlottesville High, closed all city schools last Thursday and Friday. It also prompted CHS’ Black [...]
Guns & PE: Firearm safety comes to high school health class
Charlottesville’s physical education teachers are already tasked with teaching a range of heavy topics in health class, from the dangers of opioid addiction to how to avoid unhealthy relationships. Now, gun safety will be added to the list. Fifteen of the city school division’s PE teachers [...]
All are welcome: Theatre CHS repurposes immigrants’ poetry, prose for unprecedented play
By Caroline Hockenbury Freedom is ringing, but that’s because youth are belting about it on stage, deconstructing it on Twitter, and demanding it—at full-tilt—at student-led protests. The next generation’s cries for justice buzz in every ear. Charlottesville High School theater students are [...]
Sahara Clemons steps out in SSG’s Backroom
Like most teenagers, Sahara Clemons is figuring out who she is. She describes herself as “quirky” and “introverted,” a bit shy and quiet. She wears bright lipstick and expresses herself via clothing. She likes to read, travel and look at art. And she’s a Charlottesville High School rising [...]
Bird watch: Intoxicated cedar waxwings slam into CHS
You can tell it’s spring when the birds return—and start crashing into the windows at Charlottesville High while drunk on Japanese pagoda tree berries. Avid birder Walker Catlett, 17, a junior at CHS, saw cedar waxwings flying into windows, and so far has documented at least eight dead and [...]
Local students take a stand against gun violence
By: Samantha Baars and Erin O’Hare It was exactly a month ago that a gunman shot 17 people to death at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Today, local students and their peers across the nation said they won’t stand for that—so they walked. March 14 marks the first [...]
What’s in my backpack
Take a look inside a backpack and you’ll get a glimpse inside its owner’s life: perhaps notebooks and pens show evidence of his favorite color, or what he likes to do in his free time. There are folders full of assignments that indicate her potential career path, a book she reads for fun and [...]
High school beat: Newspaper editors share the real stories
What’s it like to be a teenager in 2018? We figured nobody’s better plugged in than newspaper editors, so we checked in with the editors at Charlottesville High and Western Albemarle, as well as a CHS junior. Here’s what we learned about the differences between city and county schools—and what [...]
CHS community explores South Pacific
Premiered on Broadway in 1949 and revived in 2008, South Pacific tells the story of American naval officers (both nurses and sailors) stationed on an island during World War II who are forced to confront their own racist attitudes amidst love and war. This month the musical comes to life on [...]
More child porn charges for former CHS teacher
Richard Wellbeloved-Stone sat in federal court this morning, often with his head in his hands, as he waited for an initial appearance before a judge on additional charges of child pornography production and child porn possession, on top of the 19 counts of making child porn he faces in state [...]
High school athletes share how they stay at the top of their games
High school student-athletes aren’t just working to be the best at their sports; they’re also juggling classes and college applications at the same time. That takes dedication, talent and lucky pre-game meals. We talked with some of the Charlottesville area’s best and brightest student-athletes [...]
Space invaders: CHS robotics team goes international
A group of Charlottesville High School students are on an espionage mission from NASA to capture photographs of a competitor satellite while managing a limited store of energy and avoiding having their own satellite’s photo snatched by the competitor. BACON, or the Best All-around Club of [...]