I will admit, I’m no god when it comes to writing. I often have trouble starting or continuing to write projects, as the ideas I get excited about are many and frequent. There are some advantages to thinking of many ideas instead of focusing on a single one, though. Not only is there an audience for shorter stories that don’t take much commitment to read, but any one of those ideas could be fleshed out at any point. The most prominent reason I prefer short stories, though, is that any character I make, for any story, can be reused in a different story without too much effort.

With COVID-19 still looming, many sports programs have been forced to change their way of thinking. The NFL decided to adapt strict guidelines to ensure players had lower chances of contracting the virus.

I know a lot of people that are picky eaters, and I just don’t understand their mindset. How can you be handed a delicious plate of calamari and turn it away? I don’t think anyone can say that they don’t like a food until they’ve tried it. There are foods that I have tried and disliked, but I tried it at least once. More often than not, I really like the food and wish I could have had more.

Leaving the familiar for the unknown can be frightening, but freshman Santa Sic Tumax took it all in stride when she moved from Guatemala to Bryan six years ago without knowing the language or customs of the area. She caught on quickly, and is working to continue to excel in school and life.

All aspects of school have been modified to follow guidelines set up by the CDC and TEA because of COVID-19. These guidelines have created a unique set of alterations for both the drill team and the band. Taking the field on Friday nights is happening, but it looks a little different this year.

With this whole pandemic thing going on, everyone’s been suffering. People were locked up in their homes, whether they liked it or not, and had limitless time with limited money. Jobs were scarce, meaning that people had to find different ways to make money. Some seniors at Bryan High took this opportunity to get creative and found ways to make money and be productive on their own.

Even though the Super Mario Bros franchise is one of the most well known video game series in the world, not everyone knows about the 1993 Super Mario Bros Movie, AKA, the greatest movie ever filmed. The acting, the plot, and movie scenes’ designs are all high quality.

Due to a massive hail storm that came through in mid-July, the roof over Gym 1 was heavily damaged and the floor was beyond repair. In light of the turmoil that the country and community has been facing, the coaches and administration decided to give the students and community an opportunity to vote on the new design for the floor.

Taylor Swift lost a fan when she transitioned from country music to lovey-dovey pop songs, but she is winning me back over after listening to one of her songs on her latest album, Folklore. As soon as I heard one line from “Cardigan”, I was totally dragged into listening to the rest of the album and to give Swift a second chance.

Several unfortunate events have occurred so far as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. From small businesses permanently shutting their doors to shortages of toilet paper and poultry, the economy has suffered greatly. Recently, another unexpected effect of the virus has arisen: a coin shortage.

Out of all my favorite actors Sebastian Stan is at the top of my list. Sebastian Stan has appeared in over 30 movies, with his most famous including the Captain America trilogy and Endgame. In Captain America:Winter Soldier is set in the early 1940’s, following the plot line of WW2, with a little sci-fi/action twist.

Since early March, people have been quarantined in their homes with instructions to go out in public as little as possible. These rules forced many to lose relationships, jobs and sanity, but it also helped people gain new talents, hobbies, and friendships. Some people saw the benefits of being stuck at home, took advantage of it by learning things that many people typically would not.

At the end of each school year, the BISD school district recognizes certain teachers for outstanding work in and out of their classrooms. This year, the secondary teacher of the year was awarded to English teacher Lisa Prejean.

With COVID-19 keeping us more confined to our homes than we have been in the past, many of us are looking for something new to watch. The huge library of movies and shows Disney+ offers is a great way for subscribers to pass the time while enjoying classic Disney movies or the hottest new shows on Disney+.

I have gotten a lot out of quarantine- both good and bad- but I think the most surprising thing that I have discovered (or rediscovered, I should say) is my love for the Avatar: The Last Airbender series. With a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes, it is obvious that just about everyone shares the love that I have for this series, and there are so many reasons why. After being added on Netflix, I flew through the series in about three days.

The world has no shortage of good detective stories. Sherlock Holmes, Murder on the Orient Express, and Nancy Drew have captivated audiences across all ages. But those are all old hat. As of this decade, a new franchise of spine-tingling, brain-tickling video games/visual novels has reared its head in Japan, and has since spread to America. Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is a detective game featuring the fierce contention of Hope and Despair. It was created by the Japanese company Spike Chunsoft and published on November 25, 2010, with two sequels following shortly after. Needless to say, the series has made a huge impact on Japanese culture, and has rubbed onto American culture as well.

My Loneliness Is (Not) Killing Me: Tips on Surviving Quarantine Wake up. Eat breakfast. Watch a home workout video on YouTube. Shower. Watch TV. Eat lunch. Watch the news. Freak out about the news. Scroll through Twitter. Watch Instagram stories. Eat dinner. Facetime friends. Watch TV. Go to bed. Rinse. Repeat. This is our new […]

Much of my daily routine hasn’t changed since the coronavirus pandemic began. I work from home aside from a few trips per year to the Business Insider newsroom in New York City, writing and editing stories with my cat in my lap and a robe tied around my waist.  Once the workday ends, not much […]

Life in New York is largely unrecognizable. For the first time, the subway is shut down overnight. Pools aren’t opening for the summer. Restaurants are boarded up. People with second homes have left the city. The Mayor has closed off many streets to cars, so that people can get out of their homes and exercise […]

Life for anyone in the social work field is chaotic, but there’s never a dull moment. I’ve been a case manager at Meals on Wheels Central Texas for almost two years. My day to day at Meals on Wheels looks something like this: go into the office in the mornings to do paperwork and return […]

Close your eyes and try to imagine the most crowded room you’ve ever been in. What do you see? Perhaps you’re picturing a crowded church on a Sunday morning, or that midnight premiere of your favorite movie franchise reboot. Maybe you’re hearing the crowd roar as your favorite singer takes the stage of a packed […]

With UIL abruptly cancelling all sporting events due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many athletes had to say goodbye to the season they thought they would have. For some students, it was their final year of high school, for others they were just getting a taste of what a varsity sport was like, and though sophomore Sailor Todaro still has two years of eligibility to compete, she was leading the pole vaulting team and was prepared to advance through the post season.

Dear Future Historian,
If, for some reason, you are searching for evidence of what it was like for the average person during the COVID-19 lockdown and you have stumbled across this article, let me tell you some things that will make your job a little easier.

Asthma is a relatively common disease. In many instances, it is mild, and people can get by with using an inhaler when the need arises. For senior Phoebe Hancock, asthma has taken a much larger role in her life. She suffers from severe allergic asthma, meaning her reactions are mostly caused by her allergies. Combatting this disease and its side effects has meant countless visits to the doctor, numerous tests, and even a few operations.

With social distancing orders in place, many extracurricular activities require coaches and directors to take a different approach to creating a team for the 2020-2021 school year.

When the baseball coaches and players realized that students would not be returning to the classroom this school year, they felt it was important to do something to connect with the community. Individuals on the team created videos of themselves wearing their Viking jerseys and reading their favorite children’s book aloud. “Read with the Vikes” became a regular post that many families looked forward to.

Over Spring Break, Bryan ISD learned they would need an option to ensure instruction despite the COVID-19 pandemic causing the world to screech to a standstill. 

One of the first things that they wanted to do was get at least one device in every household. They approached the problem by first identifying how many households there are in the district: 8,972. Then they looked at how many Chromebooks they could pull from campuses and determined that 9,068 devices could be used. 

“Watching my dad get shot and die in front of me when I was three still traumatized me because I didn’t have him growing up. I never had a dad to throw a ball with, never had a dad to talk about girls with, it’s just always been me and my grandma.”

Senior Deion Johnson experienced a difficult life from the start, but he has found a way to succeed by relying on people who love him and pushing himself to try new things. After his dad was killed when he was little, his grandmother took him in and raised him as her own.

Serving over 19,000 meals per week when school is not in session is a daunting task that the food and nutrition services department in BISD has handled with love, care, and consideration of all involved in the process.

The art of writing letters has been replaced by grammatically lacking text messages and snapchat videos. Society uses phones and email to send a message in mere seconds. For the students in the 18+ program, which helps students continue to learn life skills after they graduate from high school through the special education department, experiencing the same social interactions that other students do can sometimes be difficult.

The dozens of pictures taken daily on phones can make people lose sight of the skill photography requires. With photographers needing to learn abilities ranging from staging to exposure to shutter speed, along with many terms most people have never heard before, photography is a complex art. SkillsUSA allows students in photography, in addition to other disciplines, to showcase their abilities. At this year’s SkillsUSA competition, senior Laura Salazar competed in photography where her submission featured a patio home building with unique architecture from Florida to earn third place and advance to state.

Earning a spot in the all-state choir is a prestigious accomplishment that only the top seven vocalists in each voice part are awarded each year. Senior Claire Beesaw earned third chair all-state mixed choir soprano and senior Abby Surley was selected as ninth chair (1st runner-up) for all-state treble choir.

Prom, graduation, saying goodbyes, and more are things the class of 2020 are missing out on in their final year of high school due to COVID-19. Though most seniors will eventually be able to go to the makeup prom and graduation, some won’t have any of the special traditions to attend to. To help, teachers and parents are celebrating the class online.

So the word on the street is that some fancy-schmancy song about existential crises in humans and puppets is “God’s greatest creation, praise be, praise be.” This is horrifically wrong.

Having the ability to play and understand music is a skill that anyone can acquire over time. Being able to play an instrument is one thing while being able to comprehend and understand what is happening and what it is trying to portray is another, greater thing. Completely learning to play an instrument or a piece can take years of hard work and dedication that not many people have the stamina to stick with.

I never watched any sort of dog show until this year, so when I turned on the Westminster Dog Show this year, I was a little surprised myself. I caught it at the very end, where the judge decides which dog out of the six category winners is Best in Show. As a poodle owner, I was pleased when a standard poodle was chosen. Of course, all of the other dogs present were wonderful models of their breeds, and I wouldn’t have been upset had one of them won.

Everyone has a favorite song. Whether it be rock, classical, or pop, when you ask someone to name their favorite song, they can name at least one.

There are multiple emotions a person can feel while listening to music and each one connects to an individual emotional experience. Although some people have one playlist where they add all their favorite songs, I have eight different playlists depending on my mood. Songs in different emotions deserve to be put in different playlists rather than all of them being put into one to be the most effective.

After coming home from a long day, what is the first thing the average person does? Turn on the TV? Watch a movie? Play a video game, maybe? It seems books have been the odd man out for modern entertainment as very few people choose books over visual entertainment in today’s technology-centered environment.

The Norseman staff sent out a form for people to respond with their thoughts and feelings about what is going on in the community right now. We will post some of their thoughts each day to provide people with a better understanding about what people are thinking. Currently, over 200 people have responded and we will try to post each person’s thoughts on our web page. If you would like to contribute, please click the link here: https://forms.gle/WWs8dduUpCyZd9Za9

While we are all under Quarantine, here’s something for you to read.

The Norseman staff sent out a form for people to respond with their thoughts and feelings about what is going on in the community right now. We will post some of their thoughts each day to provide people with a better understanding about what people are thinking. Currently, over 200 people have responded and we […]

The Norseman staff sent out a form for people to respond with their thoughts and feelings about what is going on in the community right now. We will post some of their thoughts each day to provide people with a better understanding about what people are thinking. If you would like to contribute, please click […]

This is my senior year, and I was looking forward getting to participate in the usual high school activities one last time before heading off to start college. I could have never predicted what would have come over this country. Though I have often thought that some day, there will be a disease that will […]

Four decades ago, Ruth Whiteley started teaching and coaching the girls basketball program at Bryan High. For 10 years she coached the team until she transitioned into a full time history teacher.

When thinking about an army soldier and a wrestler, one would initially think that the two are perfectly different. One is a massive, ripped, shirtless guy yelling at the crowd for glory, and the other is an astute, straight-backed fighter in a camo outfit and a rifle. Learning to fill one of these jobs might seem like it would take up all eight high school classes, there’s so much to learn and train before you’re even close to ready.

The Daughters of the American Revolution honor two students with awards for their essays in February.  Junior Jaci Siegert was honored by the chapter as the overall winner for the Christopher Columbus essay contest.  The contest was open to all students in grades nine through twelve and the prompt asked students to write an essay […]

Shooting pain in the arm and jaw. A general feeling of being ill at ease. Tightness in the chest. Having a healthy heart is something a lot of people bypass and take for granted. It is one of the most important organs and should be cared for. Another important thing to watch out for are the signs of a heart attack. Without knowing the signs, a person could be paralyzed or even die. Luckily for fashion design teacher Rhonda Cupit, she recognized the signs and knew to tell someone to go to the hospital when she felt pain in her jaw and arm.

There is a social stigma around marijuana, but that stigma is widely inaccurate and has created problems for those who need it to improve their quality of life on a day-to-day basis.

The opposing team has the ball, and they’re dribbling down the soccer field, getting ready to kick the ball into the net to score. Senior Yanni Vasilakis stands at the center-mid of the field and waits for the ball to be kicked towards him. There’s only a couple seconds left until the game is over and this kick determines the fate of whether or not the team will take home a win. The opposing team kicks a power shot towards the net but he strides towards the ball and kicks it towards the opposing team’s net, leading his team to another victory.

The cosmetology department has deep roots that have helped ground the program and make it flourish. Teacher Sharonda Williams first started with the cosmetology program in 1989 while attending Bryan High. The program helped her find her purpose and place in life and she continues to strive to help others students do the same.

The proverbial cliche about sports is that they are 90% mental, but how does that actually look in practice? Though sophomore golfer Luke Robertson has worked to improve his performance this season through physical practices, he has also focused on the mental and emotional aspects of the game to get an edge over his opponents on the course. Being cognizant about his reaction to each stroke and how the game is played from the first hole to the last has helped him grow as a golfer.

In June, the National Championship for theatre will be held in Bloomington, Indiana. All 18 students from Bryan High who competed in qualifying will advance to the National Championship. “It feels great to be advancing to the championship,” theatre director Jacob Justice said. “I’m not surprised that we advanced. We have students that are incredibly […]

Ah, 2020, the start of a new decade. The summer Olympics are set for Tokyo this year, and the United States has some strong athletes that the country should unify around. But never fear! The presidential election is here to rip that unity apart and destroy any semblance of camaraderie.

The Orchestra/Mariachi students participated in UIL Solo/Ensemble contest. The following students qualified for state: Harmony Smith, Violin solo received Division One and qualified for State. Audrey Vestal, Violin solo received Division One and qualified for State. Viking String Quartet-Harmony Smith, Audrey Vestal,Evelyn Mayo,Brandon Acevedo received a Division One and qualified for State Mariachi Los Vikingos […]

At the Brazos Valley Regional History Fair on Friday, seven BHS students competed. All of them placed and 5 will be advancing to the Texas State History Day in Austin on Saturday, April 25th. Courtney Lamb (10th Grade)Historical Paper – 1st PlaceTopic — The Apollo Soyuz Test Project Brandy Winkle, Maya Richards (10th Grade)Group Website – 3rd PlaceTopic […]

The following students placed at regional competition for FCCLA and will compete at state in April. Rebekah Byers & Olive Ray- 2nd Place Interpersonal CommunicationsTori Chambers- 3rd Place Sports NutritionCheyenne Cupit, Tabitha Curtiss & Ysidra Yolanda Madujano- 3rd Place Repurpose & Redesign BHS was also recognized for the school with the most students completing all […]

Students participated in the Regional and Area VASE (Visual Arts Scholastic Event) competition where 50 BHS students competed. Region 6 had a total of 1160 pieces of artwork entered. There were 704 Regional Medal winners.  Going to State for divisions was: Division 1 – 21 pieces, Division 2 – 18 pieces, Division III – 12 pieces, […]

Playing sports, riding roller coasters, drinking caffeine, all things most teenagers take for granted. But for junior Jaci Siegert, each of these poses a potentially-deadly risk.

Animation studios are in a constant battle to get their movies the most attention from the public. Some studios never fail to provide a good movie for their intended audiences. Walt Disney, Pixar, and Dreamworks are all examples of studios that provide good movies quite frequently. On the other hand, Illumination is one of those studios that makes low quality movies just for profit. They don’t really care about making entertaining movies. They simply don’t care about their audience or movies as much as other studios do and primarily focus on marketing.

Drama. Mystery. Thriller. My top three favorite genres of all time when it comes to entertainment, and combined together into one show, it’s nearly perfect. Criminal Minds captures all three of these genres which makes the show my favorite show of all time. The show is the right mix of intrigue and suspense.

Overall, Disney has done a pretty decent job with the Star Wars franchise. The movies themselves are done well, and I find all of the Disney Star Wars movies enjoyable. The Rise of Skywalker was no exception, and through the first three quarters of the movie I was almost ready to say it was my favorite Star Wars movie in the sequel series…but of course, leave it to Disney to mess things up.

To all the extroverts out there, isn’t it hard always being the most outgoing and friendly person in the room? Do you ever sit at parties and think: “Wow, I just wish I wasn’t so good at talking?”

January is the best month of the year. I love the crisp cool air, the cute sweater outfits, and it’s National Soup Month, and who doesn’t love that. BUT, there is one thing that tops the air, sweaters, and yes, even soup. Three words: Girl Scout Cookies.

The girls’ swimming and diving team placed second overall at the District 18-6A Meet held at the Prigeon Natatorium in Houston Texas.  Bryan was by far the smallest team at the meet, but all 7 girls attending the meet were named All-District by placing in the top 8 in individual events and all three relays […]

There are over 2000 games on the Nintendo Switch, some better than others. Nintendo has put its best into making sure that only the highest quality of games get into their consumer’s hands. They’ve also flooded the e-shop with really bad, tiny games that cost way too much. So I’m going to look at 8 of their best and slap them into a randomly-generated tournament!

https://bryanhs.bryanisd.org/apps/news/article/1150299

The UIL Academic team competed at the mini-meet at College Station High School on Saturday, January 11. The following students earned awards at the meet: Copy Editing1st Shannon Keyser3rd Abby Mendes4th Jaci Siegert News1st Abby Mendez2nd Shannon Keyser Feature3rd Jaci Siegert4th Shannon Keyser6th Megan Keyser Editorial1st Shannon Keyser3rd Abby Mendez6th Jaci Siegert Headline1st Abby Mendez3rd […]

The swimming and diving teams competed against the A&M Consolidated TIgers on Tuesday night at the TAMU Rec Center.  The Consolidated girls won 176-113 and the boys won 166-118.  Leading the way for the Viking girls were first place finishes from Elizabeth Tag in the 200 yard freestyle and Cayla Jimenez in 1 meter diving.  […]

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